Finished Work

We cannot preach FAITH without preaching His Finished Work.
We cannot preach HOPE without preaching His Finished Work.
We cannot preach LOVE without preaching His Finished Work.
We cannot preach PEACE without preaching His Finished Work.
We cannot preach HEALTH without preaching His Finished Work.
We cannot preach PROSPERITY without preaching His Finished Work.
We cannot preach WISDOM without preaching His Finished Work.
We cannot preach GRACE without preaching His Finished Work.
We cannot preach RIGHTEOUSNESS without preaching His Finished Work.
We cannot preach REST without preaching His Finished Work.

For without the preaching of His Finished Work at the cross is mere religions and human efforts... Through His Finished Work at the cross two thousand years ago, He had gone ahead of us by dying on our behalf. 

Ephesians 1:4 ~ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

God is not like people, who lies; He is not a human who changes his mind. Whatever he promises, He does; He speaks, and it is done. He is not going to go ahead of our days to solve our problems... He had already solved our problems! He had gone ahead of us in time two thousand years ago and He accomplished the Father's will on that rugged cross. We are now living in His future when He died at the cross. That is how He had gone ahead of us, and what we need is the revelation of His Finished Work to usher us into His rest...

1 Kings 8:56 ~ “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.

It is His Finished Work on redemption that brings us REST; just like God rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

Jesus Calls Us To REST - Revelations from Chinese Characters

A note by Chin San Soh in his Facebook.

Do you experience a constant busyness? Are you constantly stressed and worried about tomorrow? Do you enter into seasons of fatigue? Find out what true rest is, and why REST and not more effort or work is the solution to many of your troubles. Why do we make ourselves so busy? Why do we labor so hard we're so tired that we cannot enjoy the fruits of life?

Life, for some of us, have become so stretched that we sometimes forget Jesus has called us to rest. I was just thinking of this the other day, and suddenly something arose to study the etyomology of the words "Rest", and "Busy". Let's look at the word "busy" first. The word "busy" in Chinese is "忙". The left "忄" denotes the "heart". While the right "亡" denotes "death". And that's exactly what busyness, the lack of rest, and stress do to us. It chokes up our hearts. It is no wonder that the lack of rest, and stress is medically proven to get blood pressures up, affect the way the blood clots, and lead to all kinds of death threatening diseases. Are you busy and stressed?

The answer is found in REST! And let's take a look at Rest in the Chinese Characters. Rest constitutes of 2 words. "休" and "息". Pastor Mark has also preached this before. The etymology of "休" is a picture of a man "亻" resting on a tree "木". A man resting on a tree! To truly enter rest, we lean on the cross! And the cross signifies the finished work of Jesus! He has completed the work and declared "It is finished!" We lean on the finished work of Jesus! The finished work of the cross! The finished work of the cross means your sins are forgiven, your disease is already healed, your restoration is already complete, your problem is already solved, your victory is already secured, your future is already blessed. We don't see it yet, but in Jesus' world (who lives outside of the realm of time), it is FINISHED as far as He is concerned.

"息" is made up of 2 parts - "自" (which in present day signifies "self" but actually the original meaning is "nose") and 心 (heart). It literally means "to breathe life through one's nose." Together, REST ""休 息" literally means - "To lean on the finished work of Jesus, allowing Him to breathe life into us." HALLELUJAH!!!!!!

Jesus is very very clear on us to rest. And when He said "rest", it does not only mean constitute physical rest. It constitutes all sorts of rest - emotional rest, mental rest (not worrying). We all have experienced how stress and worry can void all the physical rest we try to get. And by no means does it mean laziness. Have you ever experienced having a very quality rest, in your body, mind, soul, being in the peace of Jesus, and then coming back with more life, more wisdom, more strength to complete your task? This is the power of rest! It's supernatural because God has called us to rest!

Stop thinking about the 7 habits of highly effective people and putting pressure on yourself to lead the "optimal life" to achieve "high quality results". A drop of heaven's favor is more effective than 10 years of self effort! We need rest and we are called to rest! Let's see what the Bible says about living a restful, stress free, worry free life.

Jesus said: "For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." - Matthew 6:32-34

And He also says "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." - Matthew 11:28

"Be still, and know that I am God" - Psalm 46:10

"For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience."

Jesus has called us to rest. Jesus is the TRUE REST. For some of us who just can't rest, just say this "Lord Jesus, you've called us to rest. You desire for me to have life, and life more abundantly. You lead me to green pastures, and still waters. You say "Be still and know that I am God." All my worries and my cares, I cast them upon You. You have finished the work. You have gone ahead and called my future blessed. My worry and fear cripples me and drains me out. But Your perfect love casts out all fear! I find my rest in You. You lead me to rest, and I can restfully sleep, spend time with my children, my parents, my spouse without a worry for tomorrow. In Jesus' name, Amen!"

My final statement is going to sound controversial to many people, but I know it to be true. Many Christians and non Christians alike like to use this phrase "Just do your best, and God will do the rest." Whenever someone says this, everyone will nod away. But let me share truthfully, this phrase is never found in the Bible. This phrase originated from Benjamin Franklin. While good intentioned, it does not lead our minds to true rest. If interpreted wrongly, we're essentially telling God "We put in our 100% (even if it is mixed with self effort), You just top up whatever is lacking." But God wants us to be conscious of the fact that from the beginning, Jesus has already supplied all the strength, all the wisdom, all the power for us to complete our task with excellence. He wants none of our flesh and self effort. He wants our 0% self effort, 100% trust in Him, and He will supply all that we need to get supernatural results. So, if I can rephrase it through the lenses of the finished work of Jesus, we are called to "JUST DO YOUR REST, GOD WILL DO THE REST."

On a final note, I give glory to Jesus on the times that people have credited that I delivered excellent results. And I really need to testify - everytime I am stressed and worried and act out of fear - my best self efforts lead to sub optimal results. But when I rest, put my trust in Him, and let Him work through me - the results are supernaturally good.Amen and all glory to Jesus! Beloved if you know you have not been resting - REST!

