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Musings of a pilgrimJuly 28 I nearly died...I have good news and bad news... First the good news... Praise God that I am still here writing to you. Last week as I was driving home from Foster I had a car accident. I was driving 100 km/h on the highway in the dark and slightly wet conditions when suddenly I found the road "disappear". My car was traveling at high speeds heading towards some trees. I applied my brakes but there was no grip on the wet grass. Just before the trees, (praise God it had been raining), a bog had formed. And slowly but surely, my car began slowing down as it sped through the muddy ground until it stopped but cms from the treeline. It felt really like the hand of God craddling my car and easing it to a gentle stop. I must say that I didn't even feel any fear or distress during this whole ordeal. (no life flashing before my eyes!) The miracle is this. Firstly, I walked away from the high speed accident WITHOUT A SCRATCH ON ME. (not even a neck ache) My car did NOT HAVE EVEN A SCRATCH ON IT!!!!! not a dent, nothing! As I traced back the route of my accident, I missed a sign post by only a few cms and the trees by a few cms. If my car had clipped either the sign post or even the trees, my car would have spun uncontrollably into the trees. I don't even dare to think about what would have happened with the collision of a high speed object and with a tree. So I just want to take this opportunity to really thank God for His protection and guidance. Surely His hedge of protection is around me. Praise the Lord!!!! Now the bad news... I am finding that more and more I am having difficulty in keeping up with my blogsite here. I have loved being on this "live spaces" and meeting so many great people. but now with so much on my plate, I need to begin to focus my time and resources. I am now bringing out in public my profile in fighting HIV/AIDS in SE Asia and have designed a new website to reflect this: http://standinthegap777.blogspot.com/ My vision is to raise the profile of HIV in SE Asia to the church at large My hope is that I will raise 100 prayer warriors to support me in this fight so if you are interested... please go check out my new site and sign up. so hoolaroo.... this is my last blog from this site... God bless you all richly. July 01 turned back on the day of battle..
The Ephraimite archers turned back on the day of battle. They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law. They forgot what He had done, the wonderful works He had shown them. Psalm 78:9-11
Why do we study the history of the Israelites? What relevance do they have to our modern day issues and struggles? I am reading through the old testament at the moment and sometimes I do scratch my head as to why God would preserve this specific information for us to study in the year 2007.
The answer is simple. If we scratch beneath the surface, we will see the history of the Israelites parallel our own spiritual walks with God. There is a richness of detail for our benefit and guidance in how we are to walk with our God in modern times. So with that in mind, let us look at the above passage about the Ephraimites.
Ephraimites were one of the tribes of Israel. They were equipped with all they needed to fight, but when the “rubber hit the road”, they fled. Can you imagine the scene? Here were mighty warriors, dressed in impressive armor, trained and equipped for this very day of battle. But what happened? One sniff of the battle before them made them uneasy. Not one arrow was shot. Everyone turned back home.
Why this superficiality? Why did they look so good and yet were useless? The answer lies in the text.
They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law. Hypocrites line the ranks of Christianity. They look good on a Sunday, carrying their big Bibles around, a fascade of holiness and superficial joy. They say one thing on Sunday and do another thing from Monday to Saturday. They live a double life. They look well and ready to take on anything the enemy has to throw at them, BUT when they come face to face with any resistance or struggles, they retreat sheepishly.
Why? Essentially they have not surrendered themselves to God. They know of God’s covenant but refuse to live by His law. There is no effort to apply what they read and hear. It’s too hard. It’s too impractical. I don’t want to give up my pride. This is so silly. I will look like a fool if I do this.
We try to live a religion of Christianity without God amongst us. We pick out bits of religion that we like and ignore the God whom we are to worship. We look good on the outside but are empty on the inside. Jesus did not mince words when he described people like this. We are like white-washed tombs. Looking clean and presentable on the outside, but full of rot and dead bodies on the inside.
They forgot what He had done, the wonderful works He had shown them. Have you heard the phrase “goldfish memory”? I think I have that sometimes. Within a very short period of time of God doing something marvelous, I forget His faithfulness and goodness to me. Doubts begin to creep in. Are you real God? Will you really look after me? Can I really trust you? And only just recently, God would have affirmed His love for me undisputedly. How could I have forgotten so easily?
This is another reason why we run from battle. We forget all that God has already done for us and have promised to do for us. In the heat of battle, we lose sight of God. We begin to draw upon our own strength and abilities. God says that the battle is His. The victory is already won.
Let us all learn from the Ephraimites today. Don’t run from battle. Let us live a genuine Christianity, not just following a religion. Let us draw strength from God’s goodness and faithfulness and not forget all He has already done from us.
