hi wat can i say. . i am back again. .haha! you know. .I CAN'T GET INTO MY SCHOOL'S ELEARNING!!!! since last nite 7pm and since just now. . .guess my dad is rite. .why now then go in. . hai. . studies to me is basically. .dreadful?hai. .but since i promise my daddy to go into university i shall do it! hehe. .now i am using a flat screen com in my dad's room!! wow hee!!! the best thing my dad wana put the com into my room! but. . . i am afraid my older bro will always be a "regular" visitor in my room. . . i hate that man! imagine you trying to study online then suddenly some1 is behind you watching and seeing on the com. . . .e!!!!!!!!!! now you know y?haha!

waa. . .i guess now i am in a very anxious mood man. .coz i haven't finish studying 4 more chapter of my HS1029!!urgh! haha. . but of coz now i learn to spent time with God often! hmm. . very strange to say is that even though i still can't understand wat i have studied last nite but my heart is not worried infact my heart is filled with peace. . . ah. . hehe!well just finish the book of Luke! ya ha! going next to John! a new book a new chapter a brand new impactful real life stories! yaya!! now that i am in God again i shall go on with enthu in everything i do! today will be along day for me man. . hahahha! God wo ai ni!! xie xie ni!

haha. .today is my 1st paper. . going to school liao. . well God bless me. .guess there's alot of ppl i reali wana thank in my life. . even though i am still looking for the answer in my life. . Hope of God ppl thank you alot for your love and concern! i will nv ever forget! God thank you for always being so patient with me and giving in to all my crap. . hmm. . i know i can nv find any person/god like you. .a child that had just picked up herself with His love. . .

hey ppl i think i reali got serious STM problem man. . .i am not joking. . it's reali scary. . just now when i was trying to remember some points for my exam tml i can't. . .the prob is i just read about it so that i could test myself again BUT i just can't!!!! urgh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hai tml is my paper liao. . .reali hate exam man!
last nite i just had the most terrible day of my life! reali can't imagine life without Him man. . .

i just dun understand
why am i runnng away from you
why am i turning my back on you
why have i already given up

but i can't help myself to think of you constently
and my heart get no rest over you. . . .

i know i'm selfish
all i wan is your love
i know i'm hopeless
i'm hopelessly in love with you
i know i'm not perfect
coz who is perfect
so tell me wat i gotta do
to prove that you're the only one for me. . .

well u know i've been hurt b4
but i know you will give me no more
and i know you will give me more joy
coz you're the only one that i love

and i can't help myself to think of you constently
and my heart get no rest over you. . .

i know i'm selfish
all i wan is your love
i know i'm hopeless
i'm hoplessly in love with you
i know i'm not perfect
coz who is perfect
so tell me what i gotta do
to prove that you're the only one for me. . .

i know i'm always taking up your time
having you to listen to me
giving you no chance to talk to me
like a little child. . .

i know i am selfish. . . ( ya i know. .)
all i wan is your love. . (all i wan is your love. . )
i know i'm hopeless. . .
i'm hoplessly in love with you. . ( hopelessly in love. . )
i know i'm not prefect. .
coz who is perfect
so tell me what i gotta do. . .
to prove that you're the only one. . . .for. . .me. . . . .

this song was inspired by N'Sync's cd.

haha!today was the last day of my attachment hahahaha!very glad and happy!well during these 2 weeks in the ward i make 2 new frenz!!wow thank God!and they are the patient hahaha!but they so super friendly!anyway after this week it's my exam time. . .urgh! but no matter wat i reali wana to do well for it. . .but now i am so lazy to study. . . hai. .
well this evening i watched 'SCHOOL OF ROCK" and i tell you the kids inside are damn cool!!!!!!!!!!!especially the drummer!he is so cool for his age man!!!!!!!!argh!!!!!!!!!!hahaha. . .the electric guitarist was funny man! i mean the kid. . muhahahahha!!!!!!hai. . .how i wish i was that talented. . but again God got his plan what eva he wants to give me!hehe. . God i will listen to you man!anyway i gotta go chow~

MUhahahahahaahhaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Finally i finish my project!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!so so happy!!!!!!!!! thanks JANELLE!!!!!!!

anyway yesterday's service reali spoke to me about keeping my focus on God!!! what Pastor Jeff said about we must keep the main thing the main thing not keep finding the main thing!! so you know what is the main thing??? IT"S JESUS!!! so Jo-N keep your focus rite man!!!! it's God not other things!
hey NYP3, this is not the end man. we still got a long way with God so let's not give up!!!

Sharon: Jia You when you go over to NP group!!! grow and hope to see you as a shepherd soon!!

Jamie: you too!!! Jia You!! don't doubt about how God is gonna use you!!!

Denice: hey hey! wat's up! dun say the ceiling arh!hahah! grow gal!!! let God show you he is gonna use you! open your heart ok!!!! Jia You!!!

Janelle and Jeraine: hey my CLas!hehe..quickly grow as CLs k!!! dun let the fire die down!!! grow the desire in your heart!!!Go Go Go!! NYP4? and NYP5? which one you two wan???

Dawn: Gal! even though you are not in NYP3 but still wana say to you that i reali luv you alot!!!! reali very blessed to have you as my sista-in-christ!!!

must reali keep my focus rite and keep on motivate NYP3!!! with God nothing is impossible!!!

Possessing Nothing

The word that I believe God is placing on my heart today is from First John:
Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life梩hese do not come from the Father but are from the world.
(1 John 2:15-17)
God created things梪seful and pleasant梖or us before He made us on earth. He made things for our sustenance and delight梖or our uses. These things were meant only to be external and subservient to man.

In the deep heart of man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to live, not the things we have possessed.

Sin brought complications making these gifts a source of ruin for the soul. God was forced out of His shrine and things were allowed to enter. The nature of man is now to covet things梩o possess all that we can.

In fact, man covets things with a deep and fierce passion. The roots of our hearts have grown down deep into things and we dare not pull them up or we die. Things have become necessary to us. God's gifts now take the place of God Himself. Our enemy, which we tolerate, is life and self...our "self life."

Jesus said in Matthew 16:24-25, "If any man desires to be my disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." The only way to destroy this foe is by the cross. Take up our cross and follow HIM.

In Tozer's wonderful sermon, "The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing," he said, "The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty梩he abnegation of all things."

We must root out of our hearts all things and all sense of possessing. We can no longer be slaves to the tyranny of things. This has only happened through the surrender of self. This teaching is a marker on our journey to higher mountains. We cannot bypass this in our pursuit of God.

A great historical example of God's love in rooting out things is given in the account of Abraham in Genesis 22. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. He became the delight and idol of his heart.

Actually, we may be so bold as to assume that he became a love slave of his son. Can you imagine begging for a child for all those years and finally the promise is fulfilled? Before you criticize Abraham, put yourself in his shoes.

This fulfillment of a son was almost more than his heart could contain. Finally, he would have an heir to fulfill God's covenanted promise. Isaac represented everything sacred to this Father's heart and soon this much-loved son began to take God's place in the shrine built for God alone.

God stepped in to save them both from the consequences of an uncleansed love. God then required of him to give up Isaac. We are spared the agony of that night as Abraham perhaps wrestled for hours in his very own Gethsemane.

God only wanted to remove Isaac from the temple of his heart so that God alone would reign unchallenged there.

Of course, we know the end of the account. God intervenes and gives Isaac back. God now knows that in the course of Abraham's life, that He alone has first place. The secret in Abraham's life now became this very important point; "he had everything but possessed nothing" (Tozer).

My word to you is that Jesus came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to Him and nothing is safe that is not committed to Him. It is as Tozer put it梩he blessedness of possessing nothing.

Nothing has my heart梟o things, ideas, concepts, and treasures梠nly the treasure of HIS LOVE AND PRESENCE. I am not against "things"; in fact, I belive God wants to bless us with many blessings and material possessions. He doesn't, however, want our heart wrapped up in our possessions. Our hearts belong to Him and Him alone.

My challenge to you today, my friends, is to ask God what are the hidden treasures of your heart. You will be surprised as the Holy Spirit begins to highlight those areas that have challenged God's presence.

As He illumines these areas, obey the Spirit's prompting and confess your sin and ask the Father to set you free from this treasure. Today, pick up your cross and follow ONLY HIM.


Copyright ?2003 Julaine Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Bad Company

Sometimes we need to evaluate our relationships. That's right梚t's good to evaluate who you are hanging around with.
Do not be misled; bad company corrupts good character.
(1 Cor. 15:33 NIV)

Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and morals and character.
(1 Cor. 15:33 Amp)
It's plain and simple梑ad company corrupts good character. Godly friends promote and stimulate good manners, morals and godly character.

We could take those same scriptures and flip them around the other way, and they would say, "Godly friends promote and stimulate good manners and morals and godly character."

