But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt 6:33, KJV)

THIS IS A LONG ARTICLE. Take your time to read. It is worthwhile, for there are very few good expositions on this.

First thing first, this verse is speaking to believers, and NOT, “it is NOT speaking to believers”. In other words, you, as a believer, cannot say, “Since I am a believer, on my entry into salvation, I have been made fully righteous, and so, it cannot be that I still need to seek His righteousness”; and agreeing incorrectly, with those who insist that the verse must be talking to non-believers.

Where is it stated, it was speaking to believers? The answer is in the reading of the preceding verses to verse 33. You can backtrack a few verses, to verse 30, if you like, and begin there, or you can even just backtrack one verse, to verse 32. Even from verse 32, we can tell it was addressed to the believers. Verse 32 reads as follows:

“For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” (Matt 6:32)

First, we are to understand that this is part of the “Sermon on the Mount”, in which Jesus addressed the “crowd”. Who was the crowd? Of course, anybody could be in a crowd. But we do know from the overall counsel of the New Testament, Jesus primarily was wanting to speak to the children of God, the Jews. Would there be Gentiles or pagans in that crowd, of course there would be. Pagans were non-children of God; and non-children are equivalent to non-believers, in today’s term; and so, the “pagans” were the non-believers. For the manner it was written, “you” as in “you need them” are NOT pagans, meaning “you” are NOT non-believers; “You” are believers; how do we know? It is because “your heavenly Father” would be used only on the children of God, or in today’s equivalent, believers.

Exposition proper
Next, in turns, we will look at the followings, concerning the verse:

1. But;
2. Seek ye first;
3. Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and
4. All these things;

The “But”
When we see a “but”, it means before this, certain things were said, which now the verse, v33, is saying things, contrary to those earlier said things.

So, what were the “certain things” said in the earlier verses, relevant to verse 33. As have been said, this verse 33, was part of the Sermon on the Mount which started at Matt 5; but if we go there, that would be a long, long way back; it is NOT necessary, for much of Matt 5 and early part of Matt 6, were already self-addressed; in other words, Jesus raised “objectionable practices or observations” and he then already prescribed “the ways”. A reasonable place to start is verse 24, and so, I will give below, the text from verse 24 onwards:

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:24-34)

These are the things, the “but” was addressing:

1. Jesus observed people serving Money (v24);

2. Jesus implied, and correctly implied, that people serve Money because they worry about their lives, what they would eat or drink; or about their body, what they would wear (v25a).

3. Jesus said, that was NOT wise; people were NOT focusing on the more valuable thing, life itself (v25b).

4. Jesus explained the foolishness in the worry of the people (v26-v31).

5. Jesus then explained that our Father God knows our needs (v32).

Jesus then, in anticipation of question from the people, of what then should they do (instead of serving Money, and instead of worrying), prescribed “the way” (v33);

So, the “but” were meaning to say, “instead of serving Money, and instead of worrying”, subscribe to “the way”; and that way is to “seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness”. Jesus said, when we have done that, what we need, they would be given us as well.

When “the way” is so, Jesus said that we do NOT need to worry about tomorrow. Jesus was telling us NOT to run ahead of God; we do our part each day; we just need to be seeking His kingdom and His righteousness each day, and we can expect God to see to our needs.

The “seek ye first”
I know some people noted that I am long-winded in my blog articles, and that I should have cut down on the “obvious”, but I do find, the “obvious” are often no longer obvious to many people, because they have been poisoned from erroneous teachings. And so, I will still be stating the obvious.

There are 3 parts here, as there are 3 words: seek, ye, and first.

Seek –

“Being conscious” or “I know that” often don’t cut it, as seek; let me illustrate with the Parable of the Good Samaritan. This parable can be found in Luke 10:25-37. Here, the expert of the Law asked Jesus what he must DO to inherit eternal life. Jesus answered him back with a question of what was it, the Law said. And the expert answered Jesus with the absolutely right answer – the twin pillars of love (they are NOT new, in the way many think! Their origins are in Lev 19:18 and Deu 6:5, and the expert was NOT wrong to have quoted them as from the Law). What did Jesus answer, to the correct answer? DO it and you will live.

Now, did or did NOT, the expert know what was required? Was or was NOT, he conscious of what was required, as the ways of God? The answer to both questions is affirmative; he knew that, and he was conscious. But what did Jesus tell him, the expert? DO it.

Do you think the expert had been doing it? No. How do we know that? Scripture said, the expert tried to justify himself. Justify himself of what? Of NOT doing it.

How did he justify himself? He asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Do you think that expert did NOT know who his neighbor was? He knew alright; how do we know? Jesus told him the simple story of the Good Samaritan, and posed him the question, of who the neighbor of the injured man was; and he answered correctly! What did Jesus again, say to him? Go and DO likewise.

With this Parable thrown in, I believe the Lord wants to speak to 2 categories of people:

1) the children, the believers, who are conscious and know, but do NOT DO it; and so, how must we seek? DO it; and

2) the ones like the expert, like the teachers of the Word; how do you teach or instruct? Do you exhort like Jesus did? Do you tell the children of God to DO it, or do you encourage them to be like the expert in the Parable, conscious and knowing, but NOT doing any of it? Do you explain the Word so that the children or believers understand the specifics to be done, and so, they are without excuse for NOT doing it? The Lord’s desire is that they do it and live!

Seek is NOT simply “Be conscious” or “I know that”. It is “you go and do it”. Yes, actions, man! Your actions or lack thereof, tell on your real heart-condition.

Ye –

In other words, you. Who is it, who has to seek? Is it the pastor? Is it God? No, it is you, and me; it is your life, you seek; it is my life, I have to seek.

Talking about this, I always like to borrow this saying from a teacher of the faith, “What’s wrong with you. God gave you the food, you still expect God to eat it for you!” Faith has always been taught with an element of “we have a part to play”, and we do our part, and we look to God to do His part, until “grace baskers” start telling the children of God, the means and the end of our faith is to just bask in grace. No, it was and is clear, YOU do it and YOU will live” (see Luke 10:28); NOT you just fold your arms, and just sit there in your beach chair.

First –

Seek ye first, means you are to give top priority to the seeking, NOT half-hearted seeking, or when it is convenient to seek, you seek, and NOT when you have the time, you seek, or when you think it is time to seek, you seek, meanwhile, you do what you like. Often times, believers or children of God lament how God does NOT seem to be giving any priority to their issues. To be honest, we have to ask ourselves what kind of priority we accord to our seeking of His Kingdom and His righteousness, before we “point our finger at God”.

I am NOT saying, we have to merit or earn the grace coming from God’s love and faithfulness; but God’s grace flows out to us, is NOT necessarily, from just one head; it can be from several heads, including the head of righteousness of God. The subject of heads of grace is of itself, a major one; I will NOT elaborate here; but you can look forward to it being put up in time to come.

We do need to give priority to seeking of God’s kingdom and His righteousness, and NOT be merely, conscious, and knowing, and it is we are personally responsible for this; no one can do it for you and I; it is our life, afterall. It is His kingdom, NOT yours or mine, and it is we have to align to His righteousness and justice; and talking of “pointing finger at God”, if we are out of line, can we still have the audacity to accuse the King?

It is daily, “we have to seek first, ……” It is daily, we have to get in line. Talking about needs, which we will talk more, further down the article, many of us might be sub-consciously subscribing to this:

“These things that are said to be needs, I am ok, and so, it is alright I slack; when I get myself into a desperate situation, like unable to continue to service a loan, then, for that need (and that indeed has become a need for you), I get in line.”

It is NOT for you to be doing it, that way; neither is it the correct attitude to slacken again, once your need is being met. It is NOT “we seek first, ….”, only when we have an unmet need. It is “we still seek first, ……”, when we have no needs unmet. When we have no unmet needs, all the more we should seek His kingdom and His righteousness, because when get in line, we would be a blessing to others; for when we act in accordance with His righteousness, we are doing good works, we are producing fruit; and that is what we are made for - Eph 2:10.

The “Kingdom of God and His righteousness”
I will try to keep this short, as for this heading, one can write a whole book on it!

Scripture spoke about the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. A kingdom implied there is a ruler or king; and so, the kingdom of God has God as the king on the throne; and he reigns and rules His kingdom, the kingdom of God.

Who then is the king CURRENTLY of the kingdom of the world? Scripture led us to understand that Satan is in the moment the king of the world; maybe we prefer to say, Satan is the defeated king but NOT yet defunct king, of the world.

Now, the understanding that I have, concerning where the kingdom of God is, is this: When we enter into salvation, we enter the kingdom of God. As a place, the base of the kingdom of God is Heaven; spatially, the home base is in Heaven.

If you like, you can adopt the terminology I use; the kingdom of God has invaded the kingdom of the world. When you and I enter into salvation, we join the rank of soldiers of the army of God. In the Spiritual side of things, our Commander, Jesus, has won the victory already, over Satan; and we are to enforce that victory in both the physical and spiritual realms. When we enter into salvation, we enter into the earthly phase of the kingdom of God. Jesus when He preached in His earthly ministry, He said the kingdom of God was near or was on hand or within reach. The kingdom of God is within reach of a non-believer, and he can enter into it, just as we have entered into it.

So what does it mean to seek His Kingdom? Go, get ourselves killed, in the hope that we enter into Heaven, the home base of the Kingdom? Obviously NOT!

What about this; the kingdom of God is in us? Yes, Scripture does give us, in John 14:20-21, a picture of the kingdom is in us, but does that mean, we already got it, absolutely? No, if it were so, why the call by Jesus to believers, to seek first, the kingdom? So, what did Jesus mean?

He meant we have to subscribe to, and practise the ways of the Kingdom, and have the ways of God “rule” the place (remember the terminology, the world is being invaded); and it all starts with us, individually. Jesus has always been consistent with this. We just have to look at the prayer He taught the disciples - The Lord’s Prayer.

Jesus said, “Thy will be done”; “Thy Kingdom come”; and “Thy will be done, on earth as it is done in Heaven”. We have said a kingdom has a king, and He sits on the throne; the foundation of His throne is the foundation of His reign and rule; meaning the ways of the land got to be the ways of the King, as prescribed by the King as the foundation of His throne or rule.

A kingdom is fully come, when the foundation of the throne of the king is established firmly in the land; and the will of the King is fully done when the ways of the kingdom is fully established in the land. The believers, start with the kingdom in their heart, are to invade the land, establishing the ways and the foundation of the God’s rule in the land, with themselves, firstly, practising those ways, secondly, spreading them, and thirdly, countering the enemy of God; and through it all, working with the King (God, and His Spirit).

