Not the unwashed hands but the unwashed heart

<Matthew 15: 1-20>
<Mark 7: 1- 23>

Jerusalem was the headquarters of Christianity.
The words of the Pharisees and Jews hold weightage and they came to Jesus about the traditions that were broken on ceremonial hand-washing before eating.
They hold fast to their traditions, rituals and many rules taught by men, but Jesus saw that their hearts have been against the Lord. These people knew God’s commandment, yet do things according to their own ways and making others follow their ways as well.

EMPTY WORSHIP
Jesus rebuked against empty worship.
Empty worship has the danger of giving men spiritual bondage through the works of traditions and rituals. These traditions and rituals include the typical routines of praying, serving in ministries etc.

– Men may become satisfied by outward works and outcomes, rather than the state of their inner hearts- the heart that binds to God.
– Men go into a self-driven zeal to worship the Lord, which stems from our pride when we have the ability to do what is right by our own hands.
– Empty worship are usually set by human standards that increases in self reliance and nullify God’s sovereignty more and more.
– There is nothing wrong with traditions that strengthen our faith and help us to remember God’s goodness. Yet, we need to be wary of those that are drifting us apart from loving God and loving men. Those that are stringent in actions and carries motive that is not purely for the glory of God.

“Outward worship must firstly come from your inward worship of the spirit with the Lord.”- Deaconess Hooi Ching

“Salvation is not in the works but in Jesus Christ alone.”- Deaconess Hooi Ching

“All you need to do is come to do the Lord who made these commandments, with a repentant heart.” -Deaconess Hooi Ching

HEART FOR THE GOSPEL
The one thing that the Pharisees and Jews are missing out is a heart that works for the gospel.

– There are two kinds of response when one hears the true gospel: feeling offended or feeling broken. For the offended, their pride is being challenged and they become defensive in their arguments to justify their own interest. For the broken, it is for one that is able to respond to God’s grace in the face of seeing their own sins. This is the genuine heart that God values and favours.
– God is not concerned about our unwashed hands, but the unwashed heart. Our heart is always threatened by the attacks of sins and we are unable to wash it ourselves because we cannot control our fallenness. We need the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ, to influence our hearts.
– The way to sanctify ourselves again is not to jump into the process of washing, but to firstly receive forgiveness from Christ. Paradoxically, our sins are washed when we see how sinful and helpless we are on our own. God gives all who are repentant a new heart and a new spirit to obey His commandments in our inabilities.

“Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” – Romans 4: 7-8

“God does not give bondages. He gives freedom.” – Deaconess Hooi Ching

BEING LOVED AND LOVING RIGHT
“If you love Me, obey My commandments.”- John 14:15
God loves us the same, whether we had the past of being offended or broken, whether we have been weak to following practices and works, instead of seeking for the Holy Spirit’s voice. When we come to Him in contriteness right now, he blesses us with a brand new start, a brand new heart that desires and pursues His likeness.

– The important thing now is to introspect and pray on our intentions and the starting point of our decisions. Are they stemmed from the heart for God or the heart for self-benefit?
– Be challenged by God to grow in our magnitude to love and uncover the hidden sins in us so that we can deal with it in truth.
– We need to meet Pharisee-like people in our lives today. It is not for us to judge these people because God is always doing new things every day. So we need to continue loving the different people God put around us because His salvation has the ability to cover the unexpected.

“We may all be victims of becoming Pharisee-like. But let us strive to be recovering Pharisees. Even though God condemns but He is also full of forgiveness to reveal to us how much is required to be repaired within us. Do not fear but let God’s blood continue to cover us.”

Message by Deaconess Tay Hooi Ching from Life Church and Mission Singapore for Emmanuel Youth Fellowship.

Calvary covers it all.

Everything. By His name, he paid it all.
Even if our troubles and problems seems so real, complicated and impossible today, He’s got your back.
So even if we fall, we fail, we hurt ourselves, we cause others pain, God does not look at your wrongs but constantly waits upon your heart of submission.

 

 

 

Has it been a year already?

