Bearing Fruit with Patience

Did you ever encounter situations when you are serious about the Word of God, feeding and acting on God's Word daily and then you experience more troubles and distractions? When such things happen, it throws you into confusion, thinking 'What have I done wrong?'

The fact is, you have not done anything wrong. On the contrary, you have been believing right and that's why the devil launches an attack on God's Word. Learning from the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4:13-20, I observed that there are 4 scenarios when the devil attempts to steal God's Word:
1) Seed sown by the wayside - when we first receive the Word and our hearts may not fully understand it.
2) Seed sown on stony ground - when we have a full revelation of the Word and receive it with joy. But when trouble or persecution comes because of the Word, these believers are stumbled and give up on the Word.
3) Seed sown among thorns - when the Word is taking root in our hearts but the worries and the distractions of this world choke the Word of God.
4) Seed sown on good grounds - when we believe right and God is about to bring tremendous blessings to our life. Those who hear and accept the Word bear fruit: thirtyfold, sixtyfold and hundredfold.

I believe that most of us can identify with the 3rd and 4th scenario. For me, it is the 4th scenario I am going through now. I am encouraged that the harvest comes thirtyfold, sixtyfold and hundredfold. This meant that I might not see the fruit of the Word of God sown in my heart all at once but the blessings are progressive. I have seen God's manifestation of His promise in most areas of my life but for some areas, I am still persevering. When we receive the Word and the opposite situation happens, keep on believing, keep on persevering and God promises that we will surely bring forth fruit with patience.

Pastor Prince said that patience means there are adverse circumstances against the Word and we are fighting against contradictory symptoms in our bodies that are screaming 'The Word is a lie! The Word is a lie!' But when we still persevere with God's Word, we will surely bring forth fruit! When we do this, no demon can prevent that Word of God from bearing fruit in our life. And God is merciful, He will not delay a single moment. He promised in Hebrews 10:37 that 'For just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not tarry.'

So my friends, when you find yourself in that situation, rejoice for your hundredfold harvest is coming! You will see that in just a little while, when you have persevered and done the will of God, you will receive the promise. The reward is going to be so sweet that you will not regret that you have persevered even though the path you have walked have not been easy.

Don't Give Up!

Have you ever had experiences when you are believing the Word of God and acting on it, then the troubles in your life seem to increase and not decrease? In times like that, one really wonders 'Where is the restful increase that Pastor Prince often talks about?' We ask God 'I am trying my best to remain at rest but
why are all these troubles still happening?'

Recently there has been numerous troubles that the enemy has thrown in my path of rest. After I recovered from gastric flu, there had been a case of my toilet sewage pipe blockage just yesterday. It was so bad that I had to call in the plumber to clear the pipes and the mess. Honestly, it was a traumatic experience but I wish to spare you all of the gross details.

As I laid on my bed last night, totally exhausted from the day's event, I was wondering why there seemed to be no end to these troubles or attacks from the enemy. I felt that I was so tired that I could not withstand another blow anymore...I told God 'please have mercy on me!'. The encouragement that came to me was 'Don't give up' and a quiet assurance that God will turn beauty out of ashes.

Today Pastor Joel's devotional 'Your Reward is Coming' is like God cheering me on, telling me to persevere. The devotional talked about how when I stay in peace and stay faithful with what God has called me to do, not only will God fight my battles, He will pay me back for all the troubles the enemy brought into my life. No matter what is going on around me, I know God is faithful and my reward is coming! God will perfect everything concerning me and reward me beyond what I can ask or imagine!

First Samuel 26:23 says 'The Lord rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness.' God is so good. He rewards us for something that we don't even have (righteousness and faithfulness) in the first place!

Holy Communion

Another important area I would like to address is Holy Communion. In this blog post, I have extracted key points in Pastor Prince's book 'Health and Wholeness through the Holy Communion'.

What I was taught in a traditional church was that I would need to confess all my sins before partaking the communion or else I will be eating and drinking God's judgment upon myself. First Corinthians 11:29 says 'For he who eats and drinks in an unworthily manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.'  Sometimes I was not sure if I have confessed all my sins and hence I would rather not take the Holy Communion.

