Thursday 29 May 2008

What God has for you is bigger than you can ever imagine

It is easy to fall into the trap of believing in what legalistic Christians called Prosperity Gospel. There are Christians who strongly believed that money is the root of all things evil. The bible take is… love of money is the root of all evil not money itself.

There is no doubt in my mind that God is a generous God. He is the giver of all good things. He blessed His children with many good gifts and He will not stop doing that till it overflows. While there is nothing wrong with wanting to be blessed by God’s gift. There are 2 aspects that we have to be wary of.

Firstly, loving the gifts instead of the giver. Jesus was clear what was the most important thing being a child of God. To love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your strength and not have any other God’s before Him. We run into trouble when we start to put money as the no.1 priority in our lives. I am purposely citing money because many tend to equate blessings and prosperity from God in the monetary sense. Which comes to my next point.

Blessings from God does not simply equate financial blessings. I used to think so. I thought switching back into the financial industry was God’s way of telling me that its time to fill your barn with overflowing gold and multi currencies. I though when God showed me that 2008 will be a year of redemption for me meant making up for lost time that I wasted not putting my potential to full capacity in my career. While its is partly true but nevertheless it is not the sum of all its parts.

I cannot even imagine myself saying this now. I totally dig what I am doing right now. For fear of many of friends stoning me after reading this, I just want to say this out loud. It is possible to love what you are doing! At least I am feeling it right now. I am typing this blog entry in a crowded bus on my way home. Its quarter past 10 and I had just finished a 15 hour work day, I am tired but happy? Wow… unbelievable. This coming from me whose aspiration is to be a professional poker player and win the WSOP in 2010.

I will not elaborate on how God has placed me in my current placement as I have already elaborated in my previous blog entry. I seriously thought it was just for the financial blessings. The things I have learnt and was reminded of in the past 1 month has justified my move from the media industry.

I believe next week will be a great week. I will be helping out in camporama as a helper. Currently I am trying to find an avenue for me to serve and music seems too obvious. So I am praying and asking God to show me more areas of possibilities. This will be great start.

Let’s put things into perspective. God is good, he blesses. Christ has died once and for all for our sins. God cannot impute sin on us if we are under the blood of Jesus. For those sin preacher out there, woe to you if you condemn sinners! The church doors are open for sinners, don’t make the sinners feel unworthy of Jesus. Jesus came for the sinners and not the righteous. Don’t go preaching about sins in the lives of people, go preach about Christ and his finished work and His saving grace. That is what matters most.

Right believing will lead to right living! If you know God, you have experience His love in your live. Expect Great things from God. He will show you things beyond your imagination. He will richly bless your life more than you can ever imagine. Financial blessings is just a by product of His blessings in your life. You will have to think out of the box when it comes to God, cuz that’s where you will find His blessings, overflowing out of it!

Wednesday 21 May 2008

I took myself out of the game

Who would have thought a movie would be the one to make some sense of what is happening in my life. This particular scene in the movie made alot of sense to me, the movie was "What happens in Vegas." Movie one liners intriques me. Just mentioned a line in the movies and i probably can tell you which movie is it from.

The more popular one liners are like: "You got me at hello." "With great power comes great resposibility" (Think Kung Fu Hustle lol.) "Freedom!!!!" (One worder) "Run forest run" "Do i make u horny?" You get the idea.

The particular scene was when Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz started to realise that they were falling in love with each other. He realise that all his life, he has never took things seriously enough, "I took myself out of the game." he confessed. "Guess when you don't place your bet in life, you wouldn't lose anything." This was a simple truth yet it stuck with me.

I realise that was me, and i always wondered why i never took life seriously enough. I never put myself on the line, to win or to lose. Playing poker made me realise this as well. You must be able to bet to win. Be it preflop, on the flop, on the turn or the river. Sometimes just by betting, you will win even with the worst hand!

My whole life, i simply took myself out of the game. I never lose nor will i ever win. Do i want to live my life this way? Hell no!

"I took myself out of the game." "If i don't place the bet i will never lose" to which Cameron Diaz replied:"I will bet on you."

Though i never did place a bet on myself, Jesus did. He believed in me even when i failed, even when i sinned, even when i fell. In the same way, though i never wanted to lose... my mother believed in me, even when i was wrong, even when i was stubborn, even when i was rebellious.

Why did God take me out of my comfort zone in advertising, I love the industry, i love the people, i love magazines... it gets clearer by the day. We have one God given life and many God given talents. We can choose to sit on the sideline of our own life and let others be the quarterback to lead our team?

I also realise that i am not the only one, many around me seems to be this way as well. Somewhere along the line we stop taking chances, in work, in relationships, in life generally. By the time we realised this, 1 year has passed, 3 years, 10 years have passed us by. Yet we just let the years slipped by.

I am beginning to want to live my life, but this time i am not doing it alone. His strength is made perfect in my weaknesses.

Thursday 1 May 2008

He makes all things wonderful, in His time

It is apt that i am writing this blog entry now. Tomorrow marks a new beginning for me. It took me a while to make this switch back into the financial sector but once i prayed and decided and on it, i know there is no turning back. If i haven't left SPHM and taken the job offer at L&N, i am sure i would've even think about rejoining the financial industry. It has been more than 4 years since i left. Now i feel like i am starting all over again.

Some may say it takes a lot of courage to make this decision at my age. Honestly, i am amaze at myself as well. After making this decision, i actually started to doubt myself, my own abilities, how i might be digging a hole for myself.

Last sunday, during service i felt the Holy spirit speaking to me in my heart. Athough i haven't been the "best" of christian but somehow i still feel the presence of the HS very strongly. Darlene who was leading worship was truly incredible, you can just feel her annointing in worship so strongly.

Immediately after the worship, i wrote this in my notebook... "Salvation is not about what u did or what you can do, its about what Jesus did and what He is going to do in your life." I was reminded that my life is not about my abilities, my shortcomings, my strength or my talents. It is about who God is in my life, and i can rest assure in my salvation in Him because of His love and sacrifice on the cross for me 2000 years ago. Its a simple yet powerful truth. Many people knows this but never believe it fully. I have friends whom i invited to church but refuse to come to church because they think they are not ready for God or they are not worthy for church. The very reason why Jesus died on the cross for them is the very excuse they use to refuse Him.

Nobody is ever ready for God or worthy of church, that is why Jesus came down from heaven to die for our sins... duhhh?!?! To me in this stage of my life i am beginning to see things more in perspective. Less of self more of Him. It doesn't matter who i am, what's more important is who He is.