lifesong
Everyone needs compassion
And love that never fails
Let mercy fall on me
When everyone needs forgiveness
Kindness of the Saviour
The Hope of the nation
Saviour, He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave
So take me as you find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything that i believe in
Now i surrender
Shine a light in and
let the whole world see
Singing, for the glory of the risen king
Jesus, Shine a light and
let the whole world see
Singing for the glory of the risen king
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.
