A new name

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it."'
- Rev 2:17

I want to focus on the latter part of the verse :

"And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it."

A white stone was generally used as a cast of vote to acquit a prisoner from guilt. Hallelujah! How precious is the significance for we who are not condemned but found in the blood of Christ.

The comes the name on the stone. I wonder what the special name will be? It has to be different and personal for each of us, because no one else except God will know. So that probably strikes out some generic identities like "child of God" or "disciple of Christ"

And it has to be new, meaning a previous name or label was given to us. Familiar with some of the careless labels given by our family, teacher - useless, good for nothing, sissy?

Then, I felt something stirring inside, that many are looking for purpose in their lives. Many do not know why they were going through certain situations in their lives. There were pain, joy, success and tragedy along the journey. Every challenges you are going through now, and how you overcome them will contribute to the name on the stone. A unique name. A name that spelled our destiny. A name that reflects the goodness of God. A name that reveals the victory of Christ in us.

Will the name be
"One who despite poverty, became an apostolic entrepenuer"
"One who faced many rejection, but never stopped to declaring my Name"
"One who was abused and hurt, but didn't choose bitterness over My love"
"One who was born with dyslexia but never stopped learning, and became a teacher of men"
"One who lost his husband, but made Me her husband, and brought comfort to others who lost dear ones"

You see if you don't have a challenge, you won't have a story to tell.

What is the purpose of life? Personally for me, I believe it is to turn every challenge to a testimony for Christ.

In the end, how we live here will weave a story that will be read for eternity and a song that will be sung by the angels.

What will your name be? Think about your pain, tragedy or challenges. A new name can emerge from your crisis.

The love of many shall wax cold

"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." - Matt 24:12

Iniquity has indeed abound in this world most recently with the terrorist attack in Mumbai, and the seige of the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International airport. Tonight, I heard the news of a fellow countryman, Lo Hwei Yen who died in Oberoi hotel, Mumbai. Something broke in me. Why did innocent people have to die?

I don't have the answers. Suffering is hard to explain; it is best felt.

However, God's word warn us 2,000 years ago that because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. When men and women who hears so much about God's justice, do not see peace and justice being accomplished, there is an anger hurled towards God. They conclude that either God is dead, God cares less or God is evil. Then the love they once had for God, waxed cold. If something has turned cold, it must have been hot before. There are people who were once on fire, serving fervently for the LORD who will get disillusioned and angry because the God they served is not the God they knew.

How then can we prepare against the inevitable?

You have to settle in your heart before the day comes when tragedy hits your life, that God is good. Please pause and let this burn in you. This is not some cliche saying. This is faith when the rubber hits the road. No matter what happens, be like Job who neither forsook the LORD, nor sinned against Him. God does care, but His ways are way higher than ours. Every tragedy in the hands of God is a seed to your next overcoming - because you are called to be an overcomer. Instead of letting the pain diminish the fire, let it refuel it with a zest for justice. Instead of looking at why God let it happen, think of how you can champion a cause. The world is not looking for another lamenter but another fighter.

Your breakthrough is not just for you

"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose." - Acts 16:25-26

It is interesting to know that Paul and Silas were not praying at their point of crisis. They did not cry out to God to deliver them out of their situation. Most of us (that's a loud yes for me) would cry out to God to just get us out of problem when trouble knocks at our door. That's a perfectly legitimate request, but there is something better. Praise.

Bring to God a sacrifice of praise,

"Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name." - Heb 13:14-15

When is praise a sacrifice?

It is a sacrifice when you praise God for His character when the circumstances does not match His provision - and you choose to praise nevertheless, looking upwards rather than sidewards.

"The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, 'Don't harm yourself! We are all here!'

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'

They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.'" - Acts 16:27-31

Then the breakthrough came for Paul and Silas. However, notice that Paul and Silas did not leave the prison although the door was opened and the chain was loosed. Most of us consider open doors as answers to prayer, don't we? On the contrary, Paul and Silas did not rush to leave the situation but sought to obey God. Eventually, they shared the gospel to the jailer and he and his household got saved! They didn't get out of their problem but they got through their problem. They didn't run away from adversity but faced it with faith.

Many time your breakthrough is not just for you! It is for your neighbour, your colleagues and your family. Your breakthrough is a beacon of hope for them, as your testimony becomes the spirit of prophecy to release the same breakthrough in them.

