You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever.
[Psalm 23:5-6]

A table? A table of what? A banqueting table. A feast. He indulges me in front of my enemy. God seeks to benefit me so that I can glorify Him. The devil doesn't like it that I'm enjoying a luxurious meal with my Father. Every bite I take of that wonderful buffet makes the devil mad. My Father and I find that very humourous indeed.

He then proceeds to anoint my head with oil. He blesses me greatly with this anointing. The oil is a type of Holy Spirit. And because of this, I am greatly filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. My cup overflows. I cannot contain the blessings and riches that He pours out on me. (John 7:37-39)

I become like a magnet for blessings of His goodness and mercy. The New Living Translation says "Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life".
All this because of His Grace and Love. Because He is my shepherd. I shall not want / I will not be in want / I have all I need / I shall not lack. Not only for my sake. But for His honor and glory.

I think I was more encouraged than them when I saw that they were encouraged at what I was initially encouraged about.

This is what I learnt today. Today made me realise how much God is directing and blessing my life. I've been constantly encouraged since I got in to the car to go to school this morning. Listening to Reinhard Bonnke's sermons really inspire and encourage you. Shared about God's goodness in my life during 'Praise Life' which Lynette was teaching.

During Prayer School, I received the words, "Right place at the right time." An then, God showed me to head down to Plaza Singapura. So thats where I had the first meeting with Mark today. The first of many more to come I hope. After that I took a bus to Suntec City to submit the timesheet for Life Bookshop. I met Natalie Francois on the bus and it brought to mind her brother. I prayed for him on the bus.

After submitting the timesheet, I started to walk back to city hall MRT through the city link mall. I remember feeling a little tired at the thought of having to take so long to get home. So I whispered a prayer to God. Thats when I bumped into Patricia who was making her way to meet Loong and Gloria at Marina Square. She invited me to join them and I did. It was such a good time of fellowship. I felt that God was showing me a glimpse of what He wanted me to do in the future through that meeting.

Could it be coincidence?
No.
Providence...

Blessing With Our Overflow
I've been having this in my heart for quite a few weeks now. A strong sense that God wants to empower our church. Not in the general way he wants to empower every Christian. But in a specific way that will help us achieve His purpose. God doesn't want to send the wounded and unarmed into battle. It would serve no purpose in sending us unequipped! It would do far greater harm than good if He allowed that.

But these few weeks have been nothing but amazing. Our times of worship have been going up spiritually. We are meeting God more often in church! I'm praying that it'll become the standard. Praise God that He is constantly revealing more of Himself. He wants to re-lay our foundations so that we are REALLY strong and secure in Him.

In Luke 24:49, Jesus told the disciples to wait for the power before they went out to minister to others. You see, God didn't intend for us to just have the Spirit when we were born again. He wants us to be filled till we overflow! It is His desire to see us prosper and succeed in life! And because of this abundance, we will have something to tell people about. Don't you find that whenever you truly encounter God, you really have something to talk about? Isn't it better to have something about your God that you love, that you can boast about? Things that would spark people's interest in to finding out why God is so good to us? We have to be UTTERLY CONVINCED how great our God is before we even attempt to reach out to others.

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. [3 John 2]

Obedience to God

Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites.
No one went out and no one came in. Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in." [Joshua 6:1-5]

Instructions from God sometimes seem to make no sense. But as you see how the story goes, obedience to God's will releases a power that no circumstance can withstand. The story continues with Joshua making sure that all the instructions were followed. And when they did and gave a shout of victory at the end, the walls came down.

But imagine that you were one of the soldier's in the army of Joshua, marching around the walls everyday. What good would marching do? Logically, these instructions made no sense. But God often made no earthly sense in the past. But that didn't stop God from bringing victory right?

When I'm in God's will, difficulties, doubts and trials will definitely come my way. The devil will make sure of that. But these are merely acts of desperation on his part.

Imagine a soccer player tearing down the length of the field towards the opponent's/enemy's goal. The defender is desperately chasing you down and from the corner of your eye, you see him launch into a sliding tackle to try to cut you down from behind.

This is the moment in many people's spiritual life. This is the moment where you have to make the decision to either keep running or stop and be taken down. But in this moment, you have to remember that we're leading in the match 10 goals to nil. The defender cannot stop you from winning the match. The choice is whether you want to score that goal. It really takes the pressure off, doesn't it?
I want to score that goal. I want to fulfill God's will in my life.

What good is a shelter that doesn't protect?
What good is a shield that cannot be used?

What good is salvation if it is NOT for the blessings?
What good is Jesus Christ if He did not mean for us to live in victory?
"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." [John 10:10b]

What is the point of rituals and tradition if there wasn't a reason and purpose?
Aren't these things put in place to bring to our remembrance the power and authority given to us?
What good is it if there is nothing we can gain from it?
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. [2 Tim 1:7]

And if there is nothing we can gain from our relationship with God and from His promises, doesn't that mean that we are no different from mere religion?
What do we have to share about to the world then?
What do we have to rejoice about then?

"Would we still love God if there weren't any blessings?"
There's no need to think about that because the fact is, there ARE blessings.
"Let the LORD be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant." [Psalm 35:27-28]

The question is, "will you believe and receive the blessings?" There very reason I rejoice when I go through difficulties and trials is because He blesses me with the ability to get through them. I can tell you right now that my God is not small. My God is rich and abundant! When my Father is rich and abundant, I am rich and abundant as well! I crave for God and His Word because I know He is good.

MY GOD BLESSES!!!

The end of another exam today. Time really passes quickly when you're having fun learning. September has been quite a draining month for me though. The Amy Sand Concert really took out a lot of time and energy. But I praise God for the chance to see 600++ people worshipping God in Church of Singapore. I think I was ministered to more than the people who came to see Amy Sand. During the worship, the praise leader shouted "Hallelujah!" and the people in the chapel, 2/3 of them were workers from China, shouted "AMEN!" in unison. I hope I'm getting this across when I write it. When I say unison, I really mean unison. I mean it sounded like a really loud united sound. I didn't understand the chinese lyrics of the worship songs or what the praise leader was saying, but I did recognise the love and adoration toward God. And I definitely recognised God's presence in that chapel.

Its funny, I think back on the times when I was in army, specifically SISPEC, and how much emphasis is placed on the marching and keeping in step. My section leader would always holler at us, reminding us, "One sound, one sound. You all won't stop until I hear one sound."
And we would go on and on marching till we got it. But thats in the natural. In the spiritual, it is so much easier. There's no need to spend hours in practice. Spirit-led worship is always united worship!

~~~ When I Speak Your Name ~~~
Jesus, the most beautiful name of all names
Jesus, the only name that brings healing and strength

When I speak your name
mountains move, chains are loosed
When I speak your name
darkness flees, it has no hold on me

Jesus, the most beautiful name that I know
You're the exalted one
Jesus, you have the power alone
You lift the lowly ones, Jesus

Jesus, the most the wonderful name of all names
Jesus, the only name that brings freedom and hope

[Be exalted (x3), higher and higher] x8
No other name (x4)
| Christ for the Nations Institute - Overtaken |