On Eagles Wings

Isaiah 40 talks about God’s comfort to His people and it heralds His coming. God is exalted in all His ways and Isaiah gives us a glimpse as to who God is:

1) God’s comfort (v1)
2) God’s justice (v2b)
3) God’s glory (v5)
4) God’s strength (v10)
5) God’s reward (v10)
6) God’s provision (v11)
7) God’s incomparable greatness (v15-18)
8) God’s grace (v29)

Isaiah 40 closes off with these words:

“But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”

As we wait upon the Lord, we experience Him in all the 8 characteristics that Isaiah writes about. In God we truly can rise on wings like eagles. In God we can truly run and not grow faint. Why? Because He is my all in all much as He is yours.

“Foolish” Wisdom

Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say,
“He traps the wise
in the snare of their own cleverness.”

And again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise;
He knows they are worthless.”

1 Cor. 3:18-20

This portion of Scripture is a puzzlement to me but at the same time there’s a great comfort that I have from it whenever I do/act/speak on things that are contrary to popular culture especially when I go against my sense of self-preservation.

• Turning the other cheek & being silent even when wrongly accused.
• Putting others above myself.
• Giving rather than receiving.
• Long-suffering.
• Having faith even when I don’t understand.

These values go against what our natural selves want and there are many times when I feel stupid in doing things that are contrary to the norm.

If you feel like me sometimes, take heart cos’ God’s foolishness is wiser than the wisest that humanity has to offer. Amen?

Hearing from God: The Promise

Hi everyone,

It’s been a whirlwind for the past 2 weeks and I’m glad that I have some time this morning to write this very important post that I’ve been mulling over for a very long time.

Hearing from God is a very important thing to me so I’m just gonna take a couple of minutes to distill a lil’ bit of what I know about this in this first of a series of posts that I have planned on the subject.

First and foremost, I think we need to know what the Bible says about some things and in my searching & doubts about my ability to hear from God I came across this particular passage from John’s gospel.

Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

John 10:25-30

The Good Shepherd

The passage above gave me a lot of assurance especially in my questioning on how I know I can hear from God. As I searched my heart I felt led to these 2 things that make up a promise that comes from Jesus’ words.

1. The challenge to us: Believe in Jesus & accept Him as Lord of our lives
2. The promise to us: By accepting Him as the shepherd of our souls we become His sheep and we can listen to & recognise His voice. He knows us and we follow Him. Of course there are other wonderful gifts too but that one small detail which I have often overlooked just shone through as I read the above one day. Having a promise like that is a big deal once you realise just how much we are designed to be dependent upon God.

I’m still figuring things out but having this assurance means the world to me because there are many times when I wonder if I am able to hear from God or if I’m able to recognise His voice but this passage gives me a comfort that God does indeed gift us with a special privilege to recognise His voice when we have accepted Him into our lives.

Now that we have this foundation in place; tune in later this week in Part 2.

Great Expectations

The morning finds me here at heaven’s door
A place I’ve been so many times before
Familiar thoughts and phrases start to flow
And carry me to places that I know so well
But dare I go where I don’t understand
And do I dare remember where I am
I stand before the great eternal throne
The one that God himself is seated on
And I I’ve been invited as a son
Oh I I’ve been invited to come and

Believe the unbelievable
Receive the inconceivable
And see beyond my wildest imagination
Lord I come with great expectations

So wake the hope that slumbers in my soul
Stir the fire inside and make it glow
I’m trusting in a love that has no end
The savior of this world has called me friend
And I I’ve been invited with the son
Oh I I’ve been invited to come and

We’ve been invited with the son
And we’ve been invited to come and

Believe the unbelievable
Receive the inconceivable
And see beyond our wildest imagination
Lord we come with great expectations

Psalm 130

Waiting on Him

1 From the depths of despair, O Lord,
I call for your help.

2 Hear my cry, O Lord. 
Pay attention to my prayer.

3 Lord, if you kept a record of our sins,
who, O Lord, could ever survive?

4 But You offer forgiveness,
that we might learn to fear You.

5 I am counting on the Lord; 
yes, I am counting on Him. 
I have put my hope in His word.

6 I long for the Lord 
more than sentries long for the dawn, 
yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord;
for with the Lord there is unfailing love.
His redemption overflows.

