happyemk

It's so easy to become complacent at work, especially if you've been working in a company for many years, and have been passed over for a promotion time and time again. After all, what's the whole point of striving to give your best if your boss doesn't even seem to recognize your efforts, right? Complacency can be very dangerous to Christians. The moment we allow the frustration of past disappointments to get the better of us, we begin to lose our hope and peace. If we're not careful, it can even cause us to doubt and question God.  My friend, God sees all of the hard work you've sown into your career or profession. He is the Big Boss seated in heaven that desires nothing more than for you to live a prosperous and abundant life. It may have taken a while, but in due season, it will come. I challenge you today to keep that spirit of excellence alive while you're at work, regardless of the circumstance. Instead of holding back your skills, talents and ab...

You wouldn’t marry a complete stranger, would you? Well – surprise! – if you’re married, that’s exactly what you’ve done. On our wedding day, we all innocently believe the same myth: that we know and understand the person we’re marrying. But every newlywed eventually discovers that getting to know the depths of someone’s heart takes years. That’s the nature of relationship, especially one as intimate as marriage. So in that sense, we all marry a stranger. We’re in love with what little we know about our spouse, but we don’t know them. Not really. Maybe that’s why Stanley Hauerwas defines a successful marriage as “learning how to love and care for the stranger to whom you find yourself married.” What does he mean? Simply this: In countless ways, the person we commit to on our wedding day will not be the same person five, ten, or twenty years from now. In fact, neither will we. Marriage changes us. So does raising children, careers, the aging process, and other significant events ...

The beautiful exchange that takes place when we give our lives to God is something we can always be grateful for. Salvation means that we offer God what we have, and He gives us what He has. He takes all of our sins, faults, weaknesses, and failures, and gives us His ability, His righteousness, and His strength. He takes our diseases and sicknesses and gives us His healing and health. He takes our messed-up, failure-filled past and gives us hope of a bright future. In ourselves we are nothing; our own righteousness is like filthy rags or a polluted garment (see Isaiah 64:6). But in Christ, we have a future to be thankful for—one worth looking forward to. The term “in Christ” very simply means that we have placed our faith in Him concerning every aspect of our lives. We are in covenant with Almighty God. What an awesome thought! Prayer of Thanks:   Father, when I am feeling inferior or condemned, help me to remember who I am in Christ. Thank You that I’m forgiven, acc...

Have you ever faced a situation and said, “There is no way this can ever be?” Maybe some of these thoughts weigh on your mind: There is no way I can handle the pressure at work. There is no way I can pay my bills. There is no way to save my marriage. There is no way I can go back to college now. With God’s help, there is   always   a way. This is a beautiful truth to be grateful for. It may not be easy; it may not be convenient; it may not come quickly. You may have to go over, under, around, or through difficulty—but if you will simply keep on keeping on, you   will   find a way. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.” He is the Way, and He will help you find a way even where there doesn’t seem to be one. Prayer of Thanks:   Father, I thank You that You have “made a way in the wilderness.” Help me to focus on You and not on my circumstances. Thank You that You are making a way for me today. (The Power of Being Than...

Devotional Cinema

Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. -Matthew 19:17 A person who is a good person is an individual of lofty ideals, noble purposes, strong character, reliable conduct and trustworthy integrity. The only one who truly embodies all of those characteristics is Jesus Christ. We come to understand the word goodness as we it alongside the word righteousness. Someone has said that justice is what God gives to us that we deserve. Goodness goes beyond that and is that which God gives us beyond what we deserve. The great characteristic of goodness as it is found in relationship with righteousness is generosity. It is what a person gets that isn’t deserved. It is what God gives to a person that could never be earned. Goodness in its relationship to righteousness teaches us about generosity. You don’t have to be rich to be generous. But what do you do with what you have? We need to take a good long look at our lives and ask God how our attitudes have been to the ...

No Ministry Apart from Service Image here 1 Peter 4:10 At each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. “Ministry” and “service” are from the same Greek word and mean essentially the same thing. There is no ministry apart from service. No one can have an impact in ministry who is not also willing to serve, to be a servant. There is always a price tag attached to service. It might be health; it might be convenience; it might be aggravation; it might be humility. Whatever the cost, it is what adorns the neck of those who minister. Ministry in the church is like being a parent. The most successful parents are those who learn to sacrifice for their children. And while we parents think our children never are going to realize what we have sacrificed in service to them, they eventually do. And what we have sacrificed for them comes back to us as the fruit of a close and intimate relationship with them. And it’s the same way in ...

