When God Is Silent

I just thought I would share my journey the last three weeks....

The week after I preached the message on Moral Margin, I fell sick. I ran a fever for three days and my voice gave way and I was struggling through the preaching with a bad voice the following Sunday on Professional Margin. Christina, my wife pointed to me that she observed a pattern that every time I preach on moral/sexual issues, I tend to fall sick and we wondered whether this could be an attack from the enemy.

Anyway, as I recovered from the fever and the bad throat, I discovered that my morning devotion time was turning dry. I was in the book of Ezekiel and from that time, every time I opened the Word I received nothing from the Lord. This to me was unusual because I was always able to find something in any passage that I read that would inspire me and stir my thoughts. But for the whole week following, I just felt the silence of God.

To my surprise, when a guest speaker, Gary Koh came to preach at Agape on the Sunday following Chinese New Year, he called on the church to write some affirming note to the Senior Pastor. That Sunday, I received many encouraging notes, most of them appreciating the pulpit ministry at Agape. I didn’t quite understand what the Lord was doing. On one hand, He was not speaking to me, yet on the other hand He was affirming me about my preaching.

I wondered what God was about in this sudden silence. And I was wondering how I was going to preach a Gift To The King (GTTK) message the following Sunday when I was not hearing anything from God even from my personal quiet time. In fact, I was all ready to preach on God, Land and Man, a message I had preached in the earlier years of community-taking. I reasoned since we have so many newcomers over the last few years in our church, it will be okay to do so.

But on the Wednesday before GTTK Sunday, I felt the Lord direct me to the life of Abraham. I studied Gen 12 to Gen 24 and I was amazed to discover the way God blessed Abraham for the way he obeyed God, outside of Himself. Those few days, I felt so nourished in the Word of the Lord. The GTTK sermon followed on Sunday – I received an email later saying that was truly a “God-powered ' sermon.

But Monday came and I still sensed God’s silence. It was then that I knew God gave me that Word for the church and the many who have been obedient to Him with regards to the community. But he was still quiet at a personal level. I felt my job was to stay obedient to opening the Word despite His silence. And it was not until last weekend that I felt a breakthrough. And what a breakthrough, it was.

The scriptures promise us that those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. This past weekend I was in KL ministering and I came home truly renewed in strength. No, it was not the ministry that brought about the renewed strength.

On Sunday afternoon, after church in the morning, I found a quiet spot at Starbucks in Times Square, KL while Christina went shopping. I had about two hours to myself. Among other things, I was reading 2 Corinthians 4:6—"the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ". And I was flooded by a whole new depth of the knowledge of God. It was not a head-knowledge. It was heart-knowledge. It came like it did for Lydia in Acts when the Lord opened the eyes of her heart. Suddenly there was a new assurance of the things I had hoped for in God and a stronger conviction of things not yet seen.

It was a knowledge that was so real, so precious, so satisfying to my soul, that at that moment if there was any thought, any attitude, any emotion which threatened to distract me from that knowledge I would have fought it at all cost. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else was more important. At Starbucks, in that short time, I met the Lord and I was so strengthen.

The Lord said that those who drink of His living water will never thirst again. That means there is a deep satisfaction in God that is far superior then anything that can satisfy. I became thirsty for that kind of deep, divine satisfaction. Maybe it was the dryness in the weeks past that created this thirst but all week long I have been praying, "Lord, show me what it means to drink of you and be fully satisfied."

Indeed, they that wait on the Lord never faint! God does come through and when He does it is with bouts of inner strength!

Rewrads For Serving Selflessly

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.

Ephesians 6:7-8

You will be hard-pressed finding someone who will do something for nothing. People say things like, "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." "If you hook me up with this deal, I will hook you up with that deal in the future." It's all about the payback.

God's economy doesn't work that way. He doesn't want us to give just to get; he doesn't want us to serve just because of what we'll receive in return.

Serving is all about placing other people's needs before your own. And when we do that humbly and with a pure heart, it allows God to work through you in the lives of others in a supernatural way.

Serving selflessly is not easy. Each time we serve, there is the internal conflict waging within us. God will not force us to serve His way. We have to make that choice on our own. But if you choose to serve as God has designed, he will reward you in ways that exceed your imagination.

This has been my discovery the past ten years in leading the church to serve the community. We served expecting nothing from them except that they turn to the Lord. But what has been amazing is that the Lord has rewarded those have remained faithful in unusual ways.

Tomorrow is Gift To The King Sunday and all this week I have been reflecting on how amazing God is in blessing us when we obey Him outside of ourselves by serving others selflessly!

