Pastor Prince surprised many in church yesterday when he shared one aspect of the word which the Lord gave him for the coming year 2008. And he said that he will share it over the next few weeks because there is more.
The cruz of the message for next year is that it will be "A Year of Manifested Blessings!" The number '8' signifies resurrection and he shared last week how some of our plans and hopes did not get fulfilled because of obstacles placed along the way by the devil and that this coming year, many of these obstacles will be removed and we will see our plans and hopes 'resurrected' and this is in line with the year of manifested blessings.
In order that we enjoy every blessing that is from Abba Daddy, we need to understand our blessings in Abraham, our spiritual father and these are found in Deuteronomy 28:1-13. The key to our blessings is found in verse 1 itself; Abba Daddy had placed us HIGH above everything else through Christ and because we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places, we will enjoy those blessings.
So people, get ready for your blessings and they are going to be great!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Updating of Address Books
It is a very strange feeling for me; at the end of every year I will usually end with mails (physical and electronic) with greetings from business associates and friends who would otherwise have been thought of as being lost and cannot be traced.
Yes, over the years I did have some who were permanently lost due to sudden deaths and there were some who were intentionally lost due to migration or home moves but by and large I would have received some form of Christmas or year-end greeting cards.
Two cases in point: -
1. A business friend who had taken up a job with a multinational corporation and sent to Mumbai India to help them set up shop sent me an email yesterday with his year-end message and included his contact details;
2. A church friend who lives in Wellington New Zealand sent his annual update together with his Christmas greetings and this is his only form of update. Last year he shared the passing of his 96 year-old sister from old age and this year he is 87.
So even though news and updates may be spartan but the ties remain and I really appreciate this updates.
A blessed 2008 filled with Jesus to one and all.
SHALOM
Yes, over the years I did have some who were permanently lost due to sudden deaths and there were some who were intentionally lost due to migration or home moves but by and large I would have received some form of Christmas or year-end greeting cards.
Two cases in point: -
1. A business friend who had taken up a job with a multinational corporation and sent to Mumbai India to help them set up shop sent me an email yesterday with his year-end message and included his contact details;
2. A church friend who lives in Wellington New Zealand sent his annual update together with his Christmas greetings and this is his only form of update. Last year he shared the passing of his 96 year-old sister from old age and this year he is 87.
So even though news and updates may be spartan but the ties remain and I really appreciate this updates.
A blessed 2008 filled with Jesus to one and all.
SHALOM
Friday, December 28, 2007
Three Prayer Requests for 2007
Every year on the last Sunday service for the year, Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church will ask the congregation to make three prayer requests of Abba Daddy and to note the answers to these requests when they come.
I recalled two years back in December 2005 that I specifically asked the Lord to restore my parents' health and to provide for my two children's university education in UK. Little did I know then that the Lord would be taking both parents home the following year and so, in a way, He did answer my prayer - they are now healthy and well in Heaven, without spot or blemish. And He did provide the funds for my children's education - more than sufficient.
And then at the end of 2006, I asked Him for three things
1. My daughter to have good success in her career (she graduated in July 2007)
2. My son to enjoy His blessings at work
3. Blessings on my career and business
Reviewing the year, I give thanks that Abba Daddy indeed had answered all three requests in a supernatural manner.
1. Adeline graduated with a Second Class Upper (2-1) and started work on October 15 and is enjoying supernatural favor with her superiors and is believing the Lord for a more bountiful year in 2008.
2. Adrian completed his probation (one-year) at the end of Sept and received many increments throughout this year. In fact he received more than 16 months of salary in 2007 (bonuses plus adjustments plus increments) and is trusting Abba for more favor in 2008.
3. It had been nine months since I started out on my own. Although the road had not been all that smooth, Abba Daddy had not failed to deliver His blessings and His provisions had always been on time.
So what will be my three prayer requests for 2008? To be honest, I have not really penned them down but will have them by Sunday Dec 30 in time for 4th service at New Creation Church. And I have learnt that Abba Daddy is not one who shortchanges His children. In fact He is always on time (except that His timing may not always synchronize with ours).
I recalled two years back in December 2005 that I specifically asked the Lord to restore my parents' health and to provide for my two children's university education in UK. Little did I know then that the Lord would be taking both parents home the following year and so, in a way, He did answer my prayer - they are now healthy and well in Heaven, without spot or blemish. And He did provide the funds for my children's education - more than sufficient.
And then at the end of 2006, I asked Him for three things
1. My daughter to have good success in her career (she graduated in July 2007)
2. My son to enjoy His blessings at work
3. Blessings on my career and business
Reviewing the year, I give thanks that Abba Daddy indeed had answered all three requests in a supernatural manner.
1. Adeline graduated with a Second Class Upper (2-1) and started work on October 15 and is enjoying supernatural favor with her superiors and is believing the Lord for a more bountiful year in 2008.
2. Adrian completed his probation (one-year) at the end of Sept and received many increments throughout this year. In fact he received more than 16 months of salary in 2007 (bonuses plus adjustments plus increments) and is trusting Abba for more favor in 2008.
3. It had been nine months since I started out on my own. Although the road had not been all that smooth, Abba Daddy had not failed to deliver His blessings and His provisions had always been on time.
So what will be my three prayer requests for 2008? To be honest, I have not really penned them down but will have them by Sunday Dec 30 in time for 4th service at New Creation Church. And I have learnt that Abba Daddy is not one who shortchanges His children. In fact He is always on time (except that His timing may not always synchronize with ours).
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Was Jesus really born on December 25th?
As the festivities of Christmas sets in and before we get too engrossed with the celebrations - parties and giving of gifts - we need to reflect on the real reason for the season and I would like to share this thought with you - was Jesus really born ON Christmas day? If He were not born on that day, then why are churches celebrating His birth on such a day?
There were only two accounts of the birth of Jesus in the bible – Matthew 1:18–25 and Luke 2:1-20. Matthew’s account tells us of the announcement by the Angel Gabriel to Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, that she would conceive supernaturally and bear a Son and that she and Joseph, her husband, were to name Him Jesus.
The gospel of Luke gives us a little more information by giving us a glimpse of the activities on the day of His birth. Luke told us that there was a big holiday in Israel on and around the day of His birth. And because of the importance of this festival (feast day as is known in the Old Testament), all the hotels and inns in Jerusalem and in all the surrounding towns were fully taken up by people who traveled from the other parts of Israel into Jerusalem to participate in these feasts. And looking at the Jewish calendar, there could only be two seasons when many important feasts are bunched up together –
- in March/ April during the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of First Fruits and
- in September/ October during the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and the Feast of Tabernacles
The Feast of Passover is usually observed in the homes of the people and rarely was there a requirement for the worshipper to make the long and arduous journey from their hometowns to Jerusalem. Also the Feast of First Fruits would be the time when the farmers would literally offer the first crop of the harvest to the Lord in worship (as a tithe). Therefore we may conclude that Jesus was not born in March or April during these feast days.
Could Jesus be born in September/ October then? Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur would most likely be the time of His birth as these two feasts required the Israelites to be physically present in the Temple at Jerusalem for the annual sacrifice of the scapegoat. The only other feast day which required the Israelite worshipper to be at the Temple was the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Pentecost as we know it and this is usually celebrated in May (fifty days after Easter). Certainly a reading of Luke’s account of His birth would indicate that the timing is most likely in September.
Another indication that Jesus was born in September (autumn) was the fact that the shepherds were still out in the fields with their sheep when the angels came to announce the good news of the birth of the Savior. If Jesus were really born in December, the wintry weather at night would have made it too unbearably cold for the shepherds and sheep to be out in the fields on that night. Trust me, December nights do get rather chilly as I was in Israel in December 2003.
Are there any other proofs apart from the scriptures that tell us that Jesus was not born in December? On the night that Jesus was born, there was a cosmic phenomenon – a star was born and this star was observed by the wise men in the East (believed by many bible scholars as from Persia or present day Iran). A check with the records kept by astronomers indicates that a new star indeed was ‘born’ in the constellation of Virgo on September 11, 3BC. The American historian Dr. Ernest L. Martin published an article in 1976 and later released his research entitled “The Birth of Christ Recalculated” in 1981 revealing that the signs in the sky on the night of Jesus’ birth occurred exactly on September 11, 3BC between 06:15PM and 07:49PM Eastern Standard Time (USA) and that would have been translated as between 02:15AM and 03:49AM Jerusalem time.
It must have been an exceptionally spectacular night for the shepherds for they were woken up from their sleep with the sheer brilliance from the host of angels gathered to give glory to God for the miracle of His birth. From Luke’s account, we read that the shepherds quickly left their shepherd fields outside Bethlehem and made their way to the stable where the baby was to be found. And when they found Him, they worshipped Him.
A recent study was made by some historians and bible scholars on the number of incidents that took place on September 11 stretching from 3BC till 2001 AD and an interesting list emerged. I am including the internet URL here for you to visit and read for yourselves http://www.september11news.com/Sept11History.htm
Also interesting to note was that the same scholars went to the Hebrew calendar and, after some lengthy mathematical algorithms, concluded that September 11, 3BC happened to be Tishri 01 (the first day in the Hebrew month of Tishri) and rabbis believe that Tishri 01 was the day that God created Adam and so the calendar started from thence. It thrills me to note that Tishri 01 is also the day of the Feast of Rosh Hashanah and the Hebrew New Year. Now is that not candid that God chose the same day that the first Adam was created to be the day that our Lord, the second Adam, was born? It is no wonder that the devil really hates the September 11th in our calendars.
So, if Jesus were really born on September 11th, what about December 25th? If we were to take the normal gestation period of 38 - 40 weeks for a pregnancy and calculate backwards we would have arrived at Dec 05th (40 weeks) or Dec 19th (38 weeks). What then happened in December and how did the church finally ended up with December 25th as Christmas day?
The Feast of Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights usually starts in mid-December and this festival will go on for eight days and ends somewhere around the 20's of December. During the festival, households will light one candle per evening on their Hanukkah lamps until the eight and final day and during the evening lighting of the candles, the story was retold of how the brave Maccabees led by Antiochus IV drove out the Syro-Grecians and restored the desecrated Temple in Jerusalem more than 2000 years ago.
The message of Hanukkah is that light overcomes the darkness and indeed it was so appropriate that the angel Gabriel should be sent at such a time to announce to Mary that the Savior was to be born and that she should be the mother of the Child. Certainly the Light had come and He shone in the land but His own knew Him not (John 1: 9-11).
History revealed that December 25 was indeed a Roman holiday where citizens celebrated the “Day of the Invincible Sun.” The leaders of the early Christian church chose this same day to celebrate the birth of Christ (instead of in September), in order to give Christians a rival holiday to those worshipping the pagan gods of Greece and Rome. Today although these gods are no longer worshipped, the church continues with this tradition and celebrates Christmas on December 25th.
Frankly, it is not important that we celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th or in September. What is more important is to remember the real reason why He came – to save a lost and dying world badly in need of a Savior. The Gift of Life had already been given by the Father when Jesus was born but what is paramount is that He chose to go to the cross and took our full penalty by dying in our place so that we can receive His gift of Life. Because He died, we need not be separated from the Father but we have reconciliation with Him through Christ our Lord. Have you been reconciled with the Father through the Blood of His Son Jesus Christ Who is now our Lord and Savior?
There were only two accounts of the birth of Jesus in the bible – Matthew 1:18–25 and Luke 2:1-20. Matthew’s account tells us of the announcement by the Angel Gabriel to Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, that she would conceive supernaturally and bear a Son and that she and Joseph, her husband, were to name Him Jesus.
The gospel of Luke gives us a little more information by giving us a glimpse of the activities on the day of His birth. Luke told us that there was a big holiday in Israel on and around the day of His birth. And because of the importance of this festival (feast day as is known in the Old Testament), all the hotels and inns in Jerusalem and in all the surrounding towns were fully taken up by people who traveled from the other parts of Israel into Jerusalem to participate in these feasts. And looking at the Jewish calendar, there could only be two seasons when many important feasts are bunched up together –
- in March/ April during the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of First Fruits and
- in September/ October during the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and the Feast of Tabernacles
The Feast of Passover is usually observed in the homes of the people and rarely was there a requirement for the worshipper to make the long and arduous journey from their hometowns to Jerusalem. Also the Feast of First Fruits would be the time when the farmers would literally offer the first crop of the harvest to the Lord in worship (as a tithe). Therefore we may conclude that Jesus was not born in March or April during these feast days.
Could Jesus be born in September/ October then? Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur would most likely be the time of His birth as these two feasts required the Israelites to be physically present in the Temple at Jerusalem for the annual sacrifice of the scapegoat. The only other feast day which required the Israelite worshipper to be at the Temple was the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Pentecost as we know it and this is usually celebrated in May (fifty days after Easter). Certainly a reading of Luke’s account of His birth would indicate that the timing is most likely in September.
Another indication that Jesus was born in September (autumn) was the fact that the shepherds were still out in the fields with their sheep when the angels came to announce the good news of the birth of the Savior. If Jesus were really born in December, the wintry weather at night would have made it too unbearably cold for the shepherds and sheep to be out in the fields on that night. Trust me, December nights do get rather chilly as I was in Israel in December 2003.
Are there any other proofs apart from the scriptures that tell us that Jesus was not born in December? On the night that Jesus was born, there was a cosmic phenomenon – a star was born and this star was observed by the wise men in the East (believed by many bible scholars as from Persia or present day Iran). A check with the records kept by astronomers indicates that a new star indeed was ‘born’ in the constellation of Virgo on September 11, 3BC. The American historian Dr. Ernest L. Martin published an article in 1976 and later released his research entitled “The Birth of Christ Recalculated” in 1981 revealing that the signs in the sky on the night of Jesus’ birth occurred exactly on September 11, 3BC between 06:15PM and 07:49PM Eastern Standard Time (USA) and that would have been translated as between 02:15AM and 03:49AM Jerusalem time.
It must have been an exceptionally spectacular night for the shepherds for they were woken up from their sleep with the sheer brilliance from the host of angels gathered to give glory to God for the miracle of His birth. From Luke’s account, we read that the shepherds quickly left their shepherd fields outside Bethlehem and made their way to the stable where the baby was to be found. And when they found Him, they worshipped Him.
A recent study was made by some historians and bible scholars on the number of incidents that took place on September 11 stretching from 3BC till 2001 AD and an interesting list emerged. I am including the internet URL here for you to visit and read for yourselves http://www.september11news.com/Sept11History.htm
Also interesting to note was that the same scholars went to the Hebrew calendar and, after some lengthy mathematical algorithms, concluded that September 11, 3BC happened to be Tishri 01 (the first day in the Hebrew month of Tishri) and rabbis believe that Tishri 01 was the day that God created Adam and so the calendar started from thence. It thrills me to note that Tishri 01 is also the day of the Feast of Rosh Hashanah and the Hebrew New Year. Now is that not candid that God chose the same day that the first Adam was created to be the day that our Lord, the second Adam, was born? It is no wonder that the devil really hates the September 11th in our calendars.
So, if Jesus were really born on September 11th, what about December 25th? If we were to take the normal gestation period of 38 - 40 weeks for a pregnancy and calculate backwards we would have arrived at Dec 05th (40 weeks) or Dec 19th (38 weeks). What then happened in December and how did the church finally ended up with December 25th as Christmas day?
The Feast of Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights usually starts in mid-December and this festival will go on for eight days and ends somewhere around the 20's of December. During the festival, households will light one candle per evening on their Hanukkah lamps until the eight and final day and during the evening lighting of the candles, the story was retold of how the brave Maccabees led by Antiochus IV drove out the Syro-Grecians and restored the desecrated Temple in Jerusalem more than 2000 years ago.
The message of Hanukkah is that light overcomes the darkness and indeed it was so appropriate that the angel Gabriel should be sent at such a time to announce to Mary that the Savior was to be born and that she should be the mother of the Child. Certainly the Light had come and He shone in the land but His own knew Him not (John 1: 9-11).
History revealed that December 25 was indeed a Roman holiday where citizens celebrated the “Day of the Invincible Sun.” The leaders of the early Christian church chose this same day to celebrate the birth of Christ (instead of in September), in order to give Christians a rival holiday to those worshipping the pagan gods of Greece and Rome. Today although these gods are no longer worshipped, the church continues with this tradition and celebrates Christmas on December 25th.
