PraYing WithOut CeaSinG

Back...

2007-04-09T20:55:00.000+08:00

Well, I'm back writing. Many people have told me that the last post was a very long time ago. I've thought hard about what to write and I really didn't know what to write.

Maybe the reason is that I've had to endure a season of dryness. The start of the year had been a difficult one for me, as I've had to endure being sick for extended periods of time, falling sick again, personal disappointments, discouragement, and even an increasing sense of frustration and despair with the way my life is going, feeling that I no longer have any control over it because of the demands of my work and my ministry (please pray for me!).

I've had thoughts of walking away from everything. I've shared this with my YSG and a number of other people. It's been a time of wrestling with God about my life, my faith, and my commitment to Him.

Last week, I was supposed to share devotions in school on this topic 'Rejoice Evermore', and I struggled through preparing it because I found it really hard to rejoice in my circumstances. I'm not sure how it went...but i guess God used it to begin a process of restoration in me. Even as I prepared to lead worship at chapel for today, and I went through the BB Easter Camp over the weekend where I was really tired out (I didn't go for Good Friday service as I was catching up on my sleep before camp).

During the course of the weekend, especially when i didn't go for any services, I began to seek God on why He chose to die for us, and also on the meaning of His resurrection and what it meant for my faith. It's quite difficult to put into words the blessing i received through this wrestling with God, but one of the things was that God illumined my heart today while I was leading worship during chapel in school. I had been reflecting on Jesus' resurrection and how because He lives today, I have hope. As I sang this part of the song even as the boys (usually) are not singing, His joy came flooding into my heart:

"As I look upon Your name
Circumstances fade away
Now Your glory steals my heart
You are Holy....

....evermore my heart, my heart will say...
Above all, I live for Your glory...
Even when my heart falls I will say...
Above all, I live for Your glory.."

-Evermore (2003, Joel Houston, Hillsong Publishing)

I just let go and worshipped God.

I'm not sure why I'm going through this rough season of my life. And I think I will have to continue going through it for some time. But one thing I know...I will have to continue hanging on to God...there is really a huge difference between hanging on to Him when all is well, and hanging on to Him when you are desperate and you know that if you let go, you might just fall far far away.

These verses comes to mind as i end off this post...

"Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights."

Habakkuk 3:17-19

jiemin =)

Faith

2006-07-22T23:59:00.000+08:00

Today, I had to go to school and we had BB CARES. We had fall-in, and as I was leading the Company in prayer, it threatened to rain, and eventually started raining. So I prayed and asked the Lord to grant us good weather for the rest of the day....seems improbable especially when the rain just kept getting heavier and we were all formed up in the squads in the parade square, but God is good. The weather was GREAT! Perfect in fact, as it wasn't even sunny and hot. In fact, while it was raining, the sun came out, and the rain soon went away.

Flashback: last night, at prayer meeting
I just shared with the other two people at the prayer meeting, that when we pray, we must have faith. (Ezra 8:21-23) When we pray, we need to claim upon what we know God is, and trust Him to be faithful to answer our prayers. I also shared about what happened on 30th June during the fire conference:

Further flashback: 30th June, at FIRE Conference

Testimony 1: I felt that the Lord wanted me to be at FIRE conference. So after CCA in school, I rushed home to change before I rushed to the Indoor Stadium. I remember that I left my house at 7:20pm, and desperate to get a cab. I was walking out towards the other main road to see if I could get one. I was desperate, and I asked the Lord to get me there. Unexpectedly, I met this Malay guy whom I could vaguely remember. He said that he met me during a camp I organised for my school last year. He asked where I was going, and I said Indoor Stadium. He said he would send me, and I was just stunned.
Anyways to cut the long story short, he sent me to the Indoor Stadium, I went in and met with Sandy, Denise, Chinhui and Joshua. Sandy and Denise moved seats cos there were no more seats and they came to sit with me. I was thinking of going to the toilet and grabbing a bite, but one second after I reached my seat, the worship started. God is so amazing!

Testimony 2: Sandy mentioned that she wanted to pray and claim healing of her neck in Jesus' name. So we worshipped the Lord, heard the sermon and all, and when Reinhard Bonnke asked us to pray, I just remembered that Sandy wanted prayer for her neck. So I tapped Denise on the shoulder and said, let's pray for Sandy. I went over to her left and Denise was on her right. [fast forward a few weeks] Sandy testified that she had been healed. She had gotten off her medication and she did not feel any pain for her migraine and her neck when she was supposed to. In her testimony, she shared specifically that I was on her left, and Denise was on her right.
Why was this so important? Sandy had been asking the Lord to heal her and the Lord showed her the vision of what happened more than 2 years ago when the three of us went on the Reverse Bungee at Clarke Quay. Her slipped disc problems started shortly after that. On the Reverse Bungee, I was on her left and Denise was on her right. Coincidence? I don't think so. I have the faith that the Lord is able to heal Sandy and has healed her. To God be all the glory!

This blog is written with the intent to praise the Lord and to give Him the glory for all that He has done, and is still doing and is about to do in our ministry.

Back to prayer meeting....we asked to Lord to raise up more youths and leaders who will seek His face in our ministry. It is so important, especially when we do so many things and are in teh danger of running on our own strength and even running off in our own direction. May He continue to lead us and guide us.

One more thing, is that as we shared, God was speaking to us about the importance of His Word in our ministry. For transformation to take place, we need to begin to take God's Word seriously. God's Word must be preached faithfully. Without the Word, there will not be any transformation. May the Lord begin to change our ministry and grant us a greater hunger and thirst for Him and His Word!

That's all for now. Sorry if I sound incoherent as I'm really tired. Time to stop.

-jiemin

Revival?

2006-06-24T02:10:00.000+08:00

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

It's been such a long time since I wrote, I think i can't remember how to write or what to write already...but I shall try. Some things of note have been happening lately and I want to write it down before I get sucked into school again and have no more time for myself.

So what shall I write? Let's write about revival.

As usual, I tell my long-winded grandfather's story (please ask my piggy daughter and granddaughter) before I get to the point, so here goes...

Last friday (16th June), we had the sub-ministries gather to pray. Pray for the "Service Showcase" which would take place this coming Sunday. It seemed the most logical thing to do...after we finished painting our banners a few days before. It had been so fun(so beautiful when all the subministry banners are put together), and personally I was very encouraged by the many youths who turned up...most of them who came to paint also came to pray. Somehow I felt prompted that we should not go to God with a list of prayer items, as we often have a (bad) habit of doing, but I felt strongly that we should minister to one another as we prayed. So in went every ministry into the 'GAP' in the middle of our circle to be prayed for after they had shared all their prayer requests and concerns. It was an awesome time and I felt really blessed.

Towards the end we had a question about 'Revival'. I guess many youths have questions about 'revival'. I had also been having my own thoughts on it, but since it was brought up, and there were many youths around, it was a good time to address it. I feel that 'revival' is a term which has been loosely used in our ministry (and perhaps many other places too). Sermons have also been littered with this word. It arouses excitement, a longing for something great that God is going to do, a sense of great expectation. It is an ideal state, the images of which are described by others' experiences of the great revivals of old.

The sad thing is, that many youths (and perhaps even some leaders) have been greatly disappointed. They experienced God in an intimate way, felt His presence, and longed for more. They waited and waited, but the expected 'revival' never came. The unquestioning ones perhaps just abandoned the idea. The ones who dare to ask, perhaps question God about their disappointment.

Perhaps 'revival' has become an ideology. It has something similar along the lines of 'holy war' or 'enlightenment' or 'the perfect society'. We rant and rave about it, we preach it, we yearn for it, but we do not really know what it entails. We cannot really put our finger on what it really is. It becomes our driving force and our motivation, and when we work towards something of which we do not really know what we expect, there is a danger. Danger of disappointment, disillusionment, or even deception. For who can plan or program a revival? Are man's ways higher than God's ways?

Let it be clear that I am not an anti-revivalist. I do yearn for revival and I want revival to come. But we need to examine ourselves and look at where we are headed. If our church life consists of rah-rah and getting fired up and doing things for God, even whatever starts off with the best of intentions will end up in the flesh, if the 'revival' is late in coming. Beneath the external surface of saying the right religious words, raising of hands, and jumping rhythmically(or like a monkey, whichever applies), is the inner life which sustains the soul and the spirit of man. We need to feed on the Word of God (as one sister said) and rest in Him. Keep the Sabbath way of life and not drive ourselves to the ground with work and ministry. In short, we need to walk right. The Word of God is what sustains the inner man and effects the change.

How do we communicate revival to the youths? We need to keep it simple. When we use it loosely as a religious jargon, then 'revival' remains an ideology. When we break it down to identifiable characteristics and explain them, it becomes easily understood by the youths. It is what makes revival 'measurable', and in a sense, items in a checklist which the youths can, so called, check against what our ministry has and has not.

What were some of the marks of revival mentioned in the discussion? They were:

personal holiness
a surrendered life
the fear of the Lord
love for one another
passion for the lost
repentance and forgiveness
salvations
the manifest presence of God
when the church of God is living the way that God wants us to live (obedience to the Word of God)

There are many others marks of revival, and what is central to these marks of revival is obedience to the Word of God. We need to be grounded in God's Word, to "build our house upon the Rock", for outward forms can only carry us so far and when the storms of life come, we will not be able to stand. Youths and leaders in YM must learn to cultivate their inner life, to feed themselves on the Word of God, and to spend time in God's presence. Only then will we be able to know our Shepherd's voice from the one 'who comes to steal, kill and destroy'.

We must be careful about where and how we are driving our ministry towards. My discernment is that striving towards a certain style of worship or certain outward forms of worship, if we do not constantly check our hearts, is akin to idolatry. Because if we are not careful, we no longer seek the Lover of our souls in our worship but the outward expression. We miss the point, and what a tragedy it would be, to be in the presence of the Almighty God but fail to worship Him. As Pastor Alvin wisely put it in the last combined service, YM needs to learn to express our worship to God in a way that is unique to Wesley Methodist Church. And I thought there is a lot of wisdom in that.

