https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/13/burning-words

I think everyone who has ever used Microsoft Word with Microsoft Outlook would have experienced the disappearance of your entire piece of work (like your mark ups and edits) when you close your document without saving it. If you go to the Temp folder, you will probably be able to save some of your work as autosave would have preserved your work at certain intervals. But the safest way is to always save a new copy either locally or up at the cloud after you have opened the document from your email.

Also most often than not, you will be able to reproduce the same edits and markups again even if you had to start from scratch. Just that it will take time. Thus it is not surprising that an author may reproduce his work even if his manuscript was destroyed by fire or in our present context, his hard disk crashed or his computer was stolen. Of course logically the rewritten work will probably not be exactly the same.

However, when it comes to God, God being God, He is able to reproduce the exact words, and add on more! We see this today when God through prophet Jeremiah sent a warning to King Jehoiakim to repent. The King burned the scroll but God had it rewritten to the exact words and added the consequences to the King’s actions. See Jeremiah 36:27-32.

As humans we may remember what we wrote and rewrite the same. But with God, we know that not only can He remember and rewrite like us, but His Word has power and will come to pass. God created the world with His Word and thus He speaks things and events into existence. His Word also reveals His heart, His love for us. He warns us to remember Him in our ways and to take heed of the consequences of our actions. If we ignore His Word, we do so at our peril as the consequences are real and will likely occur. It is not so much a prediction but it is more a foretelling of the future as the consequence of us choosing to ignore His Word or worse, the calling of the occurrence of those consequences as spoken.

I just like to say today that most of the things spoken to me in the prophesy I received from a preacher that didn’t know of my circumstances then in 2017 had already occurred. I have had new opportunities, my debts have been fully repaid. I have seen recently how my network and contacts of years past are now helping me achieve my work goals. In fact, my past network and contacts are also helping me in my present spiritual journey. I’m becoming a shepherd to a group of young adults in my cell group. And I believe a big inheritance will come my way as per my spiritual inheritance in Christ as I respond to His call on my life and continue to yield myself to His purposes. No doubt the prophesy was spoken to encourage and edify me then, to give me hope, to lift up my spirit. But the thing about God’s Word is that the things spoken do come to pass; things actually happen. Not mere words of encouragement but words that create and call into occurrence and existence events and situations. Thus God’s Word indeed has power as can be seen in numerous occasions in Scripture or as seen in Jeremiah’s case today or even as seen in the prophesy I received.

If God has ever spoken a personal Word to you, I encourage you to hold on to the Word in faith and as you respond to Him, I believe you will see the things spoken coming to pass one by one. Just trust God and march forward in faith to the goal that God has set for us heavenward in Christ.

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/12/the-greatest-teacher

As we grow up and start school, we realised that there are weaker and brighter students, basically students who are either slower or quicker to catch up and understand the material taught. Because there are a variety of subjects in school from languages to math to natural science and social sciences, not everyone can absorb and do well at all subjects. Those who could and who worked harder will top the class. Some may argue that those multi disciplinary subjects may not be useful in real life. Maybe it is true for some subjects but we all know that the 3 R’s (read, write and arithmetic) are actually quite essential for ordinary living.

We also realised that as we grow up that we could be good at certain things or knowledgeable at certain subjects. Like I had a friend who knew all the Marvel characters inside out. Or someone who knows plants or insects or cars or cats or dogs or warships or submarines etc. In fact with Google, one can be an overnight expert on any subject matter! Thus, knowledge itself is diverse and the means to acquire knowledge more accessible nowadays with the advent of technology.

But in the midst of all that we know that God is the source of all knowledge and we have access to God as believers. Can we learn math from God? Theoretically, it’s possible but historically, it has never been recorded anywhere (to my knowledge) that He had appeared in front of anyone to teach math! So, we pray that as we learn math that God will help us understand, to open up our minds to work out, absorb and remember the workings. Or we could pray that God will impart His knowledge on us as we learn it.

