A Whole New Page

The second year of my new pages...

2009-10-24T02:11:00.000+07:00

I learned:
- that everything in this universe centers in God, not me
- not to count on men, but only God Almighty
- through my weaknesses His light shines surpassing me
- He never leaves me, no matter how far i walk away
- it doesn't matter what people say, i'm worthy in His eyes
- go forth in faith, for His promises never fail

i'm nothing, He is everything.

Like an ant trying to understand the Internet, though uncomprehendable, i will stay close-not from a distance-but on Your heel. Thank you, Jesus..

~23 October 2009~

Count Your Blessings to sleep

2009-03-05T17:41:00.000+07:00

When i'm worried and i can't sleep
i count my blessings instead of sheep and i fall asleep counting my blessings
when my bankroll is getting small i think of when i had none at all
and i fall asleep counting my blessings.

I think about a nursery,
and i picture curly heads,
and one by one i count them
as they slumber in their beds.

If you're worried and you cant sleep,
just count your blessings instead of sheep
and you'll fall asleep counting your blessings.

Stop planning to plan..

2009-02-17T18:20:00.000+07:00

When the Future Seems Uncertain
by Rick Warren

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans . to
give you a future and a hope . You will find me when you seek me, if you
look for me in earnest." Jeremiah 29:11, 13 (LB)

*** *** *** ***

No matter what the pollsters, pundits, and prognosticators claim, no one can
accurately predict all that is going to happen in the next year, let alone
the next few days or weeks. Our best forecasts are just educated guesses.

Change is not only increasing in speed and intensity, but also in
unpredictability. How can anyone succeed when the future is so uncertain?

The Bible suggests three timeless principles for facing an uncertain future:

1. Set goals according to God's direction. It's foolish to make plans
without first consulting God. He's the only one who does know the future -
and he's eager to guide you through it.

The Bible says, "We may make our plans, but God has the last word" (Proverbs
16:1 GNT). In other words, planning without praying is presumption. Start by
praying, "God, what do you want me to do in 2009?"

2. Live one day at a time. While you can plan for tomorrow, you can't live
it until it arrives. Most people spend so much time regretting the past and
worrying about the future, they have no time to enjoy today!

John Lennon once wrote, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy
making other plans." Decide to make the most of each moment this year. Jesus
said, "Don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow
too. Live one day at a time" (Matthew 6:34 LB).

3. Don't procrastinate. Do it now! "Don't boast about what you're going to
do tomorrow, for you don't know what a day may bring forth" (Proverbs 27:1).

Procrastinating is a subtle trap. It wastes today by postponing things until
tomorrow. You promise yourself that you'll do it "one of these days." But
"one of these days" is usually "none of these days."

What did you plan to get done last year that you didn't do? When do you
intend to start working on it?
--
NOW

Lonely? Think again..

2009-02-09T15:58:00.000+07:00

God Is with You
by Rick Warren

"Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and
they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'" Matthew 1:23
(NLT)

*** *** *** ***

Have you ever been to a baby dedication where the child's full name is
announced to everyone, and the baby has three or four different names from
first name to last name? Sometimes there may five or six names in the
middle!

The baby Jesus was like that; God gave him several names to tell us about
the character of Christ and the purpose of his life. One of Jesus' names is
"Emmanuel." It means "God with us" (Matthew 1:23 NASB). He's with you always
and forever; he will never leave you, and he will never abandon you (Hebrews
13:5).

You may have been abandoned in life by your parents, or your spouse, or your
children, or your friends. Because of that abandonment, you approach this
Christmas season in pain and full of heartache. But, the Bible says God will
never abandon you.

Everyone else may abandon you, but God will never abandon you. You may not
feel God's presence in your life right now, but that is no indication that
God is not there. He is with you - even now and unto the end of the age
(Matthew 28:20).

Would you be surprised to hear that God hates loneliness?

He not only hates loneliness, he understands what it means to be lonely. The
Bible records that when God created man, he said, "It isn't good for man to
be alone" (Genesis 2:18 LB).

Loneliness is not an issue unique to you or unique to people who are single.
There are many married people who are painfully, desperately lonely. You
feel lonely because God created you to need people in your life - but,
regardless of how many friends you have - your loneliness will still remain
until you are intimately connected to God.

