Encouragement

David, at a time of distress when his own family was captured by the enemy and all his men turned bitter against him, strengthened HIMSELF IN THE LORD (1 Sam 30:6).

He encouraged himself in the Lord when nobody encouraged him. This was a man living in Old Covenant reality, who didn’t have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and who couldn’t speak in tongues to edify himself. Yet by Psalming, he encouraged himself and overcame.

Fast forward... the Son of Man came into the world He created but the world did not know Him. They disowned, betrayed, rejected, tortured and crucified Him. Throughout His journey, nobody encouraged Him, even on the Cross. Yet He encouraged Himself in the Father and endured the Cross with JOY.

In the New Covenant reality, we see a man named Paul who was severely persecuted by the Jews. Nobody encouraged him. Yet when he was in chains in prison, he wrote to encourage OTHERS - “Rejoice, I will say it again, Rejoice!” (Phil 4:4)

Jesus is the prototype for us. If not, consider Paul.

If we can strengthen/encourage ourselves in the Lord without depending on anyone to encourage us, we can walk free from discouragement, because no one can discourage us. Jesus!

Miraculous & Identity

The fact that miraculous flow through you despite your imperfection reveals that your imperfection is not your identity. Your identity is who you were created to be. #identity

Haji Lane Outreach

Sharing one of the testimonies last Friday...

A lady came and sat at the booth after being ministered by one of the team members for her injured wrist while she was standing. The pain was left with 20%.

We asked, “How’s your wrist now?” She said, “Just a little pain left. But it’s okay.”

We replied, “No. it’s not ok. We go for 100%.” So we ministered to her and she was completely healed. She exclaimed, “This is crazy!”

Then we saw the word “Laura” floating on her head. So we said, “Laura. Does it mean anything to you?”

She screamed, “What! Laura! It means a lot to me. It’s a song that I have been listening and it meant a lot to me.” Then she quickly told her friend (who was standing at one side), “This guy just told me Laura! I only just sat down at the booth! This is crazy!”

Then we added, “We don’t know anything about the song. But Laura meant a lot to you because you identify with the song due to the hurt you experienced.” She nodded her head in excitement.

Then she picked three cards from the Harvest deck. I can’t remember what she chose (need to check through the whole deck of cards to recall). Holy Spirit spoke and we said, “You are an achiever. When you set a goal, you will fulfill it. In fact, you have many achievements because you were never approved since young by your parents. These achievements are ways you feel approved.” She nodded, “So sad but everything you said is true.”

We continued, “Your past few relationships broke down the same way. Because you are seeking approval from the guys and they failed to approve you.” She nodded, “Yes. I always need their approval. Each time when I look to them for approval, the relationship failed.”

We said, “You are wondering if you would get married as you see your peers getting married. But the point is not about marriage. Marriage will still break down if you need that approval from men. There is one Perfect Man who has given you approval and if you know that you are already approved, you won’t be seeking for approval from men. You live not for approval. You live from approval.”

She said, “Who is that Man?”

We shared the message of Christ with her and she said, “Oh yes, I visit churches.” But we said, “Going to church doesn’t make you a believer. Just as going to Mac Donald doesn’t make you a hamburger.” She laughed.

We talked about what it meant to have a personal relationship with the Perfect Man who approved her and live in relationship with Him.

When she understood, she said, “I think I understand. I believe.”

We said, “Believing in your heart is what makes it a reality. Start reading the love letters in the Bible and know Him deeper so that you live from that place.” Without any sinner’s prayer or salvation prayer, she is born again into the kingdom by believing. Jesus!

What Grows You?

Problems & accident three days in a row. But it’s miniatured in comparison to martyrdom.

Problems don’t grow you.

Challenges don’t grow you.

Even community doesn’t grow you.

If they do, then you don’t need Christ. It is in the secret where you grow, and it is in the public which reveals your growth.

That is why we are transformed by beholding Him, not by beholding problems, challenges, etc.

When we seek Him in the secret, He rewards us in the open (Matt 6) —— revealing our growth, because what is inside of us gets manifested in public regardless of challenges, problems and community.

The fire is not here to grow you. It is here to test you. It tests by revealing how much you have really grown and what is really INSIDE of you. Jesus!

Growth is not outside in. It is inside out. That’s the difference between the kingdom and the world.

Evangelism OR Discipleship?

In the four books of the Gospel, Jesus ended with the Great Commission in the last chapter (except the book of John):

- Matthew 28:19-20

- John 20:22-23

- Mark 16:15-18

- Luke 24:46-48

Except for Matthew, all the other three books talk about preaching the Good News. In Matthew, Jesus said this instead, "Go therefore, and MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations..." Why is that so?

Mark & Luke were mainly written to the Gentiles, while John was written to mixed and dispersed audience. Matthew, however, was mainly written to the Jewish audience.

