Man is body, soul and spirit

So often we heard people quoting the above, and after a while we did the same. But do you really know it is from the Bible? How much do you understand concerning it? This is my understanding of the subject, and the key verse is in Gen 2:7 (KJV).

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gen 2:7 (KJV)


The body
The body is plain enough – it is referring to the physical body, the flesh. The Word of God said that the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground – first part of Gen 2:7 (KJV). Our body comes from the dust of the ground, and when we die, our body decays. This is the physical part of us. When we die, it is destroyed, it has no part in life after death. The Word of God does talk about its replacement. For those destined for the Kingdom of God/Heaven, its replacement is an incorruptible body (1 Cor 15:52-54). So, is the physical body important in God’s eyes when we are still living on the earth? The answer is yes, and this is what the Apostle Paul wrote as benediction to the Thessalonians in his letter:

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 The 5:23)

Paul also exhorts us, in Rom 6:12-13, not to let sins reign in our mortal bodies -

...do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. (Rom 6:12-13)

But you may ask why (since it decays after we died)? I give you 2 reasons:

1. We are God’s workmanship (Eph 2:10a).

If you read the Creation story in the Bible, you will find God spoke things into being. But did you realize that for the creation of man, God did more than that? He formed man from the dust of the ground (Gen 2:7). How does one form a thing from dust? Imagine God took the trouble to mould and shape man into what we look like. And how did God create woman? God took a rib from the man and made the woman (Gen 2:22), probably in like fashion as He did for the making of man.

2. Our body is His temple.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Cor 6:19-20).

Now if you are a Christian, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God dwells in you. God made the physical man the way we are, God did not make our body to be like that of a cow or a snake. We are made the way we are and we must accept that, we should let ourselves be, the way God wants us to be. If you still do not catch what I am getting at, for a moment, think about what you know about the temples or the throne place or dwelling place of God. What kind of pictures do you get from the Bible about physical temples or throne place or dwelling place of God? For example, the place on Mt Horeb, where Moses saw the burning bush, it was a dwelling place (maybe for a while) of God (More about this in a separate article). What did God indicate to Moses about the physical surrounding? God said the place was holy, and that Moses was to take off his scandals. What about the Tabernacles of God (of Moses and David). God gave precise instructions on how everything was to be made, where they were to be placed, the layouts and dimensions, etc. So, do not tattoo your body, and do not defile your body. Do you know what the common thing is, in all the scenarios of God’s temple, throne place or dwelling place? Holiness. The Spirit of God is not called the HOLY Spirit for no reason.


The soul
We have now understood we have a body and that, that body is important to God, and He made it with the prospect of having his Spirit dwell in it. What then is the soul? Again we go back to Gen 2:7. We read in the last part, that it said, “and man became a living soul”. It is not easy to describe what exactly the “soul” is; the following words give good ideas of what the soul is:

A soul is a life or life individual (or some called life principle),
A soul is a being (1 Cor 15:45 NIV)

So, accordingly an animal has a soul, even a plant. When applied to man, the soul can be considered the “inner man” (as separate from the outer physical man). Therefore, one could say that a soul and a body add up to a life form (a life with a form).

When we talked about the non-physical “makeup” of a person, such things as a person’s personality (e.g. introvert, extrovert, etc), talent inclinations such as music, arts, etc, emotional tendencies, heart condition, etc, we are really referring to the soul, the very person as opposed to the physical body. So each person is unique because each is a unique soul.


The spirit
Now we will talk about the spirit. If a soul and a body make up a life with a form (life form), how does spirit comes into the picture? Again we look at Gen 2:7 (KJV).

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gen 2:7 (KJV)

I submit to you that the breath of life is the spirit of man. God created the spirit of man when He breathed into man’s nostrils. I think it is NOT correct to say that by this action, God has put his Holy Spirit into man. I believe the correct way to look at this is that the breath of God created the spirit of man. This created spirit is what made us different from plants or animals. Plants and animals are living things, they have body and soul but no spirit.

Now if plants and animals without spirit can still live, why does God create a spirit in a man? Or why does the Gen 2:7 (KJV) still say “man became a LIVING soul” (a soul is already a life)? You see this word, “LIVING”, is also repeated in a related New Testament verse - 1 Cor 15:45 (KJV) - And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a LIVING soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. I give you 3 reasons for man to have a spirit:

1. God wanted to create us in His image (Gen 1:26-27). God is spirit (John 4:24a), so to be like Him, we are to have a spirit.

2. God is spirit, highest level of communion can only be spirit to spirit (1 Cor 2:14 – spiritual things are spiritually discerned, I believe having a spirit is necessary to receive aid from the Holy Spirit; John 4:24 – God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth)

3. To live in God’s world, Heaven, eternally, you need a spirit. A spirit lives forever.

Yes, I believe that a spirit lives forever. I do not think this belief is misplaced because the Bible does not speak of death of a spirit. In fact, the second death which is eternal suffering in lake of fire in Hell is not death in the way we, human understand it to be – become nothingness, but instead a spirit is still there, just constantly suffering. Even Satan and demons which are spirit in nature do not die, their ultimate destination is the same lake of fire in Hell, be “roasted” for all eternity. Do you now catch what I am trying to get at? In my opinion, the word, “LIVING” in verse 7 above is put there really because of the forever living nature of a spirit. With the creation of a spirit in man, the man’s soul became living in the sense that it shall live forever.

If you look at things this way, it would be right to say that animals and plants have no more existence or life when they die. They do not have a spirit that can live forever. If I am not mistaken, there is no mention of animals or plants getting resurrected or raptured to Heaven in the Bible.

