Journeying together

It's nearing the end of the week and I was thinking of writing an update after OCF tonight but by the time I get home it'll be near midnight and tomorrow I'll have forgotten what it was I wanted to say. Just a quick technical update for those who constantly like knowing what I'm actually up to: I have two more weeks of Uni which means that I have two more weeks of my current semester courses. I just had one test yesterday which counted 20% towards my Numerical Methods course- I think it went reasonably okay but can't tell you how 'okay' until I get the results. My dad comes back from the Logos Hope today so that'll be the end of his solitary travels of 2008 as we all leave together for an extended weekend to Paris (Church meetings) and also a break in Italy. Finally, we've got the Southeast London Fellowship Christmas Party coming up so if you live in the UK (or are going to be in the area for the 6th of December) and haven't yet received an invite but would like to join us, please let me know. Also, I'm not sure if I'm able to go but OCF is having their annual Christmas outreach on Sunday the 7th of December so please pray for that event that God will give the speaker and those involved wisdom and that all who go will be blessed and challanged. (By "outreach" you'll know it's an evangelistic event so please please please pray for non-believers attending and that many more WILL attend).

 

You'll probably have realise that the title I've given this blog entry had nothing really to do with what I've said so far. Over this last week, I've been reading over 'Kneeling We Triumph, vol.1' (KWT)again as well as 'Not I, but Christ' (by Stephen Olford- based on the verse in Galations 2:20), of course, on top of the Bible, where I'm in the Psalms at the moment. It was especially interesting to me when I came across a chapter in the Stephen Olford book that talked about faith ("Not I, but Christ and His Faith) and in particular, the section about progressive faith. It pointed out verses in the Bible where people had "no faith", "little faith" and "great faith" and also about unfeigned, unwavering faith and what it means to rest in the Lord. It was so appropriate for me to have read this after reading about prayer from KWT where it also talked about the importance (or better yet, the necessity) and power of prayer, which sadly so many people miss out on.

 

As prayer is a commandment more than a friendly suggestion it was interesting to note that if we have no faith, we must still pray (of course, it helps greatly to pray without doubting!) and can LEARN to pray just as the disciples learnt. Prayer, as communion with God allows us to discover more of Him and so more of His faithfulness. When we have experienced the faithfulness of God, it gives us more confidence to trust Him thus increasing our faith. Increased faith surely must motivate us to spend more time and energy in prayer in asking God for more and since God is all-powerful and merciful, He reveals Himself in more impressive ways increasing our faith further. It's like a "vicious" cycle! Of course, it begins with learning how to pray and realising what prayer actually is...praying that the Holy Spirit will reveal to us these truths!

 

I was reading through the Psalms and in particular Psalm 9:10 just stood out for me when I thought about these things. "And those that know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You". In my devotional time with the Lord, I was praying over this verse and considering what it meant. What does it mean to KNOW His name? What IS His name? (Exodus 3:14, 6:3, Matthew 1:21-23, Philippians 2:9) How will knowing His name MAKE (will) us trust Him? What does it really mean to TRUST Him? (Psalm 27:4, Hebrews 11:1, James 2:26), What does knowing His name have to do with SEEKing Him? (Psalm 14:2), What or WHO are we meant to be Seeking? If we are seeking Him, then what does this promise mean for us? So many other verses come to mind when considering these questions (1 Corinthians 2:10-11,John 17:3, Philippines 3:8) Also, if we consider 'Knowing' to be along the lines of 'an intimate understanding', 'discovering', 'experiencing', 'accept as truth' and combining that with verses that tell us that God is Love, Holy, Alpha and Omega, etc. the these are amazing truths to be experienced in an intimate way! (The name describes the character) I could obviously go on and on about how amazing this verse became to me as I thought over what Christ is to me and how this effects my own prayerlife and faith but I hope that the little that I said here will cause you to realise how awesome God is in your own personal life and that in turn, will encourage you to press onwards and upwards always looking unto Him.

 

"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."- Ephesians 4:1-6

 

 

I never know how to put my ton of thoughts into words, especially when my ton of thoughts stems from a ton of different feelings. I suppose I can compare how I "feel" to what someone might feel when they witness the poor and starved. Imagine what a normal human being with abilities, talents, strength, stature and so on, looks like. Now consider a person who is starved and has been for a long time. There is no flesh or substance. Strength is gone and the ability to grow or even to function is stunted. Though that sight in itself is hard to grasp what is even more heart-wrenching is when food, even a feast, is in easy reach. What do we feel? Pity? Anger? Responsible? Sadness?

 

This past couple of months, God has actually been teaching me about really loving people as He would have me love them and what opportunities He has given for just that purpose. I'm sure I can summarise this with a song that many of you might know and which has the lyrics "Heal my heart and make it clean. Open up my eyes to the things unseen. Show me how to love like You have loved me. Break my heart for what breaks Yours. Everything I am for Your kingdon's cause, as I walk from earth into eternity."