Rest In Jesus' Faith For Miracles

Do you blame yourself for not having enough faith for miracles? Are you frustrated with your wavering faith? Well, you don't have to anymore because you can rest in Jesus' faith that never wavers or fails! In this revelatory and encouraging message by Joseph Prince, see how it is not you, but Jesus, who always believes. Learn how you can simply latch your limited faith onto His perfect faith and see the miracle you need happen. Rest easy—Jesus has all the compassion and faith for any miracle. That's all you need to believe!

Pastor Joseph Prince

Have the FAITH of God... Jesus' FAITH, the FAITH of the Faithful One, not our FAITH!

When we see Jesus in GRACE, Jesus sees us in FAITH!

FAITH is for God to see not for man to see...

Sermon note from Tycm's Blog by Terrance Yeo: 2011-12-11 Ncc third svc 

Let There Be Light

Recently the Lord brought me back to the very first chapter of the Book of Genesis where He began to show me yet another precious revelation that I could never comprehended before. 

In the third verse of the first chapter, God said:  “Let there be light!”  And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good. And God divided between the light and the darkness. And God called the light, Day. And He called the darkness, Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 

We all know that God used His Word to create this universe and His Word is light. I never really noticed that there were no sun and moon yet on the first day of God’s creation. The sun and moon only came to existence on the 4th day of God’s creation. But in God’s prospective, the sun and moon already existed in and between these three days. This could be the reason why He declared the light, day, the darkness, night and the evening and the morning in the first day. 

From here, I began to understand that the Word of God is the source of life and is brighter than the sun. That is why in Psalm chapter 36 verse 9, the Bible says:  “For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we shall see light.” 

With this Light shining into my heart, the Lord began to connect chapters and verses to show me His revelation. WOW... in Your light, I see light!

If ever you have heard God speak to your need or situation and you are yet to see the manifestation, you can rest assured that the promises shall come to pass! I am telling you this because our God is faithful and just. From the very first book and chapter of the Book of Genesis, when He spoke in the 3rd verse, the sun and moon only came into existence in the 14th verse. Therefore, I hereby submit to you that every one of us who are yet to see the promises of God come to pass are actually stuck in between the first day and the fourth days of creation or the 3rd verse and the 14th verse of chapter one of the Book of Genesis. Bearing in mind that, the work of God from the second day to the fourth day did not involved man. It was all by His speaking. It was all by His grace… not human effort. After He had created everything on earth, He then created man… and that was on the sixth day of God’s creation.

Therefore, in this dispensation, unless we are good listeners of the Word of CHRIST, which is the Gospel, we can never understand what the grace of God is about. We will always be struggling with our own religious mind through our performance to gain favor from God. Our human mind can never comprehend what the grace of God is. Even though some “elderly” Pastors or Pastors with “big name” have given their definitions on the grace of God, those definitions can never satisfy our heart but our logical mind because they are from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We need the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the grace of God.  As Apostle Paul was saying, he received the revelation of God’s grace from the Lord not man.

For those believers who have been enlightened by His grace, these are the good listeners of the Word of Christ. They listen to the messages that expound only on the Finished Work of Christ. They hear about His grace, His Favor, His Holiness, His Forgiveness, His Righteousness, His Redemption, His Salvation and all His goodness. They are not self centered...

The Word of Christ is the word from the resurrected Jesus and always speaks of what He had done for us at the Cross. Because of what He had done at the cross, we who are the redeemed, are now holy, righteous, justified, healthy, prosperous, anointed and full of wisdom. But most of us do not see this in our life and we find it hard to believe. Whenever we look at ourselves, we will think that we are still sinful, unrighteous, sick, poor and helpless… This kind of mentality is earth bound and we are actually stuck in between verse 3 and verse 14 of first chapter of the Book of Genesis. Whenever we engage our logical mind, we will be stuck in between these verses.

The Word of Christ had declared that we are now holy, righteous, justified, healthy, prosperous, anointed and full of wisdom. As far as God is concerned, He see us holy, righteous, justified, healthy, prosperous, anointed and full of wisdom. As He is, so are we in this world! 

We have to believe in the Word of Christ and the sun and moon will come into existent! The moment we engage our heart to receive this revelation, our faith manifest because we are focusing on grace, the unearned, undeserved and unmerited favor of God. When we see His grace, He see our faith, and the “sun” and the “moon” will manifest!

My friend, I encourage you to listen to the Word of Christ. Listen to the Good News, listen to the Gospel, and listen to what He says about you. Because of His grace, whenever you receive a word for your situation in life, you can rest assured that the manifestation is coming your way. Not because you are good but because He is faithful. That is why faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ… and the Gospel of Christ is the Word of Christ and is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. In this Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and the just shall live by faith. 

We are now in the dispensation of Grace; we are the "just" and we are to live by faith not by sight. When we live by faith (faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen), we are looking at the manifestation of the fourth day and we are not stuck in between verse 3 and verse 14!

So, let there be light…! And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good... and the "just" say, "Amen!"

His Love Is Perfected In Us

Christmas and New Year is a season of giving and giving is one of many ways that we can express our love.

1 John 4:12 ~ No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.

I want to love others, and I long for others to love me too. The ability to love is inside every created things on earth. The desire to love is in man. Ever since I have become a believer, the felt of the need to love others become stronger because of the many verses stated in the Bible about love. Especially with the verses from 1 John chapter 4. I felt the need to love others more or at least, I was taught that this is the basic requirement from the Lord for a believer. From the way we used to read the Bible, we might conclude that loving others is also a sign to show that we are believers! Because of the way we are brought up in the Christian circle, we do not really know the true meaning of what is “we love because He first love us”.