Take a look at this example. This story is about Elijah and Elisha:
When the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind. Elisha went in with Elijah from Gilgal. Then Elijah said to Elisha, 'Say your plea for the Lord has sent me onto Bethel.' But Elisha said, 'As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.' So they went down to Bethel. Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came to Elisha and said to him, Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, 'Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?' And he said, 'Yes, I know; keep silent!'
(2 Kings 2:1-3 NKJV)
Elisha was doing everything that he could to stay in contact; just like a parasite.

Speaking of parasites匢 just learned something. Did you ever hear of a Ramora fish? They're nasty looking creatures. I was out deep sea fishing one time and someone caught one of those things. They have this little plate on the back part of them with little vents. It's almost like little suction cups.

The Ramora is a parasitic fish. It goes up against sharks and other things, and it just feeds off the scum and excess garbage that's around the outside of the other fish.

Here's the point I want to make. As nasty as that sounds, I want to turn this around for a good thing. We need to find people that are better than us, people that have better character than we do, people that have a stronger walk with God than we do, and we need to be parasitic (Do you
like that word?).

We need to attach ourselves like that Ramora Fish梤ight on them and stay connected to them like a parasite.

We need to stick ourselves to people that are stronger than us with their relationship with God. That's what helps to build us up and strengthen us in the things of God and things of the Spirit.


Copyright ?2004 Floodzone.org
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Good Company

Ever hang around people that have a stronger relationship with God than you do? You know who they are. They just seem to know God more than you do.

I'm not talking about pride here and I'm not talking about religion or a "holier-than-thou" attitude! I'm talking about someone that has a strong relationship with God! They are people that have a deep hunger for God and usually hang out with Him in their own personal time (Like reading the Bible, praying and worshiping Him, etc.).

So do you want good company? How hungry are you for the things of God? How hungry are you for godly relationships?

When you have good godly relationships, it will equate to a godly character in you. It will supernaturally make you hungry for the things of God; it will just make you want what the other person wants of God.

The hunger for God in you should be so great that you just seem to gravitate to others that are hungry for Him. You won't really care who the person is; if they're hungry for God, man you will just end up sitting right there next to them.

Your attitude will become, "I want everything that they want so I'm going to sit right next to them. I don't care because I want to be hungry for God and I want to become maxed out in Him!"

Teenagers, I am more hungry for God each day that I'm alive and if there are other people that I can learn from, if there are other people that I can pull from, then I'm going to sit next to them and I'm going to talk to them, or I'm going to call them on the phone, or I'm going to e-mail them!

I'm going to do whatever I can to get to know them better because they know God better than I do and I want to know God like THEY know God.

So I challenge you today, find somebody that is hungry for the things of God, sit right down next to them; learn all that you can learn from them. Don't forget to spend time alone with God worshiping Him and reading His Word. Not only will you grow, but someday very soon someone is going to sit down next to you!


Copyright ?2004 Floodzone.org
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Imagine Me Without You - Jaci Valasquez


As long as stars shine down from heaven, And the rivers run into the sea
Till the end of time forever, You're the only love I'll need
In my life You're all that matters, In my eyes the only truth I see
When my hopes and dreams have shattered, You're the one that's there for me

When I found You I was blessed, And I will never leave You, I need You
Imagine me without You, I'd be lost and so confused
I wouldn't last a day, I'd be afraid, Without You there to see me through

Imagine me without You, Lord, You know it's just impossible
Because of You, it's all brand new, My life is now worthwhile
I can't imagine me without You

When You caught me I was falling, You're love lifted me back on my feet
It was like You heard me calling, And You rush to set me free

When I found You I was blessed, And I will never leave You, I need You
Imagine me without You, I'd be lost and so confused
I wouldn't last a day, I'd be afraid, Without You there to see me through

Imagine me without You, Lord, You know it's just impossible
Because of You, it's all brand new, My life is now worthwhile
I can't imagine me without You

When I found You I was blessed, And I will never leave You, I need You oh
Imagine me without You, I'd be lost and so confused
I wouldn't last a day, I'd be afraid, Without You there to see me through

Imagine me without You, Lord, You know it's just impossible
Because of You, it's all brand new, My life is now worthwhile
I can't imagine me without You, I can't imagine me without You

God help NYP3 to grow man. . i am reali at the lost liao. . hahaha. . just leave it into your hands! thanks and guide all of us. . Love you God!

BUTTERFLY KISSES - BOB CARLISLE

There's two things I know for sure.
She was sent here from heaven, and she's daddy's little girl.
As I drop to my knees by her bed at night, she talks to Jesus, and I close my
eyes.
And I thank God for all the joy in my life,
Oh, but most of all, for...

Butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer.
Stickin' little white flowers all up in her hair.
"Walk beside the pony, daddy, it's my first ride."
"I know the cake looks funny, daddy, but I sure tried."
Oh, with all that I've done wrong, I must have done something right
To deserve a hug every morning, and butterfly kisses at night.

Sweet sixteen today,
She's looking like her momma a little more every day.
One part woman, the other part girl.
To perfume and makeup, from ribbons and curls.
Trying her wings out in a great big world.
But I remember...

Butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer.
Stickin' little white flowers all up in her hair.
"You know how much I love you, daddy, but if you don't mind,
I'm only going to kiss you on the cheek this time."
Oh, with all that I've done wrong, I must have done something right.
To deserve her love every morning, and butterfly kisses at night.

All the precious time ... Like the wind, the years go by
Precious butterfly ... Spread your wings and fly

She'll change her name today.
She'll make a promise and I'll give her away.
Standing in the bride room just staring at her,
she asked me what I'm thinking, and I said "I'm not sure,
I just feel like I'm losing my baby girl." Then she leaned over... and gave
me...

Butterfly kisses, with her mama there sticking little white flowers all up in her hair
"Walk me down the aisle, daddy, it's just about time"
"Does my wedding gown look pretty, daddy?" "Daddy, don't cry."
Oh, with all that I've done wrong, I must have done something right
To deserve her love every morning, and butterfly kisses
I couldn't ask God for more. Man, this is what love is.
I know I've gotta let her go, but I'll always remember
every hug in the morning, and butterfly kisses...

Graduate Tuang Lee tells all.



Survival of the fittest?



Or simply how to survive your first year?



As i look back at the 3 years i spent in NTU, i cannot help but rememeber my freshman days. Like many of you, i was fresh from the army, and excited about campus and hostel life. I set many objectives for myself, the most important being to study hard, and not let my parents down.



That perspective changed gradually through the years. Right now, i would say that the one thing i cherish most is not academic achievement, but a personal relationship with someone whom i can truly call my best friend-----Jesus.



Indeed, i thank God for letting me realize that there is more to life than getting good grades. I thank Him for opening my eyes to see beyond the transitory to the eternal.



So you don't want to be left houndering in your first year?



We share some survival tips.



1. The quality of the life we lead tomorrow depends on the commitments we make today.



Most of us complain that we are super busy, super stressed. Sometimes, even too busy for tutorials and readings. Yet, isn't true those commitments were hand-picked by us? Many of us don't think much when we choose our CCAs and end up being too busy and regretting it. Consider carefully before making your CCA commitments. At the end of the day, you alone decide how busy you'll be.



2. Being on time is often being in the right places.



This is especially so with respect to catching our buses/MRT during peak hours.



3. If you want to skip so many lessons, you should have done it in primary school, while the fees were just $3.50 per month.



Think about it. You studied like a dog to get into Poly/Uni, and now you're paying thousands to skip class and not do your readings??? The least you can do for yourself is to actually learn something here. The fact is Poly/Uni education requires a lot of initative and discipline. Otherwise, don't be surprised when you see your grades at the end of the semester.

4. Worrying is like sitting on a rocking chair. It may give you plenty to do, but it'll get you nowhere.

Exams coming. Tutorials not done. Don't understand! HELP!!!!!! Whatever the obstacles, remember ---worrying doesn't get you anywhere. People who score are usually people who plan their revision schedule realistically, and have the discipline to actually carry it out. Those who spend their time worrying that they will fail, will...well, fail.

5. While you spend your time complaining about your lecturer, someone is actually learning something from him.

The truth is, the quality of the lecturer need not affect your grades at all. It's nice to have an interesting and helpful lecturer, but you; yourself ultimately determines what you learn. If you really want to learn and understand something, go right ahead and do it, in spite or the lousy lecturer.

How do we know? We are students too =)


Extract from unknown

A Fine Line between Hurt and Bitterness

The passages below are taken from Max Lucado’s book “He Still Moves Stones,” published in 1993.

