Prophetic Word For The Year - 2005

"2005 - A Year Full Of The Favors Of The Lord" - the word was given on the final Sunday in 2004 and as we heard the word, some were skeptical but others received it with gladness.
Our son had started his university education in London in September 2003 and in September 2004 our daughter enrolled in Warwick for hers. With two children undergoing tertiary education, finding the financial support became a challenge. So when Pastor Prince proclaimed the word over us, my wife and I appropriated the word over our situation and trusted the Lord for His provisions.
In mid February 2005, the bank usually pays out its variable bonuses for the previous year's performance and I must admit I had an exceptionally good payout and then in June I was able to liquidate some of my equity holdings with substantial profits. Therefore, when it was time for me to buy the bank draft for each of our children's education and living allowances for the entire 2006, there was more than enough with leftovers for us to even visit them in the UK.
Also in May 2005 I was in London for a project meeting and I had a meeting with my global head and it was during the session I was able to share with him some things which he wanted to learn and I was the only one who had the experience to share with him. Indeed the Lord placed me in a position of favor with my superiors and I am blessed with that.

Prophetic Word For The Year - New Creation Church, Singapore

For a few years now, Pastor Joseph Prince, Senior Pastor of New Creation Church in Singapore, had been receiving a prophetic word for the church and I have been tracking these words since 2005. Usually the word for the coming year would be shared with the congregation either on the last Sunday or during the services on the first Sunday of the following year.
Since I have started tracking the prophetic word I have seen how the word received and appropriated in our lives had turned out to indeed be true for my and other families in the church. So, over the next few weeks, I will endeavor to share what the word was for the year and also how the fulfillment had come to fruition in our situations.

A Year Full Of The Unmerited Favors Of Abba God - 2009

To some the year 2009 is one they would very quickly prefer to get away from because of the troubles they had encountered - the credit crisis at the end of last year and first half of this year, the H1N1 scare, the natural disasters and now the cold winter in North America and Europe and north Asia. Given a choice, some would rather that they had completely missed out on those events and chugged along.

But life is simply not like that. In fact everyone of us face the same challenges but how one handles it makes the difference and I prefer to lean hard on my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for my blessings in the midst of the storm. Yes, 2009 has been an exciting year for my family and I. We started the year with a word from the Lord through our Senior Pastor Joseph Prince on the last Sunday of 2008. The Lord promised that 2009 would be "a year where the unmerited favors of our Lord would flow bounteously" and it is for whosoever would believe and seize on it.

So my family and I took that word from the Lord and we ran with it the entire year believing the Lord will indeed fulfill His promises. And indeed He has (still doing now as I write and hence the present tense)!  The year started quietly in January but began to gather momentum as the months set in and where others in my industry experienced difficulties in clinching deals, deals were hunting me down. I had requests for meetings from quarters that I have never met before and by the grace of the Lord, He gave me wisdom to handle these requests and going into 2010, would sprout into new businesses.

On the family front, my children are experiencing new opportunities in their individual lives. My wife is getting amazing results in her part-time undergraduate studies and we are all growing stronger in our faith in the Lord.

And all these happened to us not with our own efforts but truly by the grace of Abba God. If He did not spare His most precious Son and gave Him up for us on the cross, how will He not grant us all the desires of our hearts. I am so blessed.

Handling Arguments

In the wisdom reading of today, Proverbs 25:8-10 stands out
    v8   - do not bring hastily to court, for what will you do in the end if your neighbor puts you to shame?
    v9   - If you argue your case with a neighbor, do not betray another man's confidence,
    v10 - or he who hears it may shame you and you will never lose your bad reputation.

I am being reminded of what a very close friend of mine said when I was growing up - 
   "never engage in an argument, because..."
  - when you lose an argument, you have just lost face but 
  - when you win an argument, you have just lost a friend. 

How true! Over the years I have endeavored to avoid entering into arguments and whenever I do get into some serious discussions and circumstances point me to a potential argument brewing, I have learnt quickly to back off and walk away.

It is always better to walk away and hence never get into the argumentative mood than to regret later for staying too long. Trust me, I had been there before - multiple occasions and have saved both my reputation and my friends.

Relationships in Marriage

When a person believes in Jesus as his Lord and Savior and receives Him into his heart, the Holy Spirit comes and indwells him and with the Lord's presence, he becomes a blessings magnet. Now, imagine what it is like when two believers come together in a marriage and form a family unit - that relationship is doubly blessed since Christ is now not only present in each believer's life but, being united, He become the third cord in that family unit and soon that relationship will begin to flourish.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 tells us, "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken".
So a marriage that is centered around Christ (the third person in the marriage) will be strong (see picture - Three-strand Cord) as each strand twines around the other two and hence strengthens each other. However, looking at the picture on the right (Four-strand Cord), one can easily observe that alternate strands will not touch each other (the two black strands do not touch each other; similarly, the two brown strands never get to meet each other).

   

When a party outside of the marriage relationship enters into the fray, one of the two will become intertwined and 'break away' from the family unit and soon the entire marriage will be weakened.

The same can be shown in the second set of pictures - the picture on the left shows a three-strand cord and because of the way it is being pleated together, it is the strongest rope available. However, when we add the fourth strand into the rope, unless one is very careful in pleating, the cord do become weakened whenever a cross-over is missed.

   

                            
When a new person is added into the family nucleus, the marriage relationship has to be worked on with double vigor else the distraction will impact the tenacity of the marriage. More strands do not automatically mean a stronger cord; unless conscious effort is put in to avoid crowding, the entire rope will be weakened and the cord will have to be discarded or rewoven. This conscious relationship building applies also to members of the family - children can occupy the place once held so lovingly by the spouse and if nothing is done to correct this, precious marriages can start to crumble and disintegrate.