The revival will come. I believe that the Lord has put the vision in many of our hearts. But we must be patient. It cannot be at our timing, or when someone cries 'revival' when there is an indelible mark of revival (as listed above) that is observed or experienced in our ministry. It will come at a time as deemed fit by the Lord. And we will know it when it happens...not as a big bang, but gradually. As we faithfully fill ourselves with the Word of God, as the leaders faithfully feed their lambs with the Word of God, and as each of us faithfully serve with our talents, and glorify the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, He will continue to build our ministry up until we are mature and attain the full measure of the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ. That is when we know that we are one step closer to the revival that we yearn for. As we draw closer to Jesus, we draw closer to revival.

In 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, Paul writes about Spiritual Gifts (that each of us has), and he writes about how each of us are members of one body (the way we should view ourselves), but the most important passage in context is still chapter 13 where he writes about love, because while Christ is the head and the members of the Body are held together by the ligaments and other soft tissue, love is the blood that keeps each of the members alive in the Body and brings nourishment and sustenance to the members.

As i prayed, i realised that the Service Showcase is not about glorifying the different members of the Body of Christ in YM, but it is about the love that each of us have for one another, because 'without love [we are] nothing'. When brothers love one another and live in harmony, God's blessing and anointing will come upon the ministry. May the Lord be pleased with what we do, and may all of our eyes be open to realise that we all need each other in the ministry, and we need to love one another.

Pray for Unity and Love.

The Lord bless you and keep you in His perfect love as you love your brothers and sisters around you.

God bless!

jiemin =)

It's raining

2006-03-21T21:52:00.000+08:00

Rain down on me,
Rain down on me,
Here in Your Presence I am free
Pour down like rain
Come touch me again
Lord, let Your Presence fall on me.

It had been a really blessed time at IGNITE conference at Cornerstone. A great time of refreshing hearing God's word and having an assurance of what God is doing amongst the youths in Singapore.

There were four leaders from YM who went, and I believe that the Lord touched us. When we came back to YM, it seemed as if the word of God that was spoken to us was like 'fire in our bones which we cannot contain'...we have a conviction that things can and must be done to bless and change YM...simple practical things. There seemed to be many things happening in the spiritual realm as well, many crazy things happening in the lives of these leaders in the week following the IGNITE conference. But it was also followed by a deeper desire to pray, to seek the Lord and to serve Him.

Last sunday, we did things differently. There may have been some people who were not comfortable with it (but that's not the point now, and I don't feel it's impt to deal with it). The presence of God was felt very strongly at the 1130am service, as we cried out to God for His glory. We had also asked the Lord to 'rain down' on us. As I prayed and asked the Lord to touch YM, the Lord impressed upon my heart, "It's raining."

Hallelujah!

Give Thanks...for His love endures forever.

2006-01-09T00:40:00.000+08:00

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever"

Amidst the business of Christmas and the start of the new year, i've finally found some time to write about what God has done since YM Camp. It has been a great camp, one in which the Lord taught many people about the deeper things of God, one in which many youths gaves their lifes, and, hopefully, surrendered to the Lord. It was also the time when the Lord revealed some dark things which had been hidden for a long, long time in some of our lives. God revealed to us the secret places that we had to surrender and I believe many of us took our secret place and made an altar to the Lord that day.

Right after camp, before I knew it, we were off to Thailand. It was my first trip leading a team, but I did feel a sense of anxiety and I was certainly stretched to the max, because at one time there were three teams and I was really all over the place in coordinating them. I was really stressed and the Lord did show me the ugly side of me. How true it is when the Lord wants to do His work of grace in us, He will reveal to us the sin in our human nature. I struggled alot with my impatience and my need to be in control. Well, i really didn't enjoy it, but I just had to press on. I guess my reward came when I saw how the Lord had worked in the lives of many of us on the trip. It was a real blessing. And it took some time to sink in after I came back to Singapore. The year trying to get YMOVE moving was really tough, but it's like, now, there are so many youths excited about missions, I don't have to worry about being stretched in the way I was this year. Indeed, " 'not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord." It is very humbling indeed to see that the Lord has raised up a people who are jealous for His name.

Today, at service, we were praying as usual. I asked God to touch our youths with his love, and at about that moment, the person at the piano was playing 'Jesus loves me'. God's love overwhelmed me as I was reminded of His He had spoken His love to me before through that song, and how we were trying to teach the Thai children to sing it when in Lopburi. How much we are YM really need to know the love of God! It is just so amazing! God has been speaking almost immediately in response to prayer lately and I believe that He is speaking to many more individuals in YM. We need to share about the reality of God and seek Him while He can be found!

On a personal note, the year has begun well for me. For the first time in my life, I am learning what it means to enjoy God's favour at work and in my life. It is truly blessed to be in the shado of His wings.

His love endures forever.

jiemin =)

Some Thoughts Before YM Camp 2005

2005-12-08T01:56:00.000+08:00

It's the time of the year again and some of you might be asking why am I not sleeping when YM camp is coming up later today, well, I can only say that I am really excited and I really would like to get some thooughts recorded down before I get more thoughts at camp.

It's been really hectic with YMOVE and everything coming up, and I feel like I can hardly breathe as I'm probably over-committed in too many areas. I feel like I'm stuck in this phase where I just have to keep working cos there is so much to do. The whole scale of YMOVE is just soo huge, and I am beginning to lose my cool. Oh Lord, please help me keep my eyes on You, and let my heart rest in You!

We had our last Saturday Combined Service at the end of last month, and as I looked at the 'Stoneagers' (12 stones) and the Crosstrainers, i am reminded that God has been faithful to YM, and that YM has grown and come a long way since two years ago where everything was still the bare minimum. God has been gracious. The leaders are beginning to move together. The youths are praying. Wow it is just so amazing!

Some time ago, I had the chance to read Nehemiah again. In Nehemiah, there are very detailed records about the Israelites who returned to Jerusalem and the parts of the wall that they were in charge of rebuilding. Many of them were just building, faithfully doing their own part, probably not seeing how the other parts of the wall were being built at that same time. But when you look at the whole picture, they were building up the city of Jerusalem. When I look at YM, I feel that we are doing the same. Many of us are working very hard in our own sub-ministries, building them up, but it is important to have the larger vision of God's ministry which we are a part of...the Body of Christ, that we are building up. It is a good time to revisit the book of Nehemiah again, especially as it was the book which we did for bible study when we kicked off the Youth ministry with the camp in 2002.

It's been a long time, and I feel tired too, but I believe that many hearts in YM are yearning for God to rekindle that flickering flame in our hearts again.

Dear Lord, please do not pass us by, but please do Your deep work in our hearts, that we may surrender the secret places of our hearts to You. Please fan into flame, a passion for Your Name in our hearts, that we may glorify You and live for You, each and every one of us. We want revival, Lord. We want revival. Open up the gates and do not pass us by...

jiemin

God's provision for YMOVE and request for prayer.

2005-10-31T00:15:00.000+08:00

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

praise the Lord for His provision for YMOVE! As I may have shared with some of you, and as some of you may be aware, we opened another round of application for YMOVE, and at that time, we were short on leaders and people who could play the guitar. There was also a need for someone with experience in children's ministry for those who were going to stay over Christmas.

Well, four people signed up--2 leaders, and 2 youths who can play the guitar! One of these youths (not from our church, but has been to our YM camps) is also experienced with children's ministry in her own church! God is so good!

For myself, being head of ym missions has been pretty difficult, with the heavy demands of my school work I have always felt helpless to do much sometimes, and often things were not ideal as I deemed it. Some of you have prayed for me and the word from the Lord has been to just trust in Him. I have learnt through the Lord's provision that it is He who will move us by His Spirit. Shaocai and I just met to pray and discuss the trip, and we both were in agreement that in the space of one week, the shape of the team looks very different!

Now we have two teams of 15 youths and leaders, with one team staying in Lopburi and another team going up to Suphanburi to help out with a Christmas outreach in public schools for a few days before joining us back in Lopburi. It has bee really amazing and I am really excited about what God is going to do in the lives of our youths. Many of them are youths in the key sub-ministries of YM and ...well, I am just quite speechless now. Last year, the year of People of True Worship and Prayer, the Lord blessed YM in our worship and by teaching us how to pray. this year is the year People of the Great Commission and I am already excited to see what the Lord is doing in His faithfulness to Wesley MC.

Fellow leaders, I would like to ask of you to prayerfully consider supporting the team in prayer. Perhaps you could each commit to adopt a tripper to pray for him/her throughout the trip (and before too!). We need all the prayer support we can get, because the Lord is going to do a mighty thing in our ministry, not just through YMOVE, but also through the YM Camp and the Musical! And there is bound to be spiritual conflict. If you feel led to pray for our team (or an individual), please drop me a short note through email (jiemin11@singnet.com.sg) and I will keep you in the loop of any latest news.

May we in YM keep on persevering in the Lord, for we know that He is faithful, and our labour in Him is not in vain!

God bless!

jiemin =)

Trust in God

2005-10-09T23:08:00.000+08:00

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God, it is he who made us and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pastures. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good, and his love endures forever, his faithfulness continues through all generations.

-Psalms 100: 1-5

The past few weeks have been a really eventful one for me. I experienced God's love and grace through many ways, mainly the bible. As most people know, I'm living by my own with no television, computer and other distracting stuff. So. the only thing I can do is eat, sleep, study, and occasionally jog. The good thing is that without all these distractions, I can focus on my studies and also my quiet time.

These weeks have taught me to trust in God and his unfailing love, he has shown me many things, and I would like to share it.

During the September one-week break, on Thursday night, at about 8pm, I stepped out of the bathroom and started thinking; what if God's plan for me is to get a not so good grade, what if God's way for me is not what I want, or even close to that. I started to panic and really freaked out. I ran downstairs to 7-11 and bought 2 bottles of coke. I spent the rest of the night revising and practicing additional math, and downing coke. (16 is underage for alcohol)

At about 2am, I broke down and totally burned out. I called my mother to talk to her, and she prayed for me. It was a good prayer filled with comforting words, but after I put down the phone, I was still mentally cracked. I sat huddled on the floor and started tearing. Just at that moment, I looked at the screen on my phone, and there on it was a verse with had been on standby mode.