Hey guys. It’s been long since my last post.
Well, mother’s day is ending in an hour’s time.
Instagram, Facebook and twitter are all flowing with updates on my friends and their lovely mothers.
I thought I would handle today pretty well. No tears, no whining, just contentment and joy.
But I am only human. 
I often thought that crying and recalling some memories meant that I was not confident in God and all that He has prepared for me. I thought that if I showed how I am still so sad, that I would not be such a great testimony for others around me who “thought I have all the strength from God already, why am I still upset?”
But I did cry, I did recall memories, I am still so sad. And there is nothing wrong with that.
I was putting too much expectation of what I think God thinks of me. I was in my old self where I think, I should, I cannot or I can. I, I, I. But God didn’t say all that. In fact, God uses the broken to manifests His grace.
And I AM broken, but I am broken IN HIS GRACE.

So it started out great today in church. Received from the sunday message, had great fellowship, had the companionship of Randy, went to a family gathering in a crowded place and all. But that did not take me away from the thoughts, because my heart was still relying on a bit of people’s consolation. The social media and the TV commercials on Mother’s Day clips happened. And as I would, while I am off guard, I let the emotions hit me. I thought of the times where my mom would splurge on buying jewellery and I would scold her cos I thought it was a waste of money, not knowing that she was already old and she just wanted to give herself a little satisfaction. I thought of the happy times we had, singing to Dean Martin and Nat King Cole while I was still so short and I had to stand on the bed so I could hold her shoulders to dance with her. I thought of the times where a boy in my primary school class made fun of me saying I had no dad and she barged into school to defend me. So many so many thoughts. I couldn’t just FORGET AND LET IT GO. But although God did not say I couldn’t be sad and cry, He did not want me to be in a state of sudden guilt and doubt again.
BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT EMOTIONS AND MEMORIES DO WHEN WE HAVE TOO MUCH FUN SINKING INTO IT.
So i realised that was it when i started to feel so accused of being the worst daughter on the planet.

Then this song started running on my playlist: Came to my rescue- Hillsong acoustic

Falling on my knees in worship
Giving all I am to seek your face
Lord all I am is yours

My whole life
I place in your hands
God of Mercy
Humbled I bow down
In your presence at your throne

I called you answered
And you came to my rescue and I
I wanna be where you are

No matter how lousy I am (and i am), Christ has already died for my sins.
No matter what has happened, I am already His child and me and my family are in His hands.
Why do I worry? Who am I to say that my mom is a pitiful person when she is such a source of blessing during her last moments? Who am I to say that I am the worst person when Christ has already died for me? Wouldn’t I be wasting all His love away on all these needless baggages that He has already emptied?
Who is being sovereign in my heart now? God or my judgments? Christ or my emotions?
My fight is not the issue of sadness (accusing and swimming in guilt) but the flesh that is always wanting to draw away from the truth. a little thought, seeping in. It isn’t about the crying, it is about the aftermath of crying.
Does it drive me to be reminded of God’s amazing grace on my family and to pray harder for their salvation? Or does it drive me to low spirits, accusations and wasting my time away from God’s real plans to advance His gospel? Then, as the tears flowed and the tears dried so did my heart. I allowed myself to miss her and think about her but I also know that she is always gonna be the biggest reminder of my life, how great is our God. He moved mountains in my mom’s funeral. Mountains no one could see, but only for my eyes. That is the miracle. That is my mother’s beautiful deliverance. That is my biggest consolation.

One year ago, on mother’s day, you had a little of my company and love. A year later, right now, you have the abundant love from God and you are free. What a great difference to have something more than I can ever give you, mom.

 

Praise the Lord.

小雨点。小提醒。

finally the rain has landed on earth after so long. praise the Lord!

like my friend, Ying, said: “It is truly a drought we are experiencing for the past 3 months.”
I can’t help but realise God is basically screaming at our faces that the end times are near.
Not just the rain, the disasters, the weird crimes, the political atmosphere, the way people think and legalising things that are wrong all in the name of “freedom, equality and a better world”, they say. we are becoming a society and era that all that is wrong, may seem right. grey zones everywhere.

And that is why, now is also the best time for us to equip and get ready. To ration? To store food at home? To be alert with the signs of the crop fields or feng shui? To invest in something? No. None of that changes anything. Because none of that created anything.
I was having a small sharing session with my colleagues during lunch that day. And something my chinese teacher told me really striked within me. While everyone on earth is busy finding solutions to prolong earth’s life (saving the environment, GM food, cutting down on use of plastic bags and stuff), all the angels above are busy preparing the heavens for the second coming of Christ. So are we resonating with God’s heart in the end days? or are we just as blindly busy as the rest of the world?

