Thanking God At All Times

Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Lifting up your hands and thanking God is spontaneous and easy when you have just received a wonderful blessing. Perhaps you came so close to being killed, but God protected you and plucked you out of danger just in time. Or your grandmother, an unbeliever for many years, finally received Jesus as her Saviour and got healed of a long-term disease.

But there are times when you don’t feel like lifting up your hands to thank and praise God — yet you do it!

Perhaps you feel very discouraged lately. Perhaps everything is going wrong for you and you feel like you are not in control of your life. You can’t even control your tears. Still, you make a conscious decision to lift your hands and thank God for being in the situation with you. You open your mouth and begin to praise Him even though you really don’t feel like doing it.

In the midst of the trial that you are going through, you praise Him that He is your righteousness in spite of all the mistakes you have made. You thank Him that He is your Prince of Peace, and that He will bring His peace into you and His calm into your chaotic world.

God sees and appreciates such times when, despite feeling so discouraged and depressed, you offer a freewill thanksgiving offering to Him. In fact, your thanksgiving during such times is more highly prized by Him than your thanksgiving during those times you are feeling joyful because you have just been blessed.

And when you choose to thank Him for His unfailing love and His faithfulness to deliver, protect and provide for you even when you don’t see it yet, before long, you will find yourself experiencing and enjoying the blessings! So lift your hands and praise the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever! (Psalm 106:1)

God Is Not Punishing You For Some Sin

Ephesians 1:77 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

Some Christians believe that although you have forgiveness of sins, you are not free from the penalties of your sins. In other words, you can still expect punishment from God.

For example, some married Christian couples have been told by ministers that they are childless because God is punishing them for having had pre-marital sex. So although God has forgiven them of that sin, He still has to punish them for it.

I am not encouraging pre-marital sex, but I want you to know that God, who is the only one who can fully appreciate the full value of His Son’s blood and who is completely satisfied by His Son’s sacrifice, is at rest in His heart today concerning your sins! That is why He is not against you when you sin. Neither is He out to punish you when you sin. No, He still loves you, is for you and wants to help you overcome that sin. In the Old Testament, the blood of bulls and goats could only “cover” sins and not take them away. (Hebrews 10:4) But the blood of Jesus is not like the blood of animals! For by one sacrifice, the eternal blood of the Son of God has forever removed your sins (Hebrews 8:12) and cleansed you of all unrighteousness! (1 John 1:9). In fact, God is so satisfied with His Son’s perfect work that He says to you today, “Your sins and lawless deeds I will by no means remember!” (Hebrews 10:17) And if God does not remember them, why should He punish you for them? Beloved, you “have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”. Because Jesus’ work is complete, all your sins have been completely forgiven. And complete forgiveness means that the penalties for your sins can no longer fall on you because they already fell on Jesus at the cross. (Isaiah 53:5)

So should something bad happen to you, don’t think for one moment that God is punishing you for some sin. Look to the cross, instead, and know that all your sins have already been fully punished in the body of Christ!

From :Pastor Joseph Prince, New Creation Church.

Amazing Grace: Let us never fail to fight for social injustic, for those who cannot fight for themselves...

Those who have not watched the movie Amazing Grace should go borrow the DVD...

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." Those familiar words open perhaps the most famous and beloved hymn of all time. There's no doubt that this powerful hymn has helped save countless souls. But few of us are aware of the pivotal role it played in saving countless lives from the cruel bonds of slavery. The movie, Amazing Grace, is a powerfully inspiring account of the life of English parliamentarian and abolitionist William Wilberforce and his lifelong struggle to end the British slave trade-a mission inspired and urged on by John Newton, a redeemed "wretch," and the amazing hymn he wrote.

Great Britain banned the slave trade a generation before America did, and then abolished slavery altogether. More than anyone else, William Wilberforce was the driving force behind this legislation. The son of a wealthy merchant, the naturally kind-hearted "Wilber" gravitated towards social causes, inviting beggars in for lunch and advocating kindness to animals. At 21 he was elected to the House of Commons, along with school friend William Pitt, who was destined to become Britain's youngest Prime Minister. Ioan Gruffudd and Benedict Cumberbatch shine as Wilberforce and Pitt, two political firebrands old enough to know what they want to accomplish, but young enough to still believe they can change the world. Young Wilber passionately believes that the odious institution of slavery must be abolished.

Spurred on by the Christian conviction that God "created all men as equals," Wilber made it his life's work to convince Parliament to abolish slavery. The film begins in 1797, at which time 11 million black men, women and children had been snatched from their homes in Africa and the West Indies and forced into slave labor, mostly on the sugarcane plantations in the Caribbean. The sea passage was particularly inhumane. Slaves were chained into coffin-sized wooden compartments with little food or water and no sanitation. Half of those captured died before reaching shore and, we are told, the chains were used to keep them from ending their suffering by jumping overboard.

