LAUNCH OF JOSEPH LEADERSHIP ACADEMY!

Dear friends, it is on this day, my 50th Jubilee birthday that I am announcing the official launch of my online training academy. This is a tribute to the Lord for all the years of me sitting at His feet, learning all that He has to teach me. It has been my great joy and pleasure to share that finally the Lord has birthed this training academy. This ministry is truly birthed out of an intimacy with my Lord Jesus.

The Joseph Leadership Academy (www.josephleadershipacademy.com) is an online training platform dedicated to empowering marketplace believers. As someone called to marketplace ministry, I've noticed a gap in teaching and discipleship, particularly in helping believers apply their faith in their daily work.  

Through my experience in coaching and prayer support, I've found that combining coaching with training and equipping is the most effective approach. I've created this academy to provide believers in the marketplace with a comprehensive training program, grounding them in God's word and preparing them for their calling. 

 My hope is that this training will inspire believers to explore God's word, develop a hunger for it, and pursue a deeper intimacy with the Lord. As they continue their walk with Jesus, they'll be guided by the Holy Spirit to fulfil their calling in the marketplace. Thank you for your prayers and support! 

MY BLOG IS 14TH YEARS OLD

Today marks the 14th year of my blog's existence. I cannot believe that it has already been 14 years since I started this blog in 2010. I have so much to share with you in the days to come. It is a significant milestone of my ministry. On 28 Oct, which is my 50th birthday, I will make an important announcement to a new ministry that the Lord has called me to 'birth'. It is a culmination of all that I have learnt in these years of sitting at Jesus' feet and learning from Him. I never thought my life would turn out in this manner. But yes, the waiting season has ended and the Lord has transitioned me into a new season. Besides my son has just graduated from junior college. He has come of age as in 18 years old this year. My stay home season is coming to an end. In this new season, God is launching me into the marketplace ministry. He has been preparing me for the past two years by working with various people in the marketplace. Even though I may not have all the details, it is enough for me to take the next step. But most importantly, I thank God that my past season of waiting and wilderness has finally come to an end. I am excited to see the new beginning on the horizon. That will be all for now. I will be making some announcements on 28 Oct so stay tuned!

MAMMON AND ABUNDANCE MINDSET

One thing I would like to touch on regarding this topic of finances is about the spirit of Mammon. So what is this Mammon? Simply put, it is the love of money. Matthew 6:24 says that ‘No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love t he other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.’ In this case, money is not evil because the root of all evil is the love of money (1 Timothy 6:10). If you use money to bless people, it is a good thing. If you use people to make money, it is evil.

I heard this sermon from Johnny Enlow, author of the Seven Mountains Mandate. One thing he mentioned was the spirit of poverty. He said this wasn’t about whether someone is rich or poor. It was about their mindset. Rich people can be in fear of losing their wealth because of how they came into it. It was sobering when Johnny said people who amassed great wealth not through the Lord will be insecure. Deuteronomy 8:18 says that it is the Lord who gives us the power to create wealth. 

Any other means of gaining wealth not through the Lord is from the devil. The devil gives and he can take away. Which is why bible says riches are fleeting. But we who put our trust in the Lord to provide for us need not fear such storms or shaking in the economic realm. Because we have seen how the Lord provided for us in the last crisis. And we are not beholden to money. We serve God, not mammon. 

People are beholden to mammon because many times they do not have an abundance mindset. They are too focused on their lack. They cannot see God as a loving Father who wants to take care of their needs and wants. They cannot trust God as their Provider. They are afraid that if they do not look out for themselves, they will be disadvantaged. They do not know that as children of the Most High God, all they have to do is to ask the Father.

 

There are some who will leverage on every opportunity, even people to make money. They want to get the best deal out of everything. Johnny said they will hide under the guise of stewardship but in fact it isn’t. When it comes to the things of God, you want to be generous. You want to be a channel, not a dam. You don’t want to hoard things and blessings. You want to give it away. 

 

This is sobering to me because even though I don’t leverage on people to make money, I always try to get the best deal out of my purchases. I attribute this to good stewardship but at times I feel it is limiting. Like why can’t I just spend at will, not looking at the prices all the time. Why do I always need to wait till I go JB to shop and buy cheaper stuff. Hopes deferred makes the heart sick but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

 

Yes I can make do with delayed purchases or delayed fulfilment but at times, God just wants me to be obedient there and then. He wants me to just spend when the desire or need comes up. He wants me to have an abundant mindset. He needs me to start visualising how it is like when abundance comes into my life. How I will handle it. This is what He has been talking to me about some months ago. 

 

God is going to show us where the hidden treasures are. Where the pots of gold are hidden. I don’t know how but my part is to obey. And to prepare when He tells me to. The very first place I need to prepare is in my mind. Which is why it was crucial for the Lord to address my poverty mentality. Because this is a limiting belief that will keep me from receiving the abundance in the first place. 

 

I had to remove this blockage before His supply will flow freely in my life. Which was why God took so long to address this through creating new neural pathways. Reconditioning of my mind. How can I be generous to others when I am not generous to myself in the first place. God is a practical God. Unless I really don’t have any desires for material stuff, which some people don’t, then I can freely give away my money. But I still have desires so God wants me to go fulfil them first. 

 

I always believe the abundance that God gives to us will be an overflow. Like how He will bless your family with more than enough money that you can ever spend in our lifetime. Even after putting aside an inheritance for your children’s children, you will still have a lot more money to give away. God is so good. He will never want us to give at my expense. Then it will be self-righteousness. 

 

Another thing Johnny pointed out was people want to give but they aren’t sure who to give to and how much. Giving is actually a lot of work because you got to do due diligence on the organisation you give to. You don’t want to be a bad steward and throw your money away. Especially when there has been much scandal about mega churches in previous years. People are more careful about giving. 

BUDGETING

I read a book titled ‘More Money Now’. It is a secular book but it has nuggets of truth to learn from. One of my takeaways was about budgeting. The author said that most millionaires don’t keep a budget. Because budgeting will never make you rich. Budgeting focuses on tactic without understanding that good personal finance is 80% mindset and behaviour, 20% tactic. It was when she stopped using a budget that she discovered a better way to manage her money that she started to see real change.

A budget may give us instant benefit but this creates a false sense of security that prevents us from looking at the reasons why we are overspending in the first place. To break out of this the first thing we need to do is acknowledge that a budget limits our control. You need to learn what is important to you and to think critically about what you are spending and why. But society doesn’t want us thinking, it wants us following a set of rules and norms. 

