Joey's Journal August 14, 2006

My God, praise and thanks I offer You for taking care of us last night; giving the children a good night’s sleep and rest for the nannies; bringing my wife safely home and keeping all loved ones and relations protected. I thank You for letting me wake up to another day yet always longing to be with You when You call me. May Your blessings be upon us as we live this day. May You guide us today to be more and more like Jesus as we proclaim He is the Lord of our lives. May You keep Joel safe when he is in the bus, in school and in their field trip at Raffles Hotel. Keep him attentive and obedient to his teachers and his temper controlled. May today be a blessing to us and the people we interact with. I pray these in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.

My reading- Psalm 12 Where are the godly?

Help O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing! The faithful have vanished the earth! Neighbors lie to each other; speaking with flattering lips and insincere hearts. They will lie to their hearts’ content and say – who can stop us? But the Lord sees all the violence done to the helpless and have heard their groans. Now He will rise up to rescue the godly, who fear the Lord. The Lord’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over. Therefore the Lord will protect the godly and preserve them forever.

My reflections – I thought to myself, ‘why is the psalmist saying the godly are fast disappearing?’ I asked myself was this also happening then in the psalmist’s time? Evil and wicked people and things abound then. Now, we are more sophisticated and quite modern. Take away crimes like murder, rape, robbery, debauchery and other serious ones, what is prevalent today are lying, slandering, cheating, gossiping, philandering, womanizing, drinking etc. These are modern words saying the same evil things. Living on earth now is no different from when the psalmist lived back then.

Yes, the godly is fast disappearing. The people who fear the Lord are diminishing. Have they been swallowed by the wickedness of this evil world? Has the evil one placed his mark on his captives enticing others with material possessions so that they can follow their ways? No! I know there are still many out there who fear the anger of the Lord and by doing evil, they forfeit their invitation to the heavenly banquet God has prepared for us. These are the people who will stand firm because God is beside them and they engage in spiritual warfare with the enemy. Like the early prophets and followers of Jesus, they stood firm and upheld their faith and trust that they will be saved even with certain death staring them in the face. These were the godly people and they were let in to God’s heavenly feast and will live forever with the Lord.

My prayer – God, our Father, send me Your Holy Spirit to remind me to live a godly life. Keep me in the right path with Your decrees and help me be obedient to Your laws. I am a sinful man Lord, forgive my transgressions against You and my neighbor. Allow Your grace to change me and not forsake me to be given to the hands of the evil one. Breathe Your strength in me so that I can be firm like Your followers, fearing the lost of Your love and compassion. May I live more and more in the likeness of how Jesus lived then. All these I pray in the Holy and Precious Name of Jesus, who took our sins and nailed them on the Cross with Him. Amen.

By : Joey B 

Joey's Journal August 13, 2006

Got up at 6:20 am and prepared to get ready for Sunday service. At 7:30 am, Joel and Joshua woke around the same time and the nannies were getting them ready. Annabel got up at 8:00 am when Joel went inside the room to wake her up. Had their light breakfast and we left at 8:35 am for FCBC at Singapore Expo.

While being transferred from car to wheelchair by Carlyn, Tommy from Special People Ministry (SPM) came over to help and informed us about cell group meeting. Informed Annabel that after church, SPM will have cell meeting. Wheeled in place with other wheelchair bound people; said hello to Mrs. Koh who was beside me and saw brother Joseph, who was not present for 4 weeks. Glad he is back with us. Praised and thanked God for all SPM volunteers, Pastor Patrick, Joanna and Viola. It was great to see them.

Worship was led by the Planet Shakers from Australia and the whole place was rocking. Worship songs were great and very moving. FCBC was jumping and rocking the whole Max Pavillion. The song ‘Evermore’ was really moving and touched many people in the congregation; words of the refrain went like this.