photo here Look Above for Help Luke 1:37 With God nothing will be impossible. Over and over again in the Old Testament God is described as the Maker of heaven and earth. The Hebrews’ worldview was based on the fact that their God was the Maker of all things, and as such He had the power and strength to meet all their needs. Therefore it was part of the continual confession, almost as a reminder, that their God (who is also our God) made all things – nothing was too hard for Him. God created all things and by Him all things are held together. Now if God holds the entire universe together, is it not reasonable to assume that He can hold the different aspects of your individual life together as well? He created us for the journey and sustains us through the journey as well. So when you arrive at a place on your journey and you don’t know what to do, and you say “Lord, I need help,” remember this: The One to whom you are praying is the One who made heaven and earth. He can help...

taken from Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the presence of God. (David Jeremiah) Joy Does Not Depend on Circumstances

Thank God it's Friday! It's not about the party after office hours; or meeting up with friends at the coffee shop; or spending hours for a movie marathon tonight. Whatever your plans will be this Friday, take care and God bless you :) I thank God because it's Friday again! For me, meaning, it's a Bible study time again. There's gladness in my heart not because I was given an opportunity to facilitate our Bible Study but it means another opportunity again to be with me sisters in Christ and pause for a while before sitting down on our chair and do our Monday to Friday routine. Our Scripture for today was in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. God bless you!   The Power of Two ( This devotional material is DIMSUM - got it from the website of Greenhills Christian Fellowship Website)

The Inner Beauty

Hebrews 11:6 Without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. What is faith? faith : noun, (feyth) 1. A strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny 2. Complete confidence in a person or plan etc 3. An institution to express belief in a divine power 4. Loyalty or allegiance to a cause or a person   same as: belief, trust *source: wordweb In our discipleship, I learned that Faith is confidence that what God has promised or said will come to pass.   Sight is an opposite of faith (that's why there is "walk by faith and not by sight").  If you can see clearly how something can be accomplished, more than likely faith is not required.  If we had chosen to operate on what we knew we could do, faith would not have been necessary. Faith was believing that the God who called us to the assignments was the One who would provide fo...

John 16:33 In the world you will have tribulations, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. When we dont' know this is all going to work out, we have to hold tightly to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and rest in Him.  That's the message we often find in the New Testament. In John 16:33 Jesus said to His disciples, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  Jesus had been talking about His future death, but then He said, "Don't get caught up in that.  Make sure in the midst of these tumultuous times your trust is in Me." When we go through a tough time, if we've spent any time at all in the Word of God, that tough time is like a magnet that draws us to the Lord Jesus.  Nothing will happen in the future that will catch Jesus Christ by surprise.  And there's nothing that will happen that He can't help His children work ...

Psalm 139:13 For you formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. God knew you before you were born.  He knows the moments when you were conceived.  In eery phase of development, from that moment on, He is there.  The human embryo is not the result of a biological accident.  God is aware of the union of the spern and the egg and the attachment of the embryo to the uterine lining and the development of human life. God formed the inward parts and arranged the geneteic structure. God knows about that human life and loves that human life from the very moment of its union. cross in our body In every cell of your body there is enough information to recreate your adult person as if no other cell were necessary.  And every time that cell divides in the process of your growth, all the information contained in each cell is part of the division.  Someone has reasoned that if all of the instructions in the DNA of one cell were written out, it woul...

What is loneliness? I don't know how to define it; all I can do is describe it.  It's an underlying anxiety at having no one close, a sharp ache in a moment of grief, and an empty feeling in the pit of the stomach when we know we have no one to whom we can turn.  There is no anguish like loneliness. But God has a cure for loneliness. In our walk with God, He offers friendship, a family, and a peace that passes all understanding.  When we meet Him, we are not guaranteed never to feel lonely, but we are promised that we will never be alone. After all, He is the one who said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5) 

 Colossians 2:9-10   9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. Insight into who you are and why you are here is available only from the Creator, because you were created for Him.  The missing piece in your life is not more education or better therapy. The missing piece in your life, if you don't know Christ, is to put Him at the center where He belongs . God created you uniquely for Himself. He put a vacuum within you that cannot be filled with anything else but Him.  When you stuff in all the pleasure and all the madness of this age trying to find meaning to life you will never discover it. But something hapens when you say a simple prayer giving into God and receiving Him into your life. Then Jesus comes to live within you. God loves you, He knows you, He has a plan for your life. He wants you to know who you are and why you are here, and i...

Psalm 30:11-12    11 You turned my wailing into dancing;    you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.    LORD my God, I will praise you forever. God is certainly with us when things are going well, but He is also with us when things aren't going so well. God is there when we achieve a major accomplishment or victory in life, but He is also there in the hospital room when we receieve the bad news were were hoping not to hear. Whether in the ups or the downs, God is with us in every case. The key thought is this: Whether you are going through weeping or joy, give thanks to God.   Whether you are in an up time or a down time, give thanks to God. If you are experiencning prosperity or poverty, give thanks to God.   If you are in times of dancing or mourning, give thanks to God. Don't ever forget that the one constant in all of life is God's presence with you, and for...