Peace in the midst of thunder and lightning

Just like to share a testimony about how God has given me peace today as I was driving home after work in the middle of a thunderstorm. As a child, I was afraid of thunder and lightning and would often cower under my bedsheets whenever there was loud lightning strike. Late this afternoon, a massive thunderstorm accompanied by equally severe hailstorm and rain had hit Perth. I was in my car when the lightning started to happen, and in my mind I was having the same childhood fears of lightning strikes. As the lightning bolts struck various areas in the surrounding suburbs and the loud noise after each strike, I was acutely terrified and wondered if one of those bolts of sheer death and destruction would somehow land on me. For a moment I was quite terrified, but then another thought came to my mind. I thought to myself, why should I be afraid when I'm a Christian? Does not the same God who created heaven and earth also control the winds and waves, and they obey Him? In that thought, I suddenly felt a great sense of calm and quietness in my soul. It was as though I was in the boat with Jesus and His disciples when the storm came and the winds and waves tossed the vessel violently, yet unlike the disciples I was not afraid; not because I was brave or courageous, but because I remembered something that Dr Jim Berg said about God at one of the brother's fellowship meetings not long ago. He said that God's greatness commands our utmost respect and humility towards Him, but at the same time His goodness and love motivates us to hope and trust in Him. So, with those thoughts, I could rest peacefully and drive as though it was a clear and sunny day. Even though the thunderstorm got worse and worse as I drove, yet the loudness and the bright flashes of lightning strikes no longer gripped me in terror. I trusted that the God whom I believed in for my salvation loves me, and that since all of creation was at His command, I could rest in Him and not be afraid. On the way, I listened to hymns and I was praising God in the midst of the storm. It was quite a turnabout of what I was experiencing earlier, from the fear and dread of being struck by lightning, to peace and calm knowing that if Jesus was with me, then I am safe. I'm sharing this not because I want to boast about anything in and of myself, but to recount and testify of how a man who was afraid of lightning could be at peace in the midst of a raging storm. All because of a simple and childlike faith in the true and living God, may all praise and glory be to Him.

Hymns that overwhelm you with God's love

There are some hymns that help me to reflect on God's love for me and certain verses of these hymns which I struggle to sing aloud because of the way the words speak to me of God's love. One hymn I was reminded of tonight was Surely Goodness and Mercy which has been sung a few times recently. It was the first verse which I found hard to sing tonight at prayer meeting which goes:


A pilgrim was I and a-wand’ring,
In the cold night of sin I did roam.
When Jesus, the kind Shepherd, found me,
And now I am on my way home.


I found it particularly touching because it reminds me of how unworthy I am to be receiving God's love. Not only did Jesus die for my sins, he has come after me like a loving shepherd even though it was my fault that I am lost. I wanted to share this because it may help you to appreciate this hymn a little more next time you sing it. If you have a hymn or a particular verse that speaks to you, maybe you can share it in the comments below and your reasons why it is so impacting.

Delighting in the Lord

My time spent with God each day is something I've grown accustomed to and an integral part of my personal life, but somehow this past week and the week before I seem to find that there is no sense of joy or delight when I sit down to pray and read my Bible. At first, I didn't think much of it. After all, I've done what I considered to be a most important thing that I should have done each day so it didn't matter how I felt, as long as I've made sure that I've prayed to God and read a chapter of the Bible. But by the end of this week, I was feeling spiritually empty and exhausted. All I thought about was what I wanted and what I needed to do to get there. I had pushed God to the back of my priority list while I pursued my own interests and personal gains. In the midst of it all, it suddenly dawned upon me that I was on autopilot; driven by what was in my heart and mind at the time, and I had no thought at all about God being in any of it.

