Thanksgiving and Prayer Requests 28 Oct 2008

It’s wonderful to know that we serve a True and Living God! It’s so encouraging that many of our prayer requests from last week were answered. We want to give thanks and all glory to God for the following:

1. Salvation of 2 Oldham hall girls, Sylvia and Lydia repented of their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal saviour. Amen!


2. Marc's check-up results were good and what he is going through is normal!


3. Wan Wan's mother health check results were positive!


4. God has already started working in Ken's heart when Wan Wan's Purpose Driven Life book was found on his bedside table and he said nothing!


5. Ryan is healed of this leg and back!


6. Gayle's results to the food allergy came back all negative!
   

Let’s continue to uphold each other in prayers;

In General

Our children

• God's protection over them. May they be healthy and be strong.
• Purity; - the Lord will keep them away for all the un-pure influences. They will be able to discern from right and wrong. They will know God's values and the wisdom and reject the world's values.
• They will walk in the Lord and grow in His statue. May they grow up to love Jesus and to be Man and Woman of God and be accountable for God's Kingdom.

Our Husbands

• They are to lead the family and God has put them as the head of the family whether they are Christians or not.
• They will love their spouses as God loves His church
• God's protection over them
• God will give them His favour and that they will be filled with His wisdom so that whatever decision they make, it will be God's decision

Ourselves

• We will be a submissive wife, a loving mother and an obedient child to parents and in-laws
• Bringing up our children in God's wisdom and our influences to them are of godly values
• The desire to know Jesus even more and to be rooted in His words
• Boldness to share His love with others
• To be sensitive to His leading and not lean on to our own understanding
  

Our Neighbours

• To love them as ourselves
• To excercise and extend God's unconditional Love to them
• Boldness to be the 1st one to initiate a conversation or a helping hand or even just a listening ear.
  

Economic climate

• God will see us throught this whole economic situation. Pray together Max Lucado for our nation, neighbours and ourselves. http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=f44f74a55853fe9348a2

Prayer Requests:

Wan Wan

• That Mom will enjoy her stay here in Singapore
• God will continue to work through Ken's heart and soften him and also his salvation
  

Lorraine

• John’s work and that he will not be affected in this economic shift. God’ hand be upon him and grants him favour.
  

Phoebe

• Manfred’s work stress will be minimised. May God descends His love over him and grant him peace and favour while he goes around with his work commitment.
  

Lena

• Revivial Meeting by Janet Buchanan session at her house. Pray that God will send those who need to hear the Lord through her will attend the session with open heart. May they be able to hear God clearly with understanding. They will be set free, be delievered from any strong hold and have a clear direction from the Lord. They will be renewed by the Lord and be on fire for him.
  

Xandra

• Ryan’s leg will be normal and that his feet will not be bending inwards when he walks
• Relationship with Rachel. May God heal them and give Xandra a fresh touch, patience and wisdom to deal with her and all situation that she may be facing.
• Tsien Pheow will come to know the Lord soon as he sees the work God has been doing in his family.
• Work – that God will grant wisdom and a smooth delivery of the projects.
  

Charlotte

• Reddy to be open to the word of God and that he will come to know Jesus very soon.
  

Yinn

• Pray for journey mercy to Perth and a fruitful trip. Pray that God will grant us favours with everyone we are meeting in the trip.
• Spiritual growth for the oldham hall girls who have just received Jesus as their personal savior and for Janet’s salvation which is very ripe. God will continue to work in Vickie’s heart and that she will hear God in a very special way.
• Watch over my staff and the whole office while we are away. May those co-workers who have lost their way find God again and for those who have not known Jesus will come to know Him soon.
  

May I leave this passage with you? Remember when things get rough and we don’t know what and why things happened the way they did, be still and hide behind our Lord Jesus for He is our hiding place.

Psalm 32:6
6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.
9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.
10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.
11 Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Shalom!