I think it would not be complete if I do not address Gen 2:17, since it talked about death -

but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (Gen 2:17 NIV)

What was God really referring to when He said “You will surely die.” Obviously He was not referring to 1st death or the physical death because Adam and Eve did not die. In fact, God met up with them after the Fall, subsequently put them out of the Garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve lived to produce children (Cain, Abel and Seth). If you subscribe to what I said above, Adam and Eve could not die, they were with spirits. So what did the dying there mean? As is widely held, death here really was referring to separation from God, the very source of life. What cannot be reasonably deduced or discerned or not revealed by the Holy Spirit, we should not speculate too much, so I cannot say what exactly happened to the body, soul and spirit of Adam and Eve. But we know from Scriptures that with that Fall, the nature of man has become sinful and that man has been “marked” to go to Hell. The thing I believe would probably not be wrong to say is that the spirit (of man) had been somehow “weakened”. The argument for this is simply that separation from the very source of life, God, weakens. Apart from Jesus, the separation could get more worse and the spirit, weaker, until at the Great Separation, the separation is greatest, the spirited soul is in Hell, the spirit is weakest and in constant agony. It is only through the work of Jesus Christ that man is reconciled back to God. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a LIVING soul; the last Adam [Jesus] was made a QUICKENING spirit.( 1 Cor 15:45 KJV ) The understanding of the 2nd part of this verse will further support what I said about the spirit of man having been “weakened” (You can read more about it in an article to come).


Recap
A soul is a life. It is unique in that each has his/her own personality. A soul and a body make up a life form (life with a form). Man is a life form with a spirit. Because of this spirit, man’s soul lives forever. When a man dies, his body decays, his soul and spirit live on. The spirited soul can end up either in Hell (eternal suffering in the lake of fire) or Heaven (the Kingdom of God).

I believe what I have given here is a very easy to understand, explanation of what the body, soul and spirit of man is. Its simplicity does not necessarily mean it isn’t correct. I have looked at some Greek and Hebrew texts/references but I shall spare you the complexities. But more importantly, I believe I experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit as I wrote.

You will find that some people, even scholars wrote about man being bipartite (body and soul). I believe this is not quite correct. Man is tripartite (body, soul and spirit). However, sometimes we do find that the words soul and spirit seemed to be used interchangeably in Bibles (inclusive of various translations).
This is not so confusing if you understood what I explained above. The soul for a man is a spirited soul.



Anthony Chia – I am a Tripartite man, my soul is a spirited soul.

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Trials and Temptations (James 1:2-18)

This article will be a little different from other articles so far. It takes the form of a commentary on a passage from the Bible talking about a particular topic or subject. I believe there will be some more articles of this kind in the future. (This will not fit into the category of "Daily Devotion", which some readers have requested. I know the common remarks that the articles are too long for "daily devotion". Sorry, currently I have no inclination to provide short articles. Articles will still tended to be more in-depth study of the Word.) Today, we look at the topic of "Trials and Temptations" from James 1:2-18.

The way to read this is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I would probably insert a section on "what we ought to have understood/learnt".

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. [The author, possibly James – the brother of Jesus, said, “Consider it pure joy”. How come he can look at trials in this way? I believe he is looking at the end result. The end result is that we become mature and complete, not lacking anything – what a wonderful end result; would you like that? We commonly heard it said that the end does not always justify the means. I think if we have godly WISDOM for execution, we should always fix our eyes on the end result.
Paul also exhorted us to fix our eyes on the end result – see 1 Cor 9:24 and Heb 12:1. Notice that the word, “whenever” is used here instead of “if”. Also notice that James was addressing Christians (“my brothers” used). What I am trying to say is that Christians WILL face trials of many kinds. People should not think that by becoming a Christian, their lives on earth will be smooth sailing. The Bible does not promise that. And Christians should not think that necessarily there is something wrong with themselves when they got hit with trials of many kinds; and we should not be too quick to judge other Christians on seeing that they are hit with trials of many kinds. James said we will face trials and we must hang in there, and when we do that, our suffering will produce perseverance. Perseverance produced by suffering will produce character and character, hope that does not disappoint (Romans 5:3-5).] 5If any of you lacks WISDOM, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. [But then you may say, “I do not have godly wisdom”. James told us to ask God for it. He said God will give it generously without fault. Any conditions attached? James said we must believe and not doubt (see also Mark 11:23). A doubting person is like a wave in the sea, blown and tossed by the wind; he is double minded, unstable in all he does. Such a person cannot expect to receive anything from God. I also believe implicitly, what we ask, has to be for a good END RESULT.] 9The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business. 12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. [Why did James “stick” this here, talking about low position, high position, and riches? I believe 2 things we are to learn here. Firstly, what is good end result to us may not necessarily be THE good end result in God’s eyes. I believe at times, God has a better end result or what we consider good is not good enough to Him. Or we may think a certain end is the end but God does not look at that end as the end, He has another end in mind and therefore another end result, different from ours. Secondly, a lot of our trials got to do with 2 things – pride and money. I believe James was talking about taking pride in only one position – that we have been given citizenships (Phil 3:20a) in the Kingdom of God. Those of us in low positions (poor, low status) should take pride that God despises not the lowly and accept us all the same (this is the high position of the lowly people); those of us who are in high positions (rich, high status) should take pride that the same God’s grace was at work, so much so as to cause us to accept the gift of life, and continues to work in us (the rich's low position because he can boast not of it). The rich man’s riches and status are not what will get him the salvation that he can boast about but it is grace of God that he has salvation. The Bible in Mat 19:24, stated that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. All worldly pride, glamour and money/riches will pass away. What matters are 2 things – whether one stood the test and whether one loves God. When you satisfied both, you will be assured of a place in the Kingdom of God. To stand the test, we have to persevere under trial.] 13When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. [James, in addressing temptations, was saying God cannot be tempted by evil, and He does not tempt anyone. He (James) went on to explain how a temptation comes about and how if it is not handled correctly will lead to sin and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Again, here, Christians are included (in fact James was addressing the Christians). Therefore, what it means is that even if you are a Christian, if you having been tempted, got into sin and the sin, when it has become full-grown, it will lead to death. The death here is referring to the 2nd death – eternal suffering in the lake of fire in Hell. If you think that since you are already a Christian you will never go to Hell even if you sin and are unrepentant, I say, you better think again.] 16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. [James reminded us not to be deceived. He also said that good and perfect gifts come from God who does not change. God has allowed us to be born-again as fore-runners of the many more He would save.]