TEN-YEAR-OLD PHINEAS was up before the sun was. He’d scarcely slept the night before. And long before a sound was heard in the house, he was downstairs with his bag packed, ready to climb into the wagon.
The year was 1820. And Phineas was about to see an island. His island. The island promised to him at birth. The day he was born, his grandfather presented newborn Phineas with a deed, a sizable portion of Connecticut land called Ivy Island. And today, for the first time, Phineas was to see it.
Not every boy is born a proprietor. Phineas’s parents were always quick to remind their son of this. They urged him not to forget them when he came of age. Neighbors feared that the young landowner wouldn’t want to play with their children.
Their concerns were legitimate. Phineas was different from his playmates. While they dreamed of dragons and knights, his fantasies were of Ivy Island. Someday he would be lord of his own territory. He’d build a house. Start a farm. Raise cattle. Rule his domain.
When you own an island you feel important.
When you own an island, you want to see it. Phineas had yet to see his. He pleaded with his father to take him to the island and, finally, in the summer of 1820, his father agreed.
Three sleepless nights preceded the expedition. Then, early that morning, Phineas, his father, and a hired hand climbed into the buggy and began the long-anticipated journey. Finally, Phineas would see his land.
He could scarcely sit still. At the top of each hill he would ask, “Are we nearly there? Can I see it from here?” And his father would encourage him to be patient and assure him that they were drawing near.
Finally, his dad pointed north beyond a meadow to a row of tall trees stretching into the sky.
“There’ he said. “There is Ivy Island.”
Phineas was overcome. He jumped from the wagon and dashed through the meadow, leaving his father far behind. He raced to the row of trees into an opening from which Ivy Island was visible.
When he saw the land he stopped. His heart sank.
Ivy Island was five acres of snake-infested marshland. His grand father had called it the most valuable land in Connecticut. But it was worthless. His father had told him it was a generous gift. It wasn’t. It was a joke . . . a cruel joke. As stunned Phineas stared, the father and the hired hand roared with laughter.
Phineas was not the fortunate beneficiary of the family. He was the laughingstock of the family. Grandfather Taylor had played a joke on his heir.
Phineas didn’t laugh. Nor did he forget. That disappointment shaped his life. He, the deceived, made a lifestyle out of deception. The little boy fooled made a career out of fooling people.
He even may have fooled you.
You don’t know him as Phineas. You know him as P.T. You don’t know him as a landowner; you know him as a promoter. You know him as the one who coined the phrase, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” He spent his life proving it. Such was the life of P.T.---P. T. Barnum.
And such is the life of many others, many others who have been told they’d be taken to the Promised Land only to find themselves taken to the swamp.

I shared a ride to the airport this week with a businessman who a decade ago had an income twenty times what he has today. That was before his industry slumped. That was before he went broke.
After last Sunday’s sermon a woman from another town asked what to do with her memories. I asked her what she meant. “I want to go to church, but I was abused by a preacher as a young girl. And now, every time I go to church, I remember.”
A friend tells me that her husband cares more about his golf game than he cares about her.
Even as I was writing, a co-worker stopped by to update me on the lawsuit he has filed against the builder who never finished his house.
Is there anything wrong with these people? No, their desires are healthy. One wants a strong business, another wants fulfilling worship. A husband who’ll honor his promise, a builder who’ll keep his word. Who would fault them for such dreams? Who would blame them for dreaming? Who would have thought their dreams would be crushed?
Certainly they didn’t.
But now they are faced with a decision. What do they do with their disillusionment? What do they do with their broken hearts? We’re not talking inconveniences or hassles. We’re not discussing long lines or red lights or a bad game of tennis. We’re talking heart break. We’re talking about what two friends of Jesus were feeling a couple of days after his death. Their world has tumbled in on them. It’s obvious by the way they walk. Their feet shuffle, their heads hang, their shoulders droop. The seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus must feel like seventy.
As they walk they talk “about everything that had happened” (v. 14). It’s not hard to imagine their words.
“Why did the people turn against him?”
“He could have come down from the cross. Why didn’t he?”
“He just let Pilate push him around.”
“What do we do now?”
As they walk, a stranger comes up behind them. It is Jesus, but they don’t recognize him. Disappointment will do that to you. It will blind you to the very presence of God. Discouragement turns our eyes inward. God could be walking next to us, but despair clouds our vision.
Despair does something else. Not only does it cloud our vision, it hardens our hearts. We get cynical. We get calloused. And when good news comes, we don’t want to accept it for fear of being disappointed again. That’s what happened to these two people.
Later on they say these words:
“And today some women among us amazed us. Early this morning they went to the tomb, but they did not find his body there. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said that Jesus was alive! So some of our group went to the tomb, too. They found it just as the women said, but they did not see Jesus.” (Luke 24:2224)

When reading Scripture we can’t always tell in what tone the words were spoken. Sometimes we don’t know if the speaker means to be jubilant or sad or peaceful. This time, however, there is no question about what they’re thinking: As if it’s not bad enough that Jesus was killed, now some grave robber has taken the body and duped some of our friends.
These two followers aren’t about to believe the women. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Cleopas and his friend are putting their hearts in a shell. They won’t take another risk. They won’t be hurt again.
Common reaction--isn’t it? Been hurt by love? Then don’t love. Had a promise violated? Then don’t trust. Had your heart broken? Then don’t give it away. Do like P. T. Barnum. Settle the score by blaming the world and hardening your heart.
There is a line, a fine line, which once crossed can be fatal. It’s the line between disappointment and anger. Between hurt and hate, between bitterness and blame. If you are nearing that line, let me urge you, don’t cross it. Step back and ask this question: How long am I going to pay for my disappointment? How long am I going to go on nursing my hurt?
At some point you have to move on. At some point you have to heal. At some point you have to let Jesus do for you what he did for these men.
Know what he did? First of all, he came to them. I know we’ve already mentioned that, but it’s worth repeating. He didn’t sit back and cross his arms and say, “Why can’t those two get with the program?” He didn’t complain to the angel and say, “Why won’t they believe the empty tomb? Why are they so hard to please?”
What did he do? He met them at their point of pain. Though death has been destroyed and sin annulled, he has not retired. The resurrected Lord has once again wrapped himself in flesh, put on human clothes, and searched out hurting hearts.
Read carefully their words and see if you can find their hurt:
Jesus said to them, “What are you talking about?”
They said, “About Jesus of Nazareth. He was a prophet who said and did many powerful things before God and all the people. Our leaders and the leading priests handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. But we were hoping that he would free Israel.” (Luke 24:1921)
There it is. “But we were hoping. . .” The disciples had hoped Jesus would free Israel. They had hoped he’d kick out the Romans. They’d hoped Pilate would be out and Jesus would be in. But Pilate was still in, and Jesus was dead.
Unfulfilled expectations. God didn’t do what they wanted him to. They knew what they expected of Jesus. They knew what he was supposed to do. They didn’t have to ask him. If Jesus is the Messiah, he won’t sleep in my storm. He won’t ever die. He won’t defy tradition. He’ll do what he is supposed to do.
But that’s not what he did. And aren’t we glad? Aren’t we glad the prayer of Cleopas and his friend went unanswered? Aren’t we glad God didn’t adjust his agenda to fulfill the requests of these two disciples?
They were good disciples. With good hearts. And sincere prayers. They just had the wrong expectations.

When my oldest daughter was about six years old, she and I were having a discussion about my work. It seems she wasn’t too happy with my chosen profession. She wanted me to leave the ministry. “I like you as a preacher,” she explained. “I just really wish you sold snow cones.”
An honest request from a pure heart. It made sense to her that the happiest people in the world were the men who drove the snow-cone trucks. You play music. You sell goodies. You make kids happy. What more could you want? (Come to think about it, she may have a point. I could get a loan, buy a truck and. . . Naw, I’d eat too much.)
I heard her request, but I didn’t heed it. Why? Because I knew better. I know what I’m called to do and what I need to do. The fact is I know more about life than she does.
And the point is, God knows more about life than we do.
People wanted him to redeem Israel, but he knew better. He would rather his people be temporarily oppressed than eternally lost. When forced to choose between battling Pilate and battling Satan, he chose the battle we couldn’t win. He said no to what they wanted and yes to what they needed. He said no to a liberated Israel and yes to a liberated humanity.
And once again, aren’t we glad he did? And aren’t we glad he does?
Now be honest. Are we glad he says no to what we want and yes to what we need? Not always. If we ask for a new marriage, and he says honor the one you’ve got, we aren’t happy. If we ask for healing, and he says learn through the pain, we aren’t happy. If we ask for more money, and he says treasure the unseen, we aren’t always happy.
When God doesn’t do what we want, it’s not easy. Never has been. Never will be. But faith is the conviction that God knows more than we do about this life and he will get us through it.
Remember, disappointment is caused by unmet expectations.
Disappointment is cured by revamped expectations.

