Sunday, June 29, 2008
-7:11 AM
hey cell, since we're doing on New Choices chapter 2 "I choose to serve God", i was thinking of sharing about my first feeble attempt at dew ministry.
prior to the dew ministry weekend, i went for three wks training in dew sch, and throughout the whole training session i felt very inadequate and unconfident to handle someone else's life history of hurts and pains. who am i to intervene in their situations? we've had role plays since the first training session, taking turns to be both the counsellor and counselee. but the times when we had to do our role plays, were the times that i felt the most stressed because i really did not know anything and had to keep referring to my manual. being the youngest person in the whole dew cohort, i felt that my lack of "life experiences" added on to my inadequacies. who am i to even say any word of advice or comfort when i havent experienced it myself? when pastor john and the other dew workers went through the different issues of sexual sins, generational lines, irrational behaviour etc.. i didnt even understand why certain stuff were considered sin. there were just question marks all over my head.
but on thursday, just before the whole dew weekend, i was telling God about how scared i am to serve as a dew counsellor. but i was reminded of how many signs He showed to call me to go for dew training. okae, i told myself trying to calm myself down, i was called into this ministry. then as i was walking to my student's place for tuition, i was suddenly reminded of what Val shared last cell that
God doesnt call the equipped, but equips the called. if God called me into dew to minister, then He wont just leave me to fight the spiritual battle on my own right? surely, He will equip me to do His work and bring healing into ppl's lives.
Friday was the first day of ministry. During a separate counsellors prayer session before ministering at the altar, God gave Poh Cheng (one of the dew leaders) a word that was very timely and encouraging: He will strengthen hands for battle. amen, God please strengthen my weak hands to fight this battle for You. when i was praying for ppl at the altar, i had my own breakthrough, of learning how to entrust their lives to God's hands. it is not me ministering, it is God. only He can touch their hearts with His love.
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.." - Isaiah 59:1saturday, one day before the one-to-one ministry session, i learnt about my authority as a christian. during service, i was reminded of how, at the name of JESUS, every knee
must bow and every tongue confess that HE IS CHRIST. the demons and evil spirits fear and tremble at the Christ who lives in me. and because He lives
inside of me, spirits have to obey my words and my commands. (don't get me wrong, it is not by my own power, but only by God who is in me.) truly, no weapons formed against Him can prosper, no kingdom raise against Him can stand. this IS the power of our Christ Jesus whom we believe.
today is sunday and is the day that the counselees will receive individual ministry. i am both excited and nervous. excited because i'll be handling my first real case after having so many role plays, nervous also because i'll be handling my first case and i dont know how it will turn out. but i thank God, because everyone in the counsellors' room together with me were very encouraging. Sis Joan from dew district came over to hug me, Pastor Patsy also hugged me and smiled at me and spurred me on, Jas Choe's mum(i cant remb her name) smiled and gave me the thumbs up, Sis Jessie, my supervisor, guided me through the whole case step-by-step what i should do later on when i meet my counselee. Sis Cheryl came to pray for me, Sis Betsy(Nathaniel's mother!) sat down and talked to me during our lunch break thank God for Sis Annie who came over to help me during the whole actual counselling process. Margaret from north district shared with me sth that really spoke to my heart. she wrote two quotes:
God honours any feeble attempts in ministry
Anything worth doing is worth doing badlywith a little fear and trembling still, i went into the battlefield and "fought" with the spirits that trembled and feared Christ's name.
today i learnt that it's not about how eloquent i am, not how wise i am, not how much i know or whether i've been through it; it's not about how many verses i can quote to tackle an issue, or how huge a manifestation of the spirits when i command them to leave.. but its all about God's unfailing, everlasting, unchanging, unconditional love for the counselee that He desires to heal and restore him/her back to wholeness. Serving is all about JESUS.
i am sharing my experience not to boast of my calling or of how much i have done for Christ, but if i were to boast of anything, i can only boast of my share of feelings of inadequacy and weakness, yet the power of Christ is made perfect in all these. I'm humbled by this privilege to serve in dew ministry, to be an instrument of God's healing, like a scapel in a surgeon's hand. its not about how sharp the scapel is, but it's about how skilful the hands of the surgeon are. i've learnt a lot from this short journey of dew training. tho today is the last day of the June dew weekend, it doesnt stop here.