[Added on 22 April 2010: It is interesting that, even though the theme of James 1 was on trials, James ended the chapter with theses verses of 16-18.

I believe perhaps, among those who faced trials, whom James was trying to encourage, were people who at some points in time, previously, were evidently used of God in many wonderful ways, perhaps, healed the sick, performed miracles, etc, but were now faced with trials. I believe he was trying to say that they should not, for a moment, think that what they were capable of accomplishing in the past, with the exercise of their spiritual gifts, were not from God {thus he said all good and perfect gift is from God}, or that God was fickle-minded and had abandoned them {thus he said God does not change like shifting shadows}. James said He chose; God chose to give them life through the Word. Implicit in that I believe James said that God loves them {despite their facing of trials}, for at the base of it all, love is a choice. When God chose to birth anyone of us {salvation}, He bound Himself to love us. Love is a choice, and the love that cometh from God’s choice of birth is an agape love.]


What we ought to have understood:

1. We should keep our heads up when faced with trials.

2. Christians are not exempted from trials.

3. We must persevere in our trials and keep our eyes on the end result.

4. Ask God for wisdom, and when we ask, believe and do not doubt.

5. Take pride only in one position – that we have been given citizenships to the Kingdom of God by God’s grace and that, that grace is still at work to keep us on the Way of Holiness which leads to the Kingdom (For more on Way of Holiness, click here).

6. Persevere in trials and love God are things to do for us to be assured of the crown of life.

7. Remember, God does not tempt us. He will chastise us because He loves us but does not tempt us. Temptation is an inducement to do evil or to sin. God cannot be doing that. However, He may allow situations of trials to come into our lives so that our faith may be tested to develop perseverance in us, and when that peseverance has finished it work, we may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. Temptations come by Satan directly, or by the workings of the fallen world, appealing to the cravings of our sinful nature.

8. We are tempted when because of our lack of self-control over our desires, be dragged away and enticed. Giving in to temptation gives birth to sin, and sin when full-grown leads to death.

9. Sins are sins, whether committed by Christians or non-Christians. The consequence of sin is the same, death, if not repented from and forgiven by God. Repent and ask God for forgiveness for your sins if you (Christians included) do not want to end up in Hell.

10. Be thankful to God that we are born-again and are fore-runners of the many more He would save. Thank Him also for all His good and perfect gifts to us, and his unchanging character.


Anthony Chia - Consider this: In place of worldly pride, glamour and riches, seek the peace and joy that come from knowing God. And adopt Paul’s attitude - I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:14)

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Spiritual Food

Spiritual food according to Jesus – every word that proceeds from the mouth of God

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Mat 4:4) [also Deut 8:3].

You will remember that this was Jesus’ answer to Satan when He was tempted by Satan after His 40 days fast in the wilderness, when Satan suggested to Jesus to prove He was the Son of God by turning the stones to bread to eat since Jesus was hungry, having come out of a long fast. Jesus in answering Satan in that manner, was telling us that man is both physical and spiritual, the physical part of us needs to eat physical food (like bread) and the spiritual part of us needs to eat also and the food is every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Bible – Spiritual food?
If we say the Bible is the Word of God, then it must have originated from God, otherwise it would not be called the Word of God, would it? But does it always proceed from the mouth of God? From what I read in the Bible, God spoke His words. A key text is Isaiah 55:11 -

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 (Isaiah 55:11)

Even the Ten Commandments were spoken (whether it was spoken first or written first, it was not relevant, when it was spoken, it was to be food). Even Creation was spoken into being, if you read the Genesis story in the Bible. I believe God spoke most of the time, if not all the time (instead of just writing, for example). It does not matter in what form you received them, if it originated from word(s) that proceeded from the mouth of God, it is food to us.

The Ten Commandments for example was first spoken. Whether the people subsequently read from the stone tablets or heard them through Moses or any other person, it still originated from words that proceeded from the mouth of God. So if God spoke to an angel and the angel then told it to a man, say like Mary (Jesus’ mother), what was spoken was food too for the man (Mary, in this case). Likewise, in place of the angels if God uses the Holy Spirit, what is revealed or inspired by the Holy Spirit is food. Since the Bible is written by men and the belief is that these men were inspired by the Holy Spirit in their writings, the Bible is Spiritual food, indeed.

What about the manifestations of the Holy Spirit? Are they spiritual food?
What if God caused a man to have a dream, would that dream be food for the man? It would be if God spoke. I believe God speaks and the Holy Spirit hears and He brings the dream on. In that way, the dream was food for the man. Whether it is Old Testament or New Testament, the Holy Spirit always existed, being part of the Triune God. The New Testament talks about the Holy Spirit teaching, giving man the words to speak, speaking through man, giving utterances (tongues) to man. The Bible also talks about dreams (seeing pictures while asleep) and visions (seeing pictures while awake), and prophecies (speaking of what God wanted said) given by the Holy Spirit. Do dreams, visions and words of knowledge, wisdom and prophecies and other manifestations of the Holy Spirit qualify as food for us? The answer is yes.

What follows (of John 16:13) I believe is revelation to many, it was for me when it was first revealed to me (by the Holy Spirit). Why did I answer affirmatively for the last question above? It is because of the revelation in John 16:13.

But when he, the Spirit of truth [the Holy Spirit], comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he HEARS, and he will tell you what is yet to come (John 16:13).

