Truth

Yesterday, the Lord impressed upon me Isa 44 which is what i shared today during new team.. and the concept of truth vs false has been coming up lately... The Lord has been instructing me today during prayer time to pray for a revelation of truth... the revelation of who Jesus is as the Truth... especially among our younger ones.. why is this important? Cos many people both within and outside the church hold onto many false things... these are false gods, a false form of lifestyle, etc... they're idols, they're substitutes for the real deal who is Jesus Christ... but people turn to them for temporary satisfaction and are left feeling unsatisfied... Cos they're fake.. man needs more than these to truly satisfy the soul.. Entertainment is one example.. it's like how people live fake lives and go into a form of escapism through the characters they identify with in TV or movies or even video games.. And at the end of the day, it's all fake... It's all false... and they leave us unsatisfied.. But Jesus is the truth, the unchanging truth.. He's the same yesterday, today and forever.. He's the pearl of great price and there's nothing fake about Him (It seems that God has been causing me to think about that parable a few times today..) And Jesus is who people need.. .cos the world is sick and tired of turning to substitues and fakes.. they want the genuine stuff... they want the real deal... and Jesus is the real deal.. He's the Word of God in the flesh.. Heaven and earth will pass away but His words will never pass away.. You can't get more real than that... And that's what a sick and dying world needs- truth. After all that secular humanism, subjectivity and carnality, it's time to return to that yeah... :)

So here's what's been happening... Yesterday was spent kinda slacking at home in the morning and late afternoon... was watching Teen Titans and Justice League on Kids' Central and i just felt that the Holy Spirit was speaking to me through the shows to show me how people can accomplish great things when they work together as a team... den went to church for revival service in the evening... And there's something the speaker said that i'm holding to... It's a promise i'm daring to believe God for... :) God, show them what You can do! :D

New team this morning followed by servers cell.. and Uncle Paul gave us a cool version of the DISC test and it was quite fun... went for choir, den went for GDOP in the evening at National Stadium... while praying during that time, i just felt the Lord was saying "Raise up a standard"... in the natural, we see the national flag being raised above the stadium on national day on helicopters.. in the spirit, it's gonna be a standard.. it's a standard of righteousness, of who Christ is and of His shed blood and finished work on the cross! Hallelujah! On my way home, talked to Poh Sheng on the bus and we all started talking about God and sharing with each other our experiences with Him... And it was so cool cos he only met Christ for barely more than a week and it's good to see him so passionate about God... he's really one hungry guy... he even read like 20+ chapters of purpose driven life in one day!!! And as we were talking and boasting about God, my heart was just burning within me... that's what fellowship is all about.. not the pathetic excuse we use to stuff ourselves with makan and movies after a service.. that's just socialising.. fellowship involves God and God in the centre.. it's a spiritual experience.. i wish we'd have tt more often! :D

God bless! :D

God's Sovereignty

Yesterday went to accompany Pastor Ban to rehab centre... the ppl there are quite friendly lah... but can't really talk well with them cos they speak in Hokkien... but it was kinda an interesting visit... den met Ele in the afternoon at Novena to print CC Camp T-shirts...

In the evening went to visit Cornerstone cos they had this special guest pastor- a Japanese man born in America and living as a citizen of Israel... quite interesting... had a time of prayer for Israel and presence of God was there... There was a moment during the service when the pastor attempted to say "I'm sorry" in Japanese... but his "surimasen" came out with an interesting American accent... Hehe.. but oh well.. he preached on the Sovereignty of God and it was a message i needed to hear...

Actually moments before, God was probably preparing me for that message.. haha.. cos i was in Orchard killing time before the meeting and met William, Alex and Jon Jon there... (too bad they ran out of Turkish ice cream cos i offered to get Alex some..) :P shhh... Anyway, William and Alex were going shopping for clothes so kept them company for a while.. we headed to Heeren where i decided to try on that shirt i saw the previous weekend... and after trying it on, i wasn't sure whether i would buy it... so i asked the Lord.. and He said "no".. that was probably the clearest "no" i heard cos deep down inside, i did want to get it... ok lah.. i din ask why but just obeyed.. yes... even in shopping, God is Sovereign... i think it's cos there's a tendency for ppl (i.e. me) to get carried away.. haha.. and speand more $ than you can aford.. :P Yeah, God is Sovereign.. and it does pay to listen to Him...

Today met Janet in the morning and den headed to church to do some work... Den choir practice at night... and the arrow was confirmed... haha.. oh well.. it's enjoyable though... but can get kinda tiring.. and it must be even worse for ppl like Dot and Amanda who have to handle and coordinate the ppl... comparatively, i got an easy job.. :)

Toodles! :)

...

My tagalog is quite rusty... but just for venting purposes... Ayaw kong makipag-away... puede ba... Ikaw mismo nag-salita na iniisip mo kung ano ang igagawin ng kaaway sa oras na ito... Ito ay gawa niya.. hindi ko talagang gusto na makipag-away... At ang respeto ay hindi sinisingil.. Kailangan ikikita ang respeto... at hindi dahil sa gusto kong kalabanin ka na ginawa ko yoon itong gabi... 'di ba sinabi ko sa iyo na ikaw na lang mag-isip kung mag kano ibabayad... pero sa tingin ko, gusto kong bigyan sila ng mas maraming pera... kung hindi mo gusto di bali na.. gusto ko lang itanong siya...

nakita mo ba yung manga scenario na yung inay at itay hindi mag ka-sundo... ano nangyari? Yung manga bata ay naaapektohan... tapos nagkakasundo lang sila dahil gusto nila yung manga bata maging maligaya... pero mayrong pa rin na malaking pagitan sa dalawa.. ayaw kong ganyan...

Preparing the Way

Yeah... I have lotsa time. ;) Yesterday, I spent a considerable amount of it talking to Uncle Ban in church where he shared with me the “Family Of Origin” model which was quite enlightening and liberating… hahaha… after he did the session with me, I realized that there are still lotsa things God needs to iron out in my life.. yes. And I’m glad it’s all coming out… and now what do I do with all this knowledge??

Do I go around moaning about them, feeling all so guilty concerning how imperfect my life is? Do I weep about, sulking and wallowing in depression cos there are so many issues in my life that need fixing?? By all means no! that would get me nowhere... cos that’s just merely perpetuating that perfectionist attitude that comes from worldly thinking and is of the devil… How do I know this? Cos I did it before… for many years… and guess wad- it got me nowhere... in fact, all that guilt in itself proved to be an obstacle in my spiritual walk… There were times where I used to scrutinize myself everyday wanting to come clean before God… and in doing so, it left me further away from Him! …left me with no joy, with no vision, with no awareness of who He is- just of who I am and all the nasty things associated with it…

Knowing what was wrong in my life brought legalism… it brought guilt… it comes from the tree of knowledge of good and evil… cos in knowing what was wrong, it brought about the kind of mentality saying “I’m not good enuf”… and these things lead to death… remember how Judas hanged himself? He hanged himself over remorse for having betrayed an innocent man… and he didn’t enter into the knowledge of the grace of God. Guilt is not repentance.