You will realize that a kingdom is firstly NOT a place, even though eventually a place is part of the kingdom. Believers have to understand that they are already in the kingdom of God, although the place is NOT yet fully “kingdomised”. Because you and I are already part of the kingdom, we have to be subscribing and practising the ways of the kingdom, and the kingdom of God is invading earth, and we are here, in this time and season; we are to advance the kingdom in our generation, until such time that we are called home.

We are NOT home yet, we are sojourning, and this journey is NOT without things we have to put up with; but God promises in that Matt 6:33, that when we prioritize to seek His Kingdom and His righteousness - getting His Kingdom fully established here, starting with us, He will help us to deal with the things we have to put up with. What do we have to put up with? We need to eat, drink, and be clothed and have a shelter over our head.

What then is His righteousness? I flip-flopped in deciding if I should put “His righteousness” as a separate heading. The reason being that, it is so very important, and so, it may be discussed separately, yet because invariably, as the righteousness talked about, pertains to the mighty one, the king, it too, must be linked to His kingdom. There is none like Him, and He is the Almighty, His kingdom must be reflective of Him, and so, His Kingdom invariably is tied to His righteousness; and so, the statement, “His Kingdom and His righteousness”.

I am a Singaporean of a certain “righteousness”, but the “Singapore Kingdom” is so very remote from it being connected to how I view thing, because I am NOT the In-Charge, and I am just one of several millions of people, living here. But the kingdom of God is different, the kingdom reflects Him; or we can say, “The Kingdom is He, or He is the Kingdom”. In other words, when we see the kingdom, we see Him; along the same line like that which Jesus said, “You see me, you see the Father”. So, when we see the kingdom fully come, it means we see the fullness of Him, God, at work. What is that? That is His righteousness. I said it again, the fullness of Him at work, is His righteousness.

Can we come down a little bit, and speak more pragmatically, what is meant by God’s righteousness?

Firstly, explanation of righteousness for the verse, v33, in this manner does NOT help: God’s righteousness is equated as the righteousness we get, when we enter into salvation; or commonly called, the imputed righteousness of Christ. So, you have it and I have it, and the kingdom of God is in us, and because the Kingdom is reflective of Him, His righteousness is in us; to seek His righteousness is therefore, to be conscious of our righteousness in Him.

Such an explanation belongs to what, in my varsity days’ lingo, called, “smoke” – appeared to have been intelligently expounded, but actually said nothing.

What is wrong with the above manner of explaining His righteousness that we are called to seek? It is like you are conscious you have an apple seedling in your backyard; but you are told, you only need to be aware of that; in other words, tending to it, like watering it or NOT, you are NOT command to. They tell you, “you got to get an apple seeding into your yard”, and so, you went and got yourself an apple seedling, and all you have been told to do, is to keep telling yourself, you already have an apple seeding in your yard.

Is that how we tell people how to grow an apple tree? Is that how we tell people to seek God’s righteousness? You have an apple seedling; you did NOT get a fully grown apple tree! You have imputed righteousness of Christ, you did NOT get your heart and your mind removed and replaced with Christ’s heart and mind! In other words, whether it is the apple tree or the full mind of Christ, it has NOT “fully come”.

Just as you have to grow the apple tree, you have to grow the mind of Christ in you; the full mind of Christ in NOT in you; it is in the Holy Spirit! Yes, the Holy Spirit is in you, the kingdom of God is in you, but the kingdom has NOT fully come, it is you who have to align yourself to have it fully come.

When does the kingdom of God fully come, first, in you and then, in the world? When the fullness of Him is at work in you, and out, into the world. The fullness of Him at work, we have said, is His righteousness. When His righteousness is in, and flows out, of you, into the world, that is when the kingdom of God is fully come, at least for the case of you, and in the moment you are aligned to His Spirit.

Did I say anything different? Yes, you have to grow the mind of Christ or God in you. It is NOT you automatically have the full mind of Christ or God. It is NOT sufficient to be conscious of the righteous God is living in you; you need to be aligning to it, and you do that by yielding to the Spirit of God in you. What is yielding; it is NOT “I know that” or “I am conscious, merely; it is I agree and I obey, and when I obey, it means I do it.

Some people say, “I don’t know about apple tree, but I have had papaya seedling in my backyard, and guess what I did nothing whatsoever, no watering, no pruning, no adding of fertilizer, absolutely nothing, and it grew into a fine papaya tree, and what do you know, the fruit was so sweet!” I have only this thing to say: The Christian faith is NOT about experience solely, and the truths and theology of the faith is NOT formed from experience, even as the Faith is experiential, meaning it can be experienced.

The Christian faith is based 100% on the truths in the Word. Mind you, it is your life, NOT a papaya or apple that we are actually talking about (metaphors!). You know what, that you still get sweet papaya, that is grace; but please don’t be a cockroach, the gate to Heaven is already narrow, don’t try the cracks in the walls, use the narrow gate; that one cockroach gets through that way (through a crack), by grace, does NOT mean everyone will get through. When God prescribes a way, use it.

Still perhaps, some is waiting for a more practical definition of what is meant by the righteousness of God! The simple definition is this: What God wants done and at the time He wants done, that is righteousness of God. So, very simply when we say a person is righteous with God, it means he gets it right as to what God wants done and the time He wants done. Therefore, seeking His righteousness is you getting your mind grown to have the mind of Christ or God. So, your pursuit is to get more and more able to know what God’s will is, for a situation, and when you can do that, you have reached a certain level of righteousness with God. It is NOT automatic, NOT even being conscious, can one attain active or volitional righteousness with God. Verse 33 of Matt 6 is NOT referring to the imputed righteousness of God, but rather the agreement with God; although if you are NOT yet a believer, you have to become one, before we can talk about level of righteousness with God.

Yes, it may be NOT quite appropriate to say, righteousness with God, as a “degree of rightness”, as such, as one is either right or wrong. But it is NOT wrong to say, one is at a certain level of righteousness with God, going by how frequent he is in agreement with God.

The overwhelming pointing of Scripture is that, a believer needs to align himself to the righteousness of God, and the way to do that, is to obey the Word of God, and to yield to His Spirit.

In other words, the righteousness of God is given in His Word, and in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that indwelled us. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would come in place of Him, for He was going back to the Father, in Heaven; and the Holy Spirit would remind the believers of what Jesus had taught, and to teach them all truths. Together with scriptures which talked about the laws of the faith, would be inscribed on the hearts of believers; we are to understand that it is the Holy Spirit who would be bringing the laws alive to the hearts and consciences of believers. So, it is right to say NOT just that the righteousness of God is in His Word, it is also with the Holy Spirit. To be right with God (and that’s righteousness with God), is therefore, to do as the Word and Spirit dictate.

Being just conscious of the righteousness of God, is just the beginning, the infant mindset; don’t listen to people who tell you to stay there; you don’t grow up that way. Being just conscious only, won’t get your mind renewed, at least that is NOT the prescribed way, and if you do get renewed, that is grace of God, and when it is grace, and NOT the prescribed way, it can work for one, it is not necessary to work for another, for it is grace (it is entirely up to God).

The picture given by Scripture is that, you and I, got to will it, and NOT merely conscious or “I know that”; in other words, you and I, have to, volitionally want the righteousness of God, meaning, we want to get it right, meaning, you and I, want to get it right, as to what God wants done and when he wants done.

To will the will of God, to me, is work; although so many people want to put a 10 feet pole between themselves and the word, on concern that other people may accuse them of preaching works or more precisely, salvation by works! To go against the current, is work-what. To go against the ways of the world is work. Please-lah, a spade is a spade, and we should call a spade, a spade! To yield to the Holy Spirit is work, as it is going against the trend we used to go, to yield to the flesh. The Apostle Paul never minced his words, he painted to us, the picture of a “tug-of-war” going on, in the believer; if it is NOT work, what is work! You know, what is NOT work? Just stay basking yourself in the sunshine (or grace!); that is NOT work.

If it is NOT yet obvious to you, that His righteousness, meaning what He wants done and when He wants done, and His justice are the foundation of His rule, meaning you and I, cannot have it any other way, under His rule, it is stated in Scripture for us. Ps 89:14a reads as

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;”

The same is also said in Ps 97:2. In other words, if you and I want to be well in His Kingdom, we have to subscribe to His righteousness and justice, there is just no other way. God is Holiness and He is Wisdom, out of the interplay of these 2 fundamental nature attributes of God, comes forth, all His ways; we have said, the fullness of Him at work is His righteousness.

What about His love and faithfulness? Yes, it is also stated in the very important key to the understanding of the Kingdom of God, Ps 89:14. The entire verse of Ps 89:14 reads:

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.

As foundation, it is still His righteousness and justice, NOT His love and faithfulness. But as given, even as God demands His kingdom be operating according to His righteousness and justice, He administers with love and faithfulness. In Hebrew, there is a word to describe this aspect of God’s love, and it is called `ahab love – the love of God for man is love unto righteousness. In other words, God’s love for us, men, is subject to His own righteousness. It may come as a shock to some of us, God cannot anyhow love us! God does NOT love us anyhow, but only in righteousness.

Jesus died that cruel death, because God’s love must satisfy the demand of Holiness (of God Himself). The play-out of the Holiness and Wisdom of God resulted in the righteousness that must be met, that which was met, by the sacrifice of the sinless life of Jesus.

To summarise, the kingdom of God is come, but NOT fully come. The fullness of Him at work, His righteousness, is with the Holy Spirit indwelled in us (and also in His written Word), but we have NOT yet been fully transformed to be with the full mind of Christ; and it is that we have to align to have the Kingdom to fully come, in and through us, for the world; and that alignment requires a part from us, to want to yield to the Spirit of God, to allow Him to progressively transform us, so that more and more, we are able to be in agreement with God, and so, be righteous with God. Seeking that Kingdom of God and His righteousness, is NOT merely to be conscious of the will and desires of God, the substance of His righteousness, or to be “I know that” of the same, but to be doing them.

It is by the constant doing of the will and desires of God, that one can come to know what is good in God’s eyes, and what is evil (Heb 5:14); in other words, be in agreement with God, or to be having the righteousness of God. Having the righteousness of God is NOT referring to the passive, imputed righteousness of Christ; it is having the fullness of Him at work in and through us; it is God working in and through us, with us un-hindering in anyway. Having the righteousness of God is having Jesus living once again, out of us. Think about it, Jesus did NOT live a life of doing nothing (just basking); He did NOT live His life paying lip-service to the Father God; He worked, served, and He loved. To be seeking the kingdom and His righteousness is to adopt the mindset of “It is NOT only I who live, but Christ who lives in and through me. It is NOT only I who act, but God who acts through me; and it is NOT only I who love, but God who loves through me.”

