psalm 73

Vr long have not do my devotion here alr. Super busy! I'm here to blog abt psalm 73 because some verses in it blinked at me. yes, it blinked at me. wahahahaha...

2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;

I had nearly lost my foothold.

3 For I envied the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Everywhere in the media, whether it is from what we see on TV, read from books/newspapers, hear from radio or from ppl, it will affect us somehow. TV is quite a big distraction in regards to the verses above. In the black box, I see the ppl going on vacations enjoying life, living in big houses with big swimming pools and driving big cars, practically spending big money everywhere and anyhow I always have an ache in my heart.

12 This is what the wicked are like—
always carefree, they increase in wealth.

Har......... If only we can do this and do that, thn everythg win already. This is wad I'll tell my parents sometimes.

Often I'll ask God:
"eh, God, how come they dono u but still can be always carefree, and keep increasing in wealth leh. Actually don need u oso can wad."

So sometimes I feel exactly how verse 13 said.

13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.

Keeping my heart pure is sometimes very mafan and difficult. Who dowan to have comfort? My mom always say, the rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer. Quite true wad i thought. Rich can invest in houses, cars and wads not. While the poor have to fight against the rising of the economy which means rising prices of wadever and anythg.

Here is wad Ecclesiastes has to say:

Ecclesiastes 5

10 Whoever loves money never has money enough;

whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.

This too is meaningless.

15 Naked a man comes from his mother's womb,

and as he comes, so he departs.

He takes nothing from his labor

that he can carry in his hand.

Read the whole of chapter 5 - riches are meaningless.

i like... (got it from Jasmine's blog)

The story goes about this Red Indian who bumped into a friend in the heart of New York city.

In the thick of the lunch time crowd, the two friends were chatting. Suddenly the Red Indian paused. He stopped the conversation, squatted, and lifted up the cover of a drain. The Red Indian reached in and pulled out a cricket.


New Yorker friend: Wow. You mean you heard that cricket in all this noise ?

Red Indian: Watch this.


The Red Indian reached into his pocket and took out two dollars worth of loose change. He held the change in his palm. And there, in the thick of the bustling crowd in the heart of New York city, the Red Indian emptied his palm on to the floor.

As the shillings fell and rolled on the cement walkway, different faces in the crowd stopped and looked to the ground investigating the cause of that familiar sound.

The Red Indian turned to his New Yorker friend and said, "people hear what they want to hear".




* * * * * * * * * * * * *



You know, too often we are caught in the intensity and speed of work and life rolls us by. Can we take the time to hear that still small voice of reason, compassion and conscience?



"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." Hebrews 4:7

psalm 53

Psalm 53

1 The fool says in his heart,
"There is no God."
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
there is no one who does good.

2 God looks down from heaven
on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.

3 Everyone has turned away,
they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.

4 Will the evildoers never learn—
those who devour my people as men eat bread
and who do not call on God?

5 There they were, overwhelmed with dread,
where there was nothing to dread.
God scattered the bones of those who attacked you;
you put them to shame, for God despised them.

6 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

WAH! God, what u wanna tell me ar? Don't understand the psalm at all leh... bu ming bai lo! So I googled it to find information. wahahahaha.. thn I came upon Darlene Zschech's reflection on this psalm. Here are some excerpts of it:

"...this Psalm sings of man's afflictions. ....there were many in my own world who continually denied the existence of God, denied His power, His grace, and most importantly, His love. We were never designed to live life without Christ. The fallen race of man, left to his own energy, will always end up in the midst of some sort of battle. To fight this battle without any eternal perspective, or any understanding of God's love and devotion toward you, is such a hard way to live… foolish to say the least.

Verses 4, 5 and 6 go on to talk about how God Himself will defend His righteous ones… even when it feels like God is somehow silent on your behalf, for He who knows all and rules all, will overwhelm those who attack His people.

The psalmist here paints a vivid contrast between the lives of the just and the unjust… but as you can see, his heart desperately longs for the salvation of Israel, and closes the Psalm with the thought that the most calloused heart, when aroused by the spirit of God, can find life, and life in all its fullness."

http://www.sloppynoodle.com/darlene_zschech/pages/86.html

Still kinda bu ming bai leh. Budden at least now I know about the "God Himself will defend His righteous ones" phrase through verse 5 "There they were, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread. God scattered the bones of those who attacked you; you put them to shame, for God despised them." orh................................

To me, it basically means God blesses the righteous.

psalm 51

Psalm 51

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts [a] ;
you teach [b] me wisdom in the inmost place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.

