Breakthrough

Have you every played one of those computer or console games when you need to defeat a certain boss or overcome a certain obstacle before you can move on to the next stage? They used to have a lot of those, especially in the 90s before lanning came about... And den after playing a game until a certain point of difficulty, you find that you cant seem to go on beyond that point.. like you always get defeated by that boss, or your character seems to die over and over again at that point?? And remember those few times that you did get past it into the next stage, but barely... only to get defeated with one shot from the next boss... and then you have to start all over again or at least from the last time you saved the game... I was just thinking how it parallels our walk with the Lord.. how we want to move on but always seem to get stuck at one point... sinning over the same issues over and over again... stumbling and falling over and over again because of the same reasons... and do you remember those times when you think you've gotten better over that stronghold only to stumble again at another point?? It sucks doesn't it... The thing is, life is not a game where we can just keep on restarting over and over again or from the last point where we saved. And most certainly, there are no cheat codes that we can just type in to skip the current one and move on to the next... What we need is a breakthrough in our walk with God. And it comes about from pressing in and seeking Him in our weakness, humility and contrition. It will never do if we keep focusing on ourselves, our failures, our inadequacies, our limitations. The point of life itself is for us to wake up and realise that the solution is not on ourselves but on the One who is greater. If we keep looking inwards instead of upwards, we won't see His gracious provision, the way out that we are looking for. All these things are there to bring us to our knees and to point us to Him. So let's all seek the Lord and look to Him, not to ourselves for He lifts up those who humble themselves (see James 4:7-10)...

Have you been stuck in one of those stages where some nearby volcano erupts and you have to get out of the place cos of an earquake or some impeding lava flow... and there's no where around you to go.. you're surrounded.. there's a wall before you and some oncoming lava behind you.. and you realise that the only way out is to move upwards. Without these things in our lives, we'll stay on the same plane where we're already living, contented with the status quo and our comfortable form of spirituality.. but as the pressure builds up and we become frustrated and desperate, it provides us with the impetus and motivation to seek the Rock that is higher than us. There are no cheatcodes, no infinite life, no invincibility.. Just Jesus.

So 40 days of prayer and fasting are coming.. let's take it seriously and let's all contend for a breakthrough in our own lives, the ministry and the church...

Today had SC1101E test.. I wasn't feeling well in the morning and i felt very moody in the bus journey, mildly indulging in self-pity for my constantly dripping mucus and once again unarmed with the necessary ammunition of tissue. Felt very irritated within my soul even as my body was in quite a discomfort, though bearable... when i finally got off at NUS i just thought that i'd praise God anyway.. and so i did.. and i felt better.. when i took the paper, it went quite well and i had my spiritual jukebox playing songs within my spirit and i was just worshipping God on the inside... i felt His presence there with me.. Thank You, Holy Spirit.. :) I dunno why it seems to happen to me quite often during exam seasons.. as in when i'm taking the exam itself, there would be songs in my spirit.. perhaps it's cos the hall is all so quiet with everyone doing their own papers that you can actually hear and be more sensitive with what your spirit is singing...hmmm if that's the case, then there's something seriously wrong with our society that we don't even have this kind of awareness of ongoing spiritual worship cos of all the noise around us.. either that or we're just simply not worshipping.. whatever the case, i thank the Lord for His presence. Dunno why but it seems easier to draw near to God during times of exams.. probably cos you know you need Him.. :)