Directed by seasoned pro Michael Apted (Coal Miner's Daughter), Amazing Grace is anything but a stuffy period piece. He coaxes dynamic performance from his two leads—particularly Gruffudd as the driven, but fragile Wilberforce—and a veteran British cast that includes Michael Gambon, Toby Jones and the towering Albert Finney as John Newton the ex-slave ship captain, who repented, turned to the ministry and wrote, among many other hymns, "Amazing Grace." The action shuttles adroitly between Wilber's early struggles against an intransigent Parliament and his later success in ending slave trafficking and slavery itself with decisive laws in 1807 and finally 1833, just days before his death.

Amazing Grace is a portrait of faith and persistence of the highest order. It boldly tackles the debate between principle and practicality. Pitt, as Prime Minister, must consider political survival, balancing the complex economic impact of abolition and the art of "the possible." Wilberforce's single-minded devotion to the abolitionist cause at the exclusion of almost everything else—including his own health—caused him to be described by friends as "all spirit and no body."

Perhaps most stirring and enlightening is the film's depiction of the relationship between Wilberforce and John Newton, his childhood friend and adult mentor. Only the saving, redeeming grace of God sustains Newton who admits to being "haunted by 20,000 ghosts" from his slaver days. Though forgiven, he remains so overwhelmed by the depth of his past sin that he chooses to live out the remainder of his days as a simple pastor in service to the church. When Wilber comes to him for guidance following his own religious reawakening, Newton urges him not to seek spiritual solitude, but to put his convictions into action and work to abolish the inhumanity of slavery. Their scenes together are electric and grapple with the dynamic between faith and action, social responsibility and monk-like piety. As Newton wisely reminds him, Christianity "leads to action, as well as reflection."

2007 marks the 200th anniversary of the passing of Wilberforce's most critical anti-slavery legislation, and I could give you 200 reasons to see this inspiring film. Instead I'll give you just one: You will leave the theatre feeling renewed. Amazing Grace will recharge you with a positive message about the power of faith, the belief that good people can change a nation, the conviction that God's grace is indeed so amazing that anyone can be saved, and—just as the song says—the assurance that grace will, in the end, "lead us home." Only one question remains: 200 years later, slavery still persists in many parts of the world, including Cambodia, India and Peru. Will grace inspire a new generation of "Wilberforces" to take a stand and end slavery once and for all? That would indeed be the result of amazing Grace.

Amazing Grace MTV by Chris Tomlin

I saw a dead man walking...

Melbourne just had their Youth Alive Rally at the Rod Laver Arena this evening and I was kindly invited by my classmate to attend it with some of her friends. The beginning parts were too noisy for my liking. It sounded like KISS or Metallica was in the house and I couldn’t hear a word the band was singing or actually more like screaming. I took out my MP3 player in an attempt that my Hillsongs will block out the music but even when my earphones on at max volume, it still failed miserably. I still couldn’t hear Darlene or JD at all. It was THAT loud… anyways, that’s not what this blog entry is about…

There were many singing performances, many dance items, a few sermons but what really blew my mind away was this Tuesday I was having brunch with my Planetshakers caregroup leader Juni, we were talking about our Youth Pastor Michael Guglielmucci (one of the most sought after Youth Pastor in Australia) how he contracted bone cancer or some sort, how he became so sick suddenly, how he broke about 10 of his bones just attempting to speak at this year’s Planetshakers Conference in the early part of 2007. How he’s just been keeping such a low profile and how sad it is for us to see and illness strike such a wonderful man of God down.

Guess what…?

This evening he walked up unto the stage well and healthy, saying that he had a dream, he and a vision that he went to a particular Pastor’s service (so sorry I can’t remember the name of the Pastor he mentioned) and got healed. He woke up from the dream and told himself, what has he got to lose but to go attend that one service and see what God will do? What’s the worst that can happen? Break some more bones? Pastor Michael Guglielmucci was already so broken and in so much pain that it really didn’t seem to matter that if he suffered more… so he followed his heart and had the faith in God that his dream will become a reality and faithful as our God is, He received his healing and let me show you his words from his “MySpace”…

HEY GUYS!!!! INCREDIBLE NEWS!!!! THE HEALING PROCESS HAS BEGUN!!!! ON MONDAY I WENT TO JOHN WESLEYS CHAPEL IN BRISTOL. AS I STOOD IN WESLEYS PULPIT GODS POWER TOUCHED MY BODY!!!! TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT. I LEFT MY WHEELCHAIR THERE!!!! MY BACK IS HEALED, MY HIPS ARE HEALED, MY LEGS ARE HEALED!!!! I STILL HAVE PAIN IN MY UPPER BODY BUT IT HAS STARTED!!!! PRAISE AND GLORY TO THE KING OF ALL KINGS!!!! MY SAVIOUR, MY PORTION, MY FREEDOM, MY HEALER!!!!!

I rest my case… what more need I say other than

HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD !

The best week of my life...

Its been a really long time since I had a week like that, 5 days of basking in the presence of God. What more can a gal ask. Looking back its been amazing the things that had happened leading up to this day and how the 5 days was God's assurance and confirmation on the things He wants me to do for Him in my life. Now that I've started on my counselling programme. I'm just really really excited about the many day, week, months, years to come just doing His work.

Here's some highlights from the best week of my life... Enjoy... :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie-Rp9gT2GM