For children of God, I would confess that it is often that, I myself, would blindly follow and be carried away by the patterns of the world. It is truly influential and too real to miss. The vast and fast information spreading and wrapping us round and round.
But then through God’s words, I realise it is not because the world is too strong and powerful, but because I am a lover of myself. The irony right? Since we grew up, we learn that we should always love ourselves and cherish our own being before anything. I’m not asking you to hate you. The thing about dying to self in Christ is to look deep within and search that spirit within you which is against God’s heart. Hate that, that old self that has build up within you over the years. The old self of pride, judgment, jealousy, lust, greed etc. That spirit kills your relationship with God little by little and you don’t even know it. I know it because I experience the difference of dwelling in it and dwelling in Christ. If we don’t hate that self, we forget who we truly are. (haha very cliche but I tell you, this is the truth). You lose the identity as a child of God and that is the sad case with many Christians who walked down an unnecessary path. And when you are lover of yourself, you are lover of the world too. no doubt about that. You will want to seek and gain things of the world to gratify your own desires and needs. They come in a package, self and world.

If you are reading this and you are following what I am saying. Please, I really pray for you to take a moment and look to God, praise Him for your receiving heart. 

Of course, since the world is so real and influential. Our mindset and goals changes along.
We cannot hold our steps and look at the big picture if we are looking at the wrong things.
That is why we have to set our eyes on God. And not just that, but the God that is working “BEHIND THE SCENES” of our lives in every thing, every detail, every second, every step. He allowed all of that and will carry us through every part. And because He is behind the scenes for every part, He knows everything. But what is He really concerned about?
I love what Sister Huizhen said last thursday:

He doesn’t need us to be abiding by all the rules and be that perfect Christian. He just wants us to seek His will and word in our lives so that our spirits may be more in His likeness. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, our God knows our hearts and He holds us through with the truth He reveals to us.
But we cannot know it if we do not communicate with Him. And that is where PRAYERS comes in. Prayers that connects with the Holy Spirit so that we will have a controlled mindset that gives birth to an unwavered faith in this ever-changing world. And because of our closeness with the Lord, it gives us a sensitive spirit to God, especially in this era, to set apart and pray accurately. With this heart, naturally, we will know the limited time and the need to tell this word to the people God has placed around us.

Let us do the right thing in the right time. Now.

With God’s love,
Miki

Running in the right direction.

Everything happens with the allowance of God and because of that, all things will work for those whom He loves. Even the trials we received are something we can bear or even triumph because it is given by the Lord for us to seek Him, benefit His people and build the eternal kingdom.

Paul the apostle: “The trials I faced are to advance the gospel. I am in chains for Christ so that my brothers may be encouraged to evangelise boldly.” <Philippians 1:12-14>

The root cause of us not being joyful is because we do not have a pure heart towards advancing the gospel of God. We forget that the reason God preserves our time in the world is for the purpose of spreading the word to God’s people and in the midst of this, we may be in attacks but we are joyful because we are children taking part in the gospel of our Father. However, many mix up this reason with our own distractions and distorted needs.
I, myself, is one who gets confused with my own ideals or emotions. That is why I have to repeatedly go into prayers and affirm the truth through His word which I receive through church messages and circumstances I face. So for my friends who ask me, “Why you go to the church so many times each week? Not boring meh? No life ah you.” Haha, I tell you, if I don’t go to church as much as I do to receive the word, I will really have no life. I am not being an extremist but because God knows my spiritual nature. I’m not one who can immerse in the world too long, if not I get sucked into the abyss easily. My desire for mundane things will increase, my contentment and joy decreases drastically.

Paul the apostle is one who always communicates with God in his spirit until he received the joy of submission to His will. And I really hope in the Lord for Paul’s simple intent towards God in myself.

Why did God allow us trials if He loves us so much?

The people in the word think that trials allow them to toughen up and be stronger when they get back on their own feet. “I CAN DO IT!” but that is all by your own strength and it will come to a dead end one day.

But in Christ, trials allow us to see that ultimately, we are limited and helpless. It is only when we rely on the abundant God can we stand up against our problems. And because of this, we glorify God and become a testimony for the people around us, whether in the good or the bad times.

We must have faith that Christ’ work will be fulfilled no matter what. Even if we are attacked by circumstances or men, God’s gospel cannot be stopped. And when we run for the advancement of the gospel, be sure that you are running in the right direction and the Lord will accomplish greater things in His timetable— in His timetable.

Praying with the assurance of salvation.

