Natural Disasters

2 years ago I came back there was a tsunami. This year there is flood in 6 states of Malaysia and Sumatra and earthquake at grandparents’ home in Taiwan. I don’t know what does God wants to show me from these incidents. I feel painful toward the victims, or the world. There are people suffering around, and there were people celebrating Christmas as they do not know anything. I feel pathetic toward both crowds. I could not do anything except begging for God’s mercy. I feel the urgency: something has to be done as soon as possible; there is no time to be wasted. If something you can do, don’t wait until tomorrow. For the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him, be watchful and keep praying, do not act like the ignorant.

Jesus answered, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ, and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains...
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come… Now one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen till the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of Son of Man… Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. (Matthew 24)

There is one thing I have not yet understood. If God is sovereign over all these disasters, and has predestined the salvation of His people, how should I pray? Should I pray that the gospel would be preached to the whole world? But Jesus said it will. Should I pray for the salvation of the people? Should I pray that God will take away the disasters? Or I should ignore everything as if there is nothing happen because God is sovereign? These questions have been bothering me…

Merry Christmas

Christmas

Really miss the celebration and the atmosphere of Christmas in New Zealand. Miss the advent services, Christmas carols, midnight service, potluck gathering, Christmas presents… At here Christmas is just all about shopping or dining or travelling, nothing more than commercial. My aunt from Kuching came to KL and stayed for 2 nights, I was greatly challenged by her as she is a non Christian and told me about Chakra and yoga those "mind, body, and soul" type of things. To be respectful I was just listening to her. From conversations with my mum and my aunt I can feel my family's high expectations on me. If I graduate next year (hopefully) I would be the first one who gets a university degree in my grandfather's line. I wonder what their reaction would be like if I tell them that I am not interested in building a career or being a “successful” woman but just want to follow God.

I feel lonely here, really lonely. I miss the smiles, the laughters, the hugs, the craziness, the warmth from my fellow friends in Palmerston North. Miss the bible discussions in OCF, miss the excitement to share about God, miss the time when we pray together… However I still have to thank God for showing me that glimpse of His Kingdom, so that I may have the hope and strength to wait upon Christ’s second coming and eternal life with God and His people.

Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season

As I was grieving about the church and the world, I've learnt that I need to look at the things in a positive perspective, and put my hope and trust in the Lord. On Saturday afternoon I had a long chat with a Christian friend whom I met in New Zealand. I was so happy to know that at least there is someone that I can talk about God with in KL. We had talked about more than 3 hours in the café. I was deeply encouraged by her faith in God, and her love for people. She has made me understand that, even when the earthly conditions are not favourable to serve God and love people, I still have to do it, with passion, because deep in my heart I know who I am serving for. There is one verse from 2 Timothy that was floating in my mind at that time:

Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season

Now I understand what it means, but I admit that it is not easy. And the next line:

reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2)

Why Paul gave this command to Timothy? Because in previous chapter he mentioned that there will come times of difficulty, he will face Godless people everywhere. But he didn’t tell Timothy to give up and sit there do nothing, insteaad he told him to preach the Word, be ready in season and out of season. Also, reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. Am I expecting to serve God only when the surroundings are desirable? Am I expecting to share the Gospel only when people ask me to tell them? Am I choosing to obey God only when it does not cost anything?

Honestly I was quite disappointed at myself, I had compromised a lot, I have become lazy to pray, and spend less and less time with the Bible. But thank God He will accomplish His will, His plan, no matter I obey Him or not. And I thank Him that He is a living and sovereign God, patiently teaching, guiding, rebuking, and correcting me so that I will not waste my life on this journey to eternal life.

I am seriously considered about coming back to KL. My friend told me that she has a vision that there will be a revival in the churches of Malaysia; people will come back from overseas to serve the Lord. Yes, indeed there are many weaknesses in the churches here, but does it matter? God is powerful, He will do what he intends to do, and I just need to commit in Him, delight in Him, trust in Him, and be still before Him (Psalm 37).

