God is not that hard to persuade

God will disrupt perfection to restore passion..

Why does God use people with questionable lifestyles to move in the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit? I don't know and i don't bother to major on why and how God can use someone with questionable lifestyles and practices. If God moves, the glory of God breaks out, miracles happen, i love it and i will just enjoy it.

Gold dust appear all over the place? Feathers fall from the sky?
The first thought that comes to my mind is "what is the purpose for all these phenomenon?" But i have decided not to find the spiritual reasoning for things happening. God is God, He can do whatever He wants. If the King of Glory is in the house, He wants to throw some gold around the place, i will gladly enjoy His presence. People are getting healed, delivered, saved. Creative miracles are happening, the dead is raised. I will major on the major and minor on the minor. If He is doing it, i will like it.

Lazarus was sick, Jesus delayed coming for 2 days. When He came, Martha said "If you are here, my brother would not have died.." Jesus said "He will live again." Martha said "I know he will live again in the resurrection at the last days." Martha was absolutely theologically accurate, she got her spiritual reasoning correct, the dead will rise again at the end of the age but she did not grab at the rhema word from the Lord.

Let's ask for more and expect to receive more. Don't let our minds limit what God can do. Position ourselves to receive more, God is not that hard to persuade.

The Spirit of God moved in a powerful way that we have never experienced before last year when Jill Austin came. Did it start then? Nope..

Did it all started when Heidi Baker came and left such a love for people in our hearts? Nope..

We had arguably the most powerful camp in 2005 when Pat Schatzline and Jayme Montera came. I have never seen someone with such an amazing anointing upon their lives like Ps Pat and Ps Jayme before then. But still it did not start there.

Did it start when Bonnke came for the first Fire Conference in 2002 and the fire of God fell in such a powerful way? Nope..

Did it all start at Enlisted Camp? Did it start in the early 90s when the Spirit of God moved in a powerful way in our church? Did it start when Rodney Howard Browne came to Singapore in the early 90s? Did it start with the Charismatic Renewal sparked off by 4 teenage boys? Did it all started when Ps Bailey came to Singapore in early 80s? What about Randy Clark at Toronto? It didn't start there either..

John Wimber in the 80s? Nope..

The Jesus People Movement in the 60s? It didn't start there either..

It didn't start with the Latter Rain Movement in 1948 either..

Billy Graham, Oral Roberts in the 40s? Nope..

In 1906, the Spirit of God fell in a building in Azusa Street as a group of people began to cry out to God, impacted almost the whole world and was called the greatest revival in history but it didn't start there as well..

In 1904, Spirit of God fell upon Wales as a young man by the name of Evan Roberts cried out "Bend me!" He wrote on national newsapers that revival is coming and hearts began to burn. But still it did not start there..

The fire that burns in us is the original flame from the Day of Pentecost 2000 years ago. It all started when the Holy Spirit's fire fell on the 120 in the Upper Room. It's the same fire and it's increasing in intensity, it's increasing in demands, it's increasing in impact.

What does more look like? I don't know. All i know is that there is more...

Too tough to swallow

Today i had bible study with Sutieng and Lay Yi. After which we went to the food fair at Singapore Expo. I can't believe i spent $4 in the first 10 minutes there. But the drinks are free cos i cheapo go take all the samples. I enjoy giving bible study one on one or to a small group, so fun. I saw Lay Yi taking down lotsa notes even though i already printed out for them. I'm so glad to see her hungry to learn more. That's what i live for, to see young people encountering God and living for Him! And she's only Primary 6! She has really encountered God over the last few weeks.

I'm so excited to see the younger ones encounter God. When God moves, there are usually a few groups of people...people who move on with God, people who are moving on with God but they are struggling a little behind, then there are those who don't want to move on. I see a lot of the newer ones encountering God and moving on with Him, i see some who are struggling a little and there are a few who choose not to move on with Him. John 6:66-67 says, "After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: "Do you also want to leave?" "(The Message Bible). This incident happened when Jesus was progressing to a new level of His earthly ministry. Let's set a high standard, when God moves, some people may choose to leave, but the remnant will be so much stronger.

