Called to be watchmen

All of us are called to be watchmen.

When I was in Korea last year, I met a lady whom everyone recognised as an intercessor. And I had the privilege of being ministered to by her ... she heard from God and she released words to me that pierced the heart. She is an ordinary person; she doesn't hold an office in the church nor is she theologically-trained. I pondered why God used her so mightily, and came to this conclusion: She is sensitive to His Spirit through a close walk with Him. But she also loves Him so much that she obeys Him instantly and unconditionally. Obedience for her supersedes her own personal reputation. I think that is why God uses her so mightily.

Tom Hess, in his book "The Watchman" also captures the qualities of the watchman. He writes:

The true watchman is someone who watches God, the Chief Watchman - beholding Him in His awesome, majestic glory, and what He is doing. The watchman is attentive to God with all his faculties and consequently sees things more clearly through God's eyes and His word, the Watchman clearly hears and obeys God's voice and is faithful in practicing all the aspects of watching as led by the Holy Spirit. He will be prepared to prepare the way for Messiah.

I find this short paragraph so densely packed with truth. It puts Jesus at the centre of everything we watch. It makes Him the centre of our gaze. It provides the key to clarity of hearing of seeing (the revelatory gifts). It makes clear that God gives us relevation for us to obey. It makes known why we watch and pray ... ultimately, to prepare the way for the Messiah.

Martina McBride - God's Will

One of the most wonderful songs about God's grace towards us ... and how this often comes to us in dear lil' children. This song moves me to tears. The lyrics are just lovely.


Martina McBride - God's Will (Official Music Video) - Watch a funny movie here

Israel's increasing isolation and our response

Yesterday, I attended a prayer meeting for Israel. The host of the meeting summarised very well latest developments in Israel, and the snub Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received from Obama during recent meetings in the White House. Relations between both nations are at their worst in 35 years (according to some high-level aides).

The diplomatic row centres on the Israeli government's insistence on building 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem. Israel believes it has the right to build on this land, which it possessed following a victorious 1967 war. The peace roadmap that the US seeks to broker with the Palestinians sees East Jerusalem as occupied territory, to be returned.

God's word is pretty clear on this ... we are not to divide up Jerusalem ... which God restored to His people in 1967, though they were not the aggressors. To the nations that divide up the land, God says in Joel 3:1-2, that He will "enter into judgement against them".

"In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations, and divided up my land." (Joel 3:1-2)

Says Joel Rosenberg of the latest diplomatic spat between Israel and the US:

The central problem is the White House and State Department are trying to force Israel to divide Jerusalem and divide Judea & Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank.

"Prophetically, I believe Israel will eventually be isolated from all countries in the world, especially as we approach the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 & 39. Eventually, the Lord will wean Israel off of every nation – including the U.S. – so that the Jewish people only have Him to turn to and depend upon. That said, however, the Scriptures are clear in Genesis 12:1-3 and elsewhere that those who bless Israel, He will bless, and those who curse Israel, He will curse.

We want our countries to be blessed by God, to experience repentance and revival and to be blessings to the rest of the world. Now, therefore, is the most critical time for true followers of Jesus Christ to show unconditional love and unwavering support to Israelis and to their Palestinian neighbors. We need to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We need to show the love of Jesus to every Jew and Gentile in the Holy Land. And we need to strengthen the Church in the epicenter, encourage pastors and ministry leaders, and help them fulfill Isaiah 60."

My heartfelt prayer yesterday was for Singapore - that we would continue to bless Israel, even if it suffers continuing isolation from the nations of the world in the days ahead. Because the Scriptures are clear that those who bless Israel, He will bless, and those who curse Israel, He will curse. When it is time for us to vote, which way will we cast our vote? Will we fear man, or fear God?

