Since several weeks ago, Serene 姐姐 began to bring Sister Amanda to this ministry set up by Brother Francis Khoo, with the Grace of God, for faith healing. Praise be to God.
For more information about this Ministry, check out: Covenant Vision
To provide Word-based, Spirit-led & Faith-filled Christian Teaching, Training & Ministry to fulfil the Commission of Jesus to preach the Kingdom of God to heal the sick and to set the captives free.
Adapted from CVC's Mission Statement
This evening’s message ministered so much to me. I also went forward for prayer and God spoke to me and affirmed what Pastor Wendy prayed for me 1.5 months through Brother Francis' prayer. =)
Let me share my thoughts and take-away with all of you in this entry. I pray that the Spirit of the True and Living God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will minister to your heart with His Message to you and by His Grace and through His Love and Word, you will transform your life through the renewal of your mind (Rom 12:2a)
Here it goes…
Brothers and Sisters, it is a very sobering thought that our Father in Heaven has a great plan, uniquely authored for each and every one of us. He is our Author and Finisher of our life story.
Your life story, my life story, every one’s life story has already been authored and completed by God at the time of creation.
YES! God has a plan uniquely tailor-made for each and every one of us, billions of us who lived yesterday, lives now and tomorrow. God has an individual plan charted out for every single one of us. Praise be to God.
He simply loves and is so crazily in love with each and every one of us. Yes, every one of us. However, He has also given us the free will to choose whether or not to accept this gift of new life after we’ve received the good news of His Son, Jesus Christ.
YES! God has a plan uniquely tailor-made for each and every one of us, billions of us who lived yesterday, lives now and tomorrow. God has an individual plan charted out for every single one of us. Praise be to God.
He simply loves and is so crazily in love with each and every one of us. Yes, every one of us. However, He has also given us the free will to choose whether or not to accept this gift of new life after we’ve received the good news of His Son, Jesus Christ.
For me, I have chosen to accept this gift to have Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Thanksgiving be to God.
Many may think and ponder why we still suffer if this God really loves us so much?
WHY?! Why suffering?
Brothers and Sisters, I paused and asked this to myself and my answer is simple: we chose to do the wrong things which are not pleasing and honourable to God. In other words, I have deliberately sinned against God.
Brother Francis Khoo put it very well. He said that God allows us to have suffering in this world, first because although through Christ, we have life. I am still living in this flesh. As long as we are living in this body, we will face temptations. We might even fall into sin. We will feel the pain through our sufferings.
God uses these sufferings for a good cause.
It is to mold us and build us up, not to tear us down.
For my case, it is clear that God allowed me to face certain struggles for the good purpose in the fulfilment of His Kingdom. God doesn’t plan for me to sin. But because of my own circumstances, I fell into my own area of struggles: sexual struggle.
Those of you who know my past, you will testify that if not for this struggle, I wouldn’t know God. If not for this struggle, I wouldn’t have received Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour.
Those of you who know my past, you will testify that if not for this struggle, I wouldn’t know God. If not for this struggle, I wouldn’t have received Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour.
If not for Jesus, I wouldn’t be who I am today.
I would have still been indulging in those things which I thought was pleasing to my flesh. To a point, I would yearn for more and more and soooonn.. destruction could come upon me.. like it or not, we have to be held accountable for whatever we did.
I thank God for this thorn in my flesh. Pain but it reminds me constantly that it is BY HIS GRACE, I am who I am today.
Suffering is a lesson in life. Learn and move on.
This part of the message just affirmed what Brother Richie told me last night when he drove me home.
Yes yes, God doesn’t plan for us to sin, but if we did sin, we must ask for forgiveness from God, learn the lesson, pick ourselves up believing that we are well forgiven in Christ and move on AND not to repeat again. We need to make deliberate efforts to walk out of it.
To God, His instruction for me (even for every one of you out there) is simple. He teaches us the principles of life and everything we need to know is recorded in the Holy Bible. God has given us the 10 commandments, simple to understand. No difficult word with a meaning that is too deep for anyone to comprehend or understand
Also, in life, God gives me the free will in everything I do. I can choose to do God’s Will or otherwise. Of course, God has already taught me through His Word that what He wants from me.
Yes yes, God doesn’t plan for us to sin, but if we did sin, we must ask for forgiveness from God, learn the lesson, pick ourselves up believing that we are well forgiven in Christ and move on AND not to repeat again. We need to make deliberate efforts to walk out of it.
To God, His instruction for me (even for every one of you out there) is simple. He teaches us the principles of life and everything we need to know is recorded in the Holy Bible. God has given us the 10 commandments, simple to understand. No difficult word with a meaning that is too deep for anyone to comprehend or understand
Also, in life, God gives me the free will in everything I do. I can choose to do God’s Will or otherwise. Of course, God has already taught me through His Word that what He wants from me.
All God asked of me is OBEDIENCE to Him despite suffering.
All the things come by the Grace of God. What then is Grace? Simply, Grace is the unmerited favour from God, initiated from God, truly and solely from God alone, without us having to do anything.
While we are sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8)
So what then when we know God loves us?
