Awesome Meeting!

Had a great time last Sunday at magic club meeting! Click HERE to know what was the hype =D

.

Philip.

Does sharing your faith rank top on your list of desired activities? Don’t feel alone. Most Christians would rather do everything else than to tell people about Jesus Christ. Often the excuse would be “I am not good in doing it.” Or “I do not know the Bible much.” Or “I am too shy. No one will listen to me.” And the list of excuses goes on.

If you are interested in learning a few pointers on how you could share your faith, read on. If you do not bother to share Jesus, go to another more “interesting” blog.

Tucked away in the book of Acts chapter 8 is a man who shared the Gospel in such simplicity yet full of richness. This man was Philip.

There was a great persecution against the church in Acts 8 and we see that the believers were scattered to various places. However, they preached the Gospel where ever they went. This shows how passionate the early believers were. One of the believers that was scattered was Philip. Interestingly, Philip was the only one mentioned in the Bible among the many others. Let us see why.


Philip had Sensitivity

An angel commanded Philip to rise and go to a certain road leading to Gaza. Immediately he started out on that journey. There was no hesitancy and doubt. He was sensitive to the voice of God. He neither bargained with the angel nor complained about going to a deserted area.


Philip had Availability

Once he was at the road, there was a chariot carrying an eunuch who was reading the scripture of Isaiah. The Spirit told Philip to go to the chariot and stay near it. Philip was available. He did not say, “Wait, I will go later. I have something to do now.”


Philip had Initiative

As he approached the chariot he heard the eunuch reading from the scripture. Philip asked the eunuch, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
This was a simple yet thoughtful question. He took the initiative in the conversation, setting a tone that didn’t try to impress or insult. He just asked a question. A simple question is sometimes all that is needed to get someone into a topic on spirituality which will slowly lead you to share the Gospel.


Philip had Tactfulness

The Gospel of Jesus isn’t a box of chocolates. Not everyone who gets a taste will say, “That’s nice, could I have more?” The message will offend many because it simply makes a clear distinction between right and wrong.
The eunuch responded to Philip’s question asking, “Well, how could I understand, unless someone guides me?”
The eunuch invited Philip into the chariot and the eunuch asked him more questions.

Philip asked a question, waited for an answer. He listened, he was attentive, he waited for an answer and he waited to be invited into the chariot. He did not push the eunuch and he did not start forcing the Gospel unto the eunuch.


Philip had Precision

Philip began with the passage of Scripture and told him the very good news about Jesus. (verse 35)
He did not debate with the eunuch about religious issues. He did not bad-mouth the synagogues and he did not condemn the eunuch for serving a pagan government. All he did was simply sharing Christ, the foundation of the Gospel.
When engaged with such conversations, people might run away from the Gospel. This is because they may have bad experiences with Christians before. They may have been hurt before. They may be hardened towards the Gospel. However, we must keep it precise and simple, to share the death and resurrection of Christ.


Philip had Decisiveness

After sharing with the eunuch, the eunuch wanted to be baptized. Philip told the eunuch that he may be baptized if he believes in Jesus. The eunuch believed and was baptized.
Note that Philip did not persuade the eunuch to believe in Jesus. He did not pressure the eunuch to be baptized as well. He wanted the eunuch to make his own decision. Philip did not make it for him.
Like Philip we must not shove the Gospel down one’s throat and force someone to pray the Salvation Prayer right after we have shared with them. This is not the right thing to do. It is only our job to share our faith and then let the Holy Spirit do the work. Then we follow up on that person but never force someone to believe in Jesus.

The eunuch went on his way rejoicing (verse39)

These are just pointers to help and guide you. Above all else, if you claim to love God, you will ask for a passion for the lost. And once you get this passion, you will automatically know what you need to do.

Luke 10:2
The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

.

Our 60 Earth Hour

John 1:5
The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it.



Are you switching off your light tonight in conjuction with the Earth Hour movement?
The world comes into a decision to switch off all lights in a bid to save the earth.



Do they not know that the earth is in need of light?
Do you know?
If yes, then what are you doing?


.

Hidup Melayu?

With one voice: Delegates shouting ‘Hidup Melayu’ with Umno’s top leaders during the opening of the joint assemblies on Tuesday.






There was a long article in the newspapers about the Umno's joint assemblies with the Wanita, Pemuda and Puteri divisions. Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak gave a long speech encouraging them all to rise above the current storms and come back stronger. They credited the growth of Malaysia to Umno and spoke highly of how Umno has been the backbone of this country all these years.