The Holy Spirit will speak what he hears. That means words proceeded from the mouth of God, and the Holy Spirit hears and then goes about doing what he does – guide, speak, inspire, reveal, give dreams, visions and words, prophecies, etc [collectively I called them manifestations of the Holy Spirit]. The manifestations of the Holy Spirit are food to us. I believe the Church has not accorded a high enough importance to this food relative to the Bible. This is fresh food, we should feed on it more. The so-called Rhema Word is actually food given through the Holy Spirit. I believe going forward my perspective of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit is changed. If a manifestation is of the Holy Spirit, it is food, I will eat it.

Perhaps we are living in the last days (not last day). If that is so, then Acts 2:17-18 (Joel 2:28-29) applies:

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy (Acts 2:17-18)

Have you wondered why God would want to do this? I believe God foresees the need for tailored food to given to the Body in the last days. And the Holy Spirit is the one bringing it.

This understanding is consistent with what Jesus said as spiritual food to us (Mat 4:4) and what Jesus himself said in John14:26. Jesus himself said when He went back to Heaven after Resurrection, the Holy Spirit will be sent to the believers and the Holy Spirit will teach the believers all things and remind believers everything Jesus had said to the believers.

Milk and solid food
Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 talked about different food for different stages of our spiritual growth. Paul seemed to say that if we are still with jealousy and are quarrelsome (v 3), and we boast of human wisdom and boast about men (v 18-21), we are still infants. Paul said for infants, you get milk, not solid food. The writer of the Book of Hebrew in Heb 5:12-14 talked about different food for different spiritual maturity (just like what we have in the physical realm, babies have milk, adults have solid food). Here (in verse 13), the writer used a more all encompassing word, “righteousness” to distinguish between infancy and adulthood. This righteousness I have come to term it as "active righteousness". After you have read the rest of this article, you will understand what is meant by active righteousness. The mature Christians, by constant use (of the words, gifts, etc of God) have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Such can feed on solid food.

How we grow
All of us have varying degree of difficulties over the time of our Christian walk in understanding the content of the Bible. Some things we did not understand previously, maybe now we understand. This is because we are growing. It would be a concern if over time we did not come to understand more of the Bible. But how do we grow?

First we start with faith. How does faith come? Faith comes by the HEARING, and HEARING by the word of God. This is not my quote. It is Paul’s quote in Roman 10:17 (NKJ). There is something powerful about the SPOKEN word of God. For faith to come, you need to HEAR, to hear, you need the word of God to be SPOKEN (to proceed from the mouth). There seemed to be a pattern here [reality bears it out] - if we release the word of God like God does it (by letting it proceed from the mouth), it will possess the kind of power that God intended it to have. (the power that God talked about in Isaiah 55:11 – see above) – this is revelation to me even as I write, the more excellent way is to SPEAK the word of God. I now must aspire to speak the word of God (not just write them like this), especially the revelations that I believe I received through the Holy Spirit. May the Lord open up the platforms/doors for me for this purpose.

Second, with faith we act. Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead (James 2:17). James went further to elaborate with the life of Abraham. This is what is spoken of Abraham in this regard:

You see that his [Abraham’s] faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone (James 2:22-24).

James went on to cite the faith and deed of Rahab, the prostitute [you can read the full story at Joshua 2 & Joshua 6], and concluded in verse 26 as follows:

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead (James 2:26)

What am I saying? What I am saying is that we do not grow if we do not follow up our faith with action. The pattern is this: We feed on the word, the word brings faith, we are to act on the faith, in that way we grow, and then we go back to feed on the word again, faith again comes, again we act on the faith, and we grow further and we are able to feed on more solid food, and it is to go on and on. If you do not act or are without deed you won’t grow, and when you are not growing, the more solid food would not be suitable for you, i.e. they would not spur you further to greater good works, and without the works, again no growth, finally you ended up at where the writer of the Book of Hebrew talked about, in Heb 5:12 –

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again (Heb 5:12).

Are manifestations of the Holy Spirit solid food?
I have touched on Hebrew 5, verses 12 & 13. What the writer said in verse 14 is very interesting:

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Heb 5:14)

What was the writer trying to say here? I believe the writer of the Book of Hebrew was painting to us a picture of a mature Christian. He was one who had done what I talked about above – about one who had repeatedly fed on the word, put the resultant faith into actions, grew and went back for more, over and over again. So, by “constant use”, the mature Christian has trained himself to know what is good and what is evil. A growing process obviously included learning and by learning, it meant we stumbled at times, we made mistakes at times but we learnt, including spiritual things, what is of the Holy Spirit, what is not, how to test and interpret spiritual things, what is the appropriate thing to do, what is not the appropriate thing to do, etc.

I believe manifestations of the Holy Spirit tended more to be solid food, although some people started younger (in the faith). Of course, age and time do not necessarily correctly indicate the maturity of the believers. The reservations of some quarters in the Body of Christ concerning the emphasis on the works of the Holy Spirit, I believe, stem from the fear that one is not able to distinguish good from evil. But the writer of the Book of Hebrew said by constant use we can train ourselves to distinguish good from evil.

What I like to see is that the Body regards the manifestations of the Holy Spirit as spiritual food, as tailored food, as solid food and goes for it. Let the less mature (no offence intended) seek help (showing humility) from the mature, and the mature extend help (freely you received, freely you give) to the less mature, so that the whole Body is built up and becomes stronger.



Anthony Chia - Manifestations of the Holy Spirits are food

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Jesus’ teachings on prayers (Luke 11:1-13) [[Part II]]

In Luke 11:1, the disciples of Jesus asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. In the next 12 verses, Jesus taught about:

1. Praying for oneself (Luke 11:2-4) - the Lord's Prayer
2. Praying for another (Luke 11:5-10)
3. Praying for the Holy Spirit to be given (Luke 11:11-13) [covered in Part III]

[For this 2nd part of a 3-part article on this portion of the Scripture, I going to write on the 2nd item covered by Jesus – praying for another (Luke 11:5-10).]. [You can read Part I here.]

