Thank You for the cross [what does Easter means to me]

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

¹⁵ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

¹⁷ Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.[John 20]

Tomorrow is Easter Day.

I have seen vids and articles posted online, expressed by brothers and sisters all around the world about how they feel about this day and what does Easter means to them. The church might as well displayed the Passion of Christ again to remind people of the day Jesus Christ was humiliated for us and then being lifted up as all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him.

Easter, Easter, Easter!!! How excited to ponder on this wonderful grace by God for He so loved the world and gave His one and only Son to save us!

It is a lot more excited than egg and bunny if people know the grace behind the day, the kind of connection God urge to make with us.

Imagine His love is so great that He urge to have a relationship with us through Jesus Christ.

By Jesus' death, our sins are cleansed and once we believe, the reconciliation is done! No need filling up form or buying any forgiveness letter.

How amazing it is, to connect to God in such a way!

A day where Jesus Christ resurrected to proclaim that He is God and He had overcame the cross and a day which enable you to cry out, 'Abba Father.'

Like a reunion of a Father and His children which He had longed for so long and everything is part of His plan.

To me, Easter is a testimony, a good news and the grace that commenced on that day and came with the day now happen every single moment.

Every single moment, a new person who bowed down and believed can be connected to this day, to the grace and most importantly to God.

Soon you will realise, everyday is Easter.

Everday you will remind yourself,
nothing cannot be overcame when Christ had overcame the cross on Easter,
no sins cannot be forgiven,
no authority is greater than Jesus',
and no grace and love is greater than God's,
and you must take up this cross and walk with Him everyday but not just on Easter day.

and this grace is life-long and eternal just like the promise in John 3:16.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever. ---Psalm 23


Thank You for the cross, my Friend...

Trust

This video has inspired me a lot. It spoke right to my heart.

Fighting without sword?

There are people who do not aware of trap and lies from the Satan just as they do not aware of it when they are reading Genesis.

Christians have this concept; Adam was created, fallen because of Eve trusting the serpent's lies, some stories in the middle, Jesus came to the world, crucified and gave us salvation for God so loved the world!

This is the concept which assures us not to read Bible again. We think we have known the truth enough. Maybe we go for Bible study, prayer meeting, CF and church every week. We may read some daily devotionals like Daily Bread and Our Daily Journey. We sing praise to God every day. We pray in the morning and at night.

However, we just couldn't find the mood to dust off the Bible in the bookshelf.

Which mean you are in truly danger!

Before I elucidate further, let me explain about my first sentence up there first.

If I asked why did man had eaten the forbidden fruit, many would be able to answer. It was the woman, Eve that had been cheated.

If the question turns out to be, how did serpent cheat her?

You would have forgotten or not knowing because the answer is in a book that covered with dust!

Genesis 3:2-4, The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die."

"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.

Did you see the word I have blacken?

This is the serpent's trick and this ancient trick since the first human been cheated, was used and is being used until today.

Their main strategy is to create a confused situation. WILL NOT SURELY situation.

[You will not surely die for drinking.]

[Come on, just give a try, you will not surely die for taking drugs.]

[Just do it, God will not surely know.]

[Do be afraid, God will not surely dislike what you do.]

And when you try to turn to God by realizing that you are wrong, they will say,

[God will not surely forgive you, you are dirty!]

[You will not surely have Father's forgiveness, you have committed such great sin!]

[You will not surely get saved, you are such a sinner!!]

But when Lord Jesus Christ was tempted while He became a man on Earth,

the devil said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.'

Jesus answered, 'It is written: Man does not live on bread alone.'---Luke 4:3-4

If you are aware of it, Jesus had been answering all these lies with words from the Scripture.

This is why reading Bible is important because it tells you what is Truth and when you stepped into this world to face all kinds of temptations, Truth popped up in your mind to remind you!

When you are depressed by some conditions, Truth popped up in your mind to strengthen you!

When lies come in your mind, Truth popped up in your mind to destroy them!

Ephesians 6:10-17 tells us about the full armor of God that we have to put on to stand against the devil's scheme.



One of the armor is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

If you didn't read the word of God everyday, it is as if a warrior who has forgotten to take his sword when he steps into a battle field. How could you fight?

Doing things through Christ

I was always strongly influenced by this concept that 'we must do all things through Christ'. Once we started to carry out things without Him, we tend to forget of His teachings when we are dealing with things in the world as the custom of the world easily comes in to our mind first. For example, we often said to ourselves, 'Let's just don't be ridiculous, it's impossible' when a new and difficult situation knocked the door. Just like the army of Israel who had to deal with Goliath, the giant......they all shook their heads and said, 'This is impossible.' Only a child named David who was brave enough to stand before the giant because he didn't see the giant in his eyes, instead he put his eyes on the Almighty God, the God of Israel, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

This is actually different from the attitude to success. In the world, most of the successful people did the same thing to themselves. When things are tough, they told themselves, 'Never said impossible, everything is possible.' Their key to success is to deny their prediction of failure, work hard to change the whole situation and their positive thinking has helped them to raid success. Even if failure took place, they would say to themselves, 'I will rise up again.' To them, failures are just steps leading to success. There's no big deal about failing. This has made a big difference between these people and those who focused on failure only.

