Before the turn of 2012, the Lord told me not to be afraid of 2012 for it is a very good year, my best year yet. This is a year when many things fall into place and dreams start manifesting. The church theme for 2012 is the Year of Unceasing Fruitfulness and our anchor verses are Jeremiah 17:7 and Psalm 1:3. I have been meditating on these verses, confessing that I am like a tree planted by the rivers of water and I bear fruit this season. Indeed I have seen many fruits manifesting from my life this year.
One of the most significant fruits was that God caused my first book to be published and launched this year. It was a spectacular achievement because it was purely God's grace since I knew nothing about the publishing world. If God had not opened doors and made it possible for me to publish, this book would have still remained as a manuscript today. The other marvellous thing that the Lord has done for me this year was my appointment as a caregroup leader. This may seem like a small step to others but I certainly do not take this appointment for granted. I know that many people are so keen to serve as a leader in this great church. It is my privilege indeed. I feel so blessed to sit under the training of anointed pastors of this church and to fellowship with other fellow leaders.
With this leadership appointment, I was also scheduled to serve in the Prayer and Healing Room every Sunday. This ministry is such a great blessing to me. I thank God that His anointing on my life has multiplied especially after I started serving in the Prayer and Healing Room. I witnessed the healing power of God, the great love that our Father has for His children and I also realised how blessed I already am. Serving the congregation takes my eyes off myself and onto Jesus. Many times I felt that serving saves me. The Lord has been preparing me to serve in this capacity since last July as He put desires in my heart to lay hands and pray for the sick. I also thank God that Heng is so supportive of my serving and helps to take care of Joshua when I serve on Sundays.
The other fulfilling fruit that I saw was in Joshua's development - spiritual and intellectual. I thank God that he has received the gift of tongues and whenever I did not feel well, we would pray in tongues. He would also put anointing oil on me and lay hands on me. He is very sensitive to my needs and understands if I need time with the Lord, he will play by himself. Joshua has grown so much closer to me in these two years of bonding with him. I thank God for the time spent with him (swimming, going to library, bringing him to the playground, shopping etc) for these are pearly moments. He may be still a small boy now, sticky and reliant on me but he will one day grow to be a teen. By then I will look back and relish this season of my life that I spent with him.
In the area of my caregroup ministry, I also witnessed breakthroughs in some of my members' lives. We have seen the Holy Spirit moving strongly in the CG meetings as we laid hands and prayed for members. It was truly amazing! Not only that, the Lord has also brought a few newcomers to our CG. He is prospering and multiplying our CG. Heng's worship anointing has also increased tremendously this year as he stepped out to worship lead. I am also heartened to see that some of my members stepping out in the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit like prophesying, tongues, gifts of healing etc. The end result is that the body of Christ is edified.
In my personal life, I have grown in intimacy with the Lord and I have learnt to listen to His still, small voice. When I stepped out in response to the leading of the Holy Spirit, I found out that whatever He told me (whether it was about myself, others or a certain situation) turned out to be true all the time. I have received many revelations from the Lord this year and He now speaks to me plainly and clearly. Though there was increased spiritual resistance and things happening that tried to steal my joy and peace, I still thank God that He never fails to encourage me, strengthen my faith and restore me to my position of rest. Looking back, I realised I have grown much through the testings, the unfair situations and adverse circumstances.
Above all, I thank God that He has increased my revelation of His great love for me and also how He views me as precious, apple of His eye, shining diamond, His princess and much more. This is truly a year of unceasing fruitfulness. I saw many fruits manifesting in my life, my dreams come true and the Lord's goodness in my life. I am excited about the coming year 2013 because it is going to be a year of His explosive blessings. God is a progressive God. He always outdo Himself each year. I declare that 2013 will be my best year yet! How about you?
Monday, December 31, 2012
Friday, December 21, 2012
God is doing a new thing!
Recently I have been feeling that God is doing a new thing...it was no coincidence that from the various devotionals I read, God has been showing me this message. Isaiah 43:19 'Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?' and Isaiah 42:8-9 'Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.' In fact, over the past two months, I have come across this message 17 times and in a few occasions, two different devotionals talked about the same message on the same day! Now there are millions of verses in the bible, what do you think are the chances of the same verse appearing repeatedly?
