Being reminded again this evening ~ Children of God.
The phrase came back to me, "A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession..."
Often the thought would pop up "If only I was born..."
A truth here: With God, I believe there is no "accident". He had a choice, and He made it. He chose each and every single one who has been saved. The terms used revealed so much of God's perspective towards His people, even to the extent of being His "special possession". I mean God could have just declared us as His possession right? After all, He is God. Yet He calls us "special possession".
To even talk about having or needing to worship God is a shame. A soul that has truly accepted the undeserving gift of salvation, will desire to worship Him in acknowledgement of His Love. I believe that is the mark of true repentance, the transformation that needs no persuasion except the fact that one has freely received the forgiveness of Christ.
May it be a note to myself that it has never and should never be about my doing or abilities that I worship the Lord God. The desire to worship Him is automatic; it comes forth out of receiving Jesus. I was chosen to declare the praises of Him! And being a recipient of His mercy, I can now stand amongst the people of God.
Love so divine. If God chose to die for me, surely I can choose to live for Him.
Once again, a reminder to myself. Above all the things in life.
Showing posts with label Worship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Worship. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
In Spirit and In Truth
Compelled to mention this tonight before I forget...
I finally stood on the stage front leading again after months of break.
Initially I was really looking forward to today and I was already thinking of the song set 2 weeks before.
Somehow practices were fine and the time sharing together was great! But when it came down to the actual worship today, I concluded a spectrum of experiences through the responses and feedback.
On one end were the positive responses. Generally the feedback was simply good worship.
I'm always curious. How do we define 'good worship' ?
On the other end, well actually with a fellow leader in the team, I shared honestly that outwardly the worship may have been great/good but inwardly, I felt a void; a hollowness. I couldn't make any sense of it but I had no one to share this to =(
I left it as it is after service and evaluation until that someone came up to me (at random) and spoke about this. I had no clue how we came to the same conclusion but I'm glad and grateful that I took this feedback very positively and both of us had a good time of sharing and evaluating this.
I thought much about this and looked back. If this were to happen to me say a year back? I would have taken such feedback pretty badly. I guess it's part of the growing process but I'm definitely glad I've moved away from that problem.
But I suppose in a "worship", it is possible that not all in the presence would have maintained the posture of authentic worship. I think about the woman with her alabaster jar - Mat 14.
Giving our all isn't an absolute value comparison with what we can offer up to Him but a relative offering with a frame of reference to God's desire, our everything. The posture means so much more than the possessions. In the presence of the Lord, only one came to worship with an authentic heart. Those who were present simply criticized the woman but the Bible mentioned nothing of their worship and offering. I guess I take comfort that in any worship, it is really God's sovereign will to move in whom He pleases and it really boils down to the heart, the spirit, the truth.
The encouragement to press on is really not fixating myself on what happens around. What is seen is only an estimation or expression of meeting God. Truly, it boils down to an individual's desire/thirst to want to commune with Him. Because seeing some truly in communion with Him while others probably stood by just observing or singing on the lips, it just shows how accurate Jesus was in His predictions. In Spirit and In Truth.
Despite carrying that feeling of a hollow experience, I'll not let this bring me down but to come before God and lay this at His feet. Trust that He is all-knowing, and He sees beyond what we see.
Come Lord Jesus Come.
I finally stood on the stage front leading again after months of break.
Initially I was really looking forward to today and I was already thinking of the song set 2 weeks before.
Somehow practices were fine and the time sharing together was great! But when it came down to the actual worship today, I concluded a spectrum of experiences through the responses and feedback.
On one end were the positive responses. Generally the feedback was simply good worship.
I'm always curious. How do we define 'good worship' ?
On the other end, well actually with a fellow leader in the team, I shared honestly that outwardly the worship may have been great/good but inwardly, I felt a void; a hollowness. I couldn't make any sense of it but I had no one to share this to =(
I left it as it is after service and evaluation until that someone came up to me (at random) and spoke about this. I had no clue how we came to the same conclusion but I'm glad and grateful that I took this feedback very positively and both of us had a good time of sharing and evaluating this.
I thought much about this and looked back. If this were to happen to me say a year back? I would have taken such feedback pretty badly. I guess it's part of the growing process but I'm definitely glad I've moved away from that problem.
But I suppose in a "worship", it is possible that not all in the presence would have maintained the posture of authentic worship. I think about the woman with her alabaster jar - Mat 14.
Giving our all isn't an absolute value comparison with what we can offer up to Him but a relative offering with a frame of reference to God's desire, our everything. The posture means so much more than the possessions. In the presence of the Lord, only one came to worship with an authentic heart. Those who were present simply criticized the woman but the Bible mentioned nothing of their worship and offering. I guess I take comfort that in any worship, it is really God's sovereign will to move in whom He pleases and it really boils down to the heart, the spirit, the truth.
The encouragement to press on is really not fixating myself on what happens around. What is seen is only an estimation or expression of meeting God. Truly, it boils down to an individual's desire/thirst to want to commune with Him. Because seeing some truly in communion with Him while others probably stood by just observing or singing on the lips, it just shows how accurate Jesus was in His predictions. In Spirit and In Truth.
Despite carrying that feeling of a hollow experience, I'll not let this bring me down but to come before God and lay this at His feet. Trust that He is all-knowing, and He sees beyond what we see.
Come Lord Jesus Come.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Jesus at the center of it all
Pastor Yoy had a stopover yesterday. Definitely anointed voice and man of God.
1 take away from Him: In all things, let Jesus be the center.