After I have been enlightened by the grace of God, I gradually learn that we are actually the subject of His love and men are created for His love.  Men are created to be loved by Him and we are created to receive His love. Even though the teaching on the grace of God has overturned the inception that was rooted in me on how men should love each other, and even though I have been proclaiming the verse “we love because He first love us” over and over again, the Lord is still showing me through my circumstances that I still do not really know what is He trying to say...

It was after I have been led to learn on how to engage my heart to receive His revelation a few months ago; I started to receive new insight on what kind of love this really is. Incidentally, this revelation was immediately confirmed by a Christmas card given by a sister in which 1 John 4:12 was quoted: “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.”

This kind of love is not our human kind of love. It is His love which perfected in us. We all know we have to love, but without knowing that when we are using our own effort in trying to love, we are doing it out of our flesh (brain), i.e. the dogs that God asked us to be aware of. At the end of the day, we murmur and we are not satisfied with others responses in respect of our “love” for them.  We have seen this over and over again and do not even realize that we are using our own effort to love each other. We did not love others out of the overflow of His love which is perfected in us.  We do not love others out of His love for us.

On the 31st of October last year, our church declared that, the church offering collection of that day would be used as a love gift to three of the churches in Israel . Through this event, the Lord revealed to me the meaning of “His love perfected in us”.

As believer, we have our Jewish brothers in the holy land. These are the kind of brothers that we never know of and we have never seen them before. But as we know more about the message of His grace, the desire of this kind of love to our Jewish brothers grow stronger each day. This is what we call the "supernatural love" from our Lord because our Jewish brothers are His chosen people and our Lord loves them very much. As such, this "supernatural love" is His love perfected in us.  If we have this kind of love towards our Jewish brothers, His love is already perfected in us! If we know that His love is perfected in us, we can rest assure that we can love and we shall love.

The only problem is on how are we going to dispense this perfect love to each other?  Perhaps the only solution to this problem is how much we can rest in Him. When we rest in Him, this perfect love shall flow in and through us. When this perfect love is flowing, we are in the flow of loving each other with the love that He perfected in us. And now, we love because He first loves us.

Understand that once we have put our faith in Him, His love is already perfected in us. Rest in Him and let this perfect love flow in and through you by His grace. After all, we love because His first loves us and only His grace can bring us there...

Whoever Has, More Will Be Given!

If we need to use our intellect to understand everything about what the cross has accomplished for us before we can believe in Him, I can tell you that you can never believe because our intellect can never understand the wisdom of God. But when we choose to believe in our heart and we confess in our mouth that Jesus is Lord, the mystery of the cross started to reveal in our heart. This revelation is given by the Holy Spirit whom the world does not process. The work of Jesus at the cross is the wisdom of God and you need the Holy Spirit to reveal to you this spiritual truth. Thus, to walk with our Lord, we need to use our heart instead of our mind simply because from the beginning, we invited the Holy Spirit to dwell in our heart...!

Therefore, if we are unable to comprehend what His death is for, we can never understand what His resurrection is for. If we cannot comprehend what He had taken away from our life at the Cross, we will never understand what He has given us in our resurrected life. With the help of the Holy Spirit in our heart, we can start to comprehend the purposes of His death and the power of His resurrection because this is the duty (so called) of the Holy Spirit to reveal things concerning Jesus, and to glory Him.

At the cross, Jesus was righteous and holy, and without sin. He chose to identified Himself with sinful man like us by laying down His garments and seamless tunic and bore all our sufferings, curses, sicknesses, depressions, bondages… Through His perfect work at the cross, a divine exchange of status occurred. He had totally taken away all the "bad"  from us and had given us His Shalom peace, blessings, health, freedom, prosperity... Through the cross, He had taken away our SINNER status and had given us His RIGHTEOUS status. We are saved by grace through faith. This faith is now available to each and everyone of us because of His finished work at the cross. Because of His RIGHTEOUS work, we can now have our RIGHTEOUS walk in Him.

Indeed, our Father God is very pleased and proud of what His Son had done for us at the Cross. Our Father God is also very satisfied with what He had taken away from us. If not, Jesus would not have shouted: "It is finished!"

NOW... Father God is also very pleased and proud to see His redeemed one identifying themselves with Christ and acknowledging what He has given them. Most of all, personalizing all these blessings and counting these blessings that He has given us as OURS! For the Bibles says:"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God."  We are glorying God when we say amen. Is this not an act of acknowledging and receiving His abundant provision of grace and the gift of His righteousness?

We know deep down inside our heart that we have nothing good if not because of the grace of God... and we are not being self righteous when we humbly acknowledging His grace... When we acknowledge this truth and start receiving His grace and the gift of righteousness, we reign in life and He is glorified… Wow… What a way to live our abundant life and at the same time, glorying Him and boasting in Him!

Mark 4:25 ~ For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

In the context of this passage, our Lord was talking about the sowing of the Word. Therefore, find out what kind of word are you listening to... Are you listening to the Word of God or the Word of Christ? The word of Christ is the gospel. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of Christ.

The Word of Christ always points you to His Finished Work. His Word always tells you who you are in Christ, what you have in Christ, how secure you are in Christ. When you know what you have in Christ, more will be given. On the other hand, if you do not know what you have, the evil one comes and take away what you are actually have without your knowledge... You are already in Christ... As He is so are you in this world!

Therefore, to acknowledge and personalize His promises and blessings are not pride but humility... It is written: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Father God is glorify when we acknowledge and personalize the promises and the blessings, for whoever has, to him more will be given!

I See His Wisdom

I was once again being reminded that to believe is the key word in our Christian walk. This "believe" is a continuous tense, i.e. keep on believing... and to be a believing believer! When we believe right, we will definitely live right. It is because the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, is behind the scene leading a right believing believer. Unless we believe the right thing, or else we will be leave to ourselves depending on our own effort, eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, trying to discern what is good and what is evil in our life.

