You Fool!

Reading through Genesis-Exodus (still!). So good!

Yesterday morning I read from Jacob through Moses. As I went over Exodus 2-3, God's personal message for the day hit me like a ton of bricks.

(Below a non-theological take! If your theological feathers are ruffled you're most welcome to respond anyway)

- God made a lopsided covenant with Abraham: non-bilateral, fully unconditional, pure grace. No matter how messed-up or unfaithful Abraham could be, God would fullfill it.

- God had Isaac in mind since the beginning. No old womb could stop him. Even his future wife and how they met (camels included). Time and again, He shows that He 'sees' and 'hears'. 

- God pursued Jacob's whole-hearted devotion. Arranged dates just to meet with him, even a whole night of wrestling. Renamed him, and then reminded him. Blessed him with a soccer-team-sized brood of kids.

- God set Joseph up for a fall. Into the pit. Then prison. Then palace, overnight. Denied him authority, only to position him for top governmental position.

- God called Moses who grew up with Egypt's finest only after he'd been cast out in the wilderness and lost all influence to return and do the impossible. Out of touch with Egyptian and Hebrew culture. Foolish and ridiculous. Just what God wants. Moses rebutted, God re-rebutted.

Everything God does, He does. He doesn't force, but He doesn't back down. He doesn't choose for you, but gets in your way til you see the street light and His signpost. When He wants your heart, He's dead serious. Like, literally. 

Everytime you look at yourself and think "I can't do this", "I don't know how", "God, send someone else", "Oh no, not me!", "but I can't speak well", "I just need more training", "they won't listen to me"...you're potentially laughing at what God can do. And putting your trust in your 'I' more than God. Oh, He loves to choose the foolish to shame the wise. 

It's SO foolish to use a baker and cupbearer to be Joseph's new prison-mates.

To open Sarah's womb when she's so old when someone else could've birthed Isaac.

To tell Abraham to give up his only son who's supposed to carry on his promised lineage.

To use Jacob, a conniving man, to father the tribes of Israel. To manage a soccer team would've been more believable.

To have Moses cast out of Egypt and then tell him to go back and meet Pharaoh when he's more like a desert wildman than a royal prince. And tell him to do tricks like changing a staff into a snake, that's supposed to convince Pharaoh?!

"Who am I, Lord?"

Exactly.

So foolish. So inept. So incapable of doing things right. Such an unlikely choice for divine purposes and great plans.

Ahh...but JUST what God needs.

Under the weight of the ton of bricks, I asked God for a foolish generation.

One that fully recognizes its need for Him, completely in touch with their lack of ability. A generation that may seem culturally awkward, alien yet anointed. Prioritizes making disciples more than making sense. Ridiculously obedient and radically counter-worldly.

If ever you think God made a 'wrong choice' when it comes to you and your calling, I hope you can see just how 'wrong' a choice you are. Grace is so much bigger then. And your desperation for Him to confound the wise through you. Precisely because you are so foolish to believe He could be right when He chose you.

God, I ask You for a generation so foolish to believe in You, to believe that You want their undivided devotion, and think that they can be of any use at all. Make their hearts so incapable of functioning without acknowledging they are nothing without You. That they be captured by Your voice to the point they can seem irrational but cause people to notice Your love is real and can change lives because they foolishly let You change theirs.

Thought of the day: Risk is not calculated by the probability of success but the nobility of its cause. Faith is not calculated by the probability of fulfillment but the reliability of its Source.

(taken from NECF website)

THE LORD REVIVES (40-Day Fast & Pray)
Transforming the Nation Through the Local Church

This year's NECF National Prayer Conference will be held from 28-30 August. We are 

excited at what God is doing in the prayer movement as He continues to raise many to 

cry out for mercy for our land.

Many Christian leaders regard the current 5-year period as a season of grace

 -- a kairos moment given to the Church to contribute towards nation building. Every church plays significant role in impacting the nation and bringing about transformational change in society.

