Rejoice in the Lord alway:and again I say, Rejoice.
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7
An oppressive spirit fell upon me last night. I felt this aching anxiety. Meditating upon the Word of God would be a balm, but I was both exhausted and in truth too distracted.
But God is good. He awaken me this morning and as I finally took time with Him in reflective prayers, He lifted the burdensome fears that was upon me, and the peace that only Christ can give was upon me.
As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
Ezekiel 1:28
Is God real? The last time this doubt crossed my mind, I had an interesting experience. It was in my previous abode in River Valley and I still recall vividly being roused from my slumber in the wee hours, and just sitting upright, exclaiming the words "away from me you devil," and in that transient point between dream and awareness, seeing a vision of a snake bouncing off me.
We think we live only in the natural world. But running parallel is the spiritual realm, which most are not cognizance of, but is equally if not more impactful upon us.
Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see:to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
1 Timothy 6:16
God always lay the path. Last night, in my half drowsy state, the verse He brought me to was Ezekiel 1:28. None of us will see God through our natural senses. Even Moses, His chosen servant saw God from a burning bush. The Priest Ezekiel saw God through a vision. Jacob the father of the tribes of Israel wrestled with God through the night, but was it in the person or in the spirit?
The one and only time I saw God was also through a vision He gave me in my sleep.
From a lovely azure blue sky, a blinding light emanated forth, and as I felt myself lifted up, I heard a voice like the roaring waves, commanding me to rise with the oriole.
Oriole is a bird with lovely plumage. But next to the word "oriole" in the dictionary that I consulted the next morning, was the word "orison, " which means "to pray."
And indeed, in the years since, prayer ministry has been where God has placed me, much as I have never imagined possible that fateful early morning.
And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east:and his voice was like a noise of many waters:and the earth shined with his glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city:and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.
Ezekiel 43:2-3
It was a good many years since I had the vision of the glory of God before He brought me to Ezekiel 43:2-3. This verse literally leaped at me like a long lost friend for it describes in exact words, the vision I had. God is good and He used the publication of my first book "Reflections - A traveler's muse," to bring me to that knowledge of His glorious form that is already described in the Bible.
God is not just real, He is omnipresent. Some of us came to the faith or know of close friends who literally transformed overnight because they experienced the unseen God's hands upon their lives in a miraculous way, be it healing, financials, escape from the jaws of near death or something that has to be impossible and implausible.
There was the testimony of this well known Russian cosmonaut who testified in the Singapore newspapers about how his space walk almost ended in oblivion for him when the line that he was tethered on to his spacecraft snapped, and in his desperate plea to the God of the Universe, he was miraculously pushed back into his craft and not be sucked in the infinite space.
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee,
Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
Psalms 27:8
God by His grace lifted the veil in our hearts. For some, it could be in a dramatic manner, for others in more subtle but equally impactful way.
And accepting His grace of salvation is but just the beginning of our journey as a Christian. We will and need to spend the rest of our realigned life with our focus now on Christ, to be transformed unto His likeness, to be made ready for His return. And to be molded by God our Potter, our hearts must be willing, for His enabling grace to work upon us, for God will not impose.
I had fainted, unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait on the Lord:
be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart:wait, I say, on the Lord.
Psalms 27:13-14
The Word of God is God. His words not just teaches, encourages, correct but enlightens. And His Word works in conjunction with His indwelling Holy Spirit residing in our hearts.
God has and continues to be very visible in my life. He will be for you too if you will let His Spirit transform you from the natural carnal man, to the spirit man.
And immersing your heart in His Word is an essential part of your walk with our Lord, for how can you know God, if you do not seek to know Him?
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?
I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:19
God will bring us to places beyond our finite understanding. We will not just be out of our comfort zone, but will come to the realization that without His enabling grace, it will be nigh impossible for us to do His will. And in living a life of surrender, God will lead us to a victorious life, in this fallen world.
But we must never forget Him. God is for real. But it is always so easy for us to lose sight of Him and regress back into the delusory world of the devil.
Deuteronomy 8:11-15
Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
20 July 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment