The Power of Imagination

Lst Thursday, God was showing me a new truth... You can't want what you can't see... and that applies both positively and negatively...

What we see is related to the things that we desire, even the things that we lust and covet after.. ever heard of induced hunger.. i know ho it feels like not to be hungry initially and den suddenly changing my mind cos someone is eating in front of me.. or even how my tummy would growl when i would watch cooking shows.. and there's a spiritual truth to that..

It's also reflected in the marketing principle "out of sight, out of mind" that's why marketeers would put important items that they want you to buy at the entrance of the supermarket cos when you pass it, you forget about it... there's something about the things we see, even what we see in our imaginations.. that's why lust is out there lurking behind many commercial advertisements.. just take a trip down orchard road and behold the posters... and that's how satan rides the wave of consumerism to bombard this generation with images of lust to destroy us...

God gave us an imagination that has latent power and it's up to us how we use it.. cos He's also a God with imagination.. He knew what He wanted the earth to look like before He made it.. and He spoke it forth and it was so... He's a creative God and we His children created in His image have a little bit of that creative nature in each one of us... and it stirs in our imagination, it brews there, incubates and matures there...

But Satan doesn't want God to have monopoly over our creative ability.. so we have a western education set up based solely on reasoning and logic... and many churched adapt this system, resulting in a dead, godless system without the fresh creative touch of God.. even in the singapore education system, people are taught how and what to think, people are thought to think in a linear manner... why? "cos we dun have the luxury of time and resources to think and imagine things.. to dream..." so satan wants to infiltrate the education and church system and kill imagination cos of its limitless creative potential, even in birthing forth the creative strategies of God in every area of life...

The imagination that satan cannot kill, he uses for his advantage.. he keeps occupied, trapped and in bondage to ungodly sinful thought patterns.. he bombards our senses so that we imagine creative ways of doing evil and of sinning.. Rom 1 talks about ppl who constantly invent new ways of sinning.. the book of romans also tells us not to think of how to gratify the desires of our sinful nature... cos just thinking about it is so dangerous cos that's how you might actually just do it... think of it this way: every sin that you have comitted has been imagined by you already before you have comitted them.. some for a longer time than others, but all have spent their time in your imagination nonetheless.. why? cos satan plants a seed in your heart (Matthew 13)while it is unguarded so that as you nurture it, it will bear fruit unto death (James 1)... when you imagine it, you'll end up wanting it... and you'll want it so badly enough that you're willing to do anything to make it happen! That's how powerful imagination is...

Why is it that many times, the world is more dilligent at imagining evil than the church is at imagining good?!!! Why is it that satan and his church on earth are so bent on trying to set up his evil kingdom while the true Church of God is more obsessed with parties and arguing about the colour of the carpet during a worship service than seeking to advance the Kingdom of God on earth. We are in a spiritual war. And some Christians are just as dilligent as the world in imagining evil. And apathy and passivity are just as horrible and fruitless... Remember the Virginia Tech incident? Someone had to imagine that first before it happened. What if we were just as dilligent in seeking Him for His life and strategies to reveal Him more and more to the world? If we only pursued God-things with a godly, sanctified imagination half as dilligently as the world did with evil, what would come of it??

But let's talk about the good it can do... how many times have we actually imagined positive things with our imagination.. like pondering in our hearts what our destiny might look like? like pondering in our hearts how the church might look like when everybody really loved one-another... like pondering in our hearts who we should bless next, who we can show God to next.. like pondering in our hearts creative ways to reach out to both believers and non-Christians alike.. like pondering in our hearts where we want to go and how revivla might look like with the Holy Spirit moving in fire, power and majesty.. how much time do we give picturing in our minds what we want to see in church in revival and what it takes to get there... now take the best things we've ever imagined and God's gonna give you something increasingly and abundatly beyond that (Ephesians 3)... but the seed that God plants in our hearts, will we dream of it? will we seek Him for its maturity? will we empower it, nurture it, water it and incubate it in our imagination and allow faith to arise to see the impossible be manifested?

Think of it this way... Alexander Grahambell had to imagine the telephone first before it came to be.. and God took what he has imagined and multiplied it so that now it's a modern wireless technological innovation with more than one function. that's increasingly beyond what Alexander Grahambell thought of.. but God used Him to bring the technology out and multiplied it so that now we have many technological innovations springing out in the area of telecommunications.. now pause, look around you. look at all the modern things you have, even this computer by which you are viewing this. at one point in time, something like this was impossible.. but it has entered into the heart of some willing person and God multiplied it to be what it is now..

Are you willing to be His vessel to bring blessing to the world? We are at the edge of another creative revolution, another renaissance where the people of God, by revelation, would release new things into the world... no eye has seen, no ear has heard but are you willing for the Spirit to plant it in your heart and trust Him to bring it to pass and to fruitfulness? Is your heart good soil? Are you willing to allow Him to stir your gift of imagination for His purposes? again you'll see something.. maybe it's a spark of inspiration, a little hope, a little impression... but as you think about it, incubate it and see it in your imagination, you'll desire more to see it birthed into reality.. then you'll want it badly enough to give yourself over to that dream so that its no longer just you carrying that dream but the dream possesses you, it comsumes you.. and you allow it to cos it's part of who God is... and you'll want that dream fulfilled badly enough that you're willing to apply yourself to it, whatever it takes, whatever the cost.. until such a time that you see it come to pass and you see God's hand in the process and at the end when he multiplies it.. so that eventually, it becomes far better than what you have originally imagined... it only takes a spark...

Dare to dream! ;)

The Powers of the Age to Come

I was on the bus this morning and i heard the Holy Spirit say to me "Why do you lay unnecessary burdens upon yourself?".. i kinda knew what He meant by that cos many times i often find myself being so overly concerned about my spiritual life that it gets into legalism.. in the evening i heard Him singing over me that He loves me... den went out for a walk again to spend some time with God and i was just communing with Him and there were several things that He dropped into my spirit.. and He was showing me how i stuggled with issues of control and how even in my prayers, i try to control Him... if you think about it, it's really ridiculous.. but it's really about an expression of my own efforts to reach Him.. efforts that will just end up failing miserably.. and during this season in my life it seems that God is causing them to fail deliberately so as to cause every form of striving to die so that i can just let Him be Him.. He wants to bring me to a deeper level in Him but first He has to get me to stop trying to reach Him on my own... He was telling me that i just needed to receive His love... it's that simple... no need for fanciful prayers.. His love is powerful enough to bring breakthrough in my life, break through all my ungodly mindsets, fears, doubts and needs of control and just bring me to that place of restedness and surrenderedness in Him...

So when i took that walk with Him this evening, He just stilled my spirit within me, took the words right out of me (i usually talk a lot when i pray.. not this time..) and just brought me to that place of listening... And in that place of rest, there He was depositing eternal truths into my spirit.. For one, He wants to bring me into a transition from Jacob to Israel.. Jacob means supplanter.. and it talks about the striving that i go through to try to reach the next spiritual level.. But Israel means prince of God.. it's a place of ruling and reigning with Him from that place of surrender, oneness with Him, and finding His strength being made perfect in my weakness...

So what does all this have to do with the powers of the age to come? Let me discuss that briefly... The writer of Hebrews talk about the powers of the age to come.. he doesn't really talk much about it but we do know it exists and that people, even from the time of the early church have experienced it.. i personally believe that the powers of the age to come talk about the power of God that is gonna be manifested not in the last days but after.. It's the power and glory that's gonna be manifested in the millenial reign of Christ when the kingdoms of this earth have become the kingdom of Lord and God. It's the power of heaven manifested on earth "as it is in heaven"... and i believe that no one has really known or imagined what kind of power this might be like.. it's that power that no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind has conceived but that God reveals through His Spirit. It's that incomparably great power mentioned in Ephesians by which God brings us increasingly and abundantly beyond what we can ask or imagine.. it's that power that human minds have not even thought about.. imagine the literal rule of heaven on earth.. people operating by heaven's standards.. in all areas.. including culture, technology, music and the arts... where heaven will find it's freedom of expression on earth through the saints in all fields.. talk about the wonders of the book of revelations being experienced as a reality upon the earth... no mind has even begun to comprehend the powers of the age to come... And the Bible is clear from the book of Hebrews that some have tapped into it, have operated in it... it's not even the power of God reserved for the last days.. it's beyond that!