2 Timothy  3:16 ~  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

In the following passage recorded in the 7th chapter of the Book of Matthew, the Holy Spirit led me to witness the wisdom of God and how His wisdom had put these three different parables together to trigger our religious minds…

Teaching

Matthew 7:15~20 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Your fruit (your Christian walk) will tell you which tree you are eating from. If you are partaking from the Tree of Life, you will not bear the fruit of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If you are partaking from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, you cannot bear the fruit of the Tree of Life. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

In other word, if you are under Grace, you are not legalistic but gracious. You believe your righteousness is a gift from God and you are at rest. But if you are under law, you can’t help but be legalistic. As you are legalistic, you believe that your righteousness is depending on your work. You believe you must "work out your salvation" and you are not at rest...

Rebuking

Matthew 7:21~23 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

These three little verses are just a checklist for you to check on which tree you are eating from. If you are under grace, depending on God’s unmerited and undeserved favour, you are eating from the Tree of Life. You will know that how much you are being loved by the heavenly Father because He had given up His only Begotten Son just for you. Your faith will spontaneously tell you that these verses are not written for you because He already knows you and you are His child. As Jesus is in heaven, so are you!

If you have established yourself on law, you will have trouble digesting these three verses, because you are eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Your own effort and hard work can never give you the security in God. Due to your confusion and insecurity, you will always think that these three verses are talking to you. This is where you get the idea that your salvation is never secure. You think that once saved always saved is a heresy.

Friends, if you have fear reading these verses and you are confused, you have eaten from a wrong tree! Fear, confusion and insecurity are not the fruits of the Tree of Life. Life is absent in fear, confusion and insecurity!

Correcting and Training in Righteousness

Matthew 7:24~27 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

So do not fear, whenever Jesus appeared in the Books of Gospel, He would say: “Do not fear, you of little faith…” Just change mountain, from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion. Change covenant! From the Old Covenant of Law to the New Covenant of Grace...

For the law was given through Moses, but GRACE and truth came through Jesus Christ. Oh praise God, GRACE is Jesus, and GRACE is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through GRACE. Oh praise God, GRACE is Life! GRACE came to give us life and life more abundantly! So receive the abundant provision of GRACE and the GIFT of Righteousness and REIGN in life!!!!

Stop depending on your own effort and self righteousness; start depending on His grace. These four verses are from the Lord asking you to build your house on the Rock. Only Jesus, our Rock, the Tree of Life, is our sure foundation for He Himself is our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

Matthew 7:28~29 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

The Holy Spirit has pointed me to witness His wisdom in this passage… He is always faithful and gracious. This passage was once condemning and confusing but now, this passage is full of wisdom, grace and encouragement. No wonder only the people were astonished at His teaching not the Scribes....

Rest In the "PEACE"!

Have you ever wondered why it is that when believers die, in a flick of a second, they are in heaven? Those who believed in Christ Jesus are being guaranteed of this greatest miracle the moment they put their faith on the Gospel of Christ the Saviour. Indeed, the gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.

From the Bible, we also know that once we put our faith in Christ Jesus, our health, financial standing, peace of mind are restored and line up with the truth because the word "salvation" stated here is from the Greek word "Sozo", which means saving in our every situations and conditions.

Have you ever wondered also, why the miracle of going to heaven can happen as fast as a flick of a second, whereas in some of the "smaller" miracles like healing, financial break through and being set free from bondages take so long to come forth?

The answer is simply because those who are in heaven are DEAD! Yes, I mean they are DEAD! νεκρός ! TOT! מת ! MUERTO ! 死了! There is not a bit of self effort from the dead persons. They are DEAD and REST in peace! There is no man effort but Holy Spirit effort. There is no participation from man’s flesh but the Holy Spirit only.

We are unable to see our break through simply because we do not rest in Christ. Somehow or rather, our flesh is still participating in helping the Holy Spirit and in turn we delay the manifestation of the miracle that we are hoping for.

Hebrews 4:11 ~ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. 

It will still be good if Jesus say He will or he is going to help us to accomplish the will of the Father on our behalf, for Jesus with His integrity, will surely accomplish for us. But here is better deal, for it is the Good News/Gospel of Christ; Jesus said “It’s Finished!” It was a completed work which our Lord Jesus had accomplished at the cross. He had finished everything that needed to be finished and He is now inviting us to rest in His finished work. By knowing this Good News and believe in His outrageous grace through the spontaneous faith make the promises sure. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 

Hebrews 3:19 ~ So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. 

Our believe is the key issue for the miracles to manifest. Believe is not work or self effort. Believe is trusting Jesus’ outrageous grace and His finished work. Believe is not that you have once believed but keep on believing… For the just shall live by faith!

Galatians 3:9 ~ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. 

The Book of Hebrews encourages us to labour in resting in our Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace. For He came and stood among His disciples and said, "Peace be with you!" and after he said that, He showed them His hands and side! Peace be with you too… for He had finished the Father’s will 2,000 years ago. Let us, therefore, have peace in our heart and make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the example of Israelites’ disobedience, and we see that they were not able to enter the Promised Land, because of their unbelief. 

Believe His Finished Work and rest in the "PEACE"!

Romans 8:11 ~ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

How Grace Might Reign...?

Do you know why some people just cannot accept the grace of God? Some people just cannot receive this amazing grace that we are sharing, even though there are numeric evidences of 119 verses in the New Testament concerning grace with 128 hits, while only 18 verses with 20 hits in the Old Testament (NKJV).

The key reason why these people are not receiving is:  This amazing grace can only reign through Jesus’ righteousness. If we are still in our default mode of self righteousness and sin consciousness, we are in a wrong platform and frequency to receive the impartation of grace from God.  Under law, we can never understand what unearned and unmerited favour from God is.

