Psalm 62 - God and only God matters

Preamble: My original intention was to put up my exposition of “Ps 66 – Intercede, but cherish not sin in your heart”, which I have done some time back, because my previous article, “Intercede for others, and you’ll be blessed too”, has continued to find readers. But last week, I felt led, to do up the exposition of Ps 62, which I thought I will put up, perhaps, several weeks later, (again) but this morning, when I read the blog entry of a cancer-stricken lady (Liz Mah), in Malaysia, and the email of Rusty Russell, USA, on him being stricken by some strange “disease”, I have decided to put this up, ahead of Ps 66 -Intercede, but cherish not sin in your heart {title, mine}.

There are 3 reasons for this swap:

1. I hope that Ps 62 would encourage both Liz Mah and Rusty Russell to hold on to the position, “God and only God matters”.

2. As the titles of the intercession articles suggested, I hope that fellow believers would pray and intercede for both Rusty Russell (many of my readers, from FGBMF, should know him (and you can know about the great works and sacrifices of this man of God, at his website, http://rustyrussellsblog.com/), and sister Liz Mah (I have no relation to Liz, except that, for several months now, I have, I believed, been led to encourage her on her journey with the Lord even as she was afflicted in life. You can know more about her from her blog site, http://lizadventure.blogspot.com/.

3. I want to encourage both Rusty Russell and Liz Mah to continue to pray and intercede for others even as they are still bearing the weight of their own afflictions.

Recently, I have my belief in a particular way of God confirmed by a young but powerful man, Philip Mantofa, of God from Indonesia { http://en-gb.facebook.com/ps.philip.mantofa}, and that way of God is that, we are to pray and intercede for others (and even, to serve) even when we are in affliction ourselves (my own testimony also bears witness to it). When we take up the causes of others, when we focus on securing God’s aid for others, be it through prayer and intercession or service, Jesus prays and intercedes for us, in Heaven, before the Father God. I am not saying that we should not pray for ourselves, but perhaps, in the ways of God, there is a dimension of Jesus interceding, additionally, for those who have placed the interests of others ahead of their own. Isn’t it wonderful to know that even as we are busying praying and interceding for others, Jesus takes up our cause and prays and intercedes before the Father God in Heaven (Rom 8:34). The Bible said the prayer of righteous one avails much (James 5:16). Jesus passes that righteousness with a full 100%. Don’t you like Him to intercede for you?

For testimonial evidence of such is a way of God, those who read my previous article, “Intercede for others, and you’ll be blessed too”, I related that I was healed when I interceded for the Haiti disaster. I have also shared, as encouragement, in my church, that when I served as a lay Altar Minister, and still avail myself to pray for the sick, when I was in pain myself, the Lord healed me, and caused my pain to leave me. Pastor Philip Mantofa had shared that he too, had experienced God’s healing of his body of weird affliction, when he interceded for a member of his congregation of the same weird affliction. He said he was healed of his affliction when he did not even know if the member of the congregation was healed or not.

Of course, I am not saying that we work for salvation (sozo), but when we love God (often times, many of us do not know how to love God, according to his definitions) by aligning ourselves to His Word and ways, we attract or draw out His grace and mercy. Please, do not habour in your heart that because you pray for the sick, and they got healed, then Jesus must intercede, and you must be healed; that is not what I am saying, nor is it the right attitude of the heart. The right attitude, and I am not saying I have arrived, is that we place God’s interests and the interests of others, ahead of ours, in love, fulfilling the twin pillars of love that enveloped all laws and commandments.]

The way to read this article is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I have inserted a section on "Points to take note/What we have learnt/can learn".

Psalm 62 - God and only God matters {title, mine}

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

1 My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. [David started out this psalm by saying to God his position, his stand, his belief system, his faith.

