My 5h@rings

2009-12-15T04:15:00.000-08:00

Counting God's Favour ( 15/12/09)

It was such a favour from the Lord in my life today as I reflected through what happened.
1 ) The first event seemed to be a tragic to me when my car bumped into another car as both of us reversed out of the car park. THere was only minor scratches on my car and was a noticeable bump on her car. It really took a gr8 courage to believe something good can turn out from it and to have peace about it. BUt through it all, I sensed God's peace in my heart altogether. After a chat wtih my friend about the insurance claim, I received a call from the husband of the driver of the car and he mentioned to me that the dent has been reversed and told me not to worry about paying for it. It was truly GOd's favour in the midst of it and there was such a praise and relief in my heart hearing the good news. PTL!
2) Following from that, I (& my friend along) saw rows of blessings flowing through in the midst of our visit into the city that afternoon. I ordered coffee for my friend and I & the barista did a wrong cuppa for me. WIth God's favour, he not only made me theright coffee, but the coffee which was mistakenly made was sold off to another customer next on the queue on the spot. IT was truly the overflow of God's favour.
3) A pack of 3 screen protectors for the exact model of the mobile phone has been sold at a discounted price which I can find in no other places. I had been searching for it for months now. PTL for this favour as well.
4) GOd's favour not only poured onto me, but it also overflowed into my friend as we shopped around for gifts. He received extra discounts for the products that he purchased.
God is truly awesome and generous and full of surprises.
THank You, my Daddy in heaven!
As you seek His face each day too, I am sure that God has something special in store for u each day. I would encourage u to count your blessings each day. GBU!

2009-03-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

Strength to Forgive (19/3/09)

Having heard that something awkward is going around in my family back home (far away), it just fans in my heart such anger against the wrong party. I found that it harder to forgive when the person has been the closest family member. I thought I could easily forgive at first, but hte more I think about it, the more I realised the anger been fanned and magnified. The more anger there is, the more there is a feeling and thoughts of revenge and negativities set into motion as well. I hated this feeling. So instead of thinking too much this morning, I set my thoughts and mind and eye on my devotion and prayed in the spirit and asked God to help me and reveal fresh words of restoration to me, so that I could get out of this motion of negativity.
The devotion this morning has been longer than usual. I am glad still that He has reveal to me new revelation of what God is doing in this circumstances. As much as it might seem like its a bad event within the family, God assured me that He is still in control and that He has a plan for goodness in this event.

The following are the WOrds of strength God has revealed to me this morning and has set me into freedom of positivity again and live life with faith and love and forgiveness and freedom.

Ro 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
Ro 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Ro 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Ro 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
Ro 12:16 Live in harmony with one another.
Ro 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
Ro 12:18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Ro 12:19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.
Ro 12:20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
Ro 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Ro 5:1 since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Ro 5:2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Ro 5:3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
Ro 5:4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Ro 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

=As I read through this verses, I felt such great freedom from the anger and I felt God's strength flow into me and His Holy Spirit flow out of me fresh anew again, giving me strength to forgive and to approach this with victory.

Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Phil 4:5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Phil 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Phil 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Phil 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Phil 4:9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

In the midst of this trials, God has given me the strategy to overcome negativity through Philippians 4:8-9. And I truly can sense GOd's presence and peace in me as I practise on it and continue to praise and rejoice in Him.

As I continue my day with work today, I realised the power in me was different and I had the best time of my day at work today. The strength and energy was indescribable. And many blessed events happen in my work today as well.

Even in my work, God showed me something about the event. as much as it might look like it's a bad event happening in my family/parents now, God has a plan to change this into goodness and I shall see breakthroughs in days ahead. It's the way to breakthroughs.
PTL for this great revelation and I look forward for His glory to be manifested within the family. Gotta stand strong in His promises.
May you be blessed and strengthen in your life as well, for He has great plans and blessings toward your life and future. GBU!

2008-11-17T05:49:00.000-08:00

Prayers and AMAZED (17/11/08)

The storm caused the electricity to be down till this monring.
I was disappointed becasue I thought it would have come by this morning when I am asleep.
I was a bit desperate to have the electircity when I made breakfast befroe going to work.
So it dawned to me to ask God for help.
I prayed the words and requested God to bring back the electricity soon.
I need to study and I don't want my food to rot in my fridge.
Instead of praying prayers of request, I switched my gear to prayer of faith.
Prayer of request sounded. "Lord, I pray and ask that you will bring back the electricity as soon and possible."
But prayer of FAITH goes like this, "Lord, as much as I heard people saying that it normally takes a couple of days for them to fix the electricity, I still put my faith in you, Lord, and I know that there is nothing impossible in You. I beleive You are able and you can miraculously bring the lights up now. I don't know how but I do know that You can do it, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for answering my prayer."
After I finished my breakfast, I heard the beeps from the diswasher and I realised that God has answered my prayer of faith.
I rejoiced in my walk to work this morning.

After dinner, God caught my attention in the song "Amazed" by Lincoln Brewster as I do my work on my computer.
Immediately, I sensed God's presence and anointing on this song.
I got on my knees and lifted my hands to Him in my room, in His presence.
As I lifted my hands, I felt God's warmth and warm embrace upon my hands, as if I was reaching into the cloud of His presence.
I felt the warmth just radiate into my heart as I praised Him through the song.
The warmth radiated and pierced straight into my heart three times and they brought peace and love into my heart and tears rolls in my eyes.
The warmth of His presence is so comforting and He amazed me once again and strengthened me.
I do beleive He has strengthened me for a mission to pray in this season of time.
Especially for the disaster of storm this week.
I am more determined to pray earnestly and victoriously for every situation that are arising at this season..... storm, or family, or relatives etc.
I hope you will join arms with me to pray along for God's protection upon His people and also upon our community also.
GBU!

2008-09-28T06:48:00.000-07:00

Today's Rhema (28/9/08)

John 16:33
I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble.
BUT TAKE HEART! I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.

We are OVERCOMER in Christ!

2008-09-22T04:21:00.000-07:00

Rhema for the church (21/9/08)

(1) Isaiah 43:2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And when you pass through the 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.

(2) 1 John 5:4-5
...for everyone born of God OVERCOMES the world. This is the VICTORY that have overcome the world, even our faith.
Who is it that overcomes the world?
Only he who beleives that Jesus is the Son of God

(3) John 16:33
I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble.
BUT TAKE HEART! I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.

Key words: Stand firm, take heart, OVERCOMER, VICTORY

2008-08-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

Hope (20/8/08)

ROmans 5:3-5
... but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; character, hope. And HOPE does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

As I reflected upon my study life, I knew it was HOPE from the Lord that has given me the strength to persevere in my studies despite all my failures.
In my failures, it was God who gave me the strength to persevere and continue to work at completing all the subjects in the course that I could gradute successfully. THis perseverance has built up my character to be stronger in Him and has also given me great HOPE in Him and His promises. God has built me up to be an overcomer through the Holy SPirit in me. These trials have developed my charcter, deepened my trust in God & has given me greater confidence about my future.

I am a COnquerer and OVercomer with Christ in me.

2008-08-22T06:04:00.000-07:00

God is Faithful (15/8/08)

Finally.......It has truly been a long journey of ups and down through my study in university. Finally, God has enabled me to graduate TODAY. The afternoon graduation ceremony was filled with joy and excitement as I finally received my certificate and degree in Pharmacy.
The photographic session was filled with so much joy and fun that I was exhausted from smiling. Hahahahah........
After the ceremony, I chose to attend the young adult meeting in Paradise Church so that I can meet all my friends and brothers and sisters in church. During the meeting, God captivated my heart fresh anew again as I reunited with my brothers and sisters to worship the Lord. As I worshipped the Lord, I can sense His awesome presence and anointing upon me and He was pleased for me to have chosen to seek Him and thank Him for the achievement. As I continued to worship Him, I continued to thank Him for all the guidance and strength He has given me throughout my journey so that I could continue to persevere despite failures. I thank Him for leading me to finish this 'race' or journey in uni in VICTORY.
After I have exhausted my thanksgiving, my eyes was fixed onto my graduation certificate on my bag. I told God, "God, I dedicate this certificate degree to You. I ask that as You have led me faithfully in this journey, I also ask You to walk with me in this new journey/season of my life in career as a pharmacist. I ask that You would build me up to be a good pharmacist and be Your representative in pharmacy, that Your love and light may continue to shine in my career too." At this, I felt God's tangible embrace and touch and His assurance that He will walk with me in my career. PTL for His faithfulness!

Let me assure you, as you read my testimony. that God is faithful to fulfill all His promises unto your life. What are those promises He has promised to you? As He has promised me victory in my life, I believe He will lead you in VICTORY in your journey too. Seek Him and invite Him to be part of your life and your journey and He will lead you into victory as well. As you continue to seek and praise God, He will give you the stregth to run this race with victory despite failures. He will be your strength to complete the race in victory.
Three principles I held firm in my journey: P, P, G - Praise, Pray & hold on to God's promises.
I hope you are blessed with my testimony and be inspired to seek God more. GBU!

2008-07-13T04:56:00.000-07:00

NCCC or BCC? (13/7/08)

I have been praying about which church to attend/join. Had been praying about it since last week. 2 choices: NCCC or BCC? Having think about the distance, transport issue, ability to serve in the church & to join LG or CG, NCCC seems to be the better place. Besides I am sure I can contribute a lot in this church and into the community in BUrpengary. However my heart is still inclined towards BCC because it was more similar to PCCC back in Adelaide. IT;s just that It's not so convenient for me to travel such a distance and my involvement in the church would be jeopardised if I was to join BCC. My concscience in me still says to attend NCCC.

Having to attend BCC today, I had a chat with Tarjei about this decision. It sudeenly dawned to me that the answer has been sitting in my heart since the beginning. The only thing that matters now is whether I would chose to follow GOd's leading or to follow my fleshly desire. After the short chat with TJ, I finally made up my mind to follow God's way - to attend the local church, NCCC.

The Vine devotion today says, "it's not easy to do the right thing when (a) it will cost you; (b) the wrong thing is more practical; (c) no one but you will know..... Cowardice asks: is it safe? Consensus asks: is it popular? Conscience [character] asks: is it right?" My reading on "Walking With God" by John Eldredge today also says, "The Christian life is not the commonsense life".

How true are these. My conscience says NCCC but my consensus/human fleshly selfish desire/mind or commonsense tells me BCC. But finally I chose God's way - NCCC.

Thank you God for letting me understand what you are trying to tell me today and for piecing each small information for me to take this step of faith in You.

Are you walking in faith and with God's leading today?

2008-07-13T04:38:00.000-07:00

Change Your Mindset (12/7/08)

I have changed my devotion method to listening to God's voice instead.
I was led to Ephesians 4:2-3 yesterday.
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."

This was what happened before the devotion yesterday.
As I was pondering through what had happened in Gold Coast between my sister and I, I was shocked to hear this voice in my heart - "Paradise Konon!" Wow! I never know there was such anger and hatred in my heart towards her. I thought I have forgiven her. Pondering further to that I realised that I have been focussing too mush on the negatives during my stay with her. That has led to this hatred in my heart.

Knowing this, I confessed to the Lord of my unforgiveness and chose to "switch" my minds and thoughts upon the positives instead. God reminded me once again that "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things" (Philipians 4:8) AND "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the well spring of life. LET YOUR EYES LOOK STRAIGHT AHEAD, fix your gaze directly before you." (Proverbs 4:23 & 25)

Must not let my eyes deviate towards the negativity in other people, but fix them straight with positivity and continue to fix my gaze onto Jesus so that I can continue to strive towards this goal/prize in God's calling or leading and so that I can move forward in my journey of life.

2007-09-07T05:07:00.000-07:00

Journey Of Faith (6/9/070)

I was so struck with fear, worry and stress as I heard all about the limited traineeship positions in Adelaide from a lot of people. As I seek advise from a few friends about traineeship yesterday, most of the responses I received were very negative and distressful, although I did get some good advise from them. That has truly caused me to feel very stress out and insecure and worried about my journey ahead of me. It really looked very challenging and not easy. Plus the discouraging messages I received from my dad, persuading me to do my traineeship in Malaysia, added to my worries. He told me that it's better that I head back home because I can't take care of myself. By God's wisdom, I sent him a beautiful and gentle reply, which I never thought would ever cross my mind, if it wasn't for God.
In my distress last night, I shared my heart with God and told Him everything that had happened and how I felt. I also had the opportunity to chat with a brother-in-Christ, ANdrew, about my struggles and he reminded me to turn my forcus and faith onto God in this journey of faith & to hold on to God's promises day by day.
As I readjusted my focus back to the Mighty God last night, I also learned not to let what other people/human said to "cloud" or blind/distract my vision of God's promises in my lives.
As I did that, God restored back His joy and enthusiasm into my heart again, to continue with my job search and application again TODAY.

As I started my day with God's words, He spoke His rhema into my heart, giving me the strength for today. Devotion in the Utmost For His Highest spoke of "Rivers of Living Water" from John 7:38;

A river touches places of which its source knows nothing, and Jesus says if we have received of His fullness, however small the visible measure of our lives, out of us will flow the rivers that will bless to the uttermost parts of the earth. We have nothing to do with the outflow -- "This is the work of God that ye believe..."
A river is victoriously persistent, it overcomes all barriers. For a while it is baulked, but it soon makes a pathway round the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight far miles, and presently EMERGE AGAIN BROADER AND GRANDER THAN EVER.... Keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never get your eyes on the obstacle or on the difficulty. The obstacle is a matter of indifference to the river which flows steadily through you if you remember to keep right to the Source. Never allow anything between yourself and Jesus Christ, no emotion, or experience; nothing must keep you from the one great Sovereign Source...
If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has nourished in you mighty torrents of blessing for others.

This divine intervention ata divine timing has given me the strength to psuh through ahead of my journey ahead. As I continued reading, God spoke to me again from Psalm 127:1&2;

Unless the Lord builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
In vain you rise early and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat -
for He grants sleep to those He loves
OR
for while they sleep He provides for those he loves.

I learned that as I build up the foundation of my career, i MUST put my focus on God first. letting Him lead me each step of my efforts, and doing the best of my role in searching for the job. I also need to let Him lead OR do the "building". I believe that as I do my role, God will pave the way to the path He has planned for me.
Even as I stepped out this morning to apply at a few pharmacies and did followup with the few I have applied before, God's favour was evidently upon me as He granted me with great favour from the employers. He has also blessed me with an interview scheduled for next week. Hopelessnes, which was felt last night, was replaced with great hope and excitement & the seemingly closed doors were replaced with a bright light beaming from an opened door.
The adventure today was great and fruitful, as I finally got an interview opportunity and also bright chances of employment with another two stores/employers.
As I did my role today, I let God do His part. By faith, I beleieve He will lead me to where He wants me to be.
Praise our gracious and all loving, awesome God.

May God bless you with His favour and lead you in your journey of life and faith!

2007-08-05T04:46:00.000-07:00

Post-Elevation Breakthroughs (5/8/07)

Hoping to get some encouragement from my family members, I called home on Friday night to speak to them. However, the calls just left me broken, dicouraged and disappointed when all I got was some "negative and sarcastic pressure" (don't know how to describe this) from them to finish my final studies. My heart was broken and hurt that night and I fell on my knees, crying by my bed. In my tears and brokenness, I poured out my heart to God and turned to Him for strength and comfort. In my tears that night, I realised there were two issues I was facing. Firstly it was disappointment. Secondly I was also feeling a bit tired and weary and "discontent" after continuingly serving God in the area of my gifting in the church. I went to get an early rest that night.

Little did I know God had something planned for me in the OxyGen meeting on this Saturday evening. The worship session was awesome as God's mighty presence filled the place and touched our hearts. As Ps Michael Raj preached that night, God caught my attention when my name was mentioned in the sermon. Ps Michael's message spoke directly into my heart and a word of encouragement that he spoke was stuck in my heart forever - "FAITHFULNESS". As I sat there in my seat in brokenness, the tears well up within me as God's Spirit spoke and ministered to me. Each words spoke deep into my heart and gave me the strength to continue to serve God passionately in the areas of my gifting. As he elaborated in the sermon, I was more determined to offer God the little things (or gifts) that I can offer, trusting that He will multiply them to bless/feed His people abundantly or as much as they can eat. It has truly propelled me on and flamed up the fire and passion within my heart to serve God. I also trust that every little things I do will no be wasted and will contribute to a great harvest of fruit in the future for God's glory.

At first I thought we have dealt with all the issues in my heart that night. Little did I know that He was going to deal with the other issue in my heart this (Sunday) morning. God lovingly dealt with the other issue in my heart through the message that was preached by Ps Mark this morning in the City Service on the topic of "Disappointment". His example of how Jesus dealt with Peter after he disowned Jesus thrice really spoke into my heart. Jesus dealt with Peter's disappointment by first addressing his disappointment and then called him to follow Him. THis morning, God also addressed my disappointments and He also called me to follow Him, bringing me back to the place of vision and restoring my vision again. Through this encounter, God has also lifted off the burden of disappointment from my heart, enabling me to move forward in freedom and victory in Christ.

Indeed this weekend has been a great encounter weekend for me and I am truly transformed and restored to my position of authority in Christ again. I also believe that these are the breakthroughs that God has prepared for me as a POST-ELEVATION CAMP BREAKTHROUGHS as I held on to what Ps Michael Rowan said during the camp that some of us will experience our breakthroughs weeks after the camp. I also believe that these are just the beginning and there are more to come in the future. PTL!

2007-04-28T01:48:00.000-07:00

How Do We Know If We Are Hearing and Doing God's Will?
Adapted from The Everyday Life BIble by Joyce Meyer

Bold As A Lion (Joyce Meyer’s The Everyday’s Life Bible, p. 1007)

If we intend to succeed at being ourselves and truly enjoy our everyday lives, we must reach a point where we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. Only God, through His Spirit, can lead us to succeed and be all we can be. Other people usually will not, the devil certainly will not, and we are not able to do it ourselves without God.

Being led by the Spirit does not mean we never make mistakes. The Holy Spirit does not make mistakes, but we do. Following the Spirit’s leading is a process that can be learned only by doing. We start by stepping out into things we believe God is putting on our hearts; and we learn by wisdom and experience how to hear more clearly and definitely. I always say, “Step out and find out.” That is one way to discover if what is in your heart is from God. If it works it is God, and if it doesn’t work it is not God, and there is no shame in stepping out to find out. Take little “baby steps” and see if the first one produces good fruit; if it does then take another step. If it does not, then back off and pray some more.

I say that boldness is required to be led by the Spirit because only boldness steps out and only boldness can survive making mistakes. We must remember that the “righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1). When insecure people make mistakes, often they will not try again. Bold people make many mistakes, but their attitude is, “I am going to keep trying until I learn to do this right.”

Those who suffer from condemnation usually do not believe they can hear from God. Even if they think they may have heard from God and do step out, a minor failure is a major setback to them. Each time they make mistake, they come under a new load of guilt and condemnation. They end up spending all their time in the cycle. They make a mistake, feel condemned, make another mistake, feel condemned, and on and on. Finally they become frozen with fear and never fulfill their destinies.

I encourage you to step out in faith and be all that God has called you to be. If you do step out and two weeks later discover that you made a mistake, are you going to be bold enough to pray, wise enough to learn from your mistakes and determined enough to go on? Or are you going to feel condemned and go back to wasting your life? There is no point in learning to be led by the Holy Spirit if you do not understand that you will make some mistakes while on the journey.

Be as bold as a lion in your faith. Do not hide behind fears, insecurities, and mistakes any longer. If you have already made major blunders in your life and have been living under condemnation because of them, this is the time to forgive yourself and press on!

You can be all God planned for you, in Christ. Do not be half of it or three-quarters of it, but be all that God designed you to be. Do all He wants you to do, and have all He wants you to have. You will not enjoy God’s fullness without His boldness. Remember, condemnation destroys boldness, so do not stay under condemnation.

Proverbs 28:1 says that the wicked flee when no one is even pursuing them. The wicked are running all the time. They run from everything. But the uncompromisingly righteous are as bold as a lion. And whether you feel it or not, you are righteous!

2007-04-13T00:44:00.000-07:00

Indeed through this journey of transformations, I felt like God has brought me out of “Egypt” to the “promised land”. On my journey to the “promised land”, He has brought me through the dessert and wilderness so that He can equip and prepare me to take over and conquer the “promised land” (my vision). Even on my journey to conquer the “promised land”, these promises spoke into my heart from the book of Deuteronomy.

Deut 7:9
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.

(Deut 4:29-31)
When you are in distress and … in later days you return to the Lord your God and obey Him; If from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon or forget you.

Finally (Deut 31:6)
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them [all your problems you face on the journey to the “promised land” or back to the path of righteousness], for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.

2007-04-13T00:40:00.000-07:00

My Easter Testimony

Ever since I took the step of faith to be baptized on the 4/4/1999, my lives started to turn around as the Lord led me patiently to take me back to the path of righteousness. My study life in secondary years was very messed up because of unwise decisions and I struggled a lot in my studies in those years. The struggle in my studies was felt even as I stepped into Pre-U studies and into university. Fears of failure gripped me when I first failed subjects in the first year of my university studies. After that, the fear clung unto me each time when tests or examination come. But through the years, God has given me the strength to face all these failures in positive ways, the strength to persevere and to work harder, the peace and confidence to do my best in each assessment and to put my trust and faith in Him for the results. Amazingly God has led me through each stage of my studies till where I am now. Without Him I really can’t imagine where I would be now.

In addition to the struggles in my studies, I also faced relationship problems among my friends, due to my characters and behaviors. I was struck with various problems like depression, anxiety, fears of various things, low self-esteem and intimidation due to loss of friends and loneliness. However, the Lord was faithful and caring that He taught me and build up my character patiently each day. Even through these days of reconstructions, God has also deposited His Words and promises into my heart that have planted me onto the firm Rock that can not be shaken. Through these transformations, God has added and enlarged my territory and friendships each day that I could be who I am now.

Indeed these have been a long journey, but HE was there with me, beside me, faithfully guiding me through each “wilderness” and “thorns” of life, bringing me back to HIS PATH of righteousness, building and shaping me up to be the man He wants me to be.

Among the few promises that kept me strong through these journey are found in Psalm 23 and Proverbs 3:
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not be in want; He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters; He restores my soul; He guides me in the path of righteousness; even though I walk through the valley of shadows of death; I will fear no evil; for You are with me and Your staff comforts me; surely goodness and love will follow me; all the days of my life I will dwell in the house of the Lord; Forever.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

Now that He has freed me, I can smile at the world with His great joy!

PTL Hallelujah!

