Eirene

God Loves the Peoples of the World

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Within 6 days, God created the universe, including a man and a woman whom He had made in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27). God blessed the man and the woman and told them to be “fruitful and increase in number” and to “fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28).

God saw all His creation and said that they were “good”. He then rested on the seventh day.

Humankind is made in the image of God. We are so special and precious to Him that He made us to carry His image and reflect His likeness. By bearing His image, we have been set apart from the other creatures.

If you have children, you will notice that your children have resemblances in your personalities and physical features because they are your children. You will also notice that you look like your parents because they gave birth to you. As God’s children, we bear His likeness and we are to reflect His goodness and beauty.

When sin entered this world through disobedience, instead of showing love, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and peace to the people around us, we are now marred by anger, jealousy, pride, hatred, bitterness, grudge, prejudice against others.

Jesus Christ had come into this world to free us from the bondage of sin, and He also frees us from hatred and prejudice towards others.

Jesus was nailed on the Cross for our sins. His blood, being poured out had washed away our sins. His precious blood washed away our hatred, anger, fear, pride, differences.

His blood had been poured out for everyone in this world, past, present and future. It is written in Revelation 5:9, “…you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev 5:9).

Jesus died for everyone in the world. He died so that we can live in peace, love and reconciliation with others and with God. He died so that we as His followers can tell about His love and put our love into actions.

(photo credit: Element 5 Digital)

Knowing that you have been made in the image of God, how can you show love to the people around you? How can we love those who are different from us?

May we His followers be agents of love, peace and reconciliation in this world.

The Person and the Functions of the Holy Spirit

Photo credit: Jordan McQueen from Stocksnap

The Holy Spirit is a Person. He is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). Therefore, He is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son. After His resurrection and before His ascension to Heaven, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples: “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. (John 14:15-17)

What does the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit:

Searches all things (1 Corinthians 2:10-11)

The Holy Spirit is given to believers so that we may know God better. He reveals to us the heart of God. He opens our eyes to the salvation and inheritance we have in Jesus.

“..these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:10-11, NIV)

Lives in the believers (1 Corinthians 3:16)

The Holy Spirit lives in believers. He leads us and guides us in our daily living.

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Cor. 3:16, NIV)

Seals Us (Ephesians 1:13)

The Holy Spirit has sealed us as children of God. In the ancient world, a seal was a “legal signature” of ownership. The Holy Spirit has sealed believers so that that we are confident of our salvation and that we belong to God.

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13, NIV),

Gives gifts to believers (1 Corinthians 12:11)

Every believer has at least one spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit. We are to use the gifts to bless others, build up the church and to glorify God.

“All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” (1 Cor. 12:11). More gifts are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.

Intercedes for us (Romans 8:26)

There are times when we are feeling weak and helpless and we don’t know what to do. That is when the Holy Spirit will pray for us to God the Father. What comfort it is to know that someone is interceding for us so that we will continue to journey on in our Christian faith!

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26)

Teaches us all things which Jesus has taught us (John 14:26)

The Greek word “Parakletos” in this passage is translated as “Advocate” (in the New International Version). “Advocate” means “legal counsel.” The Holy Spirit gives believers wise counsel. He will remind us of the teachings of Jesus so that we can follow them.

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26, NIV).

Convicts us of sins (John 16:7-8)

Sin separates us from God. Sin will grieve the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals to us of our sins so that we can confess them and ask for His help not to commit them again.

Renews us and gives us eternal life (Romans 8:10-11)

The Holy Spirit works in the lives of believers to renew and sanctify us. He makes us holy. Just as the Holy Spirit raised Jesus Christ from the dead, the Holy Spirit gives eternal life to all who accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.

Enables the believers to bear fruits (Galatians 5:22-25)

The work of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life is an on-going process. Not only does He convicts us of sins (Galatians 5:16-21), He helps believers to bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).

The passages above show that the Holy Spirit is active in teaching us to obey God. He reveals to us our sin, convicts us to confess them so that we can live a life that glorifies God. He is also praying for us as well as empowering us to do what God has entrusted to us. There are so many more passages about the Holy Spirit in the Bible. We shall look at them in future posts.

Day of Pentecost. Come, Holy Spirit

Today is the Day of Pentecost. We commemorate the Day of Pentecost on the 50th day after Easter (or the Seventh Sunday after Easter).

On the Day of Pentecost 2,000 years ago (and 10 days after the risen Jesus ascended to Heaven), the apostles and followers of Jesus were in Jerusalem for the Feast of Harvest. In the rush of wind and in tongues of flames, the Holy Spirit came and filled them, just as Jesus had said. It was the most wonderful and powerful gift from God. These apostles and followers of Jesus were afraid of what would happen to them after Jesus had gone to Heaven, but when the Holy Spirit came, He filled them with boldness, authority, power and language to proclaim the Good News. A crowd came to see what was going on, and each of them were amazed to hear the Good News in their own language.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter (who only a few weeks ago had denied knowing Jesus three times out of cowardice) stood up with the other apostles and preached the Good News to the crowd so powerfully that 3,000 people became believers that day. The Book of Acts records many of the wonders and miracles the apostles did through the power of the Holy Spirit. With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they “returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24:52). They finally realized why Jesus had to leave them to return to Heaven—so that the Holy Spirit could come upon them.