Romans 5:21 ~ so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Only when we can realize that the word "righteousness" is referring  to Jesus’ righteous act and not our righteous act, the grace of God could then reign in our life. Grace can only reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In the case of the Apostle of grace to the Gentile, whenever Apostle Paul talked about grace and righteousness, he was talking about Jesus’ righteous act at the cross. Though he was once a Pharisees,  but after the fall of the scales from his eyes as a result of the “Light” that flashed to him from Heaven  while he was on his way to Damascus, he never again justifying himself under law. He esteemed grace more than law as he preached that anyone who attempt to be justified by law; they have fallen from grace. 

Can you imagine, he was circumcised on the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; and concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, he was blameless; and yet he preached Jesus as his righteousness, holiness and redemption.  He had finally came to his senses to realized that whatever was profitable to him before his spiritual transformation was a loss for the sake of Christ. 

If you still find yourself unable to understand the grace of God, please bear in mind that this righteousness that the Bible talks about is not your righteous act but Jesus’ righteous act. If you are a believer and you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. You are already righteous in God’s eye. 

Rest in Him… all that needs to be done had been done. Remember Jesus had cried out loud on the cross: "It's Finished!"? He meant it, don't think that He shout this for fun! All that needs to be done had been finished by Jesus. So just relax (rest in Him) and receive... for grace can only reign through righteousness (Jesus' righteousness) to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Mask

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with two tablets of stone, his face was radiance with God’s glory. This radiance was not from the law but from the preaching of Jesus that he had received from God through God showing him the tabernacles, the different type of feasts and offerings... 

Due to the dispensation that Moses was in, the law he dispensed caused the radiance of God’s glory to fade away. Moses had to put on a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance faded away. Under Law, the radiance from the glory of God slowly faded away…

2 Corinthians 3:13 ~ We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 

This same scenario still happens to Christian in this 21st century. Nobody was saved by beholding the Ten Commandments but by the preaching of Jesus. We are all saved by the Lord because somebody somehow preached the Good News of what Jesus had done for us. Our faces were immediately full of the radiance of God’s glory when we believe the Gospel. We, in this grace dispensation, the radiance of this glory is supposed to be an ever increasing glory. But the sad thing is this, majority of us lost this radiance of God’s glory as we were brought back to behold Moses and believe in the abiding of  Law!

Like Moses, instead of putting on a veil, we at our time and dispensation, put on a mask, a mask of self righteousness! We fear that our fellow Christian will know the radiance of this glory is fading away... We start to live like a Christian forgetting that we are already a Christian. We start to DO thing that we think will make us righteous and forgetting that we are made righteous by the Blood of Jesus. We are concern over our action as consciousness of sins dwell in our midst. We have forgotten that sin is already a settled issue when Jesus died on the cross. We start to look at people’s fault and condemning people in the name of God… Oh we, we, we… and I, I, I... how sad…?

I began to understand Moses' feeling the moment he first saw his people worshipping the golden calf. He was furious as he noticed that he had strike the first prize of [You shall have no other gods before me]. When he was up in the mountain, he had revelation on the Ten Commandments and he understood the consequences of sin. He was in fear and was helpless. He destroyed the tablets and the golden calf (the evidence of sin) hoping that nothing had happened. The Bible says these two tablets was the work of God. Nobody can do away with God’s work but God. That is why Jesus had to come into this world to become Man and fulfilled the demands of the Law on our behalf and nailed these tablets together with Him on the Cross!

Matthew 5:17 ~  Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 

It was the Grace of God that took down my mask, the mask of self righteousness. I realized that I am already a New Creation and my righteousness is not depending on what I have to do. The Holy Spirit in me can teach me all things. I just have to live my life beholding Jesus. If anyone come and teaches me on how to live a Christian life, he or she is just being religious because only Jesus can live a Christian life! We need to point people to Jesus not Moses, so that the Holy Spirit can move in their midst as He is known as the Spirit of Truth. He moves where the truth is!

1 John 2:27 ~ But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. 

When we behold the commandments, Moses will have to put on a mask on our face and we are actually climbing up the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This mask of self righteousness only leads us to Do good and avoid DOING evil. Please let the Grace of God touches you and let Jesus take down your mask and you can start climbing up the Tree of Life…

John 1:17 ~ For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

Christian life is all about Jesus and the Grace of God not Moses and the two tablets… Let go of your mask and remain in His REST because the only fight remain in our Christian life is to fight to remain in His REST!

Oh... this phrase is so profound! We've to fight to remain in His REST means we are already in His REST! So relax....!

Grain, Wine and Oil

In the 23rd Psalm in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the writer describes God as Protector and Provider. The text, beloved by Jews and Christians alike, has often been set into music. For Christians, the image of God as a shepherd evokes connections not only with David but with Jesus, described as "the Good Shepherd" in the Gospel of John.

Recently I discovered the power pack from God in the 5th verse of this beautiful Psalm. This verse mentions of the Lord’s Table is Holy Communion and the oil that the Lord uses to anoint us is olive oil. These elements of the Holy Communion and the anointing oil can freely be found in the Old Testament as grain, wine and oil. However, these elements carry significant symbolic values of the sufferings of Jesus and these are the pointers that carry biblical value in pointing the believers to the Finished Work of Christ at the cross.

Psalm 23:5 ~ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

What a powerful verse this is. A resurrected life of abundant life is what the Lord had promised in John 10:10b. Psalm 23 is therefore the secret to divine granted abundant life in a Shepherd and sheep relationship.

Holy Communion and anointing oil are like medicine. These elements help us to believe the finished work of Christ progressively. We have this divine provision from our Lord, and we can eat and drink towards our health and prosperity that He had restored for us. We are to take good pleasure to look first to Communion and anointing oil before any other conventional provisions.

Grain – The Lord is our Bread and He offered His broken body to us as bread from heaven. In our nature world, the way we get bread from grain is to process it by sifting it, punching the dough and baking it at high temperature in an oven. These gestures are symbolic of the punishment Jesus Christ took on our behalf. During the process of making bread, the punching of dough has to be complete in term of force and time and Jesus, the way He sustained the sufferings were complete. He had totally absorbed all our punishments on His body.

