2009-dektos

Hey my fellow commando southies! Blessed Acceptable new year!! haha=D since all of us are still in the "Chinese-New-Year festive" mood, i've some stuff to share with you guys! regarding this year's theme- THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.=D bear with me for the long post, cuz it has been brewing on my heart already!=D

Have you all ever wondered what doest it mean by ACCEPTABLE ? (even though in greek, the word ACCEPTABLE denotes, the MOST BLESSED time when the salvations and FREE favours of God PROFUSELY ABOUNDS.) like one of the many curious peepos like you guys, i asked Abba what does it mean by acceptable year of the Lord? why acceptable and not anything else?

Furthermore, remember sheryl's post on the sms her aunt sent to her and also subsequent sermons,both Pastor Prince and Pastor Benjamin actually preached and prophesied more on this. so in short here's the summary of what they have prophesied on.

Pastor Prince said that year 2009 is gonna be:

1)A year FULL of God's TURNING POINTS in our lives

2) A YEAR of REST for the beloved child of God (and that's us)

Pastor Benjamin said year 2009 is gonna be:

3) a FRUITFUL and POWERFUL year

4) and a year whereby Daddy GOd is setting us up on a NEW DIRECTION- HIS WORD.

so all these word spoken through pastor's mouth sort of answered my question. But i went home asking The Lord more, like to show me in His word this all these are true. And guess what, HE DID!!! and Jesus is SO MIRACULOUSLY ACCURATE!! He used the the very passage that pastor prince preached to speak to me!! wow, and you guys take a look at how Jesus PROVE His WORD preached through the bible, it's amazing mans i tell you! hahaha=D

Isaiah 61:1-2 (this is the portion pastor preached)

1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God;

As we all know, the day of vengeance is fulfilled when Jesus was at the cross!! and whatever comes after that can ONLY BE GOOD!! so look at the next few verses, AWESOME i tell you!=D

3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

wow, from ashes to beauty, mourning to joy, heaviness to praise! Doesn't this fulfilled what Pastor Prince said- the THIS YEAR IS A YEAR OF TURNING POINTS? =D=D=D

And remember what pastor benjamin preached at the first arrow service of the year? He preached tt we'll be like the trees of psalm 1, planted by the rivers of living waters (which is God's Word), and that our leaves will not wither and we'll MOST DEFINITELY BEAR FRUITS we wanna see in our lives? the brown portion fulfills what pastor benjamin said- that tis year, 2009, is gonna be a year Daddy is setting each of us on a NEW DIRECTION!!! a direction of HIS WORD. when Jesus aligns us according to what His word says, how many mistakes can we make? how bad can our lives get? Our lives can only be BETTER and BETTER, our paths can only shines BRIGHTER and BRIGHTER!! AMEN=D=D=D

Isaiah 61:4

4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.

In year 2008, the year of manifested blessings, some expectations i trusted Daddy for like family salvation, handling of finances etc didn't come to pass. i was quite affected so i asked Abba to give me a SURE word this year so that my dreams wont burst like bubbles again. And you know what, THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD IS ALSO A YEAR OF RESTORATION!!

Jesus Himself promised me that He will RISE UP and build and RESTORE to me things that i've lost my hope in trusting Him for!! and truely, i've seen His hands work SO MUCH in this new year already!! (will share with u guys again!! if not this will be 3000 word essay hahahaha) so ya for those of you trusting Daddy God for some things close to your heartbut have yet to come to pass,take this Word as your own too and DON'T GIVE UP BELIEVING because OUR GOD IS ABLE!!=D=D=D

Isaiah 61:5

5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
And the sons of the foreigner
Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But you shall be named the priests of the LORD,
They shall call you the servants of our God.
You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles,
And in their glory you shall boast.

