The Tipping Point

Read Romans 12:1-8

“He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” - Matthew 10:39

Reflection of Tommy:

The idea and thought of surrendering or submitting to someone is scary and daunting when it means we lose control of things we hold and depend on to for security. But as a Christian, we are called to surrender our will and heart to God, submitting to Him (James 4:7), and presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him (Romans 12:1). The verse that best describes this complete surrendering can be found in the beautiful paradox of Matthew 10:39.

The Barclay Commentary wrote:
“The Christian may have to sacrifice his personal ambitions, the ease and the comfort that he might have enjoyed, the career that he might have achieved; he may have to lay aside his dreams, to realize that shining things of which he has caught a glimpse are not for him. He will certainly have to sacrifice his will, for no Christian can ever again do what he likes; he must do what Christ likes. In Christianity there is always some cross, for it is the religion of the Cross.

The man who seeks first ease and comfort and security and the fulfillment of personal ambition may well get all these things--but he will not be a happy man; for he was sent into this world to serve God and his fellow-men.The way to serve others, the way to fulfill God's purpose for us, the way to true happiness is to spend life selflessly, for only thus will we find life, here and hereafter.”

Dear Father, thank You for reminding this truth once again; to have Christ sitting on the throne of my life. Search my heart and reveal to me anything that may have taken His place and lead me to surrender it to You and trust You to know what best for me. Guide me through the Spirit as I come to serve Your people with love and selflessness. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

El Roi: You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees

Genesis 16:7-13

7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?"
"I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered.

9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." 10 The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."

11 The angel of the LORD also said to her:
"You are now with child
and you will have a son.
You shall name him Ishmael, [a]
for the LORD has heard of your misery.

12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward [b] all his brothers."

13 She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen [c] the One who sees me."

Reflection of Bee:

There may be many injustice done to us, be it at home, in school, in church or at work. Sometimes the things that others say about us may not be truth and they hurt badly. Yet the bible says in Romans 12:19-21 (Deut. 32:35; Prov. 25:21,22):

19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"[a]says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."[b] 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Sometimes I do feel tired of the hypocrisy in life.... the world is like a stage and people are just acting. Who are real and true? who are sincere? I find it hard to detect the truth anymore. There are so much betrayal, even by people whom we trusted. When I heard about others' death, at times I asked, "why not me?"

It's comforting to know that God will avenge us as He sees everything. Our lives are in God's hand. When it's time that He takes us home, we'll be there.

Dear Lord,
Thank You for all the things that have happened to me. Thank You that You are the God who sees and justice is in Your hand. Thank You that You will always be with me in all situations.
In Your precious name I give You thanks. Amen.


Reflection of Tommy:
Even after reading countless times verses where God ask us not to worry (Matthew 6:31-34), many Christians still find themselves struggling with all kind of anxieties. Instead of trusting God, our tendency is to look for earthly securities; to depend and lean heavily on things that are tangible, real and look substantial for relief.

We hope for a change of circumstance or some help from man. We mount on these to runaway from our trouble. In ignorance, we think by mere change in our environment, our weary souls will experience some sort of deliverance. Often these earthly refuge carry us out of one trouble only to land us into another (Amos 5:19).

True deliverance comes to us only when our soul waits upon the Lord (Isaiah 40:31), entirely surrendered to Him, trusting Him perfectly and seeing Him in every details of our lives. When we are able to apply actively these attitudes, our soul will be carried up into a spiritual plane of life, into the “life hid with Christ in God”, which will utterly independent of all circumstances.

Dear Father, thank You that You are always near and you know all that I’m going through. Thank You for Your continual guidance to help me see when I’m lost. Teach me always be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving making all my requests be known to You (Philippians 4:6). In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

Finding God In The Darkness

Acts 17:24-31

24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

29"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

Reflection of Bee:

There will be times in our Christian walk that God seems very far from us. We may wonder why we don't feel God's presence anymore. Did we sin that God is hiding from us or is God testing our faith?

I remember as a young Christian, I often struggled with my faith. Whenever I didn't feel God near, I doubted and wondered if I believed in the right God. As I grew in my Christian life through studying the bible and fellowshipping with fervent Christians, I realized that God wanted me to live by faith, not by sight. That means, even though I don't feel God I KNOW that He is with me; though I don't feel His love I KNOW that He loves me very much. Perhaps, such faith in God makes me trust others easily even if I don't see that person face to face. I always trust first till proven otherwise.