 

So, it came to me at that moment, and it hit me hard. I sat down, and by some routine or habit I wanted to grab my Bible and go through the motions in the hopes that somehow I'll be able to get back into favour with God. But instead, I sat in silence and soon tears began to fill my eyes. I thought, what a fool I had been. I had replaced God with activities and duties, in some ways like replacing obedience with offering back in the days of king Saul. Then I just suddenly wanted God so badly, and this might sound like I'm just imagining things or just plain delluding myself, but I pictured myself embracing Jesus tightly like a child who longs for his father and wants to be near him. For the next few minutes, I did nothing but think about God. After that, I went to read my Bible and the words of Psalm 141, 142 and 143 were simply indescribably precious and the tears flowed as I read each verse. That was something I had missed for a long, long time. A few weeks, maybe, but even that is far too long for me. I told God that that was what I wanted each day with Him. If I could just picture myself embracing Jesus each day and in the knowledge that He is near me and I can rest in His bosom, I felt at peace and rest in my soul. After reading my Bible and praying to God (this time really enjoying and relishing every moment of it), I looked out the window and happily beheld the beautiful sunset, blue skies and scenery, and told God that today has been a good day because of my time with Him.

Stillness

Like many, I have an endless to do list, and every day seems to be filled with duties that should had been done yesterday.  Every day its go-go-go until your body drops in bed. Pace of life seems to be growing faster and faster, more and more things need to be done in a shorter time frame.  On the way to work, cars are constantly changing lanes, weaving through the rush hour traffic; breakfast is eaten behind the wheel, that is, if you had remembered to grab it on your way out.  At the office, there's no room left to park your car, so you'd park yours on the lawn hoping and praying that the lawn mower doesn't flick rocks at your car.  In the office, you turn on your computer and Outlook downloads 10 megabytes of emails that were sent to you over night while you were sleeping. From there, answering all the work queries from the multiple "bosses" you have located in different countries around the world, you find yourself entangled with the office affairs that's always so interesting which makes you wonder if it should be an episode of some drama show like 'Home and Away'.  With ears tuning in the surrounding noises, eyes fixed on the screen in front of you and your mind continually rearranging your to-do list, you blink and suddenly… it's dark outside your window. On the way home, if you don't have something else scheduled, in your exhaustion you reflect on the day feeling relieved it's over but only to remember you have to do it all over again tomorrow.  This is a typical weekday for me.

But today was different.

In the middle of the day, I wanted to escape from the hustle and bustle, so I walked to my car that was parked under the maple tree and opened my Bible.  While all around me, people were rushing to and fro, the soft green leaves were quietly embracing the gentle breeze and the birds were singing peacefully, oblivious to the "life-threatening" deadlines that needed to be met.  Observing creation, I read, I reflected, I prayed and realized how little I spend time in the day to be still and know who is God.  In all the busyness, it's so easy to forget God, or even make other things our god. Today, this verse became real to me, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) and that I did.  I walked back in feeling refreshed and renewed.  Thank God for these little moments of retreat in Him, to be still and listen to His small voice and be reminded that all the surrounding 'chaos' are under His sovereign control, that strength can be found in Him, and just to refocus and be reminded that through it all, we are in His grace and His presence, always. 

Maybe tomorrow I will see Him there again. J

Quiet time before Church

This morning, I found myself waking up quite early and decided to take some extra time out to spend time with God. I got ready for Church and drove to a nearby river to sit in my car and read my devotions. It was an interesting experience and different to my usual rush to church. Often in Church I would find that by the time I woke up properly, the worship service was already over. It was even more worrying when some days I wouldn’t even remember going to Church in the morning. I have come to realise today the alertness that  I could have in the worship service when I have spent more time before Church “waking up” rather than doing that during the worship service. Hopefully in the future, I would apply this to more Sunday worship services and meet the King before worshipping Him in Church. Reminds me of the privilege we have to know God intimately.

