One Touch of God's Favour

Today we went prawn fishing with a friend and her niece and nephew. We had a fun time prawn fishing. It was their first time there. For our family, we had gone prawn fishing for about 3 or 4 times but we never managed to catch many prawns. The most we had was about 6 prawns. Well today we had a bumper crop...not through our own efforts though. In the beginning, we had slightly more success than before in prawn fishing today because Heng asked God for good success. We were fishing for about 1.5 hours when suddenly a guy came over to Heng with a net full of prawns. We were surprised that he wanted to give all the prawns to us! It turned out that he don't eat prawns but just fished them for the fun of it!

Well I was so excited to experience this touch of God's favour! My friend said it was restful increase. Indeed when we were laboring for the past 1 to 2 hours, we only caught a few prawns. In fact, we would have never been able to catch that many prawns in our 3 hours there. Yet when God shows us His unmerited favour, we had overflowing abundance! We really felt like Apostle Peter when they labored all night and caught nothing, yet when Jesus told them to let down the nets, they caught a boat-sinking, net-breaking load of fish! What a tremendous testimony for Joshua and the kids! God is so good to us...of all the people fishing there, the guy chose us to give the prawns to! It is really God's favour!

In the end, we caught 11 prawns and my friend caught 10 prawns (not bad for a first-timer). But what was amazing was that the net of prawns was more than 40! My friend said her mum would be so surprised to see so many prawns!

 

More fruits manifesting!

Just this month I got to know of more fruits manifesting in my life and my ministry. I just want to say I cannot thank God enough for allowing me to be part of this exciting plan He has prepared for me. Indeed I am like a tree planted by the rivers of water and I bear fruit this season.

First of all, I received news that one of my care group (CG) members who has not spoken with his daughter for 7 years has finally reconciled with her. I still remember last June, during one CG meeting, the Holy Spirit was moving so strongly in our midst and the work of restoration has already started in his family. His heart was softened and he wanted to reconcile with his daughter but she was not ready. The CG stood in faith with him, believing that God would work on his daughter and soften her heart. One day, the father and daughter will surely be reconciled.

Subsequently she decided to venture overseas and she left Singapore in Oct 2011. Her mum had hoped that she could reconcile with her dad before she left but it did not happen that way. Yet God is so good. He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion. In Apr 2012, God completed his work of restoration in the family. The daughter finally talked to her dad and he assured her that he was never against her and he told her that he loved her. Wow! I believed this reconciliation was more than what the dad could ask for because I could see joyful tears in his eyes as he shared this with us. God is so good - the fruit manifested in less than a year!

Secondly, as I was attending CG meeting this week, I heard a testimony about a father sharing how God is so timely in His favour. His daughter was the beneficiary of the tie-up between a local arts institution and a renowned UK university. As a result, the degree would not only be recognised by the government, there would also be government funding for the degree programme. This meant that he would have saved up on a huge sum of money because the degree course was quite expensive. I was happy to share that this project was the fruit of our labour when I was in my previous workplace.

My previous organisation has been trying to fight for government funding for the arts institution for a decade but in 2010, the stars had aligned. God allowed me to be part of the team that fought for and finally witnessed this funding approval from the government. It was the last project that I completed back then which gave me a great sense of satisfaction and more importantly, a legacy to leave behind. I knew that with the continued government funding, the future arts students in these institutions would definitely benefit from this policy change. Indeed, thank God that it came to pass: I heard a brother testify how this funding has benefited his family!

Thirdly, I remembered God prompting me to pray for a young boy with celebral palsy in church last Aug. I did not know the boy but as he sat on the pram, the sad look on his eyes caught my attention. At that point I had great compassion for him. Then I felt God telling to lay hands on him and pray for his supernatural healing. As I stepped out in faith to lay hands and pray for him, I experienced God's intense love for this boy and I teared. I told him that God loves him so much and Jesus wants to heal him. One day he would be able to walk and play like the other kids. After praying for him, I walked away feeling more blessed. I was sure that he will be healed but I never saw him again after that.

