Purpose Driven Life Day 27: Defeating Temptation 

2 Timothy 2:22
Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up against it.

God has promised never to allow more on us than He puts within us to handle. However, we must do our part too by practicing 4 Biblical keys to defeating temptation:
1. Refocus your attention on something else.
The Bible tells us to 'resist the devil" and not "resist temptation". Everytime we try to block a thought out of our mind, we drive it deeper into our memory. By resisting it, we actually reinforce it.

Psalm 119:37
Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
Preserve my life according to Your Word.

Since temptation always begin with a thought, the quickest way to neutralize its allure is to turn our attention to something else. Don't fight the thought, just change the channel of our mind and get interested in another idea. So when temptation calls you on the phone, don't argue, just hang up! Satan can't get your attention when your mind is preoccupied with something else.

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

If we're serious about defeating temptation, we must manage our mind and monitor our media intake.
Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart.
for it is the wellspring of life.

2 Corinthians 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

This takes a lifetime of practice, but with the help of the Holy Spirit we can reprogram the way we think.

2. Reveal your struggle to a godly friend or support group
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

God's plan for our growth and freedom includes other Christians. Authentic, honest friendship is the antidote to your lonely struggle against those sins that won't bulge.

James 5:16
Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Do we really want to be healed of that persistent temptation that keeps defeating us over and over? God's solution is plain: Don't repress it; confess it! Don't conceal it; reveal it. Revealing our feeling is the beginning of healing.

The reason we hide our faults is pride. We want others to think we have everything "under control". The truth is, whatever we can't talk about is already out of control in our life: Problems with finances, marriage, kids, thoughts, sexuality, secret habits or anything else.

What are you pretending isn't a problem in your life?
Singlehood.

What are you afraid to talk about?
Desperation.

It is humbling to admit our weaknesses to others, but lack of humility is the very thing that is keeping us from getting better.

James 4:6-7
But He gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

3. Resist the devil
We don't passively resign ourselves to his attack. We are to fight back. How can we resist the devil?
Ephesians 6:14-17
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all these, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

Remember this: If you are a believe, Satan cannot force you to do anything, He can only suggest. We must use the Word of God as our weapon against Satan. If we don't have any Bible verses memorized, we've got not bullet in the gun! I challenge you to memorize one verse a week for the rest of your life. Imagine how much stronger you'll be!

4. Realize your vulnerability
God warns us never to get cocky and overconfident; that is the recipe for disaster.

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

We are good at fooling ourselves. Given the right circumstances, any of us are capable of any sin. We must never let down our guard and think we're beyond temptation!

1 Corinthians 10:12
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!

Point to ponder: There is always a way out.

Verse to remember: 1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up against it.

Question to consider: Who could I ask to be a spiritual partner to help me defeat a persistent temptation by praying for me?
Julynn.

Another Chapter of Life

How time flies. Next week will be my last week in Neurosurgery. God has been good to me for sending me here to learn more about the brain, the surgeries and most important, to learn to be nice. It's always easier to be nice when everyone around is nice but I hope I can be nice even when I leave the nice people. I pray that the next 5 weeks in Surgery department will be peaceful and the most important of all is to learn as much as possible!

I know it'll be difficult to remember everyone here after I leave, so I thought it'll be good to mention them here for future references.
Consultants: Mr Saffari, Mr Azmi
Specialists: Mr Kantha, Mr Tan, Mr Hafiz, Mr Saiful
Registras: Dr Priya, Dr Sofan, Dr Kong, Dr Zamri
Masters students: Dr Thinesh, Dr Ching
MOs: Dr Rakesh, Dr Kanmani, Dr Ginelle, Dr Vicky, Dr Poobalan, Dr Vijay, Dr Adlina, Dr Husna, Dr Yong Meng Hsien
HOs: Mohana, Christopher, Vicky, Faizi, Yee
Intervention radiologists: Dr Lau, Dr Chan, Dr Johar

Thank you Father for sending angels my way. I trust that You'll continue to watch over me everyday of my life. I love You Lord!

God's Protection

It's day 2 of fasting month and traffic is terrible. It takes an hour to travel home compared to the usual 30 min or sometimes even less. After sitting and dozing off for a little while and out of nowhere craving for KFC, I decided to take a walk and get dinner home.

But I made a big mistake. My dressing. Soemhow I decided to wear my home clothes today. Spaghetti strip and shorts. Bad choice. I felt awkward once I step out of the house but I ignored the Holy Spirit and left. I had to take my umbrella as it was starting to drizzle. I bought curry puffs (me and dad's favorite) and KFC and headed home. Everything was well until I realized there was a suspicious motorcyclist right outside the guard house. He drove past me and turned back. I knew I'm the target then and I did not know what to do. All I could do was to ask God for help! I started praying that He will rescue me!