He calls us for response to His Grace for us. We are given the Son-ships (inheritance). God had 7,487 promises for us throughout the entire Bible, His Word. Of which, we have already claimed the first one – the Promise of His One and Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. All the remaining blessings have been poured out unto us and/or waiting to be poured upon us when we respond to God in OBEDIENCE.
Every one of us is entitled to God’s inheritance by birth. But that doesn’t guarantee inheritance yet. It is when I received Christ, I was reborn through the redemption of Christ. God gives me the rights to His inheritance in Christ Jesus. As a young son of God, I am still not able to claim His full inheritance until I matured by partaking the Spiritual Food (His Word through Bible Study).
Through this rebirth, I am ‘enslaved’ no more to sins or things of this world but ‘enslaved’ to God. What is slavery all about? It is having no rights at all. In my case, being enslaved to God of Righteousness, I am denied of all rights to any kind of complaints and soulish desires.
When Mr. S A Tan wants to attack (tempt) me, I will not react (be OBEDIENCE in suffering). By not reacting or giving in to his attacks, my Master, Lord Jesus could react and stand up for me. This is what slavery is all about, during those times of slavery. Wow, how sobering. My Heavenly Master will take care of the rest when we give Him our best by being obedient to Him despite being tempted very intensely.
Every one of us is entitled to God’s inheritance by birth. But that doesn’t guarantee inheritance yet. It is when I received Christ, I was reborn through the redemption of Christ. God gives me the rights to His inheritance in Christ Jesus. As a young son of God, I am still not able to claim His full inheritance until I matured by partaking the Spiritual Food (His Word through Bible Study).
Through this rebirth, I am ‘enslaved’ no more to sins or things of this world but ‘enslaved’ to God. What is slavery all about? It is having no rights at all. In my case, being enslaved to God of Righteousness, I am denied of all rights to any kind of complaints and soulish desires.
When Mr. S A Tan wants to attack (tempt) me, I will not react (be OBEDIENCE in suffering). By not reacting or giving in to his attacks, my Master, Lord Jesus could react and stand up for me. This is what slavery is all about, during those times of slavery. Wow, how sobering. My Heavenly Master will take care of the rest when we give Him our best by being obedient to Him despite being tempted very intensely.
What can I do in response to God’s love for me?
I can choose to make a right choice in flesh. I can claim and in fact I have claimed on this promise for His indwelling presence in my heart. With this, I will receive God’s gift of an infilling power through His Holy Spirit. With His Righteousness, I am working for the strongholds in my life to be shattered by the power of His Holy Spirit. This calls me to walk by faith and respond to the anointing of His Holy Spirit.
Book of Exodus has always been my theme book that spoke so much to me as I could identify myself as an Israelite who God has called me into His Promised Land flowing with milk and honey (Ex 3:8).
Now I am in wilderness (suffering with emotional attachment and emotional deficiency yet with obedience to God), out of Egypt (out of my lifestyle,) and on my way to the Promised Land which God has called me to (blessings from God and service to God). In this wilderness, this is a place of just enough and this is also a place of training for me. He has a purpose for me, just like He has a purpose for anyone of you out there.
I am particularly ministered when I heard this:
Book of Exodus has always been my theme book that spoke so much to me as I could identify myself as an Israelite who God has called me into His Promised Land flowing with milk and honey (Ex 3:8).
Now I am in wilderness (suffering with emotional attachment and emotional deficiency yet with obedience to God), out of Egypt (out of my lifestyle,) and on my way to the Promised Land which God has called me to (blessings from God and service to God). In this wilderness, this is a place of just enough and this is also a place of training for me. He has a purpose for me, just like He has a purpose for anyone of you out there.
I am particularly ministered when I heard this:
“How long I stay in wilderness depends on how quickly I learn the lesson.”
God is waiting patiently for me. He has all the time in this world to wait for me (I like this saying from Brother Ramesh). God knows I must first learn my lesson before He allows me into His Promised Land.
If I choose to be willful and not learn, I can be sure that God will allow replays and replays of my sufferings and struggles until I decide to learn from my lessons and decide to walk out of it. He will also withhold whatever blessings He has prepared for us, until we choose to obey Him.
He will see us through and Jesus will definitely see us through the storms and end the storms in our lives. He will do that for me, and He will do that for you, Brothers and Sisters.
I have made a choice to deny myself, take up my cross and follow Jesus. This is not easy, temptations will be intensive & I will have to live by the Grace of God daily.
One day at a time
So, Brothers and Sisters, is there any stronghold(s) in your life that you’ve withheld from God? Have you any areas which you need breakthrough and needs God’s strength in your area of struggles?
Let go and let God.
If you have decided to do something for God in 2006 yet face difficulties in letting go, I invite you and pray that you could join me at an overnight prayer at Covenant Vision Center.
"Encounter God for your Breakthrough!"Overnight Prayer
9 January 2006
(Day before Hari Raya)
11pm – 6am
(Breakfast will be provided after 6am on 10 January 2006)
Covenant Vision Centre
154 Tyrwhitt Road
You may wish to contact me and I will provide you with more information on how to get to Covenant Vision Centre.
Come to the Father today.
He is waiting patiently for you to come back to Him.
Come back to Him today.
May the blessings of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit be with you now and always. Amen.
All Glory and Praise to be God.
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