Conflicts

What is a conflict?

A conflict is an emotional collision.  It is stress caused by incompatible desires or demands.  It is what occurs when we have two or more impulses in competition with one another.

Conflict may be internal or external - that is, it may occur within a character's mind or between a character and exterior forces.  Conflict is most visible between two or more characters, usually a protagonist and an antagonist, but can occur in many different forms.
The basic types of conflict in fiction have been commonly codified as "man against man", "man against nature", "man against self".  In each case, "man" is the universal and refers to women as well.

"Man against man" conflict involves stories where characters are against each other.  This is an external conflict.
"Man against nature" conflict is an external struggle positioning the hero against an animal or a force of nature.
With "man against self" conflict, the struggle is internal.  A character must overcome his own natures or make a choice between two or more paths - good or evil; logic and emotion.
[Wikipedia - conflict]

Knowing our limitations, God urges us to "cast all our anxieties on Him" (1 Peter 5:7) and to replace worry with active, specific prayer (Philippian 4:6).  Prayer may not stop the collision, but, like seat belts, it sure can protect us from serious damage.

James asked us to  "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:2-4)

What makes you happy?

On Monday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak made an announcement that the Government needs to work at not only increasing the people's earning capacity, but also on making sure that they are happy.

So, what is happiness to you???

To a hawker selling 'keropok' - happiness is being able to sell all his produce daily while to an ant - happiness is having enough sugar for a lifetime and not getting squashed by a shoe.

Happiness does not have much to do with material goods or high achievement, but it boils down to our outlook in life, and the quality of our relationship with the people around us.

Real happiness is overcoming our negativity and beginning to count our blessing so we can experience the mysterious beauty of life.  It is about learning to surrender, release the need to control and allow our lives to unfold in its own unique and organic way.  It is about becoming fully human.  Solomon tells us that God grants happiness to us as a privilege (Ecclesiastes. 3:12, 7:14; 11:9)

God's Word tells us that true happiness comes by keeping God's law.

Proverbs 16:20 tells us "Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is the one who trust in the Lord".

Pleasure or happiness is dependent on circumstances, but joy is inward and is not disturbed by one's environment.

Pleasure is built on self-seeking, but joy is based on self-sacrifice.

The world offers "passing pleasures" (Hebrews 11:25), but the Lord Jesus offers to give us full and lasting joy (John 15:11).

HAPPINESS  DEPENDS  ON  HAPPENINGS;  JOY  DEPENDS  ON  JESUS!

HAPPINESS  IS  SOMETHING  YOU  CHOOSE.

"Keng Hwa"

"Keng Hwa" (in Hokkien) or Epiphyllum oxypetalum (Dutchman's   Pipe,   kardable,   Night   Queen  or निशागंधीNishagandhi or Gul-e-Bakawali) is a species of cactus and one of the most cultivated  species  in  the genus.  It is a variety of nightblooming Cereus and  often confused with species of Selenicereus.  [Wikipedia]

The plant was given to us by a church's friend  about  3  years ago.  From the leaf  cutting,  we  just  'poke'  and planted it.  After 3 years, in June, among the many snaky,  flat  and  long leaves, we saw a bud sprout from the edge of a  leaf,  not the tip.  We waited night after night, but  the flower did  not bloom and the bud wither after a few days.

In mid August, we saw 3 buds sprouting again.  And on 27 August, we waited patiently from 11.45 pm  to witness how the bud manifest into a pure white flower the size of a medium dinner plate.  

What a magnificient creation of God.

Dwelling in His holy hill

Psalm 15:1-3  Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?  Who may live on your mountain?  The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and cast no slur on others.

To dwell in God's intimate presence and fellowship with Him, we must walk in integrity, we must work righteousness and we must speak the truth in our hearts.

We must avoid slander with our tongue, and we must not do evil to our neighbour.  We must also not take up a reproach, or receive a reproach, against our friends.  This emphasizes the importance of obedience and completeness of moral conduct.