I like that story about the fellow who went to the pet store in search of a singing parakeet. Seems he was a bachelor and his house was too quiet. The store owner had just the bird for him, so the man bought it. The next day the bachelor came home from work to a house full of music. He went to the cage to feed the bird and noticed for the first time that the parakeet had only one leg.
He felt cheated that he’d been sold a one-legged bird, so he called and complained.
“What do you want,” the store owner responded, “a bird who can sing or a bird who can dance?”
Good question for times of disappointment. What do we want? That’s what Jesus asks the disciples. What do you want? Do you want temporary freedom--or eternal freedom? Jesus sets about the task of restructuring their expectations.
You know what he did? He told them the story. Not just any story. He told them the story of God and God’s plan for people. “Then starting with what Moses and all the prophets had said about him, Jesus began to explain everything that had been written about himself in the Scriptures” (v. 27).
Fascinating. Jesus’ cure for the broken heart is the story of God. He started with Moses and finished with himself. Why did he do that? Why did he retell the ancient tale? Why did he go all the way back two thousand years to the story of Moses? I think I know the reason. I know because what they heard is what we all need to hear when we are disappointed.
We need to hear that God is still in control. We need to hear that it’s not over until he says so. We need to hear that life’s mishaps and tragedies are not a reason to bail out. They are simply a reason to sit tight.
Corrie ten Boom used to say, “When the train goes through a tunnel and the world gets dark, do you jump out? Of course not. You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through.”
Why did Jesus tell the story? So we’d know the engineer still controls the train.
The way to deal with discouragement? The cure for disappointment? Go back to the story. Read it again and again. Be reminded that you aren’t the first person to weep. And you aren’t the first person to be helped.
Read the story and remember, their story is yours!
The challenge too great? Read the story. That’s you crossing the Red Sea with Moses.
Too many worries? Read the story. That’s you receiving heavenly food with the Israelites.
Your wounds too deep? Read the story. That’s you, Joseph, for giving your brothers for betraying you.
Your enemies too mighty? Read the story. That’s you marching with Jehoshaphat into a battle already won.
Your disappointments too heavy? Read the story of the Emmaus-bound disciples. The Savior they thought was dead now walked beside them. He entered their house and sat at their table. And something happened in their hearts. “It felt like a fire burning in us when Jesus talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us” (v. 31).
Next time you’re disappointed, don’t panic. Don’t jump out. Don’t give up. Just be patient and let God remind you he’s still in control. It ain’t over till it’s over.(74-82)

The Cost Escalates

And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull,
which is called in Hebrew, Gologotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWs (John 19:17-19)

Ultimate Encounter: Read John 19:17-27 (bible)

The cross was one of the most hideous forms of execution ever inverted. And it was here, on a cross, that God made the final payment for our sins. Iron spikes are driven completely through each of Jesus' hands and feet. He is stripped naked and raised into the air for everyone to see and mock as He hangs in the intense Middle Eastern sun.
Despite all of this ,Jesus will not physically die from blood loss or heat prostration -- that would be too easy.Instead, he will become so tired and filled with so much pain that no matter how hard He tries, He will not be able to hold His body up by His pierced feet.He will begin to hang from His torn hands, His weight gradually pulling His arms and shoulders from their sockets.
He'll try to keep shifting the strain back to His feet, but exhaustion will eventually overtake Him until, finally, He must hang completely by His arms. And it is at this time that His body will began to slowly cave in on itself until He can't get enough air into His lungs.
And there, in the blistering heat,stripped of His clothing,body already swollen and bleeding from the floggings and beatings in the face, spikes
driven throught His hands and feet,bones popping out of His sockets, Jesus will,ever so slowly, physically die of suffocation.
In the history of our race, no one has outdone the Romans in venting a more excruciating way to die.But what's amazing is that hundreds of years before the Romans even existed, King David prophesied in exact detail what it would be like for the Messiah: " A band of evil men has encircled me,they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing "(Psalm 22:16-18).
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Psalms passage is a pretty accurate description. Here's another, with a stronger emphasis on why: "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray,each of us has turned to his way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5,6)

Taken from "Faith Encounter" by Bill Myers & Michael Ross

http://thelife.com/reviews/

The Person You Are
by Dwight Thompson Author Bio

You are fast becoming the person you are thinking like.

"But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man..." (Matt. 15:18).

Attitudes are no more than habits of thought. That which holds our attention determines our actions. What you focus on in life is what you will get every time.

The only losers are people who don't get in the race. Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it now.

Believe you can and you are halfway there. One reason for doing the right thing today is tomorrow.

Circumstances are not controlling you. It is what is in you that is controlling you.

Who are your role models? What books and material are you constantly reading?

What kind of music do you listen to? Does it lift you or depress you and cause you to fantasize?

What place does God's Word have in our daily routine?


Copyright © 2004
Power Principles for Power Living by Dwight Thompson
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Jesus Is So Much Better

When we say Jesus, or Christ, is so much better, the word "better" means stronger, mightier, greater, superior, and more excellent. The word "Christ" means the Anointed One. And of course if He is the Anointed One that means He has an anointing.

The anointing is God (the Holy Spirit) in you empowering you to do the impossible; empowering you to do the supernatural; empowering you to be able to overcome all adversaries arrayed against you.

Jesus, or Christ, Savior, Anointed One. Jesus means Savior. Christ means Anointed One. He is the Savior that is anointed. He has an anointing that rests on Him.

Acts 10:38 said,
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.
Not only is Jesus far better, but so are we because of what Jesus did for us. We are better because of that first resurrection morning two thousand years ago!

So, Jesus is stronger, mightier, greater, more superior, and more excellent. For those of us who have received Him and accepted Him as the Lord and Savior of our life, He has made us stronger, mightier, greater, more superior, and more excellent than all of our enemies.

When you go through the book of Hebrews, you find that Jesus is better than the prophets, better than the angels, better than Moses, better than Joshua, better than the high priests, better than Melchisedek, better than Abraham, better than Aaron and everyday earthly priests, better than the Old Covenant sacrifices.

He's better than the spiritual leaders of the Old Covenant—those in the "faith hall of fame." And He is even better than your parents and anybody else. He is stronger, he is mightier, He is greater, He is more superior, and most certainly, He is more excellent.

There is good, and there is better, but then there is great...and that is what Jesus is.

Everything that there is belongs to Jesus. There is nothing that you see, taste, touch, hear, smell, or can dream of that doesn't belong to Him. Even you belong to Him.

Jesus is the one who made the heavens. He's the one that made the earth. John 1:1 says that "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God." He is the one who made the sun, he made the moons, he made the stars. He made that body that you are in. He made everything that you see, and there is nothing to be compared to Him.

It is also said, referring to Jesus, "Who being the brightness of his glory." The word "brightness" means that Jesus is the reflection. When you look in the mirror you see a reflection of what you look like—handsome and beautiful. There are no ugly saints.

The Bible says He beautifies the meek with salvation. You look good. The only one you look ugly to is the devil. We want to look ugly to him because we don't want him around us.

The word "glory" means that which is good in God. So, if you want to see how good God is, look at Jesus. Go through the Scriptures and see Jesus. See how good God is. He was born in a manger so that he could make sure everybody knows that this is not just for the rich folks.

Wherever you come from Jesus is for you. He is a reflection of the Father. You see Him healing the sick, casting out devils, feeding the hungry.

Even to the very end of His life on earth when He was being crucified by these very people, you see the reflection of the Father: "Forgive them they know not what they are doing Father. Don't hold it to their charge." That is good.

Jesus is the very reflection of the glory, that which is good in God. He is also the impression of God. He is the very image of His substance. The very substance of God is found in Him. He is the very image of God himself.

Then the word says that He is upholding all things by the word of His power.
He is the sole expression of the glory of God, the light being. He is the out-raying radiance of the divine. He is the perfect imprint and very image of God's nature. He is upholding, maintaining, guiding, and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power."
(AMP)
Did you notice what Jesus is still doing right now? He is upholding and maintaining the universe. The reason why this solar system has not failed is because Jesus is holding the orbit of the sun right now with His word.

He is saying, "Don't move." If that sun were to move one degree north, south, or east, it would adversely affect us on the earth. In fact, if that sun moved one degree it would kill all of us here. It is being held there by Jesus.

Jesus said that every child has an angel assigned to him or her. When you came into this world you came with an angel assigned to you. The reason why God assigned an angel to you is because angels have special abilities.

They are released to do their jobs because they have special abilities to take care of you. But, you aren't assigned just an angel. Jesus is with you. And the Bible said that He is so much better.

You can't be moved by what you see or by anything people say because greater is He that's in you than he that's in the world. Jesus is so much better, because as He is so are we in this world. It's not just when you get to heaven, but right in the gritty right now.

That means that the devil has to run from you. That means you have an anointing greater than whatever problem you have to deal with—because Jesus paid the price for you. Why settle for less when you can have the best.

Jesus is greater than Mohammed. Jesus is greater than Krishna. Jesus is greater than Buddha. Jesus is greater than Confucius. He is greater than fame. He is greater than money. He is greater than your boyfriend, greater than you girlfriend. He's greater than your mama, daddy, sister, or brother.

He is greater and He made you greater than everything. And that, my friends, is why they call the gospel the "Good News!" Satan has done everything he can to keep us from finding this out. But it is too late. Once that stone was rolled away and Jesus walked out alive, there was no way the devil was going to stop the message from getting out!

Because of Jesus, Heaven's gates are open wide. Have you ever messed up twice? How about more than twice? How about triple that? God is so good that He has given unlimited forgiveness for us. How can you say no to God?