And i believe that it's available for us to tap into.. for the Jacob generation, the Psalm 24 generation, the generation who seeks His face and who would say to Him "I will not let You go until you bless me!" You see, Jacob was supposed to meet God in Bethel for His second visitation where he was supposed to fulfill his part of his covenant with God and worship Him... And later we find that that was the time when God changed His name from Jacob to Israel, when he was at Bethel worshipping God... but then one night before Jacob even goes back to Bethel, God decides to visit him... and in the darkness of the night, Jacob was nonetheless able to recognise his divine Visitor for who He was and told Him "i will not let you go until You bless me" Jacob demonstrated that spiritual violence that was needed to possess the kingdom. And so his divine visitor pronounced His blessing early, in advance.. he proclaimed the name Israel upon Jacob even before Jacob had comleted his mission of worshipping the Lord in Bethel. What does this speak to us? It shows us that there is a place of wrestling with God in the wilderness and the deadness of night that despite our circumstances, our faith may find its expression in our spiritual violence that though weak and restless, we may tell Him, "I will not let You go until You bless me!" This unrelenting faith will procure for us a release of God's blessing in advance, before it's time! That's how we get a taste of what it means to walk in the powers of the age to come... if we're bold and daring and audacious enough to believe Him for it!

Remember Mary who had such an audacious faith and procured a miracle before its time? Jesus clearly told his earthly mother that His time had not yet come when she approached Him for help to turn water into wine.. Yet, she entered a place of faith and rest and such a surrenderedness to the will of God in telling the servants "Do what he tells you".. Then she walked away.. She didn't stay to strive or argue or pray... she just trusted Jesus.. and many times we enter such a place of striving in our prayer lives which really isn't necessary.. sometimes, it takes greater faith to keep quiet and leave the result to God than to stick around trying to talk Him into it.. Such great faith procured for her a miracle before its time... And Jesus has saved the best wine for last. We have an invitation to apprehend and lay hold of the powers of the age to come and procuring such a power before its time if we enter into such a place of faith that Mary did in her time...

God is raising the bar and i believe that what has not yet been seen is more exciting that what has already been seen.. so we continue to hope for what we do not yet have and continue trusting in God for the "no eye has seen, no ear has heard", the "increasingly and abundantly beyond all we can ask or think".. i believe this power is available to an entire generation of God-seekers, those who seek the face of the God of Jacob. This generation is gonna re-define the church's definition of forerunners.. cos their forerunning ministry is not just forerunning a future move of God.. they're forerunning the Kingdom age and giving us a taste of what to expect when Jesus brings the fulness of the Kingdom upon the face of the earth. These forerunners are gonna be ambassadors of the Kingdom. Their lives are the prophecy, a prophecy of the things to come in the coming Messianic Kingdom.. and as they move upon the earth with heaven's power and authority and the release thereof, people are gonna get a taste of what it will be like in the millenium reign of Christ and even in eternity beyond. It's a great departure from mere Christianity and the worship of the church... How do you think heavenly music sounds like? How do you think heavenly art looks like? How do you think heavenly food tastes like? These will be forerunners of the kingdom in their own various fields... Their cry is not just for the revelation but also for the expression of Jesus.. they're gonna manifest the manifold wisdom of God.. They are heralds of the coming age and heralds of the King and the coming consolidation of His rule upon the earth. they proclaim "open up the gates for the King of glory!".. their cry is gonna be "let Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" They shout "the Kingdom of God is at hand" since their lives are a prophecy, those who reject them also reject the age that is to come and the King of that age, the righteous King of the Ages... it's almost like they're living out the future in the present. It's Kingdom now! It's out of this world, out of this time and out of our mind. The Hebrew for eternity, owlam, means time out of mind. They're gonna manifest such a power and glory that is both out of their time and out of the boundaries of the mind- boundaries of human comprehension, arguments and structures. That's why God hjas to shake us out of our current existing mindsets cos He wants to make room for the new wineskins He's gonna release upon the earth!

Can you imagine the character that they're gonna walk in? They're gonna walk in the love that is of the age to come! Love that the earth hasn't seen before, joy that the earth hasn't seen before, peace and so on.. It's all beyond supersized.. And with their release upon the earth, how can satan's kingdom stand? Each of them that die along the way would only serve as seed for more of them to come forth. They're not gonna love their lives unto death but they're gonna walk in such radical love and obedience that they're even gonna redefine the term radical...

I wanna be part of this company... and it's all birthed out of intimacy and seeking God and learning how to rest in Him by faith. It's being found in Him in weakness, ceasing all strife and allowing Jesus to be formed in us by the power of the Holy Spirit such that in that place of surrenderedness, oneness and acknowledging our weakness, we find our strength and dependence in God.. we find that God takes us beyond ourselves that we move in resurrection power and that we end up doing things that we wouldn't be able to do otherwise.. cos we're connected to Him... we find that through the death that He leads us into, we move into a new place of partnering, ruling and reigning with Him.. the death of restlessness and striving brings us into a place of abiding...

That's where i wanna be... ;)

Can Sin Win?

Been spending a lot of time in the presence of God these days and there are just certain truths that i've been learning and meditating on..

The worship wars are set... satan wants to keep God's people from worshipping Him and from fulfilling their true destiny, what they were created for, which is to worship Him... so he comes along tempting the people of God sin.. he's still doing it now as he did in the garden... but let's look at what happens...

Can sin really keep us from the presence of God? God delights for us to be in His presence.. that's what we're made for.. for fellowship with Him.. and that's what Adam and Eve experienced daily in the garden where they would meet with God, walk with Him and talk with Him... now when sin came, remember that God still came down and kept His appointment... and He was looking for them.. but where were they? They were in hiding.. though man has sinned, it wasn't God who said "I'm not gonna come down there and be among a bunch of sinful ppl.." it was man who went into hiding! And this is a terrible and awesome truth for us to grasp in understanding how we enter His presence cos it's so true even in our lives today... Today when we try to enter His presence, we always look at ourselves, our own limitations and what we have done and we feel guilty and we end up not wanting to enter in.. even after we have sinned, we end up going into hiding and that's what prevents us from accessing His presence.. not that He casts us away but we refuse to meet with Him in the first place and access the throne of grace! And can you imagine how God feels on the other side of it? Here He is just waiting for us to come and meet with Him while we go into hiding...

Now i'm gonna say something so radical that it sounds almost heretical.. do you know that sin doesn't keep us from God?? It really doesn't (unless of course you persistently choose sin over God).. cos God's abundant grace has already made every provision for sin and transgression through the blood of Jesus shed freely for all mankind! At the cross, sin has been defeated! So sin cannot keep us from God! But what will? and what does? We keep ourselves from God... In our failure to approach Him and humble ourseves before Him to ask for His grace.. in our somehow warped view that God is out to get us and is just waiting for that one act of transgression to cut us off from His Kingdom.. How small-minded we are! And it is this mindset that keeps us from experiencing the depths of His love and presence in worship... It is this that prevents us from functioning in our destiny, and what we're created for- which is to worship him and walk with Him.. and spending time away from God destroys us cos we're going against our very purpose, the very purpose by which our constitution as human beings were made, which is to worship Him...

Sometimes we think that after we sin for a particular moment, God has left us forever and it would take a whole lot of pleading and begging with Him to somehow come back... that's a lie.. from my personal experience.. when i've sinned against God, there was a time that the Holy Spirit told me "I am with You"... now how does that work out? i thought i've sinned and therefore You've left me? nope... He's so near.. why? Because He loves us and wants to get us out of the daily things that beset us... cos if He really leaves us all alone, then nothing can help us! And He's just waiting for that one spark of agreement to bring us back.. And he will arrange circumstances in our lives to bring us back, even using everyday people to speak to us.. twice i remember that He anointed my uni lecturers that when they were lecturing at a particular instance, He used their words to speak to me regarding certain things in my life... my marketing lecturer was lecturing and he said what do you do when you offend a customer? Simple- just go and apologise. Sometimes, you need someone higher than you to sort it out so talk to your superior... and to me, that was prophetically speaking of God's call for us to come into His grace and forgiveness if we just repent.. of course it's not enough for us to do it on our own but we have our superior, our boss, our Great High Priest whose blood speaks better than the blood of Abel.. and we have Him speaking on our behalf! it's Him pursuing us.. in this dance, He takes the lead and if we trip somehow along the way, He catches us and continues with us and teaches us how to dance and flow with Him better!

The reason why we feel the pain of sin and feel bad our communion with Him is broken when we sin in the first place is because we are connected to Him.. that's almost like a paradox but it's true.. we feel the pain cos we know the Holy Spirit grieves inside of us.. we're united with Him so we feel it too! and if He's in there grieving, that means He's still in there! That means we are not totally helpless and that we're not cut off from Him and that there's still hope for us to return to that sacred place of communion! So we're not to go off on our own and sulk at our failures.. He's still there!