Actually other than remembering that Jesus' body was broken for us and His blood was shed for our forgiveness of sins, I was not totally sure why I was partaking of His body when I came to the Table. And precisely that was the reason why many sincere believers were not receiving the divine life of our Saviour, causing them to be weak and sick and to die before their time. First Corinthians 11:30 says 'For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.' Sleep here means death, not bodily rest. If this is true, the opposite would be true too. If we do discern the Lord's body, we will walk in his divine health and wholeness.

How then do we discern the Lord's body? First we must be clear that the body and the blood should not be treated as one. The wine, which is His blood is for our forgiveness of sins. The bread, which is His body, is for our healing. in Mark 7:26-28, Jesus referred healing for the Greek woman's daughter as children's bread. When we partake of the Lord's body, we are partaking of His divine health for Jesus was never sick. He was vibrant, full of life and full of health. So when Jesus said 'Take, eat; this is My body', He was imparting His life, health and wholeness to their bodies. His body was beaten, bruised and broken (symbolised by the Matzah, the flat bread eaten during Passover) so that our bodis can be whole.

What does it mean to partake in an unworthily manner in case we bring judgment upon ourselves? In First Corinthians 11:29, Apostle Paul said that if we eat and drink unworthily, we bring judgment to ourselves. The word 'unworthily' is an adverb, which means it modifies the verb. In this case, 'unworthily' describes the action of eating and drinking, not the person eating or drinking.

So Paul was not saying if you are an unworthy person, don't partake of the Lord's Supper. (In fact, the blood of Jesus already made us worthy before God!) He was saying that we should not partake in an unworthily manner which means taking the Holy Communion when we don't understand the significance of the Lord's body. In such cases, the Holy Communion can easily become a ritual if we don't understand the significance of the bread. Hence most believers (like me in the past) missed out on the blessings of health and healing. Not only that, by failing to discern the Lord's body, we are making Jesus' work on the cross ineffective and powerless.

Jesus told us to have Communion often, so there must be something powerful about it. His blessings of health, wholeness and preservation of life abound at His Table. We do not need a pastor to conduct the Holy Communion. Once we are believers, we are priests (1 Peter 2:9). We can partake of the Lord's Supper at home. In the church, pastors do it because they are the spiritual authority over the people and there must be some order in how they conduct things. Outside of the church, we, as royal priests, are qualified to partake on our own, as often as we wish to.

The Gospel of Grace (Part III)

This last part talks about the state of being versus the state of doing. One question you may ask is if everything that needs to be done by me has already been performed by Christ at the Cross, then what part is there left for me? All we have to do is to obey God and trust Him, resting in His faithfulness.

Gospel of Grace

Mixed Teachings of Law & Grace

·        Righteousness is a gift just like salvation. We only need to believe that Christ came to give us righteousness; it is not something we can earn. We cannot be more righteous by our works. ·        Right believing always leads to right living. We are already holy and accepted in God’s eyes because of Christ. ·        We are God’s beloved children and we have an inheritance in Christ. He wants us to be firmly established in righteousness.

·        We got to be more holy by the pursuit of spiritual disciplines like quiet time with God, praying, fasting etc. ·        The impression given is that there is still some part for us to perform after being saved. Some books even teach that salvation could be lost. That will not give believers security if their faith is based on themselves. ·        Besides, that would not give them confidence to come to the throne of grace in times of need.

The Gospel of Grace (Part II)

As mentioned earlier, this is Part II of the blog post that I had put up earlier. It talks about how even though God is such a holy God and He cannot tolerate sin, because of what Jesus Christ has done, God is now no longer angry with us and we need not be fearful of Him.

Gospel of Grace

Mixed Teachings of Law & Grace

·    There is one perfect sacrifice at the Cross for all our sins: past, present and future. With Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the Cross, God has promised that He will remember our sins and lawless deeds no more (Hebrews 8:12). ·    We need not fear of His fiery judgment because it was all poured out on Jesus.  God does not want us to be sin conscious but righteousness conscious. When we know the heavy price Christ paid for our right standing, we will not see this grace as a licence to sin.

·    I was taught that when we sin, we need to confess our sins to God (1 John 1:9). This implied that the blood of Jesus could only cover our sins till the next one. ·    Our relationship with God is not broken but our fellowship can by broken by our sin. Hence we need to confess our sins and repent, so that our fellowship with God will be re-established and He will hear our prayers. Sometimes God seems far and distant when in fact, He is always near.