Remember start of the year pastor preached on praying in tongues to enter THIS YEAR OF REST?Here is the evidence that this year is TRUELY gonna be A YEAR OF DIVINE REST for all of us, His beloveds!!

in this verse, everything is done for us! people "feed" our flocks and p"plow"our land for harvest and "prune" our vines for us!! this means, WE REST!! our friends may study alot or do the major parts of our project, but they are actually studying and doing our projects for our benefits!! don't ask me how, but know that GOD CAN!!=D

and for army people, all of you guys may go for combat shoot and stuff, you may not fare as well as the others, but you still get to enjoy the 200 bucks reward when all your other friends do well!! we just need to REST and SPEAK ( cuz you're king priest!!)!! hahaha

even in the times it seems as though other people are winning their fights of life and it seems as though they are doing well and getting better results and stuff, remember our inheritance that is ALREADY PAID at the foot of the cross. we're not winners-in-the-making or striving-to-be-the-best. WE ARE ALREADY CHAMPIONS IN CHRIST!! and a CHAMPION's life can ONLY be GOOD and nothing else!=D

and the last part!!this is the verse for pastor benjamin's prophesy-that year 2009 is gonna be a FRUITFUL AND POWERFUL YEAR!

Isaiah 61:7

7 Instead of your shame you shall have double honor,
And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.
Therefore in their land they shall possess double;
Everlasting joy shall be theirs.

it is one thing to have a restored portion, but it is a MUCH BETTER PORTION to know that we have DOUBLE THE ORIGINAL!! isn't that the meaning of FRUITFUL and ABUNDANCE!!??( how can we lose with this kind of promises in the bible? moreover ALL the promises of God are YES and AMEN in Christ!! haha=D)

Also, the bible actually did say in nehemiah 8:10 that the JOY of the Lord is MY STRENGTH!! knowing that Daddy God delighting over us as His beloveds in Christ actually gives us the POWER to stand against the devil EVEN WHEN THINGS SEEM TO BE AGAINST US.and the POWER Abba gives us last FOREVER( because the verse says everlasting!!=D)

And the amazing thing is, Daddy only gave us the POWER to STAND, not fight, because the FIGHTING part belongs to Him!! we just need to stand firm on the word of God and speak it forth and Jesus will be The Word made manifest in our lives as our blessings!! just like how He became flesh from heaven to earth to save us!!=D

So that's about it! thanks for bearing my long post!! Just wanna end off by saying,

GOD'S WORD IS EVERYTHING.

His word is the MIRACLE you need, the breakthrough you've been waiting for. simply because

JESUS CHRIST is THE WORD BECAME FLESH. if Jesus can manifest as flesh to save us from our sins and establish us in His righteousness and His grace, he can manifest as our breakthroughs and miracles as well!! so SPEAK FORTH God's word from the bible(don't know what to speak, just read out loud whatever the bible says=D), b because whenever we speak forth The Written Word,we're speaking forth Jesus into our lives and He manifests as our blessings!! that's why Jesus is ALL we need and in Him ALL things consist and are HELD TOGETHER=D AMEN.

love you peepos loads!! you guys are the BEST bunch of friends ever!!!=D

A Close Call

Hi Beloved Southies,

I'd like to share a testimony because it's really not my testimony, but rather, God's testimony of His love for me, and for all of us. It's not about how confident (or unconfident) I am in my faith or how many chapters of the bible I read everyday, or even how much I think about Him (which, to be honest, is not a lot. Many a time, I simply forget that He's with me). But He stayed with me, and saved me. So I'm typing this to thank and glorify Jesus for giving me a second chance (and so many more to come) at life, and to encourage those reading that there is a God out there, in here, and He loves you. He gave His Son so we will never have to experience pain, loss, death, sickness, failure, shame or strife.

It's all about Jesus.

*

It happened yesterday, the eve of Chinese New Year, 25th January 2009, close to 4 o' clock. My sister had my dad's car and took my mom and I out for a short joy ride to Pierce Reservoir. We were on our way home when we came across a huge junction directly underneath the Upper Thomson Flyover, where we would have taken a smooth right turn onto SLE. Having let her guard down slightly, my sister sped up to beat the yellow light when she should have halted at the stop line of the junction to wait for the green arrow to come on. It was an honest mistake. Right at that moment, when we were already three-quarters of the way diagonally across the junction, two cars - one black, one silver - came whizzing towards us, having beaten the amber light on their side of the road. Maybe it was adrenaline, I have no idea, but everything went into slow motion, like in the movies. Only this time, latched in the front passenger seat, I was literally a few inches from death.

But thank God! My sister stepped on the brake pedal just as the black car flew past in front of us. And then before I could blink, from my window I saw the silver car a short distance away - and swiftly closing the gap. I didn't even have the time to think about the bloodied mess that would have covered the road if my sister hadn't released the brake and stepped on the accelerator just in time for us to miss the silver car. All three of us emerged unscathed, not a scratch on any of the cars involved. There were screams of terror, but it was so quiet. I heard none of it. Throughout the whole episode, there were no honks, no screeching of tires; all the drivers and passengers were shocked out of our wits. It was a silent ride home. But we made it. God made it, for us.