Over this weekend, God was really teaching me to go on my knees and really pray. It's always an interesting lesson for me to learn how to cry out to God, to weep before Him for others and in that way learn to love them. I was also reading in a book about prayer, about how sometimes we take our own prayers for granted. It's so easy to talk with God and make "light" conversations but God is not concerned about our little happy life in that sense (as I recently was listening to a message by Leonard Ravenhill) he is concerned about our growth and maturity and that of others. If we have the same heart as Christ, I believe tears will be shed at such a pathetic sight as that of a starved child in reach of a feast. We don't simply cry for the sake of crying or because we feel sad but we cry to an all-powerful, all-loving God who, hopefully through us, can make a difference. It is the spirit that moves us into action. There's another song. 'God of Justice' or 'We Must Go' written by Tim Highes with lyrics "We must go live to feed the hungry, stand beside the broken. We must go. Stepping forwards, keep us from just singing, move us into action. We must go... fill us up and sent us out..." Over the weekend, we also talked about the songs we were singing and how challenging they really were. "This is the air I breathe.. Your holy presence living in me. This is my daily bread...Your very word spoken to me" If these songs were a reality and we were fed daily with such bread that gives such life, surely we would not be starved.

 

It WAS, OF COURSE, terribly exciting to see appetities whetted.  That first sweet taste of bread being consumed and hungers stirred. I recall my dad over the weekend using that quote, "The key to spiritual growth is spiritual appetite". Man cannot live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and I pray that we will be inspirations to others to feed themselves daily and thus live. "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:3). Let us continue to pray for the Church and those missing out of this abundant life that we have been promised and is so accessible. Then we can sing that first song's chorus, "Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna in the Highest!" Praise the Lord indeed for all that He has done and is doing and is going to do.

 

Just a few prayer requests as I stop here, my dad is off to the Logos Hope this coming Thursday and will be speaking quite a lot as I have heard. Please pray for him that God will give wisdom and discernment and please also pray for those on the receiving end that God will prepare their hearts and that they will be encouraged and stirred up to continue to walk in the way worthy of their calling. I also have an exam coming up on the 27th of Novemeber. It's only 45 minutes long but has some weight for my course so I would appreciate prayer that I'll be able to understand the questions asked and remember the material. Also, if you have been praying please do continue to pray for our South East London Fellowship here. We are under-staffed and with so many people travelling all over the place, it makes it hard to keep up and affects my mum as she is one of those who stays behind.

 

Ooh, while it is also on my mind, my Christian Group, OCF (Overseas Christian Fellowship) is also going away this coming weekend for a spiritual retreat. I did not manage to sign up and so on in time so am missing out on that but please do pray with me for those that are going. Please pray for the speaker (I don't know who it is) and for the group leaders as well. Thanks as always for your prayers.

Well, here I am on a Tuesday afternoon while the sun shines unusually brightly outside on surprisingly crisp autumn leaves. No one could have known what a gorgeous day this would be after such a grey yesterday. Of course, I'm only currently able to enjoy all this God-created beauty from indoors as I'm not feeling too healthy just now. I'm missing two hours of Numerical Methods this afternoon which is a little worrying since I know the lecturer will be covering something that doesn't look too straight forward but to sit through those two hours with this fuzziness of mind, would probably not be helpful either. That was my main argument for returning home after my first lecture this morning and getting straight into bed once I got here.

 

I'm not a person who's very good at taking naps though, as if you know me at all, you'll know that naps in the afternoon mean a sleepless night for me. I can't really bring myself to watch TV either so instead, I thought I'd slowly write some emails, do some light reading for math classes as well as for my own spiritual benefit and relax with some praise the worship music. It almost sounds like a perfect day, doesn't it? I wonder how you spend your sick days, that is if you manage to take the chance to stay home?

 

Well, I did say I was going to SLOWLY write some emails and in this case, I think SLOWLY is going to turn into write some SHORT emails. Yes, I am capable of writing shorter accounts... woohoo!

 

Thanks for all your emails about drinking more water, taking more vitamin C and resting- I assure you I am taking your advice. =0)

It's the 5th of November...So, it's November already! Let's see, this month I'm probably going to go for the OCF (Overseas Christian Fellowship) Retreat which I haven't had much details about so, hmmm... The weekend after that, we're scheduled to be at a Chinese Church Retreat which my dad is speaking at. Right now, if you haven't bothered to look at our online itinerary, which I just updated again, he is in Singapore on his way to the Philippines for a week. When he get's back, it looks confirmed for him to be visiting the Logos Hope in Denmark. Prayers really appreciated for these trips.

 

Loads of things happening around here. I'm really thanking God for this reading week that I have to catch up with school work without having to be in Uni. You have no idea how much I am looking forward to the Christmas season. We've got our tickets booked for Paris... and yes, this will be the first time I've been to France. Surprise! It may be the closest country outside the UK but you'll be surprised how many times I've not been able to get there. We'll only be there for a long weekend though as my dad is speaking in a church. The REAL Christmas this year will be taking place in Italy, which I am obviously also looking very much forward to. To be honest, I'm just waiting to taste REAL pizza. Hahaha, yes, I'm Chinese, I like food. I believe we're going to be seeing Florence, Pisa, Rome and... one other place that I cannot remember at this time.

 

A few prayer requests. I have a test on the 27th of November which only lasts 45 mins but counts 20% towards that course which I need to pass. Also, there are a couple of people on our team here in London who are not doing well physically. At this moment, all the team leaders (my dad, George Verwer and Mike Wakely) are away so it also makes things difficult for everybody here left behind. Of course, more generally, I watched the post-election speeches online this morning and I think we really need to be praying for this new government and for the Church in America. By the way, thank you to all those who have been in close contact this past month. I really have appreciated talking to some of you and being able to hear about what God's been doing in your life... especially those of you whom I haven't been in contact with in a really long time. I hope we'll be able to stay in better contact from now on. =0)

 

James 4:8-17