For He knows the way that I take (Job 23:10)

"But he knows the way that I take;

When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10)

Of late, I have learnt that God does not work in a linear fashion. 

We follow his direction, everything seems primed for lift-off, then we reach a grinding halt, almost like going back to the drawing board.  Was it a case of not hearing Him clearly at the start, or that with God, things aren't always so straightforward?

Then I remember the giants of God. Moses - who was trained in the palace for great things … at 40, primed for lift-off, only then to be consigned to the backside of the desert for another 40 years. In the eyes of men, almost like going back to Square 1. Or in a game of snakes and ladders, starting all over again from the bottom. 

Or King David. Who was anointed as King by the Prophet Samuel, only to spend years as a fugitive, running for his life from King Saul. One moment he seemed primed for lift-off, the next moment, it was as if nothing could be further from the truth. 

This can be so perplexing! 

So this morning, I was greatly comforted to be reminded by the Holy Spirit of this verse from Job 23:10 - "But he knows the way I take". 

Reading the commentary by Spurgeon, here are some great gems I felt to share:

"My hearer, I ask you, first: Do you have a way. There is a way which you have taken, chosen, selected for yourself: there is a way which you follow in desire, word, and act. So far as your life is left to your own management, there is a way which you voluntarily take, and willingly follow. Do you know what that way is? 

Do you know where you are going, and do you carefully consider your end? You are steaming across the deep sea of time into the main ocean of eternity: to what port are you steering? The birds in heaven know their time and place when they fly away in due season: but do you know whither you are speeding? Do you keep watch, looking ahead for the shore? What shore are you expecting to see? For what purpose are you living? 

If I were to go out tomorrow to sea, I should not walk on board a steamboat and then enquire, 'Where are you going?' The captain would think me a crazy fellow if I embarked before I knew where the vessel was going. I first make up my mind where I will go, and then select a vessel which is likely to carry me there in comfort. 

Which way are your intentionally going? What is it you are aiming at? Are you living for God? Or are you living that the result may be eternal banishment from his presence?

If you are afraid to consider your own future, your fear is a bad omen. If you decline to answer the question, 'What is your way'? I fear your way is one that you cannot defend, whose end will cause you endless lament. 

There is comfort to me, that if you have chosen the wrong way, that choice need not stand. THe grace of God can come in, and reverse your course. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, the past can be forgiven, and by the power of the Holy Spirit the present and future can be changed. 

But my friend, are you drifting? Do I get up every morning, and go about this world, and work hard, and all for nothing which will last? As a being created of God for noblest purposes, am I spending my existence in a purposeless manner? How foolish! Why, surely, I have need, like the prodigal, to come to myself: and if I do come to myself, I shall ask myself, Can it be right that I should thus be wasting the precious gifts of time, and life, and power? If I were nothing, it would be congruous that I should aim at nothing; but being a man, I ought to have a high purpose, and pursue it heartily. 

Or can you say, I am bound for the right port? If so, exert your strength in the work to which your life is consecrated. Is it not written, "Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength?" If we really are on the right way, let us press forward with all our powers, and may God help us that we may win the prize!

Dear friend, it is quite certain that God knows the way you take. The Hebrew may be read "He knows the way that is in me" from which I gather that the Lord not only knows our outward actions, but our inward feelings. He knows our likes and dislikes, our desires and our designs, our imaginations and our tendencies. He knows not only what we do, but what we would do if we could. 

The Lord knows you approvingly if you follow that which is right. He knows them that put their trust in Him, that is to say, He approves of them. If there be in you, even a faint desire towards God, He knows it and looks with pleasure upon it. If you practise private prayer, if you do good by stealth, if you conquer evil passions, if you honor Him with patience, if you present gifts to Him which nobody ever hears of, He knows it all, and He smiles upon it. 

If you can say, "I am glad that He knows what I do, for his approval is heaven to me", then conclude that there is a work of grace in your heart, and that you are a follower of Jesus. 

