It has been a fortnight since 2008 Hillsong Conference. It certainly has been a blessing moment for me. God really shaped my character & core being as a whole – enlarging it to prepare the way for His people.
I began this conference, fasting and knowing that God wanna realign my vision… Not knowing most of the speakers that were coming this year, there weren’t any expectations. As the conference begins, God constantly reminded about “JUSTICE” “POVERTY” “COMPASSION”… I know my heartbeat is to reach out to the young people, so the poor & needy never cross my mind. Not that I don’t feel for them, but this issue never compelled me to move “the other side of the road”. I told God, “Yes, I know about these people, tell me more. Enough telling me about them!” I sorta avoid/run away from these 3 words God constantly placed in my heart.
I remembered this pastor mentioning this verse:-
Mat25: 34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
“God’s heart is always with the poor. If you wanna serve God & not involve these people that He cares, You are not serving God!”
That statement spoke to me deeply. God cares for these people so much, and if I wanna serve Him & please Him but not think/care/remember/consider/do something for those who are in needs & living in poverty, I am not serving God. If I sing “break my heart for what break Yours” and not doing so, then God’s heartbeat is not my heartbeat.
Felt that, for now I should just “do” it… If it pleases God, I’ll do so, and I know as I continue to serve Him in this area, I believe He will cultivate this heartbeat in me. He will break my heart & make me fall in love with these people.
Gal2: 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
This conference speaks to me about “Loving God & Loving His people!” Never less than that. Felt that it is much more impactful than the previous conference, and the conviction really shaped my heart to be more like Him. I thank God for the good start & I am excited to be a hand & feet to extend His kingdom.
"I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way"—
3"a voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.'
What are some of the ways that you can prepare for Him to move? A phone call? A house visit? A word of encouragement? Or simply just buying a friend a gift? It’s not always spiritual. It’s just being practical at times and meeting the needs of the people around us.
Something that God really spoken to me lately through Ps Matt – I was telling him that “we can bring the horse to the water, but we can’t make the horse drink” & he says, the key to this statement is “we gotta make the horse really thirsty. Then regardless whether we lead them to the water, they will automatically go around looking for water to drink because they ARE THIRSTY.” I was like SO TRUE!!! Also praying that God will give me to wisdom to this matter.
Favour, favour, favour!!!That’s all I can say from our great & awesome God! Why?
I just finished exams last Wednesday and freedom from books, revisions, medicine is really fantastic… Just waking up doing nothing, or walking around the city without studies in my mind… All medical students understand how I feel now.
But let me tell you what happened on my Long case (this is the exam part, where we are required to spend an hour with a patient, find out why they are in the hospital and examine them, then formulate all your information and present the case to 2 doctors and they get to ask you all sort of questions regarding the patient or nothing at all) last Wednesday.
To start off, I left my house at 9.45am for my 11am session. It sounded a lot of time there, since the time to
Next, while I was doing my long case, I was interrupted by a social worker for a while. I thought, “Gosh, I’m gonna waste some time here, but anyway, it’s good to hear what she is going to say to the patient” So, I sorta copied down what she mentioned as part of my issues to be discussed later with the examiners. After she left, the invigilator came and told me I have 10 mins left. In my mind, I thought it was time since 1 hour has passed. So, my heart was like “Wohoo!” But this is the funny part; few mins later she returned to tell me that I get extra 5 mins since I was interrupted earlier. I was like, “Common God!” Apparently the other patients in the ward went to complain to my invigilator, asking her to give me more time since it wasn’t fair that I was interrupted. HOW AWESOME IS OUR GOD!
The rest was great as well… My patient was very cooperative. She was clear & given me all the information needed. My examiners, I thought they asked difficult questions which I couldn’t answer some, but overall, thought I went in with confident & answered the questions the best I could. So, yah my Wednesday was just favour after favour from God!
Gen28:15 “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
2 He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.
A friend sent me this verse yesterday! Find it so stirring. Trusting God that He has equipped my hands for the past 4 1/2 years for this exams, & He is gonna bring me through the MCQ & patients victoriously! Will draw His strength & immerse in His power as I go through this week!!!
A lot of times we said “We’re waiting for our destiny, our calling!” “Still asking God what He wants me to do.” “I don’t wanna do the things unless God speaks to me about it.”
Sounds familiar?
But if we continue to remain in the “boat” (at a position that we’re waiting, not stepping out) we will never know or experience what God has in store for us. Likewise, for Peter to fully experience God’s miracle, He has to STEP OUT! Even for the disciples, before Jesus die on the cross, do you think they know what their callings were? I’m sure all they had in mind at that time is to follow Jesus! Follow what He is doing, apply what He is teaching & imitate Him as He imitates God! God’s work only happens if we make the first move. Always been that way! He will reveal to you what your callings/purpose are, but you must first step out & start searching. That’s when faith comes in. We need our faith to be activated to receive our calling.
