Waiting...

"But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint" - Isaiah 40:31

Sometimes we feel so dry and we feel that we are disconnected from God. In fact, God longs for us to connect with Him. It is not Him who disconnects Himself from us. It is us who disconnect ourselves from Him. Many things make us distracted and thus, we failed in connecting with Him. The result is, we feel dry. We can feel dry for days, weeks, months and even years. So, come back to the most important questions. Do we wait on Him? Do we desire to connect with Him? Do we give up once He does not response? I'll not put the answers here. Each of us have different answers to each of the questions.

What does waiting on the Lord means? Quote from Jaeson Ma's book "The Blueprint", waiting on the Lord means waiting in prayer, i.e. silently waiting with a quiet trust or of quieting oneself, resting, being silent or being still. "Truly my soul silently waits for God, from Him comes salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved." (Psalm 62:1-2)

This is very important for me. To be still and wait on the Lord without giving up as this requires trust in God. Practical ways for me to wait on the Lord is by worshipping Him with my guitar (eventhough my playing is terrible but still can do la)  I'll sing song of adoration, song of praise, song of thirst, song of stillness, then continue to sing in the spirit, then stop...and wait and wait and wait...then sing in the spirit again and begin weeping coz the presence of God start sweeping in into my room. Then of course I can't sing anymore but start praying...the more I pray, I begin to feel His love flowing through me again and begin to see things from different perspective. All in all, waiting on the Lord is a great experience.

What's so amazing about grace? Part 1

During prayer meet last night, Mei shared a very insightful story in the Bible which relates to GOD'S GRACE. It's on part where Jesus heals a paralytic (Luke 5:17-26).

There were 3 groups of people in that story. One was the people from the villages, Pharisees and the teachers of the law who were all sitting in a house listening to Jesus' teachings. The second group of people was the the group of men who tried to carry the paralytic man into the house where Jesus was teaching the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, but to no avail. They went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. The third group was the paralytic man himself.

From this story, it was very obvious that that the men (second group of people) were trying to bring the paralytic man to Jesus whom they believe will be able to heal the man. However, the house was so crowded with Pharisees and teachers of the law (first group of people) that there was no way in. In the end, they tried to bring the man in through the roof and the paralytic man reached Jesus. As for the paralytic himself (third group), it was not mentioned whether he asked to go to Jesus or it was the men who brought him to Jesus. But this is not the point.

The point is, the first group of people were the obstacles and the hindrances which prevent the second group to bring the third group to experience God's grace. What is grace? Grace is receiving something which we do not deserve. What is God's grace? It can be said as a free unmerited love and favor of God, which we do not deserve but God give it to us out of His unconditional love for us.

With this, in conclusion, as we have launched Campaign 80 since church camp, we do not want to have any obstacles and hindrances to hinder us from moving in God's works. We do not want the obstacles to hinder us from bringing people to come to know Him and to experience His grace. We do not want the obstacles to hinder others who do not know Him from not experiencing Him and knowing His love and goodness.

Therefore, we should continue to pray for God's presence and His grace to continue to flow in our midst and allow Him to work in our lives and the lives of others.

Life of a student...

I was a student before a few years back...and I really missed and cherished those times.. Time to share lives, time to bond, time to know God, time to grow, time to lead, time to do a lot of things... God was good at that time and God is good now... He allows me to reflect back on my student's lives...

As a student, besides studying, we can do a lot of things on campus and outside campus... Things on campus of course would be studying but we can actually share lives with friends, appreciate and respect our lecturers and involving in Christian Fellowship if there's time for it... I'm saying all these humbly because I've done it myself and I have people who can vouch for it... Leaving a "legacy" on campus is the word for it. Leaving a "legacy" where God is involved on campus is the word for it. We can leave a legacy with our friends, with our lecturers, with the administrative staff, with the maintenance people, etc. Leaving a legacy with friends is easy but nowadays respecting and appreciating lecturers is either not done or very seldom... Leaving a legacy with lecturers is very easy.. What I did was just making a few self-made notes, laminate it, and gave it to the lecturers at the end of every semester to thank them for their hardwork and guidance. And every Christmas, regardless whether they celebrate Christmas or not, I would just give them a simple card each to bless and thank them.. A simple gesture like this is very precious to them especially when it comes from the students...  And upon my graduation, I went up to each of them to thank them personally for all their dedication in their work and their concerns for students.. I also remember someone told me that they even went out with a lecturer to have durians...  These are all simple gestures. Don't need much money and time but a sincere heart that comes from the love for God and for people...

As for out of campus, there were more things for me to do. Things in church like involving in cell groups, leading, prayer meets early in the morning at 5am, etc. Things like speaking the truth into the lives of other students was also one of it... Of course I'm not saying that we should do a lot of things as we are not saved by works but by God's grace through faith.. All I'm saying is that if we know that God loves us, we would automatically do all these things for Him.. It's out of passion and love for God and for people...Also, it's not about doing a lot of things but putting priorities in what is beneficial and fruitful...Studies was one of my priorities but I managed my time for other priorities as well...

I realise that as students, we should use our time wisely as we only have 3 or 4 years before stepping out into the working world... Strong foundation in God is the most important thing as a student. Otherwise, the world will entrap and devour us upon stepping out into the working world.. This is based on what I've seen in my other Christian friends who were once a strong believer in Christ.

All in all, students should live their lives to their fullest potential and do not doubt that they can actually do many things for God and for God's people.. Students are the best people for working adults to learn from as well...

What am I lacking? What are WE lacking?

It's already October 2009. There were many activities going on for Eaglepoint Damansara. Had Fireproof screening, Donut Sunday, Rich God Poor God, Rich Dude Poor Dude, and VIBE meetings as usual. Those were our Campaign 80 activities, and many more to come...

However, in the midst of all these activities, things have happened whether we know it or not. Things happening in the spiritual realms...not ghost or whatsoever but spiritual warfare…

As I was worshipping and spending my quiet time in the comfort of my room last night, I had the urge to start praying against all the works of the enemies who will cause people to be tired, to lose heart, to divide, to put other things as their priorities, to burn out, to be frustrated, etc. I was in fact very angry that at one point in time, I was actually frustrated, tired and feel like quitting. My thought was, we are growing but resources seem lacking. But God rebuked me last night showing me all the above as I prayed and I know that all these are the work of the enemies. I am sure that I am not the only one that the devil wants to attack during our Campaign 80. Whenever God’s churches and His people are growing, the devil will start to prowl for victims.

Like what Pr Shawn said, in the book of Nehemiah as the people build the walls of Jerusalem with all their hearts, the strength of the people are giving out and there was too much rumbles. The walls were half built but their eyes were on the rumbles rather than the previous works. Nehemiah encouraged them to pray to God to strengthen their hands…

So, I have reminded myself to always be alert, be filled with God’s truth and to pray always. Instead of lacking in resources, we are lacking in prayer. Prayer is a powerful weapon to protect ourselves, to protect the church and to protect God’s people.

Danger, scholarship, study and play...

It is now already second half of 2009. Time really flies like a blink of an eye. What have I done fruitfully during the first half of 2009? I was in fact busy till end of April with deadlines at work. Then came May, nothing. Then came June. Still nothing. Danger, danger alert! Nothing fruitful means not good.

Then now is July, something has finally come! New faces, new group, new perspective, new people...I'm talking about KDU new students who have just joined Eaglepoint Damansara. There are 4 of them and all are girls. And they are really a talkative bunch (which is very good)  Looking at them and mixing with them really makes me feel young and vibrant! Haha... and there are 2 JPA scholars in this new group..one of the scholar said something which is very interesting...we were in fact talking about studies in college compared to high school, then one of the girl said actually she doesn't like to study. This makes me ask her a question. "If you don't like to study then how can you do so well to get a JPA scholarship?" Her reply was, "I do well in SPM, hoping to get a scholarship so that I can go overseas to play". Hah...what an answer.  This girl is really something... I'll need to catch up with these new girls on one-2-one basis soon as Aaron and I brought them out for dinner last Tuesday and movie last Friday together with the existing KDU students.