Putrajaya

Some pics of KL

1 Utama Shopping Centre - Huge Mickey Christmas Decoration

Central Market

Petaling Street (Chinatown)

Contemporary Worship Songs

I used to enjoy most the ‘worship’ / singing part of the church, because of the emotional effect they created through music made me ‘feel’ that God is most near at that moment (i.e.' Spirit-filled' moment). However, this time I went to church again, the part that I most uncomfortable with is the singing part. It was a very weird feeling. Churches I attended in KL mostly emphasise on ‘filling by the Holy Spirit’ on worship services, but not hearing the word of God. The funny thing is, I feel God is most unreal, or most distance, when they do that, especially when they start lift their hands on high, and start speaking in tongues. Maybe that is just not my way to approach God anymore.

All the songs they sang were about ‘me’- ‘How much I love God’, ‘How much happy I am after believed in God’, ‘God can comfort me’, or ‘God can heal my pain’. I don’t see how God’s glory is revealing, instead people worship because of its therapeutic effect. And these songs repeated week after week, the leader emphasised that the Holy Spirit is in among the congregation, and people come week after week to seek comfort and healing, instead of spiritual growth. This is just my own opinion. I feel 'resisted' when singing worship songs, I wasn't sure which God I was worshipping. Was He the God of creation? Was He the God who died for us? Or he just an imaginary 'god' who everyone longing for: 'God who can bless you, give you, comfort you, love you when you need?'

The reason I still keep going to this church is because they have good guest speakers for the past 2 weeks. At least my parents feel ok about it, and willing to go to church even it is so early and so far from home, before I found a truly Scripture based, God centred church, it is better than not going to church at all. I haven’t hear pastor from the church speak yet, will see if the truth is spoken. Another thing that I don’t feel comfortable is after the speakers finished their speech, and prayed for everyone, and sang closing song, the church leader still wants to come up and do another altar call with long prayers. Church elders will pray for the people stepped forward personally, mostly for healing. They do altar call every week, and many were saved. And that’s a good thing.

The church here operates very differently than OCF. In OCF, people believe in God and accept God because of what they learnt through the Scriptures and friendship (community) with other believers. For the church here, they share the gospel every week, and if only you believed and accepted Christ, you belong to the community, and start your ‘active Christian life’ – to serve, share testimony, and get others to believe as well. This progress is faster and efficient to convert non-believers. People believed because of the life testimonies and the gospel. Who knows what happens later on in their life? As long as many are ‘saved’, does it matter if they lack of biblical knowledge?

TV

Because I have nothing much to do at home I watch almost 5-6 hours of tv programs per day! I watch Thai, Taiwanese, Chinese, Hong Kong, Korean, Singaporean, and Malaysian drama series everyday. Although all produced in different countries and from different producers, the main themes are not that different. All of them talks about love and suffering, good and evil. Good people who love are always suffering; suffering for their lovers, family, friends, or social injustice. Sometimes there was a happy ending, sometimes not. I was questioning why they have to produce so many dramas that are full of suffering? Why don’t produce more comedies or positive programs so that people can laugh and feel better? My answer is of course people like to watch them. I think when people watch others suffering it will reduce their own pain because there is a kind of soothing effect. I think the cross of Christ has the same effect too: Jesus not just heals, but He suffers himself so that you might be comforted. However, there were many times I think if Jesus is in that situation (in the drama) or they know God, much sufferings were unnecessary. For example, people who suffers from cancer or terminal illness gives great pain for people around who loves him/her, but if they know God, and put their hope in Christ, they won’t need to despair, but have the hope of eternal life instead!