Even now as I recount the almost-accident, I shudder inside. The memory of what could have happened haunts me sometimes. The image of that silver car hurtling itself towards my door. I wouldn't be here typing this. I can hardly believe what happened. Thinking about it, it was really God. It could not have been anyone else. My sister was too stunned to have switched pedals the way she did, and at those precise crucial moments, without God. There was a tiny pocket of safety then, and He led us right into it. It was truly Jesus' blood that surrounded our car like a shield.

Daddy God has given me a second (and unlimited) chance at life. He will for you too. He already has.

Happy New Year

- Hui Yi

Finally.. My aha moment!

I've finally got the link between Rom7 and Rom8..

Ok for those of you who have got it already I thank God that you are mature and deeply rooted, but take this as maybe a revision? or maybe comment on it if you think something else is missing or wrong..

You only understand what Paul is writing in Rom7:7-25 if you have truly experienced it; the things you do not want to do, you do and the things you want to do you do not.. I'll tell you what led to me experiencing this..

Friday 16/01/09 I was late for my parade.. cos we fall-ed in at 0530 and I was still sleeping in bunk.. so on the bus I was like Jesus when I've fallen soooo badly I really need you abundance of grace now to restore me.. well I went back to camp and got punished.. punishment is a consequence not that there's no grace for the situation.. there was a lot 'cos this offense warrants at least 2/3 days extra duties.. so I had to remain in camp for the whole day and couldn't secure early.. so I got the chance to share with this friend of mine, who I'm believing to get saved, say amen, the difference between sinful nature and flesh.. he understood 'cos he's been attending another church just waiting for a time to get saved.. which I also believe will be 23rd Jan Friday our Chinese new year service!

so the flesh is the part of us that is compelled to sin.. our sinful nature was what we were before we died to sin and became alive to Christ.. now you have a Christ-nature / God-nature..

so let's look at Rom 7:21-8:1


So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.


It's different when you remove all the numbers 'cos I don't think Paul intended his letter to have numbers segregating each sentence..

so it says my God-nature wills to do good but I see my flesh compelled to do evil.. and he says who will deliver me from this flesh: the Lord Jesus Christ.. not what, but who.. so if you look at indwelling sin, it's like cancer in our body.. but we are not the cancer.. so because i am not the cancer, I am not condemned.. because I did not sin, but the cancer in me.. it's a shallow way of putting it, but to say it this way because I am not the sinner I will not be condemned by God.. because I have been made alive and free from the law of sin and death..

how to battle the cancer is another thing, but the link between Rom7 and 8 is not how to battle with the cancer, but who you are when you see the cancer manifesting.. (the eradication of the cancer is like 8:9 and further when it says you are dead to your flesh and alive in Christ, oh yes and Rom 8:3-8 is why you are no longer condemned also explains 7:25-8:1)

because I used to condemn myself even after sitting under Pastor's ministry long enough.. i used to condemn myself as: I'm a Christian and Jesus set me free from sin how come I'm still sinning.. And then I feel bad about my sin.. yes I confess: thank you Jesus you are my righteousness and I've been washed, forgiven, but the self-condemnation creeps in silently.. until I realised finally it is NOT me who has sinned, but my flesh and I should not be saying I am a Christian and I sin, but the indwelling sin that is manifesting..

I hope you get it cause I realised I've been condemning myself enough stealthily without my knowledge..

Be Blessed and see you all in church! Shalom

its-all-connected

Hey guys(:

going to share something here. its way much easier than saying it out. haha. It has really opened my eyes to many things I thought were just there, and it has truly blessed me; and I believe it will bless you too.

You know how last year 2008 was said by Pastor to be a year or manifested blessings right? And this year 2009 would be the ‘acceptable year of the LORD (Luke 4:19)’ – the most blessed time when salvation and the free favour of God profusely abound (dektos).

And on the first service of the year, Pastor Prince shared about how rest should be a priority in our lives. Then he went on to show us how to get that rest too – that is through tounges.


11 For with stammering lips and another tongue
He will speak to this people,
12 To whom He said, "This is the rest with which
You may cause the weary to rest,"
And, "This is the refreshing"; Yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was to them,
(Isaiah 28:11-13)

----------------

okay. So going back to last year, after I heard about how this year was supposed to be a year of all these good blessings from Deuteronomy 28, I was really glad. Because just nice that year I was taking my A levels. heh.

But 1) strangely enough, all through the year, God led me to focus more about resting instead of blessings. Now when I say that ‘God led’, I don’t mean it in an audible voice. It is more of an inner knowing that God will take care of my stuff for me. like there is a sense of comfort and assurance and peace that God is always by my side all the time, and that everything is going to be alright because of that. it was a time where I was so much more aware and conscious about the fact that I can leave my problems and worries to God, instead of trusting in my own efforts. I believe this awareness did not come from human willpower, but I believe it really was supernaturally given by God. And this sense just constantly came back to me time and time again, always reminding me whenever I forget.

And when I say rest, I do not mean inactivity in the natural. when I told my Christian Fellowship friends about how this year (2008) I would rely on rest, I think they saw it more in its literal form. They sort of smiled and joked about a ‘magic pen’ that would help me write words as I just sat there. Now don’t misunderstand, but they are good friends who love God and are quite grounded in the finished work of Jesus already. but just that I don’t think we were exactly on the same page there.

I believed it more along the lines of how rest is not inactivity, but rather Holy Spirit-directed activity (its from a sermon). and… I’ve clean forgot what was said in that sermon already. I believe that Pastor would have shared about praying in tongues somewhere in the sermon, but at that point in time I still did not really practice tongues as often as we could la.

Now, if you ask me how I rested, I also seriously cannot remember exactly how :/ I just would merely say to God ‘this thing I’m gonna leave it to You’, or ‘I cannot handle this on my own, You know. I let You take charge of it.’ . All this regardless of my ability or inability to handle a matter. Initially as far as I can remember, there was hardly much awareness of the power/frequent practice of tongues at that time at all – (even though I was aware that there was such a thing as tongues la). Yet while I did that, so many blessings came to me. how friendships fell into place, how there was a supernatural ease when I did my CCA and school stuff, and how theres just this peace even though things did not work out the way I want them to.

And the best part here is that God isn’t petty about how well I perform towards Him, or whether I am doing it the so called right way or not. He still favours me even though I did not pray in tongues like Pastor Henry. That He does not withdraw His grace or favour just because I don’t do regular ‘intensive quiet time’, or do deep Hebrew bible study, or even if I flip to the contents page of the bible :/ heh. (Now those things are good, but not in a legalish way.) and moreover I can so easily believe Him in my own personal way, that I can even talk to Him in singlish privately. And there is just so much security in that.


So this was how it was like for about the first one third of the year.

----------------


and 2) strangely enough, at the beginning of the year, when I was on the bus on the way home, something inside me said that ‘tongues is the key to all your blessings’. Now at that time somehow my mind focused more on the word ‘tongues’ only, and I did not see the full picture la. How it ties in with the blessings. So I asked God, saying ‘how come Pastor Prince talk about blessings, and then You come and lead me towards tongues? Shouldn’t I be sort of in line with the rest of the Church?’

*from here you can tell that at that point in time, I didn’t know much about tongues la. Head knowledge-wise and heart knowledge-wise.

Anyway after that, I tried to practice praying in tongues for a few days. I only succeeded in doing it (as a routine) about 10 mins for 5 days I think. Then after that it died down. heh. Then it was back to the same life where I prayed in tongues only sometimes.

But somehow the desire towards tongues came back to me again after awhile, like after the first one third of the year part. And it was all especially because I wanted to pray something really badly about friendships. And I remembered somewhere that Pastor said that tongues is the perfect prayer that you can ever pray. And that’s good stuff. So I began to listen to the sermon series about tongues by Pastor Prince. Like really pay attention to listen those kind. As I listened to those sermons, (there are loads of them), I began to get more and more rested, in many many ways.


One example is by how we ‘work out your own salvation’ (Philippians 2:12). From there I don’t have to be bothered about how I should have the right kind of faith or what is the proper attitude/mindset when it comes to loving God, or the correct way we should worship and stuff like that. I just tell God that all this I leave to Him, and as I pray in tongues these things that I want will be ‘worked out’ from inside of me. that means that it is not me who makes this relationship with God work, but rather it is the Spirit, or God Himself, that makes it all work in the end. how this example links to my prayer for friendships is that, I knew that I didn’t have to count on my natural efforts to make things work. I knew that He should be our first priority – and not the blessings that we all desire. Then after that I can leave all the rest to Him; whether the outcome is what we desire or not.


