It’s the end of the year again! This year, I’ve written very little – only 7 posts before this one. But there’s been a lot of stuff that’s been brewing in my mind that I will share a bit here, but will do so more hopefully next year in longer posts.

Street Healing in Singapore

I started to get serious about healing early 2010 after listening to Curry Blake’s Divine Healing Technican (DHT) course (go to my Healing Resources to get the course) – and having read Bill Johnson for a few years previously. Most of my posts have been about healing since then. A group of us Singaporeans passionate about healing soon got together (we’re now on the Singapore Healing Room Facebook Group) to meet from occasionally to regularly. We met pretty regularly the 2nd half of 2010 (up to weekly in some months) but slowed down starting from 2011. In April, we invited Roger Sapp to Singapore, Malaysia and Batam early this year. Before that in March, some of us attended Randy Clarks’ mini School of Healing and Impartation at Cornerstone Community Church. By the way, Randy Clark and Bill Johnson will be in Singapore for a full School of Healing and Impartation next March (2012) – find out details here at Kingdom Invasion and many of us are excitedly looking forward to it.

As mentioned here on a post Street Healing in Singapore, a group of South African youths came to Singapore to visit New Creation Church in January. We met up with them and also spent time doing a treasure hunt at night in Geylang. This led to contact with some migrant workers we prayed for who got healed there. They contacted me July this year to pray for their friend and we went to a square in Little India to pray for them and saw literally dozens of people flock to us for prayer for healing.  Since August, the group has met about 8 times from August to December to minister to these migrant workers in Little India and organized a BBQ for about 20-30 migrant workers on Deepavali. You can find out more about this ministry at Singapore Healing Forum.

In 2012, we’re planning to meet alternate weeks: one week to minister healing in Little India and the other at a member’s home to discuss healing, study the Bible on healing, pray for people’s healing and just grow in our ministry of healing. This group consist of Christians from various Churches and some of them are helping out in different “Healing Rooms” in Singapore. You are definitely welcome to join us.

I know at least two other groups who go to the streets of Singapore to minister healing and also prophesy. God is indeed doing something new these past few years and it’s wonderful to see the Church go out into the world and the streets to demonstrate the love of God as Jesus did.

Preaching and Teaching

I wrote last year that I hope to start preaching and teaching to young people this year. I specifically said “young people” because I’m not that old and I guess I feel more comfortable relating to young people and also because of my relative lack of experience. Well, I actually preached a total of 4 times this year – ranging from 10 minutes to about an hour to between 15 to 100+ people – but the crowd was a normal crowd, not specifically a younger crowd.

It was definitely a challenge for me to preach – but a challenge I gladly took because I love to challenge myself and I know this is something I want to do more of in future and something I do believe God has called me to. I prepared a lot and was definitely a bit nervous as anyone would be! But I do enjoy sharing what I’ve been learning – I have received a lot over the years throgh many people’s teaching and preaching and I want to give out through the same way. While I still have so much to learn in terms of how to preach and share, I am happy to have gotten started.

I know I have my own unique way of approaching preaching and teaching. My Christian journey has allowed me to appreciate very good solid theology because of my non-charismatic Reformed background. I’m also an Arts and Social Science graduate who loves to do research and understand different perspectives and who  has written lots of argumentative essays. In other words, I’m very left-brain dominant and a perfect candidate for membership in any non-charismatic church whose messages are comparatively more theoretical, intellectual and theological than sermons in charismatic churches. But I’m not like that.While I do find a lot of charismatic teaching and preaching too shallow for my liking, I also find a lot of non-charismatic and Reformed teachings too theoretical. So I’m very much in between, appreciating the strengths of the charismatic and non-charismatic worlds of Christianity. And I’ve been like that for 15 years and many times I’ve felt like a misfit where I am. But I’m already used to that.

While I can’t stand a lot of charismatic teaching and preaching, that’s not to say I don’t listen to them. I listen to all kinds of charismatic teachers and preachers (although I’m selective) because I think I can learn from everyone and everybody has different gifts. And I also don’t think the way I like to learn (as a left-brain dominant person) is a holistic way. We all need to be balanced in terms of functioning in the left and right brain. Because I’m left-brain dominant, I’ve been trying to be more open to functioning with my right-brain. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere (Hearing God’s Voice Again), I believe prophetic people and those who flow more in the Spirit tend to be right-brain dominant. And that’s why I want to be open to tap on the right-brain. Prophets and prophetic people, because of their inclination to being right-brain dominant, also tend to be really bad teachers and preachers. This is of course not always true – I think Kris Vallotton is a good preacher.

I’m also more postmodern (or maybe more accurately critical-realist) in outlook in that while I believe in absolute truth, I also believe we human beings interpret the Word through our own biased lenses. I don’t just accept anything taught by anyone (even my favourite preachers/teachers). I find many Christians (especially charismatics because of their bent to the anti-intellectual and anti-theoretical) too accepting of teachings they’re taught by their pastors or favourite teachers. Because of my background in Reformed theology and my reading of many different Christian traditions, I tend to be more critical and I would acknowledge different perspectives and views and the fact that I don’t know many things. God’s truth is absolute but our interpretation can easily be flawed. I find no place for a lot of dogmatism I see in the Church today, which to me has sparked the growth of the emerging Church movement and the anti-institutionalism of many modern Christian movements. However, in relation to preaching, while I understand a lot of it is our interpretation (and I don’t want to mistake my view of things for gospel truth), I know many times in teaching and preaching (especially) you sometimes have to speak in absolutes if not you don’t really get anywhere.

Anyway, out of all the ministers who have influenced me in recent years and who hold on to beliefs that are similar, I think Andrew Wommack is one of the best teachers of the Word. He’s charismatic (in beliefs), yet teaches in a very solid, logical and organized way that has benefited many people around the world. I think the organization of his teaching is one of his great strengths and the reason why so many have benefited from his ministry. I think Joseph Prince is one of the best preachers. His teaching is also very good, although many times it tends to be very disorganized. However, when he preaches a message that is more or less organized, he’s one of the best preachers in the world. Joseph Prince is probably more holistic in his balance of preaching/teaching skills, though I think Andrew Wommack is more holistic in his message (he touches on many important topics and not just focus on grace). By the way, I’m defining ‘teaching’ here as something that’s slightly more left-brain oriented that appeals more to the mind and logic and ‘preaching’ as slightly more right-brain oriented that appeals more to the emotions.

I’m still very new in teaching and preaching but I do want to improve. My strength is more on the teaching and left-brain organization and logic (as people can see from this blog and my writings) and I want to improve more on the right-brain aspects to sharing – appealing to emotions, using stories, being led by the Spirit, prophetic preaching, etc.

My heart has always been doing ministry full-time. And I do intend to move into that in future after prospering in my businesses. I don’t want to work for a Church or ministry and be beholden to the politics of institutional Christianity. I want the financial freedom to be able to minister where I feel God wants me to go – and to minister freely especially to the marginalized and the poor and disciple them in their identity in Christ. Now is the time of learning and applying what I’ve learned. The essential message that’s been brewing in my heart these few years is “identity in Christ”. Topics like grace, new creation, new covenant, finished work, sonship, Daddy’s love, etc., is all related to that. And this message of a new identity in Christ ought to be applied in all areas. I want to focus on the healing ministry in future. But right now, I want to apply that message in my life especially to prosperity and my businesses. Eventually I will do more preaching and teaching and I can’t wait for that to happen, but I’m enjoying my time right now too.

On Dr. James B. Richards

I’ve learned many things this year. I continue to encounter new ministers to learn from. Before 2011, the people who have had the biggest impact upon my theology and Christian life in recent years have been Joseph Prince, Bill Johnson, Curry Blake, Andrew Wommack, Roger Sapp and Dave Roberson. Probably the person who has had the biggest impact upon my Christian life and theology this year is Dr. James B. Richards of Impact Ministries. I’d seen his book Grace: The Power To Change around in various bookstores for a few years but never picked it up. I knew he was a grace-based preacher, but I thought he was probably like others and maybe didn’t add anything radically new to what I’ve already learned from others so I resisted getting into his teachings. Actually, right now, though I love his teachings, I still haven’t read that particular book. But I’ve read and listened to dozens of hours of his teachings and interviews and have gone through his Heart Physics program.