The “All these things”
What are the “all these things”? When you have read from verse 24 downwards, you know that they were referring to food, shelter and clothing; in other words, our needs. We all have needs, living on earth. Verse 32 stated plainly to us, that our God knows we need them.

They are specifically referring to our needs, NOT our luxuries or frivolous desires (although, at times, it can be something outside of the strict class of base food, clothing and shelter). If you get more than your needs, thank God for them, you got them by grace. I have always said, if it is by grace, it means it is entirely up to God to give or NOT to give, to grant to one, and NOT to another, unless He has promised specifically; in which case, He cannot dishonor Himself by dishonoring His promise to you.

What exactly did God promise here? Very simply, God promises conditionally that He will let you have your needs met. What is the condition? The condition is that you and I, must seek first, His kingdom and His righteousness.

People do NOT understand that things come from God to us, in 2 ways: One, it comes to us because it is promised by God; and two, it comes to us, because God gives it out of His grace. In other words, things can come to us from God, from 2 heads, head of promise, and the head of grace.

If the promise is unconditional, you just get it. There are very few unconditional promises in the Word. Even passage of time can be a condition. But if passage of time is the only condition, then when the time comes, you get what is promised you. Now, if there are other conditions attached to a promise, it is NOT unreasonable of God to expect the fulfillment of those conditions, before He gives whatever He has promised. If you and I ignore the conditions, then we cannot blame Him for us NOT getting what is promised. If He does waive one or more condition for a chap, it is His prerogative from His sovereignty; you and I have to accept that, too.

Things we get from grace solely, it is entirely up to Him; and grace can flow out to us, from several heads of grace, and NOT one (commonly understood as from love and faithfulness of God). No, the grace of God flows out to us, from other heads, too, like from the head of righteousness and justice of God, from the head of sovereignty of God, and even from the head of glory of God. The more predictable of them all, is the grace from the head of righteousness and justice of God, the very foundation of His throne. If you ignore this head, you are depriving yourself of a lot of goodness that can come, for situations where His righteousness and justice are practised or lived out.

What about when we work and we earn our wages, and we then are able to get our needs met; is there no God element or it is also with God element, since I mentioned we are getting things from God in only 2 ways? Working and earning wages are ways within the righteousness of God. In fact, Scripture does warn against idleness.

Generally, a lot of things we received flow from the grace, flowing from the head of righteousness and justice of God, and it includes our work. When we work, we put our hands to the plough, NOT being lazy, and idle, and that is a righteous thing to do; God is for you, and grace is likely to be extended to you. How much you get, or we say “the increase”, it is up to God, according to the measure of His grace He would like to extend to you. The promise of Matt 6:33 is also working for you.

So, so long I am NOT idle, whatever I do, God’s grace is poured out to me, correct or NOT? No, it depends on what you do; you can be working on evil and get paid; what you get is NOT a blessing from God; it is NOT a grace from God, it does NOT matter if you want to say it to be, it is NOT. And Matt 6:33 you cannot claim, too.

It is important that Christians should only want their wellness to be coming from the grace and blessing of God and/or His promises, and NOT from any other. If your wellness does NOT come from the grace and blessing of God and/or His promises, that wellness may have come with a great price against you. Ultimately, one cannot go against the foundation of God’s throne, which is His righteousness and justice. Scripture said God cannot be mocked; and that means His righteousness and justice, the very foundation of His rule, cannot be mocked. At times, we might think that people get away with it, in actual fact, we can expect that they did NOT, and it is that time will tell. Then, we must also understand that God allows for repentance. If you have done wrong, or sinned, turn back; repent and ask for forgiveness, and get back on track.

“Good, since you said that, we, working for our needs, without engaging in evil, are righteous, I don’t need to be bothered with this verse, so long as I work, right?” I am saying, to work per se, is righteous; I am NOT saying anyhow you work, is also righteous. For example, if God revealed that His desire is for you to be engaging a certain work, but you don’t want to do that, instead, you want to do what you want to do; a work which is of itself NOT evil or anything like that, but is nevertheless NOT the thing God would like you to do, you are still acting UNrighteously.

Now, even if you are doing what God would like you to do, but you want to do it, your way, instead of being led by His Spirit, doing in His way, you are NOT being righteous, too. The demand here includes requiring you to be NOT working so very hard, as to be chasing after money, with no time for God, for God’s work, and for your loved ones, or even for yourself!

“Then, aren’t you talking about obedience?” I am talking about righteousness, and yes, obedience is inevitable; for it is about His righteousness, NOT yours. Well, there will NOT be obedience when and only when, His righteousness has become your righteousness, or His ways, your ways; in other words, when you come to a case of, while you are doing what He wants done, you are doing what you want done – there is no more obedience there, much like the picture the Apostle Paul painted to us, when he said, a matter was no sacrifice (to him). Paul has grown to be so aligned to God, that he could say, “to live is Christ and to die is gain”. In other words, whatever God found it desirous, he, Paul, was glad to go along. When you have your mind and your ways so aligned to that of God, like the case of Paul, you then can say like what Paul said, “I don’t even judge myself” (1 Cor 4:3), for that would be judging the Spirit! But please, don’t go round saying Paul taught that we do NOT need to “judge” (self-examine) ourselves. No, Paul taught that we are to examine ourselves (2 Cor 13:5).

I am NOT Paul yet, and so, to me, I just tell people, “I obey”, “I sacrifice”, and “I work”. I don’t pretend I am already there, and really there is NO need to pretend; God accepts, we are trying to get there, but I don’t think He is pleased with us pretending we have arrived (And, please, please, don’t mislead children of God, encouraging them to think like they have arrived). God looks at the heart and God looks at the man’s ways. It is both, although more commonly we hear people saying the former. But I tell you, watch your ways; they (the ways) tell on your heart. Tell you a “secret”, God applies “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”!

Does God ever delight in a man’s way? When is that? When your ways are His ways. So, what is the right attitude to have, concerning our needs of life? Do what is required of us in Matt 6:33, and rest in that promise contained therein, that God will meet our needs. If you need another passage, saying much the same, which you can steadfastly hold onto (but you also must note, the same righteousness condition), is this, Ps 37:23-25:

23 If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm;
24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.
25 I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

But I really find it hard to do that!
Hard to, NOT worry; hard to, NOT work terribly hard; hard NOT to amass money, despite I have much; hard to stop for God, and for others.

That is because you have NOT known your God enough. Too many of us do NOT spend enough time and effort to know more ABOUT Him. Then, we also do NOT experience Him; and we do NOT experience Him, because we lack the “doing part”; we only stay at the “I am conscious or I know that” stage, and NOT go further to obey, by action.

Why do we need to experience Him? Many preachers tell us to just believe the Word and NOT to go by sight-what! While it is true, what we are dealing with is faith, NOT facts, faith needs to be applied, and it is in the application that we experience God. You and I need to experience Him because that is the prime way to get to KNOW Him. How do you know another person (NOT talking about, knowing ABOUT that person)? Yes, you need to interact with the person to know him. It is the same, we need to interact with God, or in my words here, experience Him.

Take step to walk with Him, today. You can only walk with Him, when you walk where He walks. He is NOT in the evil, so don’t go there. He is in His righteousness; walk there; there you will find Him; there you will experience Him; there you will get to know more about Him, testifying to what the Word said about Him, your God. It is NOT always, with “thunder and lightning”, it can be “bit by bit”, it can be trying, too; but His grace is sufficient for you, said the Word.


Anthony Chia, high.expressions – Ps 37:5-6 - Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. I say, “Why would it NOT be so, for then, your righteousness and your justice are His!” Amen.

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Do I have to forgive (another man)? PART III

Forgiveness is an important aspect of the faith, and the reluctance to forgive on our part, can affect our well-being, even our physical health; hence the relevance of this topic to ministering Divine Healing (I conduct monthly Divine Healing Meetings, and this topic was preached).

In the 1st 2 parts, in total, we have covered 14 points. We will cover another 6 points, making this series to be of 20 points on forgiveness (For earlier parts, click: PART I or PART II).

Today, we will cover the negative implications of unforgiveness, its possible impact on our current life. Also, we will cover the issues of forgiveness and memory, forgiveness and trusting again, and forgiveness and restoration of relationship.

We continue with our “point-by-point” approach to this series.

Point No 15 – Not releasing forgiveness can be tormenting another, and you can be likewise treated

I call this the “boomerang” of the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matt 18). The front part of the story goes like this: A servant who owed his master, a big sum of money, begged his master for mercy when his master asked that the money be repaid; and the master forgave the servant of the debt. Then the servant went out to a servant of his, who owed him, the first servant, a small sum of money; and demanded repayment. When the second servant begged the first servant for mercy; he was refused, and the first servant threw the second servant to the jailer to have him tormented. The master of the first servant came to know about what happened; and this was what he did:

Matt 18:34-35 - “34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured {tormented}, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” {ending verses of Parable of the Unmerciful Servant}

In other words, if you do NOT forgive, our Heavenly Father likewise will NOT forgive you, as said in Matt 6:15. On top of that, in this parable, with an unforgiving heart, if you make the offender pay, with him being tormented, your Heavenly Father will likewise, do to you!

Please note that your mere refusal to release forgiveness to the offender, when he has asked for it, can cause him to be in torment, without you even realizing it. If indeed he was tormented by your unforgiveness, his “torment is on you”. If you live tortuous life, you should consider this point: Forgive people of the past who had wronged you, and if possible you have to go back to those who have asked you for forgiveness but whom you did NOT give it (then), to release your forgiveness.

The “Father will treat each of you …” likewise, in the passage, does NOT necessarily need to be, God acting against you, but it can be He lifting His hand of protection over you, giving the chance for the evil one to torment you. But always remember, it is NOT that God does evil, for His hand of protection is extended to anyone of us, by grace. By grace, means you and I did NOT merit it, it means God is fully entitled to stop, say, extending the covering/protection. You can read the Book of Jonah, a short book, and one of the lessons, to be learnt there, is this point – if we did NOT merit it, or it was received by God’s grace, God is fully entitled to stop the flow.

Also, from Ps 91, we do know that God’s protection is most assuredly extended to those who love Him. “Refusal to forgive” is NOT an act consistent with love, and loving God (remember point 3 of Part I – To forgive is to practise love).