What is the message today? I believe that as much as knowledge is much more easily accessed nowadays with Google and the Internet, we must acknowledge that the source of all knowledge is still God. We need discernment to know what knowledge is good and what is bad, what is healthy and what is unhealthy. Even in the pursuit of Christian knowledge or following the teachings of Christian teachers, past and present, there is so much diversity in sources and numbers. There are possibly thousands of books and articles just on a subject like faith and there are many topics within the realm of Christian studies.

We cannot deny that our mind is limited. That is how each and every one of us are made. But the knowledge out there appears to be unlimited and infinite, at least compared to the capacity of our mind. In addition, our time for study is also limited.

Therefore to everyone who is pursuing knowledge, I think it is best we pray and consult God every step of the way to lead us to the right direction and the right source as God knows what’s best for us, so that we make the most of our limited time to learn and acquire the best and most suitable knowledge and skills that will help us serve God better and fulfil His plans and purposes for our lives. The world is an oasis when it comes to acquiring knowledge but we need to pick and choose wisely and carefully with Godly discernment, guided by the Holy Spirit.

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/11/at-the-kings-table

The story of Mephibosheth at 2 Samuel 9:6-13 is heart touching. I was touched when I first heard it preached and even as I read it today, I’m still touched.

It’s an intriguing story about how King David because of his love for his good friend, Jonathan, gave Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s crippled son, a life long place at his table. Not only that, King David also returned to Mephibosheth all of King Saul’s property including the household of Ziba, Saul’s steward (his children and servants) to farm the land and serve Mephibosheth. Rather than being left to fend for himself as a dead dog (as Mephibosheth described himself) for he was a disabled person needing help from others, he was returned his rightful place as a grandson of a king.

King David restored not only Mephibosheth’s status as someone who eats at the King’s table but also gave him back his inheritance. Mephibosheth thus had the means to sustain his status with Ziba’s 15 sons and 20 servants now serving him.

It was intriguing because Saul was David’s enemy, the man who wanted to kill him a few times to deny him his place at the throne. As history will tell us, in most if not all tussles to any earthly throne, whether royalty or political, the direct foe and his or her descendants are usually destroyed, wiped out or totally isolated, even in present times but especially during ancient times. Chinese Emperors of old were known to kill an entire family line of their rivals the same way an alpha male lion kills off all offsprings of the previous alpha male when it takes over a pride. David displayed the abundant grace of God although he was human like you and I.

Mephibosheth reminds me of a prophesy I received 4 years back that God will bring a great opportunity my way that will settle all my debts, will give me recognition for my efforts all these years and I will come by a big inheritance. Restoration will come my way in the days to come.

But more importantly at the wider level, Mephibosheth speaks of what God plans to do with our lives as we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. It is a beautiful picture of the salvation of Jesus Christ that God will restore us our rightful place at His table as His children although in the past we could only hope to eat off the crumbs that fall from the table. As children of God grafted into the Royal Family of God as co-heirs with Christ, we are now privileged to eat all the delicious dishes and servings that a king and his family eat. For those who had been on a tour to China, they will he acquinted with the Emperor’s meal and that’s precisely what we may now enjoy as sons and daughters of the living God! In addition to our status of children of a king, we are also blessed with our full inheritance in Christ, which is eternal life but also the full power of God working through us as we yield ourselves to God. Mephibosheth is an excellent picture of God’s abundant and overflowing grace – will we not respond to God’s calling and serve and love Him with all our heart, all our mind and all of our strength?

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/10/for-others-sake-2

Romans 14 is about how we use our freedom in Christ on debatable issues in our faith, not fundamentals. It is about how not to condemn others who don’t adhere to our convictions or how not to act in such a way that causes others to fall.

I think the issues that come under this category are like whether to watch fast action but violent movies, or horror movies. Should we celebrate the Jewish festivals as per the Old Testament? Should we celebrate Easter or Christmas as they were originally pagan festivals. Should we give more than 10% of our income as tithes and offerings. Should we listen to pop music or watch Korean dramas? It is not about whether Jesus is the Son of God or whether He had actually rose from the dead to conquer sin and death. There is no debate when it comes to fundamental issues of faith.

