How Impt is music to God?

How Important Is Music To God?

"But now bring me a musician.”
Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him."

- 2 Kings 3:15

The background of this story is that the king of Moab rebelled and came against Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah. And the kings of Judah, Israel and Edom were trapped in the wilderness and they do not have water and food. And the kings were desperate and asked for a prophet. And the prophet nearby was Elisha.
When the kings sought the Word of God from Elisha, Elisha only had one request:

"But now bring me a musician,”
Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.

Elisha didn't ask for a general, an army or weapons. He asked for a musician.

Before there was even the first sin of lucifer and corruption at the VERY VERY BEGINNING.
God's three archangels (Most beautiful and powerful angels) were Gabriel, Michael and also
Lucifer (now known as satan or the devil).
And out of the three, Lucifer was the most beautiful. Lucifer was also established by God to be the angel of worship, one whose ministry surrounded the heart of heaven. Lucifer was created to dwell eternally in the throne room of heaven, in the very presence of God (Ezekiel 28:14).

If God created lucifer to be the most beautiful angel, and I EMPHASISE again, in the ORIGINAL PURPOSE. This shows how much music and worship means to God. Of course we know that lucifer lusted after the glory of God and pride entered into him and got cast down from the heavens.

This was such a big deal to God. Music...

Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
-Ps 33:3

Hati Hamba

Hati Hamba,
I Prefer the Bahasa Version: To me personally, it is more meaningful to me.
Aku also Orang Indonesia

KU TAK DAPAT LUPAKAN
(I can't never forget)

KEBAIKAN YANG KU T'RIMA
(The goodness that I've received)

PENGORBANAN-MU YANG MULIA
(Your holy sacrifice)

JADIKAN KU BERHARGA
(Has made me worthy)


KAU TULUS MENERIMA
(You've willingly accepted)

AKU APA ADANYA
(Me just as I am)

KEKUATAN KASIH-MU NYATA
(The power of Your love is real)

MEMULIHKAN HIDUPKU
(It has restored my life)


KAU BUKAN TUHAN YANG MELIHAT RUPA
(You are not a God who looks at appearance)

KAU BUKAN TUHAN YANG MEMANDANG HARTA
(You are not a God who looks at wealth)

HATI HAMBA YANG S'LALU KAU CARI
(A servant's heart is what You are always looking for)

BIAR KAU TEMUKAN DI DALAMKU
(Let it be found in me)


S'LAMA KU HIDUP KU MAU MENYEMBAH-MU
(All the days of my life, I will worship You)

S'BAB ENGKAU SANGAT BERARTI BAGIKU
('Cause You mean so everything to me)

YANG TERBAIK YANG ADA PADAKU
(All the best that I have)

KUPERSEMBAHKAN KEPADA-MU
(I will give it to You)

YESUSKU
(My Jesus)

Shanghai Metro

I MISS SHANGHAI!!!!Just by mere mentioning of the station names really brings fond memories.

淞虹路站: (Never been here but always hear this station's name as its the last station in the
direction we used to travel to our hotel)

威宁路站: (Hotel Sweet Hotel)

Unglam

娄山关路站: (I love saying the name of this station the most: Lou Shan Guan Lu. This is the stretch of malls where there are not 1, not 2 but 3 KFC branches! This is also where we get our dirt cheap S$2 hairwash-cum-ear-digging-cum-arm-and-leg-massage!)

中山公园站!!!! Our Fave station cause our fave mall is here with out fave Aji-San,
fave fashion stores HotWind, C&A and also H&M: Yes Keng, are u reading this? its H&M!)
It also has an arcade, cinema and many foodchains.
This is the mall 龙之梦, Cloud Nine (Yaya, I know both Chinese and english name a little chessy)
The Tall outlined blue building on the right pic is the mall.

江蘇路站: Oh.. I have only been here once! But man... This is where the BEST Xiao Long Bao is! Only 80 Singapore Cents for six, it taste better than Ding Tai Feng

Oh ya! One more thing! Shh.. Don't let anyone know. Gabriel's secret shop can be found here. He is a globalised businessman! Haha.