I recap this point – if you do NOT forgive and do NOT release forgiveness to another, you can be tormenting the person, and if indeed the person is tormented, you can likewise be tormented.


Point No 16 – there are serious negative implications for unforgiveness.

1. Unforgiveness is disobedience to God’s commands. Col 3:13, for eg. commands that we forgive as God forgave; Disobedience is sin, and sin has consequence.

2. Unforgiveness is refusal to practise love. Refusal to love is NOT consistent with Jesus’ command to us, to love God and love our neighour as ourselves.

3. Not forgiving is also NOT consistent with the saying in Scripture of “he who is forgiven much, loves much” (Luke 7:47). If you do NOT love, you are insinuating by your action of refusal, that you have NOT received forgiveness from God.

4. Scripture is clear, NOT obeying God’s command is NOT loving God – Jesus affirmed this in John 14:15 & John 14:21a.

5. Unforgiveness, as NOT loving God, can cause us to fall outside of God’s protection favor (read and understand Ps 91; pay particular attention to verse 14).

6. Unforgiveness can be tormenting the offender, and it can boomerang back to us. We have just seen this, earlier, in Point 15.

7. Unforgiveness is NOT reflective of the Kingdom life; it goes against God’s desire to forgive us on an on-going basis; it may even impact our salvation consummation.

Point No 17 – negative implications of unforgiveness can impact/manifest in current life.

In the preceding point, I have listed some of the implications, and they can impact/manifest in our life, presently.

This is particularly inferred from Matt 18:34-35 – of the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, and 1 Pet 3:9-10.

It is possible to read God’s like treatment of torment in verse 35, as referring to the eventual treatment, torment in the lake of fire in Hell, but I am personally of the view that it can also be referring to torment presently. The reasoning is along the line that while God may defer punishment, Scripture does indicate that it is also NOT that God cannot be punishing people, especially wicked ones, presently; and NOT forgiving is wickedness. In v32, the servant was described as wicked, for being unforgiving. Also, Ps 91:8 is indicating that some wicked ones are punished currently.

That is how I see it, and ministry experience bears it out. In other words, condition does improve, when the ministee forgives people whom he/she previously did NOT.

1Pet 3:9-10 – “9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.”

Now, for this text, it is clear, consequences come in, as of now, in our current life. The “would love life and {would} see good days” of v10 hint to us that current life is impacted.

A couple of things can happen in our current lives, if we do NOT forgive:

1) a vengeful spirit may take root in us. Perhaps, starting with anger, resentment, bitterness; and finally a vengeful spirit develops. The biblical support for associating anger, resentment and bitterness with unforgiveness comes from Eph 4:31-32. Verse 32 said that the way out for these negativities is to forgive as God forgave.

2) we may experience torment, and

3) we may lose one, if NOT the key, blessing of the Kingdom, God’s forgiveness (Previously, under Part II, point 14, we established that it is possible that the blessing of 1 Pet 3:9, was referring to forgiveness)

All these 3 things, vengeful spirit or its lesser form as anger, resentment and bitterness, torment, and non-securing of God’s blessing, especially God’s forgiveness, work against our well-being, our wholeness.

Our health may be the first to go, and an opening may arise in us, that the devil can come in, to steal, kill and destroy us (John 10:10a).

On the other hand, when we continue to receive forgiveness from God, when we have forgiven others, we continue to have life, and that life is zoe life, an abundant life, a life of fullness, a Kingdom life, and that indeed, is the blessing that we all want.

This Point 17 –that the negative implications can impact/manifest in our current lives, is the main reason why I cover this subject of unforgiveness, for the Divine Healing Meetings I conduct.

We do NOT only want to minister to people, we also want to provide the understanding so that people can avoid getting into bondages connected to unforgiveness.


Point No 18 – forgiveness is always for a PAST wrong or sin

Forgiveness is NOT for a thing in the future, which may or may not happen. The great error made by the overly grace (or cheap grace) believers is that they do an eisegesis instead of an exegesis of the fundamental tenet of the Gospel. While exegesis draws out the meaning from the text, eisegesis occurs when a reader reads his/her interpretation into the text.

Practically, in the asking for forgiveness, there is only either the past sins or the so-called FUTURE sins, there is NOT the current or present sins, although commonly, people write, “all sins, past, current (or present) and future, …” Now, correct exegesis is the “all sins” are referring to past sins. Incorrect exegesis or eisegesis, as prescribed by overly grace preachers, is “all, including FUTURE sins”.

It is my contention that even though God can and does look into one’s future, when God forgives at your born-again (say now), he forgives what is in the past (including every sin you have just committed); nothing of the future is dragged in, and forgiven, for what is of the future has NOT happened, AND may NOT happen, because your life is NOT a completed movie script.

It is the same, when one asks another for forgiveness, it is for a past wrong; and when one forgives another, it is also for a past wrong. Do NOT forget this; we have said before, “forgive as God forgave us”. Once we bring in the future, all kinds of notions come into the mind - like he will do it again; I got to trust him; I must necessarily be reconciled, etc, etc. And the result; you become reluctant to forgive.

I want us to now read Luke 17:3-5 -

3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

One of the points Jesus was putting across to His disciples was this: In releasing forgiveness (and therefore, also in forgiving), you do NOT take into consideration whether or NOT the next day or the next hour the brother is going to “do it to you” again. Jesus said, “You forgive”, and when he next does it to you, again, Jesus said, “You forgive”! How many times altogether? Wow! 7 times in a DAY! And Jesus actually said, “Every time …”

In the first place, God did NOT leave in Scripture, the saying that He forgives all our future sins at our born-again (it was the overly grace or cheap grace preachers who imputed their own theology into it); and in the second, even as we are asked to forgive as God forgave, Jesus did NOT in any way indicated that, when we forgive someone, we are forgiving him for ALL his future sins against us, in that ONE time! If it were so, that when we forgive, we forgive even the future ones, Jesus would NOT have described how we are to forgive, with the scenario, as painted in Luke 17:3-5.

Would you forgive another, if that is the case – you forgive him once, and you will be forgiving him for all his future sins against you? In other words, which wise man will do that - give someone the license to do wrongs against him, for all times in the future! It is a preposterous suggestion!

In other words, don’t bring the future to bear on the current poser you are having – “Must you forgive the offender for what he has DONE?” Don’t factor in this: “But, tomorrow he will do it again!”; that is a separate matter which we will discuss; you just have to forgive the person for the wrong DONE to you. Always remember, forgiveness is for a PAST wrong.

The theology of God’s forgiveness at born-again included one’s FUTURE wrongs or sins, is heretic, or false. The efficacy of Jesus’ blood for future forgiveness and cleansing is NEVER doubted, but it is NOT, sins yet to be committed, were forgiven ALREADY at a person’s born-again.

Again, I repeat our point 18 – forgiveness is always for a PAST wrong.


Point No 19 – While you are asked to forgive, you are NOT expected to forget!

It is WRONG to counsel people that they ought to have forgotten the incident that hurt them once they had forgiven.

“Forgive and forget” is just a cliché way of exhorting Prov 17:9, which we will read it in a while; there is no such literal depiction of “forgive and forget” in the Bible; i.e. the Word of God does NOT suggest by forgiving, you can forget what was done to you. As the injured party (or victim), you are NOT likely to forget. Rather, it is that when you remember the matter, it does NOT “sting” you anymore; meaning it would no longer bring up in you, anger, resentment and bitterness which are the ingredients for the development of a vengeful spirit. If the matter still “sting” you, then it is a sign you have NOT fully forgiven – it has nothing to do with your memory as such; don’t bash your brains out on this!

What exactly does Prov 17:9 say?

Prov 17:9 – NIV84 - “He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.” NLT2007 – “Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.” God’s Word Translation – 1995 – “Whoever forgives an offense seeks love, but whoever keeps bringing up the issue separates the closest of friends.”

The “forget” of “forgive and forget” saying is actually exhorting you NOT to keep bringing up the matter, for it will only separates. It is merely telling you to “let go”; it has nothing to do with your memory.

So, this point is inserted to dispel the notion that by forgiving, you will forget. No, you are unlikely to, especially when the matter really hurt you a lot. I repeat what is more important is that there is no more “sting”.


Point No. 20 – Forgive does NOT necessarily mean you have to trust the offender again or broken relation must be restored.

Firstly, let me say that, even so, I am NOT saying that, the de facto attitude is to distrust or refuse to re-form a broken relationship. I am saying it is NOT necessarily that you MUST trust or re-form a broken relationship.

Does my forgiving mean I must necessarily trust the person again? The correct answer is NO. Why NO? To know the answer, we have to understand what it means to forgive, in the first place.

What does it mean to forgive? To forgive is to forgo all your claims for whatever wrong done to you. It is for a PAST wrong DONE against you, nothing to do with possibility of future wrong; and therefore, nothing to do with trusting again.

For example, if I accidentally step on your toe, what must you do? It has happened, and you must forgive, regardless. If I say sorry, and ask you for forgiveness, you have to release it. It is as straight forward as that; you cannot factor in whether or NOT, I will step on your toe again. So, you cannot, in your heart says, “I will NOT forgive him, for he is likely to step on my toe again.” At the same time, since the future is NOT featured in your forgiveness, you are also NOT saying, nor is it required, that you have to trust me NOT to step on your toe again.

Don’t you factor in the future, of whether the offender will wrong you again, in your decision to forgive another, God is NOT pleased with that. Why? The reason is simple, when He forgave you, He did NOT make sure you are NOT going to sin against Him again (ever), before He forgave you.

Don’t you agree with me, that God does NOT make sure you cannot sin again, before He forgives you? He would forgive, right? Right. In the same manner, we are to forgive one another (Col 3:13). If you will forgive only if you are sure the person will NOT commit again wrong against you, then you are asking more than what God is asking of you. What does the ending verses of the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant implied about this? If you do that, God will do it to you! So, don’t factor that, into your decision of granting forgiveness, even though we might commonly say to the person, “I forgive you. Please don’t do it again.”

If you automatically regard your forgiveness as meaning you have to trust the offender in the future, you may be unnecessarily putting yourself in harm’s way; you are NOT being reasonably wise.

God’s Word is NOT about how to be a stupid fellow or a fool. God is NOT pleased that we be fools! On the contrary, Scripture exhorts pursuit of wisdom, and tells people to be wise. In fact, Jesus said we are to as shrewd as the snake but as innocent as the dove.

Look, if I looked drunk to you, when I stepped on your toe, why do you, NOT want, to stay further away from me!