So when you through a challenge, think to yourself who will be blessed by your victory and hang in there until His purpose is achieved.

Sometimes things will get worst before...

"Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days." - John 11:6

One of the hardest thing Christians can understand is when God decides to wait.

If Jesus was to leave immediately when he heard of Lazarus sick, he would not have died. The question is why didn't He?

There are times when the heat has to be turned on in order to accomplish His purpose. The fire of His delay has to burn away the dross of self-dependence. During the wait, the flesh revolts, and raises a coup d'etat to overthrow the rulership of the Holy Spirit. Missiles of doubts bombards the mind to change the heart.

Nevertheless, our strategy is to man the fort of faith. The prophet Habakkuk once sang

Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls-
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The LORD God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer's feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills. - Habakkuk 3:17-19

Yet will I praise thee.

When Jesus did come, Lazarus died. The irony disturbed the minds of the followers. A crisis of faith took place. I can imagine a storm brewing in the minds of the believers who once believed that with God all things are possible; still true but not all the time. That is the lie of the enemy. Satan doesn't want to ruin your belief, he just wants to poison your belief, that God's word is not true ALL the time, just sometimes. He whispers, "Sometimes God doesn't heal, sometimes God doesn't help and sometimes God doesn't care."

But God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Just as Lazarus died before a greater glory can be manifested, something in us has to die, before God can manifest Himself fully in our lives. It could be a stubborn addiction, a little doubt or unseen pride. Whatever it is, they are like dust that block the light of God from penetrating through our lives. God desires to mature our character more than serving our convenience.

"When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face." - John 11:43-44

Eventually God raised him up. No death can stop the power of God, because every kingdom, every principality, every tongue and every knee shall bow before the Most High.

God is faithful. The name Lazarus means God is my help - and when the time came, God did help.

Do you really need more faith?

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, 'Why couldn't we drive it out?'

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." - Matt 17:19-21

That desire echoed from centuries into our present souls as preachers often exhort us to have more faith.

Did Jesus give his disciples more faith?

Well not exactly. Jesus gave the example of faith liken to a mustard seed.

The bible says about the mustard seed :

"It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground." - Mark 4:31

Now isn't an irony that Jesus admonished his disciples for having too little faith only to compare effective faith with a mustard seed?? The word little faith here is "apistis" which meant "no faith" or "unbelief". It wasn't just little faith, it was NO faith. Jesus was saying, "because you do not even have a single ounce of faith in you! However, if you do have a little faith just like a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for you."

Why is that so? Because miracle happens not because of our faith. Miracle happens because of Jesus's power resident in His word. It is God's word that brings the healing and God's word that moves the mountain. Until we understand this truth, we will lack power.

Our duty is to obey even with the slightest faith that God has planted in us and He WILL do it. Everyone of us has the slightest faith, because at the very least we have the faith that brought us to salvation. So let us not look upon our faith, but upon the Author and Perfecter of our faith - the LORD Jesus Christ

How is worship different from praise?

Many are familiar with the song, "Heart of Worship". The chorus rightly echoes "I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about You, all about You"

One of the original meaning of worship in Hebrew is to kiss like a dog licking the master's arm. It represents the inner passion to adore and to surrender ourselves totally to the Master - not out of compulsion but gratitude. What is the difference between praise and worship?

We praise God for what He has done, and worship Him for who He is. Praise is a response to His goodness whereas worship is a response to His glory. Even when things do not happen, we can still praise God because of what He has done and going to do! Worship however is an intimate affair. It must contain the element of surrender. The first notion of worship was revealed by Abraham when he wanted to go to the mountain to sacrifice his son Isaac as his act of worship. (This is by no means a child sacrifice but he believed that God could raise his son up again.)

Praise is a privilege of all creation. Everyone can praise God simply because He is worthy to be praised. The bible says, "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD."

Worship however is a privilege of the children of God, because only the children of God can worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

Praise is visible - clapping, singing, dancing, shouting. It can be easily detected but not worship, because it is a heart issue. Singing with tears or crying out aloud does not necessary mean that someone is worshipping the Lord. That is why Jesus said the Father is seeking true worshipers - true means genuine, not counterfeit.

The Father is looking for people who worships from a posture of surrender, love and deep intimacy.

Don't stop at just praising God, but draw near to worship Him.

