His Faithful Promises

The glorious rainbow radiates the beauty and glory of the Lord. It captivates our hearts. 

The rainbow in the Bible is a sign of God’s promise, a sign of His covenant with us.  

God uses the rainbow to assure His people that He would never ever destroy the earth with the flood like the one in Noah's day.

The Scriptures remind us of God's faithfulness. We know His goodness and grace. We know His sustaining power and love. 

We have every reason to persevere to the end because He is Immanuel, God with us.  He walks us through the highest mountain and the deepest valley. He assures us of His abiding love and presence.

We serve a covenant making and covenant keeping God. He is faithful till the end. He keeps every promise. 

He spoke the universe into existence. He is the beginning and the end. He holds all things together. He unleashes His power and grace. He saturates us with His presence. 

The great God who commands nature. The great God who split the Red Sea rules and reigns in all eternal. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He is the Lord of Hosts. He is our conquering King who reigns forevermore.

The Beauty of the Lord

We see the beauty and glory of God in all the earth.  The blooming flowers, the chirping birds, the graceful swans all speak of the glory of Him.  All creation declares the glory of the risen King.  The shots in this note are photos which I had taken from my home.  I will never find two photos that are similar because the cloud formation and weather change all the time.  I am amazed at the greatness of God just gazing at the sky.  The God who made heaven and the earth, dwells in earthen vessels and chooses to work through us.  He is a God of faithfulness, a God full of loving kindness and tender mercy.  We declare His everlasting love over all and see His love at work in everything we do.

The Lion and the Lamb

“There is a within you a lamb and a lion.  Spiritual maturity is the ability to let lamb and lion lie down together.  Your lion is your adult, aggressive self.  It is your initiative-taking and decision-making self.  But there is also your fearful, vulnerable lamb, the part of you that needs affection, support, affirmation, and nurturing.

When you heed only your lion, you will find yourself overextended and exhausted.  When you take notice of your lamb, you will easily become a victim of your need for other people’s attention.  The art of spiritual living is to fully claim both your lion and your lamb.  Then you can act assertively without denying our own needs.  And you can ask for affection and care without betraying your talent to offer leadership.”

Henri Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love

Within each of us, a lion and a lamb coexist simultaneously.  Sometimes, the lion in us emerges and at other times, the lamb in us spring into action.  We will minister in authority and strength under the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.  The Lord grants ability to minister powerfully in His anointing.  This awesome strength and might can only come from the throne room of heaven.  The newfound fearlessness and boldness replaced all crippling fear and intimidation.  We now wage a spiritual wage fully armed with God’s powerful armour.

On the other hand, we bring comforting words and gentle love to needy people in dire circumstances and predicaments.  The tenderness of Jesus radiates from us to touch someone.  We may be ministering to a mother grieving over the death of a child, a cancer-stricken man who is at the verge of death or a life ravaged by dark and deep depressive oppression.  The Lord makes us a lion and a lamb. 

The human mind can never comprehend how it is possible for the lion and the lamb to lie side by side.  The lion and the lamb are vastly different in character and temperament but the Lord is able to use both sides within us as long as we are willing and available.

Labour of Love

Two Fridays ago, Monte and I brought a friend over to our place for dinner.  Monte cooked up a storm.  It is long been known that cooking for people is a labour of love.  He prepared pasta and stuffed our faces that evening.  We had a wonderful time with our friend.  As I was very tired, I went to bed right after our friend left.

The next day, I woke up to find all the dishes done.  For your information, that was a lot of dishes to clear.  I thank God for Monte.

The Glory And The Lifter Of Our Heads

The experiences the Lord allows us to go through in are purposeful.  The pain and struggles are real. The sense of helplessness and despondency is suffocating.  Paralyzing fear consumes us.

The good news is God is always with us. He lifts us up with hope. He shows us the way out. He helps us to overcome. He fills our hearts with expectancy.

God leads us to His desired pathways. He leads us to a place of rest. He leads us to a place of wholeness.

We soldier on with full confidence.The Lord sustains us all through the journey.  He keeps us safe. He directs our paths and shows us His plans and purposes. 

He prods us on with love. He sees what lies within each of us; a fighting spirit. A warrior who finds strength in a God alone.

