Not Just a Book on the Shelf + Giveaway!

How would you like reading 14 non-fiction books in 30 days?

Attempts like that should only be done when you are an ‘accomplished’ speed reader, or if you are really passionate about the subject matters discussed in these books.

Non-fiction books can seem dull for some, however, when the subject matters from these books are expounded from concepts from a book that I have great interest in, the Bible. I can tell you that these 14 books barely skim the surface of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that has been unearthed from the pages of the Bible.

The rule of thumb that I follow with reading from Christian books, is that anything that are found in the books with discrepancy to the Bible, I will ‘throw it out of the window’. The Bible is the only authoritative book concerning God and His decrees for mankind, and nothing needs to be added or taken away from its pages.

Here’s a useful link on How to Read and select a Christian book.

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My journey with the Bible, has gotten even more exciting since I started reading it 10 years ago, and I am still learning more and more from it everyday.

My experience with this book started out with fear and intimidation. It was just too many words written in old English that seemed too complex to comprehend, from the first time I held on to it. It progressed to a stage where I read it like a storybook. Then, I started learning how to use concordances, to understand the meaning of words in its context in Greek or Hebrew.

In these recent years, I am back to the basic, the simplest and more effective way to read the bible; with the help from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is probably the most neglected person of the Trinity, often he gets neglected and is not being expounded upon from the pulpits of churches. But he is just as important as God and Jesus Christ, read here for more on the Holy Spirit.

The Bible is more than just another book with lots of historical accounts (some might even say myths), others say that it is ‘magical’ and mysterious. Some believe that they will never understand the bible, so they will only read sections that have been spoken about in their church sermons, and will go with their Pastor’s or Preacher’s interpretation of the passages.

The Protestant Bible (note that the Protestant Bible and Catholic Bible are quite different from one another) contains sixty-six books, and it was written by some forty different authors over a 1600 year period in 3 different languages. The authors varied from kings to tentmakers and they were very varied culturally and geographically across different counties. The Bible is completely unified without internal contradictions with all the variables above, prove to the validity to what Bible says and could not have been simply thought out by men alone.

I have come to realise that one cannot grow or mature in their spiritual walk with God, unless they take this responsibility upon themselves to learn about their relationship with God, apart from just attending church services on Sundays. One needs to read the bible daily, pray (often not enough) and surround themselves with Christian literature.

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If you are a Christian and you are serious about building a strong spiritual walk with God, it’s time to start setting aside time to read the bible daily.

Start with a verse, then reading the verse in context of the sentence, then expound it to the full chapter where the verse is. When you are ready to for more, I would recommend reading all the 66 books in the bible at your own pace.

Here are some useful devotionals online that can help you get started with this daily devotional discipline,

Crosswalk Devotionals

Our Daily Bread

Before preparing to read the bible, here are some useful tips.

Diligence and Discipline are part and parcel of a serious Christian walk. So if you are a Christian, get out of your lethargy and be a profitable child of God!

 

Giveaway : I will be giving away 1 copy of the ‘The Word of Promise’ Audio Bible worth USD $39.99. It can be downloaded on an iPad, Google Devices or Android devices, so all you need to do is to leave your name and email address in a comment below and I will do a random pick for the giveaway winner. 

The Word of Promise Audio bible is a multi-voiced, scripted dramatization of the New King James Version (NKJV) and features a star-studded cast of over 600 actors, original music score composed and conducted by prolific Italian composer Stefano Mainetti.

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An update on the giveaway winner of a Christianbook.com USD$20 book e-voucher from the last post, 

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Congrats Ling Siew! I will be contacting you soon to send you the e-voucher.

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A New Season

If ever there is a time that I am allowed to blog all about myself, it has to be today.

38Some women are rather shy about revealing their age after a certain number, but I can proudly declared that I am on the far end of the wrong side of thirty. And that’s just about the ONLY thing I am on the wrong side of, at this point 😛

In my tradition of expounding on Hebrew Gemetria on birthdays, on the post that I did earlier this year on the numbers 7 and 17. I will be explaining the meaning of the number 38 draw the parallels to the new season that I am entering in with my birthday this year.

