Your Conscience Protects Faith

Last week, I ate pork ribs that weren't fresh. There was a tad smell & taste of blood. I felt that I should stop eating, but yet I proceeded to finish them. My conscience actually did not say Yes.

On the next day, I had great stomach discomfort and one round of diarrhoea in the afternoon. By evening, the stomach discomfort still persisted strongly.

Disclaimer: What I am going to share here is NOT a method to follow, but a principle.

So I went to the kitchen cabinet and took out a large packet of spicy potato chips. I gave thanks and ate more than half of them, while still having stomach discomfort. My conscience allowed me to do so. In fact, I believed that I would be healed by eating the chips, since it happened many times.

True enough... after finishing the chips, the stomach discomfort completely disappeared. I felt as normal as I should be. On the next day, I remained perfectly well. Jesus!

Your conscience protects faith. Whatever our conscience allows us to eat, faith overcomes. I believe that we can come to the place where our conscience allows us to eat ANYTHING and still walk in divine health.

The God Of Wealth

According to the Chinese tradition, the god of wealth or 财神 is often regarded highly during Chinese New Year. The Chinese believe that the name of 财神 should be invoked so that the family would be bestowed with prosperity and wealth. In their context, wealth refers to money (gold) and success.

Now what about the God Yahweh? Is He the God of Wealth?

Firstly, biblical wealth doesn't purely refer to money, though it may include money. There are rich people who are not wealthy. And there are wealthy people who are not very rich. Wealth encompasses life in every area - relationship, family, marriage, work, etc.

But where the topic of 'wealth' is discussed, most people still refer it to money..

Like what Kris Vallotton said, to say that "God wants us to be rich" or "God wants us to be poor and humble" are really two extremes that you can't find in the Bible. One is called 'prosperity mindset' while the other 'poverty mindset'. 

The Scriptures hold a healthy tension between riches and having no lack. But it didn't say that ALL will be rich. Neither did it say that we should suffer lack of finances. I believe that some are really blessed by God to be rich and all are blessed by God to have no lack. It's about trusting in Him for providence.

Having said this, there are some who think that trusting in God's providence is about sitting and waiting and doing nothing, expecting heaven to rain down finances. If this is true, God would not have given us talents, abilities, gifts, etc. He would not be talking about work and labour in the Scriptures.

Disclaimer: There are, however, occasions when God really rains down finances. And I have personally experienced that many times. But I did not sit there and did nothing. I did what I could, and God in His mercy, poured out financial miracles.

The truth of the matter is this... God has already given us the power to get wealth.

In the Old Testament, Moses told the people in Deuteronomy.

Deut 8:18 - And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you POWER to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (emphasis added)

The Greek word for 'power' according to the Septuagint is 'δύναμιν'. It is translated as 'dynamin', where you get the word 'dunamis'.

In the New Testament, Jesus used the exact same word 'dynamin' in the verse below.

“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with POWER [dynamin] from on high.” - Luke 24:49 (emphasis added)

Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit who would come to empower us.

But you shall receive POWER [dunamis] when the Holy Spirit has come upon you... - Acts 1:8 (emphasis added)

In other words, when we receive the Holy Spirit, we also receive the POWER to get wealth. This is why Ephesians 1:3 says that God has "blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."

God has ALREADY blessed us with finances. How? On the Cross, God tore the veil that separated us from Him, so that He could rush out to live IN us. The Spirit of God IN us is the POWER to get wealth.

Therefore, we have God's wisdom, God's ability, etc to get wealth. God has already put that IN us. Stop waiting for wealth to come. Start stewarding what He has already given to get wealth.

P.S: You may not necessarily be rich. But you will have enough.

Moving In The Power

Kingdom Partnership

Kingdom partnership is different from business partnership. In business, every partner must be in full agreement. Else the partnership will be in trouble.

In kingdom partnership, it’s about relationship. We don’t have to be in full agreement. We don’t have to see eye to eye. We don’t need to have same doctrinal beliefs. Yet we support one another because we are in the same family. Jesus!

