Read 2 Samuel 24:16-17 16 When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family.”
I have a friend who heads a Christian organization that has gone through some very difficult times lately. Some of his staff made some poor decisions that led to the crisis that they are experiencing. But my friend refuses to place the blame on anyone except himself. I deeply respect him because, as the leader, he owns up to the responsibility of that position.
Leadership is not about status and position. It’s all about responsibility. Everybody wants to be in charge until there is a mess to be cleaned up. We might say, “Hey, I want the job. Why? I’ll get invitation to do this; my name will be mentioned here. I’m the one touted as being most significant to the running of this whole thing.” Everyone wants the job until there is a major mess to be cleaned up. Then all of a sudden no matter who caused the mess we point to the leader and say, “He’s the guy who is in charge.” Rightly so because in a very practical sense it comes down to this - a leader’s mettle is that person’s ability to take the heat.
That’s why I’m drawn to 2 Samuel 24:17. David was a true leader. David blew it. He made a mistake. He did something wrong and the people were paying for it. David stepped in and said, “I’m not looking for someone to take the heat. I did it. I’m responsible.” Those are refreshing words these days. Nobody wants to own the responsibility but we all want to take the credit. For good or bad what a leader does affects the well-being of his followers. We have to be willing to accept the blessings and the burdens. In other words we need to take responsibility and to own what belongs to that position. That’s why a person should never be given a position of leadership until there has been proven character.
Don’t allow others to pay for what you have done. You have been placed in leadership because you are responsible. Take the responsibility.
-Crawford W. Loritts-
Responding - Do I take responsibility for my mistakes or do I let others take the fall?
Following - Leadership is not about status and position but it’s all about resposibility.
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Read 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Spiritual battles are being waged in the believers’ lives but few are prepared to deal with them. Obstacles are keeping us from having more intimacy with God, but we are in the dark about how to recognize and conquer these spiritual strongholds.
What’s a stronghold? It’s anything that exalts itself in our minds, pretending to be bigger or more powerful than God. It steals our focus and makes us feel overpowered and controlled. Whether a stronghold is an addiction or despair over a loss, it’s something that consumes so much of our emotional and mental energy that abundant life is strangled - our callings remain unfulfilled and our lives are virtually ineffective. These are our enemy’s precise goals.
Where is the battlefield? In any warfare waged by the enemy against the individual believer, the primary battlefield is the mind. The goal of our warfare as stated in 2 Corinthians 10:5 is to steal back our thought life and take it captive to Christ instead. The enemy’s chief target is the mind, because the most effective way to influence behavior is to influence thinking. Our minds are the control centers of our beings. The enemy knows that nothing is bigger or more powerful than God. That’s why everything that “exalts itself” in our thought life is called a pretension. Satan is a pretender. He can only pretend because he lost all the rights to presume authority over the believer’s life when Christ “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them” (Colossians 2:15). Unfortunately, Satan is good at convincing us to believe his pretensions.
But we can be sure of this: Nothing is bigger or more powerful than God! The weapons described in 2 Corinthians have divine power to help us take our thoughts captive to Christ - help us to downsize anything that has a hold on us until we have, in effect, commanded it to bend to the authority of Christ. Spirit-led prayer and God’s Word are our most effective weapons to demolish spiritual strongholds.
-Beth Moore-
Responding - What spiritual battle is being waged in my soul? With what spiritual strongholds have I battled in the past?
Following - Protect your mind: Pray and read the Word.
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Uncle John Kopitiam at Giant, Sungai Petani Visited lo…
21 Jun
Posted by Jayce as Food & Drink - 255 views
There was a new hypermarket opened in Sungai Petani - Giant. This is my first time there. It is bigger than Tesco at Sungai Petani. Hmm… I wonder how big is the Econsave Sungai Petani that pending to be opened. By the way, do not bother to go Giant as most of the product sold there are expensive which does not match their tag “Everyday Low Prices, Big Variety and Great Value.”. 
Giant @ Sungai Petani
Read Matthew 16:13-17 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
Ever feel like you’re up against a situation that you can’t deal with and there’s no one to help? From kindergarten through eighth grade I attended a small Christian school. My dad was a well-known pastor in the area which meant that I was the big man on campus. I had it made - at least until the day I graduated from that school and entered a nearby public high school. There, nobody knew me or my dad, and nobody cared. Suddenly I wasn’t a big shot anymore. What’s worse, I became victim to a guy named Ronnie who decided to prove his emerging manhood on me. Whenever I passed him in the hall, he would shove and taunt me. I was traumatized. Every day at school I was filled with anxiety and fear because of Ronnie. I needed somebody to help me. I pleaded with friends who knew Ronnie to ask him to stop, but they never did. I was all alone in my problem, and I needed a champion.
In Jesus’ day, the Jewish people were up against the oppressive regime of Rome, where they lived with the shame of being an oft-despised minority under the burden of hefty taxes. They desperately needed someone to champion their cause. Could it be that Jesus was the long-awaited deliverer? Peter came up with the right answer when he declared Jesus as “the Christ” - the “Messiah” who would deliver them from the oppression they had endured for so long. Against the backdrop of Caesar-worship and rampant peganism in Caesarea Philippi, the disciples pinned their hopes on Jesus.
What Peter didn’t know was that Jesus would be their champion on a far more significant level than Rome’s oppression. He came to conquer the source of our problems, not the symptoms. He opposed Satan, engaged in battle on an old rugged cross with blood-stained timbers, to bring ultimate defeat to the enemy of our souls.
That’s the kind of champion we really need. Next time you find yourself up against the wall of despair - whether it’s a relationship that has hit the rocks or a career that has taken a nosedive - claim Jesus as your champion. You may be cast down, but you are never forsaken.
-Joe Stowell-
Responding - How would I answer Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?”
Following - Claim Jesus as the champion of your soul.
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My Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM has arrived!!!
19 Jun
Posted by Jayce as Photography, Ramblings - 94 views
Yeah… Finally, it has arrived. I been waited for so long. More than 2 months since I got my Canon EOS 400D Digital SLR camera. Below are some of the photo of myself using Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM of course.
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