The reason why I’m saying all of this is cos some of us are prone to condemn ourselves for what we’ve done and all those nasty things in our lives… but the Bible says that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… Yes, there may be some things in our lives that need to change (and perhaps many more that we're not even aware of)... Yes, we shouldn’t take sin lightly… cos sin is a serious thing u noe… but to the point that it causes us to focus on ourselves and not on Him?? That defeats the purpose of repentance.. Cos cleansing is a work of the Holy Spirt... it's not something we achieve.. it's something He does in our lives... I love preaching against guilt cos I have a personal score to settle, having been captive by it for a long time… and I write all these so that we may know how to handle that awareness of sin in our lives…

So where do I go from here? What do I do with knowing that my life isn’t as sorted out as I thought it was? Do I ignore it and just move on as if nothing has happened? Of course not... but instead of wallowing in guilt or self-condemnation, I choose to surrender them to God, believing sincerely in my heart that those ways are wrong and deciding that I should choose God’s way over mine instead.. I will surrender and commit these areas to Him knowing that His ability to transform me is far greater than sin’s ability to consume me… and I will live life His way… by His power, by His ability and by His grace…

You see, the focus is not on ourselves… it’s on Him… cos life is all about Him… You know what… if u struggle with these issues, ring me up, write me a mail or something... cos I know how it feels… I have a tendency to be a perfectionist, a control freak… and that made the guilt over all those imperfections all the more stronger… But surrendering is the key yeah… I’m not gonna let these things rob me of my joy! I know my rights in the Kingdom! And I’m not afraid to use them… ;)

Today went to church and did more CC stuff, tasted Uncle Peter's homemade apple crumble and went for prayer meeting in the evening...

This morning before i got out of bed, the Lord was just showing me how i have to decrease and Jesus has to increase.. It's what John the Baptist said when more people started flocking to Jesus and less to him... and that's what the ministry of preparation is all about, even in preparing the way for revival.. it's pointing people to their God and calling for a restoration of relationship with Him... we're living in exciting times yeah! :)

How BIG is your Jesus? :)

Adios!

The Author of Pleasure

Ok... so here's what's been happening over the weekends... On saturday went for Worship Prac and Youth service and the presence of God was there.. and even during a time of heightened expectations during prayer and fasting i certainly believe that the Lord is bringing us to a place of deeper hunger in Him... and i wanna be part of it yeah... Dot shared during service and i believe people were inspired by what she shared cos it was simple, easy to understand, direct and straight from the heart... den ate KFC for dinner and den went back...

New Team on Sunday morning... den went for 2nd liners cell... I always enjoy 2nd liners cell (and someone quipped that it's cos servers' cell is so boring)... lol... i said nothing of that sort ok.. :P i'm glad that peole are being built up and encouraged in the Lord... Den later went for choir prac which was quite fun though i got lost in some parts... and Amanda seems quite a dynamic conductor contrary to what i heard from her.. oh.. and i love the funky Simon Simon tune.. hehe... den went to watch "Priceless" at cine with Al, Serene and Wendy... it's quite an interestingly unique show lah.. as with most french shows.. entertaining but the values are much disagreeable though...

Today was my rest day.. weekends can be pretty tiring for me despite the adrenaline rush you get while doing stuff here and there... Uncle Paul encouraged us to set aside some time, a day to rest in God and today i really feel rested... and resting in God really makes me feel so alive and even during this time, i can really feel the life of Christ inside of me... so today i got lotsa nuggets to share from resting and meditating in the presence of God... :)

I took an afternoon nap and even during that rested state i was just enjoying the Lord... and you know how i hate noise... i really really hate noise... and while napping there were a couple of kids making noise and playing outside... but there was just the rest of God within me and i didn't get irritated! If you know me well enuf, you'll know that even a passing motorcycle would normally easily get my disapproval... but i was seriously filled with love even for the kids making noise outside that i couldn't even be bothered to feel irritated by them even though they were interrupting my nap... that's the rest of God... it's rest even in the midst of an unnerving situation!

It was then that the Lord was teaching me that God was not after rules and regulations but relationship... That's what makes life so fun... I shared during youth service on saturday that i thank God that I'm alive... applying this, when i see noisy children, i shouldn't come to them saying keep quiet this keep quiet that but rather come to them bearing the love of Christ and using relationship as a platform to reach them.. which provides God the avenue to change them... i can apply this to many situations.. cos even in my own service to God, He's not after a dead pattern of dos and don'ts... He's after my heart... Yes, i have the audacity to claim that... and He even proved it by dying for me so i can live for Him... if that doesn't blow your mind, it certainly does mine!

From that relationship with God will flow light and life... that's the way for revival.. relationship. Another thing in my meditations after reading the devotional booklet was that if you love God more than life, you'll begin to enjoy life more... cos God is the source of all life... believe it or not, He's the author of pleasure... I can speak that from my own experience..To love Him is to enjoy Him.. :) In enjoying God, i enjoy school, i enjoy serving Him, i enjoy life, practically everything.. one of my favourite testimonies to share is that even during that week this sem that i had 4 assignments due, i still had time to go shopping! :) of course i'm not perfect and there are still things in this world that sometimes may get the better of me.. but in a relationship, there's room for growth.. it's a continual process of abiding... it's ongoing.. and that's what makes it so exciting... I dunno why issit that many Christians get high during camps and den live defeated lives during normal weekdays.. den dey come back during weekends to top up their spiritual tanks... no no no... that's not the way to live.. that's not how God intended life to be! I dunno why issit that many Christians go to God for either 2 things- to ask for something or to confess something that they did wrong... mostly they do the latter.. and i mean these are serious Christians who do care about their spiritual walk... and i used to be among their number... but what good is such a Christian to the rest of the world... we'll probably be better off in glory than stay defeated and mirror what others may perceive to be a defeated Christ. No way! That's not the way that God intended us to live either! Can you imagine how boring it is for a Father to hear His children coming to Him either to ask for toys or to say sorry... There's a place in prayer where all we have to do is say, "God i enjoy You"... My favourite thanksgiving prayer is to thank God that I'm alive.. .and that I'm alive for such a time as this... cos it's a great day to be alive.. this is the day that the Lord has made, i will rejoice and be glad in it! When we come to the divine order of putting God and His kingdom first, we'll get to enjoy life as He intended life to be.. and nothing beats that!

The more i walk the Christian life, the more simple i feel that it is.. that's from my observations.. and with all that's going on, it's gonna take real revelation and power to reveal what is simple cos it takes God to destroy certain notions and preconceptions and mindsets in our minds that are opposed to His order... that's why He's calling us to childlike faith... that's why it's easy for children to come to Him.. cos the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these... many concepts i practice are very simple and sometimes downright humanly stupid... but they're effective... :D

We really need to learn how to trust in God, rest in Him... allow Him to live His life through us (even i am still learning what that means)... and what's imposible is easy... impossible is nothing (adidas)! So we need to pursue a continual revelation of Jesus cos He's the author of life and life comes from Him and if we're ever gonna choose to not waste our time on earth and live life right and enjoy it, then we've gotta learn from Him and pursue Him and allow His life to flow in us... That's why Paul said that to live is Christ. Do you know that blessings are actually a revelation of Jesus while a curse is when there's no revelation of Him? Cos you get blessings when you know the Source of them.. the priestly blessing mentioned in Numbers says "may God... make His face shine upon you... lift up His countenance over you.. give you peace" That's a revelation of who He is, who Jesus is! And peace is a place of rest- the shalom... affecting spirit, soul and body.. coming into wholeness and rest in Jesus Christ! Those who are blessed will be even more blessed as they pursue more of God.. if they taste and see that the Lord is good and pursue more of Jesus, those who have will be given more... Those who have a revelation of Jesus and steward that revelation, will be given more... as they steward it, they will reflect that revelation to the rest of the world.. as it is written in Ephesians 5, those that are exposed to light become light... God is light and we His children are called to live in that light... I have a decree for Sojourners and Childrens Church from Ephesians 5:

Awake O sleeper
Rise from the dead
and Christ will shine on you

If you read this, begin to pray it and decree it over the youth and CC.. .whenever you are, wherever you are... cos a dying world doesn't need anymore corporate solutions and strategies.. they need a revelation of Jesus..