I don't know about you, my friend, but this is such fantastic news to me. The fact that I don't have to be always conscious of my sin takes the painful focus off myself and brings the spotlight to Christ. This truth liberates me to behold the beautiful face of my Saviour. In doing so, I find myself being transformed into being more like Christ. How effortless it is!

The Power of Being at Rest in Christ

I just recovered from a bout of gastric flu. The pain of gas churning in my stomach on Sunday's night was so bad that I couldn't sleep. It felt like a tsunami of waves within my tummy. I didn't even remember feeling like that when I was having labour contractions. But thank God He has completely healed me and brought me out of this episode stronger!

Pastor Prince said in Sunday's sermon that if we cannot discern what God is doing in our lives, then look at what the devil is doing and reverse it. For example, God has poured out a tsunami of salvation and blessings onto Japan long before the devil brought about the physical tsunami. Through this disaster, many people will come to know Christ and the restoration of Japan would be complete.

I usually try not to over-spiritualise things that happened but in my case, I discerned that this was a very strong resistance to what God was doing in my life. I am very sure this attack happened not because of sin or unrest or unhappiness in my life. It was not because I was out of God's will. On the contrary, the assault came about precisely because I was at rest in Christ.

Preceding the days before the time of the month, I used to be restless and anxious about whether I had conceived this month. This month was different. I was at rest in Christ and my heart was established in a righteousness not of my own but of Christ. I know that the key issue about receiving the manifestation of another baby was not about what I do or don't do. This baby is already given; a finished work in Christ.

God taught me that once my heart was established in righteousness in Christ, my heart cannot be persuaded by the devil to believe that he can enforce bad things in my life. This is how I resist the devil by standing steadfast in the faith (1 Peter 5:9) that I am made right with God by Jesus' blood. This pregnancy will come to pass whether I do anything about it at all. My self-efforts may fail but Christ cannot fail. Such is my security in Christ.

Hence the attack of sickness came to persuade me to leave my position of rest in Christ. The devil wants me to get worried, to be frantic and do things to help myself get pregnant. The symptoms of nausea and vomiting made me think I was pregnant when in fact it was gastric flu. But I refuse to 'bow down' to the devil to step down from my position of rest. I refuse to get back into self-efforts or works or worry. All these are toilsome labour.

As confirmed in Pastor Prince's devotional today (http://www.newcreation.org.sg/resources/daily-devotional), I know that when I remain at rest in Christ's finished work, He will turn my evil day into days of rejoicing and feasting! I know that something very good is about to happen and I am excited to see how God is pouring out His unprecedented blessings in our lives! I know I am very close to the manifestation of my pregnancy! Amen! All glory to God! I will surely see good success in every area of my life!

Praying for Japan

The major earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan caused more damage than it was initially thought. This was because of the explosions of the nuclear plants, releasing radioactive materials into the atmosphere. And it did not help that the snow in the afflicted areas made the conditions of survivors and rescue teams almost impossible.

In spite of all these, I believe God has already tempered the disaster with mercy. Had the quake hit mainland Japan, instead of the ocean, it would have caused even greater damage. And there are cases when there are miraculous survivors in the afflicted areas that seemed impossible like the four month baby who was found. Cases like these showed God's protection over these people.

While our hearts ache for Japan's people who are afflicted, let's plead the blood of Jesus and the mercy of God over them. In John 14:12-14, Jesus said '...the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these will he do because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in My Name, that I will do, that the Father be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My Name, I will do it.'

We pray that the authorities have the wisdom to deal with the leakage of the nuclear radiation and that the effects of the radiation would be minimised and not pass on to the next generation. We also pray for the snow to stop so that the rescue work would not be hampered and that more survivors would be found. Let's pray that the food and water supplies would be provided to those Japanese in refuge.

Most importantly, we pray that Japan would see Jesus in this crisis and when they cry out for Jesus, He would turn the situation around, bring comfort and relief to Japan and protect the nation from further harm.

The Gospel of Grace (Part I)

Ever since I had stepped into New Creation Church, I had been learning all about the gospel of grace and understanding why this gospel had been under fire. Today I shall attempt to highlight the key differences between this gospel of grace and the gospel that I was exposed to since I became a believer. For easy reading, I shall present these in 3 parts.
 

