Dear...
'...Just as they have chosen their own ways......So will I choose their
delusions. And bring their fears on them. Because, when I called no one
answered. When I spoke they did not hear. But they did evil before My eyes. And
chose that in which I do not delight.'
Isaiah 66:3-4
It is not often you hear from me on a Sunday. And it is seldom I throw out what
the Lord has put in my heart the past one week and write a totally new sharing.
But when the Spirit of God speaks, nothing else matters except total obedience. And may the thoughts that I
am about to pen be truly from the Lord and that you will receive it with a
willing heart.
"Now" is an order I sometimes barked at my two children to get things long not
done, for procrastination is a trait that should not be allowed to have a
prolonged existence. As a professed believer of our Lord Jesus Christ, all of us
are commanded to seek God with our all and to love others as much as ourselves.
Reality is not many of us diligently nor willingly do that and as a consequence,
we are far from ready when Christ returns. And as a direct consequence of not
staying always in the presence of God, we find ourselves subjected to the
continued bondage of the woes of this present sinful world.
'But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God
is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.'
John 4:23-24
It has been half a year since our good Lord brought me to this new series "In
Spirit and Truth" and I am still learning as to what it truly meant. Scripture
states that the Spirit of God resides in the hearts of the believers, and the
Spirit searches our hearts, using our spirit as the lamp. Does it mean that the
light of God, ie His Spirit shines forth through communion with our spirit, into
the deep recesses of our hearts, bringing enlightenment to our very soul, once
carnally driven by our natural senses, now transformed into the spirit man that
God wants us to be, for God is Spirit? In simplistic terms, it means that we
must no longer live life as driven by our wisdom based on our finite
understanding, but live life as led by the promptings of the Holy Spirit which
communes with our spirit man.
'Jesus said to them. "My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me, and to
finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the
harvest?" Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for
they are already white for harvest.'
John 4:34-35
The disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ thought he was off center when Christ
talked about food as not of filling one's physical hunger, but rather, a
completion of the call of God to share the gospel with the unsaved. Today,
conventional wisdom will tell all of us that we must set aside sufficient
provisions before we embark on full time ministry, for in man's understanding,
full time ministry meant one's source of income goes to zilch or near zilch. Of
course, there are a minority who after a period of struggle from the first call
of God finally take that final step of faith to leave their comfort zone to go
where God calls.
The financial markets have been good, yet the recovery brings with it new
challenges as the consequences of the sub-prime crisis brings about a paradigm
shift in the way business is done in the financial industry. Oppressed I do
feel, but crushed my spirit is not for I often remind myself of God's
faithfulness through my life and how much as logic dictate otherwise, by His
grace, in my obedience to His will, He has delivered where man think not
possible. Yet bring imperfect, I still struggle to totally let go and let God
and this was my state of being as I went to church this morning.
"Evangelism" was the sermon shared today and the Bible reading was from John
4:34-35. What is enough is a question the insecure me often struggle with. God
is good, He has more than blessed me all these years, much as I often find it
easier to acknowledge His grace upon the conclusion of a difficult period and on
that one occasion that I did acknowledge His Sovereignty in the midst of my
struggles, His Spirit brought me to a new maturity in my Christian growth, from
half-hearted believer to determined follower.
Like many who profess our love and faith, I still struggle with my carnal self,
and am not prepared to commit my all to the present harvest, but rather hoping
that God will give me more time to be more ready, materially. Does it mean that
to be ready meant that I quit my job and go into the ministry God is calling me
to, a thought He placed in my heart these past few months to be a channel of His
blessings to those in need?
Most of us tend to equate full time ministry with an actual action, in terms of
a change of vocation, often marked by an income drop. Could it more correctly
defined to mean a change in our heart, a total surrender to the will of God
wherever He places us today? Take my present situation. I am very concerned that
the very basis for the viability of my business in my present employment looks
increasingly bleak. And like the opening verse in Isaiah 66:3-4, am I not paying
attention to what the Spirit of God is leading me on and in choosing my own
ways, the extrapolated fears of a very present threat is shaking my faith?
Like Abraham, when God call us, by His lifting the veil in our once blinded
hearts, we who call ourselves Christians have already stepped into full time
ministry RIGHT NOW, wherever we are. If we understand that, it is no longer
about what matters to us, but what is the will of God. And in obedience with our
all, God has and will provide, and we no longer need to fear our circumstances,
for the grace of God is suffice for the day. And on a practical basis, it mean
that I will use the wisdom that God gives me to honor Him in the day's
activities, knowing that He is Sovereign and giving no thought to the next day
and as His Spirit leads, to learn to put aside that wisdom and follow as He
wills. For God is our employer.
'And he who reaps received wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both
he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.'
John 4:36
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
What I shared is an enlightenment to me. To look at my life as one of full time
ministry wherever I am. And if I am prepared to let go of my fears and
understanding, and live as the Spirit of God leads. God looks for obedience and
not sacrifice. Finite man looks for certainty and conclusions.
As I reflect upon the past three years, the Spirit of God has indeed spoken to
me in very clear terms. For me it has as shared previously been a series of
three affirmative dreams in each of the messages that God gave me. Yet, in my
disobedience on hindsight, I have come to learn how "right" God was much as
logic had dictated at that point, a perceived need on my part to vary His
command.
The message I received today from the Spirit of God is a variation. It is not a
dream but an enlightenment on the need to look at my daily life as one of serving and doing the will of God.
Everything else is peripheral and God has provided and will provide. And there
is no room for disobedience which include allowing my sense of self survival to
creep back into my psyche.
As some might recall, God gave me three messages these past three years
- in the midst of the sub prime crisis in mid 08, there was every compelling
reason to change my place of employment. Yet God spoke to me in three dreams on
His command to stay and affirmed it with the word "to not go back to Egypt" for
that was what the disobedient Israelites did thinking that Egypt was safer than
the threat of the Babylonians. And indeed God delivered for my firm almost died
twice but is still standing today
- in the same sub prime crisis, in Dec 07 the word He gave me in three visions,
in the midst of His blessing me materially was to distribute and not cumulate.
And by His grace, much as I could not resist cumulating, much as He allowed me
to learn a painful lesson, He has returned most of what I lost back to a
repentant me.
- and in the same subprime crisis, in May 08, the only buy action He placed in
my heart again through three impressions in my sleep was to buy physical gold at
then price of US$750/oz And obeyed I finally did after some struggle with my
rational mind to do otherwise, and on hindsight, at present prices of US$1400
where the whole world is now enamored with the useless metal, I should have
bought more. But it is gold as refined by God that He truly wants us to buy. And
the pain I am going through now, I must persevere, for God is selling me gold as
in one's spirituality as refined by circumstances He allows us to go through.
And what is the fourth message that God has given me this year in 2010? It is to
"sell into strength with patience." And easy task in concept, but in reality,
one struggles very hard to restrain from selling too fast for the better part of
this year, and now one struggles with the urge to buy as the continued printing
of monies seem to indicate the increased appreciation in prices of assets.
Much as God has spoken to me in the context of finance, for God will come down
to our frame of reference. God will speak to each of you in ways you will be
able to relate to and understand. The command(my fifth message) today from God
is for all of us who love Him to give our all to Him NOW, wherever He places us.
There is no need to be concerned about the uncertain tomorrow, but rather to be
sure to do the will of God today and know that the Sovereign God is faithful and
knows our needs.
'It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing, the words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you
that believe not...'
John 6:63-64
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