Praying for another (Luke 11:5-10)

Then he[Jesus] said to them,
"Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'
"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. 

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

It is best we look at these verses in its context when we want to claim them as promises in our lives, so that when situations are within context, we can confidently speak the verses into our lives. Claiming Bible promises out of context can result in disappointments and diminish our faith. The context is as follows:

1. One man, Mr. A asking a friend, Mr. B for something for another friend, Mr. C.

2. Mr. A was just one of us, that was what it said, “Suppose one of you….”

3. Mr. A approached Mr. B at midnight. What could we liken midnight to be? An inconvenient time, a dark time.

4. Who was Mr. C? A friend of Mr. A, and Mr. C was on a journey and had come to Mr. A. It should be correct to say that Mr. C had needs, (a) need for a shelter and (b) need for food. It is also correct that Mr. A could provide the shelter need but not the food.

5. Mr. A went over to the house of his friend, Mr. B and knocked on the door and asked for some bread for Mr. C to eat. Mr. A knocked and pleaded repeatedly because Mr. B was initially reluctant to make an effort to help.

6. After persistent knocking and pleading, Mr. B conceded to go into action – got up, took some bread and gave them to Mr. A so that Mr. C could have his need for food met.

7. Then in verses 9-10, Jesus seemed to imply that we are to ask God and when we ask God in this manner, we will receive an answer. Verses 9-10 must be read as following from the preceding verses because it starts with the word “So”.

What we should understand:

1. The context is NOT asking for something for oneself. It is asking something for another
For e.g. you want to own a big bungalow but you are not wealthy enough to have one, and you claim these verses and ask God repeatedly for a big bungalow. Even if you somehow get to own a big bungalow, it is not because these verses came through for you, but because God has some other reason(s) for letting you have the bungalow; and the reason can be simply He chose to bless you out of His grace and wisdom. When it is out of his grace and wisdom, it is entirely up to God. It is different from a promise in its proper context, in which God will honour it because He cannot lie.

Even if in the above case, the thing you asked is not a big bungalow but some bread, and you get your bread, it is not because the above verses come through for you; some other promise has come through for you because these verses are not about asking for yourself.

Who is a friend? I do not think it includes oneself. I think it can be anybody other than oneself. It is interesting that Mr. C was quoted here as one who was on a journey. Narrowly speaking, “one of you” could be taken to mean “a Christian” (note here that Jesus was teaching his disciples), “a friend on a journey” could be taken as a fellow traveler on the Way (Highway) of Holiness, i.e. the friend is another Christian but this is not necessarily the only interpretation (For more on the Way of Holiness, click here).

Broadly speaking, everyone living on this earth is on a journey. We are all on a journey to either Kingdom of Heaven or Hell. You will no longer be journeying when you get into the Kingdom of Heaven (because you do not want to go anywhere else) or Hell (because you cannot go anywhere else).  [The way I used Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven is that, as believers, we are in the Kingdom of God (the earthly phase), but we are yet to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (the Heaven phase of the Kingdom of God)]

2. The context is NOT asking for luxury. It is asking for a need.
So if you are asking God for a big bungalow for a friend, sorry you cannot claim these verses, unless a big bungalow is a need for your friend. It is difficult for me to imagine a big bungalow being a need (I do not want to go into speculation that bread could mean something else, or that three loaves of bread can have some other meaning. It is sufficient to understand that it is a need that is being asked for).

3. The context is NOT some deceptive way of getting something. It is simple and straightforward – knock (at the door), open your mouth and ask.
You cannot arm-twist, fool or sweet-talk God into granting you the request. Just “knock on God’s door” and ask God, persistently. You can “present your case” but you really cannot arm-twist God. It is really not complicated and we should not make it complicated. 

Does God allow Himself to be moved by men in certain circumstances?  Yes, but it is still you cannot arm-twist God; it is that God does allow Himself be moved, at times.

4. It is about persistence.
A great many of us, are really not being persistent, and this is the key teaching of Jesus, here. Interestingly, in this teaching, Jesus implies that God will answer based on persistence even though your friendship with God does not warrant it. I strongly advise against reading these verses to mean friendship with God is not important for answering of prayers. Rather it should be taken to mean that even if we are not “very close to God”, God still answers if we are persistent. This should be an encouragement for many of us to intercede still, for others, consistently and persistently.

5. God is NOT bothered by your persistent petitioning.
Do not think that your prayers will be a bother to God, and it is that you can pray to Him anytime. The Word of God says that God doesn’t sleep (Ps 121:3-4). God may be busy but He is never too busy to answer your prayers. When He is bothered, He will let you know [an e.g. is in Moses’ life – separate article to come].

To recap: The context of Luke 11:5-10 is praying for another (for a need), not for oneself. It exhorts us to be persistent in prayer for others.


Anthony Chia, high.expressions - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Phil 4:6)

PS1: Luke 11:9&10 were more or less repeated in Mat 7:7&8 without context specification (The Lord's Prayer appeared separately in Matt 6). I prefer the Luke's account with context specified because Luke (author for Gospel of Luke) being a physician would have tended to be more meticulous and detailed in his recording. So, I still insist that the correct context for these verses is that of praying for another.

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And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me (John 12:32)

Jesus said if He is lifted up from the earth, He will draw all men unto Him. Contextually, Jesus was referring to either the way He would die or His resurrection.

The Apostle John’s interpretation was the former – He said this to show the kind of death that He was going to die (verse 33). Jesus was crucified and crucifixion involved putting someone on a cross (put very simply, perhaps too simply) and standing the cross upright with the person on the cross – the person is lifted up from the earth. We can be very sure that when Jesus was hung on the cross at Calvary, many people were there watching to see what happened i.e. people were drawn to the crucifixion.