Frankly, it is not important that we celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th or in September. What is more important is to remember the real reason why He came – to save a lost and dying world badly in need of a Savior. The Gift of Life had already been given by the Father when Jesus was born but what is paramount is that He chose to go to the cross and took our full penalty by dying in our place so that we can receive His gift of Life. Because He died, we need not be separated from the Father but we have reconciliation with Him through Christ our Lord. Have you been reconciled with the Father through the Blood of His Son Jesus Christ Who is now our Lord and Savior?
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Boxing Day - Day After Christmas
Interesting to hear that Boxing Day is remembered in Europe as the day when the churches opened up its many donation boxes and give the money collected to those who do not even have anything to go on with life. My point here is why people would have to wait until Christmas to give to charity and then the churches open up the boxes only on that day - how pathetic!
And wait, there is more! The department stores open on Boxing Day at between 6:00AM & 7:00AM for the post-Christmas yearend sale and shoppers actually queue up in the evening of Christmas Day just so that they can be in line for the opening hours and get the best deals.
So what has happened to the real meaning of Christmas? Has the world not heard that Christmas is the day set aside to officially remember the Gift of Our Savior Jesus Christ? Apparently not. And how disheartening to see how Christmas had been so commercialized to the point that most people look for good bargains and completely missed out on the true meaning of Christmas.
And wait, there is more! The department stores open on Boxing Day at between 6:00AM & 7:00AM for the post-Christmas yearend sale and shoppers actually queue up in the evening of Christmas Day just so that they can be in line for the opening hours and get the best deals.
So what has happened to the real meaning of Christmas? Has the world not heard that Christmas is the day set aside to officially remember the Gift of Our Savior Jesus Christ? Apparently not. And how disheartening to see how Christmas had been so commercialized to the point that most people look for good bargains and completely missed out on the true meaning of Christmas.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
A Blessed Christmas to all
Indeed I believe Christmas this year will be a blessed one for all. I came home last evening from our short family holiday on Penang Island and when I checked my mail I found this testimony from a friend who had emigrated from Singapore to Edmonton in Canada.He shared how he was walking on the pedestrian walk when he was hit by a car (how this happened, I have not idea) but he was not injured at all. In fact he shared how he had called upon the Name of our Lord Jesus when the incident happened and instead of being of being injured, he actually went and consoled the lady driver. I supposed the roads were very slippery as Edmonton is usually covered in thick snow and ice at this time of the year since it is among the mountains. Praise the Lord for His protection over His loved ones.
Yes, Salvation came into our midst in the form of our Lord Jesus and as we celebrate this holiday with our friends and loved ones, let us not forget the true meaning of Christmas - the sending of God's Greatest Gift to mankind, His Only Darling Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Sufficient Is His Grace...
Recently I had noticed my car was not performing the way it should have - the engine was not as smooth riding as before and some of the mountings had to be replaced and it was costly to maintain. And I actually had two occasions of engine stalling whilst I was on the road. Also instead of getting the usual 10.2 km per litre, I was only getting 9.9 km and with the recent petrol price hikes you can calculate the impact this had on my monthly expenses.
And so, Alice and I walked into Kah Motor last Friday and decided to trade in my car for a Honda Jazz. Because it is only 1338cc compared to my current 1998cc, my annual road tax will be lower and COE prices are also lower now compared to five years ago. Fuel consumption is much better for this car - minimum 14 km per litre and that will work out to be about 40 percent savings on the pocket. But the amazing part is that the current car will be traded in at a price higher than what I will get if I were to scrap it. With the outstanding balance of the car loan factored in, I will be getting back a good amount.
And this is what amazes me. Every month Abba Daddy will send me enough to tie me over so that I will not be in lack. This reminds me of Psalm 23:1, The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
And I want to reach that place where, like the Apostle Paul, I can say, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." (Philippians 4:12)(NIV)
And so, Alice and I walked into Kah Motor last Friday and decided to trade in my car for a Honda Jazz. Because it is only 1338cc compared to my current 1998cc, my annual road tax will be lower and COE prices are also lower now compared to five years ago. Fuel consumption is much better for this car - minimum 14 km per litre and that will work out to be about 40 percent savings on the pocket. But the amazing part is that the current car will be traded in at a price higher than what I will get if I were to scrap it. With the outstanding balance of the car loan factored in, I will be getting back a good amount.
And this is what amazes me. Every month Abba Daddy will send me enough to tie me over so that I will not be in lack. This reminds me of Psalm 23:1, The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
And I want to reach that place where, like the Apostle Paul, I can say, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." (Philippians 4:12)(NIV)
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Forgetting the Past & Looking Unto Jesus
Pastor Lian of New Creation Church preached 2 Sundays ago on something that stuck in my mind and my spirit and is now leading me forward. She touched on how many of us clung on to our past - mistakes, bad experiences and even success stories - and have not learnt to let go of these and allow our Abba Daddy to help us go forward and enjoy even greater blessings.
Our past shapes our emotion and we like to stick to the familiar ground and it is human nature to shun the unknown - the unknown is viewed as full of uncertainty and therefore we often fail to recognize that it is precisely this that the Lord loves to have us throw ourselves on Him and for Him to carry us through and enjoy His blessings along the way.
Often you will read what Jesus had to say about our faith; Mark 10:15 Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Now those are pretty strong words and it behooves us to find out what exact Jesus meant. Ever looked at how secure a child feels in the presence of his parents (notice I said parents and not siblings or grandparents or relatives); how the child becomes almost carefree because of the love from his parents. No matter how much he tests their patience, he knows his parents still love him and that is the key.
Today our Abba Daddy wants us to feel secure in His Presence and to bask in His love. When I was younger, I used to look up to my father for his advice on certain issues and Abba Daddy wants us to look to Him for more than just advice on some issues of life but to depend on Him for ALL issues and to just enjoy His Presence.
Abba Daddy has more to offer us than we realize and the sooner we learn to look to Him for our blessings (advice, answers to prayer, etc), the faster we can enjoy His bountiful blessings over our lives. I pray that this will be your resolve for 2008. Shalom.
Our past shapes our emotion and we like to stick to the familiar ground and it is human nature to shun the unknown - the unknown is viewed as full of uncertainty and therefore we often fail to recognize that it is precisely this that the Lord loves to have us throw ourselves on Him and for Him to carry us through and enjoy His blessings along the way.
Often you will read what Jesus had to say about our faith; Mark 10:15 Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Now those are pretty strong words and it behooves us to find out what exact Jesus meant. Ever looked at how secure a child feels in the presence of his parents (notice I said parents and not siblings or grandparents or relatives); how the child becomes almost carefree because of the love from his parents. No matter how much he tests their patience, he knows his parents still love him and that is the key.
Today our Abba Daddy wants us to feel secure in His Presence and to bask in His love. When I was younger, I used to look up to my father for his advice on certain issues and Abba Daddy wants us to look to Him for more than just advice on some issues of life but to depend on Him for ALL issues and to just enjoy His Presence.
Abba Daddy has more to offer us than we realize and the sooner we learn to look to Him for our blessings (advice, answers to prayer, etc), the faster we can enjoy His bountiful blessings over our lives. I pray that this will be your resolve for 2008. Shalom.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Reflections on 2007 - New Business Arrangements!
I came into the business in April with a few prearranged alliances thinking that these would serve the business well as the alliances were with relatively good and reputable companies. Unfortunately it was not so and I was disappointed as one by one the projects I was looking forward to fell through because the clients could not grant the assignments to my principal as they were not in business continuity as a main line of business and my company could not enter the tender system for lack of financial status.
At my lowest point, I turned to Abba Daddy and poured out my frustrations to Him and guess what? yes, He heard my cries for help and sent me a number of new 'business partners' who had been discussing with me how we can carry forward into 2008 and beyond.
Yesterday was another classic example of a blessing from Abba. I was to meet a brother from church for a cup of coffee and a chat over his business, personal and family life and after his sharing, he asked me what my line of business was all about. When I explained what I am doing, the Spirit led him to offer his corporate services to arrange seminars and courses for me. What started as himself pouring his heart out in sharing how Abba Daddy had been faithful in delivering him out of every entanglement ended up with myself having a new business arrangement and I am trusting Abba that this will turn into fruition and be a blessing to both of us.
How awesome Abba Daddy is! He is still arranging and rearranging all my business relationships and aligning me for His superabundant blessings. Hallelujah!
At my lowest point, I turned to Abba Daddy and poured out my frustrations to Him and guess what? yes, He heard my cries for help and sent me a number of new 'business partners' who had been discussing with me how we can carry forward into 2008 and beyond.
Yesterday was another classic example of a blessing from Abba. I was to meet a brother from church for a cup of coffee and a chat over his business, personal and family life and after his sharing, he asked me what my line of business was all about. When I explained what I am doing, the Spirit led him to offer his corporate services to arrange seminars and courses for me. What started as himself pouring his heart out in sharing how Abba Daddy had been faithful in delivering him out of every entanglement ended up with myself having a new business arrangement and I am trusting Abba that this will turn into fruition and be a blessing to both of us.
How awesome Abba Daddy is! He is still arranging and rearranging all my business relationships and aligning me for His superabundant blessings. Hallelujah!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Reflections on 2007 - A New Platform For Sharing Abba's Blessings
Yes, you read it correctly. This year we witnessed the launch of this blog on August 30 and it is by the grace of Abba Daddy that the posts had been coming almost every day.
This blog was to replace my weekly email ministry which started on July 3rd 2001 and which I decided to end with the mail dated April 16, 2006. That issue was sharing #195 and I must admit that the Lord had used that ministry to touch many lives. I had people sending me mails telling me how the Lord had used the weekly sharing to encourage them. There was one salvation and many changed lives. At least two families were drawn to a higher level of fellowship with Abba Daddy. One couple came to me and encouraged me to continue as what I shared brought a conviction in their hearts to start going to church regularly.
You might ask why I stopped the email ministry; two main reasons really: -
1. A new regulation was passed in 2005/2006 in the Singapore Parliament outlining the penalties for SPAMs and initially I took no notice of it as I did not consider my ministry as SPAM although I sent out the mails under "bcc" but after receiving a number of return receipts from a number of companies/organizations classifying my mails as potential SPAM, I took notice and decided to avoid any inconvenience.
2. My email account was infected by a worm and up to now I am still experiencing crazy incoming emails - between 5 to 10 mails would be in my Inbox and they purport to be selling Canadian Pharmacy products - VIAGRA (definitely I don't need them).
And so I chose the route of having my own blogspot and this way I can reach a wider audience. Indeed it had! I received comments from people whom I never knew and to top it all, this blogspot won an award on September 22, 2007 for being the Top Christian blog! What an awesome encouragement!
This blog was to replace my weekly email ministry which started on July 3rd 2001 and which I decided to end with the mail dated April 16, 2006. That issue was sharing #195 and I must admit that the Lord had used that ministry to touch many lives. I had people sending me mails telling me how the Lord had used the weekly sharing to encourage them. There was one salvation and many changed lives. At least two families were drawn to a higher level of fellowship with Abba Daddy. One couple came to me and encouraged me to continue as what I shared brought a conviction in their hearts to start going to church regularly.
You might ask why I stopped the email ministry; two main reasons really: -
1. A new regulation was passed in 2005/2006 in the Singapore Parliament outlining the penalties for SPAMs and initially I took no notice of it as I did not consider my ministry as SPAM although I sent out the mails under "bcc" but after receiving a number of return receipts from a number of companies/organizations classifying my mails as potential SPAM, I took notice and decided to avoid any inconvenience.
2. My email account was infected by a worm and up to now I am still experiencing crazy incoming emails - between 5 to 10 mails would be in my Inbox and they purport to be selling Canadian Pharmacy products - VIAGRA (definitely I don't need them).
And so I chose the route of having my own blogspot and this way I can reach a wider audience. Indeed it had! I received comments from people whom I never knew and to top it all, this blogspot won an award on September 22, 2007 for being the Top Christian blog! What an awesome encouragement!
Monday, December 17, 2007
Reflections on 2007 - Blessings on my family
This year is also a Year of New Beginnings for my family. And of course, along with the new positions, the blessings also came along.
1. Alice was given more recognition in her work at school with the Learning Support Program. She was asked to take on a regional school cluster role to mentor the younger teachers on the program. Also because of the good economic performance of Singapore, she had good variable bonuses this year.
2. Adrian, our son, started his work travels this year. He joined the Foreign Service in October 2006 and after nine months on the job, he now has a junior colleague to help him. Also he was so excited that he appeared on TV twice (as a recorder behind the PM and MM recently) when the Libyan foreign dignitary visited Singapore for discussions.
3. Adeline, our daughter, graduated in July and came home in early August. She applied for a few openings in public relations and told Abba Daddy what she wanted for her 22nd birthday in October. And true enough, at 7PM on her birthday as we were going out for dinner, her mobile phone rang and she landed herself with a job.
Indeed we give praise to Abba Daddy Who is ever so true to His promises that He will watch over His own. Hallelujah!
1. Alice was given more recognition in her work at school with the Learning Support Program. She was asked to take on a regional school cluster role to mentor the younger teachers on the program. Also because of the good economic performance of Singapore, she had good variable bonuses this year.
2. Adrian, our son, started his work travels this year. He joined the Foreign Service in October 2006 and after nine months on the job, he now has a junior colleague to help him. Also he was so excited that he appeared on TV twice (as a recorder behind the PM and MM recently) when the Libyan foreign dignitary visited Singapore for discussions.
3. Adeline, our daughter, graduated in July and came home in early August. She applied for a few openings in public relations and told Abba Daddy what she wanted for her 22nd birthday in October. And true enough, at 7PM on her birthday as we were going out for dinner, her mobile phone rang and she landed herself with a job.
Indeed we give praise to Abba Daddy Who is ever so true to His promises that He will watch over His own. Hallelujah!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Reflections on 2007 - A Year of New Beginnings For New Creation Church!
When Pastor Prince shared that word from the Lord that the Year 2007 will be a "Year of New Beginnings", most of us thought the word was for individual church members; not so much for the church body. On the contrary, it meant so much for New Creation as a church, more than any other year.
In April, Pastor Prince's sermons were broadcast in USA over Daystar Channel weekly at 7PM on Thursdays and because of the length of his messages, it would take one month to complete his usual 80-90 minutes sermon (each week's broadcast was for 22 minutes) and with effect from May 15 (Pastor's birthday), the broadcast went daily and at a new time-slot of 2PM. Because of its popularity, a new channel was added in November - ABC Family (secular channel) - and aired at 5AM daily.
Pastor's book "Destined to Reign" was launched in July/August and is now one of the best sellers in more than 2000 Christian bookstores in USA. Also in Singapore Times the Bookstore carries this title and is among the top sellers.
In September, the church made the announcement that it is joining CapitalLand to build a new Cultural and Civic hub at OneNorth, Bouna Vista which is expected to be completed by end 2011 and the church will move in in 2012 to hold its services (expected to be 4 services by then) at the new 5000-seater auditorium. New Creation Church will be the anchor tenant for the auditorium. The church is expected to raise SGD180 million to meet its share of the cost of the hub and as at Dec 09 (last Sunday) a total of close to SGD3 million had been raised. All glory to Abba Daddy!!
Also on Sept 9th, the church attendance on a Sunday stood at 16,646 - a new high. The average church attendance on any given Sunday is hovering at 16,000 and we expect this to be surpassed any time soon.
Lives have been transformed and members are experiencing greater blessings in quality of life as well as material blessings... Indeed this is a Year of New Beginnings for the church! Praise Abba Daddy for His grace!
In April, Pastor Prince's sermons were broadcast in USA over Daystar Channel weekly at 7PM on Thursdays and because of the length of his messages, it would take one month to complete his usual 80-90 minutes sermon (each week's broadcast was for 22 minutes) and with effect from May 15 (Pastor's birthday), the broadcast went daily and at a new time-slot of 2PM. Because of its popularity, a new channel was added in November - ABC Family (secular channel) - and aired at 5AM daily.
Pastor's book "Destined to Reign" was launched in July/August and is now one of the best sellers in more than 2000 Christian bookstores in USA. Also in Singapore Times the Bookstore carries this title and is among the top sellers.
In September, the church made the announcement that it is joining CapitalLand to build a new Cultural and Civic hub at OneNorth, Bouna Vista which is expected to be completed by end 2011 and the church will move in in 2012 to hold its services (expected to be 4 services by then) at the new 5000-seater auditorium. New Creation Church will be the anchor tenant for the auditorium. The church is expected to raise SGD180 million to meet its share of the cost of the hub and as at Dec 09 (last Sunday) a total of close to SGD3 million had been raised. All glory to Abba Daddy!!