10 reasons why KL is good

1. More chance to bump into strangers and if you dare, more chance to share the gospel.
2. Get ready cooked, yummy food at anywhere and anytime (remark: you can get breakfast as early as you want and supper as late as you want)
3. Cheap, latest computers and its accessories
4. Shopping paradise
5. You go everywhere can see Chinese, Malay and Indian work together
6. Beautiful nightview
7. You can speak broken English and nobody will laugh at you
8. Weather is nice and predictable
9. 6 Free tv channels: programmes with original languages and English/Malay subtitles from local, Korea, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, USA, India... and news with at least 3 different languages
10. Easy to pass the custom in airport (don’t even need to X-Ray scan my luggage) and electronic passport

10 reasons why Palmy is good

1. NO traffic jam
2. Free parking (most places) or cheap parking meter
3. Plenty of parking spaces
4. Wide, smooth roads
5. Bike lanes and pedestrian walkways
6. Walking distance into city centre
7. Quiet
8. No air pollution
9. Bigger personal space ( do not have to squash with strangers)
10. Free bus for Massey students and has a TIMETABLE and ROUTE MAPS!

God is faithful to my family

God is faithful indeed. Sometimes I just need I little bit more courage and trust in God and He will accomplish what He intend to do. I was praying hard that my family can find a good church to attend and willing to commit. I don’t really care about myself that much, I mean I can go back to NZ and have my fellowship there, but my family need a good church to be involved in. I hope that they can see the truth more and more and delight in God. My parents had brought me to church because I wanted to, and we never been to that church before. It was a Chinese service, and many old people were there. The worship team was not the best, but people were praising God wholeheartedly, although the congregation was not big, but everyone came to shake our hands and welcomed us. The pastor was not a good speaker, he cannot even speak fluently in mandarin, but the teaching was from the bible and the word of God penetrates people’s hearts. Today’s sermon was about John 15:5-8, it was very relevant to our current situation. He says we need to desire God with our hearts and worship God everyday (include prayer), have fellowship with other Christians, and read His Word. And God has 3 blessings for us: His grace, His providence, and His strength. And we need to pray frequently to let His grace flow through us, and strengthen us. We are like branches, and Jesus is the vine. Without drawing nutrients from the vine, the branches can do nothing. I was glad, my mum likes it, and she wants to go there again. The church people were a bit shy but they were very friendly. Besides, on 15th the church is going to have a musical drama about the story of love among the aboriginals in Sarawak (my homeland), I was eager to go to watch even before the church offer free tickets for our family! God was working, He is faithful, even we failed and remain faithless for so many times.

Do nothing at home and go crazy soon

The fear I had before coming back to Malaysia has intensified. I have not get a job yet, and been sitting at home for almost 2 weeks doing nothing. My friends are busy, have not meet them yet, and I do not have money to go shopping or travel around. I do not know why God let this happen again and again. My life is still same as before I go to New Zealand. It is like, I have been to paradise, and now put me back to hell. Why I have to come back? Because I have not seen my family for 2 years. Why I have to work? So that I do not have to be a burden for my family. Why I have to work here? Because my mum wants me to stay here with her longer. Why I have difficulties to find a job, meet a friend or find a good church? Because transport is not convenient here. I used to able to take only one bus to reach city centre, now I need two. If I want to go back to my former school, I need to take 4 different vehicles, including LRT, I used to take 2-3. I don’t mind to travel, but it is not safe out there, my house nearby there was a robbery yesterday that the robber got killed by security. Robbery and rape or other crime activities are very common here, although I trust God can protect me, but do I have to risk myself? I only have 2 months to work. Nobody wants to hire me. Yes I can work in retail, but I need to sacrifice public holidays and weekends, that means I cannot go to church. It is hard to decide, I rather to suffer for something meaningful, but not. I am doing nothing!

Church

After reading ‘Guidance and the voice of God’ by Philip Jensen and Tony Payne, I have a clearer picture in the importance of go to church and deciding a church. Church is a meeting or gathering of Christians. In Hebrews 10:24-25 it clearly states that Christians should gather together, being edified and edify others. We are imperfect and need each other’s fellowship to be rebuked and corrected and encouraged to persevere. To choose a church, we can only have fellowship with real Christians instead of counterfeits.How to determine if the church is consists of real Christians?