Mat17:20He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
The word little in Hebrew is not less/small or anything. In Hebrew, it is actually “no”!
Look, Jesus said you just need faith as small as mustard seed! Do you need a lot? No! But I believe at that time He is saying “apply your faith into your life!” “IT’S PRACTICAL TIME! YOU’VE HEARD THE THEORY!”
Remembered what Ps Rusell shared about moving to the next level.Luke5: 17One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every
This story about Jesus healing the paralytic man as a result of the faith of these 4 men!
If the 4 guys just remain at the same level, the crowd is hindering them from reaching to Jesus (the miracle). But they saw the need to move towards the next level (up the roof, broke the tiles & lowered their friend down), the paralyzed man was healed! Imagine us miss this miracle cause we didn’t see the next level God has set before us.
It’s never an easy journey to move towards the next level… the thought of carrying the paralyzed men up the roof, break the tiles and slowly lower him down without him falling, that’s a tough job. But Jesus sees everything, He bless accordingly. He is pleased to see the faith-stretching moments!
What is your next level that God has set before you?
Are you willing to walk towards it?
Heb6: 10God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. 12We do not want you to become lazy (in NLT-dull or indifferent, NKJV-sluggish), but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.This portion of scripture has been ministering to me these few days!
During the exams fever, we tend to get caught up with revisions, deadlines to meet, etc. Our role as a child of God shrinks back to a certain extent… We started having less catch ups, we rush through devotions, hurry off or sometimes skip church to try and study as much as possible in that 2 hours.
But this verse says God knows our position and condition. In the 24 hours, we tried to juggle the time with studies and catching up with people, attend church & meetings, etc. He feels for us when He sees we began to feel overwhelmed or stretched in our ministry.
This verse says He remembers our labor! & God encourages us to keep pressing on, pressing on with His strength to do the things He has called us to do, to minister to the people He has entrusted to us because as we have this “hope made sure” given by God. It reminded me of Ps Shawn’s post regarding faith. In Heb 11:1 Faith is hope made sure!
Now this is not the blind faith others are talking about, but a hope made sure from God that what lies in the future – eternal life & eternal relationship with God!
That’s why it goes on saying that “we should not become lazy or dull or indifferent” – as in we stop doing what we are called to do because of exams. Rather we should imitate those champions like David, Paul, Abraham, Joseph – these people who persevered through trials in their lives with God’s strength and knowing that God is always in control of their situation! Look how God bless them and carry them through all trials! He is able to do that for us today!!!
This scripture is really encouraging. It tells me that despite all circumstances, as long as we trust in Him, things will be fine. God sees and knows and will bless accordingly! Love every bit of the encounter of I have with Him and His people.
3 weeks left to go!
Hrm, somehow really thank God that His peace is constantly within me. Although there is so much to study, so much to improve in my case presentation, but everything seems to be fine when God is in control!
Today, we had our first ever AUSTIN HOSPITAL PRAYER MEETING! One of my course mates told me they are gonna start a prayer meeting where people – Christians/non-Christians alike can come and pray together for our exams. I was like “Cool! I’ll come!”
So, this afternoon, as soon as I finished my lunch, I rushed off to the hospital chapel. My group members were like “Oh! You’re going for the prayer meet. Can you pray for us too?” I was like “Of course!”
Although at the prayer meeting, there were only 4 of us, as we pray for the hospital & the patients, for each other & our exams, felt God’s presence so strongly in our midst. Then one of them said “Let’s just tell the guys in the lecture later about this prayer meeting. Lets all of us go to the front and each say something about this meeting!”
How many people know that I am totally not the “in front of stage making announcement” guy! I was like, er… “God, do you really want me to do that?” Then, felt God saying, “So, are you making a stand for me? If yes, now is the time!” In the end, I did it. Said what I wanna say (which was just telling everyone what we do during prayer meet), and went back to my seat and got ready for the lecture.
Towards the end of the day, one of my group mates asked us, “So, how was prayer meet today?” & we sorta told him it went well, and my friend invited my group mate along for next week’s prayer meeting, and he said “Yah, maybe I would!” How awesome is that!!! God just reminded me that He is at work even in my work area. I never make it an active point to talk to my friends at work much about God, but now God is saying that He is setting the condition right for Him to be made known to the people in this hospital. I’m excited now, and desire to see more and more people turn up for prayer meeting, just to receive His blessings!
Someone once said, " If you don't have a passion worthy dying for, you have nothing worth living for. If you are not willing to suffer for something, you really aren't passionate about anything."
I quote this from the Passion Quest blog. What a powerful statement – this statement stir something within me. It somehow realign my direction as I walk my life journey with God.
Like what the blogger said “If you have one, is it worth living/dying for?” Common, this statement is provoking. It somehow brings me to a point where yah, “Am I sold out to the passion that I have?”
