Just saw this article and though of sharing

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/how....ilure/89512.htm

How to glorify the Lord despite a loss or failure

JB Cachila 30 June 2016


Giving glory to the Lord seems easy when we achieve some success. We can simply say "thank God for [insert achievement here]." But when we face failures, most of us find it almost impossible to bless His name.

In fact, some of us will likely put the blame on Him.

Friend, the Bible gives us a simple truth that is illustrated in the life of Job: He was able to glorify the Lord in loss. "Blessed be the name of the Lord," Job said when his children and livestock were taken from him (see Job 1:21).

And since Job was a man just like us, we can do the same.

It's encouraging to know that our God remains the same whether we win or lose in any situation. We get a promotion, He stays the same. We get demoted, He remains the same, unfazed and immovable – our faithful and loving God who deserves all the praise and the glory every time.


Are you looking for ways to glorify the Lord in all that you do? Then praise Him in failures and loss. Here are a few ways to do that.

1. Praise Him when you lose to someone else

Stephen Curry, an outspoken Christian in the Golden State Warriors' roster, glorified God along with his family after losing both Games 6 and 7 to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"Everything according to his plan," Steph's wife, Ayesha, tweeted. "Always glory to God!!!!!!!!"

Like Steph and his family, we can also praise God in defeat. Job praised God after his loss. Paul praised God after all the troubles that he went through. If they were able to, we can do that, too.

2. Focus on the good that God has done

Paul said in Philippians 4:8, "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."

We should meditate not on the loss or the failure. Rather, we should look for what God has done for us.

Although Internet trolls bashed Steph and the Warriors for the loss, he and his family decided to take the high road. According to a World Religion News report, "they came together as a family and reflected on their faith and blessings." If they did it, we could, too.

3. Keep hoping in the Lord

Did that loss make you feel like giving up? Don't, because God's not done yet. The Bible says that He "who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)

God's not done with you yet. Think of that failure as a stepping stone, probably a lesson that you couldn't understand yet. God wants us all to grow in Christ-likeness, and will never stop until He finishes what He began in us.

Jesus died on the cross for your prosperity?

The difference between Christianity and every other faith in the world is that all other religions are about man trying to reach up to God. Christianity is about God reaching down to man.

err...the highlights and your comments seems contradictory leh.

I stress again that there is nothing's wrong with prosperity but there are serious errors on prosperity gospels. Many verses are being twisted to support prosperity gospels. Many people like prosperity gospels as it makes them "prospers" and the movement is strong even in Asean, Korea and PRC. City Harvest of SG is a classic example.

I am lazy to explain in details but a quick google will find the following links explaining the errors. Click and read if you are keen to find out more:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology
http://www.gotquestions.org/prosperity-gospel.html
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/cont...osperity-gospel
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/...osperity-gospel
https://markmeynell.wordpress.com/2007/11/2...-modern-heresy/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pastor-rick-..._b_3790384.html

Also, if you are familiar with New Age, then try to compare Prosperity Gospels with Mind Power.

This post has been edited by shioks: Jul 5 2016, 08:49 PM

The difference between Christianity and every other faith in the world is that all other religions are about man trying to reach up to God (man made God = religion). Christianity is about God reaching down to man.

Really lazy to go into details as I'm late for my two term papers.

Like I said earlier, City Harvest of SG is a classic example.

I extracted paragraphs from wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

In the 1990s and 2000s, it was adopted by influential leaders in the Charismatic Movement and promoted by Christian missionaries throughout the world, sometimes leading to the establishment of mega-churches. Prominent leaders in the development of prosperity theology include E. W. Kenyon, Oral Roberts, TD Jakes, A. A. Allen, Robert Tilton, T. L. Osborn, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland, Reverend Ike and Kenneth Hagin.


The prosperity theology teaching of positive confession stems from its proponents' view of scripture. The Bible is seen as a faith contract between God and believers; God is understood to be faithful and just, so believers must fulfill their end of the contract to receive God's promises. This leads to a belief in positive confession, the doctrine that believers may claim whatever they desire from God, simply by speaking it. Prosperity theology teaches that the Bible has promised prosperity for believers, so positive confession means that believers are speaking in faith what God has already spoken about them. Positive confession is practiced to bring about what is already believed in; faith itself is a confession, and speaking it brings it into reality.[43]

The teaching is often based on non-traditional interpretations of Bible verses,[41] the Book of Malachi often being given special attention. While Malachi has generally been celebrated by Christians for its passages about the messiah, teachers of prosperity theology usually draw attention to its descriptions of physical wealth.[44] Frequently quoted verses include:

Malachi 3:10: "Bring to the storehouse a full tenth of what you earn so there will be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord All-Powerful. “I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour out all the blessings you need" (NCV).[27]
Matthew 25:14–30: the Parable of the talents[37]
John 10:10: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (KJV).[27]
Philippians 4:19: "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (KJV).[41]
3 John 1:2: "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth" (KJV).[16]

Prosperity theology casts itself as the reclamation of true doctrine and thus part of a path to Christian dominion over secular society.[35] It contends that God's promises of prosperity and victory to Israel in the Old Testament apply to New-Covenant Christians today, and that faith and holy actions release this prosperity.[40] C. Peter Wagner, a leader of the New Apostolic Reformation, has argued that if Christians take dominion over aspects of society, the Earth will experience "peace and prosperity".[45] Some Latin Americans who have embraced prosperity theology argue that Christianity has historically placed an unnecessary focus on suffering. They often view this as a Roman Catholic doctrine that should be discarded and replaced with an emphasis on prosperity.[46] Prosperity theology advocates also argue that biblical promises of blessings awaiting the poor have been unnecessarily spiritualized, and should be understood literally.[47]

This post has been edited by shioks: Jul 6 2016, 11:56 AM

It would be good for you to share with us your initial experience acceptance of Christ and why you chose to leave. Then, we can share, guide and/or explain the scriptures with you.