I tend to believe that Jesus was referring to the latter, i.e. His resurrection. The main reason for this is due to the second portion of the scripture; it stated that He will draw all men unto Him. I suggest no matter how you interpreted the word “all men”, it should suggest more than a local population/gathering of men in a locality. What I am saying is that Jesus cannot be referring to the crowd that would gather at His crucifixion. He was referring to all people of the world, his present time and future. I believe at least a portion of the past people (with reference to His time), were included [a separate article to come]. It was the resurrection (from death) that was the victory over Satan, Sin and Death. It is by this resurrection that Jesus will draw all men unto Him. If He died and was not resurrected, He would not draw men, would He? So, what Jesus was saying was that with resurrection, He will draw all men unto Him. [to avoid misunderstanding, it is only right to say the Apostle John understood the resurrection power]

How can we apply this verse in our walk with the Lord?
Why would we want to be bothered with this verse?
Isn’t it past or is it not?

It is not past. The power of resurrection is still available and on-going. The actual event is past but the consequence of the event is continuous. The key power of resurrection is the Saving power. This is the power to save people from their fate of eternal deaths in Hell. We should be bothered with this verse because we have been saved (that is if you are already a Christian) by this power, and it is the continuous will of the Father God for mankind – that all men be saved from their fate of eternal deaths in Hell. In Mathew 7:21 Jesus stated that not everyone will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of the Father God.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Mathew 7:21)

Of course, God will many things, but we often say we do not know what is God’s will for our lives. But that is not good enough excuse for us not to try to comply with the requirements of entry into the Kingdom of Heaven [a separate article to come]. I know I sounded a little like we have to make an effort but I made no apologies for it. I do not subscribe to “salvation by works” but I believe God grants us grace to perfect holiness [Be holy because I am holy] and to do good works (produce acceptable fruits to God). I am not trying to put fear into us and suggesting that we will not be going to heaven if we die now, just because we are not doing the will of God all the time. I believe God does look at the heart of a person. Nevertheless, it is important that we take note of the explicit wills of God and walk in them. Saving people from the fate of eternal deaths in Hell is an explicit and continuous will of God that we can always walk in. So what must we do then? Tell people about the power – The resurrection story of Jesus and He will draw men unto Himself.

What else can we do apart from sharing the resurrection story? We have to be careful whenever we take a verse out of its context. One possible window of application is when a particular verse is consistent with the general theme of various parts of the Word of God. I do apply this verse in this manner:

I often pray this:
Lord, when I lift your name, draw men unto yourself (basically drawing upon John 12:32)

Father God resurrected Jesus and that resurrection draws men unto Jesus. In this case, I lift Jesus’ name by testimonies, by speaking of his attributes (like greatness, love, compassion, etc), by exercising faith in prayers and in exercising the gifts of the Spirit. I am saying, “Jesus, draw men unto yourself as I do these things.” Because I move in a little way, in the gift of words of knowledge (to a lesser extent, prophecy), I would pray this regularly:

Lord when I lift your name, come and hold up your name.
Let me receive from you clearly and that I speak only what you want spoken.
I rather not lift your name than to lift it up and see it fall to the ground.
My intention is to glorify your name and let people with needs be helped.
Lord, when I release your words, come and hold up your name by doing the necessary – healing, setting people free, convicting people, and ministering to people.
Lord, when I lift your name, draw men unto yourself

I am honored that the Lord honored the motivations of my heart and allowed me to be a blessing to others (some were healed, others felt ministered, still others were encouraged to walk closer to the Lord; indirectly, maybe even others gave their lives to the Lord because of what they see/experienced). I believe I have been a blessing to more people in the last one year than the previous 7 years. When we
lift Jesus’ name with the correct motivations, He will draw men unto Himself.




Anthony Chia -God wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4)

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Thank you, Lord. You are still affirming

Preamble
While I must be conscious that this is a public domain so that I do not slander anyone, embarrass anybody and also in general, not get into trouble with the church or the laws, I am hoping this personal blog can also function in some way a record/journal of sort, of some of my experiences in the faith, especially if the “stories” can encourage or help somebody. I also must remind myself not to blow my own trumpet. Actually, sometimes I wondered why I want to write on this blog. I hardly get any feedback, my blog is not being read by many. By writing, I am also making myself vulnerable. Actually, the temptation is great for us not to say anything because by not saying anything, no one will know what we are thinking, and so we cannot be faulted. But in truth, someone knows, and that someone is God. He knows every meditation of our hearts. By putting it in writing, of course, because it can cause another to stumble, the responsibility is even greater – one more thing to answer to God. And if I ended up blowing my own trumpet in the process, God would not be pleased. I also do not want to lose whatever ministry, (if I could even call it a ministry to begin with) that I have, because pride has manifested. [This is not to say that God would not be upset with unexpressed pride in us]. Some of the readers here are members of the same church I attend, so I too must be careful so that what I say do not end up offensive or infringing on people’s privacy or confidentiality. Especially, I hope that my church leaders do not stop me from ministering in church just because I sometimes, write about something I am involved in.

With this, I like to pen down, maybe more of a expression of thankfulness than anything else, the follow through, to the most recent blog entry – More Lord, more (http://high-expressions.blogspot.com/2009/06/more-lord-more.html ).

