GOD is AWESOME =)

Hi all!

I'm back from easter camp. Once again, God has exceeded my expectations.
The truths from His Word brought to life once again. Conviction. Purification. Challenge.
A Vietnamese friend from Nottingham accepted Christ on the second day. Praise the LORD!
There were quite a number of youths (below 20 of which I do not fall into the category anymore… bleh) there, felt a bit like the old days in ypm camps (yup, I do feel old and it does seem like quite a long time ago…) The youths in my sharing group really challenged and encouraged me – their child-like faith, their desire to know God, and just seeing how God has been working in their lives – really truly amazing. How God works in each individual, how He crafts each one of us so personally and intricately.

God taught me so many things… I simply can’t write all of them here. But it’s just amazing when God speaks, it’s been some time since I heard Him so clearly and personally…
And it’s not only me, He’s touched the lives of so many others too. I learnt the sheep hears the Master’s voice. And if I’m His sheep and He’s a living God, surely He speaks. Just that I don’t listen. Too many other voices in my head. But I believe we can all learn to discern the Shepard’s voice if we spend time with Him. Just like we can distinguish our loved one’s voices over the phone (without seeing him/her) or in the midst of a crowd, so we can discern God’s voice if we know Him as we’re known by Him.

Hmm. Perhaps I’ll share one thing that struck me most: Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17 God really got me there. I’ve read this verse many times but it never really struck me until today. I thought faith came solely by praying or by plain assumption. But it comes by hearing, and how can we hear from God and have faith when we don’t spend time feeding on His word!!!

One of the speakers, Kenny Gan (www.kennygan.blogspot.com) really challenged and inspired me. His life testimony is just amazing. He was born into a Buddhist/Taoist family, his dad was abusive/womanizer/gangster, and his mom was an avid gambler. He started smoking at 5 and took to drugs at 13. He’s been in and out of prison umpteen times, been to many psychiatrists and deemed as ‘hopeless’. But when He was introduced to Jesus in a christian halfway house (smth like a drug rehabilitation centre), His life was completely changed by God. He’s served with Operation Mobilization on the Doulos for 17 years (a ‘christian ship’ that goes around the world training missionaries, youths, stopping at ports to preach the gospel, strengthen the churches there, etc) He met his wife whilst on the ship, been married for 20 years and have a daughter Deborah who is 18 years old. He’s now based in a local church in London, training and teaching, as well as going on mission trips as and when he can afford the time. There is so much more, but if I were to go on I’d probably not sleep. Heh. Simply amazing how God can turn a ‘hopeless’ person’s life to such an EXTRAORDINARY one! Indeed, what is impossible with man is possible with God. In the hands of God, everyone is a potential, not a problem.
Another lesson I learnt. Sometimes we think an ‘ok’ Christian life (i.e. going to church, reading the bible and praying as and when we are free) is the ‘norm’ and we get so influenced by people. But God has saved us for something so much higher than that!

I went asking God for life transformation. I believe now all along He has already done that work when I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. “17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor 5:17-21
But I know full well I’m far from who He created me to be, but He is in the process of refining me now…
I never really understood what the resurrection meant. So often we focus on the cross (not that the cross or Jesus’ death is not important) but sometimes we only mourn and forget to rejoice in the Lord’s resurrection!
“4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Romans 6:4-7

Changed lives are amazing. Guess that’s what really led me to choose to work in the prison in the future. And last summer God led me to meet more of such ‘kenny gans’. Heh. I know full well it’s not easy, I’m not idealistic, but I believe with all my heart God has a plan and purpose for me there. Because He has blessed me, so I can be a blessing to others as well. It’s really exciting when God uses you, not the way man uses man for his own benefit. But it’s an inexplicable feeling to be involved in GOD’s work. Such a privilege. It’s not easy, no, in fact, it involves much pain and sacrifice, but I believe it’s worth more than any other thing in the world if we truly know the LORD.

God put this song in my mind when i came back home today. It's been ages since i last remembered it. it's the prayer of my heart and i pray it'll be yours too...

I will never be the same again,
I can never return, I've closed the door.
I will walk apart, I'll run the race
And I will never be the same again.

Fall like fire, soak like rain,
Flow like mighty waters, again and again.
Sweep away the darkness, burn away the chaff,
And let a flame burn to glorify Your name.

There are higher heights, there are deeper seas,
Whatever you need to do, Lord do in me.
The Glory of God fills my life,
And I will never be the same again.

I will never be the same again,
I can never return, I've closed the door.
I will walk the path, I will run the race
And I will never be the same again.
And I will never be the same again.
And I will never be the same again