"Revival occurs when men and women are on fire for God" - John Wesley

Speak to God

Speak to God in repentance and confession of our sins - Ps 51:1-4, 10-13
Ps 51:1-2 "Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin."
Speak to God often - Eph 6:18
Eph 6:18 "Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere"
Worship God in spirit and in truth - John 4

Speak to others
Speak to others words of honor and affection - Rom 12:9-13
Don’t just pretend you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other
Speak to others words of blessings - Col 4:6
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Speak to others words of peace - Rom 12:18
"Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible"
Quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry – James 1:19

DARE YOU TO DESIRE

Know that verse "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart" ?

Ever wonder what that means to you and me? 

I've always known that verse. People always talk about how when you put God first all the time and in everything, He'll give you what you want. Sometimes I have a problem with that interpretation, lacks depth and does not pierce my heart the way it now has. 1st, it makes God sound uber-demanding, a whipcracking 'you can only want what I want' kinda god.  2nd, it makes me fear selfishness, like I'd prioritize God only to the extent that I want something from Him. Solution? Dare not desire 'anything except Jesus'. 

So I was reading Hebrews the other day (part of a 30-day challenge to read 30 chapters of the Bible everyday), and one of my favorite passages jumped out at me in a new way. I love it when that happens. And not when you try to make it happen...Heb 10:5-7 says,

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but a body you prepared for me; 

with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.

Then I said, 'Here I am - it is written about me in the scroll - 

I have come to do your will, O God.' "

That led me to Ps 40:6-8, from which the writer of Hebrews quoted. Same passage/words. Except the last bit goes "...I desire to do your will...your law is within my heart." Made me think of Ps 37:4 and Ps 119:11. 

I can understand SACRIFICE, OFFERING...

but...DESIRE?

Maybe it's not such a big problem for some of you. But for me deep down, I admit I've bought into the 'desire is evil' philosophy over the years. I also believe many Christians share the same mindset, amongst many others. Think about it.

God created desire, right?

And He created you, including your heart and all the issues of life that spring from it.

You cannot say God cares about even your hair-count if you cannot believe that the desires of your heart can be pleasing to God. Hair is hardly as important as heart, isn't it?

And I felt the Lord remind me on Aug 9 what He said before, when I was still in Malaysia.

"Don't just ask me what I want for you. I'm not gonna tell you what to do. You know what's in your heart, you already know what you want. I want what you want."

I was like, "No, God! Just tell me what to do, what YOU want. I don't wanna do what I want, I wanna do what YOU want. I'm willing to give up what I want for you!"

So 'spiritual'. Sometimes, so wrong.

Ps Philip Mantofa, a preacher of our time that truly reflects a life of intimacy with God, once rocked my world when he said (in Asia For Jesus Malaysia, 2007) that just like a husband and wife's relationship, '...you are to be one with God. So close to Jesus, so intimate, that what you say goes. He will give you what you ask for, He'll LOVE to please your heart. What a husband says to the children, the wife echoes it so that they are one. Unity in their hearts. Same goes for the wife. What the wife says, the husband goes along with it. That's true intimacy. Jesus too! What YOU want, you pray for, you ask Him for, He will give you. Because you are so close to Him, you are ONE.' 

When we've hidden his word in our hearts that we might not sin against him.

When the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts are pleasing in his sight.

It PLEASES him to say YES to you.

To your sincere, heartfelt (but not boombasti-fied) prayers.

To your casual (but not trivial) utterances as you go about your day.

To the whims of your heart, gestures of your hand, glances of your eye toward him.

You don't get answers to your prayers because you don't pray from the heart!

You don't see miracles around you because you are afraid to ask and be let down.

You don't experience God's generosity because you have not been sticking close to Him.

So as not to expose your lack of intimacy and faith, you ask not. You desire not. You want not.

And dry-clean it and label it 'contentment in all things' and 'being holy'. Hah.

The Lord reminded me of all this as I was praying about joining a CCN trip to Asia for ministry in Hong Kong and Korea. Will be travelling Aug 25 to Sept 7.