The good news is this: Because of the birth of Jesus, you now know that God
is with you, and you never have to face another day alone. God being near
removes your fear. You don't have to worry; you don't have to sweat it; you
don't have to be anxious about what's going to happen.

You may not feel like God is with you; in fact, some days, you may not even
feel like he's on the planet! But his presence in your life has nothing to
do with your feelings.

Through the birth of Jesus, God says, "I'm going to give you hope." If
you're lonely, let Jesus fill the void in your heart.

C 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.

You are never alone

2009-01-13T17:05:00.000+07:00

I am the God that healeth thee
I am the Lord your Healer
I sent My Word and healed your disease
I am the Lord your Healer

You are the God that healeth me
You are the Lord my Healer
You sent Your word and healed my disease
You are the Lord my healer

--
Don Moen - I Am The GOD that healeth Thee

"MARGIN", Your Definition?

2009-01-05T19:07:00.000+07:00

Margin or Marginless?
by Margin or Marginless?

God, listen to me shout, bend an ear to my prayer… You’ve always given me
breathing room, a place to get away from it all. Psalm 61:1, 3 (MSG)

*** *** *** ***

A lot of people are on overload and headed for a crash. Consider these
statistics:

· People now sleep 2½ fewer hours each night than people did a hundred years
ago.

· The average work week is longer now than it was in the 1960s.

· The average office worker has 36 hours of work piled up on his or her
desk. It takes us three hours a week just to sort through it and find what
we need.

· We spend eight months of our lives opening junk mail, two years of our
lives playing phone tag with people, and five years waiting for people who
are late for meetings.

At least in the U.S., we’re a piled-on, stretched-to-the limit society that
is chronically rushed, chronically late, and chronically exhausted. Many of
us feel like Job did when he said, “I have no peace! I have no quiet! I have
no rest! And trouble keeps coming” (Job 3:26 GWT).

Overload comes when we have too much activity in our lives, too much change,
too many choices, too much work, too much debt, too much media exposure.

We’re stressed by information overload; we’re stressed by accessibility
overload – we’re connected all the time. Simply put, we’re stressed by the
pace of life.

Is there a solution? Yes. The solution is to put some margin into your life.
Margin is breathing room. It’s keeping a little reserve that you’re not
using up. It’s not going from one meeting to the next to the next with no
space in between.

Margin is the space betweenyour load and yourlimit. But most of us are far
more overloaded than we can handle, and there is no margin for error in our
lives.

Dr. Richard Swenson, MD says this: “The conditions of modern day living
devour margin. If you’re homeless we direct you to a shelter. If you’re
penniless we offer you food stamps. If you’re breathless we connect you to
oxygen. But if you’re marginless we give you one more thing to do.
Marginless is being 30 minutes late to the doctor’s office because you were
20 minutes late getting out of the hairdresser because you were 10 minutes
late dropping the children off at school because the car ran out of gas two
blocks from a gas station and you forgot your purse. That’s marginless.

“Margin, on the other hand, is having breath at the top of the staircase,
money at the end of the month, and sanity left over at the end of
adolescence. Margin is grandma taking the baby for the afternoon. Margin is
having a friend help carry the burden.

“Marginless is not having time to finish the book you’re reading on stress.
Margin is having the time to read it twice. Marginless is our culture.
Margin is counter-culture, having some space in your life and schedule.
Marginless is the disease of our decade and margin is the cure.”

Tomorrow we’ll look at four benefits of building margin into our lives.

© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.

Joy inside-out, rather than mere happiness

2009-01-03T23:01:00.004+07:00

Don't Settle for Happiness; Aim for Joy
by Rick Warren

"Whatever happens, dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord give you joy …"
Philippians 3:1 (NLT)

*** *** *** ***

A man once told me that he'd broken up with his fiancé because she didn't
make him happy enough. Mind you, he was happy with her; she just didn't make
him as happy as he felt a future wife should.

What this man told me gives memorable insight into how some people view
happiness: They believe happiness is dependent upon the people, the things,
and the circumstances that surrounded them.

Yet, the Bible says don't settle for happiness; aim for joy.

Joy comes from within; joy is not dependent upon the people in your life, or
the possessions you accumulate, or what's happening at this point in your
life.

