Radicalness, faith, fear, boldness

"Dominic, am I a radical God?"

"Yes You are...."

"So you shall go and do radical things for me..."

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If my God is a radical God, then I shall be His radical child. If He's NOT my God, I won't be bothered and if He's my God but not a radical one, then I shall be a small, insignificant, powerless child.

A few weeks back God has been challenging me to NOT place Him and myself in a box.

God and I not in box: living freely in His power out of an intimate relationship

God in box, I'm not: manipulation (using God for your selfish purposes)

God not in box, I'm in box: slave mentality in God's Kingdom

God and I in a box: religion

God has brought me to a point whereby there's enough recitation of Scriptures, enough prayer, enough consideration (whether this is from God or not), enough holding back. Not to say that these are bad, but we shouldn't allow anything to hold us back when God has placed something in our heart.

Yes, there is indeed a balance between the reckless and the sanitised. It is wisdom and experience that will allow us to discern this balance. And I realised that I have been living a sanitised and sheltered life too long.

I am currently stepping out in faith, trusting God in several areas of my life, especially in relationships - being there for people and being involved in their lives.

I will also admit that sometimes living by faith can feel like punching thin air and speaking to lifeless walls. But it is my trust in God that supersedes any form of skepticism which says try to say that "Maybe you shouldn't do this, because God isn't there." or "Are you sure God is real in this?"

If you sow the same things, you will most likely reap the same things. So, if you want things to be DIFFERENT, you've got to do things differently. I find this statement (which I did make last time) to be senseless and outrightly stupid, "I want to see breakthrough, but I just won't want to bring myself to step out."

Indeed, fear can be real. I'm not saying that instances of uncertainty, anxiety and fear will not be there, but it is our RESPONSE to that which will eventually determine whether we step out or not. And if there's fear, let's deal with it, together with God. If you do it yourself, the odds might be less. But if you do it with God, you will never know how He's able to expand your capacity and grant you boldness as you step out in faith.

Bluntly Speaking 5

Modern Disease: The Myopic Lifestyle
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After the examinations, phewww....Glad it's over right? Then you have plans for a wonderful vacation - doing things which you really wanted, travel to exotic locales, chill out and all.

So what's next?

"What do you mean 'What's next?'?", you exclaim. You might think that having all those holiday programmes means that you have it all. You're not entirely right.

The problem or issue I realise is that we can't really see far in our lives. Yes, we have big dreams and colossal ambitions, but if you examine the concrete plans (as a form of EVIDENCE), in order to get those dreams and ambitions going, you'll see a sad picture.

So, effectively, it's mainly much talk, much imagination, much brainstorming, but little action.

We have to ask ourselves what are we really gaining from the plans we make. Are we really placing people or places into transformation? Are we really making a difference? Is there any lasting significance in all these?

Or are we merely going through the motions? Following the crowd, doing stuff because it's popular or cool? Or indulging in stuff, just to unwind?

What are we doing with our lives?

Here's some stuff every Christian should know:
- He's saved in the mighty name of Jesus
- He's made for a purpose
- He has unlimited power and potential with God's backing

Of course, you know these things. But where's the EVIDENCE of a purpose-filled life in you? Where's the FRUIT of the things you are doing?

I'm sick and tired of hearing people, JUST getting involved in these, during the holidays:
- food
- slacking
- games
- movies
- parties
- clubbing
- shopping
- generating cash

There's nothing wrong in doing the stuff listed above. But it's gonna be effectively fruitless if we JUST do that.

There must be more than these...

On top of the above-listed items, we are made for:
- fruitfulness
- abundance
- spiritual warfare
- being a significant blessing to others
- being different from the world
- setting Godly standards and benchmarks
- bringing forth breakthrough and revivals in areas of strongholds and strangleholds
- eternity
- bringing heaven unto earth

If you want a holiday you will never forget, try a combination of these...

STOP:
- playing church and cell
- indulging in the things of this world
- pleasing man
- watering down the truth of God's Word
- wallowing in depression
- squirming in complaining, negativity
- taking things for granted

START:
- praying and fasting intentionally (without waiting for formal/organised ones)
- seeking God earnestly
- pleasing God
- asking God for greater hunger and thirst for Him
- repenting and turning away from all your sins/unrighteousness
- comparing yourself to God's standards, and not to fellow man
- giving thanks FOR all positive/good things, IN whatever bad/difficult circumstances

Yeah...going "Wow....oh, I see..." is not good enough. Go do it, and keep doing it, until you see a difference.

Letter Exchange

Dear Christians,

Your examination's already begun. You need to work hard for your grades - you know it. For that dream job, that future paycheck. You know times are going to be challenging in the years to come. No one knows what the market / economy will be like when you graduate.

So what are you going to do about it?

You ought to sweat it out in your studies. It's gonna be a dog-eat-dog world out there, so you better be prepared. Only the fittest survive. And that means you shouldn't be wasting any time which does not contribute to academic achievement.

And what about this Friday outreach event?

You must be nuts. As we said earlier, you better be mugging and studying hard. You've got your modular credits to clear. If you sacrifice on your study time, it's gonna affect your exams, then your grades, then your resume, then your career. You see how the dots join?

What if you can't prepare for your papers in time? Who are you going to blame, your God? Or the people you're inviting for your so-called, "outreach"?

I know you're smart and analytical beings. So just weight the pro's and con's and place things in perspective. You know about opportunity costs, right?

So yeah...it's time for you to head back to the books cos one moment you pause means another chance for the other person to overtake you.


Sincerely,

The World

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Dear World,

We thank you for your honest opinions and ideas about our plans for our Friday outreach event. Yes, we do know that our studies are important - in fact, we are to be good stewards of our time in school, our intellect and our academic achievements - all of them to serve to glorify God.

But studies aren't everything. As believers of God, our academia is only a facet of our lives and even if we stumble and fall in our school work, that will never jeopardise or compromise God's plans and purposes for our lives.

Regarding the coming outreach event, we're doing it not because we have TOO much time or because we see our studies with inferior importance. We are doing it because we love our Chinese exchange studies as much as God loves us. And the marvel and truth of God's love is too great for us to contain ourselves that we need to share it with others as well.

Even it means sacrificing on some study time, we have faith that God will still meet our needs and will see us through the examinations. God is supernatural. He can multiply richly even the smallest of all human inputs in any situation.

We may be squeezed and taxed for time in this exam season, but that doesn't mean we don't trust God to move and work sovereignly in our lives. In fact, we are strongly praying and asking that His presence will be so real, strong and tangible on that day that our invited guests will feel His immense love for them.

Everyone's invited - even you folks - because Jesus died for EVERYONE - including you and me. So, if you're able, you can set aside some time out from your studies and come visit us. Details will be sent to you shortly.

Lastly, remember that God loves you always!

God bless!


Regards,

Lovers of God
Sons and daughters of the Most High
NTU Cell

The Launch of NTU Cell's 1st prayer gathering

Could this be the birth of NTU Cell's prayer ministry? Of course it can!!

Came back not too long from school. Gathered with my cellmates (Joy, Champ and La) to pray for our school, in school.

Haha...we walked around school to find a room but couldn't really find one. Thankfully, we managed to find the Bio Science's pantry room which looked conducive for prayer.

And then we went....we settled in, worshiped, shared about life and prayed for our school.

2nd radicalness of 2008: I was there at NTU Cell's first prayer gathering (or ministry, in time to come). And I'm excited about it!

Last time I was convinced my cell was stagnant and was too inward-looking. But then I prayed and asked God to work in our members' hearts and lives.

Then today, I can see my cell members committing their time and a portion of their lives praying for their school.

It's simply amazing how God works...

We covered 2 areas:

1. Thanking God for our school

- professors, teachers, deans, tutors, etc
- classmates, schoolmates, peers
- curriculum
- lectures, tutorials, assignments, projects, etc

2. Claim our place in school

- 1 Cor 15:58
- every Christian to rise up to take the place God has placed him/her in
- all to be submitted and yielded to God's calling and purpose

Hallelujah! If this continues, God is surely gonna blow me off my socks once more.

And I believe He is going too! Thank you, Lord! More of You and less of us!

first day of school...

Definitely did not have enough sleep and my bio-clock's still not normal. The anticipation and adrenalin associated with the commencement of school started to wear of at around 4pm plus. From then on, I felt very sleepy...

Got back home in the evening and did what I usually do - organize the notes I just bought for the semester, sort them out into their respective files, punch holes and staple 'em.

I looked at my shelf and spotted many sets of personal lecture notes which I crafted by myself since year 1, sem 1. Thing is, I've been hoarding my personal notes for way too long already.

If I had distributed them previously, friends would have benefited from them.

1st radicalness of 2008: I decided to bundle last sem's notes neatly to pass them to my friends tomorrow.

No more hoarding of my stuff. God finally softened my heart and convinced me that blessing others with my hand-crafted notes is better than me hoarding them for myself.

Yes...I used to be very protective and defensive over them. Because I've spent long hours doing them up from scratch and I've seen them from conception to the end of the exam (for that particular subject).

So when the exam's over, I ought to pass it to someone else, in order to bless and benefit him/her.

Thank You, Lord, for that change in heart!