The promise of prayer.

God continues to amaze me how He answers my prayers.

One time, we went to a sister’s house for praise and worship practice and found that no one was at home. Our sister sms us and told us that she was stuck at the bus stop ‘coz the rain was pouring down hard. In an almost instant reaction to the message my brothers and I started praying for the rain to stop – in faith we believed that God would stop the rain. And as we ended our prayer, the rain became lighter then lighter and finally stopped. A few minutes later our sister arrived and we were able to start our practice.

Another time was when after I had my interview for my nursing job next year. I prayed to God that my intention/reason for desiring the job was the right one – I prayed for that first and foremost. Then lifted to God this desire of mine at the same time asking Him to let His will be done (‘coz I know He knows the best for me ^__^). I asked my brothers and sisters to pray along with me too. And that was over a period of weeks or just more than a month, and one Thursday morning my mobile received a ‘blocked call’. It was the hospital where I applied and had my one and only interview – and they offered me a position for next year.

Recently another amazing thing happened. Now this occurence is definitely of more value than the previous two mentioned. At the start of my uni study, perhaps my first semester (I think) I met this friend. Now this friend of mine lives relatively near my place and we caught the bus together when there was still this free bus QUT Carseldine to QUT Kelvin Grove. This person was not Christian, she believed in God but that was it. As my burden to reach out increased, I started to take steps to create opportunities to share about Jesus. I started reading my connect journal and Purpose Driven Life in front of her, and she would ask if she could read a bit while we were on the bus. I also started praying for this person that her life will one day turn to Christ. But as semester after semester flew by, very quickly and with the cancellation of the free bus we took to uni, I lost contact with this person – and with it the burden to pray for her salvation. But God is always attentive to our prayers, and provides in His timing.

Proverbs 15:29, “The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.” (NIV)

Psalm 66:19 “but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.” (NIV)

1 Peter 3:12a, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer,” (NIV)

One morning last week, I had left my laptop open and I saw this friend of mine message me after like 1 1/2 year on msn. We got talking and she had told me how she had encountered something in life, and at that moment I saw a great need for God. Our conversation immediately turned to one about Jesus, and I was able to invite her to church. And praise the Lord Jesus she came to church! And as we shared to her the gospel; as she saw the concrete love of God through His people, and of course; as she had a desperate need for God in her life, she decided to turn her life to Jesus Christ!

Sometimes we ask from God in desperation and expectation, yet we forget after a while of ‘no answer/s’. But as we pray let’s trust that God hears us (1 Peter 3:12a), and will provide in His perfect timing.

All glory to the Lord, Jesus!

Oceania Convention 2009

I said I’d put something up in regards to this, and I will keep to my word.

The OC this year was great! Though there was one thing missing - rice!

We were so desperate for rice after the three days convention that we went all around the city that night and insisted to have dinnner at an Asian restaurant that served rice (oh and not too expensive as well). Praise God for His providence. We did manage to find a place. We ended up eating at Yum Cha twice two during our two day extra stay at Melbourne.

 

We had a great time during our extra days there, but enough of that. What was even of greater experience was the actual convention. Though sadly I don’t have any pics of the 3 day convention itself. It was just a time of expiencing God and growth in God’s Word and of course, a time of moving in the Spirit.

Personally God taught me two main lessons during this time.

1. He reminded me of how great it was to dwell in His presence. And honestly though we did have a blast eating alot of food and fellowshipping with one another on our extra days in Melbourne, it couldn’t compare to dwelling in the presence of God. Each and every time I was in the presence of God during the OC, it was a different encounter with Him. At times I was just at sheer bliss of His wonderful presence, and other times I was kneeling on the floor weeping at His feet. It was an amazing experience.

2. I was so eager for God to speak to me something new and make experience new things in Him in many different areas of my Christian walk. But God stuck me hard when He revealed to me that that wasn’t His plan for me during that time, instead He wished for me to look back on all the things He’s already done in my life. He spoke to me in the verses in 2 Peter 1:12-15. I was so caught up in wanting ‘new things’ that I had forgotten of the very important revelations that God had already given to me. I praise Him for that great reminder, and today I continue to remind myself of things that has spoken to me – to allow me to reflect on them and respond to them.