2007-03-15T05:09:00.000-07:00

KickStart (10/3/07)

I was excited for our meeting tonight that I went to City West earlier. When I reached the venue, I noticed that the music team was practicing for the event tonight. At first I was planning to study in the computer pool before the event starts. However, after some thoughts, I went into the hall of the meeting. I was thinking, Where could be a better place than to be in the presence or the court of the Lord, and I still can do my study here in the hall. I was so excited at first when I first entered that place that I started waving to all my friends in the hall. But it seemed like everyone is either busy or don’t care at all, except Mei Lyn. At the moment, I felt such a big intimidation rushed into me that I felt so bad. I thought I have chosen the wrong choice to be there or that I’m not supposed to be in the hall because I was not involved and they were practicing at the moment. Then I went over to the back of the hall trying to flip through my notes, as if trying to study. But I can hardly focus on my study because the intimidation kept drilling me on my mind. I was feeling quite down and sad that although in the midst of my friends, I still felt so far from them and there seemed to be something, indescribable thing, missing in my lives/heart.
After a few moments, I thank God that He heard my heart cry and sent my friend, Mei Lynn to keep me a company, even as I sat there trying to do my study. Strange enough, she said she only wanted to join me there and asked me to proceed with my study. I thank God for her sensitive care.
During the KickStart event, we sang a song, Still, during the worship session. I found it hard to sing each time it reached the chorus. I had no idea why, but somehow I can feel as if each time I was trying very hard to sing it out with my voice, it felt as if something from the inside was about to pour off. In the darkness during the worship, I let a bit of my tears off. This was the first time that tears ever rolled off from my eyes in the public and during worship.
After the worship, Pastor Chiew Har spoke about God’s pre-arranged plan to place us where we are now and that our presence and plan to be here is not just for ourselves alone, but also for someone else. As the sermon was about to end and the musicians were to take over, Willy walked to the front, preparing to take off to reach for the drums, and the camp T-shirt he was wearing captured my eyes. On the back of the T was written Jeremiah 29:11. Immediately I knew that God was trying to grab my attention and wanted to speak to me. I flipped open my Bible and it read: For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. At first I thought this word was given to others and little did I know that God was actually trying to covey this message and passage to me personally. It sounded just like a normal sermon, which I heard before.
At the end of the sermon, Sheena took over with song of worship. She led us to sing the song that I found hard to sing, Still. Again, each time it came to the chorus, I found it hard to sing and my throat just seemed stuck. The Lord led Sheena and Ps Chiew Har that they led us to sing that songs over and over again. I believe each round when this song was sang, God was working to breakthrough into our (my) heart, bringing me down to humility and brokenness. Tears were holding hard from within me and I wouldn’t let myself off, fearing of shame.
The platform was opened for prayer as we continued singing through the song. There was a strong feeling within my heart that I was supposed to step to the front to be prayed. But I was ashamed because I know tears would surely pour off uncontrollably when I was out there.
I noticed Alvin Teng walking towards my seat after he prayed for the people at the front. As Sheena led the song, she said that she sensed that there was another person in the room, on her left (where I was standing), who needed God’s touch. She encouraged that person to step out and she even prayed that God would still touch the person even if he/she was embarrassed to step out. With a sensitive heart she led us to close our eyes and to let that person left up his/her hand so that God could touch him/her. Without hesitating any longer, I lifted up my hand and tears rolled down my faced and my nose, as I bowed my neck, with my left hand on my face. That was the first time such tears ever flowed since long time ago. God really captivated my heart and I felt as if my burdens have been lifted up in my tears. At that moment too, a voice spoke into my ears that every tears I cried is precious in His eyes and each tears was written in a book of record in God’s library and each tears have their own meaning. As for me, I, myself do not understand what this tears were about but I do trust that God alone knew their meanings and He has answered them all.
Alvin ministered and stood by my side to pray for me, that I would have strength to endure all that I was going through.
With such mighty touch from the Lord I felt so revived, restored and strengthened. The Lord has lifted up my spirit and comforted me in His love.
With this great touch from the Lord, I also understood right at the moment what Ps Chiew Har meant from the words of preaching that God placed certain people in OxyGen in Adelaide, so that I would be ministered and blessed today.
PTL for such great mighty revelation.

After such great touch from the Lord, only now I understood God’s meaning of such revelation/vision that He deposited into Ps. Ashley, to form such international student ministry, OxyGen, in this church and in this city of Adelaide, to meet our needs in this land in a special and personal way.
PTL for such great arrangements.

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what the Lord has prepared for those who love Him. 1 Corinthians 2:9

2007-03-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

Get Rid of That!

I had two pairs of cargo pants that I liked a lot. Lat year as I was ironing them, I noticed an unusual drawings on the back pocket. Everytime I saw them, I felt very uneasy and I knew very clearly that I'll have to get rid of them. One had a look of a skeleton and the other had a tail of a snake. I never like these features especailly on my clothes. I knew it very clearly that these were the prompting from the Holy Spirit,
I was unwilling to get rid of them until this year. When I came back from a month holiday back in Malaysia, I decided to rid them off from me. I destroyed them (images) and threw them away into the bin with faith + renounced off any unclean spirits associated with the pants. I felt so much relieve after taking that step of faith. At the same time too, I expected that God would bless me more abundantly from such step of faith.
Around Feb 07, there was summer sale going on and everything was selling like hot potatoes, at a good bargain. I seized the opportunity and God blessed me with three new pairs of cargo pants, which I manage to get at good price and I liked the materials and the designs as well.
Wow! God's blessings are incomprehensible and no one would ever know how much He can bless us with such steps of obedience and faith.
At first I was just expecting to be blessed with a pair only. but little did I know that I would be blessed with three instead. God's blessings are truly abundant.
PTL!

2007-03-11T06:06:00.000-07:00

Knowing GOd is MORE Than Just Knowing Him (9/12/06)

Proverbs 9:10-12
The FEAR of the Lord is the BEGINING OF WISDOM,
For through me (Wisdom) your days will be many,
ANd years will be added to your Life.
If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
If you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.

I have read these verses a lot of times before, However, the Lord revealed something fresh to me, as I read thesm in my devotion this morning. As I read the Life Application notes of the verses, the Lord gave me a clearer understanding of these verses.
Wisdom begins with knowing God, for "the Lord brought wisdom forth as the first of His works, from the beginning, before the world began." (Prov 8:22-23) Therefore to know the Lord = knowing wisdom.
Since God is the creator of all things - the whole world, the heavens and the deep (Prov 8:22-31), living things and everything - He knows the functions and the ways to all things, situations and circumstances.
He is just like the MASTER of the creation of this world and He holds the manual book of all creation on this world and galaxies. Just like the manufacturer of a e.g. car, who knows how a car works and functions, how every parts of the car are connected to each other; where the problems arises when the car breaks down and how to fix the problems.
We'll view this at the bigger picture where God is the creator of this world and only He knows how everything and everyone works..... ups and downs, happiness and sorrows etc.
Therefore to know God is not just to know the facts about Him, but He also gives us insights (wisdom) into living because He created life. "For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come Knowledge and understanding" (Prov 2:6).
Therefore it was said in Prov 23:23 to buy the truth and do not see it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding, which encouraged us to invest into obtaining wisdom...... and the truth shall set you free (from the bondage of this world).

Do you really want to be wise?

Get to know God better!

2006-12-02T00:28:00.000-08:00

The Power of Partnership (19/11/06)

2 Cor. 2:12,13
Now when I (Paul) went to troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found tha the Lod had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodby to them and went on to Macedonia.

This Scripture was the main focus of Ps. Alshley's preaching this morning. The words, opened door, caught my attention. It brought me back to the vision of opened door with bright light, which I saw during the Elevation Camp. This opened door was well-explained by Ps. Ashley, which signifies opened doors of opportunities. In addition to this, he also explained that we need to establish partnership in order to reap the maximum harvest when these doors of opportunities opened.
I guess I also need to find and establish a partnership with a brother in Christ, so that we can encourage each other in our walk of faith I also believe this is a call from God to urge me to establish a partnership links for the future harvest.

Have you found your partner?

2006-12-02T00:05:00.000-08:00

Press On! (10/11/06)

I felt panic last night when I thought about how little time I have left to do my revision before my exam on the 11th Nov. I still have to finish a few more sets of notes. Somehow I knew that I cannot accomplish much even with worrying and panicking. Therefore I tried to cool down and I cried out for help to God and for His peace to reign within my heart. Philipians 4:5-7 appeared obvious to my eyes again, as I sat pondering at my desk.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

As I woke up this morning, I was so surprised to see the title of the devotion today – Press On! The passage was on Philipiuans 3:13 and the following were the words spoken to me from the text;

“Christians live in freedom because Christ has overcome our past. The ‘old things’ have been done away with and ‘new things’ have come (2 Cor. 5:7). Christians do not forget the past, but we are not controlled or motivated by it. The Christians look to the future with hope… The Christians’ future is so full and rich and exciting that it supersedes whatever happened in the past …
If you are preoccupied with your past, ask God to open your eyes to the incredible future that awaits you and begin … to press on to what is ahead.”

These texts reminded me to put down the fear of the past failure behind and to press on in my current position. I felt God’s peace within my heart and He enabled me to finish reading the notes before midnight. I also felt God’s assurance that He would lead me through it all.
PTL! Hallelujah!

Are you in destress?

Look to God for comfort and peace and He will transcends all understanding

to guard us!

2006-11-20T03:07:00.000-08:00

Psalm 73:23-26,28

Yet I am always with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into your glory.
Whom have I in heaven but You?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you,
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart & my portion forever.
But as for me, it is good to be near God,
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

2006-11-20T02:46:00.000-08:00

THe Heart of Servanthood (II) (23/10/06)

Matthew 25:21-29
His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. COme and share your master's happines!'.... For everyone who has will be given more. and he will have an abundance.

John 15:15,16
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I learned from the Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

Philipians 2:5-11

Jesus is and should be our role model in our lives as stated in Philipians 2:5-11, how he showed the heart of servanthood in the days of his life on earth, as a man. He willingly laid down his status as Lord and Master, to love nad serve his own creation (men) and he was even willing to lay down his lives to be the "sacrifice" of lamb on the 'altar', to conquer sin and death, and to gain victory, freedom and access to God, for men. "Therefore GOd exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name..." (Phil 2:9)
Through these passages, GOd also showed me that the heart of servanthood is also a way to gain favour, blessings, and it helps us to enlarge our capacity to receive the great future "harvest".
In addition to the call of serving the community with a heart of servanthood. GOd also showed me that as we serve like Jesus, we will be God's friend. He chose us to be His friend and helps us to enlarge our capacity for the harvest and to bear fruits, as we serve others.

I went for choir practice today and we had a session to honour one of our best and faithful drummer in the church band. Even as Ps Ollie shared words of encouragement. God put Matthew 25:21-29 into my heart - "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.... For everyone who has will be given more and he will have an abundance!"

Are you serving the Lord wholeheartedly today?

2006-11-20T02:17:00.000-08:00

The Heart of Servanthood (I) (23/10/06)

Matthew 20:26-28
Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

1 Peter 4:10,11
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, FAITHFULLY ADMINISTERING GOD'S GRACE in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ

Philipians 2:5-11
Your attitude (mind) should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, TAKING THE VERY NATURE OF A SERVANT, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place & gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven & on earth & under the earth, & every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

John 13:1-17 (emphasis on v. 14,15,17)
Jesus washing the feet of the disciples
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Jesus set an example of servanthood to us and He also showed us the power of serving. We are commanded to serve others with the gift that God has given us, so that we could administer/show God's grace and love to others (esp those who does not believe in God), and that in all things God may be praised.
God also showed me this one thing that when we serve, we can use the time to pray for the person so that God's saving grace may speak into the people whom we serve. This is truly a great and profound revelation to me of such powerful principle in serving others.

Have you discovered your God-given gifts?

Are you willing to serve as Jesus did?

2006-10-23T02:31:00.000-07:00

Victory Vs Defeat (14/10/06)

As I made brunch this morning, God called my name, "Willy". Recognising His voice I opened up my ears to hear from Him, as I continued making my food. After a few minutes, I heard this song that I used to sing in the Sunday School in my mind - I will make you fishers of men; fishers of men; fishers of men;... if you follow me". I sensed that God was asking me to be strong and persevere in following Him.
After the brunch, I did my devotion on "Victory vs Defeat". In the notes, it says, God gives us the same choice He gave the Israelites. If we walk with Him in obedience to His Word, He will stand with us and ensure victory over our challenges. I was greatly encouraged with that rhema and God also put Jeremiah 29:11-14 into my mind.

"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call to me and came and pray to me, and I will listen to you; You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you", declares the Lord.

I was also rather curious at the moment about the result of my PP test, which was released yesterday. I was disappointed and discouraged to find that I failed the test and had to retake it in two weeks time. I thought I should have passed the oral test. I tried to 'move forward' and to do my revision but the test failure kept haunting my mind. I slept early tonight to prepare myself for church and choir tomorrow.
(To be continue)

2006-10-23T02:23:00.000-07:00

Mamak Night (12 & 13 /10/06)

As I prayed to God to prepare us and bless our Mamak Night on Friday night, God spoke to me about His blessing and provision on this event. He spoke about Luke 6:1-15 - Jesus Feeding the FIve thousands - where God will feed everyone and each will have enough to eat during this event. We'll just have to serve what we have and He will multiply them to feed the "multitude".
After this event tonight (Friday), we got some feedbacks from the people who attended that they were happy with the food and the whole event and they were also well-fed. PTL for His blessings on our event.

2006-10-22T00:43:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Vision (11/10/06)

I felt so on fire after the camp and I started to praise the Lord first before prayer at night. After a song or two, I knelt on my knees with my hands lifted wide opened to heaven, as I prayed with my voice in my room. As I prayed with my eyes closed, I saw a vision of a beautiful, silvery cross, with a circle in the middle/heart of the cross. It was like a cross of a chain. After that vision, I looked again and saw the vision of stars in the dark skies. These visions came in a flash of a second or two. I was truly moved by the vision and was more empowered to pray, as the Lord confirmed His covenant, favour and His love to me through these visions. I felt that the cross showed His favour in my lives and the Jesus will lead me faithfully throughout my lives, if I would faithfully follow Him each day. And He will cause His faithfulness and blessings to flow into my future generations. He will bless them and cause them to shine like the stars in the skies. Only now that I understood the power and principles of "Sowing and Reaping" that Pastor Ashley has been preaching, as the Lord gave me fresh revelation and understanding of such message. PTL!

2 Samuel 22:26
To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
To the blameless you show yourself pure.

Psalm 100:5
For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
HIS FAITHFULNESS CONTINUES THROUGH ALL GENERATIONS

2006-10-22T00:20:00.000-07:00

Fresh Revelations from Elevation Camp (8/10/06)

The following were the points that spoke to me through the past weekend in the camp from 6-8th Oct 2006:
1) Climbing the mountain each day to have an intimate encounter with the Lord and to build our destiny
2) The NOW/TODAY'S revelation, fresh bread each day
3) Call unto God in desperation
4) We are not to let the 'thorns' cripple us or our destiny
5) We inhabit the POWER OF GOD in our WEAKNESSES
6) Jesus has broken the curses of the thorns (2 Cor. 12:9)

The following were the revelations God showed me through the weekend encounter:
1) Do not let the THORNS cripple our lives and destiny
2) Vision: Opened door with bright lights
a) Opened door to bright future
b) Opened door of opportunities and authority
c) God will lead me to the opened doors.
3) Vision: A river flowing down from a valley
a) Continuition of the previous vision of 4 rivers that connect at a valley to form one river, which flows to form this river in this vision, bringing blessings and nourishments and refreshments unto others, when I work in unity with God of Trinity.
b) God also gave me a clearer 'spiritual' vision
4) Elevation to a new level of faith
5) An increase in the capacity to receive more of His blessings
6) Focus on God and do not let what others think dictates how I feel/behave, or let it distracts me from my focus on God. Loneliness - seek God for companionship, not men.
7) Keep moving on and get elevated (Related to 4)
- PAST glory and NOW glory
8) Opened spiritual vision (eyes) and hearing (ears)
Jeremiah 33:3
Call to me and I will answer you and TELL YOU great and unsearchable things you do not know.
Matthew 20:34
Jesus had compassion on them and touched their EYES. Immediately, they RECEIVED THEIR SIGHT & followed Him

PTL for such great and mighty revelations and truths!

2006-10-15T00:41:00.000-07:00

Loneliness (8/10/06)

Psalm 63
1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. 4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. 7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

Notes: David was intensely lonely. He longed for a friend he could trust to ease his loneliness. No wonder he cried out, "O God, ... my soul thirst for you, ... in a dry & weary land." If you are lonely or thirsty for something lasting in your life, remember David's prayer. God alone can satisfy our deepest longings!

I felt that there was something missing in my life these days & it was just so difficult to figure out the missing piece and it was also hard to put it into words. Although I still spend time daily with the Lord & still receive words (rhema) from Him, i still felt that there has to be something more to what I was experiencing now - both with God and men. In the sense, I was feeling rather lonely through the days, especially weekdays and was seeking for friends and companions, whom I could be accountable and encouraged day by day. God truly has spoken to me this morning. Although i realised that we actually need connections with both men (horizontal) and God (vertical), i believe God was saying that i can cry out to Him in times of loneliness and only He alone can satisfy my deepest longings. I will need to look at life positively, rather than to focus too much on the 'thorn' of loneliness or the missing piece of my life & be joyful and praise Him in everything instead.

Jeremiah 17:5-8, 10
5 This is what the LORD says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."
10 "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

This passage also spoke to me this morning that I was again reminded to put my hope in the Lord and to seek Him first foremost and He will establish my 'horizontal' relationship.
Apart from that, the principles of "Sowing and Reaping" and "Building A Life That Lasts" also crossed through my mind, as i read through this passage. i truly believe this is the season when God would equip me and us (church) to prepare us for a future great harvest for the glory of His Name.
Hallelujah!

2006-10-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

Elevation (6/10/06)

Psalm 61:8
Then will I ever sing praise to your name and fulfill my vows day after day.

David made a vow to praise God each day. He continually praised God though both the good and difficult times of his life. Do you find something to praise God for each day? As you do, you will find your heart ELEVATED from daily distractions to lasting confidence.

As I read through the devotion this morning, this verse & it's notes caught my heart as i prepared my heart well for the Elevation Camp, which started tonight, through the weekend. The 'ELEVATED' in the notes spoke into my heart and I truly believed that God will work mightily in the camp & elevated our faith.

2006-09-27T04:00:00.000-07:00

Put Off Your Burden and Get Elevated (27/9/06)

After class, I went to do some workout in the gym. After that I went out for lunch before I went to do some grocery shopping in Woolworths and China Town. After shopping I rushed to the bus stop to catch the Free Connector Bus home. When I reached the bus stop, I felt super tired and so burdened with the backpack that I was carrying. It was extremely heavy today plus the loads of groceries that I need to carry on my hands. As I thought about this burden and the loads, the Lord spoke to me in a whisper into my ear, as if He was showing me how difficult it is to be carrying such burdens in our lives. With that too, God reminded me not to OVER-worry too much about my study that it became a burden to me. I had been worried about my study too much and tried all I can to spend more time into my study when the uni started last 3 weeks. I was so worried about my study that I was also contemplating about not going to the coming Elevation Camp next weekend. With this, I believe the Lord also told me to have a balance of all the activities.
When God spoke to me about this burden, a verse was also put into my mind – Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. With such revelation at this bus stop, I decided to sign up for the camp immediately. God also prompted me to go for the prayer meeting tonight.
I took the step of faith and went for the prayer meeting. Quite surprisingly, the Lord also prepared the right amount of small cash change in my wallet just right for me to pay for the camp tonight.
The prayer meeting for the camp was truly awesome and the presence of the Lord was so strong in the midst of our meeting. The worship session was so awesome that it felt like the unity in our voice of praise and worship and it sounded like the angelic hosts, singing praise to the lord in unity. The Lord also put the thought of the encounter I had with Him in the bus stop to be shared with the group and the Lord made a way for me to share it in the midst of the worship.
During the worship and prayer session too, the Lord also showed more revelation into the group that every words that were spoken and shared among us truly spoke into the core of my heart. With such great revelation, God again assured me that the decision that I made – to go to the Elevation Camp – was the right decision and He also revealed to US that He is going to do great and mighty works and breakthroughs into our lives – elevating us to the higher stage of our growth in Him. I truly believe that this camp will also be a time of REST for those who are weary and burdened.

Are you prepared for the camp?

Have you signed up for Elevation Camp?

2006-09-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

“My Words Will Not Return Empty” (24/9/06)

God caught my heart as I read through Isaiah 55 & 56 in my devotion this morning. He spoke to me mightily in Isaiah 55:10-13:
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish,
So that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
So is My word that goes out from My mouth:
It will not return to Me empty,
But will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
The mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
And instead of the briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
For an everlasting sign which will not be destroyed.

= The Lord spoken to me that His words and promises that He revealed to me through the years will truly be accomplished in His timing and He is faithful to fulfill the promises. In addition to this, these verses also spoke to me because Pastor Ashley has been preaching about the principle of sowing and reaping and it was like the Lord is encouraging me to keep sowing for and into His Kingdom and I will reap the harvest when the season is ripe or right.

Isaiah 56:1-2
This is what the Lord says:
“Maintain justice and do what is right,
For My salvation is close at hand and My righteousness will soon be revealed.
Blessed is the man who does this,
The man who holds it fast,
Who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

= I felt the Lord encouraging me not to give up on doing good and living right and observing His law. Are you growing weary with living the righteous way? I hope this would be an encouragement to you to keep living the way the Lord delights, as it has been an encouragement to me.

2006-09-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Flames of Fire (18/9/06)

The following words are the words of encouragement spoken to me during my devotion this morning. Hope it will be an encouragement to you as well.

Isaiah 43:2
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And when you pass through the 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.”

= Going through rivers of difficulty will either cause you to drown or force you to grow stronger. If you go in your own strength, you are more likely to drown. If you invite the Lord to go with you, He will protect you.

Psalms 42:5,6
“Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
For I will yet praise Him, my Saviour and my God.
My soul is downcast within me;
THEREFORE I WILL REMEMBER YOU.”

= Antidote for depression: meditate on the record of God’s goodness. This will take your mind off the present situation and give hope to improve. It will focus your thoughts on God’s ability to help you rather than on your ability to help yourself. Read the Bible (God’s goodness) and meditate on them. In addition to this, also read Philippians 4:8.

2006-09-24T05:57:00.000-07:00

Returning to Your Failure (9/9/06)

In addition to the promises that God revealed to me last night, as I was worrying about finishing my assignment on time, God also spoke to me personally this morning in my devotion.
The following are the spoken words:
No one knows how to help you in times of failure as Jesus does!
He will give victory in the midst of your failure.
Jesus often gets your undivided attention when you fail (or about to fail or give up).
He sometimes takes you back to your place of defeat in order to build something good into your life.
When you try in God’s strength, you may discover that success is indeed within your grasp. If you have recently experienced failure, you may be on the brink of receiving a profound revelation from God!

In addition to these words, the Lord also directed me to these scriptures on my wall above my table:
Philipians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philipians 4:5-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

2006-09-13T02:23:00.000-07:00

'I will lead you through' (13/9/06)

I was so glad and relieved that at last I've handed in the major assignment yesterday. I felt such a great freedom after that and I had such peace and quite some free time now, after such a struggle with my assignment. I'm so glad that God has brought and sustained me till now.
Last Thursday, as I was struggling to rush and increase the speed of my assignment progress, I was struck with fear and the feeling of giving up and the fear of failure, when I ooked through the materials that I still need to read and summarise on Thursday night. I noticed that I still had a lot to do and I've pushed myself to the max this few days that I was so fed up of such sturggle, and felt like to stop the work and giving up. that would mean to let me fail the assigment (which accounts for one subject itself) and repeat it next year. In the midst of the fear, God spoke forth into my heart and told me to calm down, as He put Philipians 4:4-7 into my heart (the verses were written on a piece of card and was pasted on the wall of my room, just directly in front of my face as I was doing my assignment on the computer) and even PROMISED ME that He would lead me through this.
With this assuring and comforting words, I tried so hard to calm myself down and try to ignore the attack of the fear by the enemy. This may sound easy to you, but I can tell you that it was not as easy as you and I thought. I'm a human being as well and it's easy for us to get caught up with fear and let worries "paralyse" our mind. By the worries in my mind, i can't acheive much things. As revealed to me before, I figured out I need to slw and calm down a bit and then only can I continue with my works and then work through the tasks one by one. It took me approximately more than 1 hour to get the worries out of my mind and to calm down and TO CHANGE MY FOCUS.
I finally manage to gather my focus back at about 11pm and I continued with the work till early in the morning. PTL that He gave me the strength and the alertness to stay awake through the night, as I was never a "night" person. I even just had only 4 hours of sleep that night and continued with the works after that, through the weekend and Monday. Through it it, God has been my Strength and my Motivator. Finally, I managed to finish the assignment on Monday midnight. By Tuesday, before I handed it in, I did some editing and cut down the number of words and manage to pass it up just on time - 4 pm Tuesday.
PTL! Praise the faithful and loving God and Friend, whio is faithful in keeping His promises and has given me the strength to persevere through the hard times.
Now I'm enjoying some breaks from the Lord, as the new subject begins on the Tuesday itself. as it was just the begining, things was a bit slow and I manage to have some time off today. PTL, the Mighty One!
For those who are going through rough times now, stay strong and persevere and don't EVER EVER give up. Cry out to the Lord and He is FAITHFUL and will hear your cry and help you through.
GBU!

2006-09-03T04:16:00.000-07:00

Late For Train (29/8/06)

I woke up early this morning & did my QT as usual, before I headed off to placement. As the reading was quite interesting today, I spent more time on it.
Little did I noticed that it was almost 8 am when I finished reading & got ready to leave home, to catch a bus down to the city.
As I waited at the bus stop, worry caught hold of me as two buses just passed by without stopping (T or full bus). I got all the more worried when my watch showed 820 am, as I needed to catch the train down to the placement site at 827 am, which will normally leave at around 830 am. I thought I was going to miss the train, which will cause me to be late for the placement if I catch the next train. My heart cried out to the Lord for help, that He would let me board a bus soon, so that I'll be there on time to catch the train.
As I waited and prayed for the bus to come, a thought crossed through my mind. Instead of me being late for the train, another possiblity would be that the train was late. I prayed to the Lord that He would intervene and delay the train so that I would be able to board it on time.
Finally thank God that the bus came at around 825am and I hopped into it and kept praying. Although I knew that was a word from the Lord, I just couldn't seemed to shake the fear off my mind. I was also thinking about what to do IF I ever miss the train - how I would have to inform Peter White (SMS) and the pharmacy.

Filled with excitement, adventure and worry, my bosy shot the adrenaline store, as I ran towards the train station, after the bus stopped at the stop in King William Street. I managed to dropped by the men's room to empty my bladder first before I ran over to Platform 6. Thank God for the loo, as I really needed that at that moment before I board the 18-minutes train ride.
As it turned out, I was so glad and happy to see Peter and the other passengers still waiting for the train at the platform. It was already 830am by the time I reached there. THe train was late and was not even there yet. This couldn't be another coincidence or accident, but only the work of the hand of the Mighty God who answered my prayer and intervened. Praise the awesome and wonderful God. Indeed everything is under His control. PTL!
Finally, Peter and I reached the pharmacy in Alberton at 9am, just on time.
Thank you, Lord, for speaking to me and for showing me 'what would happen' and for answering my prayer in an awesome way!
PTL!

2006-08-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

What are Your Expectation? (4/8/06)

In my prayer last night before I sleep, I asked the Lord to prepare my heart well for an encounter and fellowship with Him tomorrow. As the Life Group will be on tomorrow, I prayed that He would speak to me mightily in the LG and also in my devotion tomorrow....... A Heart of Expectation.
As I did my devotion this morning, God spoke into my heart through the devotion book, titled, Clean Hands; a Pure Heart. The message that spoke to me was recorded in my daily Growth Diary and are as follow:

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?

Or Who may stand in His holy place?

He who has a clean hands and a pure heart.

Psalm 24:3-4a

The closer you get to holy God, the more obvious even your smallest sins become. The more you know of God's character, the more you will realize the need to wash your hands and purify your heart before you cand get close to Him.

In addition to these word spoken in my devotion, God also spoke to me when I was reading this book "The Root of Rejection" by Joyce Meyer and the words are as follows:

Make every effort to LIVE IN PEACE WITH ALL MEN and TO BE HOLY;

Without holiness, no one will see the Lord.

See to it that no one misses the grace of GOd and that NO BITTER ROOT GROWS UP TO CAUSE TROUBLE AND DEFILE MANY.

In this passage, God spoke to me about forgiveness..... that I need to forgive ppl in order to approach Him with boldness and purity. And also such unfirgiveness will develop into bitterness and will affect many other people if it's not dealt with asap.

When I went to LG at night, the same topic was being discussed.... about purity of heart and the how to have continual access to God's throne (our attitude). Again God spoke the message to me and they are related to my devotion this morning. The Bold words in the passages above are the few that was discussed tonight and that spoke into my heart.

Through all these, God also showed me another 'secret' to His work in every situation and occasion, that is, THE HEART OF EXPECTATION. I really believe now the power of expectation. Indeed, we can pray with faith and can expect Him to do something in our lives and in every occasion.

What is your expectation today?

Are you expecting Him to work in your life and your situation?

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, lut us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,

and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our fatih.

(Hebrews 12:1,2a)

2006-07-26T18:11:00.000-07:00

Your Heavenly Father Knows You (26/7/06)

I saw this nice pair of leather boots for men in the mall yesterday and it's on sale and it's super comfy. I have a desire to buy it. As I thought about this at night, I noticed that I needed to save more money and so there was not much I can spare from my pocket money to buy that pair of shoes. Well, the only option I've got now was to ask my dad for permission to buy that using his 'fund'. As I thought about this, I also asked God what should i do and whether or not I should get that shoes. I also put this into my prayer at night before sleep and His peace reigned within my heart through the night.
As I woke up the next morning, I did my devotion as usual. I read with an expectation that of an encounter with the Lord. As it turned out, the devotion Spoke into my heart. Even when I saw the title of the devotion this morning, Your Heavenly Father Knows You, my heart just spurned with joy, expecting Him to speak to me. These were the words that spoke to my heart:

Prayer is not designed for us to inform God of our needs for He already knows them.
Prayer enables us to experience GOd more intimately.
The more a child experiences the loving provision of a parent, the more convinced he becomes of his parent's unrelenting love.
Our Heavenly Father knows exactly what is best for us, and He is prepared to provide for every need, if we will but ask (Phil. 4:13)

After the devotion, I felt the courage to ask my dad for it and so I messaged him when I walked to uni. I didn't get any reply from him through the day. Throughout the day, I felt intimidated that my dad wouldn't be happy and propbably would be angry with me for asking that. The old mindset about my dad still hovered in my mind and I still find it hard to shake them off. When I (and my siblings) were young we never asked anything from our dad and a lot of times, we will be scolded or denied, if we asked for anything. Such mindset had placed a fear in our heart to ask anything from our dad. However I knew that my dad is not the same anymore this day. But still such small fear went through my mind.
However I took the faith to call home and ask him tonight. I've planned a few days ago that I would like to call home tonight just to talk to my dad, as most of the time when I called home, I just spoke to my mom. After Powergen meeting, I went home and called back home.
I thank God that somehow my housemate is not using the phone line at the moment, and that both my mom and dad are awake, watching TV when I called. So I spoke to both of them and spoke to my dad latter. I spoke to him about some general stuff first, then at the end he asked me about the shoes that I told him about. To my joy, he sounded cool and calm. Then he spoke to me about looking at the quality of the shoes before I purchase them. PTL! He gave me permission to buy it. God again answered my prayer mightily! I also knew that He wanted me to shake that old mindset off about my dad and not be bounded to it.

During the day, God enabled me to finish the first part of my assignment and I was ready to pass it up tomorrow (due date is on Friday). Then I can start with my latter part of the assignment earlier.

After I finished my works in uni, I caught the bus home. In the bus I was stirred to go Powergen tonight and so i messaged my friend for transport. Thank God she was willing to pick me up from my place.
As it turned out, the meeting that night was great and phenomenal and Sy Rogers brought forth a great revelation of God's footprints and the things that confirm God's existence (apart from Jesus and BIble). I was truly blessed to be there that night.
After the meeting, I took the bus home with a few of my friends and we were again blessed in the journey because we had a ride in a new bus, with a free ride, which is truly a blessing to me, because I don't need to use the bus ticket for this trip tonight.
God brought me home safely through the uni security escort after the bus trip.
Praise the Mighty and Awesome God who provides!

2006-07-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

A Reserved Place For Me (25/7/06)

After a long and tiring day today, I rushed over to board the free connector bus at North Terrace. although it was a beautiful evening, good for a walk home, my weary body was just too lazy too walk any much more, since I've already gone to gym this morning.
I was just on time to reach the bus stop and the bus reached in a minute or two, before I coud even get a slow down/ rest from the walk to the stop.
Since I was the last to reach the stop, I let every other people board the bus first and another lady came along. We were the last to board. I wasn't so sure whether if she was here before I was, but i think she was there earlier than me, and so I let here board it first. It looked full when she was on the bus and the bus driver, Jerry, signaled me to wait a moment before I board on, just to see if there was anymore seat left on the bus. The bus does not allow more people on board than the seats that are available. As it turned out, there was just ONE MORE SEAT LEFT at the back for me. As I reached for the seat, a guy told me that I'm lucky to have the last seat. Well, I was thinking in my heart, that I was blessed by the Lord and i don't believe in luck, but only on God's blessing. I Kept thanking the Lord in my heart all my trip back home.
Very often God provided and blessed me with such awesome seat just enough and just on time for me. I truly thank God for being so good and so real to me. Of course I don't believe that it was just conincidental. For God has already planned all these even well before the Earth was formed. PTL!

2006-07-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

God Shall Provide The Transport (24/7/06)

I was so excited for today, as I’ll be going for the ‘Living The Life You’ve Always Wanted’ class tonight. As I walked to university this morning, I received a call from Ps John to confirm my attendance for tonight.
In the evening, after I’ve completed my works in university, I headed home for a light tea before I board the bus to church. As I was going to church, I was a bit concerned about my transport home after the class. To be coming back home alone on the bus at night sounded scary to me. Somehow, His peace still lived in my heart and I can sense God saying to me that He will provide the transport for me to go home after the class. I really don’t know how or who, but I held firm to this promise that He will provide.
I joined the class and it was truly a good one, though I was hesitating to go at first because I thought it wouldn’t be anything new to me. During the break in the middle of the class, I was overjoyed and happy to see Alvin there. Little did I think that I would see him there that night. God answered my prayer and provided me with transport home through him.
I truly thank the Lord for the provision and for His mighty grace and plan.
PTL!

2006-07-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

Prepared Heart for the Sunday Encounter (23/7/06)

I was supposed to sing in the choir in Paradise Central this morning, but I wasn’t feeling so well last night (runny nose) that I messaged my friend, who was picking me up this morning, that I wouldn’t be able to sing in the choir, thinking that my voice might be affected tomorrow.
I woke up early this morning and did my devotion as usual, and I asked the Lord to speak to me this morning and to prepare my heart well for another encounter with Him in the church this morning. As it turned out, His words spoke to my heart in my devotion and prepared me for the message in the church this morning. As it turned out, His words in my devotions met with the message by Pastor Matt Heins this morning that it just flowed along. These were the words that spoke to my heart in my devotion this morning.

When you were converted, God made everything available to you;
How you implement what He has given you is your choice (2 Peter 1:3-9)
We are to work diligently on our faith,
Yet always be aware that only God can bring about lasting change in our lives…
Through the work of the Holy Spirit…
When you sense God developing an area in your life, join Him in His activity
So that His salvation will be demonstrated fully.

Prov. 23:12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

The following is Pastor Matt Heins message this morning, titled “Guarding Your Seed”

Guarding your seeds (potential/talents) by investing into them (e.g. investment in the bank account)

Six seeds or deposits of God:
1. Intimacy -personal relationship and connection with the Mighty God
2. Interaction with other people* building significant relationship with other people through:- Love- Grace - Acceptance* We can love, be gracious, and accept because He first Loved and Graciously Forgiven and Accepted us
3. Involvement- to make a commitment to grow and get involved and God will MULTIPLY our gifts or talents (just like the bank account)
4. Instruction- to continue to learn more from the Words of God and to have a learning spirit(2 Timothy 1:14-17)- we need to embrace challenges to help us grow
5. Investment- to invest our talents and gifts in the house of the Lord and God will multiply them
6. Influence- to make an influence to the deposit of the whole world (friends, family, work, university etc)
+ Finally he ended his sermon by saying, “Guard the deposits with the help of the Holy Spirit”

Another revelation that He showed me about the messages today was an illustration of a sower/farmer. God has given us the seeds when we accepted Him into our lives. The next step is ours, which is to scatter them at the right place/soil to make it grow and produce fruits and multiply into hundreds and thousands. That step of sowing the seeds on the right soil is the most important part.
I truly believe that Paradise Church is the good soil for me to sow my seeds and I’m so happy that I’ve found the soil where I can sow and multiply what I’ve got.
That were truly great messages that God had spoken to me and the whole church today. I was glad that I said the prayer, so that God could prepare my heart well for these words He had revealed to me today and also an encounter with Him even in the worship.

PTL, the God of revelation!

2006-07-23T18:38:00.000-07:00

The Bus Is Coming (22/7/06)

I did house cleaning today after my devotion this morning. Indeed it had been long since the last time I cleaned the house. Having my own time cleaning the house was so much fun, that I don’t have to be afraid of waking my housemate up in the morning with the loud vacuum machine. He’d gone out for a day-trip with his friends. It took me two hours to clean my room, living hall, toilet, and the kitchen. During cleaning, I had conversation with the Lord in whispers and in songs. His joy and freedom overflow within my heart as I sang and vacuumed.

After finishing the cleaning, I looked at the clock and saw that it was a quarter to one. So I quickly hopped into brief shower and got changed, trying to catch the free connector bus at 5 past 1. I skipped my lunch because I wasn’t feeling hungry yet. As I was leaving the house, the clock showed that the time was nearing. So I hurriedly said a brief prayer, ‘O God, help me to board the bus, Lord!’ Then God gave me a flash of a vision in my mind about where the bus was at that time. It was a half of a bus stop away from where I was supposed to board mine, about two junctions away from the street. I can see it turning at the junction. Assured that it wasn’t gone yet, I hurriedly put on my shoes and locked the door and ran to the stop. As I was running out from the walkway of the apartment, I saw the bus driving by. Then I had the adrenaline shot and ran as fast as I can to catch the bus, which was stopping for a passenger to get down. The door was just closing when I got near the bus. Knowing the driver’s name, I shouted, ‘Ian!’ Wow! I was just on time to board the bus. Thank God for the vision and the good timing.
I headed down to the city and I dropped by Wooleys to get some stuff and I bought a huge lettuce, a box of raisins (thinking of baking a simple cake with lots of raisins) and a large peanut butter, which happened to be on sale (good price). Then after that I headed to catch the 99B free bus down to the market and China Town.

I bought a packet of carrots and tomatoes from the market, which was on bargain at the moment. It was just so crowded with lots of people headed up and down the lane. This reminded me of ‘pasar malam’ back at home. After that I went to get a tray of two dozens of fresh eggs from the grocery store in China Town. I normally shared with my housemate. But this few days we were not coping very well and I don’t felt like helping him with the eggs. But I thanked God that He has deposited forgiveness and love into my heart, as He had loved me and forgiven me first, that I could freely forgive, love and accept others. So I just bought the whole tray. I can tell you that it’s not easy to buy a tray too because it wasn’t light and I’ll have to carry it all the way home with the rest of my stuff. Sometimes I wondered also whether if all my efforts and sacrifice were appreciated or not. But each time that came into my mind, I thank God He has also deposited His Holy Spirit to strengthen and comfort and speak into me, that He reminded to that though others may not know about such sacrifice, the Lord knows and my rewards are in heaven. With these words, the words of intimidation just died off. PTL!

After buying the eggs, I looked at my watch and realized that it was half past one and the bus could have already reach or gone at the stop near the market. I didn’t rush over the bus stop and I was thinking of waiting for another 35 minutes for the next bus to come. But I wouldn’t like to wait for so long. So a thought of catching another free bus to catch the free connector, which will bring me home, at another stop, came to my mind. I truly believed that this thought was given by the Lord. I hurried to the nearest stop of the free bus, 99C and waited there a while I squeezed as many stuff into my backpack.

I waited a while and still no bus. So another thought came into my mind of catching the 99B freebus. It sounded good and so I crossed the road. As it turned out, I saw the 99C freebus coming to the stop I was heading and thank God I was on time for the bus again. When this bus stopped at the Victoria Square, another thought of adventure came into my mind as I saw the 99B freebus opposite the road. So I jumped off the bus and hurried to cross the road to catch the 99B. As it turned out, I was just on time that the traffic light turned red for the pedestrian to cross the busy road. PTL!

The 99B brought me over to Rundle Mall, where I got down and hurried to the stop where the Connector Freebus will be stopping in a few minutes time, the war memorial statue. I looked at my watch and saw that I was just on time according to the timetable. Well, somehow I can feel His peace and satisfaction within me, as I waited for the bus. I was so satisfied because I took up the challenge of the adventure to catch the connector bus instead of staying back in the market, waiting for the next bus to come.
Well, now only I understood the content in the book I was currently reading – Wild at Heart – how adventure was God’s intent for mankind. That’s the satisfaction I was talking about. Hehe….
Well, at last I managed to catch the bus, which brought me home straight to where I caught the bus that afternoon.
I was thinking about buying roasted chicken from Foodland after that, but finally figured out that I should leave that for tomorrow, as I still got a piece of chicken in the fridge. I thanked God for such leading too, as I already overshot my budget for today’s spending.
So I spent my time cooking my lunch, which turned out to be dinner as well, because I ate them happily at about 5pm. A bowl of soupy mixed veges (zucchini, lettuce, sliced fresh tomatoes, with some cauliflower), a dish of fried noodle and a piece of roasted chicken.
PTL for such an adventurous day and for speaking to me and strengthening me to do all that I did today!

Hallelujah!

2006-07-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

God Continued His Message through this Book (30/6/06)

God spoke to me through this book that I'm reading now - Wild At Heart, by John Eldgredge. God spoke to me last week through Ps Matt Heins' sermon message, where I have shared that we need to see our current position now and admit to it before we can move on with the journey of our lives. When I read through one of the chapter of this book the following spoke into my heart in continuation of the message:

Only when we enter our wound will we discover our true glory.... There are two reasons for this. Fist, because the wound was given in the place of your true strength, as an effort to take you out.... Second, it is out of your brokenness that you discover what you have to offer the community...... the power is in us, When we begin to offer not merely our gifts but our true selves, that is when we become powerful.

Wow! THat was truly a good description of what is within us.

Have you entered your 'wound'?

Have you discovered your glory?

2006-07-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

Physical Touch (28/06/06)

I went to Powergen meeting this Wednesday evening. The meeting was really awesome, as the presence of the Lord was all over the place and in the meeting.
I truly can feel it in the air when we sang the new song Sweep Me. As I closed my eyes and lifted my hands in worship to the Lord, I felt the Lord’s hands just touched mine. I felt it so real especially on my left hand. I felt like His palm was over my palm and I can feel His gentle big hands holding on mine, as we sang (as it was also) through the lyrics of the song. Wow! The experience was really awesome and indescribable. That song was well-written and I truly believed it was a God-inspired song.
Thank you God for such a great encounter! Hallelujah!

2006-07-02T05:47:00.000-07:00

The Language of Our Life (25/06/06)

I slept earlier last night to prepare myself to sing in the choir early on this Sunday morning. Before I sleep, I prayed that God would prepare my heart well for an encounter with the Mighty Lord tomorrow. I believed He will speak to me this Sunday morning.
I managed to wake up early in the morning to do my devotion before David picked me up from my place to church. I truly thanked the Lord for blessing me such compassionate and caring brother like him, who is willing to sacrifice the distance, just to pick me up, so that I have such great opportunity to serve the Lord in the choir.
We managed to sing well this morning, although there were some parts that we missed. But God showed up to me in the preaching by Pastor Matt. The message that he preached this morning just clicked in so well with my devotion this morning. It was as if that God made his sermon a continuation of what He wanted to tell me, from my devotion this morning. Indeed truly I believed that He had prepared my heart well for such great message this morning.

My devotion book spoke about how Paul’s life has been great examples to our Christian life. How in each circumstance he was in, he always used it as an opportunity to grow and for evangelism. “Regardless of his circumstances, Paul’s concern was how he could use his current situation to tell others of God’s good news of salvation.”

Often when we encounter a new situation, our first thoughts are not about God’s kingdom.
When we face a crisis, we can become angry or fearful for our own well-being,
Rather than looking to see what God intends to do through our circumstances.
If we remain self-centered we will miss so much of what God could do through our experiences, both for us and for those around us.

In Ps. Matt’s sermon this morning, he started with this as an intro to his sermon – The Language of Our Life. God has a purpose for every situation that we are and had been through. They are opportunities for us to grow in every area that HE has designed/purposed, even from the beginning of the world.
From this Ps. Matt continued to bring forth more words of revelations from the Lord.
How we look and act at our current situation speaks forth a great message of our life to the people around us. He also used Paul as an example to this message.
He challenged us with this question – What is the message of your life? OR What message are you building in your life?
With that, I believed that our action/reaction to the situation we are facing each day are very important. It will determine of where you are going or your future. Firstly, we need to know and see our (real) current position first. Secondly we need to admit our position with honesty and truthfulness. Then only can we move on to our future.
He illustrated this through the example of how Jesus dealt with the Samaritan women at the well (John 4:4-30). He made her acknowledge the reality of her situation, which is building in her lives right now. With that Jesus opened up her eyes and changed the message of her lives – how she so shameful to speak to the society before this encounter, and how her language changed into faith of evangelism when she went and reported in the city about Jesus, the Savior.
Until you know your current position, you won’t know
Where you are going!
He also spoke from Epehsian 10:6 – how we, as Christians, need to take our stand firm in our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we will not be shaken.
Know where you are standing and what you are standing on.
This will determine the strategy of our fight against the enemy.
I truly believed this message was for everyone, whether or not you are a Christian. We truly need to know and truly face our current position first and deal with it first, before we can truly move on towards our future or to grow ahead in influence and in life.
Another analogy I would think about in regard to this sermon was WE are all building a building in our lives each day. What we do each day would determine the structure and the strength of the building we are building each day. If we used “bad bricks” to build this building, it would collapse easily when storm hits the structure and vice versa. So our attitude/action/response towards each situation is the bricks that we will use to build this building. Good attitudes are good bricks and bad attitudes are bad bricks. We would not be able to know the result of our works until when this “storm” hits. Therefore we need to keep watch of our response in every situation we are each day.

Where are you standing now?
What message are you building in your lives?

2006-06-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

A Part of God's Heart (23/6/06)

I was reading through the book of 2 Chronicles these days, when God revealed to me clearly today about His heart, as I was reading through the life of Jehoshphat King of Judah in 2 Chronicles 20. From this story, God showed to me that He does not like us, as the child of God, to make alliance with the wicked people. With that revelation, he pointed my mind to this passage in the NT, in 2 Corinthians 6:14-16

Do Not Be Yoked With Unbelievers
14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15What harmony is there between Christ and Belial[a]? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."[b]

We are called Light of the world.

