Dear…
As I prepare to leave for Japan tonight(28th Nov 2017), a rare situation where I am travelling with my son, without the ladies of the family. I am already starting to miss my wife.
Lord, what is your purpose for me for this trip in Japan? Till now, He has not shown me, but I am assured, that when we seek God our Father, He knows our heart and at His timing, He will give us the spirit of discernment and the joy of obeying His leading.
Future blessings is contingent upon present obedience.(from the foreword to the Book of Zechariah, New King James Version).
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we keep His commands and do what pleases Him.
John 3:21-22
Indeed God answered my prayers on China wonderfully. A prayer that asked Him His purpose for bringing me back to China in early November, after an absence of two exact years.
God has not just reconnected me with my dear Chinese Christians friends, but is deepening our journey together. And the two years of absence, He was preparing the next phase, which is now in His perfect timing, ready.
My Shanghai trip was one of affirmation, as our good Lord provided a series of coincidences, where one cannot but truly acknowledge in wonder, His hands at work. The past 6 months of formal Mandarin lessons which He provided, much as till recently I have no inkling that I will be back in China after an exact 2 years hiatus. Even the equipment in the gym at the China hotel that I stayed in was the exact type in the gym in my residence back in Singapore.
Was going to Japan shortly after my trip to China an affirmation of the hands of our good Lord at work as He now brings my involvement to the next level? As a bridge for the Christians of both great nations, where repentance on the part of the Japanese and forgiveness on the part of the Chinese, is a necessary prerequisite for the fulfilment of the Great Commission to the once unreached lands of Central Asia and Africa, now made possible by the One Belt, One Road infrastructure initiative.
Christianity spread through the great roads of the Roman Empire. Ditto now with the rise of the Chinese Empire.
He Who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals His thoughts to man…...the Lord Almighty is His name.
Amos 4:13
This trip in Japan has been wonderful. An opportunity to know the geography of the country better, to appreciate the beauty of her environs, yet experience first hand the harshness of the forces of nature.
It was a time to deepen an already close relationship with my son, even as he transits to adulthood. As our role changes, from my being his protector and provider, to now he being my protector, and me for now the provider.
Yet, one thing has not and will never changed. God remains our Father, our Provider and our Protector.
A near accident on the road with a kamikaze local driver hell bent on driving into our path, as well as a separate incident when an unexpected very strong gust of wind blew my car door hard into that of an adjoining parked car, both with the natives of the land, by the grace of God did not end in sorrows for anyone. God by His grace altered the intended script of the devil.
Prayerfully in both situations, we had not dishonored God in our responses to our fellow human beings.
…..See the Lord and live, do not seek Bethel…
Amos 5:4-5
The thought that troubled me a little during this trip to Japan is will an earthquake hit?
Clearly the rumblings in the Kanto region are growing, and Mt Fuji long dormant since the last major eruption in early 1700s is awakening. This trip I had the opportunity to drive round the surrounds of Tokyo. Lovely mountainous areas and coastal routes, all within 2 hours of Tokyo.
Will all these be turned to ash covered waste? Will the world witness a massive migration within the land of Japan from the congested middle Kanto region down South to Kyushu Island, a place God has placed me and many Christians into, to prepare the ground for this relocation?
A shift not just in the physical, but in the spiritual. Where the Christian population of Japan will rise from the official low one percent plus to ten percent as some of us are inclined to believe our Lord will bring about.
But this shaking is not just unique to Japan. It will and is already happening to all of us on Earth.
It is getting late but not too late to turn from our Bethel, and turn to our omnipresent God.
And like all who do so, God will no longer be a figment of imagination, nor a silent God nor is He a stranger or an inept Divine being.
This Japan trip was a deepening of a bond I have with my son developed through the years. Possible because God provided me with the time and the desire to replicate His relationship with me as I with my Heavenly Father.
A life where you seek to respond to Godś desire for you to be in His presence. What a wonderful journey it will be. And like many who have gone down that road, you will attest to this biblical truth
...but let him who boasts boast about this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, Who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 9:24
It is time to stop wandering every which way except unto the presence of our omnipresent God.
And indeed it is time to stop wondering where God is, but instead start to experience the wonderful ways He has laid out the path of life for each of us who seeks Him.
God has a journey for you to embark on. Do take time to enter His rest, with an open heart.
He will lead you on.
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
4th Dec 2017
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