Blessing of Discomfort

"I never thought I would see the light of day when I would take part in a sprint triathlon. I never passed a single NAPFA test from Pri 3 to JC. Physical fitness was something that I always uncomfortable to talk about. I felt lousy most of the time. God changed things for me in the army. He turned my discomfort and weakness into victory when I allowed Him free reign in my life and made a choice to grow through my discomfort." - Joshua Teo

Do you feel very self-conscious when you do something you are not strong in? Do you hate speaking to public? Someone you don’t like to talk to?

We all have areas of discomfort in our lives. More often than not, we are happy to leave them outside our routine as much as possible. Given a choice, we would rather not face them at all. Yet they are always there. In fact, God seems to be placing the same “trials” again and again in our paths. Have you always wondered why?

Personally I have discovered that when we choose to face our areas of discomfort, we begin to see God developing us internally. It is God's way of revealing to us an area of our lives that we need to die to in the flesh. Sometimes it's an emotional baggage to throw away, sometimes it's an area to be developed. Some of the best and greatest growth in my life came during my most discomforting times. It was during these times that I was "forced" to deal with issues that I would normally just accept as part of life. It was also during these times that I experienced some of the greatest victories in my life.

Why is this so? You realise many times that when you are in a situation of discomfort, you often have no choice but to rely on God since it is something that you are not naturally strong or comfortable in. This pushes you to come to the end of yourself and to depend TOTALLY on JESUS. It is in times like these that you learn best how to LET GO and LET GOD take over.

The converse is also very true. In fact, it is often in times of prolonged comfort and complacency that we begin to backslide as we begin to think that we can cope and do well on our own, ie. We do not need God anymore! Thus, the next time you are conscious of an area of discomfort… Thank God. It is His blessing for your GROWTH!


CSL

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Blessing of Brokenness

Before God uses any man, He first needs to break the man!

Why?

Because man, in this fallen age, is worldly, carnal, full of self, imperfect, unholy.

Even when the man is converted, there is still the need for sanctification; i.e. to be transformed from glory to glory. But man, in our sinfulness, tends to shun from sanctification, i.e. we don’t want to do what we need to do, and we do what we should not do. Some of the converted even celebrate our human fallen nature by using the excuse that we are human!

Let me let you in on an open secret - if you want to be used by God, if you want to be all that God wants you to be, if you want your life to be a miracle, then be prepared to be broken.

When the Holy comes near us, we will be like Jacob, broken but changed.

Matt 5:3 says this, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Brokeness, being poor in our spirit, is a sense of knowing our sinfulness in the light of His greatness. It is an awareness that apart from God, we are truly NOTHING at best .. … we are evil, calculative, self-centred, and very scheming (in our mind).

Broken people know grace. They have tasted grace, and are willing to give grace.
Broken people are mindful that we are all broken regardless of our awareness of it.
Thus, they are willing to forgive and forget because the pleasure of God is far more important than staying human.

If you have not been broken before, perhaps you have not known the freedom and joy in depending fully upon the Lord. Ask yourself if there are situations in your life where it is more convenient to leave God out of because it is so much easier to be in control with your own strength. There is no place for selfish pride if you want to be used by God to the fullest. Not even one tiny drop of it.

"I never understood that before. I thought it ridiculous that feeling good about myself displeased the Lord. However, I grew to learn that it wasn't so much about a healthy self-image then it was about me wanting to be God over my own life."
- Joshua Teo

"When I allowed God to push me out of my comfort zone into discomfort, I learned to rely more on him and grew closer to Him. Comfort made it easy for me to lead a self-reliant, God independent life. If it takes discomfort to break me and draw me closer to God, I will pray for more of it in my life." - Angus Sham

If you have been broken, thank God for this blessing and continue to desire brokeness before God.

Psalm 34:18 says,
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted,
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 51:17 says,
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

Isaiah 61:1 says,
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
Because the LORD has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;

Who wants to be broken today?


CSL

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The Curse of Technology

What can be wrong with technology? We can get instant printout, instant handout, instant photo, instant messaging, instant access, etc.

With modern technology, the advent of new media, internet, sms, msn, 3G phones, we are able to communicate more freely, accomplish more on the move, know more. In fact some netizens were toying with the idea that technology has empowered mankind to such an extent that we have become like God – we can access worldwide information (all knowing), we can be connected to everywhere in the world (omnipresent), and thus we can be all powerful (omnipotent).

Lifestyle has truly improved a lot as a result of technology. So WHAT can be wrong?

As in all things, over-reliance on things, can rob us of true dependence on God and His design in our lives.

One potential curse would be the lack of in-depth sharing. With the presence of multimedia and means, we are able to communicate quickly and to many people at any one time. But because we are receiving signals at such neck-breaking speed, we are pressured to response immediately as well. Thus limit us from truly reflecting on the message received and thereby also limiting us from responding wisely.javascript:void(0)
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The other potential curse is the over stimulation of our sensory. We are bombarded with millions of signals; from audio to visual. We are no longer drawn to simple pictures and scenery. We need 3D animations, great graphics, powerful sound system for us to “feel” right. This curse affects us subtly yet powerfully ie almost all areas of lives are affected. We need more to feel intimate/connected with God and loved ones, we need more decibels to hear, we need more visual to stay focused.

Another potential curse which disturbed me a great deal is the false sense of security. With laptop and palmtop, we feel no need for memory. Everything we need is within our “palm” or “lap”. Thus, the decline in our effort to memorise scriptures, important words, etc. we feel ok because we have the bible software, we have internet access, we have data storage. But scripture reminded us in Rom 12 that we are transformed by the renewing of our MIND. We need to use our MIND not Macs/Microsoft. We learn by thinking and reflecting on what we hear and receive and not saving the information into our hard disks. Our hard disks cannot change our lives….. only the living Word WILL, through the renewing of our minds.

