My writes

I love hearing testimonies (and teachings/preachings as well), especially powerful ones like Ian's. You could read the Bible forwards and backwards, inside out, and committed all verses to memory. Nothing beats aving someone to testify gives a refreshing perspective to the word of God. I have a re-juvenated idea about the Lord's Prayer, forgiveness, love, grace and Revelations 1:13-15. It's a whole new perspective.....it's absolutely amazing.

For this reason, I have refrained from underestimating any speaker of God who takes the pulpit from the first day I attended church regularly. For those who know me closer, I used to be an arrogant, cynical and difficult person when it comes to intellectual arguments. (I still like to argue nowadays, and being pseudo-difficult.....but more for the fun of it and for more learning from others). My addiction to hearing God speak thru His started in Kajang AOG when I was searching for answers to life's despair. When the pastor spoke on a certain topic (gosh...I can't remember what it was), I felt I was spoken to directly. Amazed, but cynical, I dismissed as a coincidence and give it another shot the following week. In the following week, the message spoke directly to me again. And I thought....nah, it cannot make it to a hatrick. But God did. And since then, I could count with my 10 fingers the number of times I didn't attend church (mostly because of unforeseen circumstances). That was back in late 2001.

More often than not, God choses to speak through other people into our lives. Very early in my Christian walk, God personally educated me with the myriad preachings of his servants.....different styles, different ministries, different slangs etc. They are all so colourful. I see the value of the cultivating a humble, listening and keen spirit. Often, people only want to hear what they want to hear. Church sermons are not there to re-inforce what you want to hear so that you could walk away with a feel-good feeling. So if you come to a meeting expecting to be blessed by the speaker, you will sometimes be disappointed. But when you come to a meeting in anticipation for the Lord of Host to minister, you will always gain regardless. So know where to place your cards, and place them well.

From Friday to Sunday, 3 times I hear Ian testify the same thing (by Sunday, I was able to almost predict the next word he is about to say). Same testimony - but 3 times God impressed different things upon me. Personally, I really like his style of preaching. He has comical twist where appropriate. But WHERE appropriate, did you noticed that Ian speaks half-sentence, gasps, closes his mouth and eyes blinking with tears? Some may not grammatically understand what he is trying to say, but I deeply share his sentiments and emotions. I gasp too whenever I am touched by God and try to speak (actually, I simply can't speak). 26 years on, he speaks as though his experience in paradise was just yesterday. I thought, such is the power of God to leave such a lasting impression upon his soul.

You could read the Bible forwards and backwards, inside out. You could attend all seminars listed in the directory-of-christian-living. You could have Billy Graham preach to you everyday. You could have all the above and yet still miss the point to learn about the Kingdom of God. Without keen learning and humble spirit, we are reduced to educated fools. I would rather be a fool before God, than to be wise in the world.