 

She sought to understand more about why she did the things and how she could empower herself to do the things necessary to bring her closer to her goals. To know where her thoughts about money came from, how those shaped her life and how to rewrite them. To create a simple way to manage her money that didn’t involve shame, blame, restriction or anxiety. Create new money rules to run her life that would provide the opposite effect of budgeting.

 

She needed to learn how to seek happiness in what she bought and stop buying stuff that didn’t satisfy. Instead of trying to conform to some predetermined plan that didn’t work, she had to rewrite the rules and make them work for her. Finally she was ready to truly learn about saving, investing and growing her money without sacrificing her happiness to get there. She talked about money gauge, which is simply the amount of money that feels normal and natural to you. Your comfort zone with money. 

 

I just wanted to process what she said at this point. Now budgeting is my area of strength. It was a tool that served me well all those years. It helped me to better track my household finances. At least I knew where the money was coming from and where it was going. I had a good grasp on our cash flow and our savings level. I don’t have a savings goal though. I only used the tool to track my spending, to make sure that we are not overspending. 

 

I also don’t apportion our savings into various categories because I felt it was too restrictive. And I don’t take note of every single thing we spent on. Just the baseline items like dining, groceries, others etc. Even so I felt it was getting a little onerous recently. Yet I must say that budgeting served me very well. I am proud of my household budget. It also gave me a sense of security to see that our bank accounts are growing. It was like a sacred cow to me. 

 

Unlike the author, I actually enjoyed budgeting. I enjoyed tracking where our money went to. It worked very well for me in the past few years. But somehow lately I sensed God telling me that my budget could be limiting me. It started in Jun 2023, when I realised our spending had been higher in the last few months and I felt that we should tighten our belts. I didn’t like this feeling of spending out of control. I was also cautious of lifestyle creep. But no, we didn’t spend excessively. 

 

It could be due to inflation and higher cost of living that our household expenses went up. This also caused some anxiety because I began to wonder if inflation would put a strain on our savings in future. Which was why I became more careful with our spending. To a point that it was limiting me. It really does limit my control of my finances. Not only that, it was focusing me on the demand side, trying to cut down costs when God is enlarging my vision regarding the supply. 

 

So then, the poverty mentality within me surfaced. I am the kind of person who enjoys saving and at times I will try not to spend if I can go without something. I know that spending money makes most people happy but not me. Saving money makes me happy. I knew I was going overboard when I had nothing to save up for but yet I was still saving. I don’t know what I am saving up for. Definitely not retirement. It could be to build the buffer to pay our home loan mortgage in cash.

 

When this poverty mindset came up again, I realised God was trying to get a message across to me. The mindset has got to do with everything: personal finance and savings. Firstly where was my security about money? Is it in my ability to control my budget well or is my trust in God to provide? Secondly is this budgeting empowering me or limiting me in this new season? It might have worked well in the last season but it could be old wineskin that limits my potential in this new season. 

 

The Lord was also teaching me about saving, investing and growing my money without sacrificing my happiness to get there. So while I began to sense less ‘life’ or enjoyment when doing budgeting, I sense more ‘life’ when God was teaching me how to increase our passive income. I wasn’t looking forward to tracking our expenses every month. In fact I would get stressed and cringe when I realised it was more than previous months. Then I would avoid activities that require us to spend money. It became too restrictive. 

 

So yes in the new season I believe God wants me to spend more time on increasing our income. Be it through doing some business or other forms of investment. Maybe less on reducing our expenses. Because we are already very lean. A lot of our expenses could not be cut down further like taxes, utilities, mobile bills, tithing, parents’ allowance, insurance, maintenance etc. We already spent lesser on petrol and parking this year because we don’t drive as often. 

FINANCIAL FREEDOM

Since last Oct, God has been renewing my mind about abundance mentality. Which brings me to the topic I want to discuss today. Financial freedom. Yes, this is my pet topic. The key point about financial freedom is people spend money to buy ‘time’ and freedom for their lives. The freedom to do what they want to do, not having to work in order to pay the bills. This concept is very liberating. At some point though there is passive income, these people are still doing some part-time work.

In a sense, financial freedom is more like a freedom of thought. The freedom to choose not to build your life around certain brands or advertisements. Freedom from the need to show off your status in society with flashy status symbols. Freedom to be curious about how money flows and how to invest it properly. Of course the freedom to believe that it’s ok to live a happy life without working hard for money but to make money work hard for you. The freedom to quit their job at some point, overcoming the fear of lack or facing insecurity over the uncertainty of their future.

 

Many people are very busy spending their hard-earned money. People are so caught up in this cycle of consumption that we not longer even realise how enslaved we are. Trap of consumerism. We deserve it after all. We work hard for our money so we are entitled to a little reward. That’s probably why God had to address our financial roadmap because most of us didn’t put much thought into it. Just follow the world’s system. So God wanted to pull us out of that system and teach us to rely on Him for provision.

 

Now, let’s talk about reducing our cost of living. Getting used to living a frugal lifestyle which will help us once we are financially free because we will need relatively less investment income to cover our expenses. But this means we have to change our habits which is tougher. The major recurring costs in our lives are key. How we handle such costs linked to lifestyle choices makes a huge difference to our finances. Hence there is a need to get these expenses under control while young or while it is still relatively manageable.

 

Of course we can decide how much we want to increase them later on in our lives. Many people tend not to watch their budget when on holiday. After all, how often do we get to travel? But if that is how they feel, holidays will necessarily become a big expense. If they plan two or three holidays a year, the cost of these holidays can quickly become a major expense in their overall budget. Of course holidays don’t have to be expensive. You can lower your standards, intentionally choose less expensive countries, take fewer trips etc.

 

I think for most millennials, holidays are a major expense in their lives. Because they plan for at least a few trips a year. One expensive trip and two in the neighbouring countries. It might be tougher for them to save money because they prefer to spend on things that could improve their lives now, rather than to save up for retirement. Their desire is to enjoy the good life, the executive living right now and not have to wait till retirement. Nothing wrong but they might be a bit myopic at times.

 

There was a survey that asked how people want to spend their credit cards with no limits in five years’ time, and few people chose boundless luxury. Sure, at first most people want to take a good break, go on nice holiday, travel around the world etc. But after a while monotony sets in and soon it would not be as exciting or fun as the beginning. At some point, people would like to be involved in meaningful work like helping people or growing a farm etc. Which is why being financially free is good because we have control over our time. 

 

We don’t have to drive ourselves crazy over projects or jobs or timelines anymore. We can do things in small doses. See if it works for us. Some days less, some days more. If I don’t have to work for money, I can still choose to do so if it seems worthwhile. I can negotiate more freely with clients and not be afraid to lose a client.  I can give myself the space to think about what God wants me to focus on in each season when I am not pressured to make money. It is a relaxed attitude about my work. 

