The difference between persevering and letting go

Recently my hubby and I had the privilege to minister to a dear couple facing financial and marital problems. I was blessed by the whole experience because I saw God's power in action. Most importantly, God equipped both of us with wisdom to point them to God's Word and to the finished work of Christ.

Yet in the process, there was one question in my mind: when to let go and when not to give up? Because I saw that both of them were either not willing or not able to let go of certain things like the hurts and pains in the past, the betrayal, the flesh etc. But the good thing was that they wanted to salvage their marriage. Yet this restoration work cannot be done by their own efforts. It has to be the work of God and God does not need any help on this.

So I asked God for wisdom to discern the difference between persevering and letting go and God showed me this. When God plants a desire or dream in our hearts, we should never give up on that dream. Because that desire came from God and He will be faithful to fulfil it. However, in the process of waiting, the flesh wants to help, to do something to make it happen sooner. That's when the heartaches and the frustrations come because all self-efforts are futile. We need to come to the end of ourselves to realise that we cannot help ourselves but only Jesus can and He will.

Usually the harder you try, the more heartaches you experience because it just shows you so cruelly that your efforts come to nothing. If your methods are workable, it would have produced results a long time ago. That is the point when you need to let go of your toilsome labour to the Lord. Because when the Lord tells you to let go as the battle belongs to Him, it is really for our own good that He tells us to cast our burdens to Him and find our rest in Jesus. He will fight the battle for us while we rest.

Even though I sat under the anointed preaching of grace for 2 years, I am still discovering the different facets of grace. Grace is undeserved and unmerited favour from God. Pure grace speaks of nothing but the finished work of Christ. I learnt that the work of God cannot be tainted by any trace of human efforts. Exodus 20:25 says 'And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.' In an environment of grace, there is really no place for the law or human efforts to co-exist.

Yet the challenge remains: Can we really let go when the Lord tells us? Well, I have learnt that it can be done but again it's not with our strength. It is with God's strength and His Spirit that we learn to let go. Once again, our reliance is on Him.

Secrets of the Furious Five

I watched this short animation movie which was like a sequel to 'Kung Fu Panda'. The movie talked about the secrets of the Furious Five: Mantis, Viper, Crane, Tigress and Monkey. The context was Po, the Kung Fu Panda training a group of young disciples. He was explaining that Kung Fu was not just about fighting but it was the excellence of self, becoming the best you could be. He then shared that each of the Furious Five had to learn the secrets of Kung Fu before they became excellent.

For Mantis, his strength was his speed. The world moved too slowly for Mantis. Once he was captured by a group of crocodile bandits because he had no patience to check for traps. No matter how hard he tried, he cannot escape. He could do nothing but wait for something to happen. For the first time the world around him moved faster than him. Forced to wait, he found himself in a trance-like state of mind. And so, Mantis finally found the secret to self: the mind-blowing power of patience which was the key to help him to escape.

Little Viper was born with no fangs, unlike her legendary father who had venomous fangs. Her father was hoping that she could carry on his name but he was disappointed. So she danced to make her father smile and as a result, she blossomed into the best dancer in the village. Once in a battle with a bandit who defeated her father, Viper's deceptive dancing defied the bandit's venom-proof armour. That night, she found courage, a power far more potent than venom.

Crane was not cool. He worked as a janitor in a famous martial arts school. He longed to be one of the students but he lacked the confidence to go for the student try-outs. Yet he trained hard for the try-outs. When the day came, he was laughed at for even wanting to challenge the try-outs. However, he stumbled upon the starting line of the try-out while cleaning up the mess and as he took the first step, he felt the confidence rushing through his body and he became the only one who could complete the try-out.

Tigress had no idea how strong she was. In the orphanage, she was viewed as a monster and people were afraid of her. However, Master Shifu saw her not as a monster but only a little girl. He taught her to learn to control her strength and her temper. She needed to focus and discipline was what she lacked. Eventually she completed her training and learnt to control her strength. Yet one test remained: will she get adopted? In the end, shifu adopted her.

Monkey was bad and he liked to play tricks on the the villagers. They had enough of him and tried all ways to make him leave. But no matter who they sent, Monkey could easily beat them all until he met Master Oohway. Monkey conceded defeat and decided to leave. But Master Oohway told Monkey that he has great skill but was also in great pain. Monkey was laughed at when he was young. Oohway urged him to find the one thing he was denied years ago: compassion. Monkey stayed on and treated everyone like how he wanted to be treated.

The reason I shared this story was I found the secrets to excellence in Kung Fu relevant to God's ministry today. Indeed one requires patience, courage, confidence, discipline and compassion. But above all, no one could be in ministry work until he finds himself in Jesus Christ. That to me is the top secret.

Standing in faith with you

Today God put an idea into my mind. A very simple idea but will probably bring untold blessings to many people, including myself. You can call it a prayer ministry but all I wanted to do is to stand in faith and pray alongside with you, while you are waiting for your breakthrough or for God's promise to come to pass.

And so, the idea is this: if you feel prompted to share, you may drop an email to me at avinlee77@gmail.com. You can state what would you like me to pray for you in your email or you could even testify to the goodness of God in your life. I would like to be a prayer partner to you and I hope I can send God's Word to address your specific situation wherever you may be in the world.

I may not know who you are but God knows and this is just one of the ways He is telling you that He loves you and cares for you. My dear brother and sisters in Christ, this idea is truly the result of God's overflowing love in my life. 3 John 1:2 says 'Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.' This is also my prayer for you.