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.