So throw all gadgets away? No! give them to me! Haha..you know I am joking.
I believe the answer is to stay balanced. We need to know that we need to appreciate the creative energy that God has blessed humanity with. But they are not meant to rob us of appropriate worship. They are meant to aid us in worship. Thus, we need to live simply and not be overly dependent on the cleverness of man or the invention of man.

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The Curse of Material Comfort

It is easy for us to feel good when God blesses us with material comfort. We don’t like to be comfortable? In fact, some motivation guru would tell us that the fear of pain is the greatest force to move us to change. We fear pain and we readily gravitate towards comfort. And when the blessings of God come in a form of material comfort we naturally feel good.

There is nothing wrong with the blessings from God. But in all things, when we desire comfort more than commission of God, we are cursed. DO we feel God when we are not in aircon auditorium? Are we able to worship God without powerpoint and nice reflective images? Are we able to serve God in poor countries with poor facilities?

I was amused when I found out that some churches (from Singapore and Malaysia) gave money to the locals in China to build suitable quarters with aircon and water heater so that the short term missionaries could come and serve God.

I remembered reading the life of Hudson Taylor of how he slept at hard bed, ate with chopstick, etc so that he could be ready when God sent him to China. Such was the man of God in preparation (in peace time).

Where is the Hudson Taylor of today? Man who choose to be uncomfortable, in lifestyle, so that he is ever ready when God calls? Or has all the man been so conditioned by material comfort that they are no longer useable for His kingdom?

May we all choose to:
“Live simply so that others can simply live (eternally)…because you are still able to go and preach the good news.”


CSL

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The Curse of Cheap Praise

Do you know what you are singing?

“Take, take, take it all….” rang in my ears even after service. I was thrilled to see how the young enjoyed and jumped to the beat of the drum and what have you on the stage. I was glad that we were able to engage the young in worship. Then the Spirit of the Lord jammed my thinking… "Did the youth really worship ME?”

You would know that the question was a rhetorical one and the answer was NO!

For most of the latest “worship music”, the beat and tune get faster and more catchy and the words are all well crafted. But because it is faster, it leaves very little room for one to reflect on the meaning of the lyrics and mean it fully before we mouth those words. The result – singing without meaning, praising without heartfelt gratitude. In another words HYPOCRACY!

Would God take our HYPOCRACY as WORSHIP?

What then shall we do? Junk all the CDs? NO!
Slow down the tune and the beat? NO!

We need to recognize first and foremost, praise and worship is part of total discipleship. Thus, it is a discipleship agenda. We need to talk about it in our discipleship time with our people. Teach them the songs. Help them to appreciate the words. Pray that the words would become a reality in their lives…

We need to launch them into authentic worship by teaching them to mean what they sing and sing what they mean before the Lord! He is worthy of our worship!

The next time you sing "Our praise, and all we are today, Take, take, take it all..." or "King of Majesty, You're my one desire..." take a step back and listen to the lyrics of the songs. Make an effort to know and mean what you sing. You will discover that your worship into the Lord will take on a whole new dimension of intimacy.


CSL

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The Curse of Religion

I was away in Muar meditating upon the move of the Spirit and was led to the subject of religion. It jumped at me because suddenly I saw the routine it can become, the comfort of the predictable, the niceness of stable, etc.

All of the above would dull our spiritual senses. The pull to the stable, predictable, comfortable, robs us of the spontaneity, creativity and life giving experiences of true faith in Jesus.

Think about our first encounter with Jesus. It was life-giving but it changed my routine around dramatically. It was spontaneous, i.e. how I would be led to pray and read and sense His presence. It was never predictable in my understanding of God. There was always something new about Him and His ways. It was an out of the box way for me to see life and God. For those brief moments in my journey, there was freshness of walking with Jesus. And then, religion set in.

Religion taught me about the forms and ways to behave in church and religious settings. Religion gave me the comfort of knowing what to come for and what to do. Religion brought stability to group conflict and behavior. Religion, is no different from society or a social club, without the Spirit.

On one side religion offers stability while the other, Faith in God, offers adventure of life.
Which one do you choose?

Most choose Religion because we could go on with our routine and favorite programs after service hours. We could still plan and go for our well-deserved holidays. We could do what we want, buy what we like and sin a little here and there.

Yes, religion still has its effect on us like going to church, attending G12 meeting, doing evangelism, praying and SLTC and these are still important.
But it is still bearable because it is stable and predictable.
But it is barren when the Spirit is not in it with us!

What would you choose again?


CSL

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Curses and Blessings

I am starting a new series of blog postings based on the theme, "Curses and Blessings". Many of us live our lives unaware of the subtle influences of the world that draw us away from God and from living the life of destiny and victory that He has called us too. I hope that in these short sharings, you might be inspired to re-examine some of the values that you live by and be convicted to let the Holy Spirit renew your mind with Biblical mindsets and attitudes so that we can truly live as Romans 12 teaches us, not to

"...conform and longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Below is an overview of my reflections on Curses and Blessings:

Curses of
1. Religion
2. Technology – reliance, false security
3. Material comfort - indulgences
4. Beauty – poor definition
5. Cheap praise – catchy tune
6. Quick responses ie sms, emails
7. Multi-Media

Blessings of
1. Singlehood
2. Loneliness
3. Suffering
4. Brokenness
5. Persecutions
6. Pain
7. Unanswered prayers
8. Arena of greatest discomfort


CSL

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