14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

17 The sacrifices of God are [c] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

18 In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

I've been talking to God recently about why cant life be simply to worship and praise u. Nth to do with world, but everything to do with God. Since I received Christ, I've always been looking forward to service because it is then that I really feel closer to God. It is not suppose to be like this leh. I wanna be a Monday christian as well. But its difficult, because once I got home or outta church, everything and ppl around me are all very worldly. Luckily I still have the crazy at ARC.

Anyway, for me, there are alot of distractions. Msn, surfing the net, music, TV, and just pure slacking. It feels like the presence of God has not followed me outta church leh, as if I left God at hall 10 lidat. Crap lo.. Verse 11 "Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me" spoke to me in this way so that I need to always remember God's words and to give thanks for every little things and situations that I am in. Let's be a fundamental christian, remembering God in bad and good circumstances.


10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. I am super in need for the encouragement from this verse cos i really need a steadfast spirit. Fasting and praying proved to be quite a challenge. The fasting of meals quite ok budden praying for an hr a day is quite woohooooooo... I always do it at night and I'll be tired by then. I pray that I'll persevere, especially when I start practicum next week when I have to wake up crazily, groggily, eye-bagly and small eyely at 5.30pm! God, I really need strength to carry on the 40 days.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Love this verse cos it brought me back to the times when I'm still under baohui and when I first know God. The closeness with God and the fire that I had was indescribable! woohooooo... Every service pia to the front during worship leh.. wah! Lord I pray u'll indeed restore to me the joy of your salvation once again, and to sustain me throughout the practicum and the tiring days!

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things" ~ Colossians 3:2

psalm 39 and 45

found this online. Quite nice eh!

Psalm 39

1 I said, "I will watch my ways

and keep my tongue from sin;

I will put a muzzle on my mouth

as long as the wicked are in my presence."

2 But when I was silent and still,

not even saying anything good,

my anguish increased.

3 My heart grew hot within me,

and as I meditated, the fire burned;

then I spoke with my tongue:

4 "Show me, O LORD, my life's end

and the number of my days;

let me know how fleeting is my life.

5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth;

the span of my years is as nothing before you.

Each man's life is but a breath.

Selah

6 Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro:

He bustles about, but only in vain;

he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

7 "But now, Lord, what do I look for?

My hope is in you.

8 Save me from all my transgressions;

do not make me the scorn of fools.

9 I was silent; I would not open my mouth,

for you are the one who has done this.

10 Remove your scourge from me;

I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

11 You rebuke and discipline men for their sin;

you consume their wealth like a moth—

each man is but a breath.

Selah

12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD,

listen to my cry for help;

be not deaf to my weeping.

For I dwell with you as an alien,

a stranger, as all my fathers were.

13 Look away from me, that I may rejoice again

before I depart and am no more."

From that day i read psalm 39 till now the first 2 phrase stucked in my head. Cos recently, i'm making effort to not gossip and not to speak bad about someone or anythg. Basically keeping my tongue from sinning. Quite successful, i would say.

But when i read the second verse, wah i was quite stun. cos i nvr had tot of replacing gossip with praising and speaking good. It was just shut up all the bad stuffs, tts all. It should be natural to praise and to speak gd, isn't it? WRONG! lets all reflect. Issit all so natural and easy to praise and speak gd about someone? Think abt today. Did u praise and speak gd more than u gossip or complained abt something? In actual fact, I think we gossip and complained more. Let's try to replace this behavior with praising and affirming the people around u. "Catch them being good" applies to the ppl ard u as well and not just kids! =)
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Psalm 45

1My heart is inditing a good matter:

I speak of the things which I have made touching the king:

my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

2Thou art fairer than the children of men:

grace is poured into thy lips:

therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.

3Gird thy sword upon thy thigh,

O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.

4And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth

and meekness and righteousness;

and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.

5Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies;

whereby the people fall under thee.

6Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:

the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.

7Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness:

therefore God, thy God,

hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

8All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia,

out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.

9Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women:

upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.

10Hearken, O daughter, and consider,

and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people,

and thy father's house;

11So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty:

for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.

12And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift;

even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.

13The king's daughter is all glorious within:

her clothing is of wrought gold.

14She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework:

the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.

15With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought:

they shall enter into the king's palace.

16Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children,

whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.

17I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations:

therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.

Found this pic online. Really like the 2 verses. Hmmm.. sometimes I feel that the bible always talked abt men and sons. Seldom there were women and daughters. So that's why i really like these verses. and oso because today is VALENTINE's DAY!!! woohoooooo.... like so timely lo.

Feel more like God's daughter rather than just someone who believed in him. Love kelly's sms today. ~As the world celebrates Vday and friendship day, remember the greatest friend and lover u have found - Jesus.~

So take time to think about his Love and Goodness in your life!