Most people do not support the FIRE movement because they felt it was for lazy people. People who did not want to work for the rest of their lives. However, I believe for some people, they just did not want to feel bound to a job they did not like. For me, financial freedom is very precious. The ability to choose is also very powerful. But it would require God to renew our minds (from poverty to abundance) and lots of courage on our part. And wise financial planning too. 

BLESSED 2024!

Here’s wishing all of you a most blessed and joyful 2024! We are truly crossing over into a new season and it is an exciting journey of seeing God do new things in our lives. Isaiah 43:19 says ‘See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up to you; do you not perceive it?’ Many prophetic words had been released over 2024 and I believe it is a good year for those who are in Christ. 

In this new season, I sense the Holy Spirit leading me to a different focus for my blog. It will still be biblical but the emphasis would be on the financial aspects. Because this had been an area the Lord was teaching me for many years and an area of my research so I thought about sharing some of my thoughts that might bless my readers. 

I believe that a good starting point to approach the financial issue would be your values and principles in life. Then you build your financial goals around it. I read a book from Mario Singh titled ‘The Magical Rule of Thre3’ and he talked about the value of money. What money represents to different people. 

Mario came up with a ‘Love Triangle’. Freedom, security and power. Money can certainly buy many forms of freedom. Freedom of travel and freedom of work. Freedom of travel isn’t dependent on how much money you have. People who are far from rich can travel extensively if they make it a priority to do so. 

Most of us work not because we want to but because we have to. Pay the bills, home mortgage, support aged parents and kids‘ education etc. Money gives us freedom from work means we can leave the workplace. These people are finally free from dismal wages, workplace discrimination and bad bosses. Many can choose to do something they really enjoy or start a new business. Yet another reason people want to have money is for financial security.

 

They focus so much on long term financial security because of rising costs of living and inflation. Even rich people are not spared from this. Financial concerns are top of the priority even for people in Singapore who are considered rich in the world’s views. Money worries are common in everyone regardless of their wealth status. Hence most people were likely to see money as providing a peace of mind and ensuring protection for themselves and their loved ones. 

 

Lastly some people are addicted to making more money because they wanted more power. They don’t necessarily want more stuff. What they want is the influence and respect that having more money brings. Money becomes a status symbol. Thus many people who seek influence and respect attain it by seeking money. The ultimate advantage of money is that it offers us choices in life. It increases our options. Money is what you pay but value is what pays you. For me, money to me means freedom. 

 

I don’t need money for security because my security comes from the Lord. He has proven Himself to be my Jehovah Jireh. Which is why I don’t plan for retirement. Having said that, I would like to have financial freedom (debt free). The ability to choose how I can use my time without beholden to making money. Besides I already know the unstable nature of wealth and riches. Having money may not necessarily provide that peace of mind and protection in these last days where things are being shaken. 

This would be all for now but in future posts I would talk about the topic of ‘Financial Independence, Retire Early’ or FIRE in short. I am not sure if many people subscribe to this movement but I felt the concepts discussed in FIRE were quite interesting. So yes, I will be covering this. 

MY BLOG’S 13TH BIRTHDAY

I cannot believe that my blog is 13th years old now. Time really flies. I was so busy for the past year that I have not been blogging. Today when I woke up, I was reminded to post because it is my blog’s 13th birthday. I hope that in this new year, I will be able to post more regularly. I thank God for reminding me of how this blog started in 2010. I just wanted to express my views because I believed that God has given me a voice. I hope that through my sharing, believers all over the world could be encouraged by the word of God. 

Well, just a quick update as to how the Lord has been leading me in the past year. After being commissioned into the marketplace ministry last Oct, I have been working with a few companies the past year, providing spiritual covering for them. This spiritual covering takes the form of prayer intercession. It is a contractual relationship with the companies for 6 months or 1 year. The whole idea is about commitment from both sides, not just sporadic kind of prayer support but dedicated spiritual intercession. 

I first learnt about this concept of spiritual covering through Kingdom Initiatives Australia. There is so much to share about spiritual covering but that will be for another post in future. Before I even heard about spiritual covering, the Lord has put on my heart the concept of prophetic coaching which might be more familiar to some. Yes some prophets like Doug Addison has been providing mentoring and spiritual coaching for believers. Basically to me, it is about journeying with the companies in prayer and also in prophetic consultation. 

The idea is not new. As coaching is not new in the business world. But spiritual or prophetic coaching is a little different because it requires us to tap on God’s solutions and the wisdom of heaven for everyday marketplace issues. In doing so, it isn’t just about giving a word to the business owners, it is also about a renewal of their minds. We want the Christian businesses to have a kingdom mindset eventually.  We hope to help companies, not just individuals, discover their kingdom assignment, the role it plays in the kingdom or the marketplace. 

This type of coaching and intercession in the marketplace specifically deals with issues in the business world. Areas like mammon, corruption, greed, business fundamentals like sales, marketing, staffing, partners and macro economic factors etc. The Holy Spirit is a practical Person and I have seen how His instructions from the word of God are so applicable to the marketplace ministry. For example, as I pray for certain companies, the Lord will highlight specific issues faced by the business owner like the need to build capacity or a good team first. 

Later on, when I began to study secular books about doing business and helping businesses prosper, I realised that these concepts were actually espoused by people in the business world. It was then I realised that God Himself was teaching me how to profit and to help these companies to profit. So my bottom line is simple. Besides helping these companies get aligned to the plans of God, eventually the Lord wants them to prosper. So the test is in the pudding. Whether our partnership results in more open doors, sales or increased profitability. 

By profitability, I do not mean maximising profits with every single opportunity. At times the instruction of God goes against the grain of the worldly wisdom. It may not just be about making money all the time but yes, God is practical. People who go into business must eventually make a profit. Otherwise it defeats the purpose of doing business. Money is not a bad word. It is the love of money or the Spirit of Mammon that pulls believers away from God. Again, I have much to share on this but it will be for later. 

So yes, this is the summary of my work for the past year. It may not sound like a lot but God is laying the ground work in which much is unseen. Or behind the scenes. But I believe that God will open more doors in this new year. He will also cause dead dreams to come alive. Like this writing ministry. Like the idea for my sci-if book. All I have to do is to be willing and obedient. That’s all for now. I will provide more updates in time to come. 

WHAT ARE OUR FAILURES TO GOD?

