Work Heartily For the Lord

Today is the first day of going back to the office after 83 days of lockdown. Of course, there are the usual paper work to do, papers to file, emails to write, people to call, and the list goes on. But, I have not forgotten my mentor, Maria’s advice to me: to make my workspace an altar of offering and praise to the Lord. I kept this in mind, and it made the day enjoyable.

It happens that my devotional reading this morning was taken from Colossians 3:23-24, “23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ“ (ESV).

When it comes to God, it definitely was not a coincidence that this verse was for my meditation today. Nothing happens coincidentally with God.

Whatever I do today becomes my act of worship to God. What seems to be mundane and trivial became tasks which keep me accountable to God, my church leaders and members.

Work is a beautiful thing. Before the Fall of mankind, God had given Adam the responsibility to tend the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15). The world at that time was perfect: there was no sin and everything was freshly created. The fruits must be the sweetest, the flowers must have been in full bloom and the animals were gentle and playful. Yet, God had assigned Adam to work. Work was a gift from God.

After the Fall, however, work is now viewed as our cruel punishment, something which we need to do to survive and to provide for our family. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors toiled the ground with sweat to eat the fruits of the field. Today, we hustle hard to pay our bills and buy our food.

Let us not forget that God is our Provider (Philippians 4:19). Jesus taught us not to worry about what we should eat or drink (Matthew 6:31-32). Therefore, apostle Paul reminded believers to offer our work as an act of worship to the Lord.

While apostle Paul was writing Colossians, he wrote to the slaves (or bondservants). He urged them to remember that their true Master is the Lord Himself. It is applicable for us toxau: work to please your Lord, not just your bosses.

May God be our motivation. May He be pleased with the works of our hands. Our work brings us much satisfaction, meaning, joy and enjoyment when we focus on the reason why we work: we are serving Lord.

Whatever you do: house chores, office work, taking care of your family, or personal matters, do them for the glory of God. When God is the motivation of all that you do, it will make the tasks much more enjoyable. What a sweet promise it is that we will be rewarded for serving the Lord!

Letter to My Future Husband

My lover, my dear future husband,

I have been praying for you for 12 years, or even more. My family and friends have been praying for you too, so you do have a lot of people to meet when you become part of my life!

I don’t know where or when I will meet you, or how we will meet but I am confident that just as God brought the freshly created Eve to Adam in the Garden of Eden, our meeting will be in God’s perfect timing.

Meanwhile, I will continue to enjoy and celebrate life. I have a tight knitted family and close community whom I enjoy spending time with. I have hobbies to keep me occupied. I am trying to accomplish a few interesting dreams of mine too. I understand that I am complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10), and I am not depending on you to complete me. But, surely, your presence and giftings will bring much joy and complement my deficiencies.

I will continue to develop my gifts too, so that when we are together, it will be a celebration of our different gifts and a partnership of our lives together.

I will also keep myself pure so that my purity will be the most wonderful present for you.

I can’t wait to finally meet you and to hear what God has been doing in your life too!

Your Future Wife,

Candy

6 Place me like a seal over your heart,     like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death,     its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire,     like a mighty flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love;     rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give     all the wealth of one’s house for love,     it would be utterly scorned. (Song of Songs 8:6-7)

What Is Next for Eirene Letters?

Today marks the 81st day of lockdown. I will be going back to the office next week.

During this lockdown, I had had a wonderful time. It was a restful time. It was also a fruitful time. This blog was revived after a 2-year hiatus when I had no inspiration to write anything. I was also reluctant to write because I was fearful that the contents would not be useful. I was so glad that during this lockdown, I broke out of my fear and started blogging again. It also humbles me to have dear friends reading this blog and benefitting from it.

What is next, now that we are slowly coming out of the lockdown? It will take some time to get used to going back to the office and to commute to work, but keeping a routine will make this transition easier.

For this coming week, first and foremost, I would be building an altar in the office. My mentor Maria encouraged me to set up a space in the office which would be a place for prayerful meditation and not just for work (or paper works). This altar in the office will be a refuge not just for me, but for the people around me too, to experience God at work.

As for this blog, I will continue to write. I have many more blog posts I want to share with you.

Next week, i will be making a Father’s Day video for my flock. And in the following week, I will be exploring using audio instead of videos.

You can also check my Instagram account for some photos with Bible verses.

It is an exciting time ahead and thank you for journeying with me.”May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:17)!

The Joys of Friendships

Recently, I watched on Netflix a movie called, “The Heat”. It is a cop-buddy comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy.

I am a Sandra Bullock fan and would watch any movies with her in it. I would often replay them for at least a few times.

In this movie, Sandra Bullock played an FBI Special Agent, Sarah Ashburn. She was a workaholic who lived alone, an arrogant police and could not get along with anyone. Melissa McCarthy, on the other hand, played a foul-mouthed Boston police detective, Shannon Mullins. At the start of the movie, Sarah was sent to Boston to bring down a drug kingpin who happened to be followed up closely by Shannon. That was where she met Shannon, and Shannon had made it very clear that she did not like another person to interfere with her case. In order to be eligible for a promotion, Sarah agreed to her boss’ order that she worked together with Shannon to solve this case.

It was a rough start. Both of them bickered and quarreled but as days went by, they learned to watch out for each other and to appreciate each other.

In the end, as with most comedies, it was a happy ending. They cracked the case, Shannon received an award, welcomed Sarah into her family and called her a “sister” which was meaningful as Sarah did not have a family.

I laughed throughout the movie. I loved the natural and dynamic chemistry between Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy! I loved their teamwork! I enjoyed watching them working together.

I took my phone and WhatsApp my buddy—my Shannon or Sarah, and told her about the movie.Just like Sarah and Shannon in the movie, we were the complete opposite of each other. We had different upbringing, different culture, raised in different cities, liked different things and we didn’t even speak the same dialect when we first met! Somehow, we gelled. We managed to make this friendship work. There were times when we irritated and annoyed each other to the maximum but we knew that whatever we were going through, we would be there for each other. The love of Christ is the foundation of our friendship.True friends are hard to find.

Below are three joys of having friends in our lives:

1. Friends help us to enjoy God

I am an introvert but I can testify that great friends are given by God. Ephesians 5:18-19 says, “Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart”. Some of the enjoyable moments in life are just having fun together in the Lord.

2. Friends keep us accountable

John Wesley had his covenantal group which held each member accountable. Every time when they met together, they would ask each other a set of questions and they had to be honest when answering them. The purpose of this was to keep each other holy.

Good friends watch over us with love and make sure we are on the right track. Friends speak the truth to us in love (Ephesians 4:15).

Proverbs 27:6 says, “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses”.

In my own life, friends speak into my life and give me rebukes when necessary so that I am living a life pleasing to God. The rebukes are painful but they help me to be a better person.

Good friends will love us enough to continue inspiring and encouraging us to grow as a person, as a citizen in this world and as a disciple of Christ.

3. Friends bring us before God in prayers

Life’s burdens and problems can weigh us down. They are heavy for us to carry them alone. Good friends will not only listen to us when we need listening ears, they will also pray for us. How wonderful to know that we are not alone in our struggles but that there are faithful friends who are bringing us before God in their intercessions.

I would love to hear from you: How had you been blessed by your friends? Leave a comment below!

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:

  1. 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)

  1. 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)

  1. 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),

 

  1. 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.

  1. 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)

  1. 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).

 

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

What a feast!

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!