Obviously God is putting this message across strongly. When I first read about it in late Oct, my spirit was excited. At that time, I sensed the Lord dealing with me about my past. He kept telling me to let go of the past, whether it be past friendships or past hurts and disappointments. He called these 'baggages' and in the future that He is bringing me to, there is no room for 'baggages'. It was certainly not easy to let go of these, especially when I am a sentimental person. I was emotional when we left our old church and when I left my old workplace.
But I knew at some point I had to let go of the baggage. I need to move on and be prepared to shift when God calls. I know from experience that when God tells me to let go of the past, it is because he wants me to make room for the new things He is doing in my life. If I do not let go of the past and move forward, how then can I walk to the glorious future that God has prepared for me? Then when I looked back, I suddenly realised that these old things are really no more...there is no way I can go back the same way anymore. If that is so, why do I keep lingering on these old memories? Since I do not want to be stuck in my past, the only way is to keep moving forward. Actually I should be rejoicing when God gave me this message repeatedly because it meant that I need not circle the same mountain year after year...I can finally move on.
I was looking forward to the new things God is doing in my life, yet on the surface, it did not seem like anything has changed. But as time went on, God kept reinforcing that message. He even said we have talked so much about letting go of the past, yet He did not want me to treat what He is about to say lightly just because I have heard it so many times. He told me He is doing and He will do a new thing in my life and in the lives of those I love. And then one day, it seemed like a coin dropped into my spirit. God began to open my eyes to see the new things He is doing. For one, our church moving to The Star is one big new thing God is doing. Since my divine destiny is closely intertwined with the church's destiny, it also means that I am crossing over to my promised land.
The other new thing was a new idea of a science fiction novel that the Lord planted in my mind. I have the outline of the novel written out and I have also begun to write the first chapter. I do not know how long it would take for me to complete or how I am going to develop the plot, all I know is when the Lord puts an idea in my mind, it is as good as completed. The last time He gave me an idea to write a book in July 2010, my first book was birthed in July 2012. It was amazing because I could see His fingerprints all over my book. And now, He has given me a new assignment for my second book. This idea is something out of the world because I really have no idea how to write a novel, let alone a sci-fi novel. But thank God it is not about me, it is all about Jesus! He will give me the anointing to write!
God also showed me that he is doing a new thing in our family life. I already know a chapter of Joshua's life has closed with his Kindergarten graduation and he is starting a new chapter in his primary school. But what I do not know is the wonderful things ahead that God has prepared for Joshua to enjoy. And these things are unfolding as time goes. God is also showing me that He is bringing new life into our family next year, meaning that there will be a new addition to our family. He revealed that I will be a happy mother of children at home. I am already a happy mother of a child at home...the Lord is adding to me children. Of course I am looking forward to that because I have been waiting for this moment for years!
I have always wanted the age gap between Joshua and his sibling to be four to five years but it seems that God has seven years in mind. He told me 7 in the bible is the number of perfection and the number of completion, like God is represented by the number 7 and God made the world in 7 days. Anyhow, God said that seven years of age gap is His perfect timing for our family. I trust that God has the best interests for me and more importantly, I am just too happy to know that the years of waiting and struggling to see this promise of another child come to pass has finally come to an end. I am so looking forward to 2013 and the new things God is doing in my life! Praise Jesus!
Obviously God is putting this message across strongly. When I first read about it in late Oct, my spirit was excited. At that time, I sensed the Lord dealing with me about my past. He kept telling me to let go of the past, whether it be past friendships or past hurts and disappointments. He called these 'baggages' and in the future that He is bringing me to, there is no room for 'baggages'. It was certainly not easy to let go of these, especially when I am a sentimental person. I was emotional when we left our old church and when I left my old workplace.
But I knew at some point I had to let go of the baggage. I need to move on and be prepared to shift when God calls. I know from experience that when God tells me to let go of the past, it is because he wants me to make room for the new things He is doing in my life. If I do not let go of the past and move forward, how then can I walk to the glorious future that God has prepared for me? Then when I looked back, I suddenly realised that these old things are really no more...there is no way I can go back the same way anymore. If that is so, why do I keep lingering on these old memories? Since I do not want to be stuck in my past, the only way is to keep moving forward. Actually I should be rejoicing when God gave me this message repeatedly because it meant that I need not circle the same mountain year after year...I can finally move on.