"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

-Jeremiah 29:11

This verse really helped as it gave me the peace of God, which transcends all understanding. I realized that God will never harm you, and his plans and will is to prosper you and to lead you on to greater heights. I went to sleep with the knowledge that my God will never, never let me down.

Its amazing how the next day, during quiet time, God reassured me again by leading me to Genesis 22. It was about Abraham being put to the test by sacrificing his only son. As everyone knows, God stopped him and proved a ram for the sacrifices. The thing about this scripture is that it was about how God provided (God will provide), and this told me that my God will provide for me, even in my darkest hour.

God spoke to me again after I got back my prelims results. All glory and honor be to God who has given me wonderful results! On the afternoon on which I came back from school, God gave me a verse during quiet time.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we ask of him.

-1 john 5: 14-15

This again reassured me that my God hears my prayer and my cries for help. He will hear me and will provide the best for me.

During the next few weeks, God repeatedly showed me many verses, which helped me greatly.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy before him endured the cross, scoring its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God

-Hebrews 12:2

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

-Hebrews 12: 11

Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. The lord is my helper; I will not be afraid, what can man do to me.

-Hebrews 13:5b/6b

As the body without flesh is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. James 2: 26

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds. For the testing of your faith develops perseverance, and perseverance must complete its work before you become mature and complete, not lacking anything James 1: 2-4

I urged all you brothers and sisters who had just finished their prelims and gotten back their results. Do not compromise on your time with God for it is only he who can provide you with strength. He is the only one who can guide and lead you by the hand. Some of you did not get what you wanted, maybe you did not study hard enough or you did not spend your time wisely. Take this as a lesson in which God wants to teach you to become stronger and more disciplined. It is never too late, and there is still time. Use this period of trials and testing to strengthen your relationship with God. And if you honor God and put him first, he will in turn honor you and lift you up. Take this as an investment that will definitely yield positive results. We still have a long way to go, and it is extremely easy to forsake God and toss him into a corner. Remember to spend time with God and to run the race with perseverance in which God has set for each and everyone of us.

Love,

Your brother in Christ, David

YM Service Sept 18, 2005

2005-09-19T00:49:00.000+08:00

Today, we heard a very passionate sermon from our pastor Kay Huat. I'm not going to say much about the passionate sermon, but I'm going to talk about the people whom God is bringing into YM. It's been really amazing how the Lord has been bringing people into YM...people with the heart and passion for youths...to disciple them so that they will fulfill their destiny as a generation of purpose...a generation that will win the world for Christ.

Will we pay the price? (ok, just a little bit about the sermon) The truth for many of us is...that we are not willing. I pray that the Lord will work in our lives and our eyes may be opened to see how good the Lord is. Holy Spirit please touch our lives so that we know that all the riches and frills that this world can offer are dross compared to the glory of Your presence. Yes, it is the heart desire of the leaders that our youths may choose to pay the price. The fact that God is bringing in more leaders with that passion and that heart cry point to one thing--that He is about to do a great work in this ministry. What it is, we do not know, but the signs were already in place since 2 years ago...at the 2003 camp...the camp that changed many of our lives and our faiths...including mine.

Today the leaders were praying before service for the youths. During the service I was also praying and asking God to touch our congregation. I asked Him what He would do, and the word 'RESTORE' came to mind. the word 'FRUIT' also came to mind. The Lord was going to restore the youths who had strayed away from Him ,and they will be fruitful. Even for myself, I have been tired and restless, and when it came to keeping still and listening to the Lord, I found it difficult of late. As I prayed, the Lord also restored me unto Himself.

I am really excited about what God is going to do at YM Camp at the end of this year, because I know that He is preparing us for the work that He is going to do. Everybody, we need to watch and pray. Young people, open your eyes and ears to see and hear what is going on around YM. Gives thanks for the things He has done, and if there is anything that troubles you, bring it to the Lord in prayer. He will answer you and begin to change YM.

Tell the world that Jesus lives
Tell the world that He died for them
Tell the world that He lives again

shalom

jiemin =)

Favour

2005-08-22T00:56:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday(14 August), we had our soccer match with Living Waters Methodist Church. The match was played in a very healthy atmosphere, with both sides having a lot of respect for each other. We lost 5-6, but it was a good match.

What I remembered most was that as the match was about to begin, we felt a slight drizzle which seemed to be getting heavier. We prayed and asked the Lord to 'hold back the rain, so that we may be able to enjoy the match'. And He did. Thank You Lord! We had really fine weather and at the end of the match I realised how good the weather had been. God is really good!

I've had a really exhausting week at work, but God reminds me through little things that I am greatly blessed in Him.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ." -Ephesians 1:3

We have been blessed to be a blessing to the world.

Even as the rest of the year unfolds for YM, the signs are that it is going to be an exciting one. God is already bringing many new people to YM through our youths and through other ways. Things are falling in place for the camp, even though there may have seemed to be a few hiccups initially, the Lord helped us to iron them out...and that was important. Even for missions, I believe that the Lord is leading us. Our speaker during our missions training on saturday, brother Ed Pousson, prayed prophetically that we will be worshipping alongside many Isaan believers.

Whatever we are doing in YM, we do so for the Praise of His glory(Eph 1:12), and to be a blessing to the world.

Back to another week in the necessary place!

jiemin =)

..watch and pray..

2005-08-10T23:53:00.000+08:00

"I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
they will never be silent day and night.
You who call on the Lord,
give yourselves no rest,
and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem
and makes her the praise of the earth."

-Isaiah 62:6

So many things have been happening and I have not been able to update. I am like doing a million and one things...God help me please!

God is not only working in Wesley, but also in many other churches across the land. FOP was awesome. Not just cos of the preaching or the worship, but cos God was there. And He spoke.

The Spirit is stirring. We need to watch and pray.

Keep...on...praying..

-jiemin =)

God Answers Prayer

2005-07-04T12:06:00.000+08:00

-----------------------------------------------------
"Got A Problem?...
...Gather And Pray...
God Answers Prayer...
for we are God's Anointed People...Amen!"

--YMGAP youths
-----------------------------------------------------

Dear brothers and sisters in christ,

I was just browsing through the prayer blog posts and I happened to click (from the administrator page) on the post titled 'Prayer Meeting' dated 23 Dec 2004. As I read it God reminded me of how He has been faithful, and how all the things that have been happening recently have been God's answer to our prayers. Praise the Lord!

I pray that you have been walking closely to the Lord. One portion of Scripture that the Lord has shown me recently and has been affirmed as one of you prayed for me is "...when you seek Me with all your heart." (Jer 29:13b) How do I seek Him 'with all my heart'? As I pondered, I realised that I do not know. It may be for the lack of seeking Him in this way, or of a usual half-hearted desire for Him in the light of other distractions. I wonder how many of us know how to? Let's ask the Lord to show us how 'to seek Him with all our hearts'.

God Answers Prayer

jiemin

Sundays YM Youths--response

2005-07-03T23:51:00.000+08:00

Dear all,

He who has ears to hear let him hear what the Spirit is saying to His church. God has begun in work in many of us leaders towards absolute surrender. I can only stand in awe at the powerful end-time army we will be if all of us are willing to pay the price of absolute surrender. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro, looking for those whose hearts are sold out to Him. For these He will fill with His awesome power and His transforming presence. As each of us leaders are transformed, our youths will be transformed as well. For the Spirit who works in us will work through us to touch their lives.

Keep on persevering. Together we will be victorious. Together we will see the revival fire fall.

Adriel

Listen to the Father's heart

2005-07-03T01:30:00.000+08:00

to the leaders, in response to 'Sunday YM Youths'

Dear co-labourers in Christ,

I would like to encourage you to come for prayer meeting. Since the prayer retreat, there has been a sense that God is moving (confirmation from all those who have gone for the retreat, sharing that there has been a change in our lives), and it is a good time to listen to the Lord for our ministry.

The Lord touched me in a profound way on friday. There were many things that I don't know how to share, but one thing I believe that the Lord showed me is that many times we pray with our heads(/intellect), but we do not feel the Father's heart as we pray. As the images of youths and leaders flashed in my mind, I began to weep as I prayed--grieving for their unsurrendered lives; grieving for His children who are not living to the full measure of their potential as a child of God. And it was just Wesley YM. Imagine if it were Wesley MC, or the Church in Singapore, or the lost in the whole world... I was like, 'Oh God, how can You take so much grief?'

We need to ask God to show us His heart for our youths as we pray and as we serve. We need to know His heart before we know how the Lord wants us to run His ministry. 2 Cor 5:14 "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died." takes on a different dimension. For without the love of God for the youths and for each other in our hearts as we serve, what kind of ministry are we running? Let us humble ourselves before the Lord today and seek Him, and ask Him to show us just even a bit of His broken heart for us...to some of us, that may be too much grief to bear.

In His love,

jiemin

Sunday YM Youths--response

2005-07-03T01:23:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Yes, I feel very strongly that the three issues, namely our yths hanging out late (even if sometimes it's for some church-related activities), listening to a lot of rock music & looking up to those bands as their idols and the fact that they have absolutely no fear for our God are very serious issues in YM indeed and we all need to unite to pray for God to move in these areas. Indeed, nothing about these areas can be done by any of our mights, but only by God's spirit.

Let us be steadfast in prayer, and keep dying to ourselves daily so that we may be truly broken and available to be used by our Father.

in His love & mine,
yiLing

Sundays YM Youths

2005-07-03T01:17:00.000+08:00

Dear all,

There are a few issues that I'll really like to address with the yths asap. There are some problems that our yths are facing for quite some time now but b'cos of the currl. BS following the theme on Acts & Missions wld not allow me the time to bring it up with YM. As I prayed with GAP on fridays and on my own, these yths' issues kept surfacing and I felt that I'm compelled to share with you all. I'm a bit troubled by it not b'cos of what I've seen but b'cos of the burden I believed God has laid upon my heart through prayer and I need to share with you- the spiritual state of YM. Some of these problems are:

1) BGR - Dating and hanging out late
2) Music - The kind of music that turn their minds "dull" & "muddled"
3) No reverence for God - no fear of God at all

The three issues are the ones I felt needed to address 1st even though there are other areas to be add. It might not sound urgent to you but I believe in the eyes of God, the yths are so precious to Him and God wants to bring His people into true repentance and back to a love relationship with their God!