Are you Shining forth His Light?

2006-06-21T19:24:00.000-07:00

The Lord Is With You (21/6/06)

I had a close and personal connection and fellowship wit the Lord when I was doing my devotion this morning. His Spirit spoke into my heart great words of encouragement, as I read through the devotional materials.
I was reading through the devotion book this morning, where it spoke about Spiritual Famine. At the end of the reading, they quoted a beautiful passage that spoke to my heart personally.

The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

It was also strange that there was no quoting of this passage, as they always do with the rest of the Scripture in the book. My heart yearns to look for the passage in the Bible.
As I ignored it a moment and moved on to my following reading of passage, which is totally different and not connected to the devotional book, I was so surprised that I came across this verse that I wanted to look for in 2 Chronicles 15:2. I truly believe that this was not just a coincident, but it’s a divine appointment with the Lord and I was very sure that this is what He wanted to say to me this morning.
As I continued with my devotion, I read through it with more expectation that He’s going to show me more and reveal greater words and mysteries to me.
Other verses that spoke to my heart were also found in 2 Chronicles 15 and 16.

2 Chronicles 15:7 But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.
2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.

As I read through the words of wisdom in Proverbs 21, God somehow caught my attention and my heart on these few verses, which I felt like they were connected with what He had just revealed to me in the story of Asa King of Judah in 2 Chronicles.

Proverbs 21:2,3 All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.
To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Proverbs 21:31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.

King Asa seeks the Lord first in His early days and the Lord was with him and helped him through wars and battles. But at one attack, he made a treaty with King of Aram to save him from the attack of Baasha King of Israel. Instead of turning to the Lord for help and deliverance, he turned to King of Aram, which also solved his problem. But the Lord was not pleased with him and rebuked him through a prophet and he was bitter with the Lord ever since after that.

I believe that the Lord wanted to tell me that I (and we) have to put our trust and hope in Him, and to seek and counsel Him first in all that we do, and also not to depend on our own wisdom and our own way of doing and settling a problem.

Proverbs 3:5,6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him all he will make your paths straight.

2006-06-19T03:19:00.000-07:00

Praying But Not Believing (19/6/06)

This morning devotion seemed to be connected to my testimony about last night. The Bible verse was taken from Acts 12:14-15;
When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.”

Is it possible to be a “person of prayer” and yert have no faith?
Is it possible to gool yourself into believing that because you ask God for help, you have faith in His ability to meer you needs? Is your faith so weak that you are surprised when God answes your prayer? As a child of God, you ought to expect God to answer your prayers……..

Ask God to increase your FAITH, and then begin living a life that reflects absolute trust in Him. Out of His grace, God may choose to respond to your requests despite your lack of faith, but you will miss the joy of praying in faith.

I believe that the main message that He wanted to share with me is that WE NEED TO PRAY WITH AND IN FAITH.

Are you praying in faith today?

And without faith, it's impossible to please God

Heb 11:6

We (need to) live by faith, not by sight

(2 Cor. 5:7)

2006-06-19T03:12:00.000-07:00

The Power of A Simple Prayer (18/6/06)

I was rostered to sing in the choir for the evening Interactive Church tonight. My cousin couldn’t make it to the church this morning, so he also went for the evening Interactive Church. We met up after the meeting in the foyer.
As we looked around trying to look for someone to give us a ride home, we couldn’t find anyone. So we decided to catch a bus home. We looked through the bus timetable and realized that the latest bus would be 8.04 pm and we had a few more minutes to walk to the bus station. We hurried off straight away.
On the way there he said that he don’t think he’ll be able to catch the latest bus back home from the city. However, I reassured him that we will make it for that bus. As we rushed over to the station, I prayed a simple prayer, that the Lord would bless him that he’ll be able to catch the bus on time.
Amazingly, we managed to reach the city on time and we parted off at his bus stop. I went my way to my bus stop, catching another bus that will bring me home. As I was waiting, my LG leader called and I told him that I left the church with my cousin and board the bus home. After the call, I received a call from my cousin, saying that he’s back at home already.
I truly praised the Lord for answering the prayer – the simple prayer – that He would show my cousin and me of His great power and wonder. It may seem impossible in man’s eye, but all things are possible in HIM.

Matthew 7:7,8 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

I truly praise the Lord for such an opportunity, for I truly believe that this was His arrangement and that He shall show us both of His power and also to reveal of what He can do through this simple prayer and this walk of faith. As it turned out, most of the people whom we were looking for, while we were in the church, for transport home were in the guest lounge, the place we didn’t search. With that I believe God wanted to show us this wonderful work of the Lord.

Do not underestimate God’s power and what He can do
Through a simple prayer and faith!
Matthew 17:20
“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed,
You can say to this mountain,
‘Move from here to there’
And it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you”
-A quote from Mr. ‘J’, the Son of God.

2006-06-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

Everlasting (4/6/06)

It was really a busy Sunday today, as I was rostered to sing in the choir in the morning, 9am service and evening 6pm service. I had to be back in church by 4pm for the practice for the evening Worship Night.
I enjoyed singing in the morning, as I felt so joyful and happy. When it came to the evening, I became more tired. My feet were aching, after standing for so long in the practice, walking, and jumping around, and my brain was a bit exhausted when it came to the practice in the evening.
I felt so exhausted that I struggled to kept my focus on Him, so that I can have an encounter with Him tonight. I felt so tired that I didn't think I would have the encounter with Him tonight.

After lunch in the city with my friends, I took the bus back to church again, after I got myself changed at home. As I walked over to the church from the bus station, and I was reading a book as I walked along the side road line/trail, I sensed a nudge in my heart to stop and look around. I stopped reading and walking, looked around to noticed the dark clouds, enveloping through the beam of the sunlight. I looked carefully at the clouds and noticed that it looked like a big opened hand, with the ball of the sun in between the thumb and palm. Wow! The scene was incredible and the beam of the sun shone down onto the empty horizon near the church - the straight beam of the light, shining down from between the clouds.
It reminded me again that He has called us to be the Light of the world and we (I) are all held in His arms and His light will shine brightly into the world or the darkness through us.

During the evening worship night, we sang this song, From The Inside Out. The song captivated my heart as the Lord touched my heart through the lyrics and as I reflected through the vision of the clouds and sunbeams again. The song went like this;

A thousand times I've failed

Still Your mercy remains

And should I stumble again

I'm caught in Your grace

Everlasting

Your Light will shine when all else fades

Never ending

Your Glory goes beyond all fame

Your will above all else

My purpose remains

The art of losing myself

In bringing You praise

Everlasting your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending Your glory goes beyond all fame

#My heart and my soul

I give you control

consume me from the inside out

Lord let justice and praise

Become my embrace

To love You from the inside out

#Everlasting

Your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending

Your glory goes beyond all fame

And the cry of my heart

Is to bring You praise

Form the inside out

Lord my soul cries out

The vision of the great scene just kept ringing through my heart again and again when we sang this song and His peace envelped my heart and I can feel little small tears about to roll out from the corner of my closed eyes. The experience of the touch of God was just awesome and He also strengthen me through the encounter.
I truly thank the Lord for such experience and the short encouraging message that Ps Jane spokke in between of the songs also spoke mightily into my heart.
PTL for such greatness!

2006-06-02T22:04:00.000-07:00

Glow in Our Faces (1/6/06)

Passage 2 Corinthians 3:12-18:
12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect[a] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Are you a Christian?
WHat does Christianity means?
Are we glowing forth His glory in our images?
Are we an image of Christ in our world?
How to have such a glow in our faces?
Are you spending enough time with the Lord each day?
Is the GLORY of the LORD shining and reflected in our lives?

2006-05-29T19:23:00.000-07:00

We Are The Temple of The Lord ( 28/05/06)

Pastor Matt Heins preached about Fuel Your Faith this Sunday morning in the church.I was given the priviledge to serve in the choir this morning. Although we were not able to be the audience (below the stage) to his preaching, as we stood on the position in the choir throughout his preaching, I was so glad that I was able to attend both two services this morning; first service, as a supporter to Pastor Matt at the back of the stage, and second service, as the audience to Pastor Matt's preaching.
Even in the first service, God reveal to me greater things from the preaching into my heart. In short, Pastor Matt pointed out that (1) God will fuel our faith with fresh challenges of faith, (2) God gave us the fuel of faith through the power of the church (assembly = engage in the work of the Lord), & (3) fueling the flame by keeping up with our daily devotion (daily fuel of fire).
After Pastor Matt preached, Pastor Jane came with a great revelation and connection when she spoke about the temple of the Lord in the Old Testament (OT), where David was given the plan of the temple and she spoke about the two pillars in front of the temple; one named He will establish and another In Him is Strength. This OT temple is a picture of what God wants to do in the New Testament (NT), where WE are the temple of the Lord and His presence dwells in us. It has the same blueprints and the two pillars; He will establish through His work on the Cross and He will strengthen us.
As God spoke about the OT temple, the Lord also spoke into my heart about the continuous burning fire of the lamp in the temple. As it was in the OT, we need to keep the flame burning within our heart if we want the Lord to dwell in us (the NT temple). So we need to constant fire burning within our heart by having continual fellowship with the Lord and daily devotion. That's the source of oil for our lamp to keep the flame burning within our heart.
Now I understood the meaning of one of our Sunday School song, Give Me Oil In My Lamp, to Kepp me burning, burning, burning.
Praise the Lord for such a great revelation and great message He has brought to the church this Sunday!
Hallelujah!

2006-05-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

Obedience Step By Step (20/5/06)

God spoke to me again, this morning in my devotion, the same message that He spoke to me last night when I was reading through Joyce Meyer’s book. I truly believe that He is preparing my heart well for today’s devotion through last night’s reading and also preparing me for the great challenges of the walk of faith in the future. Again He spoke to me about Obedience Step by Step, the title of this morning’s devotion. The same passage from the Bible was chosen as one of the examples in the book. It was taken from Genesis 22:1-2, where the story of Abraham’s obedience was taken as an example. [Well, I do hope that this would at least motivate and challenge every Christian to read the whole Bible, including the Old Testament, so that we can get a better picture of what happened when such a story was told.]

It says in the devotion book that Abraham learned patience as he waited on God’s promise of a son…Abraham learned to trust God…
Life application: As the Father reveals His ways to you in your Christian pilgrimage, you, like Abraham, will develop a deeper level of trust in Him. When you first became a Christian, your Master’s instructions were probably fundamental, such as being baptized and changing your lifestyle. But as you learn to trust Him more deeply, He will develop your character to match bigger tests, and with the greater test will come a greater love for God and knowledge of His ways.
Are you ready for God’s next revelation?

Another passage from my reading this morning spoke to me the same message that God revealed to me last night. As I read through Proverb’s, my eyes caught an attention on Proverbs 20:24 A man’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way?
In the Life Application explanation, it says We are often confused by the events around us. Many things we will not understand; others will fall into place in years to come as we look back and see how God was working. This proverb counsels us not to worry if we don’t understand everything as it happens. Instead, we should trust that God knows what He’s doing, even if His timing or design is not clear to us. See Psalm 37:23 for a reassuring promise of God’s direction in your life.

Another verse that spoke to me more clearly about my role as a student was found in Proverbs 20:4 A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.
Life application: You’ve heard similar warnings: if you don’t study, you’ll fail the test; if you don’t save you won’t have money when you need it. God wants us to anticipate future needs and prepare for them. We can’t expect Him to come to our rescue when we cause our own problems through lack of planning and action. He provides for us, but He also expects us to be responsible.

2006-05-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

We Can Know Only In Part (19/5/06)

I continued reading this great book, How To Hear From God, by Joyce Meyer this evening, after dinner. I came to this inspiring chapter, We Can Know Only in Part and I started highlighting each point and sentences that spoke into my heart. Somehow, I had this feeling that I had to finish at least this one whole chapter before I do something else. So I managed to finish the whole chapter. I ended up highlighting almost every paragraphs. The following (Italics) were all that were spoke to me today.
There may be times when we just can't see through the darkness that seems to be closing in around us. It is in this times of endurance and patience that our faith is stretched, and we learn to trust God even when we can't hear His voice.
We can grow in our confidence level to the point where "knowing" is even better than "hearing"...... We may not know what to do, but it is sufficient to know the One who knows....... Knowing God is faithful and ever true to His promise, and that He has promised to be with us always, is comforting and keeps us stable until His time is right to speak to us more specifically (see 1 Cor. 1:9, Matthew 28:20).
These passages spoke to me again about the step I've taken to apply for the working visa a few weeks ago and also for the volunteer job in the nearby pharmacy. I believe this is what He is leading me to now and I somehow figured out to go for it by faith and to invest into this work and also to sacrifice some of my money into this investement. So far, I still haven't get any reply rom the pharmacy yet, since the last time I send my application in. But I truly believe that God will open up the way for me if this is His will.

Trust is needed in those times when, for whatever reason, we are not hearing from God as clearly as we would like.
Before we ehar from Him, we need to learn to rely on His character, ability, and strength during the times we are not hearing from Him. If we will trust Him during those times, He promises to make clear the way we should go........
But we must learn to trust all situations to the Lord, even when He seems to be silent....

Truth from God's written Word is an anchor to our souls when we become temporarily blinded by sudden storms in life. We can always hear from God through His written Word.... Even if His Word does not speak to our specific situation, it does speak about God's charcter, and it tells us He will always take care of us and provide a way for us.

IS GOD'S TRUTH YOUR SECURE ANCHOR?

HAVE YOU BEEN READING HIS WORDS DAILY?

Conclusion: He wants us to keep our eyes on Him, and follow Him one step at a time. Step by step. Step by step.

This passsage reminded me of what God has said and how He has answered my prayer at the altar call in Pwergen meeting through Brother Wilson. PTL!

God gives us direction, one step at a time..... by trusting Him with the first step. Understanding that His will for you is revealed a step at a time should build your confidence to do at least what you know already to do. After the first few steps, your faith will grow because you will realise there is always sure footing beneath each step He instructs you to take. [Wow! That's truly inspiring and glad for me to hear that. Hehe!]

Faith becomes great through experience. It develops as it is used...... Faith often requires action........ I had to be willing to invest what I had in order to have what God had planned for my future. [Woh...... This one speaks into my heart strongly!] ...... But we can't forget that God required a sacrifice of obedience from Abraham in order to receive that promise...... Even though we had taken step 1 in obedience, we still had to persevere....... We often see more clearly and have better understanding with hindsight than we do when we actually going through things........ As he usually does, the devil took advantage of our lack of experience in these areas and told us regularly that we had made a mistake and would surely make fools out of ourselves.

This last sentence revealed to me devil's work in my mind when I recalled back of my recent days when I felt truly intimidated and foolish (or regretted) to have done what the Lord has placed in my heart to apply for the volunteer job (including the working visa). Now that the Lord has revealed his lies, I should stand firm on what He has placed in my heart and not let it be shaken.

God usually builds slow and solid, not fast and fragile.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF MAKING A MISTAKE

I learned that even when we are in a place of obedience, we often have no way in the natural of knowing for sure whether we are tight or wrong........ We are not going to know for sure that what we are doing is the right thing until after we have done it and then look back to see if God was there to anoint out efforts.

I have discovered that if our heart is right, and we do the best we know to do when we hear from Him, God will redeem us and honour our steps of obedience. If we move in childlike trust to obey what we believe in our heart He has told us to do, even if that decision is wrong, God will take that mistake and work it out for our good.

God simply answered, "..... don't worry; if you miss Me, I will find you." Those words, tucked away in my heart, gave me courage to do what I believed He was telling me to do, and they have necouraged me to step out in faith many times since then.

If you want GOd's will in your life more than anything else, if you've done everything you know to do to hear from Him, then you have to take a chance, step out, and believe.

But God's plan unfolded step by step. Following God is like climbing a mountain. If GOd showed us how high the mountain really is that He wants us to climb, we might be afraid to take the stpe. We might argue that we're not ready, that we're not at all prepared to go all the way to the top. So He covers the top of the summit with a cloud, and all we can see is the step before us.

That first step looks manageable, so we take it. And then we take another step, and another, and another, until one day we find ourselves at the top of the mountain without even realizing where we were headed when we began. Then we are very glad we took the journey.

This picture truly showed me what and where God is bringing me through now. I shall stand firm in the Lord as He led me each day, fiathfully, in His arms of assurance.

You may think that you are not hearing from God because you don't see the whole picture, but trust that He is showing you all that you need for today. Do what is in front of you to do, and even if you are not hearing perfectly, God will honour your obedience and will complete His full plan for you.

In GOd's plan for us, we cannot skip steps that we don't like and move on to other ones. We cannot skip the har steps or the ones that require sacrifice. I repeat: Following God's plan for our life requires investment.

We must sacrifice self-will to have God's will; we must sacrifice our way to find His way.

Freely I received (these words o encouragement), freely I give. Hope this would be an encouragement to everyone who reads it. Do also take the challenge to read the book by yourself too. I believe it will belss you greatly. Make it a great investment to collect such a powerful books like this one. May God gives you His peace and joy as you seek Him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul.

1 Corinthian 2:9

2006-05-14T06:50:00.000-07:00

Servants of Christ (14/5/06)

I had a very weird dream last night.
GOd woke me up to rebuke the devil's lie about the dream and I went off to sleep peacefully after that. I woke up early in the morning and had my QT as usual, where I fed my soul with His words.
The devotion passage for today spoke assurance to my heart again. Titled "Servants of Christ" and passage taken from Luke 17:10. It says in the explanation after the passage (these are what spoke into my heart):
The master does not tell the servant to develop a vision that will guide the master. The master is the one with the vision; the servant's task is to help fulfill the master's purposes.
We are the servants; God is the Master...... God's revelation of Himself, His purposes, and His ways depends directly upon our obedience. He may not reveal today His intentions for the next firve years, but He will tell us what our next step should be. As we respond to God's revelation, He will accomplish what He desires, and He will be the one who receives the glory.......
As God's servant you should have no other agenda than to be obedient to whatever he tell you. God does not want you to dream great dreams for your life, your family, or your business, or your church. He simply ask for obedience. He has plans that would dwarf yours in comparison (Eph. 3:20).

WOw! These pasages are truly great and spoke deep into my heart as I learn to take my life step by step and day-by-day.
Praise the Lord!
Happy Mother's Day!

2006-05-11T06:19:00.000-07:00

Worship As A Lifestyle; By Telling Others About Him (11/5/06)

It was indeed a very and exciting day for me today. I've planned for a full-packed-schedule day today. After quiet time in the morning, I rushed over to catch the Connector Bus at the back of my unit, along Tynte Street. Thank God I was there earlier by 5 minutes. I met my friends in the bus and was full of joy to have met them. I started my "work" with doing some research in the computer pool - online - till lunch hour. Wow! The stuff to look for about Respiratory Tract Infection was truly massive and messy. Every information was all around the net. At the end, I figured out that looking into my textbook - Therapeutic Guideline - was still the best place to stick to.
After lunch, I went for PBL tutorial. Honestly, it was truly a good session today, compared to the days before. Maybe because I was getting used to this type of sturcture of PBL. Before this, I really don't like the way this tutor conducted it. But I guess I was starting to like it now. PTL for helping me to adapt and to be flexible.
After the tutorial, I went over to the gym straight away. I spent about 2 hours there, working up my back and shoulders (+cardio) today. The adrenaline boost and the serotonin boost made me feel good, strong and warm. I rushed off after around 5pm, headed towards Rundle Mall.
I went to grab 13 small cans of tunas for storage, as they were on sale now in Woolworths. 99 cents a can...... That's not bad. Just wanna store some Omega-3's for future use.
After that, I rushed off to catch a bus home and took a shower and a light meal before rushing off to catch a bus to the city again, heading to church for choir practice tonight. Phew! What a rush! Not much time for me to waste!
I watied for quite a few minutes before the bus came to pick me up, heading to the city. Well, I was really glad that God is in control in all this and He gave me peace as I waited for the bus for quite a long time.
At last I reached church about 5 minutes late for the choir meeting. But thank God I didn't miss anything, as they haven't start the meeting yet. PTL! I didn't miss anything!
The meeting tonight was really awesome. The worship was great and the short message by Ps Rowlie was great as well.
In short, he spoke about WORSHIP and How do we glorify God? John 17:4
The points that he gave were (1) worship is a lifestyle, we are the reflection of who we are worshiping [1 Cor. 10:31]; (2) By loving each other [e.g. we practice this in the church]; (3) Becoming like Jesus; (4) By serving others with our gifts [e.g. massage - strengthens and refreshes others]; (5) By telling others about HIM [2 Cor. 4:15], Draw someone into the house of God.
Wow! This simple short message was really a powerful message. I can truly felt the presence of the Lord in the hall during the meeting and also even before the worship begins, as the anointed keyboardist stroke the keyboard.
After the message, we got a surprise that pizzas were provided for tonight's meeting. As we grabbed the food, we were also shown the DVD's recording of the items that we presented during the four nights of Influencer's Conference two weeks ago. It was truly a great revelation to us and a great blessing to us that God enabled us to serve His people and to bless them in our service in the house of the Lord. I truly believed that our services in the choir and the worship team have blessed multitude of people, as we gathered up our gifts to serve the Lord and His people in UNITY and AGREEMENT.
After the meeting a caring and faithful brother sent me home. Thank God that I could be home earlier today - around 9 pm. Again, I believed this was another divine appointment of the Lord, for enabling me to reach home earlier.
As I walked over to my unit, I noticed that someone just moved into the apartment. They seemed to be lack of people. I was expecting to see a guy carrying the furniture up, as I only saw a lady standing by the truck to take care of the stuff. But to my surprise, I saw only a lady carrying stuff up the stairs. I went back home and dropped by my stuff. As I was taking off my shoes, the Holy Spirit somehow spoke into my heart and impressed into my heart to go and help them out with the moving. As He spoke this, He also impressed into my heart the message that was preached by Ps Rowlie, about the fifth point; that we need to be a witness to the Lord in our daily lives. That again motivated me to move on and obey and take the opportunity to help and witness through love.
I offered the help and the offer was accepted and seemed to be appreciated as well. I tried all I can to help them with the furnitures and I was also given this opportunity to meet new people. They are my new neighbours (a floor on top of mine).
This was my first time (probably the second) of truly knowing my neighbours. Well, I truly believe that God is working mighty, great and unseen works within their lives right now, even as I offered myself as a channel of blessing to them.
I truly felt so happy and joyful and glad of being able to share such love and help and concern to my new neighbours. What God has enabled me to do today was really satisfying. I felt that I've maximised my day well today, although I knew I can do a lot more than that. Praise the Lord for His love and goodness. Thank God for letting me see such a great opportunity and not to miss this.
Hallelujah! All glory and honour belong to my great King!

2006-05-07T02:20:00.000-07:00

I Found It in Proverbs Today (4/5/06)

I was doing my morning devotion as usual that I came across the passage from Proverbs, which I had been looking for for the last few days.
Proverbs 4:5-7 Get wisdom, get understanding;....... Do not farsake wisdom and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
This passage (especially the bold ones) spoke to me when I was deciding whether or not to apply for work experience (unpaid) in a pharmacy and to pay to get working visa for the work.
This passage came to my mind, where the Lord told me that this is a worthwhile and good investment for my future work as a pharmacist. So I went by faith and applied for the working visa. Now I trust the Lord will provide me with the best place to work in. SO far I've only asked one pharmacy, which I think would be a great place to work in. I trust that the Lord will provide if that's where He wants me to be and learn.
All praise and honour and glory belongs to Him who reigns eternally.