Amen.
1 take away from Him: In all things, let Jesus be the center.
Amen.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Is that Your voice I'm hearing?
Today's sermon was on Missing Piece.and Dr Huan preached on 3 points:
1. Personal response towards God's purpose by acknowledging Him when He speaks.
To surrender oneself to Him wholly and to undergo spiritual training.
2. Choose to work towards God's plans. In response, making a renewed choice.
To turn back and to reform from my wicked ways.
3. Fitted for God's plans and in response, give 100% devotion to God in Faith.
As we went through worship today, I prayed for God to convict me.
To convict me of the things I ain't letting go in my life.
To convict me to see what God is doing in our midst now.
The downpour(of the Holy Spirit) is coming!
And as I processed the sermon, I'm really amazed that the things I pondered during Worship,
God spoke of them through Dr Huan during the sermon!
Greater things are yet to come, Lord Jesus I'm believing You for it! Amen!
1. Personal response towards God's purpose by acknowledging Him when He speaks.
To surrender oneself to Him wholly and to undergo spiritual training.
2. Choose to work towards God's plans. In response, making a renewed choice.
To turn back and to reform from my wicked ways.
3. Fitted for God's plans and in response, give 100% devotion to God in Faith.
As we went through worship today, I prayed for God to convict me.
To convict me of the things I ain't letting go in my life.
To convict me to see what God is doing in our midst now.
The downpour(of the Holy Spirit) is coming!
And as I processed the sermon, I'm really amazed that the things I pondered during Worship,
God spoke of them through Dr Huan during the sermon!
Greater things are yet to come, Lord Jesus I'm believing You for it! Amen!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Day 3 of Power Encounter
The past 2 days have been an awesome time of encounters that God has brought into my life. And Tuesday wasn't quite as expected.
I was supposed to meet Alvin and Xue Xin for worship practice due for Justin/Jasmine's wedding. I went to meet Xue Xin first and I actually went with a mindset of no expectancy of any encounters, but I suppose God's timing is always mysterious.
Though it was a long journey all the way from NTU, we managed to meet up and had fellowship over dinner. It was a lot of Engineering talk over the table but definitely a good time of fellowship, especially not seeing Alvin for quite some time already.
Then we adjourned for worship practice and as we started practising after a word of prayer, the entire practice wasn't exactly a practice. Alvin and Xue Xin were worshipping the Lord and the songs were soon not the focus.
The presence of God came and lingered. We played and sang but it didn't really matter if a note was out or the sequence was not in order. We just flowed with the leading of the Spirit. Before we knew it, time caught up with us and it was past ten already.
We managed to cover the songs required and as we left church, we all agreed we should continue the fellowship over supper! Hence coupled with some POWER Nasi Lemak, we headed over to Boon Lay Place Market and decided to not let the long queue dissuade us from some real good food!
Over food, we had a good time of catching up again and I must say, worshipping on Tuesday night was really liberating! And a verse this week reminded me:
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
~ 2 Cor 3:17
And I was reminded of John 4:24 ~ God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
All in all, worshipping God musically is worshipping Him in Spirit and in Truth.
Without both of these, I am only offering a Lip Service unto God.
And I pray that whenever I worship Him, it will be in Spirit and in Truth!
I was supposed to meet Alvin and Xue Xin for worship practice due for Justin/Jasmine's wedding. I went to meet Xue Xin first and I actually went with a mindset of no expectancy of any encounters, but I suppose God's timing is always mysterious.
Though it was a long journey all the way from NTU, we managed to meet up and had fellowship over dinner. It was a lot of Engineering talk over the table but definitely a good time of fellowship, especially not seeing Alvin for quite some time already.
Then we adjourned for worship practice and as we started practising after a word of prayer, the entire practice wasn't exactly a practice. Alvin and Xue Xin were worshipping the Lord and the songs were soon not the focus.
The presence of God came and lingered. We played and sang but it didn't really matter if a note was out or the sequence was not in order. We just flowed with the leading of the Spirit. Before we knew it, time caught up with us and it was past ten already.
We managed to cover the songs required and as we left church, we all agreed we should continue the fellowship over supper! Hence coupled with some POWER Nasi Lemak, we headed over to Boon Lay Place Market and decided to not let the long queue dissuade us from some real good food!
Over food, we had a good time of catching up again and I must say, worshipping on Tuesday night was really liberating! And a verse this week reminded me:
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
~ 2 Cor 3:17
And I was reminded of John 4:24 ~ God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
All in all, worshipping God musically is worshipping Him in Spirit and in Truth.
Without both of these, I am only offering a Lip Service unto God.
And I pray that whenever I worship Him, it will be in Spirit and in Truth!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Great is our God
God, our great God...
Today I felt really really lost and disoriented...
First, I woke up really late and missed the "gap"
I felt really bad and lousy, I was debating with myself whether I should go to church
But I concluded myself that self-condemnation isn't part of God's plans...
Leading from this, I could not bring myself to lead the youth worship...
I feel unworthy, so so dejected...
I could not imagine how things will turn out in service...
So I decided to ask Rachel to lead the entire worship set...
Things went bad every now and then...
The noise bursts from my guitar channel...
The rushing for time set-up and EQ-ing...
I feel that I have let Him down...
Now I can only turn to Him in repentence...
I know one thing for sure...
God loves me and loves me the same...
I will press on and run the race...
O Lord, bring me back to You...
Let me hear Your still small, voice again
I want to know You more and more
Jesus, O Jesus how You love me
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