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.