2006-05-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

Divine Appointment (27/4/06)

In my devotion this morning, God spoke to me almost the same message that He is going to speak to me on this coming Friday. It says in the book that; Too often, we would prefer a road map of our future rather than a relationship with the Way. It often seems easier to follow a plan than to cultivate a relationship. We can become more concerned with our future then we are with walking intimately with God today.
Through this passage in the book, I can sense that God assured me of my future, as I seek to know His plan for my future. I need to cultivate daily relationship and fellowship with the Lord first of all and He will lead the way.
Wow! God answered my prayer again and reconfirmed it to me again through the Fridays' sermon.

I also thank the Lord for the divine appointment today that He has provided me with express transport to the church in the evening. As I had class in the evening, I rushed back to uni to attend the class and rushed back to church immediately after that to join the choir practice. Apparently, many buses were full at this after-office hour. My friend and I was hoping to catch the earliest bus and reach church as early as possible. However we were not able to catch the normal bus we used to catch. However, God directed/made us to catch a bus which neither of us tried before. In the bus, I was so compelled to just put my pass tag on for the conference, trying to waste no time when I reach the church. As it turned out, another lady who was sitting beside saw us and recognised the tag. She offered us a ride to church that evening at the next stop. (May the Lord bless her!) We manage to reach the church earlier and prepared for our service/ministry in the conference. I truly thank the Lord for such favour and divine appointment.
PTL!

Are you having a relationship with the Lord today?

2006-05-02T06:29:00.000-07:00

Walk With Faith (30/4/06)

Influencer's Conference (25th - 28th April 06) was really great and God has been doing great things both in my lives and in the church. I truly thank the Lord for giving me the opportunity to serve in the choir throuhgout this great event. Indeed I believe that the Lord is doing great works of breakthroughs within my lives and within my family too, as I served the Lord faithfully in this house of the Lord that He has placed me. Although the teachings throughout the conference were really great, the one that truly spoke into my heart was the last message, on the last day of the conference, at night, (28/4/04) which was preached by Bishop TD Jakes. GOd has impressed within my heart earlier today that this will be the day that He will speak forth to me.
I had been praying to the Lord that He would show me what He has planned for me in my future, so that I could walk in accordance to His plan. The Lord spoke to me when TD Jakes spoke to us in his message, that we need to walk the journey of life with FAITH. TO walk with faith is to step out in faith and trust and with little information provided. This occured to Peter when he asked that he walked on the water towards Jesus, who was walking on the sea. Jesus just asked him to come (walk over) without providing him much information.
At this, God spoke to me when He said "Just trust me and I'll give you the details while you walk" and "Just keep on walking", through TD Jakes. Wow! Praise our awesome God who answers prayers.
All throughout the four nights of the preachings, as I was serving in the choir, we didn't manage to join the crowds in the main hall in listening to the sermons. We were listening to it in another room because of limited seats and the need of the choir at an unknown time. So we have to be prepared all the time. Even though we were outside the main hall, I can still felt the heavy anointing of the Lord upon us in the room as we listened to the sermons. We were even shouting with joy and agreement as it was preached over the screen. WOw! God 's presence is just awesome and indescribable.
Even as I sang in the choir, I found such abundant joy and happiness that I just can't contain myself that I just dance and shaked with the songs as we sang and clapped together. I also believed that God is working breakthroughs within my praise too. PTL!
God also planned everything well for me that I was able to join this session, almost to the fullest. I still remembered when God placed this thought and challenge and the peace within my heart to just sign up for the conference last year, for the full sessions of the early bird payment. As I reflected through it, I praise the Lord that He has helped me to be obedient and that He has arranged everything to me so that I was able to attend the full conference this time. Praise God for His goodness and revelation.

As I recalled such blessings, I took the step of faith again today to pay for the early bird rates for the next Influencer's Conference in January 2007, as He again put such thought and peace within my heart to take this step of faith again. I trusted the Lord and sacrificed my own savings to pay for the conference.
At first I was hesitating and kept trying to get and wait for the students rate, and I was also attempting to get my sister to sponsor me to the conference (not willing to use or sacrifice my own money), but at the end of the service, after I've spoken to my friend and once again God spoke into my heart, I took the step of faith and just sign and pay for it that afternoon. It was also the last day for early bird registration today.
I truly believe that God will somehow make a way for me and arrange and plan everything well in place for me.

I also thank the Lord for enabling me to be a blessing and help to one of my sister in Christ, who just had an awesome encounter with the Lord through the conference. The joy and the enthusiasm that I see in her was overwhelming and I truly believe that the Lord shall cause her to grow into a great strong tree as she seeks the Lord passionately each day.

I was also blessed with a great dinner with my good freind, ex-housemate, together with my housemate, who is also his cousin brother. We shared food and fellowship together and I also believe that the Lord is working great wonders in amongs us and in the fellowship too.

All glory and honour to the Great and Awesome God! Hallelujah!

2006-04-23T18:11:00.001-07:00

Fear? (23/04/06)

I was praying through a few questions/items throughout last few days, asking God to show me His way and direction, whether or not I should do these or not. The things that had been in my mind for the past few days were about whether or not I should take up the challenge to work part-time (without pay), which will require me to apply for the working visa (which will cost about $55 or $60), and whether or not I should get a flu vaccine this season (around $20), to prevent flu during the winter.

I didn’t get any clear answer from the Lord until today, when I spoke and consulted my aunt about these items that had been playing in my mind. Through the chatting on the MSN with her, I got quite clear answers about them. I truly thank the Lord that He spoke through my aunt. These answers that I received were supported by God’s Words (logos).

I decided not to get flu vaccine because my body is the holy temple of the Lord Jesus Christ and I trust that He will guide me and protect me from such harm. I needed to trust in the Lord and claim all His promises He has in store for me from His words. Trust and Faith are the key point. Well, that would save me some money too. PTL!

I decided to take the step of faith in applying for the working visa and the work, after thinking through again, that I would be able to gain experience through the $60 I pay for the working visa. I also have some extra time that I can use to gain experiences from the pharmacy.

These decisions came mainly from man’s perspective and view.
The amazing thing was that after the chatting, I laid down for a short evening nap and the Lord spoke (rhema) to me into my mind, as I closed my eyes for the nap and I felt the Lord’s peace rested upon my heart in the decisions that was made. He even spoke two verses to confirm the decisions.

Proverbs 23:23 (my devotion today)
Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding.

Another verse was from somewhere in the Old Testament when the Priest would normally said, “Go! The Lord has granted you success.” (something like that)

The Lord clearly revealed to me that I should go on with the decision to apply for the working visa and for the part-time voluntary work. He showed me through this proverb that I should invest to gain and acquire wisdom, knowledge and understanding. The second verse that was revealed further confirmed such decision.

Another thing that the Lord revealed to me about getting flu vaccine was FEAR. Many of the times, we are attacked by fear. Fear is a weapon of the enemy and we need to guard our heart from such fear of illnesses. That was what gripped my heart that led me to consider getting flu vaccine. However God has conquered fear and illness for us and we shall not let it grip hold of us.

I truly thank the Lord for revealing such truths to me that I could live in freedom and walk in faith. Hallelujah!

2006-04-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

2006-04-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

It Doesn't Belong to Me (23/4/06)

I found $5 note when I went out to catch the bus two days ago. Well, I thank God that He has trained me up not to keep them, when I found any $ last time, for they don't belong to me. So I put the note into the offering basket this morning in the church without hesitation.
I also thank the Lord for blessing me with a multitrip non-peak bus ticket on that same day, when I found one when I left the uni-gym on the same day. I returned to the counter, but he asked me to keep it, as no one will come back to claim it back. Well, I thank the Lord for this blessing, as my current black bus ticket is finishing too. This ticket saved me a few bucks on buying a new one. Praise the Lord! Hehehehe.......

2006-04-16T21:58:00.001-07:00

Unnecessary Worry (16/4/06)

Before I slept last night, I was a bit worried about my transport to go for the 9am Easter Sunday Service in the main Paradise Church. As I was involved in the choir singing in the service, I was supposed to be in the church for rehearsal before 8.10 am. I've already messaged my friend to ask for a ride to church for this morning (as I always did). However, I got a bit panicked and worried when I still haven't received a reply from her. There was no answer even though I've called her mobile. Then all sort of thoughts and intimidation came into my mind. I tried calling and contacting all my other friends for transport help, but I didn't manage to get through to anyone....... not even one. At last, when I gave up the hope and asked God for help, there was a small still voice/whisper (rhema) in my heart, telling me not to worry and to trust in the Lord, who provides. With that voice, I put down my phone I put my faith and hope in Him. Somehow, my heart still felt insecure and I even made an alternative plan of catching the bus early in the morning to the church. But the only problem about catching a bus was, I didn't have the timetable and I don't know what time does the bus starts operating on Sunday and public holiday. I even attempted to just give it a try for the bus, IF I still didn't get any reply from my friend when I wake up this morning.
I even heard another voice (Rhema) in my heart, asking me to just turn off my mobile and trust in the Lord, before I sleep. With faith, that He will answer and provide, I turned it off, as I let it charged through the night.

As I laid down to sleep at night (last night, on 15/4/06 night), after my prayer and a conversation with the Lord (I also presented this request to the Lord in this prayer. I also claimed the promises of the Lord, from His Words (logos)), my mind was still filled with such worries and insecurity, and I asked the Lord to grant me peace within me. A few minutes after I closed my eyes, trying to sleep, I heard another whisper (rhema) in my mind - Unnecessary worries - and with that voice, I felt like the Lord just came over and swept through and off those worries and burdens I had in my mind and I can feel such freedom and peace within me. With that, I had a good rest that night.
I learned today, both from experience and from the book, The Fourth Dimension, of the need for us to operate our lives with rhema.

Well, I was a bit too excited for today, that I woke up in the middle of the night, thinking that it was time for me to wake up. I brushed my teeth and had a shower, just to find that it was only 12am when I was getting to change. Realising that, I went to bed again.

When I woke up this morning, after my shower and change, I turned on the mobile. Praise the Lord! Finally, I got a reply from my friend that she will pick me up at the same time. Now I understood the words, "Unnecessary worries" that the Lord has spoke into my mind last night. I praised the Lord and my heart was filled with joy, as I did my morning devotion.
I sang in the choir in both, the 9am and 11am services. After that I joined my aunt and cousin for lunch and visited my aunt's new place. I wanted to join the choir at the evening interactive church, but somehow I felt God had another assignment for me that evening.

I obeyed the Lord and didn't sing in the choir, but I brought and accompanied my aunt's friend's son, Kien, to the Interactive Church. He is a non-believer and this is a good opportunity to bring him to church. The evening with David Evans, the best voice singer in Australia, was really great, as he evangelised forth God's Love to the non-believers, all throughout his songs. Wow! That was truly a great ministry. Throughout the service, I whispered my prayer to the Lord, that He would speak forth His love to Kien and enables him to encounter His love and touch. I also believed and claimed that the Lord is doing great things in his heart at the moment. When David called for the altar call, for those who wants to accept the Lord, I asked Kien if he's ready, but he said no. However, I thanked the Lord and believed that the Lord has sowed forth His seeds into his heart and He will cause them to grow and bear fruits at His timing. After the service, I brought Kien to the guest lounge and he spoke to Wilson. I was amazed at how Wilson was able to connect to him so easily and he was able to answer those complex questions that Kien had. I truly believed that God had already arranged Wilson to speak to him, as the Lord made him available when I brought Kien to the guest lounge. As we left the church, I asked Kien how he enjoyed attending the church and I got positive responses from him, saying that he didn't know church was this fun, this friendly, and he also agreed that David was a good singer, with great voice. He also seemed interested in further event and will join us more often.
I truly praise the Lord for giving me such an opportunity to bring a friend (actually a new friend to me too) to the church. PTL!
I'm looking forward for God to work mightily in people's lives, and in and through my lives.
Thank You, Lord!

2006-04-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

The Secret to Looking Younger and Better (14/04/06)

The Lord revealed this truth and secret into my heart as I continued my reading of the book by Joyce Meyer, How to Hear from God. The passage below was taken from the book;

The power of God can make us look better and keep us feeling younger, because we are not living the hard life of sin... The world that we live in is full of gross darkness (see Isaiah 9:2). But God gave Jesus “for a light to the nations” (see Isaiah 42:6). His light is visible in the faces of true believers.

This was the passage that caught my attention. As I read through once more, the Lord led me to think about the comment that my mom mentioned years before, when she had not receive the Lord into her lives. She told me that she can see difference in the look of one of my aunt, who is a Christian. She wondered what the secret was. She even mentioned to me that she always looks young and happy (joyful). Those statements brought my attention to this passage.

As I highlighted this passage on my book, the Lord led me to story of Moses in the book of Exodus 34:29-35. Moses’ face was radiant after he had spent time with the Lord (for 40 days and 40 nights).

My dictionary explained that radiant means someone who looks extremely happy and very bright. Whereas, the word extremely happy means overjoyed and joyful, and bright means full of strong shining light, or/and happy and lively (cheerful).

In addition to that, under the same Bible passage, it says in the Study Bible;

Moses’ face was radiant after he spent time with God. The people could clearly see God’s presence in him. How often do you spend time alone with God? Although your face may not light up the room, time spent in prayer, reading the Bible, and meditating should have such an effect on your life that people will know you have been with God.

Wow! Isn’t that great secret to looking good?

Have you been spending time with the Lord?
Have you received Jesus into your lives?
He is waiting and knocking at the door of your heart,
Invite Him into your lives and spend time with the Lord daily!

2006-04-13T22:59:00.000-07:00

New Language of Positive Words (12/4/06)

I was reading this new book, presented by my sister - The Fourth Dimension, by Dr. David Yonggi Cho - when I came across this passage in the book, which spoke greatly into my heart;

Where can we learn this new language (language of positive words)? From the best language book of all, the Bible. Read the Bible From Genesis to Revelation. Acquire the Bible's language, speak the word of faith, and feed your nervous system with a vocabulary of constructive, progressive, productive and victorious words. Speak those words; keep repeating them, you will become victorious, for you will be completely conditioned to meet your environment and circumstances, and achieve successs. This is the most important reason to use the spoken word: to create the power to have a successful personal life.

As I read through this, the Lord showed me how He has worked within my lives and an example of how I have spoken the situation into my lives.

Walking to the university early in the morning has been one of my favourite time. Instead of boarding the freebus which sends me straight outside my uni, sometimes I walked to uni when the weather is good. In the journey to uni, I will normally use such opportunity to pray and to sing songs of praise to the Lord. One of my favourite songs that I always sing is "Psalm 23" by Patrick Leong (a Malaysian singer). I see this as a way of memorising the chapter through songs, and at the same time, praising the Lord with the song, and also speaking such authoritative (or positive and encouraging) words into my lives. Through such a walk, I can sensed that the Lord walked with me and gave me strength and joy for the day. It was truly a refreshing and valuable time with the Lord. I not only felt rejuvenated after such a walk, I also felt so much joy and alert, to keep me awake through my day and through the lectures (students will probably understand what I mean to be alert during lectures).

This was what the Lord has thought me through the reading of such passage. I truly praise the Lord for showing such secret and understanding.

Have you had a walk with the Lord today?

2006-04-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

Gideon's Requests for Signs (11/04/06)

God spoke to me this morning as I was doing my devotion. I realised these days, God speaks to me through the Old Testament, compared to the New Testament last time (years ago).
I was reading about Gideon in the book of Judges today when He directed my mind to the story of Gideon in chapter 6, verses 36 to 40 (the main empahsis - do read the whole chapter to understand the full story). He tested the Lord twice and asked for signs, confirming His calling of his live, even after he had witnessed the miraculous fire from the rock that consumed the offering he had placed on the rock in verses 20 to 22.

The explanatory notes of The Life Application Study Bible says that; "It is true that to make good decisions, we need facts, but still he (Gideon) hesitated. He delayed obeying God because he wanted even more proof.
Demanding extra signs was an indication of unbelief. Fear often makes us wait for more confirmation when we should be taking action. Visible signs are unnecessary if they only confirm what we already know is true."

These notes and verses spoke into my heart greatly because after I've made up my mind of sponsoring/blessing my friend with an opportunity to attend a church conference a few days ago, I was shaken again by the decision (unsure if this is what God wants me to do) and I asked the Lord for more signs or words from Him to confirm of such action. I waited for quite a few day, maybe a week, until God spoke to me today through these passages.
I repented and asked the Lord to forgive me, when I read "Demanding extra signs was an indication of unbelief". I truly believe by now that this is the right thing to do.
I would also honestly share that I refused to believe this was the right thing to do at the first place because I used a lot of my own reasonings and mind to get an excuse not to do that, although the Lord has shown me (and I believed too) that He has a great reward awaiting for me after I've acted in obedience.
Now that the Lord has truly confirmed and spoken, I am very determined with the action and I should act by faith to obey Him.
I thank the Lord for answering my prayer and for showing me His way, so that I could repent. PTL for His goodness and His faithfulness.

Are you obeying His words today?

If you want to have more of God's guidance, don't ask for signs; study the Bible. (also taken from the notes of the same passages above)

2006-04-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

Just Right On TIme (7/4/06)

My allowance that I was given for the last month was going dry and I was getting worried. I attempted to call back again to remind my dad to send money to me for this new month. I've informed my mom about that a few days ago. But there's no news so far. But God gave me a sense of peace within my heart that He will provide at the right time. I put my trust in the Lord and didn't call home.
I got a confirmation from my sister that the money was being passed to my uncle, who will be passing it to me when he comes over. That gave me a little bit of relief.
As I put my faith and trust in my Provider, He spoke to me yesterday, as I was doing some shopping for food that today was the day He would answer my prayer.
Having put that in my heart, I got a call from my uncle in the evening and he'll pass me the stuff today. My heart overflowed with joy and thanksgiving as He answered my prayer and I was provided this day. God is truly great and mighty. He always acts on time (or should I say, at His timing). PTL!

Are you in need of anything? Have you prayed and ask God to provide?
Trust in Him and He will be on time!

2006-04-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

Answered Prayers (5/4/06)

I was very excited for today....... Wednesday. I went to uni for gym early in the morning, hoping to be home earlier to start my study. However, I ended up helping up my landlord in fixing and replacing the gas stove in the evening. I thank God for the new stove, with the new oven. Well, I was also glad to be a help to my landlord too.

I wanted to do my study earlier today so that I could go to Powergen at night. I was very well-prepared for the Powergen at about 6pm, but I got a call from my friend saying that he will not be able to make it for the night, as he will be late and busy that night. At first, hope dashed within my heart of going to the meeting. (I'm being honest here. Not trying to blame or make anyone feel guilty. Please do understand. Hehe.....) However, God put the hope back into my heart at giving me an alternative of going to the meeting. I made a short whisper of prayer to the Lord, "Lord, if it's Your will for me to go to Powergen, may You grant me with the transport to go to the meeting." Then the thought of my good friend, Andrew, came into my mind. Without haste, I called him on the mobile and was surprised and yet excited to know that he was around my street and was on his way to the meeting. The Lord blessed me and confirmed my prayer through a brother like Andrew, as he agreed to drop by my place to pick me up to the meeting.

I went to the meeting with an open heart, for Him to move and speak into my heart. No doubt, I had an encounter with God during the worship and the sermon again that night. During the altar call, after the sermon, Ps. Rowley opened up the front for those who wants God to show them their God-given/breathed dream/s. I thought for a while and thought I needed a clearer picture from the Lord of what He had planned for me in the future.
As I went out to the front and I lifted my hands to the heaven, with my eyes closed, and I had a quiet conversation in my heart with the Lord, I waited for a leader to pray for me. After my conversation with the Lord and some time of waiting, I peeped through my eyes to see who was coming over to pray for me. Then I noticed brother Wilson, slipping through the crowd and heading towards me. As I kept my eyes closed and focused on praising the Lord, I was surprised with the touch of a hand on my shoulder. From the voice from my back, I recognised it was Wilson's. As I kept raising my hands to the Lord, the Lord placed a word into Wilson's heart and He answered my prayer through him.
This also reminded me of the book I am currently reading - How to Hear from God, by Joyce Meyer - that she said that God also speaks through other people. Well, it's been long since I had such an experience, that God spoke and answered my prayer through others. But I'm glad to have this encounter again tonight.

Wilson spoke the following words to me; (not a real quotation)
Keep trusting the Lord and He will lead and guide you through each day and my future.
The Lord sees everything that you did in the secret/hidden place everyday - your praise to the Lord, devotion and prayer - and God is pleased with such a close relationship that was built with Him. Keep being faithful in seeking the Lord everyday in prayer, praise and devotion and Proverbs 3:5 and 6 says not to lean on your own understanding, but to trust in the Lord with all your heart, & in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight (and will lead you through each day).

Wow! It was truly awesome and I believe that God has spoken to me and answered my prayer.
At the same time when I was at the front during the altar call, I got an answer and a confirmation of another of my prayer that I have been asking the Lord to confirm for the past few weeks. He put a burden in my heart to help my friend up in coming for the Influencers' Conference. I was not so sure about this and keep seeking the Lord about this matter. But God confirmed me about this. I know there is a sacrifice that comes with this calling, but I truly believe that God has a far greater rewards for me in heaven and in my future.

PTL for His goodness and His love and faithfulness. His love endures forever!
Hallelujah!

2006-03-28T15:32:00.000-08:00

Step 4ward By Faith (29/3/06)

Wow! The devotion this morning was great and God showed me how to walk in faith from the book of Joshua. When the people of Israel was led to conquer the promised land, the priest was ordered to step into the Jordan River and the Lord will cause the flow of the river to stop, thus enabling the Israelites to cross over the Jordan River safely, with Joshua leading the way, before they are able to conquer and pssess the Land.
The same with our lives on Earth. We need to walk by faith and walk with the leading of the Spirit and step forward, although we would not know what that step would hold for us. But we just have to step forward into what the Lord has led/put into our heart.
What a great and wonderful words!
Another reading for the devotion was from John 20. Thomas doubted when the disciples told him that Jesus was arisen and He showed Himself to them. He wanted to see the scars on His hands and His side, before he can believe. John 20:25, "unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
Guess what! Jesus appeared and showed Himself to them again, when Thomas was around and he showed Thomas the scars, "Put your fingers here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and oput it into my side. STOP DOUBTING AND BELIEVE........ Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:27-30)
Wow! These passages were powerful.

Do you believe or are you doubting?
BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN AND YET HAVE BELIEVED!

2006-03-26T15:31:00.000-08:00

It HIM Working, Not Me! (27/3/06)

As I was doing my prayer before bedtime tonight, God again revealed to me about a mistake I've made about prayer. At first, I thought prayer can change people's lives and heart, but tonight God showed me that prayer is one thing, and the work of transformation is another different thing. I should not equate prayer as a tool to transform other peoples' lives. He showed me that we (or I) can come to Him with the request about a person. But the works of transformation is in HIS HAND. He is the One who works transformation into another person's lives, and not our prayers. No doubt we can present to the Lord about the person, but the works belongs to God.
I truly praised the Lord for such revelation and correction.
I've truly learned a lot through these.
PTL!