Rediscovering the joy of being with Christ

I've been a Christian for about 12 years, and in that time I've experienced the blessing of spending time alone with God at various stages of my life. One of these times was when I would go to the worship hall every Saturday evening and arrange any chairs which are out of place into orderly rows so that on Sunday the place will be tidy for the worship service. Not everyone sees the value of what I do, and that's understandable. For me, it's a simple and personal way for me to worship and adore the Lord, perhaps not too different to how the woman who came to Jesus with the alabaster box of expensive fragrance to anoint Him. Long story short, I did the chair arranging thing for quite some time; I don't remember how long I've been doing it. But somehow, someway, I stopped doing it and to this day I still don't know why. So the years passed, and it wasn't until last Saturday night when I went to church to pray with a brother. After we finished praying, we started to put some of the chairs back to where they belong. The brother asked me if I remember the times I used to come in every Saturday night to arrange the chairs. I felt kind of embarrased as I said yes, and I told him that I would like to arrange the chairs alone if that was okay. He was okay with it and left the worship hall. As I started arranging the chairs, thoughts came flooding back to my mind about the times past when I was alone with the Lord in the worship hall arranging the chairs. I remembered how I used to bring my mp3 player with me to the worship hall and listened to sermons and hymns. I would be thinking about God as I moved the chairs into position, and since no one else was there except me and God, I felt safe enough to break out into song without feeling embarrased with my singing going out of tune, not being able to remember the words to a hymn, or something like that. It was one of those times when I could really be myself in the presence of my Lord. I could speak to the Lord openly and not having to be secretive about it. So for me, that Saturday was a night to remember, because it was truly something that I had missed for all these years. I remember one of the national youth camp messages I heard last year about returning to our first love. I remembered Bro Peter Blake telling us that we never lose our first love; it is we who leave our first love. So, in a way, coming back on Saturday and arranging the chairs in preparation for the worship service the next day is for me a return to my first love, albeit in a small way. But that simple act of doing what I used to do all those years ago has made me want to come back the following Saturday and so on. Thank God for His faithfulness and love for me that never dies.

One of the best Sunday evenings I've ever had

Sundays for me have typically been the busiest day of the week for me and a good number of brothers and sisters in BPCWA. Usually by the time I come home I would feel exhausted, but this Sunday I was able to have a very blessed evening listening to one of my hymn albums and reading a book by A. W. Tozer (his name is Aiden Wilson Tozer, by the way, for those who don't know). It was truly one of the most peaceful evenings I've had, and reminded me of what I used to do years ago when I had just become a Christian. I think it's a really blessed experience because for me it's an alternative form of escapism. Instead of a-musing myself with TV or something that has zero spiritual value, I was able to learn more about God and at the same time have my senses filled with wholesome spiritual music of old. Well, after attending the national youth camp last year, I've been discovering more ways to be with God and this is one of them so praise God for that.

Mysteries of God

1 Corinthians 4 (whole chapter)

 

Our daily lives can become routine and hum-drum when we repeat the same activities over and over, in a certain way and at a certain time. Spending time with God and reading His Written Word is no exception, sadly. As I read 1 Corinthians chapter 4 today, I felt that something was amiss, not just in my quiet time but how I've been living my life in every area. It wasn't the way or form of my prayers or any spiritual, but the fact that I'm just going about doing what I do, just to get it done and out of the way. Task upon task, activity upon activity. I felt empty, even though I was doing something. In the 1st verse, the words "mysteries of God" caught my attention, and as I finished reading the chapter and began to pray, I had come to realise that I have been looking everywhere but at God Himself. By that, I don't mean trying to picture what God looks like in my mind or something of that nature, but to simply be still and reflect on who God is, how great He is, what I do not yet know about Him, what He means to me, and so on. I wasn't aiming to get something from God so that I could feel better for the day, but my reflecting upon Him has changed something in me. Whereas before I was just busy trying to do what I need to do before the day is out, but now it seems that these things are not my main focus. Yes, I still have things to do and I must continue to do them, but in my heart and mind there is this constant sense that there is something higher and far above all that is earthly, and I believe that it is God Himself. To behold God with my soul is, perhaps, something that goes beyond what words can describe. But if there was one word that I would use to describe this moment, it would have to be captivating.

Mary or Martha?

Dear Beloved, 

How are you treating God today? It's 23 days after camp, how's your relationship with the Lord?

As we step into a new year, are you piling more labour on yourself and sacrifice your time with the Lord like Martha? Or as Mary, you have decided to chose that good part, to sit at Jesus' feet and hear his word? 

Are you Mary or Martha?

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt 11:28

"Rest is simply release from that burden. It is not something we do; it is what comes to us when we ceae to do. His own meekness, that is the rest." - A.W.T. Pursuit of God

Our Lord is calling. Come and he will give you rest.