On the other hand, those who are cursed do not enter into that revelation.. they are blinded by man, by mindsets, by their own circumstances and even by the god of this world from receiving a revelation of Jesus.. and some of these curses come to them as a consequence of their rejection of Him... as how the Jews fell into judgment cos they did not recognise the day of their visitation.. or even as Jesus refused to heal a man from Capernaum inside the city and brought him outside that place instead to heal him... and Jesus gave that man instructions not to tell others from Capernaum of his healing and the miracle Jesus had performed? Why? Cos after Jesus first visit to Capernaum showing them signs and wonders, they still didn't believe in Him... that's why they were cursed... He who has will be given more and he who does not have, whatever he has will be taken from Him.. that's why my blog posts are so long! Cos the Lord has graciously blessed me with revelations of God... i dun deserve them but He gives them to me by His grace...These revelations are precious.. that's why i enjoy writing them here and sharing them with others... :)

Another lesson the Lord was teaching me today is about patience... yeah.. i need to be more patient.. i've been prone to outbursts of anger and being impatient with people... but the Lord was teaching me that patience is recognising Jesus in other people.. it's acknowledging their value before God and their potential for Christ-likeness and how God will mature them and perfect them as they submit to His will... i'm talking about people in the body of Christ... the Lord has called me to a ministry of preparation so this is one lesson i need to learn...

Hear Our Praises

May our homes be filled with dancing
May our streets be filled with joy
May injustice bow to Jesus
As the people turn and pray

From the mountains
To the valleys
Hear our praises
Rise to You
From the heavens
To the nations
Hear our singing
Fill the air

May our light shine in the darkness
As we walk before the cross
May Your glory fill the whole earth
As the waters cover the sea

Hallelulah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah...

(dunno why God seems to be speaking to me through the 2nd verses these days...)
Shalom! ;)

Unfolding Promises

While praying and meditating just now, the Lord was showing me what it means when the Bible says that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy... In Rev 19 we find John receiving a profound revelation of heavenly events and things that are so great and marvelous that he fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who was giving him these revelations... and the angel told him not to do it.. He asked John instead to worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy... ususally when i read this part, i see no link... first it talks about worshipping God and den the testimony of Jesus comes in... But the Lord was impressing upon my heart that it means that all prophesy and revelation is to reveal Jesus, they are to glorify Jesus... The very essence, heart and goal of prophecy is to testify of Him. All prophecy and promises given by the Lord are to bear testimony of Himself, who He is... they are a revelation of who He is to man.. John, in the midst of this unfolding revelation, was so overwhelmed by them but the angel pointed him to Jesus cos the goal of all prophesy and revelation is to make Jesus known, even in its fulfillment..

How does this translate to Sojourners and revival?? It's cos the Lord has been bringing me back to Jesus and our relationship with Him, finding life in Him and bringing out the truth that revival comes in the Person of Jesus Christ, not just having an environment of fleeting manifestations... And we're in the point in time when we're gonna see promises over our lives and the ministry being fufilled cos we're in the season of breakthrough... And it is important to remember that every word we've been given, every promise and prophesy uttered over us is to reveal Jesus.. it's to bear testimony to His Name, to who He is... It is to show the world that He is faithful and true- that He keeps His promises... Their goal is to glorify and magnify Jesus and His finished work on the cross and all the blessings available to us because of that.. The fulfillment of every promise is to glorify Him and to reveal Him to the world... not just the promise itself but the fulfillment thereof... cos the Word became flesh... and in Jesus, every promise becomes a reality....

In this light, we must believe that every promise is Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 1).. that means that in Him, we're gonna see every promise fulfilled... and it's God who causes us to stand in Him in faith believing that, even against all circumstances, they shall come to pass... Cos He is the Amen... He is the fulfillment of the will of God, the Word of God being lived out... He is the First and the Last... He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith... that means that we'll get to see our faith become reality... In Christ, every promise finds fulfillment!

What does this mean for us? We must learn how to walk with Him, how to abide in Christ... cos that's how we're gonna see these promises come to pass!

Amen! Hallelujah!

Mighty to Save

Evryone needs compassion
A love that's never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a Saviour
The hope of nations

Saviour
He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now i surrender

Shine Your light and
Let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory
Of the Risen King...

Be Magnified

Be Magnified

I have made You too small in my eyes
Oh Lord, forgive me
And I have believed in a lie
That You were unable to help me
But now Oh Lord, I see my wrong
Heal my heart and show Yourself strong
And in my eyes and with my song
Be magnified
Oh Lord, be magnified

Be magnified, Oh Lord
You are highly exalted
And there in nothing You can't do
Oh Lord, my eyes are on You
Be magnified
Oh Lord, be magnified

I have leaned on the wisdom of men
Oh Lord, forgive me
And I have responded to them
Instead of Your light and Your mercy
But now Oh Lord, I see my wrong
Heal my heart and show Yourself strong
And in my eyes and with my song
Be magnified
Oh Lord be magnified

After today's reading of the 40 day devotionals, the Lord was telling me how i was actually relying on the arm of the flesh for strength... and how i was so caught up with ministry more than Him... you know why? Cos everytime i see something go "wrong" with ministry and i become frustrated over something happening, i get all discouraged, down, frustrated, etc... i lose my joy and my rest in God... that's the problem.. cos joy is my portion and rest in God is the ever constant thing that i should have in my life... and the fact that i lose that when something happens in ministry is cos i've not learned to look to Him and keep my gaze transfixed on him... that ministry itself has become a god in my life to be able to affect me in such a manner... being afected by these things show how more important they were in my life as opposed to my relationship with God.. and that's my portion.. He's my portion..

This changes everything... the way i look at ministry.. it makes me think... the reason why the Lord has allowed so many ups and downs and bump arounds in ministry is perhaps to teach me this one plain truth.. and it took so long for me to get it.. The reason why certain things go on in the ministry is cos God was trying to get my attention to tell me that if such things can affect me and draw my focus away from Him, then it has become a god, an idol.. the Lord wants me to rest in Him...

Many times i'm so frustrated by my mom and what she does that apparently has the effect of disturbing me while i'm praying... sometimes i get so irritated and i react... and today it occurred to me that if i'm reacting that way, it's wrong already...cos in such a manner, i am making prayer a god while Jesus would rather have me honour her instead of reacting to her.. Cos it's a call and an opportunity to worship and glorify Jesus in my conduct and in manifesting the fruit of the Spirit in patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control... and problably if Jesus were really there face to face, i wouldn't have reacted in that manner... it's Jesus i worship, not prayer... so in my eyes and with my song, Lord be magnified... see how subtle the deception can be? It's called being religious... and God doesn't want religion but a relationship.. being religious is concerned with works, with doing... while relationship is trust, rest and being- ceasing from those works... and many times in reacting as such, i lose that rest in God that i could otherwise have... and in that religious spirit, the environment of prayer becomes important to me than God Himself and manifesting Him and maintaining that rest in my spirit, in my relationship with Him... We are called to live the higher way, walk the higher walk, live the higher life.. and it's a call to rest in God...

It seems that everything i've been receiving from the Lord nowadays is a call to rest in Him... JK said something about the rest of God during worship prac today... Last sat when i received Psalm 139 during worship, it also talks about the rest of God... when i received Jeremiah 17 last month, it talks about the rest of God... Isaiah 58 talks about the rest of God... and so does Isa 61 cos it talks about the Jubilean anointing and we know that Jubilee is a season for rest... breaking off the yoke talks about rest and Jubilee cos the yoke is symbollic of burden.. so breaking it talks about the rest of God. Isa 46 talks about the burden coming as a result of idolatry and the casting down of idols will result in the rest of God. Eating from the tree of life is an invitation to His rest. Adam and Eve rested in fellowship with God in the garden and because of the Fall, they had to work in producing food and labour in producing offspring.. but Jesus has come to restore us back into the glory of God.. the one that man accessed before the fall... the rest of God... Saul didn't know this rest cos his lust for power drove him to try to kill David... David on the other hand, knew this rest cos even when being pursued by Saul 10 years in the wilderness wandering around for his life, he wrote his psalms and found in God what Saul couldn't find in the world- selah, the rest of God... Jesus knew this rest while sleeping inside the ship during the storm, while the diciples feared for their lives... Moses knew the rest of God up the mountain while the rest of Israel were dancing in their idolatrous revelry... The rest of God is found at a higher place of order.. the place where He is- His presence... His secret place- just you and Him... The Pharisees, with all their rules and regulations against work on the Sabbath never knew the true Sabbath rest of God in the Person of Jesus Christ while Jesus in all His tiredness in His earthly ministry in John 4 and 6 still found rest in doing the will of the Father... The Israelites in the desert didn't have to work for the manna they received in the wilderness.. they just had to gather it.. and the manna is the bread of heaven as Jesus is the bread of life who is from heaven.. so the question still echoes, "Why spend money on what is not bread and your labour on what does not satisfy?"

Isaiah 30:15 says in repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength... if we can't trust Him, we can't rest in Him... but He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. If there's one things the world needs right now and what Christianity can give them, it's the rest of God found in Jesus Christ... that's the true answer to world peace and the solution to every problem you find all over the earth... the rest of God...

Lord, I want to live in perpetual rest... to always keep my eyes on You... many times, Lord i lose that rest when i look unto man and i get disappointed with people and i get discouraged and frustrated... help me to cast these things aside and learn how to look to you and to live in that rest in You...

When we truly learn how to live in Christ and know the rest of God, enjoying our relationship with Him and fellowship with Him, the Christian walk becomes easy... Romans 8 talks about living.. about how to live.. and it's one of my favourite chapters in the Bible.. it says that the mind set on the flesh is death but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.. and if by the Spirit we put to death the misdeeds of the body we will live... this is an awesome promise for us to live as overcomers by the Spirit of God.. and breakthrough comes through a relationship with the Lord of the Breakthrough, the Captain of the Hosts.. Jesus, the Warrior King... and having a relationship with Him by His Spirit.. and we can share in that same overcoming nature... :)

Oh that we may have eyes that see and ears that hear and hearts that understand the depths of the riches of His promises and his all-surpassing glory that is available to us...

God bless! :)

Blessed Assurance

Hello... I've been absent for quite some time... Took a trip down to Novena on Wednesday with Ele to check out the t-shirt printing place.. we wore the Sojourners shirt there on purpose so that the guy would recognise it like the other time Nana and Alicia went.. Brought back a few t-shirt sample sizes for the kids to try out on Sunday... Den I went back to church to show them to Auntie Ivy and stayed back for prayer meeting...

On thursday, went to church again to do some work... got quite a fair bit done lah... i love working in church cos it's so quiet and everything is right at your fingertips.. :)

Went "holy shopping" with Auntie Ivy on Friday at Vivo and Ikea.. Bought lots and lots of sweets for CC camp and some "trophies"... hehe... when they're finally done up, they're gonna be really cool.. then went in the evening with Ele and Joel to watch Nigel's play which was really entertaining.. Jon Jon was there too with his frens.. Yeah.. and after going to Chinese High drama centre, i remembered all those days that i was in drama.. the thrill of being onstage.. the adrenaline rush just before a performance.. kinda missed them.. oh well...

So what's God been showing lately? I've been reading the book of Isaiah and on Wednesday night when i read Isa 44 and 45, the Lord was showing me that the reason why certain things He promised take very long in being fulfilled is so that everyone will know He is God and that He promised it... Cos if the promises were foretold long ago, despite everyone perhaps having forgotten them and despite the fact that everything in the natural seems to be working against them, God will show Himself faithful and true to His word when He finally brings them to fulfillment... cos a long period of time would test and weigh the word that is released... Cos only God can see into the future... not even demonic powers can do that... no idol can, no man can.. men can fairly guess what's gonna happen in the near future cos of the state of how situations are going.. for example, if i see a car driving down a road leading to bukit batok, i can predict that the car will definitely end up at Bukit Batok.. and it would most likely come to pass... but this is just guessing... men can also make their own words come to pass the near future... for example, if a man utters by his flesh and "predicts" that he is going to knock himself into a lampost and thereby proceed to do so, he is successful in his "prediction".. but man cannot predict something in the far future and predict the fulfillment of such an enourmous a task that only God can do, moreover in the light of it being utterly impossible in the present or in the natural... man cannot truly see into the future, especially the far future, unless by the Spirit of God... so if God speaks into the future and declares for them to happen, and fulfills it against all circumstances that oppose it, then it's truly God.. it must be God... And when it does come to pass, who is glorified? None other than Himself. So all you who are hoping and waiting for promises to be fulfilled in your own lives or ministry, take heed of this... God will bring about what He promised and in doing so He will glorify Himself... Hallelujah!

While praying on Wednesday evening, i just sensed that God was saying "I am the bread of life"... and on Thursday evening, He was saying "Why spend your money on what is not bread, your labour on what does not satisfy?" I know that the Lord was speaking to me from Isa 55 which seems to always come up regarding the ministry lah... And after thinking about the Lord's question, i was asking Him back, "Ya, Lord, why?" The Bible makes it clear that only Jesus satisfy us.. He is the Desired of All nations and all who partake of the Bread of Life will not go hungry again.. and that's a profound statement from the Lord Himself... cos in our materialistic consumer culture, we are so caught up with trying to satisfy ourselves with things that will leave us hungry... after we engage in some retail therapy, we're left with the feeling that we dun have enough and we gotta buy some more... after people engage in sexual gratification, they'll be left with a continual lust for more... after people engage in entertainment- movies, TV, games and the like, they'll be left hungry for more... and they're stuck in a self-perpetuating cycle that binds the person to the world and blinds the person to God... And i speak this from my own experience... This year, the Lord has been teaching me much about life... what it means to have life in Him... what it means to rest in Him and be satisfied in Him.. On thursday when i was just having my lunch alone and there's no one around to disturb me, i just felt so satisfied in God and so rested in God.. it's like how a child feels in the arms of their father or mother... And that thing about it is that i didn't even have to do a thing... i just have to be... yeah that's it.. cos Jesus is the Great I Am... and when i am in Him, i will also be... (sounds cheem but true)... There's something about being satisfied in God and being rested in him and living His life and allowing Him to live His life through us.. The reason why contentment is next to godliness is cos unless one is God-centred, he is left unsatisfied, discontented, restless... and he will chase after every passing craze just to fill it... not knowing that Jesus said that the works that God requires of us is to believe in the One that He has sent.. that's another profound statement cos imagine Him saying that the works that God requires is to believe- we dun even have to do a thing.. we just have to believe.. we dun have to strive to take our place in God.. we are already there.. we just have to believe and appropriate that truth in our lives and live it out! To enter His promises is to enter his rest... (Read the book of Hebrews) The rest of God is calling out to us...