I love the message last Sunday as it talks about the assurance of salvation before anything else (shepherding, praying, serving the Lord etc). I think that this is a question that even many Christians may understand wrongly and because the foundation is not even right, the message preached or the people we shepherd and pray for are not given the right spirit and the right strength. I hope this message helps you to understand and assure your salvation so that you may intercede in the right spirit for others.

Intercession// means to pray for another

Where does intercession come from? It doesn’t come from our own empathy or a checklist we have to tick as a “good Christian”. It comes from the Holy Spirit that is guided by God. It intercedes for us in circumstances where we are unable or weak.

It is in the Holy Spirit’s intercession that we come to know God’s heart. Only in this way can we have a convicted heart and direction. Bear in mind, this is not something abstract. It is practically done through our prayers that is resonating with God’s words and whatever we act upon, will truly bless ourselves and the people around us.

Pay attention to the conviction within!

Paul to the Church of Philippi: “Being confident of this, that He who began the good work in you will carry it to completion.” 

This verse is the meaning for the perseverance of salvation. Once you have truly accepted Christ into your life, no matter what happens, nothing can claim away this salvation. When you are weak, He continues to work in your Holy Spirit, giving you a heart of rebuke to come back to Him. All because you are His child. Salvation is never about men’s will but in God’s will.

What are prayers?

It is not based on emotions or things we can feel.  God is the way. Only when we enter our Holy spirit can we understand God. Pray on how is He looking at my situation now through His word. And when the conviction comes, pay attention to it and reaffirm it. That is truly a spirit-filled prayer. We must stand firm that we only want to see what God wants to reveal to us (not our own ideas, other’s comments etc).

“Just like when you have a problem with another person and you know only that person has the answer, you would want to approach the person face-to-face and clear your doubts, hearing his first-hand information. Last thing you want is to hear the explanation from a third party. As the information is not absolute and could be filtered or false.” 

So we have to face God in all our problems and only look to Him.

But why is it that I face God everyday and pray to Him but I do not get the answers?

God said that: “Those who truly seek me, will find me.”

But when answers are not received or convictions are not given, it is most likely that:

1. We are praying with a pre-determined mindset of what we may want (self-motives) and not resonating with God’s word and truth.

2. We are not at the timetable where we can understand God’s plans. We are at a limitation where we cannot fathom. However, gradually, as we grow in faith and prayers, we will slowly come to know of God’s perfect will in that situation.

3. We have doubts about God mixed with our prayers (second-guessing His plans). This has to come to a halt and go into deep prayers to prevent this doubt from accumulating into lukewarmness.

What are prayers that intercedes through the spirit?

Interceding in spirit should be done with love and sincere feelings to bless another person. Many turn intercession into expectations, disappointment or judgemental perspective towards the other person, especially when they are weak or fall short of what we ideally pray for. So, there are many that may intercede, but are we interceding the right way?

Firstly, we must have a clear understanding of salvation and the assurance of being born again. God’s salvation is not a reversible thing. It is not by the works of men to do good or earn their way for that salvation medal. Salvation is solely by God’s grace. It is when one has truly responded in their Holy Spirit by dying in our flesh and being born again by the strength from God through the word. And who gave this holy spirit to allow one to respond to God? Jesus Christ, through His finished work on the cross.  This salvation perseveres to the end and can never be robbed away from us.

How can we have the assurance of being born again?

There is a transformation in life experiences after hearing and believing the gospel. (Lydia: After hearing about the gospel from Paul, her heart opened up to God and persuaded Paul to stay)
Satan always use our weak moments to make us forget the blessings and evidences we have experienced before and give us doubts. Let us not fall trap to that as we continue to pursue in prayers.

Does not become fearful and cowardly in faith. Willing to suffer and attend to the needs of gospelisation, even though we have pitfalls and weaknesses. Now, that is the evidence of God’s grace on you to uphold you because He values you.

Consistently preserve the truth of the gospel (Complete Gospel). Does not compromise to truncated gospel or will feel spiritual discomfort when something is against the truth (eg. “Only need to come to church on Sunday.”). Thus, continue to run ahead with Christ’s workers.

Received the discipline of God in your weaknesses. (Because He has given birth to you and He is responsible for you in His initiative love)

It is only when we have the assurance of being born again, can we intercede in spirit for another. This faith in assurance must firstly come from a genuine conviction when we meditate on His word through the grace of God.

Once we continue to affirm that our salvation is persevering to the end through our different relative situations in life, this assurance of being born again will not only be firm, but it will grow.