Psalm 34 (3/2/08)

Today at service the worship session was powerful. Really in awe of His goodness. In the first worship song, "Amazing", I was already in tears. Cos this song was written by the keyboardist in paradise band, who came for "Modern levites conference". Because of this conference and the keyboardist, I started to play my rotting piano again but these few weeks i definitely had neglected my piano. No time to worship the Lord at home with my piano at all. So when this song came, I knew how God had missed my songs to Him.

Then, the next song did it all. "How could I live without You" Both songs touched me alot and for more than half of this song I was too in awe and blown away by the Lord's presence that I did not sing but just teared and teared. Really could not sing leh, but to only look at the words and teared even more. All of the lyrics of this song really is what I felt at the moment. Its been super long since I cried this much during service.


Here's the lyrics of the song:

How could I live without You

How could I survive

Without Your love Without Your touch

You're the One that heals me

And cleanses my heart

And sets me free

Now i come right before You

With my hands lifted up

With my heart humbly bowed

At Your work on the cross

As You hang there and die

You were paying the price

For my life, For my life

For Your love is higher than the heavens

Deeper than the seas

And all I want is You in my life

No one else can satisfy my soul

Can make me feel this way

Only You Lord, only You

As for the psalm today, pastor eugene preached abt the fear of the Lord. So timely can!!! wahahahha... claim it man. REAL is the keyword here.

R - reflects the presence of God

E - experiences the provision of God

A - advances the purposes of God

L - lives out the promises of God

Some practical steps that Pastor said was:

• Keep my tongue from evil (means that I WILL speak with words of favour)
• Speak truth (lying is sin too, no matter whether its a small lie. SIN is an old achery term, meaning to miss the bull's eye. Anythg other than dead center is sin.)
• turn from evil
• Do good, be a blessing
• Seek peace
• pursue (do not give up but to continue pursuing it. PUSH - pray untill somethg happens)

These are all very difficult things to comply. Sometimes I might even do one of this unintentionally or without knowing it. I'm going to pause and reflect before saying or doing things that does not glorify God.

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In psalm 33, I really love the first 3 verse.
1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise him.

2 Praise the LORD with the harp;
make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.

3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Cos its how I worship the Lord.
Through music.

psalm 31

PSALM 31

1 In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge;

let me never be put to shame;

deliver me in your righteousness.

2 Turn your ear to me,

come quickly to my rescue;

be my rock of refuge,

a strong fortress to save me.

3 Since you are my rock and my fortress,

for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

4 Free me from the trap that is set for me,

for you are my refuge.

5 Into your hands I commit my spirit;

redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.

6 I hate those who cling to worthless idols;

I trust in the LORD.

7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love,

for you saw my affliction

and knew the anguish of my soul.

8 You have not handed me over to the enemy

but have set my feet in a spacious place.

9 Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;

my eyes grow weak with sorrow,

my soul and my body with grief.

10 My life is consumed by anguish

and my years by groaning;

my strength fails because of my affliction, [a]

and my bones grow weak.

11 Because of all my enemies,

I am the utter contempt of my neighbors;

I am a dread to my friends—

those who see me on the street flee from me.

12 I am forgotten by them as though I were dead;

I have become like broken pottery.

13 For I hear the slander of many;

there is terror on every side;

they conspire against me

and plot to take my life.

14 But I trust in you, O LORD;

I say, "You are my God."

15 My times are in your hands;

deliver me from my enemies

and from those who pursue me.

16 Let your face shine on your servant;

save me in your unfailing love.

17 Let me not be put to shame, O LORD,

for I have cried out to you;

but let the wicked be put to shame

and lie silent in the grave. [b]

18 Let their lying lips be silenced,

for with pride and contempt

they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

19 How great is your goodness,

which you have stored up for those who fear you,

which you bestow in the sight of men

on those who take refuge in you.

20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them

from the intrigues of men;

in your dwelling you keep them safe

from accusing tongues.

21 Praise be to the LORD,

for he showed his wonderful love to me

when I was in a besieged city.

22 In my alarm I said,

"I am cut off from your sight!"

Yet you heard my cry for mercy

when I called to you for help.

23 Love the LORD, all his saints!

The LORD preserves the faithful,

but the proud he pays back in full.

24 Be strong and take heart,

all you who hope in the LORD.

Verse 19 "How great is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you" filled me with doubts and fear. Doubts of whether I have the fear in the Lord and fear of how come I do not know what fear in the Lord means?!?! Ppl are always saying u must have fear in the Lord but what is that?! I don understand. Thn because I do not know what is fear in the Lord, how am I gonna have His goodness? Lord, my prayer is that You teach me what it is to have fear in you. Slowly reveal your answer and really let me have the fear in you.