Some time ago I was pondering upon certain things that people said regarding their past failures. They were asking themselves, which part of it was their responsibility and which part was God’s. Have they missed God? Why did God set them up for failure? If God already knew that the venture would not work, why tell them to do it anyway? It was incredulous to think that God will set anyone up for failure. Well, that depends on how we see failure. Our failure to God is not failure, it is fermentation. 

Such experiences served the purpose of changing us from one state to another. God had to deal with our impurities and much of our flesh, the old man inside us before He could do a great work to us. Before He could bring us to the palace or put us in prominent positions. We had to be prepared in our hearts that when we faced our transgressors, that we still could have compassion on them, rather than to take revenge since we are in a position of power. 

 

Not many people went through as many failures as Joseph did in his life. And these were not mistakes of his making. Not intentionally anyway. Yet God used these painful experiences to build his character which was able to withstand the temptations of being in high position. In the end God restored more than double back to Joseph. He came to a place where he could see how others meant it for harm, but God turned it out for good. And everything that happened was all part of God’s plan. 

 

Well, Joseph could blame God for not protecting him from being sold as a slave to Egypt. But he didn’t. Even while he was being favoured in Potiphar’s house, he still had the fear of God to not commit adultery. He could have just done it, having cared less since this God that he served didn’t even stop the bad thing from happening to him. But Joseph was still honouring God in spite of his circumstances. He knew that the Lord’s presence was with him hence he was prospering. 

 

Once again Joseph could blame God for not justifying him before Potiphar. Or angry with Potiphar for not standing up for Joseph when he probably knew the truth. There in the cold prison cell, he probably wondered why he had to suffer when he did nothing wrong. It was all so unfair. But yet he did not give up his faith in God. He kept a good attitude and God caused him to prosper even in prison. How amazing can that be! When he interpreted the chief baker and chief butler’s dreams, he was again forgotten by them. 

 

He probably thought the opportunity had come for him to be restored to freedom and vindicated but who knew he had to wait another 2 more years? Well, it was only on hindsight that we can see it was all according to God’s timing. If he had been released 2 years ago, he wouldn’t be in position to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. He would have missed the opportunity to become the prime minister of Egypt. But more importantly God’s plan of raising Joseph up to store up grain to prepare for the coming famine would probably not happen. 

 

Which was why I now begin to understand more that these seeming ‘failures’ in our lives were all part of God’s plan. It wasn’t that we missed God or failed because we didn’t obey Him. We wondered why we stepped out in faith many times only to fall flat on our faces. Perhaps our ultimate ‘failure’ was our inability to understand God’s timing for our lives. Or that the right connections were still not in place yet. But if we are honest, we did see a measure of success in the venture God told us to do at first. 

 

Think back to the experiences and anointing God has given all of us. They blessed and helped us but in most cases they were only a forerunner or first fruits of the Lord’s full intention. This is not a matter of failure on our part. Nor is this a matter of not fulfilling an assignment. Rather, it is a matter of the fullness of God’s timing. Just as Elisha told the Shunammite woman to leave and come back at the right time, God is now bringing us back to those experiences. Or bringing those experiences back to us. Why now? Because now is the fullness of time. Now is the time of full harvest.

 

So yes, I felt so heartened knowing that it was a matter of God’s timing, not a matter of me not fulfilling my assignment. Because all I wanted to know is if I had obeyed the Lord as I did not want to miss His voice when He told me to step out to do something. The important thing is that I need to do my part. As for the outcome, I have no control over but just to entrust it to Him. Whether it succeeds or fails it is not my responsibility at all. It is His. All I wanted was to cooperate with Him to close each chapter of my life well. To finish well and move on.  

 

I may not understand why that season didn’t work out the way I expected but I still trust that God will work all things out for my good. And at the right time, He may choose to show me the big picture. If not, it is ok. I still trust Him. The past is no more but what I don’t want to do is to miss the time of His visitation now. The kairos moment. The fullness of His timing. I don’t want to be so bitter or hopeless or bruised that I don’t dare to try again. To dream again, to hope again when He comes to tell me to fan into flames those dead dreams in my life. 

 

I want to be in position when He calls. I want to receive the fullness of whatever He has prepared for my life. I want to lay aside all those disappointments and heartaches in those years. I want to let Him heal me of my soul wounds. I want to be made whole again. I want to be restored to a childlike faith in Him. I want to believe that He has come in the fullness of time to bring to pass those dead dreams. To give me resurrection life. And I know that this time, I will not be disappointed because the fullness of time has come. Yes, it has truly come.  

 

 

MY BLOG IS 12TH YEAR NOW

I know I have not been blogging for a long while. I just have been quite busy as God shifted my season. I am no longer in the long winter but I have entered into spring. It was a long awaited change. I will update more about what I have been busy with recently but today I just wanted to commemorate my blog 12th anniversary. It has been 12 years. 

I have not been consistent with my posting this year but I promise to be posting more in the days to come. There has been a wealth of revelation that I received in the past months. So yes I will be unloading these nuggets bit by bit in time to come. Meanwhile I just would like to thank God for 12 good years of this writing ministry. 

It was interesting that this date falls in the week of the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkoth. So this calls for double celebration. During this Feast of Tabernacles the Jews would make booths and stay in them to remember the days of wilderness. 

The Jews are told to rejoice and celebrate the entire week. Have a good feast. The words “be only joyful” can also be read as “to rejoice,” which tells us that we are to do things that cause us to “rejoice,” which, by extension, will lead to “be only joyful.” Such as taking time off work, coming together with family and the community, putting a smile on the faces of the poor and downtrodden.

The Jews will buy new clothes, get the best meat and wine they can afford, buy their wives a gift and get kids some treats. It is acts like this that will put us, and those around us, in a better mood…a holiday mood. Emphasise the material and the physical in honour of the holiday, and you will feel a bit more spiritual. Laugh, dance, music, the works!

On Sukkoth the Jews are required to eat elaborate meals every day of the holiday and celebrate to the best of our ability. When they celebrate Sukkoth, they should remind ourselves of all the blessings God bestows upon them and arouse within ourselves a post-Yom Kippur repentance through indulgence. 

AUDIOBOOKS ON SALE IN SHOPEE

Following the news interview, I was given the idea of creating audio books from my ebook ‘Devotionals for Joseph people’. I thank God for a talented brother giving me the right to use his creation as background music to my narration. When I was going about narrating the book, I was reminded of the teachings God wanted the Josephs to take note of. I had the strong sense that now is really the time, the appointed time. Whatever God taught us in the past two years, this is really it. This is the launch. Which is why God had me review the teachings from this book that I wrote two years ago but forgot about it. 