Ok.. so now we understand the depths of His grace.. so by His grace we return back to Him and come once again in that place of communion.. But satan of course doesn't want us to give more worship to God.. the truth is that satan is defeated so he knows his end and he's not gonna win.. so what does he do in the meantime? he wants to make sure that God receives the least worship possible and that the saints dun enter in their inheritance.. so he makes them live in the shadow of the past and feel guilty about that sin although they have already repented of it and God has already received them by grace.. so in the end, they dun worship but just live in a benign state of impotence and status quo, contented enough to just get their foot into the kingdom... now that's a sad life! that's cos though they know God's grace to forgive, they dunno the power of the blood of Christ to heal and restore! And recently God just did something prophetic in my life to show me the power of His grace and restoration.

I made a really dumb mistake and as a consequence of many wrong decisions i have undertaken in the past week, i missed this particular Subject Pool slot in school (it's some compulsory survey that we're supposed to go for).. and if you missed it, that means you'll get a penalty.. like if you missed a 1.5hr slot, you'll get 1.5 marks deducted from your total (the highest is 2.5)... and so in order to make up for the penalty, you'll have to sign up for more slots.. the thing was that i missed a 1.5 hr slot and there were not enough slots for me to sign up for to make up for my -1.5hr penalty!! I was angry with the system but i knew that i had only myself to blame for making those bad decisions and reaping the consequences... so i appealed to a higher authority... i emailed the supervisor in charge and asked her what i could do to make up for it... guess wad.. she emailed me back and i didn't have to make up for it... she excused me from that 1.5 hr slot that missed so i didn't have to pay the penalty! No strings attached... so on my paper, next to the course i missed, i have the word "Excused" written courtesy of the supervisor! And so we have a Supervisor up there in heaven who knows our mistakes and who knows that we can't make up for the consequences of the bad decisions that we make.. but when we appeal to Him, His blood is like that "Excused" stamp on my paper.. and He restores and repairs even the consequences of our mistakes so that we dun have the guilt of our past hanging on us! That's the power of the blood of the Lamb!

Ok... but in this spiritual warfare, satan still wants to rob God of worship so he keeps the believer in doubt and timidity.. satan whispers lies to their ears saying something like "you may have escaped this time but you'll end up sinning again in the future".. so although they have escaped their gloomy past, they now have a gloomy future ahead of them when their just waiting to repeat the same mistake and sin that they have committed previously... how now? One of the verses that God gave me recently is very familiar.. He has not given us a spirit of fear/timidity but of power, love and of a sound mind/self-discipline... what that means is that we are not to look to ourselves.. He has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, looking to ourselves or our own limitations in how weak we are to possibly stumble over the same issues over and over again.. we're not to look at that.. God loves us in our weakness and we have to trust Him to keep us from falling... He's given us a spirit of power to overcome temptations that come our way.. He's given us love that never fails (1 Cor 13) and helps us to see people not as objects to use for our selfish reasons but as people who have the potential to manifest all that God is.. and He's given us a sound mind.. a mind that can carry out self-discipline in the midst of the darkest of temptations.. a mind that can carry out and make rational decisions so that we're able to decide not to sin and please God instead... in other words, he has put within us the ability to overcome and be all that He is to the world.. so we dun have to worry about stumbling over the same issues over and over again cos His power is at work within us (Eph 3) and we have what it takes in the inside of us to overcome... but we must learn to access it.. we must learn to focus on it instead of our weakness and limitations.. and we must trust in Him... :)

So in the worship wars, we know that satan is defeated... can sin really win?? i believe not... maybe for some battles it has won... but the war is not over... and every new day is a new opportunity to experience God moreand and claim territory for Him. We have more opportunities to experience His faithfulness and divine attributes and have a testimony formed within us of who He is, a story written not just for men but for angels and demons to wonder at, causing them to bow in awe at the surpassing power and greatness of Christ. Jesus has won the victory!

The Eagles

Recently over the weekend, i've been receiving impressions regarding the eagle.. then on sunday the Lord opened my eyes and dropped certain things about the ministry of an eagle and what it means...

Many people aassociate the eagle with the prophetic ministry.. which is not wrong.. but the Lord has given me some fresh insight i just want to share with this emerging generation of eagles...

The anointing of an eagle is the anointing of intimacy.. that's the primary thing that characterises a prophet's ministry- his intimacy with God.. a prophet knows God's heart.. John the Revelator, the Apostle who wrote the fourth gospel, is also known as the Apostle of Love... he was frequently symbollised by the eagle, as was his gospel.. revelations 4 gives us an insight into the 4 living creatures which are symbollic of matthew, mark, luke and john.. the living creature with the face like an eagle symbollises the gospel of John.. cos it portrays Jesus' divinity as the Son of God as well as His ministry as the Prophet.. God was identified with the eagle in the bible, even as in Deuteronomy, it says that he carried the children of Israel on His wings.. Prophets were identified with the eagle too.. but especially John.. The foremost quality that we know about John is that he laid his head on the heart of Jesus.. cos true prophets really know His heart.. John is also known as the disciple whom Jesus loved and he had a great revelation of God's love that we can see from the writing of his gospel as well as his epistles.. Out of the three that were part of Jesus' inner circle, John stood out.. He was the disciple who had the greatest intimacy with Jesus...

The gospel of John, therefore, is a gospel of intimacy that proceeds from John's profound revelation of God.. the revelatory anointing comes together with the anointing for intimacy.. I call Psalm 139 the Psalm of intimacy as it shows David having an intimate revelatory encounter with God... From Psalm 139 and Ephesians 3, the Lord showed me how the eagle is called to explore how wide, long, high and deep is the love of Christ...

Some points about the eagle... The eagle has powerful talons and a beak, that makes it dangerous to its enemies.. the Bible makes many references also to how swift it is.. the eagle also makes its nest on high.. it makes its dwelling up on the mountain.. which represents our walk with God, how close we are to Him, dwelling in His secret place of intimacy, on that high place where He is.. Everyone's also probably familiar with Isa 40:31.. and the reason why many in the church suffer burnout is cos of lack of intimacy.. but God promises that as we wait on Him, He will renew our strength... Many times, the journey may be tiring and lonely.. that's why we see the eagle build his lonely dwelling up the mountain.. cos in that place of solitude, that's where he encounters God...

But though the eagle stays up on high, it also swoops down and catches prey... it has powerful vision cos of its more dilated pupils that allow more light into its eyes.. its vision helps it to see its prey from a great distance.. the eagle soars on a strategic plane, having great vision and greater perspective on the will and counsel of God.. This speaks of intimacy and the anointing of an eagle as an anointing for strategic-level intercession... we are called to dwell in heaven as well as to execute the counsels of God upon the earth.. we're called to see from a strategic plane and war against the counsel and strategies of the enemy upon different spheres in the earth... but more than that.. we're called to usher in the government and authority of God in these spheres, as we have seen and heard from on high.. in the spheres of science, music, biology, industry, etc...

Which brings me to the prophetic call of this generation.. paul keith davis talks about the four living creatures in revelations 4 as symbollic of the different ages in church history and we're living in the last, the time when God is pouring out a great eagle, revelatory anointing.. He's raising up a revelatory company to usher in His glory and His judgments upon the areas of the media, government, politics, etc.. the different spheres on earth where He strategically stations His eagles.. He's gonna release this company to go up and soar in the heavens where they'll receive revelatory blueprints of God's government and plans and then go down to earth to execute them to usher in His glory.. it's part of His end-time plan to usher in His coming.. But this prophetic company is gonna be known more than just by their revelatory gifts that they bring in the spheres where God places them.. this group of people will carry with them an anointing for intimacy.. they'll carry an unbridled love for the Lord.. they'll spend time in prayer and worshipping Him and knowing the deepest chambers of His heart...

God bless!

The Call to War

Today i was just thinking on a few things regarding the new sound of worship the Lord wants to release (it's been a long time since i last thought or wrote about this).. I believe that this new wave of worship would carry the sound of freedom to the surroundings, to whoever hears it... And that's why the Lord is doing a work of cleansing upon our hearts- cos He wants to liberate us of the things that hold us back so that when we're truly free of them, we'll be able to worship Him from that place of freedom and release a sound from that place that calls the world to that same place of safety! remember in Exodus, the sign that the Lord delivered His people out of Egypt was the fact that they worshipped at the mountain of fire at Horeb where the glory of God descended... It was at that same time that the enemy released to them a demonic worship that drove the children of israel to depravity, perversion and idolatry in worshipping the golden calf. One of the reasons i believe they were given over to this was because they didn't heed the call of God to the mountain.. they feared the holy Voice that they told Moses "You go on up while we wait down here below.. den later you tell us what God says..." the reason why they fell to the counterfeit sound was because they refused God's offer for them to walk in a higher place and experience Him deeper.. There is coming a time in these days, like never before that worship will come with, and as a result of extreme warfare... and if we do not heed the call of God, the creative sound meant to be released to the world might just be taken over by the counterfeit.. and the influence of the counterfeit would drive world into greater degrees of sin and depravity.. we live in the day that this is gonna be a reality. The worship wars are real.