Verse 21 He showed His wonderful Love to me. Yup He definitely did. Blessings over blessings that he had blessed me with. Most importantly the blessing of LOVE. How do one know that Jesus loves him/her? To me, it is thru His blessings and what is happening around me. I have a strong family. My parents cared for me, saved money and planned for my studies. Even when it is a small matter such as cutting hair or going to the doc, my mum would accompany me. I have great cousins as well. Gatherings here and there. I have great ppl around me too, in church, ARC, and frens not forgetting Lurvin. They have encouraged and helped me so much. These are really God send ppl into my life or else I wouldn't have such a fufilling life! I marvel at the great moments of my life that I had went through from overseas trips, chalets, birthday parties, outings, gatherings and also times that the Lord has touched me.

All I can say is Thank God for His Love!

psalm 28

ok.. I nearly forgot my password! hahaha.. luckily still managed to rem. During sunday's service siokyit came leh!! On sat night, I was looking thru my hp pictures thn I stopped at this pic.


I dono why, but i just stopped there. Had a very strong prompting to pray for siokyit to come back to God. Budden I thought that it'll be difficult for it to happen and my mindset was "aiya wont come back one lah, pray for wad?!" So i din pray lo.

paraphrased from "Battlefied of the Mind"
~If we know in our Spirit that doing the thing is correct,
we should not allow reasoning to talk us into NOT doing it~

Such faithless thought!!

BUTBUT!! siokyit came for service leh. wa lao was super stun when i recalled God's prompting for me to pray for her. Indeed, God is always faithful even thou when one is faithless. I'm sure siokyit is touched by God's grace!

Psalm 28

1 To you I call, O LORD my Rock;

do not turn a deaf ear to me.

For if you remain silent,

I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.

2 Hear my cry for mercy

as I call to you for help,

as I lift up my hands

toward your Most Holy Place.

3 Do not drag me away with the wicked,

with those who do evil,

who speak cordially with their neighbors

but harbor malice in their hearts.

4 Repay them for their deeds

and for their evil work;

repay them for what their hands have done

and bring back upon them what they deserve.

5 Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD

and what his hands have done,

he will tear them down

and never build them up again.

6 Praise be to the LORD,

for he has heard my cry for mercy.

7 The LORD is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.

My heart leaps for joy

and I will give thanks to him in song.

8 The LORD is the strength of his people,

a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.

9 Save your people and bless your inheritance;

be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Today is psalm 28. to me it is a psalm of plea and a psalm of praise.

My prayer.
Lord, I pray that u hear my heart's desires to be sensitive to ur voice so that Lord I can hear loud and clear of what u want to tell me or to want me to do. Not only that, I pray for COURAGE to do the things that u tell me because, Lord, I'm sure these things are not out of the ordinary but from the extra-ordinary. Father, I thirst for dreams of u. Dreams like the first one that I had when I first knew u.

Lord, my covenant with u during the first dream still holds and I will remember it even thou there are many obstacles and challenges to come.

"The LORD is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.
My heart leaps for joy
and I will give thanks to him in song."

No matter what happens, I'll never pang sei u.

Psalm 25

I will start puting my psalms devotions here. Cos if i don, I will just read the psalm of the day and NOT ponder, reflect and seek God on it. So here it goes. Will start with today's psalm.

Psalm 25

4 Show me your ways, O Lord,

teach me your paths:

5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my Savior,

and my hope is in you all day long.

First of all, this 2 verses spoke to me quite abit. There were lotsa times when I asked God to show me the career path that I need to take. After grad from NP I wanted to get into MOE for the post Special Needs Officer (SNO). Did not know God thn so wasn't praying abt it. Hohoho.. did not get in. Very soon I gotta know God and my first few prayers were to find a job that i like.

First there is Savaskool. Learnt alot there, really alot. Games and dances for children. thn kinda kenna sacked. Quite sad, budden turned out the employers were quite indecent in some ways.

Thn i went to Justkids (childcare centre). Taught the kids all that I have learnt in Savaskool. Was a total fun with them. Learnt some leadership and interaction skills. Because of Justkids oso gotta know Lurvin (principal) and Oscar (kid with autism who draw me back to become SNO). After I quit thn me and lurvin chatted quite alot and we shared alota things such as how we know God, how she touched her family members, and I grow deep in the Lord partly through her. She's been a big blessing to me! Really thank God for her.

So now here I am being an SNO all over again. This time i prayed super hard. hahahah.. So I got in after all the beating around the bush. But looking back, I'm absolutely sure that God has really guide me to experience and learn alot during these times. Ultimately, God showed me His ways teach me more about him.

I'll continue to praise the LORD!