Christ-Awareness [shared by Andrew]

Christ-Awareness

. . . and I will give you rest —Matthew 11:28

Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once, asking Him to re-establish your rest. Never allow anything to remain in your life that is causing the unrest. Think of every detail of your life that is causing the disintegration as something to fight against, not as something you should allow to remain. Ask the Lord to put awareness of Himself in you, and your self-awareness will disappear. Then He will be your all in all.

Beware of allowing your self-awareness to continue, because slowly but surely it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. Don’t allow yourself to say, “Well, they have just misunderstood me, and this is something over which they should be apologizing to me; I’m sure I must have this cleared up with them already.” Learn to leave others alone regarding this.

Simply ask the Lord to give you Christ-awareness, and He will steady you until your completeness in Him is absolute.

 

A complete life is the life of a child.
When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ, there is something wrong. It is the sick person who really knows what health is.

A child of God is not aware of the will of God because he is the will of God.
When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, “Lord, what is your will?”

A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer.

If we try to overcome our self-awareness through any of our own commonsense methods, we will only serve to strengthen our self-awareness tremendously.

Jesus says, “Come to Me . . . and I will give you rest,”

that is, Christ-awareness will take the place of self-awareness. Wherever Jesus comes He establishes rest— the rest of the completion of activity in our lives that is never aware of itself.

 

Jennis' Walk with God [Jennis' Testimony]

 

 

God has finally granted Me my Dearest Wish  

-- My Relationship with God (2012-2014 )

 

  

"Trust & Obey, God will reward & abundantly

but in His own Time & Way" [29 July 2014]

 

 

Thank you Su Li and all!
It was an amazing journey having you all around me whilst i seek to walk in sync with our Lord again the past 2 years. i definitely SEE now after learning more of His Word why only now is the perfect time for him to give me his precious gift.

Angeline & Suli, you were right all along, thanks for urging me to do it... i went for the "restoring the foundation” with Kathryn back in Oct/ Nov 2013 and during that session, knew in my heart what i had to do then… but i still resisted, didn’t even tell them the truth when being prompted on whether there is anything else i needed to confess & then renounce. only when i finally surrendered after getting “promptings’ 3 times from 3 different sources in the beginning of this year (right before chinese new year) and did what i never thought i would or needed to do EVER, that i got ‘released’ from my past… and what God did amazed me because i knew without Him, the outcome of that confession shouldn’t have been so smooth, with no repercussions at all!! i shan’t give details now, i might find the courage to share with you all one day so that you will know what He did. nevertheless, since then i listened to Him more, prayed more, obeyed more and found to my delight that He indeed answers my prayers be it as mundane as hailing me a taxi or changing my work schedule when i felt overwhelmed. i do know now that when i SEEK HIM first, all else will fall in place nicely for me, and when he blesses, he is never stingy but he blesses ABUNDANTLY— even though i still don’t deserve any of it.

I’m not a good speaker, i don’t normally share my opinion with words. but i would like to be a do-er and i hope i can let my actions speak for me and let that bring Glory to our Lord Jesus.

p.s. is it only me or it;s common? God has to speak 3 times to me then i’m convinced that He is the one talking to me. Oh this is something i could share: Days before i found out I’m pregnant, i was in a mall and was cornered by a lady asking for donation. i was obligingly about to just take out a $2 note when she showed me that the minimum i could donate was $10 & had to mark my name on a sheet. i didn’t have change, and i was feeling the pinch (ever since i became an insurance agent and not earning as much as i used to but almost spending like i used to, i did get scared when i see my bank account honestly.) so i declined. When i walked away, i felt guilty. i remember what RuQi said during one MJC session, that whenever anyone in need asked her for help, even if its a hoax, she will help. i had my lunch, i walked to the other end of the mall from where i last saw her, i ran into the lady again, i waved her away from afar and quicken my steps in the other direction… i felt super bad again, like Jesus was unhappy with me… so i told myself, “OK, God, you want me to donate, i’ll do it if i see her again for the 3rd time lah!” … and guess what, the lady with the donation bag appeared again right in front of me! i rolled my eyes at God but i obeyed, i donated $10, not even quite sure which organisation i donated to. i have no idea how the lady would have the ‘thick skin” to approach me after i have waved her away twice but for her to be doing these for the kids she was raising funds for, she must have been an angel. and i felt glad, i knew Jesus approved. few days later i saw a different guy seeking donation for the same charity, i didn’t need God to send that poor guy chasing me around to ask me 3 times this time. And that weekend, Pastor Kow shared about the pledging and tithes and donations for furthering God’s work, later that night i came across the bible story of the beggar lady who gave her coin, and i started to happily donated money that i couldn’t bear to spend, whenever i came across people that needed help, be it the tissue paper uncle or the young chap -who must be so surprised that i signed to pledge to donate bi-annually to SASCO (yes i rolled my eyes at God then too when the chap told me they don’t take cash donations but must be GIRO donations & the minimum amounts are specified!!!) at his first asking, i made sure he knew i did it because our God would have wanted me to. I am telling you all all these not to show I’m a generous person, I’m not, God made me do this which was pretty hard for me, but i obeyed willingly and i did feel joy each time. I would have quietly done his work. But of course, then He blesses me with a positive pregnancy test result. And i had to tell. It is definitely of me surrendering to Him first without expecting any fast return/ rewards. And then He decided i’m ready, to be a fitting mum, that will raise my child in His word, and bring Glory to Him & his Kingdom. That’s what i see on hind-sight.

Just Jennis

 

"God watches over us Always" [28 April 2014]

God was definitely there for me when I had my skiing accident at Garmish parkenkirchen, Germany and my operation back in SGH, singapore. On hind sight I think He provided me rest and helped me built closer relationships with my parents in law who took me in and looked after me since my own house and my parents' house both have daunting steps unsuitable for an invalid on crutches. During those weeks, my mother in law also shared many of her testimonies of our Lord with me!