Desire regularity/consistency
Actually I was concerned and still is (and I think it is not necessarily a bad thing, though fear should not be the basic driving factor), that my functioning in the Lord for a period of one year or so, may come to an end. I think we all could accept that God could use anyone from time to time to minister or perform exploits for Him, wherever and whenever God deems necessary. But I desire regularity, consistency. By way of analogy, we can drink from any cup. When we go to the food-court and buy a drink, we just drink out of any cup that the stallholder used. Likewise, we will drink from any cup used by the host when we visit a home. But at home, we commonly have our own cups which we used when we have our drinks. Dad will have his own cup, mom will have hers, and the children will have their own cups. (There is nothing wrong if in your family you do not have this “practice”. Indeed there are families that do not make any distinctions – they just share the cups). For a moment, think that you are Dad’s cup in the house, would you not want Dad to use you each time he drinks from a cup. You can’t help it if Dad is drinking at a food-court or at somebody’s home, because you are not there (unless he brought you along). Dad may once in a while use mom’s cup when he drinks, but I would be wondering, if he consistently omitted to use me when he wants a drink. I am like the cup, although more correctly not for holding “water” but for pouring out from. I want my master to use me, consistently. By the way, a few months ago, in church when we did a prophetic drawing session, a brother drew a prophetic glass picture for me.

He affirmed again
Again, just as the lapses in the use by the Lord begin to bother, the Lord again affirmed. This time, at last Saturday evening service in church, I was a little late. I was unable to sit anywhere near to the front of the church. The reason for that was really that for that service, many children would be baptized and many seats were marked out for the children and their families and for the “Sunday School” teachers. In fact, I could not even get a seat in the sanctuary after trying for a while. Without a choice I proceeded to the upper sanctuary after being informed by an usher that the upper sanctuary was opened. To get to upper sanctuary, one had to leave the sanctuary through the back (vis-a-vis the pulpit), manage a flight of stairs and re-enter. Likewise if one wants to go from the upper sanctuary to the sanctuary (“ground sanctuary”). I did not expect any time to be allotted for words of knowledge/prophecy. I also did not think any altar call would be made in view of the time required for doing the children baptism. Furthermore a special item was planned, to celebrate Father’s Day that fell on that weekend. Unexpectedly, the children baptism was done very expediently and the Senior Pastor finished his sermon fifteen minutes before end of service time. People were invited to the front for ministry. Initially only one adult went forward, and when he was prayed for, he was slain. But no others went forward. Then the Senior Pastor announced that the children could go forward for ministry. Many children did that. The Senior Pastor also gave a few words of knowledge, and with that more adults went forward for prayer. I was watching from the upper sanctuary, and when I saw more people had gone forward and on the left wing of sanctuary front, quite a few people were there waiting for prayers, I decided to rush down to pray for people, especially for the people on the left wing which were not attended to (because bulk of the pastors/staff were ministering to the children at the centre and on the right side).

It wasn’t so convenient, yet I must
Actually it really wasn’t so nice to leave before the end of service, and that was what it appeared to be what I was doing, at least to the people around where I was sitting, in the upper sanctuary. But I did it anyway, left the upper sanctuary door, rushed down the stairs and re-entered the sanctuary (ground floor) through a door at the back, on the right side (door nearest to the stairs), went down the right side of the sanctuary and reached the front of the sanctuary, on the right side. Realising no seats were available to put my stuff (bible, water bottle and Father’s Day gift, etc), I threw down my stuff against the right wall of the sanctuary, moved quickly between the narrow spaces between the people (ministers and children) and the front stage, right across to the left side where the unattended people were. There were perhaps, 6 -7 people there waiting for prayers, and a pastor had just started to attend to those waiting. Although I was not short of breath, I was not really in the “best of state” to pray for people after the rush. Actually, that was one of my hesitations when I decided to rush down from the upper sanctuary. What happened next was that I prayed for 3 persons. I first prayed for a man with some blood in his stool discovered only in the last day or two. Then I prayed for a young man with pain and discomfort in his arm and shoulder (unable to freely move his arms without discomfort and pain). When I prayed for him, I sensed that he was “swaying” under the anointing of the Spirit. I moved slightly to my left, with my left hand on his injured arm, in attempt to position myself to break his fall should he fall under the Spirit. The moment I done that, he fell backward like a tree, and as he fell, my hand moved from his arm towards his neck and then the back of his head. Finally, he landed on the floor with my hand between his head and the floor. Come to think about it, I should have felt pain when his head crashed my hand to the floor but I just did not feel any pain. He fell without a catcher and my hand broke his fall. He stayed down for maybe 5-6 minutes. The third person was a woman at the front row of seats. She must have seen the young man fell under the power of the Spirit and got encouraged to step forward. I remember I went over to the centre to see if anyone needed prayer before returning to the young man who was still lying on the floor. It was at this moment that the woman stepped forward and asked me to pray for greater anointing and ability to hear God more clearly. While I was praying for this woman the young man got up and went off before I could have the chance to check to see if he was healed of his pain and discomfort in the arm/shoulder. In any case, I believe the Lord must have ministered to him whilst he was down on the floor. Of course, it is not to say that people who are not slain are not ministered/healed by the Lord. It is just that often people cannot tell whether anything has changed immediately after the prayer and we do not get updated subsequently of their conditions. So, I take comfort that from time to time some people I prayed for got slain.

Why am I sharing this?
The main reason for sharing this is to acknowledge God’s honoring of the meditations of my heart, to thank Him for affirming that He still moves through me regularly. I know my life is not without reproach by the Lord’s standard, yet He was so gracious to move through me. It is an honor and privilege to be used regularly by the Lord to minister blessing to others. Secondly, it is to encourage people to press in and be faithful in the little that the Lord is doing through their lives in blessing others.

Not on duty, yet on duty
Those worshipping in the same church will know I am not on duty on any of the services. In fact, quite a number of the members of the church have been qualified as lay Altar Ministers but no one is on roster for duty, we are just supposed to help (i.e. left to the individuals[to help]). All these times, I was not on duty, yet on duty. I was not on duty because I was not on roster, yet I was on duty for the Lord. Because of this, perhaps it was also easier for me to “tune” for words of knowledge from the Lord than some of the pastors, not because they are not more “spiritual” (whatever that means), but because they are preoccupied with their duties to ensure everything turns out nicely for the congregation to “enjoy” the services, whereas I was free to “tune” to the Lord. I tried to discipline myself but I was not without reproach (the Lord knew), yet whatever I did (I mean release of words of knowledge/prophecy and altar ministry) in church services, it was not intended to pressurize anybody in the church. I had a job I needed to do for the Lord, and my son, Andrew often would remind me that I had to do my job, least the Lord gave me the “sack”. If in doing what I did, had come off to anyone as “show-off”, I apologise. I need prayers. Pray for me. Pray that I will always be humble, pray for my protection, pray that I will hear God clearly, and speak only the words of God and not my own when I release words of knowledge or prophecy. Pray that when I pray for others, they will be ministered by the Lord.