2Cor12:9But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
-8:43 AM
Hi Mighty believers!
From this week onwards, i will type the sermon ouline for those who served at the different ME and for those who did not attend service due to various reason. I hope thru this sermon outline, u will catch God's heartbeat and that it will speak to u in it own special way! (:
This week during service...Scripture ReferenceActs 2V1: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one placeOne place in this context does not refer to a specific place or venue, but it refers to believers in Christ being in one purpose, one mind and one spirit.
The idea of place in this case take on a realm. A spiritual realm.'
V2-3: Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.When all the people are together in one place on the day of the Pentacost, God's spirit came upon them in a tangible form of a violent wind and tongues of fire. These were the evidences to the jews that God is real.
When this happens, there is an in dwelling of God's spirits in us. God has a new way of manifesting His power. The God that is within us, is the same God that moses met at the burning bush encounter, the same God that parted the red sea so that Moses could bring his people into the promised land, the same God that was with Daniel in the Lion's den, the same God that delievered and promoted David to become King and the same God that gave an offspring to Sarah and Abraham when they were beyond their child bearing age and promised them that their offsprings and descendants will be countless like the stars in the sky and the dust on the earth.
Now when we have the spirit in us, we no longer operate as one person, but we have 2 personality at every one time. Therefore, unlike unbelievers, we operate both in the physical as well as the spiritual realm. WE ARE DOUBLY ANOINTED PEOPLE.
In the past, we use to say " With God, all things are possible", now in this season, God is saying, "With you (us), all things are possible." because with the deposit of God's spirit in us, God has enabled us to perform signs, wonders and miracles for His glory. We need to focus on the power that God has given us!
v4. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.Most people focus too much on the ability to speak in tongues, as it is the initial evidence of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and as a result, they fail to see the full strength of what they Holy Spirit can do through us. Therefore, most people end up speaking in tongues but they are still not fully functioning in the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom its not just talk, but it is power!
Lets look at other powers or ability that comes with the deposit of the Holy Spirit in us:Acts 2: 17-18"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women,I will pour out my Spirit in those day, and they will prophesy. " God say that he will pour out His Spirit on all people:
regardless of gender- Sons and daughters, men and women, be given the power to prophesy.regardless of age- young men will be given the power to see visions- old men will be given the power to dream dreams.Have you forgotten that u have been given these power to prophesy, to see visions, to dream dreams for the expansion and the glory of God's Kingdom?Humans have been given the ability to speak, unlike cats that meow and dogs that bark, we are the only creation, made in the image of God, therefore we are the only creation that can speak and understand the language of God. As such, God has given us to power to speak, as we create-to prophesy according to visions we see and the dreams we dream about. because in us, lives God, the same God that use His mouth to create and speak life onto our earth in 7 days (Genesis1).
In Proverbs 29:18, it says " Without a vision, the people perish"The word perish comes from the root word "PARA" and "para" is used in context of "parallel"
"Para or Parallel" have the idea of side by side and that they will not meet. Like 2 parallel lines, these 2 lines will never meet.
So what the verse is saying actually just means that if we dont hold on to our vision that God has given to us, we will never see reality and our vision meeting, therefore it will not come to past.
Visions are so powerful it results in provision. But first u need to believe and trust God without any doubt. The consequence of a person's lack of Faith is that the whole kingdom suffers, because God cannot work through unbelievers.