Now we worship Him at one level.. but as we heed His call to holiness and consecration.. and as He frees us from the grip of things which hold our lives, there will be such a joy and liberty in our worship.. and it will result in us worshipping Him a new, unbridled, unprecedented way.. that liberty would be expressed through song, bringing it's virtue to all who hear it. It carries truth which sets people free.. it is the expression of the reality of Jesus at work in our lives.. and the sound will be more than just music but will touch every aspect of creative arts and the marketplace to measure that we, as vessels are willing. It's a glorious sound for a glorious day. We're to arise and shine for His glory has risen upon us!

Do you know that one of the Hebrew words for praise mean to shine, to give out light?? Halelujah comes from the word Halal which means to praise and which also means to shine.. It's a picture of breaking out... it's time we break out of the enemy's yoke and shine forth in praise and release the very expression of our freedom which would in turn liberate others! That's what Moses did on the mountain- arise and shine.. He arose, met with God and went down radiating His glory! That's the mountain of worship...

Another thing God has been showing me is the fact that other religions out there have very visible and pronounced audible expressions of their worship! Take daoism for example... during their rituals and festivals, there would be banners marking out territory... and sound waves would travel a good distance with the resonance of their gongs, cymbals and bells... why then is the church so restricted in their expression of worship?? The non-daoists hear the bells and the cymbals.. but why issit that non-christians don't hear the sound of our worship? Why issit that we've been so caught up in the confnes of dignity and our own society that we don't match their exuberance, enthusiasm, and plain simple loudness?? Our God is a loud God who wants to make His praises known! Is it not biblical for us to shout our praises? Why doesn't it go on out there in the streets, in the marketplace? Why doesn't it even go on in the church? Has God changed?? Have we run out of reasons to excaim His praises? Oh.. but we don't want to offend do we? So we keep everything toned down! But when other religions clang and gong their way into the spirit realm, why not us? Don't we know that sound travels in two dimensions? How much more the sound of praise that claims terrritories and establishes God's throne in the midst of His people!

Spiritual battles need spiritual solutions.. That's why we're called to worship in spirit and in truth! Cos true worship is spiritual and meant to establish His throne and advance His purposes in the heavenly realms! Cos a spiritual war has to be won first if we're to see real victory in the natural! Where's the spiritual aggression in God's people? Where's the warrior spirit? Jesus is the Lion of thr Tribe of Judah, the tribe of praise! Hve we tamed His expression of worship through us? Cos when He releases a sound, it is a conquering sound! Demons trmble, darkness flees and the Kingdom of God advances! The reason our worship is weak is cos it's mainly made up of our expression. But when we get to the place of worship where it's His expression through us, we'll get to see the release of heaven and it's divine qualities through us, the gates! The battle has to be won at the gates! That's us! Take the gates and take the battle! Spoil the gates and destroy their destiny.. in which case satan steps in and claims them for the kingdom of darkness to release his counterfeit expression! We are in a war! We have to live like we're in a war! We have to worship like we're in a war!

Do you know that during the days of the Methodist revival, people in church metings would cry, wail, shout and scream... In fact, one might have mistaken them for a drunken mob than the people of God. But there was power and sincerity in their worship! God has set us apart to be a peculiar people. Let's live that way. Have we allowed the lion in each of us to be tamed, restrained by the social orders of our day?? There's a passionate cry that wants to break out of the norm, break out of the standards of our time and establish a new unprecedented sound... Who's willing to step up to it? Who's God's man for the hour? Who's willing to pay the price? Everyone's called but who will be chosen? Who is willing? Out of 2 million of Israel at Horeb, God only had 1-Moses.. and 1 was all He needed to change an entire generation...

Will God have you?

Warfare for Your Destiny

One day, Jesus decided to cross the sea of Galilee to the Gerasenes region around the area of the Decapolis. He said to his deciples, "Let's cross over to the other side".. and so they did... while they were in the boat, Jesus found a comfy cushion and laid his head to rest. Meanwhile, a furious squall came upon the boat. There came a fierce raging torrent. The disciples, who, mind you, were experienced fishermen shook in fear.. they thought they were going to die! They knew plenty of storms but they never met a storm like this. Shaken with fear, they went into the boat and woke the Master up... "How could the Master sleep at a time like this?" they must have thought. Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and the waves and everything went back to normal... what about the disciples? Jesus rebuked them for having so little faith... starngely, these disciples whom He knew so well were terrified! Terrified? But they walked with Jesus, didnt they? Haven't they seen Him drive out evil spirits before? Or heal the sick? Or do the other cool stuff? They didn't think this was cool... they think this was really dead scary!

Then they got to the other side... and over there was a man (matthew records two)who was nuts... he was demon possessed, living among the tombs and with a such violent reputation that no one passed where he was... The townfolk were probably nice enough to try to chain him so that he wouln't hurt himself or others that happened to pass along the way but each time, he tore through the fetters.. no one could restrain him... imagine that for an uncle! Ok.. anyway.. Jesus comes into the picture and the demons are terrified.. they fall down before Him asking Him not to cast them into the Abyss.. instead, the demons begged Him to allow them to posses a herd of piggies that were gathered nearby... and Jesus allowed them and they went into the pigs which then rushed over the steep bank into the lake and drowned...

That's not the end of the story.. the word spread around and people gathered... they saw the demon-possessed man with Jesus and in his right mind.. and guess wad... they were afraid! Now that's really interesting cos when the man was still possessed, they were bold enuf to try to chain him and restrain him... now that he was ok, they were frightened! So anyway, they asked Jesus to leave their region cos of their fear but before leaving, Jesus comissioned that man to go and tell his family of what God has done for him... but the man told more than his family.. he told the entire region...

So what does this all mean?

Jesus was on a mission... it was more than just to cut down the cholesterol intake of an entire Gentile region. You see, in the Bible, this was a very unusual mission. Jesus said that He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. He primarily ministered to Jews and if a Gentile came to Him, they were the exception- He didn't usually go to them. But here, we see Jesus take His entourage of Twelve (who thought they were gonna drown), brave the storm and go all the way accross the sea of Galilee to deliver the man from demon possession! It's like taking thirteen people to pray for a single guy during an altar call! He didn't do anything else there! After the event, the townsfolk asked Him to leave so he crossed the sea again. But He went on a special mission outside of Israel to specifically minister to a Gentile... so what He did must have been really special and really important.. and that the demon possessed man whom He liberated must have had some kind of significant role in God's plan for Jesus to go out of His way for that very purpose.

Now this mission was dangerous and the company was met with fierce opposition. The storm wasn't natural- it was supernatural, engineered by the spirits of the day who wanted to abort the mission (cos it was so important)! That's why the disciples never encountered anything like it! But didn't Jesus already say "let's go to the other side"? What does that mean? It means that Jesus already knew they were gonna get to the other side! all that was needed for the disciples to do was to trust in Him and His Word! Beloved, does a storm stand between you and your destiny? perhaps it's the biggest storm you have faced in your life. Perhaps it's of supernatural proportions and it will only take a supernatural God to see you through it. Perhaps there's a lot of warfare that stands between you and your destiny, between now and the prophetic words that have been released over your life. But take heart, know what He has said, and know the God who said it! And rest in that! When God says it will be, it will be. When God says you're gonna get to the other side, you will, even if right now you don't see it!

Then you'll go.. "Who is this..." You'll be afraid. The terror of the holiness and awesome greatness of God will hit you, once you know who's with you in the vessel.. Maybe you've walked with Jesus.. but you haven't seen anything yet.. There's yet a time for Him to show you that you don't really know Him that well after all.. and when you see another aspect of his nature, you'll stand in fear and awe!

The man at Gerasenes... his destiny was so important to God that he would even send Jesus to go all the way to a gentile region to liberate him... and his destiny was so important to Satan that those in the boat were to be met with such strong spiritual opposition, that even the threat of death loomed over their heads. yes, your destiny is important to Satan! Why? Cos he wants the worship that hould rightfully belong to God for himself.. He wants your giftings, your talents, your destiny and spheres of authority so he can use you as a counter-apostle for the kingdom of darkness and through you, he wants to spread such darkness and hatred for God. But God knows why He made you. He marked you out before you were born. He sees the potantial in you! Satan sees that too and that's why he's all out to stop it. But guess who's more powerful? ;)

Then the power enconter comes and Jesus wins hands down without even doing much.. the demons were literally begging Him.. now i wonder what the disciples were thinking... "Why did you have to put us through that ^$$#^*& storm??" "What are we doing here anyway? You single-handedly defeated the entire legion of them... and two thousand pigs too!" "You didn't really need our help now did You?" But Jesus showed them a lesson on faith. And He showed them that the destiny of that one man was worth more than all their comfort.. it was worth all the spiritual warfare they faced.. Cos the Master had a plan for him...