Goliath as well as the army and even King Saul were wondering how could a child had challenged a tall, big guy. To picture Goliath and David sizes, they are like The Rock and karate kid. But Goliath is actually bigger than The Rock, he is a GIANT.

But David was different. He never questioned about whether he would win or lose. In his mind, he never thought of the sizes or put on any other worldly measurement, he was only bewildered, 'How could Goliath challenge the army of God?!'

In the two opponent's mindset, they had fixed one another as definite loser. Goliath wanted to finish quickly, 'Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.'[1 Samuel 17:44]

Check out what David replied.

'Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand; and I will smithe thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the eath; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel."

David was not boasting but he had faith in God.

Goliath had faith in his own size and strength.

Just like most of the successful people, their difference are to have faith on their own. And so their success are hard gain and short of promise.

Yet, I practiced the concept wrongly earlier.

I had worries that I might not be doing things through Christ whenever the strength and motivation emerged from myself. I thought strength that coming from myself was my own self. I know, this is something more to the spiritual part.

I had this confusion. But then eventually I get what it means.

When I am motivated, I am doing things through Christ because Christ is in me as long as I learn how to let go.

Let go of the worldly measurement, worries, competition and all negative things that would arise when my heart only want to win.

Doing things through Christ doesn't mean you must see visually the power fallen from the sky and pour on you nor let yourself be doing nothing but let God do everything for you.

It's about letting go. It's about how many percent of faith that you would let God handle when you start to feel impossible. It's about how confident are you in God that failures will never influence your relationship with Him.

If I say according to my perception, 'Therefore, doing all things through Christ must come after living life for Christ.'

It is actually not confusing at all if you just fill your every life aspect with Christ. You would find things are all connected, and then connected to Him. ‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.' -Romans 8:28, KJV.






You said let it go, You said let it go, You said life is waiting for the one who lose control......
---Let it go by Tenth Avenue North

Little sharing here....

I always thought photography must come with a PRO DSLR......I was interested in this part-time hobby too and I had to admit that I envied friends who carried DSLR around and captured life.

But recently, I discovered that when I went for jogging and just an outing with family, the pictures that I snapped around with my cellphone camera were not bad.

My N97 mini actually impressed me.

I didn't add any effect here.

In fact, I wasn't really have time to set the scene and ISO neither. I just took some random shot. And I picked the best out of them to upload here.

What do you think?

Conclusion: Make use everything around you. :)

p.s Though I am poor of thing in the world, I am rich in Christ! =) AM satisfied with everything I got. :)

Facing Your Giants: Chapter 1

*For sharing purpose

A David and Goliath Story

for Everyday People

by max lucado

Facing

Your

Giants

__

The slender, beardless boy kneels by the brook. Mud moistens

his knees. Bubbling water cools his hand. Were he to

notice, he could study his handsome features in the water. Hair the

color of copper. Tanned, sanguine skin and eyes that steal the breath

of Hebrew maidens. He searches not for his reflection, however, but

for rocks. Stones. Smooth stones. The kind that stack neatly in a

shepherd’s pouch, rest flush against a shepherd’s leather sling. Flat

rocks that balance heavy on the palm and missile with comet-crashing

force into the head of a lion, a bear, or, in this case, a giant.

Goliath stares down from the hillside. Only disbelief keeps him

from laughing. He and his Philistine herd have rendered their half of

the valley into a forest of spears; a growling, bloodthirsty gang of

hoodlums boasting do-rags, BO, and barbed-wire tattoos. Goliath

1

Facing Your Giants

towers above them all: nine feet, nine inches tall in his stocking feet,

wearing 125 pounds of armor, and snarling like the main contender

at the World Wide Wrestling Federation championship night. He

wears a size-20 collar, a 101/2 hat, and a 56-inch belt. His biceps burst,

thigh muscles ripple, and boasts belch through the canyon. “This

day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each

other” (1 Sam. 17:10 niv). Who will go mano a mano conmigo? Give me

your best shot.

No Hebrew volunteers. Until today. Until David.

David just showed up this morning. He clocked out of sheep

watching to deliver bread and cheese to his brothers on the battlefront.

