"The Surpassing Value of Bible Memorization & Meditation"

"God is my refuge and strength;

an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;

God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;

He lifts His voice, the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see the works of the Lord,

the desolations He has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear,

He burns the shields with fire.

Be still and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress."

- Psalm 46

Oh, how very precious the very Word of God is to our souls - especially when we are down / weary /discouraged / disillusioned / fearful / fretful, etc. Oh ... it's just like the healing balm that comes in to soothe, to heal, to mend ..... and more than that, to bring forth strength, life, and restoration.

God reminded me this morning of the infinite value of having Scripture stored up in our very being. Had been feeling a little down and discouraged due to certain events that had been happening - and those thoughts were hovering over my mind early this morning. However, on the way to work, while on the train, I felt God prompt me to meditate on Psalm 46 - a passage which I had stored in my heart not too long ago .........

It was just as well that i had to make my own way to work today - and that via the train - for my usual mode of transport (i.e. Eddy's car) was not available due to the driver being unwell. (Hope Eddy gets well soon!) Anyway, it gave me ample time of reflection and meditation before the Lord ... and for that, i thank God. On hindsight, i believe that God had sovereignly orchestrated this situation that i found myself in (i.e. making my own way to work). :) My destination, by the way, was the suburb of Wacol ... quite a long way off (that means, more time!!!). Furthermore, i would have to walk for about 30 minutes to reach my workplace (and that means, even more time!!! Hallelujah!!!). Well, i thought i would make full use of the time in dialogue with God and in meditation over the passage He had laid in my heart. And boy, did it pay dividends!!! :)

At first, i gotta confess, i couldn't really recall everything smoothly ... but as i continued to meditate over what was in my mind, it all suddenly flowed. Awesome!!! And it was through the process of meditating over Psalm 46 over and over again that God reminded me of how valuable, how precious it is to have Scripture stored up in our hearts. As i mentioned earlier, i was not feeling too well (physically - was sick since Sunday - and emotionally) ... but through the process of prayerfully flipping and tossing the passage back and forth in my head, i was immensely encouraged. The Scripture warmed itself to me. There was new strength - supernatural strength - that appeared in me. There was new joy - abundant joy - that gushed forth from my inner-being. There was new peace - peace that surpasses all understanding - that welled up within my soul. I knew the divine Potter was at work; He was using the Psalm i had memorized to bring forth life and renewal into my spiritual man once again. He was strengthening me with His Word; He was encouraging His little child.

I felt so close to God both in the train and while walking to my workplace. It was simply awesome!!! His presence was so real, so tangible - and His peace so soothing. The Holy Spirit made the Psalm so vivid to my very situation ..... so much so, that at the end of it all, i could say with utter conviction of heart that, indeed, "God is my refuge and strength; a an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, i shall not fear (fret) ...."

There were so many precious truths and encouragements that God spoke to me through this Psalm. Don't worry, I won't go through the details about my mullings from this Psalm (i shall spare you the agony!) ... but i gotta say that it was extremely enriching, extremely rewarding, extremely refreshing. It was simply awesome!!! You should try it some day too if you haven't already done so ... meditate over God's Word prayerfully ... and see what it does to your inner-man!!! Try it!!! It does good to your soul!!!

In a nutshell, and for my own record's sake, what God revealed to me this morning was that of His sovereignty, His infinite power, His omnipotence ... and with that revelation, God's peace came flooding into my soul. I could only stand in awe of the sovereignty of our God. I felt comforted, encouraged, and strengthened. Oh, how great, loving, and wise our Lord is!!! Only He, and He alone, knows the best way to restore His children - and for me, this morning at least, was through meditating over His Word!!! Oh, what a great and gracious and loving God we serve!!! Blessed be His name - forever!!! Amen. :)

"Spiderman 3"

Watched "Spiderman 3" with Joy last Saturday. Gotta confess that it was quite an interesting and enjoyable show ..... well, all shows are enjoyable - very enjoyable - when you watch it with someone you love. :)

Anyway, there were two scenes from the show that seems to be stuck in my mind - thus my writing of this blog. The first was that of Spiderman putting on the dark suit (dunno what else to call it) and somewhat enjoying its hold on him - of course with him seemingly oblivious to what was actually happening. The other scene that is etched in my memory is that of Spiderman, upon realizing what the dark suit was doing to him, making a deliberate choice and effort to put off / tear off the dark suit that seemed to have cleaved itself around him.

As i meditated on these two scenes, i realized that it relates so very well to our struggle with sin. No doubt, we Christians have been washed and set free from sin by our Lord Jesus Christ - but our battle with sin does not end there and then. It is a very real, very fierce battle that all of us - even the most holy ones - have to face daily - at least until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who claims otherwise just needs to flip to the first epistle of John and read verses 8 and 10 of chapter 1:

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." (v.8)

"If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His Word has no place in our lives." (v.10)

If one is still not convinced of the reality of our battle with sin, let him also look to the apostle Paul's struggle with sin in Romans 7: 19-20 - "For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."

So, yes ... the battle wages on - a real, ongoing battle. Temptations are indeed very much an inevitable part of life. Having said that, however, we need to realize that it's actually just a matter of us appropriating the victory over sin that Christ has wrought for us on the Cross of Calvary - for, by the work of Jesus on the Cross, we are now free to live our lives free from the bondages of sin. And that's precisely what the apostle Paul urged us to do in Romans 6: 11 when he said, "In the same way, consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" - for that's what we are and should be. And in verses 12-14, he clearly shows us the choice / responsibility on our part of not letting sin reign in our lives. The words, "do not" clearly indicates the conscious choice that we can and have to make ............

"Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." (Romans 6: 12-14)

Indeed, sin can seem so pleasurable, so enjoyable - but its end is destruction - along with those who persist in it. It's just like a deadly poison coated with appealing sugary stuff that seeks to tempt and deceive us. Oh, what a warning this should be for us all to watch our lives closely and not to hesitate in ridding ourselves of all sin.

In the movie, we can see Spiderman enjoying his new-found 'prowess' (when he put on the dark suit) ... and although he seemed to know that it wasn't right, he persisted in it - and by so doing, he allowed the dark suit (symbolic of sin) cleave deeper into the very fibre of his being - and soon found himself subject to its mastery. And what is true of the dark suit to Spidey is also true of sin to the Christian. The verse that sprang to my mind was that of Romans 6: 16 (NKJV - since this was the one i memorized a few years back) - "Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" Indeed, how true it is - Spiderman found himself more and more a slave to the dark suit that he had put on. Likewise for us as well, if we are not careful, we may find ourselves ensnared by sin - and worse still, to allow sin to gain mastery over our lives. The lesson, i guess, is simple: Be quick to rid ourselves of all sin!!! Resist the devil and he will flee from us!!!

Of course, like all action-hero movies, it all ends well. Spiderman somehow awoke to his senses - and there, at the steeple of the church (hmm ... a mere coincidence?), he took responsibility and made a deliberate choice to rid himself of the dark suit (i.e. sin) that was so easily entangling him (see Hebrews 12: 1). As the scene shows, it was not an easy thing to do - for he had allowed it to sink deep into his being. But nonetheless, Spiderman prevailed ... and stripped off the dark suit (i.e. sin / 'old self').

This is precisely what we Christians are to do daily - as Ephesians 4: 22-24 puts it so aptly- "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitudes of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." We are to, like what Spiderman did at the steeple of the church, to consciously put off our old sinful self - and to put on our new self - created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And the great news is this: In Christ, we can - for we have the victory in Him!!! We will prevail in our battle with sin - for sin shall not have dominion over us!!! Amen!!! :)

Funnily enough, as i was writing, yet another scene popped into my mind - and with this scene i conclude. This was the incident where Spiderman had rescued the photographer from the dark suit that had gained mastery over him. One can see the power and lure of sin over one's life from this episode - the photographer, in spite of being separated from the suit by Spiderman, found it more desirable and pleasurable than anything else (symbolic of sin having a foothold on our desires and lives) - and as a result of his love for the dark suit (i.e. sin), he rushed in to be with it ........... only to be utterly destroyed along with it. And how true it is - all sin ends in destruction - along with all who persist / cleave on to it. Let us remember that and take heed.

Oh, let us realize the power of sin over our lives!!! Let us understand the enormity and severity of sin!!! Let us understand sin's dreadful end - and let it compel us to be ever watchful in preventing sin from creeping into our very lives!!! Let's be quick to repent of any known sin - and not let it gain mastery over our very lives. Let's look to Christ and His saving work on the Cross - and find our victory in Him!!! Amen!!! :)

"Lovest thou Me?"

This was the question that popped into my head early this morning. I was at once reminded of the incident of Jesus reinstating Peter in John 21: 15-17. There, Jesus addressed this personal and searching question to the apostle Peter - not once, not twice, but three times. And this was the question, it seems, that Jesus was asking me ...

And as i pondered over this passage, i saw a pattern develop: "Do you truly love Me?" ... "Feed My lambs" ....... "Do you truly love Me?" ... "Take care of My sheep" ....... "Do you love Me?" ... "Feed My sheep".

What God reminded me was that our love for Christ should be the basis of all of our service unto Him. Our love for God must be the mainspring of our labors for Him. (Note: It was only when Peter confirmed his love for Him that Jesus gave Peter the command to feed His lambs - which seems to convey, to me at least, that loving God precedes serving Him / true service for God is a natural outflow of our love for Him.) It is pointless, even futile, for us to serve our Lord without having a genuine love for Him. One cannout genuinely serve God without first loving Him. Our love for Christ must be the foundation for our service unto Him. Anything else would probably be service out of a sense of duty - and would become a drudgery. Any motivation, other than the one stemming from a love relationship with Christ, will amount to nothing. And without the foundation of love for Christ, i doubt that there will be any patient endurance in our service to God. Oh, how we need this love to be prevalent in our lives. It is this love for God that motivates, that compels, that energizes.

How much do we love God today? Let the question that Jesus posed to Peter many years ago be pressed upon our very hearts today: "Do you love Me?" Let this question search the deepest recesses of our hearts and draw out a response from us - "Do we truly love Christ?" - this is the key question we need to ask ourselves every now and then. What is our love of our Savior like? Is it red-hot? Is it lukewarm? Only we (and God) know the answer. Whatever it is, let's seek to love Him even more fully.

As i let this searching question sink deeper into my heart, i found myself crying out to God, asking Him to help me love Him more fully, more sincerely - and that my love for Him will always be genuine and true. Indeed, as it says in 1 John 4: 19, "we love because He first loved us." I want to be serving God not out of obligation or a mere sense of duty; but out of a genuine heart of affection and love for Him. Oh, how i need God to help me love Him more!!! My sincere prayer is to really know and love God much more than ever before - and to ensure that all that i do (i.e. serving in ministry, etc) always stem from a genuine heart of love for my Lord and Savior.

In closing, i shall endeavour to use the now famous 'resolutions' by Jonathan Edwards - albeit with my own resolution .... and may it be a motivation for us all too:

Resolved: To love God more - and let this love be the foundation of my service unto Him and His people. :)