The word of God is truly powerful. I was ministered by my own narration for the devotional. It was like God speaking to me as I could hardly remember penning down the contents. It was a direct download from the Lord, as I was just as a scribe. Coupled with the anointed music playing in the background, I truly felt that the audiobooks would be more impactful than the ebook. As such I was led to do six parts of the audiobook and each part was minted as an NFT on OpenSea. However, instead of having airdrops (free copies of the NFT) unlike my ebook NFT, we had these audiobooks listed and selling on Shopee. 

This marketing strategy was also to cast the nets wider to a bigger audience as not many people are familiar with OpenSea or the NFT platform. Or they may not have a crypto wallet or OpenSea account. Shopee is an online shopping platform like Amazon, which means the payment methods are widely used by consumers. So yes, I thought it was a good idea too. Besides for the purchase of the audiobook NFTs, my sale proceeds would be donated to my church. So it would be a blessing to my church too. As such I thank God for listing my audiobooks in Shopee. 

Thank you all for your support and here is the link on shopee if you are interested in the audiobooks NFT. 

https://shopee.sg/product/289454700/13292548198?smtt=0.289473896-1652943286.9

FIRST INTERVIEW ON CHANNEL 8

I really thank God for opening the door for me to be interviewed by Channel 8 reporter. The topic was about NFT scams and how to prevent it. This interview was conducted on 6 April but it was only aired on 2 May, on Channel 8 news at 9am. It came about because the founder of NFTCircle (the platform that I worked with to mint my first book ‘Devotional for Joseph people’) was scheduled for an interview. He was speaking from an entrepreneurial point of view and the news station wanted a content creator. 

I was feeling inadequate because my ebook was just minted on 23 Mar but since God opened the way, I just walked through it. Later on I realised the interview was conducted in Mandarin which made me feel even more inadequate as my Chinese was not good. But I did some preparation before hand and the Lord put words into my mouth as the reporter conducted the interview. I could not refer to any notes that was prepared beforehand. I just had to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide me. Thank God the interview went well. 

After the interview was completed, I have been looking forward to this day when it would be screened. The long-awaited moment came on 2 May. I woke up earlier to record the segment before it was posted on youtube. As the news segment was in Mandarin, I translated the summary of the news for the benefit of our non-Chinese audience.  The video can be found here. https://youtu.be/lL13YWzzouQ

Summary of the news segment:

NFT non-fungible tokens operate with encrypted currency and blockchain technology, setting off a wave of investment in artistic creation. From time to time some people get rich by investing in NFTs, but disputes also increase. There are related cases received by law firms last year. twice as many as the previous year. Experts also warn that there is already an overheating of investment.

Writer Li Meizhu (Avin) published her fourth book. She commissioned a company specialising in the promotion of NFT to make the book into NFT, adding details such as electronic signature authentication, transaction methods and ownership. Issued on the mainstream NFT trading platform OpenSea. For each of her transactions, the operator only charges 10% of the royalties, so her initial setup cost is almost nothing.

‘NFT is a trend that cannot be ignored, and many young people are concerned about NFT. I think NFT will be an aspect they want to invest in.’ quoted Writer Li Meizhu. 

Experts remind NFT buyers and sellers that they should figure out the trading rules first and not rush into the market. A law firm received nearly 20 related cases last year, most of which can be handled by contract law or copyright law. The current investment boom has cooled.

Lawyer Zhong Tinghui: What is more interesting is that there will also be disputes over intellectual property rights. The artist created NFT and sold him to the buyer, but did not specify that the copyright has been handed over to the buyer. After the buyer buys it, if he sells it to a third party Otherwise, there may be a conflict from time to time.

Luo Ruiyun, a senior lecturer at the Business School of the SIAS University, believes that NFTs will indeed have a crisis of bubbles, especially at the beginning of this year, the transaction volume and market share have dropped a lot.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore recently proposed a draft regulation for the cryptocurrency trading market related to the development of NFTs, expanding the supervision of such financial service providers to further protect consumer rights.

FIRST FORAY INTO NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN (NFT)

It has been a busy few months for me this year. At the start of the year I was exploring the possibility of selling my ebooks as non-fungible tokens (NFT). Yes it was a whole new world for me but somewhere in May 2021 I was initiated to the world of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency through some friends. Later on I was trying to understand how investing in cryptocurrency worked with a small sum. Right now I still cannot say I understand how it works but at least I had some first hand experience. 

My point is not to encourage believers to start investing in cryptocurrency. All I can say now is not to dismiss this alternative currency system as totally not from God. I just hope that you guys can be open to the new ways God is doing in this new season. That’s all. Well, for me I thank God that He sent me help to publicise my ebook. I have always stopped short at marketing my books because I was not savvy in social media marketing. 

I always felt my focus should be on content creation, rather than marketing. I told the Lord I needed help in this area years ago. Someone like a literary agent. But times have changed so much. Today much of the publicity and marketing has gone online. So the social media channels are becoming an important tool of marketing. With the help of a community, word gets spread around about a certain art piece or creation. There is much power in the hype created by social marketing, which also explained the boom of NFTs in the past two years. This was also due to the pandemic where many people has turned to online platforms. 

Anyway I am pleased to announce that my ebook ‘Devotional for Joseph People’ has just been minted on the NFT marketplace yesterday. Really thank God for I still did not know how I got into it in the first place. It was God who led me to the right people who could help me and also the skills to understand how it worked. He was the One who led me step by step or else I would really be lost in the world of NFT. My part was very simple, which was just to obey His promptings. 

So here it goes. If you are into NFTs investment, you could consider getting the airdrop for this piece of work. You can go to Twitter to check it out. https://twitter.com/nft_circle/status/1506263947418439682?s=20&t=b_SxDv_K4JGdY8v-zv-qwg As for those who are not into NFTs, you can still go to this website to obtain a free pdf copy of my ebook by clicking on the pdf link and downloading it. If not, you can email me to ask for a free copy. https://app.vtag.cc/document/c1xxGbgajqHj98g367Lr

I truly thank God for this open door because it has always been my desire for this message about the Joseph people to reach a wider audience. I hope that it will bless more people because this is really the heart of the Father. It is really time for the church to arise and take our inheritance. It is our Father’s good pleasure to give us His kingdom. And truly, we cannot take the kingdom of God alone. We need to have community. We need everyone to rise up higher, to fulfil their calling in Christ. 

SENSING OF 2022

Blessed 2022 to all! I had been battling with some things in the last few months hence had not been posting. As I was just reviewing my journals and the posts for the past week. I realised that God was trying to tell me after I had been through the fire and water, He is bringing me to a wealthy place. I have been impressed upon this verse about seeing the goodness of God in the land of the living in Jan but along the way with all the assaults, I forgot about it. It was only recently, especially in Dec that the Lord brought this verse to my remembrance. Although it still didn’t see like I had seen much of God’s goodness in the natural, the hope is that I would see more of His goodness before this year ends. 

