My PROPHETIC CALLING
3 pastors from 3 different churches were preaching the same sermon for continual of 3 weeks. On the 3rd Sunday night, I heard the voice who called my name in the midnight when I was going to sleep.........my calling -> "Calling of Prophet Samuel"
As we have been praying and others have been praying for us, The Lord is touching some righteous lawyers to help us thro. Our Lord Jesus is our faithful intercessor in heaven and we believe He will see us thro all things, for HE is the righteous and justice judge in heaven and earth, Amen.
Matthew 5:10 "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
1. When Not Having Any Understanding About Tongues
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed” (1 Cor 12:1).
Apostle Paul did not want the believers to be uninformed on spiritual gifts, that is, work and manifestation of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:4-11). We would have to have an understanding on spiritual gifts as well as on speaking in tongues. Today’s tendency is that many Christian brothers and sisters do not have any understanding on spiritual gifts, and they have very critical and judgmental views on them. They simply follow the theology and perceptions of today’s era.
The word “knowing” should be understood as “experiencing”. It is not to justify theoretically but to experience it. There is a general tendency that believers with the experience of spiritual gifts at work acknowledge spiritual gifts, but for those without such an experience have objection on the work of spiritual gifts in today’s setting. In the Bible those without having any working knowledge of spiritual gifts are labeled as “believers without understanding”. In 1 Corinthians 14:23, these people are called believers “who have not experienced the spiritual gifts.”
2. When Believers Say “ Tongues ” No Longer
“Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end” (1 Cor 13:8).
This Bible passage is the quotable verse to defend their argument by people who make the claim that tongues is no longer in use. According to this passage, if tongues is ceased, the same should be said about knowledge coming to an end. If knowledge truly came to an end, message should not be preached, Bible study should not be done, and nothing should be done for that matter. Is it fair to say “tongues is no more” when there is much Bible study and preaching in churches?
In the passage above, “cease” does not imply that it will cease in this world; it is rather a phenomenon that will occur when believers come to face to face with the Lord after our resurrection, that is, in the kingdom of God speaking in tongues will not be necessary. In God’s kingdom, knowledge will not be necessary. Prophecies will not be needed there. “Then we will see [the Lord] face to face” (1 Cor 13:12). Moreover, at that time “I will know [the Lord] fully, even as I have been fully known [to him]” (1 Cor 13:12).
3. When Weighed Down by Other Spirits (The Consciousness of the World of Men), Inspiration of the Holy Spirit Gets Quenched (1 The 5:19)
In 1 Thessalonians 5:19, we are told that “Do not quench the Spirit.” When we are weighed down by the consciousness of the world and of men, inspiration of the Holy Spirit could easily get quenched.
Many of the pastors who came to the author’s church to attend “Spiritual Ministry Clinic” have mentioned that they had spoken in tongues prior to their attending the seminary. Then at the school they were taught that “after the early Christian church the gift of tongues has ceased,” and they were strongly influenced by this teaching. After a while, they themselves began to believe that notion, and their gift of tongues has been ceased, as well.
How then could the Spirit be quenched by humans?
“And the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets” (1 Cor 14:32).
The spirit of prophets is the Holy Spirit, and the prophet is a man. No matter how hard the Spirit tries to give the gifts of prophecies and of tongues, unless people believe and act out on their beliefs, nothing is going to happen. Men are created in ways that the Holy Spirit cannot control our body simply by ignoring our sense of self-identity. That is why when we observe the words of the Lord, God then can bless us ( Deuteronomy 28:1-6).
We should not think, “Since God is almighty, he can do all things.” God himself limits the actions of God. God gave us the authority to have dominion over everything on earth (Gen 1:28). Moreover, he gave us the dominion over our body (Gen 2:15-17).
Thus, the Bible said, “present your bodies as a living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1). When we offer God our bodies, time, tongues, hands, and lips, he uses them; yet, if we are not making any move to present ourselves to God but only tell him, “God, use us,” we cannot expect him to make all the move in order to use us. When we simply say, “Tongues, speak in tongues now,” will our mouths then begin to open up and pray in tongues? Since the Scripture says, “Ask, and it will be given you” (Mat 7:7), the first thing we would need to do is to ask him; in response to our request, he will provide.
Even if you have received the gift of speech and proclamation, you would still need to stand before people and speak to them in order to have your gift manifested (1 Cor 2:4); if you keep your mouth tightly closed and yet, deeply yearns for God’s word to be proclaimed through you, will a message be delivered to people automatically just because of you thinking about it? For the work of the Holy Spirit to be manifested through us, we would have to avail ourselves as the channel of the Spirit (Rom 12:2).
4. Since Speaking in Tongues is the Holy Spirit Moving Our Lips, It Is Difficult to Pray in Tongues with the Oppressed Atmosphere
The Bible says, “Open your mouth wide” (Psalm 81:10). So open your mouth wide and proclaim. From my experience of leading revival meetings at various churches, the churches that speak aloud are the ones whose members pray much in tongues. This is further to say that the church with people speaking loudly will eventually speak in tongues.
If any of you cannot speak in a loud tone of voice, you will not likely experience praying in tongues. As I’ve mentioned in previous pages, speaking in tongues happens when the Spirit moves your tongue. To move your tongue, you would have to open your mouth wide. When your mouth is closed, it would be difficult to move your tongue freely. A tongue has various muscle tones, and the muscle used for speaking is well developed. Yet, if you have never experienced speaking in tongues, the muscle the Holy Spirit would need to use to help you pray in tongues has not been developed, and that part of your tongue muscle will not move naturally by itself.
For people without any experience in playing the piano, when they attempt to play the instrument, the muscles in their hands to play the piano will not move smoothly. Likewise, the lame man sitting at the Beautiful Gate, since he has not used the necessary leg muscles to walk for many years, could not just stand up and begin to walk on his own when asked to do by Peter. Not only that Peter told him, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk,” but he also helped the lame to do that by taking “him by the right hand and raised him up.” From this act, the lame man’s “ feet and ankles were made strong,” helping him ready to walk (Act 3:2-7).
The same principle applies to speaking in tongues. Have the muscles of your tongue not used in prayer previously be made available. The Holy Spirit will help move it so that you can pray to God in tongues. As the Scripture asks you, open your mouth wide and begin to speak aloud in prayer to have your tongue be made available for the Holy Spirit.
5. Speaking in Tongues is for the Spirit to Move Your Tongue; Thus, Unless You Speak Out in Your Prayer, It Will Be Difficult to Pray in Tongues
“Call to me and I will you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” (Jeremiah 33:3).
The words of “ Call to me ” appear often in the Bible. Most prayers in the Old Testament era were in the form of “ calling out ” to God ( Exodus 3:9, 1 Sam 9:16 ). The churches worshiping in a quiet style do not usually have people praying in tongues. On the other hand, the churches with lots of “calling out” and “shouting” tend to have many of their members praying in tongues. Generally speaking, when you speak in a loud tone of voice in prayer, you can readily participate in praying in tongues, even if you have never spoken in tongues previously. Our minds are connected to our tongues. When we feel getting “hot” from within by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, if we try to speak aloud in prayer, we often experience praying in tongues. In the tenth chapter of Acts, while listening to a message, the Cornelius’ family all spoke in tongues. It was because the pouring of the Holy Spirit came upon them (Act 10:44).
6. Speaking in Tongues Is A Language Generated by the Holy Spirit Moving Our Tongues; Thus, You Should Not Intentionally Put Strength into Your Tongue
It may sound strange to you, but reflecting on my experience, this is true to the statement. When you pray in tongues, if you put strength into your tongue and speak slowly and clearly, you will have difficulty having your tongue to be controlled by the Spirit, even if you open your mouth wide and speak in a loud voice. As aforementioned in previous pages, when you pray in such a way, the spirit of men has already taken the control of you.
Therefore, anyone wanting to speak in tongues would need to pray in a loud tone of voice; yet, to help you not to put strength into your tongue you would need to speak fast; don’t try to enunciate words clearly, but to connect them together rapidly one after another. If you faithfully follow through this guideline, you will soon experience your tongue being controlled by the Holy Spirit involuntarily, and then your tongue will begin to move by itself. When you begin to experience these phenomena, let your tongue be controlled by the Spirit. When you put strength into your tongue to say something, this will interfere with your efforts in speaking in tongues instead of helping you.
Joseph Prince -Tongues —The Key To A Spirit-Led Life~ 18 Jan 07
On 7th of June 2009, a Sunday evening, we were catching a train home after church service. We alighted at K.L. Central to wait for our train to Seremban. The train to Seremban which should have arrived at 7:15pm was delayed and canceled. And all the passengers have to wait for next train which was arriving at 7:40pm. It was a Sunday and a school holidays weekend. When the Seremban train finally arrived the platform were filled with passengers longing to go home. As the doors open, havoc started to occurred and we saw the the security guards were no way stand near. Double amount of people trying to pack themselves into one train, it was so difficult even to get into the train and everyone were squashing one another. As my husband was on the Q, getting into the train, he sensed that a hand from behind was trying to enter into his pocket and he quickly stop it by hitting the hand away. I got very upset and angry over the situation. And the moral of the passengers were low and everyone only thinking of getting on the train regardless of accidents e.g. if one passengers fall down or being step on, etc. And the pickpockets mostly are there waiting for this "Golden Opportunities" to get on their business. The selfishness and careless attitudes of the passengers were being exposed after a long waiting period.
As l praying over the situation ,suddenly, inside me, the spirit compelling me to shout out loud like a megaphone, " Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please...." I said, " We can choose to continue to live in a way of harming one another by pushing you and me for the sake of getting into the train. Or we can choose to live a better life by raise out our voice and complaint the issue "Frequent Train delay " to KTM ( Keretapi Tanah Melayu ) HQ by logging a complaint into KTM or Thor it's website. Let each of us write a letter even just a few words and our co-operation will sure get the situation improve." Everyone eyes were looking over my direction, some agreed and some still in their dreaming mood.
Meantime, I heard a young Chinese man next to me shouted. " I have lost my hand phone , someone has stolen my hand phone. " And the man were asking around to ask for his hand phone to be returned. Everyone just stand and kept quiet....... I got very angry and once again I shouted loud, " Take this number and sms to Rakan cop, they will send their Gerakan police and wait in following station." And his friend did what was told. My husband also supported me and said, " I could identify this guy if I see his face again, he is wearing blue T-shirt because the man was trying to steal something by putting his hand into my pocket." As the train reach Mid-Valley, the snatcher rush out. And the young Chinese man ask his friend to dial his hand phone number..... and we heard the phone was ringing.. the snatcher got frighten of all the back-fire and he decided to drop the hand phone and run off.... Hallelujah, Praise the LORD. Finally the hand phone was return to its rightful owner.
I felt so good that evening, even better than the ads which TV7 used to put on. And with a confident voice I speak out, "Look at the incident just a few minutes ago, it can happen to you or your loved ones. And everyone of you have the responsibilities and can do something to change it. " The young man faced me and express his thanks to me for helping him to get back his phone.
In many circumstances, we can choose to keep quiet and pretend that nothing has happen because the victim is not you or me. But it is up to our personal ethic, moral, love for mankind and responsibilities as a human being to one another to stand up for each other and said .......
" I CAN DO ALL THING THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME. " - PHILIPPIANS 4:13, I AM GOING TO MAKE A DIFFERENT OUT OF IT."
During a school holidays, a young primary school female teacher has obtained the permission from the students' parents and headmaster to bring her students out for picnic at the park on a sunny day. As the lady was leading the children on a path toward the park, there came a rabid dog running toward them from the opposite direction. The teacher shouted to the group of small children and told them to turn around and run.
And the teacher decided to stay behind and try to stop the dog to come closer and eventually she was bitten by the mad dog, fainted and ended up in the hospital. As the young teacher was on the sick bed and visited by many others, she smiled and said only one statement with much joy, " I am glad I have fulfill my responsibilities and I have protected the children."
Her action and HIGH moral could not be POSSIBLE measured by law or rules of the school. To achieve a high moral, it takes more than obeying the rules and man made laws and it is a very very high measurement for mankind to fulfill it.
NB: The above true story was astracted from "ÐÓ̳ É¢¼Ç" a book written by my Father in law Mr. Liu Der Shu ÁõµÂÊà Öø The headmaster of Kong Wah Secondary School, Klang
Our Lord Jesus Christ was being crucified and die for us while we are yet sinners, his death has paid for every sinners on the earth in order for us to enter the heavenly gate and enjoy the eternal life.
For those who yet to know our Lord Jesus, I would like you to pray this prayer with me : " Dear father in heaven, I know I am a sinner and I could not saved myself from going to hell. I truly appreciate what You have done for us by sending your only begotten son JESUS to this world and die for me. I, now open my heart,and sincerely invite Jesus to come into my life and be my savior. Please guide me, Lord Jesus, in each and every days for my new life which you have redeemed with your precious blood, I prayed and asked all this in the mighty name of JESUS, Amen."
