[Haven't blogged for quite a while... Got to start digging out my hand-written notes and translate them over here...]
Your life is shaped by the words you speak
The books you read
And the people you associated with
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Overwhelmed, Addicted, Messed Up...
[Sometimes seeking the Lord can be a delightful experience, yet sometimes it can be a 'painful' one. Delightful when his tangible presence can be felt and enjoyed. Painful when you are pressing in despite not understanding, not knowing, but pressing in cos you just want to pursue Him and know Him more. .. But you know what, if you seek Him, He will surely come...]
The More I Seek You
The more I seek You
The more I find You
The more I find You
The more I love You
I want to sit at Your feet
Drink from the cup in Your hand
Lay back against You and breathe
Feel Your heart beat
This love is so deep
It’s more than I can stand
I melt at Your peace
It’s overwhelming
Hear the song by Kari Jobe here http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=60769488
"Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth."
~ Hosea 6:3
The More I Seek You
The more I seek You
The more I find You
The more I find You
The more I love You
I want to sit at Your feet
Drink from the cup in Your hand
Lay back against You and breathe
Feel Your heart beat
This love is so deep
It’s more than I can stand
I melt at Your peace
It’s overwhelming
Hear the song by Kari Jobe here http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=60769488
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Men who saw God
[In the house of prayer, we pray quite a bit using Eph 1:17-19 - that we will have the wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God... When God answers this prayer, His ways have often been that of self-revelation (of ourselves) => end of self (a response to the holiness of God) => entrusted with deep things of God. May we keep our eyes on the Author and Perfector of our faith, for truly His ways are better!]
[The following is extracted from the book “Spiritual Maturity” by J. Oswald Sanders]
Job – God calls him a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and shunned evil. When confronted with the vision of God, the perfect man is reduced to abject self-abhorrence. “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye has seen thee: Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 33:9; Job 1:8; Job 42:5-6 Collapse of Job’s self-righteousness was quickly followed by the bestowal of double what he had lost, and the turning of his captivity through his intercessions for his friends.
Isaiah – one that presented lofty prophecy, calling down woes on his contemporaries. After the radiant vision of God, he called woe upon himself…Lips which had mediated the divine message were foul and unclean in the light of the holiness of God. Not only were Isaiah’s unclean lips purged and his iniquity removed, but he received an enlarged commission. Isa 3:9, 11: 5:8, 11, 20; 6:1-5
Daniel - One of the most blameless of saints when confronted with the divine glory is prostrated at the corruption, not of his vices but of his virtues! “for my comeliness (beauty) was turned into corruption”. Dan 10:7-9 To Daniel, the sense of corruption gave place to joy in the privilege of being the vehicle of Divine revelation.
Men who saw God - Joshua the High Priest, Job, Jacob, Elijah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Peter, Paul, John... A consistent pattern appears throughout these visions. First the vision, then self-abhorrence, self-abasement, the averted face, the sense of uncleanness, blindness, prostration, comeliness turned into corruption, self-banishment, falling as dead. Do we still desire to pray for a vision of God?
But there is still another side to the picture. God takes no pleasure in seeing His children lie in the dust. If He abases and humbles them, it is only that He may exalt them in due season. Humiliation is not an end in itself - it merely prepares the way for blessing.
The open lesson of these visions surely is that God cannot entrust a man with any deep blessing, any important spiritual ministry, until there has come a complete collapse of self.
True, the vision of God inevitably leads to self-revelation, but always with a beneficent end in view. God does not aim merely to humiliate us. There is no need to fear being brought to an end of ourselves for “the end of self is the beginning of God.” Indeed we may welcome the vision of God if our deepest desire is to advance in holiness and to be of the greatest use to Him.
Prov 29:18 - "Where there is no vision (revelation from God, of God), the people perish (die spiritually prematurely): but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."
[The following is extracted from the book “Spiritual Maturity” by J. Oswald Sanders]
Job – God calls him a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and shunned evil. When confronted with the vision of God, the perfect man is reduced to abject self-abhorrence. “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye has seen thee: Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 33:9; Job 1:8; Job 42:5-6 Collapse of Job’s self-righteousness was quickly followed by the bestowal of double what he had lost, and the turning of his captivity through his intercessions for his friends.