Amen. 

So I take comfort that in the perplexities of life, God knows the way we take. The question to us, which Spurgeon so deeply and penetratingly asks is, "Do we know the way we take?" Are we purposefully living for God, or drifting, or worse, headed towards a life of eternal separation with God? Let us examine our hearts and re-calibrate our sails, that we might sail home to the bosom of the Eternal Father. 

Good Good Father - HOUSEFIRES II (Featuring Pat Barrett)

One of my current favorite worship songs!

Especially love the Bridge:
You are perfect in all of your ways,
You are perfect in all of your ways,
You are perfect in all of your ways, to us.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (James 1:17)

New seasons

A few months ago, I had a vision. In the vision, I saw a huge torrential river, and because of the strength of its flow, its mighty rushing waters swept away an old bridge in seconds.

It was one of these visions which troubled me, for I felt a tinge of sadness seeing the old bridge get swept away. Was this a good vision, or a bad one? Since I saw it in a gathering of believers, I knew it was a spiritual vision, and God was saying something through it. But what was the correct interpretation?

Later on, I felt the Holy Spirit say to me this is what it is like for many believers in this season of re-positioning. God is moving many of us into a new season, and he is shifting many of us into new positions "suddenly". In many circles, this is often something to be rejoiced over! Yeah! A new season! And of course it ought to be, because if God is the one shifting us, then his ways are perfect! What is often not taught is that when the old is swept away, there will be sadness. And that is normal.

For the last decade, I was in the prayer team of my old church. It was a wonderful place, and it taught me so many things I know about prayer today. It was there that I learnt that God speaks to His children, got baptised in the Holy Spirit, learnt about inner healing, got schooled in spiritual warfare, built wonderful friendships and in general, felt like I was home.

In recent years, however, I also felt increasingly drawn to another church which was more active in the nations, a calling which resonated with my own. So here I was, conflicted, torn between the ministry which was family for a decade, and the newer church which in truth reflected the me in my new season. I dithered between the two, attending both, being at home in both, thinking all this while that God would be fine, since we are all the Body of Christ anyway.

Then in May last year, suddenly, out of the blue, I got kicked out of the prayer team. As far I knew, I had done nothing wrong...so I did not know what hit me. It was an expulsion, done summarily, overnight. That hurt real bad, because I thought I had friendships there. The swiftness of the action and the cutting off of ties against my very best wishes were a real body blow.

What it did was force me to call my new church home ... and I mended myself there. And God opened up one door after another for me in the new place, in ways that can only be called divine, so that I now get to do things in the nations that I would never have been able to otherwise. It was like He expanded my sphere of influence in line with my calling, but He had to kick my butt to make it happen, so wedded was I to old ties.

Last week, as I was worshipping in my new church, I felt so, so privileged to be a daughter of that house. I could only say thank you, Daddy, for closing the other door on me, so I get to be in the centre of your great blessing.

Oh my goodness, it hurt so bad at that time. But 18 months on, I have to say that I am among all people, most greatly blessed.

When the old bridge gets washed away by the torrential river, there will be sadness. Because we will yearn for the good things God has given us in the past. And we will want to hang on to them. But trust in the Lord!

In this season of re-positioning and shifting, some of the old things and the positions we used to occupy in life will be taken away, and I am witnessing among my circle of believer friends, that those 'losses' are coming real quick. In this season of acceleration, God is not waiting. And He is also not willing to wait for us to dither and be waffly ... He wants us where He wants us to be. NOW!

Even in the sadness of the loss of old things, rejoice that Daddy knows best. When enough time has passed, you will thank Him for whereever He is re-positioning you, because He is good, and His mercies endure forever.  

The Daily Walk of the Christian

I don't know at what point I forgot that the walk of the Christian is a daily one; until the Lord shone upon my heart and brought to remembrance a few key verses.

Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)

"Give us this day our daily bread" (The Lord's prayer, Matthew 6:11)

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days (Daniel 6:10)

In the morning, O Lord, you will hear my voice; in the morning, I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch. (Psalm 5:3)

I realised that the Bible specifies how often we should talk to our Father and the great King (every day), how often we should take up our cross and follow Jesus (every day). Our walk is ongoing, daily. Our time set aside to spend with the Lord needs to be daily, not weekly, fortnightly, monthly or annually.  I wonder how I lost sight of that.

The Lord wants us to approach him daily because his mercies for us are not canned, they are new every  morning. I know He has fresh manna for me every day!  Hallelujah!

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23)

The persecuted church of the Last Days

Today, I learnt a staggering truth.  The truth being that when Paul said in 1 Thess 5:9 "Be joyful always", he was saying it to a persecuted Church, a Church whose believers were undergoing tribulation and even martyrdom.

When he said to the Philippian Church in Phil 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord, always. I will say it again, Rejoice!" he was speaking to a persecuted Church too.

That makes the exhortation all the more poignant. It is not some platitude to "Rejoice" in the midst of first world problems. It's an exhortation that encourages the believer not just to hold onto God a la Job's "Though he slay me, yet I will trust in Him", but to rejoice in tribulation.  It is almost other-worldly.

In the last year, I've seen so many more parallels to the persecuted Church in the world we live, as the days get darker. The Mosul Christians in Iraq for one, had to choose to recant their faith or be tortured or thrown out of their town, with nothing but the shirts on their backs.

So I was really convicted by John Piper's blogpiece on persecution. He says the believer's faith will polarise. It will draw a strong reaction - either conversion from those who see our life and are drawn to it, or revulsion by those who see it and hate us for it.

He says if we haven't drawn that reaction, it is that we are keeping our light under a bushel. "You are keeping the stumbling block of the cross well concealed (Gal 5:11, 6:12-13)."

"You don't let your distinctive values show."  But he does go on to say "Neither persecution nor conversion will always happen immediately. In fact, many people are torn inside themselves, partly hating the claims of Christianity in your life, partly attracted by them."

"So we should all examine ourselves to see if we are playing a kind of cowardly Christian incognito. And if so, we should repent and resolve to be more sincere in the expression of who we really are. But we must not assume that, because there is no persecution right now and no conversion right now, the fault must lie with us. The gestation period for new birth may be nearing a happy end. Or the storm may be ready to break against you."

Either way, why can we rejoice?

Because as he reminds us in the Beautitudes, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And then "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because GREAT IS YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

For a long time, in the Western world, and Westernised societies, it may have been popular to be a Christian. As we draw nearer to the End Times, I believe the body of Christ will parallel more and more the Thessalonica or Philippian Church, in that there will be increasingly more persecution. Will we be cowardly incognito Christians, hiding our light under the bushel, to avoid tribulation? Or will we be more sincere in the expression of who we really are, and pay the price as believers?

Praying for grace to be a true child of God, who will walk with the Father and our elder brother Jesus, guided and comforted by our best friend the Holy Spirit, until the end. Amen.

Singapore's prophetic destiny

Just concluded three days of the inaugural Singapore Gathering!  All I can say is "Wow!" Or more accurately, my spirit says "Wow". My mind still cannot entirely fathom what happened :[ … So when a friend asked me this morning, what exactly is Singapore's prophetic destiny (or Malaysia's, or Japan's for that matter), it really was a good question. For during the Gathering, we prayed for the nations that we would fulfill God's purposes for us.

In all, 24 nations came this year to stand with Singapore, to seek God's face, and to release us to all that is on God's heart for us. During the meeting, we met a Danish young lady, who shared why she came. She lives in Jerusalem with her husband, and their mission is to Danish Jews in Israel. Given the size of their ministry, money is tight for them. If God released the finances, she had intended initially to go for the upcoming Global Gathering in Munich, Germany, because it is nearer to Israel geographically. But then she saw the livestream of Singaporeans on our faces, weeping before the Lord, at the recent Asia Gathering in Hong Kong, and felt that she had to come to Singapore to stand with us. She told her husband about the prompting, and in the end, God released finances just for her to come. So here she was!

