White Christmas

Indeed, it is the wish of many of us living near the equator to experience a white Christmas. Because we do not have four seasons in Singapore, we never saw snow during Christmas. But yet, this Christmas, God surprised us with a holiday to Beijing. It was a 4D3N business trip for Heng and both Joshua and I tagged along.  After we came back from Taiwan, Joshua said he hoped to visit a place where it is very cold and he can see snow. Well, God is so so good to Joshua. He granted Joshua his heart's desire.

We only knew about this trip two weeks before we left so it was quite sudden. Yet we looked forward to spending a winter holiday in Beijing during this Christmas season. As we bought the winter clothing, we were really excited about this trip.  Winter in Beijing was really cold. In the daytime, temperature was about 2 degrees but at night, the temperature was about -4 degrees. It was like walking in a huge freezer and you could feel your face all chilled out. But well, we did not complain because we could not experience such weather in Singapore!

Thank God that even though Heng had to work at day, I was able to bring Joshua to visit many places like the Tian An Men Square, The Forbidden City, the Underwater World of Blue Zoo and the Winter Wonderland in Beijing National Stadium (or Bird's Nest). The Lord's protection was clearly on us as we boldly relied on the cab drivers to bring us to our destinations since I had totally no clue how to get to those places! Joshua had great fun in those places, especially the Winter Wonderland. It was the most memorable place for him. He said Beijing was more fun than Taiwan!

As it was his first encounter with snow, he was elated and so curious. He kept asking me how to make snow balls and snow man! He enjoyed sliding down the snowy slope on the rubber ring slides. It was a splendid sight for us to see snow everywhere...and we totally forgot about the cold weather! The only imperfect thing was that Heng could not experience this white Christmas with us. We thank God that even though we hoped that Beijing would snow when our family were there, we were contented to be able to see snow and play in the Winter Wonderland! It is truly a blessed Christmas!

Faith is A Rest!

My pastor preached a wonderful sermon on Sunday which would bless you. In the area of faith teaching, we are exhorted to have faith. Hebrews 11:1 says faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. I guess many of us cannot say that we are people of great faith but thank God that our faith is growing! Yet for some others, faith could become a stumbling block when we turn it into a works.

For example, some people turn confessing the Word of God into a works (law) when they tell themselves they got to confess it at least 10 times a day. Or you heard well-intentioned believers tell you: You got to have faith to receive your miracle.  There is nothing wrong with faith but when the focus is on self, then what happens when our faith runs out? We can get so discouraged thinking 'My faith level must be so low...no wonder I cannot receive my miracle.'

In Mark 9:23, Jesus said to the father who had a demon-possessed son 'If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.' I must have read this verse a hundred times when God gave it to me last year. I kept thinking that if only I can believe, then I can receive my miracle. All things are possible to me if only I can believe. So when I still didn't see my manifestation, I got discouraged wondering what's wrong with me; why I cannot receive when others could.

But when my pastor preached this verse, he said that Jesus was actually referring to Himself. He was not putting the burden of belief on the father because shortly after, He cast the demon out of his son. Who is the 'him' who believes? It is actually Jesus because Jesus always believes, hence all things are possible to Him. Now this is really such a great encouragement to me. For it is not about me but all about Jesus. Even when my faith runs out, His faith doesn't.

When we are conscious of Jesus, faith comes naturally. Hence all we have to do is to latch on to Jesus' faith. Galatians 2:20 says '...I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.' Faith is a rest. When you are in faith, you are really resting. You can tell God 'Lord, I know I have little faith but I am not focusing on my own faith. I have faith in Jesus' faith. That's all I need.'

So what is our part? Our part is to just say it like God said it. In Mark 11:23, Jesus said 'whoever says to this mountain: Be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.' We are made in the image of God and God calls those things that are not as though they existed (Romans 4:17). Yet because man is fallen from God's image, we often need to see what already happened before we say it.

When Jesus cursed the fig tree, He knew it was dead from its roots even though the leaves still looked green. But the disciples did not know this...they only reported that the fig tree had died when they saw it wither the next day. Hence when we pray and declare that the mountain (be it sickness, poverty) be uprooted in the Name of Jesus and be planted in the sea, believe that the root has been cursed. The manifestation will come to pass even if it seems in the natural that nothing has changed. Have faith in Jesus' faith. And rest in His faith.

Your Seed Shall Prosper

Recently I was seeking the Lord on an issue and His word to me was Zechariah 8:12

'For the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give its fruit, the ground shall give her increase and the heavens shall give their dew - I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these.'

This verse brought tears to my eyes for my spirit was lifted up and joy welled up in my heart. I broke out into thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. I knew exactly what the Lord meant regarding the issue I was seeking Him. And I know that once the Lord has spoken, it is as good as done. Because in and of itself, the Word of God has the power to bring forth the manifestation.

This verse is a scene of fertility and fruitfulness like the scene of the tree bearing fruit after the flowers blossomed. And my God is so good. It was as if I might not fully understand the words that were declared to me, He gave me a visual image of what it meant for the seed to be prosperous.

My hubby bought a loaf of fruit and nuts bread from Gardenia. As he was eating one slice of the bread, he realised there was a cluster of seeds stuck to the side of the bread. He showed it to me. My hair stood up when I saw those seeds but that image could not get off my mind.

The next day I took out the whole loaf to see how the rest of the loaf is like. Guess what I saw? An entire row of cluster of seeds stuck to the side of the bread. I was beginning to feel disgusted at that image when the Holy Spirit spoke to me 'Don't be afraid of this. It is exactly what I meant by the seed being prosperous.'

Immediately I knew this was a scene of fertility and prosperity. It was an abundance of seeds, unlike one side of the bread which had seeds scattered around it. Wow! God is showing me what He meant literally by that verse!