Tonight's devotion reminds us that God is "not far from each one of us" (v28). He is always there waiting for us to seek Him out.

Dear Lord,
Thank You for Your word of assurance that You are always there for me. Even if I don't feel You at times, even though I can't see You now, I know You. Keep me from the snares of the evil one and help me be strong no matter how I feel. I pray You will touch my heart now.... heal it completely and make it strong.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.



Reflection of Tommy:

When God created us, He desires to make Himself known to us. He placed us at a particular place and time, where we would seek Him and make the choice to reach out to Him and find Him (v27). And for those who diligently seek Him, He will make Himself known and rewards them with all the blessings of a life hid with Christ in God (Heb. 11:6, Col.3:3-4).

Dear Father, thank You for teaching me to entirely surrender to You and trusting in You perfectly. Forgive me for my un-Christlike attitudes and behaviors towards others, hindering Christ to live and work in me effectively. Teach me to repent from this and deny self continually; putting on the life of Christ, in a true divine union with You (John 17:21,23). In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

Do You Love Me?

John 14:15-24

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

22Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"

23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

Reflection of Bee:

What is the sign of love?

In my search for the answers to know the difference between love and lust I found some articles that shed some light.

1. Article Are You In Love Or Lust? ....the difference between them

2. Article Are you in Love or Lust? ....talks about Relationship Compatibility being The key to happy long lasting relationships....

3. Article Love or Lust? ....a Christian's viewpoint


In the above passage, Jesus repeated 3 times, "If you love me, you will obey..." (v15, 21, 23). Biblically, the sign of love is the willingness to do what your loved one ask you to do in order to please him/her. Of course, if you love the wrong person you may do the wrong things.

Therefore, if we say that we love God we are to obey Him and please Him.


Dear Lord,
I pray that my love for You will grow each day and I will obey You more and more. For Your command is always good for me.
I pray for my 'bf' too, that You will teach him to trust and obey You. In His weakness please give him strength.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.




Reflection of Tommy:

Jesus loves us with more than the love of friendship. He didn’t spare Himself, He has given us all, and He asks for all in return. The slightest reserve from us will grieve Him to the heart. As He has completely surrendered all that He had for our sake, we must also surrender our all to Him in obedience and love, without limitation or measure.

Dear Father, thank You for Your amazing love and grace for us. Although we do not deserve these gifts, yet You have given them all to us, even Your only beloved Son. Teach me to love You back by obeying all Your commands and teachings (v15,23), may my every word and action bring pleasure to You and glory to Your Name. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

What’s The Cost?

Luke 14:25-33

The Cost of Being a Disciple
25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.I

28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

31"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

34"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Reflection of Bee:

To be a disciple of Christ costs all that we have, all that we love, and all that we are. Even though I have been following Christ for many years, there are still struggles once in a while to surrender my all to Him.

Perhaps I can surrender my wealth but to surrender people I loved may be quite difficult because it touches my heart where my 'treasure' is. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21). Material things don't move me for I eat to live and not live to eat.

The devil knows my weakness and God knows my heart. The one I treasured most have been taken away from me. It still pains me whenever I think about it. Yet I need to learn to replace what I treasured most with God. This is the "cross" I have to bear.

Dear Lord,
You know my heart, my struggle, my pain, and my longing. Give me strength as I learn to take up my "cross " and follow You. May You give me grace and mercy to do what I should and not give in to the evil one.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.



Reflection of Tommy:

On the surface, these shocking statement by Jesus (v26) seem to be contradictory to many other clear teachings of Scripture about hate (1 John 3:15, 1 John 4:20, Matthew 22:39). We are even called to love our enemies in Matthew 5:43-44. So unless Scripture contradicts itself, Jesus cannot mean “hate” in the conventional sense. Fortunately, this “hate” passage is clarified when we examine Matthew 10:37-38 which Jesus speaks on the same subject.

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

We learn that Jesus doesn’t mean that we should not love our closed ones in any sense as they are good gifts of God; but we should never love them or ourselves more than Him. We commit idolatry whenever we put something above of God. To be disciples of Jesus Christ, our love, obedience and loyalty for Him must come first. So, when even the dearest family wants us to do something that is the opposite of what Jesus wants for us; we must remain faithful to Jesus, not the family member.