Faith burns strong and free in our hearts. God's greatness and  matchlessness flood our hearts. 

He is the glory and the lifter of our heads. He is the reason why we rise with hope each day. We sing the song of the redeemed. We serve a mighty God. The glory of the risen is majestic. Our God reigns!

Missing Eliska

My niece, Eliska, has gone to Mongolia with her maternal grandma for about three months. I am missing Eliska.

God is Actively at Work

We plant a seed in the soil and ensure the soil is moist throughout the germination process. With sufficient light, we expect growth in due season. A tiny stem and leaf will soon sprout out. Germination takes time. There are no quick fixes and instant results.

In many ways, the Christian life is like this little seed that goes through germination. Just because we do not see any visible stem or leaf emerging from the soil, it does not mean that growth has not taken place.  

The glaring inactivity of the surface of the soil may cause us to wonder if anything is actually working.

When we go through trying times, we loose focus and faith. We tumble through the maze and spiral into deep despair.  

The reality is God is actively at work in our lives to orchestrate our circumstances. We may not see immediate visible signs.  

By faith, we know that we are in the safe hands of our maker and He will come through for us. When we do not see any tangible growth and result. We persevere in holding on to the promises of our faithful God. 

God propels us to greater height and depth in Him. He works His purposes through us. The times we spent travailing in prayer are the most awesome times because they build faith.  

The Lord surely makes good use of the germination process to mould and make us to be more like Him.  

We journey on with great expectation in Him. He blesses us beyond our wildest imagination as we wait patiently in persevering love.

To Be Where He Is

The following is an excerpt from Henri Nouwen's book entitled The Inner Voice of Love. 

He said, “This book is my secret journal. It was written during the most difficult period of my life, from December 1987 to June 1988. That was a time of extreme anguish, during which I wondered whether I would be able to hold on to my life. Everything came crashing down – my self esteem, my energy to live and work, my trust in God…everything. Here, I was, a writer about the spiritual life, known as someone who loves God and gives hope to people, flat on the ground and in total darkness...What had happened? I had come face to face with my own nothingness. It was as if all that had given my life meaning was pulled away and I could see nothing in front of me but a bottomless abyss...The strange thing was that this happened shortly after I had found my true home. After many years of life in universities, where I never felt fully at home. I had become a member of L’Arche, a community of men and women with mental disabilities. I had been received with open arms, given all the attention and affection I could ever hope for, and loving place to grow spiritually as well as emotionally. Everything seemed ideal. But precisely at that time I fell apart.”

Nouwen passed on in September 1996. His writings lived on to bless many people all over the world. 

His brokenness and love for the Lord permeated through his life and his writings. Many would have hesitated to share such deep and painful experiences but not Nouwen. 

The Lord uses Nouwen’s life as an open book to show His glory. Especially to those who are in pain. The painful experience, the dark and deep depression that Nouwen went through became a channel for the Lord to shine His light on all who desire to see His face and know His love.

It is just amazing how Nouwen felt so at home at L’Arche. In the natural, L’Arche is the most unlikely place for anyone to like. To some, it is a place of sadness, a place of forgotten people, a place of pain and anguish. 

The Lord led Nouwen to L’Arche and through his time there, he wrote powerful books that are widely read by many today. 

Sometimes, God brings us to the most difficult places and surroundings. We may not fully comprehend the reason. When we are where He wants us to be. He floods our hearts with peace and joy. No matter how hard the ground is, God will help us to flourish.

Thank You, Lord

Monte posted this on Facebook on 7 May 2012. It read: “Jee Fong began today her final ACTA programme titled "Design and Develop a WSQ Facilitated Training Programme." I am proud of her for persevering through the programme, and she is now on her final module. This final module is by far the most intense, but she has already has a plan on going about her final project. Do keep her in prayer!”

I am blessed with a wonderful husband who does everything he can to help me develop not only spiritually but also in other areas such as my vocational life, growing and developing solely by the Lord's grace and enabling. God wants each of us to reach our fullest potential in every area of our life. In all that we do we want to bring glory and honour to His name. He empowers and infuses us with unimaginable capacity and wisdom to achieve results that comes by His empowerment.

(ACTA - Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment)