#w555

[chasingthousands]

TYJ (4DAX?)

March holidays just ended and I am so so so grateful. Today’s a continuation or finale(?) of my last few blog posts (first things first + give me a God-listening heart)—but this is a simple post of thanksgiving. But thanksgiving is almost as important as anything else that I can do—thanksgiving acknowledges my reliance on God and not on myself.

March hols has been crazy busy and crazy intense and I often found myself pretty stressed—but each time, God would ask me to slow down, relax, breathe, and know that the battle belongs to the Lord.

At one point I asked God if the grace for CG ministry had been lifted from my life because it’s been so hard for so many years—but this week showed me that it’s the opposite. That I made it hard, when it’s actually supposed to be this easy—when it’s supposed to feel like… it’s so not me, but it’s 1) all God and 2) done in a community where we support one another.

Because that’s what serving in the house of God should look like. It shouldn’t be a burden, shouldn’t a chore. I need to walk in the rhythms of grace, serve out of the overflow, and merely be a channel for God to work through. I also need to work in a team and learn to carry one another’s burdens—not more, and not less. Not fight battles that I’m not supposed to fight, and yet still help in carrying one another’s burdens.

March hols was crazy busy and crazy intense—but it was also so, so, so beautiful. We saw people encountering God; we saw people break into holy laughter; we saw people enjoy one another’s company; we saw new friends asking whether they could come back again for future events—and it was so encouraging and inspiring—and yet in the midst of all that, what I feel is not pride—but I am humbled. Because it was so not me. It was all God, and it was all the team that I was a part of.

God, it is an ultimate privilege and honor to serve You and Your people. It is an honor to be Your doulos—to do whatever You command, to do what I see You do every step of the way.

TYJ—thank You for loving me; thank You for loving us. I love You too, and I pray that we will love You all the days of our lives.

[chasingthousands]

labourers for God

During pre-service prayer meeting as I prayed for the connect group, God spoke 2 verses to me:

1. Luke 10:2

“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.”

Every single time I look at our connect group, I feel like the harvest is so plentiful and the labourers are never enough and the revival is out there to grab, we just need more labourers. 

The connect group is big– and it’s time we started growing people to grow people because that is how the revival comes. Like Pastor Phil said, we don’t start a revival by looking for fruits, we start a revival by planting the roots where the living water (Holy Spirit) is (paraphrased). And it’s time for the labourers to start building and growing more labourers– time for the disciples to start discipling disciples– because this is how the multiplication will come.

2. Psalm 127:1

“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it.”

Having said #1, we’ve to remember that everything in life– especially ministry– comes back to God. I’ve to remember not to get too busy in ministry that I forget that the best ministry is the ministry of intercession. To both seek the Lord for them and to seek the Lord for myself.

If we can follow these two verses, that’s how revival can come and I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty excited about revival!

[chasingthousands]

now hope does not disappoint

5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Tonight as I pray I really feel like God is telling me– the biggest challenge you will face in 2015 is not physical exhaustion or anything that the world can throw at you; the biggest challenge you will face in 2015 is whether you can continue to trust in My Word. 

PK always says the fight is not a physical fight, but it's a fight of faith, and only tonight do I understand what he means.

Phine, I answer the prayers of My children and I hear the cries of My beloved.

It's such a basic, fundamental truth that we learn early on in our Christian walk and everybody expects that this is the first thing that Christians learn and the first thing they live by, but in reality– is so difficult to believe in and act on.

And as I pray for the connect group tonight, I feel God telling me that what happens in 2015 is contingent on whether we as a people can believe– that God answers prayers. That our prayers carry more weight than we often realise. 2015 is going to be a fight of faith.

I don't think it'll be an easy year ahead, but that's okay. That's exciting, actually. I don't think it'll be easy– but I know that the hand of God will be more evident in our lives than ever before. God has never failed me, and I don't think He's about to start now. His answers may not come in the way that I'm expecting, but I know that they will come and when they come it will be so much better than what I expected.

I believe in a God who is loving and who is kind, a God who is merciful and is faithful. I believe in a God who is so much more– more than me, more than what I can ever say or do, more than life itself. And God, today, I choose to believe in You.

(Today and tomorrow and as many tomorrows as it takes.) 

[chasingthousands]

revival

2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”

3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbours—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. 4 And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”

5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. 6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”

And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

During CG I felt God showing me that truly, the anointing flows when there are empty vessels in the house.

God, I pray that the oil never ceases in W555 and in PAC(C)MAN. Let the empty vessels keep coming, let the oil keep flowing. Let us love You more and more with each day that passes. We want to do Your work.

Desperate for more of You Lord. 

[chasingthousands]

let our faith be more than anthems

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”

"I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number."

Today God is working in my heart, moving with faith. As I seek God for EmergeJC and for RI and for W555 and for PAC(C)MAN, God is challenging me with the story of the empty contract. He’s asking me to give up all of my human understanding, all of my human knowledge, all of my human desires, in exchange for His marvelous marvelous plan. If I had to sign a contract with God and I didn’t know what it entailed, would I still sign it? Yes, yes, yes. Definitely, without any shadow of a doubt.

And as I pray this prayer and keep an open mind about what He wants in my life, He is blowing my mind. 

All this while, I’ve been believing for growth- in RI, in W555, in PAC(C)MAN…but today God says: Phine, I don’t want growth, I want multiplication. Don’t limit Me. Make disciples, not believers. I want multiplication, not addition.

God…use me however You want to. I’m a broken, willing vessel for Your glory. However You want to, Lord, I am here. Let my life reflect Your love, let my walk reflect Your glory. Here I am, send me. By grace, through faith, I am Yours and Yours alone.