I have a personal experience with smoking and was struggling over it for many years as I recalled that I picked up smoking about the same time that I accepted Christ (not as a habit but just as a smoke although over time it became an addiction). Initially, I didn’t believe it was not a good thing from a spiritual point of view. I knew it was wrong because I was too young. But that’s different from it being wrong from a faith perspective. When I became an adult, I rationalised that this is a matter of personal conviction as the bible did not explicitly prohibit smoking like it didn’t prohibit consumption of alcohol or eating of pork. However, the local Christian culture (I’m not sure whether it’s the same elsewhere) was such that people don’t actually smoke and you tend to be looked at differently if you did. In the end, you cannot continue to smoke and be considered a matured Christian. I know it’s probably more perception than genuine personal growth but perception is equally important for testimonial purposes.

In Romans 14 the issue I believe was whether new Jewish believers of the faith should or should not eat pork, which is prohibited under Jewish law. Paul did not specifically address the issue directly but his advice was more along the lines that if you believe you should not, it is alright to continue to do so but you mustn’t impose your conviction on others. In other words, don’t condemn others who chose to eat pork.

So if you believe that you should celebrate Jewish festivals, go ahead and do so but don’t condemn those who didn’t and don’t insist that everyone else should do so. It’s the same with alcohol. If you believe that you should not drink, go ahead, don’t drink but there is no need to impose that on others.

In the end, when it came to smoking, besides the fact that my wife opposed it – I didn’t want my children to end up being smokers. It was bad for health – period. But more importantly it was not an exemplary testimony to others in the faith and to those who are outside the faith. Perhaps as Christians we should not drink too or watch violent or horror movies or listen to pop songs. If that’s your conviction, adhere to it but you should not condemn those who don’t have the same conviction and neither should you impose your own convictions on others. But there are also issues which are debatable and yet we ought to conform for the sake of others like smoking. Remember these are debatable issues, not fundamentals. Thus perhaps we should just conform for the sake of Christ and others.

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/09/counted-among-the-wise

I think in whatever we do, we cannot avoid interacting with people older than us. This is particularly true if we are young. But it is also true even if we are older. I believe this is true whether in school, in college or university, at work or in church. There will always people who are older than us and it is not necessary that they are also more senior to us in pay grade at work or leadership hierarchy in church. The older person can be a junior staff or just an ordinary church member (but who may be doing extra ordinary things despite not being in leadership 😁). The point here is just the age, that person is older than us.

Thus, I think it is important that we take into consideration and listen to the counsel of the older person in our midst like Moses listened to Jethro, his father in law during the Israelites stay at the Wilderness. At that time Jethro was not in any leadership position and yet Moses listened to him.

Our elders in our midst whether it is our father or mother or father in law or mother in law or those older than us in our midst whether at work or in church or in school or college, had gone through life longer than us, had experienced more than us. There are thus areas in life where they may shed more light to us especially when it comes to dealing with people or going through life issues. I’m not saying that we should listen to an older but more junior staff in our area of professional work or ministry, but if they offer advice, we must at least consider, but if they offer advice on life issues, we must certainly listen intently! Not just out of respect or that it is the right cultural thing to do but there will usually be wisdom in their advice! Any young person who consistently ignores the advice of his or her elders is looking for trouble in their life and spiritual journey! That is why God gave us fathers and mothers, and older brothers and sisters in our family and church. They are not knowledgeable or more experienced in every thing as we had perceived when we were very young, but there are areas that they can offer good advice! Listen to them, that’s the God appointed way. See what happened to Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12 when he only listened to the advice of his friends and ignored the counsel of his elders.

There is Godly wisdom in the advice to listen to our elders. It is a God sanctioned way. It is also the right thing to do as per our Asian culture. Take heed and follow their advice as much as we can, there is wisdom in their words!

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/08/no-such-thing-as-ordinary

We are all called by God for a specific purpose, blessed with our individual talents and our unique personality and character. As we allow God to mould us, we are not only transformed to a better person, more holy and set apart for Him; but we are also more equipped and “trained” to serve Him better. Our transformation is not only for our relationship with God but also for the specific purpose He called us to, for the work that we do for Him as He moves our hearts.