Now, I had just chanced upon GoldBell Mansion at Pender Road on Mount Faber a few weeks ago, while searching out the places where Sun Yat Sen stepped foot on when he was here in Singapore between 1900 and 1911. The house used to be owned by Tan Boon Liat, and Sun Yat Sen stayed in it while he was here in Singapore in 1911. Today, the premises is used by the Danish Seaman's Church! I asked them if non-Danish can attend Sunday service, they said, sure! Except that service is in Danish, so language might be a problem! But I was excited to learn about the presence of a Danish community of believers here. So when I met this Danish girl, who exercised faith and obedience to come pray with Singaporeans at our Singapore Gathering, it was very moving. We are really an international city, and the nations make their home with us. So how are we blessing them?

But I digress. Back to the question of Singapore's prophetic destiny. Having attended a number of gatherings since 2010, and hearing David Damien share, these are the little pieces I've gotten:

1. Since the time of the early church, the Gospel has spread, first to Europe, then to US, and now to Asia. It has gone Westwards, and Peter Tsukahira in his book "God's tsunami" explains the path the Gospel took very well. The final lap is to bring the Gospel back to Jerusalem, and we are hearing increasingly that Asia will lead that charge. We are likened to the arrowhead that will make this Westwards push.

2. When Japan is aligned to God, the clash of the kingdoms will start. David Damien believes this happened last year with the first Japan Gathering. Japan holds the key to God's timing.

3. China holds the key to the strength of the End-Time army. The awakening of the Chinese Church is a mighty force in the kingdom of God. And they are a people who have been persecuted so much for their faith in years past, they don't fear persecution or death, which must be the price they are willing to pay if they are to evangelise the Middle East enroute to Israel.

4. The spiritual destinies of Singapore and Malaysia are intertwined. One is a lock and the other is a key. Yesterday, at the Gathering, I heard for the first time that Singapore is called to be an instrument to the sons of Isaac, and Malaysia to the sons of Ishmael.  This was shared by Bishop Moses, and to catch his sharing, click here [Go to the 2 hr 2 min mark of the Wednesday 16/9 afternoon session, to watch this very meaningful portion].

5. Singapore is also called to be the Antioch of Asia, and to be a blessing to the nations. I think financing the End-Time work will be one of the practical ways of doing so… Exercising generosity. When I was in Peter Tsukahira's Mt Carmel school some years back, twice, we heard that Singapore had financed a work. The first was to an African couple who was in my school; their trip had been financed by a Singaporean. The second time was when we visited a Palestinian church in Israel. The pastor shared that he built his church on faith, because God told him to do so. He always prayed in the money. When his second installment was due, his banker called him, and asked when he was going to service the loan. He wasn't sure, since he didn't have the money. Then the next day, the banker called again and said, "Oh! Some Singaporean just wired over the money that's due, so it's all been paid for!" When I heard that story, my heart turned all warm and fuzzy. I was so proud to be Singaporean! We are called to bless the nations, and God has prospered us and turned us into a First-World nation in one generation not for ourselves, but for kingdom work!

To catch the full Singapore Gathering, it's all online here.

ACS clocktower revival prayer meeting (Once more and much more)

"In 1972, the Lord poured out His Holy Spirit upon a group of young boys as they prayed in the ACS clock tower. It was one of the significant events that helped mark the beginnings of the Charismatic Movement in Singapore, the fruit of which has blessed us these 43 years."

These were the words of an invitation that went out recently, to encourage believers in Singapore to once again come together to pray and contend for revival to break out in our nation.

The date of the meeting was exactly 80 years from the day John Sung arrived in Singapore in 1935, which triggered a massive revival among the overseas Chinese.