Wine – The ways we get wine is to crush the grape fruit, trodden it and leave the fruit juice to be fermented. The crushing and troddening of these grape fruit also point to the suffering of Jesus and the colour of the wine has a symbolic value of Jesus’ precious blood.

Oil - The way we get oil is by crushing the olives. Jesus was crushed so that we can be healed. Crushing the olive fruit removes the bitterness and produces the oil. In the circular world, there are 3 pressings in the extraction of olive oil:-

The oil from the ‘first’ press is used for lighting the Holy Place. In substantial to Paul’s revelation, this first press serves to light us, as our body is the temple of God! In Gethsemane, it was the darkest era of darkness and distress, and Jesus was pressed until His sweat was mixed with blood, so that we may have light to see His truth spiritually.

The oil from the ’second’ press is used for medicine. Jesus was pressed the second time when He was scourged 39 times by the Romans soldiers so that by His stripes, we are healed!

The oil from the ‘third’ press is used for making soap. When Jesus was nailed at the Cross, His shed blood washed our sins away eternally!

All traditions in Christianity feature this Psalm prominently in funeral services. Hey, do we really need abundant life when we have passed on to be with Jesus? I think we need this Psalm more while we are still in the sheep pen (graceyard) instead of in the graveyard!

Wow... I want my cup to overflow in this graceyard! What do you say?

An Epistle of Christ

Our Christian life is a life of rest, a total rest in Christ, for He had finished everything that God could think of at the Cross two thousand years ago. A divine exchange of life between God and men had taken place at the Cross where the sinful and hopeless life of men had been totally absorbed by Jesus and His sinless, anointed life had been freely lavished into this world. Whosoever believes in Him shall have this new life eternally. This is what Jesus had promised before the Cross. He said He came to give us life, a life more abundantly and He gave it all through the Cross.

As His believers, what can we contribute in living out this abundant life? Can a bankrupt man trying to live out this abundant life? Is there any instruction from the Lord that we can follow so that we can live out this abundant life?

Certainly cannot, how can a bankrupt man live out this abundant life? Jesus did not say He came to teach us how to live but He came to give us this abundant life. This abundant life is a spirit life. He caused us to born again in the spirit as a new creation, a creation that never existed during the six days of His majestic creation work.

We, as a new creation, we just need to believe that we are righteous simply because of the gift of the righteousness that Christ died to give us. Our soul will be at rest when we establish ourselves in Christ's righteousness. This rest will enable the Holy Spirit to write the law in our heart and He will cause us to live out the abundant life through us.

Hebrews 10:17 then He adds, "THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE."
Hebrews 10:16 "THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR HEARTS, AND IN THEIR MINDS I WILL WRITE THEM,"

The best kind of Christian life to live is the life that we live out without our conscious of how we are going to live it. If we live our life conscious of how we are going to live, we ended up being religious and the outcome is self righteousness.

Recently, we came to understand of this Spirit led life happening in our midst. My wife, Penny had gone through a tough time in her office for the past two months due to the numerous closing of tender. Her working life then was quite stressful. After the closing of all these tenders, their office life was back to normal and a colleague who is quite new in the company, came to her and asked her whether she could know more about her God. Hey, this colleague of hers wanted to know more about Jesus…! Penny was surprised by her approach and introduced Jesus to her.

Though Penny does not know as much scriptures as I do, she does not share with people as much as I do, she does not pray as much as I do and she does not speak in tongue as much as I do, the Lord told me that she believes He is a good God. She trusts in His grace, the unearned and unmerited favour of God. She believes she is righteous because of what Jesus had done for her at the Cross. She believes and is resting His finished work.

Abundant life is not what we can do but what we believe and how we rest in our Lord. Just by believing and trusting in Jesus' goodness, He can write a beautiful epistle in our life.

2 Corinthians 3:1-3 (The Message)
Does it sound like we're patting ourselves on the back, insisting on our credentials, asserting our authority? Well, we're not. Neither do we need letters of endorsement, either to you or from you. You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it.

Though I felt inferior after the Lord had revealed this truth to me, but He reaffirmed me by saying, "Son, you two are in one...!" Man..., this is the kind of righteous life that we should be living! An effortless life that lived through by the Holy Spirit. Indeed, we are an epistle of Christ, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart!

We are where we are now, because of the kind of message we have listened before. We will be who we are in the future, because of the message we are listening to now...

Church Orientation

Again, I can't help myself but to post this comic strip from Mick Mooney of Searching For Grace because I was from that sort of environment with the same obligations portrayed by Mick. I was wondering and wandering in that religious wilderness for 7 years, 7 perfect years! Wow... praise God it's 7 years not 40 years! Gosh... What a life...!

By Mick Mooney of Searching For Grace

Church Orientation
By mick on July 22nd, 2009

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

You have to love the good news (Gospel of Grace) of Jesus Christ. Through His perfect finished work upon the cross, we now enjoy the blessings of a relationship with God that does not depend on our religious performance, but upon His glorious grace!!

Unfortunately Pastor Moses (one of the characters in my comic strip) seems to have missed that point!

I Don't Care Anymore!

The other day I was chatting with Katherine Poon in Facebook and out of my good humanly intention, I ended the chatting with “Take care!”. By the way, good humanly intention is religious and is not Godly intention… so Kat replied: “I don’t take care, I cast out care!” Wow...! What a revelation! It was a zap from heaven and I was totally revived by her reply!

1 Peter 5:7 ~ casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

The word “Care” means Merimna in Greek. From the word meiro, “to divide” and noos, “the mind.” The word denotes distractions, anxieties, burdens, and worries. Merimma means to be anxious beforehand about daily life. Such worry is unnecessary, because the Father’s love provides for both our daily needs and our special needs.