Thus, I always believed that in Christian service and ministry, there is no need to strive for recognition. Actually it may be better if we are unknown as fame may puff us up. In the Bible, as there are named people and people whose life stories are highlighted to show how God related to them as an example for future generations, there are also thousands and thousands of unnamed saints and there are probably millions and millions of unpublished stories of the miracles, of the goodness and greatness of God. There are probably millions doing their part for God, playing their unique role for the Kingdom that not many will know about. But those who directly benefit from their faithfulness and their tireless ministries will know. God knows. So long as someone is blessed and God knows, that’s good enough. We plough on in our Christian walk as we push on doing what we do best for God. Our steadfastness and our doggedness in doing what we do best for God is probably not ordinary. The same way as a husband will continue to visit his wife who is inflicted with Alzheimer’s who doesn’t recognise him anymore, the same way we will continue doing what we do best for God. Why would the husband do that? Because he still recognises her. Why would we do what we do for God? Because we recognise this is God’s calling for us. We know this is our role, this is the part we play in this whole scheme of things. The fact that nobody knows us may be better and Jesus had taught before that we have to be last to be first. If we continue at God’s call for us for days, months and years and perhaps until the day we die, how can we be not, not ordinary? If we clean the church toilets for 50 years when we are already in our 70s, how can we be just ordinary?

I have seen extraordinary people serving God before. Like a pastor who preached to a single person congregation or a preacher that preached a powerful and inspiring message in an evangelistic rally with 2 attendees. Or people who continue to meet as a congregation or fellowship when there were only two. Or the person who made the unleavened Communion bread and prepare the Communion drink Sunday after Sunday for months and years. Or the pastor that preaches from the pulpit Sunday after Sunday for 3 weeks in a row for years. Or the prayer warrior who prays and intercedes for everyone in the congregation two hours every day without fail. Or the generous person who gives a portion of her income to charities and NGOs that feed the poor and that help the needy. There are many among us and we are never ordinary although most are doing things in anonymity, unknown to the public or even the Christian world. We are neither called Apostle or Prophet or Doctor or Professor or Reverend. We may just be an ordinary member in the church, but our lives in God are, in reality and in the eyes of God, never ordinary at all!

God values our dedication, faithfulness and tenacity more than our superlative skills or talents whether as a preacher, teacher, evangelist or our prophetic or apostolic ministries. If that’s our calling in God, strive on. Be a good and faithful servant! Push on towards the goal that Christ had set before us heavenward, forgetting what’s behind. Continue to do what we do best for God! Never give up – as disciples of Christ, we are a bunch of extra ordinary people!

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/07/current-battles

I think if you read the Scriptural readings for today’s ODB, Philippians 3:12-19 and 4:1-2, you will see that Paul’s aim is to persuade the two conflicting believers, Euodia and Syntyche to make peace, to be of the same mind. Basically Paul is saying that we should press on towards the goal to win the prize that God has called us heavenward, forgetting what is behind but straining forward. If we have a different view, let God make it clear to us but live up to what we have already attained although we may not have fully taken hold of what Christ has for us. In other words, Paul is saying that as much as we are all WIP, don’t waste whatever that we have achieved thus far. Don’t let conflict and disagreement set us back. Using the analogy of a race, if we are already at 5,000m of a 10,000m race, don’t fall back to 3,000m and start running from there again!

In my 37 years as a believer, I have seen conflicts leading to splits in churches and congregations. In a system of many branches, unjust treatment of branches or outlying full time workers and pastors had led to a major split in my previous church, with large chunks of congregations leaving to form their own breakaway churches or fellowships. I was a young Christian then and was thus not privy to what actually transpired but I do know that the inequality was real and the unwillingness of the founders and the central leadership of letting go control was probably real too. Instead of the HQ supporting the branches, the branches were told to fend for themselves and yet were expected to still send tithes back to the centre. With hindsight, I believe much more could have been achieved if both dueling sides then had made peace and if both sides had taken Paul’s advice in Philippians. Be of one mind but if you think otherwise, let God make it clear to you – we forget what’s behind and push forward but at least don’t let all that’s been achieved go to waste. Live up to what God has done in your life till then. It’s water under the bridge, it’s pointless to blame after nearly 30 years – just that as I reflect I believe much more could have been achieved if all these splits and breakaways didn’t occur. There could have been and would have been success stories, but for those that remained on survival mode or died, I believe the outcome would certainly had been different if God had had His way in His fullness of glory.