8 He himself will redeem Israel
from every kind of sin.

2 Things I Learnt in Port Dickson

Sunset in Teluk Kemang

I didn’t really do much in Port Dickson but in the two things I did do I asked God to teach me something and here are gems that I gleaned from two very simple activities:

The Trek

On Sunday evening I wanted to catch the sunset and so I set out to the lighthouse at Teluk Rachado. I was there way early and spied a small trail that led into the jungle. I figured that I had all the time in the world and decided to see where the trail led. The path wound downhill and much to my chagrin it ended by the sea in a secluded cove that wasn’t at all attractive. The trek back up was torturous and even though I’m kinda fit it was a labourous climb back up.

The Lesson:

It can be easy to explore the trail but the way back can be tough and you’ll find at times that what’s waiting at the end of the trail ain’t as great as what you expect/hope it to be. Much like life, our curiosity gets the better of us most times and what we think we want may disappoint us in the end. The journey to get back to where we were can be long & hard but if we have the right perspective of things then we’ll realise that it’s the journey that counts and not so much the destination.

The Sunset

My lighthouse trip to catch the sunset was a bust cos’ the sky was overcast and the sun couldn’t breakthrough the clouds. Disappointed I decided to just head on down and stop by the beach instead cos’ I was looking for a place to run. I hit Teluk Kemang on my way back to my hotel and God had a big surprise for me there cos’ the sunset I wanted to see was waiting for me right at the beach!

The Lesson:

Awesome sunsets can be found at an easy to get to location; you don’t always have to go up to the lighthouse to see it. What I learnt is that we don’t always have to work so hard or go so far to get what we want. Sometimes or quite likely most times, God is ready to just bless us if we could only just be patient and if we would just trust Him as we ask. I went up a hill to looking for a sunset but it wasn’t there. Who knew that it was actually waiting or me by the beach and I didn’t even need to trek to get to it.

I could qualify all the above with a verse or two from the Bible but I’ll leave it to you guys to discover some of them for yourselves (or maybe I’m just too lazy… heh).

He Showed Up

Hi everyone!

The Burning Bush

I’m back from Port Dickson and God definitely showed up there. I actually finished reading two books and the awesome part is that the two books made more sense when I got home late on Tuesday morning when a wellspring of anger got triggered by a random event. Everything just fell into place and this is one of those moments when God spoke ahead of time (thank God for a God who sees all and knows all).

I can’t go into the details about what transpired in my few days of personal retreat but suffice to see something’s definitely happening in me. There’s just so much. I wish I could rush things forward as the start of change is always the hardest but I can’t. God’s timing & pace is always best. He’s never too slow and He’s never too fast. His timing is just right.

Anyways, Port Dickson was a good pick and Corus Paradise Resort was clean, simple and centrally located between Teluk Kemang and town. Not the greatest of resorts but I got used to it cos’ all I needed was a place to hunker in. I could’ve checked in to Avillion but decided against it as I had a great deal of just RM240 for a 3 day, 2 night stay where I was. I’ll write a bit more about Port Dickson in a future post.

So… what does one do on a personal retreat? Here’s what I did in the 3 days I was away:

1. Switched off my phone (this was the hardest to do but it was worth it – when I finally kept it off on Sunday evening)
2. Read (ask God to lead you to a book or two)
3. Prayed every time I felt something stand out in my reading
4. Looked out for God when I was out (I went for a short hike at the Teluk Rachado Lighthouse and caught a sunset at Teluk Kemang)
5. Slept a lot
6. Worshiped with my guitar

Its not too hard to go for a personal retreat and if we’re seeking Him wholeheartedly He definitely shows up. The question we have to ask ourselves always is are we prepared to listen and are we prepared to obey? If the answer is yes then He’s definitely gonna speak.

Till next time.

Timing Out

Timing Out

I’ve taken the day off tomorrow and will be timing out to spend some alone time with God for the next few days.