(When I did the review of 2021, I finally saw the goodness of God. I was blown away because there was so much the Lord did for us this year. More than anything else, the greatest work was inside us. How He changed us, fortified us and sustained us in spite of the opposition and persecution. He has done such a marvellous work of cutting off all bondages in our lives. Bringing us to a place where we can be fearless in Christ. To see His hand at work despite all the evil in the world. To find hope where others see no way out.

 

Though the trials were uncomfortable and we didn’t like it, we made it through by His grace. We didn’t perish in the fire. What didn’t kill us would only make us stronger. God burnt away the ropes of captivity in the fire, gave us true freedom. We had a taste of persecution so we would know how to navigate it in the future. We also testify to God being our provider. How He came through for us when we most needed Him to. Nowadays I can hear His voice more easily, His instructions gave me the courage to move on.)

 

Well it didn’t occur to me that as I was talking about going through the fire and water, the fiery furnace like the Hebrew teenagers, until one of our pastors also preached on this on 19 Dec. And this month the Lord began to talk to me about the wealthy place He is bringing us in 2022. Even though things still seemed dire in the natural, my spirit was stirred up and excited when I caught a glimpse of this wealthy place. The transfer of wealth will begin next year and will accelerate. I had gotten a forecast of this transfer in the past two years but more is to come. 

 

I still didn’t know exactly how God prospered us in the past two years because my focus wasn’t on it. Especially this year, the attacks were mainly in our health. From the recent messages, it seemed like the season of fighting and contending was finally over as we chased out the giants and possessed our land. So the next assignment is to start building. There was a time and season to fight and conquer, but now is the time to build. Exactly what we are building I am still not very sure but God will download the blueprints in the days ahead. 

 

My sense for next year is that it would be a more stable year, less of the roller coaster ups and downs we encountered this year. Either the circumstances would have changed next year or we have changed. Indeed the end of the season has come and we are entering into a new era. There has been much letting go of the past and putting the house in order. To make way for the new things. As the Lord heals our battle wounds and refreshes us before the new year begins, He is also causing us to hope and dream again. 

 

He is raising our expectancy of all the good things we can’t even imagine in 2022. Yes there will be a payback from the enemy. It is a season of great restoration. And there will also be many promises fulfilled. Long awaited promises. Hence it is the time to get my hopes up and press in. Don’t give up or give in. For in just a very little while my long-awaited promise will manifest. After I turned the corner around last Christmas. 

 

The reason for my confidence this time round is based on what God told me: I am coming out of my 13-year wilderness. I have passed the faith test. I have done whatever I knew to do. I have finished the race. I have closed the chapter of waiting. Now what awaits me is the manifestation. This is my reward for being faithful to His promise all these years. God is not a man that He should lie or change His mind.

So yes, I can look forward to the new year with hope because I have already come to the end of the old season. The old has passed away and the new has finally come. No matter how long the journey has been, I had walked to the end of it. During those years of waiting, I used to wonder many times if I could ever make it to the finish line, whether I would be able to endure to the end. Now I know that I have indeed crossed the finish line. There has been a dying, a death of sorts. Passing away of the old season and a part of me died along with it. Yet out of the death comes resurrection life.

As I sought the Lord for His plan in 2022, I began to see how wealth transfer is a recurrent theme. And God bringing us to a wealthy place next year. I still don’t know how things are going to pan out but God is going to bump us up to the next level of prosperity. Where we would not be able to achieve by our own strength. And people will look at us and wonder how we even manage to get there. So yes, financial blessings are going to play a big part in 2022. The other sensing is that 2022 is going to be a year of new beginning hence the restoration of God will take place. 

 

When God restores, it is always better in quality or quantity. So whatever the enemy stole from us in the past two years, God will make him repay us sevenfold. Our family will be very healthy next year because the enemy stole from our health this year. 2022 will also be a year of promises fulfilled where I will see that I hadn't heard God wrongly all these years and that His word really came to pass. 

 

Which was why the warfare was so fierce leading up to the crossover into 2022 because of all the pent-up and delayed blessings in the past decade. The dam was breaking. The walls are crumbling. This time the breakthrough is going to be so huge which was why the enemy was desperately trying to distract us. 2022 will be a repayment of all that I suffered in the 13-year journey. Pursue and overtake, recover all. A restoration of all the shame and pain that I went through. 

 

God will give me double honour for my shame. It will also be a year of launching into my divine destiny. Finally the year that Joseph got called to the palace. I will begin to see that all the preparation and training in the past decade didn’t go to waste. It was to prepare me for such a time like this. There will also be many open doors of opportunities. Be it my personal ministry or Joseph ministry. Hopes deferred will also be broken. An avalanche of blessings will be seen. 

There will also be much freedom in 2022 as all the restrictions would be removed when God cause the pandemic to end and the virus to fade away. Yes 2022 will be a very good year which is why God is so excited and He kept telling me to rejoice and celebrate now. If only you knew what is in store for you, you will not be discouraged or lose hope. You will rejoice now. 

Main themes for 2022:

• Year of giving birth to new things (John 16:21), sorrow turned into great joy
• Acceleration, things moving fast all at once (Amos 9:13)
• This is when harvest time comes, hundredfold return (Mark 4:20)
• Avalanche of blessings began, floodgates of heaven open over us (Acts 10:11)
• Time of restoration and repayment (Joel 2:25)
• Good days ahead because we have been through the fire and water, enemy overplayed his hand (Psalm 66:12)

 

MY BLOG IS 11 YEARS OLD

Today I was wondering about the significance of 14 Oct but I could not recall what day it was. Then a precious sister in Christ sent me an email to wish me blessed 11th anniversary of my blog. So sweet of her! God must have sent her to encourage me. And to remind me that I haven’t been blogging for the past four months. So many things happened in between. It would take some time to unpack them. Well, I am reminded to give thanks to the Lord for what He has brought me through. 

Firstly I thank God that the process of healing my soul wounds had been finally completed. There is a certain release and cutting off incumbrance so that I could move on to a new season. There was a freedom or liberty in Christ. I was just saying that from Feb this year, my wilderness journey came to an end. The past four months were actually times of transition. I had to cross my Jordan for the final time this July. And I thank God that I finally crossed my Jordan after so many years of missing it. 

