Till at Long Last (by Shevon Chan)

At long last…

The cries from a barren desert,

Have been weighed up and accepted.

The tears of my weary spirit,

Now covers the vessel at brim.

At last, the pockets of the skies,

Are filled and ready at Your count.

Each cloud ready to deliver,

When my Lord commands ‘It Is Now’.

‘It Is Now’! says the Lord of hosts.

Hallelujah! Praise our Savior!

The skies opened, the clouds poured down.

You showered your Grace! Thank You Lord!

Though our sins with roots deep and wide,

Your love spans beyond depth and width.

For as high as the Heavens are above the earth,

so great is Your love for those who fear You.

And as far as the east is from the west,

so far have You removed our transgressions.

You saw my heart, my weary heart.

To stay or flee, You answered me.

You saw his heart, his rueful heart.

Begging mercy, on bended knee.

Till at long last, the time is ripe,

You revealed your beautiful song.

My grace is sufficient, My child,

For when you are weak, you grow strong.

When I ponder upon the trials;

Your apostles bore night and day.

My test is but a trivial one.

Not worth the mention, I would say,

Afflictions in stripes and tumults,

Imprisonments and sleeplessness.

These your apostles bore in faith.

What have I borne for your name?

Yet Lord I am of flesh. So weak.

The trials at times seem at peak.

Betrayal haunts me in my sleep.

Loneliness attacks harsh and deep.

Regret and insecurity;

and angst sold my insanity.

Give me strength Lord, to overcome.

Give me wisdom to understand; that which is pleasing in Your sight.

For I would like for nothing more; than to be the child of Your light.

Till at long last, I meet with you, sheltered in your bosom of might.

Till at long last….

by Shevon Chan

dedicated to my beloved brother in Christ.

Words from a lost sheep (Now newly found)

The term 'Acceptance' is defined as a verb, in which it shows to have two different meanings. The first is known as the act of taking or receiving something offered. For example, if someone is giving you a gift and you receive it, than that person has accepted the gift; therefore, having acceptance.

Another definition of acceptance has to deal with positive welcome; favor and endorsement. In which, a person could like someone and have acceptance for them due to their approval of that person.

The third description of acceptance is that it can be act of believing or assenting. For instance, Christians believe (accept) that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior.
(Extracted from Wikipedia)

I have not written a blog for over a week. I was preparing my heart to come before Him for my baptism. During this period, I faced many trials both in my work place and in my personal life. I praise the Lord that He accepted me into his fold. I would like to share my thoughts on a remarkable yesterday.

I see myself as one described in Luke 15: 3-7, the Parable of The Lost Sheep; a lost sheep now found by my Shepherd. I had actually left God for more than 18 years. Even though I attended church services regularly, my heart was not with Him. So many callings had been made to me but I was too indulgent in all the worldly cares. It was like poison; pleasurable but poisonous. I drifted further and further away to a state where the existence of God was not that important at all.
The unification between God and I marked an end to my 18 years of exile. Preacher Fung asked me whether I was being chased by the Egyptians while I was crossing the Red Sea. My answer was yes. I was chased by the Egyptians while I was anxiously waiting to cross the Red Sea, to be unified in Him. The Egyptians were the surfacing of my wrongdoings in the past. Those were “the acts of the sinful nature; sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like.” (Galatians 5:19-21)

Yesterday (10 May 2009), I received my freedom in Christ, I was ACCEPTED. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

I received my first full blown attacked straight after the Holy Communion sacrament. It was fairly messy. I could see that Satan used different means by attacking people who cared about me. It was a long day. The service finished at 5pm but the attacks carried on for another three and a half hours. Satan tried to attack those who cared about me and through that, he thought he could strike my faith. His trick was to deceitfully bring out my past and wrongdoings, and to use it to accuse those who came to God.

I tried to avoid all these attacks since yesterday when I first attended the spiritual convocation. On Sunday morning, I woke up at 6am and left for Morning Prayer session at 6:30am and prayed so hard not to fall into his trap. Baptism went well and when I thought that was a memorial day for me to celebrate my acceptance in Christ, the attacks came rather astonishingly.