What’s our takeaway? We press forward towards the goal that God has called us to heavenward, forgetting what’s behind. As much as we have not fully taken hold of the goal, we must live up to what has been achieved and if we have a different view, let’s all talk it out and let God speak to us all that we may all be of the same mind. This hope may be a dream as demonstrated by the countless splits we have seen in the church throughout generations but we must continue to believe and work for feuding minds to reconcile and make peace. I believe we will achieve much more as a united body, than fragmented disunited pieces. With mutual respect and support and with more autonomy given, even large organisations can function well through smaller branches and cell groups.

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/06/teaming-up

When my father was posted back to the West Coast after 10 years in the East Coast as a teacher, he took up scouting at the new school. Even though I was very young then, maybe standard two or three, my father will bring me along for his scouting activities although I was studying in a different school. I can’t remember exactly but I think in my own school, you can only join the scouts from standard four or five onwards. What I do recall from scouting during those years (later I also joined the scouts in my own school) was the camaraderie that we had as a unit when doing things together. Whether marching, handling crowd control during sports day, setting up camp or cooking, we all did things together and the sense of togetherness was very strong.

I feel this is what we missed most during the pandemic. Even at work, when a group of us closed a contract to move on to the implementation of a project, even on the successful implementation of that project – the feeling of having achieved something together is there but not as strong. It is different when we are physically present gathered in a room or working together in the field to achieve a certain goal.

Paul taught in 1 Thessalonians 5:15 that as believers we ought to strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. In verse 11, he exhorted us to encourage one another and build each other up. In verse 12, he suggested that we should acknowledge those who work hard among us, who care for us in the Lord and who admonish us. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work and live in peace with each other (verse 13).

I feel the first thing we should all do as a church or cell group is to take on a project together to rebuild the camaraderie among us, to restore the togetherness. This will certainly lead to us encouraging and building us all up, living in peace with one another as we work hard to achieve something meaningful for Christ. It can be a project or activity to help those displaced by the pandemic or just being there with those who had lost someone due to the same or as a result of something else. Let’s all start working together again for the sake of everyone. Let’s all do what is good for each other and for everyone else. It can be an activity to feed the poor or to visit a village in the interior. James had advised faith without works is dead (James 2:26). Let’s start doing good works together as a church and cell group once we have more freedom when the MCO restrictions are lifted as the pandemic turns into an endemic!

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/05/with-me-in-the-valley

As a Christian, we do not fear death since we are assured of salvation and eternal life. We know that with Jesus having redeemed us by His blood, death has lost its sting. Jesus proved this by resurrecting on the 3rd day after His death on the Cross of Calvary, as a hope of glory – showing us that one day, we who are in the faith will also be transformed or resurrected with a glorified body either during our lifetime when we are caught up in the rapture when He comes again as King of kings and Lord of Lords or on the day of judgment.

Paul said before that for him, to die is gain and to live is Christ (Philippians 1:21). Hannah Wilberforce said as she’s dying that “better and worse; Jesus as good as ever”.

As we see death of people we know in our midst, lost to disease and it became more prevalent recently due to Covid, I think we should remember that as much as life and death is in the hands of God, we must do what is assigned to us by God now and not later. Life is frail. One moment we are here getting on with our life, the next moment we are gone. We move on. What are the plans and purposes of God for us? Have we put in the effort to find out and do them. Have we found our passion in God, the thing that really inspires us to give our best, rain or shine, day in and day out?