David stated that his soul found rest in God alone; his salvation came from Him. God alone was his rock and his salvation; He was his fortress, and He, David would never be shaken knowing that. {I prefer this 1984 edition of the NIV over the latest 2010 version, for the 2010 version had no “alone” in either of the verses. The KJV or NKJV both have at least an “alone” in one of the 2 verses. This, in my view, is important, and must NOT be omitted}

There are 2 important points to note: One, David’s understanding that his soul would find rest in God, and God was his rock, his salvation, and fortress; and two, such rest could only be found in God ALONE, not in anything else or, in God together with something else; and God ALONE, and no others, was his rock, his salvation, and his fortress. The “ALONE” point is very important, we cannot try to find rest for our soul in God and something else, it must be purely and solely in God. David experience was that there were no others or no other things. That was how he could weathered through the repeated attempts by King Saul whom he served with great loyalty, and the rebellion of his son, Absalom, snatching his throne at Jerusalem. Only one could not fail David, and us, too, and that was and is God; everything else could and can fail. If we want to be able to say that we will NEVER be shaken, then our reliance must be solely on and in God, no one else, nothing else.]
3 How long will you assault a man?
Would all of you throw him down—
this leaning wall, this tottering fence?
4 They fully intend to topple him
from his lofty place;
they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless,
but in their hearts they curse. Selah
[David then told God what was bothering him.

David had enemies, and he was telling the LORD that his enemies kept on assaulting him. His enemies had wanted to throw him down the moment there was weakness in his position, like throwing him down a (city) wall or fence that was weakened or was shaky {In those days, city were fortified with walls, and people stood/moved about on the top of those walls}. His enemies fully intended to topple him from his elevated position (his elevation was by the LORD). David said these people who were after his blood delighted in lies. They pretended to bless, but in their hearts they cursed. These were wicked people.]
5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge. [David repeated his faith in God again, but this time he was even speaking to his soul {stir himself to hold on to the right position that he first was able to assume}.

The spoken words are powerful, and meditations of the heart, even more so, and David knew both. That was why he cared to say in the earlier verse that his enemies lied, and they blessed, but in their hearts they cursed. So, David wanted to speak to his own soul, so that his soul and heart would be firmly established in who God was.

David told his soul to find rest in God alone, saying that his hope would come from God. God alone was and would be his rock, and salvation; God was and would be his fortress, and he would not be shaken. In verse 7, David repeated again that God was his salvation; and his honor, his high position depended on God. God was his mighty rock, his refuge.

I believe that David at this time was already king, and was enthroned in Jerusalem, yet even in his high position, he still had enemies, and had included those outwardly looked friendly, but were scheming against David, even to want him to fall.]
8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge. Selah [Such psalms, like this one here, were recited before the LORD. In 1 Ch 16, after David successfully brought the ark of God into the City of David, he had instituted spontaneous exaltation before the LORD, including spontaneous praises, psalming, and worshiping with joyful sounds, at the tent (some called it the Tabernacle of Praise) which he had put up for housing the ark of God. Such a psalm was also to edify and build up others, when recited.

In verse 8 here, and in the subsequent few verses, we read of David, after encouraging himself, tried to edify others by calling his people to trust in God at all times, to pour their hearts out to God, for God was their refuge, too.]
9 Lowborn men are but a breath,
the highborn are but a lie;
if weighed on a balance, they are nothing;
together they are only a breath. [David said that men, whether lowly men (or lowborn men) and lofty men (or highborn men), they were the same on God’s scale, they were nothing but only a breath. Indeed, Man was nothing but dust with a breath, and our very breath was and is from God; He gives us our every breath each day. We have believed a lie if we think that just because we are highborn, or in high or lofty position, we are special; men are all the same, completely dependent on the grace and mercy of God.]
10 Do not trust in extortion
or take pride in stolen goods;
though your riches increase,
do not set your heart on them. [Because of his status as a king, and so, his contacts with the highborn, David continued to speak what he had observed of these people’s characters which he felt were not right, and these people ought to reconsider their belief system.

