FOP Praise the Lord syndrome
No, I won't deny it...
Great is the Lord,
Great is the Lord
Make His praise loud
Make it loud, make it loud
I just came back from the 1st session of the FOP 2006. It was a good session of praise and worship from Christian City Church band and Don Moen and a good sharing from Pastor Ed Silvoso from Argentina. I never realise that Don Moen can be that good, considering that it's the first time I hear him leading worship. Christian City Church is also very good, I especially like their praise 'Great is the Lord', part of the lyrics which you see above. Indeed, it's so true, how can anyone who has tasted that the Lord is good denies that the Lord is great? It's precisely the power of the gospel that has ever so changed our life.
Indeed it's the power of the gospel, the power of God's word at work in this world. And it was so wonderful and refreshing to see so many Christians at one go, praising and worshipping God together in one voice. Of course, Don Moen was really good. There was this song that goes 'Thank you, Lord'. Following my rattering about taking people for granted, I just wondered how many times do we take God for granted? Do we give thanks to the Lord whether He blesses us or not? Sometimes we may just take life and God for granted. But then...
Almost forgot about this verse, but somehow, God just brought this verse back to my heart during the PnW just now. I remember reading John Chapman's A Fresh Start, that giving thanks to God is God's method of preventing us from starting to take things for granted. Giving thanks to God for the food allows us to keep God in mind, that He is the provider of all good things. Indeed, the moment we stop giving thanks to God, we start taking Him for granted. This is really something we ought to remember and keep in heart. For friends who dun have a personal relationship with God yet and receive Christ into your life, why not start thinking, who exactly is providing us with all these good things around us?
Pastor Ed Silvoso also shared quite a good piece of message to the whole crowd. In particular, the message can be summarised into three points: God has a better opinion of us than the one we have on ourselves, God can make the people around us to have a better opinion of us than the one we have of ourselves and lastly, God can make the devil have a better opinion of us than the one we have of ourselves. I think it's really quite so. After all, God is all-knowing, He does not look at us through the lens of the past and memory but the lens of future, according to what He has molded us to be. The opposite of faith is indeed our past, since faith looks into the future and the past...just looks at the past. That is precisely why we normally formed an opinion of ourselves from the past, and by refusing to walk out of that past, we failed to move ahead in our life and our relationship with God. But looked at Gideon, the vassal of God which Pastor Ed shared to us. He was called 'mighty warrior' when he himself came from the weakest of all the clans and the youngest in the family, and when he displayed cowardism in the eye of the Lord.
And God allows his father to have a better opinion of him when he tore down the altar of Baal as instructed by the Lord
Indeed, his father even gave him a new name, which literally means devil has to put up with him and it even made the devil and his enemies to have a better opinion of him.
And it was quite a powerful sharing which really clicked into me, especially when Pastor Ed mentioned that we can make an impact in politics, government and business... I was like whoaz... it seems for a moment, the message was God speaking so directly to me. To make it even more miraculous is that I have just finished reading Judges 5 today. Speaking about God doing your own quiet time for you... It's as if I was doing quiet time in advance....
But c'mon, coming back to the main topic, I was actually thinking, it's really up to us to know that God has a better, or even the best opinion of us. Face up to it, we are made to accomplish great things for God, cos we know that we are not here for no purpose and reason. So, being our Creator, He ought to know what His creations can do best. Of course, part of the PnW then also pointed towards this direction and the way to do it God's way: to humble ourselves before God.
2 Corinthians 12:10b especially, has been quite prominent in the PnW session. Indeed, even if we know that God has a better opinion of us, to let Him work in our life, we have to first acknowledge our own weaknesses, only then can He be strong in our life. As Paul said in the verse before that, His grace is sufficient for us and His power works perfect in our weaknesses. The key: to humble ourselves before God. This led me to want to question my non-believer readers again, if lets say there is this almighty God who wants to work His power in our lives, will you lay down your pride and humble yourself before Him to let Him do His work in you, bearing in mind that you know that He is your Creator? God blesses us to be a blessing to the world, because we are the salt and light of the world. He will empower us to do His work, if only we are able to put down our pride and of course, fear...
Of course, today is also the end of bidding round 1c. As expected, I got my MNO1001 and TR2202. Getting ready for a whole new semester ahead. In the meanwhile, let's praise and worship the Lord.