What season? Since I am living in a country that only experiences about the same season all year around; the heat and rain. The seasons that I am referring to is from this verse in Ecclesiastes 3:1.

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The word season is translated to mow-ad-dawh, which means appointment or a decided time. And when translated to Greek, it is pronouced as kah-hee-ros, which means the proper time or ar-too-oh, which means to prepare or mature. Time and seasons are used in two different ways in the bible, but they are similar in the way that both involve birth of something; either physical or spiritual, with the due time that is determined by God.

I have always been very in tune with what God is saying to me with my life. Simply because I spend time seeking Him daily, through reading the Word of God, praying and being still in His presence. With this, I am able to prophetically discern the time and season that I am in, moving in line with what His will for me. I don’t claim to be a prophet, but I believe any child of God who spends time daily seeking God will be able to prophetically discern God’s plans and His will for their lives.

So what new season am I now birthed into, entering into the thirty-eighth year of my life?

This new season is very much related to the meaning of the number 38 (lamed-chat) in Hebrew. The letters lamed means authority and chet (inner chamber, including the heart). 38 is the number of work, or labor. It is focused on the idea of one’s calling, or life’s work and purpose, which is the true authority that each one of us will possess in our hearts.

In John 5:5, we read of the man who has been sick for 38 years until Jesus healed him. Jesus said to him in verse 8, “Arise, take up your pallet, and walk.” In verse 10, it was seen that the Jews criticized Jesus for healing people on the Sabbath, considering that to be ‘work’. What Jesus really done was ‘rest-work’, where a person ceases from his own works to do the works of God (Hebrew 4:10, Isaiah 58:13).

In the New Testament, the 38th time that Jesus is mentioned in the 4 Gospels is; Mark 9:23, Mark 9:25, Luke 8:40 and John 4:34. In each of these passages, Jesus was doing His work, healing and casting out demons, work that He has been called to do in His ministry on earth.

In the same way, children of God who are pursuing the truth in the bible, living in obedience and according to the word of God, have the power of the Holy Spirit in them. Powered fully by the Holy Spirit, where work for God becomes ‘rest-work’.

Entering into this new year of turning 38, I have been given tremendous clarity on my spiritual walk moving ahead. I am still running Right Klick Communications, if you are wondering, not that I am going to be a missionary or work for a church full time 😛 I believe that I can still live out my spiritual calling, while juggling my responsibilities, to earn a living or fulfilling other roles that we have in our lives.

One of God’s greatest presence in my life have been during times of worship and in prayer when I am alone seeking Him, and these are the times I am able to experience the moments of intimacy of friendship with God. It has been in my heart for sometime to focus on prayer, so it is most fitting to start this little group.

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Contrary to the misconceptions of prayer, prayer is far from dull. It is a key discipline in a Christian’s spiritual walk where spiritual work and vision is accomplished. Most of the discontentment and worry that most Christians suffer is the result of disobedience to God’s word. Prayer is entering into a relationship with God so that we can determine His will in the matter and call His will into existence upon the earth. We pray because we want to be obedient to, united with and empowered by God.

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Today on September 17 2014, I started a prayer group together with a dear friend. Incidentally, we arranged for a first meeting today without realizing that it was my birthday today, so this is just another one of God-incidences for my life.

We are available to pray for anyone who has a prayer need, so feel free to drop me a PM in Facebook or an email. You don’t need to be a Christian, you just have to share your need for prayer, and we will gladly pray for you. 

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Also, we welcome any Christian friends who wish to join us as part of a dynamic, Holy-spirit-led (we believe in the giftings of the Holy Spirit and are prepared to be bowled over by miracles and healings!) Intercessory Prayer group. And are able to look beyond the boundaries of the church walls and be available on Wednesday mornings to pray for others. Our prayer meetings will be weekly on Wednesdays from 10am – 12.00pm in various locations of Thomson/Bishan/Toa Payoh/Upper Bukit Timah.  

 

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