What was the message at the A/YSGLs retreat?
Was it not abt turning away from the accursed things in our lives and turning to our Holy God?
Was it not abt putting down our pride and surrendering ourselves fully to Him?

What was the message at the YM GAP retreat?
Was it not abt surrendered lives? Was it not abt praying & interceding for YM?

What was God saying at the Friday GAP?
Was it not abt prevailing in prayer and crying out our hearts to Him for mercy?
Was it not abt repentance of hearts for our yths?

When I was praying in the office with my eyes shut, I saw a congregation kneeling and wiping before God for repentance. That is the surrendering point! Towards the end of Friday GAP, with my eyes closed, I could see our yths, one by one, walking up to the cross, nailing down their sins and ambitions to God on a piece of paper. That is a prophetic act of surrendered lives!

What is the theme verse for 120th Anniv. at Wesley Methodist Church?
Is it not the WORD that says, "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty? Zech 4:6

Numbers 23:19 says, "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil?" If that is true abt Him, then what is the Spirit of God saying to our church today?

In order to see a transformed ministry and for revival to come, we must come to a place to recognise our own spiritual condition, to be broken before God, and to recognise our own spiritual poverty and nakedness that we are nothing and we could do nothing without Him. If we are not broken before the Lord, then we are not fully surrendered, and we are saying to God, we don't need you to rule over those areas of our lives God b'cos we want to take control of our lives. If there is no brokenness, God cannot transform us. If we are not fully dependent on God, God cannot use us. If we are not fully surrendered to God, God cannot revive us. Is this what we want?

Which are the areas of your lives that you need to be broken before God?

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." Ps 51:17

By His Grace,
Sandy

A/YSGL Retreat Sharing Part Two--what the A/YSGLs shared

2005-07-03T01:11:00.000+08:00

Here's a follow-up of what the leaders shared after Adriel's message on that night of the retreat:

I came from different background, different church. God has called me to submit. I'll lay down my pride.
Every part of the body control by the brain. Problem with pride. The pride with out Spiritual heritage. Many of us are very proud. We think we know what works and what don't. Some of us think "we know it all". In humility we need to recognise that we don't have the whole truth & we need to connect back to God - who is the brain of "the body".
How are we going to move on if there is no urgency?
I'm searching for "power" in my life. Our religion is different - we've a relationship with God

1) Disunity in YM among the leadership
2) Many unsurrendered sins in our lives
3) Confession - to one another
Reconciliation - unity
Submission-
Surrendering -
We need to rebuild the altar.

Reading Rev 2-3... you're wealthy .... You do not know you are poor, blind & naked
I need to repent for I judge more than I love
Rev 3 : 12 Come and be reconcilied to one another - to confess to one another our wrongs.
We need to be united.
We lack "fire"! A greater desire and passion to pursue after God.
"Son, your life is not totally surrendered." YM is not totally surrendered.
What does God wants us to do about what He is saying to us?

Something to ponder about as we pray for ourselves and YM.

In-Christ,
Sandy

GAP Prayer Retreat

2005-06-29T22:12:00.000+08:00

Dear all prayer warriors,

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us- whatever we ask- we know that we have what we asked of him." I John 5:14-15

We thank God for His goodness and faithfulness in answering many of our prayers and seeing us through throughout the past few years in GAP. I'm very encouraged by all of you, for taking the time to seek and listen to the Father.

To all who are from GAP, press on in the Lord and prevail in your prayers until we see spiritual breakthroughs in ym! Your labour is not in vain- whether we've only two or three youths praying or fifty youths praying, God is still faithful in listening and answering our prayers. Prayer ministry is vital for it is the life wire that plugs into God's power house and command the spiritual forces to subject to God's will. There is Power when there is Prayer! Let us continue to pray that God will raise up more intercessors in ym for His work sake.

Sharing from GAP Retreat:

Mark 9:36-37, 10:14-15 - How do we have faith like little children?
Mark 10:17-31 - The rich man had followed all the commandments of the Lord, but one thing he lacked, he could not fully surrender everything he had to Christ. We could do everything right and yet failed to surrender our lives to Christ.
YM not praying enough
Need to pray for the parents
Pray that the youths will surrender their lives to Christ.
Pray for more intercessors. Pray for gifts of intercession; Matt 7:9-11 - ...how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Mark 9:22-23 - ...Everything is possible for him who believes. Do not doubt what God could do in YM. Don't doubt God, have faith! Believe that God will bring revival.
Breaking mindsets! Lean not on our own understanding, but trust in the Lord!
I asked God why we come to church? Why the camp & Sunday ym worship so different? God said, "You leave that to Me, you pray!" Isaiah 54:14
Personal holiness - God honoured Daniel and his friends when they walked in the fear of God, not men.
Pray that we will love one another. I John 4:7-21...Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

We hope to extend the retreat to two nights next year so that we could spend more time listening and praying to the Father. See you all on friday.

The Key to Revival is Prayer,
Sandy

God is moving

2005-06-28T21:47:00.000+08:00

God is moving. lets start praying for a deeper hunger and desire. for revival. its that word again. do u squint ur eyes doubtfully at that word? fatigued by e mention of revival? i was. i shunned tt word. it didn't seem possible. an unlikely reality. didn't even dare ask for revival during prayer anymore. cos we kept "going around in circles". felt discouraged. but during e retreat, and even after tt, God kept prodding me about it. like hey c'mon. don't be defeated by the devil! don't believe His lies! its time for us to rise up and take our rightful place as children of God. army of God. to be honest and tell God, help our unbelief! grant us faith! cos God wants to send revival in YM. He wants lives changed permanently for His kingdom. tt's His will.

but the question is; who's willing to pay the price? to be the one who will "stand in the gap..make a difference, bringing hope to our land"? to get on the knees; cry out for a desire for Him. for revival. for fire. for His presence and glory. for His love. for the fear of the Lord. for His truth to be preached boldly, the truth that sets us free to live victorious as children of God. to fight a battle with the flesh and the devil from morning to night.

it's humanly impossible to want to pay that price by ourselves. to want to be that guy/girl 2 b crying out for revival by our own strength. but we can do all things thru Christ who gives us strength. He will sustain us if we will just ASK for that strength. for Him to help us make a difference for His kingdom.

lets persevere on and listen to God. to be humble and honest b4 Him. n ask God to increase our faith n our desire n our love for Him in our daily lives. and encourage one another towards love and good deeds!

jiayou everybody! God's people always have the victory if we just trust and obey! lets learn to depend on God for everything man. =)

there's a stirring in the Spirit
there's an urgency in this hour
we as children must obey
can you hear
the footsteps of God?

by His grace, d.

Do we desire HIm enough?

2005-06-26T23:20:00.000+08:00

received 24th June--email to leaders by Adriel Loh

Dear leaders,

I was standing at the back of the hall last sunday during the worship. The worship going great and the youths was responsive. However something seemed missing. As I began to pray for the youths, I sensed a grieving sadness from the Lord. The Lord was grieving over his people. I sought the Lord as to this cause and this is what He said to me, "My people do not desire me enough." Suddenly I realised what He meant. We acknowledge Him with our lips but our hearts are far from Him. The Lord began to show me that the reason why we have not experienced the fullness of His glory and His presence in our congregation was simply because we, as a people, did not desire Him enough. There was no hunger, there was no thirst, there was no earnest longing and urgent supplication. We do not receive because we do not ask.

I then sought the Lord as to how we could bring our youths to desire Him more. And He gave me the impression of a flame, a flickering flame. And the Lord said, "Tell them to remember the time in the past when they had felt to close to me, times when my presence and power was so real. Remember these times, and long for it again." To many of us, we were holding on to these past memories that had become like a flickering flame, on a verge of being snuffed out in the winds of passing time. But the Lord wants us to desire the fire of His presence, how it was once like. The Lord wants to rekindle this fire of His glory in our lives. He longs for the time when His people desire Him and cry out to Him in tears and supplication for His presence. He wants us to want Him, to want to so much that we will pay whatever cost to get Him. He wants us to fall on our faces and desire Him so much that we will give our lives for Him. For then, He will pour out His Spirit without measure. We will see His glory descend into our church and the fire of His presence envelope us. On that day, His glory will abide in the midst of our congregation that the unbelievers will see and be drawn in.

The cry of His heart is for us to desire Him. Do we desire Him enough?

In His love,

Adriel

Retreat addressed by Adriel on YM

2005-06-18T12:54:00.000+08:00

received 16th June 2005, exhortation to leaders

Dear all,

The attached for your reflection and prayer. Since the beginning of this year,when i prayed abt what God will say to us as leaders and what we need to take heed, i felt that over the past few mths, time & time again over prayer, God is saying, "I want My people to be holy". Although the speaker did not speak on holiness, i was thankful that Adriel addressed the issue on sat nite during the retreat.

What did you hear my friends over the retreat??? The words, "...getting rid of the accursed things in our lives..." kept ringing in my ears even till now. I believe that it is by removing the idols and sins, esp habitual sins(strongholds) in our lives that keep us pure and blameless before God and men. Our words are powerless to the youths unless we live up to what we preach.

The book written by Henry Blackaby on, "Holiness, God's Plan for fullness of life" address the problem 1st with, the loss of the fear of God. Some of us who are Christians for many years and may find that the problem with loss of fear of God is very real. I don't know about you, I been reading books on the Dark side of leadership cos' i need to examine my own spiritual life and guard my heart from pride, self-righteousness, etc... Let us walk humbly before the Lord.

Thanks to all of you for making this retreat a meaningful one. This is again the beginning, the outcome of the ministry will very much depend on how we live our lives and respond to our God. Sure we've learned a lot from the book of Joshua.

All by the grace of God,
Sandy

The attachment:
=============================================

1 Corinthians 3:11 Build Foundation : Jesus Christ

How do we see the ministry?

We are building a spiritual house unto the Lord.

We are fighting a spiritual war.

If you see the ministry as an organisation/company, then we will run it like the world -- and form more committees etc...

If we want to build a ministry, we play by different rules.

What are the spiritual rules?

Rule No

1) Spirit gives birth to Spirit & flesh gives birth to flesh.
Jn 3 : 6

If we run the ministry by the flesh, then we'll produce flesh.

Joshua 5:13-15 God was preparing Joshua to possess the Promised Land. He taught Joshua the principles.

1st principle -- God is in-charge. Not you or me.
God says, "I am in charge" and you are to enquire from me God sets the agenda

2nd principle ? God says, "Take off you sandals, for this is holy ground."

Joshua 7
Attack at Ai, Joshua consulted his committee and did not consult God.
Anything that we do without consulting God gives birth to flesh. Only spirit gives birth to spirit. Joshua and His people defected at Ai.
Achan's sins -- It was exactly the two things that the Lord taught Joshua at Josh 5:13-15.
1st -- "You did not consult Me"
2nd -- covetousness -- no holiness. Result 36 men died.

As a Leadership -- We need to deal with the accused things in our lives.
1) There is pride in our ministry -- we've an issue here.
God is the one In-charge.
2) Sexual Immorality
3) Unforgiveness
4) Anger?etc.

We need to:
1) give up our rights.
2) total surrender
3) surrender our will and say, "not mine but Yours be done".

Search me O God and see if there is any sins within me. When there is sins in my life -- no anointing.

Only a Spirit-filled leader can produce a Spirit-filled youth

The price of sin in our lives is a price too great to pay because you and I have to pay with the souls? of our youths (that's the price)

2nd thing (principle)

God sets the agenda

2 Chronicles 20
What do we do when we're in trouble?
King Jehoshaphat fell on his knees and prayed
Stand still & see the salvation of the Lord
The Holy Spirit is interceding for us all the time.
Transformed leaders for transformed youths.

=====================================

thoughts on leaders' retreat

2005-06-18T10:20:00.000+08:00

Several things came up through prayer over the past few months/weeks and I thought I would like to sum what I shared during the leaders' retreat here:

1. The Lord has given the leadership anointing. However, when there is disunity amongst us, we forfeit that anointing. Many of us judge each other, cannot forgive one another and push for our own agenda during meetings. We need to repent and reconcile with one another so that we will receive that anointing. The Lord convicted my heart that even I myself am responsible for some of this disunity. We need to seek the Lord in prayer as a leadership for His direction.

2. During prayer meeting on the friday before the retreat, the Lord showed me that my life was not totally surrendered to Him, and that the leaders' lives must be totally surrendered to Him. Sin in our lives will hinder God's work in our ministry and will obscure His glory.

3. We were asked to read the letters to the seven churches in Revelations and seek the Lord with regard to two questions: 1. What is the spiritual state of our ministry? (i.e. which description fits our ministry most?) 2. What do You want us to do about it? The first question aroused unspeakable grief which i believe the Holy Spirit put in my heart, which was also shared by Wai Lup. I did not have a definite passage from the seven letters, but with regard to the second question, the words "repent" and "obey" keep coming up (Rev 3:3)

At least two other leaders shared and confirmed Rev 3:1b-2 "I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God."

========================================

We need to repent of our sins and obey the Word of God. Talking about unity does not amount to anything until we obey the Word of God. That is where we need to surrender, because the path to obedience is a straight and narrow road that few walk in it. Even when leaders have different views about various issues, but when we obey God, we still have that spiritual unity because Christ is our Head, and by His grace He will enable us to move together as a ministry.

Have you ever seen an uncoordinated person? How many times have you burst out into laughter when your friends looked silly? When we talk about the body of Christ--the church--and we imagine that all of us are different parts of the body, and if some of us are doing our own thing--Christ is not in control of your actions--then wouldn't that Body look uncoordinated? What if some parts are faithfully doing their best, but a few are not? Then how? Do these renegade parts look silly? Well, the more important thing is that they make ALL THE REST look silly. As I was praying and thinking about it I wanted to laugh but I hesitated because it is something serious and it could well be how we look like now. Many of our brothers and sisters may be doing a good work but because of one or two unyielded parts their work is negated or detracted from.

Obedience to the Holy Spirit.

We also need to repent of our sins. What is the gospel about? Jesus Christ died for our sins. In Luke24:46-48, Jesus says "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things..."

We need to know the power of repentance and forgiveness in our lives before we can preach the gospel. For what kind of gospel are we preaching if we ourselves are not 'witnesses of these things'? It will just be a fuzzy idea of what we think it's supposed to be like, but we don't know. And how will other people get a good account of the gospel if those who tell them don't know?

We need to love one another and forgive one another in the ministry. The Lord places a huge importance on forgiving one another. He tells us in Matt 5:23-25 that if our brother 'has something against you', to 'leave our gift at the altar and reconcile with our brother' before coming back to offer the gift to Him. He tells us through the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matt18:21-35) that if we do not forgive our brothers, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us.

Up till the retreat, i had been been very irritated with a co-worker in Christ. The Lord revealed that to my hardened heart and I struggled very hard to go up to the person and apologise. It was not easy, but God's grace is enough.

We need to live out God's Word in our ministry. When we choose to obey God, when just even living out one command which seems absurd by the standards of this world, which perhaps leaves us trembling from fear and loss of pride, there is spiritual power. Because God is in charge and it is no longer us who is in charge.

Repentance...and forgiveness

jiemin

Our part to preserve the Unity of the Spirit - Ephe 4

2005-06-17T14:36:00.000+08:00

received 13 Jun 2005, in response to leaders' retreat held on 11 & 12th June 2005

Hi my fellow workers in YM,

We talk a lot about unity in the retreat. And so I would like to share the below verse with you. There are 2 different kinds of unity mentioned in the NT. The unity of faith & the unity of the Spirit. Each has a slight difference in meaning.

We?ll look at the unity of the Spirit here. Unity of the Spirit is essential in order to function in our diverse spiritual gifts & yet live peacefully with one another instead of judging one another unbiblically.

Operating in different gifts has the tendency to invite people?s judgments to yourself because others (likely those who have different gifts as you) may not understand why you are doing this/that. Yes. We, as spiritual men, are to discern/test all things but not judge unbiblically.

You will notice before unity of the Spirit can be achieved, each one of us must have the desire to walk (and thus to walk) in "a manner worthy of the calling". So how does God describe a believer's every-day walk that's worthy of his/her high calling?
Ephesians 4:1-3 gives us the answer.

Ephesians 4:1-3
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,
entreat you to walk in a manner worthy
of the calling with which you have been called,
2 with all humility
and gentleness,
with patience,
showing forbearance to one another in love,
3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace.

Notice a worthy walk does not begin with an activity that we have to do. Neither does it talk about the achievements we ought to have in our ministries. The Holy Spirit through Paul zooms past all peripherals & deals directly with the REAL ISSUE -- THE HEART ATTITUDES.

A) 4 KEY ATTITUDES are mentioned. What are those?
Simple comprehension.
1/ all humility
2/ gentleness
3/ patience

B) How do these attitudes manifest in a fellowship?
1/ showing forbearance to others in love
2/ being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in peace

Let's do some word study. I'll be succinct. Word Study is essential to know what a word really means; thus we can appreciate the passage better. The result is we can take the RIGHT ACTION and not actions that we perceive we should take!

A1) HUMILITY (tapeinophrosune)
- the humble opinion of yourself,
a deep sense of one's (moral) littleness,
lowliness of mind.

(The 1st attitude begins in the MIND! Your perception of who you are. Do you define yourself in terms of achievements, talents, social standing, economy, appearance , education, spirituality?
Jesus hate pride in all these & says "apart from Me (Jesus), you can do nothing" -- John 15:3.
Here, false humility like self-abasement is not intended.)

A2) GENTLENESS (prautes)
- as a quality of gentle friendliness
(as strength that accommodates to another?s
weakness)

A3) PATIENCE (makrothumia)
- a state of emotional quietness in face of
unfavourable circumstance; slowness in
avenging wrong

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Difficult to walk like that everyday, isn't it??
That is why Paul first gives us chapters 1-3 describing the tremendous richness of blessings & love & grace that God has poured out in our lives as believers. He informed us of our glorious positional truth before he urges us to action - "WALK WORTHY OF YOUR CALLING".

And just before chapter 4, he prayed a "turn-on-the-engine" prayer at the end of chapter 3. This is what I pray too for us all.

Ephesians 3:16-19
...that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,
to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man;
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
and
that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God."
Glory to God.
Amen.

KellY

Something God has been doing in our midst. For the Wesley YM blog.

2005-06-13T13:52:00.000+08:00

[received 12 Jun 2005]

Hi Blogmaster(i don't really know what's your name)

My name is Jason/Hsien Xian from the youth ministry of Revival Centre Church called Revival Generation. I happened to stumble upon this Wesley YM blog and i've read some of the entries and i must say that i've been encouraged by it. So here i am, not asking you to put up my email on the blog but to share with you something that God has been doing in the midst of this small youth group in Revival Centre Church.

Last week, we just had a camp called Camp Accelerate. Basically, the main aim of this camp was to cause every single camper to accelerate beyond what we think we can and to what God wants us to be. We had some evangelistic programme planned on wednesday night, the 3rd day of the camp and what we intend to do is to send out the camp groups onto the streets and invite people down for a BBQ, praise and worship and a short sermon. The saturday before the camp, the Spirit ofGod visited our youth and a cry of desperation started to arise from within our hearts, a cry that we've not heard for a very long time. Many youths came out and cried out to God to save our generation, and one particular youth who came out prayed this prayer .."God, we ask for 100 people to be saved, and we know that 100 is not difficult for you, so give us 200 .. "and she went on and on till she reached 700 salvations. To be honest, when i heard that i was skeptical, but God began to do a work in our heartsand we prayed in faith.