I was looking forward to the new things God is doing in my life, yet on the surface, it did not seem like anything has changed. But as time went on, God kept reinforcing that message. He even said we have talked so much about letting go of the past, yet He did not want me to treat what He is about to say lightly just because I have heard it so many times. He told me He is doing and He will do a new thing in my life and in the lives of those I love. And then one day, it seemed like a coin dropped into my spirit. God began to open my eyes to see the new things He is doing. For one, our church moving to The Star is one big new thing God is doing. Since my divine destiny is closely intertwined with the church's destiny, it also means that I am crossing over to my promised land.
The other new thing was a new idea of a science fiction novel that the Lord planted in my mind. I have the outline of the novel written out and I have also begun to write the first chapter. I do not know how long it would take for me to complete or how I am going to develop the plot, all I know is when the Lord puts an idea in my mind, it is as good as completed. The last time He gave me an idea to write a book in July 2010, my first book was birthed in July 2012. It was amazing because I could see His fingerprints all over my book. And now, He has given me a new assignment for my second book. This idea is something out of the world because I really have no idea how to write a novel, let alone a sci-fi novel. But thank God it is not about me, it is all about Jesus! He will give me the anointing to write!
God also showed me that he is doing a new thing in our family life. I already know a chapter of Joshua's life has closed with his Kindergarten graduation and he is starting a new chapter in his primary school. But what I do not know is the wonderful things ahead that God has prepared for Joshua to enjoy. And these things are unfolding as time goes. God is also showing me that He is bringing new life into our family next year, meaning that there will be a new addition to our family. He revealed that I will be a happy mother of children at home. I am already a happy mother of a child at home...the Lord is adding to me children. Of course I am looking forward to that because I have been waiting for this moment for years!
I have always wanted the age gap between Joshua and his sibling to be four to five years but it seems that God has seven years in mind. He told me 7 in the bible is the number of perfection and the number of completion, like God is represented by the number 7 and God made the world in 7 days. Anyhow, God said that seven years of age gap is His perfect timing for our family. I trust that God has the best interests for me and more importantly, I am just too happy to know that the years of waiting and struggling to see this promise of another child come to pass has finally come to an end. I am so looking forward to 2013 and the new things God is doing in my life! Praise Jesus!
Our Church Move to The Star!
This Sunday, New Creation Church will be having our very first Christmas service at the building we co-owned with a private company. This majestic building is called 'The Star' and its design look like an ark. It is located at Buona Vista. It boasts of three levels of retail space owned by the private company and a 5000-seat theatre owned by our church. This project started in 2007 when Pastor Prince announced that our church was awarded the bid to develop this piece of land. Our church has been at The Rock for 13 years, since 1999. It was a rented auditorium and we saw many signs and wonders happening at The Rock. But God wanted to give us more...He wanted us to have a building that we can call our own...hence He put the desire in Pastor's heart to search for a new place.
We had our last service at the Rock auditorium last week and as the video clips of what the place meant to different people, as well as the sermon clips of Pastor at The Rock made me feel a little sentimental about that place. I remembered when we first stepped into The Rock in Nov 2008, in that service, we heard about the ground-breaking ceremony that took place the day before. Then we realized that this church is moving to some place in the future. I believe that God brought us to NCC for times like this. It carries great significance to us because we witnessed the beginning and the end of this church building project. Besides, we also had a stake in this new church home because we had sown into this building.
Pastor told us that the Lord revealed to him why He called the auditorium 'The Rock' and the new church building 'The Star'. The Lord said because our church had been founded on the solid rock of the foundation of Christ all these years, He is catapulting us to the star. The rock is symbolic of a low and hard place, even though we had witnessed many miracles and been fed so well by the gospel of grace at The Rock, the truth is we had not seen anything yet. God is bringing us to the star, to high grounds, to the heavenly realms. God wants us to shine brightly like a star - to shine for Jesus! I don't know about the rest but I am really excited about this move!
Since July 2012, our church has been preparing for the move. My excitement already started months ago. The sense of excitement is palpable as we wait with abated breath for the moment we step into God's 'promised land' for us. We felt like the children of Israel, after 40 years of wandering in the desert, we are finally standing on the verge of destiny. The emotion is overwhelming. We are gathered by the side of River Jordan and looking hopefully into the land God had promised us. As we prepare to cross over, we pause for a moment. It is a journey that we have not experienced...we have not come this way before. But one thing is certain: God is with us and that would be more than enough for us to step out into the river, for the experience of a lifetime. We are crossing a significant milestone in our church history and we have never gone this way before.