 

Actually God was with me even before I knew His name. He was there when I nearly fell off the cliff too while skiing first time with my Deloitte friends in Mt Buller. He was there again when I nearly drowned while diving in pulau ubin, I survived with just a mask squeeze which went off just in time before I had to get home and face & worry my parents!

 

 

When we were preparing for our wedding and my husband got burned at the stock market and thought of postponing the wedding & renovation, I said "God will provide (if He approves of our marriage)" and apparently He did. Weeks later, we got a huge cheque from hubby's mother as a wedding gift! God must have prompted her to do so on top of all the usual bridal Jewelry she already lavished on me! Since then, I love to use the phrase "Our Lord will provide!" - n I truly believe it especially since I quit my job! 

 

 

 

God also answered my prayers for my pet Benny to have suffered only a mere surface wound / nip on the neck when he disturbed our neighbor's Rottweiler, who could have easily killed him. I definitely prayed fervently during the seconds of life & death each of these times... God heard me each time, as I felt amazingly peaceful after each frantic prayers, knowing that things will turn out fine. His omi presence is something I wish I'll always remember and acknowledge besides in times of desperation!

 

Earlier this year, when I went jogging with Benny for an hour along East Coast Park, I actually lost my car key! There was no way for me to drag a tired dog to backtrack the whole stretch to try to find my key! It was very troublesome indeed. And I was really afraid someone could easily open my car and access the stuff inside (I left my bag, wallet and house keys inside the car!). Luckily I had my phone. And I have Jesus watching over me! I called my brother for help since My hubby was overseas. While waiting, I prayed!! When my brother arrived and as I popped Benny into his car, he saw my car front lights flashed! It means someone has just tried to unlock my car with my car key! I wouldn't have been sure if it were not for my brother. N I definitely wouldn't have had the guts to approach a group of Malays who were standing at the nearby bus stop (as there were no other persons around). But with my brother watching over Benny, I ran over to the group and asked "any chance one of you have found my car key?" It turned out to be all good as God has answered my prayer. How else could it be that someone in that group actually found my car key, ended up at the same car park as I, despite the whole distance Benny & I have jogged, the numerous carparks along east coast park, and most importantly to have pressed the car key button in time for my brother to notice (before we were about to drive off)? I put aside any niggling doubt that maybe the guy who found my car key had any bad intentions, and instead I offered them a ride home!  I told my brother it's ok so he left in his car. I knew I had God (&Benny) to protect me. It turned out the group (of 4) were very nice people indeed. N even though they are Muslims, they love Benny, and we had a great drive home chatting about many things!

 

 

 

Dennis' Journey in his relationship with God [Testimony shared by Dennis, 9 Feb 2014]

 

I was baptized together with Debra (my dearest wife) and Amanda (our precious daughter) in March 2012 in Kampong Kapor Methodist Church. Sadly for me, going to church and the occasional fellowships in the past 20 odd years were not much more than a Sunday (or any other day) routine and my spiritual relationship with our Almighty God was  superficial at best. I couldn't claim to know much of the Bible nor was I prepared to meet Jesus.

I knew something had to be done and the Church Membership Manual and our preparation for baptism classes had already reminded me of the gap in my knowledge and understanding of the Holy Bible. 

 

 

A number of inexplicable events began to happen from that day onwards. 

1. 

Almost within days, a dear old friend (TH) who heard about my baptism suggested and signed me up for the Introduction to the Alpha Course. He had already taken the Alpha Course and would go all over again for me. He also presented me a leather-bound Bible when we turned up at the Introduction evening. We were set to go to the Small Group in the YWCA on Wednesday evenings. That didn't happen.

2. 

Su Li who was at the Introduction Evening intruded. She introduced herself and invited me to join her small group in Dempsey on Friday evenings. Going to Dempsey on Friday evening for the Alpha Course was so much more pleasant and cheaper than going to YWCA on Wednesday night, so I agreed but my friend couldn't join me.

3. 

I had told my wife earlier that the Alpha Course was a guy thing. But now i had to ask Debra if she would like to join me in Dempsey on Friday evenings. She graciously agreed and we both have been enjoying the Alpha course together since. 

4.

Apart from appreciating the Gospels and the living word of the Bible, I have also come to realize that the Small Group structure has encouraged greater participation, discussion and understanding of the context in which the scriptures were written. I think this process of reading, discussing and understanding not only draws me closer to Gods's instruction and plan, it also also reveals our individual character and believes. In other words, within the small group, a multi-faceted reaction is taking place simultaneously and is drawing everyone closer to God and each other and we are unconsciously embracing it. 

5.

I believe that I have grown closer to God in the past 2 years under the BOL small group helmed by the abled leadership of Su Li and Andrew but also with the warm and open friendship of the other members. Of course, partaking in the food and our communal worship deepen the bond that invariably builds as we walk in this spiritual journey together. I believe the BOL small group has the necessary ingredient to grow the fellowship which is consistent with God's plan. 

6.

In my quest to build a closer relationship with God, I have experienced a number of interesting events. The most obvious was my wish to "speak in tongue". Yes I have prayed for this gift and arrangement was made to "teach" me. As it turned out, it was Debra who showed everyone how it should be "spoken" but not me. Also, I seldom prayed to God to ask for his gifts, mercies or help in the earthly and mundane matters. Yet when Debra was in pain following a fall, she prayed for God's healing power and she recovered. Is God teasing me or reminding me that he is all powerful and I should communicate more directly with him more often. If so, He is communicating to me very effectively but I have yet to communicate with Him more often and more effectively

 

QingLing Farewell Brunch & Jesus on Earth 40D (Wk6)