I pray for an antique mini Austin.

An article I just saw today on prosperity.

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/true...hrist/89684.htm

True prosperity not about gaining wealth but gaining more of Christ

Patrick Mabilog 03 July 2016

Many people desire to experience wealth and prosperity. But while most of us only focus on gaining money and material possessions, Jesus has every intention to bless us with much more valuable treasures such as His peace, joy and presence, just to name a few.

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has every intention to make people prosper and give them hope and a future. But many believers co-relate this promised prosperity with just money. And while God does want to provide us with as much wealth as we need, there is so much more to God's prosperity plan that just financial gain.

In Matthew 16:26, Jesus reminds us of this when He said, "For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?"

There is danger in limiting prosperity to just money. Where our true treasure lies, there our heart will also be. If we regard money as our only treasure then that is what our heart will worship.

Prosperity is God's design for all of us. But sometimes money and material things can get in the way of God's design of prosperity for us. Many people today don't necessarily gain money but simply trade it for other treasures. Some trade their integrity for money when they resort to shady and illegal means of business. Some trade their relationships for money when they start neglecting family and friends to focus more on work. Some trade God for money when they put their faith on money and not on God.


In all essence, God wants us to be full and whole, and not having to trade anything for money. He provides us with the ability to produce wealth, opportunities to make us grow, trials to sharpen us, and everything else that we will ever need.

Ephesians 1:3 tells us, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." God wants to bless us abundantly not just with earthly treasures but also with life, relationships, and spiritual treasures. And the way that we experience this true prosperity is to chase after Jesus first who is prosperity in the flesh.

Prosperity is not about gaining wealth, fame or success, but gaining more of Christ. Just as Paul found that to live is Christ, we are to live in Christ. Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek ye first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

When we seek for more of Jesus, that's when we experience full prosperity where we gain all other things as a result of winning the prize that is Christ.

wah...you testing the limit. hahaha

Nothing is Impossible! LOL!

I cina ahpek mah

Mei Sek leh.

"Unofficial Christian", new term to me. You mean you Catholic ah?

If you have been reading the postings, you would understand isn't it? If you still don't, obviously you do not know what you believe except waiting for baptism.

I suggest you dig more on The Five Solae of the Protestant Reformation:

Sola scriptura
Sola fide
Sola gratia
Solus Christus
Soli Deo gloria

Also, the Gospel is supposed to comfort us, that as sinners we can confidently confess that Christ died for us, and, that on this account ,we are loved by God and He is unwilling that we should go off to our own destruction. When we place the locus of our salvation on ourselves, on our actions, our thoughts, or even our beliefs, we will soon discover that there is only despair (and if not despair, then pride). Because no matter how hard we try to be righteous, we fail to be righteous; no matter how much we try to think rightly, try to believe rightly, try to act rightly we falter, we fail, we keep messing up. We keep sinning in spite of our best efforts not to. And, if we look to ourselves and the things we produce of our own efforts, and if our salvation depends at all on these things, then we are completely and utterly without hope. The locus of our salvation must, instead, be outside of ourselves; it's Christ, Christ and Christ alone that is our hope and our salvation. It's not our efforts, but God's promises which save us.

This post has been edited by shioks: Jul 6 2016, 09:45 PM

Your Freemanson postings deleted liao lar

I guess you guys have to explain that that's not work but the love of Christ to share the good news to unbelievers.

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/you....evers/90102.htm

'You must be born again': Why the concept can be confusing, especially to new believers

Patrick Mabilog 09 July 2016

The concept of being born again must have completely stumped the intelligence of the phariseic scholar Nicodemus. One can only imagine the bewilderment on the face of such a grown and knowledgeable man. In my years of leading people to Jesus Christ, I still see that look on the face of people when the concept of rebirth is discussed but today for different reasons than before.

When given the solution to seeing the kingdom of God, the man Nicodemus replied in John 3:4, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"

Such a literal take of the phrase drove him to confusion.

While not many take the phrase "born again" literally by thinking that we need to physically be born again, it can still be a confusing concept to many. Here are three ways the concept of being born again still bothers and confuses many today.

Confusion #1. That we need to be born again

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So many reject the idea of new life because they feel they have no need for it. Even among those who already have some religious leanings, people can often feel that the way they are and the way they live is already good enough to be received by God. "I'm a good person", "I haven't done anything really bad" are common expressions. But Romans 3:23 makes it clear that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

We all need to be born into the Spirit of God because the flesh cannot do for us what only God's Spirit can accomplish- the redemption of our souls and spirits from the grasp of sin.

Confusion #2. That we can be born again

To others still, they know what being born again means, but feel that their situation is far from saving. They think they are now too sinful, too broken, too old, too young to be born again. God makes His salvation and grace available to all. Just as Titus 2:11 states, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people."

We can all be born again, and it comes through God's faithfulness and power, not our faithfulness and power.

Confusion #3. That we are born again not by our own strength

Many people have the urge to believe only in complete independence. We want to be our own saviour, the captain of our own fate and the author of our own stories. But to receive the fullness of life both here and in eternity calls that we take our own filthy, unreliable hands of the steering wheel and allow Jesus to do His redemptive work.

We can and will be made new, only not by our own works so that no one can be boastful and prideful of salvation because it comes by grace.