Secondly I am grateful to the Lord for causing me to overcome certain adverse circumstances in my life in Aug. It was an ordeal that our family went through which I would share in time to come. But it sufficed to say that we went through the fiery furnace but God brought us out victorious. Through the experience, He taught us to overcome. Not only to stand and not bow down to the enemy’s attacks, God put the very thing that Satan threw at us under our feet. Now it has become ashes and it will no longer be able to burn us.

I learnt so many things about faith and endurance and trusting in God’s word through it all. I also can testify to the finality of God’s word regardless of the contrary circumstances. God caused my faith to go up a few notches after all these months. It hasn’t been easy for me and my family as we chose not to be vaccinated but the Lord has more than enough grace for us. Through it all I also learnt that it really was not just about me and my family from now onwards. It was a shift to kingdom perspective. 

Thirdly the Lord showed me clearly my assignment for the new season after moving us on in Oct. There has been a clear and undeniable shift since Oct. For some reason, this Oct seemed to be very significant. Like a momentous time in history. We are finally stepping foot in the promised land after crossing Jordan and having consecrated ourselves. Our hearts are circumcised. There was time for healing after the circumcision which was painful but after recovery, we become so much stronger. 

The Lord convinced me that I am really no longer stuck in the old season. In fact the old had passed away. The new season had come. He has solidly shifted us into the new season. I had to let go of the last bit of baggage in the past season because they cannot follow me into the new season. While God is doing so many things in my life over the past few months, He is also dealing with things in the world. There is a shaking going on right now. 

So yes I am in a very good place now. The best ever in the past 11 years. Primarily because I have finally completed the faith journey, fought the good fight and finished the race. God is pleased with me. I have also passed whatever tests needed to move on to the new season. He is promoting me to new realms of authority and anointing. He has also brought my tribe to me. The days ahead are going to be so exciting. Beloved, I just want to encourage you to see through the eyes of God. Only then can you be encouraged that things are not what they seem. Not dark and gloomy. God is coming on the scene. Watch and pray.

WHAT FINANCIAL FREEDOM MEANT FOR ME

I was reading the book ‘The Abundance Code’ from Julie Ann Cairns and I just wanted to do some reflections. Before that I thought of bringing out some good points the author mentioned. The money myth is that work = worth. You have to work hard for your money. So the prospect of risking our hard-earned money on a venture can easily fill us with a sense of anxiety and fatigue. Because if we lose the money, the only way to get those funds back is by working hard.  

The idea of working hard for money is not a bad one but we can fall into the trap of thinking that money which comes easily is somehow dishonest. That could be akin to cheating or pure gambling. We don’t want our minds to be closed and reject an easier path to wealth creation. If you make a lot of money relatively easily, without working hard for it, then the question of whether of not you deserve it will be raised. 

 

Others may be critical of you and they may feel that you don’t deserve financial freedom without working hard for it. You may even feel that you don’t deserve it. It can be quite tempting to stay where you are and not upset the beliefs, knowing that the beliefs and judgements of others can have a powerful effect on you. If you want to be different from the rest, you need courage to get to a place psychologically where you can handle being different. 

 

This was what happened to me. In fact when I came out of the rat race at age 36, I was financially free in a way. We had a good rental income while my personal expenses was way below that income. Granted that though Heng wasn’t earning that much back in those days, we were still quite comfortable compared to many families with only one breadwinner. Of course my decision to quit and stay home wasn’t well-received. 

 

Many people including my own parents felt it was such a waste for me to stay home after going through university education. My own brother even compared my job to a maid. My previous boss and colleagues all felt that I might regret my decision as I gave up a good career path. Some people probably felt I was lazy and selfish, enjoying my life while my hubby was slogging at work. 

 

Well, you see, after I resigned, I was very happy for a while. It was a huge relief not having to work and not facing deadlines. Plus the freedom to spend as much time with God as I liked. It was heaven on earth. But after a while I became bored and I needed to find some sense of significance and contribution to society. I knew the value of spending more time with Joshua but deep down I kept wondering if I could do more than just that. 

 

Besides back in those days there weren’t that many stay-home mums like me. And at times I also wondered if I should go back to the workforce. While I was swimming in the pool, enjoying the leisurely afternoon, many times I questioned: Was it right for me to live the good life? Did I deserve such a good life while others are slogging away? I couldn’t even accept luxury gifts from Heng because I didn’t feel like I worked hard for it. 

 

You see, I used to be so stingy about spending money on myself. After 15 years of working, I finally convinced myself to buy an LV bag as a reward. You can imagine how guilty I felt when I received those luxury goods without working for them. God had to show me what is true grace. This goes against the grain of what I believe. In the past I will feel more satisfied about what I had achieved if I had to work hard for it. 

 

This sense of satisfaction applies to things I do for money and things I put effort to even if I don’t get paid. I used to attach my personal sense of significance and worth to what I do for work and how hard I have worked for something. But after a season of practically doing nothing, I had learnt to put my self-worth in my identity and not what I do for a living. God told me that even if I do nothing, I am still His beloved daughter. He is still proud of me. 

 

The author had a similar experience as mine. She quit her high paying job in a top bank at the peak of her career because she wanted to disconnect from the time = money equation. She didn’t want to commit herself to a life on the hamster wheel. Of course she faced much criticism from her family and friends. They felt like she was making a stupid mistake by quitting. 

 

This was exactly what I faced when I announced my decision to quit, even though the reason was to stay home for my son. Well the fact is we both know this: even if a job didn’t feel quite the right thing for you, time can just get chewed up in the daily grind. You get up, go to work, come home, fix dinner, do some housework, watch some TV then go to bed. You go to church, catch up with friends on the weekends, go for holidays and before you know it, a few years passed. Nothing much has changed in your life. 

 

It was exactly what happened to me. I knew my last workplace was a transitional place as early as Oct 2008 but it wasn’t time for me to leave yet. Then life happened. We changed church, CG, got caught up with parenting Joshua and settled into a routine. It was only because of the shaking, the re-org in my company that pushed me out of that nest. At one point I even tried to convince myself that my new season had started in that place. I was becoming delusional because I couldn’t see a way out of my stuck situation. 

 

That was why God pulled me out of work for three weeks to speak to me at length and give me clarity over my next season. I didn’t want to just get stuck in that pattern. I knew I had to break myself out of that endless cycle. It had been almost two years since I had the strong desire to leave the company. So I quit. But thank God for providing us with the rental income before I quit. He made it easy for me to take that step. 

 

Well, like the author described, initially it was fun and she loved it. But what came up emotionally as the weeks turned into months and months was something unexpected. Giving up my sense of significance and contribution for such an extended period of time, with nothing really concrete on the horizon, was actually very challenging for me. Soon I was facing a mid-life crisis. What was I doing with my life? Was I idling it away? The whole world seemed to be passing me by.