21 October Fellowship & Prayer Request

Dear Moms,

Today's fellowship sees us celebrating Lorraine, Charlotte and Elise birthdays. Wow, we had cakes and more cakes!!!

We miss our friends who are not with us. Yolande and Lena who are away, while Xandra could not join us because of work. We look forward to seeing Lena and Xandra next week and know that God will bless us exceedingly as we come together to worship Him! As for Yolande, we pray God's continue protection over her & family and journey mercies while they are still in Jakarta.

Today, also sees the start to our prayer requests list. This is so important that we up hold each other in our prayers at our own prayer time. So below are as follows;

In General

1. God's protection over our children. May they be healthy and strong.


2. For those who are still taking their Exams. May they not be anxious but stay calm during their exams. Help them to be able to recall all they have learnt and most of all, God's will be done in their lives.


3. Purity - That the Lord will keep them away for all the un-pure influences. That they will be able to discern what is right and wrong. They will know God's values and the wisdom to reject the world's values.


4. Economy climate - God will protect our family, our spouses jobs, businesses and our everyday lives


5. God's protection over Lena and Yolande travels. Grant them good health, energy and journey mercies.

Wan Wan

• Mum's check up restults to be good and that she stay healthy. Her trip here will be a holiday instead.
• Kids can go for church camp
• Soften Ken's heart

Xandra

• healing for Ryan's back and leg injury.
• smooth delivery in Xandra's project

Lorraine

• Marc - doctor check up and pray that what he is going through is normal and nothing major
• John - that his job will be protected

Phoebe

• Manfred - Job related stressed. Pray for wisdom and peace for him especially at this time.

Charlotte

• Kids exams and let God's will be done in them.

Yinn

• Salvation for Chinese scholars (Tina, Sylvia, Lydia, Janet & Vickie) from Oldham hall this Sunday(26 October 2008). God will prepare their hearts and that they will come with a receiving heart to accept Jesus as their personal saviour. Break down all walls and hinderances.
• Gayle;s food allergy. Pray that the results to allergy to all the foods tested are negative so that she can enjoy all sorts and that this outbreak is just a 1 time off experience. Protection over her as we do not know what causes the allergy and that it will not occur again.

Just before I end, may I leave this passage from Malachi 3:8-12 with you.

This verse talks about God throwing open his floodgates of heaven and pouring out his blessing to us. Floodgates! That must be so much blessings and I can't even imagine or gasp the volume involved in containing these blessings when he releases the floodgates. He also asked us to TEST Him on this, but first, we have to be faithful in our giving even in this economy climate. I guess giving, not only in terms of our money but also in our time and availability. May the Holy Spirit reveal His words to you and may you be blessed by these verses!!

"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings.

9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

Malachi 3:8-12

One last thing, may this song be our prayer and our cry to the Lord.

To know Him, to know Him
Is the cry of my heart
Spirit reveal Him to me
To hear what you’re saying
brings life to my bones
To know Him, to know Him alone.

Have a blessed week ahead!

God Bless you!

What a name?

I was looking at the blog again and felt so strangely un-right about the name we or rather I name it. So I was thinking that we should change the name and would like you guys to think of a trendier name rather than 'LeXiang Moms!" Anyone has any ideas? Some suggestions: “Tuesday Mamas” or “Big Mamas” or “Willing Moms”, etc

Since its going to be a social meet this week, we should try to discuss the following;

1. Name for the group,
2. Plan for the social meeting Fri, 5th September

Hope this is not coming across as stressful, ok. It will be nice for us to look into these issues. No pressure and certainly great fun & fellowship intended!

Fun, Food and Fellowship

Social gathering for our families
Date: Friday 5th September 2008
Time: 4pm – 8pm
Venue: Lena’s Place (Club House)

Change of Date

Hi all, sorry for all the inconvenience caused. The new date for this gathering has been changed to Thursday, 4th September 2008. Time and Venue remain the same.