We should always seek to do right in the sight of God.  (Exodus 19:5-6; Ephesians 2:10)

We must obey God from the heart (Luke 6:45; Philippians 1:9-10)

We must treat others as we want to be treated - lives by the rule of love (Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:14)

Discipleship

A disciple is literally a follower of a leader.  And as Christians, we are all called to be followers of Christ, to be His disciples.  A Christian is a disciple.

Discipleship is not about a course or a program that certain members of a church take, upon completion of which they become "disciples."

Christian discipleship is the process by which disciples grow in the Lord Jesus Christ and are equipped by the Holy Spirit, who resides in our hearts, to overcome the pressures and trials of this present life and become more and more Christlike.  This process requires believers to respond to the Holy Spirit's prompting to examine their thoughts, words and actions and compare them with the Word of God.

Four key characteristics of discipleship that honors God:-

Firstly, God-honoring discipleship is about remaining in Christ - consistently walking in the way of the Lord, which is a teaching given to believers throughout the whole of Scripture.  It demand that true Christians progress and grow as we remain in Christ.

Secondly, God-honoring discipleship is about obeying Christ.  This is what Christ means when He says that His words remain in us.  Further, the Great Commission demands that we strive to obey everything that Christ has commanded.  There can be no discipleship without training.  And training requires obedience to instructions.

Thirdly, God-honoring discipleship is about bearing spiritual fruit.  If a disciple remains in Christ and is a pattern of obedience, that person will bear spiritual fruit.  Such fruit is inevitable as the nature of the fruit and the source of the fruit are both from God.

Finally, God honoring discipleship is about glorifying God in all that is done.  This is, ultimately, the goal of our lives.

[Extracted from Living Life-July 2012 "Honoring God through Discipleship" by Steven Oh]

 

Where Are You in Christ?

There are three stages of relationship in our Christian journey.

a) A man-God relationship started when a man accepts Jesus as his Lord and Saviour.  His eyes are opened to see God and his mind can perceive the Word of God and his will incline to godly life.  He started to delight in learning Christian language and sharing spiritual issues with others.  Then he will start praying to God and read the Bible.  He love God because of his salvation and other blessings. However, when blessing stop and troubles start calling the love toward God becomes cold.  This is the sign of a baby or young Christan.

b) A Christian started father-son relationship when the fear of God become reverent fear instead of awful dread.

This is the stage where the person focus on God's face instead of His hand, upon the 'Blesser' and not the blessing.  He knows God's love and starts to serve God and share with others about His love, not merely His gifts.

c) friendship with God

A man who is in courtship can easily give up everything and die for his beloved lover, but, not necessarily for his friends.  The power of love can make a man die for his loved one.  Likewise when God's beauty captures your heart, you are willing to die and can easily die to yourself.  Loving courtship will eventually bring a person to marriage.  In marriage, both husband and wife can share their resources and die for each other.  It is because there are one. This is the husband-wife relationship

You cannot force yourself to marry God but you can always start by calling God your father and friend and wait for Him to approach you to marry Him.

John 14:20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

Loose lips sink ships!

James 3:4  Or take ships as an example.  Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. (NIV)

James emphasizes our inclination to sin in our speaking.  Our tongue is like the rudder on a ship.  Even though it is a very small part of the ship, but it determines exactly where the ship will go.  Likewise we determine the course of our lives by the way we use our tongues.  (James 3:4)

Derek Prince wrote that we have two potential problems indicated by the mouth :

First, the old, corrupt nature which has not been changed goes on producing corrupt fruit; and second, some kind of spirit, which is not the Holy Spirit, brings forth impure, brackish water.

So the problem of the tongue takes back inevitably to the problem of the heart.

We are confronted by the truth that Solomon spoke in Proverbs 4:23  Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

The mouth is taken as the principal channel by which the issues of life flow out for good or evil. It is a well. If it be full, it flows over; and if the overflow be sweet water, the border will be fresh and green.  [Proverbs 10:11, 14][Proverbs 15:4][Proverbs 18:21]

T   Is it TRUE?

H  Is it HELPFUL?

I    Is it INSPIRING?

N  Is it NECESSARY?

K  Is it KIND?

If what I am about to say does not pass those test, I will keep my mouth shut! - Alan Redpath

A provoked spirit causes us to speak unadvisedly with our lips and these hasty words cost us many privileges and blessing.