Note: In the early church, the word 'believers' was interchangeable with 'disciple' and 'Christian' (Acts 5:14; 1 Thes 1:7; 1 Tim 4:10; Acts 6:1-2, 6:7; Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16). There is no separation. Yet today, we come out with man-made teachings that try to differentiate a believer and a disciple.

In the Jewish culture in those days, the Jews understood what a disciple meant (John 9:28). Some of them thought they were the disciples of Moses. A disciple was to follow after his teacher's teachings.

Since Matthew was written to the Jews (as first readers) and again the Jews (as first hearers), when Jesus commanded them to 'make disciples', they immediately understood that they were to lead people to FOLLOW CHRIST!

For them, to preach the Good News is the same as to make disciples. There is NO separation. Yet in today's culture, we come out with the Gospel of salvation and the Gospel of the kingdom, when there is really only ONE Gospel - the Gospel of the Kingdom. We try to win people to Christ but we don't talk about surrendering and Lordship. We differentiate between evangelism and discipleship. We create two categories: Salvation AND Discipleship.

The fact of the matter is this... you can't find such separation in the Bible. In times past, people said, "Well, I am not an evangelist. So evangelism is not for me." But today, everybody knows that evangelism is for every believer. However, today, there are many who say, "Well, I do evangelism, but I am not called to do discipleship. There's not my role." I am afraid that there is no difference. Because discipleship IS for every believer, just as evangelism is.

Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creations IS EXACTLY the same as Go and make disciples of all nations. You can't do one without the other. It's the same package in the kingdom.

In the early church, nobody received Jesus into their lives. They gave theirs to Him. In today's culture, we lead people to salvation prayer and let them receive Jesus into their lives, creating a lukewarm Christianity - one that focuses on consumerism resulting in constipation. That is not the Gospel. The Gospel is about God so loved you and gave Himself up for you, and in response, you want to give your life to Him - that includes SURRENDERING AND LORDSHIP. It means, "FOLLOW HIM". It means, "I have been crucified with Him. And He now lives through me." 

Discipleship is not an option in the preaching of the Gospel. It is NOT either evangelism or discipleship. It is either none or ALL. There is no salvation prayer in the Bible by the way. Don't lead people to receive Jesus into their lives. Give them Jesus so that they want to give their lives to Him.

Stop clocking numbers and start focusing on the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Vision of Unprecedented Harvest

After sending my son to school, I was driving on the road when I saw a vision from the Lord.

Some people say that you need to seek Him at the end of the year for the next calendar year. But we forget that God is not limited to calendar. He exists outside of time. More often than not, a yearly vision is man-made instead of God-given.

“Without vision, people perish.” That phrase has been misused badly. The word ‘vision’ in Hebrew is ‘divine communication in vision’, which is known as the revelation of God. In the Old Covenant, the prophets received prophetic revelation on who God is and His Law, because the people didn’t have the Bible. This explains the second part of Prov 29:18, which is hardly quoted - “But happy is he who keeps the Law.”

Without the knowledge of God, people perish. It is the same as Hosea 4:6.

We are not called to seek a new yearly vision at the end of the year. We are called to seek Him daily! We are called to seek Him and His kingdom (Matt 6:33). God is not bound by calendar year. Instead of giving His people ‘vision casting’, why not give them Him so that they would seek Him for their lives?

Anyway, in the vision that I received when I was driving this morning (I didn’t seek Him for 2019), I saw a banana hung upside down. The skin was already fully peeled, exposing the fruit. Just one touch and the fruit drops to the ground. Then I felt the Lord saying immediately, “There is going to be unprecedented harvest in Singapore. The fruit is so ripened that you will see salvation everywhere in a supernaturally natural and easy way. It’s going to pop up everywhere this year.”

Now this is not like most prophecies where people always say, “God is doing this... God is doing that...” To say that God is doing something is to say that God is NOT doing it when things don’t happen. To credit God for everything is also to discredit Him when things don’t happen. 

We are in partnership with Him. Christ in you is the Hope of glory. God chose to work through you and me. Some things happen because He chose you and you responded to Him. It’s co-labouring because of co-union and communion.

God is not doing something for such harvest. He already did it when He sent the Holy Spirit. It’s not end-time harvest. Apostle Paul was already living in end-time harvest. He was already living in the last days. The early church was already seeing multitudes coming to Christ. Yet today, we still prophesy as though last days are coming. Well, it already DID in the book of Acts!

I believe that this year, the Body of Christ in SG will be so awakened to their identity and authority such that they move in Power and Love to see the unprecedented harvest. It is ready as always. But the Body will be awakened and risen up to see the fruit! Jesus!

Surrender To His Mind

It doesn’t take more of God to have terminal diseases healed as compared to muscle ache. Christ already paid for all diseases to be healed.

It takes more of our mind surrendered to His mind.

Want to see more healings? Just pray for more people who need healing. It’s simple Mathematics.

Why do you see more cases of muscle ache healed? Because you prayed for more cases.

Want to see more terminal diseases healed? Then pray for more cases. #simpleMath #surrendertoHismind