A Purpose-Driven Life, Day 1 - 5

Dear Moms,

Even before I start this email, I was struggling with God on this idea which he puts in my head after our bible study session on Tuesday. The idea is to summarize what we have talked about from the 3 Tuesdays and to bring out the salient points that were discussed.

For those of you who do not know this truth, I am neither a linguist nor a writer and to do this is really not my cup of tea. I hate words! I hate reading lengthy essays. I love short and to the point messages.

As I reflect on the things that we have learnt and more on the point of God’s will and His purpose for us, I am reminded that we do not have to do exceedingly to please him. All He wants is for us to obey him and just do what He wants us to do. Not more, not less, just that bit He has tasked us to accomplish. So ladies, to write this email is a mountain for me! In fact, I prayed and ask God if this is really from Him and if so, I will not have problems writing it and He will provide me with the words needed which is usually hard to come by. And if this is His will, this will encourage you too.

In the late morning on Tuesday (21 August 2008) before our BS, I had a conversation with Charlotte, and she encouraged me to do as the Lord leads and leave the rest to the Lord. I am again tested by the Lord to trust in him and just to write my thoughts as it flows. (wow, 4 paragraphs already! never have imagined it’s so easy when its from the Lord!!)

I was really blessed to be able to see us all coming to worship God and study His words together for the past few weeks. (Tuesday afternoon at LeXiang has never been the same!!! Haha!) I would have never expected (yes, ye of little faith!) that things would have turned out this way but all glory to God, because when God leads, anything that is impossible with men is possible with God (Mt 19:26/ Mk10:27). Lesson learnt, never to underestimate God's power! I know that God's grace is sufficient for me/us (2 Cor 12:9) [in reference to my little faith] and I look forward to our Tuesday fellowship, and may we grow in the word together, be encouraged and edify one another in the Christ.

As there are so much has been shared, I would not be able to pen down everything and may miss some points that is real to you. Can I encourage you, if felt led by the spirit, to please put your thoughts into this email too (perhaps we should start a blog!!). Testimonies, words, experiences, your thoughts about a topic, a word from the Lord while reading this book, a 1 liner encouragement, anything that would be benefiting to someone, please do share with us. You will find it an empowering experience when you do just that! (woohoo Para 6! Still counting)

Wrap up for Day 1-3

Day 1
Clearly tells us that "It is really not about us!" The focus is about God, our creator and to know his purpose for us on this earth. So how can we know what is our purpose on this earth? The author talks about 2 ways. It is either we speculate about our purposes here on earth (maybe this and maybe that!), or we can ask for revelation from the creator, who is God himself. So how can we get this revelation? It is through our relationship/ walk with our creator, who is Jesus himself.

Day 2
Talks about "We are here not by accident!" It is not fate, chance, luck nor coincidence that we are alive. Reference bible versus: Ps 138:8, Ps 139:15 & 16 talks about how God know us even before we were born. There is many more bible versus in the book to substantiate this truth.

Day 3
Talks about "What Drives our life?" What control us? What guide us? What direct us? The author shares 5 areas what most people are driven by.

"Guilt" - manipulated by memories, allowing our pass to control our future. Yet it is so assuring that God has taken that guilt (sin) away from us Ps 32:12.

"Anger and Resentment" Anger leads us to be easily blown up or a clammed up action, and resentment, "kills a fool and envy slays the simple". Those who have hurt you in the pass cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold on to the pain through resentment. You are only hurting yourself with bitterness. The only way to turn this around is to learn from it and let it go. We need to learn to Forgive in order to set ourselves free from our bitterness, Anger and Resentment.

"Fear" is normally self-imposed and is a prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be. To counter fear, we need Faith and Love! 1 Jn 4:18.

"Materialism" This wanting more is based on the misconceptions that by having more will make me more happy, more important, and more secure. This is untrue because it only provides a temporary happiness. Are we in this trap too?