What disturbed me was at the shouting of 'Hidup Melayu' at the opening.

Does that mean 'Mati Cina', 'Mati India', 'Mati Lain-lain' ?

How can leaders of this country shout such a thing? Does this not ring a threat to the other races in Malaysia?

Why so racist? Hmm... I wonder do the other races do such a thing at their gatherings and meetings and conventions. Maybe some do.

But certainly not us CHRISTIANS. We do not acknowledge such racist slogans and words of encouragement.

.

Break My Heart For What Breaks Yours

Break my heart for what breaks Yours…
Everything I am for Your kingdom cause…

Above are the lyrics to the song “Hosanna”. It definitely rang clear in my ears last Sunday when I was at Kuala Lumpur for the Feeding The Poor Program.





Around 20 plus of us from Klang Young Adult Fellowship made a trip down to Grace Assembly Kuala Lumpur to attend their morning service, giving them support as well. Then in the afternoon around 1pm we went to the kitchen to prepare the food to feed the poor people from the streets of Kuala Lumpur. We were cramped into that small kitchen, preparing hundreds of packets of Nescafe+Milo drinks and also packing hundreds of food into Styrofoam boxes.

At 3pm, the church hall was turned into a free clinic for the poor. An elderly doctor came in and went to the small room-cum-clinic and then a registration table was set up outside the room. Then patients started pouring in. At first there were only about 10 patients, then as time passed, more and more came and soon the hall was filled with about 30 patients. All of them wore rugged clothing except for a few who were neatly dressed. Most of them were old people and some of them carried luggage bags with them. My guess was that all their life’s belongings were in it. There wasn’t a splendid smell though; the hall was kind of stinky. I can’t blame them, most, if not all, of them were from the streets and I bet they do not have the luxury to bathe even once a day.

Jeffrey Williams was one nice guy. He was the first to make the move to go and talk to these people. I saw him chatting with a Chinese man for quite some time. I stood and observed the people walking in and out and saw their behavior and took pity on them. Then I decided to do what Jesus would do. I walked towards a patient and started chatting with him and getting to know him. I regretted that my Mandarin language wasn’t that good so most of the time I could not understand what my Chinese friend was talking. However I managed to speak to 4 of them and prayed with them together with Jeffrey. Could remember three of their names; Ah Kong, Ah Yang and Ah Meng. Funny how Chinese like to call themselves “Ah something” hehe. They were nice people and I felt nice talking to them and hearing them talk about their street life.

One of them told me that he did not like how the Buddhist Temples treated him. He told me of his experiences where once a temple rejected him because he was poor and he did not have any money to buy joss stick to pray. This is true. Last time when I go overseas, I see that when we visit a temple and when we want to pray, we need to buy joss stick from the monk and pray. And the joss sticks cost quite a lot. Then he told me that he was thankful that the Church is doing such a favor for people like him.

He also told me that he knows that a lot of his friends would have ended their lives if the Church did not do this little thing to feed the poor and provide free medical to them.
Another man told me that he was robbed three weeks ago and got slashed in the arm. The free clinic gave him stitches and medicine. He also said he thanked Jesus for helping him so much. He even preached to me saying, “Jesus gave us two roads, one that leads to darkness and one to light. We must choose the light.” This man was an elderly man sleeping out in the streets.

Another man came up to Jeffrey and me and asked us to pray for him. Jeff prayed in Malay and then I continued in Mandarin. I could only prayed a little because my Mandarin vocabulary wasn’t good. However he was glad that we took time to pray with him. I also had the privilege to share my testimony to two of them and told them how much Jesus has helped me.

5pm came the time for us to go downstairs. When I went down I was shocked to see the number of people gathered there. All of them wore dirty clothing and they looked very unclean. The answer was obvious. These were people most of us regard as “sampah masyarakat” or “good for nothing people”. But I tell you something, Jesus loves them too. Just like how He loves you.

So sad to see an elderly Malay woman asking for another piece of banana when all we could give was only one for each person. So sad to see her walking away with a sad but thankful face. So sad to see elderly man and woman sitting down by the streets to eat their free meal consisting of a packet of rice with chicken and vegetables, a packet of drink and one piece of banana.

My heart broke when I saw this old lady hungrily chowing down on her meal by the roadside. She could be a grandmother by now. I wonder what happened when she was young. I bet you that she had dreams to have a family. I bet you that she had hopes to become successful in life and I bet you she did not dream to be in this kind of situation today. But… what happened? I do not know.

I wonder what was in their minds when they queued up to collect their free meal and their free clothing. Were they thinking, “Oh, how hopeless am I. How useless. I am a 40 year old man, but I am lining up here to collect free meals and clothes from youths half my age.” Don’t you think they feel humiliated and low? I bet some of them do, maybe all of them do.

Sigh. How I wish I could do more. How I wish I weren’t just stand there and taking pity on them without being able to help them one little bit.

Should I feel thankful for my life? Should I? I don’t think feeling thankful is what I should feel. I should be broken!

If every Christian would have meant what they sang in the song Hossana, “Break my heart for what breaks Yours. Everything I am for Your kingdom cause…” then I believe more will come to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Would we lay down our lives for kingdom cause? Who wants to work with these people in the streets and help them? Who would? Not many.

Would you?

What breaks God’s heart is to see his people suffering. To see his people living luxurious lives not giving a damn bit about a higher calling in their lives. What breaks the heart of God is when his children do not have a heart for the lost souls and instead putting self-indulgence as the center of their lives.

2 Thessalonians 3:5
May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.



Jeffrey Williams i fourth from the left.

The people getting their food.

Free clothes for them.

This old lady moved me. So sad.

The joy of getting a little blessing.

What is he carrying? It is more than a discarded piece of card board. It is his bed. I can't help then but to wonder where is his home...

What more could we do? Can we continue doing this until the end of days? Should we? What do you think?

The Watchmen

The comic-based movie Watchmen is one movie not for the action-seeking, Spiderman and Superman fans. And it is definitely not for kids! Some kids may be bugging their parents to bring them to the movie but I warn you that they will be disappointed. Among some of the reasons are, the movie is too deep for the understanding of a child, and there is too much sexual scenes, especially showing the nudity of the male frontal parts by the revered Dr. Manhattan.










This movie is for those who listen intently throughout the movie. If you go there to criticize the nonsense in that movie, you will be disappointed. As I was watching the movie last night I did not understand what was happening (as most western films nowadays are) until the end. And there was a twist at the end.

Read no further unless you plan to watch the movie.

The whole story revolves around The Watchmen taking up the responsibilities to save the world and to make it a better place. The setting was such; America is at the brink of a nuclear war with Russia. Russia has a huge number of nuclear warheads ready to be fed to America. If 99% of the warheads could be stopped, the 1% that is left out can destroy the world as well. America’s only hope was in the god-like being Dr. Manhattan, who became who he is because of a nuclear accident years ago. He is so powerful that people revered him as a god.

To cut the story short, Adrian aka Ozymandias was one of the smartest man on earth and he came up with a devious plan to end the world war and to create peace. But in order to do so, a lot of things have to be sacrificed, including the lives of millions of New-Yorkers.

Adrian, in the beginning, has already mastered the whole plan. He tricked Dr. Manhattan into creating for him a nuclear reactor that can provide free energy to the world. He planned the murder of The Comedian as well as the failed assassination of himself. He also carefully and smartly hurt Dr. Manhattan and made him exile to Mars so that Adrian has time to carry out his plan. Towards the end of the movie we see that Adrian released the nuclear energy to destroy New York and killed millions of people. The attack was made to be seen as tough it was Dr. Manhattan who did it.

Just about the time where we were going to judge Adrian for his wrong and mass murder, we saw something shocking. On international television, president of America, Richard Nixon, was declaring that America is not working hands in hands with Russia and the whole world to fight the new enemy of the world – Dr. Manhattan. Richard Nixon said that America and Russia has put away their past affairs and hatred and now are willing to work together. When I saw that part of the movie, everything started to come into place.

Ozymandias had to kill The Comedian because The Comedian might destroy his plan.
Ozymandias had to toxic Dr. Manhattan’s close friends with cancerous gas so that America would blame Dr. Manhattan for “killing” his own friends. And this will grieve Dr. Manhattan enough to leave the world and do not care about it anymore. (so that Adrian’s plans can succeed without interference from Dr. Manhattan)
Ozymandias had to kill his co-workers because he did not want to risk them revealing the plan to the world.
Ozymandias had to destroy New York City with millions of people in it so that America and Russia would come together peacefully to fight the “new enemy”.
If Ozymandias did not do all these things, America would have been destroyed by Russia's nuclear warheads.

