Dear...
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and
they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:13
"Boldness
to live out our faith," this was the thought that our good Lord
impressed upon my heart, last
night for this next sharing. If it is from our Lord, He will affirm and
lead and indeed He has. For this morning, the half day prayer retreat I
attended amongst the men from the six ACS schools had one underlying
theme, the infilling of the Holy Spirit and how emboldened spirit filled
boys
were used by our Lord to bring about a revival in Singapore back in the
1970s.
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they
were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and they spake the word of God with boldness.
Acts 4:31
'The
Clock Tower Story: The beginnings of the charismatic renewals in
Singapore"( Revised edition 2012 Published by the Trinity Theological
College) is a concise record of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on
some ACS students, and it's far reaching impact on the Christian
community in Singapore.
For me, as an outsider, I was too young
then(age 11), and from a mission school but not ACS, and a non believer
to boot, to pay much attention to this phenomena, what the Straits
Times then termed "students in hysteria."
But as an insider, By
God's grace, having been involved in the ACS schools'
prayer ministry these past decade, as well as in the men's ministry of
my church, Wesley Methodist, which I only learned today was one of the
key players in this God given revival of the 1970s, I get a sense that
the pieces that our Sovereign God has placed through the years since
are coalescing. And I count myself blessed to have not only a grandstand
view, but be used by our Lord in His Sovereign plans.
And this
is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing
according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us,
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of
him.
1 John 5:14-15
God is bringing a
revival 40 years after His Spirit moved mightily upon Singapore back in
1972. In the past 12 years, He has from the faith of a sprinkling of
men, brought forth a growing momentum of men coming together to
pray. And not forgetting the steadfastness of our praying women, who
have faithfully been praying much as the men were till the past decade,
everywhere else but with our Lord.
And in the past 2 years, He has stirred a desire amongst the youths from the ACS schools to come together to pray.
For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John 5:4-5
The
world has descended upon our beloved nation. The richest nation in the
world if measured by wealth per square meter. And this number will move
even further up the gradient, not because we are Heaven on Earth, but
rather a safe haven for flight capital.
Do pray for our leaders to be wise God's way and not be swayed by the world, which values self more than
community, whose gods are sited on the altar of mammon.
Whose
proponents are determined to paint our town lustful pink, with a heavy
dash of greedy green. For we have expanded from the gay capital of Asia,
to jostling for pole position in the leech like casino "laundromat,"
that the world increasingly look upon as their lifeline from economic
stagnation. And with the surfeit of global personal wealth being washed
ashore onto our little island, do pray for those with less, for erosion
of purchasing power will push many below the poverty line.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
As people of faith, do we put God one side while we struggle to catch up with the Joneses?
Or
do we strive to help the needy, not only the
materially deprived, but the spiritually starved? But there is a much
bigger consideration that demands our response now. Are we truly a
disciple of Christ at heart? Will it be more than an inconvenience to be
told the truth at the judgement seat of God that He does not know you?
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
Malachi 4:5
Could
our children's generation be the last before Christ returns? None of us
have a clue, but what is clear is that the increasing manifestation of
evil and blatant disregard for God's commands, is fully matched by the
intensifying shaking globally.
The fallout from the excesses of the
dotcom boom led to the birth of excessive mortgages and the resultant
subprime crisis. The world has not solved but merely defered the day of
reckoning for her wholesale prostitution of
Keynesian economics of spending excesses and instant gratification.
Tokyo had the big March earthquake though it seems a monster size one is
looming and possibly form a duet with the unusually active Mt Fuji.
California
is it's twin and that is long overdue. But suppose it is New York( the
financial hub of our Babylonian economy) or Washington ( the power seat
of capitalistic greed) that gets hit by a trembler many times bigger
than the rare foretaste we had a year back? The cloud of delusion
enveloping a world in self denial will be blown off in a blink of an
eyelid, and the world will be forced to recognize the "inconvenient
truth." That is, we have in our profligate ways, spent away the wealth
of our future generations. And worst, we have not invested wisely in the
spiritual growth of ourselves and our loved ones.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/us/24quake.html?pagewanted=all&_moc.semityn.www
http://rt.com/usa/news/tornado-hits-new-york-city-678/
But
we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of
the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
2 Thessalonians 2:13
What
can we do when this tsunami of reality hits home? It is to buy gold as
in us being refined and tested by the Spirit of God.
The time is
short and you must be determined and disciplined in seeking and honoring
the Lord our God with your all, while He still can be found. This
scriptural grounding in Christlike
response will anchor one well when His Spirit falls upon you the
willing and ready to be
sent forth in His service.
For truly Lord
But the hour
cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God
is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth.
John 4:23-24
And today, I am
reminded by our Sovereign Lord that in seeking and honoring Him today,
He will more than provide for not just today, but tomorrow, the day
after and forever. And there is no necessity to extrapolate our fears
into the future.
God blesses
Eng hieang
( 9th Sep 2012)
An afterthought
I
am not sure about Abraham, but adaptable as I am, I do not like change.
But this year, change seems to be a close neighbor of me, and much as
it was disconcerting when in June, decisions at the twin fork of my long
settled life had to be made, I know
surrender of self to God's will is an act of obedience.
How time
flies. It has been 3 months, and my daughter will soon be in London for
law school next 3 years. And as for me, I am about to reconnect to the
financial industry I love yet is well aware of an increasingly harsh
environment. Fear does hover over one's psyche, much as I am well aware
that both decisions are aligned to the will of our Sovereign God.
Today,
I finally understood the truth of God's promise to the faithful. That
His grace is sufficient for the day, much as the day is evil. And
tomorrow, when that turns into today, His grace will be still be
sufficient, if we are still alive!
Extrapolated fears. This is
what haunts most of us. As seeds of the disobedient Adam, men continue
to seek the fleeting reassurances of the worldly treasures that the
devil proffers, not realizing that these will not gives us that inner
peace and joy, that only God can
provide.
And for many who pray, we are looking at God's
provisions rather than trusting in Him our Provider. We impose our will
upon Him for conclusions we desire, rather than letting go and letting
Him.
Do go to the link and read this enlightening article "When God isn't answering prayers"
http://discoveryseries.org/discovery-series/when-god-isnt-answering-your-prayer-psalm-77/)
The response God desires from us is
1) to come unto His presence in repentance and be sanctified by His Spirit
'Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end.' (Psalm 73:17)
2) to immerse ourselves in His Word, for the Word is God.
'... Nevertheless I am continually with You.' (Psalm 73:23)
3) to honor Him in our every moment today
'He hath showed thee, O man, what is
good; and what
doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?'
( Micah 6:8)
And
He will and has already taken care of our needs. And this is what has
left me in awe of His love, for when I look back at the way things are
nicely falling in place for both my daughter and myself, much as I know
not what tomorrow holds, how can one continue to doubt the love and
sovereignty of our Abba Father?
For though I be absent in the
flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order,
and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Colossians 2:5-6
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