peace . love . joy

i'm stil thinking bout wad my friends & teachers said on saturday (130506) in church during our F.I.S.H. meeting..

we're doing the book of Judges and we jus got started on saturday with Judges 1 to 2:5 led by our leader, cindy (great job!! i learnt quite abit frm your lesson =] ) ..

the first part of Judges told of how Israel, gOd's chosen people, fought and won over territory for gOd..in the beginning of the chapter, gOd was their sole reason for attacking the Canaanites and the Perrizites and Adoni-Bezek and Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai..because they heeded gOd's instructions and fought with fervour all in the name of gOd, they enjoyed success and victory with each battle..

then, in chapter 1:12, Israel started fighting battles for another reason - for example, for a lady's hand in marriage..the focus here..the reason why they were fighting has changed to smthg of selfish gain..the "what's in it for me" attitude surfaces in the people..

then from chapter 1:21 onwards, more losses rather than victories of Israel were recorded..in verse 24, eric pointed out that it seemed as thou the pple were trying to reenact wad happened in Joshua 2 (Rahab and the Spies)..but instead of the man frm Bethel asking to help them (like Rahab did), the men frm the house of Joseph asked the man to help them instead..it seemed like they did not trust the Lord to provide and help them..they'd rather take thgs into their own hand to try and secure their victory..

in chapter 1:28 onwards, Israel began using the Canaanites as forced laborers and lived amongst them..the Lord clearly said in earlier passages (sorry..cant remember the exact reference) that when conquering territories, all who dwell there before must die..Israel is not to live among them..so..they disobeyed..moreover..Israel were once slaves..in Egypt..cld they not remember the hardships they had to suffer under the Egyptians??..i cannot understand y they're doing this to the Canaanites..perhaps they forgotten or that they grew too proud..?

in chapter 2:1-3..the Lord confronted the people..he is angry and upset with his chosen people..and in verses 4-5, they jus wept and offered sacrifices to gOd..but this is definitely not wad gOd wanted..wad good is weeping and offering sacrifices when wad gOd probably wanted was for them to repent and to show it!!..asking for forgiveness and repenting are 2 VERY different thgs altogether..

but that was not wad struck me during the lesson..wad struck me was the parallel that mingwei brought up..that this deterioration of Israel's relatnship with gOd can happen and happened before in today's Christian's relatnship with gOd..

that thou we may start running the Christian race with one goal : for gOd ..we may end up running for a totally different reason..that thou we may do thgs that are deemed correct in the Christian world..the act itself may be correct and upright..but the reason that we do it for..may be wrong..

so one of the thgs that i brought hm frm saturday was that we must examine our motives before doing anythg..a lesson that i believe gOd is trying to teach me ever since i started wrking at Indochine..to be careful..we are to do wad gOd wants us to do with the correct reason and with the correct attitude..if not..i think it better not to do it at all..

another thg that also hit me..i asked "what if we see smone, a fellow christian, like that..as in..the relatnship between that person and gOd is thinning..the flame may be dying out..wad do we do to help them..IF we can help them at all?" ..

the answer i got was that 1. we cld talk to the person and ofcourse pray for the person .. and 2. we cld pray for gOd to send a “disaster” of sm sort to wake the person up..

the second alternatv sounded abit harsh to me..but then..it got me thinking about a lesson that i read once whilst taking my daily bread..that a good shepherd will break the leg of a wandering sheep..that a loving caring shepherd knows that by taking smthg away, in time the loss will be replaced by smthg far better..smthg to keep his lamb strong and protected..the verse given was Romans 5:3-5 ..

i’l post that lesson smtym soon as i think that it wil benefit many..especially those who are currently in a crisis of sm sort..it is like a reminder to keep the faith and to keep trusting in gOd not only in times of peace, but also in times of adversity..

remember that gOd keeps us close to protect us..remember that he ALWAYS has our welfare at heart..remember that he first loved you..

Christians, be careful..be wary that u do not fall into the trap of ritualism..of doing an act simply out of habit or of the wrong reason..check yourselves first, lest u call gOd’s anger upon yourselves..

dont love the acts that show pple here that ure a Christian..

love the gOd who loves you..

gOd bLEsS

me