When we have the assurance that we are loved by God, love for others will grow.

Truth increase, love increase.

When we allow the truth of God to come into our lives through our different life experiences and affirm the testimonies that God has brought us through by His grace, our love for others will grow. Because we understand the true love of God is solely by Him and through Him. Because of that we will have the heart of empathy or Christ’s character beyond our self nature because we understand men’s helplessness.

This love that grows in spirit is not blind. It is genuine, wise and follows the perfect will of God to consecrate the pure because we constantly fall back to the sanctifying word of God.

Finally, pray to be more Christ-like in His righteousness. Knowing that it is never by our own strength to do good works but the guidance and strength given by the Holy Spirit through Christ to uplift His kingdom and His people.

With God’s love,
Miki.

From the sunday message preached by Pastor Vincent Choo.

alternatively, you may visit: http://www.lifechurchmissions.com/SunMsg.aspx for the original message.

God did not say we can only testify for Him in the good times.

Philippians: The story of Paul– Paul was locked in the prison but he did not put his focus on being set free but to continue listening to God’s voice and plans for him. He was in a state of lack and humility. The book of Philippians is the book of the trials and setbacks Paul have had, and it is not something that men can usually withstand. God intentionally gave him this situation to be able to experience God, rely on God and receive solely from Him. It is about receiving in spirit and not in flesh. That is the secret remedy, that this abundant God is able to triumph in any and all situations. That in the worst circumstances, if we ‘glue’ ourselves and hold on to this word in prayers, all of God’s plans in our lives will be fulfilled. Then we will see “Hey, the shackles of my life are needed!” Without it, I will never be able to fathom the answers of the spirit. Never cease to run for the goal, for the eternal prize.

We always forget a very simple truth: “Everything changes. But the only constant is God.” If we are rooted in Him, we are stable in joy, stable in direction, stable in vision. Yes, problems seems real and it keeps coming at us, so there is only two situations we may be in. Trying to solve things ourselves and wrecking our brains. Or,  if we are living and immersing ourselves in meeting God daily and internalising His word, it becomes a spiritual subconscious that we immediately fall back on and restore peace in His control, in His affirmation of our roots and finally, to act or not act on it. But the key is when we act on it, it is not facing ourselves or men (out of our own motives or men’s perspective on us). We are doing it because we are facing God uprightly, seeking His counsel and acting out of genuine love for God’s people. Just like in church, a pastor should not be preaching out of personal zeal or fear that people will leave the church if they do not say something that ‘interest the crowd’ (prosperity, miracles, focusing on fun activities etc). It is easy to fall in the grey zone, especially for God’s children.

It is easy to know if you are truly believing in something. Where is your focus on daily? If you are into a person, your daily focus would be wanting to text or talk to him/her, affirming this affection from the person and enjoy the person’s companionship. Same thing, if you are into God, your focus would be to converse with Him, see Him in every details of your life and give thanks easily because you have been focusing on Him.

One who wants to really ‘go tell it on the mountain’ about God, first thing is to reaffirm the heart to pray. Why am I praying? Because of going through the motion? Or because we see that God has called us and He has a time for us to restore the right mind. We need to be spirit filled with the truth because the temptress of the world hurls insinuations at us everyday!

Many people ask: why did God give us trials and tribulations?

Because it is the only way to tell us men is limited. We cannot.

Like how Paul saw that in all situations God placed him in, it is learning materials for him to see that he cannot and to reaffirm Emmanuel.

Without it, men are driven by their own strength, hard work and becoming ego-centric. The success may be there but the joy is temporary.

But when we know the truth, when all we have is God’s standards, our happiness and direction is beyond the ever-changing situations of the world tugging at us. We see that our time is short in this world and the real goal is in the eternal life after death.

We need to receive answers through prayers. What is the answer? When we can see that in our current problems is being led by the guidance of God to work for the good of His people beyond our desires or imaginations.

Sometimes, we do not receive immediate answers in one prayer. However, when we continue to pray, over time, we can slowly see and sing praises in the effects of God’s works whilst we are in our shackles (like how Paul saw that though he is being chained, his brothers and sisters became confident in the Lord and gained courage to spread the gospel in his absence).

Once we receive the answers, submit to the end. 

And in whatever we do, do not put our eyes on men’s reactions or comments. Cast our cares upon the Lord and He will take care of you.

