Loving God Part 2

Loving God Part 2

When growing up, let’s say between 4yrs to 10yrs old, have you ever felt that you will be taken care off for the rest of your life by your parents.

- no need to buy food, clothes

- Shelter/Protection, Money, ETC…

Not that my parents never spoke about me living independently, its just that I was so loved that I never thought about it.

But as we grow older, REALITY checks-in

- Parents don’t live forever. There only on earth for a while.

- Parents stop providing at 18 (Well does not technically apply for all but it was for me

But you know what?

Praise God that we have a God Yesterday, Today and Forever

Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Continuing from what God spoke to me about loving HIM (Loving God), I felt God challenged me in 3 things base on the verse:-

1) Think of the God of Yesterdays but DON’T love Him like Yesterday

I say this because I believe God deserves the best everyday in terms of our love, our devotion, etc

· Let’s not love God with leftovers of yesterdays love. Remember Him and love Him more.

Ps 25:6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old

2) Think of who God is Today and love Him more.

· How do we do this? By doing things better all for the glory of His name.

For example: - If you think you worked better than yesterday with what you did, then challenge yourself to do better today. Even if you go beyond your daily routine, then do it all for Him, for His glory.

Ps 59:16 But I will sing of your strength,
in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.

3) Think of what God does Tomorrow (Forever). So be Excited

Ps 100:5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

· Everyday is an opportunity to meet God. So be excited on what is God going to do and speak in your life

I am challenged, what about you?

Neil1am

Road to Next Level: - Simplicity – Fallen Branch Thought

Road to Next Level: - Simplicity – Fallen Branch Thought

Have you ever seen or heard of a branch that came off a tree, rooted itself on the ground and became fruitful? If you had, please email me at neil@1am.com.myThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , HeHeHe

Anyway, I was reminded of the story in the bible when Jesus spoke about “The Vine and the Branches” on John 15.

You see, we dream about great things taking place, talk about “how to accomplish a dream?” or “See a vision come to pass” but you tell me, do you think that we will be able to see what we dream, what we envision to come to pass by not doing what is simple and that is to be connected to the Father?

What do I mean by connected? Does it mean…

- Read the bible 1 week ago and do Gods call?

- Hear the word of God once a month at church, read the bible whenever I feel and do Gods call?

- Pray today and pray only when reminded?

This is what Jesus said,

John 15:5-8

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

Well I don’t read the bible almost everyday but I make an effort to read it everyday. Remaining in Him does not necessarily mean read the bible everyday but I guess it simply means this –

Do we start the day thinking about God in whatever our agenda maybe?

In what ever we do, are we connected with Him whether reading, prayer, humility, submission, etc

Our Next Level is around the corner and to do so is to do the simple things first which is “BE CONNECTED”

This may sound easy but its not. Sometimes the simple things are the hardest to do but I believe once you get a hang of it, it would be smooth sailing.

Leakage

Leakage

God painted a picture in my head some time ago where I see a bottle, a bottle that is no obvious defect or abnormalities and the bottle that I saw was filled with fresh water. At first glance, you won’t find anything wrong with it then until the bottle was turned upside down. Then I start to see a drip, a small drip and it started to become bigger drips.

When I saw that picture, it’s like God is reminding me the state of our spiritual life as a band and as a person. Sometimes we think our bottle is full , thinking that our spiritual life is strong, not realizing that there’s a leakage at the bottom of the bottle that is slowly leaking out, sometimes we are unaware and sometimes we are just plain ignorant of the fact that our bottle is leaking.

This is what happened when we do not constantly check our lives, thinking everything is alright without realizing that our spiritual level is low or sometimes even empty and yet we are still ignorant of what is happening. Sometimes our leakage is too small that even we won’t realize it; sometimes we need someone else to tell us that is leaking because sometimes at first glance, we think that everything is alright.

God showed me this picture to remind us that we have to constantly check ourselves, making sure we have no leakage in our spiritual lives and we need to take actions to patch it up if we have been shown or convicted of the leakage that has been happening.

Cuz1am

From the desk of 1a.m. director

From the desk of 1a.m. director

2007 has been a wonderful & fruitful year for 1a.m., we went to 3 different nations which were U.A.E, New Zealand and Philippines. We also ministered in many different states in our own country, Malaysia.

What was more fruitful was to hear many testimonies of how God has transform their lives and now they found freedom in serving & worshipping God in a greater measure. Having an extended family all over the world is such a blessing. Truly “WORSHIP BRINGS CHANGE” in every area of our lives.

Our church ECF began 2008 with dedicating a fast of 7 days to the Lord. To seek His face and to know what is the direction that God wants us as a church to head towards. As directors of 1a.m. with Pastor Cathryn, we both felt God wants 1a.m. to reach the potential that God has for us. 2 things I felt God spoke to me. Firstly what is 1a.m’s life message? Secondly 2 strong words SPIRIT & SUBSTANCE.