Throughout the camp, we carried a deep cry of prayer and intercession and on the day we were sent out to invite people from the streets, people that we don't even know, God opened the doors for us to bring people down into our campsite. We had 150++ invitations andout of that, 32 of them came to know the Lord Jesus Christ on that night.

Just only yesterday, we gathered together out of desperation and went out onto the streets of Orchard and began to invite people and share with them the gospel of Christ. In our service alone, we had 10+ salvations out of the 20++ people who came and not including those whom some of our youths shared on thestreets and accepted Christ.

I pray that the youths in Wesley will also begin to catch what God is doing in our generation. There is a great need of the youths in this generation and we must do something about it. They need a saviour and His name is Jesus Christ.

Yours Sincerely, Jason

P.S. Please do visit us at our website. =)

http://www.revivalgen.org/

A divine appointment

2005-04-25T20:55:00.000+08:00

Today I had an interesting time of fellowship with two parents of our youths who are intercessors for our church. I was feeling tired after a day at school but it was a time which really refreshed my spirit as we spoke and shared about what God is doing at Wesley.

I happened to have tea with them after I went to get my haircut by one of them. They shared their concerns about their children, one about her worry for her son who is not really 'into' YM, and another whose daughter has gone to City Harvest 'for a while'. We spoke about how another of their children had been previously very dry and had been visiting other churches, but as we did the 'Salvation Equation', he remarked that we cannot compare with other more charismatic churches and judge, because the Lord has His way with the youths in YM. When I heard that, my heart was glad, because our youths can see that the Lord is working in YM.

We also spoke about some of the things that we do for fellowship sunday. And honestly, these are frivolous things....playing LAN, going to the video arcade, watching movies....there is nothing wrong inherently, but they expressed their concern if every fellowship sunday we were to either go watch movies or bowling. Is it a cultural thing at Wesley MC? If we are building a ministry here, then what are we building for the next generation in Wesley? Are we going to have a generation of Christians who are comfortable and inward-looking?

We need to teach our youths biblical fellowship. One of the mothers said that she was praying that we will begin to do the things which will build biblical fellowship in our church. The Lord says, go to the widows and the orphans and to the poor and needy...maybe we need to consider doing that for our ministry? Because where we are, in Wesley Methodist Church, whatever our background is, we are very sheltered. When she shared that, something stirred within my heart, which I will not choose to share at the moment. All I will say is that the Lord has reserved for Himself '700o who have not bowed the knee to Baal'. And from where we are, we cannot see them. They are the intercessors who are praying in their own closets for YM, upholding us in prayer, and for them I give thanks, because the Lord really desires us to grow and be a people who will make a difference in the world.

Another confirmation that the Lord wants to effect this change is that PIC has shared with the pray-ers that certain mindsets and traditions in Wesley have to be broken, and the hidden army is praying in accordance with his leadership. This is something which has been on my heart...the fact that some things in Wesley need to be changed. We cannot do some things in the ways that we have been doing them. We need to break out of the moulds which have constrained us for years so that we can move in step with where the Spirit is leading us. The hidden army is praying and the change will come in the Lord's time. Let us be encouraged to persevere on even when the going gets tough in YM. He is faithful.

We ended with prayer. I believe that the Lord is moving. It was indeed a divine appointment and I felt my spirit being refreshed even though physically I was tired.

We need to keep praying.

just write sumthin'......?

2005-04-02T19:42:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since I've written...

or rather, it's been a long time since I've been able to write. The working world is really tough and there is little compassion afforded when you fail. Some are more blessed to work in more forgiving environments, but still, overall, we still have to 'eat of the ground through painful toil', for that is the curse which resulted from sin.

I struggle because teaching is such a tough job. I struggle because now that school has started full swing I am no longer able to do as many things as I hope for YM, being the lack of time or energy or health. I try, but I realise that I can only do so much. I struggle, and ask God why. Why am I stuck here. I want to go out into the world for you, God. Why? I don't get many answers. But one of them comes from last year's camp....'necessary place'.

Why do I still want to write? Why am I rambling on and on?

I do so because my Lord Jesus is still faithful. Even in poor health and tiredness, in times of struggle and desperation and even frustration, He is still faithful. God has blessed me tremendously and i must remember to give thanks. And He reminds me that He is still at work in my life and in YM today.

Yesterday, at the YM Comm meeting, there was some sort of a spiritual breakthrough. We departed from the usual finishing of agenda, to praying as a committee. We spoke about the need to listen to God in our ministry, and perhaps how we haven't been doing that. And we began praying. We were reminded that our leaders need to be united so that the Lord can bring about His revival in us--that was the prophecy given to us many years ago. We were reminded that we need to love God first and foremost with all our heart and with all our mind and with all our soul and with all our strength. We need to remember our first love for our Lord which we have forgotten through our endless driving in ministry. And we need to love one another.

Another point that was mentioned....the church in Acts had alot of disagreements, but the Lord still worked through them, because they were a PRAYING CHURCH. Much more is accomplished when we pray much rather than when we do much. We need to pray as a church. As YM. And even in my frustration of not being able to attend prayer meetings whether it's because of my BB in school or camps or YM Comm meetings, I praise and thank God because He has raised up a generation of prayer warriors from the youths. As I walked past Rm 310/311 yesterday, I realised that the Lord doesn't need me. He is a jealous God, and he is more jealous for His Name that I ever will be. And He will raise up His children so that His 'house will be a house of prayer for the nations'.

So, even as in due time we will embark on the book of Acts during YSG time, let us not remember only the missionary journeys, or the lives of the apostles, or the places that Paul went, but let's remember that the great work of God is done through His praying church.

He is faithful.

--jiemin =)

The Angels Rejoice and So Do We

2005-01-04T19:01:00.000+08:00

The Lord blessed YM with a salvation in the wee hours of 2005. It was least expected, as we all looked to having our own supper fun after watchnight service. What happened was that before 2005, Denise was in a cab rushing down to church for watchnight service. Somehow the Lord put Denise in a cab where the taxi driver, Uncle Philip, spoke with her and his heart was open to the Gospel. He was even saying, that he wants to know about Christianity, but no one has ever told him.

It came to a point where he wanted to know how to pray and seemed ready to pray the sinner's prayer, but then they had arrived at Wesley already. She asked for his number and said she would call him back. I guess that's when I received an sms saying "Hey pls pray. taxi driver wants to accept christ but didn't have time to pray with him. He gave me his number and i will call him back after service. His name is philip. Pray that the devilwill not put any seed of doubt in his mind and covering of His blood."

So 2005 came and after we had finished praising God in Wesley Hall, i saw denise outside and she was wondering whether to call Uncle Philip or not, as we thought he might still be driving around. I was suggestiong like if he was driving we could ask him to drive us while we talk to him, while the meter was still running, until we finished! But thank God we found out that he had already stopped work for the day and was eating supper at Chomp Chomp.

So we rushed down to meet him and we were there eating our Ba-chor mee while he was smoking and drinking his beer and we were talking about God. God is so cool!!!

He has a sad story, and he needs the change that only God's love can bring, and his heart was yearning for that change. We were trying our best to communicate with him in our (more like, my) cannot-make-it mandarin, sharing with him how to pray and the need to pray and the need to give his heart to Jesus so that he would become a child of God. It was so exciting when he finally prayed with us the Sinner's Prayer...again in the cannot-make-it mandarin...but I trust that the Lord knows and honours the intention.

He did say that he would come to YM if he could wake up on sunday, but sadly he wasn't able to. He sid that he would come this coming Sunday so let's all pray for him, that God will touch his heart.

I am so excited that with this year of being 'People of the Great Commission', the Lord has already blessed our ministry with a salvation. Praise the Lord! I am so excited about what the Lord is going to do in this coming year, as He has already answered a number of my prayers more abundantly than I could have imagined. Even with YMOVE and the evangelistic outreach at the end of the year, it is my prayer that the Lord will bless YM with so many more lost souls, redeemed in our midst.

As His people, we must also be more ready to respond to His call, that our feet may be swift to bring His gospel to the people so much in need of it. This is not a reproach, but it seemed to me that many of the people I asked either found it too incredulous to believe, already had their own plans, or were not ready to go. My prayer is that the Lord begin to change our ministry, that the workers may be ready to bring in the harvest that is so plentiful out there.

May we have a fruitful 2005, as we abide in Him.

God bless!

jiemin =)

Love

2004-12-24T13:59:00.000+08:00

I was just looking at the old entries in this prayer blog, and particularly at 20 Nov, at point no. 3, about spiritual gifts, and this thought just struck me about why love is the greatest, and that without love, in spite of all the spiritual manifestations and gifts that we may have, we are nothing. (1 Cor 13:1-3)

God may bless our ministry with many gifts, but if these gifts cause jealousy and envy and dissension, I would rather that we not have these gifts at all. If a church is overflowing with love, God is glorified.

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35.

That is why, of hope, faith and love, love is the greatest. Even when a church is lacking in gifts, but overflowing with love, then 'all men will know that [they] are [Jesus'] disciples'. What greater testimony can a church have than that?

When a church has the blessings of spiritual gifts and love for God and one another, it is a church that radiates the glory of God.

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been bornof God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.

This is love: not that we loved God, but He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us."
--1 John 4:7-12

...and please read on in your own bible...too much to type. =p

When the Magi from the East came looking for the baby in the manger, they did not come to worship a baby. They came to worship the King of Glory. Because Jesus, He is the King of Glory.

This Christmas, as we remember the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us not just think of a helpless babe, for as much as He was a helpless babe, He is also the King of Glory. Let us welcome the King of Glory into our hearts, everyday of our lives, so that He may enter in and do His transforming work in us! (Ps 24) Jesus is God's gift of love to us!