God says you'll find joy, when you trust that he's in control and working to
use the good – and the bad – of your life for a greater purpose.

The apostle Paul understood this, writing about joy while in prison, chained
to a guard, alone in a foreign city: "Whatever happens, dear brothers and
sisters, may the Lord give you joy …" (Philippians 3:1 NLT).

He suggested there are two keys to transforming mere happiness into a
deeply-felt, ever-present joy:

First, live each day by grace. Grace means you don't have to earn God's love
or his approval. And here's some joyful news: If you don't have to earn
God's love, then you don't have to earn anyone else's love.

God offers his love unconditionally, and you can joyfully live in that grace
everyday, all day long. Understanding this drains the tension from your
life: you can make mistakes and know that you're still loved by God, who
desires a relationship with you over any rules or rituals.

The man who broke up with his fiancé appears to have had difficulty in
understanding grace. His love came with conditions – "As long as you make me
happy, I'll love you" – and that means he probably assumes the love he
receives from others is conditional too. How can anyone experience joy when
they live each day thinking they have to earn love?

Second, stay focused on what's really important. There are a lot of little
things that can steal your joy – but only if you let them. Jesus taught
this: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and
rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and
where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21 NIV).

My sister, Chaundel, thought about this Bible passage when she learned her
house in Maryville, California, was under 9 feet of water. While she and her
husband, Tom, were out to dinner, the local levy broke and flooded the area.
Even in her grief, she joked, "We drove our Chevy to the levy, and the levy
was dry."

Looking back on that time, Chaundel says, "God taught us that such a loss
really makes you think about what's important and what's going to last. Our
possessions were wiped out in a matter of minutes, but the important thing
is that we were alive and well. Within a year, our house was rebuilt, but we
could have never replaced each other."

Happiness is overrated. On the other hand, joy is often forgotten. Yet, joy
will stabilize your life as you embrace grace and focus on the things that
are truly important, moving a bad hair day down the list and relationships
up to the top. No matter what happens, may God give you joy.

Pray or Panic, Worship or Worry

2008-12-27T21:12:00.003+07:00

Christmas Brings the Peace of God
by Rick Warren

You will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6 (NLT)

*** *** *** ***

Once you make peace with God, that’s spiritual peace, then you get the peace of God in your heart and that’s emotional peace.

This is the one you really need for daily living. The peace of God happens in your heart when you’ve made peace with God. All of a sudden, the stress in your life goes down. You’re not as angry as you used to be. Things don’t bother you as much. You’re a lot more patient. You’re filled with a lot more love and peace.

Why? Because once you have peace with God, you have the peace of God in your heart.

The Bible says, “Don’t worry about anything. Instead pray about everything” (Philippians 4:6 NLT). You have two choices in life: You can pray or panic, worship or worry. Those are your choices. Worry has never solved a single one of your problems. If you prayed as much as you worry, you would have a lot less to worry about! Prayer can change things. That’s why the Bible says, “Don’t worry. Pray!”

“Pray about everything. Tell God what you need. Thank him for all that he’s done. [And if you do this] You will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6 NLT).

Money, Health and Faith

2008-12-07T23:33:00.002+07:00

Once, a man got lost in a dessert. Having no compass nor directions, he walked for hours and days. He was tired and weak.

Shattered in his hunger, he pulled out all his belongings in the bag. One item by one, but nothing to eat. Until he felt in his hand, a small pouch down in bottom of his bag. Slowly, with shaken hand, he pulled it out hoping there's something he could eat.

But it was "only" a pouch of diamonds..
What would these diamonds do good for him at this kind of situation?

--
many times, we're given so many things for free. We have fresh air, clean water, good food, nice clothes, warm house, lots of caring and love from our family and friends, excellent Health. But we never really appreciate them. They're "supposed to be" there.

Instead, we fight for something else: money. We struggle, sacrifice our family members or friends for that. even sometimes we ignore our health in the money hunt. We get stressful for unfulfilled targets. We yell at our children because we simply have had enough at the office. We give only the "leftovers" from us, for our beloved ones.
But dedicate our "bests" for..our WORK!

We're given so much. I am, for sure. Let's not take them for granted.
thank you Lord for everything i am and have.

