Beauty of fellowship-Skytreks outing trip 27 Nov2009

Praise the Lord for a very exciting and wonderful outing. It’s a new adventure to many of us and it was great. This outing reminded me of the importance of the people around us in giving support and encouragement for us to be courageous and to go higher. We literally needed to go “higher” as we had to climb some tall trees to begin our sky trekking journey. For the sake of our readers, jungle trekking means walking, trekking or going through a jungle. Therefore sky trekking means you are on the sky, going through it. LOL. Due to some misunderstanding, we were delayed and needed to wait for a very long time. Many times, I felt like giving up because of the waiting was tiring and it was getting a little bit late. Besides, fear started to creep in during that long wait. Though it did not look very scary, the height can be quite frightening if you stare at it long. Remember, God always reminds us to look at HIM, then faith will rise up! If we focus too much on our trouble or circumstances, fear will creep in instead. Praise the Lord, this is the time where our brothers and sisters come along, encouraging and urging us to not to give up; go for it, you can do it and let’s try it! WOW, it’s great to have people like these around you and I believe your life will be very different. Yes, we need to have such wonderful people around us. Therefore, its important what is the heart condition of the people around you as they are influencing you in some way or other. Are they influencing you to move higher, better and to grow in the Lord? Or is it the other way where you lose the purpose and excitement of life, being bound by meaningless, purposeless, with no faith, hope and love kind of life? I have seen many people who think they can worship God by themselves. Some Christians join fellowship but never really invest into such a relationship. Let me tell you, fellowship is neither a duty nor a spiritual requirement. Fellowship is something real that can affect who you will become. Invest into proper fellowship and not just for the sake of having fun or with any other purpose in mind. Give your heart to it. These are the wonderful people who will be around you when you need them. They will pray for you, cheer you up, support you and cushion you. Don't think we don't need others as this is pride, a seed Satan uses to kill our relationship. Like Daniel in the Bible, (Daniel 2:17-18) when he faced great challenges in life, he turned to his friend and ask them to pray for him. The thing Daniel faced was a life and death situation and if he can’t solve the problems given by the king, he will be killed! Ask yourself, do you have people whom you can turn to and ask for prayer?? Do you dare to entrust them your life and death situations? If you don't, it’s time for you to reflect on whether you have invested enough time and put in your heart on the people (whom you can trust) around you. Or have you all these while care only to have friends whom you can have fun with? Prayer, support and care are very wonderful resources in our life and because of them, we can be a better of ourselves. And believe me, prayer is very powerful and you can only receive it from people who walk closely with the Lord, people who love God and love one another. Not just in difficulties, even in the midst of peace, we can then see joy and glory glowing in our life!

HOUSE ALONE

Coming from a not so prosper family, having a room for our own is more like a dream. I believe in most people heart at least there is a time we hope to have a room by our own. Our private areas where we have the full freedom and liberty to do what we hope and want. I do have similar wish some of the time though I knew it’s quite impossible. When I start my college life, and start staying out side, still this remains just a wish because of financial situation. Not only me, but quite a lot of other students as well, though we can hear mostly want to have a room by themselves in an affordable price, still majority sharing their room with friends or stranger . Finally, my this “wish” (though I don’t really like it anymore) to have a room by myself come true. Not only room, but now I have a house all by myself ( A period of time before I get married). It turns out to be quite frightening I am all alone. After this many years of staying together with people, if I am given a chance to choose again, I still want to share room with other people even though I have the money to pay for a room by myself. The experience is too much to miss it. I will never forget all those “fight” and “talking” with my housemate and roommate. We learn from one another weakness and strength. I remember once of the dreams our brotherhood who stay in the same house had is to have everyone who leave the house one day will be a very much different person, better in every sense and a man of God. I gain much compare with those “privacy”. Actually staying with people, we still have much privacy if we able and knew how to communicate and relate with people.Now coming home, and only silent is waiting for you, is truly a not an enjoyable feeling. I knew why so many rich people who have BIG houses are feeling empty. Though I am not there yet, I can magnify what I face and if I am at that situation, I will be drive to crazy or probably be a suicide. However, I thanks God, because as I start to look out of myself and my house. There is tremendous beautiful thing and people God put around me. All those wonderful, handsome, pretty, and God-fearing man and woman of God. They are all full of love, kindness and hope. Seeing them around me, is truly like a honey to the depressing soul. It brings a lot of soothing and sweetness into my life and my soul. Never forget our lovely God the source of love. I can’t imagine, how I my life will be without HIM in my life.I understand all the people won’t be around me all the time, yet for me all of them is like sun in the sky. Though dark cloud can hide it from my view. But my sun is always there shining onto me, giving my heart a warm that can’t never be take away. Deep in my heart, I wish to say, I love you all and thanks for the time we went thru, and also we will go thru it together in time to come.

