Irene In Christ

In my church's cell group teaching last week, we learned about living with a peacemaking disposition and  studied what Jesus taught in Matt 5:39-41.  Source: Internet It is something every Christian (and perhaps every non-Christian too) would know.  I mean, come on, it IS famous alright? (Even before I became a Christian, I've heard of the bible teaching that when someone slaps you on one cheek, you are to offer your other cheek too.) Anyway, in the cell group teaching, the preacher expounded on these verses in the context of the society in the days of Jesus. ( Below is a brief explanation of it. You can read more  here , under the heading of "Nonviolent resistance interpretation".) 1) On the other cheek : At the time of Jesus, when someone strikes another person on the right cheek, using his left hand (obviously), he is implying that the person is of a lower status. Thus, by turning the other cheek, the person receiving the slap was demanding equality in a gentle an...

Note : If you have been following my God Story, I'm sorry that the following few entries will not be a continuation from where I last left off in Part 5, the stories of my son.  Although I still have much to write about on my Kerteh days, I will be writing about the season where my family and I moved out of Kerteh to my husband's hometown, Kota Kinabalu, KK instead. ( So, I am skipping forward in my God Story as prompted by the Holy Spirit , instead of following a chronological order as I had originally planned to.) After being in Kerteh for seven years myself (eleven years for my husband), the time finally came for my husband to be transferred. And so our family (now a family of four 😄) moved to KK.  Although, in many aspects, KK should have been the promised land as compared to Kerteh , I found myself entering a season of depression.  One would question why.  A fter all, after seven long years of being in a small and isolated  town and being far away from fam...

In my last entry, I wrote that something exploded in July 2021.  I haven't gotten round to chronicle what happened (which I absolutely plan to) but I'm making sure to keep a record of what transpired.  Source: Internet On 28th June 2021, Ps Ashok posted a spiritual exercise to the group :  For this exercise, I would like you to first memorize Psalm 16 using the NKJV. This psalm has only 11 verses and is written by David. Interestingly, Peter quotes part of  this psalm in Acts 2:25-28 and says that David was speaking of Jesus, he was describing the experience of Jesus.  Once you have memorized the psalm, look at the quote in Acts. See if you can detect any difference between the two passages. I have told you before that whenever you see a passage from the Old Testament quoted in the New, look up both passages; for more often than not, you will receive insight and revelation when you compare the passages. On 29th June 2021, this was what I responded, word for word...

Some of you might have noticed that Irene In Christ has gone into hiatus. (A slightly more than a month long hiatus, at that.) Source: Internet What has happened, you may wonder.  Well, there wasn't much happening for about a month since my last post in end of June, apart from the fact that my children are now at home 24/7 due to the semi-lockdown.  So, yes, I could account my silence on this space due to busy-ness with the kids, if I want to. But truthfully, I just didn't feel the need nor the desire to write.  I had wanted to continue my God story - I mean I could tell the story of my daughter, Esther, which is a logical chronology after penning down my God stories with Daniel. But somehow, I just didn't.   I remember in the month of May, I felt a sudden strong desire and yearning for the Holy Spirit. For Him, for His works, for His leading, for His power, for His working in and through me.  And I remember telling myself I need to know more about Him from...

It is good to read Acts carefully time and again to study what the apostles preached in the days after Jesus' ascension.  Acts 16:32 summed it all up perfectly -  they spoke the word of the Lord .  Acts recorded numerous accounts of the apostles' "sermon" - some records being more detailed than the others.  Some of the detailed accounts, where what was spoken was recorded, includes:  Of course, the famous sermons by Apostle Peter in Acts 2 (in response to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit) and in Acts 3 (in response to the miraculous healing of the lame man) Stephen's address when he was accused in Acts 7 Philip  beginning at this Scripture (Isa 53), preached Jesus  (Acts 8:35)  to  the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8.  Peter speaking to Cornelius and all those who were present with him  before God, to hear all the things commanded Peter by God  (Acts 10:33)  in Acts 10 Paul's  word of exhortation for the people   (Ac...

I wrote about my reflection from Col 3 about the new man's home earlier. You can read it  here .  If you read Col 3 carefully, you will see that the Scripture first tells us that we were raised with Christ (3:1), our life is hidden with Christ in God (3:3), we have put off the old man (3:9) and have put on the new man (3:10). (Please note these are all in past tense. Something that is already completed.) Then it goes on to  give us instructions on what the new man should do (Col 3:12-17). And then it gives us God's order for the home (Col 3:18-21), followed by the right conduct of masters and servants (Col 3:22 - 4:1).  Apostle Paul wrote both the epistles of Ephesians and Colossians. So, one can argue that he would naturally wrote roughly the same instructions and admonition in his letters to the different churches at the time. In fact, my bible has this remark to the introduction of Ephesians - " Over seventy of the 155 verses in Ephesians contain expressions echoe...

We  (Or for most parts of the world that is)  have celebrated Mother's Day last month and Father's Day on Sunday, celebrating two very special people in our lives - the mothers and the fathers. Coincidentally , I was reading a Bible Study guide/ note on strengthening marriages, by Denise Renner, called School of Cinderella these past two weeks.  And it has got me reflecting on the Christian home and the relationships within - the Christian husband, wife, father, mother and children.  Source: Internet There are tons of good biblical material, teachings and courses out there on marriages. Not to mention, pre-marital course, which most churches have made a compulsory criteria prior to tying the knot.  To be completely honest though, my husband and I didn't exactly went through the pre-marital course as how couples would normally do (classes and sessions with relevant church personnel and all), considering that both of us were in two separate states (Terengganu and...