Children of The Light#54 Conviction (26th April 2018)

Dear…

Every morning, at the crack of dawn, the Spirit of our good Lord awakens me, to give me time with our Lord. A time where in the comfort of my bed, I come to the Lord with my supplications and prayer.

This morning was a little different. Instead of the usual list of prayer requests, our good Lord led me to specific prayer points. Issues that stood as potential insurmountable hurdles in the various ministries that He has placed me and my fellow journeymen in.

But thanks be to God. The years of experiencing His grace and awesome powers has convicted in me this truth, that God is Sovereign, and all things are surmountable, because it is in His plans.  With this confidence, I know I can move forward in faith, dealing with what lies in front, with the wisdom that God gives me, and with the love and desire to honor Him at every step.

Obedience is what I can do, conclusion lies solely with our Lord.

God always affirms when we step out in faith. The Daily Bread reading that I just read sums it aptly and affirms the thoughts that I have just experienced.

Though life can make various demands on us, we can always draw strength from God.

We can entrust our cares to Him, do all we can, and let Him amaze us with what He can do with our situation.(Daily Bread Thursday April 26, 2018).

How great is our God indeed. For He walks with us every each step.

Just yesterday, I had the privilege of spending time in fellowship with a fellow brother. A new Christian but one who by the grace on God is on fire. For the Spirit of God has convicted him.

When the Spirit of God falls upon us, the sanctified us become a new man. The chains of burdensome sins falls off us, and with joy, the liberated us wants to run for our Lord.

What a privilege it is to be chosen by our Lord. And what must one do next?

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

          Micah 6:8

For the till recently us man of the world, but now a newly transformed vessel of our Lord.

Micah 6:8 might seem like a bit of a letdown.

Like the Syrian General Naaman, when he was asked to wash himself in the River Jordan. He was perturbed for he had expected the prophet of God to come with an equivalent of light and sound show to heal him of his leprosy. Not just a simple command to do a simple act.

But Naaman went away angry and said, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.

2 Kings 5:11

Convict us of our sins, Lord for we often run ahead of You, and on our own finite and imperfect understanding.

Following as God leads, starts, continues and concludes always with a time of rest and abiding in Him.

In letting go and letting God, we acknowledge our limitations and His Omnipresence.

In seeking to be a purified lamp, we allow the glory of God to shine forth brightly through us.

Confidence comes from knowing that God is working, much as we seem to be standing still.

Confirmation comes when we move in His direction, in His ways  and not ours

God Blesses

Eng Hieang

26 April 2018

An afternote - Like Paul

This evening, as I took time with our Lord to ponder upon the potential new thorn in my flesh, He led me to Acts 21-24.

Paul said

...I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there,

Except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.

But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself,so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received form the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

What great conviction Apostle Paul had. By the grace of God, will we be as emboldened and empowered?

Back in Sep 2011, our good Lord opened my eyes to the heart blockage sitting in my perceived healthy countenance. Three  months later, in Dec 2011, He called me out of my comfort zone in Merrill Lynch. And hence begin a challenging but wonderful journey of faith in His service these past 6 years plus.

As I prepare to go for further test on my right eyes tomorrow, will it just be something mild or more momentous? Either way, is our good Lord laying the groundwork for the next upgrade in my journey of total dependency upon Him, for that is what following Christ is all about - trust and obey. Pray that we will all be like Paul. Willing to go forth with no fear other than the fear of not following our Lord.

God Blesses

Eng Hieang

(26th April 2018)

Children of The Light#53 Decision making (11 April 2018)

Dear….

Blesseth is the man who trust in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

Jeremiah 17:7

Strange as it seems. But I had a dream last nite about being lost in the carpark. A common occurrence in reality for me too. But unlike real life, I could step out of the dream and not bother about being befuddled as to where my car is located.

And in my sleep, I was aware it was a dream, so I stepped out, and end of my perplexity.

In our journey of life, there are many times when faced with a difficult situation, we wish that it will just go away, or if not we walk away. But either it seems beyond us, or there are consequences from such actions that keep us away from making that decision and staying the course also has its consequences.

How do we know that we are doing it right?

And if God is with us, is it always a clear straight path?

Truth is, we are often left wondering if it is really from our Lord, and even if we are sure it is, we often wonder if we are doing it right?

“And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins…”

Leviticus 26:18

God knows our very thoughts. The entire chapter in Leviticus 26 has a constant reminder to the reader that God expects us to obey His command.

Guess He knows my thoughts as I ponder upon a couple of situations where my resolve to adhere to His will is weighed against the compelling reasons to deviate from it.

Can I trust God to provide a solution if I obey Him or do I deal with issues as I see it?

The answer is a no brainer. Trust and obey.

‘And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?”

Luke 24:38

But is obedience strictly adhering to the first prompting that God places in our hearts?

Do we blindly stick to it come what may, or should we modify the execution as circumstances change? Are the refinements in process truly led by the Holy Spirit or are we leading ourselves?

For I have been told by the word of the Lord. You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.

1 Kings 13:17

The man of God acted in full obedience to the word of our Lord.

But he disobeyed when he was told a lie by an older prophet.

He said to him, I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying Bring him back with your to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water(He was lying to him)

1 Kings 13:18

Hence lies this question.

Where did this man of God went wrong? He thought he listened to a fellow man of God, if not an older and more mature one. And he wanted to obey God.

The key is this man of God never asked our Lord. He listened to another man.

Our good Lord knows my heart. And my present dilemma

I have religiously obeyed His command on the sale of my home.  But now am I listening to my own understanding just as His word is about to be fulfilled, or am I truly adjusting as He leads me?

I am not sure. But one key difference between me and the man of God in 1 Kings is that I continue to seek our Lord and listen to Him, and no else including my own voice.

The man of God in Kings never asked God. He just took the word of man assuming that it is from God.

Lord help me to make the right decision. May I not be like the remnant Jews who seek your direction, but has already made a premeditated decision to go to Egypt say what you may command.

As I close this sounding of my heart, our good Lord reminded me of my past experiences with Him

• His Word to us is always clear, much as it is in all brevity. The process of implementation is the foggy part.
• He will let us wonder and wander around because He understands our limitations.

And He wants to allow us and our impacted loved ones time to work out our fears

God is working on us even as we wrestle.

    - But through it all my hearts wants to do right His way and seek Him always

    - That I honour Him in every step much as the answer I seek has not been given

    - At His timing, God will divinely intervene and take us out of the mire

And even in the midst of our wandering, God will divinely provide grips for us to hang on

to that will also lead us forward in His will.

    - At that point, we must be resolute to enter the now opened door much as we do not

           Know what lies ahead.

Will we obey and not worry about conclusion? Yes because the period of wrestling God is preparing us for the next key step of faith. If our heart is truly with our Lord, He will always ensure there is never a wrong

God Blesses

Eng Hieang(11th April 2018)