Who will have the Holy Spirit? Anyone can receive the Holy Spirit. Today, the Holy Spirit lives in everyone who believes in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit who filled the apostles is with us today. It is the same Holy Spirit who was present when the foundations of the world were laid. It was the same Spirit by whom Jesus Christ was conceived. It was the same Spirit that was with Jesus as He walked on this earth, preaching about the kingdom of God, healing the sick and casting out demons. Jesus said to His disciples, “whoever believes in me will also do the works I have been doing” (John 14:12).

The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, gives us new life, indwells in us and seals us and baptizes us into the Body of Christ. He also gives us spiritual gifts to serve God and to bless others (1 Peter 4:10) and to build up the church (1 Cor. 14:12).The Holy Spirit teaches us to obey all that Jesus has taught us (Acts 5:32; Hebrew 10:20). But, if we intentionally disobey the promptings of the Holy Spirit and continue to sin, the Holy Spirit can be grieved and quenched (Romans 6:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:19). Therefore, we have to be very careful. We do not want to intentionally disobey God and subsequently quench the Holy Spirit.

On this Day of Pentecost, many of our countries are still in lock down due to the virus. We may be feeling fearful. We are uncertain about the future. So did the apostles 2,000 years ago. But then, God sent them the Holy Spirit and their lives were never the same again. The coward and fearful disciples became bold missionaries, bring the Good News to the world. They turned the world upside down for God.We are in a lock down, but we are still people of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).

May you and I be filled with the Holy Spirit continually so that we will live a victorious life over the bondage of sins.

“May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hop by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

A Lesson on Management?

I was walking past a cleaner who had just mopped the floor. I have never seen him before but he was friendly. He said I was leaving tracks behind me and he had just mopped the floor. However, he said that it was OK.

He went on to say that the management would check on him from time to time to make sure that he was doing his duties instead of loitering in the compound. His face was downcast as we chatted. It seemed that he was disheartened that his supervisors did not trust him enough to do a good job.

Now, I personally did not know this cleaner. I had never seen him before. I did not know his name. I did not know about his track record as a cleaner for that company. May be he was lazy, which might be why the management needed to resort to implementing this strategy.

I don’t know what you think about this but I think as leaders, we should first learn to trust and respect the people under our care. If we go the extra mile to build a happy, supportive, safe and respectful environment for people to work in, they would be happy coming in to work everyday. There would be smiles on their faces.

If we have the mindset that a company is one big family, and those working under us is part of our family instead of our servants to boss around, they will enjoy this sense of belonging and will thrive in their work regardless of their positions.

A few days ago, I sent my parents’ car to the workshop. The mechanic had junior mechanics under him. This mechanic knew how to be a good boss. As he was chatting with my dad, he said that the workers were from different ethnicities and different races but he cared for them like his own sons. They had come to work for him and so he realised he had the responsibility to care for them. He gave them food and he taught them skills. He said that he hoped that these boys would grow up to be useful people in the society. No wonder these junior mechanics were happy working there. They gave us excellent service because they had been given excellent treatments from the boss. They felt that they belonged there. They knew that they were a family. That was why they went the extra mile for their boss and for the customers. The atmosphere was so different.

Now, if you compare these two bosses, you would see how it would affect the customers. The first boss doubted his worker and so the worker was not happy. He gossiped, grumbled and complained about the management to whoever was willing to listen, even just a passerby.

The second one might not be a wealthy man, but he loved his workers and treated them like his sons. He hoped to provide values for his workers. It was not so much what his workers could do for him, but what he could provide for them. He was training them to be good mechanics and responsible citizens of the society.

I admire the leadership of the mechanic. Let us do good and spread love and kindness when we have the opportunity. Let us lift people up, regardless of what they do for a living. Let us show love and respect to the people around us.

Ladies Talk

This online talk (Talk 4) was exactly a week ago. I am blessed to be a part of it and it was so much fun working together with the other awesome speakers, host and the amazing IT team behind the scene! We are already friends for many years so that added to the fun!

This is the link to the replay of the 4 talks: https://fmc.org.my/blog/category/live-stream/talks/a-little-god-time-for-ladies/ Check it out. 🙂

Blessed

This is my 9th year of full-time pastoral ministry. There is nothing else I would want to do with my life than to serve the Lord.

Of course, the “working” hours are longggg! We work in the office during the day and we have ministries at night (visitation, small groups, prayer meeting, teaching, etc). There are also urgent things: church members admitted to hospital, etc. There are times when I am envious of friends who hold office jobs and are working from Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm and then they are free for the rest of the evenings.

My office in the church. Not much in my room yet— just a desk, a good chair and a desktop computer to work on at the moment. Oh yes, there is the McDonald’s coffee. I need coffee to start the day!

