Removing a tag.

6 years back, when I started to be a part of the worship ministry in my church, I was introduced to the term "Front line". Back in the old testament, the worshippers were the front line of the army in battle. And in that age and time (6 years back), I was given that motivation - to take this ministry seriously by working on my skills as well as my personal walk with God. Well recently I was reminded about that term again, and it got me to thinking...

 

Back in the old testament they were literally in the front line, weren't they? Now the modern day worshippers are engaged in a battle,  not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.... so really, if we were to really take up the calling as true worshippers, we have to be the 'front line' of many areas such as healing and deliverance, prayer... won't you agree?

 

And what about that verse saying that we are all royal priesthood? We are a generation of priest, given the ministry of reconciliation to bring about the message of the restoration between God and man - regardless of the ministry we serve in. That is our calling - the church's calling.

 

Personally, I would like the "front line" tag to be removed altogether, or at least rightly placed - upon those who truly are trying their darnest to answer the call. Personally, I would settle for the worship ministry as being just like all other ministries in the church - an expression of worship / contributes to the well being of the BODY / to be treated with honour and thanksgiving / important to God's heart / its member flawed and imperfect / a platform for its members' growth.

VC06_Teaser 2 - Settling for Mediocrity?

Has you and I been guilty of settling for mediocrity? Words like full-time ministers, Christian Arts and Media, Christian works has creeped into our mindset; and of course, there's the misuse of the words such as "GRACE" and "JUDGE NOT" taken from the bible by certain individuals as an excuse for not giving their best to God. God has redeemed my whole being, if not none of it!! So let all that is within me, bless the Lord!!

How long have we settled for so-much-less-than-best in the church, things that is intolerable in the working world, the money world? How many times do we rejoice and be satisfied with small things and achievements in the Kingdom of God?

Be the better man

Was reminded of this post I wrote last August by May. I thought it was pretty well-written (self -praise = international disgrace) Thought I would bring it up again... Haha. If you're new to my blog, you can look into the archives for more of my previous posts... It's certainly refreshing for me to read my past writings...

God is looking for better men, not methods.

Sometimes, we have got to stop thinking about the hows... We want to have better answers to counter the comments and judgement on Christianity & Christians. We feel the need to explain the necessity for Sunday worship, Wednesday prayer, cell group, mission trips to weird places, and the Christian stuff that we do on a regular basis… We get uncomfortable when our friends ask us why we lay hands and pray for a toothache when all you need to do is see a dentist… We get a bit frustrated when our colleagues laugh at our attempt to explain that Jesus is God and also Son of God… We worry because our brother gives a bad testimony to other non-believers.

We respond the way we do because we forget the battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and rulers of darkness. We forget that it’s not by might, power, or words that hearts get changed but only by the Spirit of the Lord. We forget that by the same we judge the world the world will judge us. We forget that Christianity is about a relationship with God, something that's better experienced than argued. We forget that action speaks much, much louder than words. We’ve been trying and trying, but really our focus is off track.

What we really need to do is get down our knees and ask the Dream-Giver to give us a vision of a CHANGED-ME. Make the bold prayer to ask the Holy Spirit to do anything necessary to turn the nations back to Christ – be it changing our attitude and heart, or to break down our pride and trust in our own strength and intelligence. Ask Jesus to give you the compassion to love without judging, the wisdom to stand without defending, and the faith to run with a God-given dream without feeling the ground on your feet, because that’s when we’re really flying…

Maybe we’ve been doing too much without really knowing what to do. I suggest we get over ourselves. All we can do is pray and submit to His change. The sooner we figure that out, we sooner the real work begins…

Storm. Peace.

Have been going through a roller coaster ride with my thoughts and emotions lately. It's so hard to hear the prompting of the Spirit sometimes, with so many thoughts, so many suggestions, so many mixed emotions, so many things to be done, so many things want to be said. So many things I want to let go, but don't want to lose. Courage spurs me to march on without fear, but caution gets me to pay attention to fear. I fear that lives would be sucked dry by the world because of my silence; I fear that lives would turn away from God because of my frankness.

Sometimes I even wonder why I feel the need to say the things I want to say or write the things I write... Where's my direction? What's my motivation? Who am I anyway? Why do I have to be concerned about all these things? Why do I think of my words and actions as life-death factors? Am I being self-righteous? What makes me think that anything I do would make any significant difference? I know the answers to all these, or at least I think I do. Need to hear that still small voice again...

This weekend is VisionCast Sunday 2006 for my church's youth ministry, along with Easter Sunday. I have to prepare for my sharing on VisionCast and make the video too. Please pray for me. It's going to be a long week. I pray that God will bless the works of my hand this week, as well as those worshippers who truly desire to please our Dream-Giver. I pray that none of us would be doing something for the sake of tradition or just doing something, especially on Easter weekend. Peace and joy be upon you as you go about serving God. Always remember, though, that the source of everything you could ever ask for is in the Dream-Giver.

Death (2)

Yet another funeral was on this past Tuesday. I used the public holiday to record the videos I need for the VisionCast Sunday, and planned to use the night time to capture all of it into my computer (which will take like 2 hours, minimum)... But I went for the service anyway. Have to mourn with those who mourn...  4 of my church members were attached to the deceased - 2 daughters and 2 grandchildren.

 

The funeral service was one of the most peaceful ones I've attended. 3 children gave their testimony and account on the life of their mother. With deep conviction and genuine hope they expressed their faith in the eternal Kingdom of Heaven, where those who found GRACE through the death and resurrection of ONE. They shed some tears at the end of the service, but their hope in Jesus assured JOY EXCEEDING. This is the hope we have in Jesus.

 

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

 

Romans 5:15

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!