Gospel of Grace

Mixed Teachings of Law & Grace

·         Focus on the finished work of Christ. A divine exchange has taken place at the Cross. What Christ has suffered (heartache, pain, sicknesses, poverty, condemnation etc) we need not suffer again. ·         Because Jesus cried ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?’ we can now say ’My Father, my Father, why have You so blessed me?’ ·         We are now under a new covenant of grace; the old covenant of law has been replaced.  We now enjoy unmerited favour from God. ·         We have confidence that His blessings are based on Christ’s finished work, not our own performance. We are blessed to be a blessing to the world.

·         What Christ has done has bought us eternal salvation but sometimes we still need to go the way of the Cross. We need to take up our cross and partake in the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. ·         I never heard about the new covenant of grace hence I was in fear of God’s judgment in the Old Testament. I have asked God if I was pleasing to Him. I didn't know how He saw me. ·         Sometimes I felt that the blessings of God are dependent on my actions like those Israelites under the old covenant. ·         I was taught that we are channels of God’s blessings but I felt the focus was on what we should do to be a blessing, rather than on the finished work of Christ.

By His Stripes We were Healed!

Joshua had been having this cough for quite a while. We have brought him to see a doctor and he has also finished all the medicine. But there was still some phlegm and lingering cough. On Monday he had a bit of runny nose. These few days I was also not feeling well but I kept proclaiming that I was healed. I refused to accept these lying symptoms in my body. I said 'Phlegm, you do not belong to my body. Get out in the Name of Jesus!'

I kept believing that Jesus took all our sicknesses and pain at the Cross and by His stripes we were healed. What He suffered on the Cross we do not have to suffer again. Such is the power of his redemptive work on the Cross, which included more than just salvation of our souls. All its benefits (in Psalm 103) included forgiving us of all our sins, healing us of our sicknesses, redeeming us from the pit,  crowning us with livingkindness, filling our mouths with good things so that our youths are renewed like the eagles.

As the days passed, and we seemed to still have those lying symptoms, it is where the rubber meets the road. It is where my faith is tested. We still partook of the Holy Communion everyday believing and declaring that Jesus' body was broken so that we enjoy good health and healing. Yet the outward circumstances still seem to be contrary to the Word of God. It is often easy to encourage someone else to press on with believing that by His stripes, they were healed.  It can be very trying especially when our own health is affected.

Today after Joshua came back from school, he still had the runny nose. It didn't help that I was not feeling completely well. He said he wanted to see the doctor for his runny nose, I told him maybe when his daddy comes home after work. But I still wanted him to understand what it meant to be healed by Jesus.

I decided to watch 'Passion of the Christ' with Joshua. I will focus on the part when Jesus was scourged. As usual, I was all tears but the reality of seeing Jesus bearing all my sicknesses and pain hit me. My faith was given a boost as I saw how my Savior was beaten. And I thought if I still could not believe I was healed, then my Savior would have suffered in vain. At that moment I was sure that I was healed.

Something amazing happened for Joshua. At one point he walked away to his room. I thought he was going to play his toys but after a while, I decided to check on him. Then I realised he was crying. He was touched by the scene where His Savior was beaten cruelly by the Roman soldiers. At that point I thought wow! He really has a sensitive heart for God and he really responds to Jesus. I asked him why he cried, whether is it about Jesus. He said yes. I knew in my heart that Joshua was also healed. Both of us had an experience when we were not just healed, we were also touched by God's great love for us. What a precious experience!

Blessed Beyond Measure

It has been 5 weeks since I stopped work and stayed home to look after my son. All I can say is that this time of staying home is truly so blessed because it is a dream come true for me. I consider myself blessed beyond measure because I have the whole morning to spend time with Jesus while my son goes to kindergarten. The fellowship I had with Jesus is sweet beyond words. You have to taste it yourself and see how good God is.

I was telling Heng that being able to spend 3 hours everyday just fellowshipping with God is pure luxury. I told him it was better than owning ten Louis Vuitton bags! It is during such times that I get to hear from God so clearly and also become more prompt to respond to the Holy Spirit's leading. Interestingly, even though I stay at home, God still brings across people in my paths to minister to.

It has been my heart's desire to start writing my book but ever since I stopped work, I did not feel the immediate urge to start on my book. God told me to wait upon Him and to feed on His Word first. When the time comes, He will prompt me to start writing and I will have no lack of ideas and words. In the meantime I just rest in His goodness, basking in His love for me. I am not hurried or stressed. I am at rest.