Also on Sept 9th, the church attendance on a Sunday stood at 16,646 - a new high. The average church attendance on any given Sunday is hovering at 16,000 and we expect this to be surpassed any time soon.
Lives have been transformed and members are experiencing greater blessings in quality of life as well as material blessings... Indeed this is a Year of New Beginnings for the church! Praise Abba Daddy for His grace!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Reflections on 2007 - Blessings on My Business
It was interesting that Pastor Prince of New Creation Church shared with the whole congregation on January 7, 2007 what the Lord told him about this year - that it would be a year of "New Beginnings".
When Alice and I heard that, we looked at each other and claimed that for my new business venture - it was already decided then that I would step away from Deutsche Bank after March 31 and start out on my own with my current business venture. So taking that word from the Lord as my confirmation, I threw in my resignation letter on February 16 (the day after my variable bonus was credited into my account - my parents taught me well that when people want to give you money, never say 'no') and when my boss asked me why I did not wait any longer and tried to persuade me to stay until summer (July), my response was a flat 'no' as I needed to have a clean break and start on my marketing/discussions with my potential clients.
And so 2007 was indeed a Year of New Beginnings for Alice and I. For Alice it was a year of seeing me waiting at times anxiously for work and not knowing what to do with my free hours and for me it was a time of discovering myself afresh and working on my business relationships and building my bases. A lot had gone in over the past 8 months and I would say that the new year will be a blessed year with fulfilled blessings for me. I am already seeing two new alliances building up and a third or possibly fourth on the way and I am also believing Abba Daddy that these alliances will bring me fresh blessings that are over and above what I can imagine and that I will be more than a conqueror through our Lord Jesus Christ who strengthens me.
When Alice and I heard that, we looked at each other and claimed that for my new business venture - it was already decided then that I would step away from Deutsche Bank after March 31 and start out on my own with my current business venture. So taking that word from the Lord as my confirmation, I threw in my resignation letter on February 16 (the day after my variable bonus was credited into my account - my parents taught me well that when people want to give you money, never say 'no') and when my boss asked me why I did not wait any longer and tried to persuade me to stay until summer (July), my response was a flat 'no' as I needed to have a clean break and start on my marketing/discussions with my potential clients.
And so 2007 was indeed a Year of New Beginnings for Alice and I. For Alice it was a year of seeing me waiting at times anxiously for work and not knowing what to do with my free hours and for me it was a time of discovering myself afresh and working on my business relationships and building my bases. A lot had gone in over the past 8 months and I would say that the new year will be a blessed year with fulfilled blessings for me. I am already seeing two new alliances building up and a third or possibly fourth on the way and I am also believing Abba Daddy that these alliances will bring me fresh blessings that are over and above what I can imagine and that I will be more than a conqueror through our Lord Jesus Christ who strengthens me.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
The world is getting more complicated...
Well, if anyone thinks that he/she had everything figured out, let him/her think again! Since last week the UN had been holding its meeting on Climate Control on Bali and most of the 'experts' had been at each other arguing over how much each country should be 'forced' to cut back on CO2 emissions etc.
Interesting that the two giants - China and India - are still labeled as developing nations and therefore not mandatory for them to comply - huh? what is that? they are among the biggest culprits in carbon emission and not having to comply by 2025? I find it strange - almost like saying double standards.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:20-23 (New International Version),
v20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
v21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
v22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time,
v23 not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
The current situation that the world is in right now had already been foretold thousands of years ago and everyone should have seen it coming. But hang on a minute; will the situation improve in the future? Going by what Paul wrote, the answer would be a flat 'no' but then again, acting as responsible stewards on this earth, we definitely need to be more disciplined and put our act together to improve.
Now if you had studied the world climatic condition lately, it has just gone nuts; dry places have gone dryer and wet places wetter. Yes, I know this is absurd but unfortunately true. if only the dry places get their fair share of water from the places where there is simply too much water, that would have helped.
So what am I saying? Notice what Paul wrote in v21 that the creation itself WILL be liberated from this bondage simply through you and I (Believers) acting together in praying and proclaiming the finished work of Christ. I do believe that the whole climatic situation can be drastically turned around when Believers act together and intercede for our 'world in labor pangs'.
Imagine what the world would be like if all the Believers are no longer around! the situation would get worse. And this is precisely what will happen after the Rapture when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ comes back to bring us all home to Heaven with the loud command and in the twinkling of the eye, we would be raised up into Heaven immediately. When the salt of the earth is taken away, the preservation process will cease and we are called the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13).
Interesting that the two giants - China and India - are still labeled as developing nations and therefore not mandatory for them to comply - huh? what is that? they are among the biggest culprits in carbon emission and not having to comply by 2025? I find it strange - almost like saying double standards.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:20-23 (New International Version),
v20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
v21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
v22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time,
v23 not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
The current situation that the world is in right now had already been foretold thousands of years ago and everyone should have seen it coming. But hang on a minute; will the situation improve in the future? Going by what Paul wrote, the answer would be a flat 'no' but then again, acting as responsible stewards on this earth, we definitely need to be more disciplined and put our act together to improve.
Now if you had studied the world climatic condition lately, it has just gone nuts; dry places have gone dryer and wet places wetter. Yes, I know this is absurd but unfortunately true. if only the dry places get their fair share of water from the places where there is simply too much water, that would have helped.
So what am I saying? Notice what Paul wrote in v21 that the creation itself WILL be liberated from this bondage simply through you and I (Believers) acting together in praying and proclaiming the finished work of Christ. I do believe that the whole climatic situation can be drastically turned around when Believers act together and intercede for our 'world in labor pangs'.
Imagine what the world would be like if all the Believers are no longer around! the situation would get worse. And this is precisely what will happen after the Rapture when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ comes back to bring us all home to Heaven with the loud command and in the twinkling of the eye, we would be raised up into Heaven immediately. When the salt of the earth is taken away, the preservation process will cease and we are called the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13).
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Is it true that Iran had given up its nuclear program in 2003?
I was just talking to a business associate who is an American and he commented that the intelligence report on Iran's nuclear program had changed the landscape for the US Presidential election in 2008. No longer are people concerned about security issues and those candidates who had advocated a strong military stance against Iran and continued presence in Iraq had seen their popularity ratings drop.
But is it really true that Iran had given up its nuclear program? or is the report intentionally planted to draw votes away from the hawkish camp to those that are dovish in nature? I am not convinced that Iran had given up its ambitious program four years ago and kept silent about it. If they had, then why were they so reluctant to allow the UN nuclear inspectors to go in and verify their status? that would have been the easiest method to prove to the whole world that they are clean.
You might say that I am skewed towards Israel on this. I find it strange that Israel is still making plans to strike Iran and take out the nuclear facilities. I am sure the Israeli secret service would have done its homework and advised its government to relax if Iran is no longer a threat but unfortunately it is not so.
And I am still reading articles after articles on Israel Today newspaper stating the war preparations and now I am beginning to question the credibility of the US reports. Well, that is US politics for us... time will reveal who is right.
Quote from Israel Today newspaper
Headline News
Monday, December 10, 2007 by Staff Writer
'Conflict with Iran unavoidable'
Incoming Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron Proser, told Britain's Sunday Telegraph that a military confrontation with Iran will be unavoidable if the Islamic Republic does not start cooperating with the international community over its nuclear program, and stop its hostile rhetoric toward Israel.
Proser, who previously served as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's top advisor on Iran, said Tehran could enrich enough uranium to build an atomic bomb by as early as 2009.
What's more, warned the Israeli, Iran will very soon reach a point where it is no longer dependent on outside sources to maintain and operate its nuclear facilities.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday made his first public response to the recently published US National Intelligence Estimate suggesting that Iran had abandoned its efforts to attain nuclear military power, insisting that Israel would work together with the International Atomic Energy Agency to prove that Iran remains determined to build an atomic bomb.
Mr. Olmert told his cabinet that what is clear is that Iran continues to bolster its long-range missile arsenal and to increase its ability to enrich uranium, two warning signs that should call into question any assessment that says the Islamic Republic is no longer pursuing nuclear arms.
Unquote
But is it really true that Iran had given up its nuclear program? or is the report intentionally planted to draw votes away from the hawkish camp to those that are dovish in nature? I am not convinced that Iran had given up its ambitious program four years ago and kept silent about it. If they had, then why were they so reluctant to allow the UN nuclear inspectors to go in and verify their status? that would have been the easiest method to prove to the whole world that they are clean.
You might say that I am skewed towards Israel on this. I find it strange that Israel is still making plans to strike Iran and take out the nuclear facilities. I am sure the Israeli secret service would have done its homework and advised its government to relax if Iran is no longer a threat but unfortunately it is not so.
And I am still reading articles after articles on Israel Today newspaper stating the war preparations and now I am beginning to question the credibility of the US reports. Well, that is US politics for us... time will reveal who is right.
Quote from Israel Today newspaper
Headline News
Monday, December 10, 2007 by Staff Writer
'Conflict with Iran unavoidable'
Incoming Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron Proser, told Britain's Sunday Telegraph that a military confrontation with Iran will be unavoidable if the Islamic Republic does not start cooperating with the international community over its nuclear program, and stop its hostile rhetoric toward Israel.
Proser, who previously served as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's top advisor on Iran, said Tehran could enrich enough uranium to build an atomic bomb by as early as 2009.
What's more, warned the Israeli, Iran will very soon reach a point where it is no longer dependent on outside sources to maintain and operate its nuclear facilities.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday made his first public response to the recently published US National Intelligence Estimate suggesting that Iran had abandoned its efforts to attain nuclear military power, insisting that Israel would work together with the International Atomic Energy Agency to prove that Iran remains determined to build an atomic bomb.
Mr. Olmert told his cabinet that what is clear is that Iran continues to bolster its long-range missile arsenal and to increase its ability to enrich uranium, two warning signs that should call into question any assessment that says the Islamic Republic is no longer pursuing nuclear arms.
Unquote
Monday, December 10, 2007
A Lesson On Faith
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a discussion with three others on how we were supposed to deliver a certain workshop together. This discussion almost did not get off the ground for me last week as there were some doubts on the part of the others as to my 'loyalty' to this team.
I was called in on Friday afternoon to discuss with the owner, issues on my intentions for helping a competitor on delivery of another workshop that is similar but never conflicting and after my assurance that I was doing all these purely from a commercial viewpoint was the air cleared and I was invited back on the training. All along I had maintained that the two training programs are never in conflict but complementary to each other as the standards differ vastly. And so I will be involved in both going forward and the rest is left to be seen how the general industry will accept either one.
I am sharing all these because it really looked bleak at one stage and i brought the challenge to Abba Daddy and left it to Him to resolve. Now I can say that He more than answered; He defended my actions and I am trusting that He will open the windows of blessing for me (no, I should emphasize that it is the 'doors' of His Treasure House).
I was called in on Friday afternoon to discuss with the owner, issues on my intentions for helping a competitor on delivery of another workshop that is similar but never conflicting and after my assurance that I was doing all these purely from a commercial viewpoint was the air cleared and I was invited back on the training. All along I had maintained that the two training programs are never in conflict but complementary to each other as the standards differ vastly. And so I will be involved in both going forward and the rest is left to be seen how the general industry will accept either one.
I am sharing all these because it really looked bleak at one stage and i brought the challenge to Abba Daddy and left it to Him to resolve. Now I can say that He more than answered; He defended my actions and I am trusting that He will open the windows of blessing for me (no, I should emphasize that it is the 'doors' of His Treasure House).
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Get Your Washing Done Even While Traveling
Each time my wife travels with me, she would bring along a small packet of washing powder to do some quick cleaning should be need certain items washed while we stayed in that location. However, recently with all the tight airport controls, this had become a bit harder but praise the Lord, His Blood continues to wash us perfectly!
Saturday, December 8, 2007
I Saw This Car In Phuket..
I saw this nice car at Laguna Phuket and I told my wife that I am claiming this car model for my car one day...but hang on, I already have Him in my life!
Friday, December 7, 2007
We Were Thirsty
Over the past three days my wife and I were at Phuket and dropped into a Seven-Eleven store to buy ourselves a drink. We saw this bottle on the shelf and it quickly reminded us of what the Lord had come to give us.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Know For A Certainty That We Are The Beloved Of Abba Daddy - 2
You must be wondering why I repeated the title for this post. This morning I received in my email a comment from "Jim" telling me that what I wrote about the Apostle John was not substantiated with scriptures and thereby inaccurate.
I am sorry if I have cause Jim any inconvenience. If we would all turn to the Bible and look at the 5 instances where the phrase "the disciple whom Jesus loved" we would get a better appreciation of where I am coming from - John 13:22/ John 19:26 / John 20:2 / John 21:7 / John 21:20.
Jewish customs tell us that the youngest member of the family gets to sit on the right side of the father during the Pesak meal (Passover Feast) and it is their custom that the youngest would prompt the father to re-tell the Passover account during the meal - part of their oral tradition and is still being practise in Jewish homes. Now the Apostle John is the youngest member of His team (some bible scholars think he was a teenager when he followed Jesus) and therefore gets to sit next to Jesus at the table and it is customary for the Jews in Jesus' time to sit reclining when they eat (resting on their left elbow and leaning back on the chest of the person on his left) and so when you look at John 13:22, we get a hint that it was John who was that "disciple whom Jesus loved".
When Jesus was nailed to the cross, He commissioned the disciple whom he loved to take care of His mother after He had departed from them. Who would you think is this disciple? It is not recorded any more after this verse but if we look at some of the archeological records from Capernaum, we might get a hint. When we visited Israel 5-1/2 years and again 4 years ago, right at the entrance to the ancient city of Capernaum hung a plaque stating that this town was the town of Jesus (meaning that He made it His hometown after He was rejected from Nazareth) and among some of the artefacts was a stone with the carvings "Family of Zebedee". Well, James and john were the sons of Zebedee who once wanted Jesus to command fire from Heaven to reign down on a Samaritan village who did not welcome them into their village (Luke 9:54) and so they must have great influence (and means) in Capernaum to be able to have such expensive carvings left at strategic places.
Also note that the account of Jesus "assigning" the responsibility of caring for His earthly mother to the "disciple whom Jesus loved" is ONLY found in the Gospel of John. Why? because none of the other disciples were there as He hung on the cross except the one who wrote about it - the Apostle John. The rest of the disciples deserted Him as He had foretold during the Passover meal the night before.
Luke 24:12 tells us that Peter went to the tomb and saw the burial clothes of Jesus laying by themselves while John mentioned Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved were at the tomb (John20:2). Now if you are writing your own diary and giving a personal account of what happened, would you not used a term that you are familiar with to describe yourself? As I mentioned earlier, John being a teenager outran the older Peter all the way to the tomb which is not surprising.
As I wrote in my earlier post, this phrase "the disciple whom Jesus loved" can only be found in the Gospel of John. John using this phrase to describe himself is not surprising. If we know how much Jesus loves us, we would also use such phrases to describe His intimacy with us. If you see the description of myself in my Profile, I addressed myself as the 'Beloved Child of Jesus Christ and of our Heavenly Abba Father'.
I am sorry if I have cause Jim any inconvenience. If we would all turn to the Bible and look at the 5 instances where the phrase "the disciple whom Jesus loved" we would get a better appreciation of where I am coming from - John 13:22/ John 19:26 / John 20:2 / John 21:7 / John 21:20.
Jewish customs tell us that the youngest member of the family gets to sit on the right side of the father during the Pesak meal (Passover Feast) and it is their custom that the youngest would prompt the father to re-tell the Passover account during the meal - part of their oral tradition and is still being practise in Jewish homes. Now the Apostle John is the youngest member of His team (some bible scholars think he was a teenager when he followed Jesus) and therefore gets to sit next to Jesus at the table and it is customary for the Jews in Jesus' time to sit reclining when they eat (resting on their left elbow and leaning back on the chest of the person on his left) and so when you look at John 13:22, we get a hint that it was John who was that "disciple whom Jesus loved".
When Jesus was nailed to the cross, He commissioned the disciple whom he loved to take care of His mother after He had departed from them. Who would you think is this disciple? It is not recorded any more after this verse but if we look at some of the archeological records from Capernaum, we might get a hint. When we visited Israel 5-1/2 years and again 4 years ago, right at the entrance to the ancient city of Capernaum hung a plaque stating that this town was the town of Jesus (meaning that He made it His hometown after He was rejected from Nazareth) and among some of the artefacts was a stone with the carvings "Family of Zebedee". Well, James and john were the sons of Zebedee who once wanted Jesus to command fire from Heaven to reign down on a Samaritan village who did not welcome them into their village (Luke 9:54) and so they must have great influence (and means) in Capernaum to be able to have such expensive carvings left at strategic places.