2006-03-25T21:53:00.000-08:00

God of Revelation (26/3/06)

I went to city service today and God blessed me that I was still able to be there on time (without missing anything) in the morning, although I woke up a bit late this morning. I was dressed in a smart purple shirt today and it was wet all around my back when I reached the church, after a 20 minutes walk to the place. I was so embarassed when I grabbed a seat and as I stood there, worshipping the Lord, as I was afraid that the wet shirt might distract my friends, standing at the back rows. I just ignored such feeling and asked the Lord to cool me down and take away the sweat and also that it would not distract my friends at the back rows. The Lord truly has heard my prayer and helped me to put such thought at the back of my mind.
The sermon by Pastor Matt today truly surprised me. As the Lord worked through Ps Matt to bring forth the message, my heart rejoiced and it burned with fire as he spoke. The Lord spoke to my heart the same message last Friday (17th March 2006) as He led me to the same verse in Deutoronomy 7:21-24, with the same message - that He works breakthroughs in my (our) lives LITTLE BY LITTLE. I also managed to blogged this down on that day, with the blog dated 15/3/06, below. As I thought through what happened when God revealed such message to me last Friday, I realised that I've ignored another verse that He has led me to, the story of the persistent widow - in Luke 18:1-8 - , which was also spoken in the sermon today.
I, kinda thought about this story on that day, but I just couldn't understand what connection it has with Deutoronomy. That was why I put that story aside. By today, I truly understood about this verses, as the Lord unfolds them within my heart through Ps Matt.
Now I knew for sure that the Lord wants me to keep praying persistently for the breakthroughs in my lives, as He works mightily to destroy strongholds in my lives, LITTLE BY LITTLE.
I PTL for such revelation and understanding that He unfolded into my heart.
After returning home from the city, the Lord spoke/unravel to me another great revelation into my heart. Prayer also connects with people and works into people's lives as well, no matter how far it could be, through our prayer and requests to the Mighty God, through Jesus's name, which connects beyond great distance and boundaries.
I believe as we pray according to His will and with faith, the Lord is working within peoples' lives and hearts at that moment too. And it would be more powerful that we claim that the Lord is working in their hearts at the moment, with our mouths, as we pray for them in our prayer and in the conversation with the Lord of breakthrough and of great power. THe same goes when we pray for ourselves.
I also truly agreed with the message that the Lord has brought through Ps Matt, that we must not let the "natural mountain" hinder us from going forward/pressing ahead, but we can use it to grow "bigger" & stronger, as we press on and never give up, to pursue the promises and rewards ahead of us.
PTL for all these revelations and understanding, for I believe that He has a greater plan for me (and us) in the days ahead and I look forward for what He has in store for me.
1 Cor. 2:9 No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what the Lord has prepared for those who loves Him

ARE YOU PRESSING ON?

2006-03-20T20:12:00.000-08:00

Lazarus and Martha (20/3/06)

The devotion today really spoke into my heart.
Today's reading was about Lazarus and Martha. (John 11) Lazarus was dead for four days before Jesus came for the rescue.
When martha met Jesus, She said, "If you have been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
This part showed to me how much faith Martha had on Jesus and that she acknowledges his mighty power.
Another verse that caught my attention was Jesus reply to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; & whoever believes in me will never die. Do you believe in this?"
Martha replied again in faith, "Yes, I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

Wow! Look at the faith that Martha had and how much God has revealed to her and her eyes were opened.
These words truly spoken forth words of faith into my heart. PTL!

2006-03-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

God's Mighty Revelation (15/3/06)

I was discussing a matter with my aunt for the previous days through email when she spoke something about observing Commandment 10 in the Bible. This brought my mind to wonder what is Commandment Ten and what is the true meaning of that. This caused me to ponder into the Ten Commandments again and amazingly, I was currently reading in the book of Deutoronomy in my daily devotion and the next day was where I came across the Ten Commandments. Truly I knew that God wants to speak to me and reveal great mystery into my lives.
Commandment #10, it says - Do not covet! As I pondered into the deep and true meaning of it using my Life Application Study Bible. God revealed to me of my sins that I have been doing all this while without noticing. I have broken commandment #10, through discontentment and lust. Immediately, I went on my knees and asked for forgiveness and also strength to change my mind and heart.
In the evening, I went to Powergen and Rene was the speaker and she spoke about "Speaking Supernatural Words & Speaking a Blessing". As she spoke, it was as if God spoke to my heart personally. God spoke mightily through her as she revealed and asked the guys (specially addressed to the guys) to repent of our ways. She said that many of us are trapped in the life of sin and found it hard to be set free of this bondage. We were given the opportunity to respond that night to repent before the Lord and He shall forgive us and shall help us out from such bondage of sin.
These words and sermon spoke mightily into my heart and I responded in faith to the call of repentance and I asked the Lord to help me to change and to set me free from such bondage. PTL!

The next day, as I read through the sermon notes again in the night before I sleep, God again revealed to me another great thing. As Rene has said, our words are binding and it has the ability to change the future. Therefore we need to speak positively to change the natural order of life. From this, God revealed to me that instead of asking Him to help me to release me from the bondage of sin, I have to pray and believe that He is doing the work right now. So I prayed, "Lord Father, I give you thanks for the great things You are doing in my lives and my heart and my mind right now. I believe that as I come to You in repentance and I asked You to help me to set me free from this bondage of sin, I truly believe that You are doing great and mighty works in me right now. I believe You are breaking the strongholds in my mind and my heart, setting me free bit by bit". Another revelation that God has shown me was that His work is gradual and He will and is breaking down the bondage in my lives gradually/day-by-day. I learned this when I was doing my devotion on Deutoronomy Chapter 7,8, & 9.

Deutoronomy 7:21 & 22 Do not be terrified by them (the "enemies" or the bondages), for the Lord your God, who is among you, is great and awesome God. The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, LITTLE BY LITTLE. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you.

The following is what the Life Application Study Bible says about this passages;
Moses told the Isarealites that God would destroy Israel's enemies, but not all at once. God had the power to destroy those nations instantly, but he chose to do it in stages, "little by little". In the same way and with the same power, God could miraculously and instantaneously change your life. Usually, however, he chooses to help you gradually, teaching you one lesson at a time..........

From this, I truly believe that God is working within my heart right now, delivering me from the bondage, little by little. PTL!
I'll leave the work of breakthrough and clearing such bondage into His mighty hand, for He is more than able to do great and mighty things.

I praise the Lord for He has brought and ordained such victory for and in my lives. I would also like to thank God for today - such a great day.
I'm thankful to God that He enabled me to catch an alternative metrobus to go into city this morning. After knowing that the free bus that I wanted to board earlier was full, I walked over to another public metrobus. As I was approaching the corner of the bus stop, I heard a voice telling me to be fast and that the bus might be there already. I ran and amazingly, the bus was there and was just about to leave. Finally I mange to board the bus to the city just on time. Praise the mighty and caring God!

I also thank God for giving me the opportunity to bless the Life Group with some junkies food....... Smiths New flavours....... tonight.

All glory and honour belongs to the mighty God of heaven, Who is worthy to be praised! Hallelujah!

2006-01-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

A Blessed Journey (16/1/06)

Indeed the decision of going out to KL was the right decision that was made last Friday (13/1/06). It was a rejuvenating and refreshing trip. God has been blessing me all the way through.
But after today, I truly praise God for this decision that I truly knew that it was the right decision.

Friday was a long and tiring day to me. Even as I traveled on the bus out to KL, I was still asking God if this was the right decision I’ve made, as (I guess) I was also needed in my hometown.
Yet I was so glad to meet my friends, Peter and Jean, who generously offered their home for me to stay in this trip. As I always do, I helped them to bake taufufah as soon as I reached their house, for the cell group fellowship tonight in their house. I was so glad to bless them with my skill in baking this, although I was not the one who bought the stuff.
I thank God for the success of the bake, as I was a bit worried at the first place because it took too long for the Soya bean juice to be boiled, until the original volume of the juice was reduced. But thank God that the taufufah still turned out to be soft.
After freshened myself, I accompanied Peter to pick some members of the cell group over to his place. I thank God for the opportunity to be there as a help to Jean, to accompany Peter for the pick-up, in place of her, because she was pregnant and tired. I was also glad to hear the news that she was pregnant.I praise the Lord for giving me this opportunity to meet the new cell group members that night – Robin and the family, William and the family, Alice, Vivien and a few more international students. I enjoyed the time of worship and sharing. I thank God that He spoke His Word to the group through me that night. I wasn’t so sure about sharing forth the word at first, but as the heavy anointing of the Lord fell on me and my hands and feet started to tremble, I released forth the word during the quiet session of the worship – Be thankful in every situation. No one responded at first, but in the sharing session, Robin admitted that the word spoke into his heart and it was supported by another member, Chih Chin. I thank the Lord for His greatness and for speaking forth His words into our lives.
I also thank God for bringing me there this day, as there were lots of food and cakes that were prepared that night. As we shared the food, I also got many compliments for the taufufah and there were two cakes that night – one was baked by Chih Chin (Chocolate cheesecake) and another one was bought from Secret Recipe (Banana Chocolate) by Peter – to celebrate those who were born in January.
We finished the cell group at about 1230am and by the time we reached home after sending people home, it was almost about 1am already. I thank God for sustaining me through the day.
Saturday started with breakfast. I managed to wake up earlier to do my quiet time early in the morning. After that we (Peter and his whole family and I) went out for a late breakfast at a mamak. After the breakfast I followed them around to the office and the hospital for Jean’s appointment. After some munch for late lunch, Peter sent me to Sunway Pyramid. I walked around and shopped around for my stuffs. I praise and thank the Lord for enabling me to buy all the things that I bought today (to bring over to Australia) – facial masks, a backpack that I have been eyeing last few weeks, some socks and underwear, and some tees – both for CNY and also to be brought to Australia.
After the shopping, I followed Peter and the family to the church for the Saturday night celebration in DUMC. I truly missed the church so much. I thank God that Pastor Moy How still remembered me. I also manage to meet a few of my friends, whom I wanted to meet this trip out – Uncle James and Auntie Grace.

Sunday was another exciting and adventurous day. We were scheduled to do home and office blessing and cleansing in the afternoon. I had the privilege to be involved in this home and office cleansing of our two new brothers – Brother William’s workplace and Brother Robin’s house – as they dedicated their business and home to the Lord. I truly praise the Lord for their faithful and obedient hearts to take this great step of faith. They removed all the “unclean things” from their property and we destroyed those things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was my first time doing such a victorious work. I believe that God has great blessings in store for you and your family, as you take this step of faith, in obedience to His words was my words of encouragement to them, as the Lord put it in my heart. They were truly encouraged by these words and before we departed, we exchanged contacts to keep in touch with one another. I truly thank the Lord for showing me such favor. I also thank the Lord for enabling us to connect with one another so easily through this few days visit. Truly I believe God is moving mightily within their lives.

I went out for a short visit to the AYA center to meet my friends there on Monday morning. After the visit to SS15, I took the bus over to Summit and shopped around in the mall and in Salvation book store. I thank the Lord for His favor that He enabled me to get some shirts from the Thailand fair stall at quite a good price. I have been looking around for baju Melayu and I couldn’t find any, until the Lord blessed me today with this Thai shirt, which resembled Malay culture, at quite a good price.
After that, I dropped by Salvation warehouse to get some postcards and also to enquire about a book by Joyce Meyer, How to Hear From God. Again God showed me favor, that there was only one last copy of the book that was available at the counter, waiting to be sold. God again blessed me that the lady at the counter, Indra, was willing to sell me the book at the member’s price, although my membership had expired and I didn’t have it with me at that moment. She told me that I was the first customer for that day and that I must be the one for whom the Lord has kept the last book at the counter. I left the store with joy and happiness and thanksgiving, for all His blessings unto me.
I went back to Peter’s home after that. Peter and Jean brought me out for lunch, before they sent me off at the LRT train station. On the trip to the station, Jean prayed for me, for a smooth journey and also for the Lord’s blessings and guidance in my study lives. I was glad she prayed for me, as I just had an hour to travel over to the bus station to catch the bus at 4.30pm. The Lord blessed me in the train trip that I was just on time to board the trains. I reached the bus station 15 minutes before the departing time, able to buy the ticket just on time. I believe God heard and answered the prayer. Praise the Lord for the smooth journey.
I reached home safely a few minutes before 8 and was glad to see my parents and my grandparents at home. My grandpa looked so much better and stronger since after the stroke a few weeks ago and I was glad to be at home to care for my father, as he just started on the high blood pressure tablets. I thanked the Lord for giving me this opportunity to serve in my family and to help them measure their blood pressure constantly.

As I pondered through my day, I praised the Lord for helping me to make the right decision on Friday. With a heart of expectation, I truly believe that the Lord is doing great things in my family and leading my way everyday. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!

2006-01-03T22:15:00.000-08:00

Making A Difference (3/1/06)

I found myself so alert and difficult to sleep last night. As the big clock in the living room hit its bell at 1 am, I was still awake. Guess should be the thick Chinese tea that I drank in the supper or maybe there was something God wanted to tell me. I took the opportunity to do my devotion reading for today, Dec 3, in the early of the morning. The title for the devotion today was “Making A Difference”.
As I read it through, God spoke some words of encouragement to me personally, through the devotion material.
Would you dare to believe that God, who called you to Himself and equipped you with His Spirit, could work mightily through you? Have you made a connection between the time and place in which you live and God’s call upon you? ...... He placed you precisely where you are for a purpose.
Daniel did not let the temptations of his day interfere with his relationship to the Lord.
Are you allowing God to use you to make a difference in your generation?

These were the words that spoke to me so deeply and personally.

In the supper last night, after the trip back from Ipoh (visiting my grandpa), my auntie, Dr Tan (and uncle are the supper gang/ “kaki”), spoke forth a word into my lives, which was both the answer to my prayer and also a word of encouragement to me. As we shared our situation with them, she told me that (not the actual quotation) God has truly placed me here for a purpose at this time, TO BE A COMPANION TO MY FATHER.
I had been asking God since two days ago whether to follow my dad and keep him a company OR to follow my grandpa and stay with him in Subang Jaya, with my grandma, as he does his body checkup in the hospital.
As I pondered upon this, God spoke forth His answer to me in the supper last night through my auntie – to be a companion to my father at this moment of time. God also assured me of this by letting my dad voiced out his opinion about whom I was to follow – that he wants me to follow him.
I was so touched and grateful, as I was given this opportunity to help and to serve in this “mission”. My auntie also added, “Don’t think that you are not important. Your presence here and your coming back home is important.” These words have given me great encouragement and passion to serve with more love.
After the supper, God again spoke His words of encouragement to me when He spoke to me in the devotion, Making A Difference, early this morning, when I couldn’t sleep.
By then, I made the decision to follow my daddy in the trip and to keep my dad a company, as my mom stayed at home to look after the house this trip.
I truly praise the Lord for speaking to me in a mighty and wonderful way, and also for keeping us strong as we go through this time of trial together. I believed that there is and will be a breakthrough around the corner, as the God of Breakthroughs works in our lives. PTL! Hallelujah!

Part II
I followed my dad to Ipoh in the morning, after breakfast. We went to the hospital to help grandma and grandpa before discharge, with help from Auntie Chooi Ling and Uncle Dar Wen.
After that, we traveled straight to Subang Jaya and, thank God, that we had a smooth journey, although grandpa was having diarrhea. After a 2-hour journey, we met Uncle Cher Wen and Auntie Kelly in Subang Jaya, and had grandpa admitted into the hospital, preparing for a brain scan. Praise the Lord for the smooth processing, and my dad and I left in the evening.
I was grateful to be able to be a companion to dad at this moment. Though not much help I can do, I believe that my presence (being with him by his side) had spoken all that are needed in this moment.
Before we slept at night, I received an SMS from my aunt saying that the scanning had been done and result showed that everything was OK. I praised the Lord for this favorable result and I believe there are more blessings and breakthroughs and favors in the days ahead of us. PTL!

2005-12-29T22:30:00.000-08:00

God Is Working(29/12/05)- Thursday

Indeed I was so glad to be at home so that I could give some moral encouragement at this time of need. As I (and we) prayed persistently for grandpa’s recovery, I also prayed for restoration of our relationship with one another within our family – that father and children relationship, and among sibling – will be restored and that there will be unity within our heart.
As we went through this time together, I truly can see God working so greatly and wonderfully in our family.
Grandpa is the strongest man I’ve (if I can say, We) ever seen, been able to work everyday and be able to go to the estate almost every time. Since after this stroke, he looked so different and weak when I saw him this evening, as my parents and I went to visit grandpa in the ICU. But we gave the best encouragement to him and stood by strongly to pray for and with him. This was the only time that we’ve ever seen grandpa shed tears, as our close family dropped by for visits.
After the visit in the evening, I followed my parents to get some fill to our stomach and had a walk around Ipoh.
After the walk we went back to the hospital to pay grandpa another visit. Thank God that he was shifted to another personal room, so that he could rest better. I was so glad and surprised to see a lot of my close relatives already there when I entered the new, large room. The atmosphere was different and grandpa also looked so much better and stronger now compared to a few hours ago. I truly praise the Lord for His healing work on my grandpa and for His miracle. I believe He is still working by now, as my grandpa rests in the room.
I was so overjoyed when we left that I started hopping around happily and joyfully.
As my relatives and my parents and I went for dinner (and supper) together after the visit, my father offered to bring them to dim sum. As we shared the night together, I can also see God moving within our relationship among us. I also truly thank God that He also brought restoration upon my relationship with my father. All this while, I was not so close to my father and I also feared him. As the Lord brought breakthrough today, I just can sense that we can connect better this evening and the fatherly figured, whom I feared all this while became a friend to me. I truly thank God for His work and breakthrough upon our lives. I also looked forward with a heart of expectation, for more breakthroughs in the days ahead.
I also believe that He will also bring breakthroughs in our close relatives – especially the Ngo’s and See’s family – and also in our relationship with every family, that there’ll be unity and agreement and understanding among us.
I also believe that 2006 will be a year of favors, blessings, and breakthrough within Goh family. Praise the Lord! His name is exalted and praised above all!
Hallelujah!

2005-12-29T22:28:00.000-08:00

God Is In Control (28/12/05)

After breakfast today, I looked blankly at the wood of my home, trying to think of what to do today. I just sensed that there was something for me to do today, but I just couldn’t figure it out at the moment. So I figured out that I would be baking a cake which I’ve promised my mom for her belated birthday cake.
After a while, at about 10+ in the morning, I noticed my grandpa was home. He didn’t look as good as before and looked very pale. This was so not him, as he is always very strong and active. With my grandma beside, I asked him about what had happened and he told me (in a slurry tone) that he was dizzy and his tongue was stiff and frozen. It sounded like a stroke to me at first, but I just couldn’t accept the fact and trying to figure out what was that, from what I have learned in my study so far, in the third year.
After contacting the doctors, we figured out that we needed to send him to hospital ASAP and the doctor confirmed that it could be stroke.
Only then I knew this was the moment that the Lord had kept me at home for, all this while. I had even attempted to go out to KL within this week, but God has kept me stay put for this moment. I truly thanked God that I was still around this day to have been there during this time of need.
I truly thank God for His graciousness and His love that it was just a mild stroke, as my grandpa was still able to walk and moved and talked (slurry). In all this, I truly believe that God is in control of everything and we shall not be afraid or be shaken.
I also believe that God is going to do greater things in days ahead, in spite of all this. I also believe that He will move within my family, to bring restoration, unity and breakthrough in our relationships among and within our family, and between man and God.
We would pray persistently for full restoration and recovery upon my grandpa, physically and spiritually.
I believe that the harvest is here.
Praise the Lord!
I believe that God is in control in every area of my life. Do you?
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what the Lord has prepared for those who love Him 1 Corinthians 2:9

2005-12-29T22:23:00.000-08:00

Spiritual Hunger (27/12/05) Part 1

It has been a few weeks already since I left Adelaide on the 4th of December. Staying in Adelaide for 10 months has truly been a great experience to me and has also impacted me in great ways. Even as I am having the summer holiday now, I started to miss Adelaide a lot already….. Especially the church I’ve been attending, Paradise Community Church, and also where I am serving in the choir. I could truly say that I was well-fed spiritually in that church. In addition to that, to serve and join the choir has added to my spiritual growth and my contentment. Indeed I understood now, the importance of praise in our lives as a CHIRSTIAN.

I am also thankful that I am at home now….. Malaysia. It is truly great to be back here in my hometown, where I can taste the food that I missed so much and the home cook. Indeed the abundant food here has caused my tummy to go in havoc and I am having digestion problem this few days. As this problem persists, my heart longs for “solid” spiritual food. So far, the spiritual fill that I have here are from books, daily devotion of the international standard textbook – Bible – and some Christian worship songs.
Although I was physically well-fed here, I still sensed about something that was missing in my lives here in my hometown. I can confidently say that it was the spiritual food that was lacking – the solid spiritual food. Even in this situation, I truly believe that my Great God is still with me, as He has promised me (us) in Deuteronomy 31:6 that He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Even as the Lord has placed me here this holiday, I still pray persistently and with faith that He will come to bring revival and transformation into this place and also in my family and also in the church, that his disciples will rise up to burn for the Lord. I also pray that He will use me to make an impact in this place, as I showered forth His love and peace in this place.
Another important thing that I realized in my lives here is that I need to praise Him in songs of joy EVERYDAY. I guess that was what is lacking in my lives right now – to praise Him in every situation, in sickness and in happiness.
Praise the Lord for this revelation!

Is there anything lacking in your lives?
Have you started praising the Maker of all things, The King of kings?

Spiritual Food And Regeneration (27/12/05) Part 2

After I blogged “Spiritual Hunger” in the morning, God answered my cry for spiritual food after lunch today. I thank God that He has led me so that I brought some sermons on the DVD back from Adelaide. I was led to listen to the series of “The Spirit of Intimidation”. As I continued Part 3 of the series, I was truly rejuvenated and refreshed and fed spiritually when God chose this hour to speak personally to me through this sermon message.
Little did I know that I was being intimidated throughout this holiday, as Pastor Ashley said in the sermon that ‘intimidation drains off our authority and the emotional man’. After understanding what the intimidation has done to my life, I felt my inner man rising up again, soaring like an eagle.
For those whose hope is in the Lord shall renew their strength and they shall soar on the eagles’ wings, they shall run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31
This message truly has impacted and spoken to me so powerfully that I was strengthened spiritually. I also believe that there will be a great breakthrough around the corner and at the end of the intimidation.
Praise the Lord!
Even as Pastor Ashley said, I would keep pressing onwards and will also continue to pray for strengths/resolve to continue this work and this battle.
I truly praise the Lord of Glory for speaking into my lives freely and mightily.
Hallelujah!

2005-12-29T22:21:00.000-08:00

God’s Intervention (23 Dec 2005 Fri)

Fear gripped me when I received the reply from my lecturer, after I appealed for pass for the failed supplementary result. I tried appealing for pass as I got credit for the continuous subject in the second semester. I was afraid to tell my grandpa, who is my sponsor in my study now, as I was scolded the last time I failed a subject and had to repeat the second year subject for a year. Now that it happened again, I was just fearful of how he will react this time. This also meant that I had to repeat another year to complete the subject, before I can proceed to my final year, fourth year.
I prayed persistently for God’s favor upon me, that He would intervene in this situation and cause my grandpa to show favor to me as well, and to continue giving his support and some words of encouragement (to say it short…… not to scold me, as words of encouragement is my main love language). Some how, when I prayed about this problem, God placed His peace within my heart and gave me the assurance that He is in control. This peace gave me the courage and the strength to face the response that I’m going to get from my grandpa.
The repeat that I did in 2004 was truly a life-changing year to me and I truly learned a lot more than I did in my 2002+2003. It is also a blessed year to me, as I grew stronger in character and in my spiritual life. Indeed, I also believe that God has a greater plan for me in 2006. Praise the Lord!