1. Justification by faith (Galatians 1:1-10)

2. The Real Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:1-3, 1 John 4:2-3)

3. The Apostles' Words (1 John 4:6)

Rejoices in the truth and glorify God

My faith and obedience comes when I realise that how big God is, and how small I am. God is opposite to me: He is big, glorious, mighty, sovereign, powerful, and strong; but I am small, fallen short of God’s glory, insignificant for the world, powerless, and weak. Yet He still loves me, still willing to die for me, have mercy on me, want to involve in my life, and want me to be happy, for His own glory. He deserves everything I have and I am. He deserves my praise, worship, and thanksgiving. He alone deserves everything.

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him” says John Piper. This has challenged me a lot. I never see God in this way before. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4) Delight, rejoice, satisfy in the lord, and seek His kingdom first… As humans we have the desires to be satisfied, the problem comes when we pursuing the wrong things to satisfy our desires. We thought when we gain this or that we can be happy, but we missed out the greatest joy and what we created for: to desire and glorify God. We could not see that if we keep ourselves occupied with pursuing temporary happiness and satisfaction from worldly means, or being anxious. God is good, he created us for his glory, and at the same time he wants us to be happy. We can have greatest joy and satisfaction when we our greatest desire is to glorify God. Pursuing joy and glorify God can be one passion, according to Piper. What is this one passion? To Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:6) How to love? By rejoices with the truth. How to know the truth? By reading and meditating upon the word of God, be truthful, and obey the truth. These are just my little thoughts.

God is God and I am not

I do not know why, sometimes people said I am oversensitive, in terms of criticising churches, especially church teachings. I would not dare to say that I know everything about the bible, and whatever I say is right. In fact, there is still many things I need to learn and experience. I did not feel comfortable when some churches is overfocused on “me” instead of “God”. “What should I do so that God can bless me?” is a very common topic in most church sermons. The content might use a lot of bible quotations, and sounds reasonable. However, they magnified “me” instead of who God is. It is danger as it might distort the image of God. Indeed it makes people feels good about themselves, and is very attractive to the crowd. I cannot say it is wrong. But I just do not feel comfortable about it.

For me, knowing God’s promises and knowing the way God could bless me did not help me much in my spiritual growth. Only by knowing who God is (His character/attribute), and what He did through relationship with Him (prayers and meditating upon His Word), my life has changed since then.

Statement of belief

What do you think of the statement of belief of this church?

What We Believe

1. We believe in the plenary-verbal inspiration of the accepted canon of scriptures as originally given. The scriptures are infallible, inerrant and the sole and final authority for all matters of faith and conduct.(2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Corinthians 2:13)

2. We believe in the eternal Godhead who has revealed Himself as one God existing in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, distinguishable but indivisible.(Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

3. We believe in the creation, test and fall of man as recorded in Genesis; his total spiritual depravity and inability to attain to divine righteousness.(Romans 5:12, 18)

4. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of men, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born by the Virgin Mary, very God and very Man.(Luke 1:26-35; John 1:14-18; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6)

5. We believe Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day, and personally appeared unto His disciples.(1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 4:25)

6. We believe in the bodily ascension of Jesus to heaven, His exaltation and personal, literal and bodily coming again the second time for His Church.(John 14:2-3; and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

7. We believe in the salvation of sinners by grace, through repentance and faith in the perfect and sufficient work of the cross of Calvary by which we obtain remission of sins.(Ephesians 2:8-9; Hebrews 9:12, 22; Romans 5:11)

8. We believe in the necessity of water baptism by immersion in the name of the eternal Godhead in order to fulfill the command of the Lord Jesus Christ.(Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:34-36; 19:1-6)

9. We believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit as a real experience at or subsequent to salvation, with the scriptural evidence, namely, speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.(Acts 2:1-4; 8:14-17; 10:44-45; Galatians 3:14-15)

10. We believe in the operation of the gifts and ministries of the Spirit as enumerated in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Ephesians 4, as manifested in the early Church.

