Made For Praise

When God made humans, he knew what to give us. One of the desires God gave to us humans is the desire to worship. We have a heart of praise and worship. We long to praise something and worship something. God gave us this desire to bow down, to extol, to lift up on high, to praise, to shout and to honor and glorify.

He also knew our temptation to squander our praises on lesser things.

That is the reason God gave us the first commandment in the Ten Commandments:

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." (Exodus 20:2-5)

There wouldn't be a need for such a command if we were not prone to praise and worship. But God knew what humans were capable of. He knew if there weren't such a command, his people will look elsewhere to give their praises and worship to. God knew we would direct our praises to objects, to people, to idols and to other gods.

We roar for sports idols, wait in line to get autographs of celebrities and stars, watch red carpets and follow up on our favorite singer and actor, we pay tons of money to fly to another country to watch our favorite band performing, we look at stars in amazement and praise the beauty of the mountains and hills. We stand in awe at extraordinary mortals just like us, only "better." We rise to our feet in concerts and strain to catch a glimpse of performers on stage who stand no closer than we are to the One who made all of us.

And God knew that we would squander our praises and worships on lesser things.

So God gave us the one eternal thing that exists that can never be praise long or loudly enough, that can never get all the glory it deserves: He gave himself.

Mary moved forward to Jesus' feet and broke a jar of costly perfume. In full sight of all present, she poured the expensive and fragrant perfume over the feet of Jesus in a gesture of love, honor and worship. The whole room went silent.

As the rich fragrant filled the whole room, she knelt before the King of Kings and wiped the perfume into his feet with her hair. What she did was crazy. It was extravagant and considered an awful interruption. It may be intimate and perhaps even embarrassing to others in the room.

The object of Mary's affection had summoned her worship. She could no longer hold it anymore. She took the most valuable possession she had and gave it as a love offering to Jesus. She found no other means to show how in love she was with Jesus. Breaking the expensive jar of perfume that she probably spent her whole life saving on for Jesus was the only way she could think of to worship.

She was made for praise, and she found the One who was worthy to receive it.

Have you?

Click here for a beautiful song based on the story above - The Alabaster Jar.

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Leaving God's House In Ruins.

Haggai 1:5-6

Give careful thoughts to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.

This was what the Lord told the people of Haggai who were neglecting the house of the Lord and building their own houses instead.

While the house of God lay in ruin, the people were busy building their own houses. And all their labor were done in vain. They planted, no fruits. They ate, not full. They drank, not filled. They wore clothes, not warm. They earn, not enough. They did everything, not satisfied. They toiled, in vain. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

This account paints a symbolic picture yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Christians are more occupied building their own houses instead of God's house.

That is the reason why we are often not satisfied with our houses.

Houses here does not necessarily represents the building and four walls we live in. "Houses" can mean the selfish things we do for ourselves for our own good. It can be a career, a business, a hobby, a life. Anything.

I tremble whenever this verse comes to mind. Only tonight as I was quieting myself and reciting verses from my memory, I came upon this verse. It is as though God is reminding me of something. I have to re-evaluate my life and the things that I have been doing and am doing and will do. I have to start asking myself, "Am I building God's house or my house?"

What is the thing that we give most of our time to?

Is it our hobby? Is it our job? Is it our friends? Is it the internet? Is it something that is not productive? If it is productive, in what way? And is it for a kingdom cause? Or it is for personal gain and personal interest and everything personal? What is it?

I am not only writing this to all of you out there who are reading. I don't even know who reads my blog nowadays. But it doesn't matter. I am writing this to myself and to remind myself. What I speak to you convicts my heart more than it convicts yours.

God, help me.

Know that if whatever you do that is not significant to your faith, you are certainly wasting your time. No matter how good you are at doing what you are doing, when you are dead and gone, everything will not matter at all! Only your labor in the Lord and His work will matter and will last for eternity. You may be prospering in whatever that you are doing. Good on you, mate. God has blessed us with ability to think, to learn, to work. With that ability we can do almost anything and everything. We will definitely prosper and do well in whatever we put out mind, heart and soul into.

BUT...

No matter how much you prosper, God does not care. The only thing that matters to Him is that you gather all your strength, skills, talents, mind, heart and soul and build the house of God. And the house of God does not necessarily mean the church building. Note that.