Hallelujah, hallelujah and AMEN!

blessed Christmas, all!

jiemin =)

Weng Loke

2004-12-24T02:35:00.000+08:00

couple of days back, visited a home with a couple of others, i didn't really know my approach to the whole visit. didn't really have a certain adopted mind-set to the whole thing. a mixture of anxiety, excitement and anticipation lurked somewhere in my stomach. but i must say love is a very diffusible substance, it spreads, and passes on.

so i got an opportunity to have lunch with weng loke. i guess my efforts to help him during lunch we more of a hinderance than help. great guy. we spoke about age, school, o's, a's. though little words were exchanged, i enjoyed them. time wasn't really an issue. although at times i was at a total lost at what to do. were i to begin engaging in another conversation, how would he respond? if i were to try and read him the bible, would he want me to touch his things?

i definitely gained more from the visit than dear weng loke did.love to go back and bring my guitar and play and sing for wonderful agnes.

when you care for others, you touch God*

- qwerty

TruthMin Youth Training School

2004-12-24T01:59:00.000+08:00

Truthmin Youth Training School (TYTS):

When I first heard about it from Carol, I got pretty intrigued...I mean like, if I can't go anywhere in the first 3 months of 2005 why not go to TYTS? My prelim results were real stupid...so I started wondering if there was some kinda Bible course thing and then eventually gave up my search by the time the holidays started. Then Carol passed me the TYTS brochure and I got psyched. Like woooooo psyched!!! But then I told myself to put it aside cause my dad isn't a Christian..and though my dad is really great about the rest of my family going to church and all, it's like I didn't wanna ask him about TYTS cause my brother's in NUS and preparing for a missions programme and my dad asked him like a couple of weeks back why he kept reading the bible and stuff during the holidays cause it wasn't like he was gonna be a pastor anyways....so that got me seriously disturbed..Anyway how stupid I was to not trust in His providence cause eventually I told my dad about TYTS and he said OK. Just like that.Still I'm thankful cause I learnt from this that I have a bunch of really great friends that I could count on and that prayed for me (: And I guess this is the first step to missions. A couple of people kept telling me that they've never seen God work more miracles than in the missions field. And I think that's true...cause God is crazy, God is mad, God is absolutely loco...and you know what? We can be loco, crazy, do stupid things and just be fools for God too. That's the best thing about being a Christian, you can look like a clown to the world but have the reassurance that at the end of it all, if you are being a fruitcake for Jesus you get the final reward. :)

The story of the lost wallet

Okay people who know me well enough know that I am just about the world's most careless person. Anyway yesterday I was on my way to meet Eve, Cheryl, Isaac and Josh and then left my wallet in the train...and this point I'm thinking, "OMG I'm never getting it back." But anyway decided to report the loss to the control station and the guy was pretty helpful and got the staff from the other stations to go in and do a check...while waiting I was seriously scared but somehow I was reminded to pray so I prayed and prayed and prayed and then this guy calls me over again and says, "I'm sorry we can't find it" and so I'm like disappointed but was still a wee bit hopeful and gave him my contact no. and things like that....so he let me out after paying an additional $1.30(grarr)...just as I stepped out Cheryl called Eve to tell her the MRT station at Chinatown called her to tell her about a lost wallet (apparently Cheryl's number was in my wallet (:)!!! So my brother who happened to be coming down from his place on the other side of the island picked it up for me at Chinatown and passed it to me (:Sooo here I'm thankful for God's crazy ways again and him blessing me with friends to keep me company while I'm all flustered and worried about my wallet. Alsoooo my great brother who's such a blessing. I mean, how many people have siblings that would travel from one end of the island to go pass you something!?

Merry Christmas everyone!

(: Melissa

Prayer Meeting

2004-12-23T01:10:00.000+08:00

Today is wednesday, and we had prayer meeting because we can't have it on the usual friday because friday is Chrstmas eve. Somehow I believe that the Lord planned it at such a timing because Sandy, Carol, Eddie and Adriel were in another room having an important meeting at the same time. A small group of us were praying specifically for them but as we prayed, we were also led to pray for YM.

We asked the Lord to change YM, so that when we look at our brother or sister, we will not judge them but we will love them. When we talk to each other, we will not demand from them but we will seek to bless them.

We asked God to change our hearts because it is only with this change that YM can be transformed to be the ministry that the Lord wants us to be. We asked the Lord that all our leaders may know His heart. We ask Him that all of us may have the love of Jesus in our hearts and begin to look at the people around us through Jesus' eyes. We asked the Lord that we would begin to reach out to every one of our brothers and sisters no matter how weird or different we think they are, recognising the worth that is in him or her, because Jesus died on the cross for him/her, and that God can use anybody to impact the world...even the unlikeliest person.

When we want to seek God and encounter Him, we must be prepared that He will change our hearts. Because when we come into the presence of God, our lives will be changed.

We prayed that the Lord's anointing will be on our leaders, so that YM will not be a ministry who just does lots of things (like Martha), but will sit in the Lord's presence and listen from Him (like Mary), because only when we hear His voice and act accordingly will we be in the centre of His will, and that is where we want to be as YM. We prayed for boldness in the leadership to take YM to the next level, to lead us into the spiritual battlefield, and to reach the lost for Jesus! We prayed that the Lordwould change the way we look at the world and at each other.

Lord, please give us clean hands and pure hearts, that we may ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in Your holy place (Ps 24:3-4). Let us not lift our souls to an idol.

"He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Saviour. Such is the generation who seek Him, who seek Your face, O God of Jacob." (v.5-6)

It was a blessed prayer meeting. Ivan who returned from Vancouver reminded us that we are very blessed to have a group of people who want to gather together to sing praises to the Lord, and come to think of it, the Lord has blessed us in YM and in Wesley tremendously! He also said that in Vancouver, in Cambodia, or in China, it is so hard to find people who will seek the Lord like that. They may not know how. Who will tell them? Who will teach them?

I gave thanks to the Lord because even with this year's church theme "People of True Worship and Prayer", the Lord has been faithful, because He has taught us in YM how to worship. And He has taught us in YM how to pray. It is He who works in us and through us to will and act according to His good purpose, and God has been faithful to Wesley Methodist Church because it is He Himself who raises up His people to pray and to worship Him! He is faithful!

We prayed that for next year, when our church theme is "People of the Great Commission", the Lord will just send all of us out and fulfill His destiny for Wesley Methodist Church. In that year 2005 He will show us His glory in the mission field and we will worship Him. In the year 2005 He will call many men and women to Himself, to go to the mission field and teach the peoples how to worship Him and to seek His face in prayer. For how can we teach the nations how to worship Him and pray unless we ourselves know how to worship Him and pray??? How can we teach them the Bible unless we know the Bible well ourselves??? Our prayer is that we may all walk closely with our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we may know Him, and make Him known.

AMEN and AMEN!!!

Blessed Christmas!

jiemin =)

Visit to the Red Cross Home

2004-12-22T23:45:00.000+08:00

Yesterday (21st Dec) my sister Yiling, Bertram and his friend Nina, and Pam and her friend Thaddeus went together to visit the Red Cross Home for the Disabled, somewhere in Hillview. It was to celebrate one of the residents' birthdays which fell on Christmas day. It was a blessed visit, but what shook me was what happened while we were preparing for it.

We were supposed to bring lunch for them. I had promised to buy them KFC and they were thrilled to bits cos like...being disabled and in the home everyday of the year, they don't go out and they hardly get treats. Their normal lunchtime was about 11am but because KFC only opens at like, 11am, so we could only go at 12noon.

At KFC, we had gottan the food, and I was sharing with them from Matthew 25:31-46. It was on social concerns and the passage talks about "whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me." (v.40) So i shared and tolded them about the residents and some of the conditions that they are born with. And like, I realised tha twe hadn't gotten a birthday present for Christopher yet, and so we were all ready to take off...

As I was getting up, the cleaner guy at KFC, with his cap and table cloth, stood at the edge of the table where I was at, as I was getting up, said, "The Lord wants you to pray before you go and minister to the people....yadayada..." I was like..."WHA!!!" My jaw could have dropped and he went on to explaing why the Lord would have us pray...I was so shocked that I didn't really hear what else he was saying, but I got the point. So we prayed, and, after we did, I composed myself and shook the guy's hand and said to him, "God bless you, brother! Merry Christmas!"

It was a really blessed visit. Even the cap which we all chose (hurriedly) for Christopher was his favourite colour blue. God is so amazing! We are even appearing on Channel U on the show that features various homes, cos they happened to be filming at that time and since we happened to be there to celebrate one of their birthdays they sort of just accomodated us. All of the rest (all first-timers) had a good experience. God is so good because like in the past when I brought groups there some of the people were quite shocked or traumatised.

Well, anyways, I think another idea behind Matthew 25:31-46 is also kind of like...God shows up in the unlikeliest places!...and we never know when He is going to show up! We may not know that we could have been ministering to our Lord Jesus when we do an act of kindness toward an old lady or the roadsweeper. So, it could have been the Lord who showed up and reminded us to pray, shorty, tooth decay, table cloth and all, but he spoke with authority. WOW. Many things that have been happening lately just blow my mind!!!

Blessed Christmas!

-jiemin =)

just SPAM it!...Orchard Road 'Spamming' Operation

2004-12-15T21:07:00.000+08:00

Today we spammed Orchard Road with 600 candy canes to bless the people there. Each of these candy canes has a 'Jesus loves you' message attached to it, and as we gave them out, we said 'Merry Christmas and God bless you.'

It was fun cos like we only had the idea yesterday at about 2pm, and by the time we reached evening, we had almost 20 people who would be involved directly or indirectly in the spamming operation.

How did this come about? Some of us went for a show on monday, and it was a pretty huge YM outing. Then we wanted to watch another show, but some of us were talking and there were two things:

1. We should do something meaningful with our outings instead of just having fun. We can BLESS OTHERS and have fun doing it as well!

2. We should invite others whom we don't know too well. After all, outings are good to hep us get to know fellowYM-ers. Like...if each of us were to invite one other person, and everyone has a similar mindset, then YM will become one big happy family!

So off we went. Initially we thought that it would be really easy, but it wasn't so for some of us. Some of us got rejected. Some of us found it easier as the people were more receptive. So we took abit longer than we expected, and turned up at Youth Park like 30 mins after the designated time for lunch.

Anyways, all of us did have a relatively good experience, with many people rejecting us, but also some really fierce-looking people smiling when we blessed them with the candy. Some of us had opportunities to pray with some people we met. It was really interesting.