David advised not to trust in extortion or to take pride in stolen goods. The people who extorted, were the highborn, and the “powerful” people. Stolen goods here probably carried a broader meaning to include every form of ill-gotten goods, including those through abuses, including of power, etc, etc. Here is sound advice from David, “though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them”. Our every breath, life, could be demanded of us, at any time, whatever riches we amassed cannot save us. Our salvation and our hope have to be in God alone, and no other, animate or inanimate.]
11 One thing God has spoken,
two things have I heard:
that you, O God, are strong,
12 and that you, O Lord, are loving.
Surely you will reward each person
according to what he has done. [Speaking from experience, David ended by speaking about the character and ways of God.

Such beautiful depiction of the character of God: One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard – that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving. What is meant here was that when God speaks, we can be sure that we hear in it, God is almighty, powerful and strong, and we can hear in it, God loves us. God is El Shaddai yet He is loving towards us. (It must be understood that in those days, the spoken words, especially through the prophets were the most frequent way of interaction/communication between God and Man. That was why that which proceeded from the mouth of God was being referred to.)

Verse 12b, was the observation of David, and I believe that David, as a man said by God to be after His own heart, this observation could not be wrong, that God would reward each person according to what he has done.

In Jer 17:10, the same thing was said, and in that prophecy of Jeremiah, the LORD Himself said it - “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”]


What we can learn here:

1. It is perfectly fine for us to tell God how we regard Him. It is nonsensical to say that God knows everything, and so we should not even need to say that. Sure, God knows everything, but it still does not mean that we do not tell things that God already know. If it were so, why bothered to talk to God at all since He already know everything. However, one needs to be truthful though, we cannot deceive God; we cannot say one thing and in our heart it is a different thing. The Holy Spirit of God searches and knows the hearts of men (1 Ch 28:9). What is the significance of doing this? What we have is a relationship with God, and so, for a relationship, we tell the other party such matters. When we do that, it goes to show that we place importance to the relationship, and importance to the other party, in this case, God.

2. It is not only fine, it is necessary for us to reinforce our faith and belief by speaking to ourselves, to our own souls, so that we would be reminded, and continue to hold on to positions which we first were able to assume. For example, in psalm 42:5-6a (or 43:5 {In many Hebrew manuscripts Ps 42 & 43 constituted one psalm}), we read this:

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Remember now, that our spoken words and the meditations of our heart are very crucial for us to assume a firm position concerning the matters of the faith. Do them both, speak to ourselves, and meditate on God’s words.

3. Many psalms have a petition element, and this one is no exception, and if we are to petition, we are to say what our problem is, or what is bothering us. Again, do not say God knows, and so, I will say nothing. If it were the case, why pray to, or talk with, or psalm to God, at all! My personal belief is that you can be long-winded or short-winded, it does not really matter. God is able to take it all, and if He is annoyed He will let you know. Just avoid vain repetitions. In the moment, if He asks that you cut-short, you cut-short, otherwise, shoot away. Verses 3 & 4 above were where David told God what was bothering him.

4. In the intended edification by David, we should note the followings:

a. What he recommended was what he subscribed to. In Verse 8, he recommended trusting in God alone, to cry out to God, and take refuge in Him; all of these were what he was subscribing to, as can be seen from the verses prior to verse 8.

b. Concerning verse 9, regardless of our high or low position, we can only take pride in one position, and that is the position of God’s grace and mercy. In James 1:9-12, the apostle James taught about this. Those interested can read my exposition of the James’ text from this separate article of mine, “Trials and Temptations (James 1:2-18)”.

c. We are all being tested in our Christian walk. The lowborn men will be tested too, yet Scripture had much to say to the highborn men or men in high positions, the rich and the powerful. In a very real sense, pride and money are the biggest stumbling blocks for men. Actually, the same James 1:9-12 passage talked about the trials of the rich and those in high position. David, in verse 10, reminded 2 things: one, do not misuse high position, and be found to engage in extortion, and derive ill-gotten gains through those positions; such are not only dishonest, it is oppressive, and oppression is always detested by God. Two, though one’s riches increase, he is not to set his heart on them, for if he holds money too tightly to his chest or loves money, he will find problem loving God, and serving Him.

d. The character of God; David pointed out 2 important attributes of God, He is almighty, none can match Him, and He is loving (it does not mean God does not punish). These 2 attributes, David said, could always be noted in God’s words, meaning we can see these attributes in them. We better believe that (the character of God), if we are to stand firm on “God and only God matters”.

e. The ways of God; David believed that God would reward each according to what he has done. This is not necessarily be referring to Man's perspective of "good works" as such, like doing a philanthropic act of donating $100K to a university endowment fund, but at the least, should include such matters of whether or not, what we do is in agreement with the very foundation of His throne. Ps 89:14 gives us “the foundation of His throne as justice and righteousness”. In Micah 6:8b, we read this: “And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”. Will we NOT receive mercy when we show mercy? Surely, the Lord may reward us with mercy, for Matt 5:7 said this: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy”. If we stubbornly remain wicked, what do we think is our reward? Prov 10:16 said this: “The wages of the righteous bring them life, but the income of the wicked brings them punishment”. 1 Pet 3:12 - For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” Revelation 2:23b has this: Then all the churches will know that I am He who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.


Anthony Chia, high.expressions – Lord, may I subscribe to what I write here. May I constantly speak your ways and truths to my soul, and meditate upon them, that I may be firmly established in my knowing you, and will NOT waiver in my position that “God and only God matters”.

Comments are welcome here. Alternatively, email them to me @: ... {click on it to reveal complete address}

Or just email me your email address so that I can put you on my blog (new entry) notification list. To go back to blog main page, click here.

About wickedness, sin, and righteousness, and the consequences, in a nutshell – Psalm 1

The way to read this article is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I have inserted a section on "Points to take note".
{For full listing of all articles in this Psalms exposition series, click here}


Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers. [To me, being blessed is being divinely favored (being divinely favored, peace and fullness of joy are ours, too). If we want to be divinely favored, the psalmist said that we are not to think or act wickedly – stay away from wicked counsel; we are also not to sin – do not engage/indulge in the ways of the sinners; and we are not to let any unbelief and pride to get better of us – mockers act out their unbelief and pride in scoffing/scorning (expressing insolent doubt openly or emphatically/act with contempt/disdain).]
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night. [Instead, we are to delight in (to take pleasure, to enjoy) the law (Word, laws, precepts, commandments, and instructions) of the Lord, and on this, we are to meditate day and night (spend as much time as you can).]
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers. [The psalmist said that if we rid ourselves of wickedness, sin, and unbelief and pride; and delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night, we will be like a tree planted by streams (not one stream but many streams) of water, which yield its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – a pretty fantastic tree, I would say. The psalmist added that the man who is like this tree, will prosper in whatever he does.]
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away. [The wicked, on the other hand, would not be like the tree described in verse 3; instead they will like chaff (the husks of grains) that the wind blows away (winnowing described). So badly is the picture of wicked people that the psalmist used not even a tree to describe it, only as husks that eventually will be discarded.]
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. [The psalmist was saying that because of the marked difference between a righteous man (tree) and the wicked (chaff) or sinful man, the wicked will not stand a chance in God’s judgment to come; and the sinners, cannot be together with the righteous in God’s coming gathering.]
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish. [The psalmist declared that the Lord watches over the righteous. The wicked on the other hand, without the covering (of blessings and protection) of the Lord, will perish.]


Points to be learnt:

Although Psalm 1 is a short psalm, it contains the important keys to a right Christian life. It is so fundamental that many of us just took it for granted after a while, and went on to search for more fanciful keys instead of meditating on it to draw out the little nuggets in them.