What do i do when people choose to go their own way? I seriously don't know. Talked to them, prayed for them, cried over them. My heart and mind tells me i can't leave them behind even if they choose otherwise but....

I seemed to hear the Lord say, "Forget the old, i'm doing a new thing."

Do 2 people walk hand in hand if they aren't going to the same place?

Amos 3:3 says "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?"

Can 2 persons walk hand in hand if they are not heading in the same direction? Can 2 buffaloes be yoked together if they are heading in different directions? Can 2 persons be close friends if they have different mindsets, different beliefs, different values, different vision in life? Can we walk with God if what we want to do and what God wants to do is different?

I'm sure all of us have had people whom we are close to but at some point in life they decided to go a different direction, they begin to have different priorities in life. I'm sure all of us have a person in our lives whom we think understand us, has the same passions, share the same dreams and aspirations. Then all of a sudden, people choose to go another direction. How can 2 be close when they don't have many things in common anymore? When you do not have things in common anymore, what do you talk about when you meet?

I want to talk about revival, i want to talk about the nations, i want to talk about how we can win this generation, i want to talk about Jesus. If that is not what fires you, what can we talk about? Small, superficial talk? i can but then that's not what i really want.

A few verses later in Amos 3:6, the bible says "If there is calamity in the city, will not the Lord have done it?" In just a week, almost 200000 people lost their lives in Asia, God is shaking the nations and preparing them for revival. Amos 3:7 says "Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secrets to His servants the prophets." A prophetic minister made this statement, "God has few friends in Asia." Well, He can't be friends with us if He can't agree with us. Friendship with the world is enmity with God...

Will we agree with Him?

Devoted Camp, Thaton, Myanmar - Day 8

19th April, Saturday...

This is our last few moments in myanmar before going back to singapore. we woke up at 7am to go for the buffet breakfast at 7.30. I seriously ate a lot. Saw thiha and Susanna came at 8.30 to pick us up. Shopping! They brought us to Bogyoke Aung San market to shop. I bought a pair of jade chopsticks for my mum and longis for myself, my dad and my brother. anyway longis are traditional costumes that burmese men wear. its like sarong. we had a good time shopping, the stuff are really cheap. then we had tea, durians and some pork rolls at a roadside stall. went back to the hotel for a while. saw thiha, myself and jeremy watched discovery channel a while and then we checked out at 1pm. our flight home is at 4.30pm so we had about 1.5 hours to go before we had to be at the airport. we just sat at the hotel lobby and chatted with saw thiha and susanna. we left for the airport at about 2.30pm. we checked in our baggages, said our goodbyes and proceeded to board the plane for home. its my best trip so far, i cant forget what God did at this trip. i think i have fallen in love with myanmar, till next time....

Devoted Camp, Thaton, Myanmar - Day 7

18th April, Friday...

We left for Yangon at 5.30am. the trip back wasnt as eventful as the one to thaton. i slept most of the time, woke up, listened to ipod, slept again, stopped for lunch briefly. looking forward to being back in yangon and shopping! reached yangon at about 1pm. dropped esther at her school to check her exam results, she got first again and she was really happy. ps san min came to greet us briefly and saw thiha said that ps san min is funnyman no 5 hahahha. went back to parkroyal hotel, checked in, washed up and relaxed in the 5 star hotel. jeremy and a few of the girls went shopping. i watched tv for a while as they were showing wrestlemania hahaha. then i slept. ps san min, wife, saw thiha and susanna picked us up at 6.30 to go for dinner. brought us to a really nice restaurant for a good meal. it was the best meal we had for days other than the lunch at saw thiha's father house. me and jeremy watched discovery channel for a while before we slept. packed up everything and got ready to go shopping the next morning before going back to singapore.

Devoted Camp, Thaton, Myanmar - Day 6

17th April, Thursday...

The power wasnt cut but we still woke up at 6am cos we are having a hiking game today so we had to be at the foot of the hill early. we got wet again from the people enjoying their water festival. i was really upset at the adults who were blocking our vehicles and splashing everyone wet, nevermind the youths and kids having fun but the adults splashing water at people are really irritating. we gathered at the foot of mount goh and had a short briefing on the rules of the game and what they had to accomplish. team singapore and the camp comm started out first. tongneng and lavonne stayed at the foot of the hill to sleep, slackers. we reached the half way mark and stopped. jeremy and the rest of the camp comm went all the way to the summit. the nuns actually invited me and priscilla into their house and offered us food and drink. saw thiha bought breakfast of french toast for us to eat at the halfway mark. then the campers came up, gave them some clues where to go and asked them to do some cheers, took photos with them then they proceeded to the summit. heard that some of the boys caught a wild cat while at the summit. they all left their group identity at the summit as a sign that they have conquered the mountain. priscilla, me, pearl, saw thiha and pastor agoh stayed at the half way mark. pastor agoh started climbing a tree and asked us to take a photo of him haha, he's really funny. i joined him up the tree and took a photo together. i didnt know how to climb down after that! subsequently we chatted, i asked pastor agoh and saw thiha about the legal system of myanmar. it was an interesting and v funny talk. i dont think i should write down what we spoke about, hahaha. after the hiking game, we were treated to a sumptuous lunch at saw thiha's father house. we had fried chicken, fish, roasted beef, vegetables, potato wedges, pig trotters soup and soft drinks! amazing spread but many of us are sick so didnt really eat much. but i had my fill, the fried chicken is really nice! then we went back to the hotel to rest and prepare for the final session. i actually wanted to share something practical and simple on how to stay on fire for God but then i felt led to share something else. so i spoke from 2 kings 4 about the woman who had only a little jar of oil but as long as they brought in empty vessels the oil will never run out. shared with the campers that they may not have much materially but they had a little of the anointing and presence of God, as long as keep bringing in people who are empty, the oil will never run out. prayed for the pastors and leaders at the end of it and they in turn prayed for their members. it was a powerful time, there was such a prophetic flow in that place and people were just encountering God. at the end of the prayer time we had a time of celebration and praise. we cleared all the chairs and turned that place into a dance floor unto the Lord. it was really fun and the joy of the Lord is in that place, nevermind we were all perspiring after that. we were singing, dancing, doing all kinds of actions praising Him! that was the last sessions, also our last night in thaton so the campers were all busy taking photos after that. we slept early this night as we had to take a bus back to yangon the next morning at 5.30am. Thank God the power did not trip the last 2 nights we were there.

Devoted Camp, Thaton, Myanmar - Day 5

16th April, Wednesday...

Woke up early again cos it was too hot and too many mosquito bites. Pastor Agoh picked us up to go to the church. We had to hang on the outside of the vehicle again, real fun, wind blowing on ur face. We had breakfast at another outlet near the church. we had noodles in curry gravy with onions. it tasted like laksa. the tea was nice, i drank lots of it. we shared with saw thiha how we felt about the sessions so far and found out from him that the youths in thaton are not used to altar calls, some of them are not filled with the Spirit and there are some who are not even saved. maybe thats the reason for the "blockage" we felt during the ministry time so far. fabian shared at the first morning session. it was a fantastic sharing on God's plan and purpose for our lives. He ended with a powerful personal testimony. I really felt that today is the day of breakthrough and i felt God placed in my heart what i should share tonight. Tongneng spoke at the second morning session on passion. Fantastic message. Something real funny happened during his sharing. tongneng was talking about passionate people not giving up. so he used the illustration of manchester united last minute victory over bayern munich in the 1999 champions league final. he was saying, bayern munich was 1-0 up until the 89th minute then man utd scored, so he asked the crowd whats the score? Saw thiha was translating for him and so he was supposed to translate what tongneng said but when tongneng asked them whats the score, instead of translating, saw thiha replied excitedly "1-1!" hahahahha we all started laughing. he said later that he was too excited thats why he just replied 1-1 instead of translating what tongneng said. in the afternoon we played outdoor station games. we got all dirty and wet, it was alot of fun! the campers were the most sporting, they totally enjoyed themselves. when the games ended, they actually asked for more games, so we played the ding ding pui pui pui game again. hahaha so fun watching them doing all the actions. i spoke about the fire of God at the night session. Thank God He sent His fire, that was the breakthrough we have been praying for. The campers were all crying out to God for their city and for the nation of myanmar, the fire of God fell in that place and we believed all the campers were ignited with a holy fire! Even the older folks were crying out to God for the fire! There was a powerful move of God and it was awesome seeing the myanmarese young ppl rocked by God! Pastor Agoh drove us back after the session and we found out a bit more about him. For the past few days we have really seen him around, reason being he was conducting 2 seminars elsewhere in thaton and also the authorities have been calling him up every hourly everyday to interrogate him. they just asked him the same thing, why are foreigners there? what are they doing there? and we found out that when we were playing outdoor games, the police actually thought we were rioting as we were making alot of noise. 15 policemen came with batons but pastor agoh stopped them from coming near the church in time as he recognised them. he explained that we were just playing games and so the policemen left. pastor agoh said that he actually loved to fellowship with us and that he is a funnyman hahha. we will find out soon after that he is really thaton's funnyman no 1! fabian and alina were next to fall sick. puking and having diarrhoea, they were so weak that they had to stay at the hotel to rest.

