Sojourner Chronicles

Hi guys... to all of you out there who bother to read this blog of mine.. i decided to get another blog which i can use as an outlet for my creative juices.. i figured that i love a good story and i like telling stories.. so i'm trying to develop a series of fictional stories just to get my imagination running (so that i wun grow old :P)... yeah i got this on impulse and what you read there is what you get.. i dun have a proper outline for a story athough i have a vague idea but basically, i'm trying to write a fantasy with whatever inspiration that comes... so pls dun expect too much! :P anyway, i'll try to include a few real-life characters that i know, esp. soj.. :P but nothing's really certain at the moment... oh but i hope the story turns out well... :P

http://sojourner-chronicles-online.blogspot.com/

cheers,
chris

The Reality of His Word

i've been spending my late evenings recently reading old hardy boys books.. yeah i know im supposed to be way past that stage but there's something in me that craves for a sense of thrill and adventure so i would eagerly devour each mystery in one sitting.. and i realised that as i lay there on my bed reading page after page, the book would engage my faculties... it would begin to stir my imaginations and draw me deeper into it.. and reading these kind of adventure novels have that effect on you where you seem to be drawn into the book.. almost like you're one of the characters and that you're there going through and experiencing the adventure with them...

and from that little event, God was showing me something.. This season, he has been emphasising upon me to learn to live by His Word and take His Word for it.. and take His Word as my living reality.. almost like when i read the Word of God, the Holy Spirit stirs my imaginative faculties and brings the Word of God to life... and as He reveals truth upon truth, precept upon precept, they impart life.. the very pages become alive, speaking into my situation.. they draw me deeper into them and into a greater love for Jesus.. and God actually wants us to experience His Word and make it our reality.. cos His Word opens up a realm that if we learn to access it by faith, we'll begin to live by it... He wants to make His Word not just experiential but incarnational- that it literally becomes a part of us.. He wants to make His Word so alive to us that we'll be like living in His Word, experiencing it manifested in our daily lives...and it will be the greater truth, the higher truth that we will take and hold on to regardless of the situations around us... the greater reality we live by regardless of our natural circumstances..

one of the things that i've been meditating on is the concept that what if your healing doesnt come the way you expect it? for long, i've thought that it might work this way- when someone comes over and prays for me and i'll receive something.. or perhaps when God touches me and i cry and cry and really experience Him in some dramatic or spectacular way... but what if He doesnt do it liddat?? i've been seeking God for some breakthroughs in my personal life and i know His answer to them... now i'm sure of how i'm gonna get them.. i'm gonna take His Word for it. That's it.. plain and simple.. raw faith in His Word.. im gonna take His Word as the greater reality over my life! Like when i need healing.. i will stand on what His Word already says.. i'll cling to it, submit myself to it, make room for it, live by it.. and allow it to do its work in my life.. though i may not see immediate or tangible results in the natural, i dun care, i'm gonna stand by what His Word says.. and that's an exercise of faith... what profit would it bring to my spiritual life if i already have something in the natural and yet believe God for it? God wants to take me beyond myself so that He can develop a testimony in me of how real and faithful He is...

Holy Spirit impressed upon me to read Psalm 139 again this evening... it says "your eyes saw my unformed body".. even before He formed us, His eyes saw us.. similarly, are we able to gain His perspective? That even before we have our breakthrough or answer to our prayers formed before us, are we able to see them? Are we able to see what still is not and like Him, call the things that are not as though they were? faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen... and His Word is more sure than what we see in the natural.. it's the real thing and it's more real than what we see...

God bless! :D

Seed Planting

Today was a mighty interesting day.. i decided to go to church "early" (though it was after lunch) to attempt to study and what do you know.. the whole bunch of them who were planning for the seed planning event were around in church... haha.. so in the end i never got to do what i intended to... but oh well...

seed planting was fun.. our team came in 2nd after all the bonus time deductions and we were only behind the first team by 1 minute or smth.. sorry guys.. those of you who were looking forward to the pasta and grill, another day lah... the guys did a good job planning.. enjoyed myself lah.. never felt so alive and so young.. literally.. i fell down while i was trying to chase the bus.. what happened was that i tried to cut into the grass to try to flag the bus but i lost balance when my foot slipped off the sidewalk... and i went straight diving for a metal bar... it was really like slow mo.. felt that something cushioned my fall and caused me to avoid hitting my head on that metal bar lah... thank God that His angels are on the job! haha...

The Holy Spirit spoke to me during one of the checkpoints.. we were supposed to do the Bible trivia at the post office which was Jerry's station.. and one of the trivia questions was satan's first temptation on Jesus.. and the answer was turning the stone into bread.. and in that split second, the Holy Spirit was illuminating to me a truth about temptations.. satan didn't tell Jesus to eat bread.. he only told Him to turn the stone into bread wad.. so what seems to be wrong with dat? if Jesus actually did it, He still wun actually be breaking His fast rite? But actually the truth about temptations is that one small compromise leads to another very quickly and what may seem like an innocent thing like turning stone into bread would most likelly eventually lead Jesus to actually eating it and breaking His fast.. the moral of the story? dun fall for it the first time round.. it may seem small, harmless and maybe even not outright transgressing... but chances are, if you take that bait, you're trapped the next instant.. and going in the way of that small little compromise might just cause you to end up going "all the way" and outrightly sinning against God the next moment.. so dun give the devil a foothold...