Also note that the account of Jesus "assigning" the responsibility of caring for His earthly mother to the "disciple whom Jesus loved" is ONLY found in the Gospel of John. Why? because none of the other disciples were there as He hung on the cross except the one who wrote about it - the Apostle John. The rest of the disciples deserted Him as He had foretold during the Passover meal the night before.
Luke 24:12 tells us that Peter went to the tomb and saw the burial clothes of Jesus laying by themselves while John mentioned Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved were at the tomb (John20:2). Now if you are writing your own diary and giving a personal account of what happened, would you not used a term that you are familiar with to describe yourself? As I mentioned earlier, John being a teenager outran the older Peter all the way to the tomb which is not surprising.
As I wrote in my earlier post, this phrase "the disciple whom Jesus loved" can only be found in the Gospel of John. John using this phrase to describe himself is not surprising. If we know how much Jesus loves us, we would also use such phrases to describe His intimacy with us. If you see the description of myself in my Profile, I addressed myself as the 'Beloved Child of Jesus Christ and of our Heavenly Abba Father'.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Train A Child In The Way He Should Go...
In Proverbs 22:6, King Solomon wrote, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn (depart) from it." How true I find this advice.
I recalled how when I was young my own parents taught me certain values in life and till today I can still remember them well and in turn I have passed some of these (plus others that I picked up along the way) on to my own children. And just the other day I was watching the 7PM Korean soap "Precious Family" and was being reminded how precious the early lessons were to the youngest daughter in this family. She broke up with her boyfriend whom she very much wanted to marry but because of family restrictions, she could not.
And at one point, out of her frustration, she arranged to meet up with her ex-boyfriend and they rented a hotel room so that they could talk and try to comfort each other. And it was there and then that she said she was very tempted to throw her virtues out the window so as to have one last fling before they go their separate ways. At precisely that moment, her conscience caught her and she retracted. She reminded herself that she was the youngest daughter of the vice-principal of the middle school in her district and being of a certain pedigree, she cannot let her family reputation go down the drain.
And that reminded me of how we should train our own children. No, I am not saying that we should nag at our children to guard our good reputation but rather we should show them Christ and His love for them and to encourage them as beloved children of Abba Daddy. Once they know their true identity, they will not want to go the way of the world but will learn to appropriate the love that Daddy God had showered on them and will bear His image.
Well, the Apostle John recognized that and he was so filled with the love of Abba Daddy that he changed from a hot-tempered, foul-mouthed fisherman to become the Apostle of Love and wrote the Gospel of john and his three letters to the churches to encourage them and there was a bonus issue - he got to meet with the Risen Christ in a vision and penned what he saw in the Book of Revelations.
I recalled how when I was young my own parents taught me certain values in life and till today I can still remember them well and in turn I have passed some of these (plus others that I picked up along the way) on to my own children. And just the other day I was watching the 7PM Korean soap "Precious Family" and was being reminded how precious the early lessons were to the youngest daughter in this family. She broke up with her boyfriend whom she very much wanted to marry but because of family restrictions, she could not.
And at one point, out of her frustration, she arranged to meet up with her ex-boyfriend and they rented a hotel room so that they could talk and try to comfort each other. And it was there and then that she said she was very tempted to throw her virtues out the window so as to have one last fling before they go their separate ways. At precisely that moment, her conscience caught her and she retracted. She reminded herself that she was the youngest daughter of the vice-principal of the middle school in her district and being of a certain pedigree, she cannot let her family reputation go down the drain.
And that reminded me of how we should train our own children. No, I am not saying that we should nag at our children to guard our good reputation but rather we should show them Christ and His love for them and to encourage them as beloved children of Abba Daddy. Once they know their true identity, they will not want to go the way of the world but will learn to appropriate the love that Daddy God had showered on them and will bear His image.
Well, the Apostle John recognized that and he was so filled with the love of Abba Daddy that he changed from a hot-tempered, foul-mouthed fisherman to become the Apostle of Love and wrote the Gospel of john and his three letters to the churches to encourage them and there was a bonus issue - he got to meet with the Risen Christ in a vision and penned what he saw in the Book of Revelations.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Know For A Certainty That We Are The Beloved Of Abba Daddy
Ever wondered why the Apostle John used the phrase, 'the disciple whom Jesus loved'? Initially when I was much younger in age as well as a Christian, I used to think that the Apostle was being prideful until recently when Pastor Prince shed some light on this phrase.
The Apostle John was the only disciple who ever used that phrase to describe himself; none of the other apostles used the term. Also it should be noted that the apostle used that term to describe himself, no one gave him that term. Was John conceated then?
Well, John was one of the three disciples Jesus had handpicked as His inner circle of disciples - Peter, James and John. Peter is the Greek word for 'rock' or Law while James correlates to Jacob or 'surplanter' and of course John in Hebrew is Johanan or 'grace'. And so even the three names tell a very interesting message that our Lord wants to illustrate - The Law had been replaced (surplanted) by grace.
The Apostle grasped that rather quickly and decided that he will internallize Abba's love for him and keep reminding himself that he was 'the disciple that Jesus loves'. What an awesome revelation and what awesome results and blessings came his way just because of his confession of faith. And as he did that, even the storms of life could not deter him.
The Apostle John was the only disciple who ever used that phrase to describe himself; none of the other apostles used the term. Also it should be noted that the apostle used that term to describe himself, no one gave him that term. Was John conceated then?
Well, John was one of the three disciples Jesus had handpicked as His inner circle of disciples - Peter, James and John. Peter is the Greek word for 'rock' or Law while James correlates to Jacob or 'surplanter' and of course John in Hebrew is Johanan or 'grace'. And so even the three names tell a very interesting message that our Lord wants to illustrate - The Law had been replaced (surplanted) by grace.
The Apostle grasped that rather quickly and decided that he will internallize Abba's love for him and keep reminding himself that he was 'the disciple that Jesus loves'. What an awesome revelation and what awesome results and blessings came his way just because of his confession of faith. And as he did that, even the storms of life could not deter him.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
My Confidence IS In The Lord
My experience this week affirmed in my spirit the need to continue to put my confidence not in men but firmly in the Lord. Events had taken place so quickly this week that I could not even sit down and ponder over the developments.
In my post of last Thursday Nov 22 entitled, "Give Me Wisdom Please, Lord" I wrote that I had a call from a friend in Canada who wanted me to help him teach a whole week's worth of courses under his new license and also on that same day a few of us practitioners met up to discuss how we can form an alliance and teach another set of certification courses. Well, after agreeing to help my Canadian friend in his courses, I was confronted on Wednesday evening by the second licensee why I agreed to do what I promised without checking first with him and that I was making things difficult for him.
In the first instance, I never entertained this idea that I work exclusively for any one, other than under a permanent working arrangement as a salaried worker. And then I heard more horror stories last evening - two others had been talking behind my back and spreading doubts about my 'crossing of battle-lines'. Initially I was very annoyed with what had happened but then, praise the Lord, the Spirit arrested my spirit and comforted me. Why was I looking towards men for their approval for what i can or cannot do? after all they do not hold my future - Abba Daddy does and He will have the final say! all else will fade away, even my accusers.
I guess when that happened to me, I felt like the prophet Daniel whose enemies were trying to frame him and overthrow him. Of course their plans fell through and Daniel was delivered from his tormentors. I too believe that my situation will turn around and that the Lord will avenge me and restore me with more blessings than before all these took place. i believe that the more they tried to suppress me, the higher I was blob back up and float away out of their grasp. Yes, that day will be soon - Abba Daddy thank you for the blessings which my Lord Jesus Christ died to give these blessings to me.
In my post of last Thursday Nov 22 entitled, "Give Me Wisdom Please, Lord" I wrote that I had a call from a friend in Canada who wanted me to help him teach a whole week's worth of courses under his new license and also on that same day a few of us practitioners met up to discuss how we can form an alliance and teach another set of certification courses. Well, after agreeing to help my Canadian friend in his courses, I was confronted on Wednesday evening by the second licensee why I agreed to do what I promised without checking first with him and that I was making things difficult for him.
In the first instance, I never entertained this idea that I work exclusively for any one, other than under a permanent working arrangement as a salaried worker. And then I heard more horror stories last evening - two others had been talking behind my back and spreading doubts about my 'crossing of battle-lines'. Initially I was very annoyed with what had happened but then, praise the Lord, the Spirit arrested my spirit and comforted me. Why was I looking towards men for their approval for what i can or cannot do? after all they do not hold my future - Abba Daddy does and He will have the final say! all else will fade away, even my accusers.
I guess when that happened to me, I felt like the prophet Daniel whose enemies were trying to frame him and overthrow him. Of course their plans fell through and Daniel was delivered from his tormentors. I too believe that my situation will turn around and that the Lord will avenge me and restore me with more blessings than before all these took place. i believe that the more they tried to suppress me, the higher I was blob back up and float away out of their grasp. Yes, that day will be soon - Abba Daddy thank you for the blessings which my Lord Jesus Christ died to give these blessings to me.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Teachable Spirit
Yesterday Rev Col Stringer preached at New Creation Church as Pastor Prince was away with his family for a holiday and one of the main theme that he touched on was the topic of having a "teachable spirit"
You know, as we all grow older, many of us will be saddled with this thought that we have learned everything that needs to be learnt and therefore there is nothing more to teach us. How wrong can we all get! In fact we should continue to adopt this attitude of continuous learning as we can never possibly learnt everything there is in life. There will always be things that we can pick up every day and add onto our database of life-skills which will stand us through the daily tests of living.
Now I know that I am beginning to sound like a Singapore government propaganda machine dishing out slogans after slogans. But hang on a minute - when we were much younger and hungry to pick up life-skills and we kept asking questions, did we not appear to be likeable to whoever we were trying to learn from?
I should know because I was a lean and mean trader back in the late eighties/ early nineties. I recalled one of the money brokering houses was trying to assign me a very senior manager to handle the hotline between the house and the bank and this gentleman had this attitude of 'I know the market and therefore can give you the best deal in town'. How wrong he was because there is no way a broker can know what a bank's position and perception was; only the bank knows what sort of risk aptitude it wants to carry. And so I ended up literally banning him from entering my line - not even in the absence of the other broker who was finally appointed to service the bank line.
I recalled telling the director of the brokering company that I wanted someone who is hungry to learn and who has a teachable spirit and I remembered the director telling me in a very apologetic tone that he could not find anyone of a certain calibre except a very junior broker (you might even call him a rookie). And so I accepted the challenge and after a day or two I actually found this bloke a likeble person as his hunger for knowledge did not seem to be satiable and that pleased me so much that I resolved to show him more of the ropes of the market.
To cut the story short, after eighteen months, he was so well trained that he became my eyes and ears especially when I wanted to trade in the US markets from home and I simply did not have the infrastructure set up at home. After each important piece of economic or political news, he could even read my mind just by listening to my breathing and he was able to crystallize what I eventually wanted to do in reaction to the news.
And so when I was listening to what Rev Col was saying, I began to reflect on my own experiences and told myself, "Andrew, you are never too old to learn new things; maintain that teachable spirit for that is very pleasing to Abba Daddy!"
You know, as we all grow older, many of us will be saddled with this thought that we have learned everything that needs to be learnt and therefore there is nothing more to teach us. How wrong can we all get! In fact we should continue to adopt this attitude of continuous learning as we can never possibly learnt everything there is in life. There will always be things that we can pick up every day and add onto our database of life-skills which will stand us through the daily tests of living.
Now I know that I am beginning to sound like a Singapore government propaganda machine dishing out slogans after slogans. But hang on a minute - when we were much younger and hungry to pick up life-skills and we kept asking questions, did we not appear to be likeable to whoever we were trying to learn from?
I should know because I was a lean and mean trader back in the late eighties/ early nineties. I recalled one of the money brokering houses was trying to assign me a very senior manager to handle the hotline between the house and the bank and this gentleman had this attitude of 'I know the market and therefore can give you the best deal in town'. How wrong he was because there is no way a broker can know what a bank's position and perception was; only the bank knows what sort of risk aptitude it wants to carry. And so I ended up literally banning him from entering my line - not even in the absence of the other broker who was finally appointed to service the bank line.
I recalled telling the director of the brokering company that I wanted someone who is hungry to learn and who has a teachable spirit and I remembered the director telling me in a very apologetic tone that he could not find anyone of a certain calibre except a very junior broker (you might even call him a rookie). And so I accepted the challenge and after a day or two I actually found this bloke a likeble person as his hunger for knowledge did not seem to be satiable and that pleased me so much that I resolved to show him more of the ropes of the market.
To cut the story short, after eighteen months, he was so well trained that he became my eyes and ears especially when I wanted to trade in the US markets from home and I simply did not have the infrastructure set up at home. After each important piece of economic or political news, he could even read my mind just by listening to my breathing and he was able to crystallize what I eventually wanted to do in reaction to the news.
And so when I was listening to what Rev Col was saying, I began to reflect on my own experiences and told myself, "Andrew, you are never too old to learn new things; maintain that teachable spirit for that is very pleasing to Abba Daddy!"
Sunday, November 25, 2007
My Break-Through Is On The Way
A couple of months back I shared with a few of my friends how I was waiting for the break-through in my business and that when they come I will be so busy.
Just the other day, I decided to list down all the projects/ assignments that I had been working on and waiting for the green light to come on.
- 5 teaching assignments
- 6 projects waiting for approvals /budgets
- 6 potential projects in the horizon
The list does look impressive by all standards and I should be happy with all those work...except that I am still waiting. Two of the projects could not be started because of budget reasons while another two are still in the review phase and I should know the fates soon.
Nevertheless I am believing Abba Daddy for the harvest soon and I am so looking forward to that. And right now I want to prepare myself for the tide of blessings pouring in. My break-throughs is on the way - just round the corner. All praise to Abba Daddy for His blessings. Amen.
Just the other day, I decided to list down all the projects/ assignments that I had been working on and waiting for the green light to come on.
- 5 teaching assignments
- 6 projects waiting for approvals /budgets
- 6 potential projects in the horizon
The list does look impressive by all standards and I should be happy with all those work...except that I am still waiting. Two of the projects could not be started because of budget reasons while another two are still in the review phase and I should know the fates soon.
Nevertheless I am believing Abba Daddy for the harvest soon and I am so looking forward to that. And right now I want to prepare myself for the tide of blessings pouring in. My break-throughs is on the way - just round the corner. All praise to Abba Daddy for His blessings. Amen.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Special Favor From Abba Daddy
In my last post I was referring to a situation in my work where two conflicting demands existed for my time and attention and one party demands contractual arrangement so as to block out the second. Yesterday I met up with a friend who is in exactly the situation as I am and we discussed how we should approach our mutual friends to resolve the issues at hand.
We felt that we cannot be held ransom by either party and we are convinced that we have better bargaining power as both sides needed our services and collectively we could be the king-makers and determine their business fates. And so we will announce next Saturday to the difficult party that we do not wish to be tied down to either side and that we want to maintain independence in our choices and I believe that we will come forth victorious because of favor from Abba Daddy.
I would rather that both sides go along with us and continue our cordial relationships than to burn bridges in our relationships for that would make the situation very ugly and hurtful.
So Abba Daddy, grant me special favor when we discuss our positions and decisions to that difficult company and that they would work together for a common good rather than become vindictive and be really hurt in the process.
We felt that we cannot be held ransom by either party and we are convinced that we have better bargaining power as both sides needed our services and collectively we could be the king-makers and determine their business fates. And so we will announce next Saturday to the difficult party that we do not wish to be tied down to either side and that we want to maintain independence in our choices and I believe that we will come forth victorious because of favor from Abba Daddy.
I would rather that both sides go along with us and continue our cordial relationships than to burn bridges in our relationships for that would make the situation very ugly and hurtful.
So Abba Daddy, grant me special favor when we discuss our positions and decisions to that difficult company and that they would work together for a common good rather than become vindictive and be really hurt in the process.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Give Me Wisdom Please, Lord!
Ever had the situation of having to make unpleasant decisions? Early this morning, as i was doing some housework for my wife, I received an overseas call inviting me to be an instructor in some training course in 2008 and I felt elated as I was convinced that my breakthrough had indeed come.