After dinner tonight, I spoke to my grandpa. I believe God is truly there with me when I spoke to him. My grandpa spoke gently to me when I told him about the reply that I got from my lecturer. I also reassured him that this is the course I’m interested in. After a short chat, he told me to work harder and assured me that he will continue the financial support in my years ahead. I truly praise the Lord with joy, as I hopped happily, leaving his room. The Lord Almighty has truly answered my prayer and intervened in this situation.
Indeed, I look forward to what He has planned for me in 2006 and I’m still praying for revelation from my Great God of Revelation, to reveal to me what He has for me in 2006.
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what the Lord has in store for those who love Him. 1 Cor. 2:9

When I was online today, I met my college friend on the msn and we chat for a moment. We spoke about girlfriend and I told him about the leading of the Lord, even in our BGR and our love relationship and also to be sensitive to the voice of the Lord. As we chat along, we also spoke about spiritual mentoring – how I walked with mentoring with a spiritually matured mentor – in hearing from God and making tough and unclear decisions.
After that, I was truly surprised when my friend asked me to be his mentor and partner in his spiritual growth. I truly believe God has another new ‘assignment’ or ‘mission’ for me this time, that He is bringing me into another level of spiritual growth. I thanked God for His favor.
I told him that I’ll be more than happy to help and I also told him to try to get another mentor, whom can be made more available to him in his university, as I can only meet him online once in a while only.
God is really gracious and wonderful, too marvelous, beyond comparison, and too awesome and powerful. Praise our great God, who is worthy to be praised forever! Hallelujah!

2005-12-29T22:07:00.001-08:00

Favour (14/12/05)

As I sat down to think about my weeks before I came back home to Malaysia for holiday, I realized and noticed about the abundant blessings that God had lavished in my lives so far. There was a burning desire within my heart to have it blogged and typed out, to share them with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Firstly, I thanked God for sustaining me through the period of examination and also for the peace that He placed in my heart as I worked hard for the exam. He has led me and taught me to learn to take things one by one and not to worry about too many things in one time. He also gave me the strength to persevere through this period of hardship. But I also rejoice in my sufferings, because I know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who He has given us. (Romans 5:3-5)
I was also amazed at how He has kept me strong and gave me strength and kept me alert as I stayed awake overnight to study to my best for my third and fourth papers, without consuming coffee. Praise the Lord for all these and for enabling me to run the race well.

I just got my results last weekend and I rejoiced greatly for His blessing, as I got two credits and one Pass Level1, which was the best result I’ve ever got so far. I truly thanked God for the blessings and also for giving me the strength to persevere.
Even though I failed the supplementary viva of a subject that I haven’t cleared the last semester, I still praise God and looked forward for His miracle to dwell in my result, as I appealed for a pass for the subject, seeing that I got credit for this subject, which is a continuous subject from the one I failed.

Even as I got the results a few days ago, I feared of telling the failed supplementary to my grandpa, fearing that I would disappoint him and made him angry, as the last time I failed a subject, I was scolded. I was planning to tell him a bit later, after I’ve settled and confirmed about the appeal. But somehow, my grandma mentioned about the result during dinner today and I was left no option but to tell him. Guess this should be the day that the Lord has made to tell my grandpa the result, as I have been praying for the Lord’s favour upon me that I would not be scolded. After I’ve told my grandpa about my result and the appeal that I’ve made, I praise the Lord that I’ve found favour in my grandpa, that he didn’t scold me, but gave me some words of encouragement.

In addition to the appeal that I’ve made to the university, I also believe that God is in control of this and whether or not He would allow me to pass, it is the best decision for me and my lives, and I would be ready for all that He is going to do in my lives. Somehow, I still feel in my heart that He would grant me with pass, but I’m ready for whatever that He would be doing in this appeal.

God has also been so good to me that He enabled me to go to Gold Coast last week for my sister’s graduation in Queensland University and to meet my dearest parents, whom I missed so much, and also my second sister there. It was really a pleasant and great trip. I also believe for breakthrough in our relationship within the family, that there would be unity among us. I truly praise and exalt God’s holy name, as I can see the breakthrough happening bit by bit and gradually. Even as we’ve left Gold Coast, I still believe that the Lord would complete the work in the heart of each one of us.

I prayed for more breakthroughs within my family, during this holiday at home and also that the Lord would work His love through my body, that I would shower forth His love to each of my family members, to bring transformation and breakthrough to the glory of the Lord.
After dinner tonight, my grandma mentioned about changing and cleaning the shirt of the reindeer (soft toy), which my siblings and I gave to my grandpa for His previous birthday and which he put in his car. I took this opportunity to share and give him one of my small, tiny shirt for the reindeer. Without knowing how much impact it would be, I gave the shirt and wore it onto the reindeer in my grandpa’s car. Upon leaving, my grandma showed him the new shirt that was on the reindeer and I can see the joy and the smile in his face as he left. He even waved to me before he drove off, as I sent them off at the door and said goodnight. This is the first time ever I felt so close and connected with my grandpa. I was overjoyed to have blessed and enlightened his heart. I believe that the Lord is working within his heart to speak forth His love to him. And breakthrough is around the corner now. Praise the mighty and faithful, loving God.

2005-11-28T21:27:00.002-08:00

God Is Good, All THe time

It's been long since I last blogged. Time really flies and now that I'm done with all the exam, I truly have to thank God for His countless blessings through this period of exam. He has been there with me, guiding me through each path and each day. His blessings are truly abundant and immesurable and uncountable. That's why I always do my daily thanksgiving prayer everynight. Were I to leave a day or bring forward a day, it would be far too much for me to remember.
As I went through this last day of my exam, I smiled and thanked God again for His goodness and for revealing His love and His promises and also a glimpse of what He has placed in my future. As I was preparing for my supplementary viva throughout last week, God showed me the main stuff to study for and He even whispered into my ears and mind of what types of case that I'll be getting and be tested for today's viva. I prayed hard before the viva that I just got the same strong feeling I'll be getting the case on this topic. WHen I got the case during the viva, I was overjoyed to see the question. I also prayed that God would also bless me with wisdom and favour and that He would also speak through me. During the viva, I was able to do, understand and answer far beyond what I was able to do during my revision. After the viva, I was overflowed with joy and peace and assurance that everything has been done and planned by Him.
Throughout the weeks before, as I was preparing and doing my examination paper, He was also there with me, leading me through each papers. I did my best in those papers and now I surrender the results unto His mighty, awesome, powerful arms. I believe and trust that He would bring me through all these successfully. Indeed, I also believe (and have the same assurance and peace in my heart) that He will surely help me through these. I truly praise the Lord FOr revealing this to me and also to bring breakthrough into my life and my mind, so as that I will not be hunted and bounded by the past failure. He is truly a God of breakthrough.
Even through this exam period, God has blessed me that I was still able to join the choir in their regular activities in the church, including the album recording. God also spoke His promises and His strengthening words into my lives and my heart throughout this weeks of exam period, through the sermons and also through the daily readings. I also learned not to worry and to have faith and trust in Him and also that HE IS IN CONTROL.
I also learned about the importance of Praising the Lord, the power of prayer and also meditation of His words through these weeks.
It was truly amazing of how He worked, working and works in my lives.
Please don't ever ever underestimate the power of praising the Lord, prayer and meditation of His words.
I believe that by faithfullly doing and having these qualities in our lives, it will surely move the hand of God and cause the window of heaven to open and flow into our lives.

"Draw Near to me and I'll draw near to you."

No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

no mind has conceived

what the Lord has prepared for those who love Him.

Only now I understood the meaning of this verse from 1 Corinthians 2:9 and why it was chosen as the theme verse of DUMC. Praise The Lord!

Do you believe in these promises?

2005-11-28T21:27:00.001-08:00

"Draw Near to me and I'll draw near to you."

No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

no mind has conceived

what the Lord has prepared for those who love Him.

Only now I understood the meaning of this verse from 1 Corinthians 2:9 and why it was chosen as the theme verse of DUMC. Praise The Lord!

Do you believe in these promises?

2005-11-28T21:27:00.000-08:00

"Draw Near to me and I'll draw near to you."

No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

no mind has conceived

what the Lord has prepared for those who love Him.

Only now I understood the meaning of this verse from 1 Corinthians 2:9 and why it was chosen as the theme verse of DUMC. Praise The Lord!

Do you believe in these promises?

2005-11-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

Morning “Wake Up” Call (12 Nov 2005)

I had been awaken up early in the morning a few days ago (4 days ago), which I ignored the first one (I was feeling a bit hot-also in the second one), but at the second morning, I remembered someone told me before that God can call a person up early in the morning to speak to them. So I woke up that second morning, at 4.20 am, and did my daily devotion. After that I went back to bed again. Before sleep at the same night, still unsure if it was a call from God, I asked Him to show me if it’s His will and call, wake me up again the next morning. But I slept through the night that day. Still feeling unsatisfied, I did the same prayer again that night before sleep. This time I was awaken by hiccups at about 6am. I was very sure that this was His call this morning. After having a sip of water to relief the hiccups, I did my devotion and went to bed again after that.
Before I sleep last night, I did the same prayer again and asked God to wake me up if He wants to speak to me. I added this prayer before I sleep, “Speak, Lord. Here I am, ready to listen to what you are saying.”
This morning, I was again wakened up by hiccups, at about the same time as the second morning, at 4.25 am. As I flipped over to Asian Notes Volume 3, over to today’s reading, I saw the title across the page again-The Meciful Wake-Up Call. I was overjoyed and excited as I started to read through the page-Weak, Yet Faithful. Today’s scripture devotion was taken from Revelation 3:7-13. As I read through the short passage, I felt the heavy presence of the Lord around me and I also felt like He was speaking this passage to me, personally.
7What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name…..
10Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world, to test those who live on the earth. 11I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will I leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.
As I read through the passage, these words spoke into my heart so deeply and my body was also shivering (maybe in cold) and shaking. As I tried to put on my jacket, the shaking turned to my feet and the shaking continued through until I finish reading this reading in Revelation. As I recalled through, I was very sure that it was the presence of the Lord that makes my body shake.
This was the explanation given following the passage from the Bible;
….. And if they were to persevere in their endurance, their future would be bright and the rewards for their faithfulness beyond compare…… If you are numbered with the majority, be sensitive to the needs of the minority, especially the small minorities in our multi-ethnic society. Pray that our church will reflect the multi-ethnic mix in our society.
Lord, teach me how to become a bridge-builder across ethnic groups living in my neighborhood.
The shaking stopped after I’ve finished reading through this page and the passage. As I turned into the next two readings in Ezekiel 1-3 and Hebrew 9, I can still fell that God was speaking through these passages.
Ezekiel 9:27-28 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
As I read through Ezekiel, I found that the name means “God is (or makes) strong” and he was a priest and a prophet of the Lord.
Wow! He is truly a great and mighty God, who speaks and hears and answers.
Today’s experience really gave me a great encouragement to persevere and to strive forward in every areas of my lives, be it study, spiritual growth, my future and all the other areas as well. I was also reminded to stand firm and strong in the Lord, preparing to receive the reward of my salvation and also to have compassion to reach out to the lost and to all the peoples, also to pray for people and the lost.

I truly hope these scriptures and these testimonies will speak forth to you as well, as you read this through. If you can, please read through the passages that I read through as well.
Hope God will show you and speak to you as well.
Please be strong and to persevere in the Lord as well, so that He will place an open door in your life as well. I also pray that He will make you a bridge-builder as well.
Do you know Jesus and His salvation and love?
Are you ready for His coming?

2005-10-20T18:05:00.000-07:00

Snatched From the Fire

I read Through this from my devotional book this morning and found it very meaningful and strenthening words and it spoke straight into my heart. Well, I just wanna share this with you all and hope you'll find the encouragement and strenth from it.

Zechariah 3:1-10
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angle of the LORD, & Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The LORD said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke u, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, take off his filthy clothes." THen he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on u." Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the anngel of the Lord stood by. The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: "THis is what the Lord Almighty sayd: 'If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then u will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give u a place among these standing here. Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated b4 u, who are men symbolic of things to com: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch, See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are 7 eyes on that one stone adn I will engrave an inscription on it,' says the Lord Almighty,'and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. In that day each of u will invite his neighbour to sit under his vine and fig tree, declares the Lord Almighty."

In this vision, Zechariah saw the cleansing of Joshua the high priest & the restoration of Israel. While Satan accused, od defended His own for He saved him like a 'burning stick snatched from the fire'. Joshua was restored to righteousness and would be entrusted with God's house if he continued to walk in God's ways and keep His requirements.
Sometimes our lives seem to stop functioning. Like a computer, something may have become corrupted and we need a reset button for our lives. There is such a button every time we return to God. We get burned in the process of life, sometimes to the extent of being like branches that are almost burnt out. We think all is lost until our Saviour comes along and presses the reset button. We are like 'Burning stick snatched from the fire'. When we trust in Chirst, He takes our sin away and gives us His righteousness. When the devil seeks to accuse us and make us feel guilty, Jesus Christ our advocate defends us. He declares, 'Paid in full on the cross of Calvary!' Each time we return to GOd, he resets our lives. And with each reset comes a new beginning of trusting and walking with Christ in our daily comings and goings.
Have you become tired of coming to Christ to be reset? So not, because He wants to pull you out of the burning fire and give you as many new beginnings as you need. We need those resets to keep us growing and serving in a life that is full of challenges.

'See, I have taken away your sin,

and I will put rich garments on you'

(Zechariah 3:4b)

THis is the page that so spoken to me today. Hope it speaks to you as well and be a blessing and strengthening to you all! God bless you!

2005-10-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Peace, Blessings, and Covenant

It was a beautiful warm Sunday today and I woke up early to prepare myself for church this morning. I got myself into a pink polo T, as the theme shirt for choir today was pink, blue, black and white. I was pretty excited for the sermon today as well, as Pastor Chris Hill, a great prophet of the Lord was speaking today.
I enjoyed serving the Lord in the choir every Sunday. I just felt so much joy and happiness to be able to serve Him and sing praises to Him.
I got even encouraged and motivated when someone (a lady in the choir, Debra told me that I smelled good). Heheheheheh...... Well, this was the first time ever someone even noticed or mentioned about my perfume.
As it came to the offering, Pastor Ando spoke something about our offering. He spoke about the way to enjoy financial freedom and also that all things are created by God and so, even money belongs to God...... Not us. Hehe...... With this, I felt so happy and glad that I've walked faithfully in His Words and kept giving thithes as He has commanded. Moreover, I felt so happy as I gave my thithe today too. I truly understand what Pas Ando meant about the financial freedom in Christ.
When I was on the stage still, Pastor Ashley asked all the students to come out and had us prayed for, as the exam are coming soon. I truly praised the Lord, as He reassured me of his leading and his peace again, as i lifted up my hands, with my eyes closed. Although I wasn't in the crowd there, I still felt His peace and assurance surrounding me and as the people in the choir lifted their hands to pray for the students in the choir too. Wow! God's presence was really awesome this morning. I truly can feel it.
When Pastor Chris spoke during the sermon, he spoke about Abraham, Isaac and Joash. He said that God's way of blessing was 1, 2, and 12........ not 1,2,3........ He also added that God's blessing is 12 fold in the third Generation. As he opened the pulpit for prayer for the third generation people, I also realised that I am in the third generation Christian. Wow! God spoke to me again here and I really felt His touch and His blessing and presence flowing within me. Wo........ Praise the Lord and for His blessings in my lives.
I also thanked God for His breakthrough that He has brought into my voice and praise. I believed I am different than before as He has stretched forth my voice that I could sing louder and clearer. I truly thanked God for such breakthrough. Indeed I'm looking forward for more of His breakthrough and more of His blessings to flow and manifest in my lives. May His presnce, love and Joy always flow within me more and more as I walked in his ways!
Praise the Lord, the Creator of Heaven and Earth!
Hallelujah!

2005-10-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

He Has Set Me Free

The stress was not as bad already today as the test was over yesterday. I was really glad that it was over. Now my mind shifted to final exam. As I spoke to my aunt on the phone, God revealed to me about the lies of the devil (and S.A.Tan). She (my aunt) reminded me not to be worried about this and to work hard and try my best. She also reminded me to fix my eyes on Him, the Perfector of everything and also that He is on my side and I AM His child. She also reminded me to be positive in all situation.
Pooffff..... Wow....... Why have I forgotten about this principle?
It's like God just opened up my eyes and dragged me back into His path. Wow..... God is really good and gracious.
This brought me back into His Word again..... Never will I leave you or fasake you....
As I took some time off (for break) after a short study, I turned into this book.... Battlefield of the Mind..... which I read half way through. When I read through the end of the chapter 13 A Judgemental, Critical and Suspicious Mind, God again spoke to me.....

"Our thoughts are silent words that only we and the Lord hear, but those words affect our inner man, our health, our joy and our attitude. The things we think on often some out of our mouth. And, sad to say, sometimes they make us look foolish. Judgement, criticism and suspicion never bring joy.
"Jesus said that He Came in order that we might have and enjoy life" (...... and life to the fullest) [John 10:10]. "Begin to operate in the mind of Christ, and you will step into whole new realm of living."

I was also reminded again, to not believe the lies of the devil and not to give in to the intimidation from the devil. As I pondered through His spoken Words, I said a prayer of proclaimation of freedom in Christ and I also rebuked the lies of the devil and commanded it to leave my mind. After that, I felt so much different than minutes ago. I felt so much relieved and strengthened and as if the burden were taken off from my heart. I felt more confident now and joyful as He led me through the day with His loving and graceful arms.
Praise the Lord of Victory over the darkness!
Hellelujah!

2005-10-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

You ARE set Free

I was so stressed out today as I was trying my best to finish studying and be prepared for the AP test tomorrow. THe burden was so heavy as the test, composed of 30 MCQ's, covered so many chapters of lectures...... I could say tonnes of them.
I tried my best to study as much as I can and be prepared before tonight as there was choir practice in church tonight. So after I finished classes in the evening, I just sat in one of the couch in Hudson coffee house, with a cup of cuppacino, to study through the lecture notes that I haven't read through yet, and also while waiting for time, before I catch a bus to the church for choir practice.
I thanked God that I managed to read quite a bit there and also in the church, because I reached there earlier. I even sat in the toilet to read through the notes, as more people were coming in and waited at the couch (...... and more noises). Thank God I manage to finish the last note in the toilet and also that the toilet in the church is always clean and well-ventilated..... Hehehehehe......
During the choir practice, we learned new songs and I also had an encounter........ a refreshing encounter with the Lord. As I opened up my mouth to praise Him, my whole being was changed and He lifted up the worries and the burden in my heart. At the end of the choir practice, I felt so much different and was strengthened and refreshed. I could smile and my heart was filled with joy as I left the church. It just felt like FREEDOM....... TRUE FREEDOM AND JOY! That I can start shouting praise with a joyful heart even after the practice.
Are you down today?
Why not open up your heart to invite Him in and also your mouth to praise Him?
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us (you and me) FREE. Stand Firm then and do not let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galation 5:1

2005-10-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

Blessed To Be In The Choir

I was so grateful to have been placed or called or to have joined the choir ministry in Paradise Church. Truly, He is faithful with His promises in my lives, when He showed me and led me into a breakthrough into my worship life and breakthrough intop my singing and voice, which was revealed to me during the camp in West Beach this year.
This is the season of preparation for the recording ogf the album and all the church and the choir group will be involved. I was truly looking forward to this day. Although the date is in the exam period, I believed He will lead me through in my studies that I will cope well with my exam.
I praise the Lord andc for all the glimpses of His goodness and what He has prepared for my future.
Truly, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what the Lord has prepared for those who love Him. 1 Cor 2:9

2005-10-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

INTEGRITY

I went out to do some shopping in Foodland after I dropped by the post office to send a card home. After getting all my stuff in Foodland, I queued up at the counter to pay. When it came to my turn to pay, I left all the stuff on the counter to be scanned and I put the basket back to the stack of them beside the counter. As I flipped opened my wallet, I noticed a black bus ticket (non-peak-hour multitrip ticket). I thought it was mine (thought I dropped it), so I just picked it up and took it with me. After keeping all my change, I checked through my wallet to see if I've dropped my ticket. After checking, I found that the ticket does not belong to me and it was just used for 4 or 5 trips only. I struggled in my mind, whether to keep it or to return the counter. After thinking and asking God what I should do, I finally figured out that I should return it to the counter. So I did.
The word that came to my mind after I asked God was "INTEGRITY". I praised the Lord that He helped me to make the right decision. I can also sensed that He was smiling at me when I decided to return the ticket. Hehehehehhe!!!
Last month, I was so blessed to found a Multitrip Peak-hour bus ticket which was just used for 3 trips near the ATM machine. I kept that ticket with me because there was no one I could return to. I thanked GOd for the blessing. However, I knew quite well that I should not keep this ticket this time, because I can still return it to the counter.
Well, I'll never know whether the owner will come back for that ticket or not OR what could have happen to that ticket. But one thing I'm glad is that I've did the right thing.
Praise the Lord of justice and truth.

2005-09-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Busy Sunday..... God Spoke Through the Sermon

I woke up early this morning, to attend the 9am service and to join the choir as well. I needed to sing in both services.... 9am and 11am. Because it was still holiday to me, I stayed through the two services and I received double-portion of blessings of the sermon.
The speaker today is Pastor Jane Evans and she talked about "How to pray effectively". It was really a great sermon and it spoke greatly into my heart. I was glad that I was there for the two services as, I can recheck and complete my sermon notes. Realising how great God was speaking to me in this message and that my sermon notes were quite messy, I told myself I'm going to re-write them again neatly in another new piece of paper later in the day. By that, I can meditate on the verses given as well.
After the second service, I went to uni to study. Having a strong feeling to attend the night service at 6pm tonight, I struggled to reason whether or not to go and I was looking for transport as well.
At the end, I decided to go and I took a bus to church after lunch-er (Lunch+dinner) at McDonald's. Wow! They've got new toy for the Happy Meal. Hehehehehe......
The reason I wanted to come for tonight service was that Pastor Ashley Evans was speaking about "Favour" and How to Find Favour. I learned a lot from the sermon tonight, though I was expecting for more than that, I mean........ More elaboration.
He told us that "Favour = Realtionship + Excellence + Timing/Sovereignty".
He elaborated about "Realationship" and "Excellence", which are the factors that we can take control of and which I really like. I even managed to read through the notes again when I reached home and when I was going through Pastor Jane's sermon notes.
But I still tahnked God that He has brought me there for this sermon and I was sure that He wanted me to be there.
As I read through Ps. Jane's sermon notes, I gained more understanding on effective prayer. She explained that we need to "NOT DOUBT", "Don't be stingy", "Forgive Others", "Have RIGHT MOTIVES", and "Confess our SiNs".
The elaboration that she gave on "Stinginess" spoke to my heart so deeply, as it just occured to me a few days ago. She elaborated that we must not withhold something from the needy when we are the answer to the need. It also reminded me about the theme verse of DUMC a few years ago, "See a need, Meet the need".
It happened last week that I got to know this new friend of mine in the gym on Monday. Having to know that he likes mooncake (I asked him whether he had mooncake for the festival on Sunday) and that he was a bit tight in budget and couldn't buy any mooncake from China town and also that coincidently I just bought 2 mooncakes on the same day, I sacrificed a mooncake (I also like mooncake) and gave it to him on Friday. I was a bit hesitant to give at first, but somehow I just felt that God wants me to give it to him. Looking back through it, I was glad that I blessed him the mooncake, instead of keeping it for myself. If not, I'm sure gonaa get pretty uncomfortable and feeling like "kena tembak" in this sermon. Well, I was glad that God led me to make the right decision which will please Him and to fulfill His will.
As I read through the notes using The Message, I found these few verses which were pretty special and extraordinary:
- Malachi 3:10
Bring your FULL THITHE to the temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don't OPEN UP HEAVEN ITSELF TO YOU AND POUR OUR BLESSINGS BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAM.
Well, I was so glad that I made the right decision at the beginning of the year to continue to give my thithes faithfully every month.
- Matthew 18:18-20
"Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is a no in heaven. WHat you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When tow or three of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And When 2 or 3 of you are together because of me, you can be sure tHat I'll be there"
- Matthew 16 23-24
Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the DRIVER'S SEAT. I am. Don't run from SUFFERING; EMBRACE IT. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.
Wow! These workds really spoke so deeply into me.
Hope they will also be a blessing and encouragement to you all!

