Strengthening Our Core: Armour of God

Riverlife's Theme for 2008
Over the beginning couple of weekends of Jan, Rev. shared how He sensed that the theme for Riverlife for 2008 is about trusting God for unprecedented growth and as such, the church will need to strengthen its core. He shared from Isaiah 54:2:

"Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes."

Indeed, it seems to me that the purpose of Riverlife Church is becoming clearer as God continues to work through the church in reaching out to people and helping them to restore their relationship with God. Riverlife is becoming an outreaching church mainly because of the effort of many to live out the Great Commission as Matthew 28:19-20 reminds us:

19. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20. and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Focusing on God
It is about life transformation, repentance of hearts and restoration of relationship with God, not numbers. And we should thank God that last year saw close to 1000 spiritual decisions being made. I believe that God has His purpose for Riverlife and even for our cell and as long as we keep our focus on God correct, living out the Great Commandments (as Leviticus 26:3-6 and Deuteronomy 28:2-6 reminds us) and Great Commission, He will be with us always.

Mark 12:28-31:
28. One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"29. "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Christ was teaching us the principle behind the Law and had not come to abolish the Law. God is consistent and continue to remind us to walk right with Him so as to be able to enjoy communion with Him. Jesus has come to be a model and to also fulfill the Law so we can no longer carry our burden of sin and approach the throne of God, because Jesus has borne it all.

Matthew 5: 17-20: 17. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus Be the Center

Jesus, be the centre
Be my source, be my light
Jesus

Jesus, be the centre
Be my hope, be my song
Jesus

(Chorus)
Be the fire in my heart
Be the wind in these sails
Be the reason that I live
Jesus, Jesus

Jesus, be my vision
Be my path, be my guide
Jesus

God's Purpose for the Cell
Over the past few months, I have been praying for God to show me the purpose for our cell and it is just amazing how one thing happens after another, affirming the purpose of God for this cell; to be reaching out to the spiritually needy, particularly the backslided, broken and misled. And it is amazing how God continues to affirm the calling and bless the cell despite of my many inadequacies. He continues to affirm me throughout last year despite many times I was on the verge of letting go. But He never forsake and He continues to minister through my quiet time, the pulpit, songs, circumstances (and even spoke when a colleague opened his diary and there was Isaiah 41:9-10 which ministered to me deeply) and people (including people He has sent to minister to). Then, when I became all tired and was becoming rather willful, He spoke in a voice which was unmistakably His and in that encounter He asked "why do you not trust me?". He continued to minister and even through sending a brother-in-christ to confront me about some of my spiritual decisions I was about to make, making me realise that preparation is underway.

Blessings and Trials
As I read Isaiah 54 this week, it became clear to me that we NEED to strengthen our core, both at the cell level and at the church and as a body of Christ. Because we are fighting spiritual warfare and we need to be equipped for the warfare; because we are snatching souls from the devil and he will do all he can to thwart the plan God has to further His kingdom.

Isaiah 54:
The Future Glory of Zion

1 "Sing, O barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,"
says the LORD.

2 "Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.

3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.

4 "Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

5 For your Maker is your husband—
the LORD Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.

6 The LORD will call you back
as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
only to be rejected," says your God.

7 "For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with deep compassion I will bring you back.

8 In a surge of anger
I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,"
says the LORD your Redeemer.

9 "To me this is like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
never to rebuke you again.

10 Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,"
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

11 "O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
I will build you with stones of turquoise,
your foundations with sapphires.

12 I will make your battlements of rubies,
your gates of sparkling jewels,
and all your walls of precious stones.

13 All your sons will be taught by the LORD,
and great will be your children's peace.

14 In righteousness you will be established:
Tyranny will be far from you;
you will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed;
it will not come near you.

15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;
whoever attacks you will surrender to you.

16 "See, it is I who created the blacksmith
who fans the coals into flame
and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc;

17 no weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
and this is their vindication from me,"
declares the LORD.

Isaiah 54 tells us of the future glory of Zion. Indeed, if we look through Isaiah 54, we see:

• God promises forgiveness (v 4-10) despite our faithlessness sometimes
• God promises blessings (v 11-14)
• God promises deliverance from trials (v15, 17)

But amidst all these promises, in Isaiah 54:2, He tell us to enlarge the place of our tents and stretch our tent curtains wide, not to hold back, strengthen the stakes and lengthen the cords. We need to be outreaching as commanded in the Great Commission. We need to bring many into God's kingdom. But before that, we need to prepare ourselves as God prepares us too, as He had created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work.

We need to be mindful of spiritual attacks and trials. Frankly, no one likes trials but then as we were sharing last week, trials, for many people, also took on different meanings. For me, though I do not enjoy trials, upon reflection:

• Trials brings people closer of back to God - It was a crisis I was facing which brought me back from the wilderness after having backslided for 15 years. It was getting to a stage I could no longer deal with the challenges I had on hand and God came to rescue me.
  
• Trials prepares one for ministry -Indeed, God is the one who created the blacksmith who "fans the coals into flames" so that a weapon can be made, one which is fit for its work. And it became clear to me how indeed the many challenges faced last year, some which brokened me, may have helped build me perhaps for my ministry. Over the months, I have also seen how God has His plans for using me and my previous bad experiences (which was eventually addressed two years later) to understand and minister to others in the same position.
  
• Trials indicate that the devil is trying to put a stop to you responding to God's calling - This became especially clear to me that it could have been spiritual attack which had caused me to be downcasted late last year. Almost all at once, I had to deal with work stress, my dad's uncertain medical condition, my leg pain and also ministry challenges. But thank God everything is starting to brighten up, including my leg, which has been aching for months and my dad's health is getting better and in fact, he is being discharged from quite a bit of his medical follow-ups (he used to be like a full-time patient, going for medical follow-ups many times a month, for his heart, eye, diabetes, high blood pressure, ENT, kidney etc). Work and ministry is also picking up.
• Trials may also point out that something may not be spiritually right - thus making us susceptible to attacks by the devil.
  

Strengthening the Core - Putting on the Armour of God

Hence, we are told to put on the armour of God to protect us from attacks from the devil.

Ephesians 6:10-18:
10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15. and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

We need to cover one another spiritually (including our leaders in the church) and grow in the Lord. We need to know the Word of God, know the truth, be righteous, be always ready to allow God to work through us as we minister to others, have faith, put on our salvation (purchased with the blood of Christ) as our crown and pray.

Let's just continue to grow spiritually, put on the armour of God and also cover one another spiritually.