So, what is my passion??? I know I love God a lot. I know that it is my desire to see young people rise up, and start believing God for more and trusting Him to take their natural circumstances to a supernatural intervention! I get excited when I see my friends excited about what God is doing in their lives, and what they believe God is about to do. I get stirred when I see them pumped up to do what God has set for each of them. THIS IS MY PASSION – SEEING EACH OF THEM GROW INTIMATELY & SOLD OUT FOR OUR LIVING GOD!
It is a cause worth living for! I believe even as I am called to be a doctor to serve this community, God’s work will work through my career and my interaction with people!
During this season of my finals, I have so much inadequacy! I need so much miracles & interventions. I dunno how but I need God to work through every bit of my life – in my spiritual journey with Him, in my life as a medical student, in my role as a son, in my Urban Life group, in my personal time with my friends – I need You to take control. The time I have is sufficient, but I need You to make it more effective. Bible says, “The more they are oppressed, they more they grew!” I pray the same prayer will work in my life.
During these 4 weeks of time pressing moments, I’m not gonna let it dilute my passion! My passion is gonna grow even more out of the oppression that it is gonna face/facing! It is gonna be 4 weeks filled with God’s favor & intervention! God, You take Your place and do as You please!
Spirit of God,
We cry out for You now
We cry out
Where would we be without You Jesus
Where would we be without You Lord
As church began a new song they recently wrote, the bridge of that song so captured my heartbeat now!
4 weeks away from my finals, 4 weeks of intense classes where I gotta learn whatever that is need to learn in this last rotation, retain the information, and at the same time, revise my past 5 rotations over the entire year of my clinical studies in
At the very moment, I really don’t know how I can do it – the situation at the moment now is just so overwhelming if God is not in the centre of my life. I keep reminding myself that God is in control, and I can draw strength, wisdom, peace and rest from His Spirit. As I cry out to Him, He will respond!!! Really thank Him that I am going through these weeks with a peaceful mind regardless of the amount of syllabus I have to cover, peers around me complaining and comparing how well you need to do with your case presentation, questions and answers they know more than I do… Not gonna let the situation choke me!
John15: 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
God showed me this when I was reading the bible the other day. I am positioning myself in You!!!
ECF just had their campus weekend on 4th-5th May. Ps Steven was asking me to share my testimony on how has God changed my life, so that the testimony can impact other students! Sharon told me the weekend was amazing, good message, amazing students sharing their passion to see their campus changed!! So excited to see what is God gonna do as the students avail themselves to God's work and believe the possibilities that God can do through their lives.Finally got my hands down to blogging!
A lot had been happening!!! The word “revision” echoes in my mind every time I step into the hospital, but thankfully I’m constantly immersed in God’s peace & assurance. I know it’s not an excuse, but I’m blessed to be able to study without feeling stress or panic.
During Urban Life discipleship, Sharene shared about “miracles” & them coming through Jesus, and we were divided into groups where we share our testimonies about what miracle has God brought into our lives. So happen, my group got the topic about “family”!!! Wow!!! I was reminded by what Ps Steven said to me during my last holidays in KL about blogging my heartbeat about telling people about God & how is it different compared to talking it to my family.
Which brings me to the reason of this blog!!!
I have been a believer for 3 years, and every now and then I talk to my friends about God, or share faith with people seeking & wanting to know more about God. It can be challenging at times, because all I want is for them is to get to know who Jesus is, and the things He can do in our lives as we welcome Him into our lives. I don’t do it because church ask me to, or because I wanna be a noble guy to convert everyone, but I do that because I personally encounter such great experiences with Him as I open myself to Him. I want people to have a chance to receive such encounters like I do.
Psa34:4 Taste & see that the Lord is good…
Bible says, taste & you will know. You gotta enjoy it. First encounter is crucial. It’s like me finding a good shop which sells decent laksa in
But I find this exceptionally hard to share with my family. Not that I am doing all these with my strength, but with mum & dad sharing faith isn’t that simple. I don’t have the intention of forcing the details down their throat, but I would like to tell them, why I chose to believe in Jesus, & how much He has sustained me & love me. They see the evidence of God in my life – my life has changed for the better & they themselves affirmed that… but I can’t seem to find proper words or decent opportunities to talk about it.
I might be fearful – afraid that dad will shut me off, don’t wanna offend mum since she’s a strong Buddhist believer, or don’t wanna give them an impression that I’m so sold out for God… I dunno, but I believe it’s harder to share things with the people you’re closed with. Not that they frightens me, somehow, there’s a hindrance. (sounds like I’m contradicting myself)
God has been gracious to me. Over the past 3 years, my family has changed from being so rejectful about God to acceptance that I’m a Christian, support me whenever I go to church, and even had the intention to help me look for one when I first got to
But what I truly desire is to see them coming to know who Jesus really is. I know I need God for this miracle, because I dunno how & what way & when things like these can happen. All I need is to believe!!!