Mission - Kunming, China

“Crossing the Bridge” with the Father

Praise the Lord for the successful trip to Kunming on 18 - 28 June.  It was  an  eye  opening  trip  for  6  people  from  3  churches.  The  team

Team

consists of members from 3 churches - half of the team members are pastoral staffs;  a license laid preacher, a youth and wife of a pastor.

Home cell

Upon arrival, we were treated to supper with Yunnan's Signature Dish,  “Cross the Bridge Noodle”.  There is a romantic story about “crossing the  bridge   noodle”.

The story involving a wife taking soup across a bridge to a small island where her husband was studying  for his imperial exam.  By the time she'd reach  the  other side of the winding footbridge, the soup would be cold, the noodles soggy. The story goes that one-day a layer of  oil  and  fat  kept  the  broth warm and  adding  the noodles and meats  allowed  it  to  cook  to  perfection on the spot.

Children church

Like wise, the team cross the bridge, with a little love in our heart for China to warm the

heart of the  Chinese believers.

We thank God  for  giving  us this opportunity.  Those  who went for this trip has came back with their  heart  enlarged by Lord with an increase of love for the land of China.  It is our prayers that God will  send  many  more Christians from Malaysia to  “cross the bridge”.  We  all  CAN  be  the “oil” to warmed the heart and provide  “spiritual noodle”  to satisfy the hunger of believers in China.  Join us in our next trip to China

We did 3 mornings of 7 hours each of prayer walking to bless the city.  In faith we believed  that  the  prayers of blessing is breaking the curses on the  land.  Thanked God for physical strength.

Prayer walk

Sis. Lili  and  Bro. Jason  conducted  a  music workshop  on playing keyboard and  guitar  with  AFC.  The  believer’s  skill was sharpened to enhance their ministry in praise and worship.

They also had a session of High Praise and testimonies.

Sis. Joy ministered to the women and Bro. Eng Lye to the men on the topic of godly manhood and  womanhood.  A two hours seminar was conducted to train & equip the Sunday School teachers at AFC House Church by Sis. Lay Ching.

A night of meeting on prophetic input/release of personal word to about 25 -30 people from the community of missionary was also conducted where the anointing of God was much felt.

The team was also stretched in their faith to step out to pray for individual.  Some have not prophesied for a long time.  The Lord once again activates them to pray prophetically for the missionary.  While others had never prophesy before and they too step forth to minister to the saints.

We are grateful that God has allowed us to submit and yield to His purposes and leading.  Thanking Him for the graces and anointing of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the work that need to
be done in China.

[Submitted by Robert/Joy]

Choose

Choice consists of the mental process of judging the merits of multiple options and selecting one of them. [Wikipedia]

Choice is always a good thing.  And what's even greater than choice is clarity of choice - Annoymous

We have choice over our thoughts, emotions and behavior, and our choice may also affect the destiny of our descendants.

MAKE AN EXCELLENT CHOICE AND WATCH THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF BLESSING.

2 Corinthians 4:18  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

A good attitude and the right focus help us to handle life joyfully, even though it doesn't change our circumstances.

Deuteronomy 30:15  See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.

v17-20   But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.  You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.  This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. 

"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” - Joshua 24:15

H.E.A.R.T.

We need to have a  H E A R T  of Christ in the kingdom of God.

H umility

E ncouragement

A ppreciation

R espect

T rust

Humility or humbleness is a quality of being courteously respectful of others. It is the opposite of aggressiveness, arrogance, boastfulness and vanity. It is a major theme of both Old and New Testaments. It dissipates anger and heals old wounds, and distinguishes the wise leader from the arrogant power-seeker.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.  James 4:10

Encouragement  ^- God will comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.Psalm 46:1-3

Appreciation  is an expression of gratitude.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.    And whatever you do,whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  Colossions 3:15, 17

Respect - Christian respect is uniquely Christian.  Teaching respect as a Christian character trait requires that we craft a definition based on God’s Word.

Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.  1 Peter 2:18

Trust  is the reliance on another person, to have or place confidence in, depend on, and have assurance.
Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods  Psalm 40:4