His Redeeming Grace

The Lord allows us to go through seasons where we thread on rocky grounds; we linger in dark places and things seem to go downhill and we spiral into chaos and despair.  Many great men and women of God had gone through the dark night of the soul.  Seemingly, God is silent; but the truth is glaring; He is with us in every season of our life.  At the mountain top, in deep and dark valley, in good and challenging times, in our joy and sorrow.  

Through all our experiences, the Lord brings people into our paths; the depressed, the disillusioned, the downcast, the disheveled, the disenfranchised, the powerless, the weak, the infirmed and the down and outs. These people have lost all hope of a future. When God allows us to minister to these people through our brokenness and weakness, He releases His fragrance and power and saturates every part of our being with His unfailing love. We are His redeemed people; we minister through the redeeming power and love of a God and His heart beats for the dying and the lost.

We Cry out to You

Our heart flows with gratitude to You, O Lord
Our song

Our strength

Our hope 

Our Redeemer

Our Maker

Our King

Our Everlasting God and Father

We cry out to You 

From the depth of our heart

We pour our heart 

To You, O Lord

As a pleasing sacrifice

Do a deep work in our life

Let the search light of Your Spirit shine on us

We cry out to You

Immanuel 

God with us

Lord, lead us deeper into Your presence

Deeper into Your heart

Deeper into Your delight

Deeper into Your purpose

For our sole desire is to love You

To please You

And to follow hard after You

All the days of our lives

We bow in humble adoration

In loving submission

We lay everything

Every part of us on the altar

As a willing sacrifice

To our eternal God and King

Francis Encounters a Leper

"One day, while he was praying enthusiastically to the Lord, Francis received this response: “Francis, everything you loved carnally and desired to have, you must despise and hate, if you wish to know my will. Because once you begin doing this, what before seemed delightful and sweet will be unbearable and bitter; and what before made you shudder will offer you great sweetness and enormous delight.”

He was overjoyed at this and was comforted by the Lord. One day he was riding his horse near Assisi, when he met a leper. And, even though he usually shuddered at lepers, he made himself dismount, and gave him a coin, kissing his hand as he did so. After he accepted a kiss of peace from him, Francis remounted and continued on his way. He then began to consider himself less and less, until, by God’s grace, he came to complete victory over himself.

After a few days, he moved to a hospice of lepers, taking with him a large sum of money. Calling them all together, as he kissed the hand of each, he gave them alms. When he left there, what before had been bitter, that is, to see and touch lepers, was turned into sweetness. For, as he said, the sight of lepers was so bitter to him, that he refused not only to look at them, but even to approach their dwellings. If he happened to come near their houses or to see them, even though he was moved by piety to give them alms through an intermediary, he always turned away his face and held his nose. With the help of God’s grace, he became such a servant and friend of the lepers, that, as he testified in his Testament, he stayed among them and served them with humility."

http://www.custodia.org/default.asp?id=1445

The clouds are bursting through the blue sky this sunny Saturday morning.  This day as Singapore celebrates her National Day.  Our hearts are overwhelmed by the rich blessings God has poured on us.  We continue to pray for God's provision, protection and favour to rest on this tiny Red Dot.  That He will bless us to be a blessing to other nations.

I will leave you with a blog posting by Pastor Kenny Chee.
http://www.blogpastor.net/2014/08/ten-reasons-to-feel-blessed-on-national-day

"I do not have 10,000 reasons to feel blessed to be a Singaporean. However, I can certainly come up with 10 reasons to be thankful about being a Singaporean.  I am sure all of you can too. Here are my ten reasons:

We are able to practice our faith without fear.
There is law and order and it is safe to walk the streets even after 10pm.
We have varied paths in our education system for developing different talents.
We have jobs in relative abundance.
We have homes that we own.
A clean and capable government.
Peace with neighbouring countries.
The country is well organized and things run efficiently.
There is a growing increasingly vocal and active citizenry.
A good standard of medical care is available.
What are your 10 blessings of being a Singaporean?"

My Sheep Hears My Voice

The ears of the sheep are inclined to the voice of the shepherd. The sheep immediately respond to the call of the shepherd from a distance. In the midst of many possible noises in the field, the sheep easily picked up the shepherd's voice and moved towards Him in eager expectation and joy.

We as sheep of the great shepherd likewise hear the shepherd's voice distinctly. When God speaks to us, we know that He has spoken because we recognize His voice. As we respond to Him, He sensitizes our heart and spirit to respond to Him in faith.

The Fire of Affliction

In the fire of affliction

The fainthearted cries out

In the fire of affliction

We are utterly vulnerable

In the fire of affliction

We feel the pain and anguish

But not for long

For the Lord is with us in the fire

He conquers us with His love

He hides us in the shadow of His wings

In the fire of affliction

We emerge stronger

Brighter
Bolder

More radiant than we had ever been

In the fire of affliction

The Lord shows us His undying hope

His Abiding presence

And His persevering love

For our God reigns supreme

He reigns sovereign

He reigns eternal