1. Do not be stubbornly wicked
I believe there are 2 categories of people we must diligently ensure we do not get classified into, the proud people (scoffers, taken to the extreme) and the wicked people. The Word of God says that God opposes the proud. I surely do not want to stand in opposition to God. Next, if righteous people are at one end of a stick, wicked people are at the other end. Although it is right to say all sins are sin, biblical recordings appeared to have shown wickedness is of the form of sin that God would literally punish directly (not through “handing over”/”giving over”) when it gotten really bad. The events of The Flood and The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah come to mind. In both these events, wickedness was the reason, and direct punishments were meted out by God. I believe it got to do with the holiness of God, the very nature of God.

The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time (Genesis 6:5 – pertaining to The Flood).

Now the men of Sodom {and Gomorrah} were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD (Genesis 13:13 – pertaining to The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah).

From the psalm above, we can see that wicked people are likened to chaff. Chaff are discarded by wind, be blown away or by fire, be burnt – not much of a mercy, isn’t it? The way I understand verses 4-6 is consistent with the notion that wickedness can get punished presently (in current living) {v4, 6}, or get punished when Judgment comes {5}. Implicitly, from these verses, we can also see, perhaps, generally, punishments for other manners of sin may be allowed to be deferred until Judgment, until the gathering of the righteous by the Lord. So, in this respect, the many so-called “bad things” that happened to people may very well be cases of God’s “giving over” or “handing over” of people to workings of the fallen world/sins, God did not cause them. The holiness nature of God does not permit God to be wicked in any way (if He brought destruction, it was because His holiness demanded it), and God is long-suffering, giving people opportunities and time to repent.

I believe stubbornly wicked people will face trouble getting God to hear them or act for them. One reason, I believe is that for wicked people, there are many prayers/petitions against them, reaching to God. God does not ignore the cries of his people. That was what happened for Sodom and Gomorrah; the cries were so much and great that God told Abraham that He, God, was going to see for Himself, before deciding to destroy the twin cities by direct pouring down of burning sulphur from heaven.

2 things I want to say in case it is not clear: One, please do not think that we cannot be classified as wicked just because we are Christians. There are wicked Christians in the world (Of course, we like to say they are part of the back-slidden Christians, nonetheless they are Christians). The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:13 called the sexually immoral Corinthians believer, a wicked man. Two, I am not saying that there cannot be mercy and grace still shown for such a person, a wicked man. The Lord is sovereign, said His Word, He will show mercy to whosoever He wants. An example is of course, the Apostle Paul. Don’t you think Paul or previously known as Saul, before his conversion, was wicked. He wrongly accused the believers, hunted them down; voted for their punishments, even death by stoning (Paul voted for the stoning of Stephen). The Lord Himself said that Paul was persecuting Him! Yet, the Lord granted mercy to him; gave him the chance to repent, used him to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, and let him be an apostle.

But, remember always, when it comes to interpretation of the Word, we must consider whether something was recorded for “norm” prescription or it was an isolated event. I prefer to live by the norm and not by the isolated. A broad analogy would be like the Word saying that there is big gate and a small door, the small one being the door to the kingdom of God, the big gate being the gate to Hell. We are to go for the small door but there are those, who instead of accepting the small door, want to try (even, try their luck, I would say) to find some crack somewhere in the wall of the kingdom of God to squeeze through. My warning to these people is that God has a prescribed doorway for us to enter, if you want to be like cockroaches to come through the cracks, do not blame God when He decides to let one cockroach through and not another. In other words, just because Paul got through does not mean that you too can be wicked and then able to get through at the end.