I felt stirred to attend this meeting at ACS Barker, and when I walked in - woah! The presence of God was so strong in that hall (the Mrs Lee Choon Guan Concert Hall). The water levels were pretty deep!

But what moved me to tears was hearing the under-30s share their heart. One common theme to emerge was just how sold out they are for the Lord. The deep longing of their souls for more of Jesus moved me to tears. Another common theme to emerge was how they longed for spiritual mothers and fathers, spiritual mentors to walk alongside them in their journey. A third theme was that they wanted us (older peeps) to give them the freedom to express themselves and walk out their lives in the way God has called them. They didn't use these words, but the sense that I got was that we cannot try and force-fit them into our pattern, like putting new wine in old wineskins.

Hearing them, I realised that indeed, this younger generation is a different generation. They may be young, but God has given them such a capacity, such an anointing, that they already feel like they are surpassing my generation in terms of hunger for Him, revelation and understanding, and longing for His Kingdom. I felt like my heart was bursting listening to them. I thought I would attend this meeting to pray for yet another clock tower revival in our land, but as one of the speakers said, he believes God will do "once more and much more".

YES indeed! We are digging the wells of revival in our land, and from last night's experience, I know the Lord is near. The time of breakthrough is not far, if we will just press in as one body, across the generations.

Singapore Family Gathering 2015

In December 2010, I had just returned from a prayer retreat in Seoul, a trip I almost didn't make. That December, Pyongyang had threatened to go to war with South Korea. This time, the rhetoric sounded less hollow than before - and amid the sabre-rattling, the US moved a warship into the Yellow Sea. Many people cancelled their trip to Seoul on the concern war might truly break out. I sought the Lord earnestly if I should still proceed; He assured me it would be safe to go, and I did. Whilst there, it struck me that many South Koreans were third generation believers -- how had they gotten Christianised I wonder? I found out later the revival had first started in Pyongyang more than a century ago, and then spread South. Pyongyang! The rogue nation that almost caused me to miss my trip!

This intriguing piece of information caused me to start reading up on the Pyongyang revival. It made me jealous for Singapore to be saved too … for Singapore to experience the revival that swept across Pyongyang, and rippled outwards.

I know many Singaporeans have likewise contended for years for this nation of ours to be a resting place, a dwelling place for the Lord. A place which He is so comfortable with, He will tarry, and stay.

This is why I'm so excited about the Singapore Family Gathering happening at the Singapore Indoor Stadium from 14-16 September.  This gathering is not like other ordinary gatherings - it is a gathering of believers who long for the Spirit to break out over this land.  I've attended similar gatherings in Hong Kong, Japan and Israel, and the heart of these gatherings is to give the Holy Spirit complete freedom to move and to direct the programme. A lot of time is centered on worship; and if the Lord wills, whole sessions are given to worship (We do not limit Him!).  Lots of emphasis is placed on hearing the voice of God, and moving only when He says move. In past meetings, lots of repentance, reconciliation and restoration also takes place, with the other nations and the global body.

At the recent Jubilee Day of Prayer, I was greatly moved to see 50,000 Singaporeans come together to worship and thank the Lord for all that He has done these 50 years, and to pray that righteousness will be upheld the next 50 years. I saw Singaporeans unite as one to intercede for this little red dot we call home.

The September Family Gathering will be special -- coming on Singapore's 50th year, and coinciding with our founding father Lee Kuan Yew's birthday, as well as Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It also coincides with the last of the four blood moons.

Today I heard that Singapore has the Issachar anointing - we are a people who understand the times and seasons we live in.  This blogpost is an encouragement to all who love the Lord and who love Singapore to prayerfully consider joining this gathering. Already the ability to secure the venue at the Singapore Indoor Stadium is a divine happening… and I am excited in my Spirit because I know the Lord will pour out His Spirit upon us.

Here a video on the Singapore Gathering:



To find out more about the Singapore Gathering and to register, please click here