If you say, “Since I forgive him, I must trust that he will NOT step on my toe again”, you are being a fool. To forgive me, is one thing, to stay there and risk being stepped on again is unwarranted (unless you have another reason NOT to move away).

You may say, being wrong again by being stepped on the toe again, is no big deal; but it is the doctrine we are addressing, if you get the doctrine wrong, you can be applying it even in serious situations, like sexual harassment or physical abuse or violence, etc. You have to forgive someone for the wrong he has done to you, but it is NOT that you MUST trust him just because you have forgiven him, to put yourself at risk of being sexually abused again, for example.

Your forgiving a person for his committed wrong is NOT dependant on how much you can trust him after that; and how much you can trust him, does NOT depend on whether or NOT you have forgiven the person. Don’t fall for “But you have forgiven me, right? And so, you must trust me.” It is NOT a MUST.

It is understandable and reasonable to accept that, trust, once lost, needs time, as a minimum, to be regained. Similarly, relationship also can be strained, and it will need time, as a minimum, to heal. It is possible at times, that trust is never regained, and broken relationship never restored.

Is there a Biblical case to back up my argument that we need NOT necessarily trust or that a broken relationship need NOT necessarily be restored?

Yes, but I will only tell in brief, and if you like, you have to go back and read the entire account. It was the case of David’s dealings with King Saul.

There were times, King David, the man God said, was the man after His heart, was rebuked or negatively commented upon by God (eg. his affairs with Bathsheba, his wanting to build the temple), but God did NOT do that, as far as David’s handling of his relation with King Saul, who did multiple wrongs against David. And I suggest to you that perhaps, how David handled his relation with King Saul was a significant reason David was said as a man after God’s heart.

The wrongs that King Saul did to David, some of them, you can read from 1 Sam 18 to 1 Sam 27:1. David forgave King Saul time and time again, but David did NOT continue to just blindly trusted King Saul; and finally, in 1 Sam 27:1, we read that David decided, despite Saul’s apparent repentance, NOT to follow Saul back home; in other words, he left the broken relationship as it was.

1 Sam 27:1 – “But David thought to himself, "One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand."”

I recap this last point, point 20 - Forgive, but be wise, and NOT simply MUST continue to trust, or that you MUST necessarily be reconciled, where a relationship is already broken.

But of course, you must still forgive, and if you have NOT, you need to do that.

This brings us to the end of our series, here, on “Do I have to forgive?” It is possible that I may do an additional part for some other aspects raised concerning forgiveness.


Anthony Chia, high.expressions - Forgiveness is always for a past wrong, NEVER for future wrong, for what of the future has NOT happened and may NOT happen.


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Do I have to forgive (another man)? Part II

In Part I, I disclosed that we have to forgive, regardless. In other words, we have to forgive, even when

1) we have been wronged against, again and again,
2) we have been wronged in any sort of way,
3) the offender does nothing to “compensate”,
4) the offender does not admit wrong, or
5) does NOT apologize or repent, or
6) seek NOT forgiveness, or
7) the offender couldn’t care less (nonchalant).

No matter how justified we are to hold onto unforgiveness, we must still forgive, first, in our heart, and then to release that forgiveness to the offender when there is prima facie repentance on the offender’s part.

I also explained the difference between “to forgive” and “to release forgiveness”. Just as been said, we must forgive, regardless; it is only in the releasing of our forgiveness that we have a little discretion, and are expected to exercise discretion so as to discharge our role as our brother’s keeper properly; remember we talked in much details, Luke 17:3-5, in Part I.

We now begin this Part II with this point:

Point 10 – The sooner you forgive, the better

Why?

Ok, we must forgive, but can I NOT be angry or upset when someone offended me? It happens; I mean we do get angry. The question is: angry, but how angry? Eph 4:26 said, “Do NOT let your anger go down with the sun”; self-control is exhorted. So, even in anger, self-control is expected of us. I mean, even if the anger is for a brief moment, but if, for example, you thrust a knife into another, killing him when you are angry; that would be a big problem!

As long as you have NOT forgiven, resentment and anger can fester. Therefore, the sooner you forgive, the better, the smaller the chance of resentment and anger festering to “create problem”. We are NOT referring to releasing of forgiveness, but to forgive {in your heart}, which you have to do, without delay. For many, the “dying to self” and giving of oneself to the ways of God, takes time to improve; we have to grow, get to be more and more excellent in the pursuit of the ways of God, and in abandoning the ways of the flesh. One of the required ways of God is that we have to forgive, regardless; and so, the sooner we forgive, the better.

Next,

We have to forgive, regardless; how about God; does He have to forgive, regardless, ultimately? Must God ultimately forgive, regardless? Not necessarily! Ha! How come? Because He is God, we are NOT; and Rom 12:19 suggested God may avenge, may repay. And so, the next point is:

Point No 11 – God does NOT necessarily forgive, regardless.

This is because He is the ultimate; and He is the holy God. God does NOT simply set aside that demand of holiness and righteousness that come from His very own nature. Yes, He is to love, but ultimately, He can only love us unto righteousness (`ahab love).

Rom 12:19 – “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.”

Now, it is NOT correct to insist, because God is love, everyone would be spared eventually from Hell. There is no definitive word on this, in Scripture, and we must remember, what God has revealed we are to take it in, what He does NOT reveal, even if we try to “fill in the gap”, whatever we insert in, it must NOT be inconsistent with what has been revealed.

As a Christian, our belief should be that, if one does NOT have the foremost forgiveness from God, which takes place at his entry into salvation, he continues to be destined to the burning fire of Hell, despite God is love. I submit to you the most fundamental or most core nature-attribute of God is NOT love but holiness.

Because of God’s fundamental attribute of holiness, the demand of holiness cannot be simply ignored. Put it simply God is holiness, and violation of His holiness is violation of God, the source of all life; just imagine, if the very source of life is destroyed, everything will end. The demand of holiness needs to satisfied, and it is NOT anyhow satisfied.

Disobedience is a sin and is a violation of the holiness of God, and for the disobedience of the first Man, Adam, the demand of holiness was only satisfied with the price Jesus paid, the blood and life of The Sinless One. As to what can satisfy the demand of holiness is NOT decided by man; it is up to very nature of God Himself; we just have to accept what is required.

I repeat: there is no definitive word on God does forgive, regardless, rather it is God does NOT necessarily forgive, regardless.

You may wonder why I care to cover this point; whether or NOT, God must forgive, regardless. The reasons are simple: If you think God is going to forgive, ultimately,

1) you may not feel the urgency to reach out to the non-believers;
2) you may not be bothered to forgive another or to ask God for on-going forgiveness;
3) you may think you are free to do nothing (just bask in grace), or do anything you want without sin consequence (absolute liberty – no such thing).


Point No 12 – Forgiving is deferring to our Master

Rom 12:19 – “Do not take revenge, …., but leave room for God’s wrath,…”

In point 11, we have established that it is NOT necessarily that God forgive regardless, ultimately; but for us, men, it is different. We, Christians, are to forgive, regardless, because there is still a level up there, the level of God being the Judge of all matters.

One can put it this way: “We owe it to God.” When we received Jesus as our personal Savior, we also have received Him as our Lord. In other words, we have agreed to submit to His judgment. We owe our very life to God, and so, on entering into salvation, we have pledged to be servant even slave of the Master (God), and as servant or slave, we have to defer certain matters to the Master, and this, “to demand repayment for wrong done to us”, is one area, we are commanded to defer to Him.


Next, we look at 2 points, together:

Point No 13 - Forgiving is blessing another

Point No 14 – Forgiving is inheriting God’s forgiveness, & so, life evermore

These 2 points are derived from a reasonable interpretation of 1 Pet 3:9.

1 Pet 3:9 – “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”

“To this you were called” – what is the “this” here? It is “repay with blessing”. We are called to be a people who would prepay with blessing. Note that the word, “blessing”, it appears twice in the verse – “We are to repay with blessing, which is our calling, so that we may inherit a blessing”.

What possibly can the “blessing” be referring to, in the verse? I submit to you, one way to look at it, is to substitute the “blessing” with “forgiveness”. Isn’t forgiveness the most valuable blessing we are inheriting, and is the core subject matter of our living hope.

Forgiving is said to be blessing another; why? Why is it that when we forgive we can be said as blessing another? It is because both, forgiveness and blessing, carry the same connotation of favor, unmerited. Is it NOT true, the general idea of us blessing another, carries NOT the notion, the person is entitled to, or has the right to, what we are giving, rather it is that of a gesture of favor, grace, even?

The Apostle Peter was here saying, when people do evil against you, you don’t do back the same; when they insult you, you don’t insult back; instead you forgive them. This was what, we did to God, did evil against Him, insulted Him, but He forgave us, and promised to be just and faithful to forgive us (some more) (1 John 1:9). Entering into salvation (salvation call) puts us into a position of inheriting forgiveness (“the blessing”) from God, but subsequently, there is a demand of holiness at work, and that is that, we are to likewise extend the same blessing, forgiveness, to fellow men.

Please, I am NOT saying entry into salvation is conditional; it is NOT, it is without us meriting it - we do NOT, as a standard, ask the pre-believer to forgive others, in Sinner’s prayer. Why? Because, it is NOT a requirement. But for on-going forgiveness from God (Matt 6:15), and in accordance to 1 John 1:9, there is a demand of holiness at work – we are required to forgive others.

So, basically, 1 Pet 3:9 can be interpreted to mean, to forgive is to bless another (Point 13), and to forgive is to inherit God’s (on-going) forgiveness, and so, life evermore (Point 14).

It is worth mentioning that there are 2 excellent examples in Scripture of one subscribing to 1 Pet 3:9 of NOT repaying an eye for an eye, but to response with blessing, and that blessing was forgiveness.

The 2 examples are the persecution and death of Jesus and Stephen. It is incorrect for people to imply that both Jesus and Stephen did NOT forgive those who persecuted them, claiming instead they only asked God to forgive the offenders.

If people are honest enough with themselves and they have had (and they should have had) occasions of being wronged (or sinned) by others, and they truly appreciate the blessing of God’s forgiveness, they will agree that it had to be that both Jesus and Stephen had forgiven the persecutors, when they asked God to forgive them, too.

Had you not forgiven the offender, would it NOT really, really hard for you to ask God to forgive the offender, when you know what forgiveness of God means? Yes, it would, for a person who has NOT forgiven still demands repayment, but God’s forgiveness meant the opposite, “no payment required”. Additionally, God’s forgiveness does place the one forgiven into a position of receiving blessing from God. I submit to you, Jesus and Stephen had both forgiven, before they asked God to forgive their offenders.