To reinforce this truth, i'd like to share some songs that have been in my spirit these days:

Made to Worship

Before the day
Before the night
Before the world revolved around the sun
God on high
Stepped down into time
And wrote the story of His love for everyone

He has filled our hearts with wonder
So that we'll always remember

You and I were made to worship
You and I were called to love
You and I are forgiven and free
When you and I embrace surrender
When you and I choose to believe
Then you and I will see who we were meant to be...

Even the rocks cry out
Even the heavens shout
At the sound of His holy Name
So let every voice sing out
Let every knee bow down
He is worthy of all our praise

Blessed Assurance

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
Oh what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir or salvation, purhased of God
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood

This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Saviour all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Saviour all the day long

Perfect submission, perfect delight
Visions of rapture now burst from my sight
Angels descending, bing from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love

Perfect submission, all is at rest
I in my Saviour am happy and blest
Watching and waiting, looking above
Filled with His goodness, lost in his love

These two songs have lotsa truth to communicate, especially the latter (though not many of us sing hyms nowadays...) But just meditate on these and sing them to the Lord and allow Him to reveal the truth of His rest to you... These past few days, I've been feeling so rested and so alive in my spirit.. and i didn't even have to do anything... It's all God...

God bless! ;)

In Christ Jesus

Today went to church and spent some time with Auntie Ivy discussing stuff for Children's Camp.. and things are looking good lah... :) hehe..we had dinner and Auntie Ivy was telling me some lame stuff... one of the things she said was that (King) Solomon had 300 prime ribs and 700 spare ribs... hahaha.. if u can guess wad she's talking abt and why it's so funny, just put it in the tag.. :P

Ok.. on a more serious note, here's what i sensed during my prayer time... i saw walls coming down and fire coming down to destroy the yokes off people... The Lord is doing a work of healing and breakthrough in the ministry... He's doing a work of deliverance.. He's releasing freedom and victory... All we have to do is jump in and begin to claim it for ourselves and for our lives... Here's the scripture:

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died -more than that, who was raised to life -is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For i am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:31-39 (emphasis mine)

As the Lord is bringing us to focus on Himself, He wants us all to remember what He has already done and how He has already won the victory. And as we abide in Him, as we allow Him to take over our lives and find our place in Christ Jesus, we have access to His victory, to His freedom, to being more than conquerors in His Name... That's how it works.. That's what it's all about.. it's very simple but true.. He has already won it and we have to learn how to take our place in Him and allow Him to live out His life through us and walk in that victory, walk in the abundant life that He has promised... It's an exchange- our lives for His, our ways for His, our own way of doing things for His way of doing things... It's all about surrender... It's about being in Him... Cos all things belong to Him and cos we are in Him, we have access to them...

It's about abiding in Him, walking in the Word of God.. walking in obedience to His will cos He is the Word of God and as we walk in Him, we'll have access to His life.. It's about understanding His lordship and us walking in obedience under His lordship over our lives... cos we experience all these in Christ Jesus our Lord... As we walk in His ways, that life and victory will be available for us... and none can separate us from our place in Christ... all of us can walk and live in this position, not just the "super spiritual" ones... and nothing around us, no matter what troubles we may be going through, can separate us from that right to access Jesus and be in Him... Think about it! This privilege is more wonderful than you think!

The key? Surrender...
God bless! ;)

Tree of Life

Note: I appeal to all of you who love the truth... when you read the following post, please dun just glance through it cos there's so much truth that the Lord has revealed and i dun want it to go to waste... There are some parts that may be hard to digest but meditate on it and it will bless you! :)

I'm always very curious at what God is doing... and when He's revealing something, I'm usually very excited... but it seems that this year is the bumper year when He's really going ballistic in terms of revelations and all that... :)

Just wanna write down things i sense during the day and during my time of prayer.. while reading the prayer booklet today, the Lord just impressed upon me a few things to do for the WMD Camp... hehe.. it's gonna be the first time we're gonna do it in any camp... curious? Wait until the camp lah.. just wanna whet ur sense of expectation.. :) I'm really v v v excited! :D stay tuned...

While praying, i saw the number 12 before me and a tree which i knew was the tree of life... And the Scripture that was impressed upon me was Proverbs 13:12 (which incidentally had the number 12 in it..)

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

And the Lord has been building upon the words that he has released throughout the year.. some of you may recall about John 10:10 and John 3:16 which talk about the life of Christ.. and about the cherubim with the flaming sword which turned every way to the tree of life in Genesis.. the Lord is making the tree of Life available to us! It's a revelation of Jesus as the Author of Life.. as the Great Reviver cos revival is essentially bringing life into something... And the arrival of the Great Reviver is also mentioned in Haggai, when the Desired of the Nations comes.. that is, when longing is fulfilled... it's too much for me to write about but meditate on these topics... Revelations 22:2 also says:

On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Again we see the number 12 there as well as the tree of life... It's talking about fruitfulness.. 12 is a number representative of government.. and when the government is in the hands of Jesus- the control, the dominion, etc...- then we'll see life, we'll see fruitfulness!

One thing that the Lord was impressing upon me today was that hope is something that we have to wait for, something we wait in eager expectation to arrive... in the NIV, when it comes, it talks about a longing being fulfilled... the term longing indicates that its a long time of waiting... but when it comes, it's gonna be a tree of life.. the waiting will be all worth it cos things of true value are worth waiting for... and that's how you know how genuine and valuable they are.. cos the earth is fleeting and quickly fading away but the Word of the Lord stands forever and He is not stressed to bring about what He has promised.. cos He owns time.. He's in control of time and he will fulfill His promises at his own time... And that's what proves that they are something of the Lord and something of true value and not just a temporary hype created by human earthly wisdom...

The longing is the process... And what He's doing in this period of waiting and longing is more than just bringing about an increasing expectancy.. he's actually bringing us into focus, into a divine convergence on who He is, not just on what He does.. cos this season of waiting is a season of preparation cos if revival is launched prematurely, we'll be more caught up with its manifestations than the Person of Jesus! So what He's doing in this long waiting period is He's getting us hungry for Him! He's bringing us to focus on Him- on His Person! He's revealing himself as the Desired of all Nations cos He can't reveal Himself like that if there's no time of waiting for the nations to desire Him. Do you see- the period of waiting is our preparation! And this principle is more than just a principle for building a lasting revival... it is a principle for the Bride of Christ herself as she awaits the coming of the Bridegroom! It's also a principle you can apply for intercession.. that's why you wait in the presence of God and discipline yourself to cast all distractions aside... so that after the time of waiting and barging through a siege of distractions, then all you'll be left with is Him, the Bridegroom, the Desired of all Nations....

