Hearing God

Psalm 19:1-4 (New International Version)
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard. [a]
4 Their voice [b] goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun.

Last Sunday during the prayer meeting, Brother Michael Wong was sharing and at one point he asked us to be quiet for a while to listen to God. In our prayer life perhaps we have been “talking” too much and we did not listen to God at all. Listen to hear from God. For any effective communication to occur both talking and listening are important.

Here is an article by John Wesley
( 1703-1791 ) about hearing God:

When a person is born of God, born of the Spirit, their existence changes drastically! Their whole soul is now aware of God, and they can say, by sure experience, “You discern my going out and my lying down, you are familiar with all my ways… You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me” (Psalm 139:3,5). The Spirit of God immediately breathes life into the new-born soul…and awakens all the senses of the soul, making them capable of discerning spiritual good and evil…All the darkness is now passed away, and the child of God lives in the light of God’s approval. Their ears are now opened, and voice of God no longer calls in vain. They hear and obey the heavenly calling. They know the voice of their Shepherd. All their spiritual senses being now awakened, they have a clear course of communication with the invisible world. Consequently they know more and more of the things which before their hearts could not begin to understand. They now know what the peace of God is. They possess joy in the Holy Spirit. They have experienced the love of God which has been poured out into their hearts.

The Sum of All Prayers

This is an article on prayer that I just read in my devotional Bible.

Mathew 6:9 “This then is how you should pray……”

Thomas Aquinas believed that everything we need to know is found in three documents: The Apostles’ Creed tells us what to believe; the Ten Commandments tell us what to do; and the Lord’s Prayer tells us what to pray.

The Lord’s Prayer is like a compass. It points to our true north, God’s heart, and when we know that, we can discern east, west and south. In other words, when we are clear on God’s priorities, all other concerns fall into their proper place. The Lord’s Prayer purifies our longings and desires, and gives them proper expression. Every area of our lives can be hung on the pegs of its petitions.

Clearly, Jesus meant for the Lord’s Prayer to be repeated, not as meaningless repetitions, but as meaningful repetition. It can be like Christmas tree, on which we hang our own “decorations”, our own prayers. Or it can be like a map: The directions are there, but we must take the trouble to travel, to pray them. Each direction, each guideline, says, “pray this way”:

That God’s name be hallowed, revered, held in awe and adored. The beginning of wisdom, afterall, is the fear of the Lord ( See Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7).

The God’s kingdom come, that he sovereignly bring about the glorious day when the earth will be as full of the knowledge of him as the waters that cover the sea ( See Isaiah 11:9), that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord ( See Philippians 2:10-11).

That God’s will be our food and drink as we work and wait for his kingdom
( See John 4:34).

That God give us what we need in the meantime: our bread, our necessities, whatever we need to persevere ( See Matthew 6:25-34).

That God forgive our sins. Isn’t it lovely that Jesus teaches us to wait before we talk to God about our sins – to speak first to God about God before we speak to God about us?

That we be protected from every evil as we struggle in this spiritual warfare for God’s rule on earth ( See Ephesians 6:10-12).

I Cannot Hide from You - Psalm 139

God Opposes the Proud

Proverbs 3:34 (New International Version)
34 He mocks proud mockers
but gives grace to the humble.


James 4:6 (New International Version)
6But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."

In many ways many of us are proud in certain ways, and at times in our lives we may have been proud because of what we did. Even if we thought we were not proud, other people may perceive us differently. I am guilty of this too. The way I see it is that as a Christian, I try my best to be humble and also to show that I meant it. Of course, there will be times when no matter how we present ourselves, others will still say that we are proud people. What really matters is that we must be genuinely humble, because we are answerable to God. It must be from our heart. It is also His command that we should not be proud as illustrated in the above verses. I have been thinking about this subject, and recently the two speakers Pastor Ben and Pastor Liaw really showed us how to be humble from the way they live their lives. They follow the foot steps of Jesus closely, and show the love of God to people they are in contact. Pastor Liaw said it clearly, by his human capability he cannot love, but the love he shows came from God. God gave him the ability to love, and to provide services like a servant who is never proud of what he does.

C.S Lewis said in his book “Mere Christianity”, “A long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you”.

Really as Christians we have no reason to be proud.

Pastor Liaw from PNG

Pastor Liaw and Mrs.Liaw are missionaries to Papua New Genuine(PNG). Pastor Liaw hails from Sarawak. They have two grown daughters Joys and Mercy. Their main aim was to translate the Bible to the native PNG language. They served among the Hinihon, Perare, and Hinangave people. These villages are deep in the jungle and to get there they have to track many hours to reach the villages.

