Holy laughter

Two nights ago - Maundy Thursday - we had an overnight prayer meeting in church. I love praying with my group because it's with a prophetic band of God-lovers! These are with folk, many of whom I've known for years. Over the years, we've journeyed with each other through life's ups and downs, I've seen some of them go through pretty trying times. Through it all, by God's grace, everyone has stayed fervent for the Lord!

And there is nothing more joyful than spending Maundy Thursday with a prophetic band of God lovers! Anyhow, we had gathered to pray - from 10pm to 7am ... and what I love about these times is the opportunity to commune with God, and to walk with Him. During these meetings, we periodically do a "Listening to God" corporately, and then we take our next steps as He says after hearing His voice. In the many years I've done this, I've always known it to be an adventure. God is always up to something, He does the most amazing things, and as we are led by the Spirit, and we follow His direction and counsel step by step, He always unfolds something breath-taking.

This night, we started off well. We worshipped, we listened to God, we prayed ... there was such a tangible presence of God in the place. By His grace, we were hearing Him well. I was hearing Him well. In our midst, there are seers, hearers, feelers ... God speaks to us in different ways. And the wonderful thing about the Body of Christ coming together to discern His voice and His heartbeat is that different ones perceive Him differently - by sight, sound, feeling. Since we see in part and prophesy in part, when we come together to share what we are getting, the piece that we get becomes clearer, and there is a delight!

Around midnight, we take some time out for a break, and I check my email...perhaps not such a wise thing to do. There was one mail I received that after reading, put me in dismay. I couldn't shake off the feeling of dismay, and when we regrouped for Round 2 of worship and listening to God, I was distracted, downcast, out of sorts. In short, my peace had been disturbed. At this time, no one in my group knew this, but it was also affecting my ability to see and listen from God. All I had was the tumult in my heart. This is really quite disastrous for a prophetic person!

But God is amazing and He is so good.

With worship, my despair lifted somewhat...and I was deeply impressed to pray a prayer "Holy Spirit, we give you freedom to do anything you want in our midst." This was confirmed by others, so our prayer leader prayed the prayer and released us to our own time with the Lord. I got off my seat, we all walked away in various directions for our own time with the Lord, and what happened next blew me away.

God zapped me with Holy laughter. He gave me a laughter that emanated from my belly (out of the belly shall flow rivers of living water), and I could not stop laughing. And it was such a deep laughter. Everytime I stopped, it would start again. It's the first time anything like this has happened to me, such a deep joy welling up from inside. Such a hilarity.

I knew it was supernatural, because of where the laughter was welling up from, from deep within the Spirit. But it is not so much the outward manifestation of this laughter that wowed me. It was the fruit of it. After that, I realised that although nothing had changed regarding the news in the email, and I still had a situation in my hands, the sting of it had gone. I wasn't as affected by it, and I wasn't as crushed by it. Yes, the best way to describe it is that the STING was gone.

Needless to say, I danced through the rest of the night (figuratively speaking). God restored joy and peace to me, I started to flow with the rest again, and had a wonderful time with the Lord! I marvel at all this, and now, two days later, continue to marvel.

I move in Pentescostal circles, love being led by the Spirit, and have oftentimes experienced travail ... where as intercessors, we weep while praying for someone/ something/ a nation as led by the Spirit. But until Thursday, I had never experienced holy laughter myself.

I've always thought holy laughter had a bit of a "bad rep", especially when one reads about the chaotic scenes in church sometimes when this phenomenon is manifested in the congregation. But now that I've had it happen to me myself, I can attest that God uses it as a healing tool. It is a powerful tool - Hallelujah!!!

Sure, as in any move of the Spirit, there are counterfeits, and it may be that sometimes, what we see manifested in some places is not of God. But it can be a genuine move of God too. God has many weapons in His arsenal, with which He uses to heal us or accomplish His purposes. May we just be vessels yielded to Him, and say "Lord, we give you the freedom to do whatever you want to in our lives."