Grace and peace: grace comes from a heart that is covenanted by God’s promise and is full of faith. peace comes from an assurance of God’s triumph and guidance in all things.

Have a blessed week ahead, readers.

Spiritual Dementia.

I’m a victim of Spiritual Dementia. I get into this whole whirlpool of myself, my problems and my solutions or daily happenings, i forget something important and fundamental. I miss out a lot.

“Sometimes when we talk so much, we miss out on learning and hearing the Holy Spirit.
The bible said that we should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
We live in this generation where everyone wants to say what they think and everyone should listen to our opinion.
But we can’t hear the voice of God when we are so busy talking.
Don’t assume you know what is going to happen, don’t assume you already know what you need to know about the holy spirit. Don’t assume.
We could miss out on God when we are so focused on this plans that we have.”

REPETITION.

“While an adult may consider constant repetition boring, because it requires reliving the same experience over and over again, children bear an entirely different view.  Not onlydo preschoolers enjoy repetition, it also drives them to accomplish a certain level of mastery with new concepts.  Repetition supports brain development.  During the formative years, a child’s brain is especially active and wired to receive large amounts of NEW stimulation.  The information travels down neural pathways to the brain.  Every time information is repeated, the pathways thicken.  The brain recognizes and keeps the thicker neural pathways containing repeated information.  It is automatically conditioned to prune off the thinner pathways containing information that has not been repeated.  The more often information is repeated, the more likely it is to be retained.”
-Preschool Bright Beginnings, 2010

In fact, I feel that we adults (though hate repetition), need it even more because we get distracted by so many things so easily with the knowledge and prior experiences we have. So sometimes, it seems like we are hearing the same message from the preacher, pastor or cell group leader but there is that deeper message God wants to slip in for us.

January is coming soon and I thought it would be good to stock up just a couple of good rhymes and songs to teach and repeat with my Nursery kids.
This is one of my favourite song (with action accompaniment):
“He’s the Lord of the sunshine, the Lord of the rain.
He’s the Lord of good times, the Lord of the pain.
He’s the Lord of the mountain, the Lord of the sea.
He’s the Lord of the music, the Lord of the children,
the Lord of you and me.”
Such simple and beautiful words.

School is reopening soon! Are you ready?

Real faith gives birth to the right spirit.

In this current era, many Christians are driven by passion and positivity.
Yet, this kind of drivenness is something that Christ has been trying to abolish.
It happened to the Pharisees, as well as, the Saducees.
It led to self righteousness and hypocrisy.
It also leads to disappointment and numbness.

Faith isn’t something that is build on our own will and ferventness because these are things that will waver and change.
Faith is something that needs a build-up of content. One that is grounded in the unchanging truth.
And that is the word of the Lord. We can always find answers in the word if we seek it.
As shared during the Emmanuel Youth Fellowship, the word of the God is knowing this:

ONLY CHRIST. He is the only way, the truth and the life.
Let this concept become the standard of our blessings and favour.
Until it becomes a system of belief and for us to keep coming before the Lord as a reflex action.

And we can only have confident in this when we rid off the “poverty” mindset and restore the spirit of sonship. Rid off the mindset that departs from God and gratify our flesh desires. Rid the mindset that we are “not worthy of God’s love”. Because if we continue with this mindset, “nothing God does seem to be able to match up to His redemption of you.”
As though, nothing is ever enough.

However, it is almost too hard to believe that only Christ is enough. There are so many additives that make up for what we deem as sufficiency.
Like what Hui Zhen said: “Our flesh is such that we have this resisting spirit towards things that are too absolute. Like right smack in your face, no! We prefer things that have grey areas that we can slip in our own little motives and desires.”
But our God does not compromise on this.
Not because He is selfish and only wants us to be obsessing over him but because He knows the world (no matter how positive and attractive) is always going to be against us, the children of God. God wants us to see the purposeful leading in our identity.
If not, there is no other purpose in our life.
It is for us to see our sinful nature is always going to be a foothold of Satan if we do not stay rooted in the protection of our Father.
It is not easy but let us start now by seeing the Emmanuel right now.

 

Not only later on when we can be spiritual. Not only when we can accomplish our servings. Not later. But right now. And we can only see this when we continously and repeatedly confirm the word through seeking the counsel of God. Through prayers.

The holy spirit speaks to us daily. But our sensitivity decreases when we get less dependent on it.

Photography credits to Eugene Chong, our drummer boy, from Brisbane.