Satan’s Meeting

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.

In his opening address he said,

“We can’t keep Christians from going to church.”

“We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth.”

“We can’t even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their savior.”

“Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.”

“So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don’t have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Without Jesus….

Without Jesus, our days would be:-

“Moan-day”,

“Tears-day”,

“Wasted-day”,

“Thirst-day”,

“Fight-day”,

“Shatter-day” &

“Sin-day”.

So allow Jesus to fill all of your days and live make each day count for God!

-Encouragement from E-Pillar

New Phase, New Challenge

Having to start work for more than 2 months, I am thankful to the Lord for the many opportunities that He has provided for me to reach out to my colleagues. Just for updates, I’m currently working at UOB, so you must obey God by leaving your money with bankers like me so that you can get higher interest on your money (Matthew 25:27) =). Haha, okok, jokes aside. Hmmm, where I am working, everyone is practically talking about money, from my colleagues to my customers to the security guards at the branches. Everyone is concern about what they are earning on their investments/ savings and for my colleagues, it would be how much they will be earning. In a world that speaks of fighting for your own survival, God is hardly ever mentioned and hardly on people’s mind. That is where the challenge comes in to rethink about their idea of independence and survival.
 
I’ve a colleague called John (not his real name). He’s been working day and night, putting in a lot of effort in this job to the extent that he hardly takes a break. For him, money is his motivation. Sometimes when there is no sales for the day, he would feel lousy and basically his mood/feelings is dependent on his sales performance. Not to say that I don’t feel lousy when I dont get sales, but its humanistic to feel so lar. So as I get the opportunity to take the same bus/mrt with him, I get the chance to ask him questions like “Is money really that important in life” & “What defines happiness” and these questions really provoke his thinking to think deeper and we would discuss about the questions. To him, there is no God, and religion is just a man made belief to make a person better, we need to strive for our own. I would say that he is not totally not receptive but there is this barrier of self and pride to overcome in him. Well, at the same time while sharing with him, it serves as good reminders of what our priorities in life and our life principles should be.

Another of my colleague called me the other day to ask about the End Times. Basically, he met this Christian lady who told him that we should not buy any insurance or investments already because Christ is coming in 3-4 years time. My friend got very agitated and puzzled to receive such comment. So he asked me for my own opinion. And God just opened this opportunity for me to share about End times, Second Coming and Christ. And the good thing about it is that he had actually mentioned that we should discuss more about such things and wants to meet up to talk more. 
 
Other than my non-Christian friends, my concern is for my professing Christian friends who have not gone to church for several years due to work commitments. To them, career comes first and they are willing to put any other things aside in order to establish their career and to make more money. The struggle is very real. Trust me, especially when you are not grounded and have little accountability with fellow believers. It’s quite disheartening to see my professing Christian friends not attending church anymore, picking up the bad habit of smoking and clubbing. As much as I can encourage them to revisit their faith again and to go back to church, God needs to do the heart of conviction .
 
Some of the lessons that I’ve learnt: 1. to be prepared in season and out of season to share 2. to ask the right questions so in order to get them thinking 3. never give up but to persevere on.
 
Yeap, so this is what I hope to share with all of us. The following is a song that the Junior Sunday School kids have performed for teachers’ day and the song really ministered to me:
 
TESTIFY TO LOVE
All the colors of the rainbow
All the voices of the wind
Every dream that reaches out
that reaches out to find
where love begins
Every word of every story
Every star in every sky
Every corner of creation
Lives to testify

CHORUS:
For as long as I shall live
I will testify to love
I’ll be a witness in the silences
When words are not enough
With every breath I take
I will give thanks to God above
For as long as I shall live
I will testify to love

From the mountains to the valleys
From the rivers to the seas
Every hand that reaches out
Every hand that reaches
out to offer peace
Every simple act of mercy
Every step to kingdom come
All the hope in every heart
Will speak what love has done

Will you testify for what God’s love has done for you? =)

Keep on praying for opportunities, trust and ovey what He commands us to do!

Sharing the gospel is never an easy task. Why do I say that? Sharing the gospel is never just about the task itself. Some of us struggle with the fear of rejection, some others struggle on how to make the gospel culturally relevant and sensitive to the hearers. However, I must testify that God works in marvelous ways. While we may have many weaknesses and inadequacies, God’s strength is always made perfect in them.
 
Therefore, I hope that as I share this experience with you, it will encourage us not just to be bolder and active in our evangelism efforts, but a greater trust and faith in the Holy Spirit’s leading and empowerment in our lives.
 
I remember there was this period of time when I was reflecting on my own evangelism efforts during the week. I came to that realisation that I did not have many opportunities to share the gospel to non-believers in my situation. Most of my time has been spent interacting either with the youths from Youth Ministry or my young adult peers. Therefore, I was lamenting to God about my situation. I was telling God, “God, it’s really hard for me to share the gospel to people given my situation. But Lord, I do want to share your good news to the lost. I promise you that if you send someone to me, I will definitely share your gospel of Jesus Christ to him/her.” Actually this was quite a random thought that I had earlier during that week.
 
However, little did I know that further down the week, God did answer my prayer! It actually happened on a Thursday night when I was going home from a graduation service. It was 11pm at night. While I was crossing the road near my house, I was actually stopped by this stranger whom I have no idea who he is. He asked me whether I was a counselor and asked me regarding certain issues that seem to be troubling him. I was quite shocked then, I mean you do not get strangers coming up to you asking if you are a counselor everyday right? Feeling tired then, I was thinking whether I should just ask for his number and contact him some other day. But then, I was reminded of my promise to God, to share with whomever He sent to me and if God honours my desire, I should honour God’s providence through obedience.
 
That night, we went down to a HDB void deck where I listen to his sharing. The sharing started with his thoughts and feelings on certain issues in life. While I was hearing, I kept praying, asking God to show me when the right time to bring Jesus Christ into the conversation is. There were a few instances that I wanted to introduce Jesus into the conversation by asking certain questions but he just kept avoiding the topic. I felt really desperate; I wanted to bring him at least one step closer to Christ. While I was talking to him, I kept praying for a breakthrough in the conversation. Sure enough, God did work an opening! And not long later, I was able to share the gospel to this man. Well, by the time we finished talking, it was already 1pm. By the time I reached home I was exhausted. But I do thank God for the opportunity to share to this person.
 
What I have learnt from this experience is really never to underestimate what God can do. I often take for granted the reality of God and how He still works very evidently today. Just like the people who prayed for Peter to be released in Acts 12, I sometimes do hold that kind of attitude and faith in my prayers. To sum in all up, God has taught me through this experience to be bold and have faith in what He can do. It is really not about my ability to share but the willingness to trust and obey what He commands us to do.
 
Therefore, I would like to encourage you guys to keep praying for opportunities too. You will be amazed by how God will give you opportunities to share about Jesus Christ and how He will be the one to equip you with the words to speak. Let us trust in the power of the Holy Spirit and never be ashamed of the gospel we profess faith in!

In His grace,
Zhehao