Recently, one of my CG members who is an usher in church told me about a miracle healing that took place. She said that a boy who could not walk before started walking during the service. My heart was beating so fast as I was quite sure it was this boy. Indeed as I described his parents and gave his name, I confirmed that it was really him! I was really so happy to hear that he is finally walking like other kids! I am sure that many others had laid hands and prayed for him, not just me but I thanked God for allowing me again to be part of this beautiful miracle. More importantly, that is also God's affirmation of his plan for me to be involved in a healing ministry in future. I again saw fruits manifesting from this ministry.

In the final analysis, I just wanted to encourage my brothers and sisters that whatever the Lord has put on your heart and told you, just hang on to His word. No matter how long it takes, I have learnt that God's Word will always come to pass. Take heart that God is accelerating things behind the scene and you will see your breakthrough very soon! Now is the time! Praise Jesus!

Study of End-times (Part III)

When I used to read Jesus' account of The Great Tribulation and the Second Coming of Christ in Matthews 24:15-44, my response was naturally to look upon such events with dread and fear. But now that I have a solid assurance that we definitely will be delivered from God's wrath at the end of the tribulation, I felt more peaceful and secure.

Even though we may not be totally delivered from the wrath of the Antichrist or escape persecution for the sake of the gospel, I am not afraid. I believe the Church is not totally at the mercy of the Antichrist. God's power is greater than the evil one and God is well able to deliver us from persecution. Even if He doesn't, I know that there is a special anointing or provision of God's grace in times of persecution for believers (just like for Apostle Paul). And there is a reward in heaven waiting for believers who suffer persecution for Christ's namesake. God's glory is magnified when believers refuse to bow down to the Beast or the Anthichrist.

Drawing mainly from the passage in Matthew 24:15-44, there are 3 main responses for a believer:

1) Don't be afraid - In John 16:33, Jesus told His disciples that in this world, they will have tribulation but take heart that He has overcome the world. For those of us who will go through the Tribulation, we can still have peace in this world because Christ will preserve us till He comes back for us again. Jesus will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heaven to the other. (Matt. 24:30)

2) Don't be deceived - Jesus has told us beforehand that there will be false christs and false prophets with great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect (Matt. 24:24-26). It seemed to me the way not to be deceived is by spending time in the bible to acquaint ourselves with the true Christ, just like how the bank tellers were trained to spot the counterfeit, not by studying these false notes but by studying the real notes.

3) Watch and pray - Jesus told the believers to pray that their flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath (Matt. 24:20). It does seem like there is a place for the Church to have an influence over the end-times events and the timing of these events. Even though the Church cannot stop the rising of the Antichrist or stop this world from total destruction (at the end of ages), the Church definitely has authority over the principalities and powers of darkness. We can pray for protection over people and we can pray for the salvation of lost souls. We also have a responsibility to preach the good news to the lost because there is a hell to shun and a heaven to go to for all eternity.

Finally I am encouraged to know that even in darkness, light dawns for the upright (Ps. 112:4). I know that as the world gets darker, the Church will shine even brighter. I take heart that even though this world will go from bad to worse and eventually end in destruction, for the believers, the Lord will arise over us and His glory will be seen upon us (Isa. 60:1-2).

My response towards end-times is no longer one of fear and trepidation but one of hope and glory. I can say that I now look forward to the 2nd Coming of Jesus, the Rapture of the Church and the rewards awaiting me in heaven. I no longer fear the occurrence of events signalling the end of times because Jesus says 'Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.' (Luke 21:28)

Study of End-times (Part II)

Let's take a look at some definitions of end-times terminology:

1) Rapture - 'catching away' or gathering together of the Church unto the Lord. (1 Thess. 4:13-17)

2) Second Coming of Christ - the visible, bodily and glorious return of Jesus Christ to the earth (1 Acts 1:11)

3) The Tribulation - a 7-year period of time at the end of the Age that starts with the revealing of the Antichrist and ends with Second Coming of Christ to the earth. (Matt. 24:21-30)

4) Battle of Armageddon - the 'kings of the earth and of the whole world' are to be gathered together in the battle of that great day of God Almighty (Rev. 16:14-16)

5) Judgment Seat of Christ - after the Rapture of the Church, there will be a judgment at the 'bema seat' of Christ that has to do with the believer's works, not his salvation (2 Corin. 5:10). It is not a condemnation seat but a reward seat. The judgment of our deeds will not be based on their outward appearance but upon our inward character and the motivation for which they were done.

