{"id":1971,"date":"2023-11-28T21:22:06","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T10:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/?p=1971"},"modified":"2023-11-28T21:22:06","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T10:22:06","slug":"silent-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/silent-retreat\/","title":{"rendered":"Silent Retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>If but thine ear be open, and thy thoughts brought into subjection, and thine heart prepared in silence to wait upon God and to hear what He speaks, He will reveal to thee His secrets. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><cite>Andrew Murray<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This Saturday I was invited to share about our calling &amp; ministry for spiritual encouragement to others. And tonight what an opportunity to be alone and in silence before God. The first song that came to mind was,&#8221;MenyenangkanMu.&#8221; In English it means,&#8221;Pleasing You.&#8221; And it borrows the idea from few passages such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me\u2014the task of testifying to the good news of God\u2019s grace. (Acts 20:24)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>His disciples remembered that it is written: \u201cZeal for your house will consume me.\u201d (John 2:17)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. (2 Cor 5:9)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. (2 Tim 2:21)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The second song that came to mind was one my favorite singer, Don Moen. He writes beautifully this song,&#8221;I Offer My Life&#8221;. And I think it&#8217;s based on Romans 12:1,&#8221;I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Everything I have been through, use it for Your glory.<\/p><cite>I Offer You My Life<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And the third song that came to mind was the song that was sang on Joe&#8217;s wake service,&#8221;How Great is Our God.&#8221; The two just does not usually sit together. Singing of God&#8217;s greatness and the sadness of a dear one passing away. However, there was this beauty in that service, and it actually brings new meaning to the idea of God&#8217;s greatness and human&#8217;s death. It is a worship song that declares God&#8217;s greatness. Even death of a loved one is immaterial before God&#8217;s greatness. In fact, in God&#8217;s divine economy, what was considered loss is a great gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels\u2014a plentiful harvest of new lives. ~ John 12:24<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>So, ironically, God is answering Joe&#8217;s heart desire and prayer. Through a single death, there will be plentiful harvest. Just a Jesus&#8217;s death on the cross achieves God&#8217;s purpose and plan, so we will see a great harvest of righteousness from Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the final closing song that came to me, a very beautiful &amp; yet difficult to sing. By God&#8217;s grace we sing to God&#8217;s glory,&#8221;I Surrender All&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">All to Jesus I surrender,<br>All to him I freely give;<br>I will ever love and trust him,<br>In his presence daily live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Refrain:<br>I surrender all,<br>I surrender all,<br>All to thee, my blessed Savior,<br>I surrender all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">All to Jesus I surrender,<br>Humbly at his feet I bow,<br>Worldly pleasures all forsaken,<br>Take me, Jesus, take me now.<br>(Refrain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">All to Jesus I surrender;<br>Make me, Savior, wholly thine;<br>Let me feel the Holy Spirit,<br>Truly know that thou art mine.<br>(Refrain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">All to Jesus I surrender,<br>Lord, I give myself to thee,<br>Fill me with thy love and power,<br>Let thy blessing fall on me.<br>(Refrain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">All to Jesus I surrender;<br>Now I feel the sacred flame.<br>Oh, the joy of full salvation!<br>Glory, glory, to his name!<br>(Refrain)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If but thine ear be open, and thy thoughts brought into subjection, and thine heart prepared in silence to wait upon God and to hear what He speaks, He will reveal to thee His secrets. Andrew Murray This Saturday I &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/silent-retreat\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,83,85,8,30,49,52,59,63,67,69],"tags":[427,145,426,168,424,178,276,423,299,425],"class_list":["post-1971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2-corinthians","category-2-timothy","category-acts","category-encouraged","category-john","category-prayer","category-psalm","category-romans","category-songs","category-thankful","category-touched","tag-andrew-murray","tag-death","tag-don-moen","tag-friendship","tag-gods-design","tag-gods-glory","tag-reflection","tag-sadness","tag-song","tag-stillness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":463,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/god-demonstrated-his-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":1971,"position":0},"title":"God demonstrated His love","author":"clay","date":"May 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Last nite had a nice supper\u00a0\u00a0after the stressful weeks and days... and shared my internal struggle.... thank God that this dear sister didn't condemn me or talking abt theological stuff...\u00a0What a wise deed indeed...Asked me to scream\u00a0\u00a0hehe...haven't done that for 1 year... Had a very good sleep and rest last\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":954,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/after-those-hard-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":1971,"position":1},"title":"After those hard times","author":"clay","date":"March 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":":) Just realized it's almost 2 weeks i haven't written anything in my blog. Seems, indeed life has been very busy these 2 weeks. At work, with the new colleague, one under my mentorship, and the other one is taking over my project...so...consuming my own working time. At church the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1341,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/i-consider-my-life-worth-nothing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1971,"position":2},"title":"I consider my life worth nothing","author":"clay","date":"November 27, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"It's the words from Apostle Paul... Attended thanksgiving dinner for 1 year labor in children church, Was assigned to teach P5 and P6 next year ... And probably few sermons also ... At first i thought it's going to be another year of service Another year of learning And another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;1 Corinthians&quot;","block_context":{"text":"1 Corinthians","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/bible\/1-corinthians\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":241,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/song-of-hope-from-a-distant-past\/","url_meta":{"origin":1971,"position":3},"title":"Song of Hope from a distant past","author":"clay","date":"May 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. ~ Hab 3:2 I guess things don't look good horizontally. Our housing ballot result was far below expectation. There're about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Assured&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Assured","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/emotion\/assured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1470,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/the-heavens-declare-the-glory-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":1971,"position":4},"title":"The heavens declare the glory of God","author":"clay","date":"January 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Hehehe...\u00a0what a day\u00a0 Was enjoying the warmth of morning sun ...\u00a0 how good it is... i wake up and go to work, welcomed by morning sun that sheds light, brightness, and warmness i return home sometimes at nite (hv some Bible study or other meetings) and watched by the night\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Excited&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Excited","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/emotion\/excited\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1570,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/rumbling-thoughts-milestone-year-uncertainties-and-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1971,"position":5},"title":"Rumbling thoughts (milestone year, uncertainties, and questions)","author":"clay","date":"January 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"There has been many things going on in my life & thoughts at the moment. That I thought to write them down will help me to cool down :) One on hand, I feel like being bombarded with so many news and updates. Everything and everyone are screaming for attentions.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Calm&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Calm","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/emotion\/calm\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1972,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971\/revisions\/1972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}