‘You are my God, my life, my all;
And I’ll live for You alone.,
I am Yours Evermore.
Heaven and earth will shout Your praise,
The wonder of Your Name,
I’ll be Yours Evermore.’

It was an awesome sight! Senior Pastor Khong’s message was titled ‘If we want to proclaim Jesus is Lord, we have to go beyond religious beliefs, rules and authority’ which is taken from Col 2. After service, I met with the cell group comprised of 6 wheelchair bound people. Leader spoke from the book of Daniel and how a servant like Daniel was favored by God; and how God used him to draw the masters and other servants to His Glory. Like Daniel, we have to stand firm in our belief and trust in God; meaning we have to deal with ourselves internally first. When we have done this then, God will do the external part of rewarding and blessing us and even using us to bring in the unbelievers to be saved as we live here on earth.

My reading - Psalm 11 The Lord watches us closely

I trust in the Lord for protection, so do you say to me, ‘Fly to the mountains for safety! The wicked are stringing their bows and setting their arrows in the bow strings. They shoot from the shadows at things who do right. The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?’ But, the Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from the heavens. The Lord watches everything closely, examining everyone on earth; examining both the righteous and the wicked. He is righteous and he loves justice and those who do what is right will see his face.

My reflection - I remember this story of a teenager who got caught shoplifting a 40 cent pen at the neighborhood drugstore. When he was apprehended by the store security, he quickly pulled his wallet and offered to pay for the item. The store manager, when he was questioning him, recognized the boy who lived a few houses away from his. He also didn’t tell him that the boy’s father and he were close friends back when they were in school. He interrogated him like any other shoplifter whether he lifted goods worth 40 cents or ten dollars, to prove a point – it was wrong and if this goes unpunished, there is great probability that this offence will continue. He called for the boy’s father to inform him what had happened and told him that he wanted to teach the boy a lesson. The father was furious about his son’s actions but went along with the store manager’s plan for corrective action. They planned for the father to agree on whatever punishment the store manager gives out on the boy and it was to work as a drugstore bag boy and assist older customers with their purchases for a whole month. The boy really thought hard about his punishment, sometimes shaking his head and saying, ‘this punishment does not fit my shoplifting a 40 cent pen; where is the fairness in this?’ But, unwillingly he did his punishment at his father’s insistence or it would be worst at home.

Sometimes we think we can get away with our offence against God. Maybe we think, it is a small offence and God will not be angry. How terribly wrong we are! An offence whether how small or how serious, is an offence against God. God always watches us very closely from heaven and He knows our every move even before we think or act on it. He gives us a free will to decide what we want to do – good or bad.

My prayer – Almighty Father, this morning I got up with a bright outlook and hope that today’s sermon would touch our hearts in a special way. And once again Lord, You guided my heart to reach out more for You and proclaiming that Jesus is the Lord of my life. The worship song ‘Evermore’ led by the Planet Shakers from Australia, was very inspiring and moved a lot to tears. Thank You for speaking through Senior Pastor Khong’s message that we long to bring our personal relationship with You to a higher level, beyond religious beliefs and rules and authorities. The new life that Apostle Paul spoke in Colossians must be higher than all these because God wants us to be more and more like Jesus and these rules like religious rituals and beliefs were surpassed by His love for mankind.

Father, teach me to be like Jesus; to follow His example of servant-hood humility, unfailing love, compassion and forgiveness. May I be worthy to even be guided by You to do these to others, especially my loved ones. Open my heart to understand Your word and know that You have been speaking to me through my readings. All these I pray in the Holy Name of Jesus. Amen.

Today is the birthday of our eldest sister, Maribel who resides with her husband, Eddie in Japan. I sent her my birthday greetings and offered a prayer for both for their relationship to be more focused to God even in their present ages. There are no age boundaries in serving God as Moses and Abraham did. It is that first step that is difficult to proclaiming that Jesus is Lord of their lives. But with God’s strength and grace, anything can be done! Amen.

by : Joey B