Accept Him today, and start getting better.


Copyright © 2004 Keith Butler Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Why

We rode into town the other day,
just me and my daddy.
he said I’d finally reached that age,
and I could ride next to him on a horse
that of course, was not quite as wild.

We heard a crowd of people shouting,
and so we stopped to find out why.
There was that man that my dad said he loved,
but today there was fear in his eyes.

So I said, “Daddy, why are they screaming?
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why is He dressed in that bright purple robe?
I bet that crown hurts Him more than He shows.
Daddy please, can’t you do something?
He looks as though He’s gonna cry.
You said He was stronger than all of those guys;
Daddy, please tell me why.
Why does everyone want Him to die?”

Later that day, the sky grew cloudy,
and Daddy said I should go inside.
Somehow he knew things would get stormy.
Boy was he right, but I could not keep from wondering
if there was something he had to hide.

So after he left, I had to find out.
I was not afraid of getting lost.
So I followed the crowds to a hill
where I knew men had been killed,
and I heard a voice come from the cross.

And it said, “Father, why are they screaming?
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why are they casting their lots for my robe?
This crown of thorns hurts me more than it shows.
Father please, can’t you do something?
I know that You must hear my cry.
I thought I could handle a cross of this size.
Father, remind me why.
Why does everyone want me to die?
Oh, when will I understand why?”

My precious son, I hear them screaming.
I’m watching the face of the enemy beaming.
But soon I will clothe you in robes of my own.
Jesus, this hurts me much more than you know,
but this dark hour, I must do nothing,
though I’ve heard your unbearable cry.
The power in your blood destroys all of the lies;
soon you’ll see past their unmerciful eyes.
Look, there be love, see the child
trembling by her father’s side.
Now I can tell you why...

she is why you must die.

TEACHER: How old were you on your last birthday?
STUDENT: Seven.
TEACHER: How old will you be on your next birthday?
STUDENT: Nine.
TEACHER: That's impossible.
STUDENT: No, it isn't, Teacher. I'm eight today.
----------------------------------------------------

SUBSTITUTE TEACHER: Are you chewing gum?
BILLY : No, I'm Billy Anderson.
----------------------------------------------------

TEACHER: Didn't you promise to behave?
STUDENT: Yes, Sir.
TEACHER: And didn't I promise to punish you if you didn't?
STUDENT: Yes, Sir, but since I broke my promise, I don't expect you
to
keep yours.
----------------------------------------------------
TEACHER: Tommy, why do you always get so dirty?
TOMMY : Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground then you are.
----------------------------------------------------
HAROLD : Teacher, would you punish me for something I didn't do?
TEACHER : Of course not.
HAROLD : Good, because I didn't do my homework.
----------------------------------------------------

TEACHER: I hope I didn't see you looking at Don's paper.
JOHN : I hope you didn't either.
----------------------------------------------------

GARY : I don't think I deserve a zero on this test.
TEACHER: I agree, but it's the lowest mark I can give you.
----------------------------------------------------

MOTHER : Why did you get such a low mark on that test?
JUNIOR : Because of absence.
MOTHER : You mean you were absent on the day of the test?
JUNIOR : No, but the kid who sits next to me was.
----------------------------------------------------

SILVIA : Dad, can you write in the dark?
FATHER : I think so. What do you want me to write?
SYLVIA : Your name on this report card.
----------------------------------------------------
TEACHER: Well, at least there's one thing I can say about your son.
FATHER : What's that?
TEACHER: With grades like these, he couldn't be cheating.
----------------------------------------------------

TEACHER: In this box, I have a 10-foot snake.
SAMMY : You can't fool me, Teacher... snakes don't have feet.
----------------------------------------------------

HYGIENE TEACHER: How can you prevent diseases caused by biting
insects?
JOSE : Don't bite any.
----------------------------------------------------

TEACHER: Ellen, give me a sentence starting with "I".
ELLEN : I is...
TEACHER: No, Ellen. Always say, "I am."
ELLEN : All right... "I am the ninth letter of the alphabet."
----------------------------------------------------

TEACHER: Max, use "defeat," "defense," and "detail" in a sentence.
MAX : The rabbit cut across the field, and defeat went over
defense
before detail.
----------------------------------------------------

MOTHER : Why on earth did you swallow the money I gave you?
JUNIOR : You said it was my lunch money.
----------------------------------------------------

TEACHER: If you received $10 from 10 people, what would you get?
SASHA : A new bike.
----------------------------------------------------

TEACHER: If you had one dollar and you asked your father for
another, how many dollars would you have?
VINCENT: One dollar.
TEACHER: (sadly)You don't know your arithmetic.
VINCENT: (sadly)You don't know my father

----------------------------------------------------

TEACHER: If I had seven oranges in one hand and eight oranges in the
other,
what would I have?
CLASS COMEDIAN: Big hands!

----------------------------------------------------

BOY : Isn't the principal a dummy!
GIRL: Say, do you know who I am?
BOY : No.
GIRL: I'm the principal's daughter.
BOY : And do you know who I am?
GIRL: No.
BOY : Thank goodness!

Freedom from Anxiety and Fear

"I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears" (Psalm 34:4).

I want to encourage you today in the fact that God wants you free from all fear! Notice, the Psalmist didn't say some fear, but all fear!

I once had a genuine fear of flying. I never told anyone about this, and for quite some time, nobody seemed to notice that I drove almost everywhere that I was going to preach. Obviously, I couldn't continue to avoid flying and get to meetings on time, so eventually I had to fly. That's when the real battle with fear escalated.

I determined that I was not going to let the devil intimidate me into immobility, so I just flew all over the country afraid. During that time, the devil kept at me constantly. I'd hear a little noise, and my heart would start pounding. Later I'd discover that it was the landing gear that made the particular noise that always set me on edge. Fear is cruel and horrible!

One time the pilot came on the speaker system and said he had some really bad news. My heart sank! All kinds of terrible things filtered through my brain until he said, "We're out of coffee!"

I've been on planes that were met by sirens screaming from fire trucks and lots of activity out on the runway, obviously waiting for the plane that I was on! You think, "Oh, what's wrong? That's my plane they're in a frenzy about. Why are they waiting for my plane? Is there a bomb?"

But the fact is that I know I'm safe in the perfect will of God, and I have angels. I don't have to worry about anything, and neither do you. I began by searching out every single scripture I could locate on angels, protection, and overcoming fear. I started studying the blood of Jesus, and I'd speak and confess these scriptures over myself.

All of this study and confession proved very beneficial when I was on a plane that flew into a bad thunderstorm and dropped several hundred feet in altitude. People were screaming. Everybody's food and drinks hit the ceiling. There was debris flying everywhere! I was soaked because my soft drink hit the ceiling and came splashing down all over me. Immediately the devil started in with his old news about the plane falling out of the sky, but I was prepared this time.

God actually gave me a poem while all of this was going on, and I wrote it down. Some of the greatest things you get from God are sometimes right in the midst of some of your most challenging times. This is what I wrote:


No fear lives here,
I will not let it in,
Although it comes knocking, time and time again.
"What will you do?" fear says to you,
But don't you give it place.
God's angels protect me from evil against me,
I'm covered by His grace.
So when the feelings of fear arise,
And the devil speaks his lies,
Be bold and full of faith,
I'm covered and protected by the blood, in Jesus' name.
So no matter where I go,
By land, or sea, or plane,
My angels they go with me,
I will not fear again.

The Lord set me free to such a degree that when a very gracious person offered to fly me in their airplane to my meetings, I accepted because I was not going to let the devil rip me off anymore. I actually went from being afraid of flying to landing an airplane myself! And I am totally delivered to this day! You can be free from fear too!

Remember, FEAR is just, False Evidence Appearing Real.

Don't be discouraged if you feel fear, just keep speaking the Word and you too like the Psalmist can say...the Lord delivered me from ALL my fears!


Copyright ?2002 Kate McVeigh Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Divine Love vs. Human Love

Not only is the love of God forgiving, God's love is also unselfish. God's love thinks of others first. On the other hand, the flesh is selfish and self-centered. Human love puts itself first.

Sometimes I think that some people get this love business all mixed up. When some Christians talk about love, they are thinking about natural human love. They try to compare divine love with natural human love, and you can't compare human love with divine love. We're not talking about natural human love. We are talking about divine love.

The Bible said, "God is love." Well, God is divine. God is love. God is not anything so much as He is love.

We hear a lot today about natural human love, but there is no love in the entire world like the love of God. Natural human love is selfish and self-centered.

A Sad Excuse For Love
I remember a woman came up to me in a meeting I was holding in a church. She said, crying, "God knows I love my children. I brought them up right, but not one of them will come to church with me except my daughter."

Her daughter played the piano at that church. She said, "There isn't anyone in all this church that has loved their children as much as I have loved mine."