I think the first teaching of his I got into was his Anatomy of a Miracle which touches on Quantum Physics. I had been interested in Quantum Physics and its relation to faith and miracles and his book was all about that. I’ve become interested in recent years in the relationship between science and the Bible and Quantum Physics has a lot to say about this. So I read that and went on to his other materials. James Richards is definitely very different from many grace-based preachers. He has degrees in theology, human behaviour and medicine and thus he brings  different perspectives to things and that sets him apart. I’m someone who reads widely myself and thus I love it when people brings in the perspectives of other disciplines as I think it makes things more holistic and it gives us greater insight to the workings of the world and humans.

I do plan to write more fully (and also do an email interview) with James Richards in 2012 so I won’t write much here except to say that I think he’s brought in a missing piece to the faith message and that is the importance of meditation, which to him consist of physical relaxation and using of imagination. Anyway, I can’t say I agree with everything he advocates (I’m not sure yet) and some of his stuff is pretty controversial. But generally I like what he teaches and I think what he specializes in (his essential message is about the heart and the use of meditation to persuade one’s heart) is something that would really bless many Christians.

Other teachers

Having a similar message (on meditation and persuading the heart) to James Richards is Dave Martin. I’ve listened to a lot of his stuff and also do his meditations. I started to read the books of Jay Snell this year after having known of him for a while but not having the motivation to finish reading any of his books. I don’t know much about him but his first book on Abraham’s Blessings is a book to re-read and study. His other books are quite hard to follow. I’ve started to read E.W. Kenyon and listen to Charles Capps’ stuff. Both are from the faith tradition. I actually got more into Kenyon’s stuff after I read Donald Mann of Covenant Peace Ministries.

Donald Mann is one interesting guy. As James Richards majors on meditation (imagination) and really believes in that, Donald majors on meditation in the form of confession/affirmations and really believes in that too such that he advocates confessing Scriptures at least 2 hours a day. Like James, Donald also brings in the science of the mind. I got to know him recently and communicated a bit with him through email. I want to follow up with him to get to know him more and also read his 3 books which look really good. He’s been influenced by Curry Blake I believe and his books are full of mainly Scriptural confessions. All about good identity in Christ stuff. He also seems to have ministering healing working well in his life.

The Exchanged Life tradition

One Christian tradition that I found this year which is very grace-based is the Exchanged Life tradition. This tradition is all about union with Christ and is very grace-based. It is a pretty non-charismatic Christian tradition, but I’m interested to learn more from it because unlike the many grace teachers that’s been impacting the world recently, this is a tradition that’s been established longer and consist of non-charismatics – which generally means they handle the Word of God better. As a more established tradition/movement, there’s a lot to learn from them. For example, Steve McVey, who is a big name in the grace movement, I believe has benefited a lot from that tradition. I really like the writings of John Best of Abundant Living Resources. He’s written a lot of solid theological books that relate to many topics related to grace. While I do appreciate a lot of the new grace-based authors that having been writing good books, I’m a big believer in also drawing from the Christian tradition and understanding the perspectives of the past and building on them. To ignore how much we can learn from the past is being really stupid – because truly there’s nothing new under the sun. I learned a lot about grace from the Reformed and Lutheran tradition (there’s a lot of mixture there too) and also the Redemptive-Historical Biblical-Theology tradition. The important thing is to draw from as many people and be aware of the different arguments because all this has actually been around for a long time. There’s a lot of good stuff in the newer authors and preachers and they bring their unique gifts and interpretation of things. But it’s best to combine the new with the old – building on the foundation of the past, yet not letting it restrict you.

This year (2010) has been a pretty awesome time spiritually for me. I started the year on a low note for various reasons, but everything slowly took off (spiritually) when I attended a small charismatic conference in February which was the catalyst in leading me to rediscovering the charismatic Christian in me and pursuing the things of God in a different way from previously.

The few years before this saw me deepen my foundation of understanding grace through attending New Creation Church and listening to Pastor Joseph Prince. It also saw me gradually hunger more and more for the miraculous as I read Bill Johnson’s books and became inspired by stories of the miraculous there. All this prepared me for 2010 as I started to really hunger for more of God and more of His power.

The charismatic conference got me further interested in healing and the prophetic. It got me thinking, it got me seeking and it got me practicing (healing, or at least praying for healing). Through meeting people at the conference, I got to know an awesome grace-based cell group where I’ve learned tons of stuff related to the prophetic. For the first time in my Christian life, I attended cell groups and events where people have prophesied over my life.

I encountered Curry Blake’s teachings around May and that impacted me a whole lot. It also brought me to know two other communities in Singapore that have been impacted by his teachings and are pursuing healing.

In June and July, I visited the United States where I attended a Bethel Church and Curry Blake conference. I met a few groups of awesome and radical young Christians who were going around healing people on the streets. When I returned to Singapore, I got to know a community of Christians that are now meeting regularly to encourage each other to pursue healing and pray for people on the streets.

This year, I’ve also been rediscovering my passion for missions and have traveled to countries like Indonesia and Thailand where I hope to do more in the area of missions in future.

I’ve been hugely blessed by the different groups of Christians I’ve met this year. I’ve learned so much from different people and various opportunities (business and ministry) have opened up and I know will open up in 2011. I’m excited for 2011!

Right now, I have a great passion to know God more intimately and to learn to move more in his healing and prophetic power and love. I’m learning so much, yet still have so much more to learn. While I’m still so dissatisfied by what I know and the experiences I have – and I’m hungering for so much more of God’s love and power – I believe in stepping out in ministry for you learn so much as you minister and teach and bless others. And as I grow more and more in these areas, my desire is to spend more time investing my life in young Christians and discipling them and sharing with them all I’ve learned about God’s love and power and moving in His power.

One other thing I believe God has brought me to start doing in 2010 is that of praying much in tongues. I mentioned a bit about Dave Roberson’s book on tongues here.

In 2011, I’m hoping to pray more in tongues, which I think is a very important key to my spiritual growth (including moving in the spiritual gifts and hearing God’s voice more clearly) that I’ve been learning about. I hope to spend more time hearing God’s voice for my own spiritual life, ministry and business. I hope to see greater healing/miracles as I pray for people. I hope to step out more in the prophetic (which includes getting lots of misses but also hits!) as I grow in discerning God’s voice. And I’m hoping to travel more for business and missions/ministry and start to teach/preach to young people.

PS: Oh… I also received a very special gift in 2010 – thank you Daddy! ;)

Here are some stuff I’ve been learning and thinking about recently (the past 6 months or so) in relation to my own personal spiritual life. They are mostly practical spiritual disciplines that I’ve been working on and that I hope to work on more in 2011. A lot of these (e.g. tongues, meditation – and the related visualization / imagination and declaration / confession – and fasting) have to do with releasing that perfection that is already in our spirits into our soul and body which I discussed briefly about in The place for “more” in the New Covenant – Part 2.

1) Tongues and Revelation Knowledge: I started speaking in tongues about 14 years ago when God changed my life in a Pentecostal church. However, I’d never used this gift that often, nor understood its importance until recently. Over the past 6 months or so, various people from various sources have pointed me to Dave Roberson’s ebook The Walk Of The Spirit – The Walk Of Power (for a better pdf format of the book – i.e. fewer pages with more words per page – go here). It’s supposed to be one of the most definitive books on tongues and has transformed the lives of many people. Dave also has an audio series that can be downloaded for free here. However, I’d recommend reading the book because unlike Andrew Wommack who gets straight to his point, Dave can be painfully slow at doing so! I know most people wouldn’t read the whole book, but I’d recommend everyone to read at least chapter 2. If you’re game for more, chapters 6 and 7 are good too.

Dave started his full-time ministry as a pretty clueless guy yet praying in tongues about 8 hours a day. After 3 months, God used him mightily (healing, prophecy) in one meeting. This is what Dave wrote about what the Holy Spirit told him regarding why the power of God came during this meeting:

Son, this anointing didn’t suddenly come upon you because it was predestined for this meeting from the foundations of the world…. It came upon you because you have uncovered a spiritual law: praying in other tongues for your personal edification. That law carries with it an ironclad guarantee to build you up on your most holy faith in your spirit – that part of you from which faith comes. You have found something you can do on purpose to edify yourself – as much as you want to, as long as you want to. Through praying in the Holy Ghost, you can build yourself up above a walk where your physical senses hold you in checkmate and convince you that God’s Word isn’t so, to a walk that is vibrant, Spirit-charged, and free in the Holy Ghost.