My spirit was quickened by this revelation to break forth the religious stronghold that was still in me. My religious mind (flesh) can never realize that even by taking care of myself is a self effort. Come to think of it, I realized that in the areas of my life where I don’t care much about, do not need much of my caring at all. But those areas where I care most need most of my caring! Dah... ! :) Hey, how come…? So, the revelation is... when I take care of myself, God’s hand is off me because grace cannot flow through my effort. Grace does not flow through my flesh but my spirit. Grace does not flow through my struggles but my rest in Him. Grace does not prompt me to perform but to rest in Jesus. Grace comes to my rescue and super abounding when my spirit rests in Him…

Religion is about a man with nothing trying to care for His everything in life! Life in Jesus is a man with nothing resting in the One who has everything! My flesh can never understand what Jesus had already done or even His cares for me since the foundation of the world!!!!

“Take care” is for those who do not have Jesus in their life because no one really cares for them! I boldly use the word “Jesus” because only Jesus cares and only Jesus ministers with grace, the unearned and unmerited favor of God. None of the religions care for us even in Christianity, if we choose to take good care of ourselves.

Maurice join in with his comment saying: “You still have cares mei…!” Yes Maurice, I still have because I'm not humble… not because of my action in front of people but simply because I still take good care of my situation and I did not cast my cares upon Him! For the verse before 1 Peter 5: 7 says: Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

So from now on, I am going to cast my cares upon Him one day at a time and will not labor to take care of myself but labor to enter His rest…

Do you “care” to join me…?

Put The Horse Back Before The Cart

In the new Covenant, God can put His laws in our hearts because the blood of Jesus had cleansed us so clean that the Holy Spirit can dwell in us.

Hebrews 10:16-18 ~ "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

When we are born again, God put His laws in our heart through the Holy Spirit, so that born again believers can have a Spirit led life. The problem with us for not responding to this truth is that, we are not established in the New Covenant truth. Our righteousness is a gift from God not our performance... When we think that we still have our sinful nature after we are born again, we are on the wrong platform and frequency to respond to His prompting. When we are sin conscious, our sin consciousness leads us back to the two tablets of stones for the knowledge of good and evil. The knowledge of good and evil in turn, prompts us to perform in order to achieve the righteousness that God required.

Everyone of us knows what is good and what is bad. It is our sinful nature that bound us from doing the good; for the good we want to do we cannot and the bad we do not want to do we do.

Romans 7:15 -19 ~ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

The truth is, although we are a new creation, our establishment on the wrong platform robs us from the resurrection life that God has given us to live in. That is why before God can put His laws in our hearts; He has to make sure that He remembers our sins and lawless acts no more. It is Jesus’ blood that washes us so clean that God can says "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." Forgiveness of sins and righteousness are one. When we are forgiven, we are righteous!

If we cannot established that our righteousness is a gift from God, and our nature is righteous, whatever God has written in our hearts are of no used because our evil conscious will still prompt us to go back to refer to the stones, trying to do the good and avoid the bad.

Repent my friends, renew your mind... new covenant believers are righteous in nature not action and our righteousness is a gift from God. Some of us may still think that even now, we still have sinful action. Be at rest friends, establish first in His righteousness so that whatever God has written in our hearts can work out in our hearts and become a spontaneous flow in the Spirit. By then, doing the good and avoid doing the bad is a lifestyle and no more a religion…

But first, let's put the horse back before the cart!

REST and BELIEVE

Last Friday, early in the morning before I woke up from my sleep, this Bible verse (2 Corinthians 8:9 ~ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.) came echoing in my mind and I started to meditate on it and realized that it is by His grace that though He was rich (very very very rich), yet for my sakes (because of me) He became poor (already became poor at the cross) so that through His poverty I might become rich! This Bible verse is all about His work, my believing and non of my doing. It is by His grace not by my own struggling effort to obey the principles and methods to make myself rich. It is through the Tree of Life not the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and yet again, I have fallen from grace… At this point of time, the Spirit was quick to affirm me with the word “REST and BELIEVE”!!!

While I was on my way to office, I went to bank to withdraw some money. When I was at the Tally Machine, I could not find my ATM card in my wallet! I have lost my ATM card!!! I have no idea when I lost it!!! As I tried to recall the last date I used my card, it was about 10 days ago while transferring money to my son in KL… I could have leaved my ATM card in the machine then!!! It has been 10 days since then, what will happen to my saving???

I call my wife to access my account through the internet and thanks God, the money was still in my account. At that moment, the verse that I meditated earlier that morning came back echoing in my heart and this time the verse gained more weigh in my spirit and indeed, it is all about His grace. A fresh impression of REST and BELIEVE from the Spirit came upon me again... I then, decided to come back to report of my lost ATM Card when the bank opened for business.

When I reached my office, I took out my Destined to Reign daily devotional and began to expect what the Lord had to say... I was marveled and goose bumps all over! Let’s see why…

See The Miraculous When You Give Thanks

John 11:41 ~ Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

Jesus lived a life of thanksgiving. He always thanked His Father for what He had and for always hearing Him when He prayed. That was how He released miracles in His life.

In the story of the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:1–13), Jesus’ attitude was one of thankfulness. He took a little boy’s lunch of five loaves and two fishes gave thanks and had them distributed. He gave thanks for the little that was there and the little multiplied. Not only did the people eat as much as they wanted, there were 12 baskets full of leftovers!

So when you see the meager balance in your bank account, thank the Lord for what you have. That’s your “five loaves and two fish”. When you give Him thanks that He is your provider and the source of your supply, in spite of the little you have, your little will become much, with leftovers!

Even when faced with the impossible, the solution was still, “Father, I thank You…” When Jesus stood outside Lazarus’ tomb, and the people took away the stone that was covering the tomb, He did not see the situation as hopeless and impossible. He simply lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.” Then, He proceeded to call forth Lazarus, and the man came forth alive once more!