静安寺: (Where Kenneth, XianBi and myself will begin to sing on the train)

南京西路:(Never been here but always confused with 东路 where we wanna go)

人民广场:(Been here only once but its the best la! Got jazz players on the street, Unbelievable arcade, and also Raffles City (http://www.rafflescity-shanghai.com/)homesick must come here.


南京东路: (The famous Pu Xing Jie 步行街(Top 3 Pics) and also The Bund. 外滩-Bot)

步行街 is actually a road with traffic lights and 'pedestrian crossing.' In the 2nd picture u can see it. Just click on it and enlarge it to see. But the entire street is for people to walk. And its like an Orchard Road in Shanghai.

I WANNA GO TO SHANGHAI AGAIN!!!

Alright!! I think that's all for now.
Random pics:

Revival comes in a wave.

Wow.. Had guitar lessons with Poh yesterday.
He was teaching us some secular music. We learned the 'proper way' of playing Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours"

But Poh shared something so very spiritual for the Cell Group ministry.
If you want your cell group to grow, you just have to build on these two things in your cell group meetings.

1. Praise and Worship.
That is really the presence of God that we can usher in. I remember Poh saying this during the GT zone worship clinic. If our P&W is good, sometimes the CGL can just give an altar call and people will be saved. Because the presence of God is evidently in the place. But if our P&W is not so good, the leader can keep preaching and preaching, but it will still be very hard-going.

2. Preaching.
That is really the conviction of the people. Challenging and shaping the mindsets and values. Romans 10:17 "So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God". Lives are always changed. That is why Pastor Kong always seeks to improve in his preaching skills. That is why he always improves in his pronunciation and enunciation.

When we can have these two added together as powerful features and characteristics in our cell groups, we will definitely grow.

So we may ask, who is Poh to give such an advice. What credentials do he have? In the past when our church is still at Hollywood theater, the church has a appreciation night kind of thing. And the most prestigious of all is the "Best Cell Group Leader" Award. Its the last award to be presented. Poh is the winner of not once, but twice consecutively in 1995 and 1996. He showed us the trophies last night. (And I took photos with it as if its mine!!! HAHA!!) So if the BEST Cell Group Leader in the WHOLE CHURCH said something about growing groups, we better listen. If I am not wrong, he did mention about multiplying his cell group is 6 months cycles. Woah!!!

Poh also talked about Revival. He said that Revival is like a wave. We have to catch that wave because it comes and goes. If we were to miss it, the next wave may come like a year or 10 years later. No one knows when.. If in '95, our church didn't launch the "Church Without Walls" program, we might be 1000+ strong struggling still in Hollywood. This really shook me, send goosebumps all over me.

I really gotta be more sensitive to the flow of God, to the move of the Holy Spirit. Recently felt a new fire, new strength. This song just touched me. Have been singing it for weeks when I felt so dry.Couldn't find the MP3 but this are the lyrics


BURN IT DEEP
WITHIN MY SOUL
NEW STRENGTH AND FIRE O LORD
BURN IT DEEP
WITHIN MY SOUL
NEW ZEAL AND FIRE O LORD

BURN IT DEEP WITHIN MY SOUL
NEW STRENGTH AND FIRE
IT MAKES ME WHOLE
BURN IT DEEP
DEEP WITHIN MY SOUL

exceedingly abundantly

Yesterday while talking to one of Exxx's members, I had a revelation on the spot.
In all that we do, we need to set a specific target. Partially it is because it will cause us to have something tangible to go for.

Sometimes we, including myself, we always say this when we are asked about our goals and targets: "I think I will do my best. I will try ba."

But yesterday God convicted me regarding goal-setting.

"to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." -Ephesians 3:19-21

This is such a familiar verse, but God impressed this upon me.

If we do not have a specific goal, how can we expect God to do EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK

Even if He did EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, how would we know if we got nothing to gauge what is the " ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK" and by what extend did the results become "EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY".

And even if we DID ever experience EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, we will be fixed in our own natural senses, and we would miss out on how God moved in our lives.

Have a visible goal guys. Its in your Goal-Setting card!

yunyi in shanghai

YUNYI WAS IN SHANGHAI!!!
Okay la.. Singaporean version much prettier. LOL!

hyno catq

THIS IS FUNNY!!!!!