This book has impressed upon me the benefits of praying in tongues and has put in me a desire to know more about the benefits of tongues and pray more in tongues especially. Before reading this book, I would pray in tongues only occasionally – e.g. sing in tongues during worship with occasional short spurts of praying in tongues at other times lasting no more than a few seconds. Through this book, I’ve learned that praying in tongues is a simple way of edifying oneself on purpose and the more one does it, the more edified one will be. Now I am starting to pray in tongues at least an hour a day (sometimes while playing aloud Roberson’s Tongues for the Believer Bonus Prayer CD recording where he leads his congregation in over an hour of praying in tongues) and couple that with tuning in to receiving revelation.

One particular thing I learned from the book is the link between tongues and receiving revelation knowledge that I have seldom heard being taught. Andrew Wommack also has an excellent teaching on this topic called Revelation Knowledge. Besides getting into Dave Roberson’s stuff, I’m also looking into resources by two of Dave’s friends: Gary Carpenter and Jim Martin.

Speaking of the importance of praying in tongues and the link to revelation knowledge, John G. Lake actually has this to say:

I want to talk with the utmost frankness, and say to you that tongues have been to me the making of my ministry. It is that peculiar communication with God when God reveals to my soul the truth I utter to you day by day in my ministry. But that time of communication, with me, is mostly in the night. Many a time I climb out of bed, take my pencil and pad and jot down the beautiful things of God, the wonderful things of God, that He talks out in my spirit and reveals to my heart.

And here’s Kenneth E. Hagin on tongues:

I experienced the greatest miracles in my ministry after extended times of praying in other tongues. Not 15 minutes, not 30 minutes… I’m talking about one hour, two hours, three hours. Then I would hit a gusher…

2) Meditation, Visualization, Imagination and Levitation: I know renewal of the mind is key to one’s transformation (Rom. 12:2), but how does one renew one’s mind. Yes, there’s knowledge and I’ve been a huge reader and lover of knowledge for the past 15 years. But I know there’s more and that’s where meditation comes in. Linked with meditation is visualization or using one’s imagination – Richard Foster said that “the inner world of meditation is most easily entered through the door of the imagination”. Admittedly, I’ve been reading more about how these help and how one does these things than actually doing it, but I’m hoping to increase my time spent on meditation, visualization and imagination.

I’m aware of the sometimes negative connotation attached to these words within the Christian community. It can sound so new agey, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done in a Christian way. Three people whom I’ve been learning from (and will continue to learn from) in these areas are Mark Virkler, Peter Tan and Gregory Boyd.

One of my first encounters with visualization was from Mark Virkler’s great book on How To Hear God’s Voice, which I wrote about here. Peter Tan has tons of his materials here. He was actually an early mentor of Pastor Prince but now the New Creation people who know him are quite wary of him. His teachings and beliefs are quite unique and interesting, I have to say. One area he’s strong in is visions and visualization and I’m open to learn what I can from him. I hesitated to mention him here because he is a very controversial figure – I don’t want to say why publicly. But I trust there are no Sunday School attendees here :) but that those reading this are mature and discerning enough to take what they think is good and leave behind what they don’t agree with. While I do think I’m responsible for what I write here on this blog, I know most people who actually read all this stuff are adults, critical thinkers and mature enough so I don’t need to play the “nanny” role here. I believe in learning from everyone, but everything we hear and believe has to line up with the Word of God and we all are responsible for making sure that is so!

I had read of Gregory Boyd as an advocate of Open Theism before but never really read anything from him until I knew Curry Blake highly recommended his God At War book, which by the way is an awesome book. As I started to find out about his other books, I realized what an interesting writer he is. He’s a non-charismatic evangelical who has a very good mind – he did his doctorate at Princeton Theological Seminary and MDiv at Yale Divinity School. He’s written tons of books but three books have captured my attention in relation to the mind, visualization and imagination: Present Perfect (on contemplation), Seeing Is Believing (on imaginative prayer) and Escaping the Matrix (on the mind and neuro-science). I like to read about Right-Brain (the visual, intuitive) stuff from the academically-inclined Left-Brain dominant authors because they are the ones who can truly help Lefties understand and move in Right-Brain stuff. And it seems that Gregory Boyd, like Mark Virkler and Peter Tan, is such an author. Gregory Boyd’s Church has an awesome website where all his sermons and teachings can be downloaded for free. Here are some free stuff related to the above topics: Experiencing Jesus Workshop (based on his book Seeing Is Believing), Escaping the Matrix Conference and Animate (on imagination). By the way, while I’ve questioned the biblical basis of a lot of inner healing practices which seem to take a lot from Theophostic Counseling, I’ve become a bit more open to such practices having read Boyd, who seems to advocate pretty similar practices and provide a basis for them.

Andrew Wommack also has good teachings on Meditation (Meditate The Word) and Imagination [Hope and Imagination and You'll Do What You've Imagined (start from 16:37 onwards)].

Oh, about levitation. That was… just a joke :) Well, I do believe levitation by Christians is possible. Walking on water will become more common in future and also being translated from place to place (Acts 8:39-40) – check what Quantum Physicists are discovering regarding teleportation! I believe such miracles will be more common the closer we are to Jesus’ coming again! What’s preventing us from doing so now? Our unrenewed minds and the lack of revelation concerning these miraculous things. I take God’s Word seriously when He says everything is possible for him who believes. Our faith is the only thing preventing the “impossible”. Already, Christians have experienced the above things (levitation by God’s power, being translated from place to place, etc.) and I believe it’s only a matter of time before it’ll be commonplace for Christians to move in such miraculous powers. As we gradually hear more of such experiences, we’ll build our faith up to expect these things for ourselves, building upon those who have experienced them in the past.

3) Confession and Declaration: Related to meditation is confession and declaration. I’ve been listening to one of Curry Blake’s Dominion Bible Institute (DBI) course which stresses the importance of personalizing scriptures and confessing/declaring them out loud to renew one’s mind. This is something I’m hoping to implement more in my own spiritual life.

I think there are at least two purposes of confessing/declaring Scriptures: 1) renewing our minds 2) expressing faith. Many times we’re taught that doing so is an expression of faith. But we can confess and confess and yet not get what we confess! Why? Because we’re not confessing as an expression of faith. What we say doesn’t flow from faith within. Yet if we don’t have faith, not to worry as confessing God’s Word (which I think is a form of meditating over Scriptures) also helps us to renew our minds that we may have faith.

I think this is the reason why some people continue to confess Scriptures yet don’t get what they are confessing (e.g. healing) until after doing so for quite some time. The reason is because while they thought they were initially confessing and declaring out of faith, they actually didn’t have faith. But the confessing led to renewal of the mind which led to faith. And when they finally confessed out of faith, they got it! My hypothesis!

4) Prophecy, the Right Brain and the Mid Brain: Mark Virkler was the first person who alerted me to the fact that hearing God’s voice is easier for Right Brain dominant people because God’s voice comes in spontaneous thoughts. Right Brain dominant people are not so logical or analytical and because they deal better with the intuitive and the visual, they tune into God’s voice (which often comes in spontaneous thoughts or pictures) better.

Besides starting to practice visualizing – which would help in developing or activating my right brain, I hope! – I’m also in the midst of reading this very interesting book, The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. While this groundbreaking book is for teaching Left Brain dominant people to draw by tapping on the Right Brain, I bought it to understand more about the Right Brain and how I can tap on it more. I can’t draw for nuts and I’m not intending to master drawing, but I believe the theoretical knowledge and practical exercises found in this book will aid me in functioning more with the right side of my brain.

I am also starting to step out more in prophecy. The Bible tells me to desire the prophetic gift (1 Cor. 14:1) and that’s what I’ve been doing. And along with the desire to move in this gift needs to come the practice of it. My desire to move in healing has made me step out to pray for everyone on the streets I can. I haven’t seen the kind of results I want, but that’s all part of stepping out in faithfulness and obedience if one wants to grow. The same for prophecy. If I want to grow in this area, I’ll have to be willing to look like a fool when the word I give is totally off. OK, I’d rather look like a fool when approaching people on the streets and getting rejected, or when praying for the sick and not seeing healing, than giving a prophetic word that is way off! Haha. But I need to start to do more of that! :) That’s the risk involved if one wants to grow and learn and improve.