Well, this afternoon I went for another meeting with a different vendor and I felt uncomfortable because of one clause in the notes - that the instructors are not supposed to be involved in the training in both camps as both offer certification courses; both companies do not see eye to eye on many things. And so now I have to make a decision - choose one and ditch the other or else I wait and watch the scenario play out and then make my choice.
Meanwhile I have advised both parties to resolve their differences for the sake of the industry - it will not look good for everyone if the tussle continues indefinitely. They should bury the hatchet and move on and save embarassment all round.
Well, this afternoon I went for another meeting with a different vendor and I felt uncomfortable because of one clause in the notes - that the instructors are not supposed to be involved in the training in both camps as both offer certification courses; both companies do not see eye to eye on many things. And so now I have to make a decision - choose one and ditch the other or else I wait and watch the scenario play out and then make my choice.
Meanwhile I have advised both parties to resolve their differences for the sake of the industry - it will not look good for everyone if the tussle continues indefinitely. They should bury the hatchet and move on and save embarassment all round.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Beware Fraudsters!
Last week I received two business proposals at my company email address, both reeking with suspicions right from the start.
Proposal 1
Father passed on and left him with a USD25 million fortune but estate can only be claimed outside his country and hence need external business partner to help him get the wealth...some of which is in gold! sounds familiar?
Proposal 2
Guy in UK wanted an external partner to be the middleman to buy a specialized oil that is used to clean diamonds (I did not realize there is such a thing) and because of the price differential he wants me to buy from North Korea (hmmm what do they know in North Korea except nuclear fuel!!) and Malaysia and resell back to his company and take a cut of the differences in pricing...Sounds a scam right from the start..the guy is an internal person and wants to cheat on his own company...
Of course I refused to respond to proposal 1 and told proposal 2 politely to 'take a hike'. Certainly goes to prove a point; we need the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to lead us daily in our walk and to sound the alarm wherever necessary. Here's to walking with You in close fellowship, O Lord!
Proposal 1
Father passed on and left him with a USD25 million fortune but estate can only be claimed outside his country and hence need external business partner to help him get the wealth...some of which is in gold! sounds familiar?
Proposal 2
Guy in UK wanted an external partner to be the middleman to buy a specialized oil that is used to clean diamonds (I did not realize there is such a thing) and because of the price differential he wants me to buy from North Korea (hmmm what do they know in North Korea except nuclear fuel!!) and Malaysia and resell back to his company and take a cut of the differences in pricing...Sounds a scam right from the start..the guy is an internal person and wants to cheat on his own company...
Of course I refused to respond to proposal 1 and told proposal 2 politely to 'take a hike'. Certainly goes to prove a point; we need the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to lead us daily in our walk and to sound the alarm wherever necessary. Here's to walking with You in close fellowship, O Lord!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Looking Unto Jesus
Recently I commented to my caregroup members that we needed fresh injects into our group as the regulars seem to be having lifestyle changes and work commitments and could not join the fortnightly meetings and we decided to commit the challenge to our Abba Daddy.
Guess what? On Tuesday we had two new members and we are believing the Lord for more in the coming weeks. You see, Jesus rebuked His disciples for their slowness of heart to believe (Luke 24:25) and for not asking Him anything (John 16:24). It is as if they did not believe Him that He is able to do what He said He came to do and that He will give them whatever they asked of Him.
Which reminds me of one church member who came for prayer after the 4th service two Sundays ago. He asked for prayer for a friend and just before I started praying for him, I sensed in the Spirit that he needed more than just prayer - he needed to have a good dose of Holy Spirit power inside of him and so I laid hands on him and prayed for him to received the gift of praying in tongues. And then I proceeded to pray for his friend and yes, you guessed it - halfway through the time of prayer, he was already praying in tongues to the glory of Jesus.
And I am very confident that this church member will be using this newfound gift regularly as he goes about his daily life. Many times we think that the Lord only has great things for specific people to do and that He does not use ordinary folks like you and I to accomplish that. No, we cannot be more incorrect. In fact Abba Daddy is looking for people who are constantly looking unto Jesus in their daily lives and we will move mountains through Him.
Guess what? On Tuesday we had two new members and we are believing the Lord for more in the coming weeks. You see, Jesus rebuked His disciples for their slowness of heart to believe (Luke 24:25) and for not asking Him anything (John 16:24). It is as if they did not believe Him that He is able to do what He said He came to do and that He will give them whatever they asked of Him.
Which reminds me of one church member who came for prayer after the 4th service two Sundays ago. He asked for prayer for a friend and just before I started praying for him, I sensed in the Spirit that he needed more than just prayer - he needed to have a good dose of Holy Spirit power inside of him and so I laid hands on him and prayed for him to received the gift of praying in tongues. And then I proceeded to pray for his friend and yes, you guessed it - halfway through the time of prayer, he was already praying in tongues to the glory of Jesus.
And I am very confident that this church member will be using this newfound gift regularly as he goes about his daily life. Many times we think that the Lord only has great things for specific people to do and that He does not use ordinary folks like you and I to accomplish that. No, we cannot be more incorrect. In fact Abba Daddy is looking for people who are constantly looking unto Jesus in their daily lives and we will move mountains through Him.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The Holy Spirit moves in ways we cannot understand
This past week had been amazing for me for various reasons: -
1. I finished one short project with one bank here in Singapore and we did a 2-hour review on Monday of the lessons learnt and it is amazing how many things we came up with just 8 hours of exercises two weeks earlier; I actually wrote a 28-page report on the observations and recommendations;
2. The Business Development Manager of one major IT firm met up with me on Thursday and we discussed business partnerships in exactly the areas I needed help;
3. I received a call from a Korean brother on Thursday evening and he was excited that there could be opportunities for me to do some BCM training and consultancy in Seoul where he is living. He has always desired in his heart to see me personally especially in Seoul and this could be his answer to his prayer;
4. Another friend had been working out some details on our business partnership and it is coming along fine. Interestingly enough there are a number of consultants like me trying to offer services to the market but I am the only one he felt comfortable engaging in partnership to market my courses - special favour from the Lord;
5. And then Alice and I met a friend and his wife (of all places) in a hawker centre and they were just talking about us when he turned around and saw me ordering our brunch. Later, during the conversation, his wife held back on something she was not sure whether she should bring up as conversation and I spoke out exactly what was on her mind. That was Holy Spirit spooky and they were amazed.
Now, why am I sharing all these with you here? Alice and I had committed my business to Abba Daddy and we told Him we are expecting His supplies and boy, WILL He supply!! Yes, more than over-supply - super-abundantly overflowing with baskets left over for us to bless others too. When we walk with Him, great things WILL happen to us and around us and we just have to get ready for the overflow! Amen Daddy! Hallelujah.
1. I finished one short project with one bank here in Singapore and we did a 2-hour review on Monday of the lessons learnt and it is amazing how many things we came up with just 8 hours of exercises two weeks earlier; I actually wrote a 28-page report on the observations and recommendations;
2. The Business Development Manager of one major IT firm met up with me on Thursday and we discussed business partnerships in exactly the areas I needed help;
3. I received a call from a Korean brother on Thursday evening and he was excited that there could be opportunities for me to do some BCM training and consultancy in Seoul where he is living. He has always desired in his heart to see me personally especially in Seoul and this could be his answer to his prayer;
4. Another friend had been working out some details on our business partnership and it is coming along fine. Interestingly enough there are a number of consultants like me trying to offer services to the market but I am the only one he felt comfortable engaging in partnership to market my courses - special favour from the Lord;
5. And then Alice and I met a friend and his wife (of all places) in a hawker centre and they were just talking about us when he turned around and saw me ordering our brunch. Later, during the conversation, his wife held back on something she was not sure whether she should bring up as conversation and I spoke out exactly what was on her mind. That was Holy Spirit spooky and they were amazed.
Now, why am I sharing all these with you here? Alice and I had committed my business to Abba Daddy and we told Him we are expecting His supplies and boy, WILL He supply!! Yes, more than over-supply - super-abundantly overflowing with baskets left over for us to bless others too. When we walk with Him, great things WILL happen to us and around us and we just have to get ready for the overflow! Amen Daddy! Hallelujah.
Friday, November 16, 2007
The world is getting darker BUT we will shne ever brighter!
In the Israel Today newpaper on Monday Nov 12, there was an article by one of their staff writers stating that some Israeli scientists at the University of Haifa had made some astonishing discovery - Microsoft's Windows2000 Operating System had many security flaws and this can potentially result in computer hackers being able to go through your firewalls and access your systems and steal anything they like including your personal profiles (userids and passwords) and thereafter commit cyber crimes.
In that article it was reported that the same scientists gave a presentation recently with the findings and had urged Microsoft to quickly come forward with solutions to plug the hole(s) in order to minimize potential damage. What is also alarming is that they said that WindowsXP was written using Windows2000 as the base for its new scripts and hence the flaws are also replicated into WindowsXP. How many of us are still using WindowsXP or Windows2000 on our computers simply because Windows Vista is still experimental and not many other software can work on Vista.
The other noteworthy point to bear in mind is that Windows2000 had also been used by a number of organizations on their servers to run some of their software programs. Now that is scary to say the least especially when these same servers in our offices are never powered off and is virtually connected to internet; so hackers galore!
Why am I saying this?
The prophet Isaiah, proclaiming hope for the Exiles, wrote in Isaiah 60:1-2
v1 "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
v2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
The world will grow darker and darker because of the evil around us but there is hope for Believers - because of our righteousness in God through Jesus Christ our Lord, our blessings will become more and more glorious and this will differentiate us from the world.
In that article it was reported that the same scientists gave a presentation recently with the findings and had urged Microsoft to quickly come forward with solutions to plug the hole(s) in order to minimize potential damage. What is also alarming is that they said that WindowsXP was written using Windows2000 as the base for its new scripts and hence the flaws are also replicated into WindowsXP. How many of us are still using WindowsXP or Windows2000 on our computers simply because Windows Vista is still experimental and not many other software can work on Vista.
The other noteworthy point to bear in mind is that Windows2000 had also been used by a number of organizations on their servers to run some of their software programs. Now that is scary to say the least especially when these same servers in our offices are never powered off and is virtually connected to internet; so hackers galore!
Why am I saying this?
The prophet Isaiah, proclaiming hope for the Exiles, wrote in Isaiah 60:1-2
v1 "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
v2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
The world will grow darker and darker because of the evil around us but there is hope for Believers - because of our righteousness in God through Jesus Christ our Lord, our blessings will become more and more glorious and this will differentiate us from the world.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Why should the Lord bless us?
The lesson for caregroup on Tuesday centred on "Walking in the blessings of righteousness" and I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to ask the group this question, "Why should the Lord bless us?" Of course the immediate response would be to say that as children of Abba Daddy, it is natural for us to receive His blessings. Sure, I have no doubts about that and I would say unequivocably that it is true. However, that evening the Lord showed me something else.
Has it occurred to you that your blessings from Abba Daddy is to provoke non-believers into jealousy to see us so blessed and they not? The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11:11, "I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentile." (here Paul was referring 'they' to the physical Jews by birth)
Salvation comes with its benefits and one of the benefits of being a child of Abba Daddy is material wealth so that the world can see it for themselves. Lets face it, the world will not recognize blessings in the spirit realm but they will definitely not miss seeing the material blessings we have on account of Jesus. Such is the richness of His blessings toward us.
Has it occurred to you that your blessings from Abba Daddy is to provoke non-believers into jealousy to see us so blessed and they not? The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11:11, "I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentile." (here Paul was referring 'they' to the physical Jews by birth)
Salvation comes with its benefits and one of the benefits of being a child of Abba Daddy is material wealth so that the world can see it for themselves. Lets face it, the world will not recognize blessings in the spirit realm but they will definitely not miss seeing the material blessings we have on account of Jesus. Such is the richness of His blessings toward us.
Monday, November 12, 2007
The devil has to pay back what he stole from me!
Over the past few months my water bill had been escallating - and I do not just mean the dollar amount, but the volume of water consumed in my household shot up from a mere 30-35 cubic metres per month to a whopping 125 cubic metres over a period of about six months.
True, we did a major home renovation - change out the toilet seats in the house and re-sited some taps and also put in a booster water pump - back in late May/June period and I kept thinking that the pump was faulty, running at odd hours of the day and not as on demand. And so I 'summoned' my contractor and insisted that he fixed my pump issue because the water pressure did not improve and still water usage went skyrocketing. And the innocent man kept insisting that there was basically nothing wrong with the pump.
Well, my patience ran out two weeks ago when I received my last water bill for October and i was totally disgusted - metre read was 165 cu metre for October and 85 cu metre estimated for September thus averaging 125. So, enough is enough and I decided to alert the PUB (Public Utilities Board) to complain that they were overcharging me. The lady at the call centre suggested that I contact the PUB Water Leakage Detection Department and have their technicians come in and do some detective work to establish where the leak was.
For a certainty the leakage was not within the house otherwise all my cupboards, concrete walls and flooring would have been thoroughly soaked but this was not so. And true enough, the technicians detected a very loud gushing sound in the garden area but they were not confident to pinpoint the location. So, here we go and activated the contractor who sent two of his workers to dig up the garden up the the place where they could see some exposed pipe but on close examination, the copper pipe was dry as a bone on the exterior.
Back to the drawing board and the PUB guys were called in for a second time to locate the leak. This time the technicians not only brought in their 'hearing aid' (one long pipe with an enlarged earpiece) but a water 'stretoscope' and hooked up their computer to locate the breaks in the water flow. Guess what, they located the spot but off by 60cmn and they were so confident that they found the spot that they wanted to leave but I held them back so that they could brief my contractor the location.
When the contractor came after 10 minutes, I had the PUB guys replicate what they did to show the spot again but the euphoria was short-lived. They did not get the same results but tried to explain what they did and the results. But my contractor was not satisfied. He basically did not want to break up the wall to locate the leak as that would have been very messy and so, after after 10 minutes of useless discussion and speculation, he decided to dig at a particular spot to check one pipe and, bingo just 2 cm down the punctured pipe was exposed and it was a huge leak and so the repairs were done that afternoon itself.
You know the power of prayer says it all. As the PUB guys were discussing with my contractor, I was busy praying for wisdom for my contractor to locate and quickly fix the leakage. I was very confident that the leakage was not in some place concealed behind walls as the sound certainly did not match and praise the Lord for the quick locating of the spot and the fixing of the pipes.
As I thought about the whole incident, I am claiming restoration from the devil. he stole 95 cu metres of water over the past nine to twelve months and multiply that with a rough price of S$2.20 (including water levy charges) and the wastage is well over S$2,500. And I am claiming a sevenfold restoration in accordance with Proverbs 6:30-31.
v30 Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
v31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay SEVENFOLD, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
So devil, it is restoration time and I am expecting the money to come in very shortly! He should know better than to touch the anointed child of Abba Daddy for he can never win.
True, we did a major home renovation - change out the toilet seats in the house and re-sited some taps and also put in a booster water pump - back in late May/June period and I kept thinking that the pump was faulty, running at odd hours of the day and not as on demand. And so I 'summoned' my contractor and insisted that he fixed my pump issue because the water pressure did not improve and still water usage went skyrocketing. And the innocent man kept insisting that there was basically nothing wrong with the pump.
Well, my patience ran out two weeks ago when I received my last water bill for October and i was totally disgusted - metre read was 165 cu metre for October and 85 cu metre estimated for September thus averaging 125. So, enough is enough and I decided to alert the PUB (Public Utilities Board) to complain that they were overcharging me. The lady at the call centre suggested that I contact the PUB Water Leakage Detection Department and have their technicians come in and do some detective work to establish where the leak was.
For a certainty the leakage was not within the house otherwise all my cupboards, concrete walls and flooring would have been thoroughly soaked but this was not so. And true enough, the technicians detected a very loud gushing sound in the garden area but they were not confident to pinpoint the location. So, here we go and activated the contractor who sent two of his workers to dig up the garden up the the place where they could see some exposed pipe but on close examination, the copper pipe was dry as a bone on the exterior.
Back to the drawing board and the PUB guys were called in for a second time to locate the leak. This time the technicians not only brought in their 'hearing aid' (one long pipe with an enlarged earpiece) but a water 'stretoscope' and hooked up their computer to locate the breaks in the water flow. Guess what, they located the spot but off by 60cmn and they were so confident that they found the spot that they wanted to leave but I held them back so that they could brief my contractor the location.
