Thursday, January 26, 2006

School of Worship

I am off to the School of Worship for the weekend. Looking forward to some more words of wisdom from Matthew Ling and Dave Palmer
We've already gone through the Tabernacle, David's tent, the Psalms, and this time we have got to read Revelation before we go, so I guess some more of that wisdom on the way! Besides its not Stoney Stanton this time but Leicester so in anticipation of the new venue.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Cheers to the Christian Book Shop!!

I went to the Christian Book Shop on Whitchurch Road today and I should say it was an exciting experience especially to look at all those second hand books. In fact, I couldnt resist and got three books and one audio cd only for 8 pounds. Now isnt that great? And really interesting books.
One of them is exclusively on 'The Tabernacle' explaining in detail all its intricacies. Another one that I got for only 10p is the concise biographies of five major evangelical leaders[John Stott, Martyn Lioyd-Jones, Francis Schaeffer, James Packer, Billy Graham] of this time. The third one is dedicated to illuminate how the whole Bible highlights Christ and his person[I am really looking forward to read this one]. The fourth one is dedicated to the classic hymn writers of old and their life stories and the audio cd is a collection of trimphant hymns of Christ and his work.
Therefore, with a content heart of having satisfied my appetite for a few days, I went back home a happy girl. [btw listening to the cd now and really loving it. There is a certain quality that these hymns carry in themselves, maybe the adoring hearts of the composers, that just causes you to bow down and adore the majesty of our King]

Monday, January 23, 2006

Great attitude!

St Augustine at the beginning of his 'Confessions' offers a very simple yet a very profound prayer to God. I believe this attitude is the key to learn more and more and grow up strong in Christ.

“Grant me, O Lord, to know and understand whether first to invoke thee or to praise thee; whether first to know thee or call upon thee. But who can invoke thee, knowing thee not?... Now, "they shall praise the Lord who seek him,"3 for "those who seek shall find him,"4 and, finding him, shall praise him. I will seek thee, O Lord, and call upon thee. I call upon thee, O Lord, in my faith which thou hast given me, which thou hast inspired in me through the humanity of thy Son,.. 5”[1]

[1] St Augustine, “Confessions”, http://www.albatrus.org/english/potpourri/historical/augustine_confessions_book_01.htm.

Its water baptism this time!!

This month, all of us at the School of the Work, oops! Word grappled with the statement 'It is not possible to live the new life of a Christian until the old life has been buried through baptism'.
And at last with one day to go, I am done with it.
It is quite an experience to go through the whole process of conceiving ideas, receiving revelation, studying the Word, studying other words and then at last, after lots of huffing and puffing, seeing the body of work come into existence gradually.
This includes the joys of opening a random book and immediately coming across a superb quote as well as the immense pain of deleting the same quote due to the word limit.
Many a night, when I was beyond the point of sleep, the music of Gladiator almost running through my veins by now, my mind trying to grasp the mysteries of water baptism, the profound nature of this very experience occured to me. Anyone who has ever tried in earnest to understand something will concur with my thoughts. It is not just the fact that you understand what you didnt understand before, or that you know more than you knew before, but it is just the experience that somehow coaxes you into maturity. It is not always a bed of roses. There are some definite highs and some definite lows, lows being more than the highs many times, but even through all that there is a growing that leaves you content, satisfied and more so fulfilled.
So here I am, a better, more mature, more determined person as a result of my Water baptism essay[thanks to richard, our inextricably un'kuki professor]. And as proof of that, I pledge to post more regularly now.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Year of the King

We had an amazing time of fellowship this morning especially because all of us destined to be the 'young' group of 17 to 24s were prayed for and prophesied upon in course of the ministering of the Word.
God had already talked to me of this year being the 'Year of the King' for me but this put things into perspective in terms of my place in the Body of Christ. It was very moving and challenging when we were asked to walked around hand in hand and follow the baton held by the first person indicating our pursuit of the purposes of God. It is an exciting and challenging time to live in and I am glad I am a part of it.