I’m hoping to spend more time just being in tune to my spontaneous thoughts and pictures in my mind. Even during the day, I’m hoping to get more in tune with God and lean my ear towards hearing if He wants to say anything in any normal daily situations. I’m trying to implement the practice of asking God for a word (or words) on Sundays for the following week – then I can see how accurate my hearing was as the week passes. I’m slowly starting to try to get some prophecies and words of knowledge for friends and  see how accurate they are. I’m sure I’ll get lots wrong initially, but if I don’t try and learn and improve, I’ll never grow! I’ve had a tiny bit of interesting success so far, as well as I’m sure pretty bad failures :)

In relation to all this, recently I discovered the interesting concept of “midbrain activation”. The midbrain is supposed to manage the function of the right and left brain. Supposedly, as we grow older, the midbrain loses its capabilities and one side of the brain tends to dominate, resulting in an unbalanced use of the brain. There are now midbrain activation courses to train children (adults are probably too old to be trained in this area) to activate their midbrain. Supposedly, one result of activating one’s midbrain is the ability to do various activities blindfolded – e.g. sorting cards according to colors or numbers. My cell leader’s son was actually able to do these activities blindfolded after attending the course (more information for such courses in Singapore can be found here). Anyway, all this is interesting because it’s somehow related to the prophetic in a way. Recently I’ve been reflecting upon the idea that many so-called supernatural or spiritual things can actually be explained scientifically. I heard Curry Blake say something like the miracles of the New Testament can be explained by Quantum Physics. Not that such supernatural things are not of God, but perhaps God made it such that many supernatural things can actually be explained in a scientific manner – e.g. Quantum Physics explaining the power of words, etc. Some of God’s spiritual “laws” are in a sense also scientific “laws”.

5) Silence and Solitude: Moving in the prophetic and hearing God’s voice I think requires a lot of quieting one’s soul and being alone. At least in the beginning stages. For people used to the noise and distractions in this modern world, it really takes discipline to spend time alone with God in silence. I tend to always want to play worship music during my “quiet time” to prevent too much silence! Haha! It can be difficult to spend much time in total silence and solitude. But I’m trying to discipline myself to do so, especially in 2011. I’m hoping to intentionally spend regular times in total silence and solitude, tuning in to the Spirit. And also go for a silent retreat in a far away and quiet place for a few days or more about once or twice a year – something like what Blogpastor did which was organized by Listening Inn.

6) Fasting: I’m hoping to fast more in 2011. As I mentioned here, I’ve been learning to see fasting not as a discipline to get more power or to move God to act. Power is already within us; we just need to learn to get it out of us. God doesn’t need to move; we need to learn how to move. Some good quotes on fasting that reflect this view:

Fasting doesn’t get you power. Fasting gets you out of the way so power can flow easier. (Curry Blake)

Fasting does not change God or cause God to move. Fasting changes us and makes it easier for us to move. (Curry Blake)

Fasting is to get things out of the way that is preventing me from knowing I already have everything. (Rob Hotchkin)

Our fasting doesn’t move God; it moves us to a place where we can receive from God. (Dave Roberson)

One thing I’ve been noticing is that many men powerfully used by God actually spend a lot of time fasting (and praying in tongues, for that matter). And so I do hope to incorporate this spiritual discipline into my life more.

On to the conference and things after: The day before the conference started, I ended up bringing the three speakers to New Creation’s healing service by Pastor Henry (24th February). My friend who organized the event mentioned that they had heard about New Creation and wanted to attend the healing service. After all, the whole conference they were doing was all about healing (inner, physical) and this was the area that they were into. The leader of the group didn’t really know about Pastor Prince but wanted to check out New Creation because one of his close friends highly recommended Pastor Prince’s ministry, mentioning him as the “Apostle of grace”. Since no one was actually going to bring them to New Creation, I gladly gathered some friends to show them some Singaporean hospitality :) Of course, I was also greedy – greedy to learn :) I wouldn’t have passed up the chance of getting to know these people from whom I could learn much in the things of the Spirit. After all, I would never be able to get to know the leaders from my own 20,000+ member church and learn much from them personally. And New Creation did things quite differently from the typical charismatic church. The leaders of the cell groups I’ve been to were never taught to move in the Spirit in the kind of way I’d be learning in the conference – more on this in the next post.

So anyway, having got to know the speakers for just a few minutes and lining up for tickets to get into the main auditorium at around 5pm+, Ron (the leader of the three and the one with healing gifts) asks there and then in the queue if he could pray for a friend who was clearly in pain in her foot. He prayed a short prayer for healing, asked if my friend got better (there was a bit of improvement) and then asked if she would be willing to spend about 5-10 more minutes so he could pray for her complete healing. I was quite impressed. This is what we Christians should be doing, isn’t it? Praying for the sick and believing God will heal as we pray. We don’t need to wait to get into a healing meeting to receive our healing. And we could pray for healing anywhere. And Ron prayed really believing that God could heal my friend there and then. And even if it didn’t happen the first time he prayed, he believed that the healing would come as he continued to minister to her and pray for her in the next 5-10 minutes.

More on the pain in the foot and healing later, but during dinner in the food court at the basement, the speakers started ministering inner healing and deliverance to my friend. The food court was getting crowded and this was getting exciting. Exciting because I was already beginning to be in the midst of people “doing the stuff”, as John Wimber of Vineyard would say – i.e. doing the stuff Jesus did like healing and deliverance, etc. I wanted to learn and I was already learning even before the conference started. And this was a beautiful start to the rest of the week when I had ample opportunities to learn – observe, ask questions and practice.

It’s not that I had never encountered all this before. I had been a charismatic Christian for 15 years and had been to many charismatic services and attended a few charismatic churches. I had been to teaching sessions and knew a bit about all this stuff. But I never really practiced all this. Partly because even in the charismatic churches I attended all this was never a huge part of what a Christian ought to know and practice. Maybe the leaders knew and practiced all the stuff, but the laypeople were never equipped to move in this area.

And I learned a lot also because the group was really small. The average number of people who attended the 9 sessions over the three days was probably around 10-12 per session. This allowed me lots of time between and after sessions and even after the conference ended to get to know the speakers personally and to learn from them. Not only was I able to pick their brains and ask them hard questions, but Ron was like a mentor to me during this short time. He didn’t just do the stuff and pray for people. He got me to practice what I was learning. He got me to pray for the sick and taught me along the way. He even had little debrief sessions after ministering to people and explained what happened and why he did things the way he did. It was altogether an awesome learning experience that a layperson like me would never have been able to get if the conference was attended by 50 or 100 or thousands of people.

One of the highlights of the conference for me was on the first day when Ron started to pray for people. There was some time left after the teaching session and he decided to call people up to pray for them to show us how he ministered and prayed for people. I was the third person called up and he prayed for me and spoke words over my life that resonated deeply with my heart and were quite accurate. I didn’t feel anything great and there wasn’t any great manifestation. But I was touched by the words he said and felt it was God affirming my gifts. It wasn’t just some general words that could apply to everyone, but the words were quite specific and I knew he couldn’t have known them apart from really tapping into what God was saying. I’ve never had anyone speak over me like that. Maybe I’ve had some general words of encouragement which I don’t remember and which didn’t impact me that much, but nothing that touched my heart like this.

I also had other words spoken to me during the conference. Some are accurate, some not so and some I don’t know. But I’ve recorded in my prayer journal all the words spoken over me and will continue to pray through them and am open to see how God speaks to me through them.

The day after the conference, which was a Sunday, two of the Speakers wanted to visit Church Of Our Saviour (COOS). Unsurprising since COOS is definitely a church to visit with regards to healing – they have been greatly influenced by Bill Johnson and his church – Bethel Church. That Sunday, the focus of the service was on youth and youth ministry. Before the sermon, about 20 youth or so gathered in front of the church and gave Words of Knowledge regarding what God wanted to minister to. Many people went to the front and were touched by God as the youth prayed for them. The senior pastor, Derek Hong, also had this prophetic vision of someone nearly drowning years ago and God wanting to heal the person of that experience. This was of course a very specific vision and someone came forward to him to be prayed for. It was a great experience to see God using young people. I dunno if they allow the gifts to flow like this every meeting, but I think it’s wonderful to see lay people encouraged to practice these gifts and God using them to touch lives.