FACING THE GIANTS

There is this parable I listen in a movie “facing the giants” mentioning there are 2 farmers who desperately need rain. Both of them pray to the Lord to ask for rain. However only one of the 2 farmers going to the field, work on it and prepare for rain. From this simple parable, who do you think believe God will give rain? It’s very obvious the one who work on his farm, prepare his farm and prepare for the rain to come. Faith without work is dead.

This parable might be a very simple, but I found it very profound. How many of us, we always blaming on this and that yet without giving our best. How many of use, we will only give our best when we see the best situation around or when there is favor or when God answered our prayer? How many of us wait till things happen, than only we give in our best? This is not faith at all. As we know nothing is impossible for God, let us do our best in all situations and leave the results to God. In life it’s not about gaining and achieving what we want to achieve. God put us here for a PURPOSE. All that we achieve or pursue, if only for ourselves will one day be meaningless. Do think about it. Do you remember who is the richest person 20years ago, who is the greatest person 20years ago? In the movie, the coach tell his player, winning for their own glory is only short term, very soon people will forget about that, very soon their trophy will be there collecting dust. It’s very true, I remember I study very hard to achieve a good results, yes I get straight A’s in some government exam, good results in SPM, get my degree and all those stuff. Yet, it all became nothing now. I don’t mean we shouldn’t have goal, or we are not to do anything with our life. As I have mention, we need to do our best in all situations, and bring glory to God. First, let us understand our purpose, God said the greatest thing we to do is to love God wholeheartedly and love people fervently. This is the most important and primary; as we love God our life will be in the correct perspective. We will use our life for bringing God glory and not anymore for our selfish ambition. Jesus Himself had died for us for this reason so that we are connect back to God. God love us so much, in all that we our do or pursue God will certainly there to bless us because HE care for us and HE care for the thing which we care as well. Only never let those things take the place of God.

I had found sometimes we do not do our best because of various reasons. We might think we are small, weak, definitely will lose or we will fail badly. But as we know our purpose, it’s not anymore regarding failure or success; it’s all about giving our best. Never give up, never back down, never lose faith. Do you prepare your field for the rain God will pour down? Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and HE shall make your path straight. FOR GOD NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

Ps: Facing the giants is a very meaningful and touching movie. As you watch it, I believe as well it will impart faith, strength and confidence to you

GRADUATION ….that DAY will come.

One of the rejoicing time as a minister of God among the college students is attending their convocation or graduation day. I have attended tremendous time of convocation, though it might be a routine of many things like photo taking, yet I truly rejoice as that day is D day for her or him. This year alone I have attended more than 5 convo, sending off a member to overseas degree program and seeing few students enter the society after they completed their student life. It brings me back to my remembrance of those times when I first met them. Most of them will tell me they have difficulty in studies, they can't afford to complete their studies and also some might think they are not able to graduate at all. However Praise God, as they continue to put their trust on the Lord and do the best they can afford, today all of them able to stand in one of the grant day in their life to receive the reward they deserve. I really touch by the power and love of God, seeing the Lord answers their cry and prayer, helping them to go through all the exams, assignments, challenges and also financial difficulty. For those who think they can't pull through it or you have a big hindrance in front of you, I encourage you to look at Jesus Christ, cry out to HIM. I believe you will going to be able to make it. Not just for students, but all of us. This life is in a way a big university to us, where we face challenges and testing. God not just helping the students but all of us as well. Besides that, one day we will graduate from this world, standing before the presence of God to receive our rewards. That will be our grandest moment, more grand than any convocation or graduation. Therefore just as students will enter a new phase of life after convocations, we as well will graduate from this world into a place where we will be there for a long long time. That grand day will come; see you there at the glorious moment.

