Changes that bring Revival to the Souls

"I will go forth to testify the name through Biblical Friendship, Excellence in Work, Purity in Life & Satisfaction in Christ." This statement may sound big and vague to some but to me, it is essential in a Christian's life - one that considers himself a disciple of Christ.

Through the second half sessions for the past few months, God has indeed stirred my heart a lot. It was like getting stabbed and slapped by God every Saturday and the conclusion is; a Change is needed in this rotten life of mine.

Biblical Friendship

We had a personal evaluation on three selected friends. Some examples of the questions are:

• Do you sincerely consider meeting this person's needs to be more urgent than meeting your own needs?
• Do you patiently allow this person to make mistakes without letting it anger you or damage the relationship?
• Do the two of you have essentially the same moral values, the same reverence for God and His word, and the same basic desire to live for Christ?
• Are you fully honest with this person?

The questions in this survey will soon be available for download at the left column of the blog.

After this evaluation, I was stunned by the results. The total score should be 85 yet the highest rating was only 53 and the lowest, 41. What kind of friend I really is before all my friends? Am I one who reflect Christ's truths to them or am I just an ordinary guy out there pursuing the world?

Excellence in Work

This simply means involving the attributes of God in my daily routines. Though the outputs of my work may seem excellent to some, but it is the process that is of importance in the sight of God. I feel that I am lacking of excellence in the process of my work - school or elsewhere. I tend to do things at the last minutes. Athough I have never once failed to meet deadlines, and most of the outputs are considered satisfying, I still think that if I were to measure this with God's standard, I would have failed badly.

Purity in Life

"If someone is impure, how can God use him?" I realised that there are many aspects in my life that need to me re-evaluate and re-cleanse once again. If holiness is so important to God Himself, how can I, His disciple not pursue such holiness? I would like to use a song as a prayer to Him.

Purify My Heart
(Refiner's Fire)

Purify my heart
Let me be as gold
And precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold
Pure gold

Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You my Master
Ready to do Your Will

Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from my sin
Deep within

Satisfaction in Christ

Have you ever had this feeling? That almost everything on this earth (phone, mp3 players, internet) no longer satisfy you? You are constantly looking forward to new things that may fill this emptiness in your heart. And after a while, you need a replacement. Well, I do. I once did. I pursued things that this world claimed everyone should have. I used the standard of this world to measure my status and I was never satisfied with anything, till everything was put to stop by Him. I have also learnt about the causes of this problem and emptiness.

1. Excess Entertainment

There are so many new things in this world. New technology is being introduced almost everyday and thus, our standard of living also raised. From a colourless game console to the current high resolution games, and from a pager to a 3G phone, these are indeed examples of entertainment that we have. We are all blinded by such stuffs that we can hardly see the source of this life - God.

2. Social Apathy, Anarchy

This is when people have the attitude of 'no-government' (translate in hokkien). They became their own gods and they make themselves the rulers of their lives. They do everything that their hearts lead them to, forgetting their consciences when fun comes.

3. Corruption of human kind

This is very true in the current generation. The attributes of God can hardly be seen in man anymore. This world has turned into a world of excess touch - violence and sex. Almost everything is somehow related to violence and sex and they seem to be the solution to many great and hard issues, neglecting the most important solution - Prayer.

My life is a gift from God and how I live my life is a gift to God. It is God who gives meaning to life and I learnt that only in Him can I find satisfaction and eternal rest. For the world can only offer a temporal contentment and pleasure.

Therefore, there is a need to have a change in mind and heart of man. That we should adopt a mature view of life and knowing the purpose and have a bigger picture in mind. And when we are getting nothing out of life, always get back to the source of life - the Creator.

Perhaps we can find the greatest satisfaction and contentment in life just by flipping to God's word and reading it.

P/S: My parents have allowed me to go for the Macau mission trip.