Isaiah – one that presented lofty prophecy, calling down woes on his contemporaries. After the radiant vision of God, he called woe upon himself…Lips which had mediated the divine message were foul and unclean in the light of the holiness of God. Not only were Isaiah’s unclean lips purged and his iniquity removed, but he received an enlarged commission. Isa 3:9, 11: 5:8, 11, 20; 6:1-5
Daniel - One of the most blameless of saints when confronted with the divine glory is prostrated at the corruption, not of his vices but of his virtues! “for my comeliness (beauty) was turned into corruption”. Dan 10:7-9 To Daniel, the sense of corruption gave place to joy in the privilege of being the vehicle of Divine revelation.
Men who saw God - Joshua the High Priest, Job, Jacob, Elijah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Peter, Paul, John... A consistent pattern appears throughout these visions. First the vision, then self-abhorrence, self-abasement, the averted face, the sense of uncleanness, blindness, prostration, comeliness turned into corruption, self-banishment, falling as dead. Do we still desire to pray for a vision of God?
But there is still another side to the picture. God takes no pleasure in seeing His children lie in the dust. If He abases and humbles them, it is only that He may exalt them in due season. Humiliation is not an end in itself - it merely prepares the way for blessing.
The open lesson of these visions surely is that God cannot entrust a man with any deep blessing, any important spiritual ministry, until there has come a complete collapse of self.
True, the vision of God inevitably leads to self-revelation, but always with a beneficent end in view. God does not aim merely to humiliate us. There is no need to fear being brought to an end of ourselves for “the end of self is the beginning of God.” Indeed we may welcome the vision of God if our deepest desire is to advance in holiness and to be of the greatest use to Him.
Prov 29:18 - "Where there is no vision (revelation from God, of God), the people perish (die spiritually prematurely): but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."
Friday, February 22, 2008
You are Faithful God
[Many emotions and thoughts come when the time draws near to moving to a new place for the House of Prayer. God is doing something! We have all grown. As we look back with gratitude and ahead in anticipation, it helps to remind ourselves that God is truly faithful, He really is! What He said, He will do...]
Father, thank You for giving us this ministry - to build the House of Prayer for You in Singapore. This ministry is from You!! Wow!! That You would entrust us to do what is on Your heart. Thank You God! No words can describe just how we feel, just knowing that an Almighty God, so divine and perfect, would give us a gift, and such a precious one - to do the very thing on Your heart! That You would choose us, because You saw that we are sincere, even though we are weak..
Your heart's cry in Isa 66:1 is to look for a dwelling place among men. You showed us the pattern of the tabernacle You desire to dwell in - a place where night and day worship and prayer goes on. A House of Prayer just for You and where worshippers can come anytime to burn, as they watch and pray...
Over the four years, You led us to grow in the message of Intimacy with God and Understanding the Times. You taught us that gazing at You, growing in intimacy with You is to take priority. You let us hear Your call to intimacy with God, even in such a time as this. You reminded us that we are called One Thing Ministries - to do the One Thing - to acquire the oil of intimacy by gazing at Your beauty in Your temple, to sit at Your feet, to count all things loss for the sake of laying hold of You, forgetting what is behind.
So we did. We said yes. We fumbled, we tumbled as we moved along. In Your eyes, we are beautiful. You saw our hearts that say yes, You saw what no men saw... You saw what was in our hearts. There were good times, there were 'bad' times, there were mundane times. You allowed it all, to let us learn to do the House of Prayer before the Audience of One. We ceased striving by our own flesh, we decreased, and let You increase within us. We learnt to live before Your very eyes, we learnt to live before Your very gaze. We pray that You'll keep us steady, as you promised that You would.
Father, stir the hearts of many to come and build the House! People who have the hearts of David, who are after Your own heart. People who are like Mary and Anna, who would pour forth their lives, burning in Your House, so that worship and prayer can continually go on. Worship leaders, Intercessors, Musicians, Singers! Come! That You would bring them in, as You have said in Your word in Isa 56:7. Let them hear and rise up. Let them come and understand what is on Your heart. Your ways, not our ways...
Father, like Abraham, we say that You are our shield and exceedingly great reward! The inheritance of the Levites, those who burn in Your House, is the Lord! Deu 10:9. You are all that we want, You are all that we desire...
I want to be found faithful, I want to be found steady... until the end. Keep me faithful, keep me steady... I say yes! I just want to be Your friend. I just want to hear Your voice! To know what's on Your heart, and to do Your will!
John 3:27-30
John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease."
Father, thank You for giving us this ministry - to build the House of Prayer for You in Singapore. This ministry is from You!! Wow!! That You would entrust us to do what is on Your heart. Thank You God! No words can describe just how we feel, just knowing that an Almighty God, so divine and perfect, would give us a gift, and such a precious one - to do the very thing on Your heart! That You would choose us, because You saw that we are sincere, even though we are weak..
Your heart's cry in Isa 66:1 is to look for a dwelling place among men. You showed us the pattern of the tabernacle You desire to dwell in - a place where night and day worship and prayer goes on. A House of Prayer just for You and where worshippers can come anytime to burn, as they watch and pray...
Over the four years, You led us to grow in the message of Intimacy with God and Understanding the Times. You taught us that gazing at You, growing in intimacy with You is to take priority. You let us hear Your call to intimacy with God, even in such a time as this. You reminded us that we are called One Thing Ministries - to do the One Thing - to acquire the oil of intimacy by gazing at Your beauty in Your temple, to sit at Your feet, to count all things loss for the sake of laying hold of You, forgetting what is behind.
So we did. We said yes. We fumbled, we tumbled as we moved along. In Your eyes, we are beautiful. You saw our hearts that say yes, You saw what no men saw... You saw what was in our hearts. There were good times, there were 'bad' times, there were mundane times. You allowed it all, to let us learn to do the House of Prayer before the Audience of One. We ceased striving by our own flesh, we decreased, and let You increase within us. We learnt to live before Your very eyes, we learnt to live before Your very gaze. We pray that You'll keep us steady, as you promised that You would.
Father, stir the hearts of many to come and build the House! People who have the hearts of David, who are after Your own heart. People who are like Mary and Anna, who would pour forth their lives, burning in Your House, so that worship and prayer can continually go on. Worship leaders, Intercessors, Musicians, Singers! Come! That You would bring them in, as You have said in Your word in Isa 56:7. Let them hear and rise up. Let them come and understand what is on Your heart. Your ways, not our ways...
Father, like Abraham, we say that You are our shield and exceedingly great reward! The inheritance of the Levites, those who burn in Your House, is the Lord! Deu 10:9. You are all that we want, You are all that we desire...
I want to be found faithful, I want to be found steady... until the end. Keep me faithful, keep me steady... I say yes! I just want to be Your friend. I just want to hear Your voice! To know what's on Your heart, and to do Your will!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
You are still with me
[Often times, we have the faulty impression that being spiritual or having an encounter with God will 'solve it all'. Having an encounter with God (so divine) and an encounter with the frailty of human flesh (so earthly), gave me a such an awakening - to my own perspective of being a christian. Is it my way (God-for-me: expecting God to help me to be better, make things better, bless something I'm doing etc), or is it all about His way (me-for-God)... It's a journey!]
YOU ARE STILL WITH ME
I thought I just met You
I thought You just touched me
But at the next breath,
I faced the giants in my life, and fell
Isn't that encounter with You
Supposed to make me strong(er)?
So that I can overcome?
So that I can be stand?
God for me?
Or me for God?
A journey of me decreasing...
A journey of God increasing...
Yet I am always with You
You hold me by my right hand.
You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
I'll keep walking
I'll keep leaning
I'll keep gazing
I'll keep my heart ever before You
Seeking You in Your House
Worshipping You
Loving You
With all my heart, my mind, my soul and strength
Song of Songs 2:16
"My beloved is mine, and I am his."
[a statement of a believer saying to God that while she recognises that God is hers, she also belongs to Him. She realises it's not all about herself but that she belongs to God. That it's not all about her needs and her struggles or her sins. The fact that we know that we belong to an Almighty God who loves us, changes the very way we feel, think and see ourselves, people and things around us. Most of all, it impacts how we see and feel about ourselves! I belong to.... God! Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Gift of God
[I just can't get over this song and these verses! By Justin Rizzo from IHOP! Hear it here http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=147442388]
1Sam 2:8
"He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
To set them among princes
And make them inherit the throne of glory. "
Romans 5:10
"For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
GIFT OF GOD
As for me
I was dead in my transgressions
I was bound to my sin
And (I was) bound to condemnation
As for me
I was an object of His wrath
And fully deserving of death
(I was) Fully deservating of death
But You saw me there
Because of Your great love
You saw me there
Because You're rich in mercy
Chorus
And You made me alive
When I was dead
You raised me up
And seated me with Christ
And it's by Your grace
That I am saved
And it's through faith
It's the very gift of God
Bridge
Eternally
I've been bought with blood
There will never be another sacrifice
Eph 2:4-7
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
Isaiah 61:3
"... To give them beauty for ashes, "
1Sam 2:8
"He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
To set them among princes
And make them inherit the throne of glory. "
Romans 5:10
"For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
GIFT OF GOD
As for me
I was dead in my transgressions
I was bound to my sin
And (I was) bound to condemnation
As for me
I was an object of His wrath
And fully deserving of death
(I was) Fully deservating of death
But You saw me there
Because of Your great love
You saw me there
Because You're rich in mercy
Chorus
And You made me alive
When I was dead
You raised me up
And seated me with Christ
And it's by Your grace
That I am saved
And it's through faith
It's the very gift of God
Bridge
Eternally
I've been bought with blood
There will never be another sacrifice
Eph 2:4-7
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
Isaiah 61:3
"... To give them beauty for ashes, "
Monday, January 21, 2008
ps: I love You (back), Lord
Isaiah 43:18
“Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
[This verse strikes a familiar chord in many hearts as we usher in a yet another new year... too familiar indeed, until it becomes a cliche? However, it never fails to speak to me, well, seldom, for there's much to put behind us, and much more in Christ that is ahead of us to lay hold of -- that which Christ has first laid hold for us.