If you lost money, actually u didn't lose anything.
If you lost your health, u lost something.
But, if you lost your faith, u lost EVERYTHING.

Forgiving Yourself

2008-12-02T21:18:00.002+07:00

People who cover over their sins will not prosper. But if they confess and forsake them, they will receive mercy. Proverbs 28:13 (NLT)

*** *** *** ***

How often do you play the “if only” game?

· If only I had it to do over.
· If only I had listened sooner.
· If only I could erase the past.
· If only I could forgive myself.

Because no one is perfect, we all have regrets. We’ve all made bad choices, said foolish things, wasted time, and hurt ourselves and others.

How do you release those regrets?

Here are some strategies that don’t work:
1. We bury them. Burying the past doesn’t work. Like creatures from a horror movie, unresolved regrets come back to haunt us over and over. Minimizing (“It wasn’t a big deal”), rationalizing (“Everyone does it”), and compromising (lowering your standards) are ways we try to bury our regrets.

2. We blame others. This tactic is as old as Adam and Eve. When Adam sinned, he took it like a man – he blamed his wife! We use blame to balance out our guilt.

3. We beat ourselves. We try to pay for our guilt unconsciously through illness, depression, setting ourselves up for failure, and other forms of self-punishment. The problem with beating up on yourself is this: your conscience never knows when to stop! Many spend their entire lives in self-condemnation.

What does God want me to do with my regrets?

· Admit my guilt. Own up to it.Don’t make excuses. The Bible says, “People who cover over their sins will not prosper. But if they confess and forsake them, they will receive mercy” (Proverbs 28:13 NLT).

· Accept Christ’s forgiveness. He’s waiting to clean your slate.Ask him to clear your conscience, and then remember “there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NLT).

· Forgive yourself and focus on the future. “Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19 HCSB).

---

When a Friend Betrays..

2008-12-02T21:13:00.001+07:00

He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman. Psalm 15:2-3 (NIV)

*** *** *** ***

Here are three steps toward learning to trust again when a friend betrays:

1. Reveal your hurt to God. Vent your frustrations to God. Tell him about the friend who betrayed your most intimate secret, the family member who broke a promise one too many times, or the co-worker who deliberately worked to make you look bad even while she pretended to be supporting you.

God will never be surprised or upset by your anger, your hurt, or your sense of loss over betrayal. You can tell him exactly how you feel, and trust him to understand.

2. Release those who’ve offended you. Forgiveness does not mean you instantly trust your friend again. God teaches us to forgive instantly and for as many times as it takes; however, trust must be rebuilt over time. Trust must be re-earned.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean you have to resume the relationship immediately, and it also doesn’t mean you have to resume it without any change.

Your friend, or family member, will only be able to rebuild your trust over time as he or she consistently and humbly shows that he or she is “one who lives honestly, practices righteousness, and acknowledges the truth in [his/her] heart – who does not slander with [his/her] tongue, who does not harm [his/her] friend or discredit [his/her] neighbor …” (Psalm 15:2-3 HCSB).

3. Re-focus your life. Don’t let anyone, particularly someone who has betrayed your trust, maintain a grip on your emotions. No doubt you’re feeling angry and hurt, but rather than trying to resist those thoughts, re-direct them.

For instance, try to see the situation from God’s perspective, and remember his ability to take things that are hurtful or mean-spirited in our lives and turn them into good.
----

Love, is a HABIT

2008-11-29T07:44:00.001+07:00

Love Is a Habit
by Rick Warren

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them.” Luke 6:32 (NIV)

*** *** *** ***

If you only love on and off like a light switch, you do not love others like God wants you to love. Jesus said, “If you only love those who love you what credit is that to you?” (Luke 6:32 NIV).

His point is this: anybody can love those who love them. Becoming a master lover means you learn to love the unlovable. It’s when you love people who don’t love you, when you love people who irritate you, when you love people who stab you in the back or gossip about you.

This may seem like an impossible task and it is – that’s why we need God’s love in us, so we can then love others: “We know and rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:16 NIV).

When you realize how much God loves you – with an extravagant, irresistible, unconditional love – then his love will change your entire focus on life. If we don’t receive God’s love for us, we’ll have a hard time loving other people. I’m talking about loving the unlovely, loving the difficult, loving the irritable, loving people who are different or demanding.

