Heaven

Revelation 21:1-4

The i saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth has passed away, and the sea was no more. And i saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning or crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passes away."


I guess i always feel happy and contented(?) when i read the verse about God wiping away every tears from the eyes of His people...

maybe it's coz i've been a crybaby since young.. i really love the image of God wiping tears from our eyes.. and i remember another verse in

Psalm 56:8

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?

yups.. i remember that Bixia shared this with me before.. that whenever she feels sad.. or cries.. she remembers that every tear that she shed.. God knows..

i wonder if i will post this up on my blog eventually.. i never really like to put personal thoughts onto my blog...

but i just wanna share with people who have yet to know God.. that He is so amazing.. and so loving..

suddenly recall the song that we sang during morning worship on Sunday.. remembered this line where it says that "God's heart is breaking.."... His heart is breaking coz His created beings have chosen to turn away from Him...

I was quite affected that morning when Pei xin shared with me about a friend who believes in evolution... i was quite angry even...

though i cannot claim to know alot about evolution... but to me.. the evidence for it just doesn't add up... the loopholes on carbon dating... the absence of fossil records of creatures in midway of evolving from ape to man.. the odds of having a mutation that will be passed on to the progeny... the odds of all the right conditions for life on Earth coming about coz of a random Big Bang... people believe in it because they refuse to acknowledge the existence of a higher being... and i suddenly felt that for people who have the opportunity to learn so much about God's creation and see how His hands are upon creation... to deny His existence is foolishness.....

Jesus' sympathy

Hebrews 4:14-16

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Christ has entered into our world; He has participated in our suffering. He walked our planet, ate our food, drank our water, and felt our pain. Whatever we may be experiencing today, we can know with confidence thta Jesus experienced all that and more. God has entered into our suffering world.

Are we in physical pain? Let us remember His burning thirst. Has our dignity been assaulted? He was crucified naked. Do we feel as if we are in darkness? So was He. Do we feel forsaken? He was forsaken by the Father.


Just a short excerpt from today's devotion... :)

First love

Posted this on the blog that i shared with my two disciples.. also my QT reflections .. so thought i'll post it here also...

Revelations 2:4

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first

I wondered again.. what does this first love mean? What is this first love that Jesus was referring to...?

" To paraphrase Christ's advice to the Ephesian church in Revelation 2, He says, "Renew your devotion to Me. Go back to the first works. You have left your first love. Renew your earlier devotion to Me."

Devotion is the sense in which the word "love" (agape) is being used. Devotion literally means "to vow completely." Baptism is the outward show that one has vowed to give his life to God, and so "devotion" implies complete dedication, total surrender. This hints at the Ephesians' problem: Their devotion—their complete dedication—was slipping away.

Devotion is a deep and ardent affection, a feeling. Its synonym are "attentiveness," "dedication," "commitment," "earnestness," but all with a feeling of affection. Devotion is not given out of a sense of obligation only, but with a warm feeling or a passionate desire. Jesus' charge to the Ephesians to return to their earlier devotion is not something that He is asking to be done merely as a duty. Some antonyms of "devotion" can help us see it from another angle: indifference, negligent, unconcerned, disregard, infidelity, and faithlessness."

Once again, i've been reminded that the Christian walk is not an easy one.. it seems so easy to fall.. so easy to stumble.. so easy to fall away...

That's why it's so important and crucial for us to renew our minds.. to renew our strength.. through prayer.. through reading God's word.. through communicating with God... so so so important...

It isn't enough to live a life of good moral.... because the Ephesus Church did that.. they followed the law.. they were fervent.. they flushed out false teachings and false prophets.. but Rev 2:4 tells us that Jesus had this charge against them.. that they had abandoned their first love...

Those words that i highlighted and bold.. let's examine ourselves.. are we guilty of any of these? I'm cannot say that i'm above all these.. because i am not.. i myself struggle to understand still what it means to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.. i'm still learning.. so let's continue to pray for one another ok..? that we'll together love God and others .. because it is His greatest commandment...

Mark 12:29-31

.."The most important is, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength". The second is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."