May we relentlessly press in, knowing that God takes delight in making known to us His will and face. So we come before Him, having the confidence that He wants to show us more of Himself. And we come boldly, not by our own merit or strength... For He alone is the One who first loved us, and is able to keep us steady and faithful. Through it all, keep within me dear Lord, the heart that responds, ps: I love You (back), Lord...]
Old has gone
Putting the past behind
Memories linger as I inched forward
................................................................I love You, Lord
Eyes (fixed) on You
Hope (evermore) in You
What is this You are doing within me?
................................................................I love You, Lord
I yield to the work of Your gentle hand
Give me revelation
Give me wisdom to understand
................................................................I love You, Lord
According to Your good pleasure
Make known to me the mystery of Your will
What is upon Your heart regarding the fullness of the times
................................................................I love You, Lord
According to the riches of Your grace
Blot out my transgressions
That I may come boldly before You
................................................................I love You, Lord
Early will I seek You
Early will I rise
My love, my God, draw me away...
................................................................I love You, Lord
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Methuselah!
[Methuselah, son of Enoch, lived 969 years and his name means "When he dies, judgment will come." Which it did with the great flood... Methuselah died about a month before the flood. God spared him from the flood!
It also tells us something about God who told Enoch to give him that name. It means God is VERY patient when He comes to judging people. He's not quick to do it and hopes that they will repent. Our God is long suffering! Wow!]
From http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/methuselah.html
Methuselah
Exact meaning is somewhat uncertain: Dr. Henry Morris says it may mean, "When he dies, judgment." Others say: "When he is dead it shall be sent" ("it" refers to the Deluge) (Cornwall and Smith, Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names).
the son of Enoch, father of Lamech, and grandfather of Noah
He was the oldest man of whom we have any record. This very ancient man lived before the Flood, and died at the age of 969 years, in the year of the Flood (Gen. 5:21-27; 1 Chr. 1:3).
This fact, plus the former possible meaning of his name, suggests that Methuselah's very godly father, Enoch, received a prophecy from God when his son was born, thus the name.
Methuselah's great age may be further evidence of God's "long-suffering… in the days of Noah" (1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 3:9).
Methuselah's name is mentioned seven times in the Bible: Genesis 5:21,22, 25,26,27; 1 Chronicles 1:3; Luke 3:37.
It also tells us something about God who told Enoch to give him that name. It means God is VERY patient when He comes to judging people. He's not quick to do it and hopes that they will repent. Our God is long suffering! Wow!]
From http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/methuselah.html
Methuselah
Exact meaning is somewhat uncertain: Dr. Henry Morris says it may mean, "When he dies, judgment." Others say: "When he is dead it shall be sent" ("it" refers to the Deluge) (Cornwall and Smith, Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names).
the son of Enoch, father of Lamech, and grandfather of Noah
He was the oldest man of whom we have any record. This very ancient man lived before the Flood, and died at the age of 969 years, in the year of the Flood (Gen. 5:21-27; 1 Chr. 1:3).
This fact, plus the former possible meaning of his name, suggests that Methuselah's very godly father, Enoch, received a prophecy from God when his son was born, thus the name.
Methuselah's great age may be further evidence of God's "long-suffering… in the days of Noah" (1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 3:9).
Methuselah's name is mentioned seven times in the Bible: Genesis 5:21,22, 25,26,27; 1 Chronicles 1:3; Luke 3:37.
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