I’m excited for next year’s OC!!! XD

In His sight.

3rd unpublished post.

After the Daniels’ Ipswich Mission Trip.

Isaiah 43: 1-5, “But now, this is what the Lord says – He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have smmoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you…”

For some reason I would always have my bookmark  at different places in my bible. I know I bookmark those pages when I know that there are verses or a verse that I want to go back to and reflect on more, but I’ve never done that in the past, unfortunately. But a few days after mission trip, I turned to the bookmark and found these verses.

I really, seriously needed that reminder of God’s love for me. I’ve been struggling with a few things, and still struggling actually, but God is good. He never fails to remind us of His love, His grace, His mercy. Sometimes I can’t help but think ‘how is it possible’ that a God so great like Him can love us so much.

“Fear not… you are mine… I will be with you… your God… your Saviour… you are precious and honored in my sight… because I love you…”

I’m just continually reminded of how undeserving I truly am of His love. Someone who’s imperfect and  all messed up, yet loved by Him. Can’t help but sometimes ask, ‘Why me?’.

Thank you Lord for Your ever unconditional love.

Song Revelations

2nd unpublished post.

These past weeks have been a time of discovering more about myself, more about who I am in Christ. God’s spoken to me in many different ways and one of them is through worship songs.

From The Inside Out.

“A thousand times I’ve failed, Your mercy remains. Should I stumble again, I’m caught in Your grace. The art of losing myself, in bringing You praise.”

Heart After You.

“Create in me a new heart, one that follows You. Set my feet in Your ways, to live worthy of Your call. Draw me near to You Lord every single day. All I desire, a heart after You.”

You’ll Come.

“Chains be broken. Lives be healed. Eyes be opened. Christ is revealed. Spirit reign.”

Hosanna.

“Heal my heart and make it clean. Open up my eyes to the things unseen. Show me how to love like You have loved me. Break my heart for what breaks Yours. Everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause. As I walk from earth into eternity.”

Mighty To Save.

“Everyone needs compassion, a love that’s never failing. Let mercy fall on me. Everyone needs forgiveness, the kindness of a Saviour. The hope of nations. My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save.”

This was from a while back. I praise God that He spoke to me through these songs, and I praise Him even more that He continues to do so. As I seek God once again for His will in my life, I know He’ll speak to me once again. In this important season of my life where God is speaking to me something new, I know His Word will come forth!

Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Justification. Sanctification.

1st unpublished post.

“Justification refers to your status before God. When you placed your faith in Jesus, God handed down the verdict that you are righteous. He transferred the perfect sinless record of Jesus to you.  He not only wiped away the record of your sin; He credited the righteousness of His Son to you.

Sanctification is a process – the process of becoming more like Christ, of growing in holiness. This process began the instant you were converted and will not end until you meet Jesus face to face. Through the work of His Spirit, through the power of His Word, and through fellowship with other believers, God peels away our desire for sin, renews our minds, and changes our lives. This ongoing work is what we call being sanctified.”

~Joshua Harris

 

I was reading this book and came across this page about justification and sanctification. It was explained so clearly, but it made ask the question “Then why should we desire to be sanctified if we’re already saved?”

When questions like this pop in my mind, I always picture the scenario of another person asking me that very question. I always picture myself with a weird expression on my face trying to rummage through my brain cells for the answer that would best answer the question. But I do know better now. I know that if this does happen in reality, I know the Holy Spirit will be there to be back me up. But when I came across this, I did have a reason in mind hmmm… but somehow I was still very curious on what the author would say in regards to this, or if he would mention anything to answer my question.