When the contractor came after 10 minutes, I had the PUB guys replicate what they did to show the spot again but the euphoria was short-lived. They did not get the same results but tried to explain what they did and the results. But my contractor was not satisfied. He basically did not want to break up the wall to locate the leak as that would have been very messy and so, after after 10 minutes of useless discussion and speculation, he decided to dig at a particular spot to check one pipe and, bingo just 2 cm down the punctured pipe was exposed and it was a huge leak and so the repairs were done that afternoon itself.
You know the power of prayer says it all. As the PUB guys were discussing with my contractor, I was busy praying for wisdom for my contractor to locate and quickly fix the leakage. I was very confident that the leakage was not in some place concealed behind walls as the sound certainly did not match and praise the Lord for the quick locating of the spot and the fixing of the pipes.
As I thought about the whole incident, I am claiming restoration from the devil. he stole 95 cu metres of water over the past nine to twelve months and multiply that with a rough price of S$2.20 (including water levy charges) and the wastage is well over S$2,500. And I am claiming a sevenfold restoration in accordance with Proverbs 6:30-31.
v30 Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
v31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay SEVENFOLD, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
So devil, it is restoration time and I am expecting the money to come in very shortly! He should know better than to touch the anointed child of Abba Daddy for he can never win.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Days Where I Have Mixed Feelings - Nov 07 & 08
Yesterday Nov 07th was the first anniversary of my mother's passing and up to today, I still could not understand why she was taken away from us just the day before my birthday. Yes, I have mentioned how she went home exactly seven months after my father departed but still...the feeling remains.
Since her passing last year, my birthday will never be the same as I will be tossed between memories of her life and my own future. I guess I will have to acknowledge that I cannot change history but I can change my attitude towards my circumstances and be grateful to Abba Daddy for the opportunities given and the blessings ahead of me.
Since her passing last year, my birthday will never be the same as I will be tossed between memories of her life and my own future. I guess I will have to acknowledge that I cannot change history but I can change my attitude towards my circumstances and be grateful to Abba Daddy for the opportunities given and the blessings ahead of me.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
The Wisdom of the Lord
Ever wondered how at times we struggle to get things done or organized but don't seem to get results?
Well, it happened to me recently and I must admit I was trying to do things my way without seeking Abba Daddy for direction. For one I went into some business arrangement with a friend thinking that he had a large enough database of clients that my company may tap into for leads but not realizing that the type of business I was going into was not the major strength of the company that my friend is working at and therefore when we went into discussions with a number of the clients, we appeared as strange bed-fellows together and it raised more queries in the minds of these clients than before. And that hurts because it meant I did not have much ammunitions left in my pocket.
But Abba Daddy is merciful and gracious. He not only continued to supply my needs on a daily and even monthly basis but he sent openings along the way and that revived my spirit and taught me many lessons and for that I want to praise and thank Abba Daddy for these valuable lessons.
Well, it happened to me recently and I must admit I was trying to do things my way without seeking Abba Daddy for direction. For one I went into some business arrangement with a friend thinking that he had a large enough database of clients that my company may tap into for leads but not realizing that the type of business I was going into was not the major strength of the company that my friend is working at and therefore when we went into discussions with a number of the clients, we appeared as strange bed-fellows together and it raised more queries in the minds of these clients than before. And that hurts because it meant I did not have much ammunitions left in my pocket.
But Abba Daddy is merciful and gracious. He not only continued to supply my needs on a daily and even monthly basis but he sent openings along the way and that revived my spirit and taught me many lessons and for that I want to praise and thank Abba Daddy for these valuable lessons.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Growing Younger By The Day
I used to wonder, when I was much younger, how Pharoah would want to take Sarah when she was already close to 75 years old into his harem and then Abimelech also when she was close to 90 years old. What did they see in her that they wanted her as their playmate? their eyes must have failed them - i used to wonder. And I could not understand why the Apostle Peter wrote in 1Peter3:6, "like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear."
What exactly did Peter mean when he wrote, "Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him her master"? What is so difficult about that? Does not the maids do that and yet they did not grow younger? No, I submit to you that Sarah, knowing her condition, completely trusted the Lord and kept faith with Abraham that whatever Abba Daddy promised him, He will deliver. She aligned her faith with the good opinion Abraham had of Abba Daddy and the Lord acknowledges that and He renewed her youth to the point that the aging cycle was reversed and instead of looking older by the day, she grew more and more youthful and beautiful by the day and that accounts for the harem membership. Both Pharoah and Abimelech are not blind and they have the whole nation to choose their concubines but their eyes fell on Sarah.
So if Sarah can have her youth renewed, does that mean we can also enjoy the same process? Yes, but of course! The Apostle Peter wrote that we are her daughters if we join her and put our trust in Abba Daddy and not give way to fear. Do you know that it takes more muscles in your body to work a frown or carry a grudge than the be relaxed and smile? And don't forget what Abba daddy promised in Psalm 103:5, "who (He) satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's".
So do not be surprised that your friends and relatives will comment to you the next time they meet you that you look younger and when they do that, be sure to testify how Abba Daddy did that for you and that they too can enjoy the same effect of renewal of youth.
What exactly did Peter mean when he wrote, "Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him her master"? What is so difficult about that? Does not the maids do that and yet they did not grow younger? No, I submit to you that Sarah, knowing her condition, completely trusted the Lord and kept faith with Abraham that whatever Abba Daddy promised him, He will deliver. She aligned her faith with the good opinion Abraham had of Abba Daddy and the Lord acknowledges that and He renewed her youth to the point that the aging cycle was reversed and instead of looking older by the day, she grew more and more youthful and beautiful by the day and that accounts for the harem membership. Both Pharoah and Abimelech are not blind and they have the whole nation to choose their concubines but their eyes fell on Sarah.
So if Sarah can have her youth renewed, does that mean we can also enjoy the same process? Yes, but of course! The Apostle Peter wrote that we are her daughters if we join her and put our trust in Abba Daddy and not give way to fear. Do you know that it takes more muscles in your body to work a frown or carry a grudge than the be relaxed and smile? And don't forget what Abba daddy promised in Psalm 103:5, "who (He) satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's".
So do not be surprised that your friends and relatives will comment to you the next time they meet you that you look younger and when they do that, be sure to testify how Abba Daddy did that for you and that they too can enjoy the same effect of renewal of youth.
Monday, November 5, 2007
The 5 Blessings of a Child of Abba Daddy
I am reminded of what King David wrote in Psal 103:1-5
v1 Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name
v2 Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits -
v3 who (1) forgives all your sins and (2) heals all your diseases,
v4 who (3) redeems your life from the pit and (4) crowns you with love and compassion,
v5 who (5) satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Is it not exciting that when we have the Lord with us, we can enjoy all five blessings in this earthly life? I am excited and I hope you are too!
v1 Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name
v2 Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits -
v3 who (1) forgives all your sins and (2) heals all your diseases,
v4 who (3) redeems your life from the pit and (4) crowns you with love and compassion,
v5 who (5) satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Is it not exciting that when we have the Lord with us, we can enjoy all five blessings in this earthly life? I am excited and I hope you are too!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Blessing of Abraham
Ever wondered what the Bible means when you read that we, the children of Abraham, will inherit the blessing of Abraham? note it is the 'blessing' in a singular form instead of the plural.
Genesis 15:6 tells us that when God showed him his inheritance in the stars, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness and because he was righteousness in the eyes of God, Abba Daddy blessed him with gold, silver, cattle, servants, the works. So we need to recognize that it is the believing in the goodness of the Lord that brought about the blessing of righteousness for Abraham and for us today, when we put our faith on Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have a good opinion of Him and that will attract all His blessings for us.
Romans 4:23-25 -
v23 The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him (Abraham) alone,
v24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness - for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
v25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Galatians 3:14 - He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
So we see that this blessing of Abraham that the Apostle Paul talked about is none other than the blessing of the promise of the Spirit. And when the Spirit comes upon us, the same Spirit will therefore become a magnet in our lives for the other blessings from Abba Daddy to flow naturally to us - blessings of health, wisdom and prosperity - and we do not need to feel apologetic about them as these are the natural inheritance from Abba Father. Which earthly father does not want to see his own children provided and cared for?
Genesis 15:6 tells us that when God showed him his inheritance in the stars, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness and because he was righteousness in the eyes of God, Abba Daddy blessed him with gold, silver, cattle, servants, the works. So we need to recognize that it is the believing in the goodness of the Lord that brought about the blessing of righteousness for Abraham and for us today, when we put our faith on Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have a good opinion of Him and that will attract all His blessings for us.
Romans 4:23-25 -
v23 The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him (Abraham) alone,
v24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness - for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
v25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Galatians 3:14 - He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
So we see that this blessing of Abraham that the Apostle Paul talked about is none other than the blessing of the promise of the Spirit. And when the Spirit comes upon us, the same Spirit will therefore become a magnet in our lives for the other blessings from Abba Daddy to flow naturally to us - blessings of health, wisdom and prosperity - and we do not need to feel apologetic about them as these are the natural inheritance from Abba Father. Which earthly father does not want to see his own children provided and cared for?
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Blessings on the way
Yesterday I shared about my speaking to my mountain of challenges on Sunday and that there are already signs of blessings on the way. Indeed the fact that we are the blessed of Abba Daddy speaks volume to our challenges. Certainly I will say that the devil will still try and throw lemons at me but I need to remain focused on who I am - the righteous one in Abba Daddy.
So often many of us forget that the Holy Spirit is inside of us the moment we believed and received the Lord Jesus into our hearts. The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is referred to as the Spirit of God but in the New Testament, He is called the Spirit of Christ and so when Christ came into our hearts, He came with His Spirit. And if the Holy Spirit is inside of us, then why are some of us still in fear at some time or other? I submit to you that our understanding of the position we have in Christ need a fresh drop of wisdom.
And when we fully appreciate who we really are in the Lord, we will have the boldness to stand up to the devil and brush him off. The bible tells us that '"no weapon formed against us shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants (sons and daughters) of the Lord, and this is their VINDICATION from Me," declares the Lord (Isaiah 54:17).
So if the devil is not able to stand in my way, then pray tell me, how can the blessings not come my way. Hallelujah Abba Daddy, send forth your blessings (or as my friends would say, 'Ship it in!")
So often many of us forget that the Holy Spirit is inside of us the moment we believed and received the Lord Jesus into our hearts. The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is referred to as the Spirit of God but in the New Testament, He is called the Spirit of Christ and so when Christ came into our hearts, He came with His Spirit. And if the Holy Spirit is inside of us, then why are some of us still in fear at some time or other? I submit to you that our understanding of the position we have in Christ need a fresh drop of wisdom.
And when we fully appreciate who we really are in the Lord, we will have the boldness to stand up to the devil and brush him off. The bible tells us that '"no weapon formed against us shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants (sons and daughters) of the Lord, and this is their VINDICATION from Me," declares the Lord (Isaiah 54:17).
So if the devil is not able to stand in my way, then pray tell me, how can the blessings not come my way. Hallelujah Abba Daddy, send forth your blessings (or as my friends would say, 'Ship it in!")
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Speaking To Your Mountain
In the Bible, the term 'mountain' is usually used to refer to problems encountered in life. And even in our ordinary speech we describe our problems as a 'mountain of problems (or challenges)'. On Sunday Oct 28, Rev Joe Purcell (Director of Rhema Bible Training Centre) preached in New Creation Church in place of Pastor Joseph Prince who is in Canada speaking at a Conference organized by Pastor Peter Yongren.
Rev Joe talked about our righteousness in Christ and why we need to declare aloud our inheritance in Christ and there was a point in the sermon when he was sharing about how Zerubbabel was so discouraged with the opposition that he almost gave up and just at the right moment, the Lord sent an angel to him to encourage him.
Zechariah 4:6-7, v6 'This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty. v7 "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbable you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!"'
So the first thing we as children of our Abba Daddy need to recognize is our blessing of righteousness in Christ and because of this righteousness, we have our position in Him and because of our position in Christ, we now can turn around and declare to our 'mountain' that they will become level ground and no longer be a threat to us.
So we need to take ownership of our blessing of righteousness and start to declare our victory. That is our fight of faith; not that we need to fight FOR our faith but that we fight FROM our position of faith and then begin to see our mountain melt away and so what used to be a whole mountain range will become plains stretching for miles around us. Would you not want that to happen? Then start declaring your faith and claiming your blessing of righteousness and then sit back and watch the Lord put everything right for you. I did and I am beginning to see results over the past three days.
Rev Joe talked about our righteousness in Christ and why we need to declare aloud our inheritance in Christ and there was a point in the sermon when he was sharing about how Zerubbabel was so discouraged with the opposition that he almost gave up and just at the right moment, the Lord sent an angel to him to encourage him.
Zechariah 4:6-7, v6 'This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty. v7 "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbable you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!"'
So the first thing we as children of our Abba Daddy need to recognize is our blessing of righteousness in Christ and because of this righteousness, we have our position in Him and because of our position in Christ, we now can turn around and declare to our 'mountain' that they will become level ground and no longer be a threat to us.
So we need to take ownership of our blessing of righteousness and start to declare our victory. That is our fight of faith; not that we need to fight FOR our faith but that we fight FROM our position of faith and then begin to see our mountain melt away and so what used to be a whole mountain range will become plains stretching for miles around us. Would you not want that to happen? Then start declaring your faith and claiming your blessing of righteousness and then sit back and watch the Lord put everything right for you. I did and I am beginning to see results over the past three days.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
How Would You Describe Your Current Situation?
Last week, a friend and former colleague, asked me this question, 'how would you describe your current situation?' as she found that I am in the same setting as her own husband who, like me, left a full-time job to venture out and be an entrepreneur in early March this year.
Man was created with a hunter personality and therefore will always want to be out there scouting for food for his family and himself while the woman was created to care for the family especially the young. And so I basically explained to her that this hunter has now entered a new hunting ground and need to understand what type of animals roam there and what were their feeding habits. Also being in a fresh hunting ground, he will need to spend time to understand the ground - terrain, vegetation, territorial rights, etc.
i know it sounded rather philosophical but she understood what I was aiming at and began to appreciate the challenges ahead for her husband and her family. Of course Abba Daddy can perform miracles and make the humanly impossible situation become possible for His beloved and that is what we all are - beloved of Jesus and therefore of high priority for Abba Daddy. And this drew me back to a comment from one of my former colleagues in Deutsche Bank who commented that she admired my entrepreneural spirit. With Abba Daddy by my side, I believe I will succeed and be super-abundantly blessed beyond what I can ask or dream of.
Man was created with a hunter personality and therefore will always want to be out there scouting for food for his family and himself while the woman was created to care for the family especially the young. And so I basically explained to her that this hunter has now entered a new hunting ground and need to understand what type of animals roam there and what were their feeding habits. Also being in a fresh hunting ground, he will need to spend time to understand the ground - terrain, vegetation, territorial rights, etc.
i know it sounded rather philosophical but she understood what I was aiming at and began to appreciate the challenges ahead for her husband and her family. Of course Abba Daddy can perform miracles and make the humanly impossible situation become possible for His beloved and that is what we all are - beloved of Jesus and therefore of high priority for Abba Daddy. And this drew me back to a comment from one of my former colleagues in Deutsche Bank who commented that she admired my entrepreneural spirit. With Abba Daddy by my side, I believe I will succeed and be super-abundantly blessed beyond what I can ask or dream of.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Can I Talk WIth You About Financial Planning?
On Thursday afternoon I decided to head down to the beach at East Coast Park for a time of meditation. I reached my destination and sat down under one of the sheds on the beach and I began to ask Abba Daddy when my blessings would come. I looked out to the sea in front of me and saw many container ships and oil tankers and I thanked Him for the prosperity of the land but when would be my turn to be prospered?
And just as the words left my tongue, my mobile phone rang and a financial planner from AIA on the other end asked me whether I could spare her 20 minutes for her to explain how I could plan for my future. Imagine here I was asking Abba when my blessings would be given me and there was the agent wanting to show me financial planning! where is the connect I wondered.
And then suddenly I realized that Abba was telling me an important message - there will be such a blessing that I really need to be ready for it. And I saw for the first time how Abraham must have felt when Abba told him that he would be the father of many multitudes and yet he did not have a single heir to his name; it was not an easy road for Abraham especially a finite mind trying to comprehend what the Infinite Abba wanted to bestow upon him.
And so I am encouraged to trust Abba Daddy for my bountiful blessings and I am thankful.
And just as the words left my tongue, my mobile phone rang and a financial planner from AIA on the other end asked me whether I could spare her 20 minutes for her to explain how I could plan for my future. Imagine here I was asking Abba when my blessings would be given me and there was the agent wanting to show me financial planning! where is the connect I wondered.