This is the third installment of what the Lord has been teaching me for the past 3 days... If i had a title for the whole thing, i would call it "Preparing the Way"... but i'm sure there'll be more truth that the Lord will reveal.. :)

Ok on a different note.. while praying for Children's Church just now, i strongly believe that the coming healing move of God will involve them as well... as in they will be equipped and mobilised to go forth and pray healing over people... and I'm so excited cos the Lord has already revealed to me a part of what i'm called to do in CC... so everyone, pls uphold CC in prayer cos we dun wan anything to prevent us from entering into that promise! :)

Time to meditate! :) God bless! ;)

Restoration of Relationship

Just wanna blog about the weekends.. they've really been tiring for me and i had my fair share of ups and downs lah.. ok on saturday, went to church early for worship prac and during the prac, we were worshipping and as we were taking the first song, the Holy Spirit's presence came.. Thank You Holy Spirit for showing up.. though we don't deserve it, you still show up and it's only by Your grace, Lord.. The Holy Spirit's presence changes everything.. as we were practising the first song, i just saw fire coming down into the sanctuary.. we really had a wonderful time.. when we sang Lift Up Your Eyes, i just felt that the worship moved to a new level and later, JK released a word that God is going to give us a revelation of Him or smth like dat.. Den as we went along worshipping the Lord during prac, the Lord impressed upon me to sing this song... the words are a reference to Isa 61 which i believe the Lord is gonna do in our ministry:

The Spirit of the Lord
Is now upon me
To heal the broken heart
And set the captives free
To open prison doors
And cause the blind to see
The Spirit of the Lord
Is now on me

And we sang that song as a declaration of what we believe the Lord wants to do in our midst... After worship prac, we went for our 330 meeting and den had LG... we revised the John 3:16 sharing and Gideon and Nic did a pretty ok job presenting it.. I'm sure we'll all get better at it with more practice... :) Then we all went for service and we had a time of worship.. during the worship, i read out 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 and Psalm 139 which i felt some maybe needed to hear... If it ministers to you, i encourage you to read it again at your own time cos the Word of God is powerful and brings healing to the soul... :) Den Uncle Paul shared a good message on prayer and fasting... though it was simple, it ministered to me and i found it good cos i could really hear the heart of God behind his words.. and it's that message that challenges one to respond to it... :) We started the 40 day cycle of seeking God on a great note and i really appreciated yesterday.. one of the thoughts i had during the service that i perhaps need to share is that we shouldn't wait for camps or such events to get right with God but as we feel the Holy Spirit move in our hearts, we should respond to His conviction.. :) (dunno why I'm typing so many smileys in this post)....

Anyway, went to AMK Hub for dinner.. first time i ate at the food court.. oh btw, Eugene, Alex's fren joined us for service and for dinner.. and it was so great to see him mixing around with us.. :) had ice cream after dinner and even saw CHS' Pastor Ben at the food court with a bunch of them.. :) Den got home.. during my time of prayer, the Holy Spirit was just teaching me that preparing the way for the Lord talks about establishing a relationship with Him. When John the Baptist had that commission to be a voice in the wilderness to prepare the way for Him in Isa 40:3, essentially it is a job that calls one back to a relationship with God... The way for the Lord is relationship cos that's the way we experience Him in our lives, the way we experience more of Him and the channel that produces fruitfulness in our lives, even as we abide with Him (see John 15)... And that's one fundamental work that we have to see when we talk about preparing for revival.. The way = the journey = your walk with God = your relationship with Him... :)

Had a tiring yet excellent day to start the 40-day period..

Sunday. Had combined service in the morning, followed by some slacking at the youth room and then went out and watched the movie "Next"... Was quite moody the whole day lah... During my prayer time, i was just ranting out to God and pouring out my share of disappointments.. Actually Chris is quite sensitive one... he gets discouraged easily especially with what people do or say...and so i spent a considerable time complaining to the Lord.. His reply? "Move on." Just that... and when He said that, He sounded very much like Alvin really...

While praying, the Holy Spirit was continuing from yesterday's lesson and He was teaching me that revival is not like some entity or situation in itself that comes.. like when revival comes, you say "It is here!".. that sorta thing... rather what revival is is simply the presence of the Reviver, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself coming to fill us with Himself, His presence, etc... so when will revival come, it will come when there's a deep hunger and cry from our hearts for Him, the Reviver... And from Him, we'll get to experience His life and the blessings that flow out of it...sometimes, all of us are so caught up in praying for revival that what we're doing is that we're simply desiring the manifestations or blessings of the revival instead of desiring the Lord Himself.. and I'm guilty of that too.. but we need that change in mindset.. that when we pray for revival, we'll be certain of what or Who we really want... and the channel that the Reviver is gonna come through? Our relationship with Him of course... that's the way that is being prepared for Him to come.. There is gonna be a restoration of our relationship with the Reviver before revival comes... :)

The Holy Spirit is the one who does that.. He draws us to Him.. He reveals Jesus in our hearts.. And Jesus said that if He be lifted up from the earth- if He be honoured and regarded as holy in the sight of men- then He'll draw all men unto Himself... The Lord said that when the kingdom of God comes, ppl wun say "here it is" or "there it is" but the kingdom of God is within us.. it's cause of that relationship with God inside of us... :)

God bless y'all! ;)

The Spirit of Limitation

Was at Gatekeepers today and just had a few thoughts regarding certain things.. it is my desire and passion to see people rising up, especially leaders, taking up their full potential, taking intiative, talking active leadership and rising up in boldness and humility before the Lord..

But i believe that quite a number of people have been facing the spirit of limitation.. and this limitation comes in the form of many ways.. essentially, it limits people from rising up.. it acts like a cap that people seem to remain on a certain level and cant seem to go any further... sometimes it takes the form of certain mindsets that people deceive themselves with concerning the Kingdom of God.. you know the mindset that goes like: "This thing is not for me" "It's only for the super spiritual" "If i follow God, I'll be more constrained by rules" "Praying is boring" "I'm satisfied with where I am" "I'm contented with living a normal life" "But other Christians around me don't seem as spiritual wad.. so why should i be?" "There's too much cost and sacrifice involved" etc...

Sounds familiar??? :)

When we wanna count the cost of serving God and weigh it against the benefits, we have to count it with undeceived eyes and seeing through the eternal truth of the Word of God.. cos otherwise, we'll forever be thinking that worldly pleasures are much more satisfying and gratifying that God and His Kingdom... Do you know that the abundant life is the normal life? Do you know that anything below what God has planned for you, that is modeled in the Bible as shown by Christ's life and the life in the book of Acts- anything below that is not normal? What, then, is normal? Abundance of God in our lives is normal.. and we need to wage a holy war against everything in our lives that limit that.. Let us not be blinded by our own pursuits but instead of pursue Christ in His Kingdom...

Our mindset has to bow and accomodate the will of God, the increase that God wants to bring into our lives.. The Lord wants to break off us the spirit of limitation.. everything that has hindered us in the past, everything that prevents us from going to the next level.. but it's not just His part.. we have a part to play too.. our job is to surrender.. let go of everything that is holding us back... Surrender to God.. seek God.. agree that His ways are holy, righteous and true.. and walk in them.. Let's put aside every mindset that hinders us.. Get our minds renewed by God's Word..