I thought that many people were surprised that we were giving them stuff. We met many sceptical people who were like reaching out for their pockets when they received the candies, but they seemed surprised when we told them that it was for free. It's not surprising since like Orchard Road is flooded with aggressive salespersons trying to sell people stuff they don't need and also others with donation cans asking for donations. Along with all the sales beckoning them, it seems that everyone they meet wants something from them. It is no wonder that we are greeted with much scepticism and unbelief when we approach them to give the candies.

Some people received the candies but politely declined after they read the 'Jesus loves you' note attached to the candies. It really makes us think doesn't it? God loves us and continues to give us His love to bless us, but when we reject Him, He still continues giving in spite of our rejection.

What about the Gospel? If even in giving out candy canes we are faced with so much rejection, how much so in sharing the Gospel? It's even harder isn't it? We will be faced with even more rejection. But the thing is, Christ's love compels us, and if God our Father is holding out His hands calling people back to Himself, shouldn't we do the same? I believe that this is a small start for us as a ministry. I believe that God has more in store for us. May the Holy Spirit continue to inspire us and empower us to reach peoples for His glory!

What does this have to do with prayer? Everything! Because action is birthed from prayer. Prayer that does not lead to action is like faith without works...it is dead. When we pray for His kingdom and His will be done, then God will move us to accomplish His will. May He continue to work in us and through us, for His glory.

--jiemin =)

Answered prayer

2004-12-15T20:48:00.000+08:00

I don't know what to say about YM camp that has just passed. So many things happened. But this verse sticks and I would like to share it with you guys.

Ezra 8:21-23

"21 There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. 22 I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, "The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him." 23 So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer."

This year the theme of Wesley Methodist Church is 'People of True Worship and Prayer'. I can only stand amazed and say that the Lord has led by His hand and He has led and blessed YM immensely in the areas of worship and prayer.

The Lord is faithful, and He will do it.

Let's keep praying!!!

God bless!

--jiemin

YM Camp

2004-12-09T01:39:00.000+08:00

This is the morning of the YM Camp!

This is the day that the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it!

There has been so much preparation for this camp. So much hard work. So many things that have been prayed for. Now is the time when we will just be, and let the Lord work amongst us.

We had a very wonderfully blessed time during our prayer walk on Monday. We went around the campus praying Scriptures declaring God's presence.

Psalm 24:

Lift up your heads, O you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty-
he is the King of glory.

Come, Lord Jesus, come.
You are the King of glory.

God is on our side

2004-11-24T23:58:00.000+08:00

Let's all pray over each and every camper and ask for discernment over them. If there is a word revealed over any camper please share with us and we will pray over it to confirm.

I just came back from St John's Island for my BB Camp, and it was a really wonderful time of fun which i have not had for a long long time. I'm quite tired, but more importantly, i saw the hand of God at work in His ministry. I think it has been raining most of the time on mainland, and someone at home actually asked me how was the camp with all the rain. Well, I realised how much God loves the Juniors (the primary school BB boys...they are so cute!) when we were sending them back on the fourth day of camp. We could all see storm clouds over the mainland and the skyline enveloped in darkness, but where we were, as the boys were happily walking to the ferry to go home, it was all bright and sunny on our island. It only began to pour only slightly after the juniors had left... God's favour on His beloved is simply awesome!

Thinking of that and another situation this morning where there was another group using the beach for games (and we wanted to use too), they kind of remarked that the 'tide was too high' (and we were going for rafting so high tide is good) I subconsciously said to my Captain that "Well, the good thing about being in BB is that God is on our side." And when i think about it, even as we persevere in prayer for YM, we want to remember that so long as our hearts are set on the Lord, He is on our side. We are praying from a position of victory because our Lord Jesus has already won! May this truth shape the way we pray!

Last year, as I prayed for the camp, the Lord told me that He was sending the wind. This year, as I pray, somehow the word 'rain' keeps coming to mind. I began to pray that the Lord will rain down His love on YM, and that we will all just bask in His love and soak it all in. I also asked the Lord to begin to change our hearts and give us hearts of compassion for His people, so that we may begin to really minister to each other and to others.

Perhaps we could begin to share about what the Lord has been impressing upon our hearts so that we can all listen together and confirm?

In Him,
jiemin =)

Prayer Meeting

2004-11-20T07:40:00.000+08:00

Yesterday's prayer meeting was quite special. As we shared, we realised that everybody needed prayer, because if one of us stumbles, the rest of us will fall. We need unity in prayer. And we need to prayer for unity. this is a time where many things need to be done and many of us are highly-strung. Tensions are high. So we need to be prayerful.

A few things that the Lord spoke to us...

1. God is pleased with what we are doing so far. It is our hearts that matter.

2. Humility--Our youths need to learn humility in service. The Lord convicted our hearts on that.

3. Jealousy--We need to have the right biblical understanding on spiritual gifts. Last camp, there were some issues with jealousy wrt to the gifts that were received by some people.

That's all for now. I gotta rush for camp.

Love and God bless!

-jiemin

Praying together

2004-11-19T01:58:00.000+08:00

"A tourist, in climbing an Alpine summit, find himself tied by a strong rope to his trusty guide, and to three of his fellow tourists. As they skirt a perilous precipice, he cannot pray, 'Lord hold up my goings in a safe path, that my footsteps slip not, but as to my guide and my companions, they must look out for themselves.' The only proper prayer in such a case is, 'Lord, hold up our goings in a safe path; for if one slips all of us may perish.' " -H. Clay Trumbull

Sharing on Camp Theme 2004 (on 24 Oct 2004)

2004-10-25T23:23:00.000+08:00

"I think after watching so many videos on camp publicity, maybe some of you are really asking, just what can we expect from this year?s camp?

I think first of all, that camp is a good time to reflect on how God has seen us through the past year. And more importantly, it is also a chance for us to seek God on the plans He has for us in the following year.

I think some of you may know that there is going to be a focus on evangelism and missions in YM next year. And we the camp committee wants the camp not just to be a time for individual reflection but also a start point to prepare us as a ministry for evangelism!

The camp theme this year is BGR++. It stands for Basic God Relationship ++. Now, some of you may be wondering just what has this got to do with evangelism?

It has got everything to do with evangelism.

As we prepare for evangelism, the first thing that we must get right is our Basic God Relationship. Your relationship with God- your love for God- is the very heartbeat of evangelism. Without your Basic God Relationship, there can be no power in evangelism.
So we want the camp to be a chance for everyone in the ministry to get back to their Basic God Relationship.

But is this enough?

I was in China a few years back on a mission trip and a missionary shared something that stuck with me until now. He said this, ?it does not matter whether or not you are specifically called by God to the mission field, the main reason why missionaries leave the field is because they can?t stand each other?. I think what he was trying to say was this, you may think you have the most beautiful relationship with God but until you have a beautiful relationship with your fellow YMers, your evangelism will not be effective. So we want the camp also to be a chance for us to seek God regarding our relationship with one another.

It is only when we have our Basic God Relationship, when we are united in Christian love that we can be a powerful and effective ministry for evangelism.

This year?s camp theme BGR++ is not just about evangelism. It is about powerful and effective evangelism!

BGR stands for your Basic God relationship, which is where you get your power.

The first + stands for your relationship with fellow YMers, which is where you get your effectivness.

Finally, the second + stands for evangelism. Your lifestyle outreach to your friends who are unbelievers."

-Ernest

God Answers Prayer

2004-10-25T01:37:00.000+08:00

Right after prayer on Friday, things began to happen. I shall put them down in point form:

1. At about 10pm on Friday night, almost immediately after prayer meeting, Joel?s friend called and asked ?what should you do when you become a Christian?

2. This morning at 930am service there were slightly more than 10 newcomers! Many of them seem keen to come for YM camp!

3. I was talking to someone after 930am service. He and his wife were keen to serve in YM! (we have been praying for more leaders, as we are quite short of leaders)

4. At 930am, there was one newcomer. I felt that I had to go up to him and say hi. I found out that he?s from Sec 4 and had been attending the main service, but he said he would come for YM from now on. So he will join my Sec 4 group. Praise the Lord!

WOOHOO! I am still quite high from all that has been happening.

I am just wondering if anyone would like to share anything else that God has done. When all of us in our ministry share, it completes the picture.

I was just telling someone that I am learning that to ?watch and pray? is one of the most exciting things I could ever do. It may be tough. It may seem to be boring. But nothing beats the joy that comes when God Answers Prayer!

-jiemin =)

Yesterday's Prayer Meeting--22nd October 2004

2004-10-24T02:31:00.000+08:00

It was raining for the first time after prayer meeting yesterday. Our brother Rev James Singh joined us for prayer meeting, and we had a wonderful time of intercession. We had been singing "Let It Rain"...

Denise made a comment at supper. She said that it [the rain] could be a sign from God that He has answered our prayer. I had not thought of it in that way, but AMEN to that!!! =)

I am really excited about the camp. Let's continue to seek His face as a prayer ministry!

-jiemin =)

YM Prayer Blog...The Beginning

2004-10-24T02:15:00.000+08:00

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

This YM prayer blog is started to help us in the prayer ministry have a collective journal of God's dealings with each and every one of us. In time to come this blog will be a testimony to God's faithfulness to YM, as we look back through the months and the years and see in hindsight how the Lord has been working in and through us.

Some of the things that we can write about:
1. Give thanks to God for answered prayer.
2. Encourage each other in Christ with God's Word and with what God has been doing in our lives and the lives of people around us.
3. Share what the Lord has been impressing upon your heart for YM through your prayer and quiet time.

This blog will also encourage us to have a bigger vision of YM and what the Lord our God is doing in and through each and everyone of us!

Please email your blog entries to jiemin11@singnet.com.sg and I will put it up.

We hope that the content of this blog will in no way stumble anybody. Let us exercise wisdom and discernment in the things we write/say.

Thank you Matthias for setting up this blog site!!!

God bless!

jiemin =)

YM GAP

2004-10-18T21:48:00.000+08:00

hi
anybody who wants to post or share anything or raise a prayer request jus email to jie min..
jiemin11@singnet.com