Mission Trip Final Entry
Ian taught me how to reiterate my sermon points in my first formal sermon class. He spent a lot of time being patient with me. He is very good at preaching, remembering and teaching on sermons.
That night spent in his room edified me most in the whole of the mission trip.
He prophesied over me, saying that he had been praying for me and sensed that I was like a wild horse. He continued, saying that God wants to teach me to slow down and wait on Him. In my own words, I have to get rid of the anxiety and insecurity in my heart, be still and know that He is God. He explained Psalms 23:2-3 in a new way.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
God will make me lie down and be still; it is not an invitation. The still waters are quiet times of reflection to see if I am becoming more and more like Christ. My broken heart desperately needed to be restored, disciplined and led in righteousness. His words spoke tons to me. When I went back to my room, I knelt and prayed on the toilet floor to repent from not relying on Him. Being in the flesh for sixteen years, I went back to rely on my own strength like the Galatians after being saved by God’s strength. In Galatians 3:1-3, Paul rebukes them saying,
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?
This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
He told me his testimony, which applied to what I was going through. There was a period when he was spiritually dry for months, and he asked God for a sign. God answered, “Whether there are signs or not, just worship Me.” There are times when we are dry, broken and faithless but all we need to do is to trust and love God. If you are not in communion with His Holy Spirit, you will never know God’s plan for you.
As 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 says,
But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
There was this time when Ian was on a bus and God asked him to take an old, fellow passenger to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. At first, he decided to tell the elderly lady how to get there but luckily he obeyed God. The woman exclaimed, “You must be a Christian. There are so few of people like you left. He was deeply edified as the old woman shared on many things in Ian’s heart prophetically while they journeyed to the hospital. God knows what we are missing out on when we don’t obey God. God is always looking for a chance to give us His blessings.
God speaks to different people about different things at different times. This mission trip, many of the people who went were leaders, ex-leaders, ex-mission trippers or people who had seen God do miracles in Thailand before. God’s focus this time was not on miracles, though there were miracles. He did not want to distract us from His main message of learning to depend and trust in Him. This was also a mission trip of personal breakthroughs, where God spoke individually to each one of us about our lives.
There was this 100 year-old woman lying on a mattress who had been blind for 11 years, almost totally deaf and with hardly anyone to talk to. We observed that while we were speaking with her, she kept touching us like she never wanted to let go-a sign that she yearned for affection and attention.
We prayed for her three times without avail, each time persevering in faith. Normally I would get discouraged and faithless by this time but somehow God just kept me believing that we were smack right in the center of God’s will.
It was not due to euphoria over miracles that made us love her but we loved her like Christ would. I felt compassion flowing through me to a woman who has seen almost everything that is beautiful and important in the world but not God’s love.
We put God in a very small box when we say that she was healed only if we can see it physically in the restoration of sight. Does she need sight or love more? Does an old woman like her need to see anything, anymore? Something in my heart just knew that we had accomplished what we were sent to do, whether there were miracles or not. We were sent to be messengers of love.
However, there was a miracle. Brother Jeff began testing her and he discovered that she had received significant healing in her hearing. Whereas at first we had to go close to her ear to speak, now she could hear from a distance of about one meter. As for her sight, it remained as it was.
This experience inspired me about faith in God that is not by sight. What is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.
Brother Jeff told us a testimony that occurred in Kazakhstan many years ago. He prayed for sight for a blind man but had no time to check for healing as he was rushing for time. Many years later, he went back to the same place and was surprised to find a church planted by other missionaries. The villagers were only receptive to Christ after that blind man’s healing. Brother Jeff planted in faith, others received it in sight and God had the glory.
This mission trip, I was the guitarist for my team and had many opportunities to improve. As I was the only one who knew how to play the guitar in my team, I had to shrug off my insecurity and inferiority complex. Freddie from Brighton taught me a lot though I learnt quite little. Ian told me that God wants to anoint my hands but I must slow down. He even prayed for me the same night he prophesied over me.
The next day, I supernaturally managed to slow down and play a worship song, “To The Ends Of The Earth”. If you have heard me play before, you will know how I tend to speed up when I am excited. That same night, God granted me the ability to memorise song chords of “Phra Yesu Kao Jai”, “Luk Luk Luk”, “Khwam Suk” and “Beautiful One”.
And I knew how to play “Lord, I Give You My Heart” supernaturally. I was just worshipping when suddenly I knew how to play it. God did this in Singapore too when He gave me the chords for “Your Grace Is Enough”.
On the last day, during worship before debrief, I received my second calling when I was totally focused on Him. I felt so sure the Lord said that ‘my voice would magnify God’, which means He will be there when I worship. And I am rarely certain that God says anything.
I got to know Jeffrey from Boys Brigade better too. I was amazed at his testimonies about changing from a non-charismatic church to a charismatic one and how his whole body shook when he first felt the overwhelming presence of God. He told me about how God has blessed him with the gift of parables. He was really enthusiastic about evangelism, on the plane and train. And he preached a really good sermon at one outreach.
I shared with him about how God has changed my life too. He encouraged me when he asked me to sing one of my songs for him and commented that my song was not like that of a beginner.
We rented the whole premises of a bar and invited youths to an evangelistic party. We had fun doing icebreakers, where Hui Jin was excellent in emceeing. We also jumped at the beats of praise and worship. This was where Jeffrey preached his excellent sermon about Jesus being our best Friend, alongside our Thai Pastor’s son who talked about faith.
The most important thing I have learnt is to give all the glory to God and depend on Him. It then puts the pressure on God to lead and me to follow. I won’t feel bad when people do not receive healing or salvation. After all, I would not have failed because I was relying on my own strength.
So I end by saying, “To God be the glory, forever and ever. Amen!”
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