Sunday Oil

Yesterday was a pretty interesting and eventul day so i think i'll blog about it.. the day started with me having some difficulty getting up to go to church.. and it was warfare on the bed cos i was just sick and tired of doing 'plain ol church' again.. cos deepe inside me was hungering after something deeper and i just felt so inwardly frustrated.. oh but no matter, i remembered that the speaker on sat youth service talked about some manifestation that was gonna occur during sunday's service and that excited me enough to jolt me out of bed and get ready for church...

When i was in church, Auntie Ivy told me that i was supposed to teach that day and i got a shock cos i haven't collected my lesson plan yet! Den she said that we would do art and craft instead.. cos apparently we were supposed to do that the day before but we were away at church camp so we didn't get to do so now, everything is pushed down by one week.. and in a sense im thankful for all that cos i believe it was God's appointment for me to be down for service instead of being at CC...

Dorothy led a wonderful time of worship and there was just such a freedom in our midst... then there was also pastor Barry Thornely from Australia. He had been our speaker in youth service the day before. One of the things that pastor Barry mentioned during his message on saturday that the Holy Spirit quickened to me was that we're not gonna see anything beyond what we speak cos what we speak reflects what we believe... on saturday he also hinted about something unusual that's gonna happen during the sunday service and i latched onto that wondering what was gonna happen.. well anyway, he preached on the glory of God, one of my favourite topics... and as he was preaching there i was in my seat with tears in my eyes cos i knew that that was what i was missing.. that was what i was longing and hungering after amidst all the seeming normalcy of church services.. and then he talked about seeking the face of God.. something that i've always wanted to do but i've not been actually coming down to doing it.. if i want the glory of God in my life and in my church, there's a price to be paid rite..

anyway, he talked about the move of God in his church and how God would show up in His glory with literal, tangible manifestations of gold dust and oil.. and even some other things that he 'wouldn't even talk about'.. (i went to ask him what these other manifestations were later on after the service and he told me about beautiful diamonds on the floor, rubies... and even feathers..) of course, we dun wanna get caught up with these external manifestations that we miss out on Jesus Himself.. yet when he shared, it resonated within me and articulated a desire within me of something more than just ordinary church...

and so when the time came when he prayed for God to show Himself in a physical tangible way.. and i was down there in my seat crying out to Him.. "do not pass me by!"... and then he asked us to feel our hands and see if there was oil on it... and i felt as if my hands were different.. it did feel like there was some slimy substance.. i wasn't sure but i acknowledged it anyway and when he came down to me to check, he affirmed it... and he went around asking ppl if they did too... (actually i found out later that a lot of people felt it and had it in their hands but they were too shy to acknowledge it... and sometimes that's what frustrates and disappoints me cos if the Holy Spirit shows up in unusual ways, we should have the boldness to acknowledge it like little children and give it a place in our meetings and even honour it.. cos honouring it means honouring Him and it gives Him a greater place to move in our midst... and if we wanna see more of this happening, then we've got to step up and not despise the day of small beginnings..)

and he got those with oil to come up and since only auntie janet, pastor ban and myself acknowledged it, we were the ones up there.. then we went into a time of praying for the sick with the oil that was in our hands and he called out a lady with a shoulder problem.. then he asked me to call out a condition that God wanted to minister to.. and i felt that it was someone with migraines.. and guess what.. nobody admitted to it! And then he was very encouraging in saying that it could have been right but nobody would dare to come forward or if i've indeed made a mistake, then i've made a mistake but it doesn't mean that i will keep making mistakes... Anyway, he did tell the congregation that anyone who indeed had migraines to come look for me after service.. And sure enough there was someone who did and i prayed for her... but looking at the entire incident, im thankful that she did not come up at first so that i learned from pastor Barry about making mistakes and how we should handle them...

And then he asked me to call out another condition and i said something about a leg problem.. den he asked me whether it was right or left leg and i said left.. den he asked me whether it was a man or woman.. i said it was a man.. and then the uncle came up for prayer and i prayed for him and he felt better.. so that was it... i'm glad i went for service, otherwise i'd have miss out on all the interesting things that happened.. and i was also glad that though i didn't have copious amounts of oil dripping from my hands but only a little substance nonetheless, i still acknowledged it though i wasn't sure... and true enough, God did something... oh and when i looked at my hands, i saw a speck of gold dust too.. it wasn't all covered in gold but the speck was cool even as pastor Barry reminded us not to despise the day of small beginnings..

and later when he spoke to me after the service, he encouraged us that if we should find such manifestations in our meetings, even if it's a little, we should tell the pastor.. and if he decides to move in it and do something about it, then it will grow... :) i personally think that we should learn to step out of our shyness and comfort zone and honour the Holy Spirit and what He was doing in our midst, even if it is an unusual tangible physical manifestation... though we may not be quenching Him by disallowing such activities cos we do not, we may end up quenching Him in a different manner... our lack of response, our lack of honour, our apathy in the way He shows up and moves among us...

Ok after the eventful service, we had lunch with Alicia cos it was her birthday.. and i was introduced to this place next to Thomson Plaza called Little Part 1 cafe.. and i never knew that that place actually existed.. the food's really not bad.. tastes quite fresh and healthy.. after lunch, i decided to go back to church to record Abel's part for Word Explosion so he can practice... and when i went to the band studio.. i chanced upon some of the Hokkien ministry people who were practising for their recording! So as i stayed with them, auntie Jenny offered me the use of her laptop and microphone to help me record the part.. and it was truly God-sent and His perfect timing cos i had originally planned to record that part in my PDA but it was almost full.. and the quality was also not as good.. so thank God for providing even the recording equipment.. with it i managed to do everything much quicker and clearer.. :)

i stayed in church until i ripped the recorded tracks onto the com and sent them out to my LG for practice... and then i walked home and i was pondering how much i needed to spend time with God and my lack of intimacy with Him.. and then i felt Him challenging me into something...