I know when we are fully surrendered, He will take our breath away.

Being filled with the fullness of God

"I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:16-19)

If we have the power of God in us (as we do as Christians), why is it that so many of us live a powerless Christianity. The early Church in the book of Acts walked in the fullness of God. They preached the word and signs and wonders followed. They healed the sick, the lame walked, the blind saw. They were like their Master, Jesus.

Today, I find so much of the reality of the power of God missing from our lives. Yet, the world is searching. Just last week, my hairstylist shared why she abandoned the faith of her mother (Christianity) to convert to another faith. It was because the other God was able to dramatically deliver her from a demonic affliction. It broke my heart to hear that, because our God is able to save to the uttermost. Yet, if we are His ambassadors, we don't bring his hope to a lost and dying world. For the most part, we don't carry His power and presence, heal the sick, deliver the oppressed ... We don't represent Jesus and the good news of the Gospel terribly well.

I speak for myself in all this, and I asked God what it would take for us ... for me ... to be able to move in a greater dimension of His authority, His power.

The Lord convicted me of two things:

1. To walk in a greater dimension of power, we need to live a fasted lifestyle.

One of my big ahas was to read in Luke 4 that prior to His 40-day fast, Jesus was "full of the Holy Spirit". After His 40-day fast in the wilderness, where He overcame the temptations, Jesus returned in the "power of the Spirit" from whence He began His ministry. There is a shift here. Jesus also tells His disciples that in a particular deliverance, they were ineffective because "this kind only comes out by prayer and fasting".

2. To release His power to those around us, we must first be filled with Him to the point of overflowing. The analogy He brought to mind is the cup in Psalms 23. "You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows." And how do we get the fullness of Christ? Ephesians 6 says it is in knowing the height, depth, length, breadth of the love of God that we will be filled with Him. We love only to the measure of our understanding of His love of us. If we really truly knew how much He loves us, we would be completely undone.

Last year, when IHOP's Matt Candler was in Singapore speaking about the Father's love, I got such a deep revelation of how much He loves me that I couldn't stop crying. My altar minister thought I was going through hard times as I was crying so hard! Truth is, I was totally undone by the knowledge of His great love for me.

Since then, I have been praying a prayer that Matt taught us ... "Father, please increase my capacity to know your love and my capacity to love you." It's been one of the simplest but most life transforming prayers for me, even as I pray it regularly, and now I know that knowing His love is key to being filled by Him.

At the end of the day, our walk with God is such a beautiful one. It is not burdensome. The outflow of power to touch and heal lives comes not from striving but in sitting in the presence of God, gazing upon His face, having Him love on us. Oh that we may know that truth, and out of that place of communion and revelation knowledge, to be a potent force just like the early Church was. Amen.

Healing at a sushi bar

Wonderful testimony from my friend Dean who is Japanese American, and who was bringing the love and power of Jesus to others in his everyday life. I think that's what it means by being supernaturally natural. Simply fabulous!!

  

Our team went to eat at a sushi bar on our last night in Kochi Shikoku. We sat in front of this sushi chef. When he found out I was from Hawaii, he asked, "Why are you here in Kochi?" I told him for church. He asked, "What do you do? Evan...gelism, teach, missions, what?" We said, "Training!" He said, "I don't believe in spiritual things?" Tetsuro, explained that we just came from a time of praying for healing at a church in their city. He asked, "Do you do exorcisms?" Tetsuro replied, "Yes, he does that too!" The chef was a bit shocked! Then Tetsuro asked, "Do you need healing?" He replied, "No, I am really healthy! I don't have any physical problems!"

 

Then the Lord spoke to me, "Ask him about his wrist?" So I did! Immediately, he was in shock! He kept saying, "Who told you that?"  He shared, he had problems with his wrist but never told anyone about it. Not even the other sushi chefs. It would happen when he made the egg. Apparently, he just started at this restaurant and he was the lowest of the chefs, so he had to fry the eggs for the sushi.
First when I asked if he wanted prayer for his wrist, he said, "No!" Finally he allowed me to pray for it.