11. We believe in the Spirit-filled life, a life of separation from the world and perfecting of holiness in the fear of God as expressing the true Christian faith.(Ephesians 5:18; 2 Corinthians 6:14; 7:1)

12. We believe in the healing of the body by Divine power, or Divine healing in its varied aspects as practised in the early Church (Acts 4:30; Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 12:9; James 5:14) and by deliverance in the name of Jesus.(Mark 16:17)

13. We believe in the table of the Lord, commonly called the Communion or the Lord's Supper, for believers.(1 Corinthians 11:28-32; Matthew 26:26-28)

14. We believe in the reality and personality of the Devil and eternal judgment in the Lake of Fire for the Devil and his angels.(Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:14-15)

15. We believe in the eternal life for believers (John 5:24; 3:16), and eternal punishment for the unbelievers.(Mark 9:43-48; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 20:10-15)

16. We believe that there is one true universal Church, made up of genuine believers, but this one universal Church is also composed of many local Churches in given localities. These Churches are under the sovereign headship of the Lord Jesus Christ, exercising autonomous government under Him, administering all its local affairs and ministry, as well as the propagation of the gospel.(Acts 15:22; Matthew 16:18; 18:15-20)

Still looking for a good church

I’m very disappointed with the condition of churches in KL (Kuala Lumpur), perhaps until the point of despair. We have been living in KL for almost 9 years, and we still floating around and finally given up in looking for a good church. Same thing happens everywhere in the world: the churches are corrupted themselves and not being in line with the teachings of the bible. Some people rather read the bible at home and refuse to go to church because of that.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

These people are referred to people in the church, I myself and my parents have met these people, and God wants us to avoid them. Does that mean that do not go to church? But God wants us to serve. I am hurted, and confused, really confused.

Stand firm in grace, truth, and power of Christ Jesus

I’ve been at home for almost a week. I feel that my faith is getting weaker, the thing that I was worrying all the time before I came – forget about God and walk further from Him and walk towards the crowd, or more straightforward, the world. I did not go to church today. As me and my parents were discussing which church should we go, we did not come out with a conclusion, so we end up went to the market instead. It is hard; especially it is weird to “intrude” a church that you do not know anyone there. I’ve been trying to read the bible and Christian books everyday. However there are too many distractions, the noise level in KL especially in my house is amazing – my brother plays music, rock and metal music at home, and parents were watching television, even I shut my door I still find it hard to concentrate. I could say – the quality of quiet time is not as good, and I found it really hard to focus and think about God. I knew it, I knew that I am weak, I knew that without the surrounding of my fellow brothers and sisters I cannot be that strong. I start missing New Zealand, start thinking how would I be if I’m still in Palmy, walking with my flatmate to the church, meeting my fellow brothers and sisters there, have church lunch after that, and talk about God and everything. Those are the most precious times that I had.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)

Yet I still have to fight, or more correctly, stand firm in my faith in Christ.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:10-18)

And from 2 Timothy Chapter 2, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, as a soldier who wants to please his commanding officer, as an athlete that competes according to the rules, as a hardworking farmer, an approved workman, a clean vessel, and a faithful servant.

View from my apartment

Back in KL

Finally I’m back at home after 2 years in New Zealand. Everything seems not much different here. It’s like I never been away. Weather and temperature are just nice. Food is nice; connection speed is awesomely fast at home (with broadband). Yesterday during the trip from Auckland to KL I met many different people: a German photographer for international car rally championship, a Malaysian software developer who is going to travel around Asia, an Indian man who wants to buy an external hard drive in KL, and a Malaysian PhD pharmacy student from Otago University. I was thinking about God all the time, and hope I can have meaningful conversations with these people. Only for the pharmacist, who was sitting beside me in the plane, I managed to talk about God and shared the gospel with him within the last 2 hours. Before that I was struggling if I should talk about God with him, I did not want to. But deep in my heart I knew God wants me to, and I prayed that He will make the progress easier if that is His will. I prayed before I have the meal, and he asked if I am a Christian, and we started the conversation about God. We had a very interesting conversation. He is a Roman Catholic, but believes all religion leads to God, like Christianity and Islam are the same. I told him that Jesus is the only way, truth, and life, and I encouraged him to seek the truth, to read the bible. He said we Christians always have a group of people do things together, and seems very “holy” and he doesn’t want to be involved. He is kind of nice guy and doesn’t want to offend me, he told me he has his own set of belief, but respects mine. But anyways, I managed to take out two ways to live and shared the gospel with him, I don’t know if he got it or not, I have done everything that I can. I was happy then, because I won’t have regrets. Oh ya, I met Fran while boarding, we were shocked seeing each other there. We didn’t sit together, but we were walking together after we arrived KL.

That guy asked me a question: Why Christians always say heaven is up there in the sky, and hell is down there in the earth?

I didn't answer him directly, I said I wasn't sure. But I asked him why he wants to know, I told him God is everywhere all the time. Heaven and hell exist, but are spiritual realm. I don't know if I said it right?

Emotional

Can’t believe tomorrow I’m going to finish my exams, and the day after SLC, and in a week time I’ll be at home! Can’t believe I’m moving out from this flat, leaving my loving flatmates. I’m filled with a mixture of emotions at the moment. On one hand I wish I can study harder for exam tomorrow, and I do not have confidence in passing it, but on the other hand I could not wait until everything’s over! 2 years! Things have been change a lot in 2 years! I knew I’m going to miss New Zealand and everyone here, but I’m sure I’ll be happy to reunite with my family and friends...

Go to SLC if you can!

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:44-46)

I cannot wait to go to SLC (student leadership conference), and I urged people try their best to go if they can. However, I got annoyed when people do not seem understand why going to conference is so important. I don’t usually force people to do something, except this time. I got really frustrated when I knew that a person have the chance to go but refuse to go for whole week. It is like: putting a mountain of treasures in front of you, and you just take some of it, because you leave your arms for something that is less valuable. If only you know who God is!

It is not about what the conference about, yes indeed you going to learn heaps there about God. But for me, it is about being in the Kingdom of God, being in a place where everyone has the same focus, same belief, same God. I never regret went to conferences, everytime I went I feel refreshed and strengthen again. I knew it is good for me, and I know it is essential for me, as I can put my focus back on to God himself and put my perspectives on the right place again. I enjoy the fellowship with other Christians, encouraging each other and pray for each other. I’ll try my best to go even I do not have sufficient money. People think I am mad because I would have done something else and save some money. But no… it’s not about self-enjoyment. It is about being equipped by God, so that I can do his work better, so that I do not waste any opportunity in life. Why I am still on earth after I accepted Jesus Christ in my life? There must be a purpose: to be His disciple.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

So you know being a disciple and making others disciple is Jesus’s command. But how do you do it? That’s why SLC is a good place to learn how to do it, yes you can learn through other ways, but here is the place and specially designed for you to equip you. But it means nothing for you if you do not have the passion for God and being a disciple is not the focus of your life.

Last year I went to SLC, and met Auntie Gloria there, I told her that it was too wonderful that I do not want to leave. I told her that I wish I could be like that: study God’s word, praise and worship God, do everything for God everyday. She told me: “don’t worry; you’ll be like that when you go to heaven.” Yes, experiencing God is the most wonderful thing that you can get, it satisfying me so much, because it is why I am created for: to experience God and to worship Him.

This morning’s passage is Hebrews 12:1-2: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Yes, throw off everything that hinders! Run! With perseverance! Fix our eyes on Jesus! Got it?!