When the man was dressed and in his right mind, he wanted to go with Jesus, become Jesus' disciple... But Jesus had other plans. He commissioned him to be his first Gentile evangelist... normally when Jesus performed a private miracle, He would tell his patient not to go around telling other people... but this time, He commissioned the man to tell his family what God had done.. and guess wad.. the precious man did more than that- he told his story all over the Decapolis (which means the Ten Cities)...

I believe that the reason why people were afraid of Jesus was because they were not used to seeing light. Let's say someone lives in darkness his whole life.. and then suddenly gets out into the open and experiences light for the first time, he'll take some time to adjust! Maybe at first he may want to close his eyes or even go back in darkness! And the Gerasenes people were probably not used to Jesus' ministry... They were not used to seeing the real thing, real power.. they were more used to seeing demonic counterfeit... so He needed a forerunner.. like an advertising agent.. The perfect job for the man he set free! Later, Jesus was to return to the Decapolis to do some healing and to feed the 4000... i believe that the testimony of this man prepared them for Jesus' future ministry.

So where are you in your walk with the Lord? Are you experiencing warfare for your destiny? Look to Jesus.. He turned the man from a helpless demoniac living in tombs to a free, sane man.. and more than that, the first evangelist to the Gentile people! He was kept hidden for a time until God the Father decrees from heaven for him to be set free and comissioned with a mandate for the Kingdom. Jesus then proceeded to execute the Father's will in accordance to the divine command. Overnight, the destiny is unlocked and the man becomes healed, saved, set free... In the book of Zechariah, it tells us that God will remove the iniquity of the land on one day. Though it refers primarily to Jesus' death on the cross, i believe it also is a prophetic decree of reversal when God overturns the situations we face and launch us into the good works He has prepares for us, and which He has prepared us for!

God bless! :)

As it is in Heaven

Here are more insights for you to digest...

The new sound that the Lord is releasing is the sound of as it is inheaven.. cos it's all about His glory finding expression upon the earth. He did that with the very person of who Christ is and He wants to do it through us too (Romans 8:29). Our very person must become an expression of His glory and who He is. Jesus taught us to pray "Let Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" It's about heaven on earth, heaven finding it's expression on earth... and as God builds us as worshippers and embues us with His very nature, substance, love and character, we'll take the worship wars into the marketplace. There will be worshipping businessmen, worshipping politicians, worshipping scientists who will release a revelation of the glory of God in their fields that demands more worship to be given to Him who is worthy! These are the holy revolutionists that will span accross all ages. From the young to the old. No age or gender distinction. It's kingdom reality! The earth has yet to see Joel Chapter 2 being released into fullness upon the face of the earth! We are the altars, the gates of heaven through whom the very heart of God finds expression. And we'll see God in the music industry, God in the medical industry and as these places are filled with the very expression of heaven, we're gonna see multitudes of souls coming into the Kingdom! Hallelujah!

Another thing that God has been teaching me recently is on His nature that He is a Jealous God. How many times have we seen that aspect as God being so angry at our sins especially when our hearts turn away from Him to pursue other things? How many of us see the idea of a vengeful God who is just ready to strike us in judgment for our sins? Most of us would think that way... but let's see His perspective. Thugh it's true that He's jealous when we turn away from Him and turn to idols, how many of us see His jealous love? His love that will not let go.. A love so radical that you can't find anything like it on the face of the earth.. a love that will seek us out even if we have defiled ourselves (go and read the book of Hosea).. It's a Jealous love that is for us! It is a jealousy that is committed to seeing us reaching the fullness of our destiny. It is a jealous love that burns to see the destruction of our enemies- those strongholds that beset us and keep us away from Him! It is a jealous Love that does all it takes- even going from heaven to earth to hell and back- just to redeem a race of sinners. Wow! I'm glad God is a Jealous God! (Maybe we should sing more about it in our worship songs... our woship is so watered down nowadays...)

It's gonna be this jealous love that recognises what is so precious in something so filthy and takes it and brings out what is of value in it and then releases it into the world to become holy revolutionists, the very expression of God on earth! God was teaching me truths about receiving these holy revolutionists, these worshippers. Their expressions of worship are gonna be so radical and untamed by human religion that is reflective of the untamable and radical God they serve! Some churches may not even receive them but may persecute or suppress them. Let me tell you something. If a church does not receive these worshippers, the new sound of worship will bypass them, along with the blessings of a holy revolution that would accompany it. Cos Jesus said if you receive a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, you get a righteous man's reward. If you receive a prophet in the name of a prophet, you get a prophet's reward. If you receive a holy revolutionist in the name of a holy revolutionist, you get a holy revolutionist's reward... The only way to see the new form of worship is to embrace it's vessels. The only way to taste the new wine is to embrace the new wineskin. You can't have the present without accepting the package it comes in. This radical generation might offend the old... There is a new sound, a new cry of worship coming from the young people... If adults don't receive the young people, don't embrace their cry, despise them and not honour them, then the new sound will pass them by. If by political manipulations they try to hijack this new move of God, they won't be part of it! But if we receive this generation of radical worshippers, we receive the radical worship anointing that they come with! God is drawing a line in the sand! Not everyone may follow! Only those who are willing to embrace the vessels that carry the new move of God! Note that this is, however, no excuse for young worship revolutionists to be arrogant. It's only by God's grace, choice and sovereign will that we're part of this!

God has been teaching me certain things lately. He's given me a master key that would see the rise of every ministry in every church. The key is honour. If i'm gonna see the leaders under me rise up, i will have to honour them. I will not take them for granted but will recognise the grace and call of God upon their lives. This is like prophesying to them with the way i conduct myself before them. Even if they fail, i will still choose to honour them and let them know i believe in them because doing so would call out to that dream/spark/vision in them that would propel them to strive for excellence. The way i act towards them in honouring them is a reflection of their future calling out to them! "Pick yourself up!" "There's something bigger and greater that awaits!" And as i honour them, they will rise up! That's the very heart of fatherhood- seeing and believing that visions will be raised up in the person of a person even before it truly happens. Same goes for music ministry. Same goes for dance ministry. Same goes for people. Everyone wants to hear the words "i believe in you..." It's that voice of assurance. Honouring them will cause them to rise up. It will inject a sense of vision and calling unto them that would propel them forward! Just as how Abraham received a vision, a word of instruction and moved forward towards where God was calling him... And as we honour them, we receive them and everything they stand for, their future, the visions and dreams that they carry, the prophetic word invested in them that has not yet come to be. And as we sow into their lives, we are sowing into that vision and calling and are receiving them likewise. As we receive them, we are agreeing with them, adding our faith to them and thus paving the way for them to be realised!

God bless! :)

Who am I

Who am I

Who am i that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am i that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
In my ever-wandering heart

Not because of who i am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what i've done
But because of who You are

i am a flower quickly fading
here today and gone tomorrow
a wave tossed in the ocean
a vapour in the wind
still You hear me when i'm calling
Lord You catch me when i'm falling
And You told me who i am
i am Yours...

Who am i that the eys that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again
Who am i that the voice that calmed the sea
And called out through the rain
Would calm the storm in me

Just celebrated my 21st birthday recently and that means 21 years of God's unfailing love and faithfulnes upon my life. Through all those times even that i haven't been faithful to Him, He is still faithful for He cannot deny Himself... That's just how great His love is! (Thanks to all those ppl who sent me wishes, got me the mooncake and treated me to lunch.. :P)

Anyway just wanna talk about certain things that God has been teaching me lately... One is that I'm glad God does not receive us on our own terms but on His terms. Sometimes, even when we fail Him, He is still faithful and if we repent, we can come back to Him and experience His grace. If He were to receive us on our terms, we will come to Him being too hard on ourselves, trying to pay off our guilt and trying to put a price on His grace which is so precious that it's priceless. How many times have we come to Him expecting Him to do something or to meet us just because we practice the right spiritual disciplines, pray five hours a day, memorise twenty chapters a week, etc... But that's not the basis that He's gonna meet us.. He's gonna meet us cos Jesus has paved the way with His blood. Period. It's settled. I like how Edmund Chua puts it... many times our appeals in prayer are more consumed in the righteousness of the person in question rather than on the gace of God, rather than who He is. It's such a priviledge to come to Him, knowing who He is and praying it out. It takes the focus off ourselves and our own situations and brings us to where God is, to a revelation of His Person, his love and unfailing mercies...

