A Passion For Thee

Set my heart, O dear Father, On Thee and Thee only

Give me a thirst for Thy presence divince.

Lord, keep my focus on loving Thee wholly,

Purge me from earth; Turn my heart after Thine.

A passion for Thee; O Lord, set a fire in my soul, and a thirst for my God.

Hear Thou my prayer, Lord Thy power impart.

Not just to serve, but to love Thee with all of my heart.

Father, fill with Thy Spirit, and fit me for service.

Let love for Christ every motive inspire.

Teach me to follow in selfless submission.

Be Thou my joy and my soul's one desire

-Joe Zichterman-

Pride, what does the Bible say?

Two incidents happened in my life that I witnessed and experienced how “pride” caused a person’s life upside down and hurt the people around them. I was saddened and hurt by the incidents. Pride has kept them from admitting their sin and acknowledging that in our own strength we cannot do anything by ourselves, but thru the Lord Jesus Christ. They are blind by their own pride that they refused to acknowledge Jesus Christ’s answer as the solution and to humble themselves before God.

Pride is all about “me”,”myself”, “I”. Look at the word “Pride” is centered upon an “I”, so is sin, itself is also centered upon “I”.

There are various forms of “Pride”:

A. Self-admiration - "Look at me!

"B. Self-aggrandizement - "Don't I look good/great?"

C. Self-attention - "Listen to me!"

D. Self-justification - "I am right!"

E. Self-sufficiency - "I can do it!"

F. Self-aspiration - "Let me win!"

G. Self-seeking - "Give me mine!

"H. Self-exaltation - "Praise me!”

Unfortunately the two incidents happened were all centered upon the various form of pride mentioned above. Thru these incidents, I began to look seriously at pride and was caution that I shall not follow the footsteps of pride.

What does the Bible say about pride?

Proverb 28:25 – “He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strike…”

Proverb 11:2 – “When pride cometh, then cometh shame…”

Proverb 16:18 – Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverb 29:23 – A man’s pride shall bring him low…”

Proverb 6:17 – A proud look…

Proverb 16: 5 – Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

Proverb 21:4 – An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.

Proverb 8:13 – The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the forward mouth, do I hate.

In the bible, God has given us the story of King Nebuchadnezzar. How He hates pride and He truly destroyed anyone with pride. He has also given us this story so that we will learn and not let it happened to ourselves.

Nebuchadnezzar did not acknowledge God for what He had given him the throne upon which he sat. Instead he gave himself credit for his success.

In Daniel 4:30, King Nebuchadnezzar looked out across the great city of Babylon and said in his pride,

“Is not his great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honour of my majesty?

Noticed the “I” and “my” in his word. He has not acknowledged the achievement to God, instead to himself.

While the words were still in his mouth, a voice from heaven saying.

“O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; the kingdom is departed from thee.” (Daniel 4:31)

“And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will (Daniel 4:32)

In Daniel 4:33, The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar…”

Before King Nebuchadnezzar could finish his word, God’s judgment was caste immediately upon the king. We could see how serious God take pride as is it.

Leviticus 26: 18-21 – “And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. And if ye walk contrary unto me, and I will bring seven times more plagues upon according to your sins.

In the above verse, the punishment is seven times more than your sin. It frightens me to know the punishment they will get. In Daniel 4:34-37, we read that Nebuchadnezzar was later given the opportunity to repent and upon doing so he was given back his kingdom by God’s grace. It show that God still give chances to those who repent and humble themselves before God. Will the person that I know humble himself? I do not know the answer. They are now too deep into their sin that they are blind to see, to listen and to acknowledge their sin. They kept fighting for their own right and doing their own way. I wonder what message God is going to give them so that they will acknowledge their sin.

(Daniel 5:18-30) We came to learn about Belshazzar, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. He was so arrogant and foolish as to deliberately insult and provoke the God of Universe (Daniel 5:3-5) that he has not humbled his heart although he knew all this, and he has lifted himself up against the Lord of heaven. The result of it, at that very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain.

Belshazzar suppose to learn the mistake from his grandfather, but he fail to do so. Is God warning us that He will not spare one who do know the answer, yet make the mistake?

Till todate, the person are still in sin and I can only pray that the day will come soon that they will humble themselves in front of God and listen to God’s instruction rather than man’s instruction.

Perfect Peace

When life's burdens get so heavy and it seems in all alone.

I cast my care on Jesus and come boldly to His throne.

I find His grace sufficient when His promises I heed.

For His very life He sactificed, and He lives to interceded.

He is the Lord of Lords and when He speaks winds and waves obey.

When Jesus whispers "Peace, be still" then darkness turns to day.

And as I'm trusting in my Savior's Word doubts and fears all cease.

And beneath the shelter of His wings I'm at rest in perfect peace.