True enough, he came and snatched my purse. I defended with my umbrella. Somehow he drove past and let go of my purse. Trying to stabilize himself on the bike I supposed. So I didnt lose my purse, but I did suffer a little scratches on my neck and a little burn on my arm. I was too embarrassed to stop by the guard house and say anything but to rush home. Later only I realized that my necklace has snapped and I lost my pendant. I'm a little heart broken but I've learned my lesson. I'll consider it to be a pretty minimal damage lesson and most of all, I want to thank my Abba Father for His protection.

I'm sure this experience will take me a long way. Both spiritually, mentally and physically. Thank You Father.

Purpose Driven Life Day 26: Growing Through Temptation 

James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life what God has promised to those who love Him.

Every temptation is an opportunity to do good.
On the path to spiritual maturity, even temptation becomes a stepping-stone rather than a stumbling block when you realize that it is just as much an occasion to do the right thing as it is to do the wrong thing. Temptation simply provides the choice. While temptation is Satan's primary weapon to destroy you, God wants to use it to develop you. Every time you choose to do good instead of sin, you are growing in the character of Christ.

Galatians 5:22-24
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

God teaches us love by putting some unlovely people around us. It takes no character to love people who are lovely and loving to you. God teaches us real joy in the midst of sorrow, when we turn to Him. Happiness depends on eternal circumstances, but joy is based on your relationship to God.

God develops real peace within us, not by making things go the way we planned, but by allowing times of chaos and confusions. We learn real peace by choosing to trust God in circumstances in which we are tempted to worry or be afraid. Patience is developed in circumstances in which we're forced to wait and are tempted to be angry or have a short fuse.

God uses the opposite situation of each fruit to allow us a choice. You can't claim to be good if you've never been tempted to be bad. You can't claim to be faithful if you've never had the opportunity to be unfaithful. Integrity is built by defeating the temptation to be dishonest; humility grows when we refuse to be prideful; endurance develops every time you reject the temptation to give up.

How temptations work:
1. Satan identifies a desire inside of you
Eg: Sinful desire - to get revenge/control others/desire to be loved and valued or to feel pleasure.
Temptation starts when Satan suggests that you give in to an evil desire. Always beware of shortcuts. They are often temptations!

Mark 7:21-22
For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.

2. Doubt
Hebrews 3:12
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

3. Deception
Satan says, "You will not die. You'll be wiser like God. You can get away with it. No one will ever know. It will solve your problem. Besides, everyone else is doing it. It is only a little sin." But a little sin is like being pregnant: It will eventually show itself.

4. Disobedient
You finally act on the thought you've been toying with in your mind.
James 1:14-15
But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Overcoming Temptation:
1. Refuse to be intimidated
Be realistic about the inevitability of temptation; you will never be able to avoid it completely.

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

2. Recognize your pattern of temptation and be prepared for it
There are certain situations that make you more vulnerable to temptation. Identify them and then prepare to avoid those situations as much as possible.

Ephesians 4:27
Do not give the devil a foothold.

Wise planning reduces temptations
Proverbs 4:26-27
Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. 
Do not swerve to the right or to the left; keep your foot from evil.

Proverbs 16:17
The highway of the upright avoids evil; 
he who guards his way guards his life.

3. Request God's help
Heaven has a 24 hour emergency hotline.
Psalm 50:15
Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.

God is waiting to help us defeat temptation, why don't we turn to Him more often? Honestly, sometimes we don't want to be helped! At other times we're embarrassed to ask because we keep giving in to the same temptation over and over. But God never gets irritated, bored or impatient when we keep coming back to Him.

Hebrews 4:15-16
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

God's love is everlasting, and His patience endures forever. Ask Him for the power to do the right thing and then expect Him to provide it. Temptation keep us dependent upon God. Just as the roots grow stronger when wind blows against a tree, so every time we stand up to temptation, we become more like Jesus.

James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when He has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

Point to Ponder: Every temptation is an opportunity to do good.

Verse to remember: James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when He has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

Question to Consider: What Christlike character quality can I develop by defeating the most common temptation I face?
Discipline!

Purpose Driven Life Day 25: Transformed by Trouble 

2 Corinthians 4:17
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

God has a purpose behind every problem. 
He uses circumstances to develop our character. In fact, He depends more on circumstances to make us like Jesus than He depends on our reading the Bible. No one is immune to pain or insulated from suffering and no one gets to skate through life problem-free.

1 Peter 1:12-13
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you are participating in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.

God uses problems to draw us closer to Himself. 
Psalm 34:18
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit.

Your most profound and intimat experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days - when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you're out of options, when the pain is great, and you turn to God alone. It is during suffering that we learn to pray our most authentic, heartfelt, honest-to-God prayers. When we're in pain, we don't have the energy for superficial prayers. We learn things about God in suffering that we cant learn any other way.