Dream - Bill Johnson

Last night, I had a dream.

I was sitting beside Bill Johnson at a dinner gathering. There were a number of people but I couldn't see their faces. I was conversing with Bill.

Now, I haven't been following Bill Johnson for quite a long time. I didn't read his books nor listen to his sermons for around three years. I wasn't thinking about him.

So when such dream came in the night, I would wake up and seek the Lord about it. For God speaks in many ways, and one way is through dreams.

The last vivid dream I had was a conversation with John G Lake and Lindsay Gordon.

While sitting beside Bill Johnson, he asked, "Why are you not eating?"

I replied, "I'm fasting."

He added, "How often do you fast?"

I answered, "Once every week. And an extended fast once a year."

He said, "When you fast, is it one meal or something?"

I said, "No. It's full day without food."

He continued, "Don't you get hungry?"

I replied, "No. I don't. I'm used to it."

The dream ended there and I woke up.

As I sought the Lord, I felt Him speaking to me, "Go deeper in dependence on Me."

I understood what it meant. What you repeatedly do can sometimes becomes a routine, instead of a relationship.

In the beginning of this year, when I did an extended fast without food, I had a revelation on Generational Curses. It was never in the Bible, not even in the Old Testament. That blew my mind away. In an extended fast, you stay dependence on Him because you eat nothing for so many days. However, it can become a religion if we do it with the wrong motive. It has nothing to do with the act of fasting in the first place.

As shared before, fasting is not an obligation in the New Covenant. You don't need to fast. You don't have to fast in order to grow in dependence and intimacy with Him. It's only ONE of the many tools.

It doesn't work for everybody. But I know it works for me. Hence, while I don't advocate fasting, I do it personally. I don't put a yoke upon others, just because I do it. In fact, most of the time, I tell others NOT to fast - because it has often been abused and misused due to religious Christianity. The truth is... you can feast on food and still grow in intimacy with Him.

Yet in this dream, God was conveying a message to me. I seldom get dreams. I personally believe that if we stay conscious of Him and lean in to His voice in the day, we don't need a dream at night. When a dream comes in the night, it is often because there is no other way for Him to get our attention when we are awake.

In this dream, God wanted to take me deeper, deeper in dependence on Him. It has nothing to do with fasting. But my weekly fast - once a week - can become a hindrance, because I am so used to doing it, that I don't think much about it.

It's a nudge from Him to return to the place of dependence. To depend deeper and more on Him than ever before.

Dependence doesn't mean that we seek Him for every single step that we take - what to eat, what to wear, who to reach out to, etc. We might as well ask Him, "God, should I move my left leg or right leg first when I walk? Should I wake up at 6.30 am or 6.31 am? Should I take three seconds or five seconds to breathe in?" That's ridiculous! That's the charismatic and religious way of approaching God without understanding that Christ is IN us. That's separating Him from us and you can't find it from Jesus and the life of apostle Paul.

Dependence on Him is knowing that He is WITH us every step of the way. It's trusting Him in every result, regardless of the circumstances. It's believing in all of His promises and His goodness. Jesus!

P.S: A clear sign that we don't depend on Him is when we are led by fear and worries.

Singapore Needs The Power Of The Gospel

Singapore is getting more and more stressful. 

Everywhere you go, people are down with flu. In every bus, in every train cabin, in every queue, at every corner, etc. I don’t remember seeing these in the past.

It’s a sign that our country is prospering outward but not inward. It’s a sign that our culture and lives have declined. It’s a sign that we are further away from being the city of Antioch because of the pursuit of materialism, success, wealth and kiasuism. It’s a sign that we are more performance driven than ever before.

We may have many churches. We may have started many movements. We may have sent out many missionaries. But we are dying on the inside. An outward ministry cannot represent the inward being.

Divorces increase; marriages break down; young people fall into depression and commit suicide. The family unit is weak.

It’s a national awakening that is needed, but it begins from personal awakening. The reality is that we are declining as a nation. But the sure anchor we have is the power of the Gospel.

