Giddy Gird-yup!

“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” 1 Peter 1:13

The term “gird your loins” was used in the Roman Era meaning to pull up and tie the lower flowing robes between their legs to increase their mobility in battle. I can just imagine loose flowing garments, getting wrapped around your legs, tripping you and getting in the way. Not productive.

My assistant and I come across a lot of cattiness and gossip against us in our department. We are the only Christians in the department, but I’m not sure why we are the target of such ongoing spitefulness. We anoint our office and pray against it; it stops for a week or so and then starts up again. It’s actually very exhausting.

Last week one of the ladies tried pulling a stunt against my assistant and I guess I had enough of it and answered her quite sarcastically. Sigh. It ended the matter, but not the proper response to Christian suffering!
That night during my prayer time I prayed about it, and as I was telling God that I don’t understand why they are like that toward us and I’m tired of it all, He said “Just lay aside every weight.” I continued praying and He said again, “Just lay aside every weight!” So I opened my Bible to meditate on the Scripture, and was unsurprisingly, very convicted! So much so that I now saw the perpetrator as the victim and me as the dragon!

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” Hebrews 12:1

It’s almost like, “Yeah, it happens. But just let it go, man.” It’s just not worth allowing things of this world to set us back in our relationship with Him. It is a weight, a ball and chain. We can’t move effectively when we are weighed down. We are going to end up confessing it as sin anyway, so why waste our time doing it in the first place?

The loose garments needed to be girded with a belt. Our belt today is Truth. We have to be so tightly wound by God’s truth so that the things of this world don’t become a hindrance or snare in our walk with Him. Or else it makes us a lukewarm bath. Not very pleasant to be in.

 Pull yourself together!

To gird is also to prepare you for action. It should be no surprise to me that I’m going to face these sorts of things. I need to be ready and not war back with a sword of sarcasm. Just as Jesus faced hostility, those who believe in Him will sometimes have to endure divine discipline for the sake of holiness.

My personal task is to pinch myself before reacting and say, “is what you’re about to say or do Truth? Will it render an effective service for the Lord?”

As heavy as these sorts of trials are, God will use them to perfect me. He knows my mouth is too quick. I’m tightening up my worldly mouth to be replaced with dependence on, and confidence in, my God to handle these situations.

Modeling Christ this Easter

This is the most important time in a Christian’s year. The death and resurrection of God’s beloved Son and our glorious King. 

However, we attend the church services and listen wholeheartedly to the sermons, but when the weekend is over we forget to live the lives from what we just learnt in church. We don’t walk the walk. How can we take the themes of Christ’s sacrifice for us and apply it this weekend, and ultimately extend it to the rest of our lives?

Obviously we have to encompass all of Christ’s goodness, purity and mind into our lives consistently; but I’ve chosen four themes to focus on this weekend, and really apply them diligently, so that by the time Easter is over I can have a stronger grasp of applying them: mercy, grace, forgiveness and love.

“Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful” Luke 6:36
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” Matt 5:7
God has granted us overflowing mercy by providing us with redemption, but being merciful can be a tough one for anyone to master. Our flesh detests mercy and prefers to inflict physical and psychological harm!
How can we be merciful? A person who is merciful is basically compassionate. It is realising that we are all sinners and no one is perfect.
Mercy relates to grace. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve, while grace is getting what you don’t deserve. So forget the offence and hurt done against you. Do kind things without wanting to be thanked for them in return. Doing this glorifies God because we are obeying His commandments and are a reflection of His wonderful mercy.

Luke 6:37 “…Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
Matt 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
As humans, sometimes it feels like that if we don’t respond to an offense with bitterness, anger and even revenge, we have let the offender “get away with what they have done to us.”
But God let us get away with our sinful natures, through Jesus!  It is an alarming thought to me that if I don’t forgive someone God won’t forgive me! And I need a lot of forgiveness! That verse is so important to me that often I ask God to bring to my mind anyone I have not forgiven in my past or present, because sometimes we don’t even realise we are harbouring unforgiveness for someone.
Do you know what a simple test is? This is how I test myself: If you think you have truly forgiven someone, assess your reaction to them when you are in their presence (or even if you think about them) – how do you feel? What thoughts are going through your mind? If any thought or feeling is ungodly or works against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5), you need to ask God to help you to truly forgive that person. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”
Forgetting is not forgiving! It will creep up on you. But forgiving will help you forget it.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” John 3:16
God loves us through all our faults and weaknesses. His Son had to die for a wretched species. Yet He loves us still.
How can you honour God by showing love this weekend?
Love is patient and kind (1 Corinthians 13:4). When your spouse or child, for example, does something to start welling up feelings of irritation in you, remember how God was patient with you 5 minutes ago when you sinned! My husband is such a wonderful model of kindness and patience for me. When I’m having a bad day and so desperately want to throw a tantrum, he always turns the other cheek, or gives me a hug and responds to me with gentleness. You will find that if you respond to the other person in an attitude of love and kindness, it very quickly diffuses the entire situation.

Dear Readers, I encourage you this weekend to model these themes with me of Christ’s sacrifice for us. Let us be a light to those around us so that the world can see what true Christianity is really all about – mercy and love to a lost world. Let our Father be glorified! 

I saw Jesus advertising Coca Cola

Prov 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

My favourite conversations are about Jesus and what Jesus has done and all the wonderful things He continues to do in my life and others. Nothing gets me more fired up than testimonies and it is what sparked this blog, to glorify Jesus, and in the hopes others may learn from my experiences.

I have been saved since small, and the years have taught me many things. Satan has had it in for me since I was tiny, so I have learnt a lot along the way. I have strong knowledge on spiritual warfare, so it comes to the point where someone asks me something and I am able to answer them right away.

Good? Well….maybe not always.

It was nearing the end of 2011 and I was feeling frustrated as I felt that I wasn’t moving or growing with the Lord all of a sudden. I wanted to do greater things, more things to bring glory to His name. But I felt ‘stuck’. So this had been bugging me for a while and I had prayed numerous times about it.

The one night I had the weirdest dream. I dreamt I was visiting my cousin, who is also saved. I was standing in his bedroom and suddenly noticed a poster positioned on the bottom of the wall. I have no idea why the poster was placed on the bottom of the wall and not at the top like posters usually are.

The poster was of Jesus. It was the picture of Jesus on the day of His crucifixion – I could only see from His bare chest up and He was wearing His crown of thorns drinking a 500ml bottle of Coca Cola. The caption read “Ladies! Why else do you think they call Him ‘Holy Holy Holy’?” (Rev 4:8)
My cousin then walked in looking as surprised as me about the poster. I could see he had not seen it before. We wanted to giggle at the funny caption but then kind of got angry at the blasphemy of it.

Interesting advert for Coca Cola, right!

I then woke up and I thought, “Lord? What on earth are You trying to tell me?”

Was the dream for both of us? I don’t know.

But I had asked one of my sister’s friends who has the blessed spiritual gift of prophecy if she might have an interpretation and this is what she said regarding my cousin who had backslid for many years and rededicated his life to the Lord:

“Jesus has been boxed into commercial Jesus, and the true meaning of who He is has been missed. His blood sanctifies us and makes us whole and speaks of covenant (Eph 1:7). That is reflected in the Coke and shows a lack of belief that he has been made whole. The bedroom is significant because that is probably where he spends his time alone with the Lord and speaks of intimacy.”

When I approached my cousin about this he agreed that this interpretation was true.

However, I wasn’t at peace. This dream had to mean something to me too, or else why would the slogan have read “Ladies”?

It took me three weeks of prayer for an answer.

Before reading and studying my Bible I like to pray that God helps me understand what I’m reading and to bless me with wisdom as He wills (James 1:5)

I had turned to the Book of Ephesians and started reading; the Lord had led me there because revelation hit me like a tidal wave. Watchman Nee has stated that spiritual truth comes to us in much the same way a flashbulb would light a darkened room.
I was writing down notes so fast and going “oh my word, oh my word!” afraid I wouldn’t get everything down that was revealed to me.

 Ephesians 1:15-23 “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,  the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Eph 2:5-6 “even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

This is what God laid on my heart about the dream:

God has confirmed, as above, that we are created in Christ for good works, and that He wants us to know what our calling is.
However, looking back at myself, I realise when someone asks me for biblical advice I am all too happy to help and I spew out answers immediately “just because I know the answer.” In essence I was treating Jesus and the Word like a textbook, like something commercial, just to refer back to. Obviously we need to give answers based on scripture, but I think because I am always excited to give an answer and help and teach, I don’t stop to pray about it first. Some instances don’t need an immediate answer, but prayer and waiting on the Lord instead. In hindsight, I sometimes did not check in with God first on what He wanted me to tell this person and receive His direction, but I relied on my own understanding (Prov 3:5). After all, I don’t have the answers, only God does, and He is the source of all wisdom and knowledge.

So at the point I felt I had my head up against a wall, going nowhere and not doing more. The reason for that is I was trying to find more of my calling for God in my own way and time, without leaning on Him for guidance. I’m a bit of a control freak and I guess that spilled over into my spiritual life! I was running, but He waiting for me to catch up in the other direction.

Looking further on in Ephesians God gently showed me that the same power that He used to raise up His precious Son is the same power that works within us! He raised us up together with Christ, and we all sit together in the heavenly places.
So, He has given me the power, as a gift. And in due time He will lead me to what He needs me to do; but I can’t lead myself there or do this on my own. He said, “You have the power because of My Son, but if you go this alone, I’m not coming with you!” Yikes! Then this was confirmed when I turned to Ephesians 2:5-6 and it says that we can’t go around doing things ourselves and then being able to brag about it. If you go it alone without God’s guidance and instruction, you are doing it in your own strength and you will ultimately glorify yourself.

God knows the plans He has for me, and us, (Jer 29:11) but we just need to learn to give up the control mechanisms and submit to His perfect will and reigning authority! Or we go alone. So every time I see the control coming, I remember Jesus taking a sip of Coke 😉

The kitten of 1 Timothy 4:4-5

When I was seven months pregnant, the Doctor picked up a problem. There was too much fluid around the baby. This would mean one of three things: the baby was Down syndrome, I had gestational diabetes or the baby had TOFS. I was ssoooo hoping for diabetes. I don’t think anyone in this world has wanted diabetes so badly! Anyway, it was TOFS- a very long story but with a happy ending.

However, when I was 3 months pregnant my cat, Georgia W. Bushytail, gave birth to two still born kittens. She was absolutely devastated. I have never seen an animal so emotionally crushed. I just wish there was  a way of us letting an animal know what has happened, so that they too, can get closure like we do. My poor angel would run meeouwing around the house looking in cupboards and around corners, under beds etc for her babies. She was desperately looking for them. She became possessive over me – I was not allowed to even talk on the phone because she would cry, jump on my lap and put her paw over my mouth to make me stop talking! I was so heartbroken for her, I couldn’t stand her pain.

I had thought of getting a newborn kitten from a shelter for her – the more newborn, the better, so that she could bond with him/her. This was a shot in the dark obtaining a kitten so tiny, but I prayed and asked God that if it was His will for Georgia to get another kitten, to please make it happen as her pain was just far too much. In the interim I had contacted 2 animal shelters that rescue abandoned kittens and cats and asked them to keep a lookout for me. I was told that I was asking for a miracle because to find a kitten at such a young age is impossible. I just knew that if God was willing I would have a kitten for Georgia.

Four days later the cat shelter called me – they had found an abandoned 2 week old kitten! I rushed over there and he was the most teeny tiny little mo you ever saw! I called him simply, Teeny, because I couldn’t get over how tiny he was and would always greet him with a “Hello my little teeny tiny mo!” The name Teeny, suffice it to say, stuck.
As soon as I took him home Georgia grabbed him by his little head and pulled him to her to give him a bath! It was the most precious sight I had ever witnessed! Those two are inseparable and her heart healed. Thank You to Jesus Who is ever so kind-hearted! I was so thankful to Him and thanked Him many times over for this special blessing.

Which brings me to my point. I was so paranoid now that the Doctor delivered the bad news, that I was trying to find out what I had done incorrectly to warrant this problem. Then toxoplasmosis hit me! I thought maybe I had gotten that due to a new kitten in the house. I wanted to throw up at the thought! This thought tormented me that I got down on my knees and pleaded with God for mercy and whether this is what actually happened. Did I cause unintentional harm on my unborn child trying to help my cat? But it was God’s will was it not? I asked for a kitten only if it was His will.

The next morning, swollen feet and all, I was getting ready to go grocery shopping with my mom. I was about to brush my teeth and the Holy Spirit said “Go read 1 Tim 4: 4-5”. I thought “Huh? Nah…I’m hearing things”. I grabbed the toothbrush…” Go read 1 Tim 4: 4-5!” Again I thought my mind was just running overtime. I got dressed and was about to walk out my bedroom door when the voice was so persistent “Go read 1 Tim 4: 4-5!!” This time I could not ignore it. When I turned to the verse I burst into tears at what I found:

“…for every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer”

Yes, this passage was actually referring to people worrying about eating food that is sacrificed to idols. For example, when I was visiting in Taiwan, I knew to pray over all my food and thank God for it, because even though they usually bless their food to their gods, everything comes from our God Almighty who created Heaven and earth. When we pray over our food, it is sanctified.

However, God knew to show me this verse because it fit in so perfectly with what I was worrying over. He knew I would know what He meant. I had firstly asked His will for a new kitten, and was so thankful to Him when receiving this little kitten that he was set apart from causing me any harm.

The most important lesson I learned from this was seeking God’s will. If I had gotten a kitten without His permission, something may have well gone wrong! But once you are in His will, you are blessed. You can conquer mountains!