In other words, God revealed through Scripture, 2 excellent examples for us to understand, “To forgive, regardless” was and is what He expects of us, and that when we are wronged against, we are to forgive as a blessing, and when we have done that, we too, would inherit the blessing of being forgiven by God, and with on-going forgiveness, we have life evermore (people who conclude incorrectly about Jesus and Stephen’s petitioning of God’s forgiveness, are usually the ones who have an incorrect exegesis of Luke 17:3-5; they claim: to forgive, you must have the offender’s true repentance or he having “truly repented” – but that, in Part I, we have concluded that, that was NOT the intent of the passage).

In Part III to come, we will cover the negative implications of unforgiveness, its possible impact on our current earthly life. Also, we will cover the issues of forgiveness and memory and trusting again, and forgiveness and restoration of relationship. These are important, and I hope you come back for them.


Anthony Chia, high.expressions

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High.expressions Healing Meetings

Together with some brothers from the Healing Room, I have started and headed up these Divine Healing Meetings since 2011.  These meetings were previously held at TradeHub 21 (Jalan Boon Lay).  The new venue is now at Ang Mo Kio (AMK), as below.

We trust that as we honor God, trust in Him, and do His bidding, God will honor us, and render His Divine powers to bless those coming to seek His face. Currently, this meeting is run on a once a month basis, on a Saturday (currently on every 3rd Saturday of the month). We will announce each meeting date on this website as it draws near.

The next monthly meeting is on: 20 April 2013.

Venue: 24 Mayflower Place Singapore 568705 (AMK, off Yio Chu Kang); a double storey terrace. 24 Mayflower Place location map (macro); Zoomed-in map.  (By bus: From AMK Hub, you board 269 and alight (5 bus-stops from Hub) at AMK Ave 4 - Blk 163 MacDonald - see zoomed-in map).

Time: 3 pm to 5 pm (currently every 3rd Sat. of the month)
Liturgy: Include praise and worship, message, and ministry thereof.

You are welcome, and you may bring he sick.  If you want to email me (for enquiry or submit testimony of God's ministry to you), here is the address: high.expressions@gmail.com.
I covet your prayers for this ministry.

Anthony Chia
PS: If you want to be included in an email notification list for the date of the next coming meeting, please do NOT hesitate to drop me an email.

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Update on ministry at church services - Part II

Preamble: Today, I want to continue with Part II of the article I given last week – “Update on ministry at church services”. Because of its preciousness as an example, I have also separately spun this Part II article off, as “A prophecy in pictures”

Before I begin on this part II, let me just recap on the part I portion. In that portion, I narrated 3 accounts of testimonies, namely, (1) I prayed for a lady with pain and weakness on both legs, one of her legs, had a toe fracture, and one leg was longer than the other; she was relieved of her pain, and the shorter leg grew to match the longer one; (2) how a boy’s future has become bright, because the mother heard the “lulus tinggi” word from the Lord given through me, back in 2010, and received it in; and (3) because of my going a little way out, to love with the love of God, has helped to bring about transformations within the spouse and children of a cancer-stricken lady who had gone to be with the Lord. There was to be elaboration of item 4, which was to be that, over the 11 Feb 2012 weekend, there was a prophecy in pictures given in church, revelation of which I believed I have received and released. It is this item 4 that will be the subject of this entry.

Prophecy in pictures
In the Saturday 3.30 pm service on 11 Feb, 2012, there was a prophecy given in picture. In other words, a sister in the sanctuary received a vision or a picture; a picture of a plumbline. Now, the sister went on to give the interpretation of the plumbline as representing a standard; and went on to say that she sensed that the Lord was indicating that the standard for our church (our particular local church) has been raised. If I have NOT mistaken, the congregation responded with jubilation. Is it a good thing or NOT a good thing, that we observe a plumbline for the church? I will talk a little more about this, towards the end of this article, but for now, I will concentrate on the separate visions or pictures I received on that day and the day after, i.e. Sunday.

On that same afternoon, after the plumbline prophecy, I received this vision: I saw a couple of goblets or cups, on a raised platform, and a person, whom I believed, was perhaps the Lord, came over, and very swiftly, swept up with his hand (one hand), those couple of goblets on the platform. As I did NOT understand what the vision was saying, I abstained from releasing the vision to the congregation. Usually, I tended NOT to release visions or pictures which I know NOT the interpretation. But I subsequently released it on the next day, Sunday, after I have received another picture, and with it, I received the interpretation for both pictures combined.

On the 8.30 am Sunday service, this is the picture I received: What was shown to me was the corner of rectangular tank. Yes, I saw a right-angled corner of a tank, and I could see the water-evel rising. This is the interpretation I received for this vision even as I recalled the vision of the day before, for my mind that morning was still attentive to wanting to know the interpretation of the vision of the day before, on the goblets – I was shown the corner of a water tank for a reason. I was NOT shown, for example, the water-level rising of a larger patch of water, like the sea or ocean or something massive, but a small-scale tank corner. Basically, containers, like a small tank or cups or goblets, they commonly symbolize us; we being the vessels or “cups” of the Lord. We are vessels for His use.

Now the connection to the previous days’ vision of mine and the plumbline vision of the sister was this: Even as the standard of the church is being raised, the Lord was indicating that the measures of the Holy Spirit to be given for individuals of the church can be expected to rise; the water of the water-level that I was shown, it was symbolizing the Holy Spirit. Yes, water, here symbolized the Spirit of God. So, the desire of the Lord was and is that individual members of the church be hungry for greater baptism of the Holy Spirit, even as the Lord is raising the standard for the church. We, the individual members, or vessels, made up the church; to raise the standard of the church was implying that the standard of individuals must be raised, and we need greater measures of the Holy Spirit, individually, in order that we may raise the standard of the church collectively.

The goblets-sweeping vision of the day before became clear, the Lord was sweeping up for his use, vessels, ready for His intended use. And the Lord had wanted me to say that, even as the picture showed only a couple of goblets were swept up by the Lord, as many as are ready, the Lord could use. And one of the things, individual members must prepare for their readiness is to be filled with a greater level of the Holy Spirit.

Now, there was a third vision, and it was given me, in the 10.30am service on that same Sunday, 12 Feb 2012. What I saw in this vision was that of a glass foot. In other words, I was shown a completely transparent foot, where I could see the angle bone. But why a transparent foot, and NOT an ordinary foot of flesh? The foot was like it was filled with clear water, and so it appeared transparent, and what it therefore symbolized was that it was filled with the Holy Spirit. In other words, the foot was to be ordered by the Holy Spirit. Feet and hands, in visions, often could mean, serving, or we are to serve the Lord; and so, the transparent foot, coupled with the earlier picture of water-level rising in a rectangular tank, collectively means that individual members of the church need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and our service would both need to be directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. It would need to be “NOT by {our} power or might but by His Holy Spirit”. And this, again, was consistent with the previous day’s vision of the Lord sweeping up goblets off, a platform. The Lord wants to use individuals of the church, but the individual members must be more greatly filled with the Spirit of God and be led by the Spirit, in order that, for the church as a whole, it can be of a higher standard, as desired by the Lord.

Clearly the above was a good example of a prophecy in pictures, given for a church. On my part I have released this prophecy, and the new Senior Pastor of the church was present and has heard the prophecy.

My prayer
I want to say a prayer, before I proceed further: Lord, may your words, given in visions and pictures, and interpretation thereof, never fall on deaf ears. Lord, may your servants NOT ignore your words of prophecy; especially when it pertains to a body of believers. May you continue to have your Spirit work on the words which has been released, and bring convictions and actions on the part of the members. May you work in the hearts and minds of your leaders, of the church, that they would welcome your Holy Spirit to fill your vessels; that they do something to facilitate this, so that you could have them up for your use.

 Indeed, Lord, why would you want to give fresh word, again and again, if they fall on deaf ears. Oh Lord, forgive us, for our neglect; forgive us for pursuing our own agendas over yours. Forgive us for giving lip service to your move of the Spirit, patting our own back that the Spirit of God moves here, and yet we heed NOT what you really want, by your move. Oh God, forgive us, for so much, we did NOT bother of your prophetic words for the church, this time, and times before. Lord, I ask for your forgiveness for the church, in this regard. Forgive us, Oh God. You had shown us honor but we had NOT honored you. Yet, Holy Spirit, depart NOT, from your children. I ask for your mercy and patience with the church. Amen.

I shiver if I were one!
For info, I am a lay Altar Minister {a member serving, voluntarily} in this church; I am NOT part of staff or the leadership proper of the church. Whether or NOT, I am a watchman for the Lord, for this church, I know NOT; I receive NOT, any such appointment as far as I know, but in the last 4 years, twice I was asked if I was one. I am only honored that the Lord would use me; but like this plumbline thing, which I will next, give some understanding, when the Lord “holds us out”, there is serious implication, “when more is given, more is expected”; be a watchman on a formal basis for Lord, I shiver!

Plumbline as in Amos 7
Before I went about writing this article, I tried to search the Word for the occurrence of the word, plumbline, in Scripture. Yes, it appeared in Amos 7:7-8. I am NOT saying that the plumbline prophecy given for the church I am attending, must necessarily be in line with a similar one, as given in this Amos passage. Although I did NOT personally receive the plumbline vision, I have considered if the plumbline vision interpretation was reasonable, and if my own visions over the 2 days, did or did NOT, “mesh with" the plumbline thread.

Indeed, in the Amos text, one of the interpretations, and is the one commonly adopted, is that the plumbline represented a “standard”, “something used as a yardstick” for measurement. And, of course, people in the building industry know what a plumbline is, and how it is used to ensure “straightness” or “right-angle” (See, it is no coincidence that the Lord showed the corner of a rectangular tank, in the vision of the rising water {Holy Spirit} level). In the Amos passage, the nation that was being referred to, was Israel, the Northern Kingdom (then). God was showing to the prophet, Amos, that the LORD had applied the plumbline (or standard) against Israel, but she had failed. General agreement is that the plumbline or standard used was the Laws of Moses. I shan’t go in much details about the failure of the Northern Kingdom; it suffices to say that through rebellion and tearing away, and the subsequent installing of other gods at the king-level, greatly made Israel fallen greatly short of measuring up to the plumbline; and the LORD could “no longer pass it by”. In other words, even as the LORD would act against the surrounding Gentile nations, LORD could no longer just “close one eye” on the wickedness of Israel; she had to be punished. Subsequent accounts in Scripture, revealed to us that indeed God meted out punishment to Israel, and so severe the punishment that the ten tribes in the Northern Kingdom were dispersed, and the land came to be occupied by peoples from elsewhere, as a method of the Assyrians {whom God sent to attack} to permanently crash any nation. Till today, the 10 tribes (or commonly called The 10 Lost Tribes) have yet to be fully “aliyah” back to the land. Now, should we be jubilant, as was the case for the church I am attending, on hearing that the Lord had shown a plumbline?!

