The glory of God revealed

The End of November 2010 marked one of the most significant moments in all of my years in Christianity. It was then that I realized how real God is and that He works in ways unknown to our human mind. It was a mission trip to Ipoh, Malaysia, that I saw with my own eyes how amazing it is when God chooses to reveal Himself – to anyone.

It all began weeks before the trip.

I felt an urge and conviction to fast and pray for 10 days and in the midst of doing so, I was asking the Lord for many things. One of which was to show me something in the mission trip that I could write for Him. I was telling Him how much I desire to write for Him, you know, with all my abilities and haves – and with all I am.

And He showed me things way beyond my understanding, things I have never experienced. I have heard of them before, yes, but having to experience them gave a whole new meaning to everything.

On the second night, the anointing of God came so strong that two elderly women were slain by the Holy Spirit. As I was recording the service on video and taking pictures, I thought my mom, who was also the invited speaker, had started ministering to them. Then, I took a glance at the stage. My mom was on stage. She was still on stage! She was speaking in tongues and that was all it took. God’s glory was manifested so amazingly! If you do not get what I have been trying to express, I am telling you that the elderly women fell backwards WITHOUT anyone touching them. This is what I call a miracle and this is the glory of God revealed.

Subsequently, I was led by the Spirit to go along with my mom to minister to the people who came forward to be prayed for. When we got to this man, the Chinese character “xin” which means heart, came to my mind. I was not sure if it was from God or if it was my own imagination. When my mom prayed for him, she mentioned that God wanted his heart. At that point, I remained skeptical.

But God is good and merciful. I missed it the first time but he allowed me to experience this again the third day. Again I was snapping shots and taking videos and I felt led by the Spirit to pray for this lady in front of me. I prayed in tongues and the Lord put the word “intercession” into my head. Then, my mom reaffirmed this when she prayed for her, saying that God will raise this lady up as an intercessor. I was amazed at how God allowed me to experience this.

It did not end here. While my mom was praying and ministering to one of the leaders of the church and the word was that God would give her a dancing anointing and that she would dance in the Spirit, I felt an inexplicable overwhelming joy from within. I could not comprehend the joy I felt till my mom said, “Nehemiah 8:10, the joy of the Lord is your strength”. Then, I understood it was another revelation from the Lord.

I praise God that He manifested His glory during the mission trip. And more significantly, I thank the Lord for choosing to reveal His glory to me and through me that I may write this to testify of how great my God is. To God be the glory!

23.10.10 - God's perfect gift to me

I loved my grandma very much. All of us did. It came to a point where my grandma’s existence brought great pain. She was surviving on liquid food and oxygen tubes. I stood by the hospital bed, and thought to myself, “God, please take away all the pain. If it is time, take her with you. If it is not, restore her health.” This was all I could think of when I saw the agony written all over her face. I hoped she would recover and come back home with me. Yet, in my heart I knew that was it – it’s over.

Throughout the few months my grandma was in and out of the hospital, I struggled with God. I felt that everything went wrong and where was God really? Many times, I told the Lord, “I can’t do this anymore. I need your strength.” With all that was happening, my grandma’s hospitalization and my family shifting house, it was more than I could bear. I was overwhelmed and swallowed up that I started to feel breathless. I could not breathe well; I felt as if my heart had to pump thrice as hard. I broke down in tears. I cried, “I need you Lord…”

The Lord showed me a vision of my grandma on her deathbed. Two of my cousins and aunt were there by the bed at the hospital. I thought perhaps God was telling me He was going to take my grandma away. No, I was wrong. I did not know when the time was. It was a mere guess. Still, God is good. He filled my heart with joy and peace. He heard my cries and delivered me. More significantly, He allowed my grandma to remain hospitalized during the time we had to shift and pack for the new home. There, I was certain grandma was taken good care of by the angels that were by her bed. God is faithful; His mercy endures forever.

Few days later, grandma got better and could return to the new home. Just when I thought the worst was over, about a week later, she was hospitalized – again. I grieved. Just when would this all end? Questions after questions, yet God remained faithful. Each time I was in school, or in the hospital visiting my grandma, I could feel God’s strength upon me. I felt peace in my heart. And one night, I prayed, “Lord, won’t you show me the angels that would take my grandma to be with you in heaven?”

Days passed and 23^rd October arrived. That morning, I asked the Lord, “Lord, what is my present from you? Are you gonna take grandma with you?” I gave no more thought to it and had a birthday celebration with my family at lunch. Then, we went to the hospital to visit my grandma – for the last time. My sister and I left the hospital at about 3.30p.m. At the lobby, we met my two cousins and aunt who were about to visit my grandma. I had mixed feelings that afternoon. My grandma, my birthday, doing my work at home on my birthday……I felt terrible. It was like the “damnedest” birthday. Just then, my sister received a call from my mom. Grandma had passed on. Was it for real? Was I prepared for that? What was going on?

Thoughts raced across my mind. Then, my mind went blank. How was I supposed to react? I didn’t know. Voices in my head cried out, “God! God!”

We rushed down to the hospital. Tears flowed down my cheeks. I whispered, “Thank you Lord……” Then I recalled. God had revealed all this to me through a dream weeks ago. In the dream, grandma was counting down to her death. I could recall vividly that from then to her death was 50 odd days. It all came clear to me. Those were the cousins and aunt that I saw in the vision. I should have known, really. I was just blind to the dream and vision God had revealed to me. But, I thanked the Lord.