One of the truths that I learned recently regarding communion is that when we do it in remembrance of Jesus, it does something to our faith too and adds to our knowledge of who we are in Him. Here's how it works: Our identity is tied to who He is cos He finds expression in us and it is the Father's will to conform us to His likeness. Therefore, when we remember Him, we remember who we truly are and what we are made for. And remembering that changes us.. it shows us ourselves in the light of who He is and as we see who we are in Him and who we can be, who He calls us to be, we are changed.. our future calls out to us... our faith rises up and we take our focus off our limitations and see what we can do because God is able to do it through us. As we celebrate Christ and remember Him as the One victorious ruler who died on the cross and rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven, as we look to Him in drinking our cup and eating our bread, we remember ourselves, as more than conquerors is Him.. as those seated with Him in heavenly places.. as the ones to whom He has issued a call, an invitation to be His Bride, being one with Him.. Him in us and us in Him... Jesus raising His cup inviting us to drink from it is symbollic of His wedding invitation... It's a priviledged position cos He's elevating us... So as much as we remember Him during communion, we also remember who we are in Him and we celebrate that too... It's more than just symbollic... As faith is a real substance (Heb 11:1), the faith that rises in us as we hear and remember his call to intimacy is also real. And so is the pursuit that manifests in good works for the Kingdom that would glorify both our Father and Bridegroom.

The Lord has also been teaching me that the way to having grace and truth, the very substance that Jesus carried upon the earth that changed the places and people that He encountered, was through humility... God was showing me that there can be no John 1 without Philippians 2. I believe that many of us are going through a season where God is humbling us, where He is teaching us humility.. but humility is not an end in itself cos He's fashioning His vessels to carry grace and truth, to carry His very substance that would change planet earth! So take heart that the pruning process is only for a season.. cos the Lord is preparing us for a revolution!

God bless! :)

The Sound of the New Renaissance

Over dinner, Rayson brought up the topic of how people, young people die so suddenly.. like perhaps when one physically exerts himself and without any warning, loses his life moments later and so on.. and i think the conversation came to the place where we were wondering how come it was getting quite common.. actually i wasn't listening to the conversation then when he was bringing up the point but it seemed that it left a subconscious impact on me and in one of those "God-moments" i responded.. it was one of those moments where i was lost somewhere between my mind and my mouth and the anointing takes over and from being nowhere in the conversation, i interjected with an answer that i believe was from the heart of God. The reason why so many people increasingly lose their lives, especially at such a young age is because they lose their purpose and their goal in their lives. They find nothing in their very existence on earth and when faced with death before them, they let go cos they have nothing else to hold on to. Jesus willingly gave up His spirit on the cross before He died and my personal belief is that sometimes, we are left with that choice in the face of death- to either hold on or let go. But it's a sad yet true case that so many people today are living their lives without a purpose, merely travelling through the faceless sea of humanity and not even knowing the final destination where they'll end up. I believe that our purpose in life (or lack thereof) contributes to how long we spend our lives here on earth. For some, we lose them quickly because to them, there's nothing in this life worth holding on to...

Just now i was pondering the new worship movement that God wants to release and there were certain things that came to me. Jesus changed the world in His day as He walked among men because He embodied the very glory of God full of grace and truth. Wherever He went, wherever that grace and truth went, it left behind an imprint among the people of His day and culture. He taught revolutionary things unheard of in His time. He changed the very course of history and the places and people He visited were radically changed. That's what grace and truth does. It pierces all the deception and empty traditions of religion to establish what is real. And people in our day are looking for something real. They're seeking- or rather God is seeking them. Has it ever occured to you to pray for God to fill us with that same grace and truth that would shake every place our feet step on and we proceed from there leaving behind an irreversible imprint of a holy revolution? Can we be filled to such a measure of grace and truth that wherever we go, people and places are never the same again?

When this new worship revolution is released, that's what's going to happen. I felt the Holy Spirit showing me that this worship movement is going to change the very social fabric of Singapore! Now, pause, breathe deeply and think about the implications of this. Now we live in a Singapore peppered with lonely young people. Despite belonging to a family unit, they fail to find their bearing in the rest of society and the world. They don't relate well with their siblings and their parents, who hardly talk to them if they're even ever around in the first place. Because of that loose connection or even lack thereof, they lack a sense of identity, a sense of belonging, a sense of personal and spiritual bearing in the world around them. They lack a sense of purpose, groping around in the dark for truth. Should they face the threat of death, there's no reason for them to hold onto this world, or even to their family members they so hardly know. They mix around well with their peers who are just as clueless about their own identities. Together, they turn to every form of temporary relief that Singapore society can provide just to pass their time on earth in an attempt to fill that gaping hole in their hearts and turn their attention from that real issue of finding their purpose in life and seeking what they truly need. They stay away from home and turn to television, movies, computer games, relationships, career, culture, technology, everything that society can give them just to make them forget that they exist. This is their song, their cry...

But i hear the sound of love rising from among God's people. It's a sound that proceeds from the very heart of God that calls out to this fatherless generation. "They are Mine!"... These very people will turn to the Lord. They have the priviledge of calling Him "Father". From there will come their sense of purpose, their sense of identity and their bearing on society. I see a new generation building meaningful relationships with one-another and with their parents. One of the things that we're gonna see in this revival and in this new worship wineskin is the restoration of the family unit. What makes the church that Christ instituted so revolutionary is that the God that they were once so blinded to, they call "Father" and those who were once strangers they call "brothers", even if they belong to another tribe and tongue... No longer will families stay silent but they will engage one-another. It's going to break the self-centred apathy-laden culture of this nation. The very social fabric is going to change... once this generation grasps their identity, who they're truly made for. "I in you and you in Me". And they're gonna pass down the truth of the kingdom to the next generation, giving them a sense of identity and hope. That's what God has purposed when He meant He wants godly offspring! In the midst of a globalised society and economy, Singapore is poised for a Renaissance movement much like what happened in 18th century Europe. And this generation is what is going to make or break this Renaissance. Singapore is blessed with a great media industry, a creative voice and many social tools that would set this Renaissance in place. But what kind of music do we want this generation to play? The sound of destruction? The sound saying that there is no life, no purpose and no God? NO! They're gonna play the sound of hope, the sound of heaven, the creative expression of God's heart that's going to overtake the media and ever other aspect of society! It all begins when they find out who they are! No longer are they going to be ruled by television, movies, computer games, relationships, career, cuture and technology. Rather, they are going to seize these areas for the kingdom of God and release a sound therein proclaiming Jesus as Lord! They are going to release the sound as an expression of the very heartbeat of God in these areas and they're gonna say "This is what I'm made for!". They're going to be filled with a sense of hope and a sense of destiny!

If we think that the coming revival and the coming worship movement will look like in the past, we'd better be prepared for God to make us think again. He's doing something new, imbuing peole with a sense of purpose. The coming revival and new worship movement will change the way Singapore society functions. There will be creative expressions of the heart of God released into the family, into the church and into the marketplace! The people of God are going to deliver these creative expressions wherever God places them! Singapore is poised for a new Renaissance but in Jesus' Name, it's not gonna be a godless expression of humanism and worldliness but of the very heartbeat of God! Singapore is not going to be just another "little red dot" on the world map! This is going to have global impact! And the key lies with reaching this very generation for they are going to be the movers and shakers of this society and of future generations!

Hallelujah!

The Sound of our Walk

On Monday on my way to school, i was just communing with God and pondering in my heart the new sound, the new wave of worship that the Lord wants to release.. and there were certain principles i felt that He was teaching me regarding that.

The sound of worship has to come from our walk with the Lord. If we're going to learn how to release this new sound, we have to learn how to walk with Him, abide in Him and walk in intimacy with Him. Cos that's the sound of glory. Adam's glory in the garden before sin came was his intimate relationship with the Lord. And that produced a sound...

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day... Genesis 3:8

When man fell, it affected the sound of glory cos their walk with God was affected. They heard the sound of God but instead of responding, they hid because of their sin. Man used to walk with God in the garden in the cool of the day.. day by day, man and God would meet in fellowship and communion. But one day, man didn't show up... he didn't show up because of sin. But the good news is that Jesus Christ came to restore all things. That includes the pure and holy sound of glory, the sound of our walk. He came to set us free from sin. Cos all have sinned and fall short of the glory... but Jesus came to return us to that glory that we have fallen from. And our walk here on earth with God that began when we first believed is meant to produce a sound of worship, a movement...