That’s where David hears Goliath defying God, and that’s

when David makes his decision. Then he takes his staff in his hand,

and he chooses for himself five smooth stones from the brook and

puts them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch that he has, and his sling

is in his hand. And he draws near to the Philistine (17:40).¹

Goliath scoffs at the kid, nicknames him Twiggy. “Am I a dog,

that you come to me with sticks?” (17:43 nasb). Skinny, scrawny

David. Bulky, brutish Goliath. The toothpick versus the tornado.

The minibike attacking the eighteen-wheeler. The toy poodle taking

on the rottweiler. What odds do you give David against his giant?

Better odds, perhaps, than you give yourself against yours.

Your Goliath doesn’t carry sword or shield; he brandishes blades

of unemployment, abandonment, sexual abuse, or depression. Your

giant doesn’t parade up and down the hills of Elah; he prances

through your office, your bedroom, your classroom. He brings bills

you can’t pay, grades you can’t make, people you can’t please,

Facing Your Giants

2

whiskey you can’t resist, pornography you can’t refuse, a career you

can’t escape, a past you can’t shake, and a future you can’t face.

You know well the roar of Goliath.

David faced one who foghorned his challenges morning and

night. “For forty days, twice a day, morning and evening, the Philistine

giant strutted in front of the Israelite army” (17:16 nlt). Yours

does the same. First thought of the morning, last worry of the

night—your Goliath dominates your day and infiltrates your joy.

How long has he stalked you? Goliath’s family was an ancient foe

of the Israelites. Joshua drove them out of the Promised Land three

hundred years earlier. He destroyed everyone except the residents of

three cities: Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. Gath bred giants like Yosemite

grows sequoias. Guess where Goliath was raised. See the G on his

letter jacket? Gath High School. His ancestors were to Hebrews

what pirates were to Her Majesty’s navy.

Saul’s soldiers saw Goliath and mumbled, “Not again. My dad

fought his dad. My granddad fought his granddad.”

You’ve groaned similar words. “I’m becoming a workaholic, just

like my father.” “Divorce streaks through our family tree like oak wilt.”

“My mom couldn’t keep a friend either. Is this ever going to stop?”

Goliath: the long-standing bully of the valley. Tougher than a

two-dollar steak. More snarls than twin Dobermans. He awaits you

3

Facing Your Giants

First thought of the morning, last worry of the night—

your Goliath dominates your day, and infiltrates your joy.

in the morning, torments you at night. He stalked your ancestors

and now looms over you. He blocks the sun and leaves you standing

in the shadow of a doubt. “When Saul and his troops heard

the Philistine’s challenge, they were terrified and lost all hope”

(17:11 msg).

But what am I telling you? You know Goliath. You recognize his

walk and wince at his talk. You’ve seen your Godzilla. The question

is, is he all you see? You know his voice—but is it all you hear? David

saw and heard more. Read the first words he spoke, not just in the

battle, but in the Bible: “David asked the men standing near him,

‘What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes

this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that

he should defy the armies of the living God?’” (17:26 niv).

David shows up discussing God. The soldiers mentioned nothing

about him, the brothers never spoke his name, but David takes one

step onto the stage and raises the subject of the living God. He does

the same with King Saul: no chitchat about the battle or questions

about the odds. Just a God-birthed announcement: “The Lord, who

delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear,

He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine” (17:37).

He continues the theme with Goliath. When the giant mocks

David, the shepherd boy replies:

Facing Your Giants

4

You’ve seen your Godzilla.

The question is, is he all you see?

You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I

come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of

the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord

will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off

your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army

to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole

world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered

here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord

saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into

our hands. (17:45–47 niv)

No one else discusses God. David discusses no one else but God.

A subplot appears in the story. More than “David versus Goliath,”

this is “God-focus versus giant-focus.”

David sees what others don’t and refuses to see what others do.

All eyes, except David’s, fall on the brutal, hate-breathing hulk. All

compasses, sans David’s, are set on the polestar of the Philistine. All

journals, but David’s, describe day after day in the land of the Neanderthal.

The people know his taunts, demands, size, and strut. They

have majored in Goliath.

David majors in God. He sees the giant, mind you; he just sees

God more so. Look carefully at David’s battle cry: “You come to me

with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the

name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel” (17:45).

Note the plural noun—armies of Israel. Armies? The common

observer sees only one army of Israel. Not David. He sees the Allies

on D-day: platoons of angels and infantries of saints, the weapons of

5

Facing Your Giants

the wind and the forces of the earth. God could pellet the enemy

with hail as he did for Moses, collapse walls as he did for Joshua, stir

thunder as he did for Samuel.²

David sees the armies of God. And because he does, David hurries

and runs toward the army to meet the Philistine (17:48).³

David’s brothers cover their eyes, both in fear and embarrassment.

