God's Calling to Ministry? (YMLC Day2)
May God be glorified (in me) & thru this post!
Met up with the other youth leaders from my church for brekkie. We had a good time of fellowship over breakfast. Once we were charged up, we headed to the ballroom for worship, followed by Plenary 3: Resilient Abiding - Pressing On conducted by Pastor Kai. The 3 things I took away from it... 1) it is important to have a mentor to remind us to press on during the tough times. 2) we need to put aside our differences to stand together as a body of Christ. 3) The greatest world we live in - unseen world. God tells us to live by faith not by sight. The point that impacted me most was point 1. I reflected on it and happily told Lionel that I actually have things to share for the debrief tonight (Little did I know, God had something else prepared...)
Met up with the other youth leaders from my church for brekkie. We had a good time of fellowship over breakfast. Once we were charged up, we headed to the ballroom for worship, followed by Plenary 3: Resilient Abiding - Pressing On conducted by Pastor Kai. The 3 things I took away from it... 1) it is important to have a mentor to remind us to press on during the tough times. 2) we need to put aside our differences to stand together as a body of Christ. 3) The greatest world we live in - unseen world. God tells us to live by faith not by sight. The point that impacted me most was point 1. I reflected on it and happily told Lionel that I actually have things to share for the debrief tonight (Little did I know, God had something else prepared...)
We also had a workshop session. The workshop I attended was titled The Little Foxes of Compromise conducted by Pastor Aaron. We learnt about how compromises eventually will destroy a person's life as well as society. "Once many people compromise on Integrity, society is poisoned." This phrase reminded me of the case studies in Politics & Law where we compare the integrity of governments around the world based on the levels of corruption. The citizens of countries with high levels of corruption, had a much lower standard of living compared to countries of lower corruption levels.
Anyway, I digress. We learnt about the 7 + 2 deadly sins. Pride, greed, Lust, gluttony, anger, sloth, envy, restlessness & boredom. The pastor prepared case studies for us to investigate and conclude that When we compromise on one of these aspects, we'll eventually find ourselves down a slippery slope of sin and eventually compromising on more aspects. These sins seem to be interlinked with one another.
After the workshops, we had lunch followed by a time of quiet personal reflection on the passage of Isaiah 6:1-8. It was a passage that vividly describes the calling of Isaiah. Heh I chose to do my quiet reflections by the pool (I love water...) I posted this picture on Instagram captioned "I will go Lord, if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart." Looking back at this picture, i realised that the water in the backgroud kinda symbolised the deep end that I had to go into so as to experience God like never before....
Anyway, while I was doing the quiet refections, this phrase was on replay in my head "I will go Lord, if you lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart." This phrase was from the hymn Here I am Lord. One of the hymns we kept singing in Chapel when I was in boarding. Every
time we sang it, this same phrase always struck me.
Here a video of it if you wanna hear how it sounds like.
The series of events from this time forth felt like a roller coaster ride.
Anyway, I digress. We learnt about the 7 + 2 deadly sins. Pride, greed, Lust, gluttony, anger, sloth, envy, restlessness & boredom. The pastor prepared case studies for us to investigate and conclude that When we compromise on one of these aspects, we'll eventually find ourselves down a slippery slope of sin and eventually compromising on more aspects. These sins seem to be interlinked with one another.
After the workshops, we had lunch followed by a time of quiet personal reflection on the passage of Isaiah 6:1-8. It was a passage that vividly describes the calling of Isaiah. Heh I chose to do my quiet reflections by the pool (I love water...) I posted this picture on Instagram captioned "I will go Lord, if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart." Looking back at this picture, i realised that the water in the backgroud kinda symbolised the deep end that I had to go into so as to experience God like never before....
Anyway, while I was doing the quiet refections, this phrase was on replay in my head "I will go Lord, if you lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart." This phrase was from the hymn Here I am Lord. One of the hymns we kept singing in Chapel when I was in boarding. Every
time we sang it, this same phrase always struck me.
Here a video of it if you wanna hear how it sounds like.
The series of events from this time forth felt like a roller coaster ride.
Ive been praying for God to show me what He wants me to do with my life since forever but i never really got an answer ... so I just happily floated along in life thinking that I'll get a biz degree, work in a financial institution or maybe even start my own business.
Oh yes before I forget. These are the 3 things I learnt from Plenary 4: Real Abiding, by Pastor Kai... 1) We should share the gospel everywhere, all the time. It doesn't have to be through words, but through our actions. (As actions speak louder than words.) 2)Push aside the fear of rejection and Just do it! Share the gospel. You never know how God may work through you. 3) Jesus is COMING back! We shouldn't waste our lives away. Instead, we should be living testimonies for Him.
Oh yes before I forget. These are the 3 things I learnt from Plenary 4: Real Abiding, by Pastor Kai... 1) We should share the gospel everywhere, all the time. It doesn't have to be through words, but through our actions. (As actions speak louder than words.) 2)Push aside the fear of rejection and Just do it! Share the gospel. You never know how God may work through you. 3) Jesus is COMING back! We shouldn't waste our lives away. Instead, we should be living testimonies for Him.
After plenary 4, pastor Kai had the alter call for those who are keen to go into full time ministry. This is gonna sound super strange but it felt like I had lost control of my body. Thinking back, I don't know why or what I did then. After the alter call, I kinda realised the seriousness of what I did. I kept praying and telling God it might have been a mistake. I mean, I'm not even serving in a ministry as of now and He wants me to serve full time? I kept thinking it was a human error on my part. During worship, I kinda told God "full time ministry? Yea I can dedicate blogging wholly to You & for You. But Lord, if you want more from me, I would need Your reassurance on this..."
Then I headed off to receive a prayer from the pastors at the front. When she prayed for me, this phrase (or something similar) struck me. "God wants to take me out from the structured and things that I've organised. He wanted me to be flexible to make way for His grace to take me to a whole new level. "
Other things mentioned in her prayer. God knew that I have a high regard for efficiency. But HE wants me to be filled with love so as to minister to people (even those that may irritate me). Even though I've learnt some things, God wants to take me to a whole new level. God sees that I'm capable but He wants me to go to higher heights and rely on Him more.
By the end of the prayer, I was crying uncontrollably and was seriously still in denial because 'full time' ministry is a big thing for me. I mean I've never ever thought about it...
Yes, if you're reading this, please keep me in prayer. That God will lead and guide me, show me where to start...
I posted this on my Facebook. God called... Now would it be a "Jonah" Moment or a "Peter & Andrew" moment?
Jonah - Disobeyed God's calling, Swallowed by a Big fish & did what God commanded. (Pretty much the whole book of Jonah.)
Peter & Andrew - Obeyed God's calling, dropped their nets(as they were fishermen) & Followed Jesus (Matthew 4:18-20)
I kept asking God "Why me?". There are a 1001 million people out there who are more talented, gifted and Holy than I was. I complain & whine All the time. I am totally unworthy of this...
I'm ever so thankful to the members of my YMLC group - Char, Gen, Jerold, Joel(s),Kim, Nikki, Sam & Sean. As well as my church group - Gerald, Kegan & Lionel. Each and everyone of you are just so special and unique. Your words of encouragement and advice really helped me come to terms with the 'denial' I was experiencing.
After much thought, the verse on the card that Sam gave me came to mind. "But He said to me, "my grace is sufficient for you, my power is make perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me." ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9
Realisation hit me. I was so afraid and was in denial because I was relying on my own strength. I wanted to be in control of my life. Looking back, I had Me in the centre. But God had other plans for me when He extended my life. I've been praying that God would show me what it was. Now that He did, I would have to obey Him. It was a reminder that I should place GOD in the centre of it all.
After surrendering to God, I felt much better. I wasn't afraid anymore. I believed that if God wanted me for that purpose, He would grant me the gift & skills to accomplish it. I was willing (& even excited) to see where & how God would use me.
This pretty much sums up my experience at YMLC2014. I truly thank God for the opportunity to experience Him like never before and to fellowship as one body of Christ.
I'm off to do my 500 word reflection on the camp.
See ya soon!
God's love & blessings~
Xoxo
Marissa
Yes, if you're reading this, please keep me in prayer. That God will lead and guide me, show me where to start...
I posted this on my Facebook. God called... Now would it be a "Jonah" Moment or a "Peter & Andrew" moment?
Jonah - Disobeyed God's calling, Swallowed by a Big fish & did what God commanded. (Pretty much the whole book of Jonah.)
Peter & Andrew - Obeyed God's calling, dropped their nets(as they were fishermen) & Followed Jesus (Matthew 4:18-20)
I kept asking God "Why me?". There are a 1001 million people out there who are more talented, gifted and Holy than I was. I complain & whine All the time. I am totally unworthy of this...
I'm ever so thankful to the members of my YMLC group - Char, Gen, Jerold, Joel(s),Kim, Nikki, Sam & Sean. As well as my church group - Gerald, Kegan & Lionel. Each and everyone of you are just so special and unique. Your words of encouragement and advice really helped me come to terms with the 'denial' I was experiencing.
After much thought, the verse on the card that Sam gave me came to mind. "But He said to me, "my grace is sufficient for you, my power is make perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me." ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9
Realisation hit me. I was so afraid and was in denial because I was relying on my own strength. I wanted to be in control of my life. Looking back, I had Me in the centre. But God had other plans for me when He extended my life. I've been praying that God would show me what it was. Now that He did, I would have to obey Him. It was a reminder that I should place GOD in the centre of it all.
After surrendering to God, I felt much better. I wasn't afraid anymore. I believed that if God wanted me for that purpose, He would grant me the gift & skills to accomplish it. I was willing (& even excited) to see where & how God would use me.
This pretty much sums up my experience at YMLC2014. I truly thank God for the opportunity to experience Him like never before and to fellowship as one body of Christ.
I'm off to do my 500 word reflection on the camp.
See ya soon!
God's love & blessings~
Xoxo
Marissa
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