This movement is the sound of us walking with God... the devil is afraid cos as we walk in step with God, he can't recognise if it's God walking or it's us walking! It sounds the same! And this very sound of glory is the sound of the conqueror, the victor, the overcomer, the land-taker. Cos as we make music with God in our walk with Him, God and man will be treading together, claiming ground together as they walk together. God promised Joshua every land that his feet steps on. As we walk with God, we release a sound of worship that is also a sound of war that takes nations, communities, people groups and individuals and sets them free. It is a sound that claims the nations as our inheritance. It is a sound that releases breakthrough in bound places. Cos it's a conquering sound- the sound of our walk, where God and man are in partnership rule and taking dominion.

Enoch entered a walk that ended in glory. He was taken up cos earth was no longer fit to have him cos he had so much of heaven in him, so much of the very constitution of the God that he walked with. This prophet, as we know from the book of Jude later prophesied the coming of the Lord with His holy ones. In a sense, the Lord is already here with His holy ones... these are the ones who are going to release the sound of their walk in the marketplace, in the business arena, in the government, in schools and streets, highways and byways.. and they're gonna pierce the darkness with the sound of glory. The sound of glory will also be a sound of judgment upon the wickedness of their day should they reject it. But the sound of glory will also come to pierce the darkness and show sinners the new and living Way.

Their lives are that very sound. They don't go to church to release that sound of worship. They carry that sound of worship everywhere their foot treads, in every arena that God has placed them. And God places them not to be a mere tourist attraction but to claim territory for His glory. It's the sound of God and man working together, living together...

And it starts with a walk, our walk... we can't let others walk with God for us. We have to learn to cultivate it, to abide in Him and dwell in His presence. This walk is a progressive walk. It gets sweeter and more intimate as the days go by. And this walk itself changes us to live that sound of worship. One of the sweetest things we can pray is "Holy Spirit, come walk with me... Holy Spirit, come eat with me..." It's simple, yet profound. As we walk with Him, we'll get to hear His very heart, know His very sound and allow it to find it's expression upon the earth not just through our instruments but through our lives!

Get ready for the worship revolution!

The Secret Place

On Wednesday evening, i was praying and asking God to "fire me up".. you know.. to hit me with His presence or something so that i'll "feel" Him... and then He was showing me that so many people have that kind of mentality.. You know.. that kind of "feel good" Christianity... they go to church, spend time in the presence of God.. and that's it. God was showing me that not many people are willing to spend time in the secret place. It's a place of intimacy where we get changed by Him... not just "fired up"

In Singapore and today's context in particular, we live in the instant noodle world where we're always rushing to get something done and accomplished instead of just resting in His presence. We value economy and productivity and many times it translates into our spiritual walk. We're experiencing a call from God to return to that secret place of intimacy.

Could it be that the problems sent in our lives are meant to drive us inward into the secret place? Amidst the noise of society, we have forgotten who we are. Could it be that God is calling us to the secret place to break us, teach us, build us up, imbue us with His life and an impartation of the very essence of who He is that entirely changes our constitution? Psalm 139 say that our frame was not hidden from Him when we were made in the secret place. Could it be that God is calling us to return there to remember the purpose for our existence, to remember why we were made? It goes on to say that the days ordained for us have already been written in His book before any one of them came to be. Could it be that for such a time as this God is calling us into the secret place to know our destiny, and return to the path that pursues it? The secret place is the Potter's Kiln.. that's where God brings us into for an extended period of time that when we come out we are no longer the same. Cos He doesn't just want worship, He wants worshippers. Cos the angels worship Him. All of creation worships Him. But here, at the threshold of a new worship meovement, He is looking for worshippers made in the secret place, imbued with his presence, substance and fvery constitution- liight and love and fire, glory full of grace an truth. This is a far cry from today's "feel good" generation who are little more interested than jumping up and down during worship events. God is calling to Himself worshippers. We have to learn how to become a Person of Worship. I didn't say we have to learn how to worship but we have to become the Person of Worship.

So who are we? Yesterday during Gatekeepers, the Lord was just reminding us that we are living stones. We are not dead stones but living stones. He is positioning His living stones for such a time as this to fulfill His purposes and to fulfill what they were made for- to spread the life flowing inside of them to the world out there. The thing is, many of us have forgotten we are living stones. When stress comes, exams start to loom ahead, we are still living stones. Should trials and temptations come and we get knocked down and battered, we are still living stones. Should we begin to experience shakings and hardship in our relationships, in our family, in school, at work and should the circumtances around us begin to come in close bombarding our senses, we are still living stones. Yes, God has permitted a shaking so that what cannot be shaken will remain. Could it be that the reason why we experience all this stress, frustration and dire sitution is to remind us to return to the secret place to know who we are? Could it be that the shaking is to remind us that earthly things are temporal and that heavenly things are eternal? Could it be that the purpose of the shaking is to take our trust away from worldly things and to put our trust on Him who is our portion? God wants to get us out of our comfort zone and turn us to Him so that we can remember who we are and our very purpose of existence.

Who are we? We are living stones. If there's anything that should not be shaken when the shaking comes, it should be us. We are a heavenly people imbued with a heavenly purpose. Our very constitution is what makes up the holy temple of God's dwelling upon the earth- and more than that, we are the New Jerusalem, prepared as the Bride for the Master. We've seen enough stones on earth to think that the image of a living stone is made up of ordinary graphite or limestone. But living stones are not made of that. We are precious stones, just as the Holy Temple and the Heavenly City are made of a material that carries the most value upon the earth. We are more than that, we are made of something far more valuable; the very substance of God, the essence and Person of Jesus Christ. We are precious living stones made into a holy dwelling fit for the King of Kings. We are eternal beings. And the way we carry ourselves upon the earth, especially in the midst of trying times should reflect that. We are not the first to flee adversity for we are made to withstand it and more than that, to live His life in the midst of it that all may see Him in us and us in Him.

God bless! :)

Fire!

This weekend was a great Holy Spirit filled weekend! Let's start with Saturday... went for worship practice and the presence of God was just awesome in the place! While we sang fire fall down, the Holy Spirit came upon me and i fell down right where i was and there came deep cries and groans of intercession from deep within my spirit. Actually, even before the prac, on my way to church, i was singing fire fall down and worshipping God and i could already feel His presence with me moving me to tears... So anyway, during the prac, there was a deep sense of God's holiness and reverential fear in His presence. There were angels in the place and the Lord was just removing hindrances to worship! Being there in itself was changing something inside of me...

Then we went for the photoshoot and so many youth came. Then we started youth service and i was so happy seeing all the people responding to God so openly during worship and even singing the new song that we sang! Then towards the end part of the worship, we called down the fire of God and prayed for one-another. I felt that God was releasing His fire down upon, the fire of His love.. to melt away all the bitterness, anger, hatred inside us.. the fire was there to melt away the lies from which we have taken our identity.. the lies of the evil one that says we need to be like this or be like that in order to be loved.. many times, we have taken our identity, our sense of value and self worth on the thigs we do, people we hang out with, our relationships, etc.. but the fire of God came to burn all that away cos what really matters is His deep ever-lasting love for us that none can quench! Period. After the worship, i sensed that something happened, there was a change in the spiritual atmosphere...

Alvin shared on holiness... While sitting there, the Lord just reminded me the verse from hebrews that says He makes His angels winds and His servants flames of fire. Then the Lord put in my heart that holiness is one key to evangelism cos when we set ourselves apart for Him, the whole world will wonder why we're so different. The bible says that God is a holy God and that our God is a consuming fire.. we his children are likewise called to be holy, having that same spiritual DNA of being as fire... His servants who release His redemptive message upon the earth are flames of fire... and when we truly grasp what it means to be holy, guess what.. the angels will be bringing us around as the winds carry the fire around so that it spreads.. and nothing is left unchanged and unsettled wherever the fire goes.. fire begets fire, the same substance... :)

After that, had 40th anniversary rehearsal den went to eat with Alvin and den came back home pretty late lah.. but i was still quite awake and i really thank the grace of God for sustaining me.. cos is pent until 6am or something typing stuff on friday night. Den woke up at 11 something and didn't get much of a chance to eat the whole day cos had so many thigs to do.. only managed to grab a sandwhich during the break during prac.. but God sustained me and he was faithful!