2005-09-23T21:32:00.000-07:00

God Has COntrol on The Nature. He Is the Creator!

It was quite a cool and windy Friday morning and it was quite a cold day of spring too.
I was truly excited about the $6 Asian lunch coming up this afternoon.
I left home at about 10 am and I walked to uni.
As I walked out and I looked at the cloudy sky, I prayed to God that He would bless us with a good weather for the Asian Lunch today and that He has control on the nature and I asked that it won't rain.
On my way, I dropped a container of barley, to bless John and Nicole.
I was really happy and I headed to China Town to get some packed barley... Ching po Leung.
I was amazed that God has paved my way that I got two packets of barley which amounted to the amount which was just nice for my daily budget spending, including the lunch in the afternoon. Wow! God is great!
I got the time mistaken as I don't really need to be there at 1130, but at 1230. So when I reached the venue in University of Adelaide, I sat down nearby to do some study, while waiting for the rest to come.
I managed to venture around UniAdelaide as well, looking for a great spot to study.
After 1230, I joined the rest as they started setting up the stuff and we started eating at 100pm. Wow! The food was great and I truly missed those spicy food a lot. We hung around there, eating and playing games at the field until about 4-5pm.
I was truly glad that David Jong was able to drop by as well and was also been blessed with some of the food (extras) and I was able to bless him with the mooncake that God has asked me to sacrifice (I also likes mooncake) and bless him.
All the way through the lunch, the weather was great and at about 4pm, the sun was shining in the sky! I truly praised God that He's answered my prayer and for blessing us with such good weather all the way through!
After the lunch, my LG leader joined us and we (the guys) proceeded to our men's LG meeting at Wilson's place. We discussed about the personal men's stuff that we rarely discussed in normal LG. It was truly a great and awesome time when we shared our struggles and our problems together, strengthening each other in our journey with Christ!
I praised the Lord for such a great LG and also such greatness and favour that He's shown to me and to us!
PRaise THe Lord!!!!!

2005-09-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

What A Beautiful Wednesday

I went to gym in uni to do some exercises and workout in the morning. After that, I went to get a new bag for uni use, as my old one was wearing off. But it had been the best one I've ever had, as it had been with me through these years of my struggles in tertiary studies. I thank God for enabling me to get this new bag, which I would expect to last pretty long, as it is a canvas type bag and it also has a "lifetime" (lifetime of the bag, if you understand what this meant) warranty.
I also thank God for His favour that I could still get a bit of bargain for it (though not much), in addition to it's clearance sale price. But I guess I'm paying for the quality of the bag lar.....
Praise the Lord!
After getting the bag, I realised that I missed the Connector Bus to North Adeladie, which meant I'll have to walk all the way home. I also thanked God for the beautiful weather today (quite warm and hot and sunny) that I could walk home slowly, enjoying the fresh air and His created nature.
On my way home, I met the OCF people having a praying meeting out on the field, near Torrens River. Feeling so eager to just sit down on the green grass, with such baeautiful weather, I joined them for the last few minutes of the sharings and prayer. It was good to be able to catch up with a few of my friends like Kevin, Christine Ching, Boon Ping, and Samuel.
After that, I continued to walk home and managed to do some study before got ready to go out for dinner with Andrew Lim, my Life Group leader.
I made some barley for Andrew, with some Anzac biscuits, as he waited for me to change. Then we went out for Pizza House and he blessed me with the pizza meal. at the same time, I managed to update him of the stuff that are happening in my lives and we also managed to discuss stuff about the Life group.
I truly thank God for such a brother like Andrew that we can connect so well and also we could share our personal stuff together and at the same time, encouraging one another to walk with Christ.
After the dinner, we went to Powergen together. I was truly grateful that John was able to come along as well tonight. It was truly the divine appointment for him to come tonight, as God truly spoke so clearly to him in the meeting, through Pastor Adrian. I was also grateful to have been there as well, as God also spoke to me in that meeting, in many ways.
Throughout this few days of the semester break, I was reading this book by Joyce Meyer, "The Battlefield of the Mind". The current chapter (An Anxious and Worried Mind) I was reading also spoke so deeply into my heart, as it truly has taught me how to deal with my current worries of my mind. I wouldn't like to hurry through reading it, but I wanted to take my time and read it so that I would understand the content well and also so that I will be able to be well-equipped with the battle of my mind.
Among those stuff that was revealed to me or was reminded to me were:
- Take One Day At A TIme
- DOn't Fret or Have ANxiety
- Cast Your Cares Upon God
- Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, stop being perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater (in quality) thank food, and the body, (far above and more excellent) than clothing?
I truly thank God for His greatness and His goodness! Hallelujah!
Let everything that has breathe praise the Lord forever!

2005-09-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

Breakthrough of FEAR

It was a great day today.
I was able to go for a free dental checkup from Leah, the dentistry student.
I praise the lord For this favour that I was chosen to be their patient.
Anyway, she'd done a good job and ti was also FOC!
Heheheheh......
After dinner, God put this thoughts of calling people up to check things up with them. Johjn Sng was among the people who were placed in my mind. I called John Sng to check things up with him and I was invited over to visit his college, which is just a few minutes walk from my place.
I visited his room and the college. I had some chat and catchin up chat with him and also some fellowship and session of worship in his room.
During that moment of chat, little did i knew that a Breakthrough was just around the corner. He encouraged me to discussed a matter (personal matter) with my parents (which I was not brought up to do).
I thank God for John, as he has given me the courage and the strength to tell my parents about that matter.
This matter had been in my heart for quite a few months and it had been like a burden to me. Feeling very fearful and shy to tell my parents, I decided to keep this until I met my parents in Dec.
Somehow, after the chat this night, I found the courage to tell my mom and i called back that night.
I told her about the matter/problem and .......Guess what...... i was really surprised about what she said and how she reacted when i told her that.
She told me that it was normal and I won't have to worry so much about that.
I was really surprised that I had been worrying about something that I should not have worried.
After this, I was just filled with joy and happiness and It was, as if a burden had been lifted up of left from my heart. I'm so grateful that I've finally did it and also grateful for all my friends.
God has really brought this breakthrough into my mind and of FEAR as I confronted this matter with a brave, strong heart.
Through this noght, I've learned about CONFRONTING our problem and fear, instead of sweeping it under the carpet.
May God give you the courage and the strength to confront all your problems and fear. Indeed in Christ we have freedom and Victory!
Praise the Lord!

2005-09-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

Mooncakes Blessing

Today is the first day after the Mooncake Festival yesterday.
I went to China Town to get some mooncakes, because I like mooncakes.
After doing all the other stuff, I went to one of the shop and checked out the prices of the mooncakes there.
Thank God that he has brought me there right on time, when my other friends were around there, buying mooncakes as well.
It was because they were selling "Buy One Box, Free One Box" of the mooncakes.
So I managed to share this deal with my friends and I agreed of getting a box.
Actually, I don't need a box. But I took it because they don't really need more than a box too and I had a sense that I'd better take the whole box. So I took the risk and paid $14 for the whole box of 4's, which I would consider quite a reasonable price. But i just don't need so many.
When I was waiting for the bus, I saw another of my fren, Bruce, who was crossing the road, heading towards China Town.
He stopped by to say hello and guess what? God enabled me to deal with him, to be able to sell him two of the 4 moon cakes. I'm so glad to have followed my heart and got the 4's that I could help Bruce to get the deal of 2's for a good price. If not, he would have to look for other friends to get the good deal!
I priased the Lord For His goodness, guidance and His timing (which was always on time)!
Hallelujah!

2005-09-18T06:03:00.000-07:00

God Spoke To My Heart Today

I was singing in the choir again today in the first and the second services in Paradise Church. I truly am enjoying singing in the choir every week. This morning, God spoke a word of encouragement to me through Pastor Matt, when he was speaking about Offering and breakthrough.
God told me to stand strong and firm in the breakthrough that He's given in my offering and also to trust Him in my financial needs.
I also thank GOd for answering my prayer for breakthrough in my voice and my singing pattern of worship to Him. He has blessed me with a "new" tongue of worship. I Only realized of this gift today although I have been using it a few weeks ago. I am able to sing sentences of adoration to Him these days, instead of just speaking it out. And they formed a beautiful song when it is sang with the keyboard or the guitar. Moreover, He's also placed me in the choir to cultivate this beautiful gift. I also get a lot of encouragement from Tina, the leader of the choir, to sing with more passion for God each week.
I also thank Got for another breakthrough that I can see it progressing in my lives everyday.... in my studies and time management. I believe He is still molding me and teaching me in this area. I believe for His work in my lives..... His progressive works...... each day, as I seek His face.
Lord, help me to grow in WISDOM, STATURE, and in FAVOUR with God and with men! was my prayer everyday!
Hallelujah and Praise the Lord!

2005-09-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

God Answered My Prayer and Distress

As I was struggling a few days ago in my preparation for my test on Thursday, I kept asking God how to study effectively. I even envied/jealous about my housemate for being able to somehow do well in a test although he didn't attend many of the classes. I told God what was in my heart and I asked that God would reveal to me how to study smartlly. I also asekd God that He'll reveal to me the secret of studying smartly from my housemate. I didn't dare to ask him myself because i was not that close to him yet. I even envied him for having a friend to motivate and discuss with him.
As I was having my dinner in the hall and he was cooking in the kitchen, he started the conversation and we talked about the test and about his study skills. God somehow answered my prayer and revealed to me the way he studied. he even told me about his struggle and his failure and also how he studied - by asking some questions to himself and also by applying the knowledge in real life. That was really something new to me and I thanked God for revealing me the wisdom at his timing. Praise The Lord!
I also praise God for enabling me to connect with my housemate. Somehow I believe this was the moment where breakthough is around the corner. Praise the Lord!

2005-09-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

The Figure of "Open Road to Heaven"

As I finished the last thing (a tutotrial) of my day, I went to catch a Free Connector at Rundle Mall. As I was walking to the stop, the rain just started falling down. Thank God that I managed to reach the stop before I got too wet.
During the bus trip home, the rain stopped slowly and the sun was out, shining at its top. When the bus turned at the junction of St. Mark's church and driving uphill, the bright striking road was ahead of us. Because the road was wet and the sun was shining brightly, the road ahead was reflecting white, bright light. It was like a bright road heading up to Heaven. hahahahahah..... The view was really magnificent and striking. Our eyes just couldn't take it, or too much of the view. I was just grateful to be able to witness such a great view like that. I thanked God for such an opportunity. Praise The Lord!

2005-09-09T23:43:00.000-07:00

God Who Answers Prayers

"God, help me to grow in wisdom, stature, and in favour with God and with men........." was my prayer this morning after my Quite Time, before I started my busy day today.

God is really good to me in every way, that He has paved the way for me in every step I went through today. It's like little pieces of puzzles that pieced up to form a straight path for me to walk on, as I seek Him in my day.

In the morning, He blessed me with the only seat in the Connector bus again. Actually, to recall this again, I should have been more sensitive to my friend, who came after me. Because I came earlier than him, he insisted that I board the bus. The thought of giving him the seat came over my mind a bit too late. I guess he needed the seat more than I do, as he had class at the moment and he needed to reach the uni earlier than I do (I asked him about his class at the bus stop). Well, it was over anyway and I thanked God that He revealed this to me of how to be a man of impact and a man sensitive to other needs. I praised God that He revealed this small portion of His heart so that I could learn more about what was in His heart.

After lunch, I headed towards China Town to get some stuff for the pot bless tonight. Again God was there with me that He brought me there to the bus stop just in time to board the Free Bee Line Bus before it leave.

After getting what I intended to get, I looked at the time and realized that it was too late to catch the Free Connector Bus (Bus A) back to North Adelaide in China Town. Then God showed me the Free City Loop Bus (Bus B) and I boarded that bus, hoping to reach another bus stop at North Terrace, in time to board Bus A there at 250pm.
All the way in bus B, I prayed hard that God would bless me so that I would be there on time to board Bus A. The bus driver even stopped at the middle of the trip to get a cup of coffee before resuming the journey (It was just a short time of "tah powing" a cup of coffee). I kept praying and asking for God's help and blessing. I even attempted to board another bus to get there earlier, but somehow I figured out that staying in this bus was the right and best thing to do. So at last, I made up my mind to calm myself down and to put my faith and trust in God, instead of me trying to do another thing that will make things worse and messy. I even prayed that God would somehow make Bus A to be delayed so that it will come a bit later. As Bus B neared the stop that I was trying to get to, I saw Bus A at the traffic light, at the opposite direction, waiting to turn at the junction. Without delaying, I ran toward the stop where Bus A was heading and thank God that I was in time again to board that bus home. As I looked at the watch, it was 255 pm. I truly thanked God for His gracious love and His favourable answer to my prayer. I believe this was God's mighty work, instead of just being coincidence.

On the journey home on Bus A, I received a call from my new housemate. He asked me for a favour to look for something in his room. He was truly glad that I was heading home at the moment.
I was not able to communicate well with him all these while and it seemed that there was some barrier between us. So I was quite surprised when I received a call from him. After I helped him to check his stuff out for him at home, he was so grateful to me that he said he owed me this time. I replied to his SMS, "You owe me ain't no thing. Glad to be able to help you!" I believe this was really a moment of breakthrough and favour with men. I gave thanks to God in all His mighty ways and all His greatness that He's worked in my lives! I looked forward for more of His great works in my lives in my day ahead.

Truly, this verse in the following song is true;
God is good, all the time.

Are you growing in favour with God and with men today? Why not ask God for such favour? He said in His words: Ask and you will receive, Seek and you shall find, knock and the door would be opened to you. I pray that God would also help you to grow in wisdom, stature and in favour with God and with men. God bless you.

2005-09-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

Another Connector Bus Encounter

I was not feeling so well today. My throat was full of phlegm when I woke up. My feet felt a lot more better after this rest, as I sprained my right foot during the weekend. I was limping throughout the weekend. Mom told me to get more rest and to stop gym for a week and to take the bus instead of having a 25 minutes walk to and from the uni. SHe said my feet needed rest and healing.
I told God that I had sprained foot and I asked God to somehow provide me with seat in the Connector Free Bus everytime I need to catch a bus. God has been gracious to me to have provided me with seat in the bus this morning. Praise the Lord!
The timetable for the classes today was horrible and lengthy. I felt so tired and tried very hard to concentrate and stay alert during the 6 hours lectures for this whole Monday!
After all the lectures I went to wait for the Connector again at the bus stop, after a buying some drumstick for dinner from Woolworths.
A lot of students were already waiting there earlier than me and so I asked God to bless me with seat again, remembering what mom has told me.
As the Connector came, somehow I manage to get into the bus earlier than a guy and a girl, whom I noticed that they came earlier than me.
As I browsed through the seats available, there were only two more left. Without delaying, I stepped down the bus and blessed those two people who came earlier than me to have that seats.

I also knew the driver of the bus, Claud. Hoping to get a seat or lift in the bus, I asked Claud if he could somehow let me just seat at the hump at the front. But he couldn't do that as the law doesn't allow anyone to stand in the bus or to carry more than what the seats were allocated for.
I just gave it a try hoping for a favour from Claud, as what Pastor Ashley has said on Sunday, that relationship leads to favour.
Walking off away from the bustop, I thanked God for enabling me to bless them the seats which I believe God has reserved for the two of them. I also pray that they will find the true love of Christ in their lives and that the seats will bring forth the Love of Christ to them. After that, I asked myself whether to take the paid bus back or just to walk home. After some thoughts, I finally made up my mind to walk home slowly. I also thank God for the beautiful weather that I could still walk home.
During my walk home, I kept thanking God for enabling me to make the right decision to bless them with the seat and that I did the right thing as they were there earlier than I and they deserve the seats. It would be unfair to them IF only I used the seats. I also believed that GOd was smiling at me when I gave them the seats.
I also enjoyed the walk home as I had a conversation with the Lord, sang praises to Him, and also to be able to enjoy the beautiful nature and flowers of the spring, which He has created. During the fellowship and conversation with the Lord, God assured me that this walk will not make my feet worse or more pain. When I reached home, my feet doesn't felt as hurt as I thought it would be. I truly thank God for such a blessings and favour.
I also manage to meet a new friend, Danny on my way back home. I seen him before in my colllege last year, but didn't really know him. This is another door of opportunity that God has blessed me to enlarge my territory and my network. Praise the Lord.
Even as I walk each day, I kept reminding myself this passage from Isaiah 40:31 But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; They will RUN AND NOT GROW WEARY, they will WALK AND NOT BE FAINT.

I also prayed as how Pastor Ashley has preached about Jesus last Sunday. I prayed that God would build me up to GROW IN WISDOM, STATURE, AND FAVOUR WITH BOTH GOD AND WITH MEN.

2005-09-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

Life as a student in overseas is really not as easy as I thought it would be.
THere are lots of things that I need to keep myself in-track of and to manage.
Financial management has been one of my weakness and I've learned a lot since I came over to Adelaide.
Last two months has really been a struggle for me but I thank God that He was there to help me through and has kept me strong and perservere all the way until now.
I have to struggle with my normal allowance to pay for a five weeks rental, instead of four weeks every month. I did not dare to ask from my dad for more as he was already very unhappy with my current spending pattern at that moment. So I told myself that I will perservere through it and that GOd will truly provide me with all my need and also that I can watch my daily spending closely and tightly.

Ever since I attended Ezekiel Camp, God spoke to me and gave me a breakthrough into my offering pattern and I obeyed and "upgraded" my weekly offering to Him.
During this moment of struggle, I asked myself whether I should "degrade" my offering during those weeks, but somehow God kept me strong in faith and I kept giving as according to the breakthrough. GOd had kept me strong as I perservered and kept giving as I should, including the thithes that I used to give every month.

All until this month, God intervened and blessed me when my dad agreed to send some extra allowance to me this month to cover the two extra weeks through the two months' period, with the aid of my sister. I truly thank God for His graceful provision, just right on time. Without Him, I wouldn't have been able to work through this difficult times. I always reminded myself through this period of testing, "God is my DRIVER! Let Him handle the wheel!" and "God is my Provider and I shall not be in want".
As I read through His words, as I always did, God spoke to me so clearly today (4 Spetember 2005) through Proverbs 3:9-10 Honour the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of ALL your crops; then your barns will be fillled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. These two verses confirmed to me again that I am doing the right things when I was struggling about giving thithes when I first came over to Australia. God again confirmed to me that I was on the right track. Praise the Lord for His guidance.
Another passage that God spoke to me today was also from Proverbs 3:21-26 My son, preserve sound judgement and DISCERNMENT, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety and your FOOT WILL NOT STUMBLE; when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your SLEEP WILL BE SWEET. Have NO FEAR of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtake the wicked, for the LORD WILL BE YOUR CONFIDENCE & WILL KEEP YOUR FOOT FROM BEING SNARED. As I read thruohg these beautiful words that were spoken to me today, I felt all the more strengthened, to walk faithfully with the Lord.

One more thing that I just remembered now. Perhaps today is Australian Father's Day (& so coincidently) that God chose to reveal this few revelation to me about my lives today. It was as if this was His loving gift or message to me today, as He stands faithful as my Great Heavenly Abba Father. I truly thank God for His loving grace.

As I shared this works of the Lord with you, I truly hope that it will also strengthen you, my brothers and sisters in Christ. Perhaps you are sturggling in the same situation as I was. Let me encourage you to be strong and faithful in the Lord in giving and thithing. He shall provide you your every need as how He has done in me. May the Lord bless you all!

2005-08-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

God’s blessings today (30 August 2005)

I felt pretty dizzy after having lunch (home-made sandwiches and a cup of Gloria Jeans coffee). I guess I should have overdosed on caffeine already, as I’ve already taken a cup in the morning. I regretted of getting the coffee at that time, as I could have saved it for something else. Because of the dizziness, I couldn’t go for gym after the class at 4 pm. So I went to catch the free-bus back home to North Adelaide.
I met my neighbor waiting for the bus as well, with another lady. We didn’t manage to board the bus as it was already full and so we decided to walk home together (a 20 to 30 min walk), as the weather was pretty good but windy and cloudy this evening.
During this walk, I learned two things from my neighbor. Neither of us knew the lady. As we walked along, I introduced myself to her and I found that her name was Angela. I was trying to connect with her and I asked her about what she was doing in the Royal Adelaide Hospital and she told me that she was looking after her husband who was ill. So I just asked her generally about the condition of her husband. I was just a bit insensitive to her need of empathy and understanding. Without knowing how to handle this, our conversation just stopped, as we walked along. When my neighbor came along, somehow, I was amazed at how she was able to connect to her and her need. I’ve learned this phrase of connection from her, “Oh! That should be quite hard for you!” Hehehehehe…….
I’ve even learned about how to show concern to people in need, “Have the hospital been giving you enough support?”, “How are you coping with that?”.
The second thing that I’ve learned from my friend was something that concerned my study……. One obvious physical sign of high blood lipid, which I didn’t learn in my class.
God is really good that He allowed me to be in that time and place and situation to learn new things. He even gave me this opportunity to exercise too (the walk home) although I was not able to go to gym this evening.
Moreover, God also brought me home just on time before the storm of heavy wind and rain started. I truly thank God for such a great wonderful plan. After that I praise the Lord for the cup of coffee and the dizziness. If not, I would have been stranded in the uni if I was well and I wouldn’t be able to learn all this great stuff. Hehehehe…..
As I laid down to rest, I felt my head spinning around even after I closed my eyes. So I took the step of faith and commanded the dizziness to leave my head at that moment in the name of Jesus Christ and because my body is the temple of the Lord Jesus. Immediately after that, I felt peace and I was able to rest without feeling spinning after closing my eyes. I praise God for the authority that He has granted us through the name of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally I felt a lot better after the rest and after a great home-cooked dinner of a piece of healthily cooked fish and a dish of vegetable (bean sprout and Chinese cabbage) with a dish of fried penne with Carbonara sauce!
Praise the Lord for His love endures forever!
I truly look forward for the great plan and blessings from Him ahead of my lives!