I had experienced some pain around my chest area recently and thus instead of postponing my medical check-up due to my work schedule, I forced out some time to do a medical yesterday. Did the stress test properly this time and reached 99% of the targeted heart rate (166/167). I was prepared for the worse, at minimum aspirin or at worse angioplasty. Praise God that my heart is normal! That was indeed a relief! But I’m not in the pink of health as I already have the dreaded 3 – high blood, elevated cholesterol levels and diabetes. But this time round, I willingly requested for all necessary medication. As far as the heart and other organs are concerned, I feel I have been given a new lease of life now to make amends for the mistakes I made the past 50 years so that I may have a good quality of life for my next 20-30 years. I need to remain strong and healthy to do my part for the Kingdom as well as for the sake of my wife and children.

With what I had gone through last week and with the positive results from my appointment with my cardiologist yesterday, I sensed God’s love and compassion through it all, that as I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for His rod and staff comfort me. I am grateful to God for giving me a second chance so that I can say like Paul that to die is gain but to live is Christ. Or like Hannah Wilberforce, better and worse; Jesus as good as ever.

I think everyone of us should not take death lightly – as much as it brings us back to God, we really don’t want to leave this world (if at all possible and if God permits) before we have fulfilled His plans and purposes for us. While alive and well, live the life that God had appointed for us from the beginning and take all necessary precautions to have a healthy life so we may achieve the best we can for God while still here on earth. We mustn’t take tomorrow for granted – live for God today, don’t wait till tomorrow, for tomorrow may never come. To die may be gain but if we are to live, live for Christ!

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/04/wherever-we-worship

I have been involved in worship for most of my Christian life as learning to play the guitar was the thing that brought me to join a Navigator’s bible study and subsequently accepted Christ. Two years after that I joined a church that sang acapella with tambourines for rhythmic timing and thus I later started playing acoustic guitar, adding chords to the mix. That’s more than 35 years ago.

Throughout all those years, as much as I believe musical instruments and good musicians are an essential element to a good worship experience, I know that our hearts are always more important. By that I mean that our hearts when worshipping God and that includes the hearts of both the worship leader as well as the musicians. As musicians and worship leaders, we play and sing to the best of our abilities. We use the best equipment and instruments that we or our church can afford so that we are giving God our best in worship under the circumstances. And yet what’s more crucial to achieve a worship experience where we touch God’s throne and enter into His presence is our heart. Worship cannot be mechanical or out of duty. It has to come from within us, filled with thanksgiving, adoration, gratefulness, awesome wonder as He is indeed beautiful beyond description and we stand in awe of Him. Christ is really worthy of all of our praise and worship. That I believe is what Jesus meant in John 4:23 when He said the time will come and it is now that true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. We need to worship God in the spirit, deep from within us in unison with the Holy Spirit as He guides us and as He moves among us. For worship leaders, moving along with the Spirit is a sensitivity we develop over time based on a sanctified life. So yes, I agree we can worship anywhere because the place is irrelevant. That means we can worship God via Zoom or Facebook Live from anywhere we are, no matter how bad the connection or how limited the musical experience. That doesn’t mean we should dispense with meeting one another all together as congregational worship and getting together have their own merits.

Jesus also taught that we need to worship in truth. What that basically means, in my view, is that we need to sing truths as revealed by the Word of God. We don’t sing any song to worship God, but I believe that any song that speaks the truth of His glory, that tells of His goodness and His faithfulness is a good worship song. Any song that exalts the truth as revealed in Scriptures is good. That is why when I prepare for worship, I believe I can choose any song that touches my heart or speaks to me. There is good in having a theme or in choosing songs that proclaim a certain message but to me, the songs must touch my heart first. A true worshipper and worship leader can take any song that proclaims the truth of God and worship or worship lead with that.

Worship God from anywhere with any song of worship or praise or hymn that comes to mind. Worship from within us. Live a sanctified and forgiving life. The Holy Place is where we are. God’s presence will be there with us as we worship Him from where we are, from who we are in Christ, having been redeemed and justified by the blood of the Lamb. There is thus no condemnation as we approach the Throne of Grace. Only grace and His loving presence.