In summary 1a.m. life message is Worship Brings Change. So can worship really bring change? Yes only through His Holy Spirit and gaining spiritual SUBSTANCE in our life.

This is the 1^st journal of many journals as I journey and understand what the Lord is revealing to me. I pray that it will minister & bless you to keep you wanting to know more about what God is doing in 1a.m.

Loving God

Have you ever been in a relationship where you have been asked one of the toughest questions like “Honey, why do you love me?” Some of us find it hard to reply back. Some of us sweat blood just by thinking really hard. Some of us simply say “Because I love you” which in some cases is just too general for the recipient.

What about proving your love to the person? How do you prove your love? I remember one of my friends answered “by doing the 5 love languages”. I was like, “ok… which one?” and he said nothing after that and we just laughed.

I’m sure some of us went through the things I just mentioned. I know I did.

What about when it comes to God? How do you respond to “why do you love God?” To be honest, my response to that would be “because of what He’s done on the cross, because He loved us first”. There are many ways to answer this question. A lot of us having a similar respond.

But how do we prove our love to God? Well its not that we don’t know but I guess for me when I picked up my bible and read John 14:15

“If you love me, you will obey what I command”

It was a reminder for me.

How many of us do remember showing our love to God? More than words, does our action, even the decisions that we make reflect our love for God or is it just mere words hitting in the air?

One morning (it’s was a holiday) I woke up with a burden to follow up on those people I know. Normally I’d bum around my house doing nothing but that day was different. I decided to make a couple of calls, text people to see how everyone’s doing.
One of the plans I made was to go to a campus and meet up with a guy to help jump start his journey with God. (You have to understand that this guy just recently received Christ.)
So there I was, called 2 of my friends to join me fellowship but one couldn’t make it because his lunch break was an hour earlier then the time set-up and the other got stuck at home with his family to eat lunch.
All of a sudden an open door to “back-out” or “pull-out” of the meeting with the guy in the campus was opened causing me to shrink back and just stay at home but before I could shrink any further I was reminded about John 14:15.

I got myself together took my bible materials called for a cab and went to the campus and the rest of the story is all for God’s Glory!

To love God is to do what God has called you to do. Now if you’ve forgotten what God has called you to do or have been ignoring it, wake up!

God loves us no matter what and it’s only right to love Him back ;)

Neil1am

April moving forward

How is everyone doing? Well we're in our 2nd quarter of the year.

We're still in our season of taking a break on touring but as June approaches we're getting ready to kick-off our tour which is "Worship Brings Change Tour" More details will be posted up including tour dates as well.

PRAY with us as we head to towards this journey, including for open doors in other Nations.

We are also in a process of recording our 3rd album - all I can say is that its different, so keep us in prayers.

On the mean time, enjoy reading our Blogs posted up every week.

God bless

1a.m.

Shining as Stars

Shining as Stars

Ever wondered why do people complain so much? Maybe it’s because they think they are better? Maybe they think that they know more? Maybe they think that they don’t deserve what they are going through now. Maybe it’s because our human nature that is in us that makes complaining so natural. Come to think of it complaining has become part of our life so much we don’t even realize it when we complain. Can you agree to that?

Have you ever been in a situation where you complained? I’m sure everyone has, including me. Pause for a while and think this thought: what is our reaction when we complain? What happens when we complain, and what are the consequences? It goes no where right?

Now there are two possible reactions:

- The Human Nature

- The Godly Nature

The human nature is very obvious. We keep complaining and complaining but we never do anything about the situation we complain about. In the end, nothing gets done and things continue to go wrong.

Whereas the Godly nature is found in the book of Philippians 2:14 – 15,

“Do everything without complaining or arguing,

so that you may become blameless and pure,

children of God without fault in a crocked and depraved

generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe”.

The word of God clearly states that in everything we do, we do not complain nor argue. WHY not you may ask? In verse 15 it says that “so we may become blameless and pure”.

“WHY do we want to become blameless and pure then?” you may ask again. Well, imagine the stars you see at night. What do they do? Stars basically SHINE. They are bright, they are public, and they are noticeable. When people see stars (us as Christians), they see a blameless, pure star. Don’t you agree that we can really be influential that way? Don’t you think people would want to know more of why we do what we do when they see a difference in us?

The word of God also states that we may be of “without fault in a crocked and depraved generation”. This relates to the 1^st point above, that when we are a blameless and pure star, in a very dark universe, in a generation where it is crocked and depraved, we shine out brightly without fault, with the identity that we are indeed Children of God.

So if we are in a situation in our life that’s really down on the dumps, just remember that we are to shine like stars, and that we persevere in our life without complaining or arguing, so that we may be blameless, pure, and without fault in the dark sky!

Jude1am