Living Sacrifice

One of the things I'd done by faith in last week's prayer marathon was to place myself on God's altar as a living sacrifice.

I remember the offerings my mom used to sacrifice to her idols many years ago. They were slaughtered and cooked before they were offered at the altar. I can't imagine if she'd placed a live chicken on the altar!

Living sacrifices are troublesome because they can crawl off the altar anytime! I'd intended to put God first in my life, ahead of my family and my aspirations etc. when I felt God said something else to me. Why did I offer everything else to God when it was I that God wanted? So, by faith, I placed myself on the altar instead of every other thing important to me. I remember a picture I've seen years ago, that of a little boy, placing himself in the donation box of his Church, the card reads, "One life to offer". That was touching.

I've made myself available to God the past 3 days at a road show where we were promoting our company's products. I wasn't focusing on the sales, but on any person who needed my attention. Somehow my colleagues who were mainly foreigners kept talking to me, seeking friendship, encouragement and guidance. I spent time meeting their needs, not worrying whether I would make any sales. I've never taken such a leap of faith in my entire Christian walk. And something miraculous happened. I didn't seek sales, but sales sought after me. I made 5 sales in 3 days which was quite impressive for a newcomer, and I made them joyfully and easily. These sales were all given by God.

True to His Word, God says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you."

Being human, I wonder how long will I be able to stay on the altar before itching to crawl away... But what I've learnt last week is not to put my confidence in the flesh but in the strength of my God. It would be wonderful if I can live the rest of my life by faith.

Clearing The Clutter

The Bondage Breaker by Neil T. Anderson (author of Victory Over The Darkness) has taught me how to appropriate my faith in Christ by recognizing the truth in the Bible and rennouncing lies and accusations from the devil and his gang.

It has 15 chapters. Chapter 13 on "Steps to Freedom in Christ" is a general but intensive guide to renunciating all past lies believed. I've spent about 18 hours over 4 days working and praying through Chapter 13. It's spiritual warfare where the weapons are prayers and faith, not against flesh and blood, but meant to bring down spiritual strongholds. After this episode, I can say now that for the first time in life, I've got a clean slate.

I would gladly recommend this book and this '7-Steps to Freedom in Christ' exercise to all my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ out there, especially to all those with a complex past/background and prior experiences with the cults and occults etc. If you've some nagging fears, anxieties and doubts, go through these 7 steps and you'll know for sure that you've cleared out the clutter from your heart, and be set free to walk more victoriously in Christ. Try it for your own sake.

Briefly, the 7 steps are:
Step 1 - Going through a checklist of non-Christian spiritual activities (such as out of body experience, trances, spirit guides etc), confess and renounce each item you were involved in through a declaration against the enemy, canceling any and all ground that they have gained in your life, and thanking God for His forgiveness. There is also a checklist on wrong priorities and areas of idolatry to work on.
Step 2 - Renouncing and praying through a checklist of false worldly beliefs, self-deceptions and defence mechanisms/escapisms, choosing to only believe God's truth, about what God says about us and not what the world says about us.
Step 3 - Releasing bitterness and forgiving all those who have wronged you, and blessing them.
Step 4 - Going through a checklist of areas where you have rebelled against authorities and adopting a submissive spirit and a servant's heart.
Step 5 - Dealing with pride/humility and prejudice/bigotry.
Step 6 - Confessing sins and being delivered from all bondages.
Step 7 - Confessing ancestral sins (as brought to mind by God) and breaking all generational curses.

So there, you have it. Even if you don't intend to go through the 7 steps, studying the book itself may bring about a paradigm shift, change your mindset and inspire you to trust God at His Words, and be set free from many mistakened pre-conceived lies we are so accustomed to.

Please share with me your insights gained after reading the book. May the Lord bless you all.

Still Working Through

Following my last post, I am very touched by online friends, both believers and pre-believers who have dropped by to encourage and nudge me on this Christian journey.

What I'm doing now is working and praying through the "7 Steps to Freedom in Christ" by Neil Anderson, author of the book entitles "The Bondage Breaker".

After spending 51 years on earth, and coming from a Chinese Taoist background, growing up in a dysfunctional foster home, fighting with my foster mom for the most part of my life, and being the highly subjective and overly-sensitive person that I'm, I have too many baggages and issues to unload. I came to Christ at age 14, backslid for the next 5 years, then returned to Christ at age 19 till now. For the most part of my Christian life, I was more of a pain in the neck than a pious Christian. I find it very hard to completely surrender my life and will to God, I want God but I also want to retain some personal space to manoeuvre my own goals and desires.

