Reminder : Isaiah 46 : 3-13

<sup>As I struggled pen down my 1st sermon on SFM since I come back the Lord encouraged and strengthen me through the following passage.... amazing ... wonderful is my Creator .. my Father .... my Savior, my Redemeer ... my Source ... my ALL ... yes... to whom we can compare our God to ... how can we doubt His perfect will and perfect plan for us, His beloved children whom He love unto death .... I acknowlege that He is God ... I am mere man ....

Let this passage minister to you as well .... in a fresh way :

3</sup> "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth.

⁴ Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

⁵ "To whom will you compare me or count me equal?
To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?

⁶ Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales;
they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it.

⁷ They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands.
From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it does not answer;
it cannot save him from his troubles.

⁸ "Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.

⁹ Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.

¹⁰ I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

¹¹ From the east I summon a bird of prey;
from a far-off land, a man to fulfill My purpose.
What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.

¹² Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness.

¹³ I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away;
and My salvation will not be delayed.
I will grant salvation to Zion, My splendor to Israel.

And all God's people say : AMEN!!!!

Faith With Out Deeds Is Dead

.... just as the body without spirit is dead, so is faith without deeds (action) [James 2:26] ....

These words rings strongly in my ears as I struggle to lead my 1st formal prayer meeting in Mandarin yesterday. Looks like the Lord had to "push"me me off the boat again into the waters to test and build my faith.

I was still OK with the idea of leading prayer met when asked by Bro Ding on Thursday morning because Tsuey was around --- so ... my usual contingency was for to be my interpreter ... but God had other plans. Tsuey is on schedule to take care of the kids instead and she asked if we could stick to the original schedule --what can I say but YES .. because deep down in my heart, I know I just got to JUST DO IT!

So, it was time to step out in faith and allow God to work thru me .... and God did .. :0 ... I knew I could not pray in Mandarin yet ... so, by His grace, He gave me the idea that I can pass the mike around for brothers and sisters to pray .. as I share the prayer pointers .... praise God ...it works ... His grace is always sufficient for us ... and He will not test us beyond what we can bear ... so when God ask you to jump off the boat ... JUMP! He will be there to help you walk on the waters .... when u jump off in faith and fix your eyes on Him ...

This is God's way of confirming that I should preach my 1st sermon in church next week in Mandarin ...something which I struggled for almost 1mth .... God indeed works and speaks thru mysterious circumstances eh .... :0 ..

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Heb 11:1) ..

What do I hope for --- to be able to preach, worship, worship lead, prayer and read Mandarin because of His specific call in my life ...

So, from now till then ...... its faith action all the way till I reach my final destination in this area..

Yeah!!! Bulan Puasa - Unity in Diversity :0

I was so excited that Ramadan is here. After being away for 3 years, today was my 1st day enjoying dinner from the buka puasa stalls. The house I live in is just 3mins walking distance from the stalls - super cool! When I lived in Perling, it takes 5mins drive to the stalls.

When I walked the stalls in the heat of the evening ... I was just soooooo thrilled and excited ...guess this was one of the things that I love and enjoy in Malaysia .... participating in the culture of another -- here ... the variety of food because of the fasting month! The choice of food --- wow ... u name it .... semua ada --- nasi beriani (macam2 type) .... ayam percik, stay, murtabak, nasi lemak, kebab, otak2, dishes ...asam pedas ... different types of fish ... kuih2 ... drinks ....dll (dan lain lain lagi)

Was excited when I saw a stall nasi dagang and nasi kerabu ... this is a typical Kelantan/Terengganu dish and its not easy to find it here. I wanted to get nasi dagang ikan but ikan finished (before 6pm) ... so .. I bought nasi kerabu ikan ... and burung puyuh goreng berempah. The nasi is very nice .... burung puyuh goreng .. this is my 1st time eating this. I bought this cos I wanted their rempah goreng .. it looked and smelled sooooooooooo good ... I dare not eat the whole bird ... bit geli and kesihan the bird .... ate a bit ... tasted like ayam ... but the meat is much tender ...