The day will come when the power of the Gospel will present itself again so that we see the book of Acts coming alive. It won’t be the same. It will be greater.

It is time not to build more churches and bigger churches. It is time not to run more and more conferences for the sake of conferences. We don’t have to do it every year. It’s called religion. 

It is time to rise up and present the Gospel of the kingdom, not the Gospel of salvation. It is time to stop thinking that quantity = quality. Because more numbers should impact and transform more lives. But we are seeing more numbers, yet less transformed lives.

Saying this is not to make us lose hope and focus on the decline. No, but all the more, it produces in us zealous desire to see the kingdom in us awakened, presented and manifested in the nation of Singapore. #SingaporeForJesus #PowerandLove

The Destroyer Can’t Match The Wisdom of God

The Old Covenant is the New Covenant concealed. The New Covenant is the Old Covenant revealed.

The Passover Lamb in Exodus pointed to the Crucified Son.

Was God the One who killed all the innocent firstborn of Egypt? Apparently, it seems that He did, if you read it literally without the understanding of the nature of God and the understanding of the Hebrew writer’s perspective.

The writers did not have a revelation of who Satan is. Neither did they have a completion revelation of who God is. They thought that the devil was still under God’s control and hence, whatever the devil did, God must have been in full control. What He allowed the devil to do points back to Him as the originator and the mastermind. At least, the OT writers thought that way.

Exodus 12:23 - For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and NOT ALLOW the DESTROYER to come into your houses to strike you. (emphasis added)

If you read the context of the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, you will realise that the drawing of the blood symbolises the Cross. Because the Passover Lamb was meant to point to the Crucified Son of God.

With the blood applied by the house of Israel, God protected them from the destroyer, who killed all the firstborn of Egypt.

God is the Giver of Life. While He could judge the rebellious Egyptians, He doesn’t take innocent lives in order to save more lives. Life came FROM Him.

God did NOT ALLOW the destroyer to strike the firstborn sons as long as the household applied the blood. Scriptures did not say that only Israel would be saved. If any household of Egyptians applied the blood, it would yield the same protection.

Who exactly was the destroyer? He was mentioned by apostle Paul in 1 Cor 10:10. Those who murmured were destroyed by the destroyer.

In Revelation 9:11, we see this.

“And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.”

The original meaning for Apollyon is “Destroyer”. He is none other than Satan.

Satan had been destroying firstborn sons. He was consistent in the Old and the New Covenant. (i.e. Egyptian firstborn, Israel’s firstborn, Jewish firstborn, etc)

God is extremely wise and sovereign. For He IS Wisdom. What the devil tried to do, God always turned it for good.

The destroyer killed the firstborn sons of Egypt. That was the ultimate plague that led to the release and salvation of the Israelites.

Remember, the Old points to the New.

The destroyer crucified the firstborn Son of the creation Jesus Christ. That was the ultimate move for the redemption of mankind.

For if the devil knew the outcome, he wouldn’t have crucified Jesus.

The destroyer cannot match the wisdom of God. Jesus!

Generational Curses? Part 4

In Part 1-3, we discovered that God had never placed generational curses on His people since the beginning. It was a tradition that we had picked up over the years. We misunderstood God's heart and His love.

The only curse was Adamic curse, since the Fall (Genesis 3:16-19; Romans 5:12). You may call it 'generational curse' (Adam was our past generation), if you like.

But Christ has redeemed us from that Adamic curse (Romans 5:18-19). Our past generation is now Christ.

Breaking generational curses, as mentioned in previous posts, is extra-biblical. Not only that, it denies the sufficiency of the Gospel and undermines the finished works of Jesus on the Cross.

Jesus Christ is central to the Gospel. It is the God-Man's broken body and His shed blood that removed every sin and curse, and redeemed us to our original created value and image. It is such Gospel truth that makes us free (John 8:32). Without the Gospel, there is no identity.

The need to break generational curses is a Gospel-plus-something, instead of the pure Gospel (Gal 1:6-9). To minister that way is to deny that Christ's perfect sacrifice on the Cross is more than enough to sanctify, purify and make us a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).