Devoted Camp, Thaton, Myanmar - Day 4

15th April, Tuesday...

Woke up at 6am also cos the power was cut again. We proceeded to the church, got wet again. Then Saw Thiha brought us for breakfast at a food outlet near the church. We had what was the burmese version of prata with a nice dip made from beans. Then we had our first morning sessions. The praise and worship again was awesome, my faourite part of the sessions. Jeremy spoke at the first morning session, he shared well. He shared on Jesus cleansing the leper. tongneng spoke at the childrens session, priscilla, pearl and alina helped out with the children. I spoke at the second morning session, Shared on the Heavenly Father's love. Gave a call for those who have never felt the Father's love and also for those youths who are orphans. An elderly lady came up to the altar, prayed for them all and really felt God healing them with His love. Then we had lunch and then we had indoor games. There were 8 groups, and i must add that the campers are the most sporting i have ever seen. They cheered passionately and participated fully in the games. We played some old games with them, like the hunter squirrel game and the ding ding pui pui pui game we played last year at audacious camp. it was alot of fun. After the games we went back to the hotel, wanted to sleep but we all couldnt cos the power was out and it was too hot to sleep. so we managed only to rest a little while before the night session. Me and jeremy spent about an hour praying for the night session before taking a nap. Pastor Agoh picked us up using a different jeep. it was a smaller one so me and fabian had to just stand and hang outside the vehicle, interesting experience but tiring on the arms. We had dinner at the church. I must add that the food is good considering they do not always have such good food. We had beef! Tongneng spoke at the night session on "rise up and walk".Again i enjoyed totally the burmese praise and worship. It was an awesome message by tongneng, the response was good but then again we felt the breakthrough wasnt there yet. Keeping praying, 2 more days to go. Poor tongneng was the first among us to fall sick, he felt totally weak and had stomache immediately after speaking and started having diarrhoea and fever in the night.

Devoted Camp, Thaton, Myanmar - Day 3

14th April, Monday...

