Heart to heart #33 Changing landscapes(28th July 2012)

Dear...

'So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel: therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me.'
        Ezekiel 33:7

A dear friend recently told me that my messages reminded her of the Prophet Jeremiah. That thought never occurred to me, but it led me to do a more thorough read of the book of Jeremiah. "A broken book written by a prophet with a broken heart from preaching a message of repentance for forty years to a stiff necked disobedient people of Judah.
Through his sermons and signs he faithfully declares that surrender to God's will is the only way to escape calamity.

'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!
...Then I heard another voice from heaven saying;
"Come out of her, my people , so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues...'
          Revelation 18:2,4

I have by the grace of God been writing the thoughts and experiences He has placed in my heart these past eight years. Not too sure if I can do it for another thirty two years, but much as it seems to be sending words forth into the wilderness, I have been more than blessed in serving our Lord and I know you will too if your heart is willing to be watered by His words.

'Then the Lord said to me: "Out of the north calamity shall break forth. On all the inhabitants of the land...'
        Jeremiah 1:14

The 'messages' that I received from our Lord through the years have always been of a personal nature. I am not anointed with any prophetic ability but clearly, if one cares to take time soaking in the living word of God, one will not just be very aware that the world is increasingly disobedient and evil, but more importantly, be imbued with the peace and joy and the reassurance that He will lead and shelter you come what may.

'Blessed is the man who listens to Me. Watching daily at My gates. Waiting at the posts of My doors...'
          Proverbs 8:34

How many of us are truly living out the commands of Proverbs 8:34.?
We are continuously inundated by the arrows of deceit and delusion that Satan, the prideful liar shoots at us. If not for the grace of God, I know I will struggle in vain with the Prince of the air. Imperfect as I am, by His grace, I continue to cling on to Christ our Savior.  What about you?

Is the  very oppressive weather of the past three days a symbolic foretaste of what is to come?

In Jeremiah 1:16, God says

"I will utter My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness. Because they have forsaken Me. Burned incense to other gods. And worshiped the works of their own hands."

Greenland lost a significant portion of its ice cover in a very short period. A literal meltdown. U.S.A the food basket of the world is blanketed by severe drought across a large part  of its landmass. The upstart heir apparent to its mantle as the next superpower, China has seen its capital flooded over in an unprecedented manner. And Syria looks increasingly like the next battleground for diverse geopolitical interest, and Damascus its capital could possibly be destroyed in the clumsy dance of the superpower elephants. And even the once squeaky clean clinical little red dot of ours is increasingly tainted in so many ways, where morality and integrity will soon lose its familiarity in our society if we are not careful. But maybe lust and lies are ok for Scotland and Milan just recognized same sex marriages as part of the trend in the Western world, not forgetting the captains of Western society are increasing adept at lying without blinking an eyelid.

Christianity is increasingly under siege and it is a matter of time that we will be not just on the peripheral of society, but persecuted for our steadfast faith, though the world rather term it uncompromising stubbornness.

'For behold, the day is coming. Burning like an oven.....Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. And the hearts of the children to their fathers. Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.'
        Malachi 4:1-6

Is it implausible that our children could be the final generation before Christ returns?

None of us can be certain, but what is definite is that as parents, we are prepared by God to shepherd not just our next generation, but also our parents to turn to Christ our Chief Shepherd. The tide of godlessness is moving inexorably but the faithful will not be overwhelmed.

'Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on the rock.'
        Matthew 7:24

I struggled with penning any meaningful sharing these past two weeks. With my change of employment, I was figuring very hard as to how to adjust my varied ministry life. Is it not the same for most of us, where we lean on our finite understanding to cope ineffectively with the changing landscape around us?

Can one then survive in this fallen world if one does not adjust to it?
The world is controlled by the devil, for Adam has given up his birthright. Who are we to wrestle with principalities? We can overcome the devil only if we learn to submit to God.

'Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes. And I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding and I shall keep Your law. Indeed I shall observe it with my whole heart...'
      Psalm 119:33-34

Victory  has been won with our Risen Christ. To take what is already won, our hearts must see beyond the delusion of the devil. And that can only happen if we allow the light of the Spirit of God to not just reside in our hearts, but to shine forth into the darkness.
It is not about adapting to or even changing our circumstances, but rather about letting the Spirit of God transform us unto His likeness, to the point that it no longer matters the condition of our circumstances. For a heart transformed, and a mind renewed is indomitable in all circumstances. To do that, it is about our willingness to let go and let God every moment of our life. Vastly different  from the human manner of living upon our wits. It is about our determination to seek God with our all, to look to Him always and away from the world. To be holy for God is holy.

Today I finally felt at peace to complete this latest sharing. Let me close with  this 1931 quote from His faithful servant, John Sung,

"Seek your own spiritual revival and revival will come to others"

God blesses

Eng Hieang
28th Jul 2012