Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Heart of the Ministry...Friends of the Bridegroom

When all is quiet and still, what's beating in our heart to God? One of the key verses in the heart of our vision in One Thing Ministries is 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."


I like to ponder over familiar verses, and at certain seasons, God will lead us to the verses again. He wants to speak to us! He wants to strengthen us! 


So I ponder, and so I still my heart before Him...and so I worship Him... Let it be unto us, what we desire..Matthew 15:28



Verse 1
Everything we have
Everything You've given us
Comes from Your hands
Comes from heaven

Verse 2
Everything we have
Everything You've given us
Comes from Your hands
Comes from Your throne of grace

Pre-chorus
So we stand here as Your friend
As the friends of the Bridegroom
Watching, waiting
To hear Your voice

So we stand here as Your friend
And blow the trumpet
Pressing in, contending
With one desire...

Chorus
You're everything we want
You're everything we desire
More of You
Less of us

You're everything we want
You're everything we desire
A friendship with You...
We wana know You more...

You're everything we want
You're everything we desire
It's all about You
It's all about You... and Your kingdom

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Hearing but do not understand, seeing but do not perceive.

Isaiah prophesied in Isa.6:9-10 and this is quoted again in Matthew13:14-5:

‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

“Make the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;

Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed.”


At the first reading, one may think of God... "why is God like that"... Doesn't our loving God desire the people to turn? Doesn't God desire to heal and restore His people, especially His chosen nation, Israel? Yet God conceals Himself from them and even hardens their heart.... Why?


Who are You, God?
In the context of the prophecy in Isa.6, we read that Isaiah was commissioned by God to speak judgment on an obstinate nation, Israel. The people have chosen to turn away from God (as we read from Isa.1-5), thus God will give to them what they desire - spiritual bankruptcy! To an obstinate people, God says they will not have understanding nor perceive what God is doing, even if they see and hear from God. In fact, God will make their hearts dull.

Yet God reveals the secrets of His heart to His servants, the prophets (Amos 3:7). Bearing the trademark as one who knows God's heart, that even in judgment, God longs to relent, and God will not punish or banish them forever from Him, Isaiah appealed to God, "Lord, how long?" Note that Isaiah did not ask God, "Why?" but Isaiah asked, "How long?".

Perhaps many of us are seldom acquainted the God who is our Righteous Judge - that He will judge if we turn from Him in waywardness. We like to think of God as a God of love. Thus, we may think that God is 'not loving' or what He does in judgment 'contradicts' Him as a loving God. May God open our eyes to see that even in His judgment, He is also a loving God, for He has already a plan in mind, that He judges so as to restore us in love. It is the same. Think about it...

And true to God's nature, He beckons us to turn to Him, but if we so choose not to, He will fulfill our heart's desire. In fact, He will 'help' us - He will harden our hearts. He is a Righteous Judge and shows no partiality. Yet our blindness and deafness to Him will not stop God from speaking to men. And that's why when Jesus came, He spoke in parables...for the mysteries of the kingdom are spoken in parables,

"For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him." (Matthew 13:12)


To what shall I liken this generation?
So how are we responding to God? Are our hearts ever more tender and sensitive to God and His voice, or are we hardened? It is critical to be able to hear God... and more than critical in the days we are living in, to hear God. There will come a time we will hear a voice from behind us saying, this is the way, walk in it, and we will thrive, else we will suffer loss. In other words, we cannot afford not to hear His voice clearly.

Now... now is the time to buy oil... to know God intimately and hear His voice...

Jesus said in Matthew 11:16-19
“But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying:

‘We played the flute for you,
    And you did not dance;
We mourned to you,
    And you did not lament.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

This is a sad state... a generation that seems numb and totally unmoved - not only that, they totally discern things the wrong way. How did they come to this state?

As we live in the world, perhaps things around us may have crept into us, silently, dulling our hearts in the Lord, making us wonder, why am I not vibrant in my walk with God? I fall asleep when I read His word. There is no zeal in my prayer. My heart does not seem to be moved by God as how it did in the past...

You know what I'm talking about... it's not so much the outward intense zealousness all the time but the heart connected-ness with God that you have lost. And you are bothered by it, which is good. For if we are not hot and don't even know it or admit it, we are in a hotter soup!

May our hearts be quickened by His word of caution in 1John 2:15-17:

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."

Many a time, when we want something, and do not get it our way, our terms (lust of the flesh), we get embittered and resentful. Yet if we stay this way and refuse to see our own problem, it's akin to drinking the cup of poison ourselves and hoping the people we are bitter and resentful towards will die from it.

Are we also so full of pride, consumed with self that we think we are all right and others are the problem, thus ignoring voices that warn us from the pit hole right in front of us?

May we respond to God in wholeheartedness and be found as a generation ready for His coming! May wisdom be justified by her children. Let us bear fruits in our lives in keeping a heart that is connected to God!