Problems force us to look to God and depend on Him instead of ourselves. You'll never know that God is all you need until God is all you've got. Regardless of the cause, none of your problems could happen without God's permission. Because God is sovereignly in control, accidents are jut accidents in God's good plan for you.

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Building Christlike Character
We are like jewels, shaped with hammer and chisel od adversity. If a jeweler's hammer isn't strong enough to chip off our rough edges, God will use a sledge hammer. If we're really stubborn, He uses a jackhammer.

Romans 5:3-5
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

What happens actually in your life is not as important as what happens inside you. Your circumstances are temporary, But your character will last forever.

1 Peter 1:7
These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

When you've been refined by trials, people can see Jesus' reflection in you.

Since God intends to make you like Jesus, He will take you through the same experiences Jesus went through. That includes loneliness, temptation, stress, criticism, rejection and many others.

Romans 8:17
Now, if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we also share in His glory.

Responding to problems as Jesus would. 
1. Remember that God's plan is good 
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

It is vital that you stay focused on God's plan, not your plan or problem. That is how Jesus endured the pain of the cross and we are urged to follow His example.
Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

"If you look at the world, you'll be distressed.
If you look within, you'll be depressed.
But if you look at Christ, you'll be at rest!" -Corrie ten Boom-

Your focus will determine your feelings. The secret of endurance is to remember that your pain is temporary but your reward will be eternal. Dont give in to short-term thinking. Stay focused on the end result!

2. Rejoice and give thanks
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually. give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Notice that God tells us to give thanks 'in all circumstances" not "for all circumstances". God doesnt expect us to be thankful for evil. for sin, for suffering, or for their painful consequences in the world. Instead, God wants us to thank Him that He will use our problems to fulfill His purposes.

Colossians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

No matter what happens. You can rejoice in God's love, care, wisdom, power and faithfulness. We can also rejoice in knowing that God is going through the pain with us. We do not serve a distant and detached God who sprouts encouraging cliches safely from the sideline. Instead, He enters into our sufferings.

3. Refuse to give up
Be patient and persistent.
James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Character building is a slow process. Whenever we try to avoid/escape the difficulties in life, we short-circuit the process, delay our growth and actually end up with a worse kind of pain - the worthless type that accompanies denial and avoidance.

When you grasp the eternal consequences of your character development, we'll pray fewer "comfort me" prayers (Help me feel good) and more "conform me" prayers (Use this to make me more like You.) You know you're maturing when you begin to see the hand of God in the random, baffling and seemingly pointless circumstances in life.

Don't ask "Why me?". Instead, ask "What do You want me to learn?" Then trust God and keep on doing what's right.

Hebrews 10:16
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.

Don't give up - grow up!

Points to Ponder: There is a purpose behind every problem.

Verse to remember: Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Question to consider: What problem in my life has caused the greatest growth in me?
Peer pressure - the need to fit in, desire to be accepted.
Opens my eyes to realize that it's better to obey God and put a smile on His face than to be accepted by peers and sin against God!

The Lord is My Comforter

Received a shocking news today. Tian Yu was killed in a plane crash during training yesterday. Somehow, he took a part of my heart with him. He was always like a younger brother and despite not seen him for the past 10 years, he's death still made a big impact. It feels like my life has come to an end of another chapter.

I'm sure he's in a better place now but the people he left behind are the ones that are holding on to Jesis for comfort. I'm sure everything happens for the good of those who love Him and I'm sure God will see us through.

Sibu trip has come to an end. Somehow it feels like a gloomy weekend now. Praying that God will watch over me and comfort me and for Xiao Qing and the family and everyone else whom Tian Yu left his footprints in. We will truly miss him dearly.

Psalm 34:18
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit.

Psalm 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Day 2 in Sibu - Mel & Dung's ROM

Praise God everything went smoothly. The earlier worries of no original birth cert was just a scare. Thank You Lord for making everything go smoothly. Mel is now Mrs. Kuang. Of course without the wedding ceremony, it still doesn't hit as strong. But Dung is obviously very nervous!

Met up with Ing Lee & Soon Chen. Didn't get to have a long talk. We played 'Life'. It was fun but I was a little disappointed as I was looking forward for a session of fellowship. Not sure if we'll be able to do that tonight.

I have to admit peer pressure is rising with all my friends getting married!! I have to keep reminding myself to trust God that He'll lead the godly man to me & He does not need my help to search for him. With my biological clock ticking everyday, I found myself thinking bout my future husband more!! And I constantly need to commit him to God!

Holiday is coming to an end. I need to enjoy every minute of it & not regret it later. Last but not least, thank You Lord for each new day.

Romans 12:3
For by grace given me I say to everyone of you. Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.