And then suddenly I realized that Abba was telling me an important message - there will be such a blessing that I really need to be ready for it. And I saw for the first time how Abraham must have felt when Abba told him that he would be the father of many multitudes and yet he did not have a single heir to his name; it was not an easy road for Abraham especially a finite mind trying to comprehend what the Infinite Abba wanted to bestow upon him.
And so I am encouraged to trust Abba Daddy for my bountiful blessings and I am thankful.
Friday, October 26, 2007
In memory of my mother - the Lord took her home!
My mother started her hospital episodes in 2002 before the Chinese New Year when she had a very severe fever and was rushed to the National University Hospital and immediately warded. From there she suffered a number of multiple strokes while resting in the hospital and her condition did not improve. She was transferred to St Luke's Community Hospital for rehab treatment and hopefully can return home after that (that was the medical plan for her) but the latter did not materialize.
She was to spend the rest of her days in St Luke's despite a number of occasions when the social worker from St Luke's wanted us to take her out since St Luke's policy had never been for long-term care. I recalled the first occasion when the social worker wanted me to transfer her was right in the heat of the SARS outbreak in 2003 and I had to go and scout for alternative home support arrangements. We found one Elders Home in the east and when the transfer was supposed to take place, it was by divine intervention that she could not be moved (remember the time when there was a memorandum from Ministry of Health that stipulated no transfer of patients during the SARS period?) and again after the SARS outbreak was stabilize, the subject was broached again. This time I was more prepared and insisted that the doctors approved her transfer and that it was not just the social welfare department's decision. Of course none of the doctors supported the transfer as my mother was still very weak and therefore could not be moved.
So this request for transfer from St Luke's Social Welfare department became quite frequent but we stayed our ground and insisted a medical signoff be given and it never came. Finally, by the grace of our Abba Daddy, the doctor who was treating my dad's dimentia stepped in and being a member of the St Luke's Hospital Board and being familiar with my mother's case, took a strong stand and recommended to the Board that my mother be granted long-term residency for as long as she is alive. Now that is a very powerful mandate and all discussion of discharge were dropped.
Mom had a number of close calls with death during nights but I believed that she pulled through simply because there was something that she had not released in her spirit. She was a very traditional woman brought up in very steep Chinese culture where she believed that the wife cannot pass on before her husband (the stubborn nature in her dictated that) and so she would pull out of her fevers within 24 hours. And it was very painful for the family to see her in that vegetating state and much as we believed in her complete healing (which will in and of itself be a miracle) we soon began to feel that it would be better for her to return home to the Lord and end all those suffering. In fact dad was so grieved with the situation that there was an occasion where he tried to pull her out of her bed to bring her home.
But it was not to be so yet as dad was still alive. And when dad went home on April 07, the family made a decision not to break the news to her yet until we were ready for another funeral. Well, I believed she sensed that dad had gone after a while because he had not gone to visit her. It was a daily routine for dad to visit her between 10:30 AM and 02:30 PM with the maid and after his departure, the maid continued alone so that she can help the nursing staff to groom mom and change her. Although mom could not open her eyes to see, we know she still had a keen sense of touch and not being able to feel the hands of dad stroking her or hearing his voice began to set in (there were a few occasions when we visited her and while we talked with her, she would tear in response).
Without any one of the family actually breaking the news to her about dad's passing, she finally decided to release that burden in her spirit and to rest in the Lord and He took her home to end all her suffering. And when we recalled the whole episode, we could not help but see the hand of Abba Daddy in all His mercy assuring us that they are in a better place. 2 evenings before her actual departure, we were called to the hospital because she developed shortness of breath and a fever came on her and we were advised to prepare for the worst and so when she finally gave up her spirit we were more than ready.
But the amazing thing to me is still the timing of both departures - April 7 for dad and Nov 7 for mom (exactly seven months apart) and both were called home between 07:30 PM and 08:30 PM. To me it spoke of the completeness of His rest and that both my parents could not be separated even unto death - a strong reminder of their marriage vow - till death us do part (except that the parting was only a very short one). And that has greatly encouraged us and will always help us to look beyond our circumstances and see Abba Daddy's hand of grace upon our lives. All glory and honor to Him! Hallelujah!
She was to spend the rest of her days in St Luke's despite a number of occasions when the social worker from St Luke's wanted us to take her out since St Luke's policy had never been for long-term care. I recalled the first occasion when the social worker wanted me to transfer her was right in the heat of the SARS outbreak in 2003 and I had to go and scout for alternative home support arrangements. We found one Elders Home in the east and when the transfer was supposed to take place, it was by divine intervention that she could not be moved (remember the time when there was a memorandum from Ministry of Health that stipulated no transfer of patients during the SARS period?) and again after the SARS outbreak was stabilize, the subject was broached again. This time I was more prepared and insisted that the doctors approved her transfer and that it was not just the social welfare department's decision. Of course none of the doctors supported the transfer as my mother was still very weak and therefore could not be moved.
So this request for transfer from St Luke's Social Welfare department became quite frequent but we stayed our ground and insisted a medical signoff be given and it never came. Finally, by the grace of our Abba Daddy, the doctor who was treating my dad's dimentia stepped in and being a member of the St Luke's Hospital Board and being familiar with my mother's case, took a strong stand and recommended to the Board that my mother be granted long-term residency for as long as she is alive. Now that is a very powerful mandate and all discussion of discharge were dropped.
Mom had a number of close calls with death during nights but I believed that she pulled through simply because there was something that she had not released in her spirit. She was a very traditional woman brought up in very steep Chinese culture where she believed that the wife cannot pass on before her husband (the stubborn nature in her dictated that) and so she would pull out of her fevers within 24 hours. And it was very painful for the family to see her in that vegetating state and much as we believed in her complete healing (which will in and of itself be a miracle) we soon began to feel that it would be better for her to return home to the Lord and end all those suffering. In fact dad was so grieved with the situation that there was an occasion where he tried to pull her out of her bed to bring her home.
But it was not to be so yet as dad was still alive. And when dad went home on April 07, the family made a decision not to break the news to her yet until we were ready for another funeral. Well, I believed she sensed that dad had gone after a while because he had not gone to visit her. It was a daily routine for dad to visit her between 10:30 AM and 02:30 PM with the maid and after his departure, the maid continued alone so that she can help the nursing staff to groom mom and change her. Although mom could not open her eyes to see, we know she still had a keen sense of touch and not being able to feel the hands of dad stroking her or hearing his voice began to set in (there were a few occasions when we visited her and while we talked with her, she would tear in response).
Without any one of the family actually breaking the news to her about dad's passing, she finally decided to release that burden in her spirit and to rest in the Lord and He took her home to end all her suffering. And when we recalled the whole episode, we could not help but see the hand of Abba Daddy in all His mercy assuring us that they are in a better place. 2 evenings before her actual departure, we were called to the hospital because she developed shortness of breath and a fever came on her and we were advised to prepare for the worst and so when she finally gave up her spirit we were more than ready.
But the amazing thing to me is still the timing of both departures - April 7 for dad and Nov 7 for mom (exactly seven months apart) and both were called home between 07:30 PM and 08:30 PM. To me it spoke of the completeness of His rest and that both my parents could not be separated even unto death - a strong reminder of their marriage vow - till death us do part (except that the parting was only a very short one). And that has greatly encouraged us and will always help us to look beyond our circumstances and see Abba Daddy's hand of grace upon our lives. All glory and honor to Him! Hallelujah!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
In memory of my mother - a stubborn woman borne out of circumstances
As the children grew and when we started schooling on Christmas Island, I recalled my mother became more and more stubborn almost to the point of being obstinate. When my siblings started to attend Sunday School at the only church on the island, I was not allowed to join them although I did have the opportunity at the initial stage and the reason given by her was that being the youngest in the family, she wanted me to keep her and dad company (could not understand her rationale). Was she paranoid about the children becoming Christians? (she was a Buddhist/ Taoist then) or was she suspicious that dad had a roving eye? (I was even assigned to shadow dad whenever he was not at work and was debriefed after each outing). Of course all her suspicions were baseless and she had to admit 'defeat'.
But that further 'hardened' her resolve to the point where number 'I' took over and got the better of her. On one occasion, she was in the kitchen and wanting to get some pots from the upper shelf of the hanging cupboard, she fell backwards and sustained bruises but she was too stubborn to want to go for medical treatment until the next morning when her whole injured leg was swollen and she in great pain and we had to rush her to NUH A&E Department in an ambulance and she paid a high price for that - her legs were impacted and she subsequently had to walk with a walking frame initially but after a year or two, suffered strokes which finally rendered her immobile and wheelchair bound.
There were a number of incidents where her assertion as number 'I' got the better of her and she paid dearly for the consequences. But I want to praise and thank Abba Daddy that when the time for that crucial moment of decision for salvation, her dutiful nature as a wife took over. That was in June 1987 when my parents attended the evangelistic rally (Reinhard Bonke) and during altar call, when my dad stood up and went forward, she followed him. Inspite of her stubbornness, she still had that softness of a loving wife. She received the Lord Jesus into her heart and she resolved to stand beside my dad in whatever he wanted to do in their twilight years (she was 60 and he was 65 when they recceived the Lord).
But that further 'hardened' her resolve to the point where number 'I' took over and got the better of her. On one occasion, she was in the kitchen and wanting to get some pots from the upper shelf of the hanging cupboard, she fell backwards and sustained bruises but she was too stubborn to want to go for medical treatment until the next morning when her whole injured leg was swollen and she in great pain and we had to rush her to NUH A&E Department in an ambulance and she paid a high price for that - her legs were impacted and she subsequently had to walk with a walking frame initially but after a year or two, suffered strokes which finally rendered her immobile and wheelchair bound.
There were a number of incidents where her assertion as number 'I' got the better of her and she paid dearly for the consequences. But I want to praise and thank Abba Daddy that when the time for that crucial moment of decision for salvation, her dutiful nature as a wife took over. That was in June 1987 when my parents attended the evangelistic rally (Reinhard Bonke) and during altar call, when my dad stood up and went forward, she followed him. Inspite of her stubbornness, she still had that softness of a loving wife. She received the Lord Jesus into her heart and she resolved to stand beside my dad in whatever he wanted to do in their twilight years (she was 60 and he was 65 when they recceived the Lord).
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
In memory of my mother - a dutiful housewife
It is almost a year now since she was taken home to be with Abba Daddy on November 07, 2006 and recently I was talking with a good friend about how we remember our parents after they had left us; what legacy(ies) had they given us to remember them by. Hence the series of posts on my memories of my late earthly father and I am now penning my thoughts on my late mother.
My mother was born in China and as a young girl left China with her parents just after the Japanese Imperial Army invaded China back in 1938. They landed in Malaysia and settled in Selangor State and my mother and maternal grandmother went to work for Bata, the shoe manufacturer while my maternal grandfather was surviving on odd-jobs - small repairs and helping to sharpen tools.
After marriage, my parents moved to Kelang and stayed with an adopted relative n 1948 and my father decided to move the family (wife and two young children) in 1952 to Christmas Island where he found a job as a store-keeper in the supermarket in Christmas Island. After the birth of my elder brother (in early 1953) and I (in late 1954) and as we grew up, my mother started to take on homecooking to supplement the family income. And we siblings were tasked with housework as she busied herself with her 'meals-on-wheels' business and on weekends, it would be helping dad with cleaning up the fishes that he and his friends had caught. In fact mom ran a small scale business - meal-on-wheels, fish-mongering, fruit-selling (homegrown from our garden), eggs (from the family chicken farm) and became a celebrity among the residents in Christmas Island.
She had always been there to support dad in whatever he wanted to do and seldom did I hear them arguing (maybe they did behind closed doors and I might not have heard them). In fact she was so supportive that she had to force herself to make appearances with him at annual functions - my father was the chairman of the Chinese Association for a number of years and it was in that capacity that he had to attend annual cocktail parties at the residence of the general manager of the mining company on Christmas Island. I recalled one such function (it must have been his initial years) where dad came home drunk and threw up and mom spent the whole night cleaning up and telling him not to drink so much in future. Well, it taught dad a valuable lesson and for subsequent years, he knew better and was better prepared - never drink alcohol on an empty stomach!
My mother was born in China and as a young girl left China with her parents just after the Japanese Imperial Army invaded China back in 1938. They landed in Malaysia and settled in Selangor State and my mother and maternal grandmother went to work for Bata, the shoe manufacturer while my maternal grandfather was surviving on odd-jobs - small repairs and helping to sharpen tools.
After marriage, my parents moved to Kelang and stayed with an adopted relative n 1948 and my father decided to move the family (wife and two young children) in 1952 to Christmas Island where he found a job as a store-keeper in the supermarket in Christmas Island. After the birth of my elder brother (in early 1953) and I (in late 1954) and as we grew up, my mother started to take on homecooking to supplement the family income. And we siblings were tasked with housework as she busied herself with her 'meals-on-wheels' business and on weekends, it would be helping dad with cleaning up the fishes that he and his friends had caught. In fact mom ran a small scale business - meal-on-wheels, fish-mongering, fruit-selling (homegrown from our garden), eggs (from the family chicken farm) and became a celebrity among the residents in Christmas Island.
She had always been there to support dad in whatever he wanted to do and seldom did I hear them arguing (maybe they did behind closed doors and I might not have heard them). In fact she was so supportive that she had to force herself to make appearances with him at annual functions - my father was the chairman of the Chinese Association for a number of years and it was in that capacity that he had to attend annual cocktail parties at the residence of the general manager of the mining company on Christmas Island. I recalled one such function (it must have been his initial years) where dad came home drunk and threw up and mom spent the whole night cleaning up and telling him not to drink so much in future. Well, it taught dad a valuable lesson and for subsequent years, he knew better and was better prepared - never drink alcohol on an empty stomach!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
In memory of my earthly father...he had gone home to Abba Daddy
On the evening of Friday April 7, 2006 I received a call at around 09:45 PM and I noticed that it was from my eldest brother James. Because I was attending the Friday evening bible study, my mobile phone was on silent mode so as not to disturb the preaching and so, as soon as service was over, I rushed out to return his call (James normally does not call me unless it is something important).
And I had the shock when he announced to me, "dad is gone". Initially I did not understand his statement and so asked him what he meant by that as I thought he had gone missing (lost) a number of occasions when he wandered out of his home on 'outings' of his own and due to his dimentia could not remember where he was or even who he was and we had to make a special laminated card with his personal particulars and my brother's home telephone number to wear around his neck so that they could identify him should anyone find him. So my first thought was that it was another one of those episodes. But when James repeated himself and added that dad had passed away that reality set in.
When we arrived at James' apartment, we saw an area that had the phone cordon and a number of officers were carrying out investigations. My father fell out of the service balcony of the 6th floor apartment onto the edge of the carpark. There are two balconies in James' apartment and one of them (the one in the living room) plus all the windows in the house were enclosed with metal grills but the one in his master bedroom did not have those grills because he would normally lock his room door should he or my sister-in-law not be at home. That evening he came home after his usual jog around the estate at around 7PM and headed for the showers.
After his shower he sat down for his dinner and had not locked his room door since he was home. While he was having his dinner, he heard some rushing of leaves and a thud sound but paid no notice of it thinking that it was just windy. He did not realized that his two golden retrievers were whining unnaturally at that moment as dad was very fond of the two pets. What we later pieced together was that dad was napping when James came out of his shower and headed for his dinner but he woke up soon after and wanted to go to the toilet. Thinking that James' room (which is next to the toilet) was the washroom, he stepped in and with the glass sliding door of the balcony wide opened, he saw people walking along the road below and decided to join them for a walk. He climbed over the ledge (quite low in comparison with the other balcony) and plunged six storeys down.
Our Abba Daddy is so merciful that even when he fell, dad did not suffer. I believe He took dad right into His arms midway down. Dad was wearing a white T-shirt and white shorts (his sleeping garments) and the spot where he landed was a miracle in itself. At the edge of the carpark there were some scrubs and these probably broke his fall as he was found lying facing skyward right next to the bushes and his head was only 2cm away from the concrete of the drains lining the edge of the carpark. The police reported later that they examined the bushes and did not find any broken branches or even leaves broken off from the scrubs - now how can one explain what happened except that it was the hand of Abba Daddy!