I will seek for souls in darkness, Calvry's love with them to share.

Empowered by His Spirit I will follow anywhere;

For I know whate'er behall me my Lord is in control,

And as my mind is stayed on Him perfect peace He gives my soul.

He is the Lord of Lords and when He speaks winds and waves obey.

When Jesus whispers "Peace, be still" then darkness turns to day.

And as I'm trusting in my Savior's Word doubts and fears all cease.

And beneath the shelter of His wings I'm at rest in perfect peace.

@@Joe Zichterman@@

A song that I always remember when life's burdens get heavy and I am alone.

God's word comfort me the lonely and heavy soul.

Cherish the moment

Hi Pastor Poelman, I will miss you and your smile! May the Lord take good care of your health. Hello! Mom Elaine, I am really going to miss your cooking very much. I love the time spent cooking with you. You are a super great cook! By the way, I realised that you do not wear your spectacle when you cook. Hmm... is that one of the secrets for being a good cook?

Thanks to both of you for your encouragement and time spent with me. I am really going to miss both of you. But I know that nothing beats better than your own home and I hope both of you have a great rest and warm back at home. Love you both!

The two greatest detours - FAILURE (part 2/2)

In life, failure is normal, more important is to learn to fail forward. The only person who avoids failure altogether is the person who never leaves her driveway. The issues is not whether we are going to fail, but whether we are going to fail successfully, which mean profiting from our failure, or allow failure to send us a permanent detour.

People are often so afraid of failure and spend their whole lives avoiding risks or decisions that could lead to failure. But they failed to realise that success is based on their ability to fail and continue trying. When we have the right attitude, failure is neither fatal nor final. Depending on our attitude toward it, failure can either bog us down or help us along on our journey.

Train ourself to think that failure as mileage markers. Each time we fail, we know that we've traveled another mile farther on the road to our potential. The founder of Honda Motors, Soichino Honda shared that "Many people dream of success. To me success can be achieved only through repeated failure and introspection".

Henry Ford said, "Failure is the opporunity to begin again more intelligently." When we fall, the best way is to get up and get back to our feet. Learn what we can from our mistake and then get back in the game. Some peopl measure success according to how little failure they find, which is not right. Most successes failed many time before they succeeded. The important is each time we failed, we examine our progress, learn from it and move forward. Stay put at one place will never help us to move forward. We need to decide whether we are going to fail backward or forward, that is the real question one should ask.

The two greatest detours - FEAR (part 1/2)

In life the two great detours people face are fear and failure. All people experience fear and it's a part of life. If we allow fear to control our lives, it can be a hindrance and caused permanent damage to our life. Fear also causes procrastination. It divides our focus and weakens us. It can even make us feel isolated.

So how do we deal with fear? John C. Maxwell suggested three choices. First, you can try to avoid it altogether, which mean you stay away from every known or potential situation or person. In another word, you will avoid anything, any person you deem fear. A second way is to hope that it will go away which just like hoping some fairy godmother will come and rescue you. The third way is to deal with fear and which mean face it and overcome it.

John C. Maxwell shared a story he heard of a wife who always fear that the burglar will enter to her house and every night in the mid of sleep, she will wake her husband up, saying "Burt, wake up. I hear a burglar downstairs. Burt, wake up!" One night, a burglar entered in the house and her husband did what the burglar said. Before the burglar left, the husband said, "Wait. Before you go, could you go up and meet my wife? She has been expecting you every night for more than thirty years."

If we allowed our life to be detoured by fear, may be it is time we should examine ourself and think what is that generating our fears. If our fear is due to the past incidents, try to move beyond it. There is no point staying in the past and remain fearful. If we are worrying about petty things, remind ourself what is important to us.

It is important that we acknowledge that we are fearful and keep moving forward, rather than stay put at one position and not moving or worst, moving backward. Geroge S. Patton shared that "The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That's the time to listen to every fear you can image. When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all of your fears and go ahead!"

We need to accept fear as the price of progress. Any time we try to move forward into new territory on the success journey, there is a chance that we will fail. However who will never faced fear and the most important is to conquer the fear.

Focus on things you can control. We need to know that what happens in us is more important than what happens to us. We can control our attitudes as we travel on the journey but we have no control over the actions of others. We can choose what to put on our calendar but we cannot control today's circumstances. Quite a number of times, the fear and stress that people experience in life is from things they cannot control, so do not let that happen to you.

We either feed our fears or we starve them. It mean if we continually feed our fears, it will dominates our life. If we face it and conquer it, it will make us successful. The choice is on us.

The fall of King Saul - (part 3)

Saul’s impatience has led him to disobey God and by this time, all the connection between Saul and his God has been severed. The Holy Spirit has removed His hand of blessing from the unhappy king.