Implication of a standard
You would have noted that my interpretation of the visions given me (NOT the plumbline vision specifically), was NOT quite like what was said on the above Amos passage. I do NOT think it needed to be the same; but one cannot escape from noticing when plumbline is applied, there is expectation? Oh how has no one noted this, in the church! When you draw a line, free-hand, I do NOT expect a very straight line, but if you use a ruler, you are expected to come up with a straight line! What more, it was said that the plumbline represented higher standard. It was NOT unreasonable to interpret the seeing of the plumbline for the church could indicate a higher standard, even without such a picture, it is quite obvious that a church is on a yardstick of measurement; I believe all of God’s creation are with a benchmark or they are created benchmarked. We, Man, are created benchmarked, for we were created in the image of God. It is on the one hand, an affirmation by the Lord that the church has met the level set {previously}for it, and perhaps, jubilation was in order, for that; but it also meant, as was subsequently revealed by the visions given me, that there are things needed to be looked into, if we are to live up to the higher standard set.

Take heed!
The history of the Israelites shows us that with one standard, without a higher revised standard (NOT yet at Amos’ time; higher standard came in only with Jesus’ 1st coming), already the Israelites were NOT consistent in their living up to the standard; there were highs and lows. What more, for us; oh fellow members of our local church, we should NOT be complacent. What more, for us, a higher standard had been applied. Take heed. When more is given, more is expected of us.


Anthony Chia, high.expressions – Lord, may you bless the reading of this article, that whosoever read of it, may be blessed in one way or another. And when it is read by the relevant people, may you, Lord, send shivers down their spines, even as you send a warm into their hearts. You are NOT done with us, and we have NOT finished. May you forgive and be patient with us. May you continue to arouse more of your children to be the goblets you could sweep off the platform, for your own use. I thank you, on behalf of the church for your affirmation, yet my heart cried for them, that they do NOT miss out what you have desired they do. Holy Spirit, more of you, I pray for the individual members. Amen.

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Update on ministry at church services

Last weekend has been an eventful weekend for me at church. I have, for a long, long while, NOT updated my “little ministry” as far as it pertains to what I do in church’s weekend services. I have just clicked on the last article ("You need faith, and you need love") I put up under the caption of “Concerning my little ministry”, and the article showed up as being put up on 3rd August 2011, a whopping 7 months ago! What has happened? Was there no more flow? Yah, how come? Let me see…

When I actually re-read that last article, I realised I have separately dated that article, at the end of the article, as 12th July 2011. I understand from the article, the reason why I penned in the date at the end, which normally I do NOT do; it was to capture when I actually decided to venture out of the church to hold healing meetings outside, or at the marketplace. Although the article was put up on the 3rd August, 2011, the decision was made on the 12th July 2011.

As a side, I actually have since went on to secure a place, and formed a team, and started the marketplace healing meetings in October 2011, and last weekend, the church has suggested it could come under the covering of the church, something I had originally wanted, but was left unanswered by the church due to church leadership transition.

Still what were the reasons for no entry under this caption? The following combination of factors accounts for it:

1. I have been busying preparing for the marketplace healing meeting ministry – getting a place, a team, and the sermons or messages.
2. Much time was spent on articles filed under other captions, such as Divine Healing (new), and Christian Services.
3. I also got onto following Ps Prentis’ blog so very regularly.
4. Lastly, things somehow had “cooled” somewhat in church.

What exactly is point 4 referring to? The main thing was that the church had entered into the tail-end phase of leadership transition, with the incumbent Senior Pastor “letting” the Senior Pastor-to-be, to have a go at “running” the church, including the services. Indeed, the incumbent spent much time away, so that the new in-charge-to-be, has some liberty to act as he deemed fit. The incumbent finally formally finished his term at the end of the year, but he was off much earlier to clear his Sabbatical leave, etc. That transition has somewhat affected the regularity of the ministry times in the services.

Well, with new leadership, tweaking was inevitable; uncertainties set in; and when people were unsure what was going on, and their questions went unanswered, for there were not yet firm decisions, ministry as usual did suffer. But enough of that; may the new leadership quickly finds a firm footing and restores the much needed certainty. Of course, we have to be careful NOT to point fingers, for it was not easy for the new in-charge, for several pastors also exited the church.

Not wanting to dwell anymore on the negativity of leadership transition (leadership renewal is an inevitable part of life), I only want to say, in many settings, corporate atmosphere is important, and is part and parcel of what God does look at, especially it is a body like a local church. It is my belief that God considers the individuals as well as the corporate, where it is applicable. In other words, not much gets done, if He considers the corporate setting or atmosphere is important, but it, the corporate setting or atmosphere, is out (of order).

Jesus, for example, did NOT do much in his own hometown, because the overall atmosphere in that town was NOT right. For a church, it can be same, too; God could be looking at faith and the unbelief of the church, the agreement and unity of the members, and of the leadership of the church, and other corporate dimensions, including widespread sinfulness in members and leaders, etc, etc. Now, this is NOT in any way insinuating the new leadership is guilty of any of these, but it is just I am expressing my understanding of the place of corporate atmosphere.

Well, if you doubt my understanding, think about Jesus’ lack of ministry in his own town that I have talked about already, and consider the fact that the Word contains scenarios of atmosphere of lands and countries being “controlled” by principalities, and battles had to be waged to clear corporate strongholds, before break-throughs came. Clearly, when many are in agreement, the subject matter does become a stronghold, if it is a negative that is being collectively agreed.

Still I believed for the stretch of 7 months, God did NOT go to sleep (and I did NOT abandon my role), for the church; there must be those who were ministered by me or others, at whatever times where we squeezed or “sneaked” in a ministry time, allowing for words of knowledge, and praying for those in needs. However, often times, people just do NOT come back with their testimonies, and we thought people were NOT ministered to, or worst still, in the eyes or ears of some, words released appeared as a “bunch of craps” with no one claiming them. Later, I will share that a word I released in 2010 was received in, and it came to pass, and the person came to tell me last weekend.

Still, this blog and its entries here are very much about happenings that got to do with me, meaning generally, I do NOT deliberately go out of my way to report on the successes of other ministers; for, for one thing, this is principally a journaling of my ministry, and NOT that of others, and another, is so that, readers do NOT inevitably mistaken results of other people’s ministry being mine. In that sense, zero reporting here does NOT necessarily mean nothing was happening for others (other people in ministry – church Altar Ministry, principally). Because I was on-site almost every service, I of course, can comment that there was indeed a decline of VISIBLE manifestations of God was working, through a “NOT so unanimously agreed” period of altar ministry.

But to illustrate that I was still trying to be as active as possible, and God did NOT just switched off (it is untenable to consider God would just “turn off the tap” just because the Senior Pastor has retired {per se}. But of course, if given time, if God understands that people are quenching His Spirit, He is NOT going to be continuing His work, without teaching people a thing or two), I will share:

1. First of all, my 2nd occasion of praying and seeing a leg growing to match a longer leg. This 2nd occasion happened in Jan 2012, and I was hoping the person would submit a written testimony to the church but apparently the person did NOT.

2. Then, I will share about the 2010 word that has come to pass, that has gladdened my heart last weekend.

3. I will also share about my joy of seeing fruit coming from doing a little bit more to love others.

4. Finally, I also want to share an important prophecy given to the church over the last weekend – a case of prophecy given in pictures. I also believe as an encouragement, personally for myself, the Lord has also allowed a breaking of level for my all time-gift, the gift of singing in tongues. However, to avoid too lengthy an entry here, I will put out this last item, item 4, as a separate entry – Update on ministry in church services – Part II.

So, here are the elaborations for point 1 to 3:

Leg grew on the spot, and no more pain
In Jan 2012, after a usual Saturday church service, I stayed behind to see if any, needed prayers (I do this commonly, voluntarily). A woman, came up to the sanctuary front, limping, and walking with pain, and asked me if I could pray for her. She explained that she suffered toe fracture on one foot some 4 months earlier. Doctor told her that after 3 months she should be alright, but after 4 months, she was still experiencing pain in that leg, and worse still the other leg of hers was also painful, and both her legs were weak. She went back for doctor consultation, and x-ray showed that the fractured bones had fused back, but doctor was puzzled about the pain and weakness, and had informed the lady that she got to make return visits and run a few other tests.

I prayed for the woman, and after a while I asked if she still had the pain, and she said it was better, and she explained that prior to this, when she walked, there would be both pain and some sort of “needle poking” sensation coming on. But it was better already. She then said that she felt one of her leg was longer than the other. Because of experience, I know it could be true, and so, I asked her to move back to the first row of the pew seats; I asked that she sit down (upright), and I lifted both her legs. Indeed, one of the leg, the one that she earlier said, was longer, was way longer than the other; we are talking about a difference of more than an inch! After letting her know, I prayed for the leg to grow so that both legs would become of the same length; and the shorter leg grew. Although the heels were quickly aligned, the front portions of the feet were NOT exactly aligned. And so, I put one hand at the front portions of both feet, and prayed and they became aligned. I then asked the woman to try walking. When she tried, she said that she still felt one side (of her body) was still a little higher than the other, and asked if the floor was NOT flat. Yes, I believe the floor at the sanctuary was slightly sloped; and so I asked her to walk along the central aisle instead, which she did. She then exclaimed that all the pain was gone. Her husband, by this time has joined us, both exclaimed the surprise. The Lord has lengthened her leg, and healed her feet. Hallelujah, praise be to God.

The “lulus tinggi”
What is that, “lulus tinggi”? You will know what the phrase means, if you have studied Malay or knows the Malay language. I know because I studied Malay as a second language for 11 years, in the past. “Lulus” means “pass” as in passing an examination. “Tinggi” means “high” as in high is Mount Kinabalu (a mountain in Malaysia). So together, “lulus tinggi” means “high passes”.