 

I knew the Lord had already healed him, but so not to panic him completely, I asked if I could touch his wrist. He said, "Okay," then stuck our his hand over the counter. I just touched it for about 2 seconds, then said to him, "Try it out!" He started moving his wrist in circles and said, "Huh? How did you do that?" He was even more in shock as he realized his wrist had been healed that simply." I shared that the Lord had spoke to me about his wrist and that opened the way for him to share about his wife who is experiencing demonic problems. Then I told him, if he gave his life to Jesus, Jesus would use him to heal people and cast out spirits. Again, he was shocked, and said, "How do you know that?" I said, "Kami sama (God) told me!" I also shared that he has this gift, but only Jesus can unlocked it." He staggered and said, "Long ago, a shinto priest told him the exact thing and that up to the age of thirty he could see things but it stopped." It was all true!

 I knew I could have led him to the Lord, but I felt Jesus stopped me. Instead, we wrote the salvation prayer down for him with the address of the church we visited. The head chef who was listening and standing next to him in the center area, said to him, "Give him your mesh! (Business card) So we exchanged our cards. As we left I took this picture of him, he was all smiles, and said, "I will go to church! and bowed very low to me!" Sometimes before we can lead people to Jesus, just as important is that they can find a community to fellowship and be supported in ... especially for people in Japan!

Silent retreat at Seven Fountains (Chiang Mai)

Just returned from 3 days spent at Seven Fountains, a Catholic retreat centre in Chiang Mai. Had gone for a silent retreat, a breakaway from times past, when we had gone to Osanri and Kwang Lim in South Korea instead. Compared to Kwang Lim, Seven Fountains has what I would describe as "raw beauty"... it is not as scenic, the gardens are overgrown and haphazard at parts, and mosquitoes abound. But just as we are treasure in earthen vessels, Seven Fountains grew on me as the days passed. As I spent time in quiet meditation seeking the Lord for the things on His heart, I began to see the gems in the place. There are wonderful creatures in the place - beautiful birds I could not identify, squirrels, moths... and God spoke more deeply to me there than before. The Jesuit Father who was my spiritual director was also always gracious and full of wise counsel.

In particular, God spoke to me through the cat family! He spoke to me about trusting in His love through a very loving cat which roamed the grounds. And He spoke to me about His majesty through a lion I saw at the Chiang Mai zoo (within walking distance from Seven Fountains). It made me realise that the Great King of the Universe, the Most High God, the Lion of Judah, loves me unconditionally, just the way I am. The revelation brought tears to my eyes :)

It was a very precious time for me with the Lord; sitting in His presence, communing with Him. I grew to appreciate the sanctuary that Seven Fountains is, a place away from home to be in silence and solitude and to tune in to what is on God's heart.

The problem with prophetic people

Wise words from Ps Lip, one of the pastors at Cornerstone Community Church ...

The problem with prophetic people is that we are given to know something about the future and yet at the same time, we have no idea how it will look like when it happens.

Think for a moment about Joseph. He was given prophetic dreams in which he saw his call to rule and govern. Yet he could never imagine that the fulfillment of his dreams would be in a place he did not know, to a people that was not his own, in a language he could not speak, and much less the process that he had to go through to come into his prophetic future. Likewise with Abraham or Moses or David - none of them could have imagined the timing or the form in which the fulfillment of their future would be, even though they all received prophetic calls. Even the disciples could not imagine that Jesus had to die or the death Jesus had to endure to become the Messiah of not just Israel, but of the world.