I both look forward and dread personal retreats because:

1. There’s always that fear that God won’t show up in a way that I can truly hear from Him
2. The ever-present question of what do I do without the usual buzz of entertainment that keeps my mind occupied most times
3. The spectre of my thoughts being enveloped by all my doubts & struggles especially when I have all that time on my hands

And so I leave today. I’ll be switching off my phone as soon as I hit my retreat spot.

Vaya con dios amigos.

Remember

I’ve been mulling this over for a bit and after listening to a Ravi Zacharias pod about memorials I figure now’s as good a time as any to write this. But first a lil’ rhyme to give you guys a bit of background as to why this post.

I woke up one morning  feelin’ quite blue
I asked God for something at Uber’s annual do
I started my day and left it at that
I didn’t think He heard, I didn’t think He cared

But God He took notice and He had a  plan
Tho’ I was late for dinner with the rest of the clan
My number was called and God is no fool
A big gift He gave me, something way too cool

PS3 Slim (Black)

It really was a nice surprise and even though I already have 2 Ps3s (one’s busted) it really made me see God’ goodness and answer to prayer. I could’ve been ungrateful and told God, “What? Another PS3? Why not the LED TV?” but I decided to be thankful and even though there were offers to buy the PS3 off me I didn’t take any one up on it. Why? Cos’ the new console is a gift from God! And in lot of  ways it’s a tangible reminder of God’s goodness to me. Joshua 4 has a similar story about having monuments that remind us of who God is. Read on.

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

We all need physical reminders to remind us of God in our lives and much like the Israelites’ memorial on the banks of the Jordan, the black PS3 in my room now serves the same purpose. I am blessed and seeing it reminds me every day that God knows my heart and that if He can bless me with a PS3 then I should trust Him in the deeper aches in my life.

Thanks BIG GUY!

Remembering 2010

Happy New Year

It’s 2011!

It’s been a rough year in more ways than one but throughout it all God has been good and sustained me throughout despite me losing sight of Him a lot. Despite capping the year off with disappointment & failure on my part to figure out a major thing in my life I look towards 2011 with a heart that’s lighter. I spent most of yesterday reflecting on some of the highlights of 2010 so here they are in a somewhat chronological order.

1. Breaking Sin
   My best buddy and Zone Leader confronted me on a major struggle in the first quarter of 2010 and since then I’ve made great strides in that. Yes, I do slip up here and there but I can stand with my head up high knowing that God really has enabled me to understand myself better in order to say no to temptation.
2. Personal Fitness
   I’m really proud of where I’m at here. It took a lot of hard work but I’m at a stable 72 to 73kilos in weight with a consistent exercise regime of running and push-ups. In fact I’ve started running outside of the gym and am enjoying the times I get to run in Taman Tasik Titiwangsa which is just a skip & a hop from where I live.
3. Work
   God’s really been good to me here. I got promoted in September and am now working very hard to head up a brand new department; focusing on content, ideas, social media management & internet marketing. The shoes I have to fill are big but with God’s help I know I can do it as long as I continue to remain humble whilst balancing out the need to be self-assured & decisive in leading the team. 

   I also helped to lead the team that launched the revamp of a brand new site for a major client. That was a proud moment and I can only give glory to God for this cos’ He helped hold things together despite the numerous delays & the many things that I am responsible for at work. The main idea that drove the whole revamp came from Him as I prayed and to see it come to pass is an awesome thing indeed.

4. The Penang Bridge International Marathon 2010
   I never thought I’d participate in a run this year but I did! And I have a finisher medal to prove that I crossed the finish line in the 10km category. I’m discovering that I do love to run and I’m looking forward to a few more 10km runs this year before I even consider taking on the 21km category.
5. Letting Go
   I won’t elaborate on this so much cos’ it’s very personal but suffice to say God had to allow me to go through a lot in the past few years in order to help me see how tight a hold I have on things. There is more clarity now but I guess there’s gonna be a lot to clean-up of the mess I’ve made of things. I can only ask for God’s grace & mercy to intervene somehow to put things right. That’s a main prayer item for me as I enter 2011 but the lightness of heart is already a blessing from Him.

And that as they say was 2010 in a nutshell. Happy New Year everyone and I hope good things come your way in 2011 the more you can trust God in the things that weigh you down.

God bless!