Only be strong,
Be strong,
Be strong,
And of good courage
One of the first altar calls I responded to years ago in main service was when dean kuan preached. I dont remember the details anymore, just a few words he prayed for me.
Be strong, and of good courage.
It hit me again today.
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There is so much to do, so much that needs to be done.
Usually, the weekends energize me. After a week long of IB and its terrors, being able to have quite a significant bit of time specially set apart to seek God, to be part of the community of God, encouraging one another, laughing, having fun, it restores me.
Recently though, it has been particularly draining. I cannot find the solitude I need with voices all about me, neither can I specifically seek out the companionship I desire with many others always jumping in on me. I never functioned well with large groups of people, much less large groups of people swarming around me, trying to grab my attention. Sometimes, just sometimes, it feels a little like being talked at (not talked to) by so many people.
Still, I push on, because I know what is important here. It drains me so much and I feel exhausted, a little constricted and suffocated even. Yet each and every single life God has placed in my life for a reason. If they wish to talk to me, it only goes to show that I have a degree of influence in their life, an influence I can use to make a difference in their lives. What God has made me responsible for, I must never push away. I wont let the past repeat itself.
There is so much though, and the responsibilities feel like a crushing weight at times. I'll be lying if I said I dont miss the old times, im not a fan of change. I realise even recently, there are a some people whom although I see them around, I never really had an opportunity to communicate with them. I miss my lone quiet walks just listening to the cars and the conversations of other people.
Yet this is exciting change, change that will count so much towards eternity. Its a strange feeling actually, to be so excited about what is happening, and yet at the same time feel lethargy set in.
Bynes, hurry up and get back here, there is work to be done, things are moving and its really alot to handle without you around.
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We choose to live driven by eternity, that though this life that we live is but a temporal passing, what we do here will count for eternity, so that is what we must do, we do not have time to waste, we must live for God, our whole life in surrender to Him.
We do not speak of surrender simply as word, but we must understand the fullness of what it means, to give our lives abandoned to Christ, to say not my will but Yours be done.
We press on, we fight hard, and we know we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
The radical church, we turn the world upside down, not let the world turn us upside down.
We must be prayer warriors, as the words inscribed on the ACS sanctuary say:
On your walls, O Jerusalem,So we pray unceasingly till we see His kingdom of heaven established here on Earth
I have set watchmen;
all the day and all the night
they shall never be silent.
You who put the LORD in remembrance,
take no rest,
and give him no rest
until he establishes Jerusalem
and makes it a praise in the earth.
- Isaiah 62:6-7
We are destiny impact, and that is not just a fanciful name given by chance, it is a name which God has given us, for we are called to impact eternal destinies. Our slogan is God inspired too, as we live out the most important things that Jesus has called us towards in the Great Commadment and the Great Comission, we are God chasers, people who will love our God with all our heart soul mind and strength, heart joiners, people who will love our neighbours as ourselves, and we are light givers, who will go and make disciples of all nations.
As grace has been freely poured out in our lives, so we pour out grace onto the lives of others, as Christ has first loved us, so we love others, and in the same vein as Christ laid down his life for us, so we too lay down our lives for our brothers, a sacrifical love that the world may not understand, but we do.
And we do not toss these around like simple slogans, we do not want to sing empty songs, pray empty prayers, let our words be translated into action for faith without deeds is useless.
A passion that burns deep within, not just a desire but a hunger, a desperation, like a wildfire shut up in our bones, that we cannot keep silent, we cannot not move into action.
And we will go, we must go, as an unstoppable force sweeping across the nation, not because of who we are or what we can do, but because God is with us, and He who created the heavens and the earth, there is nothing that can stand against what He wills. The enemy will try to come against us, but we will not falter, we will run this race, we will fight this fight of faith, and we will win, because the truth is that it has already been won when Christ died and rose again, sin has lost its power, death has lost its sting, the devil is defeated, while we are the ones who are more than conquerers.
We trust in Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our banner, the Lord our victory, as we lift up our hands and look to Him, we know that He reigns, forever and ever.
Only, may we remain strong, and of good courage.
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