Mrs. Liaw said that about 27 years ago she suffered from severe kidney problem and had to be treated regularly. She did not know how long she will live so she worked for a Christian organisation in Kuala Lumpur, and at the same time she could get treatment from the general hospital there. Pastor Liaw studied at a Bible college (MBS) for one year in Kuala Lumpur.

After his studies, the Liaws went to Papua New Genuine( PNG). Pastor Liaw said it was a calling, because otherwise he would not have the strength to go to such remote place. They faced many challenges there, and because of God’s love and grace they were able to continue with their work there. They have two assistants whose education was about form three level and they helped with the Bible translation. Because of their limited knowledge of the Bible, most of the work had to be done by the Liaws.

Pastor Liaw shared with our congregation Matthew 9:35-38. In particular verse 37

37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

The harvest field is large but there are few people to help. People asked Pastor Liaw why did he reach out to PNG villagers when he could have gone to China to touch many lives. He said going to PNG was his calling. Like Jesus, he wanted to touch individual live. People asked him it is worthy it to do so much for so few people? ( The village the Liaws is based has about 1250 people. PNG has 5 million people). He said as long as he can love the people like Jesus it is worth it.

He said in today’s world people find their worth in the work they do, things they have and depended on themselves. He said his self-worth is on Jesus and not on any other things. If he depended on his own strength he cannot survive in PNG. If he depended on his own love, he cannot love the PNG people like what he is doing now.

Pastor Liaw is really living like Jesus and love like Jesus. He and his wife is such an inspiration to our congregation. Recently Pastor Ben Wong has preached that we need to love people more and to build up relationship with each other. Indeed, Pastor Liaw’s sharing is a good example for us to learn how to love one another like Jesus did.

Pastor Liaw said one of the important lessons he learnt is to get away from self-fulfilment through performance and result orientation. Like many present mega church pastors, they look to growing their churches. People became statistics. That should not be, we should love people. He urged us to obtain our fulfilment from Jesus alone and not from anyone or any other things.

Papua New Guinea

Honouring Your Father and Mother

2"Honor your father and mother"—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."[a]
Ephesians 6:2-3

Other verses : Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 4:1, 40, Hebrews 5:1-6, Mark 7:6-13, Matthew 15:1-9. Isaiah 29:13, 1 Timothy 5:3-8, 16

Last night at our cell meeting, Brother Malcom led us through the subject of honouring our father and mother. This is an important command of God written in the Bibles, and also a reminder to the present younger generations.

Four groups were formed to discuss about how we honour and dishonour our parents. Later we discussed about what we shared in each group.

From the heart – we said honouring our parents must be from the heart, things we really want to do for our parents and not as our duties.

With respect – we honour with respect for they being our parents because it was because of them that we are around now. Brother Jong shared that “h” in word “honour” is silent, so it is about the heart.

Getting them involved – even though our parents may be old, get them to join in decisions that relates to the family to let them know they are part of the family. Decisions can be simple ones.

Emotional needs- be aware of their emotional needs, and not only physical needs. They are our parents treat them accordingly.

Spiritual needs – foe example, they may have pains and aches, we have to pray for them and with them.

As discussed during the meeting there are many challenges in looking after elderly parents especially when they are physically disabled, like suffering from dementia. Physically we may not be able to cope, but we have to pray to God to help us in helping our parents. Brother Malcom shared how Pastor Ben Wong took care of his elder mother by talking to her daily although she could not recognise him at times.

My Redeemer

See video on the opening page.

Redemption Defined: To be set free from captivity or slavery.

In Old Testament times, it was required that sacrifices be made to cover the penalty of sin. This temporary redemption involved offering food and animal sacrifices as a substitution for the sin of the people in the tabernacle. The Jewish people were waiting for the promised Messiah who would provide one final blood sacrifice for all sins. The animal sacrifices covered sins temporarily, but the Messiah would take away sin permanently.

O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. (Psalm 130:7, 8) (NIV)

And in Jesus, the promise of the Messiah was fulfilled. His substitution for our sins has redeemed us - set us free from sin.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:9) (NAS)

“The central theme of redemption in Scripture is that God has taken the initiative to act compassionately on behalf of those who are powerless to help themselves. The New Testament makes clear that divine redemption includes God's identification with humanity in its plight, and the securing of liberation of humankind through the obedience, suffering, death, and resurrection of the incarnate Son.” (Excerpted from Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology)

Source: www.christianity.com