 

Well, looking back I was glad I did it. I never regretted this decision. It was an important season of reflection for me. I couldn’t continue working in the corporate world, and I had to do things differently moving forward if I wanted to get ahead as much in the next season. Yet at times I felt like a ship without a compass. I couldn’t really see the next step, let alone God’s plan for my life. All I looked forward to in those early years were family holidays, which were a break from the mundane and routine. 

 

And yes the questions other people ask like what do you work as are awkward for me. In some way it became a dreaded one because I was concerned about how people looked at me back in those days. Thank God I am much better now. But yes deep down I still do care about what people think. After a decade I am used to the look on these people’s faces.

 

Well, now that I have found my purpose and calling in life, I am no longer lost for direction. Besides my self worth doesn’t come from what I do but who I am. Yet God knows my need for a sense of significance or purpose in my life. So He had been preparing me for this ministry in the past decade. I must say it did boost my confidence as I felt more fulfilled doing something bigger than myself or my family. 

 

Back to the question about do you believe you deserve to be financially free. Do you feel worthy of it. Do you feel it in the core of your being. Because if you don’t, then most likely you won’t have it. If you are planning to have a paradigm shift about God’s grace, to escape the rat race and attain financial freedom, then pay attention to the way in which you derive your sense of significance and contribution. That would also determine if the shift would be permanent or whether you will lapse back to the old ways of thinking.

 

The author said the great news is that financial freedom means we can get our personal sense of significance and contribution from wherever we want. Freeing ourselves from what we have to do is what gives us both the opportunity and the need to find out what we want to do. By freeing ourselves from the game that everyone else is playing, we can discover a new and more fulfilling way to play the game. 

 

I fully agree with her. I thank God for the luxury of time. If I was stuck to a nine-to-five job, coupled with parenting demands, I would never have the time to read widely and think about how life should be lived from God’s perspective. I also wouldn’t have the courage to allow myself to think independently without any influence from the world or people around me. To form my own judgement about how my life should be lived and not how others want me to live my life. 

 

And precisely because I was free from the demands and burdens of earning a living, I could get creative about my work. I was able to have a lot of time to journal and reflect on different aspects of life. I thank God for putting some of those insights into books and my blog. Eventually I see myself as a pioneer and trailblazer. I took the road less travelled. 

 

While it was tough, it had been a most fulfilling journey. I learned so many things along the way and whatever I experienced didn’t go to waste. By daring to be different, I was able to challenge the norms and not take things for granted. I wasn’t afraid to step out of my comfort zone to explore the uncharted territory. Even if I made mistakes, it was ok because I learnt the lessons and moved on. 

 

These experiences just enriched my life and made me a better and stronger person overall. As such I realised that I developed understanding beyond my age, with the wisdom of God not the wisdom of the world. My thinking is usually shaped by what the bible says or God’s revelation from heaven. Hence it is untainted and out of this world which makes it all the more precious and refreshing. All glory to Jesus! 

 

 

 

 

 

A TRIBUTE TO THE HOMEMAKERS

I was just watching a video broadcast by Lana Vawser and they were talking about the topic of motherhood. I felt it was so apt as this Sun is Mothers’ day. Specifically how a women in full-time ministry is able to juggle ministry-related assignments and raising children. I would encourage you to watch it if you are interested. I was really blessed by their sharing. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=316998269794164&id=100044519792813&anchor_composer=false

During the broadcast, Lana said something that shifted my perspective. It was the word ‘homemaker’. God spoke to her about her being a maker of home not just for her own family but also in the family of God. Wow! God just expanded my job definition! God said a homemaker is someone who makes a home comfortable and welcoming not just in our own family but also for the body of Christ.  

In a way this is so true. In the Joseph ministry I am making a home for the brethren to be comfortable in the family of God. A place where they can be vulnerable, to be loved, to love and pray for one another, to share in each others’ dreams and visions, to support and encourage one another in this journey of faith. I am like the connector who connects various members of the family to one another, who sees where their role fits in the kingdom of God. 

 

Once I used to think of a homemaker job as a lowly task, that which was relegated to a maid, now I see it so differently. A homemaker is such a key and important role in the family. One that cannot be underestimated. She is not just a wife, a mum but also the hub that connects the spokes. Suddenly the Holy Spirit gave me this perspective of the seven mountains that just sits so well with the notion of family. You know the Father’s heart is all about family. His family. 

The mountain of business is like the breadwinner’s role. The one who brings in the bacon. The mountain of education is like the role of a coach or tutor in the family. One who teaches the children in the ways of the Lord so that when they grow up they do not stray from that path. The mountain of media is akin to the role of the communicator, be it within the family or to the outside world. This person will need to have the wisdom to know what to say and how to put a certain message across. 

 

The mountain of church is like the role of the homemaker in a sense. Her primary role is to equip the family members for their calling and their work in the kingdom. This role is different from the mountain of education in that this is more about discipleship. It is a lifelong process. The mountain of arts and entertainment is like the role of the entertainer. Someone who plans out the leisure activities and fun things in the family. 

 

The mountain of government is likened to the head of the household, the one who makes the key decisions and sets the direction in the context of a nation. There needs to be certain structures and boundaries at home in order to have godly order. Last but not least the mountain of family is exactly what it is. In a smaller context it is the family unit or the household. In a larger context it is the family of God or the Body of Christ. I see this role more of an intercessory one, as someone who lifts up prayers for the family. 

 

In the natural sense, many of such roles are fulfilled by the mother, whom indeed is like a ‘superwoman’. She is the coach or tutor, the one who equips her kids and disciples them for their calling. She is often the entertainer, thinking of activities for the family so they can have wholesome fun bonding together. Most of the time she is also a communicator, as she is like the epicentre of all communication within the family, even outside of it. 

 

Then she is also the faithful prayer warrior who offers up prayers for her hubby and her children. She is like the glue in the family, connecting everyone together. The only roles she probably didn’t take on is that of the breadwinner and governor. Well in a way she is helping her hubby to earn some side income through good investment choices. She is like a business woman too. Even in the area of setting up rules for the family, she might not be the face of the governor but she certainly has influence over her husband’s decisions. 

 

In closing I just like to pay a tribute to all the homemakers. May the Lord bless the work of your hands, may He give you joy in the midst of the mundane tasks, may He give you meaning and purpose in the seemingly thankless job you are doing, may you find favour with your hubby and children, may your hubby and children arise to call you blessed, may you see yourself as the Lord sees you as one who excels them all, may He show you the fruits of your labour in your family during this new season and may you find joy and fulfilment in Jesus always!