Saul began to rely on his own strength to make decision and thought he was acting spiritual, but he was only acting. We can read in 1 Samuel 14:24, Saul made a foolish oath that he thought he was right and it has almost killed his own son, Jonathan.

“…Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.”

Here the soldiers were fighting their heart out, claiming the strength of God to scatter enemy, and Saul was dreaming up oaths and curses that God never demanded. The oath was unreasonable too.

Jonathan hadn’t heard about the oath. He ate some honeycomb and his eyes were enlightened. Saul knew about it and that evening, Saul was ready to execute his own son for violating his foolish, arbitrary oath against eating. However the citizen soldiers of Israel mounted on overwhelming protest against the actions of their king and rescued Jonathan from the murderous intentions of his father.

When a person began to disobey God, he will start to come up with his own ideas and thoughts that he thought it was an instruction from God when it actually was not.

One important thing we did not see in the bible that Saul ask for God’s forgiveness instead he justified for every sin he had done.

It is important that we always seek God’s instruction, listen to Him before we take any actions. Men tend to rush into decision and could not wait to listen when situation happened. We need to trust and obey God.

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His word,

What a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will He abides with us still,

And with all who will trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise

Not a cloud in the skies

But His smile quickly drives it away

Not a doubt nor a fear

Not a sigh nor a tear

Can abide while we trust and obey

Trust and obey,

For there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus

But to trust and obey.

The fall of King Saul - partial obedience (part 2)

God wants our total obedience to His command, but we know that sometimes it is not easy to obey everything God has commanded us.

"Why does He want me to do it, this is not what I want."

"Why is my prayer not answered?"

"God is not fair to me." etc etc

Before we go further, let us see how the road leading to impatience has made King Saul merge onto the broad highway of disobedience that led to his fall.

God has commended King Saul to wipe out Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15:3 "

"Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass."

But see what King Saul has done in 1 Samuel 15:8-9

"And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly."

They demolised everything, except they did not kill the King, they saved the best of the livestock, and they kept a few good things like gold and treasures. They dutifully burned and destroyed the rest of the junk of the land.

That night, God spoke to Samuel in 1 Samuel 15:11

"It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandements."

God did not take King Saul's partial obedience lightly, in fact God has take it that what Saul has done was rebellion.

I Samuel 15: 20, Saul defend his action:

"What? rebellion!"

"Isn't it too serious"

"I did obey God's command. Look, I spare the king and the best animals which we want to sacrifice to the Lord."

But what God say... "

...to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of the rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and sutbborneness is as iniquity and idolatry."

Like I said at the beginning, it is not easy to obey everything God has commanded us. I do not understand why He has led me this ways and not that ways.

"Why are my friends doing better than me? Why is he/she has it and I do not have it. I thought I have been an obedience child of God..." The thoughts went on and on...

As I recalled back, there is a purpose in everything He has told us to do. We might not understand then, but God know what we do not know. He is protecting us. He knows that He could easily give us what we want now, but it is not going to do us good later.

The most important thing is not to question "why" "how come", but to know that there is a purpose in everything He wants us to do.

"Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.

Doing exactly what the Lord commands.

Doing it happily.

Action is the key.

Do it immediately.

Joy you will receive.

Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.

O.B.E.D.I.E.N.C.E

Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe."

The fall of King Saul - impatience (part 1)

After read the book "Heart After God, Running with David". I began to understand how did a man like King Saul with such a brilliant future end up such a dark and hopeless back alley. It seem that it was a series of wrong turns, wrong choices, wrong responses and that have brought his life and his kingdom to ruin. Lets examine what were the causes of the fall and as we reflected in our life, are we like King Saul?

Impatience

I Samuel 13. Saul and his men were preparing for war against the Philistine army and when it was time to launch an offensive, Samuel the prophet has to offer a sacrifice before the battle. But Samuel has to be out of town at this moment and he has instructed King Saul to wait for him to get back in 7 days, then they will offer a sacrifice to the Lord and after that they'll go to war. Then the Lord will give them the victory.

Days after days passed. Everyone was nervous and the enemy was only on the other side of the hill and they did not see any sign of Samuel coming back. Come days 6, people began to walk out on Saul, heading back home and King Saul was becoming feverishly impatient. He wondered when will that old Samuel come back.

Finally on Day 7, King Saul could stand it no longer. He could not wait for Samuel to come back. In 1 Samuel 13:9, King Saul offer the sacrifices even though Samuel was the only one supposed to offer sacrifices. Just as King Saul was finishing, Samuel came and Samuel was furious. King Saul quickly justify his actions.

Listen how King Saul tried to justify his actions in 1 Samuel 13:11-12:

"Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Mich-mash; Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering."

Hear what Samuel said to King Saul, 1 Samuel 13:13-14

"And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee."