6) The First Resurrection - also referred to as the 'resurrection of the just', it is during this First Resurrection that the righteous people who have died are raised to eternal life (Rev. 20:4-6)

7) Millennial reign of Christ - the 1000 year reign of Christ on the earth, when the Kingdom of God is in manifestation and the old covenant promises made to the forefathers of Israel are fulfilled. (Rev. 20:1-9)

8) Great White Throne Judgment - the final judgment (Rev. 20:11-15) when the unbelievers are judged according to their works and cast into the lake of fire. It takes place after the end of the millennial reign of Christ on earth. This is different from the resurrection of those who are saved. The resurrection of the righteous people is completed at the First Resurrection, before the Millenium starts.

9) A New Heaven and a New Earth - after Satan and all unbelievers are cast into the lake of fire, the first heaven and the first earth pass away and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. (Rev. 21:1)

10) Marriage Supper of the Lamb - after the Rapture of the Church, there will be the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9). This is the time when the Church who is the bride is presented spotless to the bridegroom, Jesus Christ through Christ's cleansing blood.

Please note that these events are not in chronological order because God has not even now given us enough light to make an accurate, detailed chart of all the events which will precede the second coming of Christ. Only time will confirm the prophecies of end-times.

Generally, to me, the main area of disagreement is in the timing of the Rapture. There are three views to the timing of the Rapture: Pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation and post-tribulation. In this study of end-times, it seemed to me that the scriptures do not seem to support the theology of pre-tribulation or a secret coming of Christ to rapture the Church before the tribulation comes.

Standing from a practical viewpoint, I do subscribe to the opinion that we cannot risk promising God's people that they will be surely delivered from the tribulation in a pre-tribulation rapture. Plainly because we really cannot know for sure that this will happen. If it really does not happen, then the believers' faith will be badly shaken should they wake up to find themselves in the midst of tribulation. 

There are two types of suffering for people: 1) Curse of the law or sin, 2) Persecution for the sake of the gospel. We are surely delivered from the first because of Christ's finished work on the cross. Because Jesus suffered the punishment of sin, we do not need to suffer sickness, poverty, lack, loneliness and everything that comes with the consequences of sin. However, nowhere in the bible promises the believer that he will be free from persecution. In fact, Jesus is the One who said 'In this world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.' (John 16:33) 

However, we, the Church is surely promised deliverance from God's wrath at the end of the Tribulation. This is because God's wrath has been totally exhausted in the body of Christ at the Cross. It would be unjustifiable for God to send wrath to those who believe in Christ's finished work. The Law of Double Jeopardy says that the same crime cannot be punished on the criminal twice. Hence we can have the assurance that we will be shielded from God's wrath at the end of the Tribulation just like the Jews were shielded from the ten plagues on Egypt. However, no one can be sure if this deliverance means that we are bodily taken out of this earth (like in a secret Rapture).

In my next blog post I will talk about our response as believers to these end-times events. 

Study of End-times (Part I)

I just completed my module on 'Eschatology' or study of end-times at RHEMA Bible Training Center last week. Before that, I did not know what is eschatology and even had difficulty pronouncing that word! I signed up for this module because I wanted to learn more about end-times. I felt that it was necessary as a believer not to be ignorant about end-time prophecies in the bible and end-time events.

In the past, I shunned this topic because like most believers, there were different theologies about end time prophecies and the events written in the bible were hard to understand. Some end-time events like tribulation might even be scary or confusing. Other believers may think that they would probably not live till then to witness these things so why the need to study about end-times. For me, I did not want to be caught up with the unfruitful speculation of the timing of Jesus' 2nd coming.

The truth of that matter is: we are already living in end-times. Ok, you may think that centuries ago people were already talking about the 2nd coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but hey, He has not come yet! Yet in the bible, Jesus clearly tells us to watch and pray for we do not know when He will be coming again. Apostle Paul talked as though his generation would witness the end; yet nowhere did he expressly affirm that the end would come in his lifetime.

For me, the study of end-times was necessary because end-time theology taught me to be wise. Psalm 90:12 says 'Teach us to number our days so that we may gain wisdom.' The reality is that there is an end to all things on this earth. Hence we are 'forced' to focus our eyes on eternity no matter how much we enjoy our time on earth. The gospel must be preached to all people because the truth is, without Jesus Christ, man cannot save themselves. There is a heaven to go to and a hell to shun for eternity. Your divine fate is not temporal; it is forever. And forever is a very, very long time...

