Dear...
And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute.
Luke 1:22
I am not much of a science student. Nor am I a person who pays much attention to the minute details of my surrounds. But as I was praying, I felt led to go take a look at my reflection on the mirror.. And while it is no major discovery, the mirror reflects what looks into it, yet creates a disorientation for my left now becomes my right and vice versa.
One cannot but laud the masters of the art of inside painted snuff bottles, for not just their consummate skill at painting on a very small canvass, but for their mental dexterity
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self- control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
2 Timothy 3:2-5
Some of us do take an undue amount of time assessing our physical appearance that is reflected on the mirror. I used to do that after the usual traumatic haircut at the neighborhood barber, when my crowning glory looked like a lawn that just had a mower gone 'amok' through it. But with age, a less lush mane, failing eyesight and a better hairdresser, it's no longer an issue. For it is the heart that seeks after our Lord that truly matters.
But will it not be good to take time to be still, to rest in our Lord, to let His Spirit illuminate the gathering dross in our lives, that busyness has left us indifferent to? Are we truly striving to be the lamp upon which the light of our Lord will shine forth, or have we become lampshades, where Christ is no longer obvious in our life of oblivion?
What image do we see reflected in the mirror of our lives?
Moving away from this self reflection, our good Lord brought me to the two verses below, twice over, last night and this morning. It is no coincidence for I have come to learn that if it is from our Lord, He will affirm it twice over. These two verses, "Philippians 2:12-13" and " Romans 8:15" mirrors the issue of trepidation in two contrasting context.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father."
Romans 8:15
Romans 8:15 reminds us that as believers, we have accepted the gift of salvation. We can and should walk boldly forth in our daily living. The oppressive world that Satan rules over, no longer has a hold over us. We can be in this world, but need not be of this same world.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleas
Philippians 2:12-13
But as Philippians 2:12-13 so aptly stated, the fear of our Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
We cannot and should not continue to be indifferent to God's call, for to do so will bring one into great troubles
We should not fear the world, but we must fear our Sovereign God
The former no longer has a hold on us. The latter, our Father in Heaven Who will let us go through gainful pain, to save us from ourselves, if we continue to be recalcitrant.
When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
Jonah 2:7
God blesses
Eng Hieang
8th Dec 2013
An afterthought - Through the looking glass
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Revelation 13:11
As I rested upon our Lord, in preparation for my trip to China last Sunday, His Spirit impressed upon me this thought.
Like a weakling, whose face was once kicked with sand, an insult that spurred a determination to build a muscle bound Charles Atlas, China today is no longer the opium imbibed weakling of the early twentieth century.
It is payback time. A righting of the wrongs that the West and Japan inflicted on a house that was divided. But will this unwillingness to forgive lead to consequences that could bring harm to all?
Will a overbearing China bearing in on a cornered Japan trigger the long repressed but very present beast in the Japanese psyche?
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy;
at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Psalms 16:11
I am now back after an eventful trip to China. From the moment I set foot on China, there were interesting snippets along the way. Arriving at Changsa half an hour too early, my car pickup was no where in sight. Matter not, I took a taxi instead, and hit right smack into a heavy traffic jam. And right behind us, an over enthusiastic tailgater decided to nudge my taxi from the back. From past experiences, I thought I will be privy to a display of the Hunan style of verbal if not physical tirade between the two drivers, but thanks be to God, my taxi driver, save for a few choice Hunan words, decided to move on.
The delay was prescient though, as that gave the seminar organizers time to realize that they had not informed me of a change of hotel, and we manage to divert my driver to the right place.
In the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) in the gathering of Jews, from the various regions, every one could understand each other, even when there was a non familiarity with the diversity of languages. Was the Holy Spirit also at work at this conference of Muslim business people from all over China?
By the grace of God, I did understand to my surprise the diverse and heavily accented Mandarin spoken. And they seem to understand my convoluted Mandarin.
And being from the various minority non Han Chinese ethnic groups, the sense of camaraderie with Islam as the unifying factor was very palpable. And it was an experience to sit in a small group environment with twelve of the Muslim leaders for 3 hours into the wee hours as they testify of Allah's grace upon their lives. None lynch me when I had to correct their assumption that I was a Muslim. And they were surprised when I told them their sharing was what we Christians term 'testimony,' '见证'for it seems that they have no word to describe the testifying of Allah's perceived kindness upon their lives.
By the plans of God, I have not just had a better understanding of the Muslim community in China, who are primarily from the non Han Chinese race, our good Lord has made me an honorary member of this community. I just have to get used to eating mutton and going to cities in more remote parts of China, be it Yunnan, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang.
There is a need to point this community towards the true God, for there is a palpable sense of inequitable latent resentment towards the majority Han which could lead to a future rise of the beast of terrorism as is so prevalent in other parts of the world.
Shanghai, the second leg of my trip was a pleasant change for a spoilt tier one city dweller like me. My best meal in 3 days was on the plane, where they served pork.
And by the grace of God, I made it to the plane despite some unexpected hiccups in my flight ticketing.
Coming from a surfeit of Muslim friends in Changsa, it was a one in a million chance to meet up with a very committed Chinese Christian on my first night in Shanghai. Shanghai, as a long time resident of this city tells me, is a transient city of greed, envy and pride, a place where many put on false personas. Our good Lord ordained that I should make a new friend and potential ministry and business partner whose heart wants to place God first and foremost in his life on my first meeting in Shanghai. What joy it is to go where God brings us and see His hands at work.
God answers prayers asked in His will. I had a late flight home and felt a desire to do a prayer walk round the key points in Shanghai. The haze worsened and my flight was postponed to the next day. That gave me a little more time to complete my prayer walk, and much as I strained my eyes to see, while standing from the vantage point of the famous Shanghai Bund, no beast rose from the waters. But there indeed is a beast that is stirring.
A program that I watched on CCTV on my extra night in Shanghai brought into perspective for me what the future portends. North Asia will be a theatre for conflict, not just for China and Japan but also the two Koreas, USA and the old nemesis, Russia. A reprise of the Meiji period when a modernizing Japan defeated the Russians in a naval battle. That victory was a prelude to emboldening an increasingly nationalistic Japan and her future misadventures into World War 2.
God is calling on Christians both within and outside North Asia to pray and to influence through engagement, the people of North Asia. This future conflagration can be avoided if good sense prevail, and that is only possible when all hearts are turned to the Sovereign God.
On my final morning in Shanghai on Saturday, there were only 4 people at the breakfast room. A rare Japanese couple, who were rather low key. A lady sitting across me who epitomized the temptations of this city of lights. And in walk a yellow robed monk who was particularly keen on engaging both the lady from Jiangsu and myself. Where would this tripartite engagement have led me to? I have no answer to that as my flight was confirmed and after 6 days in China, I was glad to be going home. And if our Lord so wills, this ministry in China and Japan will evolved even more.
And how do I know this sharing is truly from our Lord? He always affirms and as I came back to this completed sharing to give it a once over for factual accuracy, but more importantly, for spiritual alignment. Our Lord brought me to the exact page on Acts 2, which was the verse I had planned to look for but could not remember in which Book.
Our lives will mirror the wonderful path God has set for us, when we let go and let Him.
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