You can’t do that until you have God’s love coming through you. You need to know God’s love so it can overflow out of your life into others.

Love must become your lifestyle, the habit of your life. But it starts with a decision. Are you ready?

Your life is worth far more than you think, and by learning to love others with the love God gives you, you will have an influence far greater than you could ever imagine. If you will commit to this, you will experience love as God means it to be, filled with hope, energy, and joy.

My prayer for you is “that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love …” (Philippians 1:9 NCV).

Love, is a SKILL

2008-11-29T07:42:00.000+07:00

The Bible Says Love Is a Skill
by Rick Warren

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7 (NLT)

*** *** *** ***

Love is a skill that can be learned. In other words, it’s something you can get good at and that means you get better at love by practicing love.

You may think you’re a good lover, but God wants you to become a great lover, a skilled lover, a master lover. Yet, most people never learn how to love. You can become an expert at relationships.

Wouldn’t you like to become known as a person of extraordinary love? When people speak of you they might say: “He doesn’t care who you are or what you look like.” “She doesn’t care where you’ve been or what you’ve done or where you’re from.”

The only way you get skilled at something is to practice. You do it over and over. The first time you do it, it feels awkward, but the more you do it, the better you become.

The same is true with love (1 John 4:7). Let’s practice loving each other. As the Bible says, “Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all” (1 Timothy 4:15 HCSB).

Love is an Action, not a Feeling

2008-11-29T07:37:00.000+07:00

Love Is an Action
by Rick Warren

Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. 1 John 3:18 (NLT)

*** *** *** ***

Love is something you do. Do you really love someone? Let’s see how you act toward that person. You show love by what you do, not just by what you feel.

Love is more than attraction and more than arousal. It’s also more than sentimentality, like so many of today’s songs suggest. By this standard, is love dead when the emotion is gone? No, not at all. Because love is an action; love is a behavior.

Over and over again, in the Bible, God commands us to love each other. And you can’t command an emotion. If I told you “Be sad!” right now, you couldn’t be sad on cue. Just like an actor, you can fake it, but you’re not wired for your emotions to change on command. Have you ever told a little kid, “Be happy!” I’m trying, daddy!

If love were just an emotion, then God couldn’t command it. But love is something you do. It can produce emotion, but love is an action.

The Bible says, “Let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions” (1 John 3:18 NLT). We can talk a good act: “I love people.” But do we really love them? Do you really love them? Our love is revealed in how we act toward them.

Attraction, Arousal & Love

2008-11-27T08:30:00.001+07:00

Love Is a Choice
by Rick Warren

… That you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Deuteronomy 30:20 (NIV)

*** *** *** ***

Love is a choice and a commitment. You choose to love or you choose not to love.

Today we’ve bought into this myth that love is uncontrollable, that it’s something that just happens to us; it’s not something we control. In fact, even the language we use implies the uncontrollability of love. We say, “I fell in love,” as if love is some kind of a ditch. It’s like I’m walking along one day and bam! – I fell in love. I couldn’t help myself.

But I have to tell you the truth – that’s not love. Love doesn’t just happen to you. Love is a choice and it represents a commitment.

There’s no doubt about it, attraction is uncontrollable and arousal is uncontrollable. But attraction and arousal are not love. They can lead to love, but they are not love. Love is a choice.

You must choose to love God; he won’t force you to love him (Deuteronomy 30:20). You can thumb your nose at God and go a totally different way. You can destroy your life if you choose to do that. God still won’t force you to love him. Because he knows love can’t be forced.

And this same principle is true about your relationships: you can choose to love others, but God won’t force you to love anyone.

It's NOTHING about ME

2008-11-23T17:18:00.000+07:00

It all starts with GOD.
It's not about ME. I'm nothing but a tool for Him for a greater plan. I'm like a mere ant in a highly-wired world of internet. There's Something much greater than my personal fulfillments, my peace of mind, my wildest dream or even my happiness.

I was made by God and for HIS purpose.

'Self help is no help at all. Self sacrifice is the way, My way, in finding yourself, your true self'

a Second Chance

2008-11-23T12:29:00.000+07:00

I was given one second chance
I shall treasure what i almost lost..
Thank you Lord