Impatience is an action that demonstrated by our hasty actions that we really do not believe our God is in loving control of every event which enters our lives. It is another word for unbelief. As a result of King Saul's impatience to wait for God's green light, King Saul leaped straight into disaster. Many of the times, we jump the gun and took matters into our own hands and failed to listen and wait for God's instruction, think about it, the sin of impatience could be our downfall.

We Thank Thee

We thank Thee for the morning light, For rest and Shelter through the night,

For health and food, For love and friends, For all Thy goodness ends.

Our God is great, our God is good, And we will thank Him as we should.

By great hand we all are fed; He gives our daily bread.

We thank Thee for the summer breeze. For song of birds, for shade of trees,

For stars that glitter in the sky, We thank Thee, Lord on high.

Praises I & II, Ron Hamilton, Shelly Hamilton

I thank God for the daily care He has given to me that I have no lack in my life.

Day by day I cast my trust unto Him that He will take care of everything in our life.

I wish all my friends who are reading this blog will have a blessed 2008 and let us trust Him with our whole heart, soul and mind.

A Child's Prayer

A mother I met told me that she saw her little boy sitting in a corner of the room, saying, "A-B-C-D-E-F-G..." "What are you doing?" she asked. "Mom, you told me I should pray, but I have never prayed in my life and I don't know how. So I gave God the whole alphabet and asked him to make a good prayer of it." Taken from Corrie Ten Boom from Clippings from my notebook

Christmas Isn't Christmas

Christmas isn't Christmas

Till it happens in your heart

Somewhere deep inside you

Is where Christmas really starts

So give your heart to Jesus

You'll discover when you do

That it's Christmas

Really Christmas for you.

Christmas is a day to celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ who came down to earth to die for our sin. It is suppose to be the day for believers celebrate His birth. Yet Christmas Day has became a commercial holiday. People, regardless they believe in Jesus or not, regardless of race and reglious, celebrated the Christmas Day together. You see people busy shopping, buying gifts, attending parties and Christmas meal. It is the best profit month for the retails. People are joyful to spend and take the effort and time to shop and select gifts for their love one. Sometimes, I just wonder they know that they are actually celebrating the birth of Christ on Christmas Day and not just a ordinary holiday?

Jesus brings warmth like a winter fire

A light like a candle's glow

He's waiting now to come inside

As He did so long ago

Jesus brings gifts of truth and life

And makes them bloom and grow

So, welcome Him with a song of joy

And when he comes you'll know.

I guess only the child of God will be able to experience the warm and joy Jesus has given. Truly the child of God will welcome Him with a song of joy and you know when he comes. It is not just an ordinary holiday to eat, party and exchange gift. It is a day to give thanks to God for giving up His son for our sin.

Righteouness - The book of Romans Chapter 12

The book of Romans was written by the Apostle Paul and some of the key verses I have identified are: (1) Rm 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; (2) Rm 12:14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. (3) Rm 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. (4) Rm 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. (5) Rm 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. The above 6 key points caught my attention at last Sunday during the service when Pastor was preaching the book of Romans chapter 13 (apology for not paying attention to your preaching, Pastor, when you were preaching Romans chapter 13 and I was pondering over Roman chapter 12). I recalled the time when I went through the crisis in my marriage. I was frighten, alone and hopeless, not knowing how to handle the situation by myself. Every single action and thought that I took just do not work out the way I want it. I could not feel the joy when I prayed to ask God to guide and help me, I was impatient while waiting for His guidance and answer to my prayer. I prayed aimlessly with all the purpose only wanting my prayer to be answered. I stopped listen to God and my life was totally destroyed. One day I took the step to sit down and listen to God. I prayed and handed all the wearies and thoughts to Him. I felt the peace and I decided to hand the marriage over to God to settle it for me. I could not handle it anymore. Right now, when I recalled back the situation, I can understand when God said "Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;". I went through the situation, hoping for miracle to happen, patient when situation turned out not what I want and pray every seconds and minutes. It was tough and I realised that I should not hold back anymore, but let God handle the situation. If back then, I have not let go this marriage, I guess my life now will be worst than then. We as a human nature will hate and curse our enemies. It is not easy to love your enemy, trust me. I was thinking that God must be crazy to teach me to "Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not." I could not love my enemy, in fact I should chose to hate him and I was thinking that I must be cracy not to hate my enemy. Now, when I recalled back, I understand why God said so. Believe me, it is not easy to curse your enemy, infact, it is easy to love your enemy. You will have to carry the thoughts of hate with you always, it hurt your health and kill your brain cells to have always the hurt. When I decided to pray for him, I realised that I am more happy and my thoughts are more healthy. Don't be overcome by the evil, but evil overcome good. It is not my duty to curse people, it is God's job. He has more power and strength then me to handle it. I have took the step to pray and ask God for His mercy and grace to him.