This word of knowledge (or one may even call it, prophecy), was a word I received and released in 2010. Now, I have released many words over the period of last 4 years, and really, most of them I could NOT remember them off-hand (and so, the reason for my doing this kind of journaling as in this blog). This one I remember; why? Because it had the Malay phrase in it. It was the only one, of all the words I ever released, that had Malay words in it. And if I do NOT remember wrongly, when the word came to me, I actually saw the phrase before my eyes, meaning I could read it off.

It was and is strange, yet I am saying to you that, such do happen – the Lord giving a word, NOT in English, when obviously, I was in an English church service. Now, if it were Chinese, it probably would NOT surprise many, for in Singapore, languages commonly used, and commonly have church services conducted in, are English and Chinese (and Chinese dialects); in fact, I do NOT know of any church services in Malay in Singapore! If it were Chinese, it would surprise few, but it would surprise me, because I cannot say that I can read Chinese (Mandarin) even though I am a Chinese; I can’t, although I can converse in Chinese. But such simple Malay, on the other hand, was and is NOT a problem at all for me.

Obviously, the Lord had to give me in a language that I can understand before I can give it out. Still, I did recognize that it was exceptional that the Lord would show me Malay words, instead of English. But you know what, that also meant that it could NOT be a mistake, for I did not and do NOT think or imagine in Malay (for I do NOT even use the Malay language in daily life for years already). And so, on that occasion, I released the word to the effect of someone in the congregation, the Lord knew he/she was very concerned, desperate even, about the studies of his/her child, but the Lord gave the Word of “lulus tinggi”, meaning “high passes”; in other words, the child would come through with high passes. Of course, I revealed I saw the Malay writing, and that I knew Malay and so, I could release the word.

Last weekend, after the 8.30am service, a woman came to front of the sanctuary, and she related how I had given that “lulus tinggi” word, and she knew it applied to her, and she held to the promise of that word. She said the word had come to pass.

This woman revealed that back then, in 2010, when the word was released, the situation of her was like this: there were 4 people in the family, father, mother (the woman), a daughter and a son. The one, the other 3 had almost wanted to give up hope on, was the boy, the woman’s son. She related how the father and sister were thinking of giving up on the boy when the boy was “hopeless” even with his “N” levels studies (In Singapore, there is streaming; those pupils who are NOT grouped as the typical pupils who would be expected to be able to clear the “O” levels examinations, would be put to “N” levels, a kind of sub-O levels). The woman, the mother, afterwards, decided decisively NOT going to give up on the boy, and the boy went on to pass his “N” levels, with an aggregate of 10 which is pretty high pass overall (top “N” level students aggregate about 6). The boy then went on to take the “O” levels, and got an aggregate of 19, a good high pass, indeed. The boy, according to the mother is now enrolled in a Singapore Polytechnic.

This woman revealed that she too does receive pictures or visions from the Lord, but she still has not been able to interpret them; and she said, she was impressed upon by the Lord, to come up to me, and tell me, the testimony, and to tell me to continue on, with the release of the words the Lord gives. What an affirmation the Lord gives! I encouraged her to give a written testimony to the church, and I really hope she gets down to do that, for the church leadership needs to hear such testimonies, that indeed, members do receive in, the words released in services, and are blessed. A boy’s entire future is completely different, turned bright, because his mother heard the Lord’s word and received it in. I say, church services should be conducted to facilitate such God’s giving “life” to people.

I say, how true is the word said by Alicia, a sister member from the church, concerning why words of knowledge (and prophecy) and ministry time be accommodated in church services even when the church has a whole string of ministries such as healing, deliverance, family life, teaching, etc, etc, which people can contact and arrange separate meetings privately for ministry; “if the Lord wants to minister now, we minister now!”

You see, the problem with many of us, including church leaders, is that we box God; we are in effect telling God when He is supposed to minister – “God, you are NOT supposed to heal people here or give a word to people here, you should wait until a private session has been arranged, and then you can do it there!” Unconsciously, we are indeed expressing such audacity when we quench the desired moves of the Spirit of God.

Another one, a brother of the church said this: “You fear men or you fear God?” It is “tricky”, but there is important truth embedded in there; if you are asked by God to release His words, do you fear men (including church leaders) and NOT release it or do you fear God, and do as you are expected by God to do? Equally “tricky”, when applied to the leadership of church; do you allow time for such release of words of knowledge and prophecy, and the ministry to people thereof, or even just the ministry (without words), or do you give in to lament of men who said that such (time allocation) is wasting majority’s time, to attend to minority’s needs! Is such majority-minority argument the way of the Kingdom? Or is it the other way round, think about this: God said that the road and gate to life is narrow, and those to Hell are the reverse; majority is right?! Go with the majority?! Some food for thought, I say.

With a little more effort to love, fruitful is God’s harvest
Does God heal everyone every time? No. Did people get healed all the time when I prayed for them? No, but there were people healed. Were all people ministered when I ministered to them? No, but enough were. Did I ever make mistake releasing words? Yes, but few, and it became even fewer and fewer. In it all, I effort to love. Gal 5:6b – “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (If you want further exposition of this, read, the article of 3rd August 2011 which I mentioned at the start – “You need faith, and you need love”)

Think about it: If you are NOT a doctor, you would NOT be able to love someone who is sick? If you cannot make someone well from his/her sickness because you are no doctor, you can no way love the person? You may NOT be able to address his/her sickness, for you are no doctor, but it is really NOT ground enough for you to say, you could NOT love the person in affliction. You can effort to love, and people can receive that love.

That effort to love, and people receiving your love is the scene God is very happy to see. When we receive God’s love, we are touched, something is transformed within us; in other words, God’s love has borne fruit. When we love another with the love of God, when that love is received in, the person is touched, something within him is transformed; in the same way, God’s love borne fruit in us, our “God-love” bears fruit for God’s harvest. Love is primary (first), and it will give rise to primary fruit. What is primary is most important indeed.

When I pray for a cancer patient, minister to him/her, follow up with him/her, all in an effort to love with the love of God, and the person dies, do I produce no fruit, that I healed NOT, the person? No, I believe I have produced the primary fruit, the fruit of love, and God is pleased with that. May you catch this outlook that I believe all servants and ministers of God must have, and believe in.

This is what I believe the Lord was teaching me, in my journey of the last 4 years, especially in relation to a pair of cancer-stricken women, one in Malaysia, and another, in Singapore, who both, at the overlapping period, suffered stage 4 lung cancer. Both of them have passed away, now. I mean I have followed them through, not only praying for healing for them, but also included attending to their spiritual feeding and health, for many, many months, and that was a lot of time and effort, yet they still improved NOT as far as their medical conditions; hardly even once, did they say that my prayers had brought arrest to their medical conditions. Many a time, however, I received from them messages of how they were touched when they received prayers from me, including written ones (for one of them, was after all, in another country, Malaysia). I thought I was supposed to be primarily a healer-minister, but it is now apparent that, even so, that I am a healer-minister, I am first of all, a minister of love, that I am to minister the love of God to people.

I will just share how my heart was gladdened over the past 2 weekends over the case of Carolyn Quek, the Singapore woman who had the stage 4 lung cancer and has passed away on New Year Eve (the fuller case on Carolyn Quek could be found here:”Carolyn Quek has passed on, too“). Carolyn Quek’s husband, Anson, was NOT a Christian at the time Carolyn was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, but he has since given his life to Jesus. Carolyn, on the other hand, was a Christian way before they were married; yet for so many years (more than 20 years) of their marriage, Anson did not accept Jesus into his life. I am sure it was, in part, as result of Carolyn Quek’s strong faith and steadfastness in the face of her cancer affliction, and the love he saw in those (of course, there were others) who ministered to his late wife (and even to him) that he gave over his life. More importantly, the question of whether or NOT, Anson would follow through with his commitment to follow Jesus after his wife has passed away just before he was due for baptism, did ring in my heart.

Carolyn was NOT a member of the church I attend (for simplicity, I just say my church), but has come to attend the services of my church because I would be there. Carolyn decided to transfer church membership, and both husband and wife started attending the baptism/membership classes at my church; Carolyn needed to complete the course to transfer, and Anson, to be baptized to be a member of my church. Carolyn went home to be with the Lord before completion of the course (hospitalized, and so could NOT attend the last sessions), and she was NOT in time to be transferred, and her church (not my church) conducted the Christian funeral service.

I never insisted to minister to my church members only, and at no time I hinted any transfer was necessary, and so, Carolyn’s decision of transfer was in part attributable to the love and warmth she experienced. Anson, could opt NOT to be baptized at all, or he could go back to Carolyn’s church where 2 of their children (the 2 youngest) were attending. The weekend prior to the last, I witnessed his baptism at my church. I was so happy that indeed the affirmations he gave to me, on those hospital visits of mine, to pray and stay with Carolyn’s loved ones, including my visit of them at the hospital on Christmas morning, a few days before she passed away, were really heart-felt by Anson. In those occasions, he shared repeatedly how Carolyn was touched and how he was touched (this was despite Carolyn’s sickness did not improve, over the entire period!).

Actually, after Carolyn’s passing on, I continued to pray in my prayer times, for Anson that he would NOT back out of his commitment to follow Christ. Witnessing his baptism was such a joy, which I shared with his 4 sons. Last weekend, in one of the services, I again saw Anson in church, and the 2 youngest children (sons) were with him. I could NOT help but rushed over to say hello to them before they left the sanctuary.

Directly, I had NOT brought physical healing to Carolyn, despite the many prayers in church (almost every week, I prayed for her in church), but I efforted to give a little of God’s love, and the Spirit of God magnified it, along with those given by others (like Dr Alan Chin), and fruit formed for the Lord’s harvest – Carolyn’s husband, Anson, remains committed to the Lord, and Carolyn’s children, especially the 2 youngest ones, have experienced the love of God through his servants. One of them shared with me in the hospital at Christmas morn, that he would like to go to Bible school rather than normal school; he said God’s ways are the relevant ways. I believed God has put something good in this boy’s heart, even as he saw the Lord did NOT heal his mother. I spent a good one hour giving understanding to this boy.

Look out for Part II of this “Update on ministry at church services”.


Anthony Chia, high.expressions – Lord, I thank you for your affirmation and encouragement. My prayer is for you to move the heart and mind of the church leadership to always be willing to facilitate your blessings of people, both your children as well as those unsaved. The ministry time in church services belongs to you and you alone. I want blessing for the people, and so, I pray for your strong hand of insistence over frivolous wishes of men, be they members of congregation or church leaders. Lastly, Lord, I want to believe that, that son of Anson, who said he preferred Bible school, he, Lord, you will continue to touch, and in turn, he will touch many lives, with his life, in the years to come. Amen.

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