We have to pray and war against the spirit of limitation and allow God to bring breakthrough... But first, we gotta want it.. we gotta contend for it.. we have to position ourselves to apprehend it... no guts, no glory...

God bless ya! ;)

Making a Difference

Yesterday, Uncle Ban preached a message regarding Jonathan and how the Spirit of the Lord moved him to go to the Philistine camp with his armor bearer and wage warfare while all Israel was in hiding... and the result was that everyone mustered up some courage to move out after they heard the commotion that Jonathan was causing and they decided to come out of hiding, den fight against the Philistines and God gave them the victory...

Today, while i was in prayer, the Lord seemed to challenge me to do something... to step out to do something in particular lah.. hmmm... i've never quite tried it b4 so it's gonna have to take some faith... but when God really moves through it, we're gonna see something great come forth! Lord, i need your wisdom and guidance to accomplish this! ~pray for me yeah...

Anyway, i forgot to blog about something cool and interesting that happened on Sunday... During CC, ***** came to me and sat next to me and we had a little chat.. he was asking me about what i was gonna do and about me becoming a teacher and all... den he asked me a question which went something like this: "Where are you going to teach? ______ ah?" and i was quite surprised cos the place that he mentioned is really the place that i sensed a few months back that the Lord wants me to go to!!! And all that coming from a little kid!!! I think God was really bringing some confirmation into my life... hehe.. thank You Lord... :)

Oh.. and there's one thing that i took back from watching the Spidey movie sometime back... one old man remarked something like, "I guess one person can make a difference..."

God bless y'all! ;)

New Day

Yesterday during prayer meeting i saw water come and fill the desert places... The other time i saw that was during the prayer retreat that we had earlier on this year.. I'm desperate for revival to hit us.. Are we like the desert? Are we thirsty and desperate for a move of God? Are we crying out to Him to pour out His Spirit upon us? No revival has been ushered in without a desperate cry of prayer from the heart of God's people... my challenge is this- will you be the one?? Dun let anyone know.. just lock urself in ur prayer closet and begin to cry out for revival.. nobody's gonna notice you or know what you're doing or even give you a thank you cert for it.. just between you and God... will you be the one to usher in the King of Glory??

Another thing i saw was a sunrise and it talks about the dawning of a new day.. God is working in our midst.. One of the things He wants to do is cut off the past... The Lord wants to bring a complete healing to those things that have injured the church in the past.. like ppl issues, and splits, hurts, gossipping, etc.. Cos it's time to move on. It's time to be released from what has been stalling us... It will be a start of a new day where we'll begin to experience His blessings anew and they will flow and truly He'll give us the times of refreshing that we are longing for...

But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet... Malachi 4:2-3

Are you ready? :)

Drill

I had a quick nap just now and i had a dream... I dreamt that i was in some regimental squad.. kinda like an army... and we were supposed to do some drill.. now the person who was training us happened to be a lady and she gave a command for all of us to fall into 3 ranks or something.. (can't exactly remember if the commands were in english, malay or a mixture..) den in my eagerness to show off that i had some previous knowledge of drill (i used to be in Boys Brigade), i zealously tried to execute the drill command but it happened that i did it wrongly and ended up in a rather awkward and embarassing position with my hand sticking out or something.. not that the rest around me did it perfectly but in my zealousness to prove myself i ended up with a weird posture and an awkward execution... then i heard the lady instructor saying something like "Your bearing reflects on your nation..." or something like that (cant really remember the exact words)...

Dreams usually have an allegorical meaning and i believe that this one has a wealth of things to say... first of all, for myself- sometimes, in my pursuit of God i try too hard.. even perhaps to the point that i rely on the things i do to get closer to Him.. that's not supposed to be the case.. i believe God wants me to rest in Him...

Ok now for other interpretations... I believe that the drill instructor is the spirit of wisdom.. why do i think so? cos if u take a look at the book of Proverbs, wisdom is referred to as a "she" and one of the things that wisdom produces in us is discipline... we are part of an army, we are part of the kingdom of God and our bearing and how we conduct ourselves reflect on the Kingdom we represent.. first, individually and then corporately... The thing about drill is that all of us have to give our best in keeping our bearing even in the small things- the small details of how we move, stomp our feet, etc... And all of us have to be united in setting this standard and following it.. unity is important... if everyone in the squad gives his best, except for one, the effect can be felt and the whole squad doesn't do well in executing the drill commands.. so not only one person has to do his best but the whole squad too.. and the thing is that many times, many of us are not willing to be faithful in the small little details and this causes the performance of the whole squad to be compromised. The truth is that we serve a King and we are representatives of His Kingdom and how we conduct ourselves individually and corporately reflects on that.

Another lesson we can learn is that the execution is just as important as the end result.. if a move is not executed correctly, the desired effect is not there.. and sometimes, with a wrong execution, we get a wrong result... we should start paying more attention to the process and not just the product. The attitude is also important.. having zeal is not enough.. we have to be zealous for the right things and execute that zeal with the right process.. many times, we are zealous for selfish reasons.. take the Singapore church in context, we should not be zealous to "perform well" for the kingdom of God and win lots and lots of souls just for the selfish reasons of having a large church with a large reputation and a large head at that.. rather, we should be zealous for what is greater than us, for the whole body of Christ at large, for our Lord and Master and His Kingdom that we represent. Our attitude is important.

When revival comes, it's not just one church by one church working on their own but churches working together to establish the Kingdom of God. Our bearing reflects on our nation, that is the church, the people of God and those in His Kingdom.. and the church in turn reflects God Himself.. May His reputation be of greater importance than ours or our church's. Jesus said that if He be lifted up from the earth, He will draw all men unto Himself! :)

God bless! :)

Flat God

Yesterday was a fun day... went to check out a new *secret* campsite for Sojourners camp together with JK and Al... yupz.. it looks really promising.. then we headed down to Bugis area where we lured Al into a surprise birthday dinner with a whole bunch of other ppl... the look on his face was classic.. :P

Hmmm... had a thought yesterday that i just wanna blog abt.. many times we see a flat God.. though He's not at all flat.. there are many facets of His character, His person waiting to be revealed.. the thing is more often than not we see Him to be flat.. that is, we only see one aspect, one portion, one limited dimension to His character.. the reason is because we often dun seek Him and bother experiencing Him when we're having fair-weathered situations in our lives.. many times, it usually takes us to get into some trouble, hardship or situation before we start coming to God longing to experience Him.. that sucks doesn't it..

There's so much more of Him to know, to understand, to see, to apprehend but the question for us today is- are we too caught up with all our own situations to see Him as He is??

Just some thoughts...

The Joseph Company

Went to Cornerstone Church yesterday with Al, Serene, Auntie Lee Noi and her fren for the special meeting with Todd Bentley.. the presence of God is so awesome.. It was wonderful being in that atmosphere! i believe there were things that God deposited in my life during the meeting.. Thank You Lord.. :)

Anyway, as i was praying at home, i just sensed that within Salem Chapel, God has placed a Joseph company.. these people are marked out by God for the purpose of bringing in the resources into the storehouse.. they're the ones whom God is gonna raise up so that they can finance the missions work and other works for the Kingdom of God.. you see, i sense that what God is gonna do through us and what He's gonna build and establish in the next phase is greater than what we have already accomplished in the last 40 years... and all this takes $, of course.. and God has strategically placed people in Salem Chapel who are gonna be part of this Joseph company to bring in the wealth for establishing the Kingdom of God... These are glorious times ahead.. :D Specifically, one of the places in SEA in which i sense the Lord wants to establish more things is **** cos the place came into my mind while worshipping the Lord at Cornerstone yesterday.. perhaps the Lord wants me to go there... pray with me ya? ;)

Bless ya! ;)

Movement or Monument??

I had a dream last night and one of the things i saw was an art sculpture that could move somehow.. it was one of those that used some kind of mechanical technology that could allow certain parts of it to move.. and this sculpture was made in the form of a boat with two sculpted people (i think) who were rowing inside.. the oars were the parts that could move and they were moving automatically.. the sculpure was placed in the sea and it seemed like a well-known tourist attraction.. the reason why the sculpture was so famous is because although it was moving and there was rowing going on, the boat wasn't going anywhere... it just stayed in the same spot in the water.. and it seemed that the two sculpted people who were rowing the boat on each side were rowing in 2 different directions so they cancelled each other out.. so in the end though the boat sculpture was moving, it was not going anywhere...

There are certain principles that i believe we can learn from this... first of all it doesn't mean that just because we see a ministry "moving" that it is going somewhere.. it's not as if i see this kind of stagnancy happening in sojourners but rather we must be careful.. we must take care not to allow the monotony of "going through the motion" in running the ministry make us think that we're actually moving according to God's will. Rather, we must also take care and ensure that we are not just moving but we are moving somewhere. We must always check ourselves against the vision that the Lord has already given and take our bearings from there.. then we'll know where we are and where we should be headed... I believe we really have to move according to God's will and maintenance mode is not an option! You see, revival is a movement, not a monument.. I don't want people to make us a case-study or a tourist attraction of why revival has failed.. i want a long and lasting revival.. the welsh revival ended quickly, as did a few other moves of God cos people stayed and camped and it ended up becoming a monument instead of a movement. Now they are merely case studies and "tourist attractions" of ages past of how God moved and how men quenched them.. So let us take great care in ensuring that we are not just moving but we're moving somewhere- according to God's will... i dun just want revival.. i want a long and lasting revival.. To do this, unity is important, we must be rowing in the same direction and not opposing or contradicting one-another but instead supporting one-another... pride might get in the way as leaders fight for control and recognition for bringing about moves of God... we must all lay this aside if we want a lasting revival...

Ok.. haven't been blogging for a long time so i'm gonna post an update of what's been going on.. i'm a history student after all... :P

Friday 27 April
Had gatekeepers in the evening and the Lord put in my heart two things on that day..
-firstly, that God is gonna ressurect those burried dreams and vision in Sojourners ministry.. i'm talking about all that vision-casting and dreaming that has been done in the previous leaderships that have somehow died and was burried all those years.. God is gonna resurrect them.. one area i believe in particular is the mandate of Team Apostolos to go out in the area of worship evangelism.. we're gonna see more of that...
-secondly, the other thing that the Lord has placed in my heart is regarding the area of evangelism... we're gonna see more of that too in the ministry in the days ahead.. :)

Saturday 28 April
Had EN2113 paper in the morning... then i went to church for teachers meeting and Amanda and I cut those little coupons to give the kids for points for the camp... Then went for revival meeting in the evening where Pastor Timothy prophesied that the Lord has called the church to be a lighthouse in the community or something liddat.. and it was something that i bore witness with cos the week before, when Misait was preparing for worship youth service, the Lord showed them as a lighthouse... remember what i wrote earlier about Team Apostolos' mandate in worship evangelism.. i believe that Misait carries the same thing.. :)

Hmmm.. and the Lord impressed upon me Jeremiah 17 during the worship and the speaker confirmed it cos he briefly touched on it also... but as to the context the Lord was speaking it in, i still have to meditate on it i guess..

Sunday 29 April
Had new team in the morning and servers cell during 2nd service timeslot. Then went for choir practice after that.. choir practice was kinda fun.. hehe... my first time joining choir all these years in Salem.. den stayed back in church to study..

Monday 30 April
Had HY2247 paper in the morning... didn't really do much...

Tuesday 1 May
Went for the baptism event at ECP and i wanna congratulate Dee, Clara, Raj and Navin for taking the step of faith in their walk with God! :) Oh.. and there was a dead rat that washed up on shore.. hahaha.. After the event, a bunch of us went to eat lunch and den go roller blading.. wasn't really in the mood to roller blade so i planned to study for my TS paper in Burger King... den apparently some ppl needed a bit of help lah cos not used to blading so i decided to accompany them and help out when i could...

Wednesday 2 May
Camped in church to study until the evening.. den went for prayer meeting...

Thursday 3 May
Had TS1101E paper in the morning... my last paper for the semester! It was kinda not very easy lah and i think i should have answered a different question than the one i chose but oh well.. it's in the Lord's hands.. den went to eat Pepper Lunch with RJ at AMK hub.. den went home.. so much for "celebrating" after exams have ended...

Friday 4 May
Alvin and I met Andrew Yeo for lunch at Katong to discuss WMD camp. After spending a while with him, you'll get inspired and challenged too as you listen to him cos he really makes an effort to share from his own life and share his heart... and even after all the areas where God has been using him, he's quite humble too... So if u have time, visit www.myspace.com/andrewyeoignite and support his ministry... :) After that we went to watch Spiderman 3 at Lido and got my fingers delightfully greased by the buttered popcorn.. that's my fav kind.. and so far only Lido sells that kind of popcorn i think.. it's a must-try.. :)

Saturday 5 May
Went to buy the binders and cover for the devotional booklets in the morning before heading to church to pass them to Amanda and Val... I just wanna thank the both of you for all the hard work and effort in compiling and printing those booklets as well as those who helped out in one way or another... :) had youth service and den went to J8 in the evening...

Sunday 6 May
Oooh... really long day.. went to sit in for the first part of the first and second services cos of the announcement i was supposed to make regarding Children's Church Camp.. and i really thank God for all the generous response from various people in the church in contributing financialy to the Kingdom of God.. was really encouraged by that lah.. :) only Dee came when New Team broke up into sectionals cos the rest were serving in Misait.. Later that morning, i went to Children's Church to deliver the lesson that i was supposed to teach two weeks before.. i decided to make the teaching rather fast cos the speaker for service was also quite fast and i din want a situation like the other time when i was barely into my first slide when service ended and i had to stop... Ok.. after service, when for choir prac again which was again quite fun.. got quite lost here and there lah when we all came together from our sectionals but now we have the CD to practice at home... :) Den a whole bunch of us went to IKEA to makan... i've been eating the meatballs too often lah so i decided to eat something else.. but still had the chicken wings though.. :9

That's all for now.. God bless! :D

It's not Painful...

havent updated in a really long time... nvm.. im gonna update these next few days.. anyway just wanna blog abt something i felt the Holy Spirit was impressing upon me..

Ok so i was praying just now and i was asking God to begin to judge those things in our lives that are keeping us from Him.. i was saying "I know it's painful..." and i felt the Holy Spirit interrupt me there and then and told me that it's not painful if we let go of it.. it's only gonna be painful if we hold onto it.. then we also kena... get wad i mean?? That's why, as i already told some ppl, the best way is surrender... submit to God yeah...

God bless! ;)