Desperate for an answer, I spent the 60 or so minutes reading through the book while waiting for the bus and also while riding the bus home. The author didn’t fail to mention the very thing I was searching for. He explains “(For) The person who has experienced God’s grace and has been genuinely converted can still choose to sin, but he can’t love sin like he used to. He can’t continue in sin indefinitely.” It’s very true that if someone who has accepted Christ in his life, there is still that possbility to sin but if he’s truly experienced the love of God in his life, it’s impossible not to hate sin, it’s impossible to go by certain ways in your life that you know that displeases God.

1 John 3:9, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

Publishing…

I’m going to take advatange of these next few days to finish and publish some draft posts I started out before.

2 Peter 1:12-14, “So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.”

Hopefully I will be successful and be able to also share what GOD has revealed to me in the past weeks. OH! HE’s so AMAZING!

Just Don’t Know How.

I just don’t know how people in Daniels who are working full-time are able to come LG, prayer meeting, church then also shepherd people and all other things we’ve committed to.

Right now, I just feel so overwhelmed with just having to work two days consecutively. I’ve always been someone who dreads going to work. Everytime I have a shift coming up I would be stressing over it, complaining again ang again and again… Now I’m like that again. I just don’t feel like doing anything knowing I have work tomorrow again. I just don’t know! I’m just so frustrated at the same time just can’t help but think why I’m feeling this way.

I just read a sister blog a few minutes ago, and she wrote in her blog that she wanted to quit her job ‘coz it was so comfortable. I was dead surprised by this. I actually want to quit my job ‘coz it’s so tough! I hate dealing with all the responsibility, with all the challenges, the little rejections, the stress, the rush. But you know, when I read this sister’s entry, I couldn’t help but wonder, am I actually quite blessed that I have a challenging work? A work that continues to challenge me to grow in making decisions, grow in taking responsibilities, grow in my standing firm against rejection, grow in how I interact with people, grow in my servanthood heart, grow in praising God in the midst of challenges and tough times, grow in my dependence on Him and see how He can truly work even though sometimes you think it’s impossible.

Coming to think of it a bit more, I think God has another reason behind this sudden unexpected shift. Seeing it’s timing, I believe God’s trying to cover me in some way as well.

I just feel so ashamed with the words I just typed right now. It’s so selfish, it’s so self-centered. I failed to see God’s purpose in the midst of all this. I had forgotten the revelations that God spoke to me before when I had the same worries and thoughts in the past. One of them being is that my workplace is also a training ground for me, where God desires to grow me in many different area. I let my fears, my worries take over. But I praise God that even through this, He’s reminded me once again. I have to learn to look at things, situations through God’s eyes, to see that for every single thing that happens in our lives, He has a purpose, a reaon for it.

James 1:1-4, “Consider it pure joy, brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that testing your faith develops perserverance. Perserverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Joy.

An unpublished post from the 3rd of Feb.

Today was great day. Each and every time I thought my day was going downhill, God stepped in and gave me a hand.

Last night I was kind of busy doing some ministry work. I got frustrated and so stressed out that I just lied down on the living room sofa to start to pray but then… I fell asleep. The thing was that I had work at 6am this morning and I didn’t set my alarm, yeah since I fell asleep, but praise God! I woke up at 5.30am with just enough time to change and drink a cup of coffee before I left.

Before each time I have to work, I’m just so overwhelmed thinking that somethings may go wrong. A couple of months ago, I learnt to surrender every shift and problem I encountered during that shift into God’s hands, but you know I still had those feelings of just… negativity. But you know today, God was just there. There were no major problems, just a smooth sailing shift.

And after work, I came home took a refreshing shower and did my quiet time with God. I started off with free worship, prayed to God, then read God’s Word and reflected on it. I just felt His presence envelope me again. Just felt so safe.

During all these things God kept asking me ONE question, “If things were the other way around, would I still praise Him?”. Throughout this day I’ve been praising God, singing songs to Him, thanking Him, and just basking in His blessings. But this question made me think big time. What if I didn’t wake up on time today, what if I came to work late and had a really bad shift, what if my quiet time with God was filled with distractions and the disability to find His presence? – Would I still praise Him like I did today, with that constant smile on my face, singing praises to God?