During the conference, I got to know a young guy who’s hoping to go to Bethel’s School of Supernatural Ministry this year. (I’m very envious of him – if I were much younger, I would probably go and who knows, God may make a way for me to go one day!) He’s a young prophet who’s being mentored by Rusty Russell. After the conference, I met up with him and talked a lot to him about the prophetic. He introduced me to a cell group he got to know and has been attending recently. The leader of this group is also a student of Rusty and was a cell leader at New Creation many years ago. His cell broke up when he left the church but recently many of them got back together and have been meeting at least once a month. It’s not your typical cell as the focus is just seeking God, receiving from Him and prophesying – and encouraging everyone to move out in the gifts and minister to each other. I’ve been there about twice and had some words spoken over me. I’ve also spoken a lot to the people there about the prophetic and healing. I’m quite excited to continue to attend and learn to move in the Spirit there.

Since the conference, I’ve been mostly attending New Life Vineyard (where the conference was held in) in the mornings and New Creation in the afternoons. New Life Vineyard is a really small church of about 10-15 people. I’ve been experiencing first hand how Vineyard does things and I quite like it. It’s nice to have a small community too, something I’ve been looking for for a while. I’m still not sure if I’ll attend this church but will see how God leads. I also don’t know if I’ll continue to attend New Creation because it can get quite tiring to attend two churches. If I’ve learned anything the past two months, it’s that I need to spend less time outside and more time with God alone if I’m to know more more intimately, hear His voice and move in the Spirit. Even if I don’t go to NCC so often, I’ll still continue to buy Prince’s sermon CDs. Anyway, the past two months or so I’ve had the opportunity to talk to a few Vineyard pastors (from here, Australia and Thailand) and have been asking lots of questions, discussing and learning a lot – and doing a bit of practical stuff too.

A bit about the Vineyard church association and tradition. Not that this conference was a Vineyard conference, but since the model of charismatic Christianity promoted during the conference I think is very Vineyard-like (and though two of the three speakers are not from Vineyard, they do have relationships with Vineyard churches) and it was held in a Vineyard Church, I thought I’d write a bit about it. I mentioned here that I thought John Wimber, one of the founders of Vineyard, would probably be remembered as the most balanced, respected and loved charismatic Christian of modern Christianity. I followed Vineyard from the earliest years of my Christian life until Wimber died in 1997. Vineyard’s worship at that time was awesome and like what Hillsong is today. But what was really so wonderful about Vineyard is that it brought together the best of the charismatic and non-charismatic Christian worlds by introducing a more biblically balanced form of charismatic Christianity to the Christian world. And this is what I’ve always admired of the Vineyard. It was probably them that stirred my desire for many years to become a Bible College lecturer specializing in bringing together the best of both the charismatic and non-charismatic worlds. But I have to acknowledge that from after Wimber’s death in 1997 until the conference, I hadn’t really kept in touch with what had been happening in the Vineyard. After 1997, I moved more into Reformed theology, then social justice issues and emerging church Christianity, then missions, then New Creation’s grace teachings – though all the while never forsaking my interest in charismatic Christianity. I’m pleasantly surprised that Vineyard has been going strong all these years and that one of their distinctives besides “doing the stuff” is their passion for social justice. There also seems to be some Vineyard leaders/churches quite progressive in their theology and into the emerging church movement – which I’m a bit surprised (pleasantly, I guess) because this means there’s a bit of diversity in the Vineyard. I wonder how the Vineyards which appreciate the emerging church tradition combine that with “doing the stuff”.

One thing I really appreciate about the Vineyard besides their balanced charismatic practices is that they are very strong on grace. In fact, my first encounter of teachings on the Father’s love came from Vineyard. The Toronto Blessing (closely related to the Vineyard because the church associated with it was once a Vineyard) I think was really an emotional/inner healing revival. Unlike many other revivals based on a strong conviction of sin, repentance and weeping, the Toronto Blessing’s characteristics were the focus on the Father’s love and laughter. Lives were transformed through encountering the love of the Father healing the wounds of people. And so the Vineyard form of charismatic Christianity is very grace-based and I was very happy when Ron (though not a Vineyard pastor) preached during the conference that Christians have even their future sins forgiven – good stuff! Of course, Ron just said that that’s no big deal as that’s mere classical Christianity – and the guy has a PhD from Oxford in Historical Theology so I think he should know! But still many Christians still don’t live with assurance that their future sins are also forgiven.

Yes, Ron moves in the Spirit and has a PhD from Oxford in theology – I really, really like that combination! We need more of such people strong in the Word and Spirit. I’m going to stop this post here because it’s getting long. If anyone is still following, my next and probably final post in this series would kind of bring together all my experiences regarding healing and the prophetic and offer some thoughts and questions – especially regarding the differences in charismatic beliefs and practices between New Creation and Vineyard (which I’ll take to represent many other charismatic churches).

I’ve been going through a rough patch recently (slowly getting out of it) and I’m also now moving into a new phase in my life at least in terms of work and perhaps in other areas (e.g. spiritual) too. Being a charismatic for the past 14 years plus of my Christian life, I’ve always been intrigued with hearing God’s voice. I have a category on my blog called Hearing God for the posts I’ve written on this issue. As I’ve written before, I’m no expert on this issue – quite the contrary. I’ve read a lot of books on this subject and also talked to many Christians about this – including the past few days.

About a year plus ago, I started reading John Eldredge’s Walking With God, which is on the topic of hearing God’s voice. I blogged a bit about this here and here. I thought that was one of the better books I had read up to that time on the subject of hearing God’s voice and it inspired me to read up more about this subject. I think it was around that time I was searching the Net on this topic and I somehow came to know of Mark Virkler’s Communion With God Ministries. I read about him and his books and I was very excited because somehow I felt that learning from him (his books, experiences) was going to answer a lot of my questions I had and bring me into a new level in this area. Basically, he specializes in this area – in teaching Christians about hearing God’s voice. In 1979 (the year of my birth!), he set aside one whole year just to learn how to hear God’s voice and God gave Him a breakthrough. He was that desperate to learn to hear God’s voice. And God gave him a breakthrough and now his ministry is mostly about this area.

I guess I was excited because this man was a bit like me. I think I read somewhere that he struggled with this issue for a long time and he read many books but none of them actually helped him to hear God’s voice. That’s why he set aside one year to learn how to do so and God taught him many things. Like him, I’ve read many books on this issue and somehow they all really haven’t helped me. And I guess I understood why. Mark talks about how it’s easier for right-brain people to hear God’s voice:

Right brain individuals simply say, “Oh, hearing God’s voice is easy: you just know that you know that you know!” Well, that doesn’t help a left-brain person at all. (How To hear God’s Voice, p. 43)

He’s left-brain like me and so I guess when he read all these books about hearing God’s voice by these men of God (probably right-brain Christians) who could hear God’s voice well, it was written in a way that didn’t help a left-brainer as we think differently and it’s harder for us to “get it”. We left-brainers tend to go by logic and reasoning, rather than imagination and intuition. And so Mark actually wrote two main books on hearing God’s voice – one for a left-brainer (called How To Hear God’s Voice) and one for a right-brainer (called Dialogue With God). And his books have really helped many Christians start hearing God’s voice – see here.

Anyway, I ordered the two books straight away. They’re not very popular books so for Singaporeans reading this, if you want to buy these books, you can use this great online bookstore website, Open Trolley, that actually sells both of them. For those who are like me who struggle or want to progress more in this area (and especially for those who are left-brain), you have to get these two books as I think they are probably the best books around on this subject – for biblical support and for practical steps one can take.

I read the left-brain book last year and recently I just started to read the right-brain one. And I guess circumstances in my life have just created in me a greater desire to really start taking the time to apply what I’m reading (e.g. using visioning and journaling) so I’m quite excited.

Anyway, if any of you actually purchase these books, do drop a comment here and/or email me at idealist at stillhaventfound.org as I’d love for us to share our experiences putting what we’ve learned into practice!

