The Inner Thoughts

  Photo by  Harold Moses God’s Providence Does It Really Matter If We Pray? Good evening everyone.  I came across this statement written by Daniel T. Niles, a renowned Sri Lankan Methodist evangelist and theologian in 20th Century and he wrote:  We must make sure that we do not decide that we shall succeed. If we decide to succeed then we may succeed without succeeding in God's way. But if we go on from day to day seeking to do his will, then we shall be prepared to receive success from him if he wills it ; and if he does not, then humbly to say - It is God's decision David shall not build the temple, but he will raise up Solomon. - Daniel T. Niles  In just one short paragraph, this can be framed into several doctrines for discussion such as the Sovereignty of God, human will and divine will, prayer and divine providence. But I only want to touch two things: God’s Providence and Prayers. First, I would like to define the doctrine of Providence....

  g.efthymiadis   “We Know God / Truth Only because He Has revealed himself” Dr. Mark Chan (Sept 21, 2024)  Reflection  I just would like to share this statement shared by Dr Mark Chan at the Bible Study on 21 September 2024, Saturday and I quote him: “We Know God / Truth Only because He Has revealed himself”  As I was pondering on this statement, it has caught me once again how our understanding of God originates from His plan and his decision to make himself known to us.   So how does God reveal himself?   God’s revelation or self-manifestation basically comes in two forms and these are the general revelation and the special revelation.   The first one, general revelation refers to the knowledge of God made available to all people through the creation, nature, history, moral order in the society. It’s made available to all humankind and it is accessible to all people at all times but it is limited in providing a complete understanding of God’s...

ACTS 1:1-11 We've probably heard news about the appearance of the Aurora this weekend. So I googled why the aurora appears in the sky. Aurora is the display of dancing lights in the sky at night. When the aurora appears in the northern part, they call it Aurora Borealis, and when it appears in the southern part, they call it Aurora Australis. What causes these dancing lights? It is the sun. The sun doesn’t only emit heat and light but it also sends electrified energy and particles around its solar system, known as solar wind. It is like gaseous energy coming out from the sun.  Since the sun emits solar wind, it also produces outbursts of gaseous wind, known as solar storms. During these storms, the sun sends massive particles and electrified energy into space. However, the earth has a magnetic field that controls the solar wind and storm. This magnetic field traps the small particles and electrified energy, preventing them from penetrating into the earth.  When the so...

And let's be real—when things go the opposite direction, it's not just about external challenges; it's also about the mistakes we make, the flaws in our own hearts and our human sinful nature. This can make the journey of life and our mission to serve God in the world pretty tiring. But instead of getting hung up on aiming for success, our focus should be on staying true and faithful to God through obedience. What keeps us going is the big-picture idea that ultimately, it's God Himself who's going to establish a world ruled by His kingdom of love, righteousness, peace, fulfilment and satisfaction. 

An ideal hanging hammock is when the two ropes are securely tied to two sturdy poles. Hammock cannot be strong enough to support one's weight unless it is firmly tied to its two strong anchors. Let's consider that the hammock is a depiction of a Christian life how one perceives the past, and how its present responds to the future.  The two poles are the past and the future, while the hanging hammock is the present. They are all connected. What makes the present secure enough is when the past and future are strongly holding it. The question is, how does the future hold the present? It is when the present responds to the future based on the results of the past.    In the context of the Israelites, they gave an immense ethical importance to their present by responding to their future through the vision of the prophets. How did  the prophets visualise the future is by looking to their past. Perceiving the past is not just remembering but also reviewing how YHWH redeemed ...

Joerg Rieger has written, as the title suggests, a theological view on globalisation. Many titles may have appeared promising a critical or constructive encounter between globalisation, theology or ethics. However, few have delivered on the promise. But this book, although extremely short, targetted its primary thesis through the lens of Christian theology - a moral critique on the dominant forms of globalisation from the topdown to providing an alternative form of globalisation - the bottom up in opposition to the former. The author began in highlighting that theology and globalisation are “organically intertwined,” and thus criticises the extreme reductionists view that globalisation is merely and purely economic or technological, and vice versa, that globalisation is exclusively theological. The author further presents the historical trajectory of Christianity in globalisation analysing the impact of topdown form of leadership. From the Roman Empire, to Spanish Conquistador and to G...