A Prayer for Today

Lord, give me a servant's heart. It's easy for me to focus on my own needs, but I know you have placed people in my life who have needs that I can meet. Help me to place others' needs before my own as I strive to live the life that Jesus modeled for me. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Chess Strategies In Battles with The Enemy

Scripture

"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, (B)returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry..." (Luke 4:1-13)

Observation

In verses 4:1-13, we've often read these scriptures of how Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness by challenging Jesus to turn the stone into bread, granting Jesus power if Jesus worshiped Satan and encouraging Jesus to test God's protection over Him. We know that Jesus stood firm in refusing to follow Satan's temptations as Satan directly propositioned him.

Application

However, in our daily lives, isn't Satan's temptation to sin more cunning, disguised and subtle? Doesn't he often try to blind side us by appealing to our human nature of desires and needs like he tempted Jesus with ... provision and food (the bread), power and success (kingdoms of the world), and a healthy safe life (jumping off the temple). We often don't see Satan's evil temptations in our life until it's too late. Satan will often tempt us after high points in our life or ministry, where we are blinded by our success and renown.

Often, I've realized that some of Satan's temptations aren't always wrong, but in reality take my focus and priority away from God eventually having the propensity to become and idol in itself.

More so, the caution we must heed is that Satan is relentless. Jesus defeat of Satan was decisive, however, in wasn't final as we know Jesus would confront Satan in many forms in the future.

I liken our ongoing battle with Satan like a game of chess rather then checkers. In a game of checkers, although you strategise how you can win the game, the moves are simpler and more visible. However, it chess, the strategy and moves are unlimited, complicated yet subtle and covert. Strategy is planned moves in advance, often disguised in deception or bating your opponent. You often sacrifice a pawn for the larger victory of a knight, or ultimately the Queen and King. So to is our daily game of chess against Satan.

So what would be our best strategy to win this chess match against Satan each and every day? Like Jesus in the wilderness, he knew and stood on the word of God. He did not put God to the test. He knew Satan's goals and therefore thought "moves ahead," or what the outcome would be. He knew His call and assignment from God. More so, he stood fast in his devotion, dedication and love for God.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I realize that I am in a chess match against the enemy. I also realize that I have you beside me as my coach in this chess match of life. I have the choice of playing it on my own or having you coach my every move as I stand on your word, am guided by the Holy Spirit, do not put you to the test, pray about my current and future moves, and most of all stay dedicated, devoted and in love with you.

Driven By What's Natural or Spiritual?

“Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted”

Matt 4:1.

This verse emphasizes the importance of the temptation in preparing Jesus for His mission. The Spirit of God specifically led Christ into the wilderness “to be tempted.”

Why was the temptation so important in Jesus’ life? Because soon he would begin to preach, presenting not only the kingdom, but Himself as King. And as King, Christ must be Victor – not merely over the puny powers of nature or Satan, but over the pull of His human nature. Adam and Eve were unable to resist temptation and all mankind fell. Christ now had to triumph over temptation and in triumphing qualify Himself to lift all mankind up again.

Our temptations seem insignificant beside His: no cosmic issues are at stake. Yet Jesus’ temptation does put ours in a special light. Temptations are not “bad.” Nor are they intended to trip us up. God permits us to be tested, and sometimes even brings tests our way, in order that we might triumph over them. Each test passed victoriously strengthens us for the productive life God intends us to lead.

“Man does not live on bread alone”

Matt 4:2-4.

Medical science has shown that after 30 to 40 days of fasting, hunger, which disappears the second or third day, returns. All the body’s stored resources have been used, and the return of hunger is a sign that the body must have food again.

Jesus had fasted 40 days and “was hungry” when Satan approached our Lord and challenged Him to turn stones into bread. After all, as Satan suggested, that would be a minor miracle for the Son of God to perform!

Jesus answered by quoting a passage in Deuteronomy: “Man does not live on bread alone.” Perhaps the most important word here is “man.”

Think about it. Jesus did not respond to temptation by calling on His resources as Son of God, but instead met each one as “man.” If Christ had met temptation by drawing on His deity, there would be no help for us in His example. But since Jesus met temptation as a man, using no more resources than are available to any human being, you and I have hope! We too can overcome our temptations. We can follow Jesus’ example, draw on the resources He used, and triumph!

This first temptation was directed against Jesus’ physical nature. He was hungry. He wanted bread. Why not make bread? Christ quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, which calls on man to live by the Word of God.

The point of Christ’s response is this: human beings are physical creatures. But we are more than animals. We have a spiritual nature that is to control the physical. God’s will, not our physical needs or desires, is to govern our choices.

Today many people argue that if you want something, take it. If you feel an urge for sex, satisfy it. After all, it’s “natural.” Yes, it’s natural for animals to satisfy their desires. But because we are more than animals, it is not “natural” for man to be driven by physical hungers. We are spiritual beings, and what is right and natural for us is to be driven by the living Word of our God.

East Timor: Going In Circles?

President Jose Ramos-Horta was shot twice in the chest and once in the stomach

Scripture

"When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea." (Exodus 13:17,18)

Observation

"The shortest distance between to points is a straight line." That's what I was always taught in mathematics anyway. But even though it might be the shortest line, it may not always be God's preferred line.

He took the Israelites through a circuitous route, snaking through the hot sands of the deserts of the Sinai. Taking a straight line would have taken them a couple of years. God's route took them forty.

Why? Because His goal is not arrival. It is likeness. If it were arrival, then as soon as we would have gotten saved, He would have killed us. Now we are in heaven! Straight line. Quick trip. Arrival.

If arrival was His plan, then communities and nations should be transformed overnight for all the prayers and ploughing that we bring to the land.

But it is LIKENESS. That is His goal. Romans 8:29 tells us this: "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son."

That's the reason for the long route.

Application

How often we want God to move faster. Promote me faster. Bless me sooner. Develop me quicker. Fix the problem earlier. Change my wife more rapidly!

But God takes His time! It seems like that anyway. I guess in the meantime, He is doing something eternal in me... of character development, leadership skills, virtue building ... actually everything I wanted God to do in the first place! But the best qualities can only be found in the sands, not on the highways. And the best lessons don't suddenly appear. They eventuate. They don't come by Fedex. They come by slow boat.

Monday morning. News arrived that East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Harto was shot, twice in the chest and once in the stomach. Now, for yet another time, the nation seems to go round in circles. When will this end? When will all our efforts to see positive change in East Timor be realized? Why doesn't God move faster?

Yet in His sovereign plan, God has allowed this. He has purposes that cannot be thwarted. He has His reasons that are higher than our understanding. And God is after something more eternal and more permanent in all these - He is deepening the nation and building the church. God knows what He is about!

Prayer

Lord, please change my inner stopwatch to Yours. I think mine runs far too fast. It needs some adjustment so I can stay in step with you and not frustrate myself. You know what you are about. Your plans stand forever and the purposes of your heart to the generations. Amen!

Breaking Insular Thinking

Read Matt 3:1-6.

"John the Baptist came, preaching…and saying, ‘Repent’”

It’s clear from Matthew and especially from Luke that John’s preaching, like that of the Old Testament prophets, focused on the personal and social sins that marred society. John preached against materialism and selfishness (Luke 3:11), and against such widespread sins as overcharging (v.13) and extortion (v.14). Those who confessed their sins were warned to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matt 3:8).

John’s emphasis is important. In the first century the Jews took a bath in a mikvah in order to be ritually pure for worship. In contrast John called for an inner change of heart and mind (repentance), which is to produce a pure and holy life.

Repentance has always been a part of the Christian Gospel. Not “repentance” as being sorry for sin, or an effort at self-reform. In Scripture repentance is a change of heart and mind about God that bears fruit in a holy life. Without repentance there is no salvation, simply because whenever Jesus enters a life by faith, He does just such a transforming work in the human heart.

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“Do this to fulfill all righteousness”

Matt 3:15.

Many have debated why Jesus wanted to be baptized. John, His cousin, who knew Him well, was embarrassed to baptize Jesus even before he knew that Jesus was the Messiah. John’s baptism was for repentance – and John knew Jesus as a godly Jew who had no need to repent.

When I was in a phase of my life in my early twenties, where I felt I was sort of living a life of full dedication to the Lord, I would attend church and every time the preacher asked people to stand to commit their lives to God, the others all stood. I remained seated. I had already dedicated myself to God, and it didn’t seem right to just “go through the motions.” The Lord knew where I stood with Him, and I was satisfied with that.

If I had understood these verses in Matthew better, I would have stood with the others. Why? Because I would have realized that Jesus was baptized not because He needed to be, but in order to identify Himself with John’s message! It was right for Jesus to take a stand with John. Just as it would have been right for me to identify myself with the preacher's call to commitment.

It’s an important principle for us to apply. We too need to be identified with what is right, and what is righteous. We too need to be willing to take a public stand. many times we are so insular in our thinking, we only respond for ourselves. Maturity is when you respond not just for yourself but for the message that you believe in.

John’s Gospel tells us that it was only as Christ stood in the water beside His cousin, and the Spirit descended on Him as a dove, that John realized who Jesus is – the Messiah he had been commissioned to announce. Identifying with the message and the truth allows the Spirit to be poured out on us.