The One Thing - Daily Devotional From New Creation Church

Practising God's Presence

Matthew 1:2323“… and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated “God with us.”

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God has promised you His constant presence (Hebrews 13:5), but are you conscious of His presence daily? When you are conscious of His presence every day, you will experience a peace that gives you rest, great joy in your spirit and a power nothing in this world can offer. In fact, you will begin to be peaceful and powerful like Jesus. You will speak like Jesus and behave like Jesus. This is because you cannot be in God’s presence without His beauty, love, peace, power and glory rubbing off on you.

So how do you practise being conscious of God’s presence? Start by seeing God with you in what you do and wherever you are. For example, at your board meeting, while deliberating on issues, see the Lord there in the boardroom with you, guiding you in your thinking. And you can be sure that His presence will bring clarity of thought and wisdom to you. You will find yourself flowing with great and sound ideas.

If you are going for an interview, see the Lord there in the interview room with you, putting answers in your mouth. Your nervousness will melt away as you see His favour on you bringing on smiles and approving nods from the interviewers.

Perhaps you are going for surgery. Well, see the Lord in the operating theatre with you, guiding the hands of the surgeons. Your worries will dissipate because nothing can go wrong in the Lord’s presence.

If you are in the middle of an argument, see the Lord standing within earshot. Your words will change and your body language will become more reconciliatory as you see the Lord right there with you and the grace He extends to you. Somehow, supernaturally, there will be a restraint which is not borne of willpower, but which comes supernaturally by knowing that the One who loves you and watches over you is with you.

Beloved, when you become conscious of God’s presence in your life, worries and fears have no foothold in your mind. You will see Him maximising your joy and fun, and prospering you in what you say and do!

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He's with me in SISPEC too!

Forget Me Not

Let me not forget that You are...

God above all the world in motion
God above all my hopes and fears.

Let me not forget that You...

Stood before Creation...
Spoke the earth into motion...

Let me not forget...

SISPEC

I am posted to School of Infantry Specialists. We don't have to be confined on the first week.

Training to be sergeants... I think it will be hard but exciting.

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I want the pleasure of your company... I want a last call of the day. Have we met before?

Brain Test

Tickle: John, you are Left-brained, which means that the left hemisphere of your brain is dominant over your right.

JG: Are you sure? I thought left-handers were right-brained?

Tickle: Typically, left-brained individuals like you feel most at ease and in control in situations requiring verbal ability, attention to detail, and in-depth, linear, analytical ability. Writing ability and sequential processes of thought are also traits associated with left-brained individuals. We know this because researchers notice increased activity in the left hemisphere of the brain in people hooked up to monitors when they ask them to perform activities that require sharp focus on detail and organization.

JG: Uh-hmm.

Tickle: In addition to isolating the ways in which your brain processes information, your left brain also controls the right side of your body. If you are strongly left-brained, you will find that your natural tendency is to be right-handed — though with some skills, you may find that you are left-handed if a left-handed person taught you how to complete a certain task.

JG: Ohmigosh! So that's why...

Tickle: You are probably methodical and efficient at many things that you do. You could also be good at math which is based on very strict rules that don't vary terribly much. Numbers are sequential and formulas don't change which is something your left brain can identify with. Because of this, you probably tend to break things down into their constituent parts instead of looking at the whole of a picture. Left-brained people also are likely to rely more on objective observations than subjective feelings. For this reason, you might find that for pleasure reading, you're more interested in the facts of nonfiction instead of the free-flow of fiction.

JG: Math? I don't think so. I enjoy the occasional fact but I think I prefer fiction more.

Tickle: You probably think about things that are more straightforward and practical instead of things that are more symbolic and abstract. The one rule you're certain about in life is that there is always an answer if you approach a problem with your systematic and organized thoughts.

JG: Are you sure? You're describing me like a science type of person.

Tickle: That's how your brain processes information. And while your dominant brain hemisphere certainly contributes to the way you process information, there is also a style of learning, unrelated to your dominant hemisphere, that determines the ways in which you are best able to pick up information. When you're learning something new, your dominant brain hemisphere will want to take over. But there are times when the information being presented is not well suited to your dominant hemisphere's abilities.

JG: And what style of learning might that be?

Tickle: Your test results show that you are a visual learner.

JG: Ok.

Tickle: Other left-brained people who are also visual learners are Leonardo da Vinci, Sigmund Freud, and the astronomer Galileo.

JG: The who now?

Posting

It's like waiting for my JC posting all over again; excitement and anticipation mixed with uncertainty.

I wonder where I will be posted.

There are times when I think I want to go OCS or SISPEC but there are also times when I feel like being posted to a super slack job. Hard and exciting or easy and boring?

I don't want to be just a rifleman... Unless it's a rather slack unit. If I don't make it to a command school I think I would rather want go to the opposite extreme and "chao keng".

Passing Out

It's been a fast nine weeks. Soon, I'll be finishing my BMT.

They say that BMT times are the times that we will miss most in NS and as I give it some thought, I think it's true. It's been great going through all the days together with the "Justice League" as well as the rest of the platoon and company.

Honestly, I still don't think I'm a soldier. Wherever I get posted to, I know it will not be easy but I know that God will not leave me alone. If the challenges ahead are tougher, it only means that God will really pull me through it - a lot!

I failed in the half run for the standard obstacle course and it was such a blow to my morale. After finishing the 24km route march I was such in high spirits. I know it was God who strenghthened me through those hours of marching and even as the real SOC comes before POP, I know that He will take me through it again.

Here's to the coming block leave!

Results

Honestly, at first I was apathetic about my results. I got an ABE for my 3 subs and B3 for both GP and AO Maths. I'm not the time of person to wallow in self-pity. I was just neither happy nor sad.

Daddy God had to remind forgetful me of His love once again. Yes, my grades would have been spectacular if not for the E in Economics, but it's not about getting spectacular results. My grades do not determine how successful God will make me in time to come. No matter what I start up doing, God will be the one to prosper it and not me. No matter what career, no matter what path, with God as a Senior Partner, I can never go wrong.

So what if an E is sticking out? In all my time in JC I've never even smelled an A or B for my subjects or a B3 for GP and yet in the actual A'levels, God graciously blessed me with these grades. His goodness is really indescribable. His love is incomparable. Even if I were to fall in love I would not bother to count the number of hairs on the head of the girl even if I were really in love with her, but God bothers to count the number of hair on our heads, "And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Matthew 10:30)

With Someone who loves me so much, how can I fear the unknown, the future, the challenges? If God is for me, who can be against me?

Studies aside, with God's help I aim to improve in another field.
IPPT Target: Pass to Silver.