Happy and satisfied .... glad to be back in Malaysia man! Will visit the stalls again .... and this time must bring my camera ..

Draw near to God & He will draw near to you ....

What happens when people are hungry and thirsty for God? YES - God shows up to feed His hungry and quench the thirst children! This is what happen in my first "mission trip" under SKM to Medan!!! Praise the Lord!

Just got back from 6day trip to Medan with 4 other anointed servant of God. Awesome experience, exposure and huge learning opportunity on God, His Word and the Holy Spirit! :0 And I thank God for this opportunity that was give to me by my pastor.

We spent 5 solid days with Mu-En Methodist church in Medan. It is relatively a new church, set up right after tsunami hit their hometown in Acheh, approximately 100 members. Like tsunami, the church has gone thru winds of change ... and this wind is the wind of the Holy Spirit that is blowing in the lives of these hungry and thirsty people .....

Our mission therefore was just to be the vessel for the Holy Spirit to move and work - and I so touched that Jesus came, lived, died and was resurrected on the 3rd day to save me from my sins and damnation of sins --- to give me LIFE, and LIFE abundantly --- and hence, out of this LIFE .... He consider me worthy to be His vessel to allow His LIFE flow in and thru me ....

Typical itinerary : morning - prayer : we gather, ask the Holy Spirit to show us what He wants to do ... and we wait upon Him. Awesome! Some of us receive word ... vision .... scripture ... and when we put them together .... the puzzle fits perfectly ... there was a session to pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit - God just shows up and move ..... :0 ... in another session, one of our team member had a vision of Jesus walking to each of us individually with His hands doing the heart shape sign, placing it in individual heart ... followed by a flying kiss on each individual - the meaning : Jesus is in our mist, placing His love in our heart and out of it will flow words of LIFE and His love to share with people around us.

Afternoon : individual healing & deliverance session (pre arranged to meet with one of the pastors. I am the student here). This is really a huge new exposure to me ... there is so much to learn ... Pastor June shares two foundation here : a) faith - all that we do is an act of FAITH. We must have faith in God and in what we are doing .. that God will work in and thru .... our role is just His instrument. The final healing, deliverance and restoration is His part. b) my salvation- this is the foundation of what I do and why I do it .... it is the power and meaning of the Cross in my life

I must add a few more points from my observation : a) Each case is different. So, we cannot have a fix method that it has to be done or expressed a certain way b) Humility - we have to consciously remind ourselves that it is not us or our power or our intelligence that had set the people free but it is Holy Spirit thru us. Never ever rob God of His glory c) Not only sensitivity to Holy Spirit but also discernment.

Many lives were set free from the powers of darkness as black magic is very much embedded in their lifestyle and culture.

Night : full blast session of being in the presence of God - in worship, listening to His Word, prayer, prophetic prayer act ..... and allowing Holy Spirit a free hand to move and touch our lives. The anointing was so strong that many were weeping in worship, some received the baptism of the Holy Spirit ....

The main word that impacted the entire meeting was James 4 : 6 - 8
"But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."
When we humble ourselves before God (acknowledging that He is God, we repent of our arrogance thinking highly of ourselves, we always want to be god or like god ... controlling and running our lives ad the lives of others around us), God will give us His grace and draw us to Him as we draw near to Him. As for the enemy ... we just need to believe by faith that when we resist him, he will flee from us!

God brought us to Mu-En to pass the fire and passion of intercession .... so that out of them .. God will raise intercessors and watchman for Mu-En, Medan and Indonesia! And I recalled .... a few years back (31 Aug 2005) .... Indonesia church from Batam came to JB and did the same thing to CCC JB and the fire of intercession was lighted up in me .... now is my turn to pass the light to others ... :0 ..

All glory to Him, my God, Master and Savior!!!!