Saul sighs as the young Hebrew races to certain death. Goliath

throws back his head in laughter, just enough to shift his helmet and

expose a square inch of forehead flesh. David spots the target and

seizes the moment. The sound of the swirling sling is the only sound

in the valley. Ssshhhww. Ssshhhww. Ssshhhww. The stone torpedoes

through the air and into the skull; Goliath’s eyes cross and legs buckle.

He crumples to the ground and dies. David runs over and yanks

Goliath’s sword from its sheath, shish-kebabs the Philistine, and cuts

off his head.

You might say that David knew how to get a head of his giant.

When was the last time you did the same? How long since you

ran toward your challenge? We tend to retreat, duck behind a desk

of work or crawl into a nightclub of distraction or a bed of forbidden

love. For a moment, a day, or a year, we feel safe, insulated, anesthetized,

but then the work runs out, the liquor wears off, or the

lover leaves, and we hear Goliath again. Booming. Bombastic.

Try a different tack. Rush your giant with a God-saturated soul.

Giant of divorce, you aren’t entering my home! Giant of depression? It may

take a lifetime, but you won’t conquer me. Giant of alcohol, bigotry, child

abuse, insecurity . . . you’re going down. How long since you loaded

your sling and took a swing at your giant?

Too long, you say? Then David is your model. God called him “a

Facing Your Giants

6

man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22 niv). He gave the appellation to

no one else. Not Abraham or Moses or Joseph. He called Paul an

apostle, John his beloved, but neither was tagged a man after God’s

own heart.

One might read David’s story and wonder what God saw in him.

The fellow fell as often as he stood, stumbled as often as he conquered.

He stared down Goliath, yet ogled at Bathsheba; defied

God-mockers in the valley, yet joined them in the wilderness. An

Eagle Scout one day. Chumming with the Mafia the next. He could

lead armies but couldn’t manage a family. Raging David. Weeping

David. Bloodthirsty. God-hungry. Eight wives. One God.

A man after God’s own heart? That God saw him as such gives

hope to us all. David’s life has little to offer the unstained saint.

Straight-A souls find David’s story disappointing. The rest of us find

it reassuring. We ride the same roller coaster. We alternate between

swan dives and belly flops, soufflés and burnt toast.

In David’s good moments, no one was better. In his bad moments,

could one be worse? The heart God loved was a checkered one.

We need David’s story. Giants lurk in our neighborhoods. Rejection.

Failure. Revenge. Remorse. Our struggles read like a prizefighter’s

itinerary:

• “In the main event, we have Joe the Decent Guy versus the

fraternity from Animal House.”

7

Facing Your Giants

Rush your giant with a God-saturated soul.

• “Weighing in at 110 pounds, Elizabeth the Checkout Girl will

go toe to toe with Jerks who Take and Break Her Heart.”

• “In this corner, the tenuous marriage of Jason and Patricia.

In the opposing corner, the challenger from the state of confusion,

the home breaker named Distrust.”

Giants. We must face them. Yet we need not face them alone.

Focus first, and most, on God. The times David did, giants fell. The

days he didn’t, David did.

Test this theory with an open Bible. Read 1 Samuel 17 and list the

observations David made regarding Goliath.

I find only two. One statement to Saul about Goliath (v. 36). And

one to Goliath’s face: “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he

should defy the armies of the living God?” (v. 26 niv).

That’s it. Two Goliath-related comments (and tacky ones at that)

and no questions. No inquiries about Goliath’s skill, age, social

standing, or IQ. David asks nothing about the weight of the spear,

the size of the shield, or the meaning of the skull and crossbones tattooed

on the giant’s bicep. David gives no thought to the diplodocus

on the hill. Zilch.

But he gives much thought to God. Read David’s words again,

this time underlining his references to his Lord.

“The armies of the living God” (v. 26).

Facing Your Giants

8

Giants. We must face them.

Yet we need not face them alone.

“The armies of the living God” (v. 36).

“The Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel” (v. 45).

“The Lord will deliver you into my hand . . . that all the earth may

know that there is a God in Israel” (v. 46).

“The Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the

Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands” (v. 47).⁴

I count nine references. God-thoughts outnumber Goliath-thoughts

nine to two. How does this ratio compare with yours? Do you ponder

God’s grace four times as much as you ponder your guilt? Is your list of

blessings four times as long as your list of complaints? Is your mental

file of hope four times as thick as your mental file of dread? Are you

four times as likely to describe the strength of God as you are the

demands of your day?

No? Then David is your man.

Some note the absence of miracles in his story. No Red Sea openings,

chariots flaming, or dead Lazaruses walking. No miracles.

But there is one. David is one. A rough-edged walking wonder of

God who neon-lights this truth:

Focus on giants—you stumble.

Focus on God—your giants tumble.

Lift your eyes, giant-slayer. The God who made a miracle out of

David stands ready to make one out of you.

9

Facing Your Giants

Are you four times as likely to describe the strength

of God as you are the demands of your day?