THAT is revival.

no, no! revival??
i don't mean these pictures.
what's going on??
i don't know.
SS! (LtoR: rachel, evan, me)
evan, how's cambs treatin u?

last week, God showed me somethin wow-worthy. while i was just spendin time playin my woodbone (that would be my guitar if u're wonderin) and the passage 2 kings 19 dropped into my mind. didn't recall what its contents were, so i flipped open my bible and read.

i began to be amazed at king hezekiah's story of victory against sennacherib of assyria and his prayer for his countrymen. the messenger of king sennacherib sent a msg sayin somethin to the effect of 'you israelites are going DOWN!'. ooh, scaaawwy!but king hezekiah prayed. then prophet isaiah sent a message from the Lord to say 'the Lord has heard your prayer...' and that was it. sealed, the deed's done and the battle won. God always wants His ppl to win, yet with His promises comes the condition - 2 chronicles 7:14. it's not so much 'the harder you pray, the better the outcome' because then our focus would always be on how our prayers will be answered (which means we only pray so we can get) - rather, KNOWING well that God promises victory and all that, we still come to Him - we still pray, because there's no other way (ooh, it rhymes!)

utterly broken, totally dependent.
sore on our knees but strong in faith.

that we may pray so we know Him deeply, and our focus would always be on 'Lord, i'm here to ask of You. and to claim Your promise.' and that in itself IS revival in the making. then God spoke to me and said, 'you wanna see revival? being in love in My presence and asking of Me, that IS revival.' gather with those of the same heart and pray, THAT is revival.

king hezekiah prayed not out of doubt. he knew God promised deliverance. he prayed to PARTNER with God's promise, not twist God's arm. imagine his joy and faith-lift when the victory DID come and the enemy killed. if he didn't pray, what's there to rejoice abt? 'oh wow, God! i didn't expect that...but, thanks anyway!' it's different though, when you DO pray. 'oh wow, God! we're been hearing You say so, and praying abt it...and now we see it!'

expectation. passion. tenacity.

then as i pondered, psalm 33 came to mind too.

"No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine."

this is the season of being so immersed in His love and glory.

I WAR FOR YOU, I WAR THROUGH YOU

con·tend
(kən-tĕnd')

verb

1. To strive in opposition: battle, combat, duel, fight, struggle, tilt, war, wrestle.
2. To strive against (others) for victory: compete, contest, emulate, rival, vie.
3. To put forth reasons for or against something, often excitedly: argue, debate, dispute, moot.
4. To engage in a quarrel: argue, bicker, dispute, fight, quarrel, quibble, spat, squabble, tiff, wrangle. Informal hassle, tangle. Idioms: cross swords, have it out, have words, lock horns.
5. To put into words positively and with conviction: affirm, allege, argue, assert, asseverate, aver, avouch, avow, claim, declare, hold, maintain, say, state. Idioms: have it.

Antonyms: cede, give in, give up, surrender, abandon, desert, give up, leave, retreat

"For in this season of turmoil, do not fear! Lean back on My power, My All-Sufficient Power. For I am not unaware of your troubles or the assails of the enemy. I have seen his foolishness in thinking he can persuade you to give in. This is only a season for the perfecting of My faith in YOU. I have conquered what you are facing already. I AM WITH YOU, I AM IN YOU. I WAR FOR YOU, I WAR THROUGH YOU. Let My faith be released agains your enemy. He fears Me and therefore he fears you..."

[http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word/5696]


i will contend.
i won't give in, Lord. i will contend.
devil, you lose.

ekklesia

ever thought of whipping up some spectacular dish that people can only dream about and salivate after, if only you could just know the perfect measurements of each ingredient and whip it up in the kitchen (without a recipe)?

ever had a strong desire to sketch an image you've got impressed on your heart and mind, like you can almost 'see' it in your mind's eye, if only you know how to eloquently portray it with your brush and canvas?

God's been breaking mindsets for me. and there's a growing discontent inside of me of what church looks like. of what new testament church looks like. i find no satisfactory 'definition', yet on the other hand am seeing church through a NEW pair of eyes, getting this itch in my hands and feet to grab that brush and start drawing out my take on acts 2:42-47.