Hi everyone. Well, things are getting busy now. I just returned from a 3 day workshop on research. It was truly excellent and I had the chance to mingle with some of the high-flyers of general practice. Lots of professors and dedicated doctors who have poured their life into their profession. I am truly inspired. At the moment, I am praying about the possibility of going into academia – this means that for next year, I may only work “part time” in clinical work. Spending the other half of my time teaching in a medical school and doing research. It may also free me to pursue and fulfill my duties in all the other spheres of my life. Life is short and I want to make maximum impact with the time I have. J Please pray for me as I consider this option. June 10 what does God really want from me?
I hate, I despise your religious feasts.
I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! amos 5:21-24 What a wonderful passage that confronts us this morning. Let us use the word of God today as a mirror for our soul. Let us examine ourself and see if there is anything that is not right, that has swayed from the standard of God. But most of all, let us correct any deviations. Do you know the meaning of the word “sin”? It is an archery term meaning “missing the mark”. Some of us keep on sinning (missing the mark) day after day even when we don’t know it. Why? Because we don’t delve into the Word of God enough to reflect and correct ourself. 1st reflection of the mirror – is your Christian life a religion? God hates religion. Religion has done great harm to His kingdom. Religion produces followers who follow rituals that originally was inherently good but many have turned them into empty shells. An example… prayer. There are many wonderfully written prayers recorded by the saints of the past. You can see the passion and deep felt worship that permeates each phrasing. But today, we use them in church or read them monotonously, using them as supposed “gateways” to God and means of worship. They become empty vessels with our hearts void in the inside. They become mere rituals. Another example… Sunday worship. This is supposed to be a time of great rejoicing, of experiencing God and fellowship with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Many have turned it into a weekly social gathering. There is no longer a reverence or focus on God. We look forward to the sermon finishing. We look forward to catching up with friends after the service. When we sing songs of worship, our mind wanders to what we will cook for lunch/dinner, what are we missing on TV, etc… Another big one is our offerings. We think that we can “buy” God sometimes. What do I mean by this? Some of us tithe (actually we should ALL tithe but that is another topic.) We think that we have fulfilled our “religious” duty each week when we put our money into the offering bag. See God, I am a “good Christian”. I give you my money, not like all the other people that don’t even give you 10%. In fact, I am giving more than 10%! And what happens after this? Once you step out of church you are no different from everyone else in the world – in your behaviours, your thought life, your ambitions, your anxieties, etc… 2nd reflection - what does God really want from me? Justice. Righteousness. This is what He craves. You are to be a channel into the world of His justice, His righteousness. God doesn’t care about how many rituals you do. How many church meetings you attend. How many Christian meetings you lead. How much time and money you expend for Hm. How loud you sing. God wants YOU. He wants your heart. He wants your surrender so that He can mould you into a being that reflects completely, unashamedly, without distortion His image on earth. Look at your life now. Is justice flowing like a river? Is righteousness a never failing stream? Many of us have become numb to the injustices around us. When we initially see an injustice, we feel a tug in our heart. We know deep down that this is WRONG! We find it hard to shrug it off, it makes us feel uncomfortable. BUT when we ignore this feeling and continue to ignore it over and over again, there will come a day when it no longer bothers us. We treat the injustice as a part of life. That’s normal I can’t do anything about it. Solution? Let us daily jolt ourself awake by comparing what we see around us with the standard of God. This is the same with righteousness. If we compare man with man’s standards… we are not doing too bad at all. Look at the people who rape and murder and steal. I am not like that. But hang on, what standard are you using? This is a common tactic we use to make ourself feel “good”. I am not as bad as…. And we teach ourself that our life is on track. We are righteous people. Right? WRONG! On the day of judgment whose standard are we going to be judged by? God’s! So let us take a moment to re-allign ourself with His standard of righteousness. Let us look into the mirror of His word and correct any sin (missing the mark) we can see in our life.
May 27 Miracles
With man this impossible, but with God all things are possible. Matt 19:26
Today I read in 2 Kings 4 about a prophet. Do you know him? Elisha. Miracles flow fast and furious in this man of God’s ministry. A miraculous supply of oil (v1-7), a boy brough back to life (v8-37), cleansing of a poisoned stew with flour (v38-41), feeding of 100 men (v42-44). Amazing! As you pick up the Bible it is a book chock full of stories of miracles. Of God breaking through the physical laws of nature and causing a spectacular miracle.
Is this all a fairytale? Do you believe? How big is your faith? Do you believe in the God of the impossible? What do you think of miracles? Do they still happen today? Absolutely!