But God has been kind, understanding and patient with me. He didn't flick me out of this Universe considering the countless times I've let Him down, but have blessed me instead in so many ways. One major lesson I've learnt so far is that God allows failures and can use them for our good. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.

I've also discovered during my blogging experience that the unity in the Spirit among Christians is so real. And this unity transcends across race, culture, time and countries. After my last post, 3 online sisters from different parts of America wrote in to encourage me and what impresses me is that what they said confirmed the words I'd received from local believers praying over me and direct counsels/insights from God received during my personal prayer time. So God is very real indeed. He draws near to those who believes He exists and seeks Him.

At age 51, I'm still learning to turn over my life completely to Him, putting everything that's important to me, namely; my family, job, will etc. on the altar and believing that He will do nothing to hurt me and will not lead me to places where His grace cannot sustain me. I'm beginning to appreciate that if I can totally place myself in His palm, that is, in the center of His will, I will finally get a taste of heaven on earth. And that is what I'm working towards. Or rather, this is what God is doing in my life.

Hope the above makes sense to you. May God's peace be with you all. :)

The Closer You Are To God

I've been tossed to and fro in my faith recently. I'm so confused whether it's my hormones or true trials I'm going through. One thing I think I badly need now is a time of quietness, to come before my Creator and I hope His light will shed some insights into the state I'm in right now. One thing I'm also aware is that sometimes when we're about to break through spiritually, that's when devilish opposition is the strongest. There's spiritual warfare but Christ has accomplished and secured all victories already. I need help and I really pray that God can send someone to give me a word of wisdom, that's all I need to break free from my confusion now. God reads blogs. :)

Guess my favourite colors

Some colors just mesmerize me, I'm attracted to them like bees to honey ...

Now how to enlarge the pictures???

Someone just emailed me lots of pics entitling, "If Earth is so beautiful, what will Heaven be like?"

I figure, lots of beautiful colors, fragrances, visuals, melodies, smiling faces, and hopefully lots of chocolate!

Sold

Both my colleague and I cut the deal with our customer today! Yeh!

However, we must have had these words printed on our foreheads though, "Can be bullied" cos she drove a very hard bargain and we couldn't reach a decision till our boss helped us over the phone. Our presentation went nothing as planned or conjured in my imagination. We only knew at the end of the sale that the customer had already made up her mind to buy right from the start, but she just wanted a good bargain. I didn't like the way she pushed us around, she even went to the extent of filling out her own Order Form instead of allowing my colleague to fill it in for her as per custom. What arrogance! But what to do? The customer is always right ... Sheesh.

Well, anyway, a sale's a sale, and my colleague has had her 'ice-breaking' experience within her first month too. Thank God. :)

Hm ... but what about all those inspirations I felt the Lord giving me last night? Pep talks from God? May be, cos without those thoughts, I would have given up even before I start. Ok, y a w n n n ... I'm going to sleep now. Now where's my pillow? Good night. :)

Z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z ..

Man's Extremity Is God's Opportunity

Desperate times call for desperate actions! Heheh, actually not that dramatic, I'm just exaggerating. :)

My colleague and I have a sales appointment tonight. As she's busy attending to other urgent stuff and couldn't prepare enough for the presentation, she has roped me in to be her side-kick.

When I heard that, I quickly launched into action, assembled some materials etc. but before I could do anything, I came down with a bout of food poisoning. For hours, I was giddy, burped excessively, threw up and my stomach felt totally 'off'. The discomfort affected my sleep badly, I was tossing and turning throughout the night and had half the mind to call it off. Up till 3 a.m. I was still sure that I wouldn't be able to do it cos I would be weak and inept the next day...

Then something strange happened. Suddenly, lots of inspirations came in, about a new approach, presenting differently. I shared these ideas with my colleague this morning and she's gamed enough to try it. Man's extremity is God's opportunity. Since I can't do it my way, and my colleague can't do it her way, then let us let God help us do it His way.

I shall rest as much as possible today, do some basic preparation, not the thorough one that I'm used to, and see what happens tonight.

Pray for me. I hope I have something interesting to share with you in my next post. :)