It is to say that Jesus' perfect and finished works on the Cross are not perfect and finished enough. It is adding new formula and tradition to the 'Grace and Truth' that came (so that we could simply receive by faith).

Our redemptive value as an individual is established by Christ alone. Yet, if the new value in Christ can be uncontrollably held by the past because of the 'so-called generational curses', life is no longer the responsibility of an individual. The regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) becomes powerless to overcome the old man (Rom 6:6). We become victims instead of being more than conquerors (Rom 8:37). Read Romans 6 and you will know that Christ alone has set you free. We either choose to believe or not.

There were no generational curses placed by God. If there was, we will be going against Him by breaking the curse that He had placed.

The Cross is not just the revelation of your identity. The Cross is also the revelation of who God is. Jesus was God in the flesh. He came to reveal and to do the Father's will.

The God in the Old Testament is the same God in the New. He is not schizophrenic and He doesn't change His nature. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. And He is LOVE. Jesus!

Part 1-3

https://goo.gl/kUXSRx

Potato Chips That Give Life

My throat was feeling discomfort the night before. That's a flu-like symptom. I had a revelation on potato chips, because it worked before. So I went to the cabinet and took the packet of Kettle (Korean BBQ) chips that my wife bought. It was a huge packet and I finished half of them, knowing that I would be totally well after eating. I simply thanked God for potato chips, for everything that is received with thanksgiving is purified and made good for my body.

Yes. This defies logic and reasoning. But the chips were eaten with understanding on His goodness.

After eating, I felt that my throat was almost fully healed. In the middle of the night, I woke up completely healed. Jesus!

"The power of God is more mechanic that you think." - Curry Blake

I believe that the reason why the power of God is mechanic is because of His unwavering faithfulness. We don't have to keep asking, "Holy Spirit, should I do this or do that in order to be healed?" 

Don't make the Gospel complicated. What has worked before will continue to work as long as believing is involved, because it is a testimony of His goodness and faithfulness.

If we keep growing in the revelation of His broken Body, we can eat anything and be completely well. #healing #mechanic #powerofGod #potatochips

Generational Curses? Part 3

In Part 2, we saw that the context of Exodus 20:5 wasn't about God placing generational curses. Yet the people of God had misunderstood God's intention, because the Israelites were largely influenced and surrounded by paganism.

In the Ancient Near Eastern culture, if an idol worshiper were to commit cultic infractions, i.e. failed to follow the god's practice, he would have to die. His whole family would also need to be completely wiped out.

It is no wonder why the people of God thought that God would judge their sins until their fourth generation.

In the New Testament, Jesus came to confirm that there was no generational curse. In John 9, the disciples asked Jesus regarding a man born blind.

“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” - John 9:2

The disciples (who were Jews) had the same misunderstanding due to the Jewish traditions. The Jewish rabbis believed that all suffering, including illnesses and disabilities were caused by sin (John 9:34). Those were the result of God's punishment for sin (aka generational curses).

But Jesus busted their wrong belief.

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him." - John 9:3

God is not into the punishing business. He's into healing business. Jesus came to fully represent the Father. The Son does not contradict the Father. They are both on the same page.

Search the four books of the Gospel and see if you can find Jesus ever talking about generational curses. Do note that Jesus was still living under the OLD COVENANT in the Gospel - because God does not change (Mal 3:6).

Jesus didn't ask anyone to repent of their sins or their fathers/past generations' sins BEFORE healing them. He healed them unconditionally. He cast out demons from them unconditionally.

Today, we are adding extra-biblical stuff to the Scriptures by breaking generational curses, whether from believers OR non-believers.

Ever wondered why Exo 20:5 stopped at fourth generation? Because it has to do with modeling. The fourth generation is great-grandchildren. Because the great-grandparents do have an impact on them. i.e. If you keep seeing your father smoking and drinking, you will likely follow likewise. It has nothing to do with generational curses.

In the last part, we will see how breaking generational curses deny the sufficiency of the Gospel and undermine the finished works of Jesus on the Cross. #bustgenerationalcurses