God knows...

It's the start of the new week, works are piling up, stress is building up full steam ahead...I learn one thing new this week, apart from looking away from our flesh to the complete work of the Christ on the cross, the Lord says He knows our stress...

Jesus is Himself. Not an angel. Not an ambassador. Not an emissary, but Jesus himself! Shared fully. Not partially. Not nearly. Not to a large degree. Entirely! Jesus shared fully. In all our experience. Every hurt. Each ache. All the stresses & all the strains. No exceptions. No substitutes. Why? So Jesus could sympathize with our weaknesses...

Jesus knows how you feel. From the wake to the factory to the frustration of a demanding schedule. Jesus understands. When you tell God you've reached your limit, He knows what you mean. When you shake your head at impossible deadlines, He shakes His, too. When your plans are interrupted by people who have other plans, He nods in empathy. He has been there. He knows how you feel...

Jesus knows how you feel. You're under the gun at work? Jesus knows how you feel. You've got more to do than is humanly possible? So did He. You've got children who makes a 'piranha hour' out of your dinner house? Jesus knows what that's like. People take more from you than they give? Jesus understands. Your teenagers won't listen? Your students won't try? Your employees give you blank stares when you assign tasks? Believe me, friend, Jesus knows how you feel...

The story of God who became human, sounds familiar? Jesus did! So that you & I would believe that the Healer knows our hurts, He voluntarily became one of us. He placed himself in our position. He suffered our pains & felt our fears...

Rejection? Jesus felt it. Temptation? Jesus knew it. Loneliness? Jesus experienced it. Death? He tasted it. And stress? He could write the best selling book about it! Why did He do it? One reason. So that when you hurt, you will go to Him - your Father & your Physician & let Him heal!

You are precious to Jesus. So precious that He became like you so that you would come to Him. When you struggle, Jesus listens. When you yearn, He responds. When you question, He hears them...Jesus battles with hell itself to protect you...

For in Luke 1:37 [Amplified Bible] it says, "For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment." Hang in there, Jesus knows...

Inspired By:

Max Lucado

And I will remember your sins no more...

And I will remember your sins no more...

Says Who? We have to repent! Confess our countless sins daily, why? To be holy? Fear of losing our salvation? Hebrews 8: 12 [NASB] written in the Bible says, “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.” Says Jesus, again in Hebrews 9:17 [NASB], “And their sins & their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”…

This is the New Covenant, we are redeemed not by the blood of goats & bulls but by the blood of Christ, Son of God, thus our sins are paid, yesterday, today & tomorrow Amen?! Seekers of popularity, power, & pleasure. The end result is the same: painful unfulfillment…

God doesn’t just forgive, he forgets. He erases the board. He destroys the evidence. He burns the mirco film. He clears the computer. He doesn’t remember our mistakes. For all the things He does do, this is one thing he refuses to do. He refuses to keep a list of our wrongs. When we ask for forgiveness He doesn’t pull out a clipboard & says, “But I’ve already forgiven you for that seven hundred & seventeen times.”…

“As far as east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 203:12 [NSAB] “Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool!” Isaiah 1:18 [TLB]

No, He doesn’t remember. But I do, you do. You still remember. You’re like me. You still remember what you did before you changed. In the cellar of your heart lurk the ghosts still linger of yesterday’s sins. Sins I’ve confessed; errors of which I’ve repented; damage I’ve done my best to repair…

And though I’m a different person, the ghosts still linger. Though I’ve locked the basement door, they still haunt me. They float to meet me, spooking my soul & robbing my joy. With wordless whispers they remind me of moments when I forgot whose child I were. That horrid lie. That jealousy. That Habit. That Date. The time I exploded in anger…

Do you think God sent that ghost? Do you think God is the voice that reminds me of my past? Do you think God was teasing when He said, “I will remember your sins no more?” To love conditionally is against Jesus nature. Just as it’s against our nature to eat trees & against mine to grow wings, it’s against Jesus nature to remember forgiven sins…

You see, Jesus is either the God of perfect grace…or He is not God Grace forgets. Period. He who is perfect love cannot hold grudges. If Jesus does, then He isn’t perfect love. And if Jesus isn’t perfect love, you might as well stop reading this blog and go kite flying, because both of us are chasing fairy tales…

But I believe in His loving forgetfulness. And I believe He has a graciously terrible memory. Think about this. If He didn’t forget, how could we pray? How could we sing to Jesus? How could we dare enter into His presence if the moment He saw us He remembered all our pitiful past? How could we enter His throne room wear the rags of our selfishness & gluttony? We couldn’t…

“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Galatians 3:27 [NASB] We have ‘put on’ Christ. When God looks at us He doesn’t see us; He see Christ! We ‘wear’ Jesus. We are hidden in Jesus; we are covered by Jesus…

Presumptuous, you say? Sacrilegious? It would be if it were my idea. But it isn’t; it’s Jesus. We are presumptuous not when we marvel at His grace, but when we reject it, And we’re sacrilegious not when we claim His forgiveness, but when we allow the haunting sins of yesterday to convince us that God forgives but He doesn’t forget...