The Watchmen have to sacrifice their lives for a higher purpose, a higher call. One of the Watchmen, Rorschach, did not want to compromise what he believes in – justice. And he threatened to tell the world what actually happened and what Adrian did. If the world were to know that Adrian and the other Watchmen were behind this plan and mass murder, Russia and America would wage war once more and there will not be peace in the world. So Dr. Manhattan had no choice but to kill his friend and crime-fighter, Rorshach.

Dr. Manhattan now is the world's number one enemy even though he did not do any wrong. Dr. Manhattan chooses to keep quiet about it, knowing that he has now lost his friendship with the whole world. He chose to exile himself quietly somewhere in the universe, unseen but not forgotten. What a sacrifice!

So what is your verdict?

In Jeremy Bentham’s theory of Utilitarianism, he states that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its contribution to overall utility. It is a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome. So what is your opinion about this movie judging from the utilitarianism viewpoint? What would you do?

This movie poses a question so easy to answer yet so hard, “What is the right thing to do?”

.

Growing On Rocks

The picture above was taken last year when I went for my diving trip to Phuket with Pastor John and a few others. It was at one of our dive sites, Racha Rai. What fascinated me was how two coconut trees and another huge tree can grow on nothing but rocks!

Let me give you a bigger picture. The rocks that you see in the picture are a pile of rocks right in the middle of a huge sea! And that pile of rock make up a small island. And that small island has nothing on it except rocks. The small island was our dive site. Its’ size is just about two basketball courts and on it are just rocks.

And on that small island of rocks are two fully grown coconut trees.






Luke 6:46-49
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

I can’t help but to link the verse above with the picture I took of the coconut trees on rocks.

Can you imagine how strong the wind can be in the middle of an open sea? Can you imagine the power of the wind that the two coconut trees have to overcome? Can you also imagine the huge waves splashing against the rocks and trees during bad weather? Do you know how thin and “fragile” a coconut tree is? And given a location like that, right in the middle of the ocean, I am certain that there are a lot of natural elements going against the coconut trees and giving the trees a really tough time.

The trees still grew.

Look at the other picture with of the huge tree (scroll down). Can you see the effects of nature on it? The tree’s branches are all facing one direction and most of its leaves are gone. That shows how much wind and storm the tree have gone through. Yet it is still standing strong and proud.

What Jesus said about building your foundation on rocks is so true. When you have your house built on rocks, the wind and torrents and storms will not tear you down. But if you build it on sand, you are a goner.

The teachings of Jesus are so simple and true even nature is inspired by them.

What about you?

Seven Pounds

You are warned not to red this post if you have not seen the new movie Seven Pounds starring Will Smith. Also please do not read this post if you plan to watch this movie. However if you like spoilers, go ahead. If you don’t plan to watch, go ahead and read this post and I hope you will want to watch it after reading.

You have been warned =)

I watched the movie Seven Pounds a few days ago without knowing the storyline or having read the synopsis. So basically I did not know what to expect. The movie started off with a suffering Will Smith on the phone calling 911. The conversation goes something like this.

“Hello, how can I help you?” (911)
“There has been a suicide.” (Ben Thomas)
“Who is the victim?” (911)
…
“I am…” (Ben Thomas)




And then the movie starts with a flashback. Ben Thomas is seen being an IRS agent but a really good one with a very unusual heart. He loves to help people and throughout the movie we see that he is constantly going the extra mile to make someone happy. In the beginning I did not understand what was he doing and what made him do it.

He donated part of his liver to a patient who is dying of liver failure.
He gave his whole house, a beautiful and huge house beside the beach, to a poor and unwed mother with two children.
He went for a bone marrow transplant and gave his bone marrow to a dying patient.

Somewhere in the movie we see some vivid flashback and there was an accident scene and seven people were killed in the accident. But I did not know what actually happened yet. So the movie goes on.

Ben stalked a blind man and tested him to see whether he was a nice person or not. Then he called up the blind man and made fun of his blindness over the phone, taunting him and scolding him for being blind. The blind man did not respond by scolding Ben but instead gave Ben a warm thank you and hung up. Only at the end of the movie I understood why did Ben do it.

Then Ben made friends with this girl named Posa who was a heart patient and had a failing heart. She was going to die in one month’s time if no suitable heart was found for a heart transplant. As her blood type was rare, it was even harder to find a suitable heart donor. If she does not get a new heart in one month’s time, she will die. In the movie, we see Ben befriending her and making her happy.

Towards the end of the movie, a flashback was shown and in it we see Ben driving a car with his wife in it. He got distracted and met an accident. His wife, along with six others from the other car died from the crash while Ben was the only surviving one.

Then the puzzle started to come into place one by one. Ben was living a life of regret and he felt that he should pay for what he did by giving seven people a new leash of life.

In the end, Ben filled up his rented apartment bathtub with a lot of ice and cold water. Then he threw a dangerous and poisonous box-jellyfish into the bathtub. He went into it. The jellyfish stung him and he died a slow and painful death. The dying scene before, during and after was so emotional. Seeing how he killed himself to save other people was just so touching. The ice in the bathtub could preserve his heart and body so the necessary surgeries could be done.

He had planned for his heart to be given to Posa and his pair of eyes to the blind man. Both of them had a new life. Ben died. But before he died, he gave seven different individuals a new life.

This movie teases your emotion and makes you think. How far-fetched does it sound to hear about a man laying down his own life to give other people life? How real is that in the real world where people are so selfish? Ben’s story might sound ridiculous but it is not.

2000 years ago, Jesus Christ did what Ben in the movie did. Just that Jesus wasn’t living in regret and he did not give only to seven people. Jesus laid down his life to die a painful and slow death on the cross to give life to all of us.

Watch the movie to know more. It will make you think.

Barry And Stuart Wicked Wizards Show!!!

I went for the Barry and Stuart's Wicked Wizards magic show two nights ago with my Magic Annexe club members. It was a really good treat. The show was awesome. These two Scottish magicians can really make you laugh your ass off haha. They are a two man show and everything they did were planned out well. They gave us a one hour and forty-five minutes show with non-stop laughter and suspense.

Know what? I sat right in front of them haha. My seat was the first row and it was a really nice experience to see them perform close up though it is a stage setting. Felt as though they were performing to me only =) they even "mugged" me and took my mobile phone for one of their magic effects where Barry places my phone into Stuart's stomach. They did many wonderful effects including drawing a bowling ball on a piece of paper then from no where got a real bowling ball out from the paper and then the drawing dissapeared. Fantastic!

More reviews about their show soon. Got to go to church now for prayer meeting.

Go for their show!!! Don't miss it! You are in for a treat!

Guess what? I even got my card signatured by them after the show haha.



My ticket.

"Magician Offer Price" =) Magicians have special privileges too hehe.

The hall at KL Performing Arts Centre. So colorful.

Right in front! Lai is on my left. And Anslem Roy and his wife Rose is at the back seat on my left.

The stage!

Stuart with his famous Rubik's Cube effect. He throws the cube up in the air and in a flash the cube is solved on all sides! Magic!

Barry! He has this device on the table where he plays funny noices and voices out with it.

Audience participation.

You!!!

This is funny! Haha! See the show to know what is it.

Woo hoo!

Fans meeting them.

Aiya. How could I miss the opportunity to have this kind of shots with big time magicians like Barry and Stuart?!

=)

One more!

Now, sign my cards! =)

Yay!

Barry and Stuart!!!

Name Cards, Barry and Stuart.

I finally got my name cards printed out. And I am so satisfied with the company that printed it for me - M Generation.

Before going to this company, I wanted a quick print and so I went to this newly opened shop in Bayu Perdana/Taman Chi Liung called CCP Image Solutions. Paid RM30 to print 100 copies in 30 minutes. So I paid and waited. Then collected my name card and rushed home. Opened it and saw, to my dismay, the quality was TERRIBLE!!! They enlarged my picture that I gave them and printed. If they are wise, they should know that if you enlarge a picture the picture will be stretched and if you were to print it out it will look HORRIBLE! Wasted RM30 on that. Then I decided to email them telling them how dissatisfied I was. Waited few more days, no reply, sent them another email to tell them how unprofessional they were. No reply. Now I will send them another email asking them to check this post! They "deserve" a mention here. CCP Image Solutions, so sorry for you guys. Imagine, I can't even see my face in the name card. Gosh!

Grace Yeo from M Generation and I had been conversing through email for a couple of weeks now to get the name card properly done. Finally I got my copies today, 100 of them, the other 150 had a little minor problem with the lamination and she rejected them and got new ones for me. They were in perfect condition and I only paid RM52 for 250 copies. That is equivalent to RM75 for 250 copies if I printed at CCP Image Solution and get some really lousy name cards.

Just vending out my frustrations as well as satisfaction here haha.

M Generation good job. And if any of you want to have name cards printed, or flyers, or whatever, do contact M Generation at mgeneration@gmail.com

Don't be mistaken, I don't get any commission for doing this haha. And no one told me to post this, I did it because I wanted to. Just wanting to thank M Generation and wanting to un-thank CCP Image Solutions =)

And tonight I am going to watch Barry and Stuart!!! Woo hoo!!! Will give my reviews about the show when I get back! And tomorrow night I am having a stage magic performance at Gold Course Hotel for Selangor State Police Annual Dinner cum Friendship Day! Woo hoo!!! Will be able to give away my beautiful name cards hehe.

Tata and have a good day!





By the way, my name card when through lots of toil and sweat to get done. I took the picture myself in my room haha with my camera and tripod. I edited them myself on my laptop with Photoshop CS2. And I am satisfied with the end result. =D





Do check out www.zlwinmagic.blogspot.com =)

Why Did Jesus Weep?

John 11:32-37

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
___________________________________________

This is the only verse in the Bible that records Jesus weeping. Take note the Greek for this word “wept” in the verse above did not meant mourning or intense crying. It means a silent weeping or the shedding of a tear or two. So be reminded that Jesus did not fall on the ground and weep like a baby.

But why did Jesus weep?

That is a question that I would attempt to study and answer in this post today.

Did Jesus cry because he loved Lazarus so much? I would say no. Jesus knew that Lazarus was “asleep” and he intended to resurrect Lazarus. Why would he weep then?
Many would argue that Jesus wept because of Lazarus’ death. This is not true. The Bible records that Jesus was deeply moved in the spirit and he was troubled. Why was he moved and troubled?

Jesus wept because of their lack of faith in him. The people would not have buried Lazarus and placed him in a tomb if they had known that Jesus will come to raise him up again. They would not have acted in disbelief if their faith in God was strong. Having been proving God’s power working through Jesus, the people had not yet believed in Jesus that he was the Son of God. For this very reason Jesus was saddened and troubled.

When Mary led Jesus to the tomb, Jesus probably wept silently when he saw that Mary led him to a tomb instead of a house. Because in a tomb, it could mean that they had lost faith in Jesus but if the body was in a house, it could have meant that they were expecting Jesus to come and heal Lazarus.

This little incident tells us that God has emotions too. And God is would be deeply saddened if we His children were to lose our faith in God. Let us think of all the little incidents that we did not trust God and believe in His power. Let us count each and every one of them and see how much we have made Jesus wept.

Mary and Martha were both close to Jesus and they had both listened to Jesus’ messages intently when he shared with them. But even with a personal encounter with God, they could still acted faithlessly. What more we who have not seen God? Could we then be more faithless than these individuals? I would not say so. God has sent us the Holy Spirit to live in us, making us closer to God than we can ever imagine.

Do not make Jesus cry.

O, Lord. Forgive me for my unbelief.

John 11:25
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies.

God Be Glorified In Everything

In the book of John chapter 11 we read of the dead and resurrection of Lazarus and in the same chapter we find that Jesus, for the first time, wept. The Greek for the word “wept” in John 11:35 denotes quiet weeping like shedding a little tear, not that of mourning. But the question is, “Why did Jesus weep?” I will not attempt to answer that question in this post. But I will bring your attention to something else.

Lazarus must have been a really close friend of Jesus because the sisters of Lazarus sent words to Jesus saying, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” Jesus then said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

No one understood what Jesus meant. Lazarus then died and after four days, Jesus arrived at his place. Martha did not believe that Jesus could do the impossible. Jesus replied her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?”

Lazarus was then raised from the death.

A simple story but a great miracle with a lot of truths contained in it.

What was the reason behind Jesus’ raising of Lazarus? Was it because Lazarus was exceptionally special to Jesus and Jesus loved him more than any other people? Was it because Lazarus was a really good man and he did not deserve to die? Was it because the people were urging Jesus to raise him? No, no, no.

God wants to be glorified.

It was for God’s glory that the resurrection of the dead Lazarus be proved possible. It was for God’s glory that Jesus raised the dead. It was for God’s glory that Jesus did miracles to prove how powerful and loving God is. Whatever was done was done for the glory of God. Everything Jesus did, he had God in mind and he wanted God to take the glory. Before raising Lazarus, Jesus said, “I do this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe you sent me.”

Isn’t it our job then to say, “I do this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe you sent me.”

Yes, you are ambassadors of God and whatever you do must glorify God. Whatever that happens to us will happen because God knows better. God wants the glory. That is why certain things happen to certain people so that God’s power can be seen through our weaknesses.

Psalm 103:1
Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His Holy Name.

This post was inspired by Adrian Yap from what he had learnt from his time of struggle. May God see it fit to resurrect you for His glory.