Friday, January 19, 2007

Looking Beyond the Storm


Thursday night I delivered the hardest message I ever delivered in my whole life. No debate or speech was any harder than that.

It was a CA night and it was the first one of the year, and Pastor David told me to go deliver a message. I prayed about it, and the message that came to me was clear.

Talk about something close to your heart Joash.

The verse that came to my mind was Luke 18:36. The blind beggar.

And I decided to talk about it. Talk about how the beggar had problems that he had to face, and how he decided to face it. Talk about how he cried for mercy, talk about how desperate he was and that in his desparation when he cried out how God delivered him.

Tha wasn't the hard part, the hardest part was to believe what I said. Especially after going through a real hard year before that.

I spoke about why problems came into our lives. Moulding, character building, purifying through trials of fire. I shared about the importance of recognising such problems in our lives. It's all about humility. I showed them what happens when we cry out to God about our problems. We recognise that He is supreme and that He is the one that can deliver us from our problems. I lastly shared about allowing God to come into our lives to work those miracles. Don't struggle with God!
Easier said than done, more often than not, including in my situation. I was struggling with God, and I did. Just recently I was asking God, why am I short and pimple prone. I questioned him, why can't He make me tall and handsome?

Where would my glory be? Would people see My glory or yours?

And I was rebuked.

And I was convinced.

Then did I know, it was no longer about me or myself. It was about God. The Giver of dreams, the Healer of wounds, the Physician, the Keeper of time. He is all and everything, so who am I to take that away from Him?

1 hour before I went up for my message, I had gastric. Half an hour before, I bruised my thumb so badly while whacking the conga I thought the blood veins nearly burst. 10 minutes before due time, I had such a bad stomach ache I thought I was going to get diarrhea.

I prayed and covered the message with His blood.

The very second I picked up the mike, God proved to me that at the end of the day, He was, is and will always be in control.

4 comments:

keropok lekor said...

Great sermon! Keep it up. Hope to hear more from you.

CiCak said...

hey, juz remember dat if He rebukes, it means He cared enough 2 correct

Eunice said...

heyz, good sermon, that one..all glory to God !! =)thanks..

Anonymous said...

" Just recently I was asking God, why am I short and pimple prone. I questioned him, why can't He make me tall and handsome?"


It never fails to make me wonder why attractive looking people always say that...*sigh*