;)

Thoughts During Gatekeepers

We really had a fruitful session today praying and i really thank the Holy Spirit for being there.. just so happy i went.. felt so refreshed.. ahhh... anyway, i just wanna write down and blog my impressions and thoughts for today so that i dun end up forgetting them...

we entered a time of worship and then we went into warfare and just lifting up the Name of Jesus and declaring His victory.. one of the things that was impressed upon me is that we need to learn to pray from that place of victory, from that perspective.. cos many times when we pray we seem to be just hoping that things change or that God would do something and we pray from that wrong perspective.. but Jesus already has the victory and we must learn how to pray from that mindset..

The other thing i was impressed with during the worship was that Jesus already holds the keys in His hands.. the keys to every situation we face.. the keys to every problem and circumstance.. He purchased them by HIs blood.. He purchased deliverance from us.. and i believe He would give us specific keys if we ask Him for them..

While praying i saw a harvest field and i believe that literally we are at the threshold of exponential growth.. i also saw healing rain coming down and i believe God wants to heal people who are hurting on the inside.. it's like when an eagle retreats for a season to shed his old feathers so that his strength and youth is renewed.. i believe that we are in a time of healing and we must allow God to heal those hurts in our lives because that is our preparation for the next season where we're gonna run run run...

*One of the things that the Holy Spirit stongly impressed upon my heart is that the youth need to develop and cultivate their own walk with God for themselves.. they cant rely on their leaders to walk with God for them but they need to experience God for themselves and cultivate a strong devotional life with Him.. that's the way to grow.. it's time to move into maturity.. they mustn't be dependent on others for their spiritual growth.. and i believe that as a ministry, there must be a deliberate attempt to bring the people to this place of maturity where thay can walk on their own...

i also saw a vision of myself breaking arrows.. arrows symbollise all the lies and accusations of the enemy.. making us forget who we are.. causing us to look to ourselves and our failures and limitations.. bringing us away from the truth of the Word of God yada yada yada.. we need to learn to break all those lies, all those arrows and take them captive and not believe them anymore.. and we need the Word of God to come and renew our minds so that we believe Him and who He says we are and be secure in that truth...

Today, Martin also prayed something which spoke to me personally.. it was something i needed to hear.. He said something about faith.. the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.. and then he also talked about the wall of Jericho.. about walking around it over and over again but nothing seems to be happening.. and many times that's how i feel in my own walk as well as in the ministry.. i've been praying and believing God for breakthrough in certain areas but i seem to be going around in circles with no tangible results.. but guess wad.. God likes to make a spectacle of the impossible.. and all that He requires of me is obedience.. at Jericho, God's strategy is unlike any other.. He made the Israelites walk around in circles! Literally.. and surely they could have been demoralised, seeing those high walls and fortifications right in front of them... naturally, that should diminish their faith, rite? but the walls came down and the rest is history... so if any of you feels tired doing the things of God, just remember to be obedient to what He requires of you and He'll take care of the results! I'm gonna stand in faith that the walls are gonna come down! :)

Decided to take a long stroll home today... and i was observing a blind man walk along the pavement and cross the road today and i felt God speaking to me through it.. i had an awareness of my attitude that it's easier for me to believe God to meet my needs and to bother about my own concerns rather than believing God to meet the needs of that blind man and bothering about His concerns... the reason why many times, we don't see God move is always because we are so selfish in always believing God to meet our requests and needs but not others'.. i mean let's face it.. other ppl's problems are greater than ours.. but we'd rather believe God to meet ours and then brush aside other ppl's concerns.. and because of that we limit God cos God works through love.. and if we truly believe God to meet the needs of others, we'll see Him at work in a greater measure.. we'll see His power as a given... and we'll see that He's more than enough to meet our needs as well... ;)

God has not given me a spirit of fear but of love, power and of a sound mind...
No weapon formed against me shall prosper and every tongue raised against me, i shall rise up and condemn. This is the hearitage of the servants of the Lord and my righteousness is of Him saith the Lord...
His strength is made perfect in my weakness...

Be blessed! :D

What You Have, You Have in Abundance

I heard the Holy Spirit speak those words to me recently while i was in prayer... and really those few words really changed how i see things.. i've been seeking God for certain things recently and one of the things that He has been teaching me is how He is Father and I am his son and i have access to His Kingdom... And when the Holy Spirit spoke those words to me telling me that what i have, i have in abundance, it radically changed my mind cos it awakened me to the truth and the reality of the word of God..

if i looked at my natural situations, it's obvious what my limitations are.. naturally speaking i dun seem to have an abundance.. i need God's provision in certain areas, i need God's strength in certain areas... there are issues in my life and character that im still struggling with, that im still seeking Him for, etc... but God has been teaching me lately that the word of God is greater than my situations! It carries a greater authority and if i hang on to it by faith regardless of what i see, it is gonna become my reality! radical faith produces radical living...

So because i take His Word for it, guess wad i already have an abundance... and this word changes the way i look at things.. i no longer need to worry about $ cos i already have in abundance though i don't see it.. and because im making room for that word in my life and i'm submitting to it, im gonna live a life of giving cos i have in abundance... i had lunch with a fren last week and i was considerably late.. so he used that as an excuse to try to get me to buy him lunch.. which of course i took as a joke and proceeded to ask him to get his own lunch while i waited looking after our belongings.. and during that time alone, i remembered the word.. what i have i have in abundance.. and then it dawned on me that i should have practiced kingdom principles and taken the opportunity to bless him anyway.. but i took that as a learning point... same goes for my time.. though i seem very busy, i have an abundance of time though i may not really see it.. and as a result of taking His word for it, i'm gonna give of my time to whoever may need it... i mean that word that the Holy Spirit gave covers all, its not limited to certain spheres only but for everything i have, i have in abundance.. i have an abundance of righteousness, peace and joy... what i have, i have in abundance...

and that's the Kingdom perspective that God wants us to take, when our minds are renewed by His word, we won't be restricted or limited by lack or a witholding spirit but we'll learn to give and live by that Word of abundance because we know that His Word is more real and more sure than what we see or don't see in the natural! Now some of us may find excuses asking where is that in the Word of God?? I asked God that question too...

And then i was reminded of that verse.. let the weak say i am strong, let the poor say i am rich.. though they may not see strength and riches manifest in the natural yet, they declare it first cos of the sureness of the Lord's Word and promise.. The famous John 3:16 also tells us that He has given us eternal life if we believe in Him.. so inside me, i have eternal life, that is, the life of Christ with its boundless and limitless potential.. it's all there in me.. i have the Kingdom of God within me (which by the way, circumvents the natural laws of this world- if i live by Kingdom law and by Kingdom reality, multiplication should be the divine normalcy)... i have the capacity to live by the higher way, by the superior lifestyle of the Kingdom.. and that same eternal life in me is the same abundant life that Jesus promised to give in John 10:10... it's His life.. it's a dimension of limitless potential that i can tap into.. it's more than just living for a very long time.. it means access to the same life that Jesus has.. it means access to the overcoming life.. it means we have the capacity to and power to live an indestructible life.. I have Jesus' life in me... and i know He's able to do increasingly and abundantly beyond all i can ask or imagine.. it's Matthew 6 in practice... when we start walking in it, we will see the Sermon on the Mount being lived out through our lives, the revelation of God as Father...

so what does that mean? that means that what i have, i have in abundance.. cos inside of me i have the abundant life to tap into... and as i practise this principle and begin to live it out regardless of what i see and the seeming limitation of my situations, i will see it manifest in the natural.. i'll see the Kingdom of God manifest in the natural.. it's like a mindset, a divine perspective that we must all have.. and it's gonna change the way we live our lives.. we wun be focused on ourselves or our limitations anymore but on His Word... so when u think u dun have time for church cos of exams, remember that what u have u have in abundance.. u have an abundance of time and as u seek first the Kingdom and make choices that honour God, you're gonna see yourself walk in that abundance.. When we truly grasp this, we're gonna see the world differently... and interact with it differently... we are the head, not the tail.. we wun have that mindset of limitations or looking to ourselves anymore cos we'll be walking in Word-reality, in Kingdom reality!

faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen...

Battling Discouragement (part 2)

After i wrote that post with the same title.. God is really good cos He sent a word of encouragement through Auntie Ivy on Sunday.. basically after second-liners cell, i was supposed to sit with them for the main service but i went up and joined CC for worship for a while cos i was trying to help JJ out with the songs before that.. and when i was up there worshipping with the kids, Auntie Ivy took over and started praying and the atmosphere upstairs was different.. it was dynamic and i know that Holy Spirit was there.. then she started to pray for people and she released a word to the youth up there..

i cant really remember what words she used but essentially it was a word of encouragement for those in youth ministry who felt that what they were doing was in vain but God says that its not in vain... and that though we are in the desert but there is a stream and God is that stream.. she said a lot of other things i cant remember but essentially they were along those lines... and i know that that word of encouragement was also for me...

i think that what the youth min needs rite now is a change in mindset... a few weeks back, i was sitting in the sancturary for our usual pre-service prayer when the Holy Spirit convicted my heart and i had to repent for thinking that it's gonna be just another service... We need to throw away that mindset and every service, we really must expect God to move, expect Him to come, expect ourselves to have an encounter with Him.. that's gonna put such a demand on His presence that He's really gonna come... Really, the thing is that we decide what goes on in the service- whether God moves or not.. cos He always wants to move in His own way and we must learn to seek Him for His divine strategies and give Him a platform... So if its not gonna be just another service, what is it gonna be? We need to gain His plans and perspective and move with it and prophesy it.. speak it forth...

God has given us the earth to steward, even the ministry.. and life and death are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit.. and He has given us access to His heart by His Spirit.. so that we can declare and speak forth what is in His and our hearts that we wanna see happen.. and yes by that, we decide what happens...

So what to do? Firstly when we come for service, we don't rely on feelings.. even if we don't feel that the service is gonna be as dynamic as we hope, we will not believe that and go by that. Then instead, we'll declare "this service is gonna be different" "this service is gonna be special" "we're gonna encounter God today" "lives are gonna be changed"... and we're gonna believe what we declare regardless of what we see or feel... then watch as the Holy Spirit meets our expectations and takes us even beyond that...

The One Eternal Constant

I spent some time walking with God lately and there was one burning question that i had for Him.. one of the things that i was complaining about was how hard it is to find like-minded people.. and many times, i really find myself quite lonely.. and i was asking the Lord why He allowed circumstances in my life to just happen that seem to disrupt my social patterns and move me out of the circle of friends that i have.. sometimes it can be quite frustrating, lonely and even painful?.. it seems that it happens in cycles and i've seen it happen in various phases of my life...

And then He started speaking to me.. He was essentially telling me that He allowed those things to take place so that i'll learn now instead of later.. that i'll learn not to cleave onto man but onto Him because the truth is, people change but not Him and He is the only eternal thing that's constant in this world...

If it were to happen in a later part of my life, i would probably be even more affected by the changes cos i would have not yet learned to trust Him in this area and those disruptions would possibly have made me more frustrated, confused, maybe even hurt... But now, i know deep down inside that He wants me to know that He is my portion and that i don't need another to define me, tell me who i am or give me a sense of identity and He wants me to be secure in that...

on a side note, interestingly enough, the like-minded people that God has been bringing to me of late dun come from Charismatic/Pentecostal churches.. they come from Presbyterian and Brethren churches.. that's something interesting to ponder about...

Ethics in Marketing

I was in lecture yesterday when the prof was touching on business ethics and marketing.. like is it ok to practice bussiness bullying?? like when bigger companies buy, take over or resort to tactics to outdo their smaller competitors? or issit ok for ppl to call other companies pretending to be customers but actually they just wanna survey and compare prices with their competitors...

and while i was sitting there, i was pondering those questions on business ethics and why would they necessarily be wrong or otherwise.. one of the guiding principles i have in my life is that if you need to hide it (any hidden intentions, agenda, etc) instead of bringing it into the light, den you're keeping it in darkness and there's gotta be wrong somewhere.. but since ive never come to points in my life where i had to make such decisions, den i was wondering where i stand morally concerning them...

and the conclusion that i arrived at is this... you reap what you sow... do unto others what you want others to do unto you... people may say that if there are no laws against it then its perfectly fine.. i say that if you have to resort to such slimy tactics, then that means that you're scared of losing what you already have.. if it's something that God has given and God gives in abundance, then nothing can take it away.. the Bible says that a man can receive nothing except it be given to him from heaven.. and God gives a righetous man riches, honour and long life... so if truly what you have received is from heaven and cannot be taken away, then you dun need to resort to unethical means to try to outdo ur competitor just to get more money... if we truly practice Kingdom laws, then we circumvent the laws of these earth and we reap not just temporal but eternal rewards.. we operate on the higher way, a higher dimension, a higher way of living.. and that is God's way... give generously to the poor and treat others as you'd have them treat you.. we don't need to perpetuate the self-hoarding system that the world abides by cos if even our riches are from heaven, what more our character and way of life? it's a superior lifestyle.. our hearts will be enlarged enough for God to be able to trust us more and bless us more.. cos our riches are no longer our own but we're stewarding His resources cos our lives are His and the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof... we'll have a capacity for more cos the benefits of reaping what we've sown are reaped within ourselves- a larger heart, superior character and a greater capacity to give...

but then to those who practice unethical behaviour, even though it may not necessarily seen as illegal or even perhaps seen as wise and applaudable in the world's eyes, those people live in constant fear of losing what they have... God can change things in an instant... they'll be living in constant fear cos they would measure others by thier own standards, that is, they believe that others would be out to get them as they have done to others.. and living in fear is crippling compared to the freedom that one has with practising godly business ethics.. and because of that fear, they'll be hoarding their wealth, unable to experience the joy of giving and so consumed by a constant desire for more that they spend their years chasing the elusive dream of having "enough"... beloved, enough is only found in Jesus... and at the end, God may change things in an instant...

the way that the youth of today are so concerned with their education and chasing after their As to me mirrors the wicked man's pursuit of hoarding treasures on earth... if we dun break out of the cycle when we are still young, are we gonna wait for God to humble us and bring a shaking into our lives when we are older? Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added...

Battling Discouragement

One of the things i have consistently struggled with in ministry is discouragement.. i dont like it when ppl sms me last minute telling me they cannot come for this and that in church because of this and that reason... and though many times on the outside, i try to seem ok with it, deep inside me, i question ppl's values.. why issit that many of us put church outside our priorities? like when things come up and ppl have to decide between school and church, why issit that people find it easier to tell church leaders that they cant make it for church rather than tell school ppl they cant make it for their activities?? and many times it makes me angry cos ppl imply that other things are much more impt than God... and many times all these little things get the better of me and i focus on them instead of focusing on God.. and what happens is that i become all negative and i start thinking negative thoughts..

and yes, i have frequently had thoughts of giving up in ministry, even changing church, moving to somewhere else where people are so passionate.. i've complained to many ppl that it's just too hard to find ppl who are like-minded... after all changing church doesnt mean going away from God wad.. it's just like going to your Boss and telling Him you wanna get posted to a different department.. that's how i reasoned to myself (though i'm not encouraging others to do likewise)...

and so i was in one of my negative moods lately and as i was gbrushing my teeth and preparing to leave home and trying to sort my thoughts together at the same time, God was dropping things into my heart... He was emphasising Fatherhood.. and many times we have ppl in the ministry who are servants.. they serve God but they get discouraged and some quit.. but God was telling me that Fatherhood is different.. if you wanna be a father, you dun quit.. no good father leaves his children.. but fathers make sure that their children's dreams and destinies get raised up, even if it requires sacrifice on their part.. sometimes even at the expense of their own dreams... but guess wad.. even if their dreams die, God has the ability to raise it up better than what they initially though it'd be.. it's not my job to bring results.. all i have to do is be obedient and do the will of the Father..

pray for me. Sojourners, pray for your leaders. they need it. and send them smss once in a while. i'm sure they'd appreciate it.. :)

God bless! :D

chris (friend)

eh.. sorry i din answer ur earlier questions.. maybe i didnt see them or they din get through to cbox...

anyway one of the greatest misconceptions about Christianity is that it's a religion.. but it's actually a relationship.. you may think i'm crazy but i can tell you with a straight face that i actually have a relationship with Jesus.. He speaks to me just as certainly as i speak with Him... of course relationships take time to cultivate and sadly, many Christians out there do take Christianity as a religion, a system of dos and don'ts.. it's not about a system of laws for people to follow that becomes just an end in itself.. if we think of God that way, then we'll miss out on the point.. it's all about relationship... the very goal and purpose of it all is simply to know Jesus...

now when we take a look at everything from that viewpoint, we'll be able to look at the "loopholes" and find no contradiction.. from the perspective of a relationship with Jesus, what may look like loopholes on the surface are actually a revelation of who God is.. (i cant really talk much about all this cos i dun really know what specific "loopholes" you're referring to).. but let's look at it this way.. the human mind is soooo complex.. a human person, his makeup and personality is so complex as it is already, don't u agree.. den let's look at God.. if created humanity already is complex enough, what more its Creator? God is indescribable, unfathomable, unsearchable.. and so here He comes and reveals Himself through the Bible.. every line of every page says something about Him.. and people in their limited human minds try to understand it and we find many "loopholes"... but they're all just a complex multi-faceted revelation of Him...

And so if we do have a relationship with God, He shows us who He is.. He explains to us what is inexpliable and He takes us beyond where our own limited human minds would take us.. when i experience God, He just keeps on showing me how inadequate is my understanding of Him and life on this earth would not be enough to know Him fully.. And when He shows us what this whole Christianity really means, we find that seeming contradictions actually complement each other cos they always point us to Him.. i'm naturally a very inquisitive person and i have come across seeming contradictions that i wasnt able to understand at first.. but when i turn to Him and allow Him to show me, He changes my perspective and my understanding and let's me see how in the end, there's no contradiction.. i don't claim to have all the answers but He does! and if we ask Him to explain these "loopholes" from His perspective, we find that they're not loopholes at all...

This whole Christianity thing is not an intellectual excercise and if we keep on approaching it in that manner, we'll miss out on what is actually important; that relationship that He wants to have with us.. but when we approach everything else on the basis of that relationship, He makes everything clear.. He wants us to ask Him questions, to walk with Him and to trust Him though along the way we may encounter things we do not understand.. If we wait for Him to explain everything to us before we start walking with Him, it's gonna take more than a lifetime cos He's beyond everything we can naturally grasp... den we'll miss out the point which is to actually experience Him and enjoy Him as He enjoys us... I personally believe that the highest goal of what man can achieve is to know Him... yes, on our own it is impossible but that is why we need Him and He takes us beyond ourselves in this journey called life...

The Restoration of Fatherhood

I just spent some time with God just now and He was just showing me certain things on how the youth revival movement in Singpore is gonna look like.. One of the things that burden my heart about this country and especially the youth of this country is the condition of society. .and when revival comes, that's something that i wanna see changed.. there's a social problem that is self-perpetuating and people just dun seem to wanna talk about it.. everyone just wants to remain in the status quo.. what im talking about is how the young people of Singapore don't seem to be living their lives with any sense of real meaning and purpose.. its almost like they live to pass their next exam or move on to the next level in the education system and everything becomes centred on that that there's no room to live.. then things like entertainment, consumerism and friends then come in to give a sense of relief or a little oomph, a temporary boost to keep the tired Singaporean student going until after the next examination... and that's just one small part of it.. im talking about an entire value-system, an entire paradigm that people live by.. and the scary thing is that people think it's normal!!!

Now it's sad that we find this value system and paradigm even in the church of God itself.. people are more used to relating to paperwork and organisation structures than with people... even in writing this, i dun feel that i can adequately express enough in words what this entire social disease is all about... aren't we called to live an overcoming life? surely there must be more than this??

Today, God was showing me little snippets of the coming youth revival... it's a revival when Singapore youth will know God as their Father.. it's a revival where the fatherhood virtue of God shall be made known to the youths and they will learn to walk from that perspective. Now how does this tie in with the social problem? You see, one of the ways that the enemy has kept this generation from living with a sense of purpose is to take away their sense of identity.. cos if we knew who we are and we are able to know our sense of worth and value, we would be filled with such a purpose.. and this purpose, coupled with youthful zeal, shall destroy the kingdom of Satan in our nation... the reason why lives of Singapore youth are so muted down, watered down, passionless and undermined is cos Satan knows the power of a youth movement all sold out to do the will of their Father.. we need to step up and live our full potential...

Fatherhood is key to that sense of identity because a sense of identity is derived from knowing who you are and where you have come from.. and that sense of identity is in turn key to having a sense of purpose.. the thing is that satan has sought to destroy families and how one generation relates to another in an attempt to destroy God's testimony in the hearts of men that He is our heavenly Father.. before revival comes, God is gonna turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.. That is the ministry of John the Baptist who came in the spirit and power of Elijah for the restoration of all things (Matt 17:11).

There's gonna be a fatherhood revolution in Singapore where young people will know God as their Father and they're gonna be established in that knowledge.. i've been to many youth conferences around and i've felt that there's something missing in the brand of Christianity found in Singapore, in particular in the pop culture of charismatic churches which seem to be thriving.. God showed me how young people know Jesus as their Saviour... then they get to know the Holy Spirit and they get baptised in His power.. That's all great and necessary! But they don't seem to progress from there and know the Person of the Father! And knowing the Father is key to maturity, it is key to us walking in sonship! Then we will know what it really means to walk in obedience and doing His will. And that's why the youth movement is still at its infancy stage because we need fathers to steward it... If we want to grow in maturity, the Father must be revealed.. and moreover, the fathering role for the church must be restored.

One thing about the youth movement in Singapore is that people have a lot of zeal... And that's really good.. that's an expression that God has gifted the young people with.. but we need to walk in maturity so that our zeal can be rightly directed and properly harnessed so that it will achieve its optimum and maximum effectiveness for the Kingdom. And for that the church needs to respond to the call to fatherhood.

One of the results that the Lord has shown me is that when these young people, full of zeal learn to walk in maturity, then we will truly see Singapore live out its divine mandate to be the antioch of Asia.. God has shown me these mature sons of the Kingdom rising up to fulfill that role not just with zeal but with maturity.. And unless this generation goes forth as such, we will never get to fulfill the apostolic mandate that God has bestowed upon this nation to its fullness. Remember that Isaiah 22:22, the passage talking about the key of David that opens what no one can shut and shuts what no one can open... that same passage is talking about fatherhood... when the fathers of the church release the sons, their ministries are gonna be multiplied...

I saw a vision of myself preaching the Sermon on the Mount to young people.. i didn't know what it meant at first but when i read those few chapters, i realised that it was the first time where it was ever recorded in the Bible of how Jesus taught the virtue of God as Father!!! And His fatherly virtue is all over that passage! When i continued reading, i realised that in those very pages was the very antidote to the disease that plagues Singapore society and the pervading apathy amongst young people today... it teaches us who we are.. that we don't need to turn to anything else for fulfillment or run after material gain and do things as the world does cos we are complete in Him.. we don't need to get our validation of who we are from our friends or the way we look or the way we dress... with Him as our Father, we do not lack a single thing.. cos He provides, even the fundamentals that we need to have life and to live it out with a sense of meaning and purpose... when we abide by what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, we're gonna see a dramatic change take place in Singapore society!

Law of Attraction

One of the things that God has been teaching me lately is how He really loves us.. how Jesus is attracted to us as His beloved Bride.. How He longs for us so much so that He paid with His blood and with His life as proof of His love and purchased us for reconciliation with God... Jesus, our Heavenly Bridegroom is attracted to us!

Why do i use that word? Cos the Holy Spirit was teaching me truth regarding the law of attraction... Song of Songs is a prophetic picture of how our Heavenly Bridegroom is attracted to us, His people.. and with that law of attraction comes favour.. His eyes are upon us.. even as it says in the book of Ephesians, we are accepted in the beloved.. if we really examine what that means, that means that our spirits are dwelling in a place, a realm and reality of God's abundant favour.. and because Jesus is attracted to us, the abundant blessings and goodness and glory that comes with His very Person, His very being, His glory and essence is attracted to us as well...

Cos the fundamental truths of God's Word and His abundant blessings are manifested in the Person of Jesus Christ.. all the blessings are in Him! All the abundant virtues of God's goodness and character are in Him. They are in Jesus.. Jesus is full of grace and truth! Jesus is the Lover of our souls rite? But He's also the living Word of God, the Logos, the Word that became flesh... Therefore, if Jesus is attracted us as His Beloved, then these blessings and virtues will follow too because they too will be attracted to us and will overtake us! And cos He's the Word of God, all the blessings and virtues of God that are found in the Word will also be attracted to us.. They can be applied and appropriated in our lives.. That's how God designed it as a letter to us, an expression of who He is to us! And holiness prepares us to receive these abundant virtues of God because walking in holiness, faith and obedience completes the circuit, the channel of faith by which we are gonna receive these abundant blessings and virtues...

Wonder why David (his name btw means "beloved") wrote "surely goodness and mercy(love) shall follow me all the days of my life"? Because they are attracted to him.. And they are attracted to us cos Jesus is attracted to us and these things come together with Jesus.. we are a blessing magnet! Not by virtue of who we are or what we've done but solely by the abundance and richness of God's grace, favour and love because of the greatness of His heart and supreme character! We are blessed cos of our relationship with Jesus!

We always see in Scripture how accounts say that the word of the Lord came to so and so (the prophet)... and that's the picture of how the Word Himself, Jesus and all the blessings in Him comes to us, His people, those who walk in relationship with Him cos He's attracted to us! And as we respond to that, as we respond to the holy Word revealed in our lives, and as we honour that Word by faith and obedience, we honour Him and give Him room to deposit the blessings of that Word in us!

He calls us near to Him in intimacy and with every revelation of Him we experience His goodness, nature and virtue... the blessings that He gives us are a part of Himself, an expression of who He is to us! I wanna enjoy all the blessings that He gives to me cos if i reject them, i'm rejecting Him... religious ppl always say to "seek His face but not His hands" but that is wrong... He wants us to enjoy the blessings He gives us cos they are an expression of Him! That's why i want to get the maximum blessing that i can from my Christian walk... cos if we walk in less than that, it means that Christ is getting less than what He died for.. He died so the blessings may come to us and if we dun enjoy them, it is a mockery of the high price of his precious blood! And He must receive His full reward for that price.. and one of the ways we thank Him is to fully enjoy what he paid for! Question: are we walking in the fullness of what has been rightfully bought for us by His blood? are we fully enjoying what He has bought for us? for example, we choose to walk in holiness and freedom of conscience cos His blood has bought for us that freedom.. we choose to walk free from guilt and condemnation cos His blood has bought that too.. and if we dun walk in it, it is a mockery of the great price He paid to buy it!

Oh.. when we receive a revelation of this, it will change the way we see things and the way we live our lives.. we will no longer live our lives or lift up our souls to another cos to have the living God love us and walk with us far outweighs the greatest pleasures of the earth.. and the place of His favour is greater than knowing kings and pop stars or the most popular person in campus! It gives bearing and weight to our identity and who we are.. and we'll conduct ourselves in a manner worthy and fit for such a supremely royal and favoured position... we'll live our lives as the head and not the tail... we don't need to wallow in sin, guilt or the inferior lifestyle of chasing after material gain, entertainment or man's approval cos we have the eyes and attention of the Ruler of the universe!

Think about this... the eyes of heaven are on Him.. so if we walk with Him, the attention of all of heaven is on us too! And they're just watching and waiting for the continuous unfolding of His supreme plan, His redemptive work upon mankind that would culminate in the marriage supper of the Lamb and when the Kingdom of the Son reaches its consolidation..

As the last days reach its climax, we are gonna know jesus more and more as our Heavenly bridegroom (though now we dun hear many songs or messages that talk about Him as that)... And He calls us to intimacy and Bridalhood... And the closer we walk with Him, the closer we'll experiece the virtues that are found in Him... They'll be attracted to us and will be real to us and manifested all over our lives and it flows from our relationship with Him.. it's not just covenantal, it's experiential.. So as you walk with God, may the Holy Spirit quicken this truth to you... As we continue to walk with Jesus, let us savour that relationship with Him as the Holy Spirit reveals to us virtue after virtue of His glorious Person and blessing after blessing that is available to us His Beloved!

God bless! :)

Rise, take up your mat and walk...

Was so encouraged when Shaun came yesterday for Gatekeepers and shared with us a bit of what is on his heart.. im really impressed with His love for God, his teachability and purity of spirit...

Anyway, i just wanna share something that i received while praying during Gatekeepers which i believe was not just for me but for the ministry.. after meditating on it further today, i gained a few more insights into the word of God...

The scene is John Chapter 5.. where it was on the Sabbath day.. and guess wad... Jesus was working cos the Father was also working... He goes to this place in Jerusalem called Bethesda near the Sheep gate.. oh and it's a very interesting place cos there's a pool there and many disabled ppl are camped near the pool..

Interestingly, once in a while, an angel will stir the pool of Bethesda.. and the first person who would jump into the pool would get healed.. and im pretty sure there were many people who were so desperate to jump in when that happens... i could almost imagine a brawl just to be the first to go...

Den Jesus comes to this man who's been there for 38 years and talks to him and finding that he's been there for a long time, asks him if he wanted to get well... and what a question to ask! (like duh!) But Jesus had a purpose... and this guy, he doesnt even answer His question.. instead of saying yes, effectively, his mind was stuck on how impossible getting healed was cos he was an invalid and when the water is stirred by the angel, someone else would always manage to jump into the pool before he does!

Den Jesus said "Rise, pick up your mat and walk." and the guy does so... Later, Jesus found him at the temple and told him "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."

Well first of all, i wonder.. of all the invalid persons out there, Jesus chooses to talk to this guy and heal him.. what made him so special? what made him so different? He was a sinner and it was a case that his own sin got him into trouble in the first place... He was there lying for 38 years, which clearly for him was a hopeless situation.. and it was almost like he lost all hope of being healed even when Jesus asked him if he wanted to.. Many times, Jesus heals on the basis of faith but this man didnt even have much faith to answer a simple question! But Jesus intervened into his hopeless situation and spoke into the man's life and made him whole! What qualified him for the healing? Absolutely nothing.. but i believe that we are in a place where God extends His grace for our breakthrough.. it's about life change...

The word yesterday was rise up, take up your mat and walk... Maybe some of us have been camping in 38 years of being the same person, being beset by the same sins, the same kind of sinful thought patters or behaviour for a long time.. and no matter how hard we try to get healed, we fail.. we see everyone getting healed but us.. we wallow in our guilt and self-condemnation.. and being so long, trapped in that cycle just drains us of our faith and even hope for redemption.. I'm not just talking about sin but im even talking about living our lives stuck in the same situation for so long without any breakthrough.. living our lives the same.. and we've been camping in that long enough...

In this season, God is realeasing a grace for us to rise up, take up our mats and walk.. It's time we rise up out of our circumstances, guilt and condemnation.. It's time to take up our mats and move on.. our mats represent our old life, the place where we've been camping on for a very long time... It may represent our sin, our lifestyle, situations in our lives in which we've wanted a breakthough only to be disappointed time and time again... it's time that we pick it up and move on...

Are our minds set on the wrong things or issues? That man on the mat had a mindset of near hopelessness that he couldnt answer even a simple question straightforward.. to him, perhaps the only way of getting healed was jumping into the pool.. and that's another issue.. so what if our breakthrough doesnt come the way we expect? Naaman had to bathe in the dirty Jordan riverto get rid of his leprosy! do we have the mindset that our healing or breakthrough must look like a certain particular way? Are we so focused on that form that we miss out on Jesus? Probably everyone in the crowd had the same mindset.. they all had their eyes on the pool waiting for when the angel would stir it.. And many times, we are like them.. we wait for particular stirrings too.. instead of seeking God and recognising the Person of Jesus Christ, we have our minds on other things.. we set our eyes on church camps, youth camps, youth rallies, revival meetings waiting for a touch from God.. or maybe we look at people.. we think we'll only get healed if some big man of God with an international ministry prays for us.. hopefully he's a foreigner with a thundering voice.. all the better.. if he's a small chinese man who speaks very softly, it's not gonna work rite? after all, God hardly uses locals but likes to use Western ppl rite?? If die die cannot find foreigner, at least must let the most spiritual person in church pray rite? If the other "normal" brothers or sisters pray, they wun do much help would they? We have to re-look our mindsets and our focus.. are these things causing us to miss out on Jesus?? Just one encounter with Jesus trancends a lifetime of waiting...

So don't wait for the stirrings!!! All you have to do is meet Jesus, know Him, encounter Him.. belive Him and take Him at His word for it was only through Jesus' words that the man was made whole.. and when we believe in Him and believe His words and act on them, that's how life will flow and that life will make us whole...