This is my home office set up. A big, comfortable desk, a Xiaom Yeelight Indoor Lamp that changes colour, a “blink blink” pink notebook and a Wonder Woman mug.

But, to me, it is such a great blessing to serve the Lord and His people. I read from somewhere that pastors get paid to read God’s Word. How great is that!

There are challenges, frustrations and difficulties along the way too but God is so faithful.

During this MCO period, my family and I have been experiencing blessings and so much love from our church friends. Some of them sent us delicious cooked food: curry chicken, pork, rice dumplings, Kentucky Fried Chicken, three layered pork belly, sweet and sour pork. Someone sent free range chicken. Yesterday, a church friend sent me a feast! Some of these were made by her, with love.

All that I can say is, “Thank you, Lord, You are so so good to me”.

“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They can not be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!” (Psalm 139:17-18)

The God that we serve is a God that enjoys giving us wonderful surprises. May you experience His love and blessings today and everyday!

Light Up the City

A couple of days ago, I signed up to pray for my nation, city, community and neighbourhood with “Thy Kingdom Come”. This prayer movement starts on Ascension Day (21 May) and ends on Pentecost Day (31 May).

Look at these lights! Each light shows that someone is praying for the nation/community/society

It is so touching to see different countries around the world being lit up in prayers!

This is how Malaysia looks like. Obviously our country can use more lights and prayers

When I see these lights, the teaching of Jesus comes to mind, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16, NIV).

Let us all shine for Christ by doing deeds and living a life that glorify His holy Name! Let us all pray for His Kingdom to come to our nation!

Come, let us light up the city!

Recharge to Restart

The battery of my parents’ car was flat so we took it to the mechanic.

Sometimes when I am exhausted (when my battery is flat), I will take a nap. Sometimes when I am exhausted as a leader, I will read a book to take the matter off my mind. Sometimes when I am exhausted from the notifications on my Facebook, I log out and only sign in again until a couple of days later.

We recharge ourselves to get back on the journey again. Take a break from work as and when necessary. Take a break from social media, when you need some time alone to reflect, meditate and be still. Take a break when needed but never take a break from God. He is our everything.

Choose Gratitude

I was in the garden this morning when dad showed me a plant (photo below). He said the fruits of this plant are poisonous.

It is such a beautiful plant but unfortunately it carries poison. It reminds: don’t look nice on the outside but is filled with poison on the inside.

The Bible verse for my meditation this morning is from Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived: God can not be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (NIV). If I have poison in me, I will bear fruits that are poisonous. I will reap poisonous consequences. They will bring damage to me, cost me my health as well as destroy my relationships with others. They will also break my love relationship with God because the poison gets in the way of receiving His love and His healing grace.

Bitterness is the poison to the soul. Therefore, it is important to cultivate gratitude. Choose gratitude. Count our blessings daily. Proverbs 17:22 says, “A joyful heart is a good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones”. Bitterness will make us rot on the inside and then it will show up on the outside.

Whenever I feel frustrated, whiny, complain-y about the circumstances I am in, or getting bitter and jealous at someone, I will bring this matter to God. I tell Him how I feel, and I grumble to Him and let Him know my frustrations. He already knows what is in my heart and He is eager to hear about it from me.

Bitterness dries up my soul. May I encourage you to choose joy. If there is something you are not so happy about, bring this matter to God, for He cares for you.

Prayer: Lord, forgive me for harbouring bitterness, anger, resentment, and frustrations. I admit these emotions eat me up and destroy my relationships with You and with the people around me. Give me a heart of thankfulness and to a heart of gratitude to remember Your blessings and goodness to me. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

Day Off

Since we were talking about the Sabbath rest yesterday, I would like to talk about my off day, which is today. Monday is my off day, and it is also the off day of the other pastors in the conference. The purpose of the off day is to obey God’s command to rest and to keep the Sabbath day holy. On Monday mornings, I will have my Quiet Time, then, I will visit my grandma and aunty. Before the MCO, I would visit them with my parents. After that, I will have lunch with my parents, and go grocery shopping for the week. In the afternoon, I will read the newspapers, read a book (usually not the whole book, but at least a few chapters), catch up with some friends or family members, strum on my ukelele and have an enjoyable nap. Sometimes, I hang out with fellow pastors on Mondays. But I do that less now since I am back at my home town. I hang out with my parents instead. We are a close-knitted family. In the evening, I will have some time to read. Monday evenings are when I am most relaxed. I enjoy the peace on Monday evenings. I may also watch a movie. And then, I will start to plan for the week ahead, slotting tasks into my “to do list”. I enjoy my Mondays. It is a gift that I treasure. It relaxes me from the demands of ministry and also prepares me for the week ahead. It is a time to enjoy my parents and puppies as well as my hobbies and interests. So, on Mondays, I make sure I have time to rest physically and emotionally and to spend more time to worship God. Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27) What about you? What are some ways for you to rest?