Just One Step Enuf For Me

I can literally see my growth in my grace walk...

… through my old blogs! =)

Have a look yourself at the journey if you’d like.

Started this in End 2005 when I just left the Catholic religion to finally have a real relationship with Jesus- http://beautifulseed.blogspot.com

Started this in Mid 2006; still healing and still depressed, but growing… - http://prettigoodyear.blogspot.com/2006_05_21_archive.html

Started this in End 2008 when I was more established in the gospel of grace-Marriage is a Trinity

And you are at my most current blog =)

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I have heard so many songs
Listened to a thousand tongues
But there is one
That sounds above them all

The Father’s song
The Father’s love
You sung it over me and for eternity
It’s written on my heart

CHORUS:
Heaven’s perfect melody
The Creator’s symphony
You are singing over me
The Father’s song
Heaven’s perfect mystery
The king of love has sent for me
And now you’re singing over me
The Father’s song

I have heard so many songs
Listened to a thousand tongues
But there is one
That sounds above them all
[Sounds above them all]

The Father’s song
The Father’s love
You sung it over me and for eternity
It’s written on my heart

CHORUS

It’s Heaven’s perfect mystery
The king of love has sent for me
And now you’re singing over me
The Father’s song

The Father’s song
The Father’s love
You sung it over me and for eternity
It’s written on my heart
[It’s written on my heart]

The Father’s song
The Father’s love
You sung it over me and for eternity
It’s written on my heart
It’s written on my heart
You sing it over me
Father

- Matt Redman

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Love is a choice we make. If you take away that choice, it’s not really love is it?”
- Kahlen Amnell from Legend of the Seeker

This quote from the series that is currently airing on Channel 5 made me think of Daddy God.

People often ask, “Since God is so good, why did he allow people to do bad things, things that are wrong? Why doesn’t He just make everyone be good and do good things?”

God is essentially LOVE and He made us to shower His love on. He made us for a relationship, not to control. He gave us a free will to choose His love or not. If He had made us and caused us to do whatever he wanted, then that’s not really a relationship, not really love is it? It would be like making an army of robots- obedient, unfeeling, doing things because they have to, not because they want to.

God wants us to do the right thing from the heart, not through “remote control”. And to show that He is as invested into this relationship as we are, He chose through His free will, to be born to this Earth as a human being, to feel the pain we feel, the grief we do, and then choose, out of love, to die on the Cross for us.

That is love.

That is our Saviour King.

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Old sermon notes - 28th Sept '08

Men cannot change themselves = only Jesus can transform from the inside out!

Our will power can only go so far.

Where there is a will there is a Vay - way to death.

True transformation can only come from the grace of Christ Jesus.

Men brings about head transformation, only God can bring about heart transformation.

Faith does not make things real - whether u believe the Sun exists or not, it still exists. If U believe in the Sun, you are in line with reality.

Picture that you are in a boat and the boat is secure - your faith in the boat does not save you, the boat saves you. BUT your faith in the boat keeps you feeling at peace, secure and safe.

Similarly, it is not your faith in Christ that saves you, it is Christ who saves you!

Jesus in the bible = God’s will in action

Want to know God? See Jesus.

Whatever He did in the bible, He is willing today = He is the same yesterday, today and forever!

No matter what the market is like, then and now, He can still take your 5 loaves and 2 fishes and bless them to be abundance

The more U run after Jesus, all these blessings run after U. We dun run after blessings. We run after JESUS!

Anything placed in His hand MULTIPLIES!

He is always enriching, healing, giving, providing - this is our God!

We should not experience curses in our lives because we have been ransomed. It is important to know what u are redeemed from or else the devil can hoodwink u.

It is because God is Holy and Righteous that at the cross God took all our sins, placed them in Christ and unleashed all his wrath against them on Christ who took in all the judgements and wrath until it all came to an end = IT IS FINISHED!

And God used His blood to tear the veil that sepreates us from Him, to wash men’s sins away so that we can walk into Holy of holies with boldness.

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If there is a question concerning God’s will, your faith will always stop at the question mark.” - Charles Capps

This was an immensely thought-provoking quote that made me stop and look back at all those times in my life that I was not sure how to move forward in faith because I had no idea about God’s will for me. I posted this excerpt by Charles Capps before, but just gonna give a “recap” here for those new to my blog.

“When it comes to receiving from God, the will of God must be known before faith can be released. Everything hinges on knowing what we believe and believing what we know is the will of God. In Matthew 21, Jesus gave us valuable information about receiving through faith.

Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this [which is done] to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. (Matthew 21:21-22)

When it comes to the prayer of petition, if a person doesn’t know the will of God concerning their request, they can’t possibly pray the prayer of faith concerning that matter. Faith comes from hearing and knowing the will of God. If there is a question concerning God’s will, your faith will always stop at the question mark. There are several instances in Jesus’ ministry where everyone in the multitude who touched Jesus was healed. Then in other places everyone that Jesus touched received their healing. But in Mark chapter 1:40-42, we have a classic example of how faith stops at the question mark.

And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.

The leper had great faith that Jesus could make him clean. But the phrase, If thou wilt reveals that he had a question as to whether He would or not. Jesus being moved with compassion, laid His hands on him, but nothing happened. The lepers’ faith could go no further than his knowledge of this matter. But as soon as Jesus revealed His will concerning the matter the leper received his healing. So you can see how important it is to know the will of God. Sometimes it is a matter of life or death. Sometimes, especially in the Old Testament, you find statements which are somewhat confusing. When the scribes copied the scriptures, they would often write their own ideas and thoughts in the margins. Sometimes these were put into the scripture, but most of the time they were in italics…”

Click here for rest of the above article.

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If a thing is in the Bible, then it is so; it is not even to be prayed about; it is to be received and acted upon.” - Smith Wigglesworth

The problem today is in many churches all of the emphasis falls on “What would Jesus do?” rather than “What has Jesus done?”.

Many believers I know believe in Jesus, of course, but struggle with understanding what Jesus has already accomplished for them through His perfect work upon the Cross.

They look at the doctor’s report and go “It’s in my genes I guess,” OR “God’s will be done,” BUT have no idea themselves what it means to be a new creation in Christ Jesus or what His will is.

It is as the Word says, believers are being robbed because of a lack of knowledge. What knowledge are we talking about here? I believe it is the knowledge of what the GOSPEL really is- what the significance of Christ’s death is and what it has brought about, who is defeated and who is victorious, who are heirs and what they are heirs to, what it means to be a new creation, what old wineskin and new wine is, etc. Believers know the 10 commandments, but they don’t know the new covenant in its fullness and glory.

Many settle on the basic understanding of salvation - Christ died on the Cross so I can be saved from Hell and I will someday be glorified in Heaven, but never go beyond to find out what else He has purchased for us with His most precious blood. And when you even so much so hint that His victory and fullness of life extends to life here on earth, they are quick to be offended as they think that is a very flesh way of looking at salvation ( - that’s because being victorious in this world can’t be very holy or sanctified- it is like loving this world before Christ right??) , without realising it is actually THE spiritual way of looking at salvation- seeing with faith eyes and having the best opinion of God and seeing Christ as being the ALL IN ALL, the mighty conqueror, the I AM.

It is right to ask God to do the impossible for you, it is good to declare His victory over your trials. I know that when some people say “It will be like this if God’s will be done,” somewhere inside there is a hint of disbelief. They believe in God (but even the devil believes in God), but they don’t believe that they can ask for what seems too good to be true. They feel that if they have cancer, there must be a reason for it. They think that it is God’s will for them to be sick. But if that is the case, then Christ would not have healed everyone who came to Him (the bible states clearly He healed ALL who came to Him). He would have picked and chose some to heal, some not to heal if it is God’s will for some people not get healed so that they can “learn a lesson” from the illness. Many people learn nothing but bitterness or misunderstand Him and His will totally during or after a bout of illness- this is precisely what the devil wants. He wants us not to see the Risen Christ who makes us more than conquerors in Him & who took our place so we can take over his; the devil still wants us to see Christ still nailed to the Cross and suffering and to not be totally sure what it is for.

The devil doesn’t like that we are saved, because he knows what we are entitled to as heirs to the promises of Abraham in Christ Jesus. He also knows that many of us do not know what we privileges we have as God’s beloved children. Putting two and two together, he knows that as long as he keeps robbing us of the knowledge of the Word or discourage us emotionally, mentally or physically, we won’t know how to reign.

The enemy knows that if we reign in life, he cannot. This means illness, lack, curses cannot reign over us. So he will go all out to stop us from reigning. And we are foolish to believe that we cannot reign in life because we reign not through our own efforts but what Christ has already achieved on the Cross.