PS: Even if those who read this post aren’t interested in hearing God’s voice, Mark Virkler’s Communion With God Ministries website contains a lot of very interesting materials – including excerpts from tons of his books. I’ve involved in both sides of the Charismatic – non-Charismatic Christian divide for about 14 years. As a left-brain person, I love good teaching (Word). However, I also wish to be open to the Spirit. I think it’s generally the case that left-brain Christians are attracted to churches with good solid teaching (normally non-Charismatic churches) and right-brain Christians to churches with less solid teaching but which are more open to the Spirit (normally Charismatic churches). Generally, non-Charismatic churches are stronger in the Word and Charismatic churches move more in the Spirit (supernatural). And it so often seems that never the twain shall they meet…

At one time of my life, my love and understanding of both the non-Charismatic and Charismatic worlds of Christianity made me want to become a bible college lecturer and touch on bringing both sides together. I have always loved good biblical teaching that touched on more Charismatic issues. That’s because it’s so hard to find really solidly biblical Charismatic teaching. And this is probably because those who flow in the Spirit are normally right-brainers who probably aren’t that gifted in logical/analytical thinking. I’ve always been stronger in the Word (being a left brainer) than the Spirit and so I have always wanted to encounter more of the Spirit – but in a biblical way, not in a way that is very often seen in charismatic churches with all the excesses and abuses.

Anyway, it’s really refreshing to see what Mark Virkler, a self-confessed left-brainer, has written. I think he’s done an absolutely brilliant job in writing on Charismatic topics from a solidly biblical and philosophical perspective. I intend to purchase lots of stuff from that website so if there’s anyone from Singapore interested in doing so too, contact me so we could perhaps share on shipping costs.

Recently, I’ve been spending more time than usual seeking God. Basically, I’ve not been satisfied with a lot of things in my life and with my relationship with God. It’s not something just recently, but I guess it’s reached tipping point only recently. It’s not that I feel I’m not good enough for Him or that I’m filled with shame, guilt and condemnation. No, that’s been forever settled 10 years ago when I realized that I’m righteous in Christ.

It’s about me wanting more of God. Wanting to touch Him, and wanting Him to touch me. Bad theology? I dunno. Maybe? But, maybe not. The phrases “wanting more of God”, “wanting to touch Him” and “wanting Him to touch me” may not be biblical (?) but I think the cry behind it is. For example, one of my prayers during this time is Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:17-19:

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

This is clearly a prayer for a greater experience of God and of Christ’s love. The Ephesians are already “rooted and established in love”. Paul is writing to the Church (Christians) in Ephesus. And his prayer is that they may “know this love that surpasses knowledge”. An oxymoron. But no doubt, it’s about an experience because it surpasses knowledge. I do believe such an experience of Christ’s love comes through good preaching and teaching that results in a good understanding of Christ’s work for us. But I think it goes beyond that too. One can know a lot, but not experience much. One can be very knowledgeable, but it can all be head knowledge. I think this prayer is a prayer for “more”. We’ll never fully grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is. We’ll never be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God here on this earth. But we can grow in our experience of Christ’s love and of God.

Or take what Paul said in Ephesians 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit”, which actually means a continuous filling – “Keep on being filled with the Spirit”. Jeff Purswell of the Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) expands on SGM’s statement of faith passage, “The Holy Spirit desires to fill each believer continually with increased power…” with the below:

The statement emphasizes the necessity of the ongoing nature of the Spirit’s work, including continual and repeated fillings of the Spirit (cf. Eph. 5:18). While one’s theological framework is important, we are nonetheless more concerned that second, third, fourth, fifth… sixtieth… (etc.) encounters with the Spirit actually occur than we are with what one should call a second encounter with the Spirit (either a “baptism” or a “subsequent filling”).

I think that’s my cry here. To experience Him in a greater way. To experience more and more of the Spirit. To experience subsequent encounters and never be satisfied with what I’ve got or how much God has got me.

As I mentioned in this entry, I’m not going to be too critical of a friend who I believe was recipient of wrong teachings but who nevertheless experienced a touch from God. Her seeking of God may be based on the wrong teaching (regarding the Tabernacle of God), but as I wrote,

while disagreeing with the above teaching (i.e. what I think is a wrong teaching on the Tabernacle of God), I recognize that many lives have been transformed for the better as Christians are challenged to seek God more and more. To me, this can only be a good thing. And maybe at times better than if one has the right theology regarding the Tabernacle of God and yet become passive and don’t continuously seek God or the filling of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

Growth is important for Christians here on earth. We haven’t arrived; we’ve only begun. It’s fundamental to know who we are in Christ, that there is no condemnation and that we’re righteous in God’s eyes because of Christ’s work on the cross. But the Christian life doesn’t stop there. We ought to experience more and more of Christ’s love and be filled more and more with the Spirit. It’s about growth in intimacy and experiencing the Father in Christ through the Holy Spirit in a greater and greater way.

Beyond seeking more of God, I wanna hear God’s voice too. I want to be led by Him. I want such an experience. I’ve been fascinated down the years by Christians (mostly charismatics) who speak of being led by God through His voice. I’ve always thought that that would be cool, but how come that never happened in my life? At least not in a dramatic or consistent way. Am I missing out on something? I wrote this year about hearing God’s voice here and here. So it’s definitely something I’ve been thinking about recently. And something I hope to gradually experience more of.

I’ve been reading John Eldredge’s Walking with God. Not the kind of book I’d normally read because I don’t think Eldredge is very grounded biblically – as say someone like John Piper. Not that I read a lot of Piper at all – I don’t. I respect him, but I’ve had a decade of being influenced by Reformed Christians and Reformed theology. I think I’ve got a good biblical foundation, but I realize that there’s more to Christianity than that Christian tradition can offer.

Eldredge’s book is all about hearing God and that’s why I bought it. And I’ve loved it so far. I’m not sure I’ll agree with a lot of his theology but I’m not put off by that. I like the book because it’s a very personal book and he shares a lot about his experiences of hearing God and other things. I don’t think I’ll read his other books eventhough he’s more famous for some of his other ones.

Reading and understanding can be helpful, but I guess it’s ultimately about practicing and experiencing. And that’s what I hope for this season. I’m going on a bit of a fast and cutting out on various things in order to focus more on God. It’s not easy. Habits need to be changed. But I think it’ll be worth it eventually. Cheers!

Just watched the above. Awesome, awesome stuff. Need to watch more of these kind of things! The more I watch them, the more my heart is challenged to get out of this comfort zone which I’ve been in far too long. As I mentioned here, reading The Heavenly Man really challenged me. And I’ll probably look back upon that as a defining moment in my life. It made me think really seriously about being a missionary to China. It made me think seriously about being a missionary to a persecuted area. It made me think seriously about improving my really bad Chinese (Mandarin)!

I stopped learning Chinese when I was 10 years old when I left for Australia. When I returned back to Singapore, I didn’t want to study Chinese (I had too much to catch up) and was allowed to take German as my second language. So I’m your typical English-educated Banana/Potato (white on the inside, yellow on the outside for those not in the know) Singaporean who grew up not really liking Chinese. Of course I regret not continuing my Chinese because I’m so far behind now. People talk about Singaporeans being poor in their Chinese and that makes me even more discouraged to pick it up now because I’m so much worse than the typical Singaporean of my age! But I think I may pick it up real soon. Not sure whether I should because I don’t know if I’ll use it in future. Besides the fact that I’d like to spend time mastering my Spanish, I’m also not sure if I’ll go to China in future. I think there are places in the world that need missionaries more urgently than China – like Muslim nations and the unreached places. And anyway, I’m not sure how much I’m needed in China. The lives of Christians there would put all of us to shame. They know what it means to live for Jesus more than any of us. They know what persecution is about and they’d gladly suffer it. That can’t be said of us in the developed world. They’d make so much better missionaries to unsafe places (like Muslim nations) because they’ve experienced enough in their own country to not fear persecution!

Christianity in China is easily the real deal – clearly what Christianity is meant to be like. Of course, such forms of Christianity (when people are truly living for God and not building their own kingdom) are seen everywhere. But I don’t see much of it in the developed world. The Christians in China and places like that are the true warriors of faith. No doubt about that. No Christian leader in the developed world (no matter how famous or well-known) could even compare to most of those faceless heroes in China and the like.

I can’t wait to get Brother Yun’s new book Living Water. Though I don’t expect to agree with all the teachings in it (the book is meant to be of his teachings). I can admire his dedication to God without agreeing with everything he teaches. One can live the true Christian life without having one’s doctrines perfect, just as one can have his doctrines perfect (or more perfect) yet not live as one ought to live. I admire his lifestyle. But I probably wouldn’t agree with everything he teaches. I wasn’t comfortable with some of the songs I heard on the above video which focused more on what the Christians are going to do for God, rather than on what God has done for them in Christ. I still love grace and believe that good biblical teaching and preaching should be focused primarily on God’s grace as shown to us in Christ’s death for us. And that’s clear in the posts I’ve written on grace. What God has done for us in Christ is what the gospel is all about. The gospel of Christ is the message of God’s love for us in Christ. The gospel is not about about what we ought to do for God, it’s what God has already done for us. And yet there’s also a side of me that believes so greatly on giving my all to God – a place I’m very far from now, of course. (If I’m truly living that out, I won’t have time to blog. Duh!) I believe that Christians are called to give their all, to stop building their kingdom (which I think most Christians are actually doing, especially in the developed world) and to start living wholeheartedly for God and His glory alone. How do I reconcile the emphasis on God’s grace and the call to give all? It’s difficult. There’s a certain tension there, I admit. I love New Creation’s grace message (not everything, but a lot), but in my opinion there’s no way that the lives of the majority of the members of New Creation reflect how Christians are meant to live. I love the passion and zeal among City Harvest members for the lost (when they’re not thinking only of money), though I can’t agree with a lot of the teachings which lack the focus of grace. The lifestyle of City Harvest members challenges me (when they’re not chasing after money). I want to be in such an environment. It’s definitely closer to what I envision Christianity is meant to be, than it is in New Creation. The missions and reaching the lost. That’s beyond exciting! That’s what it’s meant to be like!

While I’ve been generally supportive of the Florida Healing Revival, I’d prefer to see Christianity in China as a model of how Christianity ought to be like. Up to this point, I don’t doubt that what’s happening in Florida is the work of God. But we also have to get our perspectives right. Christianity isn’t all about healing and miracles. Jesus promised persecution. Christianity as it’s meant to be would be filled with healings, miracles and persecutions too. It’ll be filled with suffering and victory. All of that happened in Brother Yun’s life and in the lives of many Chinese Christians. And I’m very sure that one day the Church will be awakened from its state of slumber. We will see increased healings and miracles, but also increased persecution. To tell you the truth, I can’t wait for that day…

I’m starting on the book Walking with God by John Eldredge, which was just released this year. John’s written many popular books before like Wild at Heart. I haven’t read any of his previous books and I don’t plan to read them. This one only caught my attention because it’s about hearing from God. The subtitle to the book goes, “Talk to Him. Hear from Him. Really”.

I’m quite excited about this book in a way. I wrote an entry on Hearing God’s voice about 4 months ago. I have to admit that I haven’t traveled far in this area since then. I know it takes time and commitment to learn to discern God’s voice. But a few events over the past few months have made me more determined to want to see if this works for me.

I first came across this book through Tim Challies’ review of the book. Challies’ blog is perhaps the most popular Christian blog on the Internet. He’s Reformed in his belief. And so a bit too conservative (i.e. non-charismatic) for my liking. Unsurprisingly, his review was more negative than not.

One book that I read very early on in my Christian life and which has had a bit of influence over my thinking (if not consciously, then subconsciously) is the very well-known book called Decision Making and the Will of God by Garry Friesen and Robin Maxson. While this book doesn’t explicitly argue against the possibility of hearing God’s voice (it’s not a book about God’s voice per se), it promotes a view of discerning God’s will that implicitly rejects the possibility or need to hear God’s voice. Rather, it argues that in matters that are not explicitly addressed by the Bible, God would want us to use wisdom to choose. That is, God doesn’t speak to us and tell us what we should do, but we’re given the freedom to choose according to our wisdom.

One thing good about this book is that it’s very comprehensive – it’s over 500 pages long! It deals with a lot of Scripture and you know that the authors have done their homework and thought through the issues. And thus I think it’s a good book to start with. Eldredge’s and Shultz’s book would prove useful to me because they are people with the experience of hearing from God. However, Shultz’s book still left me with a lot of questions theology-wise, and from the little I’ve read from Eldredge, I haven’t been too satisfied with some of his reasonings.

I do like good theology. I think all practices should be based on good theology. And I still have a lot of questions regarding the issue of hearing from God. However, while I don’t have everything figured out theology-wise, I do have faith that God does speak and that we can hear from Him. Having moved in charismatic circles for a long time, I know of too many incidents that point to the fact that God still speaks. Of course, I’ve experienced plenty of abuses too, but shouldn’t put me off.

Because of my experiences in charismatic churches, I’ve never felt fully comfortable with Friesen/Maxson’s book. But I like it because it’s comprehensive and I think anyone who promotes a view to the contrary needs to deal with their arguments. In fact, I’ve been waiting for more than a year for the Three Views on Decision Making and the Will of God to be released. One of the views would be argued by Friesen/Maxson and of course we’ll see two other views on this topic and two responses from the two other authors. One of the other authors would be Henry Blackaby, author of Experiencing God: Knowing And Doing The Will Of God, a book which I’m considering buying.

Anyway, let me quote from a section of Friesen’s website which summarizes the authors’ view. This is the main part of their view which has stayed with me all these years. I think everyone who advocates that we ought to hear from God always before making decisions has to grapple with what they have to say here:

The apostles modeled wisdom in their decision making – “We thought it best” (1 Thessalonians 3:1).

It is fruitful, when reflecting on this question, to observe the decision-making practices of the apostles as well as their explanations for the reasons behind their actions. For instance, some weeks after Paul and his companions were forced to leave the newly founded church at Thessalonica, they agreed on a plan. It is explained in 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2, whereby the fledgling church could receive further help: ‘Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith.’

How was their decision made? ‘We thought it best.’

As one reads of other apostolic decisions in the New Testament, one encounters similar terminology: ‘I thought it necessary’ (Philippians 2:25-26); ‘if it is fitting’ (1 Corinthians 16:3-4); ‘it is not desirable’ (Acts 6:2-4); ‘I have decided’ (Titus 3:12).

When it came to instruction in decision making, the apostles’ exhortations were consistent with their practice. Some choices were commanded on grounds of being ‘good,’ while others were ‘better’ (1 Corinthians 7:1, 9, 26. 38).

All of the decisions referred to have two things in common: 1) since they were not determined by God’s moral will they each qualified as a matter of freedom, and 2) the terms utilized in the explanations (‘good,” ‘better.’ ‘best.’ ‘fitting,’ etc.) imply some standard.

It’s clear from the above that the apostles themselves didn’t always hear from God before making decisions, even if it was an important one! Or perhaps, they did seek to hear from God but God didn’t always speak to them about certain decisions. So for some cases at least, they had to use their own wisdom to make decisions.

Of course, I don’t think it’s right to argue based on the above Scriptures that God doesn’t guide us through speaking to us. I think He does sometimes. But the above indicates that He doesn’t do so all the time and perhaps we shouldn’t expect Him to do so all the time.

So in regards to decision making, I’d disagree with those who say that God always guides us through His voice, just as I’d disagree with those who say that God never desires to guide us through His voice but would always want us to make decisions based on our wisdom.

But hearing God’s voice is more than just for the sake of decision making. As a charismatic, I believe in the supernatural gifts like interpretation of tongues, prophecy and word of knowledge. I’ve seen them in action – again, both genuine cases and not-so-genuine cases. So even if one believes as Friesen/Maxson believe that God never guides us through His voice, there are other reasons for learning to hear God’s voice. A person could be sick and we could ask God for a word of knowledge regarding what we should pray for or what the cause of the problem is. I’m not gifted in all these, but I have encountered too many of such things to know that God still speaks…

I just came back (it’s now 2am Sunday morning) from Easter service at City Harvest Church and a night out with my friend’s CHC cell group. As I write I’m still full of awe and praise towards God for what has happened in the past 9 hours or so! A bit of background first…

As some of you know, I’ve been teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) for just under a month at a private Business School. I got into this field for basically one reason. I hope to do missions in future and teaching English as a foreign or second language is in great demand throughout the world – especially in the mission field where I hope to use this skill to earn a living and reach out to the lost.