It is clearly a new chapter for our church as we cross over to The Star this Sunday. I sense that a new order is emerging. A new era, not just a season. It is a time of open heavens, divine interventions, signs, wonders, miracles and manifestation of God's glory. There is so much angelic activity in the spiritual realm, just that we could not see it. The old has passed away, the new has come. Pastor told us that our church's humble beginnings started in 1989 in a HDB flat at Holland Drive, near to where the new building stands. It is certainly no coincidence that this flat was demolished because of an en-bloc sale. The flat was torn down to make way for the new developments. In the spiritual sense, it was like God telling us that the past is no more. Behold, He is doing a new thing...now it springs forth! He wants us to keep our eyes focused on the new things that He is already doing. Our family is all ready to attend the very first service at The Star...we are so eager to worship God in this building. Praise God for our future is going to be more glorious than our past!
We had our last service at the Rock auditorium last week and as the video clips of what the place meant to different people, as well as the sermon clips of Pastor at The Rock made me feel a little sentimental about that place. I remembered when we first stepped into The Rock in Nov 2008, in that service, we heard about the ground-breaking ceremony that took place the day before. Then we realized that this church is moving to some place in the future. I believe that God brought us to NCC for times like this. It carries great significance to us because we witnessed the beginning and the end of this church building project. Besides, we also had a stake in this new church home because we had sown into this building.
Pastor told us that the Lord revealed to him why He called the auditorium 'The Rock' and the new church building 'The Star'. The Lord said because our church had been founded on the solid rock of the foundation of Christ all these years, He is catapulting us to the star. The rock is symbolic of a low and hard place, even though we had witnessed many miracles and been fed so well by the gospel of grace at The Rock, the truth is we had not seen anything yet. God is bringing us to the star, to high grounds, to the heavenly realms. God wants us to shine brightly like a star - to shine for Jesus! I don't know about the rest but I am really excited about this move!
Since July 2012, our church has been preparing for the move. My excitement already started months ago. The sense of excitement is palpable as we wait with abated breath for the moment we step into God's 'promised land' for us. We felt like the children of Israel, after 40 years of wandering in the desert, we are finally standing on the verge of destiny. The emotion is overwhelming. We are gathered by the side of River Jordan and looking hopefully into the land God had promised us. As we prepare to cross over, we pause for a moment. It is a journey that we have not experienced...we have not come this way before. But one thing is certain: God is with us and that would be more than enough for us to step out into the river, for the experience of a lifetime. We are crossing a significant milestone in our church history and we have never gone this way before.
It is clearly a new chapter for our church as we cross over to The Star this Sunday. I sense that a new order is emerging. A new era, not just a season. It is a time of open heavens, divine interventions, signs, wonders, miracles and manifestation of God's glory. There is so much angelic activity in the spiritual realm, just that we could not see it. The old has passed away, the new has come. Pastor told us that our church's humble beginnings started in 1989 in a HDB flat at Holland Drive, near to where the new building stands. It is certainly no coincidence that this flat was demolished because of an en-bloc sale. The flat was torn down to make way for the new developments. In the spiritual sense, it was like God telling us that the past is no more. Behold, He is doing a new thing...now it springs forth! He wants us to keep our eyes focused on the new things that He is already doing. Our family is all ready to attend the very first service at The Star...we are so eager to worship God in this building. Praise God for our future is going to be more glorious than our past!
Joshua's Graduation Concert
This month we attended Joshua's last preschool concert and his graduation ceremony from Kindergarten as well. It was really a milestone in his life as we see him donned in the kids' graduation gown with the mortar. I felt as if our little boy has grown up and next year he will be in primary one. A season of his life has ended and a new chapter has begun for him. In more than a week's time, he will be attending first day at his primary school. I am somewhat anxious for him because I know he will miss his classmates in preschool. But I entrust him to the Lord, knowing that he will make more friends and enjoy his learning more in primary school.
Well, on that day of his concert, just before the graduation ceremony begun, I was informed that Joshua had a tummyache and he was crying because it hurt so much. How I wish I could fly to the backstage, lay my hands on his tummy and pray for healing...but I could not. But thank God my mum is a childcare teacher in his preschool so she could pray for him and rubbed some ointment on his tummy. Thank God he was well enough to go out and take his graduation certificate, as well as stand through the ceremony. I knew he was still not feeling totally well because he kept shifting his weight from right to left. Afterwards I learnt from him that he did that to alleviate the pain since he could not squat down.