Say what you want but Christ is my I AM. When I look at my daily problems, I can hear Him say…

I AM the provision for your lack.

I AM your health so by My stripes you are the healed (note past tense used in Scriptures, not implied so by me)

I AM the love between you and your spouse- founded on my unconditional love, your marriage is secure.

I AM the wisdom of your child. You need not fear that your child will be overcome by the world’s foolishness. Your child has the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit will teach your child ALL things.

He is the I AM… the Alpha and the Omega.

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Thoughts on Parenting Styles & Law and Grace

In my home, when I was a child, there was law and there was grace.

One parent wielded the cane (no I agree with canes, I did not agree with the way with which it was wielded- to hurt, embarrass and to vent out at anger and disappointment, rather than to effectively correct and make a strong yet loving statement) and spouted the THOU SHALT NOTs; the other parent would sit me down and talk me through, and always without fail afforded second chances. One parent would always count down to the last dollar and cent when it came to presents, the other gave without looking at the price and never asked for repayment. One parent used fear to control, the other used love to lead.

When my boat started capsizing on me one day, the parent I turned to was the one with grace- the one that gave me hope, that supported me emotionally and later even retired to help me babysit my child.

Had both my parents wielded the law of sin and death over me, I don’t think I could quite take it. I already suffered from severe depression then and was struggling with myriad emotions of all sorts of colours. I was blue, I was red, I was black… depressed, angry, suicidal. That I had the open support and unconditional gentle love of one parent made a huge difference.

(Of course, there are day even this parent is mortally imperfect, and that’s when I realise the only perfect parent I have is my heavenly Daddy.)

As parents, it is important that we not only correct our kids, but we do it in a way that respects their feelings/memories. We should be firm yet not hurtful, no pushovers but still administering love and concern in our words and actions. We should not spare the rod, but we must not make it a tool to embarrass but to nurture. Whilst one parent left deep scars, deeper than the cane marks left on my legs so “everyone can see. Shame! Shame!” The other sought to motivate, inspire, encourage, edify and raise me up in a world that seeks to tear us down… and it has made a huge difference for me.

Raising a child requires grace and unconditional love- we must love our child when they are lovely and even more so when they are unlovely. We must not be afraid to correct, but we must never forget to embrace them and make it known to them that we love them regardless of their mistakes. We must hold them accountable to their responsibilities without keeping score and dragging out history to slap them with over and over again- the past must remain where it is, underfoot, so that the child can move ahead to a brighter future.

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275 notes

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When I see such beautiful sights, my heart sings “How GREAT is our God.” =)

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Grace is irrational, unfair, unjust, and only makes sense if I believe in a merciful God who always offers another chance. It means no mistake we make in life disqualifies us from God’s love. It means that no person is beyond redemption, no human stain beyond cleansing. When the world sees grace in action, it falls silent. People need healing even more than they need justice. So the perfect justice of Almighty God fell upon His Son instead, so that today we are the righteousness of God in Christ and qualify for every good blessing from God, that we don’t deserve; So we can call God, ‘Daddy! Father!’ and we know that He loves us. And knowing that perfect love casts off ALL fear.

A reflection on what I read in a book by Yancey. =)

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If God wants you to do something, he’ll make it possible for you to do it, but the grace he provides comes only with the task and cannot be stockpiled beforehand. We are dependent on him from hour to hour, and the greater our awareness of this fact, the less likely we are to faint or fail in a crisis.” -Louis Cassels (1922-1974)

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A Bedtime Conspiracy - my new storybird book

A Bedtime Conspiracy by hungribunni on Storybird

A little boy’s imagination runs wild in this bedtime story book =)

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Everyone Needs A Hug - my new storybird book

Everyone Needs A Hug by hungribunni on Storybird

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You know when I read the words on this pictuure from a fellow sister’s blog, the first thought that came to me was this, “Imagine how much it must have hurt God as He watched us embrace everything but all that He meant for us, all that He is, all the love that He has to give.” I picture the huge party He must have thrown when I came back home again to His heart and I feel loved. =) We are that lost coin and He is that widow… when I first realised that, I could not crying tears of relief and amazement. That is how much He loves us, how much He loves me.

7 notes

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Grace binds you with far stronger cords than the cords of duty or obligation can bind you. Grace is free, but when once you take it, you are bound forever to the Giver and bound to catch the spirit of the Giver. Like produces like. Grace makes you gracious, the Giver makes you give.” -E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973)

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