When I was in Perth last year, I saw the amazing potential that teaching ESL had in reaching out to the lost in the developed world. And I knew that I wanted to do that in Singapore. The context in Australia and Singapore is different. In Australia, there’s a lot of opportunities to reach out to those on Working Holiday visas. Many churches give free English classes to these people and reach out to them through that. The English classes aren’t just a source of free English lessons but also a place to meet other foreigners and get any help from the teachers there.

In Singapore, you don’t have foreigners coming here on one-year Working Holiday visas. Rather, you have a lot of people from Asia who come here to study in schools. For those who come here to study in Primary or Secondary school, they would be able to integrate into Singapore society. However, many also come here for their University education and go to private schools that offer degrees from Western Universities. Before they are able to start their University studies, however, they normally have to go through English lessons to get their English level up to standard. A lot of these students are of course from China, but there are many also from Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam. And I think most of of them do not integrate that well into Singapore society. This is because their English is not very good. And a lot of private schools have students which consist mainly of foreigners. The places these foreigners live (especially the hostels) are also filled with foreign students. The result is that these foreigners tend to mix around with other foreigners – and thus most likely will not come into contact with Singaporean Christians.

There is thus a great need to reach out to these foreign students. And of course, the ideal person to reach out to such students are ESL teachers. And so this is what I wanted to do while being an ESL teacher in Singapore. I loved teaching. And I loved interacting with youth. I think I can relate to them well and am able to build up a good rapport with them. And I put a lot of effort in my teaching because I want to be the best teacher I can to help my students.

I invited my students to City Harvest for its 5:30pm Saturday Easter service. I didn’t invite them to New Creation because it didn’t have any special service and I knew that New Creation didn’t have the community to be able to reach out to them. I wanted a community of people that would be able to befriend them, make them feel welcome, reach out to them and follow up with them. I had a good friend in City Harvest and had visited his cell before. I knew that they would be a community that would be able to reach out to them. One thing I love about City Harvest is their strong cell community. New Creation sorely lacks this.

On Thursday, about 12 students said they would meet me for the service. I didn’t expect all 12 to come because something always crops up! But somehow as I prayed, I prayed for 11 to come. I thought that was perhaps a bit unrealistic, but I wanted to believe God for that. In the end, 11 of my students came and 1 of them brought a hostel mate of hers. In all, 9 mainland Chinese students and 3 Vietnamese attended the service.

The Easter drama was moving at times. I didn’t watch the beginning because I was waiting for some friends who came late. But the part where Christ was crucified was very good. I was glad for my Chinese students that the drama and the sermon by Pastor Kong were in both English and Chinese so they would understand what’s going on. However, I wasn’t too happy with the sermon as I thought the gospel presentation was extremely unclear. In fact, I thought that was probably the worst Easter service message I’ve ever heard. But I won’t get into that here :)

What excited me was the response from my students. Before the service, I was praying for 3 salvations. In the end, God surprised me when 10 of the 12 students actually responded to the alter call and went to the front!! I don’t know if every one of them understood the significance of it all as I thought the message was very unclear and also the alter call. However, I also know that most people don’t understand the gospel clearly when they first accept Christ. Whatever the case, I am full of joy that they did take the step they did. I’m reminded once again that this is the reason why I’m teaching. Yes, I want them to improve their English. But more than that, I want them to know Jesus and find true meaning for their lives.

After the service, my students ate together and got to know my friend’s cell members. This is the reason I brought them to City Harvest. Responding to the gospel is one thing. But it’s so important to be part of a community. And I don’t know any other Church in Singapore that can provide such a community like City Harvest can. Nor do I know any other Church in Singapore which is as passionate for evangelism and missions as City Harvest. While I don’t think City Harvest’s teaching is as good as New Creation’s, I’m quite happy to see my students get involved in the City Harvest community.

God is a faithful God. I’ve already seen answers to some of the prayers I’ve been praying since the beginning of the year. Not just regarding the above, but also in other areas. The teachings of New Creation have challenged me in my faith – especially as it relates to believing God for what we ask for.

Now I’m actually thinking and praying about two things. Firstly, on whether I should continue on teaching in my school. I have to make that decision pretty soon. I’ve already mentioned here that the English department is a big joke. And I kind of decided to stop working there once I finish with my present class next month. However, after what happened yesterday, I am praying about it. I know there’s a great opportunity to reach out to more students in the school. That’s what’s making me think twice about quitting. Yet, I don’t like short changing my students – something I’ll have to do if I continue teaching there.

The second thing is whether to continue to stay on in New Creation. This is not something new I’ve been thinking about. Rather, I’ve been praying about it for a while. I know I’ll never be able to get as good teachings in other churches as I would get in New Creation. On the other hand, my view of Christianity as a community is just so different from the community (or lack of) I find in New Creation. I don’t want to always reach out to people and get them to settle in another church! I want to be able to bring them to my church and I want them to find a loving community there. If I were to commit myself to another church, I could still buy and listen to New Creation’s CDs (or even attend their Sunday afternoon services), but you can’t buy community…

I’ve thought of becoming a vegetarian for many years. Well, I’ve not exactly thought extremely hard about it, but the thought has been there many times over the past 10 years or so. I bought a good Christian book about vegetarianism years back but have yet to read it. I’ve probably avoided reading up on this issue simply because I knew it would be hard for me to let go eating meat! Not that I’m crazy over meat. I’m not fussy at all about what I eat and can refrain from eating meat if I really want to. But maybe it’s more of the inconvenience. It’s not easy to live as a vegetarian in Singapore. And perhaps harder to do so in many parts of the developing world where I hope to live in in future.

But I’ve always known deep down inside that I should strive to become a vegetarian because of my faith. Well, I should do many things, shouldn’t I? I should get the hell out of Singapore and serve the poor in the developing world. I should go and do all I can to reach the unreached peoples. And ya, I should really think about becoming a vegetarian. If not now, then soon. If not dogmatically, then at least more fully.

Greg Boyd has recently written on his blog the reasons as to why he’s a vegetarian. His reasoning is quite simple. I summarize it here:

1) God originally intended for humans and all other creatures to eat plants for food (Genesis 1:29-30). This is confirmed by Genesis 9:1-4, where God said:

Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.

Notice how God’s allowance for fallen humanity to eat animals was something new: “I now give you everything.” Why did God now allow man to eat animals? Because the “fear and dread” of man that now falls on the animals (due to the fallenness of all creation) has disrupted the peaceful and non-violent nature of creation. I think this means that animals will no longer act peaceful towards man and so God allowed man to eat animals.

2) The non-violent and peaceful nature of God’s kingdom which existed before the fall will be restored at the end of this age:

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. Infants will play near the hole of the cobra; young children will put their hands into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea (Isa 11:6-9).

3) Therefore, in the past before the fall, humans did not eat animals. In the future when we dwell with God, we will not eat animals. But, what ought we to do now? I’ll end with Boyd’s own conclusion:

Now, the most fundamental job of followers of Jesus is to manifest the reign of God. I take this to mean that we’re called to put on display now what the world will look like when God fully reigns over it in the future. In theological terms we’re to be “the eschatological community.”

One way the New Testament expresses this truth is by referring to Kingdom people as the “first fruits” of a coming harvest (2 Thess 2:13; Ja 1:18; Rev. 14:4). The “first fruits” referred to fruit that ripened and was picked before others. In the Old Testament, first fruits were consecrated (set apart) to God and were a sign that God will faithfully bring the remainder of the harvest to fruition (e.g. Ex. 23:19). In the same way, Kingdom people are consecrated to God as a sign that God will faithfully bring his Kingdom to complete fruition.

As the “first fruits” of the Kingdom, our call is to be in the present what the entire world will be in the future, when the Kingdom is fully manifested. In a world that is yet under bondage to the rebel Powers, we’re to display what it looks like to live in the reign of God. Our lives are to reflect God’s will being done “on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). We’re to be, as much as possible, heaven on earth and thus a window through which people can see the future into which God is leading the world.

If God’s original ideal of a creation free of violence will be achieved in the future, it seems to me that the job of Kingdom people is to manifest this ideal now, as much as possible. Which to me suggests that since humans won’t be killing animals and eating them in heaven, we shouldn’t be killing them and eating them now.