The raising of Lazarus, who had been dead for more than four days, was one of Jesus’ greatest miracles. And He accomplished this by saying, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.” He thanked His way to an awesome miracle.

My friend, the next time you find yourself praying, “God, please do this for me! Please give me...” stop! Instead, say, “Thank You God, for hearing me. And because You have heard me, I thank You that I have what I asked for.” And when you thank God, the little that you have will multiply. Your impossible situations will turn around to reflect God’s provision. And resurrection life will hit you!



What have I been doing? I have been listening to grace messages day in and day out and yet did not rest but busy working out my life through the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. I can still find a lot of religiosity in me and without my knowing, I fall from grace from time to time! I was reminded by the Spirit to believe and to labor to enter His rest. I was reminded to give thanks for what I have and see the miraculous happen in my life. I was also reminded to live a life of thanksgiving...

Father, I thank You that You have heard Me for You have prompted me to REST and BELIEVE... and by Your grace, the rest is Yours!

Rest

Before we establish ourselves in His righteousness, we sometimes get the idea that God speaks in very exclusive and economic ways; His words are rare and we have to pay a priest or a pastor to hear God on our behalf. But the truth is, we do not even have to wait for next Sunday!

To get in touch with God is just a local call (wireless cell phone!) away. He is not watching us from a distance. Long distance trunk call is religion and is out-dated at the Cross! Acquaint ourselves with God; because Emanuel means God with us and Jesus had placed His presence among men. He dwells within us; we in Him and our identity are found in Christ. He is always in touch with us, within our immediate reach. Our joy and our love, reflect Him; His presence is our portion, we are within the frame of His thought, within the focus of His heart. Our peace is our awareness of His forgiveness. Our joy is our awareness of His righteousness. Our wealth is our awareness of the abundance of His grace. We love because He first loves us...

Acknowledge Him, adore Him… He is forever consistent and He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Sin issue is a done deal at the Cross. Nothing can separate us from God. It remains our choice to labour into His rest and hear Him. We are His audiences; so tune in and listen up...!

Who Can be Against Us?

Grace Upon Grace Conference 09

Morning Session 09-05-2009

Romans 8:29 - 31 ~ For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

God knew what He was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love Him along the same lines as the life of His Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity He restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in Him. After God made that decision of what His children should be like, He followed it up by calling people by name. After He called them by name, He set them on a solid basis with Himself. And then, after getting them established, He stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what He had begun. We have no part to involve in His work but to believe....

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, who can be against us...? How can we lose?

How To Die... Har?

Two weeks ago, right after our Sunday Service, we were so fresh and full of revelation that we started asking each other: "How to die… har?" It was because during the preaching, Elder Alex expounded on the work of the Trinity in us from Romans chapter 8 verse 11…. What a powerful verse it is which expounded the work of the Trinity in our mortal bodies...

It was a week after this incident that the news of the Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico was released and it is now causing global concern. This new strain for virus was first clinically identified as influenza A (H1N1). When I recalled that moment in Church, I realized that in a grace based, Christ centered environment, the Holy Spirit is ever ready in dispensing the "now word" through the pulpit or the believers' mouths. It takes a quiet spirit to discern what the Holy Spirit is revealing.

In the time of shaking like this, the only sure and unshakable foundation is the Finished Work of Christ. Through the revelation of His Finished Work comes the understanding of His full redemption and forgiveness of sins, His unearned and unmerited favor and His everlasting lovingkindness for us. If we are still not establish in His Finished Work but on our own work to perform, we are sure to be blown and tossed by the wind of this world because we will always be doubtful for something that we have done or not done to deserve security...

James 1:6-8 ~ 6But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The Lord said, "It is Finished!". Just rest in His Finished Work and meditate on the following verses from the Bible. Believe and it will start to mean something to you...

Romans 8:11 (New International Version)
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Romans 8:11 (The Message)
It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

Romans 8:11 (Amplified Bible)
And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.

Romans 8:11 (New Living Translation)
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

Romans 8:11 (Contemporary English Version)
Yet God raised Jesus to life! God's Spirit now lives in you, and he will raise you to life by his Spirit.

Romans 8:11 (New Century Version)
God raised Jesus from the dead, and if God's Spirit is living in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. God is the One who raised Christ from the dead, and he will give life through his Spirit that lives in you

Romans 8:11 (Young's Literal Translation)
and if the Spirit of Him who did raise up Jesus out of the dead doth dwell in you, He who did raise up the Christ out of the dead shall quicken also your dying bodies, through His Spirit dwelling in you.

How to die when the Trinity is working in our mortal bodies... So be encouraged by these different translations of Romans 8:11. Surely, not maybe, the Lord is going to satisfy us with long good life...!

Psalm 91

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust."

3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence.

4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.

8 Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

10 No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

14 "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation."

Amen!

Well, how to die... har?

I Believe, and So I Speak!

I believe, and so I speak!

Psalm 116 (NKJV)

Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death

1 I love the LORD, because He has heard
My voice and my supplications.
2 Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.

3 The pains of death surrounded me,
And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called upon the name of the LORD:
“O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!”

5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
Yes, our God is merciful.
6 The LORD preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.
7 Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.

8 For You have delivered my soul from death,
My eyes from tears,
And my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before the LORD
In the land of the living.
10 I believed, therefore I spoke,
“I am greatly afflicted.”
11 I said in my haste,
“All men are liars.”

12 What shall I render to the LORD
For all His benefits toward me?
13 I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the LORD.
14 I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people.

15 Precious in the sight of the LORD
Is the death of His saints.

16 O LORD, truly I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant;
You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the LORD.

18 I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people,
19 In the courts of the LORD’s house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD!


David encouraged himself in the Lord by saying: "Return to your rest O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you."

We too believe and so we speak...!

A dedication to Francois du Toit of Thoughts for Life (Daily Devotionals)