DOG WALKING

The Below article are taken from Ron Hutchcraft Minitries

I never voted to have a dog in our house. I think they sneaked her in when I was on a trip or something, but we got one. Her name was Missy, a Shih-Tzu, and the last time she went to this dog care place, they actually registered her as "Missy Hutchcraft." Now, that is my last name. There is no family resemblance here, and I'm not sure I want to give her my last name. But I do confess that I think Missy taught me something that I might never have understood without her. I hope she's not listening. I would hate to admit this in front of her. Well, see, it was never hard to find Missy when our son was home. He was her master, so when he is at college, you never knew where you would find her in the house, but when he's home, oh, it was easy. When you have found our son, you had found Missy. He's in the living room - she's in the living room. He's in the basement - Missy's in the basement. Our son's in his room, Missy is in his room. Missy doesn't care where she is as long as she's with her master.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dog Walking."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Joshua, chapter 14, and spotlights an ancient hero named Caleb. When the ancient Jewish people had come to the border of the land God had promised them, Moses sent twelve spies in, and ten came back and said, "Giants, walled cities - no way we can take it." Two came back, Joshua and Caleb and said, "Let's go for it, we've got God." Ten saw how big the giants were instead of how big their God was. Well, they got to wander for forty years in the wilderness as a result of that, and a whole generation of unbelieving adults didn't get to go to the Promised Land. Forty years later, though, the Jews have conquered it under General Joshua, and Caleb and Joshua do get to go in because they believed they could. And though Caleb is now 85 years old, he's still a tiger for God. Or better yet, he's a dog. That's actually what Caleb means - dog. Hey, that's a great name when you understand why.

In Joshua 14:7, the 85-year-old man says, "I was 40 years old when Moses sent me to explore the land, and I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God, wholeheartedly." Later in the chapter it says, "You Caleb, have followed the Lord your God wholeheartedly." It says one more time, later in the chapter that he "wholly followed the Lord all the days he lived." Good dog, huh? What a tribute! What an epitaph! I'd love it on my tombstone: "He followed the Lord his God, wholeheartedly." Caleb is God's puppy dog. He doesn't care where he goes, he just wants to know where his Master is going, and he will follow Him there - even if there's giants there!

That's what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 12:26, "Whoever serves Me, must follow Me so that where I am my servant will be." See, if you love Jesus, you don't plan your life. You pray, you listen, you look to his Word to find out where He's headed. Where He's headed in your day, where He's headed with your family, with that relationship, with your ministry, with your child. And then you just go right there behind Him.
Now Missy let our son's steps determine hers. She followed him wholeheartedly. That's what you are supposed to do with Jesus. Caleb wouldn't let anything lose his Master's lead - not years in the wilderness, not hardship, not giants, not waiting a long time for what God had promised, not being nearly the only one standing up for what was right. He just said, "I'll follow my Lord. I'll follow my Lord, no matter where this takes me." You've just got to find out where Jesus is going and go with Him there.

I hate to say it, but I want to be like Missy, or maybe more like Caleb, not caring where I end up, as long as I'm right on the heels of my Master.

When I first get to know the meaning of "kaleb" in other language mean dog, I just refuse to take it and think that it's different. However, the origin of this name is really mean dog. I used to like dog before and I also very scared of dog. This article help me to treasure this given name by the Lord, I truly hope God will help me and give me the grace to follow Him whole heartedly as HE continue to lead me and guide me.

HEAD DOWN STRAIGHT FORWARD

Today is 23 October 2008, the fourth day in MTI apostolic program Intake 11. During the break time, there is just some time for me to look back into some of the record I had put down. I came thru this article I kept in my laptop;

Head Down, Straight Ahead. 'Head down' means I'm unbothered by what the others are doing. It means I'm personally doing the best I can on my pathway. It means I'm not anxious about what others are thinking. It means I'm pre-occupied with what I'm doing not what others are doing. 'Straight ahead' means I stick to my course. I don't keep changing when it doesn't work the way like I thought it would. I remain undistracted from tempting turn offs in the road. Head Down, Straight Ahead! Stick to the plan.

