Dear...
'Then Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone whose heart was stirred, to come and do the work.'
Exodus 36:2
A few year back, I asked the Lord for the opportunity to minister to my fellow journeymen in my church. To encourage them to move from insouciant believer to determined follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord not just answered my prayers but has in recent months broaden the platforms. Last Sunday morning, I just did a second session as a worship leader. The first was in January, when even the elements knew I was nervous, what with an ominous thunderstorm in the night preceding, much as the actual worship went well. What about last Sunday morning. The second time round?
No pre worship blues, but in the prayer hymn, I sang stanza 3 instead of 4 by virtue of mistakenly referring to a different source material. Sigh, inexperience but thanks be to God, it is Who He is and not what we are. Such moments of imperfections prayerfully will ensure that in all the moments of glory for the Lord, which will be the prevailing experience for the faithful, irregardless of our deficiencies, one will remain mindful that it is He Who matters and not us.
'When you were little in your own eyes,....did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?
1 Samuel 15:17
God always affirms when He knows our convicted hearts are ready to move on in response to His leading. As I penned this revised opening thoughts, the news on television just showed a short snippet on Joseph Kony, the infamous leader of the notorious long running rebels in Uganda. And let me now reconnect you to what I wrote last week about Uganda as below.
Uganda was very much in my psyche in the '70s because of the larger than life late dictator Idi Amin. A mad dictator is an understatement and a cannibal he was rumored to be , having reportedly feasted on his dead enemies as a way to ensure their souls do not return to haunt him.
With his subsequent deposal, the long suffering Ugandans had all but a brief respite before tribal fault lines plunged the nation into fresh turmoil and renewed misery.
"The Lord's Resistance Army(LRA)," my memory of them was recently refreshed when I chanced upon an article about a documentary on the atrocities committed and how this documentary has gone viral in the net. A child of the '80s, but still going strong under their ruthless leader, Kony, a former altar boy, who professed a desire to run Uganda based on the Ten Commandments, but ended up breaking everyone of it with their continued atrocities till now.
'And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying , "My own hand has saved me."
Judges 7:2
I am not sure if Kony of the LRA started with a good intent that went awry? But is it not the same for many who first came to the faith, all raring to run for the Lord? Like a falling star, after the initial outburst, most taper off in their enthusiasm. And for some who managed to sustain that much more, either disillusion sets in or pride takes over.
'So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."
Judges 6:15
In the Book of Judges, Gideon stated the obvious, not too sure if out of humility or genuine fear. Saul ( before he was anointed King) did the same when Samuel asked him to join him in the place of honor(1 Samuel 9:21), but sadly King Saul soon entered a memory lapse, when pride reigned..
So Samuel said to Saul, " Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night? And he said to him, "Speak on."
1 Samuel 15:16
'Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord?'
1 Samuel 15:19
My mum is officially an octogenarian last Sunday(see photo). Thank the Lord for blessing both my parents with not just longevity but fairly good health. But of greater significance is both their coming to and growing in the faith not too many years back. And it is by His grace that everyone of my family is now a believer. And the I picked this particularly less than sharp first photo because it is special, it shows the joy of a once rag tag secular family now united in joyful unity of Spirit in our Lord and as today's Daily Bread reading remind the faithful, there is life in eternity with our loved ones, but are we willing to take up the offer?
For all of us who are blessed to know our Lord a little earlier? Have you by your unwillingness to live the faith, deprived your loved ones of the transforming experience of God at work in yours and their lives?
Our fallen world, coupled with our imperfect understanding, formed the perfect duet for for sin to dance around, even amongst the now repentant.
A humble and contrite heart is the necessary anti thesis to the anti Christ.
Man looks for the perfect conclusions, God asks for our obedience.
The willingness to seek our Lord and serve in His army, does not mean that we will always be on the high ground of what the world perceive as 'success.' It is often in the less than ideal circumstances of life that we will know our Perfect God better. To serve in Kony's renegade force, you have to overcome the real and perceived demons of your life on your own strength and finite understanding.
As soldiers in our Lord's army, we submit to the Lord.
And in letting go, we are letting the Spirit of God transform us into Christ-likeness.
Do we have to move nearer to age 80 to understand that?
'....we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will,through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way...'
Colossians 1:9-10
'I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I am doing. He will do even greater things than these..... You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.'
John 14:12-14
God blesses
Eng hieang
20th Mar 2012
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