"God, what should I do? Can I? Is it okay with you?"  But-this. But-that.

"Do you want to?"

Oh man, not again, God?!

So I know God is training me in this area through these particular situations. He gave me the burden for HK and Korea just before the trip. Timing's right, team's right. He wants what I want. He's down with that. Woah.

Disclaimer: Do not apply the God-wants-what-I-want lesson for EVERY situation. You DID not hear/read that I said you can do that ;)

Stay close to Him and share His heartbeat. When you give weight to his every word spoken to you, you can trust that your words carry weight to move His heart too!

May he give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed. ~ Ps 20:4

I DARE YOU TO DESIRE.

"...so that your joy will be complete."

AFF and SCPx shots

briefing on 24-7 prayer, Holy Spirit's presence was SO strong!

morning meditation on the psalms.

enacting and acting from the gospels, hilarious!

out on a scavenger hunt! stranded by 3rd clue, almost couldn't get lunch. sunburnt!

bathroom baptism scene

teaching illustration taken outdoors. lesson of the day: travel light when you GO. i think americans need this teaching more ;)

simulating an underground house church, how-to-avoid-getting-caught-having-church drill. they got busted!

dinner at lauren's (redhead, centre) aunts' place.

drumming the heartbeat of God. redeeming the rhythm of the Indians' community dance.

prayer with Haskell president and pastors

at sheridan's, real good ice-cream yo!

praying for one of the three who got baptized on our last day!

moved to intercede for the nations by Holy Spirit, one of many times

yet a time is coming and has now come...God is spirit. every nation, every tongue, every tribe, every land. God, raise up another student volunteer movement to bring Your Gospel back to Jerusalem.
and then the end shall come.

The Shepherd and the blind man

When Jesus healed the blind man at the pool of Siloam, He knew it was the Sabbath (Jn 9:14). The man went and washed [the mud made with spit from his eyes], and came home seeing. Everyone wanted to know what exactly happened. Even the Pharisees were busy interrogating the man. Blind since birth, now 'came home seeing'. Quite a town-stirrer!

"One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"

"What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"

"I've told you already and you didn't listen. Why do you wanna hear it again? You wanna become his disciples, too?"

I love this part. The Pharisees loathed it. They threw him out.

I found it remarkable that Jn 9 tells us Jesus approached the blind man two times: (1) to heal his eyesight in v 6, and (2) show him the subject of his worship in v 37. He Himself pursued him, and he worshipped him (vv 35-38).

Later in Jn 10:21 some of the Jews said, "...can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

The man whose sight was healed said in Jn 9:32, "Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind."

It occurred to me the passage about the Good Shepherd is even more significant because it is slipped in between the story in  Jn 9 and Jn 10:21. Between both passages that mention the healing of the blind is a passage that talks about hearing. Hearing the shepherd whose voice is known by his sheep. He calls them by name, their ears know his voice, and in trusting recognition they follow him. Hearing becomes so much more acute when we cannot see. I wonder what it was like for that blind man to suddenly have his sight restored - he has never SEEN before! - and suddenly, he beholds the Son of Man. That must've been so amazing! 

"Who is he, sir? Tell me..."

"You have now seen him...the one speaking with you."

"Lord, I believe."

"...I have come...so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

Revelation of Jesus is beyond sight.

You have not SEEN until you've seen Jesus.

Recognize He pursues you in your darkness, touches you with His tender hands on the most unlikely day.

Obey His voice even when you cannot see ahead of you, let your ears catch when He whispers or calls you by name.

Acknowledge He is God amidst accusation and threat from those who want to steal, kill or destroy your revelation of Him.

He WANTS us to trust his voice, be awed by him, worship him, follow Him by faith and not by sight.

I DON'T KNOW A LOT, BUT ONE THING I DO KNOW. I WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE. YOU SAY HE ISN'T GOD. I SAY UNLESS HE IS GOD HE CANNOT OPEN BLIND EYES. 

MY SHEPHERD, GIVE ME A REVELATION OF YOU.