Great is the Lord,
Great is the Lord
Make His praise loud
Make it loud, make it loud
I just came back from the 1st session of the FOP 2006. It was a good session of praise and worship from Christian City Church band and Don Moen and a good sharing from Pastor Ed Silvoso from Argentina. I never realise that Don Moen can be that good, considering that it's the first time I hear him leading worship. Christian City Church is also very good, I especially like their praise 'Great is the Lord', part of the lyrics which you see above. Indeed, it's so true, how can anyone who has tasted that the Lord is good denies that the Lord is great? It's precisely the power of the gospel that has ever so changed our life.
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile
- Romans 1:16
Indeed it's the power of the gospel, the power of God's word at work in this world. And it was so wonderful and refreshing to see so many Christians at one go, praising and worshipping God together in one voice. Of course, Don Moen was really good. There was this song that goes 'Thank you, Lord'. Following my rattering about taking people for granted, I just wondered how many times do we take God for granted? Do we give thanks to the Lord whether He blesses us or not? Sometimes we may just take life and God for granted. But then...
give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus
- 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Almost forgot about this verse, but somehow, God just brought this verse back to my heart during the PnW just now. I remember reading John Chapman's A Fresh Start, that giving thanks to God is God's method of preventing us from starting to take things for granted. Giving thanks to God for the food allows us to keep God in mind, that He is the provider of all good things. Indeed, the moment we stop giving thanks to God, we start taking Him for granted. This is really something we ought to remember and keep in heart. For friends who dun have a personal relationship with God yet and receive Christ into your life, why not start thinking, who exactly is providing us with all these good things around us?
Pastor Ed Silvoso also shared quite a good piece of message to the whole crowd. In particular, the message can be summarised into three points: God has a better opinion of us than the one we have on ourselves, God can make the people around us to have a better opinion of us than the one we have of ourselves and lastly, God can make the devil have a better opinion of us than the one we have of ourselves. I think it's really quite so. After all, God is all-knowing, He does not look at us through the lens of the past and memory but the lens of future, according to what He has molded us to be. The opposite of faith is indeed our past, since faith looks into the future and the past...just looks at the past. That is precisely why we normally formed an opinion of ourselves from the past, and by refusing to walk out of that past, we failed to move ahead in our life and our relationship with God. But looked at Gideon, the vassal of God which Pastor Ed shared to us. He was called 'mighty warrior' when he himself came from the weakest of all the clans and the youngest in the family, and when he displayed cowardism in the eye of the Lord.
The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."
- Judges 6:11-12
And God allows his father to have a better opinion of him when he tore down the altar of Baal as instructed by the Lord
But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, "Are you going to plead Baal's cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar." So that day they called Gideon "Jerub-Baal," saying, "Let Baal contend with him," because he broke down Baal's altar.
- Judges 6:31-32
Indeed, his father even gave him a new name, which literally means devil has to put up with him and it even made the devil and his enemies to have a better opinion of him.
And it was quite a powerful sharing which really clicked into me, especially when Pastor Ed mentioned that we can make an impact in politics, government and business... I was like whoaz... it seems for a moment, the message was God speaking so directly to me. To make it even more miraculous is that I have just finished reading Judges 5 today. Speaking about God doing your own quiet time for you... It's as if I was doing quiet time in advance....
But c'mon, coming back to the main topic, I was actually thinking, it's really up to us to know that God has a better, or even the best opinion of us. Face up to it, we are made to accomplish great things for God, cos we know that we are not here for no purpose and reason. So, being our Creator, He ought to know what His creations can do best. Of course, part of the PnW then also pointed towards this direction and the way to do it God's way: to humble ourselves before God.
That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong
- 2 Corinthians 12:10
2 Corinthians 12:10b especially, has been quite prominent in the PnW session. Indeed, even if we know that God has a better opinion of us, to let Him work in our life, we have to first acknowledge our own weaknesses, only then can He be strong in our life. As Paul said in the verse before that, His grace is sufficient for us and His power works perfect in our weaknesses. The key: to humble ourselves before God. This led me to want to question my non-believer readers again, if lets say there is this almighty God who wants to work His power in our lives, will you lay down your pride and humble yourself before Him to let Him do His work in you, bearing in mind that you know that He is your Creator? God blesses us to be a blessing to the world, because we are the salt and light of the world. He will empower us to do His work, if only we are able to put down our pride and of course, fear...
Of course, today is also the end of bidding round 1c. As expected, I got my MNO1001 and TR2202. Getting ready for a whole new semester ahead. In the meanwhile, let's praise and worship the Lord.
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