In Everything Praise Him

I used to be anxious about quite a few things in life - my business, my family, my friends, etc - until recently when our Senior Pastor Joseph Prince preached on "Praise is the door to grace" on March 04, 2012.
Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel. Leah longed for Jacob's love but did not receive any while she was alive because Jacob's heart was with Rachel. Let's follow the bible account of Leah and her sons.
Genesis 29:31-35
³¹ When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.
³² So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben;^[a] for she said, “The Lord has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me.”
³³ Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon.^[b]
34 She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi.^[c]
35 And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah.^[d] Then she stopped bearing.
a. Genesis 29:32 Literally See, a Son
b. Genesis 29:33 Literally Heard
c. Genesis 29:34 Literally Attached
d. Genesis 29:35 Literally Praise
Notice that Leah was looking for assurance from Jacob each time she gave birth to her first three sons but by the time she delivered Judah, she was not looking for love from Jacob any more but she had learnt to turn her attention to the Lord.
It is interesting to note that Judah comes from the word 'praise' and the Hebrew for praise is "yadah" or "יוה" - comprising the three alphabets - hei-dalet-yod (reading from right to left in the Hebrew). Now the Hebrew alphabets are pictograms as well with each alphabet representing one image. 'Yod' (י) has the image of a hand - 'dalet' (ו) the image of a door - 'hei' (ה) the image of a window or grace. So put them all together, we get the meaning of yadah as 'the hand that opens the door to grace' and that is 'praise".
Another interesting discovery is that the Hebrew name of 'Judah' is  'Yehodah' or 'יהודה' - comprising the five alphabets - yod-hei-dalet-vav-hei (reading from right to left in the Hebrew). Take away the middle alphabet 'dalet' we have the name of God (yod-hei-vav-hei) or Yehovah (translated in the Bible in English as 'LORD'). And it is exciting to also remember that Jesus called HImself, "I am the door".
During the wilderness journey, every time the nation was to move out or to engage in war, the tribe of Judah goes first.
So, what is the message here?  that we are to let praise lead our lives and carry us through all situations in our lives.

Prophetic Word For The Year – 2012 - A Year Of Unceasing Fruitfulness

On January 01, 2012, Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church shared with the church the theme given by the Lord for the year 2012 that it will be "a year of unceasing fruitfulness" as spoken in Jeremiah 17:5-8.
Jeremiah 17:5-8
New King James Version (NKJV)
⁵ Thus says the LORD:  “ Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD.

⁶ For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.
⁷ “ Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.
⁸ For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear^[a] when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.

The Lord likens us to be trees planted by the river and where there is moisture there is good nourishment and when the tree is healthy it will bring forth green leaves that has good medicinal value. In addition, the tree will not cease to bear fruit even in a year of drought as it is firmly rooted by the river.

The key to the blessings is that the tree is planted by the river and its rich source of water.
The word of God is the river with the running waters and we are encouraged to draw from the River; we are to meditate on the word of our Lord, an action of committing to memory and then bringing it back up to meditate on it and then letting the word sink into our hearts and permeate our entire being.

When we are immersed in God's word, the fruit will come just like the tree does not concentrate on producing fruit but the roots of the tree concentrate on drawing up water for its own nourishment and then the fruit will be produced naturally.

So as we enter into the year 2012, let us hold fast to His promise that it will indeed be a year of unceasing fruitfulness even in the midst of a drought in the world.

Prophetic Word For The Year – 2011 - A Year Crowned With His Goodness And Our Paths Dripping With His Abundance

The year 2011 started with great hopes for many as the Singapore economy was chugging away at a very healthy pace after the stellar performance in 2010. There were great expectations for good salary increments and bonuses carried over from the previous year and so when Pastor Prince shared the theme for 2011 with the church on Sunday January 02nd, the church received the word with gladness and ran with it.

When the US and European markets began to show a slowdown towards the middle of the year, we had to be reminded not to focus on ourselves but on what the Lord had given us - that the year has been crowned with His goodness and that the year will end well with abundance.
2011 was a challenging year for me as in the area of my business and I saw a slow-down in the number of projects. However to my amazement there was no lack as we were able to cruise through with supernatural provisions of finances. As I began to look away from the physical and focused on what the Lord has for me, things started to move in the supernatural. I had calls from potential clients wanting to engage my services from 2012 onwards and projects that I thought were buried were revived supernaturally. One of my clients wanted to engage the services of my company back in late 2010 but due to non-availability of government subsidies turned down my proposal quotation in January 2011. However in April 2011 there was a revision in the definitions on eligibility by the government agency and immediately this same client could avail itself of the subsidy and so they started to engage their head-office in discussions on budgets. The project received a further boost when its branch in Thailand was almost submerged in the Bangkok floods between August and October and I was called to receive the good news that they were finally able to engage my services.
Another blessing came in the form of a 'three-fold' package. One lead company wanted to come alongside with two of its smaller but critical vendors to implement business continuity management as a group but the lead company did not qualify as it was deemed to be a subsidiary of a government statutory body and hence all three automatically became non-eligible. However by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the decision was reversed and now all three companies will be eligible for the subsidies.
Indeed the Lord had crowned my 2011 with His goodness and He had caused my path to be dripping with His abundance and as I entered the new year 2012, it is with great joy knowing the He NEVER fails but is always ever ready to bless and prosper me.