Love, not obligation

Again I got severe headache and could not sleep. I lie down on the bed, listening to music, hopefully to relieve the headache. I think back things that happened in my life. My heart aches as there were so many people who loved me, cared about me, but I had forgotten, and neglected them. I hardly contact any of my best friends from high school back home, not even my former colleagues. Even friends that I first met in NZ who helped me a lot during hard times before, I had forgotten them. Fewer calls were made to my parents, and one day I called my mum, only realised how much she missed me and waited for my call for so long. How did I live my life for the past 2 years? Yes I became a committed Christian, I know more about the bible than before, and I serve in a ministry. But, who really am I? I realised I have not changed much. I am still selfish as, or even worse than before, I am a hypocrite. The bible says look out for one another’s interests, not just for my own. But to what extend, or did I even look out for other people’s needs? Do I even care about them? I questioned my attitude towards God and people, something’s wrong, but I do not know what it is. I am sure God’s love is enough to overfill my heart and make me able to love and serve other people. However, all I feel is dryness, weariness, and emptiness. I trust that God still loves me, his love will never change. But what’s wrong with me? I think of the people back home, think of my friends, I felt stressed and burdensome. I want to share the gospel with them, but more like an obligation, not out of love.

"I may be able to speak the languages of human being and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains – but if I have no love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burnt – but if I have no love, this does me no good."(1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

One day when I was studying with a friend about world hunger, she was despairing and told me that love is the only way that works. And I told her confidently that the bible says God is love, the world needs God. (But do I really know either God or love?)

“Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”(1 John 4:7-8)

No wonder I could not grasp God, I could not even recognise Him anymore, because I do not love. At this point, I asked for God’s forgiveness.

“Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

“Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

“And God showed his love by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.” (1 John 4:9-10)

Love is the hardest thing to learn and understand. But God is love, to imitate God, we have to imitate His love. I pray that I can love my friends even they are not Christian, and share with them the good news of Jesus, not just to obey God. I love them, because God loves them.

Link to:

God Demonstrates His Love Toward Us by John Piper

Bored

2 more days I will: finish 151.333 exam
1 more week I will: finish all exams + go to SLC
2 more weeks I will: reunite with my family in my home land! Woohoo!

Things I am going to do in Malaysia:

1. Find a good church
2. Get a job
3. Try different foods everyday and every meal
4. Snorkelling
5. Road trip to KL from Singapore
6. As a tour guide for my uncle’s family and a friend
7. Meet up with my friends
8. Shopping!
9. Update my blog
10. Share the gospel (great challenge!)
11. Share with my family about God and OCF (yeah!)
12. Cook for my family at least once
13. Drive a car
14. Visit aquarium in KLCC
15. Volunteer in health sector
16. Watch TV
17. Go Pasar Malam (Night market)
18. Buy Souvenirs for friends
19. Mail postcards to friends around the world
20. Travel by LRT/Monorail
21. Hang out with friends at Mamak stall until late night
22. Read a “meaningful” book
23. Take photos
24. Practice Bahasa Melayu, Cantonese, and Hokkien languages
25. Buy a new cellphone
26. Jungle trekking?
27. Visit my school?
28. Eat durian by the street?

These will keep me going until I finish my exams!!!

Centre of my life
Hillsong United

Let my walk speak loud
And my words be true
Let my life be whole
With my eyes on you
Lord I'm stepping out
From the comfort zone
Letting go of me,
Holding onto You

Freedom comes
When I call You Lord
You are Lord my God

You are the centre of it all,
The universe declares in awe
Your majesty
I surrender all
I make you the centre of my life
Lord, I respond with all I am
you placed in me the song
Of heavens melody
Your Majesty I live to sing Your song

I have found Your peace
It replaces any fear
You have done it all
I can trust in you
So I'm stepping out
From the comfort zone
Letting go of me
Holding onto you

This is your song not mine
It is your song that bring healing to this land
This is your song not mine
It is your song that brings feedom
Freedom comes, when I call you Lord
Freedom comes, when I call you Lord
You are Lord, my God
You are the song
You are the majesty
I live to sing your song
Your majesty
I live to sing Your song

How to Be Spiritually Minded

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God has overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”(1 John 5:1-5)