Too many Christians are selfish. They let natural human love dominate them instead of the love of God which has been shed abroad in their spirit - their heart.
- Kenneth Hagin

Well, I could look at her daughter playing the piano and see that something was wrong with her. She was about 24-years-old, and she'd taken music lessons and had even been to college. But if you looked at her, she'd duck her head to hide from you.

I said to her mother, "When your daughter was growing up, did you ever allow her to have friends? She must be intelligent because she made good grades in college and she graduated with a degree in music." (I knew a little bit about the family from what the pastor had told me.)

I asked this mother, "Did you ever permit her to have a boyfriend or a friend at school?"

"No," her mother answered, "I just kept her at home. I wanted to protect her because I love her so much."

I said, "You're lying. You didn't keep her at home because you loved her so much. You kept her at home because your love is selfish." I know that's not the way to win friends, but sometimes you have to jolt people to get them to see the truth!

"Well, I just love her too much to let her go," the mother said to me. "She's never been away from home, not even for one night of her life."

I said, "No, you don't love her. You love her with selfish human love. If you really loved your children with the God-kind of love, you'd want them to have friends. You'd want them to mix with people their own age and grow up and live a normal life."

Then she said, "My son is 17-years-old, and he just ran off from home. I don't know where he is. Pray that he'll come back."

I said, "No! I'm going to pray that he'll stay gone. Thank God, he had enough sense to get up and get out of that mess. That poor girl sitting over there at the piano stool probably hasn't got that much sense because you've warped her personality."

We Need Divine Love In Our Lives
You see, here was a woman who was born again and even filled with the Spirit and attended a Full Gospel church, but she really didn't love her children with the divine love of God at all. She loved them with a natural human love, and that can be selfish.

Believers can't say, "But it's impossible for me to love with God's love," because the Bible says that God's love is already in our hearts in the new birth. Everyone in the family of God has it, or else they haven't been born again.

Now they may not be exercising God's love, but they have it. They just have to learn to let that divine love dominate them. If they would learn to walk in love, they would walk in the Spirit because love is a fruit of the recreated human spirit.

If we would learn to walk in love and let that divine love dominate us, it would make all the difference in our lives. It would cure the ills in our homes.

Divine Love Will Never Fail
I'm going to say something that may shock you but it's true: Divine love has never been to a divorce court, and it never will. Natural, human love will go to the divorce court, but divine love won't - and it will never fail.

You see, my friends, the God-kind of love is not self-seeking. Divine love is interested in what it can give, not in what it can get. It's not selfish or self-seeking. Divine love doesn't ask, "What can I get?" It asks, "What can I give?"

Human love is interested in self - "What will I get out of this situation." Human, selfish love says things like, "I'm not going to take that!" Or "I'm going to have my way! After all, I've got my say-so." Self-centered Christians are very easy to locate: "I?" "I?" "I?" All they ever talk about is "I."

Too many Christians are selfish. They let natural human love dominate them instead of the love of God which has been shed abroad in their spirit - their heart.

Natural human love will divide homes, and it will divide churches because it's selfish and it wants its own way.


Come on over and walk in the Spirit! Come up higher and walk in the God-kind of love! It's so much better.
- Kenneth Hagin

Did you ever stop to think about it? Selfishness ruins the world. Selfishness ruins marriages, and it ruins the church. But the God-kind of love never fails because it's unselfish, and it always puts the other fellow first.

God's love is giving, and the God-kind of love thinks of other people first, just as God did: "God so loved the world that He gave? (John 3:16). When sinners in the world were unlovely, God gave His only begotten Son, "卼hat whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

You Must Crucify The Flesh
But, you see, we human beings get our feelings hurt, and then we want to strike back and retaliate instead of exercising forgiveness. Our feelings want to show up and our flesh wants to act up.

That's what the Word means when it says we have to "crucify the flesh" (Gal. 5:24). I don't know about you, but I refuse to get hurt feelings about anything.

Some say as they're bawling, squalling, and carrying on, "But you don't know how bad you hurt me!" That's selfishness showing up, not the God-kind of love, because you're only thinking about yourself. When you talk like that, you're allowing your flesh and your feelings to dominate you.

When your feelings dominate you, you're going to have to get out of the flesh and get into the Spirit so you can walk in the God-kind of love! The Bible says,

"厃e are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you? (Rom. 8:9).

Come on over and walk in the Spirit! Come up higher and walk in the God-kind of love! It's so much better. And I'll tell you, it pays rich dividends!

If you want to love life and see many good days, you'd better listen! Thank God, the love of God works.

Someone said, "But I've failed so much in the past!" Well, if you've failed in the past, then ask God's forgiveness and put that all behind you. Start over in the present! One thing about it, God will let you start all over again because in His great mercy and in His great love, He is forgiving!

Aren't you glad God is that way? God said, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins" (Isa. 43:25).

So even if you do miss it, if you repent, God will forgive you, blot it out, and not even remember that you did anything wrong! So start walking in His forgiveness and mercy and get on with your life.


Source: Love: The Way to Victory by Kenneth Hagin
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications

Don't be a Garbage Collector!

"Your feet are funny looking!" "What did you do to your hair?" "Your ears are huge!" Have you ever noticed how quickly you forget a compliment and how long you remember an insult?

Did you know that it takes four praises for every insult to restore self-esteem? Most people remember compliments for a few minutes and insults for years. Many people get down on themselves and accept failure and defeat because of the negative things they've been told. Then, they eventually open the door to unhappiness in their lives.

It is not what happens to us in life that determines our happiness so much as the way we react to what happens! We are in control of our own happiness as we decide what thoughts we think. No one else puts thoughts in your mind but you. To be happy, you need to concentrate on happy thoughts. How often though do we ignore those compliments that are paid to us, yet we dwell on unkind words for weeks afterwards?

If you allow a bad experience or nasty remark to occupy your mind, you will suffer the consequence - your joy will be taken from you. When you do this, you become a garbage collector carrying around trash!

Joy is one of the nine fruits of the spirit but many people never tap into it. Joy comes into you at the new birth when you ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. Luke 2:10 says, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great JOY, which shall be to all people." That includes you!

People are about as joyful as they make up their minds to be. I remember at age twenty-five waking up one day and deciding that I had had enough of being miserable and moody. I thought to myself, "If you are going to be a really joyful (happy) person someday, why don't you start now?"

That day I decided to be a whole lot happier than I had ever been before. I was stunned - it actually worked! Being joyful can be hard work sometimes. It's like maintaining a nice home. You've got to hang on to your treasures and throw out the garbage! Being joyful requires looking for good things. One person sees a beautiful view and the other sees the dirty window. Happiness is a decision.

Many people live life as if someday they'll arrive at "happiness" like one arrives at a bus stop. They figure that someday everything will fall into place, or they will take a deep breath and say, "Here I am at last...happy and joyful."

Their life story is one of, "I'll be happy when..." "I'll be happy when the kids are grown and gone." "I'll be happy when I have that new car." "I'll be happy when we have money in a savings account." "I'll be happy when I get that promotion." "I'll be happy I when I find the right spouse or mate."

You are only kidding yourself. None of those things will truly make you happy. Happiness and joy only come from one place - the source of joy.

Psalm 16:11 (AMP) says, "You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy, at your right hand there are pleasures for ever more."

I will give you the secret of joy and happiness. Stay in the presence of God through prayer and fellowship. Jesus told us what His will was for us in John 15:10-11 (AMP): "If you keep my commandments - if you continue to obey My instructions - you will abide in My love and live on in it; just as I have obeyed My Fathers commandments and live on in His love. I have told you these things that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be full measure and complete and overflowing!"

Don't be a garbage collector anymore. Stay in the presence of the Lord and dwell on good thoughts. There you have it! That's the solution to staying full of joy no matter what you're going through!


Copyright ?2002 Jerry Savelle Ministries International
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

wow. . today is reali a very exciting day man! haha!!!

anyway last nite was our ever 1st poly ss!!!! and it was great!!! we had 7 converts!!!!!yahoo!!!!!!!Praise the Lord!! 2 from NYP!!!! NYP is growing man!!!!!!! AMEN!!!last nite after Poly CLM Pearline came to my house!!! haha! man we did have fun!!! rite Pearline?!? ahha!! reali look up to Pearline man!! even though she is so crappy and lame all the time but she is so serious in doing God's work and serving God!!gotta be like her man!!!! haha!!! anyway reali wan to impact ppl's life with God's truth. . .haha!

anyway today is Gerald from Ywam's birthday!!!!!!! HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY GERALD!!! reali wan to see you at the end of the race!!!! serve God with all your heart!!! Jia You man!!!

the basketball today was fun!! haha!! first time played with Joe and Stanley man. . they were fast especially Joe. .haha! as for Davin. . hmm. . haha! he reali improve alot man!! hahahahahaha!!!but so sad it rained half-way so we have to stop. . .hai. .