Some people say that salvation is a miracle. Divine guidance is a miracle. Every breath of life that you take is a miracle. Everything you see around you (creation) is a miracle. That is true. I believe that. Have you had experiences where God surprised you with even more spectacular events? Ones that make you just stand in awe and give God all the glory and praise and honor. I must say that in my life, I have witnessed miracles plenty of times. I have seen lives turned 180 degrees around (drug addicts, prostitutes totally transformed in their mannerisms and behaviours to become passionate believers in Christ), I have seen medical miracles right in from of my eyes that defies every knowledge of physiology and pathology I have learnt, I have experienced divine guidance and blessings that I do not deserve (scoring a perfect score on my US medical licence exam – essentially topping ALL the US applicants plus those around the world too trying to work in the US). I am not saying this to boast. I know that I am not THAT smart… and yet, God blessed me with this miracle which has opened doors up for me that I would never have entered.
And recently, a jaw dropper that just made me pause and praise God over and over again. I came to a point in my life where I guess I was getting cold feet about my upcoming marriage and I needed God to confirm that the plunge I was to take is in His will. I prayed what seems like an impossible prayer. I asked God to write on my car Danielle’s name. And boy, He did it in a most spectacular way that I will never forget. When I woke up in the morning, I walked gingerly to my car to see what would happen. I found 13 beautiful white petals on my car. There are 13 letters in my fiancee’s name and she loves white! I was just gob-smacked….
Truly, our God is the God of the impossible. What man sees as impossible, it is possible in God. Don’t box God in today. Expect a miracle. Pray fervently for a miracle. Ask and it will be given unto you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be open up to you. Believe!
May 13 come all who are thirsty
Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters.
There are many things in life that compete for our attention. Claims are made that it will satisfy us to the fullest. A nice house, a wonderful wife, a sporty car, diamonds on the hand, etc… let your imagination run wild. You know what I am talking about. These images surround and bombard us everyday. Certainly these things will satisfy us… but only for a season. There is no doubt that these things bring us happiness… but only for a season. And sometimes the cost of pursuing these things begin to far outweigh the “prize” of obtaining them. A husband who wants to sustain a lucrative lifestyle has to work overtime +++ and misses out on the simple pleasures of sharing a meal with his family, missing out on Saturday games with his children, only sees his wife briefly as he kisses her goodbye at 6 am in the morning and a weary goodnight as he comes home at 10 pm.
Isaiah laments “why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?” In the infamous book of Eccleciastes, King Solomon coins the term “a chasing after the wind”. “all is vanity, vanity, vanity”.
What then is worth pursuing in life? What is worth your every bead of sweat, every effort? Isaiah gives us the answer. “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near” (55:6). And Jesus Himself claims in John 10:10. “I have come so that you may have life, and life to the fullest”
The Christians among you who are reading this most likely has a weight of experience backing my statements above and are probably nodding wholeheartedly in agreement. For those who don’t know Christ yet, you may be puzzled or even putting off my statements off-handedly as just my own view. “He is entitled to his own view of life – that is cool.” But let me challenge you that this is a view held by millions (even billions?) of people through the ages since God first revealed Himself to man. This is a simple concept that has been proven by time and people over and over again. Grab the nearest Christian and ask him, why do you believe in God? Why do you think that He is worth so much more than anything else in the world?
Come all who are thirsty, come to the waters. Only Jesus can satisfy you to the fullest. Only when you find Jesus will your soul delight in the richest of life. Come taste and see how sweet He is.
Hello fellow bloggers. I must apologise profusely for my untimely absence from my space. I hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew but I have put up my hand up to be in several committees this year. Royal Australian College of General Practice National Standing Committee, Christian Medical Dental Fellowship Association Committee, General Practice Registrars Australia Board of Directors, Light the Nations Australian strategic leader, Evangelical Chinese Church Board of Deacons, etc… So please forgive me if you don’t hear from me for a while. Just pray for me (:D) that I will be faithful in the tasks that God has put before me. May God bless you all! And happy mother’s day to all the mothers out there! April 09 the wall is broken down They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire”. When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Neh 1:3-4 We all know the story of Nehemiah. If you don’t, you should take the opportunity to read this great book! So many wonderful principles of life embedded in the story of this man of God. I won’t use this space today to recount his exploits but I do want to focus on the above passage.