True worship - Beyond the music

One of the ways to understand a concept in bible is to study its first occurence in the bible. Hence, to understand worship it is crucial for us to study when it was first mentioned in scripture and in what context.

If you do a little search on the online bible , you will find the first mention of the word 'worship' - Gen 22:5

"He said to his servants, 'Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.'"

That is where man first encountered the concept of worship.

Days ago, Abraham had a heart-wrenching word of the Lord to sacrifice his son to God on Mount Moriah. Then at the foot of the mount he said to his servant that

1) we will worship
2) 'we' will come back

'We' here refers to Abraham and his son, Isaac. Herein lies two elements of worship :

1) Sacrifice
2) Faith

We ascend to the heavenlies in our worship through sacrifice, and we descend to the earth to establish His kingdom through faith.

When we worship the Lord, we lay down all we have, all we are and all we want at the altar of sacrifice. Yet we find life. It is an irony that we are called to be living sacrifice.

What is sacrificed? Our selfish desires. What is living? Our relationship with Christ. It is within this truth, that Paul said, "To die is gain, and to live is Christ"

After we worshipped the Lord, we respond to our challenges with faith. Abraham said "we" will come back, believing that God will indeed provide the physical sacrifice and fulfill His promise. How is faith produced?

When we worship God, we worship Him as He is not as we want Him to be. Contrary to most songs, God is not magnified by us. He is already the Almighty One. What is magnified is our perception of God, and that produces faith because faith is seeing God as He is.

Worship then is not singing along in a church celebration service, or hummming along the latest CD from Hillsongs. True worship stems from a heart of sacrifice that releases faith upon an encounter with the living God.

A stuttering excuse

Not long ago, I was reading about the story of Moses. Most of us have heard that Moses actually had a stuttering tongue. The bible did hint on that aspect.

"Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." - Exo 4:10

Now when if you think about what Moses said, bearing in mind his prior excuses, there can be one of three possibilites here :-

1) Moses lied
2) Moses said the truth
3) Moses underestimated himself

For (1), it is quite impossible for anyone in the right mind to lie before the living God especially after surviving a potential fire hazard with the Almighty. Crossed that out.

Maybe (2).
But in Acts, the bible revealed this :

"Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action." - Acts 7:22

Even if Moses had changed over the years and became more reserved in speech, what he said about himself was obviously not accurate. He told God that, "I have never been eloquent, neither in the past". Now that is not true! At the least, Moses had been powerful in speech before.

Now let's come to hypothesis (3) - Moses underestimated himself.

This seems plausible. I believe Moses underestimated himself and his ability. He did not see himself as God sees him - someone entrusted with the power of speech and action to achieve God's destiny for His people. Moses might have stuttered at the point of speaking to God but he saw his failure bigger than God. He neglected the ability, the success and the power that was invested in him all along. In fact, Moses was bathing in the mud of self-pity. I believe Moses did not begin his life like that. He was a young man full of fervor and vigor. He was a man of high aspiration to set his people free. But that one incident while helping the brawling Israelites ended in failure and plunged a wound of rejection deep into his soul. It has crippled his confidence.

God does not want to cripple your confidence in life, he just wants the source of your confidence to be shifted to Christ. Maybe God has invested in you the power of speech and action but like Moses you have been rejected by men and lost the confidence you once had.

Get up from the mud of self-pity and face yourself. You have the potential that God has given you and that has not fade away.

Will Christians Be Judged?

Have you ever asked this sobering question?

The answer will undoubtedly determine the way we conduct our lives here on earth.


Most christians are taught that we are only judged to decide our heavenly rewards, and not condemned. The verse quoted is :

"There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"

But that is not all.

The second part of the verse reads

"who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

In other words, you will not be condemned as long as you fulfill these conditions :-

1) do not walk according to the flesh
2) but walk in the Spirit

As the followers of Satan will have '666' as the mark of the beast on their foreheads, so Christians on the last day will be marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeting our inheritance in Christ. (Eph 1:13-14)

That is why it is pivotal for us to heed the parable of the ten virgins to keep the lamp well oiled, so that we will not be cast away in the last days. Did not the apostle Peter exhort us

"For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?" - 1 Pet 4:17

The word judgment is 'krima' in Greek, and is the same word used in Revelation where it is said that God will judge the woman seated on the beast.

There will be coming a time when God will come to separate the sheep Christians and the goat Christians.

Where will you stand?

"But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment." - 1 Cor 11:13