"Need for Approval" it is sad that this is usually being controlled by opinions of others and is a guaranteed way to miss God's purpose for our life. This sums up that when life is without a purpose, Life is motion without meaning, activity with direction, and events without reason.

It also shows us 5 benefits of a Purpose-driven Living.

Meaning in Life, The greatest tragedy is not death but life without a purpose and we need hope to cope. Hope comes from having a purpose;

It Simplifies our life, “It is impossible to do everything PEOPLE want you to do (this includes our children) You just have enough time to do God’s will. If you can’t get it all done, it means you’re trying to do more than God intended for you to do (or, possibly, that you’re watching too much television). Purpose-driven living leads to a simpler lifestyle and a saner schedule;

Focuses our life. If you want your life to have IMPACT, focus it! Stop dabbling. Stop trying to do it all. Do less. Prune away even GOOD ACTIVITIES and do only that which matters most. Never confuse activity with productivity. You can be busy without a purpose, but what’s the point?;

Motivates our life; and

Prepare us for Eternity. At the end of the day, what ultimately matter most will not be what others say about your life but what God says.(Ro 14:10)

Summary of Day 4 & Day 5

Day 4
“Life is not all there is!” Life on earth here is like a rehearsal, pre-school, a tryout, warm up, practice before the actual game of Eternity. The author says that this earth is like our staging arena where we need to rehearse before the actual production (eternity) begins. So are we ready for eternity?

When we realize that there are more to life than just here and now (on earth) and that this life is really just a preparation for greater things in eternity, we will begin to live in the light of eternity. This will help us to see how we handle every relationship, task and circumstances. We will realize that many activities, goals, and even problems that seemed so important will appear trivial, petty, and unworthy of our attention. The closer we live to God, the smaller everything else appears. Our values change. Our use of time and money will be wiser. We will place more importance on relationship and character instead of fame and wealth or achievements or even fun. (Ph 3:7) If we have a relationship with God through Jesus, we don’t need to fear death. It is really our birthday into eternity. (He13:14)

There is no fear (Ps 23:4) of death but our fear should be in the Lord (Dt 6:13)

Day 5
“How do you see your life?” What is life to you? So what is your unspoken life metaphor? What is your view of life? Is our life metaphor a faulty one? To fulfill the purpose God made you for, you will have to challenge conventional wisdom (what the world says, science, logic) and replace it with the biblical metaphors of life. “Do not be conformed yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God” (Ro 12:2)

God’s 3 life metaphors for us and are the foundation ideas for a purpose-driven living;

Life on earth is a TEST. God never stops testing us to see how we would response to people, problems, success, conflict, illness, disappointment, and even the weather. He even watches the simplest actions such as when we open a door for others, when we pick a trash, or even we are polite toward a clerk or waitress. How would you be tested? Sometimes God will test us through major changes, delayed promises, impossible problems, unanswered prayers, undeserved criticism, and even senseless tragedies. In the bible, we see examples of great characters being tested. Job was tested with real senseless tragedies and he passed God’s test. Other characters who passed God’s test were Abraham, Mosses, Hezekiah and Joseph just to name a few. An example who failed God’s test was King David, when he took his servant’s wife against God’s will. But even when God test us, He wants us to pass them. So God will never test us beyond what we can bear. (1 Cor 10:13). Why must God Test us? It is for molding, building and developing of our character and preparing us to take on more responsibilities. All of life is a test.

Life on earth is a TRUST. Everything we have belongs to God. We are a trustee (and not custodian) to all the gifts that he has given us. Our time, our energy, intelligence, opportunities, relationships, and resources are all borrowed from God and not ours. We are just entrusted with them and are task to take care and manage them well.

So when we treat everything as a trust from God, God promises us 3 rewards in eternity. God’s Affirmation, God’s Promotion and we will be honored with a Celebration

Life is a TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT (Day 6)

We will cover this in 2 weeks time.