Do yourself a favor. Purge your cellar. Exorcise your basement. Take the Roman nails of Calvary & board up the door. And remember…Father God forgot…

Inspired By:

Max Lucado

The Prodigal Son

A great testimony & encouragement wrote by Brother Chong. The loving kindness & mercy of Christ Jesus touches deep down in my Heart witnessing the truth that set us free! Gory to the Lord always:

To: Whoever in the same trial as me

During February this year, there was a lottery with the 1^st price of S$10 million, I prayed very hard for it hoping I could clear all my debts which were due to my poor management on finance & have the quality of life I wanted, I trust the Lord will give it to me.

When the results are announced, I didn’t win the first prize, I was really upset & felt betrayed by the Lord. I went through a few weeks of anger, frustration & hurt. I started calling God all kinds of names & calling Christian hypocrite & completely stop attending church. During those few weeks, I told myself I only believe in me & deny the existence of God, but there was warfare within me, I kept denying & the Holy Spirit kept prompting me. I nearly went insane when the Holy Spirit keep speaking to me, I started cursing & swearing out loud!

My brother in Christ, Godwyn contacted me now & then although I thought God have left me, He got Godwyn to talk to me, he knew what I was going through and gentlemanly step back and stop talking about God to me for those time, we went out together often & the strange thing was that I am the first to say something on God without knowing it, immediately after I said it, I denied my words & believed what I said was rubbish. However, brother Godwyn always says, once save, forever save, there is no way I can get out of God’s hand…

One day in march, I was resting on my chair at home, I heard a scratching sound beside me, I opened my eyes & I saw no one, I was quite scared as it was quite dark, I suddenly commanded any unclean things in my house to leave in Jesus name, as I was quite tired, I feel asleep quite immediate. Later, I told myself what’s this? Why should I called the name of Jesus? I think I was really insane…

About 2 weeks later, I was had severe toothache every night, the pain started first in the night & happen during the day as well. I used salt water to rinse my mouth the pain subsided for awhile but slowly the salt water lost it’s effect. I had to use ice cube to numb the nerves in my tooth as the pain was tremendous. It worked when the ice cube was in my mouth, but when it melted, the pain came back. In the evening my brother said he was going to the supermarket & asked me what I needed. Without any hesitation, I asked him to buy me a pack of ribena, meanwhile I still continued to suffer the pain...

When he came back, I still think what could ribena do while all failed, I never pray to God at all when I suffered the pain, miracle happened when I took the ribena, the first sip of ribena in my mouth led to the immediate lost of pain for my severe toothache. The pain had never came back since then…[Ribena is used to represent the blood of Jesus Christ, where I was taught the wonders of Holy Communion in our Church]

Early last month, I was feeling lost & wondered around the city. Before I realized where I was, I was standing outside the church, I didn’t know how I get there & I met a church brother who spent time talking to me & telling me God has never left me not forsake me even when I call him all kinds of names. After a few session with him [brother in Christ from the church], I found that how stupid I had behaved with all the negative thoughts of the Lord. I contacted brother Godwyn & told him I am going back to Church. One night while we fellowship at a food center, I told him the miracle healing of my toothache, He told me actually, I had taken communion, when I suffered the toothache, the Lord shows His goodness, mercy and loving kindness on me even I denied Him & cursed Him with all kinds of names…

Later that night, I was thinking how good our Father in Heaven is to me! He never fell off His mercy sit or send lighting to strike on me when I called Him all kinds of rubbish names. He does not look at me to judge me but to the one sitting on His right side, which is our Lord Jesus Christ…

Finally for those who have the same trial as me, The people of the World is going for the lottery win so that they can have the money which they thought could let them have the quality of life. Money is not evil but the love of money is evil, when you go after Jesus, all the blessings [finance, health, relationship etc] will come after you & bless you more than you can imagine. He who gets the son gets everything, God will never know what is enough & will give you boat sinking, net breaking load of fishes, just like what Jesus did for Peter…

So, just remember our Father God loves us more than we can love ourselves. No matter which profession or what you did, He loves you beyond your imagination. Jesus had paid for the consequence of sin of your entire life whether it is past, present or future.

Father God will run to you & hug you like what He had done to me...

The Prodigal Son - Chong