I was overwhelmed with chagrin. God did not allow me to the see the angels that took my grandma to heaven. But, God is faithful and good. During the wake, the Lord reassured me through what my mom testified. She said, “If anyone sees angels receiving her back home to heaven, she would smile on her deathbed.” She testified that my grandma had died peacefully, with a smile on her face. Then, I knew. I thanked the Lord – once again.

This is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it. He made 23.10.10 so special to me - the greatest birthday gift I've ever had, and will ever have. Praise the Lord!

Holy revelation from above

There I stood, convicted and guilty. Thoughts ran wild. All I thought about was how angry God would be at churches and so-called Christians today. That holy anger, so powerful and mighty in its subtle ways, was overwhelming. God is a respecter of no man. He desires our obedience to Him. “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6).

The house of God is no longer holy, no longer truthful, and no longer passionate for Christ. Pastors preach on half-truths, all about how merciful God is, nothing about the repentance of sin and taking up of the cross. A diluted gospel is not a gospel at all. Man, out of their wits, think of ways to “save” lost souls by reaching out to the carnal flesh. There is no longer deep spiritual cleansing to salvation. This is why Christians back-sliding and turning away from the church is becoming a phenomenon. The church entices people by depicting how great the worship songs are, how good the music system is, how powerful the speaker is, and not how great our God is. There is no longer joy in the church today. Entertainment has substituted the joy. It is an embarrassment to be in the house of God today.

Where is the house of prayer that God desires? God delights in our worship and prayers. But what have we become? We have become worshippers of the world, just like the Israelites who worshipped idols. Satan is knocking at our door-steps. The Bible says that Satan is like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Have we crossed the line to open that door that pushes God away from us? There has to be a revival today.

We are called to be holy, because God is holy. We are so bothered by what the world perceives about us rather than how God looks at us. Scripture says that man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. We turn away from God because someone says we are “holy cows”, fearful that we would be unable to fit in to society. We are called to be the light of the world and salt of the earth. As a light to the world, we bring God’s glory to them through our actions and words. We are reflectors of God’s glory. Christians living in darkness, following the ways of the world, getting drunk, getting obsessed with gambling and dabbling in the occult, speaks of nothing but disgrace to the holy God.

Satan is planting evil into our lives. Hence, it is so important to seek God and safeguard our hearts. When people say “this is normal, everyone does it, it’s alright”, we ought to think twice. We have to be aware of Satan’s little tricks! We think reading the horoscope is no big deal, think again – IT IS DABBLING IN THE OCCULT! We think studying astrology is no big deal, think again – IT IS DABBLING IN THE OCCULT! And we naively think “There’s nothing wrong listening to music from this particular band”, rethink and rethink – certain music have a satanic tone to it, THAT IS DABBLING IN THE OCCULT!

We often get confused about our own desires and what God requires of us. It is written in Micah 8:6: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”. This is the Word of the Lord and we must obey.

Stop Satan at our doorsteps! Turn from our ways and repent, because Christ is returning, judgment is coming!  And forgiveness of sin calls for a repentant heart, repentance is forsaking the old nature self and living in God’s ways.

Got it? Or, rather, done it?

miracles beyond disasters

Do miracles happen after a disaster? And is there hope beyond all the pandemonium and mayhem we experience in one way or another? Is there a God of miracles? Many remain skeptical, yet I for one, beg to differ. Having gone through countless disasters, I am certain that yes, with God, miracles do happen.

The Bible illustrates faithful servants of God, who more often than not, faced disasters upon disasters. They were all-so-faithful and trusted in the Lord. Daniel was one such man. When he was thrown into the lion’s den during the reign of King Darius, unlike the norm, he trusted in the Lord. He was confident in God and trusted that he would be saved, somehow. True enough, God extended his help to Daniel. He shut the mouths of the lions and kept Daniel unharmed. Because when God saves, He saves completely.

“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

Of course, it is very unlikely that I would be thrown into a lion’s den or even find myself in one – and I thank God for that! I often hear of disasters occurring in Third World Nations; nature turning its back on mankind is simply inevitable. I cannot fully comprehend the emotions involved – heartbreak, haplessness and chagrin.

In April 2010, I saw with my own eyes, destruction and devastation, the aftermath of a disaster. An extremely strong wind blew, tearing down the newly-built school in an uphill village in Northern Thailand. I was there. I witnessed it all. Just as the many roof tiles were fragmented and scattered, our hearts were broken. One thing that kept us ever-thankful was that God’s grace and mercy was shown. None of the children or adults there suffered from injuries. A miracle we ought to thank the Lord for indeed!

  

Albeit struggling with the overwhelming disappointment, the team of us including the Pastor-in-charge there bowed our heads and gathered with contrite hearts in prayer. Our prayers were not of complains and whys, conversely they were of praises and thanksgivings. I saw how much faith the Pastor there had despite it all. It was truly commendable. And this, I couldn’t help but to thank the Lord for this faithful man, a man after God’s heart.

It did not stop here. We were deeply encouraged when we saw the children clear the debris with bare hands and brave young men replace the missing roof tiles under the scorching sun. There was no sign of reluctance at all. This is faith. No questions; No second thoughts. They trusted in God and did what they had to do. We then offered our help in whatever ways we could. And by God’s grace, the school was restored and the debris cleared.

Throughout the Scriptures, faith seems to be of paramount importance to God. The Bible reminds us that “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

Faith is plain and simple. It’s not about your problems! Faith is letting go and trusting in the Lord and with faith, comes miracles.

Got it? Or, rather, done it?