XueTing!!!!!!! i can do freeze liao!!!!!!!!hahahah! finally i have succeeded!!! hahaha!!so happy!!wana learn more man!!!

have you heard b4 'ugly Singaporeans' ? wat about 'ugly Americans' ? i tell you reali wana thank God that i have Him to guide my life and transform me. . .coz around my neighbourhood here there's a American family but i have nv talk to them until today. . . . . . coz whenever anyone bring their dogs for a walk, all the dogs from all the houses will bark. . normal rite? but sadly to this American guy he thinks dogs shouldn't bark! guess wat he did??? he shouted at my neighbour's dogs! he shouted, "SHUT UP!!!!" then he continue to say, "If you don't wan to do anything about your dogs i will do something about it. . ." then coz my dogs also came out to join in the fun so guess wat? i was said by the American guy! first i was being pointed by him and then he said this to me, "Hey your dogs barks every morning, can you do something about this!" imagine if i wasn't a Christian? hahahhaa!!! when i told my younger bro about this matter my bro got so angry man! he said," why nv call me!" i mean wat can he do?? rite?? hahaa!! actualli i feel reali angry over this matter coz he keeps a dog too! and gets angry juz coz of dogs?? so immature!!!!! hai. . nearly wanted to open the gate and slap him man! but thank God. . .but later i felt reali sad coz we are all neighbours wat. . y create bad blood? hai. . .anyway leave this matter to God la! haha! believe that he will do something abt it. . .hmm. . .

anyway tml i am gonna start my attachment man. . .God bless me la!!!

Janelle,Denice, Jeraine, Sharon and Jamie you gals have done well on Sat!! let's Jia You ok!!!!!!NYP3 will grow!!!!!!!!! o, HUILING is NYP3's nb!!!!!!!!!!!! thank God for her!!! time to know her better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Jia you Jia you!!!!!!!

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'"
I'm whispering "I was lost,"
Now I'm found and forgiven.

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need CHRIST to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
and need HIS strength to carry on.



When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
and need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
but, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain,
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
who received God's good grace, somehow.

Share this with somebody who already has this
understanding, as reinforcement. But more importantly,
share this with those who do not have a clear
understanding of what it means to be a Christian, so
that the myth that Christians think they are "perfect"
or "better than others" can be dispelled .

"Those who hope in the Lord will renew
their strength. >They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary, >they will walk and
not be faint." >Isaiah 40:31

hey hey hihi!!
wat's up man!!! hmm. . .guess wat?? after weeks of not giving up finally one of my classmate is coming tml!!!!!! her name is Jessica!!!haha!!could still remember those weeks of asking and asking all my classmate but. . they all dun wan. . .hai. .BUT GOD IS GRACIOUS!!!! thank you God!!!!!!!! hey poly ppl let her feel welcome o!!! haha!!!

anyway this week wed i went to watch "The Passion of Christ" !!! with who?? guess lor. . hahaha!!!!! you know i kept on crying at the part where Jesus was being flogged!! at first was tearing when Jesus was being caned but waterfall came when the flogging scene came. . sob* used to remember that when i was young coz i was very poor in my studies my dad will cane me everytime i do my homework with him and he will make sure that i know my work then i can go ZzZz. . .almost everyday i will cry on my bed asking God is it he dun love me that's y i am always being cane. . i also curse Him!!! wow. . must repent man. . that's y i cried watching that scene. . .Jesus went thru more than me. . .to the stage where his flesh was being torn out. .

ar!!!!!!!! listening to "wounded hands" now. . wat a time to listen. . haha. .anyway how can ppl backslide from God. . .aren't God good to them? didn't they got wat they wan? reali hope all these ppl will come back one day. . faith is in me. . c")

must watch this movie man! nv nv let your frenz who are non-believer to watch alone!!!!! they will not understand wan!!!!!!! it's true man. . my mom went to watch with my cousin and aunties. . then she came back not knowing what is it all about only know that the show turn her off coz of the scene. . she says it's too much. . so fake. .so remember. .(">)

tml is POLY SS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yahoo!!!!!!!!!!! can't wait man!!!!!!!!!!!!! NYP is going to overflow our seats man!!!!!!!haha!!!! amen NYP?? let's JIA YOU!!!! NYP3, now we have 13 ppl on our confirm list!! come on man!!!!!!! let's break it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 15 is a small number man!!!!!!!!! feeling stress?? hahaha!!! but it's true in the future you will understand!!!!!!!! come on let do it man!!!!!!!!!

How to Get Answers to Your Prayers

The Bible tells us that God is Love. And in page after page, we see the countless demonstrations of His great love. We read of His compassion and promises, and we see His willingness to use awesome power on behalf of His people. God is faithful—to His people, and to His Word.

There are times, however, when we as the very chosen of God tend to rely on our five physical senses to decide whether He is really "out there" and whether He is hearing—and answering—our prayers. Once we pray our prayers, all too often it's easy to look around for physical evidence and then believe for what we prayed.

In effect, when we do that, it's like trying to see with our ears or hear with our noses. We must determine even before we pray that any physical evidence contrary to what we pray will not sway us into doubt and unbelief.

We need to realize that the evidence—or the Word—upon which our faith rests is far more reliable than what we can see. Regardless of physical evidence, the Word is perfect!

That's the truth of the matter, but sometimes it does help us to have some practical guidelines to keep us within the bounds of truth. So, the following seven steps are suggested as guidelines to help you in your determined walk of faith when it comes to your prayers—and waiting for them to be answered.

1. The Word
Prayer that brings results must be based on God's Word. We should start with the answer to our prayers-the Word. Jesus said, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7).

The Bible contains over 7,000 promises—promises which include wealth and wisdom, health and success. Finding the specific promises that apply to your situation may take some time, but it will be well worth the effort. (See 1 John 3:22, 5:14-15; John 15:7; Romans 12:2.)

2. The Application of Faith
Start your confession of faith before you see the manifestation of answers to your prayers. Believe you receive when you pray. Hold fast to your confession by acting as though it were already done. To be afraid to confess or act before you have it is to doubt God's Word. (See James 2:14-24, 3:11-17; Romans 3:4; Hebrews 4:11-16.)

3. Refuse Doubt and Fear
Refuse to allow doubt and fear to enter your consciousness. Satan will tell you that your answers are not coming. But take those whispers of doubt captive. You have the right and power to demolish every argument that comes against the knowledge of God's Word. (See 2 Corinthians 10:5.)

So control your mind with the Word and dwell on the answer instead of the problem.

4. Success, Not Failure
See yourself through the Word—as a success, not a failure. (See Proverbs 4:20-24; Matthew 6:22-23, 13:15-16; Romans 13:14.)

5. Testify
Testify of what you believe. Testify of the Word. Add your testimony to what you have received by the blood—your redemption. You have rights to all that Jesus did. (See Revelation 12:11.)

6. Faith Works by Love
Faith works when we operate in the love of God. Get involved in helping someone. As you adhere to the message of God's love, His love will flow from you to others. (See Galatians 5:6; 1 John 4:12.)

7. Be a Giver
Get on the giving end. If you need healing, then give the message of healing to someone else. If you need money, give money. It is God's law—you will reap what you sow. The way you measure out is the way it will be measured back to you. (See Luke 6:38; James 5:16; Mark 4:14-29; Acts 20:35.)

God's Greatest Guarantees
Need some help finding scriptures that cover your need? Here are a few to get you started.
Promises for your unsaved loved ones:
Luke 5:32, 19:10; John 3:3; Acts 11:14, 16:31; Romans 5:8, 1 Corinthians 7:13-16; 1 Peter 3:1-2; 2 Peter 3:9


Promises for your children:
Psalms 8:2, 91:11-12, 127:3-5; Proverbs 3:4, 22:6; Isaiah 44:3, 49:25, 54:13; Colossians 3:20; 2 Timothy 3:15


Promises for prosperity:
Psalms 23:1, 34:10, 37:25; Matthew 6:31-33; Luke 6:38; 2 Corinthians 9:6-8; Philippians 4:19; 3 John 2


Promises for your marriage:
Genesis 2:18, 24; Psalm 101:2; Proverbs 3:5-6, 10:12; Joshua 24:15; Romans 13:10; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Ephesians 4:31-32, 5:21-33; 1 Peter 3:1-11; 1 John 4:15-21


Promises for healing:
Exodus 15:26; Psalms 103:3, 107:20; Proverbs 4:20-22; Isaiah 53:5; Jeremiah 17:14, 30:17; Malachi 4:2; Matthew 8:8, 9:35; Mark 16:15-18; Luke 6:19; Hebrews 13:8; James 5:14-16; 1 Peter 2:24; 3 John 2


Promises for peace of mind:
Psalms 37:11, 119:165; Isaiah 26:3, 12, 55:12; John 14:27; Romans 5:1, 8:6, 14:17-19, 15:13; Philippians 4:6-7

Copyright © 2004 Kenneth Copeland Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Fundamental Principles for Spiritual Growth

To grow spiritually, there are seven steps you must take. If you do not take these steps, whatever else you do, you will be a failure when it comes to spiritual development. These steps are elementary. I call them the seven fundamental principles for spiritual growth.

