CHC 20100306 Our faith and love reaches to God.

Psalms 126:5-6 says that it is our love and faith that reaches to God's heart. This is clearly demonstrated when Jesus excitedly told His disciples when the old lady with the two mites, who gave out of her poverty, in stark contrast to all the the other wealthy merchants and traders, who gave a little out of their much. Jesus was explaining to His disciples that the old lady gave the highest order of offering to God, and that, was noticed by God.

You see, in 1 Kings 3:4, Solomon gave a thousand sheep to sacrifice. Note that, at this point in time, his father, King David, had already given most of his own wealth away, to build God a grand home, and so, young and poor King Solomon, really gave out of his limited supply. Interestingly, God doesn't shortchange us; if we take a look at 5 chapters down, to 1 Kings 8:63, King Solomon then gave 220000 bulls and 120000 sheep! His wealth in animal possessions had increased extraponentially within just five chapters! When this happened, God came to him and asked him what he really wanted, to which he answered, honestly and truthfully: wisdom to manage his people.

And with that, God gave him the wisdom so much that today, Solomon is still known as the wisest man who ever lived, and also, God blessed him so much, that he is also known as the richest man in the entire world with no one to surpass him. Ever.

This is the God we serve, and we serve a great God!

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Why we raise our hands in church

Why? It's such a simple yet powerful act of surrender. It was illustrated to me when one of my elderly patients, who had dementia, she loved to dance, but as she was rather old (>85 years old), she had weak legs and back, and could no longer dance on her own. When she saw me, she called to me and when I approached her, she had both her hands lifted up towards me, and she told me with large eyes saying

"Nigel, I want to dance, help me."

And that was like, bam, strong in my face, and the Holy Spirit spoke to me, saying, that's usually how Daddy God feels, when people lift up their hands to Him, calling to Him, and He'd start a new work in their lives. I danced with her that day, until she told me that she needed to rest, about 5 minutes later. And she promptly forgot to continue.

Yet, the lesson remained in my head, and He still reminds me.

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Margeret Court

Today Margeret Court came to share the gospel in our church, and one of the greatest things that she shared, is that we are not supposed to hide God. Such straight truths, and sincerity. I agree whole-heartedly, with that statement of faith, trust, and love for the Lord. Lord, I will not hide you, nor will I keep you under wraps. I will lift you up, and be proud of you, and bring you into culture and the marketplace.

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God still heals today

One of my old friends, whom I met at my old workplace, one day told me that he was dying. Undaunted, I asked for more information. He told me that he had stage two lung cancer, and was due to last until the end of the year of 2008. He said that his doctor told him that surgery was a 20% survival, and would cost S$500,000. He was crushed. That was the moment I believed that I was placed in his life for a reason. I took the time to befriend him, spent time hanging out with him, having mealtimes and sharing my life with him. I strongly believed that God heals still today, and I started fasting and praying for his healing by God. I knew that God was going to work a miracle in his life, and I got my cell group to fast and pray for him. Then the unthinkable happened: the doctor whom he had been following up on, was killed in a horrific road traffic accident. I was shocked! And I recalled asking God, but here God was silent. I kept praying, convinced that God was to move mightily in his life, and very soon. A few days later, he received a call from the clinic, saying that there is a new doctor in the clinic, and he was reviewing his files, and would like a follow up with him. That night, we prayed more fervently than ever before, believing in Christ our healer. The doctor, upon seeing his lung scans, revealed that lung cancers were his speciality forte, and his experience says that his lung cancer can be totally cleared with a simple operation, with 80% success rate and for a low, low fee of S$20,000 which can be claimable under insurance. Hallelujah, God heals and turns sticky situations around! We were so happy, so, so happy and I can still remember that we celebrated after his operation in some Chinese restaurant where we ate some noodles cooked in peanut butter or something. God is here today, and He still heals! Unfortunately, this friend fell away from church, from Christ, but a good thing is that God doesn’t revoke His gifts: my friend is still alive today, two years after being told he was to die in end 2008! God is good, and He heals!

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He helped me graduate. Literally.

Really. This happened in May 2005 (I know it’s been some time, but as you can see, it has never left my mind) when I had finished my studies in Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) for my diploma in occupational therapy (I’m now a private practicing occupational therapy clinician with Urbanrehab, but that’s another story for now), where NYP had sent a letter regarding graduation procedures to my actual residence in Johor Bahru (where I stayed for good number of years). And my darling mother had just chucked it aside without telling me the content. Apparently, it had been sitting there for ages! And lo and behold, my darling mom, so conveniently pulled it out the night before the actual graduation and showed it to me. Here’s a little of what it said. “All graduates who want to graduate on this given date must inform the school in writing at least ONE WEEK in advance.” Great job darling mom! And this is the night before!!! I called one of my good friends to ask for her help, and she kindly agreed to help liaise. Here is where all the miracles happens. Miracle #1: I found a full suit to use for the graduation (note: given the fact that I literally stay in Singapore, I tend to carry very light clothing back to JB – yes, I WAS in JB the night I found out I was to graduate the next day in SINGAPORE. And I slept early that night. Miracle #2: We drove into Singapore, and got stuck in customs at 830 am. Graduates were supposed to have registered by 9 am to graduate. And I remembered, I prayed: “Oh Lord, help us pull through and me graduating fine, and I’ll serve you all the days of my life.” It was only AFTER I prayed finished that I recalled the severity or safely said, the weight of the words I spoke. We cleared the customs at 9.30 am, and proceeded to get lost around the dairy farm area in bukit timah road. Yup. We did get lost. Miracle #4: We arrived at NYP at 10.05 am, and we rushed to park; my friend had graciously registered for me and I was ushered in. And lo and behold, as I sauntered in, I heard my name being called and I immediately walked to the front stage, posed in front of the camera, shook the dean’s hands, and took my certificate, and came down.
Then I recalled Him saying: “Remember your promise.”
Ho boy. I remember my promise. =p

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