2. But be righteous
But you might say, why do I still want to be bothered with righteousness, I am not wicked and so, will not have God up against me, and that God is long-suffering, tending to defer the punishments for sinners until Judgment comes; and I do not mind taking my chances with the workings of the fallen world/sins? But I say, you better think twice if you do not want to be bothered with righteousness:

a) Look at verse 5 again; you may not get through the final judgment to get to the kingdom of God, are you prepared to accept that? If you are a Christian, and you cannot be bothered with the ending or end-result, I say you are still foolish.

b) Morbid, you may say, still I will say: you do not know the day and the hour you will die. Even though you have had your salvation or are born again, are you sure if you knowingly and stubbornly remain in sins, you will get pass the small door, when you die unrepentantly? Controversial, but worth pondering over!

c) Verse 3 said that for people who practice righteousness, whatever they do prospers. Verse 6 said God watches over them. They are like a strong and fruitful tree, evergreen and do not wither. These verses, 3 & 6 obviously are referring to present living on earth. Won’t you like that? Here is a God’s prescribed way to a blessed earthly life: avoid all wickedness, sins and unbelief and pride; go deep into God’s Word, delight in it, meditate on it day and night - a “clean and narrow way”, so to speak; and at the end of day, you get to enter the kingdom of God, as well. You want to ignore that?

3. And a key to righteousness is in delighting in his Word, and meditating on it day and night
The Word is the spiritual food for the Christians. If we do not feed on it, we cannot grow healthily in our Christian life. Physically, if we do not delight in food, and we do not take our regular meals, what will happen to us? Physically, we will not grow strongly and healthily. It is the same for spiritual growth and health, we have to delight in the spiritual food, the Word, principally, and take our regular meals. And when we grow healthily spiritually, we grow in righteousness.

Very briefly, this is how we feed spiritually (for a fuller discussion on Spiritual food and spiritual feeding, read my separate article – Spiritual food):

We hear the Word of God (or read them). Faith comes from the hearing (or reading). With faith, we act out the Word. With action based on faith, we begin to experience the Word in action, and this experience is what feeds us properly. With a feeding we grow a little, and we go back for more of the same – hearing the Word, and going into action based on faith. Experiencing the Word in action is experiencing God in action. From experience, we know food is good. A newly born, after a meal of milk becomes satisfied, and learns to understand food is good, and will develop a delight in food. It is the same with the spiritual man and spiritual food; we are to understand that spiritual food is good for us, and begin to delight in it. The more you delight in it, take pleasure in it, enjoy it, the more you will feed on it; day and night, you will meditate on it – you think about it, ponder about it, try to gain understanding of it, and you think about its applications, etc. In other words, day and night, you chew on it.

The Apostle James said it very clearly that the faith you get from hearing (or reading) the Word, if it is not applied in action, is dead (James 2:17 - … faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead).

And James also explained through the example of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of his son, Isaac, that righteousness comes from putting faith into action.

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

So when we feed correctly, we grow healthily spiritually; and what do we grow in? Righteousness. Yes, when we grow healthily spiritually, we grow in righteousness.

It should be clear that the righteousness I am referring to, is the active righteousness that we are supposed to grow in. The Bible talked about 2 concepts of righteousness – imputed righteousness that comes from Jesus, and active righteousness that the follower of Jesus has to grow in and to live out. Both kinds of righteousness are based on faith.

If we do not want to grow in and live out that active righteousness, I believe we cannot be like the tree of verse 3 – a tree planted by the streams of water, yielding fruit in its seasons, and has leaves that never wither, and be prosperous in whatever we do.

Also, the practice of active righteousness leads to holiness (Rom 6:19). And that is important, because without holiness we cannot see God (Heb 12:14).
What is your choice?



Anthony Chia – Lord, my choice is to be like the tree of verse 3. Help me to accomplish that by your grace.

Comments are welcome here. Alternatively, email them to me @: high.expressions@gmail.com
Or just email me your email address so that I can put you on my blog (new entry) notification list. To go back to blog main page, click here.

Thank you, Lord. You are still affirming

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Once again, thank you Lord

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

Comments are welcome here. Alternatively, email them to me @: high.expressions@gmail.com
Or just email me your email address so that I can put you on my blog (new entry) notification list. To go back to blog main page, click here.