Friday, February 06, 2004

My Day with CF

I have just attended Christian Fellowship(CF) just now and we had a talk by Pastor Danny Pollock from Sydney, Australia. Pastor Danny came today to talk about healing, and he touch on many areas of healing; the spirit of strife, moving mountains in our lives and also storing our spiritual "food".

Of all the areas Pastor Danny touched on, the one I remembered the most is the one on likening the story of "Jospeh and the draught in Egypt" to our own spiritual "food". He told us that when Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream, he told Pharaoh that there will be 7 years of abundance of food and 7 years of draught. Therefore, in preparation for the 7 years of draught, they stocked up on food for the next 7 years. And when the draught came, Joseph has stocked up enough food to feed the whole of Egypt as well as people from other nations that came to Egypt to buy food. And it was the food in Egypt that drew the brothers of Joseph to him, and that incident brought upon a reconcialiation.

Now, what does this story tells us then? For starters, we should stock up on the Word of God and touchstones(like what I am doing now!) as our spiritual food, so that when times of "draught"/spiritual dryness we will be able to feed our souls and sustain it, as well as feed the souls of others to sustain them. What happened to Joseph spoke to me in a very profound way. :) Being Catholic, my spiritual food is not limited to the Word of God but my spiritual food is also the Eucharist, the true body and blood of Christ! Not a representation, not only the essence and not just the presence but the actual body and blood of Christ! Amen! Therefore, if I experience spiritual dryness, I can also celebrate Mass and receive the Eucharist to sustain my soul! Praise the Lord!

Besides giving a talk, Pastor Danny also did a prayer session, where he prophesied over us there in the meeting. I went up to him, and there he told me that he sees me in a arm-wrestling match, that I am about to lose... but suddenly gained strength, and won the battle! And he also mention that the God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath my feet! Plus he spoke something on authority... Everything he said was in a fuzz in my head, and I can only remember parts of it. Anyway, what's important was before the CF meeting, I met Beng Hoe(Methodist) and we talk about Mother Mary and the Catholic Church. And I told him about Romans 19:20 which is "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet" & how does this verse relate to Mother Mary, and also about the founder of the Roman Catholic Church, which is Jesus Christ(Authority)! Therefore, what was prophesied by Pastor Danny was confirmed earlier! Praise the Lord! :)

Got to go now. :)

Peace,

Celestine <><

Sunday, February 01, 2004

My Christ

Honestly speaking, the day I begun truly practising and knowing my faith did not start at birth or my early years or even during my early teenagehood, but was actually last year, when I first joined Lifeline College & Young Adults Ministry. My interest for the Catholic faith and the love of God took a dramatic turn last year and it is truly God's grace that I am sustaining my faith now. 2003, was not a smooth-flowing year rather it was a stormy one. But the Lord, lifted me up from the storm and brought me onto solid ground. And when I fell into mud, the Lord pulled me back up. :) I do not deny that my life is not without problems, rather I admit that my life probably has as many problems as the average non-Christian. Then what makes me different being a Christian?, you might ask. Well, for starters; I have Christ. Although, I face problems or suffering; but with Christ I know that my sufferings are redemptive just as His suffering is redemptive. So when I suffer, I know that I am blessed because the Lord trusts me enough to overcome this suffering/problem. For the Lord, never gives me a task which I could never overcome. All I had to do is to pray, for God's grace to sustain me in faith.

My journey with Christ will not be a smooth journey, because the more I devote myself to God, the more temptations I will encounter; which is a way the evil one uses to draw me away from the Lord. But I believe the Lord will sustain me, and make me stronger with every battle with the evil one. I pray that at the end of my life here on earth, I can say: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith(2Timothy 4:7)" on my tombstone; just as St. Paul did.

"I will follow Christ, I will run the race, fight the good fight, standing on my faith.." - I Will Follow Christ (Bob Carlisle)

God bless,

Celestine <><