Step One: Learn To Forget
Step one in spiritual development is to learn to forget the past. In Philippians 3:13-14 it says "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, FORGETTING THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEHIND, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

To grow spiritually, you must do the things Paul suggests in these verses. Notice Paul doesn't believe he has "arrived" yet. He says he is still pressing toward the mark. The person who thinks he has arrived and knows it all will never grow spiritually. Nobody knows it all! Actually, the more you grow in the Lord and learn about Him, the more you realize how little you know.

You'll never be a successful Christian unless your "forgetter" is in good working order. Forget even the blessings of God that are behind, because if you live on past blessings, you are living on stale manna. If you're satisfied with what happened in the past, you are not reaching toward the future blessings God has in store for you.

There is another side of learning to forget that is important: You must learn to forget your past mistakes, failures, and sins. As long as Satan can keep those past failures before you, he holds you in a position where you will not develop spiritually, and your prayers and faith will not work.

Step Two: Learn To Forgive
Step two in spiritual development is closely associated with learning to forget the past. If you want to grow spiritually, you must also learn to forgive. In Ephesians 4:32 it says "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER, EVEN AS God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." It's easy to be kind to those who are kind to you.

It's easy to be tenderhearted toward people who are tenderhearted toward you. It's not so easy to be kind to those who treat you badly. But notice Paul said, "Be kind to one another even as God forgave you." That means you have to forgive fellow believers too. How did God say He forgives? In Isaiah 43:25 He said, "I will blot out your transgressions and I will not remember your sins anymore." To forgive as God forgives means you are not to remember any wrong a fellow Christian might have done to you.

I've had people say to me, "Yes, but you don't know what So-and-so did to me!"
It doesn't matter what anyone has done to any of us. It couldn't come close to the debt we owe the Lord for forgiving our sins. How much more should we be willing to have pity on others, especially on our brothers and sisters in Christ! When you learn God's law of forgiveness, you will grow spiritually!

Step Three: Learn To Pray
Step three in spiritual development is to learn how to pray. You cannot grow spiritually and be a success in your Christian walk without developing a prayer life. A successful prayer life must be built upon the Word of God. In John 15:7, Jesus said, "If YE ABIDE IN ME, and MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

Jesus did not say to ask God for everything you can think of. Asking what you will and having it done for you is conditional on the rest of the verse: "If ye abide in me." To abide in Jesus means not only to be born again, but also to walk in continual fellowship with Him. Look at the other conditional part of that verse: "and my words abide in you." You'll never be successful in your prayer life if you don't know God's Word. God's Word must abide or live in your heart.

When people ask me to agree in prayer with them about something, I ask them if they know what the Word of God says on the matter. Then I ask them if they are standing in faith for the situation. I ask, "What scriptures are you standing on?" Too often they reply, "Not any in particular." I tell them, "Well, then, that's what you'll get, nothing in particular!" You'll only receive answers to your prayers when your prayer life is built on the Word of God. So when you have a need, find scriptures that promise you what you're praying about. Then you will have a solid foundation for your faith.

Once you have a foundation for faith in the Word, then pray according to the scriptural guidelines Jesus gave us for New Testament prayer. That's part of allowing God's words to abide in you. Pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus. That is the divine order for New Testament praying. It's only as you build your prayer life solidly on the Word of God that you can grow spiritually.

Step Four: Learn To Believe
Step four in spiritual development is closely associated with learning to pray. You must also learn to believe God and His Word. The prayer of faith just won't work unless you believe. How do you believe? It's simple. Jesus said in Mark 11:24: "What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, BELIEVE that ye RECEIVE them, and ye shall have them."

We often fail to receive what we've asked for because we walk by sight instead of by faith in the promises of God. We say, "When it comes to pass, when I can see I have it, then I'll believe it." But that's the "Thomas" kind of faith! Thomas said, "EXCEPT I SHALL SEE in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I WILL NOT BELIEVE." (John 20:25)

On the other hand, we can walk by the "Abraham" kind of faith. The Bible says that Abraham "against hope believed in hope, according to that which was spoken. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body." (Rom. 4:18,19) Abraham "considered not" the natural circumstances. He believed he had received God's promise many years before he actually saw the answer to his prayer and his wife bore him a son.

Believe that you receive when you pray, and you will have it. It's the most difficult thing in the world to make people understand this, because they are usually so bound up in the sense realm with human reasoning. Most people want to have their answer first, and then they will believe they have received it.

Jesus is the One who said, "What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." (Mark 11:24) I didn't write that verse; I just believe it! Why add to or take away from the Word of God? Why not just take it for what it says?

Step Five: Learn To Worship
Step five in spiritual development is to learn to worship. In John 4, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well: "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall WORSHIP the Father IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23,24)

Hallelujah! That means you don't have to be in a particular place to worship God. A lot of people think you can't worship God unless you are in a church building. God doesn't dwell in buildings anymore. Under the Old Covenant, He used to dwell in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. But under the New Covenant He dwells in us.

Our bodies, not some brick-and-mortar building, have become the temple of the living God (1 Cor. 3:16). So learn to worship God with your spirit, not in some dead, formal way with your mental faculties or your soul. The Lord has enabled us to worship Him in Spirit and in truth because the Holy Spirit dwells in us.

Also, by speaking in tongues we have a supernatural means of communicating with Him (1 Cor. 14:2). Paul said in First Corinthians 14:2: "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; how be it in the spirit he speaketh mysteries." Moffatt's translation says, "he is talking of divine secrets in the Spirit."

Thank God for this wonderful means of communicating with the Father! We need times of prayer when we get alone with God and worship Him in other tongues, as well as with our understanding in our native tongue. Take time to worship God. Learning to worship Him will help you grow spiritually.

Step Six: Learn To Give
Step six in spiritual development is to learn the secret of giving. The church needs a general overhaul on this subject to keep from becoming unbalanced. Some people have gone to one extreme in their giving. They only give because they feel it's their duty or obligation (which, of course, it is). But because that's the only reason they give into the Kingdom of God, they miss the blessing giving can be in their lives.

You should give to the Lord because you love Him, worship Him, and adore Him. And you need to add faith to your giving. Tell the Lord you are mixing faith with your giving, and remind Him of the scripture: "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." (Luke 6:38)

On the other hand, you can go to the other extreme. You can give selfishly just to get a return, and you won't get one. Some people hear a faith teacher relate how he gave away an automobile and God gave him another one. Then they give theirs away and think, "Now God is going to give me a new car." But He won't. You see, their motive is all wrong. It's selfish. And it's based on another person's experience, not on the Word.

You've got to examine your motives for giving and keep your motives right. You can do the right thing with the wrong motive, and it won't work. Certainly I expect God to keep His Word when I give. And He will, too, if I fulfill my part of the obligation. But I'm not going to give away my automobile just because someone else did. I would only give it away if the Lord told me to.

Then because I obeyed God, He would bless my obedience. We need balance in this area of giving. If we'll keep our motives pure and give according to the Word and the Holy Spirit's leading, we'll be blessed in our own lives and we'll grow in our Christian walk.

Step Seven: Learn To Witness
Step seven in spiritual development is to learn to witness for the Lord. Jesus stated that believers were to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit so they could become witnesses for Him. That was one of the purposes of the endowment of power from on high: "But ye shall RECEIVE POWER, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and YE SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME" (Acts 1:8).

I am thoroughly convinced that the greatest witness you can be to the world is to live a life that's sold out to the Lord. Like the old proverb says, "What you are speaks so loud, I can't hear what you say."

I believe in personally witnessing to people, of course. I think we should witness as the need arises. But I don't think we should go around trying to push the gospel off on everyone. I think we should be led by the Holy Spirit when we witness to other people about the Lord. Otherwise we'll waste our time, and they won't be open to what we're saying.

You see, the Lord knows who is open to the gospel and who isn't. If you don't wait for His leading, you will do a lot of laboring and never win anyone to the Lord. And many people won't appreciate your efforts. You might even do more harm than good.

In regard to my own mother, brothers, and sister, I never said a word to them about God and the Bible. I never invited one of them to come and hear me preach, even when I was preaching in the same town where they lived. I never said a word to them about Jesus. Not once. (I did to other people, but not to them.) I just believed if my family could see I had something real, they would want it. And do you know what? Every single one of them followed me into salvation. Every one of them were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.

I believe the greatest witnessing tool is a life really lived for the Lord. So learn to witness as the Holy Spirit leads you. But first and foremost, be a witness. It's important to your spiritual growth.

So apply yourself to learn these seven fundamental principles for spiritual growth. And don't get frustrated because you won't grow up spiritually overnight. Just take it a step at a time. As you learn to forget, to forgive, to pray, to believe, to worship, to give, and to witness, you will be well on your way to spiritual maturity!

Source: Classic Sermons by Kenneth Hagin.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications