Monday, April 16, 2007

Project Report #21 - The Patient

Good morning people~! Another new week for a whole new set of challenges that will me us stronger~! I don’t know about you, but I’m super excited about what this week has in store for me. I am at work now, there’s tonnes of stuff to do but I just decided to take some time off to chill awhile to write this entry for all of you.

I had a great Sunday service yesterday morning, we had a very special speaker all the way from CGBC Ipoh, and he’s none other than Pastor Chan. This man has been tremendous support and encouragement to our church and to our lives individually. His life is fantastic testimony of God’s faithfulness and blessing… If you’d just sit with him for a half hour and allow him to share his life with, trust me you will be inspired~!

The word that came about yesterday was in the area of financial wealth. Thank God he’s not the kind of pastor who preaches on just financial prosperity alone, although he has nothing against financial wealth. Sometimes we, even as Christians, dub wealth and prosperity as only in terms of how much money we have. Well, the good news is that God really wants all of us to be wealthy in finances, but the BEST news is that God wants us to also prosper in every other areas of our lives, such as our health, relationships, ministries, careers, not forgetting the overcoming of our personal struggles and weaknesses, victory over our sinful nature… and so on…

Why should we just settle for the good news when we can have the BEST NEWS? There are principles to which we must always uphold for these blessings to be obtained. Almost all the time, prayer alone does not work. I know this statement is controversial, but hear me out first. In the Bible, the book of James it says that “faith without works is dead”... Now, our prayers to God are uttered by the measure of our faith in Him, we only ask of Him when we know He is able to grant it to us, but is asking all that is required of us?

Let’s take this verse into context, prayer alone most of the time will not produce anything if we just choose to sit around and do nothing. It is like being a really spoilt child just sitting there and waiting for everything he wants to fall on his lap. So you ask me, does this mean we have to work to get God’s blessing? My answer, I personally believe that prayer is the covering of our faith, but what we can do with our hands is the substance of our faith.

Please understand that works does not gain us points to go to heaven okay? But works is the seed that God has provided for us to sow. God requires something from us to work with in order for His blessing to come through for us. This principle is the same in the natural and the spiritual, an example, if you were to hold a seed in your hand, will it every grow and bear fruit? Obviously not~! What do you need to do to gain from that seed? You have to first let it go, plant it on good ground, and let that seed die. We have to wait and constantly water it and nourish it. Then only will it grow and bear much fruit…

The seed represents whatever we have in our hands now that God has blessed us with. If we just hang on to it in our hands and not sow it, it will never grow. We have to sow it on to good ground, which can represents the church or anywhere which God has prompt you to sow into. Then, note this, the seed has to DIE. Sometimes we feel discouraged at this phase because in our natural eyes, it seems like what we sow is in vain, meaning we start to wonder whether it was worth it to give our tithes and offerings although we have so little left. But the truth is this, only when that seed dies can it start the production of new life.

It doesn’t stop there, we have to continuously water our seed, nourish it and wait for it to grow. This phase is the most difficult phase for all of us because watering and nourishing the seed speaks about prayer… lots and lots of prayer… and waiting just means waiting la. Have you ever planted a seed one day and see it bare fruit the very next day? Never~! But the fact is if you want a tree to grow strong and bear much fruit, we must take good care of it when it is still at its initial stages of growth. This requires us to be patient, which all of us are not experts on… Haha~!

Finally, when the season arrives, we will harvest the plentiful fruits from what we initially sowed. Take note of this, it all started with only the sowing ONE seed. Like I said earlier, if you were to hold on to that one seed, you will never see that seed take growth and bare fruits. With simple mathematics, don’t you think you’ll gain so much more sowing your seed than to keep it held tight in you hand? Food for thought..

The bible says that it is God who supplies the seed to the sower. The sower is us, and the seed can represent anything we have in our lives, be it our talents, our money, our studies or careers. If you want to grow any of these, we have to invest it. Our tithes and offerings are investments to the kingdom of God, and believe me as I am a living testimony of this, that investment in God’s kingdom has 100% return profits. You are guaranteed to be blessed with so much more if you keep the God’s principles.

The world says, the lesser you have, the lesser you should sow… But the word of God says, the lesser you have, the more you should sow… and the more you have, even more you should sow~! It is written in the Bible says that we are allowed to test God in this principle, this is the only thing that God allows us to test Him in. God said that He will definitely pour out so much blessing in our lives that we will not be able to contain it if we uphold this principal of sowing in to His kingdom. So friends, go ahead and test God in the area of tithes and offerings, God never lies so you can expect a great increase, not only in finances, but in every aspect in your lives~!

Project Report~! The car is finally in my house~! During the car testing, JPJ ripped off my RM360 gold-dust window tinting because I refused to give them 'tea-money', by God's grace I shall forgive them. Patience, Aaron... Haha~! My legal documents have yet to arrive though. It seems that my car grant in was in Ipoh because JPJ has to check through the records of the car before the name transfer can be completed. For those of you who didn’t know? This car is from Sitiawan, Perak. That’s why have to settle some of the legal stuff in JPJ Ipoh.

I’ve always wanted a car number plate that starts with an A, now God has really blessed me with it~! Haha~! The car should be road legal by this week, I’ll have to settle my insurance renewal and roadtax before I can drive it around. Sponsors, please keep me in prayer for the speedy settlement of my legal documents, it’s been kinda delayed because JPJ is working so slow…

My engine has a slight problem with the some belts. I noticed that my aircond belt has some friction with the wall of my engine hull. So every time I turn on my aircod, there’s this bad smell of burning rubber. Will get it repaired once I settle all my legal papers. I also managed to DIY some interior to cut cost… and it worked~! I have already installed and repaired 30% of the interiors… the others will require proper handling and equipment from car accessory experts. The car will be ready within the next two weeks, prayerfully… Haha~!

Today I’m gonna share about an unsung devoted, super dedicated, super determined athlete. He’s one of the most fun guys I’ve ever met, always thinking of ways to bless people and throw crazy parties to keep his friends close. This guy has a really clear head, when I say clear I mean bald. Haha~! He looks really cun without hair though. I’m sure most of you can already guess who I’m talking about, so without further adew, it is my pleasure to introduce to you all, Alex Au-Yong a.k.a. DJ Pyros a.k.a. Botak~!

This dude is always so constant with new testimonies to share. He’s always ready to share what God has done in his life to anyone anywhere at almost any given time. Though some people may think that he’s a little over enthusiastic about his testimonies, but I certainly disagree. Isn’t our lives as Christians suppose to be exciting and always booming with great things to share with others? God’s mercies are new every morning, so everyday we should be living out a brand new testimony~!

Alex’s enthusiasm has really thought me to really look through my everyday life and spot out the things that I take for granted that God has blessed me with. I have a great testimony every single day that my life, every best of my heart, is held in God’s hands, I am still alive~! Haha~! I remember him sharing about his personal struggles during his varsity days, it wasn’t a normal thing to hear but he was so open about it. It’s not because he’s proud of what he did, but its because he is so grateful that God has set him free from all that and gave him the power to overcome. You can sense the immense joy within him when he is sharing his testimonies…

His life of testimonies has really thought many of us to not be ashamed to share with others about what God has done in our lives. Someone somewhere out there maybe going through the same thing, someone somewhere out there may be the one who needs to hear of the goodness and faithfulness of God. I’ve learnt that testimonies are given to us not for our own gain alone, but it is also to bless someone else’s life.

God has given to us testimonies to share with others, the more we share it, the more testimonies we’ll have. Why? Because sharing testimonies is also a form of sowing into God’s kingdom. If God can trust you to maximize the small testimonies you have now, He can trust you with even greater testimonies in the future.

To Alex… It’s not been very long since I first met you, but yet you have brought so much into my life. You were one of the first people to immediately support me in this project with no questions asked, I know you didn’t have much but you’re heart that is so ready to bless others really moved me. I am so grateful to you not only because you’re part of this project, but because of you generosity to share with me all the good things that God has done in your life which really inspired me.

I may not have very much to say about you because our friendship has not gone back very long ago, but even within this past one year or so, you have been such a blessing me and many other people. Never ever look down on the power of testimonies, you will never know whose life will be touched by the great things God has done in your life.

Continue to pursue the perfect plans and purposes that God has in store for you. Don’t ever settle just for the good or the better, but go all the way for the best that God has for you. Keep up your training for you tri-athelon competitions… I believe that if you continue to work with the Holy Spirit, He will make you a great influence and inspiration to many upcoming athletes.

If God is for us, nothing can be against us… Keep this word engraved in your heart and every single obstacle that stands in between you and your purposes in God will be conquered. Thank you for being such an encouragement and inspiration to me, thank you for being part of this project and thank you for your contribution in building this car and most of all, my life…

I am done for today~! It has been quite difficult to find extra time to make an entry. Been so busy adjusting to different commitments I have in my life. I will try my best to make another entry by this weekend. Will probably include some pictures of my new church premise. Till then, have a great week ahead and God Bless~!