God Bless you.
Written and translated by, Cassandra Lai Fun Tze 13th June 2009
Our water supply was being cut off since 30th of Sept. 2008. Upto date today (13/6/2009), we already reach 257 days living in a house uphill mainly depending on rain water. My husband Benjamin Liu (As shown in the photos) almost every 2nd day he have to cycle down and buy drinking water from the water dispenses at Taman Alam Jaya which located more than one mile away. It was a difficult life for us BUT WE MAKE the records, I truely believe.
Attached are photos shown on how we collect the rain water and store it into smaller bottles. And how we used our only transport ( speed-way bicycle ) to send and laundry done at Taman Orkid.
This house is located at 6A, Jalan 7, Taman Naga, Batu 9( Cheras), Kajang. For further information, please contact me at H/P : 016-2095-648.
Thank you.
Thank you for the wonderful sharing from Mac Anderson, Founder, Simple Truths....
"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...
It's about learning how to dance in the rain !"
"When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives, but are grateful for the abundance that's present ... we experience heaven on earth. "
We all face adversity in our life. However, it's not the adversity, but how we react to it that will determine the joy and happiness in our life. During tough times, do we spend too much time feeling sorry for ourselves, or, can we, with gratitude...learn how to dance in the rain?
*****************************
Learning to dance in the Rain --- AMEN ! Me and my household has been in a situation of no water supply from our water department for more than 9 months since end of Sept 2008. Every time, when the Lord send His thunder and rain., we will rejoice and start praising and worshiping Lord Almighty. Yes, that is time, I felt like giving up and quite but many time we waited and see how God answered out prayers and provided the water faithfully, I felt like dancing and praising the Lord in the rain mainly we know that our GOD is with us. He know what we have gone through and what we are facing and what we are going to confront in our life. He is the writer of our life and we sing, we dance and praising HIM when others are complaining about the economic turning downward, the shares is dropping, the swine virus is spreading, etc.
Somehow or the other, deep inside us, we understand that God is not yet finish with us, we are His workmanship .... But one important we must learn and know that we are living each day closer to His image, Amen.
Every time when we sit on a bus and toward a journey, God's favor come upon us, some young adults will show his or her respect by allowing my husband and myself to have their seats. Often the Rapid KL bus which we took, packed with passengers.
I quietly sat down and observed the driver as well as the passengers. After a short journey, someone would rang a bell and the bus will stop and wait until the passenger or passengers get down and more people to get on the bus before continue its journey. In certain place like Taman Maluri, Cheras which near the Star L.R.T. station, many passengers will drop down and transit to take train, hence the bus have lots of empty seats.
A bus driver could not stop any of his passengers from getting up the bus only when his bus is "full house". And the driver is in charge of driving the bus to its destination, and he has no right to stop his passenger or passengers from getting up/down the bus. Some passengers will only ride for a short journey, others will take longer route.
As we singing and praising the LORD within our heart, the LORD reveals to me that; a pastor of which the LORD has appointed or positioned them has a similar role like a bus driver. A pastor or { a bus driver } is in charge of his sheers or congregation { Passengers }. At certain period of time, some of the members need to responding to God's calling for their life { passenger has reach his destination } and they need to leave the church { get down the bus } to continue with their journey with GOD. A pastor is only taking care of the spiritual foods and grant protection while the sheep is under his/her care but once the member is clear about God's specific purpose in his life, no pastor or any other member could stop him/her to fulfill his destiny in Christ.
As some members might decide to move to a different church { Transit to train/car or other buses }, Some may stay on the journey until the bus reach its final destination.
Mean while, a story came to my mind, .........................................
*******************
One fine day, a pastor of a church and a bus driver departing their life from the world to heaven. And both of them reach the heavenly gate, and each of them was guided by their angel to their respective place of dwelling.
The bus driver got his mansion in heaven and he is happily praising the Lord. Whereas the pastor was being led to { Attap house( Small bamboo house) } who was very upset and decided to confront our Lord Jesus. " My Lord, I have been serving you all life on earth since the day l graduated from Bible college. What did the bus drive do to get his mansion and I only allow to stay here in this small little house ?" Lord Jesus answered him, "My son, when you was preaching on Sunday service, most of the congregations were falling asleep. Whereas, when the bus driver were driving, all the passengers were praying to me in heaven."
****************************
HOW would you chose your life to be ? To lead more people closer to God or vise verse?
