Category: Weekly Newsletter

Family Day 2017

Thank God for gathering 43 members and friends for Family Day 2017 at the Rasa Sentosa Resort on 22 December.

The theme of our retreat was “Strengthening Our Devotional Life”. There were two messages – The Believer’s Quiet Time (Psalm 63:1-8) and Tools for the Trade (Joshua 1:8).

This is an excerpt of “The Believer’s Quiet Time”:

“The believer’s quiet time is private devotion time, set aside for the purpose of cultivating a rich spiritual life. It is an appointment with God. The believer’s quiet time seeks to move him from a state of stress to a state of rest. The cultivation of a calm spirit in the peace and joy of God is the frame of a man in touch with God. The believer’s quiet time is the high point of private worship. The elements of private devotion are prayer, the reading and meditation of God’s Word. What is God’s message for me this day? The quiet time must not deteriorate to a regiment. It must not take away the excitement and delight of the soul in the pursuit of God. Yet there is a need to have self-discipline to cultivate a habit of life-long devotion to God.

Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne

John 10:10b I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Emily Elliot was born at Brighton, England, on July 22, 1836. Throughout her life she was associated with the evangelical faction of the Anglican Church. She gave of herself tirelessly in working with the rescue missions and Sunday Schools in her area. Emily was a niece of Charlotte Elliott, author of the hymn “Just As I Am”. For six years she edited a magazine called the Church Missionary Juvenile Instructor. Forty-eight of her hymns were published in a book entitled Under the Pillow, a book of verse for the special use of people who are ill in hospitals, infirmaries or at home.

Paul and Silas in Prison

What would you do if you were unjustly thrown into prison? Some would grumble, growl, grouch, grouse, and gripe. Others would fume and fuss, moan and groan.

Paul and Silas were not only cast into prison but were stripped and beaten and severely flogged. They yearned to preach the Gospel. Instead, they were in solitary confinement – beaten and bloody, their feet fastened in tortuous stocks. What could they do?

The account reads: “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” (Acts 16:25)Why were death-row inmates singing praises instead of the blues? Because God gave them a song that turned them into a duo with a duet in their dungeon. God was the “choir director” that night who provided the sheet music for his two- midnight minstrels. Paul and Silas had learned with afflicted Job that “God giveth songs in the night.”