Church: In the New Testament, the ekklesia. In the Bible, this has no reference whatever to buildings or organizations but to the called-out assembly, the covenant people of God. In the overwhelming number of cases, the church or ekklesia of both the Old and New Testaments is the visible covenant community in a particular locale or region. Under the authority of elders (godly heads of households), it unites on the first day of the week to hear the preaching of the Word, to receive the sacraments, and to preserve and perpetuate the Christian Faith. The church is one aspect of the kingdom of God, but it is not the kingdom itself. (from www.reformationonline.com/glossary.htm)

that's such a lacking definition. yet makes me think.

definitely we all agree church isn't a building. then what?! put simply, a gathering of disciples committed to Christ and His commands - right? but what does it LOOK like? God, show me!

can't word it. but i try, these days i'm so hungry for a re-definition.
to unlearn and relearn.
to throw off and put on.
to discard and discover.
there's gotta be more to church life than meets my eye...

communion aka the last supper.
sharing of belongings.
apostolic covering.
prophetic utterances.
signs and wonders.
spirit-filled teaching.
lifechanging lifechangers multiplying uncontainably.
baptism anytime and everywhere!
visions and dreams - joel 2
"thousands were added to their numbers daily."

imagine with me. gatherings of any number of believers of any indigenous grouping scattered all over, saturating a whole city/village/nation/university/office/profession/industry/location/tribe/interest group/race ! (been reading different stuff, one of them mindset-breakers is The Blueprint by Jaeson Ma) an example would be a gathering of a group of college students passionate about theatre and dance in which from one who turned to Christ, the whole group got saved, and together they started BECOMING church. these ppl may never fit into a traditional 'church' as we know it, but they're a church! these saints need ephesians 4:12 and 1 peter 2:9 - RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE. those of us who came from a more traditional type of church now call ourselves the 'charismatic' or 'contemporary' church - but i believe with all my heart that still isn't it. it's still possible that we fall into a rut and limit God's revival more with our way of 'doing church'.

Lord, give me insight and a keen ear. burn onto my heart a vision of acts that overtakes my whole being and turns my world upside-down so that you can use me to turn others' world upside-down. imprint a passion in my spirit to be wholely yours so you can sketch for generations to come with my life as your brush.
show me what i feel you're showing me.
let me see what i think i'm seeing.
help me be who i know you want me to be.

kimchi, kamsa, kal-bi

here we go! midnight flight, ETA at incheon international airport 7:50am. it was the deadest flight i've been on, everyone sunk into their chairs deep in sleep, but i didn't sleep too well. and i think it showed when we arrived, haha! we were immediately brought to calvary church for 2 services, and treated to a full course korean meal - nobody complained.

the next morning, after a hearty breakfast and a whole lot of caffeine, went straight on up to canaan farmers' school for 2 days of training and tour of nearby farming villages.

our visit coincided with a whole bunch of teenagers there for 3days-2nights. the writing on the wall behind me in the canteen is their pre-meal motto: "thank God for this food. we don't live to eat, we eat to live. if you don't work, you don't eat. a meal equals 4 hours' worth of work." and they say punishment awaits those who are found with even ONE grain of rice left on the plate. that's easy! i always finish my rice (well, 99% of the time)

that night, principal bum-il kim blew on his 20_yr old trumpet. the sound was deafening, and i don't mean in the physical sense. i've never met a more inspiring senior person. we hear of such heroes often, but to meet one! he's amazing, reminds me of caleb in numbers. the view outside of aster and my room the next morning - like mt K :) nice fog.

brought around the school site. what's this? funeral plots. philosophy: why occupy so much space for your grave? live your life well, tend to God's creation responsibly when you're alive. your grave doesn't need to be huge. size of korean traditional grave vs. what you see in my pic, the ratio is 1:12. we then prayed for korea and malaysia up on that mountain.

down from the mountain. myung sung church visit. hosts brought us to have GINSENG CHICKEN! my fave meal throughout this whole trip. one whole chicken for each person, stuffed with sweet rice inside. yummy!! then, the next morning, their early morning prayer service no. 2 (they had 5 prayer services a day!) - thousands of faihtful christians. the pic shows their choir made up of their young adults and youth. church of 100-yrs history (from pyongyang revival), they even have their own museum.

we had ONE free day. well, 'free'. korean folk village was an awesome idea! cool place to explore. BUT rained the whole time we were there, that's the down side. LOTS of laughter too! our whole team went crazy!! traditional korean houses, farming techniques, clothing, school, execution tools (aka killing instruments) - cooOool.

kal-bi (barbecued beef) - eat, eat, eat! bittersweet = the euphoria of heavenly tasting food with the terror of unending supply. we had too much to eat. after finishing what i'm TOTALLY sure was a whole COW, they asked us whether we'd like our main course to be noodle or rice. i almost fainted from overeating! still sure my stomache was ROUND that afternoon!

so i know the danger of sticking some body part out of a moving car, but awwww! just LOOK at that beautiful scene! never has traffic jam looked this beautiful...the sunset was breathtaking, my most heartfelt moment of seoul's cityscape :)

downtown. the dinner that wasn't a dinner for me - ate 2 cheeseballs and stopped. important korean phrase: 'me wo yo!' translation? SPICYYY!! (will later scout for edible NON-mewoyo food). upside was hip live performance, no wonder young people hang out here a lot.

the hosts brought us to seoul tower, a 300++m high building overlooking the whole metro in all its evening glory. overwhelmed by their hospitality! some of them hosts have never even been there themselves. costed around RM37 per person for the elevator ride, but well worth it. my panorama pic didn't turn out perfect - but at least i can say I'VE BEEN THERE!

near the hotel we stayed at for the final 3 days. took random shots, and found a nice seaweed roll stall - foooOOood! so i was hungry, can u blame me?! at least this wasn't mewoyo!

later took more random shots from hotel room, streets were clearing out, it was 1am. the whole street was great to tour around, i'd wanna go back there. off to bed, off to bed!

aah! the merchandise. bought gifts, gifts, and more gifts...i must say this is one trip on which i spent very little money. bought so little stuff for myself, i suppose it's good :) combination of aster and my merchandise. hmm, travel tip? buy kim (seaweed) when u go to korea. and ginseng, and green tea, bamboo salt, and cute tiny stuff that says 'made in korea' - lol!

had 'church growth seminar' with several speakers, e.g. dr joshua jong. insightful. then? eat lo, what else! the one standing up in the right-hand picture is prof. younglae kim. that would be my fave session.

youth hang-out place in anyang-jeil church's vision centre. also cafe, library, etc. later joined their evening prayer service, congregation was lively and responsive. most memorable characteristic of korean churches? they respond to speaker/preacher with loud, unanimous and faith-filled 'amen!', very impressive. happens often so if u fell asleep, you'd wake up and nod to agree with their amens. what?! no, i didn't do that...i just said IF u fell asleep *grin*

it's time to leave, last group photo. final one: me and my senior pastor-mentor-spiritual father, rev lee. half a korean, hehe.

i seldom like to post abt just events without my reflections. but from this trip i carried back so much, the funny and fun stuff aside. so much that i'm still reflecting through what i learnt, and want to better understand what God is saying these past few months and put together a bigger picture. that post wont be today :) so...

anyong.
(shalom in korean)

3lbs and one day of boredom

it's amazing how entertaining tv can be for those long-deprived of mindless channel-surfing, yippee! back in kk from seoul since sat evening, fell sick since then. so all of a sudden, i found myself capable of feeling bored :D it's different, 'cause when i've got free time, i always say 'there's always something you can occupy yourself with, boredom need not happen.' but when you're sick and dizzy, reading isn't an option, nor is calisthenics, nor sms-ing. so, what? tv lo.

so, watched 3lbs on monday. count 1, 2, yes two days ago. it's a good show, love these stuff abt neuro brain surgery. and God spoke to me abt handling people with the right focus in mind, when every decision is critical for the patient. too long a lesson to relate here. grab my journal and read it, not! i wanna post abt my trip to korea though, so wait on, coming up soon.