At the beginning of 2007 while I am praying the Lord give me the word "head down straight forward". The LORD prepared me not to wary from the way in which HE had lead me into. As I keep on meditate on the word, the Lord continue to speak more and more which all those the Lord speak to me is at the article above. This article is not wrote by me, but I received from a leadership subscription from website around September 2007(a week before Apostolic program Intake 10). I praise the Lord for HE is great, mighty and above all is a LOVING FATHER in heaven. He reminds me again the thing HE had thought me. The article is exactly the same I had received personally from the Lord. It won't be the advice for the year 2007 only, but I prayed this will be my value and conviction deep down in my heart for the time ahead. Lord, I pray as You unfold You will, teach us to head down straight forward. We won't be affected by other thing whether it is bad or good. We won't be affect by circumstances, challenges or even success we can get. In all we do give us the spirit of excellent. Lord this is my desire to have a deeper and deeper fellowship with you no matter what. Please Lord forgive me, and help my unbelief in time I am weak. I ask for Your grace and help to complete the race .

Woman from heaven

In this article, I would like to introduce to you one of a great miracles worker of the Lord. I am not referring to those we know like Bill Johnson, Benny Hinn or others, though I have great respect on them. (I like to read their book and watch their work with a learning heart actually). But many times, we forget actually miracles may not just be seeing healing, lame walk again or hands growing out. I acknowledge all this is a very wonderful signs and wonder from the Lord which we should desire to see more and more in our times. However do not forget, around us there might have some of this miracles worker around us. I have a privilege as I got to have a bunch around me.

The miracles worker I would like to introduce to you is called Pastor Lois Hor from World Harvest Church. She is a pastor who impacted my life a lot when I just came to know Christ and also even now. She might not yet did miracles which in our definition is "great". However, a lot of miracles she had did which people or even she might not know it. This miracle I am mentioning is shaping the life of others. Just in this past few years, I had noticed besides me, many others learn directly or indirectly how to follow God and serve God from her.

I still remember the first time, I attended cell group where Pastor Lois play the guitar and lead worship. I can't say she is very good, but not bad. Yet she did make some mistake here and there. The thing I saw is, she did it with all her heart, not for impress us or because of her duty. Therefore each time when she challenge me to do something, no matter how hard or impossible, and my heart resent some of those challenges, I will follow her advice because she had show us her example, willingness and submissive. She had submitted to our senior Pastor, Pastor David, for 15 years faithfully. This is another great example which we all should learn. She faithfully does all the work with a willing heart even in the most humble task. Her faithfulness, willingness and dedication had being an example for me in many things in life and ministry.

From a born again believer, Pastor Lois continue to pour her life unto us, and now, I started to serve God full time. When I join the team, Pastor Lois come and told me, now you are not my member but we are co-worker. She not showing seniority with me, but she put hope and also confidence in me. This is truly an example of biblical character where Jesus said, Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do,(John 14:11-13). As a good leader, she put hope for our future and believe all of us will do a great work for the Lord. This is truly one of the unselfish attitude she had imparted into the life of her disciples.

During my most confuse and darkest moment, Pastor Lois had come and rescue me without her own knowing. I never mention to anyone what I faced or encountered except to the Lord thru prayer. Pastor Lois following the guidance of the Holy Spirit had come and minister to me. I knew she had being faithfully and also caringly pray for us. Pastor Lois indeed a very strong woman and leader, yet most of her members knew she care and pray for them a lot.

She is not the only miracles worker around us, I hope this article will help you to notice and appreciate these peoples around you. As well, it will going to motivate your heart to impact other peoples life more and in greater way, whether you are going to start or actively doing so.

I hope this will be like a honey to her soul. Let her know all that she did is not in vain for she has impacted greatly not just my life, but many others. I believe, God will going to use her more and in greater way.

If you want to get to know her more, feel free to visit her blog at http://www.loistan7.blogspot.com/ or contact her at loistss7@gmail.com