"I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven. We keep looking to the LORD our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightes signal." -Psalm 123:1-2

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith." - Hebrews 12:1-2

More Christians will adopt the habit of consistent prayer if they fully understand that prayer is about raising their attention to God who loves man so much that He robed Himself in flesh to die for us on the cross. Prayer is never to be done as a chore. If it were so, the most crucial element of your adoration for God would be missing. Jesus never prayed out of drudgery or obligation; it was a time of refreshing for him as he raised his attention to his Father. He prayed before and after preacing to a crowd, raised his concerns before God and expressed his woes. Everything that he prayed about was directed to God and thus his mind was kept open to God. That should be the way when we pray. We should not pray like we are twisting God’s arm to answer our desires, neither should we treat prayer as a ‘Christian job’, but pray with the intention of melding our will with HIs will. Open your minds, keep your attention on the name Jesus, and know that He is here with you. When we keep our attention on Him, the sins that we struggle with will naturally fall away and strength will be given to us to continue in our good works for God’s kingdom. The branch will not bear fruit unless it stays on the vine. You are the branch while Jesus is the vine. Continue to do charity works, teach the Word of God, write encouragements, pray for the sick and pray for people who have yet to believe in Jesus, but never ever fail to put your attention on Jesus Christ in your prayers. There is a time for you to present all requests in prayer, and a time when you simply think about nothing else but Jesus as you pray.

Dear Saints,

God bless,
Mei Cheng

Hi Church,
 
Due to the coming Chinese New Year, we will host our main service on this Friday night, 23 January from 730pm in Auditorium.

God bless you,
Cynthia

“If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” -Hebrews 12:8-11

It was 7.30pm and I had just gotten home from work. My stomach needed to be filled with food and my mind tells me that I’ve had enough work for the day, so I should sit back and do nothing. I sat down and glued my eyes to the television screen on which a Chinese drama serial is playing. Then a thought hit me.

“You need to exercise, lazybones!”

Disgruntled, I stood up and did some stretching exercises half-heartedly. As I approached the dumbbells, I saw the daunting task ahead. Lifting weights isn’t really pleasant when I just want to slack at home after work. It gets really painful at first and the effort required to lift them becomes more demanding with each repetition. I thought then, “This is really tiring! Can I just stop now? I think I’ve already done enough to call it a day.” But another thought kicks in which says, “You’ve only just started. Keep doing it! You’ll get better, ” or, “Since you’re already perspiring and getting into the momentum, you might as well continue. Don’t stop now!”

Discipline is about doing the right thing even when you do not feel like it. You cannot trust your feelings when you have to decide to do certain things because feelings are deceptive. A certain task at your workplace has to be completed thought you feel depressed. A sick family member has to be cared for though you feel deflated from a hard day at work. School assignments have to be done on time though all you feel like doing is hanging out with friends or playing computer games. The wrong feelings blind us to the potential results of what we have to do if we lack the discipline to work at it.

I see parallels between physical exercise and a good habit of prayer. Travailing in prayer - praying persistently for something to happen - requires as much discipline and effort as consistent exercise. Initially prayer may seem like an imposing task that robs you of the time that could be used to finish some work, or play a game. It may even seem hard at first to exercise your will to speak words to God. But it gets easier and more natural when you continue to pray. there is nothing more fulfilling than setting all thoughts aside and plunging into that prayer closet to have communion with the Holy Spirit. There is nothing more refreshing than speaking about your woes and voicing your hopes through prayer. There is no other worthy accomplishment than a life changed by the Potter’s hand. The way to enjoy praying and reap the fruits of it is to keep praying regardless of how you feel.

Recall Hebrews 12:11 which says, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”