So, back to the question.

Are you building your house while leaving God's house in ruins?

Deuteronomy 1:6

You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes because worms will eat them.

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Another Season Will Pass, And I Will Still Be As Strong, Maybe Even More.

Next week will mark the end of my 6 months holiday break =(

There are mix feelings inside me now. I am excited to start my degree course but at the same time I am missing my free time that I had been having for the past 6 months. Next week I will be starting my 3 years degree course in Psychology in HELP University, Damansara.

A lot has happened during the past 6 months. I did not know how but it happened. I got very involved in my magic hobby and it brought me further than I expected to go in such a short period of time. For the past 6 months I have been exploring different areas of magic and exploring different jobs I can get with magic. It has been a fruitful exploration so far. There has been lots of encouragements from family and friends and leaders from the church as well. I guess they know what I am doing and they are keeping me in prayers.

I am now the Resident Magician for one of Kuala Lumpur's top clubs - Zouk Club KL. I did not expect this to happen. Was just going to Zouk one afternoon with my good friend Poh Leong for interview. And after that, everything happened so fast I lost track of time haha. My stint at Zouk so far has been very memorable and enjoyable. And I have to tell you, the challenges a Christian face at those kind of areas are huge haha. Girls go there as though cloths are the top on the Extinction List. But do not worry, I know what I am doing there =)

I ask myself, if no one will, who will?

If no one will, no one will.

Gospel Magic was the main thing that inspired me to venture into the Art of Magic. And it is still my passion - to use magic to capture people's attention and then lead them to the knowledge that what they see are just illusions and the real magic happens in the hands of God. Only God can do real "magic" and He is the "IM Possible" and He is the real "Magician".

So next week begins the next chapter and season of my life. I will be meeting new friends and getting new contacts. Schedules will be changed and time will be so limited for me. I have to start using every second wisely and MAKE IT COUNT for something. I have to make everyday fruitful!

Next season will be one of further exploration in preparation for the even more challenging coming days.

I do not know where is God going to lead me. I can only plan and uphold my plans to Him, the one who is in control. I can only pray and seek the hand of God in my life.

I know that God is not through with me. He has greater plans for me. Plans to use me to impact lives one at a time, no matter how slow the process and how long it takes. Because I believe that there is more to life than this.

There is more to life than enjoying and making the most out of each day.

There is more to life than building yourself a career and empire.

There is more to life than getting rich or die trying.

There is more to life than climbing the corporate ladder.

There is more to life than everything you are doing right now.

There is!

Another season will pass, and I will still be as strong, maybe even more!

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for THOSE WHO LOVE HIM, who have been called according to His purpose.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths right.

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My Identity, Christ’s Identity.

I am first and foremost a Christian. In whatever that I do, I pray that God will remind me that I am first and foremost a Christian.

Too many people call themselves Christians and then go out doing things that totally contradict any of the Bible’s teachings. Their acts resulting in the world having distorted views about Christianity. Being a Christian requires a different standard of living. Being a Christian requires you to think differently, to act differently, to talk differently, to mingle differently, to judge differently, to everything differently.

Being a Christian is to BE Christ.

Often times when we act out of anger, we forget that Jesus only acted in righteous anger.

Often times when we accuse people of sinning and so quickly punish them, we forget that Jesus told the crowd who were about to stone to adulteress woman, “If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to cast a stone at her.”

Often times when we segregate ourselves from people who are low class and of different standard, we forget that Jesus sat down and ate with sinful tax collectors.

Often times when we complained that we do not have a better place to stay, we forget that Jesus the Son of God had no place to lay his head.

Often times when we curse the world for being unfair to us, we forget that Jesus was crucified by the world.

And it goes on…

I have to admit that at different situations in our life, it is hard to BE a Christian. However it does not need to be so. It isn’t hard and it isn’t possible. Although being a Christian is more than just confessing that Jesus is Lord, it is not hard to live a Christian life.

If we only try. And give ourselves room for failure. And muster the strength to rise again each time we fall.

But it is sad to see that today many Christians do not even bother to lead a Christian life. All they have in mind is to do whatever it takes to be rich and famous and enjoy life. They go to church but they do not bring their heart there. They pray but only when the need arises. They sing and praise God but only to feel good on a Sunday. They raise their hands towards heaven but their hearts have already been surrendered to the world.

They don’t care.

But you should not.

I try. And I keep trying.

I am first and foremost a Christian.

My identity = Christ’s identity.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!

The pictures found in this post were taken by Joshua Chan during Grace Youth Identity Conference and Rally at Grace PJ last Saturday 8th of August 2009. I wasn't able to attend the night rally and hear the preaching. But this is what I understand about Identity=Christ.

What's Behind

This post was taken from Yoke Pei's blog - www.deeperthanlove.blogspot.com

I do not want a tongue piercing anymore!

Never! Yes, I am renouncing it publicly. Haha. Well, not that I was serious on getting one but yeah, I thought it was simply cool and all, you know. Ahaaa, until Bill Sudduth shared on Tattooing and Piercing yesterday. Thank God I was taught the ugly truth behind the ink and holes. Tongue piercing actually speaks I-Am-A-Lesbian. *gasp* I was not, am not and never will I be okay.



Generally, in the ancient days and even until today, tattoos are done as an act to gain power, acceptance and protection from the demonic spirits. And tattoos are often linked to prostitutions, convictions, slavery and perversion. A number of pictures were shown, from the Egyptian god Bes to the African's scarification, cicatrization and even, tongue slitting, ear plugging and lip plugging. The slides definitely freaked us out. Or at least, myself. Clearly, I was not exposed to things like this and it gave me a big, big shock. =O

I never thought that anyone would tattoo their face even! Yeah, a beautiful woman to have "goatee" on? And do you think it's worthy just because one finds pleasure in checking out the "amazed" look on their fellow friends when they proudly exhibit their slitted tongue? Very cool, huh? I looked at those pictures and I went all like, " What!? How sick can one be?" I'm sorry, I don't think it's cool at all.

Leviticus 19:28 -

"Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put your tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD."

There are certainly some spiritual aspects that we must be aware of in the case of tattooing and piercing. God warned us not to impair the image He has created in us as our body is the Temple of God and shall be kept holy. When we allow the ink to seep into our blood stream or when we get our body pierced, we're actually opening the door for the evil. Our different body parts are like gates to our inner self. The ancestors used to get their face and body tattooed just to make them look more like the idols that they were worshiping. And eventhough they were from different nations, we could see the resemblance in the designs of the tattoos. Coincidence, you think? No, it's the work of the Satan who came to steal, kill and destroy. To make God's people like you and me to fall into sins as such to worship and carry the image of idols instead. And now that the end days are near, we have to be extremely cautious in overcoming this growing "culture".

God doesn't want us to condemn ourselves, to condemn the way He formed us. However, the permanent marks are made to mar the body, a reckless act to allow the unrighteous take charge of us and as a sign of rebellion against God. Oh, and there's no such thing as a Christian tattoo at all. The Lord is the LORD. He does not need a tattoo of the cross on our arm to be glorified. It does not make us a Christian either. Jesus paid the price for us on the cross and rose again. We're made pure by faith and He looks deep into the beauty of our heart. It is the heart of worship and the passion to serve that He's searching for.

You may say, "Come on lah, tattoo's just an artwork!" or "Piercings are the now-thing", just ask yourself this "Do I really want to put myself at risk?" Well, not just spiritually (of course, spiritual damage is the ultimate deadly one!) - physically too. You might end up with a real bad infection and lose your parts. If vanity is the reason, then why at all? Right now, if you're thinking of laser as a back-up plan, do check out the cost and the duration of treatment first. And the ink has long-term affects on your health too. We don't need the scientific terms like Ferum (II) oxide here but I'm sure you all pretty much know that ink contains chemicals and most chemicals are hazardous, yes?


Be wise, to those who are on the verge of making a disastrous life-time decision. The choice is still yours. I'm just done sharing what I've learned from the talk and I hope that you'd gain something from this post too.

And to those who have fallen into this, it is not too late to learn, repent and rejoice in the Lord again. Pray and seek for forgiveness, not from men but from God. Remember, He's not only our Creator; He's also our Healer.

Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us argue this out", says the Lord. "No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool."

AMEN! (: