Shopping Lessons

I was at Lucky Plaza last wednesday checking out some of the *ahem* electronic equipment shops... i was looking for a particular piece of electronic equipment (which i shall not specify) and it was basically an eye opening experience.. the last time that i went among those shops was many yrs back when i was a little kid when i went ard looking for a similar kind of electronic equipment.. and i guess after having grown up considerably since then, the entire sight-seeing price-checking experience has yielded a few valuable lessons....

firstly, there are quite a number of shops over there selling electronic equipment, working in some form of oligopoly.. that means they have to price their goods competitively compared to one another in order to get some business... as i was walking around and canvasing for that unnamed electronic equipment, the Holy Spirit was showing me certain things... He was showing me that i shouldn't go into those shops acting as if i was the one who needed something from them.. rather, i should walk in with the mentality that i'm the one giving them business... and it does make a difference on how they treat you cos the reality is that they size you up based on their impressions of you (in a New Paper article sometime back, one of the shops even conned a lady into buying a PSP for over S$2000!!! but that's another story...) and i can't help but think of how applicable it is to the way we do evangelism.. why is it that when we approach someone with the gospel, it kinda seems that they are the ones doing us (and Jesus) the favour by receiving Him! It's not that they have something to give to us.. it's us who have something to give to them... It's time we present the gospel to people boldly, not apologetically as if we're even sorry for doing so! We are ambassadors of Christ and there is a certain dignity that God accords those who are His servants and how we carry ourselves to represent Him not just in witnessing but in the way we live our lives should accurately and aptly reflect His Kingly nature and the governing force of His kingdom. The early apostles had no qualms about calling their audience into His Lordship...

one of that things that happened also when i was going from store to store was that the gift of discerning of spirits was operating.. and so while facing some of the sellers over there, as i spoke with them, i was able to detect a spirit of manipulation.. a controlling spirit operating in their lives by which they did business... and it's important to be aware of these things lest by them, we get pulled into some nasty unfavourable transaction... i'm not just talking about in the shopping sense but also in entering into agreement or partnerships with people whether be it in business or elsewhere... God knows that my business sense needs some development... haha... and what better way to learn than by Holy Spirit... :)

Oh and here's another pattern i noticed which would be helpful in shopping.. look at pricing in terms of geography... usually, those who sell stuff in ulu places or heartlands offer lower and more competitive prices than those in shopping centres.. one of the reasons is because of the rent they have to cover... even within a shopping centre, you can even tell the price difference based on which floor they're located and whether the space is prominent enough for the public... hmmm just thought i'd throw that in there...

why am i even talking bout shopping?? exams start next week! chris, get back to work!

...

Dependency

haven't been blogging for a while now... kinda lazy... and had like deadlines to rush over the few weeks..

anyway i just wanna say thank You to Holy Spirit today for moving in our midst during service... honestly just now during pre-service prayer, i din feel like praying at all... i was just so sick and tired of going through the motion of lg and den service and den just the usual stuff... and it was like i didnt feel like serving at all... it wasn't like last time when i used to feel the pleasure of God when i was doing even the most mundane of things...

and so before the prayer i cried out to Holy Spirit to bring me again to that place of dependence on Him and not to do things in my own strength.. and He honoured that... His presence came down during the prayer... and during Lg, He enabled me to share with inspiration once again... at first i didnt even feel like sharing today but He took control and it went well...

And den during service He moved and touched ppl and they were just worshipping Him, crying out to Him, and being ministered by Him... and i'm so happy that He really moved in our midst...

many times, we get used to doing things in our own strength, especially if we have a routine system week after week... but unless Holy Spirit comes and breathes life into our services and magnifies Jesus and changes our lives so that we dun leave that place the same any more, then there's really no point... but im glad that we can come back again to that place of hunger.. dependence.. desperation...

and He responds to our hunger and honours us if we cry out to Him...

Thank You, Holy Spirit :)

The Eye of the Needle -The Gate of Worship

Last night before i went to bed, there was a holy frustration deep within me.. there was some deep inexplicable longing inside.. a longing for something more... it was like a feeling of being dissatisfied with life.. i was longing for a fulfillment... or perhaps an adventure.. some urge to like break out of my shell and do something... earlier that day i tried entering in His presence in worship but i just couldn't seem to break through... dun wanna sound overly dramatic or cheesy but it was almost like questioning the meaning of life... and surely i know? and my last thoughts before i went to bed were about airing my frustrations before God.. asking Him why i felt that way and what it all meant.. it wasn't a new feeling.. i felt like that many times before... there was just a sense of restlessness deep inside... i fell asleep with those last thoughts, perhaps not even finishing my prayer...

at about 2.38 am, i woke up suddenly to wipe some mucus that was dripping from my nose and at that very same time, in the stillness of the night, a voice spoke into my spirit, "the answer is to delight in Him"... and then it all clicked... all that restlessness and frustration i felt was a deep question.. and the answer was that God was calling me to rest in Him.. to enter into that place of abiding (John 15) where i'm simply content with just having Him... no fanfare.. without so much the drama or the action... just living from that place of abiding and dependence on Him where Jesus is my portion... that place of being one with Him... that place where i am fully satisfied in having Him only.. not needing to find fulfillment in anything else...

having spent the tissues, i went back to sleep with that revelation.. and as i meditated on it further, that night the Holy Spirit continued to nudge me... the eye of the needle... i remembered coming across that prophecy a few years back.. Rena passed it to us to read before.. i didn't really pay much attention to it when i read it then cos i found it too long and tedious to read.. but that whole night it was so etched in my impression that the first thing i did after getting up this morning was to search for the article... and then i understood why the Holy Spirit wanted me to read it... here is a copy of it.. hope it blesses ya!

agape,
chris:)

The Eyes of The Needle -The Gate of Worship

A prophetic word/vision given by
Charlotte Baker in 1981
Worship Symposium
Dallas, TX

"I have brought this people together today to make unto you a choice. You can minister unto men...or you can minister unto the King of Glory!" I stood among the sons of men, strong and tall. My heart was filled with enthusiasm. My life was given to the purposes of God. Upon that day, I said to the Lord, "I will do mighty exploits in the name of my God." The Lord came unto me and He said, "What is it, son of man, that thou would have?" I said, "Lord, if I could only be among those who play sweetly upon an instrument and who sing well in the house of the Lord, then I would do great things for my God." The Lord came to me and He gave unto me the desire of my heart. He let me play and He let me sing. I saw the day when the hearts of men were moved by that thing the Lord had given unto me. After hearts of men were moved, I stood back and I said to myself, "Now I will be content for I have been able to move the hearts of men."

But in my secret hour I bowed my head before my God and said, "Lord, You have given me what I asked for but my heart is heavy. I have a longing for something more." He came again unto me in the night season. He asked me again, "Son of man, ask Me again the thing that thou would have of Me." I said, "Lord I see men bowed by burdens low. I see hearts that are broken. I see sadness and discouragement. Oh give me the power of the spoken word that I might speak the word and their hearts be delivered." The Lord came unto me and said, "Son of man, I have given thee the things which thou hast desired."

With great joy, I marched before the people of God. In my youth and in my enthusiasm, I spoke the Word and men were delivered. I spoke the Word and their hearts were made whole. I knew what it was to bind up the broken hearted and to pour in the oil of joy replacing their mourning. While men were yet praising Him, glorifying His name, I went back to my secret chamber, I bowed my head in sorrow. I said, "Oh my God, my God, I am not satisfied."

He came again unto me and He said, "Son of man, what is it that thou desireth of Me?" And I said, "Oh my God, give me power in my hands that as You did, I might lay my hands upon the sick and see the healing flow." He said unto me, "It is done as thou has commanded." God healed the sick. I went to the nations of the earth and I saw the sick raised from their beds. I saw pain and suffering go away. I was rejoicing as I went to my secret place. I bowed my head before my God. I said, "Now my God, I will be satisfied for you have given me that which I have desired." No sooner had the words come out of my mouth when the heart within me began to ache and cry. I said, "God, I don't understand. Again my heart is sad. Lord, will You, just one more time, give me the thing I ask of Thee?" he said, "It is done."

"God, I desire to go against principalities and powers, the powers of the wickedness of this world and spiritual darkness in high places. He said, "Surely I give it unto thee. Now go." So I went and the Lord allowed me to go into dens of iniquity, the holes and dives where men hide from the light because of the sin and evil that is upon them. There was a day when I saw demons cry out at the very presence of the power of God that rested on me.
Then I went back to my secret place broken. I said, "God, I have asked You for all that I desired and still my heart is not yet satisfied. Nor do I feel that I have touched the thing that You have called me to. In my youth I have expended myself with all the things that my heart had desired."

Then one more time a gracious and loving God visited me in the night season. He said, "Now - what is it that thou dost desire?" In brokenness of heart, I bowed before Him and I said, "God, only that thing which You desire to give unto me." He came unto me and said, "Come with Me and I will take you on a journey." He took me past my friends. he took me past those with whom I had come into the house of the Lord. He took me into a desolate place. He caused me to go into a place alone in the wilderness. I said, "Oh my God, what are you doing to me? You have cut me off from those I love." He said, "I take thee to the place where all men must come if their heart's cry is to be fulfilled." At a certain hour, I bowed before a gate that is called...

The Eye of the Needle, The gate of Worship! There before the eye of the Needle I heard the voice of the Lord say, "Bow low." So I bowed lower. He said "Yet lower. Thou does not go low enough." So I went as low as I could possibly go. But I had upon my back my books of learning. I had with me my instruments of music. I had with me my gifts and abilities. He said unto me, "Thou has too much, thou can not go through this gate." I said, "But God, You have given me these books. You have given me these abilities." He said, "Drop them.or thou dost not go."

So I dropped them. I went through a very small gate that is called "the eye of the needle." As I went through this gate, I heard the voice of the Lord say, "Now rise to the other side." As I rose, a very strange thing happened to me. You see, the gate which was so small on one side that I must lay aside everything, was now so wide I could not fill it. As I stood in the presence of the Lord I said, "God, what is this thing that You have done unto me, for my soul is now satisfied?" He said, "Thou has come through the gate of worship. Now come up to the circle of the earth & I will show thee a great mystery. I will reveal unto thee the thing that I doing among the sons of men."

The Spirit of the Lord caught me away. He took me to the circle of the earth, higher than where the eagle flies, beyond where the clouds can rumble, beyond where the sun shines or the moon finds her path. There at the throne of my God, He said, "Look down upon My people."

I saw strange things. I saw my companions gathered around a very small gate that is, "the eye of the needle, the gate of worship." I saw them wringing their hands and crying. They were saying one to another, "But God has given us these instruments of war. This sword is my sword and I will work with it against the enemy to bring him down. I cannot go through this gate, for, if I go through this gate, I must put down my sword. God has called me to be a warrior and therefore, I will not do it." And I heard another one say, "Me? Lay down my instruments of music? Lay down all God has given me, just to go through that silly little gate, to be nothing but a bare man who comes out the other side stripped of everything? I cannot do this thing." I saw them as they stood aside in their pride, afraid to bow themselves before a very small gate. Then I saw again, as the Lord brought me closer to the gate. I saw a man bow low, laying down everything that he had. As he came through the very wide gate on the other side, his instruments of music were there. His sword was there. His books were there. The power was there.

The Word of the Lord came to me, "Go now and tell this people before you, I have given unto this people extreme talents and much ability. But I say unto you today, if you do not come through the very small gate, which is the gate of worship, and bow low and lay before me thine instruments, thy talents, abilities, vision and power, thou shall always be among those who will only be able to minister to the hearts of men, and bless the hearts of men.

But there is a gate open to the Church in this hour, a very small gate. And through this gate, only men and women who are worshippers will go. These people will lay their talents before their God. These people will say, "God, we will be Your worshippers." Through that wide gate they will come and they will arise on the other side, not to minister unto men, but to minister unto their God. I have brought you together this day, to make unto you a choice. You can minister unto men and I will cause you to sway the hearts of men with your talent. Or, you can go through a very small gate, that is "the eye of the needle, the gate of worship," and while making new worshippers, you will minister unto the King of Kings and Lord of lords!"