Nehemiah was a man who had an esteemed position in a foreign land. He was cup-bearer to the king! Which meant that the king trusted Nehemiah with his life. However, when Nehemiah heard of his homeland’s state of affairs, he despaired. This is a passage that continues to spur me on in my work of medical missions in my homeland.  Walls are meant to surround and protect a nation, a people, a city. Its purpose is to keep out anything that may harm, anything that may corrupt, anything that may destroy those within its jurisdiction. As I have been working with HIV/AIDS, I have witnessed the collapse of the wall of morality in the cities I have worked in in SE Asia. Prostitution is rife, iv drug use though outlawed is rampant, sex among teens and outside of marriage is considered “normal”. Promiscuity is a badge of honor. The law of “you do what you want, I do what I want” prevails. There is no standard, objective moral law that stands to guide the people. The wall is broken down. The gates have been burned with fire. Many who are reading this blog live in a comfortable and secure country like Australia, USA, New Zealand, or wherever you may be. We live in comfort. Comfort desensitises us, numbs us, separates us from the hurts of those around us. We always see the tragedies around the world on our TV screens. We gasp. We are shocked. But only for a moment. After the TV is turned off, we resume our normal lives. Forgetting the suffering of those in war-torn Iraq, starving in Africa, depression among farmers in drought-struck areas, etc… How do you respond to the tragedies around us? Think of the millions of children around the world dying of starvation and lack of treatment for something as simple as diarrhoea. Think of our neighbour East Timor who continually suffer civil unrest and uncertainties in their government. Think of the kidnappings for prostitution and slave trades STILL happening around the world. Think of daily human right abuses in governments vehemently denying its existence. I don’t want to just talk about other countries. Let's look at Australia. How about the disgrace of the healthcare system for Aborigines (a third world system in a 1st world country) here? How about the homeless in our cities? How about the slaughter of babies under the guise of “legal abortion”? I could go on and on. What is happening in your “homeland” today? What is your response? Do you just gasp for a second and then shrug your shoulders and say “what can one person do?” And so your conscience seems to be cleared of all responsibilities and life just goes on. Comfortable. Happy. Blissfully ignorant. Unwilling to lift even a finger to help. Or do we mourn as Nehemiah mourned? Weeping, crying in despair for his own people (even thousands of miles away). We need to WAKE UP!!! Don’t live a life that has dulled senses to the needs around us. Come on people... We need to regain our personal ownership of our homeland! We need to be motivated to fight injustice, immorality! To defend God’s laws, His name, His honour, His compassion for His people!!! March 25 it costs to follow Jesus Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. Genesis 22:12 Genesis 22 gives us the account of one of the pivotal moments in the exciting life of Abraham. What a story he had to tell the ages! This moment, as he held the knife in the air, ready to plunge a deathblow into the one that is most dear in his life, is worthy of the attention of the universe. I can just imagine as he stood there, that even the angels and devils in the 4th dimension held their breath as they watched the story unfold in this remarkable man.  It brings up a poignant point for every Christian as we read this account. How much is God worth to you? Does anything in you life compete with His place in your heart? Does anything hold you back from experiencing what it means to embrace God fully, to run the race that is set before you without distraction? Are you willing to give your all to Him? Are you willing to surrender what you see as the most precious things in your life? Are you willing to trust God that He will satisfy you beyond these things?  What are the things you are holding on to? Refusing to let go? Allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate these things for you today. These are the things that are holding you back from experiencing the fullness of God in your life. There seems to be 2 broad categories I could identify. One category is the seemingly “good” things in life that the world is offering to us. BUT, “good” is the archenemy of “the BEST”! Another category of things that hold us back are the things that are destroying us and yet we are either too ashamed or afraid to release them to God to allow His healing to begin in us.  What is God asking you to sacrifice? For some of you, this is a scary exercise but one that is essential. Be painfully honest. Examine into the deepest corners of your soul. Is it your career? Is it your hoarding of material wealth to give you security, not trusting that God can take care of you? Is it the glittering attraction of material things, and the need to accumulate these things to give you a sense of worth? Is it pride? Is it the need to control every decision in your life to satisfy YOUR desires, not God’s? Is it anger? Your bitterness towards a friend, a family member? Unforgiveness? Fear?  We often make light of the straight and narrow way that few find or follow. There is a lot of sacrifice in following Jesus, a lot of moulding and shaping, and renewing and refining that has to happen in us. If you are finding it an easy road to follow Jesus today… you need to ask yourself, am I really on the right path? Well, please don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating that only if your life is full of suffering and turmoil and sacrifice, that you are a true Christian. NO! This is my point. In a world that is spiralling downwards to destruction, God is reversing that cycle in our life, spiralling us upwards towards Him. It is therefore only natural, that we will need to make sacrifices and meet resistances as we go against the flow. As each of you read the Word of God, you will realise how RADICAL and opposite of the world’s thinking it is. If you truly want to live the life that God demands of us, it will cost you. I too am learning and struggling with the cost of following Jesus. Will it cost me my comfortable lifestyle in Australia? Will it cost me my beloved whom I am to marry? Will it cost me my health? Will it cost me my career? These are all really scary thoughts for me. But my conviction is this – if ANY of these things are holding me back from following Jesus, I MUST let these things go. May God speak to me today on my Sabbath as I seek His face.
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