盐! Matthew 5:13

皮肉痛,心喜悦
心啊,你为何挣扎?
若是,世上的物质享受
无一间,进入了你心房?

拿把盐
撒在心上
转移你的目光
仰望着天父…

我是人类的盐
盐若失掉了咸味,
就无法使它再咸…
皮肉阿,让它屈服…

天父的心
天父的国度
我的心向往!
我的心喜悦!

Prevailing Prayer: Persevere with the Holy Spirit

"Prevailing, or effectual prayer, is that prayer which attains the blessing that it seeks. It is that prayer which effectually moves God. The very idea of effectual prayer is that it affects its object." ~ Charles G. Finney
 
Prayer, to be effectual (producing an intended effect), must be by the intercession of the Spirit. You never can expect to offer prayer according to the will of God without the Spirit. There must be a faith such as is produced by the effectual operation of the Holy Ghost.
 
As a general thing, Christians who have backslidden and lost the spirit of prayer will not get a once into the habit of persevering prayer. Their minds are not in a right state, and they cannot fix their thoughts so as to hold on till the blessing comes. If their minds were in that state in which they would persevere till the answer came, effectual prayer might be offered at once, as well as after praying ever so many times for an object. But they have to pray again and again, because their thoughts are so apt to wander away  and are so easily diverted from the object.
 
Most Christians come up to prevailing prayer by a protracted (lengthened, over time) process. Their minds gradually become filled with anxiety about an object, so that they will even go about their business sighing out their desires to God. Just as the mother whose child is sick goes round her house sighing as if her heart would break. And if she is a praying mother, her sighs are breathed out to God all the day long. If she goes out of the room where her child is, her mind is still on it; and if she is asleep, still her thoughts are on it, and she starts in her dreams, thinking that perhaps the child may be dying. Her whole mind is absorbed in that sick child. This is the state of mind in which Christians offer prevailing prayer.
 
Now, do not deceive yourselves with thinking that you offer effectual prayer without this intense desire for the blessing. I do not believe in it. Prayer is not effectual unless it is offered up with an agony of desire. The Apostle Paul speaks of it as a travail of the soul. Jesus Christ, when He was praying in the garden, was in such an agony that “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground”  (Luke 22:44)
 
 
[Taken from Principles of Prayer by Charles G. Finney]

Moments... (on the 14th day..)

[I've been asking God to reveal Himself to me, to encounter me, as I press in for the fullness of Him and His promises through prayer and all diligence in seeking Him. He answered my prayer, leaving me wanting more of Him...We've been asking for the increase in the spirit of prophecy - for more dreams and visions - that we may know the heart of God and speak it forth... When God encounters us, it is so vivid and real in the supernatural realm... May it bear fruit and produce a change that only He can bring...May the message be the messenger and the messenger be the message!]


Verse 1
Moments...
When You opened up my eyes
To catch a glimpse of Your glory 
Approaching me

Verse 2
Moments...
When You opened up my heart
To see Your holiness 
All surround me

Chorus
I tear my heart
Unworthy of Your glory
I tear my heart
Turning from my sins

Ending chorus
Facedown... 
I bowed down in worship and awe
Of the Holy One
My God and my King

John 3:29

[After all's been said and done... one thing remains... our heart of worship... our heart that beats towards God saying... our joy is to hear Your voice... aka... it's all about You, it's all about Your kingdom. We press in, we contend... and at the end of the day, what exhilarates us most, is not the happenings or the hand of God, good and encouraging as they are, but the very fact that our hearts are connected to His and we hear His voice speaking to us...]

Verse
Day by day
Walking with You
Day by day
Abiding with You
Day by day
Connecting my heart with You

Chorus
To hear Your voice
Is my reward
To hear Your voice
Is my joy
So I come
Just to wait and hear
It's all about You... It's all about Your kingdom O Lord

You are the Potter (Psalm 139)

[It's one thing to know that we are created by God and another thing, to yield to the hands of our Creator God. How do we look like? Perhaps we don't even know we look stunted (not literally) when we live life according to our own ways... May we yield to the Potter's hand... Oh how marvelous are His works... our days were written in His book... He not only created and formed us, but also has a plan for our life. May we search Him out and let Him lead us... May the knowledge of our Father's loving heart stir in us to cry out to Him 'Abba Father!' as we follow Him... His ways, not our ways...] Psalm 139, Rom 8:15; Isa 64:8

Verse 1
All my days
Were written in Your book
How marvelous, are Your works Lord

Verse 2
All my days
Were written by You
How precious are thoughts, I am Yours Lord...

Chorus
You are the Potter
I am the clay of Your hand
So come and mold me
Mold me and make me like You

You are the Potter
I am the clay of Your hand
Abba Father!
I delight in all Your ways...

Spontaneous
Your ways, not my ways
Your will be done

Search me, O come and prune me
I will follow You...
 
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