Christ calls ....

"When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die"
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The result of sin : Watchman Nee

"God allows that soul to fall, to weaken, and even to sin, that he may understand whether or not any good resides in the flesh. This usually happens to the one who thinks he is progressing spiritually. The Lord tries him in order that he may know himself. It is altogether a most difficult lesson, and is not learned within one day or night. Only after many years does one gradually realize how untrustworthy is his flesh."

... Shaken, Quenched, Broken ...

Unshakable faith is faith that has been shaken ...
Unquenchable joy is joy that has been quenched ...
Unbreakable love is love that has been broken ....

AW Tozer

"God rarely uses a man greatly, until He hurts a man deeply"
AW Tozer

EM Bounds - Quote

"The Church is looking for better methods;
God is looking for better people. What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but people whom the Holy Spirit can use, people of prayer, people mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through people. He does not come in machinery, but on people. He does not anoint plans, but people -- people of prayer"

Broken In The Right Place - Alan E Nelson

While I was in the hairdresser this evening, I completed reading the book "Broken In The Right Place" by Alan E Nelson .... I was already half way and completed the book by the time the hairdresser finish her work on my hair ....

This is a very interesting book ... rather, it somehow suits my mode for now. Found a lot of meaningful and reflective nuggets and one of it is entitled The Mature Person - which is a result of brokenness - a tamed soul which is mature. Alan listed seven characters of a mature person which caused me to reflect on my own inner man.













A mature person will :

1) Keep loving when they do not receive love in return - can I love consistently? Broken people tend to be good lovers. They are slow to anger, quick to forgive, reticent to condemn and swift to affirm.

2) Able to maintain a positive joy flow during times of times of emotional recession. Joy during trials and temptations. They are emotionally consistent.

God is a great recycler. He takes the garbage that happens to us and makes something good out of it. The breaking process has a spiritual ecology. Problems are never wasted. Mature people who not rise and fall with their day-today emotions.

3) Live in holiness. E Stanley : "outer sins are only fruit - the unsurrendered self is the disease"

4) Not preoccupied with possessions or status. Brokenness reveals the true value of tangible things. A person rich in relation to the things he or she can live without.

5) Consistently service-oriented. Mature people are not driven to serve but they are called to serve.

6) Mature person learn from the past, live in the present but aim for the future. Immature people live in the past, complain about the present, and usually avoid the future. Mature people are perpetual learners. They are always growing. They press forward and progress-oriented. They use the past to provide wisdom for the future. They quit licking yesterdays wounds.

7) Humility - humility is one major result of breaking process.

Nelson made another thought provoking statement : most quarrels come from inner conflict, not external circumstances. And I think that if we look deeper .... into our soul .... there are any conflicts within us. Only when we can settle the raging storm within us with God, we can be at still and peace -- enter another milestone of maturity.

There is just so much of nuggets of gold in this book -- this is a book that I highly recommend!

Why Don't We Fear God?

Last Sun was my first time to preach in GCM service. The topic : fear of the Lord and indeed I had great fear of preaching because it has been 1.5years since I last preached in a service.

The main thing that stuck with me is - why we do we struggle so much to fear the Lord. As I reflect, these keep ringing in my ears : " .... I want to be the one in charge .... I want to be in control of things ... I want to do it my way .... I want to be god .. I want ... I want ... I want ... I want .... " ..... Lord, have mercy .... our human nature cries out to be in charge and in control of ourselves and of the things around us, the people around us .... the following is an edited abstract from the sermon -

"Deuteronomy 10 : 16 tells us that we are stiff necked people. Stiff necked is liken to unresponsive oxen or horse. Oxen and horses are stubborn, rebellious and inflexible. It will take a strong bridle to break a horse or oxen’s stubbornness. God calls us to circumcise our heart and do not be stiff neck anymore.

If physical circumcision is cutting away the flesh, spiritual circumcision of the heart then is a cutting away of the natural, sinful, Adamic nature we are born with. Uncircumcised heart is one that is closed towards God. It is rebellious, inflexible and stubborn heart, a heart that resists the work of God’s Spirit, dealing and discipline. Uncircumcised heart still wants to be king and god over his life and not allow God to be God. Uncircumcised heart cries out to be in charge and to be in control ......

In order to fear the Lord, we need to circumcise our heart - we need to cut away the flesh, the human nature that cries out to be in charge and to be in control .....

How then can we be have a circumcised heart and fear the Lord? Only and only by SURRENDERING, LETTING GO, to ALLOWING GOD TO BE GOD in our lives , to allow God to be the one in charge and in control of our lives ..... in other words .... to totally submit to live by the Spirit.

Paul says in Romans 8:5 that those who live according to sinful nature, which is by our flesh have our minds set on that nature desires but those who live in accordance to the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

What is the desire of your heart? To live a life by subject to the Spirit or to live a life controlled by your sinful nature? Or we get greedy and want the best of both worlds – to claim all the benefits of God’s promises and yet at the same time, enjoy our current world?

You know that no man can serve two masters. I have personally been challenged in this area 2 weeks ago ...... We will either hate one and love the other - confirmed by own life experience - God does not want a divided heart, divided spirit, divided soul .....

Fearing the Lord is the matter of your heart – what is the decision of your heart now?

To surrender and let go of your life, to allow God and His Spirit to take control of your heart, be in charge of your life, humbly go through a spiritual circumcision of your heart ....

OR to continue to live as you are …. You being the master of your life., be in control of your life and people in your life ..... you will remain in the same situation, stuck in the same staleness of life ..

If you want a change and breakthrough in your life, make this decision today ….. pray and ask God to circumcise your heart! Allow God to be God in your life. Allow Him to take charge and take over."

Remember, if He can control and ensure that the entire universe is running and working in order ... don't you think He is able to take control of your life well?