The Harvest is Plentiful but the Workers are Few

In Matthew 9:37 and Luke 9:2, the Lord brought out the problem about the shortage of the workers. When the issue of evangelism is being raised, some Christians would immediately say that, "I am not prepared.", or "I am not ready yet." They claimed that they have the fear that they might stumble the lost souls instead of saving them. I once thought that they do have their point but now I have to rebuke them.

Evangelism should already be a part of a Christian's life from the day he accepted the Lord as his personal Lord and Saviour. If a person can call himself a Christian, he also means that he can and will be joining the work of salvation. For evangelism is not the work of man but the work of God. We evangelise not on our own ability, not by our own might, not by our own power but by the Spirit of God.

The Lord has already set a good example for the believers. He did not set a timing for evangelism. But rather, He constantly sent His disciples to all places to preach the Good News.

Evangelism is not a chore for a Christian, but it is something that a Christian does out of his obedience and his love for God. I do not evangelise because I was asked to but rather, I do so because I acknowledge that I am a Christian which I would obey and love God. This entry is not meant to stumble Christians who do not do the work but it acts as a reminder and warning to those who are still slumbering.

My dear brothers and sisters, let's unite and set our hearts and vision on God. There are only two days that we need to be concerned of - today and That day (second coming). It is what we do today that determines what will happen on That day and it is what we want to happen on That day that determines what we do today. In other words, what we do today (our decisions, our behaviours and every actions) are important in the eyes of God as we have to account for our every thoughts and actions.

FOM (Fundamentals of Marketing) test is next Thursday and I am 0% prepared. Guess I should start tomorrow as I will be meeting Yuxian to study at the library. Hope the study session will be a fruitful one. Yesterday's accounting test was a killer, (as least to me) but I still hope that I can pass.

1. God will make a way for me to go for the Macau mission trip.
2. To really have the urgency to prepare for tests.
3. Wisdom in speech.

Lord I Pray for Your Guidance

The Ministry
Those who are quite close to me would somehow know that I would like to commit myself in serving the Lord as a full-timer somewhere. Where would it be? I do not know as I am still waiting for the calling and confirmation from God. As for me, I would prefer to take on the Navigators as the ministry that I serve as I feel that it is really the Lord's plan for me to meet the Navigators in my life.

Everything begins somewhere. About two months ago, Alex asked me whether I had the interest to be a part of the EXCO committee of the Navigators. I wanted to give him my reply immediately but I thought it was unwise to do so. At the end of the day, the Lord is still the owner of this life and I want Him to make this important decision for me.

Prayer - a Christian's vital breath. I know that praying is the best solution to all problems and doubts. However, I have to confess that I have yet cultivate a prayerful life. Perhaps this should be the starting point. Pray, listen, wait and take action!

The Mission

I once mentioned about the mission trip organised by the Campus Crusades for Christ. The deadline for registration was 2 Dec 2005. I did not sign up. Some people encouraged me to sign up by faith, trusting that God will make a way when that day draws near. However, I did not take this step of faith. This is not because I do not believe in the power of God but rather I am unsure of the truthfulness of my heart's conviction. Am I going for the sake of going or am I really going for the work of God? I did not have an answer to that.

Last week, Iris (from Youth for Christ) told me that the YFC Polytechnic Ministry will be having a mission trip to Macau from the 21st March 2006 till 29th March 2006. She asked whether I will be keen to go. I had to turn it down because I am unsure whether I can really come out with the money. She asked me to save as much as I could and the other siblings-in-Christ will help. My mind was filled with many 'buts' at that time.

This thing came into my mind again just now. I decided to give Mum a call to discuss this with her. She did not object. However, she asked me to call Dad instead (Mum was at level 2 and Dad was at level 1). He didn't give me any answer as he told me that we will talk about this later. Well, Mum will be helping me to persuade Dad to let me go.

I called Aunt's workplace and told her I had something to discuss with her. The first thing she said was, "If it's about money, don't tell me." She told me that she will be going on a holiday in Australia at same time. But I still believe that she will sponsor me because I am such a good nephew. (Oh Lord, pardon me for lying)