Okay. At this point in time, its towards the end of the year already. this is when we heard what Pastor Henry showed us about praying in tongues during one meeting. And I was really glad that whatever things I believed about praying in tongues, was grounded again in the Word. Like a reminder again of the significance of what I was practicing; cos we cannot remember every word that was said in sermons that we’ve heard before.


----------------


alright. this part would be the conclusion to what I said just now. It might seem kinda out of link categorically with what was mentioned above, but this part is the more important one.


I used to think that there are different stages in our walk with God. Like we should categorize different aspects of this walk, and focus on these different aspects all the time. perhaps you all have realised it already and I’m just slow :/ but I just realised that everything that was showed in church is all actually linked together.


I used to think that for example:
Stage 1 – grace/finished work/righteousness/favour/love
Stage 2 – speaking as a king and priest
Stage 3 – anointing oil, tongues, supernatural healing
Stage 4 – genuine heart understanding of the bible
Stage 5 – super intimacy with God


And stuff like that. Like everything should be categorized. Like only in 2007 will we see more acceleration, and only in 2008 we will see more manifested blessings, and only in 2009 we prioritize our rest.


But in a profound scheme of things, I feel that all these things cannot be divided and focused on individually. (I don’t have bible reference for this part though) Rather, all these things above like His love, healing, anointing oil, rest, and stuff like that, all boils down to ONE thing – that is the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

I really don’t know how to explain this, but everything is linked together.

From the finished work,
- righteousness that we have in Christ (1 Cor 1:30)
- blessings through righteousness. (Romans 4:8)
- how we get peace through His death. (John 14:27)
- how we have the authority to speak as kings and priests. (Ecclesiastes 8:4)
- how we have the Holy Spirit to guide us/ ability to speak in tongues/ sword /fruits of the spirit (John 7:39), for example.
- and many many many more of the things that we learn in church during service.


Bascially, everywhere in the bible is centered around the finished work! I mean, I’ve heard this before many many many times, but I’ve never actually realised what it actually means. Not that I fully do now la.


So when I was listening to the sermon on rest this year, in my mind I was thinking ‘God, I’m one year earlier than all of them?’ And I was believing that this year would be a year that I will be on a whole new level in being conscious of His work, apart from how well I do or how badly I fall. But the thing is, even though last year I was led more towards rest and tongues, doesn’t mean that this year I neglect them and focus on this ‘new one’ instead.

In any case, it would be impossible to focus on rest without involving all the other stuff, because they are all linked together. And the thing that links them all together is ultimately the finished work, and His love for me. It does not matter whether I fall or not, whether I do right or wrong, whether I sin or not. I do not mean it in a perpetual lifestyle of the flesh or evil hurting others kind of sin.

But ultimately really, even if one does live in a perpetual state of drugs or vice, but he is saved – he is still ‘righteous apart from (his) works’ (Romans 4:6). It does not mean that what he is doing is good and acceptable and should be continued, but he is still righteous by the blood of Jesus and he will get to heaven. (only faster ). By the same token, if he is compared to another man who is super intimate with Jesus, like our Pastors, or even the Pope for that matter. The first man is no less righteous than the pastor, nor is the pastor more righteous than any other person around – simply because of what Jesus did on the cross. And from that belief we would then live ‘right’. Yeah(:

So with the so many things that we hear and learn in the Church every week, or the so called ‘themes’ for every year, it would be difficult to focus on each of them individually all the time. all these things that we learn from our church are really really great Truths – since its all from the Word. but instead of trying to use my own effort to wrap my mind around all of them, and focusing on each of them individually, it would be better to just continually speak in tongues and rely on Jesus, allowing Him to work out everything that is needed for us – even in our own personal relationship with Him.

yup

-----------

if you managed to read until here, it surely is God who gave you supernatural endurance and comprehension to read and understand this. Heh. I’ve no idea how to organize these personal thoughts. they just float as 'concepts' in my head. Which is really apt in my need to rely on Him to write this out :/

Sorry for being long winded though. Haven’t written essays in a long while(: but I reallly hope this has spoken to you.





Stay loved,
George.