Sarah and Abraham were classic examples of the above illustration. If Abraham and Sarah at the age of 90 and 70 respectively did not trust and believe in God when He said to them that they will have a Son and that their descendants will be countless like the stars in the sky and the dust on the earth, then we will not exist today.Logically it could not have happen because both Sarah and Abraham were way beyond menopause. But because of their faith and trust in God, we exist, because God cannot work through abraham if he did not believe in the beginning.When abraham finally trusted and believed God, God's promises were credited into his account, Righteous, Abraham was in right standing with God( in that one place with God).David was another person in the bible which showed us how holding on to a vision and God, results in provision. Soon after the prophesy from God that David would become King of the Land he was persecuted. Saul wanted his life and he had to run away and act insane. to keep himself sane, he had to continuously hang on the God's vision and to write psalms of praise for God. When he was faithful, God begin to provide 400 men as warriors in David's kingdom, the sword of Goliath as well as pagan kings who built a palace for David and the city of David.God also gaved us the ability to produce wealth, but the purpose of creating wealth should be to benefit and bless though who needs it,and for the extension and glory of His kingdom.
Scripture reference: Deut 15, acts 1:8 and deut 8:17-18
If u have a vision placed in ur heart, but u lost hope and faith for it cos u dont have the resource and the finance and u think it is impossible to make a difference in people's life because of limitations in ur life. U need to start trusting God, keeping holding on to the vision He has for you and when you do so, He works in ur life, providing the people you need, the finance that you lack so that there is a meeting of ur vision with reality and people will benefit from it! Praise God!
Start asking and believing that God will ignite the passion and dreams that were lost once again!
Val (:
Thursday, June 26, 2008
-9:12 AM
Hello everyone! oh my,
tecman is having 40% discount!!anyone wants
cheap christian books hurry go down to tecman to get! promotion ends 30June!
books are a worthy investment man, i bought like
7 books today, but giving away 3 of them lah. i cant believe i bought so few, going down again tmr!! (anyone wants me to help them get please quick let me know my tmr morning!)
-aunty grace (for once)
P.S. so sad tecman cannot bargain hahahahhahaha.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
-11:01 AM
haha! believe cell!! this is a few of us at cell on sat.. (: plus i also added some other photos from some other dinners to this post (:
OH! in case you wonder why our cell dont have guys.. keep searching and scrolling down, u will see the guy. (:
Introducing...
Moomoo and rachel!
eh look at moomoo. she totally looks P6s! what man! Rach has this superbly bad habit of like wanting to be part of everything even though she is asleep! u will see what i mean by her wanting to be part of everything later on! (: keep scrolling!
Next!!! RACH (again?! now u see what i mean?) and Val (:
whao! but i must say this picture is v well taken even though serp (who's tat? u will know soon) doesnt have v good photography skills.. haha well becos......... *ahem!* the camera is good! (:
Following up! Serp.. the destroyer and Gracia the anime freak! lols trying to pose their most kawaii (eh gracia edit this if its wrong!) pose! eheh! put ur cursor here for e latest unglam findings ( hee trick u. so auntie can! )ohohoh! do u see someone else in the pic??!!!No... dont over spiritualise.. its not anything scary and its not the holy spirit either.... its Weijing! haha introducing his hand! this is part of our special we will reveal him part by part, so for this week is only the hands (:
okay moving on.....
At least we thought so......
ITS RACH!!!
(see what i told u??!!) and val again! ( its only right!!)
Haha! okay anyway this is our cozy little place where have cell togethers as a lovely small family.... so yups! if u envy us, dont! please do join us next time!
til then... we will keep u in suspense on what Weijing looks like. Tune in next time for another part of him.
*p.s : Be honest! did u like go check out the unglam findings? If u did.. go admit it in the tag! (:
Val..
in the random mode (:
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
-9:39 AM
Ability- It shall not limit me.Hi my dears (: I want to share with u smthing and i hope it will encourage u and spur u on along the week.
Its been a long time since i touched my "The Purpose Driven Life" book by Rick Warren and so i decided to revisit it. Its really amazing how God speaks to me in new and refreshing way. Just this week during GROW, i shared with u guys on the 1st "A" of serving God- " Ability-It Shall not limit me." and this book begin to reaffirm what i shared with u guys!