True enough, last Saturday I woke up full of ideas on what to write for my book. I quickly wrote down these ideas in my journal first. But the urge to put it down on my laptop was so strong, I could not ignore it. Finally I got down to writing chapter one of my book without even knowing how the entire structure of my book would look like. I told myself: 'It is ok, I just write when the Spirit leads and the rest of the book will fall into place.'

It was really effortless as I started writing. The ideas just kept flowing. In fact, there were so much I could write about but the Lord told me to focus on the finished work of Christ on the cross. He told me not to worry for I do not need to confine my life story and experiences into one book. I could space them out into many books with different themes, targeting different audiences.

Wow! It is indeed an exciting journey that God led me to embark on, not knowing what the next step would be. But God reassured me that He would open the doors for publishers to seek me out, so I just have to concentrate on providing the contents to my book.  In fact, God also reminded me that as far as He is concerned, this book is already published. It is already a finished work. Jesus has already paid for it. I just enjoy the process of writing with no stress. What an awesome provision from my Daddy God!

Our 10th Wedding Anniversary

3rd March 2011 is our 10th wedding anniversary. It certainly did not seem like 10 years of marriage. It felt that we just got married yesterday. I told Heng the past 10 years had been very good but the best is yet to come. Our next 10 years would be even more spectacular, by the grace of God!

Yesterday we went to celebrate as a family in the afternoon, taking a ride at the Singapore Flyer and then we had dinner at food street (hawker food). Again God was so good to us. Because we had a certain membership card that was quite rare, we were entitled to 20% discount. Otherwise the tickets would cost us at least $80!

This was the second time we took the ride. The first time was last year around this period and Joshua was so excited about sitting on the Flyer. This time round, Joshua was not very interested in the scenery. He was more interested in the games in the i-phone (sigh!). What was interesting was that there were two young Japanese ladies who was commenting that Joshua is kawaii (cute) and one of them even took our family photo!

Passion of the Christ

I just finished watching the movie 'Passion of  the Christ'. I know it's kind of delayed. I had been hesitating to watch it for years because I cannot bear watching my Savior been scourged and crucified. But recently the Lord impressed upon me to watch it because there would be some revelations while watching movie. Pastor Prince also mentioned that there were people who get healed while watching Jesus being scourged. By His stripes, we are healed.

Indeed there are many revelations while watching the movie, along with much tears.  First of all, I was wondering why would God want to sacrifice His only Son to suffer and die for us when we don't even deserve it? As I watched, I told God why don't you just save Your Son and let the world die? The answer is this: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

I saw how Mary's heart was crushed seeing Jesus suffer and die and I can't help but think about my Abba Father's heart. I can't even find a word to describe how God must have felt when He turned His back on Jesus, His beloved Son, who is so obedient to Him even to the point of death! Indeed what kind of God do we serve? If God did not withhold heaven's best, would He withhold anything from us? When I look at the cross, I see His heart of love. I am truly convinced that such a God cannot be anything but good. Faith is having a good opinion of God, believing in His goodness despite what bad things had happened in our lives.
 
Secondly, the revelation is that what Jesus suffered (the lashing, the crown of thorns, the shame, the rejection), we don't ever have to suffer again. Like what Pastor Prince said, the wrath of God is all upon Jesus and when Jesus said 'It is finished', the sacrifice is complete. The finished work of Christ is like the ashes and no fire could ever burn on the ashes again. As long as we stay in the finished work of Christ, we will be abiding in the secret place of the Most High. No judgement or wrath of God could befall us when we cling on to Jesus and His finished work.

Thirdly, when Christ rose again, He truly conquered death, the last enemy. Jesus crushed the serpent's head, rendering what Satan did to be ineffective. Because of this new covenant, we are more than conquerors in Christ. We are given the dominion over the earth once again. We can do what Jesus did on earth (heal the sick, cast out the demons and bring redemption to all). In fact, Jesus said we could do greater works than these.

I don't know about you but I am going to take Jesus' Word literally. I believe this authority to govern the earth has been given to all believers and it is up to the believer to exercise this authority. Imagine this: dominion over this earth, dominion over sicknesses and diseases, dominion over demonic powers, dominion over death even. All these are ours to claim. Let this truth sink into your hearts.