Dear...
'....You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word dwell
in you, for you do not believe the one He sent.'
John 5:37-38
Does this statement apply to me today? Prayerfully not, for I do have a relationship with our father in heaven from the day(back in 1999)when I started to seek our Lord in reading and reflecting upon His Words. God speaks to me often enough through His Words and/or coincidence of circumstances. His Spirit sprung forth in my heart to fill and lift up my very being that wonderful night in Bangkok back (in 2001) but since that "big" or more like defining moment in my relationship with God, my communion with God has reverted to the same modus operandi as before, though co-mingled with the clarity of His Words and coincidence of circumstances were the sprinkling of visions through dreams,the latter often coming in sets of three.
'He and all his family were devout and God fearing; he gave generously to those
in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he
had a vision. He distinctively saw an angel of God... '
Acts 10:1-4
I am still imperfect, but my fear of and love for God has grown tremendously by His grace these past decade. The closest I ever "saw" God was in a vision He gave me(as in Ezekiel 43) when I saw this bright light and felt myself lifted up, even as I heard the resonance of His wave-like roaring voice, commanding me to rise with
the Oriole. Pray Lord that you strengthen me, and prayers as a mainstay ministry for me is indeed where God has led me to since that surreal but uplifting experience back in year 2002.
'.... because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.....you
received the Spirit of sonship.'
Romans 8:14-15
The Online Bible College module that I am presently doing now is titled "A God
Who guides." And indeed the author talks about the meaning of guidance under the
New Covenant. We are not just subjects of God's kingdom, we are now sons of the
Most High God. It means that we have a real and continued relationship with God,
and guidance flows out of this relationship with God.(Romans 8:14). We will know His will because we know God and He will tell us His will and our prayers will be answered if we are willing to obey and ask and respond according to His will as His Spirit speaks to our spirit.
This is vastly different from the Santa Claus approach that many view as the basis of their liaison with God, on a need and/or want basis, and on the erroneous and prideful assumption that we the finite human knows best, and that God is there at our beck and call,because we are told that He loves us that He will gives us all that we fancy!! There is no desire to develop a real relationship with God.
'...He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen to one being
taught. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious, I
have not drawn back.'
Isaiah 50:4-5
Is it not wonderful? We are free from the burdens of prediction, for is not life uncertain, yet we often find ourselves weighed down by the need to bring stability to what is a dynamic and unpredictable world?
Often, many of us read or seek the Bible for a message that will be an elixir to our present needs, when we should be seeking a relationship with God, for the Word is God, and every Word in the Bible is good and will edify, correct, and teach us at God's timing and form. Understand that and we can feel less fettered
with the need to "hear" God for answers we want to hear and instead, learn to luxuriate in the love of His presence.
You could say, I have gone through this route, done that and thankfully, by His grace, learn to let God lead, rather than I lead Him, even as I spent time in His Words. God will draw near to us, as we draw near to Him, and in learning to submit to His will, God has begun to speak to me in even more direct ways. The past two years, as documented in my sharing of recent past, God now speaks in all resonance directly to my heart, leaving a deep impression, in the stillness of the transient point between my sleeping and waking up.
'This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.'
Acts 10:16
Thrice repetitive was the vision that God gave the Apostle Peter, on the command to reach out to the Gentiles, considered by the Jews to be unclean and till now, was never in the ministry of Peter.
Thrice repetitive was the word "buy physical gold" that the Spirit of God impressed upon my heart back in May 2008. I was not too willing to submit to God's command for it seems illogical then, but peace of heart only returned to me when I finally completed (after 6 months of dragging my feet) the series of purchases of what I believe God truly wanted me to buy, that is, physical gold. Of course I have now, by God's grace come to truly learn that it is our character as refined by the crucible of God's refining fire, that is the true gold that God wants us to buy. But are we willing to truly submit?
'... But God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be
seen.'
Acts 10:40
Will I like all who seek to live out the faith that God gives us, be willing to faithfully respond as God leads, even to the point of "death' if God so commands, holding on to the promise that God will resurrect us from the ashes of death, to a new and even more wonderful beginning?
This year, the Lord left two deep impressions thrice in my heart, again in the transient moment between sleeping and awakening. The first was the word "patience' and patience is indeed a very difficult fruit of the Spirit to live out, when circumstances around me seems to demand an immediate and urgent response. And God is very precise. Just last month, He added on the word "Stop" and strange as some might think I am, it is no hallucination. Our good Lord knows that patient I might have been, but fidgety is slowly creeping into my mental state, as the "water levels" around my sense of well-being is fast approaching the drowning stage. And for additional clarity, God again reminded me, for the third year running(the first in the midst of the sub-prime crisis), not to go back into the bondage of Egypt, much as it seems logical for me to consider a career change.
'Teach me Your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth, give me an un-divided
heart, that I may fear Your name.'
Psalm 86:11
I have come to learn that when life's circumstances seem to be the most challenging, when our sense of well-being as determined not by our relationship with God, but rather with the world is at its most difficult, is when our hearts are increasingly less cluttered.
Question then is "will we fill it up with our woes and angst" or should we not be like King David, who in the midst of his woes, fully and submissively opened his heart to the infilling and the leading of the Holy Spirit?
I have just returned from Bangkok. It is the place where the Spirit of God moved me from a reticent cursory believer to desirous and more submissive follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bangkok is also where God gave me a rejuvenation in my secular career. It has been a good decade since and though my feelings are mixed, for this trip could be an unwinding of many business relationships. Yet, I know God has a purpose, and in fully letting go and letting Him, He will communicate His plan for me which will be good. And I have come to believe that the twelve years I spend in Bangkok developing a business relationship of trust with the many people there will be used by God for His Kingdom, as He softens the once very hard ground that is Thailand, a ground that is increasingly being softened, for hearts to be readied to know His will. But am I willing to let Him reconfigure a solid business relationship into a spiritual bedrock of love?
'I know, o lord, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.'
Jeremiah 10:23
Watch this space
Rgds and God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(18th July 2010)
What is spirit and truth?
It seems that in the 1930s Albert Einstein wrote to Sigmund Freud on his thoughts that for the greater good, countries must give up their sovereignty in exchange for stability. Not sure why is an intellectual giant asking the views of a known high priest of carnal lust, but fast forward to the present situation in continental Europe, the once unthinkable of not just one united Europe economically but politically with real power in the hands of a few no longer seem implausible!!
In our sinful world, it is an apt question. Do we give up our independent free spirit to one of enslavement in exchange for a continued life of delusory material well being? To satisfy one's insatiable carnality, yes and this will be the dilemma countries in the Europe will soon have to ask themselves
But for the man who seeks after God, it is the converse.
We give up our carnal self for the Spirit of God. And in letting go of our own understanding, a trait that Adam and its seeds acquired from believing in the lie of the devil, we in our submissively living out in all obedience, the leading of the Holy Spirit, God will show us the truth of His promises.
Is it not better to be slave to a loving and faithful God then to remain enslaved to the devil?
No comments:
Post a Comment