Once again, thank you Lord

Anthony Chia -Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer (Ps 19:14)

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More Lord, More

Since May 2009, I had had few occasions where I could release words of knowledge particularly, on healing. Also, along with that, fewer occasions for praying for people for healing (For an idea of how I function, see: http://high-expressions.blogspot.com/2009/04/special-resurrection-sunday-indeed.html ). My main place of ministry currently is really in church, during church services. I regularly attended all the 3 weekend English services of my church in which I function as a lay Altar Minister. A much smaller setting which sometimes accorded opportunities to minister, is the regular Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship weekly meetings. For various reasons, no times were allotted for release of words of knowledge by members of congregation (I am being one) in church for the most of the several weeks since May 2009.

It kind of trouble me a little, because I believe we must try to put into practice the things we learnt in the faith, we should all exercise faith and move in the spiritual gifts that we newly “acquired”. Exercise of faith and faithfulness are pertinent to the growth in the new spiritual gifts. Apart from the gift of tongues which is for self-edification, the rest of the gifts are ministry gifts. This means that we are to minister to people. Power gifts (gift of faith, healing, miraculous powers [gift of working of miracles]), revelation gifts (gift of distinguishing spirits, words of knowledge, words of wisdom), and oral gifts (gift of words of prophecy, interpretation of tongues, [gift of tongues is a self-edification gift]) are ministry gifts. Common sense tells us that we need to use them to minister/bless others, otherwise why would God gives us the gifts. If we are having them and we are not using them, why would they (the gifts) grow in depth and power.

It is really not fruitful if we attend various “power” seminars and afterwards not put into practice at least some of the things we learnt or gifts that we “received”. In my view, churches that organize these seminars/workshops should try as far as possible to encourage the putting into practice of these things. I feel paying lip service to such calls is pointless. The church leaderships themselves must be prepared to take some “risks” and allow members to practice these things in church services, cell meetings and various ministries and settings of the churches. Allowing times for and incorporating these things in the various settings of the churches are important. We must be prepared to change some things in the existing framework of things to accommodate the new things, otherwise each of these seminars would be another “let’s do it and then forget about it” project. I am not saying we cannot encourage people to try out these things in their “marketplaces” but be realistic, how many of us do not need “warm-ups” in these things? How many of us are that gung-ho to exercise spiritual gifts unsolicited in MacDonald, Starbuck or a supermarket?

Nevertheless, I want to encourage people who want to rekindle the “flame” of their faith to firstly, exercise some faith, step out of your comfort zone a little, secondly, worship the Lord more and lastly, instill in yourself a desire to glorify God, by doing things that do not benefit you directly but which glorify God. In this way, may you experience God’s moves through you. A small candle flame that flickered and went out and the acronym, “FWD” was what I received last year at the end of a series of teachings, including seminars, on moving in the supernatural with the Lord, with the renewal of the mind. I believe this is the interpretation of this vision that the Lord gave me (it was meant for the church congregation, but it is applicable to anyone who can identify with the vision of the candle flame) - “That there are those among us whose flames are dying out, to move forward, we need to step out in faith (the “F”), we need to worship the Lord a lot more (the “W”) and lastly we need to have a desire to glorify God (the “D”)”. When our flames are dying out, these 3 things, Faith exercising, Worship and Desire to glorify God, are things that we are reluctant to do/have. Yet, these are the very things that we have to tell our mind to do. We have to repeatedly tell our spirit man that, to move forward (FWD), we must exercise (F)aith, (W)orship God and do something to concretize our (D)esire to glorify God.

I have put into practice what the Lord had shown me, and I believe today my flame has been rekindled. For the few who know my situation more closely, things had not been going well for me for the last few years. Literally, my world crashed on me in early 2008. I hit my “most difficult patch” in my life. Now is still not the time yet to share the details of the “lowest period” of my life. It suffices to say that at one point, I literally did not know whether or not I could ever worship God. What faith was there to talk about? Kind souls then kept telling me to think about Job of the Bible, how he suffered at the hands of Satan and how he refused to curse God. How to sustain a desire to glorify God? For a moment I became like the Rachel (Jeremiah 31:15) of the Bible, weeping and weeping and refused to be comforted.

Today I am still not out of the patch that I had entered, things could never be the same again, yet I have gained – experiencing more of the Lord moving through me. More Lord, more. I want to experience more of you in my life. Thank you Lord for seeing me through, and for the spiritual gift experiences you brought into my life. Thank you Lord that despite the lack of opportunities to exercise the gift of words of knowledge in the recent weeks, you continued to show me that you are still moving through me by letting me experience about two weeks ago, for the first time, 2 consecutive slayings by the Spirit (falling under the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit) of 2 persons I laid hands on, consecutively. Also, another who said she felt great anointing upon her when I laid my hands on her. Thank you Lord for the privilege of leading a man through the Sinner’s Prayer on the 2nd night of that 2-nights meeting.

Lord, I want more; more opportunities to experience your moves through me. Lord, I want to see the gift of the words of knowledge in me used and grow. I want your healing anointing in me to increase, Lord so that more people will be healed or ministered. Lord, let me not take pride in your moves through me but even as you raise me, may your name be raised high and you be glorified.


Lord, may I grow in favour with you,

Anthony Chia – may this meditation of my heart pleases you, Lord

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