Be Still and Know

Will you believe in God even when you do not understand what was happening? Can you lay down your own thinking and limitations for the Lord, and let Him accomplish what He wants to do?

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the LORD. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Proverb 55:8-11)

"Jesus turns to Mary and says, 'Did I not say that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?' (John 11:40). He then declares that He knows God always hears our prayers (John 11:41) and confident in this He cries out, "Lazarus, come forth!? And Lazarus came forth, revealing a greater measure of who Jesus was, and a fuller realization of all things being possible. Now Martha, Mary, and Lazarus not only know Him as friend, Lord, Messiah, God, and healer, but they also know Him as the champion over death and every work of the enemy. And because God did it His way instead of their way, they had a greater revelation of who He was and so did their town! Revival broke out, and many came to know that Jesus was Lord (John 11:45). Praise God!

Don't look back on what didn't happen last year the way you thought it would. Look toward Jesus and praise Him that His ways are higher than our ways. Pour your heart out to Him. Believe that He hears every one of our prayers, and that if we simply stand in that belief we will see the glory of God. And that just like Martha, Mary and Lazarus we will not only see the promise come forth, we will see a greater revelation of Jesus! Who knows, it may even trigger revival in your town like it did in Martha and Mary's.

So stand in faith. Refuse any discouragement. Believe God to show up in surprising ways that reveal more of who He is to you than you have ever known before. Be excited that God is doing it His perfect way. And that he is doing exceedingly and abundantly beyond all that you could ever ask, think (Ephesians 3:20). And in 2007 may those things you felt died in 2006 be resurrected in even bigger and better ways to the glory of God. May this be the year you hear Him speak over you, 'Dreams and destiny come forth!' Bless you."

-- Excerpts from "Destinies and Dreams Come Forth!" by Rob Hotchkin, Extreme Prophetic's Devotional January 2007

"Be still, and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)

"Be still and know that I am God.
Let Me come and do all I want to do.
Let go, be weak, give in, give up.
And I will do something new.

Rejoice in My presence, relax in My love.
Lay aside your agenda and receive from above.
Quiet yourself and remain here a while.
And I will do something new"

(Be Still and Know)

Our God Will Fight for Us

There are many exciting things going on in this new season. We are unfolding God's new plans for us one by one. As we are stepping out in faith and moving forward, the enemies are also trying hard to come and stop us to keep advancing. We need the covering and protection from the Lord.

These two days I was reading Nehemiah chapters 1-4. Nehemiah was leading the people to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. It was a great project. Even though there were opposition, attacks and discouragements from the enemies, but Nehemiah knew that God would fight for them and help them to finish the work.

"Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows." (Neh 4:13)

Nehemiah posted the people by families, with their swords, spears and bows, to stand on guard for the whole team and for the works of God. The unity of the people was much needed at this time. They had to function together in unity, to do the works of God, and to stand together and be ready to fight together when the enemies came.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Tim 4:7)

Yesterday I watched Beth Moore on "Life Today", she shared that the secret to win the fight is to "keep the faith", knowing that God is with us, trusting Him and never giving up. I think this is also why Nehemiah asked the people to remember God's goodness and mighty power, and encouraged them to fight for each other, fight for their families.

"Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes." (Neh 4:14)

"The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!" (Neh 4:19-20)

All of them were in different positions and locations, but they were ready to join together anytime and fight as one.

We have to keep the faith and unity to work and fight together. And we need to support and protect our families and our team. The enemies try to come and destroy, but our God will fight for us!

Believe

"Those who feared the LORD talked with each other,

and the LORD listened and heard." (Malachi 3:16)

In front of the river,

we opened up our hearts,

and shared the love of God.

"The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)

Let us believe together that
no matter what we are going through,
or how long will it take,
God will lead us through,
and His grace is sufficient for us.

What Are You Waiting For?

"Sometimes I feel a little helpless, seems like I can't do a thing. But anything is possible, just you wait and see. Good things happen if you just believe.

So you wanna change the world, what are you waiting for? You say you're gonna start right now, what are you waiting for? It only takes one voice, so come on now and shout it out. Give a little more, what are you waiting for?"

Every time when I heard this song, it was like a reminder from the Lord: "What are you waiting for?"

"So Joshua said to the Israelites: "How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?" (Joshua 18:3)

At the Tuesday night prayer meeting, one of the brothers shared that: as we asked God to enlarge our territory, we need to take the steps of faith to move forward and enter the land.

So where is the promised land that the Lord has given you? Are you ready to enter and possess the land?

"Someday, somehow, gonna take that step, cause time is ticking away. Right here, right now, before it's too late, gonna face tomorrow today.

So you wanna change the world, what are you waiting for? You say you're gonna start right now, what are you waiting for? It only takes one voice, so come on now and shout it out. Give a little more, what are you waiting for?" (What Are You Waiting For, by Natalie Grant)

Focus on God

Last week at the cell group meeting, we shared about some of the things that were hindering us to fulfill the plan and destiny that God has for us. Some of us said that we often had many excuses, even when we knew what God wanted us to do. We often allowed ourselves to ignore what we should do with those excuses. But what are the main causes behind all these excuses?

For me, sometimes I worried about what other people would think of me, sometimes I worried that I couldn't make things perfect... Fear of man and perfectionism often hindered me to step out or move forward.

One of the things that I always want to do is to write some sharing and testimonies in English, to testify God's goodness with more people. But with one of my top 10 excuses: "My English is not good enough." I seldom write in English, except emails. Even though I always encourage people to write, and tell them that the content is more important than the grammar. But when it came to me, I could hardly accept any bad grammar or even tiny mistake in my published writing pieces, especially the Chinese ones.

Our challenge of the week was to ask God to take away all these hindrances and walk freely into our destiny. But how can we take away the hindrances?

I shared with the group that sometimes when I prayed for the sick, I knew that some people would look at my body and wonder why I would still pray for others, what could I possiblely give to them? I doubted about that too sometimes... But I thank God that everytime when I looked to Him, He would lead me to submit myself to Him and then give me the peace and faith to complete His work.

So the solution is always "Focus on God." This is what He keeps reminding me these years. If I focused on myself or others, I would have missed what He wanted me to do.

After last cell meeting, I've decided to start my English blog! And also practice what I preach: concentrate on putting together some good contents, rather than entangling with the grammar. So please excuse me if you happened to see some Chinese-English or weird sentences in here. I hope you will only see the light and love of God, and be blessed by that.