Was 38 years worth the wait? Yes! Cos the man had an encounter with Jesus! The rest who jumped into the pool got healed but they didn't get to meet Jesus the Son of God face to face.. as the Lord Himself pointed out to His disciples, many kings and righteous men in the past longed to see and hear Him but didnt get to...

What's even better is when Jesus came to the man at the temple and told him to stop sinning.. Effectively, the Bible is showing that to stop sinning is just as easy as man paralysed for 38 years getting healed in an instant! because Jesus gave the command for the man to rise, take up his mat and walk.. and easily enough, he did exactly just that.. at once, he obeyed what was spoken to him and in an instant he was healed after 38 years of waiting... That seemingly impossible command was executed easily enough.. and then at the temple, Jesus tells the guy to stop sinning.. so essentially, it means that for him to stop sinning is just as easy as him taking up his mat and walking! So if any of us are caught in habitual sin or need a breakthrough in certain areas, it's just as easy as taking Jesus' word for it and obeying it! If an invalid for 38 years can walk at a seemingly impossible command, then having a breakthrough over sin is a piece of cake!

I believe that God is releasing a grace upon the ministry for us to move on.. for us to break out of besetting sin patters and have a new lease on life.. so let's take His word for it!

God bless!:)

Deut 22:13-19

Hi.. this is my response to the person who tagged me..

Ok, yes, it says in the bible that someone who rapes a virgin should make restitution be marrying her and by paying her father some money.. however, this does not sanction the act of rape itself.. such an act of restitution doesnt mean that what the man did wasn't sin and neither does it mean that his act of restitution is enough to earn God's forgiveness for that sin... it doesnt mean that just because the man makes ammends by marrying the lady and paying a sum to her father that the Bible allows such behaviour.. neither can that act of restitution pay for what he has done...

First of all, the Bible makes it clear that the wages of sin is death.. God doesnt contradict himself.. if you look at the passage, a man found sleeping with a married woman is stoned and so is a man who violates a virgin pledged to be married... God doesnt contradict himself and neither does he set double standards.. they pay the price with their lives.. the reason why God allows the man who violates a virgin girl who is not pledged to be married to live is because of His grace and also for the sake of the virgin girl herself..

Unlike those who already have a husband or who are pledged to be married, after a virgin girl gets raped, she wouldnt have much of a chance finding anyone who would marry her.. and she would have to live the rest of her life with that status.. now let's look at the culture of the patriarchal societies in Bible times. if she doesnt marry for the rest of her life, it has socio-economic implications because the men handle the business transactions and her role in society would thus be undermined...

so to prevent the woman for suffering the rest of her life beecause she cannot find a husband, the rapist is then tasked with the responsibility for marrying her and caring for her so that at least she can get on with life and have some means to live by... such a law is therefore to help the rape victim and is in no way a license for the rapist to do what he wants..

Looking at culture, the Israelites then lived in an agricultural society.. that means that help in the field is important and should a member of the family like the daughter gets raped and married off to the rapist, the father is paid some money to alleviate the socio-economic implications of having one less person to work the land. It is not a form of compensation for the crime committed, neither it serves as a payment for the sin committed against God...

Finally, such a charge in God's commandments is meant to deter would-be rapists from commiting such an act, knowing that if caught, the responsibility that they would have to bear is for a lifetime so that they do not just go around and violate any woman as they please...

Basiically, nothing that the rapist could do would be enough to pay for his sins unless a sacrifice is made.. and that is representative of the sacrifice Jesus made for our sins.. cos what we have done deserves death and nothing we can do can ever attain God's righteous standards.. but Jesus has paid the price for us already by his death instead of ours on the cross.. so when we receive Him, we accept his sacrifice and receive forgiveness from God.. only what He did is enough cos no one was perfect enough to die in our place.. so He gave His life for us so that we may have life in Him...

hope this answers some of your questions... :)

I Dream of Revival...

I've been having some dreams lately and i just wanna share them... last night i dreamt of church.. but it was very different from what we normally see church look like.. i stepped into a packed auditorium with people worshipping God, heartfelt.. they were crying out to God with hands raised.. interestingly enough, i looked at the worship team and i saw ***** *** playing the drums in a very inspired way.. the song that they were singing was "Potter's Hand" which i felt was quite meaningful...

Just now, i also had another dream.. this time, i saw a bunch of youth just emerge from a meeting of sorts.. and there was just something different about them.. they were just hanging out in the church sanctuary but what was interesting was that Jesus was in their conversation.. and they were literally talking about the things of God... I saw ******* in an impromptu training session coaching **** in speaking in tongues.. and mind you, the latter was doing so quite boldly though in the natural, he probably looks silly at it... the presence of God was among them.. so much so that as they just gathered around for fellowship and communion with each other, God started touching people.. the holiness of God was in the atmosphere and people were just crying spontaneously.. i saw ****** with his eyes red, which to me was really something cos i usually see him immovable in the presence.. den i saw ****** pray for him.. and i knew that there was something bold about her.. when she laid hands on him, he fell down on the floor subdued by the presence of the Holy Spirit...

hmmm.. i guess Holy Spirit gives us these glimpses to whet our appetites in seeing the Kingdom come and touch our generation.. He knows what's in our hearts.. many times we battle discouragement, in not seeing things happening in our midst.. but the Holy Spirit just wants to bring us back to focus in wanting to see the vision come to pass... and when it does, we know that what we saw is just part of it cos we know in part and prophesy in part.. but when it truly comes, we know that He will bring something above and beyond what we can ask or imagine!