All the Way My Saviour Leads Me (Chris Tomlin)

Late last year, when I sought God about what He wanted from me in 2010, I sensed Him saying it was to be a year of extravagant worship. While worship is not all about music (it probably is least about that, then faithful obedience), nevertheless, I signed up for keyboard class at Believer Music School (now at Novena Square). Five weeks into class, I am so glad I signed up! Since it's the Beginner class, we are simply learning how to play simple chords, without much embellishment. And yet wow! I can always feel such a wonderful presence of the Lord in that small room, with five of us ... and our teacher, as we play the keyboards and sing. Next week, we learn how to play Chris Tomlin's "All the Way My Saviour Leads Me". I never heard this version of this old hymn until it was introduced to us. I LOVE IT! Great rendition of an old classic!!!



All the way my Savior leads me
Who have I to ask beside
How could I doubt His tender mercy
Who through life has been my guide

All the way my Savior leads me
Cheers each winding path I tread
Gives me grace for every trial
Feeds me with the living Bread

You lead me and keep me from falling
You carry me close to Your heart
And surely Your goodness and mercy will follow me

All the way my Savior leads me
O, the fullness of His love
O, the sureness of His promise
In the triumph of His blood
And when my spirit clothed immortal
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way
Jesus led me all the way

All the way my Savior leads me
All the way my Savior leads me

What does God want to do with all His heart and all His soul?

Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: 37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. 38 They shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39 then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. 41 Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’(Jeremiah 32:36-41)

These three days, I've been attending the Eastern Gate Prayer Convocation in Singapore, led by Tom Hess from the Jerusalem House of Prayer. It has been an incredible time of hearing what God has been doing in the nations, and praying for the nations. There are more salvations now than in any other time in history, in nations like Israel and the Middle East, and of course Asia! God is moving in a powerful way!

Today, as we prayed for Israel, and a sister read the passage from Jeremiah 32, these words jumped out at me.

God says, "Assuredly, I will plant them in this land, with all my heart and with all my soul." (Jeremiah 32:41)

When I heard those words, I thought to myself, "God said THAT?!"

God is a God who hates lukewarmness. He wants us, His children, to have undivided hearts. To be a people passionate for Him and His kingdom's cause. The first and greatest commandment, He tells us, is that we should love Him with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind. (Matt 22)

But until today, I didn't know there was a verse in the Bible which describes the reverse - namely, what will God do with all His heart and all His soul?

Amazingly, to me, it is to plant His chosen people (the Israelites), back in their OWN land.

This prophecy was fulfilled in 1948. We are witnesses to this. Today, the enemies of Israel continue to want to force them out of this land, even threatening to wipe them off the face of the earth.

As believers, we need to stand with Israel, and to pray against this, and the carving up of the land that God has promised them, and planted them back in.

This hit home today, in a very strong way. Because giving Israel back their land is what God wants to do with ALL HIS HEART AND ALL HIS SOUL. The only verse which describes God in this fashion. Awesome!

With All I Am - Hillsongs

O Lord, you deserve all that I am.

The Holy Spirit - Confirming Signs (AW Tozer)

And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs - Mark 16:20

Such words as these in the second chapter of Hebrews stand as a rebuke to the unbelieving Christians of our day: "God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will."

A cold Church is forced to 'interpret' such language. She cannot enter it, so she explains it away. Not a little juggling is required, and not a few statements for which there is not scriptural authority, but anything will do to save face and justify our half-dead condition. Such defensive exegesis is but a refuge for unbelieving orthodoxy, a hiding place for a Church too weak to stand.

No one with a knowledge of the facts can deny the need for supernatural aid in the work of world evangelization. We are so hopelessly outclassed by the world's superior strength that for us it means either God's help or sure defeat. The Christian who goes out without faith in "wonders" will return without fruit. No one dare be so rash as to seek to do impossible things unless he has first been empowered by the God of the impossible. "The power of God was there" is our guarantee to victory.

"May the power of the Lord be with me in my ministry today, so that I might not be 'outclassed by the world's superior strength'. Amen."