If this is a consistent picture in the word of God, then it means that this is a pattern through which God will work in all the lives of His people. What this means is that if you have been given a prophetic sense of the future that God has in store for you, you can be certain it is not going to appear the way you imagine it would. With this in mind, I believe then that we can get into deep trouble if we try to help God along by trying to orchestrate things to suit what WE have imagined our future to look like. From a scriptural point of view, I want to show you what we can and need to do: -

1. They kept their integrity
The people that went on to fulfill their prophetic future were people that kept their integrity even when things did not turn out the way they expected or wanted them to turn out. Joseph kept his purity when tempted by Potiphar's wife. His work ethics gained him favour, whether as a slave or as a prisoner, and that enabled him to progress on in God's plan for him. David continued to walk in integrity towards Saul even though Saul was after his life. It didn't matter that these men were going through contradictory circumstances in their lives, they kept their reputation intact through integrity.

2. They kept their walk with God
We ought not to forsake our walk with God just because we are not in the place that we imagined ourselves to be. It was in the delays of his life, that Abraham grew in his walk with God. Many of the names of God were revealed to Abraham prior to the birth of Isaac. In fact, it is in the times of delay and contradiction that God shows up and begins to teach us about Himself. This instructional season is crucial to our ability to handle the task of our prophetic call in the future. It is important, therefore, for us to be aware of what He is speaking to us NOW and pay attention to the lessons and dealings He has for us. Learning the present lessons unlocks the future.

3. They kept believing despite circumstances
This is faith! It is to completely lean our human personality onto Christ in trust and confidence. The great men and women in the bible who entered into their prophetic future clung on to God's promises and did not waver despite how their natural circumstances were around them. They kept believing and never gave up. They counted God faithful, trustworthy and able to fulfill His word to them, and God always came through for them. Not only does He come through for us, He does exceeding, abundantly, above all that we can ask or think of.

I received the call of God at the age of 12. Over the years, I've tried many times to help God along, towards what I had imagined the call of God would look like. However, these efforts never seem to take off. In fact, often times, the opposite seems to happen. At the most crucial moments of my life, I always seem to encounter failure and disappointment. However, after 25 years of hindsight, I now see that those failures brought me closer to His plans for me and placed me in line to be where I am today. I still have many unfulfilled promises, but I am fast realising that there will be unexpected turns ahead of me that I can never anticipate. I can rest though in the knowledge that I am in good hands - His hands.

Pastor Lim Lip Yong
24 November 2012

Rest (Bob Fitts)

I grew up with Bob Fitts' worship music in secondary school, so was really glad to see him back in Singapore ... about 20 years later. And to see that he still pretty much looks the same :)
He led this song in worship at Cornerstone yesterday and today, and it's just such a ministering song to me.

 

I rest in Your love

My strength comes from You alone
Your grace is more than enough
A fountain for my thirsty soul

You are everything that I need

My all-sufficient King
I rest, I rest
In Your love
I rest in Your love
My strength comes from You alone

Your grace is more than enough

A fountain for my thirsty soul
You are everything that I need
My all-sufficient King
I rest, I rest
In Your love

You're Beautiful (Phil Wickham)

How great is the Creator God we serve.

In Job 26, Job says of God:

"He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.
He wraps up the waters in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds over it.
He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness."

He goes on to say in Verse 14, "And these are but the outer fringe of his works".

This great God, who created the skies, the clouds, the Universe, the beautiful earth we live in, is truly awesome. The breathtaking beauty of Creation is just but "the outer fringe of his works"!! I don't even think we've begun to scratch the surface of who He is, and what He is capable of. And yet, this great God deigns to know and love me, takes a keen interest in my life, knows the number of hairs on my head, keeps every tear I shed bottled, hears every prayer of mine and treats it as a fragrant incense to Him. Sends His best gift, His son Jesus, to die for me, so that He can adopt me into His family and call me daughter. Sends the Holy Spirit to live in me, so I can live this life victorious. Wow. I am quite undone.

Beautiful
I see Your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say
You’re beautiful

I see Your power in the moonlit night
Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It’s all proclaiming who You are
You’re beautiful, You're beautiful

I see you there hanging on a tree
You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me
Now you are sitting on Your heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home
You’re beautiful, you're beautiful