National Day - Sunday 9th August at Changi Corps

National Day celebrations

It was good to begin the day with worship. We joined our fellow believers praising the Lord.

It was a good meeting. In our eighteen years of retirement, we've not heard a Singaporean give the national day message! So for the first time we heard the sermon given by Singaporean Lieutenant Joyce Ng. It was a good message well presented - "Let Charity and Justice Flourish in Our Nation" based on Micah 6:8 and Proverbs 3: 27-30. You can read the outline of the sermon if you turn to the Changi Corps Facebook.

What an encouragement to us to listen three young ladies giving their thanksgiving testimonies - Vanessa Tan, Jaime Yeo and Cleone Tan. In between the verses we sang the song "Count your blessings name them one by one.

Good to see so many wearing red and white, even though different shades of red. What thrilled me was to see a number of non- Singaporeans dressed in red. They just wanted to identify with us Singaporeans.

The National Pledge  was recited in four languages - English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. We sang some of the Singapore songs too!

In the afternoon, we joined our son and family to watch the national day parade. We had the family dinner there.

It was a great day for us. Thanks be to God.

Majulah Singapura!

Today is our National Day. The nation celebrates its 50th year of independence.

We got up early this morning and the first thing I did was to thank God for this another new day. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

I had my prayers and devotion. I prayed for our Government - the President, the Prime Minister and the his cabinet. The 50 Day Devotional published by Love Singapore has the list of leaders  - the Government, the civil service etc.

God has blessed our nation. The future is unknown, but we keep our faith, for God holds our future.

In a short while we shall be joining the folk in worship at our Corps (Church). We pray for the church of which The Salvation Army forms a part. Pray for the church and its leaders that they will remain faithful.

SG50 Film 1965

We've not been to a cinema for a very long time. What a joy to be invited by our grandson David and his wife Yurong, and grand daughter Rachel to join them watch this soul stirring film at Tampines Mall. Our hearts were touched as we viewed the old scenes of Singapore, the racial riots and the destruction. Thank God for good, strong leaders who gave of themselves to the nation.

All over the world there is racial and religious tension, resulting in loss of property and lives. We thank God in Singapore the various races are able to live harmoniously together. Thank God for our founding fathers Lee Kuan Yew and his team. We cannot take this racial harmony for granted. We pray that God will enable our leaders and people to live together in peace and harmony.

The lessons we learn - appearances can deceive us; things are not what they seem. So let's guard our thoughts and our tongues.

"And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself."  James 3: 6

As we celebrate SG50 let us not forget to pray for our nation and its leaders that Divine wisdom and grace be granted them to rule wisely.

The Serenity Prayer

Most of us are familiar with the Serenity Prayer written by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
It's been quoted many times.

O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed,

The courage to change what can be changed,

and the wisdom to know the one from the other

The most well-known form of the prayer attributed to Niebuhr is a late version, as it includes a reference to grace not found before 1951.

God, give me grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,

Courage to change the things

which should be changed,

and the Wisdom to distinguish

the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

 

He Touched Me [Live]

This beautiful song is found in The Song Book of The Salvation Army No. 475
I've been much blessed singing this song. I use the Song Book besides the Bible for my daily devotions

A sense of belonging

We have had many people after attending our church once or more times decide not to continue but move on to another church. There are many reasons – maybe the style of our worship or they disagree with our doctrines. Perhaps they have moved to another area and it is convenient to worship at a nearby church. There are those who stay on and become involved in the activities, or even become Salvationists or adherents. Some prefer to keep the membership of their own church, but choose to attend our meetings and share fellowship with us. There is a welcome for everyone in the Army.

The probability of new people becoming actively involved is directly related to the number of friends they develop soon after joining the church. Survey shows those who have found new friends and formed personal relationships within the congregation are more likely to remain in the church and become more actively involved. Those who stayed had developed an average of more than seven new friends in the church.

On the other hand those who dropped out could identify an average of less than two friends. This may not be due to the church members being unfriendly. The new members may not be overtly rejected. Often, dare I say, there is a superficial level of friendliness. So let us not go just for superficial courtesy – this ‘nice to see you’ then leaving them. They are forgotten. “The opposite of love is not hate; it’s indifference” says Ken Abraham.

Let’s offer people genuine friendship, enquiring about their families and seeking to bless them with any practical help we can give. Try and sit with them on the same table. Let us love them with the love of the Lord. Every person is precious in the eyes of God.

 It is good to have our special group of friends – people who talk the same language, share common interests or citizens of the same country. The kingdom of God knows no boundaries. It is inclusive not exclusive. Broaden your group to make new people feel they belong. Let us all unite to create the atmosphere where when new comers feel they belong. And they will want to come again because they have found friends here!

  In Christ there is no east of west,

      In Him no south or north,

But one great fellowship of love

     Throughout the whole wide earth.  John Oxenham (SASB 826)