blogpastor – Page 54

Author: blogpastor

My One Biggest Distraction From Prayer & Meditation

22 July 2021 blogpastor Leave a comment

It’s the mobile phone. So accessible. So fast. So handy. A computer in a pocket-sized gadget. And one that your body, mind and soul can get so attached to that you automatically pick it up whenever its nearby, and your fingers find their homes and favourite tap dance patterns.

So much is in the handphone. My ESV Bible and YouVersion apps are inside. My Blue Letter Bible app with its inter-linear is inside. My worship and contemplative music is inside. And so are my Samsung notes and pen. I use all these often. But my Instagram, blogpastor.net, home church website, access to local and international news, and football news are there too, together with WhatsApp and Carousell and Lazada.

I may start with a Bible app and end up with BBC world news and Arsenal transfer news and answering WhatsApp messages. Time flies and before I know it half an hour has passed.

I tried shutting off all sound notifications and vibrations. It still distracts. The sight of it, the thought of it makes you want to reach out.

That is why the phone is a major distraction (and maybe addiction) for me and I suppose for some others too. What then is the best thing to do with such a formidable distraction. You have to try different ways and be honest about their efficacy and settle on a method that works for you personally.

For me I switch off the phone or put it in another room. Either one works for me.

This is a great aid to prayer. Discover and hold fast to a way to preempt the temptation and distraction of mobile devices – whether handphone, tablet or laptop.

If you are laughing at all this, you are blessed one indeed! Maybe your distraction is something else. Tell us readers about your particular distraction and how you overcome it, or let some other reader suggest to you how he or she overcomes that same distraction you described in the comment box. Go to the blogpost title and tap on “Leave a Comment”. I look forward to hearing from you.

The Power of Right Believing by Joseph Prince

21 July 2021 blogpastor Leave a comment

This is a collation of several posts about Joseph Prince’s book titled “The Power of Right Believing”. In the past I had written a string of reflections following the reading of each part spread over some time, as it was done while I was busy in ministry. I noticed that people do read these old posts even though they are all over the place. For convenience, I pulled them all together in internal links for the convenience of readers.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6

PART 7

Gleanings from my Blogroll

18 July 2021 blogpastor 2 Comments

I spent an enjoyable evening reading some of the blogs I follow. I do this on and off. Often to my disappointment there were few updates. This time round, my net was full. Here are a few gleanings from my readings:

Michael Han writes like an editor who highlights a news event or figure and analyses it in depth and makes his comments about it from a Christian viewpoint. I found this blogpost about two successful men stimulates hope and encourages faithful living.

Jacintha Teo’s piece about the wisdom of completely surrendering and entrusting to God our love relationships with a special other totally is one that will release people in entangled, one-sided, conflicted relationships from anxiety, fear, and anger and bring them to a place of peace.

I was moved by the honest and vulnerable self-disclosure of Joanne Lee Wong about her sufferings and struggles with depression. It made me want to pray for her regularly. It takes a lot of courage and humility to write such beautiful truth.

I like Christina Siew’s honest struggle of whether to support or detract from Joseph Prince after reading all the negative stuff about his teachings on the internet. She let’s you in on her thought process as she describes her journey.

Pastor Henson Lim tries to describe an interesting spiritual adulting stage he finds himself in. It is one in which he feels the Lord is entrusting more matters to his judgment knowing that he could be relied upon having seen how he has been faithful these past 21 years . Read it to know fully what he means to say.