Dear Father, thank You for reminding me that being a disciple of Christ is a major and difficult endeavor that requires total commitment and submission. Lord, give me the strength, wisdom and peace to remain faithful and obedient to You when I’m tempted to quit because of suffering or rejection. Teach me to always set my priority right by putting You first in everything; and trusting You to take care of all my needs. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

A Boy’s Lunch

John 6:5-14

5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" 6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages[a] would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
8Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
10Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." 13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world."

Reflection of Bee:

From the above passage we learned that if we are willing to give to Jesus what is important to us, God will perform miracle and multiply what we have given to bless many.

Dear Lord,
Let me give You what is important to me, so that You can multipy it and bless many.
In Jesus' name I pray.

Reflection of Tommy:

Like the disciples, we often limit what God can do in us and with the little we have. We prefer not to give anything at all because we think we didn’t have enough to give. This can be our time and resources to do God’s works. But in today’s passage, we can learn from the boy who gave what little he had, and God turn it into something great.

Take the first step to make our selves available to God with what little we have, and God will show us how greatly this can be used to advance the work of His kingdom.

Dear Father, thank You for the making the impossible possible; teaching me not to neglect my task to serve Your people by worrying about my limited resources. Teach me to give my all to You, trusting and abandoning myself to Your care that I may be of service to You. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

A Fitting Present

Matthew 2:11-15

11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Bee's Thoughts

When I told a friend that I was supposed to volunteer for the Church Christmas events at Orchard Road today as "Road Blocker" he jokingly remarked, "That's cheap labour". I replied, "No, that's expensive labour, 'cos my time is expensive. I will not give to God what is cheap la." Unfortunately, I am sick with very bad cough today and is not able to help out.

Tonight we learned that the wise men gave to Jesus their "treasures" which are gold, incense and myrrh. Yes, we should not give to God only what we do not want, but give Him our best, which is our "body" that is "holy and acceptable" to God (Romans 12:1).

Dear Lord,
Thank You for reminding me to give You what I treasured most and even myself, and not things that I don't want. Tonight, my hands are open to You and I want to give You the thing/person that I treasured most and surrender myself to You. Take me, cleanse me and use me for Your glory Lord.
In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.



Tommy's Thoughts:

Like the Magi who brought valuable gifts to Jesus, we too should be willing to give Him what is most valuable to us when we are worshipping Him. He is worthy of the best we have to give and we should honor Him for who He is – perfect, just and almighty Creator of the universe.

Dear Father, thank You for teaching me the essence of true worship. Lord, teach me also to be like Joseph, to always have a ready heart and be receptive to Your every guidance. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

God Fights Against Us

Joel 2:12-17

Rend Your Heart
12 "Even now," declares the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."

13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.

14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the LORD your God.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.

16 Gather the people,
consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.

17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
'Where is their God?' "

Bee's Thoughts:

"return to me with all your heart" (v13).

The Lord demands ALL our heart, not just a portion of it....

As I look into my heart,
I saw a number of things:
People I love so much
And all my heart's longings.

Where is my dear Lord?
Are You even here?
He is by the wall
Waiting for me to come near.

I am sorry my dear Lord,
Now take all my heart.
Take all I have got
Let me have a new start.

- Your child Bee

Tommy's Thoughts:

My church’s speaker told a story about a Christian who complained to God for not punishing those unbelieving bad people swiftly but allowing them to flourish and prosper. He argued how unfair for God to bring hardship and suffering to him instead.

Then, God answered him by saying the suffering he’s going through now is like God gently and delicately pruning all those twigs in him with a sharp scissor. And He does that while holding him lovingly in His caring arm.

But for those disobeying bad people that does not remain in Him, He will be chopping off them like a dying branch with a big axe and thrown into the fire and be burned! (John 15:6)

Dear Father, thank You for reminding me to remain in You even as the going get tough. Teach me not to hold back from turning to You completely. Guide me to surrender all my needs, worries and concerns to You, trusting You to take care of all of them.

Thank You O Wonderful and Loving God,
In You, I find true rest, peace and love,
Because of You I discover truths,
And You alone, I desire more than everything.

In Jesus’ precious name I pray, Amen.