It’s true that our life as Christians will always be up and down. As we experience great heights, we may encounter times of serious challenges as well. But each day the Lord has made, let’s always learn to rejoice and be glad in it (Ps 118:24). Let’s learn to praise our God for who HE is, no matter situation we may be facing.

Oh and just want to encourage anyone reading this to read Pslams 118. Praise be to God for His love endures FOREVER!

Feelings come and go.

It’s funny how I started this blog. I remember being so eager to start this before. I wanted to share how I came to know God and how He’s worked in my life, but just like with the many things that I get excited about at first, my desire to start a blog dwindled and poof… it was gone.

Actually I just came back from a mission trip to Ipswich! And it was one great experience! I learnt alot during this time, not only through the things we did, but also through the impartations of some bros and sisters.

I just read in a sister’s blog that “If you think that my mission trip involves staying in some dilapidated wooden houses or camping in some rural areas. YOU ARE WRONG!!!” And I couldn’t agree more. We actually stayed in what I heard was the best place in Ipswich – and it was quite luxurious. It did feel like a holiday in some sense. But never the less, God moved during that mission trip. He really never fails.

I would just like to share a few things I learnt during that time.

Firstly, I came to realise that we can surrender many things to God. We can surrender our desires, doubts, decisions, dreams, and even dear people close to us. All very difficult to let go off, but in obedience to God, will we be willing enough to just leave it to Him?

Secondly, a brother shared why he is planting a church with our movement. He shared that when he first came to Australia, he decided to go church hopping. But on his second sunday of exploration, he stopped ‘coz he came to our church. He said it was the first time he saw true Chrisitans. And that just struck me. That our love for God and passion for Him that’s so evidently seen by others can really impact someone’s life even to the point that he’d desire to plant a church with our movement. I was even more struck when another brother said that our church is just a church that’s burning for God. I think sometimes I overlook how blessed I am to be in this church.

Thirdly, I learnt how to truly move with God during praise and worship. I was assigned as the musician for the mission trip. I was stressing a bit ‘coz one of the songs had to have a different strumming that I wasn’t used to -  and I had no idea how to build up with that strumming. But I praise God that He provided for me. During life group, I just felt God’s presence fill the place and fill me. Usually I stress over chords and what I should play for this part and that part, worrying about signs from the leader as well - but all those negative feelings just went out the window. God’s comfort and reassurance replaced it. It was the first time I got to truly worship God despite being a musician during praise and worship. Definitely an unforgettable experience.

Wah, so long already! But I have one last point.

Lastly, I came to realise that ‘One’s love for God comes first, and a burden comes secondary’. This greatly impacted me. Many times I’ve responded to God was because of a burden, like a tugging or heaviness in the heart – but when these burdens disappeared my passion dropped down big time. You can loose a burden, ‘coz emotions are attached to a burden and emotions disappear. I want to learn to respond to God ‘coz of my love and conviction to Him ‘coz I know that though these may waver, they will never disappear.

I learnt a few more things, and not so surprisingly, God challenged me in a few areas as well, but these are the main things I learnt and will take with me from now on. I know that if one day God calls me to go for a mission to plant a church, it will be one tough decision to make, but seeing how He can work even during a short mission trip, reassures me that He can do even greater things.

Joshua 3:5, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

Hi to everyone! ^^

Wow, so this is how blogging is. I just wanted to try it. I’m not sure if I’ll be one of those people who would first be so enthusiastic about it and always update and put new posts up at first, then slowly start to loose interest in it and eventually abandon this blog, because, to be honest, I do tend to have an attidtude like that towards certain things. But having had said this, I can proudly and happily say that I’ve found something that I know I’ll never loose interest in. But right now, I just wan to see how this goes, and hopefully if I see it as something that is beneficial to me, I would continue it.

So starting with my first post, I would just like to share with everyone a testimony of how I came to see my spiritual life in a different light. Just a short disclaimer before I start, I think its going to be quite long, hopefully you’ll still be willing to read it after I’ve mentioned this… Cross that out. I change my mind. Please read it lol xD. I’ll edit this post, once I’ve finished it.