As i was reading this book again. I looked out especially on chapter 31 as Grace pointed it out to me during my planning of this Grow. It says clearly "All of our abilities comes from God."
In the bible, it is written
"God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well---Romans 12:6a" and this is 1 truth that we all need to embrace and learn how to accept it. Many people in the kingdom of God use the excuse " i don't think i can or have any abilities to offer" or people may say " i am not good enough for this position", to not serve God.
However, more than u can even realise, there are many abilities in us that are unrecognised, unused and dormant within us. Rick Warren said, "Many studies have revealed that the average person possessed from 500-700 different skills and abilities---far more than u even realise". So I am sure that God has given u atleast 1 ability to put to good use in the kingdom of God.
Now the next issue here is how do you then begin to recognise these unuse and awaken these dormant abilities and skills within you?
#1. Reflect on ur experiences during ministry expression.
- How did felt at the beginning and how did u felt at the end?
- How do you thing God and His people felt?
- Is there any area u can go and extra mile for God and His people?
#2. Attend TEnet and Lifeskill Seminars offered by TCC( this is not an adverstisment)- develop areas of interest maybe the first step in discovering gifts and abilities.
- through these courses there is an awakening of dormant gifts and a delibrate stepping out
of comfort zone for learning to take place.
- training and equipping with skills and abilities to use in times of needs.
*p.s: TEnet and Lifeskill Seminar fees are waived for all Trinitarian, beginning July.
You can now sign up online too.. with just 3 simple steps (:
#3. Gathering feedbacks from peers and leaders (affirmation of gifts and abilities)
- get feedbacks and advise from peers and leaders to affirm gifts and abilities or for area of
improvements (:
So, are there any skills and abilities that God has given you, but u have not put to good use or have not discovered? NOW, this is a time and season of discover and finding out what abilities have God given u that u can put to good use to bless His people and His church, so let awaken these dormant and uncovered abilities and gifts and together as a cell, be a blessings to others in the church and people around us!
Val (:
" God has given each of u some special abilities; be sure to use them to help one another, passing on to others God's many kinds of blessings.---1Peter4:10"
Monday, June 23, 2008
-8:57 AM
Hi my dears (:i was just listening to Don Moen's song " dwelling places"the lyrics is as such:"Lovely, are your dwelling places,Thirsty i come after you.Your love restoring my soul,Now, I am yours and you are mine,and from my heart a song will rise"As i even begin to listen to this song, the presence of the holy spirit was so strong that i came like a flood and begin to over take my heart. As i look back for the past2 weeks, i have been battling in a war against the world. It just seems so painful to even wake up the next day. and to be honest, there were silly thought like, maybe Jesus u will come tonight in my sleep and take me away. I JUST CAN'T WAIT FOR JESUS TO COME BACK!!The 2 wks that just passed, was filled with hurts, tears, frustration and pain. the worst u could even imagine. My best friend in school left for holiday, and me? facing all the unfinished work, i was at a lost, not knowing where from the pile to start. On top of that, i had a tiny cold war with another friend who is also v dear to me. i realise that my week was so silent! no more msges, no more phone calls and no more laughters. Its just me staring at the pile of unfinished worked and it staring back at me! wow! what a life! But when my life was dead silent i could hear the crickets, it is also then when i heard God loud and clear! God began to show me that He is my best friend in all aspect of my life, not only school! He never goes on holidays (though He needs it more than me), He never turns away from me cos of a silly mistakes i make. Most imptly, why do i have to wait for Jesus to come back, when infact he never left? Silly me! It was then i realise that when i turn to God and just step into His presence, it is then i was myself. No mask, no plastic smile. I could cry til i had puffy eyes, I never had to verbalise a single word to tell Him how heavy my heart felt with each breathe i took. He knew it all and He took it all away, a little each day. With His love, he restored my soul, my joy, the love in my heart and above all, He added a little wisdom in me and changed my perspective (:******CHANGE UR PERSPECTIVE AND U CAN CHANGE UR LIFE! (:*****It was then when my all was for God and God was all mine. Then i realise i will never want to and can never live another day w/out Him. And now, every breathe that i take, it draws from me a simple " I love you, God ". Today, if u ask me, the pile of work is still staring at me, but i am not staring at it.. i am working on it. My best friend is back from her hols, and yes indeed i thank God for her. I am on the path of reconcilation(praise God) with my friend for i committed our friendship onto the Lord. There are still issues out there the devil is trying to put in my path. WHATS DIFFERENT THEN, VAL!!?WHATS DIFFERENT , IS THAT GOD IS MORE CONSTANT, THAN CHANGE AND PROBLEMS THEMSELVES! (: GOD IS MY ONLY CONSTANT! (:-Val, the silly woman (:"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you"-Deuteronomy 31:6
Sunday, June 22, 2008
-8:23 AM
Hey all!