His clothes were spotlessly clean - there were no chlorofil or blood stains - and there were no external injuries and he had a very sweet peace on his face. Even the Investigating Officer from the Clementi Neighborhood Police Centre commented, "usually cases of people falling from highrise building would be rather gory but your dad's case is an exception. I have never seen a cleaner corpse than this". I can only conclude that it was by the grace of Abba Daddy that He preserved dad's physical body even in his death as a testimony to His goodness and mercy towards him. Dad lying on the ground facing towards Heaven and with a peaceful disposition about him was a statement to us that Abba Daddy's hand of grace had taken dad home and that was very comforting to the family.
And it became a rallying point for all his friends who came to pay their last respect at his memorial services - that dad had indeed gone home to be with Abba Daddy and they too were comforted and encouraged. Indeed, I can almost hear my father uttering the words that the Apostle Paul wrote to young Timothy in 2Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." All praise and glory to Abba Daddy!
And I had the shock when he announced to me, "dad is gone". Initially I did not understand his statement and so asked him what he meant by that as I thought he had gone missing (lost) a number of occasions when he wandered out of his home on 'outings' of his own and due to his dimentia could not remember where he was or even who he was and we had to make a special laminated card with his personal particulars and my brother's home telephone number to wear around his neck so that they could identify him should anyone find him. So my first thought was that it was another one of those episodes. But when James repeated himself and added that dad had passed away that reality set in.
When we arrived at James' apartment, we saw an area that had the phone cordon and a number of officers were carrying out investigations. My father fell out of the service balcony of the 6th floor apartment onto the edge of the carpark. There are two balconies in James' apartment and one of them (the one in the living room) plus all the windows in the house were enclosed with metal grills but the one in his master bedroom did not have those grills because he would normally lock his room door should he or my sister-in-law not be at home. That evening he came home after his usual jog around the estate at around 7PM and headed for the showers.
After his shower he sat down for his dinner and had not locked his room door since he was home. While he was having his dinner, he heard some rushing of leaves and a thud sound but paid no notice of it thinking that it was just windy. He did not realized that his two golden retrievers were whining unnaturally at that moment as dad was very fond of the two pets. What we later pieced together was that dad was napping when James came out of his shower and headed for his dinner but he woke up soon after and wanted to go to the toilet. Thinking that James' room (which is next to the toilet) was the washroom, he stepped in and with the glass sliding door of the balcony wide opened, he saw people walking along the road below and decided to join them for a walk. He climbed over the ledge (quite low in comparison with the other balcony) and plunged six storeys down.
Our Abba Daddy is so merciful that even when he fell, dad did not suffer. I believe He took dad right into His arms midway down. Dad was wearing a white T-shirt and white shorts (his sleeping garments) and the spot where he landed was a miracle in itself. At the edge of the carpark there were some scrubs and these probably broke his fall as he was found lying facing skyward right next to the bushes and his head was only 2cm away from the concrete of the drains lining the edge of the carpark. The police reported later that they examined the bushes and did not find any broken branches or even leaves broken off from the scrubs - now how can one explain what happened except that it was the hand of Abba Daddy!
His clothes were spotlessly clean - there were no chlorofil or blood stains - and there were no external injuries and he had a very sweet peace on his face. Even the Investigating Officer from the Clementi Neighborhood Police Centre commented, "usually cases of people falling from highrise building would be rather gory but your dad's case is an exception. I have never seen a cleaner corpse than this". I can only conclude that it was by the grace of Abba Daddy that He preserved dad's physical body even in his death as a testimony to His goodness and mercy towards him. Dad lying on the ground facing towards Heaven and with a peaceful disposition about him was a statement to us that Abba Daddy's hand of grace had taken dad home and that was very comforting to the family.
And it became a rallying point for all his friends who came to pay their last respect at his memorial services - that dad had indeed gone home to be with Abba Daddy and they too were comforted and encouraged. Indeed, I can almost hear my father uttering the words that the Apostle Paul wrote to young Timothy in 2Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." All praise and glory to Abba Daddy!
Monday, October 22, 2007
In memory of my earthly father...Keeping him in the Word
When my mother became wheelchair bound in 1999 my father was trying to cope with the setback and at the same time juggle with his commitments in church and it soon became clear that one thing had to give way and he chose the route of stepping down from all his commitments.
Initially he would spend his time reading the word in his room and accompanying my mother around in her wheelchair but soon I noticed that he began to slacken in his spiritual nourishment and not long after he started to experience lapses in memory. I recalled a comment from one of their friends that dad was mom's limbs while mom became his memory bank and the twain complemented each other very well. He would accompany her wherever she wanted to go in her wheelchair while she would remind him of his schedules and even recall incidents for him.
Events took a turn for the worse three years later in 2002 when mom became bed-ridden after a series of severe multiple strokes in her sleep. She lost her voice, could not eat and had to be fed intravenously and she could no longer sit up. Her condition slipped further after yet another series of stokes which would render her literally in a vegetating state. All the muscles on her face became numb and the only way we could see her eyes open was to pull her cheek muscles to reveal her eyeballs.
And mom's condition took a further toll on dad. Already not being able to remember many things and not being able to chat with mom made it even worse for him and in his delicate mental state, he began to drift further and further away from us. I recall five years ago Alice and I decided to set aside time every Saturday to bring him out for dinner with Adrian and Adeline whenever possible and initially he would look forward to the outing but three years ago, these dinners became more difficult for all. He became more recluse and slipped into non-communication mode and towards the end, he would not even recognize where he was (in our home) that he was having dinner. One such occasion he wandered into our front garden thinking it was the toilet and I had to quickly direct him to the correct place for his nature call.
So we decided to have communion with him after dinner before we sent him home. His attention span was even shorter than a young child and he would complain that he wanted to go home immediately after dinner. Each week as we partook of the elements of communion, we would believe in his healing but our faith was just not there as we could not see the results; the physical symptoms were just too overwhelming.
Next we tried to immerse him in the word. We reckoned that since he probably could not remember how to read, he could still hear the bible read for him in his language and so I visited the Singapore Bible Society and bought the whole New Testament CD series in Cantonese and would instruct the maid to place him one CD per day with the volume turned up so that he could hear. And I remembered even playing about five chapters while he was in the car to and from my home on Saturdays. I do not know what impact it had on him as we could not tell but I believed that it did help.
Indeed I want to praise Abba Daddy for sending my parents two maids from Indonesia (over a period of seven years) who were very patient with them and who took all the challenges in their stride. They would faithfully accompany dad every day in the bus from my brother's condominium in West Coast Road (near Clementi Stadium) to St Luke's Community Hospital in Bukit Batok and back in all weather. So set was his daily schedule because of his dimentia challenges that the doctors and physiotherapists realized that my mom should not be moved out of St Luke's and extended her stay to a 'permanent resident' status which I was told is a rarity. The normal practice is to dscharge the patient after a three-month stay and to send him/ her home to recuperate as the Community Hospital could not accommodate long-term stay but by Abba Daddy's grace, mom stayed in St Luke's for about five years without interruption.
Abba Daddy knew that we simply could not cope if mom had to rest at home - it would have disrupted our lives and we would not be able to cope mentally and emotionally.
Initially he would spend his time reading the word in his room and accompanying my mother around in her wheelchair but soon I noticed that he began to slacken in his spiritual nourishment and not long after he started to experience lapses in memory. I recalled a comment from one of their friends that dad was mom's limbs while mom became his memory bank and the twain complemented each other very well. He would accompany her wherever she wanted to go in her wheelchair while she would remind him of his schedules and even recall incidents for him.
Events took a turn for the worse three years later in 2002 when mom became bed-ridden after a series of severe multiple strokes in her sleep. She lost her voice, could not eat and had to be fed intravenously and she could no longer sit up. Her condition slipped further after yet another series of stokes which would render her literally in a vegetating state. All the muscles on her face became numb and the only way we could see her eyes open was to pull her cheek muscles to reveal her eyeballs.
And mom's condition took a further toll on dad. Already not being able to remember many things and not being able to chat with mom made it even worse for him and in his delicate mental state, he began to drift further and further away from us. I recall five years ago Alice and I decided to set aside time every Saturday to bring him out for dinner with Adrian and Adeline whenever possible and initially he would look forward to the outing but three years ago, these dinners became more difficult for all. He became more recluse and slipped into non-communication mode and towards the end, he would not even recognize where he was (in our home) that he was having dinner. One such occasion he wandered into our front garden thinking it was the toilet and I had to quickly direct him to the correct place for his nature call.
So we decided to have communion with him after dinner before we sent him home. His attention span was even shorter than a young child and he would complain that he wanted to go home immediately after dinner. Each week as we partook of the elements of communion, we would believe in his healing but our faith was just not there as we could not see the results; the physical symptoms were just too overwhelming.
Next we tried to immerse him in the word. We reckoned that since he probably could not remember how to read, he could still hear the bible read for him in his language and so I visited the Singapore Bible Society and bought the whole New Testament CD series in Cantonese and would instruct the maid to place him one CD per day with the volume turned up so that he could hear. And I remembered even playing about five chapters while he was in the car to and from my home on Saturdays. I do not know what impact it had on him as we could not tell but I believed that it did help.
Indeed I want to praise Abba Daddy for sending my parents two maids from Indonesia (over a period of seven years) who were very patient with them and who took all the challenges in their stride. They would faithfully accompany dad every day in the bus from my brother's condominium in West Coast Road (near Clementi Stadium) to St Luke's Community Hospital in Bukit Batok and back in all weather. So set was his daily schedule because of his dimentia challenges that the doctors and physiotherapists realized that my mom should not be moved out of St Luke's and extended her stay to a 'permanent resident' status which I was told is a rarity. The normal practice is to dscharge the patient after a three-month stay and to send him/ her home to recuperate as the Community Hospital could not accommodate long-term stay but by Abba Daddy's grace, mom stayed in St Luke's for about five years without interruption.
Abba Daddy knew that we simply could not cope if mom had to rest at home - it would have disrupted our lives and we would not be able to cope mentally and emotionally.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
In memory of my earthly father...The grace-filled years
My father was a loving husband to my mother; every morning he would read the scriptures to my mother and they would do their own worship and prayer routine in the mornings before they head out for the day either to visit friends, grandchildren or cell-group meetings in church and those were the happiest moments of their lives and I am sure those were the memories they carried with them wherever they went.
They were so full of the joy of the Lord that it became impactful and during their respective memorial services during the wakes, many of the elderly folks whose lives were impacted came up to my brothers and I and shared their testimonies. Never a moment did they complained of being overloaded with responsibilities; in fact my father went all out to play bigger roles as the years went by and up until he was 78 and his health caught up with him.
My mother became wheelchair bound about seven years ago after a severe fall at home and probably some minor stoke which impacted the use of her lower limbs. And it was during this time that it became rather trying on my father being a caregiver and with all those responsibilities in church. His regular schedules had to be adjusted and it was unsettling for him after so many years and I believe it was around this time that he started to develop lapses of memory loss which eventually led to his dimentia sickness.
He started to miss church on Sundays because of his memory challenges and mom's mobility issues and being dry in the Word compounded his sickness. Initially Alice and I made it our Sunday routine to pick him up from my brother's home and send them to church along with their Indonesian maid and the wheelchair and then we would attend 2nd service at New Creation Church while my brother would be responsible to fetch them home after their church service. We wanted to do this so that they could still enjoy their worship with the family of St James Church (Cantonese Congregation).
However, this unfortunately did not last long as my eldest brother was caught up in his church (at Church of Ascension where he was the Vicar's Warden) and could not make it in time to fetch them home and my parents were trying to be creative and started to make their own transport arrangements and almost got lost on the way home (as narrated by their maid). So out of concern for their own safety, we advised them against going to church since no alternatives could be found then.
Of course, the next best thing to do was to get in touch with their pastor and request for home visits with communion but these were only scheduled once a month. Nevertheless, we felt it was better than not at all.
They were so full of the joy of the Lord that it became impactful and during their respective memorial services during the wakes, many of the elderly folks whose lives were impacted came up to my brothers and I and shared their testimonies. Never a moment did they complained of being overloaded with responsibilities; in fact my father went all out to play bigger roles as the years went by and up until he was 78 and his health caught up with him.
My mother became wheelchair bound about seven years ago after a severe fall at home and probably some minor stoke which impacted the use of her lower limbs. And it was during this time that it became rather trying on my father being a caregiver and with all those responsibilities in church. His regular schedules had to be adjusted and it was unsettling for him after so many years and I believe it was around this time that he started to develop lapses of memory loss which eventually led to his dimentia sickness.
He started to miss church on Sundays because of his memory challenges and mom's mobility issues and being dry in the Word compounded his sickness. Initially Alice and I made it our Sunday routine to pick him up from my brother's home and send them to church along with their Indonesian maid and the wheelchair and then we would attend 2nd service at New Creation Church while my brother would be responsible to fetch them home after their church service. We wanted to do this so that they could still enjoy their worship with the family of St James Church (Cantonese Congregation).
However, this unfortunately did not last long as my eldest brother was caught up in his church (at Church of Ascension where he was the Vicar's Warden) and could not make it in time to fetch them home and my parents were trying to be creative and started to make their own transport arrangements and almost got lost on the way home (as narrated by their maid). So out of concern for their own safety, we advised them against going to church since no alternatives could be found then.
Of course, the next best thing to do was to get in touch with their pastor and request for home visits with communion but these were only scheduled once a month. Nevertheless, we felt it was better than not at all.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
In memory of my earthly father.."I have wasted 65 years of my life"
My father was a very interesting person; when he made up his mind about something, he would go all out to accomplish what he had set his mind on. When he came home that evening from the rally, he was so overjoyed according to my sister-in-law that he wanted to share the joy with all his friends. And so that week, he and my mom went visiting - not for Chinese New Year (not right time in June) but to tell all their friends about their newfound joy in the Lord!
In fact one of his good friends shared with us later that my father made a comment, "I have wasted 65 years of my life, and now I want to put back what I had lost". He was so fervent in his sharing that a number of his friends actually received Christ and joined him at St James' Church (Cantonese Congregation) at Holland Road. And the great change did not end there. In fact he was so full of the Spirit that he wanted to serve in the church and so the pastor appointed him the leader in charge of prayer meeting and he was a cell-group leader. His bible study sessions were all well attended and the amazing thing about the whole experience was that my mother who had very little primary education in China and could hardly read the scriptures for herself, complemented him but taking charge of the refreshment area - she reckoned that since she cannot do anything by way of leadership and yet be able to support dad in his service, the least she could do was to serve in the area of refreshment and she did whip up many great refreshments for the elderly who came for all the bible study and prayer sessions plus the cell-group meetings.
From cell-group leader, my dad was promoted to become the Vicar's Warden; a position in the Anglican Diocese that is meant to assist the pastor/vicar in whatever pastoral duties that he cannot fulfill because of time limitations. I recalled him telling me how he received his Lay Reader licence from the Bishop of Singapore. At age 70 when he was called up by the Diocese Office to present himself for an examination, he told the pastor that he cannot study as he could not memorize certain subject matter and so when the Bishop heard of his case, he was subsequently called up for an interview by the Bishop instead and based on his confession of faith and the recommendation of the pastor, he was presented his licence there and then - signed, sealed and delivered by the Bishop himself. What a testimony!
In fact one of his good friends shared with us later that my father made a comment, "I have wasted 65 years of my life, and now I want to put back what I had lost". He was so fervent in his sharing that a number of his friends actually received Christ and joined him at St James' Church (Cantonese Congregation) at Holland Road. And the great change did not end there. In fact he was so full of the Spirit that he wanted to serve in the church and so the pastor appointed him the leader in charge of prayer meeting and he was a cell-group leader. His bible study sessions were all well attended and the amazing thing about the whole experience was that my mother who had very little primary education in China and could hardly read the scriptures for herself, complemented him but taking charge of the refreshment area - she reckoned that since she cannot do anything by way of leadership and yet be able to support dad in his service, the least she could do was to serve in the area of refreshment and she did whip up many great refreshments for the elderly who came for all the bible study and prayer sessions plus the cell-group meetings.
From cell-group leader, my dad was promoted to become the Vicar's Warden; a position in the Anglican Diocese that is meant to assist the pastor/vicar in whatever pastoral duties that he cannot fulfill because of time limitations. I recalled him telling me how he received his Lay Reader licence from the Bishop of Singapore. At age 70 when he was called up by the Diocese Office to present himself for an examination, he told the pastor that he cannot study as he could not memorize certain subject matter and so when the Bishop heard of his case, he was subsequently called up for an interview by the Bishop instead and based on his confession of faith and the recommendation of the pastor, he was presented his licence there and then - signed, sealed and delivered by the Bishop himself. What a testimony!
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