I think Satan had miscalculated one thing: "Now I live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law." (Galatians 5:16-18)

I held on to the true gospel that I believed in. I prayed to my Lord. I asked for strength in this spiritual battle. The wrongdoings starts from our thoughts, our thoughts leads to acts, and acts leads on to sin. Our sin leaves ground for the liar to use as a weapon to attack us. He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short. (Revelation 12:12)

I made my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. I knew that I was forgiven and accepted to the Kingdom of God when I received my Holy Spirit. I could understand my father’s will. The trials are to mould me into becoming His faithful servant. I love reading the bible. I love studying His words. Over the last few months, I read more of His words than I have ever done in the past 18 years. To my surprise, I read more than 20 books of the New Testament. I believe I will read His words over and over again until the day I reunite with my Lord in Heaven. What changed me? The Holy Spirit. Now, I can claim and announce loudly to everyone, ‘I AM A REBORN CHRISTIAN.” I went through the baptism of blood, water and fire.

Before I end, I want to remind myself and fellow brethren about God’s Love 1 John 4:7-21.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he is us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

Maybe we have too many hatred in our hearts. That is why we cannot totally submit ourselves to God. That is why the Holy Spirit does not dwell in those who can’t surrender their past burdens and bondages. God wants a simple heart to come before Him. God heals the wounded. My dear brethren, come to Him and let go of your burdens and bondages. You will receive your healing. You will change. You will have a new life to live on and you will have a clear direction to move in. I wish I had not done so many wrongdoings. For now, I will only want to cling onto His path and live out His testimony. May His name be glorified.

Swing while you're winning

The weather over in KK had been really hot lately with average temperature hitting 33 ‘C. The morning rain brought sprinkle of coolness, ousting away the hot air. I had a flight of 4 this morning and it was amazing. I am a beginner and my swing has not been really consistent.

In the game of golf, strength is most often associated with distance, how far you hit the ball. Although it feels good to send your tee shot high and far, strength training for golf is important for reasons other than extra distance. First and foremost, strength (together with flexibility) provides the foundation for a more efficient, reliable golf swing, two qualities better players share.

An efficient golf swing, or any athletic movement for that matter, requires some degree of stability, power, balance and coordination. Strength training provides a foundation for these. In other words, you can’t improve your club head speed without first increasing stability and power. And you can’t optimize your power without sufficient balance and coordination. And in order to maintain it for 18 holes, you need endurance. A comprehensive, golf specific strength training program, when combined with flexibility training, will therefore promote a more efficient and reliable golf swing, increase your endurance, and not to be overlooked, will reduce the risk of injury.

As a beginner, you try to grab the club and swing as hard as possible and hoping to hit the ball dead hard. What we hope for is the distance. When you are seasoned, you know the right techniques is to hold the club gently, swing constantly with moderate speed and let the body movement carry the ball away from the tee. You will realize the distance it carries is so much further away and consistent.

It is a simple technique but it takes years of practice to perfect your skill. Our muscles will memory our swing and that forms part of our skills. In life, as a Christian, it is important to learn how to let go of control of my life and surrender to God. Being a Christian does not mean we will have less temptations or trials in life. In fact, ‘successful’ or ‘blessed’ Christians are those who have encountered numerous of trials in life and being able to hold onto HIS promise.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” (1 Peter 4:12-14)

When we surrender ourselves to God and let the Holy Spirit rests upon us, there are changes being done to us. It is not saying once we are baptized and dwelled in him, we will not fall. In fact, Belial will find ways to deceit us and make us fall. That is why it is very important for us to endure the trials with his words.

It is just like letting go of our control in swinging and let our body takes charge. It is just like giving the helm to Jesus Christ and let him take charge of our life. In the end, you will see a beautiful swing with virtually effortless but lifting the ball to a new height and great distance. It applies to our journey on earth, being able to live against the trials with comfort and glorify his name by his grace.

Now, are we going to swing in victory?