Went for new team this morning and it was good! The yonger musicians are rising up and we spent time worshipping in the presence of God. There were angels in the place getting ready for what God is doing.. we're releasing a new sound, the sound of war, the sound of love.. the sound that even churches have never seen before! I'm really believing God that He would birth forth though us this new worship movement... and perhaps that's why until now, we still call it new team cos of the new wineshkin we're entering into. We're really moving there! And God put in my heart the importance of this new wineskin, this new sound to come forth.. cos if it doesn't come forth from the church, there's another sound- the sound of the world, the sound that would bring destruction upon the younger generation that's gonna invade their senses.. so we have to come up with the real thing- we have to take the ground for Christ cos if it's not taken, the devil will take it instead and bring in his plan of destroying the younger generation! It's gonna be a pure sound, a holy sound unpolluted by the world. In churches in Singapore, worship ministries have compromised with so much worldliness in their worship- the glorification of man, pageantry, the worshipping of music, gifts and talents, taking focuss off God and putting it on man instead... God is bringing forth a pure sound to win the hearts of the young generation. The reason why the 70s hippie counterculture emerged was because the traditionalist western church couldn't provide that generation with the reality of God's presence and Person! Just imagine how many of them came from traditional "Christian" backgrounds! But now God is raising up a company of forerunners to pioneer this new wineskin, this new worship movement that will spread accross the world and even invade the arena of culture, arts and media. Creative expressions will rise up and challenge traditionalist religious structures with the power, presence and Person of Jesus! [I am prophesying as i write this.. i could feel the Holy Spirit's presence.. :) ]

After new team, i saw Jonathan playing around the place getting ready for Children's Church and as i watched him and felt the love of God for children burn in me, the Lord just put it in my heart that it will be His fiery love that will win the hearts of the next generation to Himself.. cos if there's one thing that's increasing through the generations, it apathy... but the fire of God's love is gonna melt this apathy and turn an entire MTV generations into fiery men and women after God's heart- apostles, teachers, prophets, evangelists, pastors, politicians, businessmen, researchers, doctors, scientists, etc... kings and queens in their own right who have a part to play in the unfolding of God's great manifest purposes upon the earth! The love of God can and will raise up a people for Himself from the very pits of human depravity and sin into godly people raised in Christ-likeness, gentleness, meekness and holiness!

After that, sat through the sermon during 2nd service and the speaker released a prophetic word saying that there were some yound people in the church involved in pornography. He wasn't the first person to say that... but coming from a backgound of getting involved with that before, i can identify with how hard it is to come out of it so as i was praying while walking home, i was bringing this issue before the Lord. Then God showed me that when we come into His kingdom, it's not us who chose Him but Him who chose us... so if He was the one who chose us to come into His Kingdom in the first place, He won't let us fall away just like that but He Himself has a responsibility according to His covenant to work in our lives! If God can deliver me out of it and turn me upside down- or rather, rightside up- den He can do it for you too.. and whoever else out there that needs Him and is humble enough to acknowledge it. I was really praying that God would show up with a greater sense of His presence and His holiness in our youth meetings to bring about a greater reverential fear of Him that would change us, leave us amazed, undone and undignified before His holiness and grace...

So anyway... stayed back with the 40th anniversary band as they practiced. Auntie Esther is quite pro leh! I watched her just now and was able to see and appreciate just how musically pro she is! I tried Uncle Jem's durian mooncake. It was soooo niceeeee! Anyway, din go out today cos people had something on. Besides, was quite tired lah.. but had a fulfilling weekend in church nonetheless! :)

You are Here

You are here among us
For we have gathered in Your Name
We can feel Your presence in tis place
You are here among us
You are enthroned upon our praise
You are here, here to heal
And here to save

You are here in our midst
How we've waited for moments like this
Have Your way in this place
Holy Spirit come do as You wish
We are changed as You move in our midst

God bless! ;)

Listen and Learn

Spent yesterday at MY's place and he invited me to pray with him... and there are a few things that i sensed strongly while praying... one of them is that God is gonna open doors in the marketplace for his ppl to go and take their places in the government, education sector, business sector... basically everywhere else... and that His ppl are gonna bring the mind of Christ into these places... 1 Cor 2 says that we have the mind of Christ and i believe that as believers begin to take their place in the marketplace and start to bring the mind of Christ in these places, we're gonna see a huge advancement of the kingdom of God in this nation! Praise God...

Had Gatekeepers yesterday evening... Felt that this is the year of multiplication.. and also that a wave of boldness is coming to Sojourners ministry.. this boldness that would take us to the streets and start sharing the gospel with ppl.. :) Again i saw some flowers blossoming and it's something that the Lord has been highlighting this year.. that this is the year ppl will blossom... and i wanna believe Him for that.. :D

One of the things that caught my attention while i was worshipping on the keys is what was written on the panel... it said "Listen and Learn".. and i sincerely believe that God was speaking to me personally.. it's been written there all along but it was only yesterday that i actually saw it and paid attention as if it was a divine moment as i looked upon it while worshipping.. dun really know how it applies but i have a feeling it has something to do with the new wave of worship that i'm seeking God for...

Meanwhile i still have it in my heart to seek the Lord regarding the new move of worship He's gonna release... i wanna see it and if God is willing, be part of it.. i sincerely believe that Sojourners and Salem will be part of the company to steward it and possibly even to forerun it... Believe God with me ya? ;)

God bless! :D

Day of His Power

That's what I've been busy with for the past two days.. the practices are tiring lah but it was good exposure and training...

let's start with Tuesday... What do you get when you take 4 hyperactive boys + Chris + Chris' camera phone with facewarp function?? You get a lot of mayhem and a lot of noise and a bunch of satisfied and entertained children... Yeah.. i was at Auntie Ro's house the other day and there was Joel (15), Jacob (11), Nathanael Lim (7.... and he's very cute.. especially the way he talks) and Nathanael Chan (age unknown- Auntie Ro's fren's son)... i made the mistake of taking out my camera phone and showing the bunch of them the facewarp function... and the rest? you can imagine what happened.... haha...

Supposed to help Auntie Ro carry all the dance equipment to the stadium.. while at her house, Uncle Joseph was there and he offered me some grapefruit... And i really thank God for His favour upon my life cos at that time, i was hoping and thinking about eating something sour and fruity and well i saw the grapefruit sitting there.. and well, i din have to ask cos Uncle Joseph offered it... :P I was just thinking about it and somehow, God just did His thing and well, the rest is history...

I went with Auntie Ro to Indoor Stadium where we met the rest of the dance team for rehearsals.. met Andrew Yeo there too cos he was part of the worship team... it was very tiring lah but we got a few things done... Thank God for His favour once again cos i didn't have to take my own transport home like !everyone else! cos Uncle Joseph gave me a lift back home... talk about favour...

On Wednesday morning before i went to stadium for another round of rehearsal, i was just thinking in my heart.. how i want to go to other countries, especially philippines and go from town to town ministering in evangelistic crusades.. cos i'm quite tired of going around and doing nothing.. and i dun want the next trip to be a mere shopping trip cos there's a harvest out there.. i dun wanna keep going back there either to minister to local believers and time after time after they encounter God, find that things are not much better.. i'd rather invest in bringing in more souls cos i'd be sure that there's an eternal change in them coming from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light... i'm gonna minister in healing.. why am i so sure that healing miracles would take place?? Cos it's in the Bible. I'm very restless when nothing's happening... it's time to do something...

Ok.. so yesterday was the actual day when we were supposed to dance... God's presence was there. I watched the worship and i dunno why but i just felt that there was something missing. Yes, it was good and all but i'm just dissatisfied with it... not cos i'm a perfectionist or anything but just that... even with the "best" musicians who play for national events, it's still very much the same thing that you get when you visit churches.. the same format, the same things going on..etc.. so i was telling God that i wanna change the face of worship in Singapore.. i wanna be a pioneer and a forerunner of a new worship movement that no church has ever seen before.. something that He's gonna do that is totally different from what churches are doing now in their worship.. i wanna be used by Him to change the way that worship looks.. it's gonna be "as it is in heaven".. it's gonna be heavenly worship.. i can't imagine ppl in heaven worshipping like we do on earth.. there's gotta be something more... something greater.. i know it's in the heart of God somewhere and i wanna access it..

Saw a number of ppl these past few days:
-Kalaya (i think that's how you spell it) came back from Thailand to help Auntie Ro so got to catch up with her for a while...
-Hansel was one of the tenors for the choir...
-Met Darren my Shachah classmate and he was by the side of the stadium doing deaf interpretation in sign language.. how cool is that.. passed him my msn add..
-Shereen and Joshua Tong came and said hi after the whole event...
-Met Evelyn and Roy from COR.. they were there too..

The presence of God was strong and it was just very easy to enter into prayer and intercession during the event.. prolly cos everyone else was there just for that purpose.. didn't get to enjoy the whole event though cos had to be backstage a number of times... but i thank God for the opprtunity to be there anyway.. :D