I prayed and asked God to heal him completely so that he can enjoy performing for his concert. There were still two dance items that his class had to perform. When I next saw him on the stage again, dressed in his dance costume, he looked fine to me. Indeed he was able to dance and perform well...hence I believe he is completely healed. For the second dance item, I caught his eye and signalled to ask if he is good, he gave me the thumbs up sign. I was really relieved and thankful to God! I did not know whether it was because he had stage fright that resulted in the stomachache or ate the wrong thing...but Joshua told me afterwards that he went to the toilet after the graduation ceremony and he felt much better after that. Thank God that at least Joshua could enjoy his last concert!
Well, on that day of his concert, just before the graduation ceremony begun, I was informed that Joshua had a tummyache and he was crying because it hurt so much. How I wish I could fly to the backstage, lay my hands on his tummy and pray for healing...but I could not. But thank God my mum is a childcare teacher in his preschool so she could pray for him and rubbed some ointment on his tummy. Thank God he was well enough to go out and take his graduation certificate, as well as stand through the ceremony. I knew he was still not feeling totally well because he kept shifting his weight from right to left. Afterwards I learnt from him that he did that to alleviate the pain since he could not squat down.
I prayed and asked God to heal him completely so that he can enjoy performing for his concert. There were still two dance items that his class had to perform. When I next saw him on the stage again, dressed in his dance costume, he looked fine to me. Indeed he was able to dance and perform well...hence I believe he is completely healed. For the second dance item, I caught his eye and signalled to ask if he is good, he gave me the thumbs up sign. I was really relieved and thankful to God! I did not know whether it was because he had stage fright that resulted in the stomachache or ate the wrong thing...but Joshua told me afterwards that he went to the toilet after the graduation ceremony and he felt much better after that. Thank God that at least Joshua could enjoy his last concert!
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Christ at the centre of marriage
Recently I heard of a case of possible divorce. It was from a distant relative. This lady wanted a divorce because her husband was having an affair outside. My heart immediately went out to the two little girls. I still remembered in 2010, I heard about their plans to have a third child but then later no news. At that time I was a little disturbed because it was so easy for some people especially non-believers to conceive. When they said they wanted to have another baby, the next moment they got pregnant. Heng told me that there was no need to be envious about them because we are the ones truly blessed by God. I could not see what he meant then but now, three years later, I saw it clearly.
Indeed many people seemed to be ahead in terms of their career, family planning etc. But really, it does not matter how advanced their careers are or how many kids they have if the outcome of their marriage is like this. God showed me that in making all these steps forward, when their marriage broke down, it was like taking a huge step backward, totally nullifying the progress made. Of course no one could judge their decision because we really would not be able to know what they went through.
The devil is really a rascal! Over the past eleven years, I have heard of ten cases of divorce, some with kids, some no kids. Imagine that it was only about a decade and these people are already giving up on their marriages. Marriage is for the long haul...what about the next 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ahead? It caused me to wonder how many marriages can truly survive the long haul. I really think it would be impossible unless Christ is at the centre of our marriages. He is the One who truly holds the marriage and the family together. Without Christ, it is impossible to love our spouse or our children with the agape, unconditional love of God.
What is worse is the view towards divorce nowadays. The trend is that divorce has become commonplace and when people find that they cannot get along, they choose this way out. Frankly it is the easy way out. Staying put and roughing out the challenges in the marriage is tougher but more admirable. Yes, God can still have a wonderful plan for divorcees but this is not His best will. The emotional wounds of the children after divorce could take a long while to heal and it was always a struggle for the single parent. But of course if the party was a victim and divorce is the only way out of an abusive marriage, then it would be better for the safety and well-being of that party.
God told me that sometimes a family may look very blessed and happy on the outside but what goes on behind the closed doors, no one knows. In fact, there are bound to be challenges and struggles in every family but with Christ, we are not alone. We have the wisdom of God to help us in our marriage and parenting. Therein lies the blessedness of a family who puts Christ in the centre. We have a strong foundation for our marriage which is built on Christ the solid rock. And this foundation will see us through the storms in life, causing us to overcome in life. Christ will be our unchanging anchor when the world around us is changing. Such is the security of a family who trusts in Christ. They will then be thriving in the long haul and all glory and praise will go to God!
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