As a person solidly grounded in the gospel of grace, sometimes I feel that I tend to categorise my life according to doctrines like grace, faith, works of the Holy Spirit etc. Yet the bible does not segregate these teachings. Going through this course did make me a little uncomfortable because some of my theologies were shaken. However I know it is for my good because the Word of God will always straighen us up and adjust our thinking. I used to have a fuzzy idea about end-times but thank God that this lecturer is very anointed in teaching about end-times! He made the concepts and the contentious points so clear for me. He based his teachings largely on the book 'The Blessed Hope' by George Eldon Ladd. 

Having benefited so much from the study, I really liked to share some of my learning points, which I am sure you will be blessed. In the next few blog posts, I will talk about what the study of end-times entails and more importantly, what our response should be as believers.

This season of fruit bearing

Thank God that another popcorn that popped recently was this: I was recently appointed the Care Group (CG) leader of my CG. About a year ago I was asked by my leader to be his stand-in or assistant CG leader. Since then I have facilitated about four CG meetings while he was away. Recently his wife just gave birth after a gap of 12 years as their two daughters are already teenagers. Hence he told me to be prepared to take on a bigger role in the CG because he would be busy with the new baby and some adjustments needed to be made. Besides, he just changed his job and was rather busy with that as well.

I thought it was just to stand-in for him for a temporary period of a couple of months till they are settled down. Of course I agreed as I know God has been preparing me for this some time ago. However, I was surprised that his decision was to step down from the CG and to hand over the leadership baton to me. I did not quite expect this and the change was effective immediately! Usually there is a handover period but in this case, because my leader had to urgently attend to other family matters, I had to take over immediately.

This also came as a surprise to some members because they did not see it coming. They also were wondering what actually happened. To the best I could, I explained to them the reasons of his stepping down. Thank God that despite their initial surprise (or shock), when our leader faced a recent crisis in his wife's childbearing incident, members all came forth to encourage him with the Word of God and stood in faith with him. I was really touched because I saw God's love in this family of believers. The bible says in 1 John 4:12 'No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and His love has been perfected in us.'

When I first knew I had to assume leadership immediately, I felt like what Joshua felt when Moses his leader passed on and God told him to be strong and courageous for he was about to bring the Jews into the Promise Land. God's exact words were 'Now therefore, arise and go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them - the children of Israel.' God has been preparing me for this day and He kept telling me to 'arise and go' since Dec 2011. Although I was not sure exactly what plans He had for me, I knew that 2012 is a year of action. It is a season of fruit-bearing for me. My time has truly come. No more waiting. Now is the time for action.

And God is true to His Word. It came to pass exactly as He has spoken. It was like I thought I was waiting and waiting for Him to move things; I was tired of waiting and really wanted some action in Sep 2011. However, God told me to rest in Him at that time. I would be totally caught off guard if God did not prepare me beforehand. Indeed as I looked back, last year was a year of preparation for me. It was not a wasted year. The year of rest and preparation was so crucial for me. God knows best. Now that I am in harvest time when the desires of my heart come into manifestation, I begin to feel the accelerated pace of God's move. When God moves, He moves really fast and we have to move with Him.

Yet it is during this time of action that I needed to rest in the Lord even more. Despite the greater responsibility as a CG leader, I am reminded to look to the Lord for His anointing, His wisdom and His strength because there is no way I could do it myself. In fact, it was all a finished work in God's eyes. I told God that if I did not have the assurance that He is with me, as He was with Joshua, I would not even be taking up this position. Even as I am mindful of members' expectation of a leader, I am not burdened in any way because I cast all these cares to the Lord. I know it is God working in me and through me, so I could rest in the knowledge that since He put me there, His grace is more than sufficient to keep me there. None of my works to boast about, so that all glory belongs to Jesus!

I am very excited because the Lord has great plans for my CG. He has revealed them to me recently. In the coming days and months, I will see how they are blessed by the Word of God, the presence of God in their lives and I will see their lives transformed. He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion until the day of Christ (Philippians 1:6). Amen!