haha i'm really bad at making my entries fanciful so i'll just make the content more solid haha. woah i realise i havent been blogging for ages! anyway, just to share something that has been on my mind. actually, i've been questioning God about the things that has happened, His existence, His trustworthiness and His love for me.
WHY WHY WHY? but i havent really got any answers and i'm a little bit fed up. but tho overwhelmed by so many questions and emotions, there's something deep within that knows that God exists.
Last night after cell dinner, i was pondering again if a God really exists or am i just making this faith up? Maybe its all just fantasy and unreal. Then i was reminded of the past two sems when i had the privilege of studying about the human body and peering into cadavers. I remembered how much i enjoyed studying about the one and only thing that was made in the image of God, because i discovered so much about a Creator God. I remembered asking myself why do people believed in the Big Bang Theory more than the existence of a Creator? just imagine, if you were walking in the park and you saw a watch on the floor, will you think that it is made from random particles colliding and fused together by some energy? or will you think, wow, there must be someone brilliant who has engineered this watch! how can we humans be formed by the Big Bang Theory? it's more ridiculous than believing that there is a Someone with infinite wisdom who can design the body with such precision and detail.
think of it this way, the hinges created for doors/cupboards/windows grow old and rusty and creaks and needs to be replaced. yet, our joints have some marvelous in-built system of lubricating itself that it can last us for a whole lifetime of 80years without creaking or rusting! whoever can think of placing a pacemaker in our cardiac muscles that ensures the heart doesnt stop beating till our time is up? Just an act of flexing our thumb requires 50 over muscles and tendons and nerve fibres to work in unison to bring about the movement. WOW. The smell of food in the nose triggers millions of gland cells to produce saliva in the mouth. (and for the unglam ones: if you're about to dig your nose, think about how many photoreceptors in your eyes have to be activated to see where your hand is going, how many hundred muscle fibres have to contract to move your hand, how many thousands of nerves involved in controlling those muscles, and how many millions of action potentials that is needed to send the msg from your brain to your hand to ensure that you don't mis-aim and poke your eyes instead of digging your nose).
as someone who is able to study in depth about the body, how can i ever doubt God's existence? I must be a fool.
-grace
"In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God's existence." --Isaac Newton
-8:02 AM
hey greetings burlievers!
yes u must be wondering why i name our blog burlieve rite? so superbly unglam to the max! yes! thats our cell identity so dont deny it!
Burlieve it, embrace it and accept it!anyway yes lar. i try many many other glam names that i could come up with but this one is not taken. eh not easy lar. u know like going to the market we need to go early for the freshest.. but u see its been a long time since blogger started so it kinda exhausted a list of glam names.
okay i know what u guys are thinking that i am
justifying myself. but really lar!
anyway i will upload the pictures at simonie's "surprise" bday party and the prep for it and you guys can feel free to upload anything interesting thing u all see along the week okays (:
Val (:
