Hugs

Hey friends, greetings and salutations upon you all.

 

What do you know, in the blink of an eye, our time is coming to an end. Think back to that first cell where we had that massive food fest, the day we had the incredible bbq in eunice's living room, or the time we watched the olympics and jia li got mad at certain people for mentioning the now termed unmentionable word, think of all the times we burned up eunice's internet bandwidth. How about the time we ( i use the term "we" here very loosey) spent the night packing stuff for SFAS and then after that still decided to go eat uncle billys. I for one seem to remember eating alot at saigon this semester.

 

Next week, apparently is our last cell together along as a cell. This thought has made me very teary (note to aletheia, you better not be huhu or haha, or if you are, make the haha a short one). As such, i do urge you to enjoy each other's company as much as possible. Give out as many hugs as possible, whether imaginary or real, these hugs do mean alot to all. Also, as our last session as a cell comes to a close, i also urge all of you to work those abs and continue to watch your carb intake. Next week is really going to be very special but i don't want to spoil the surprise lest eunice crucify me so ill let her blog about that some other time.

 

Anyways, there is a point to me blogging today. As you all know, i truly hate blogging unless there is something absolutely blog worthy. I do hope all of you can take the time to read the following then. Me, having been very distracted the last couple of days and thinking too much, decided that i should spend more time reading the word. And as i was reading and flipping around, a bit aimless, i came upon the story of Paul and Silas in the prison. This story has a significance to me as it was the first reading i ever shared in a bible study back in Singapore. I was also very blessed to have heard a certain prominent pastor speak about this. But i digress....

 

The reading is Acts 16: 25 - 34

 

Yea apologies for the lengthy intro but i have a point to share. Anyways, the story goes that Paul and Silas were worshiping and praying when they were in jail and God send an angel to set them free miraculously. What happens next is their jailer finds them freed from their chains and is shocked. Paul and Silas then preach to their new jailer friend and the jailer and his whole family are saved and baptised.

 

So this pastor shared on this reading and emphasized on the act of worship.

These were the points he shared from my hazy memory ( darn that i still don't have a notebook)

1) Uninhibited Worship breaks chains in your darkness hour

- Paul and Silas were worshiping without restraint full of joy to the lord and it was at midnight (or the darkest hour). When we worship with our whole heart, especially in our times of darkness, God will set us free from our chains.

 

2) Uninhibited worship affects others around you and breaks their chains too

- it says in verse 26 that the chains of the other prisoners were broken too. When we worship God with our whole heart, especially in praising and singing to him, we affect others around us. Their chains will be broken too. I guess how that impacted me was that in the context of worship in church, the unsaved, or even the people who might not have experienced a truly intimate worship experience with God will be affected, when we worship.

 

3) Uninhibited worship saves the unsaved

- the jailer, after having seen Paul and Silas set free was given a chance to hear the gospel. After that, not only he, but his family as well was saved. When we worship, we have the opportunity to affect the unsaved and lead them to christ. I swear the atmosphere or something changes and God comes down answering us who seek him so much and worship him in exaltation. And when he comes, the lost will get touched and saved.

 

Ok thats about as much as I remembered as it was a long time ago. Funny enough, this message just came to my mind so i thought ill spring some major verbal action on you guys. So i challenge all of us, the next time at church or cell or wherever, let's just worship in an uninhibited style, just giving it all in worship. I remember last sem, my old cell leader challenged us to just jump around or raise our hands or do whatever that helps us best express our love to God in style. And he guaranteed that what we would feel after, how our relationship with God evolves after, will be like nothing we ever experienced. Honestly, i do love worshiping God and its pretty much my favorite part of any service ( not to say i don't like the other parts too) but yea.

 

Ok ill end here even though i have heaps of jokes and funnies, ill leave that for my last post

 

Cheerios Kiwis,

XOXO