The power at the hotel was cut at 6am, no fan, no aircon, it was too hot to sleep so me n Jeremy woke up at 6am. Washed up and went down to wait for Saw Thiha to pick us up. Took Pastor Agoh's "mercedes benz" to look at the campsite. Its open air so this time we got really wet from the people out to enjoy their water festival. We had breakfast at the campsite which is also Pastor Agoh's church. I seriously cant remember what we ate. After that we spent a short while praying at the place where we were to have our camp sessions. I remembered i was really excited, can't wait for the first session to start at night. After praying, we went to recce at this mountain where we are to have our hiking game. Can't believe that we are acutally climbing a mountain in Myanmar. Its called Mount Goh, which means mountain of god. Its filled with pagodas and monasteries. Its about as high as Bukit Timah but the terrain makes it harder to climb. We took a rest at the halfway mark. There was a monastery there and the nuns actually offered us tea. They wanted to serve us lunch as well but we declined their kind offer. Took some photos with the kids there and then proceeded to the summit. I wanted to conserve my energy for the night session so i didnt go all the way up. Alina went down with me to the foot where Susanna, Joshua and Angela were waiting. After the recce, we went back to the church for lunch and then back to the hotel to rest for the night session. We had dinner at the church and then it was the first session. About 100 youths were there plus some adults and 10 plus children, mostly orphans. The praise and worship was awesome. Looking at the way the burmese people worship leaves me speechless. I spoke about the cross. Did a little drama sermon illustration as well. The response was good but somehow we felt there was no breakthrough during the altar call. Maybe its the first session so we will just keep praying and asking God to move. Went back to the hotel and they changed a bigger room with our own toilets for us. The room is bigger which is not good cos the air con keeps tripping so the room is hot!

Devoted Camp, Thaton, Myanmar - Day 2

13th April, Sunday...

Woke up at 7am, went down to have our buffet breakfast at 7.30. We took our time and enjoyed the spread, the omelette is really nice. Saw Thiha picked us up at 8.30am and we headed down to the church. Saturday was the first day of water festival but i didnt get wet yesterday, only Priscilla and Jeremy. But today the inevitable happened, most of us got wet. The driver of our taxi was really cool, he took a bucket of water on his face but he did not even flinch, just continued driving and proceeded to wipe the water off his face with his hands. I spoke at the pre service bible study at 9am, Lavonne, Tongneng and Fabian discussed the games for the camp with Joseph and the camp comm while Priscilla, Alina, Pearl and Jeremy helped out at their Sunday School. After that we had lunch at the church, Ps San Min and the leaders da-bao for us cos we had to leave immediately after that to take a 7 hour bus ride to Thaton, a city in Mon State, southeast of Yangon. The bus ride is real fun, its a crowded, non air con bus, many times we had to close the windows cos people were trying to splash water into the bus so it was really sauna. Many funny stories along the bus trip, cheesy Burmese music videos and a drunk monk who was eventually thrown off the bus. There was a picture of buddha on the front of the bus and a line that says, "lord buddha, the unrivalled one", tongneng was really amused by this. Reached Thaton at about 9.30pm. Pastor Agoh from Thaton took us to our "1000 star hotel" in his "mercedes benz", thats what Yangon funnyman no 1 Saw Thiha said about the hotel and the jeep. Well, it wasn't really a hotel, sort of like a motel. Tongneng and Fabian were praying on the way that there will be soccer on the tv at the hotel. They were elated to realise there really is, so they watched Man U vs Arsenal at the main hall. 3 policemen were acutally there waiting for us to arrive, Saw Thiha handed over photocopies of our passports and they left after that. Guessed its sensitive cos we are foreigners. The hotel is not too bad except for the power that keeps tripping. Had a debrief in Lavonne and Pearl's room cos theirs is the biggest then we slept. Our first night in Thaton....

Devoted Camp, Thaton, Myanmar - Day 1

Let me just share about the trip here...

12th April, Saturday...

We reached Yangon after a 2.5hours flight. The food on Silkair was good, complete with ice-cream some more. The airport in Yangon is really nice now, looks like our own T3, newly completed, heard that its built by Singaporean architects. Really hot there, 39 degrees celsius. We touched down at 3.45pm Yangon time and went straight to Cornerstone Yangon for their youth service. Really excited to be back. Tongneng spoke at the youth service and exhorted the youths to prepare their hearts for the up-coming camp in Thaton. Then we went for dinner, delicious Burmese dish called J-O (thats how it sounds like but not the actual spelling). Its rice vermicelli in a nice clear soup with vegetables, chicken, quail's eggs, meatballs and topped with a nice half cooked egg. Then we checked into Parkroyal Hotel for the night. Parkroyal is really nice, Pearl remarked that it seems 'sinful' to stay at a place as nice as Parkroyal while on a missions trip hahaha. We had a little debrief in me and Jeremy's room to talk about the program for the next day, watched a little WWE on tv then we slept.