Lunar New Year Falling on Valentine's Day 2010

What a day it has been today. It is Valentine's Day and it coincided with the first day of the Lunar New Year celebrated by Chinese all over the world. Our day started with a Sunday service at New Creation Church at 11:30 AM and what a powerful message from one of the pastors, Pastor Lim Lian Neo, who is also the pastor in charge of the Children's Church at New Creation. She challenged each of us on taking hold on our current situations and to see Jesus glorified in our circumstances like Ruth, prophets Daniel and Elijah. All three of them chose not to regret the past and stopped worrying about the future but seize the opportunities as they present themselves and placed their hope in the Lord and great results came forth for them all.

With such a powerful message, that is meat sufficient for the week. But the Lord did not want us to just go away with one blessing - He wanted more for us. And so at the end of the second service, as Pastor Lian was about to pronounce the blessings on the church, the Lord sent Pastor Prince (who sat through the entire service as part of the congregation) to give the blessing for the week and what a blessing the Lord gave us.

According to the Chinese calendar, this year (which started today) marks the beginning of the Year of the Golden Tiger and while listening to the message, the Lord gave Pastor Prince a word for us. Just as the Lord is typified by the Lion (of Judah) and the Lamb (of God), He also wanted us to know that He can also be represented by the Tiger. The lion and the tiger are aggressive animals and the Lord gave three messages on the Tiger: -

1. The tiger is noted for the stripes on its back and so this year will be a year of aggressive healings - the stripes on Jesus' back healed us all from all forms of sicknesses and diseases;
2. It is no coincidence that the first day of Lunar New Year falls on Sunday and since Sunday is a day of rest, this year we will also experience aggressive peace and rest in all areas of our lives;
3. The Lord also wants us to know that this year we will also experience aggressive love (as interpreted with Valentines Day).

So nothing is by chance or coincidence for the Lord planned everything for us and since the tiger is very Asian, the Lord will do that in Asia. The year had already started 45 days ago but for the Chinese, it has just started today and it is therefore most appropriate to have the word on the day itself. What a glorious start for us today and praise the Lord for HIs word for us. Thank you Lord Jesus for your faithfulness to us. AMEN.