Reading through the Bible

For those of you who may not have heard,

About 30 MYPGers have committed to reading through the Bible together at the pace of 10 chapters a day. If you calculate, it should take us about 4 months to finish reading the whole bible. We've had a pretty intense 1st week, reading Genesis 1 - 50. And we know it isn't going to get any smoother!

For those who are on the Bible sprint, how did your first book go? We had some interesting sharings over gmail.

Esther: the first 30 chapters of genesis is FULL OF DECEIT lahhh, it's like son like father, chip of the old block....haha makes me wonder was lying OK back then? considering the 10 commandments only came during to Moses time.

Eunice: What kept popping up at me during the first 10 chapters was the word - life.

Yosh: Out of the ENTIRE human race around in Noah's time, God decided that animals were more worth saving than humans- so corrupted were they- that He had to build such a big ark to put all of those furry little fuzzies in... says alot about how good we humans can be, eh?

Isaac: One of the things that struck me in my readings today is that people are so stubborn and never learn from history.

Abraham lied that Sarah was his sister, Isaac lied that Rebekah was his sister.

Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to bear him a son, Leah and Rachel gave Zilpah and Bilhah respectively to Jacob. (at least Isaac wasn't stupid enough to get into this)

The amount of family politics is unreal!

Cheng Yee: I think it's real cool that God talks to himself. And that He likes to ejek people also.

Anything else to bring to the table?

Full speed ahead with Exodus! (Trumpets blasting and sails unfurl)

What I learnt this week at Holy Communion!

We often think that some things are too petty for God to care for. Nevertheless, don't forget, God cares for you and everything you do. Doesn't matter if its the friends you make, the ministries you're in, or the status updates you update. He cares for you. Not for what you do for Him, but just because you are His. Not because of who you are, but because of who He is!

I started this year thinking that this is the year, I'm going to try to please the Lord. Noble thought you say? I wanted to remembered by the end of 2010 as one who tried. That when people thought of me, they would say "Marcus? Well, at least he tried!". This was also what I wanted to be inscribed on my gravestone and it still is. I want to known as someone who remained faithful. And so, I equated Obedience and Love with Works and Responsibilities. It's not that being a Christian and a Child of God means there are no responsibilities. And I'm not saying you don't have work to do as a Christian, far be it from me. I can't stand lazy Christians who talk a lot, but don't work. Cakap tak serupa bikin memang kiam pak!(LOL). But what I'm saying is, personally, I emphasized on these too much. I really really really tried to find approval by doing work.

Well, there were 2 things wrong with that. Number 1. Whose approval? Number 2. Whose work? God really convicted me of those 2 things.

Anyways, as I said, that was my goal for 2010. To be someone who TRIED.

On Friday night, I went to Penang House of Prayer for Friday Night Burn with my dad. It just so happened that my dad did not have to go to Serdang to fetch the Hokkien Fellowship member and it just so happened service ended early that night. And it just so happened that I had an incessant desire to go to PenHOP. So I persuaded my dad (somehow XD) to take me to Penang at 9pm in the night. 10mins into the journey towards Penang, we got caught in a jam. I think my dad was considering not going to Penang due to that jam, but he never said a word (pure speculation.) Anyways, the crawl was for about 10mins and we passed an accident. Come to think of it, there were so many points of the journey that could have caused us to turn back and go home. But God works in mysterious ways.

We reach PenHOP and we go up. And at the door, I hear Josh Yeoh saying, "He loves you not for what you do!". I headed for the toilet and then entered the room. I sat down and said a quiet prayer. God actually revealed a few issues in my life, but I will just share one.

After 15-20mins of TRYING to focus to worship, I finally entered that tangible atmosphere. I knew God was right at my side, and I knew He was listening. So I started praying. I repented of my insincerity and for making the whole thing about me and not Him. And then, Josh led the song You will not relent by Misty Edwards. And the 1st line hit me real hard.

You won't relent till until You have it all

My heart is Yours.

I had read the lyrics on his blog before, but that was just for viewing pleasure. But that night, the song hit me. The part God won't relent I get. God is unmovable God. But He wants it all? I thought God just wants my good side? He won't want my bad side, my sinful nature, my lustful desires. Will He? Oh. I might have to rethink some of my standings.

And then, there was this song that REALLY REALLY REALLY hit me and I started bawling!

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

God is jealous for me? I mean, I knew this, I had told people that God is a jealous God. But this was a first-hand experience for me!

As Terence gave out communion, it was really a time that I re-communed with God. It was truly a reconciliation time for me. I became one with God. No no, I did not become God, but He and I were united. And I could feel His heartbeat. I could hear Him saying, "I love you, Marcus. I love you so much. If only you thought about it more often."

All in all, the lesson I learnt that night was, I started the year thinking of what I could do, what I could achieve. I did not bother to stop and say, God, not by my power, not by my might. The 1st thing that came to mind was, Change your blog. It is no longer the journey of striving. No longer the trying on your part. Yes, you still strive for holiness and righteousness and purity. But not by your strength. All the good qualities must be IN Christ.

It is the rediscovery of love. His love for me. And why I do all the things that I do. Why I run LYPG, why I do the MYPG videos. I'm not doing it just because Yosh told me to do so. No. He received the directive from the Lord yes, and because I acknowledge his authority in MYPG , but I must remember that I do it because I love Christ. Because He 1st loved me.

I want to remind all of us here at MYPG or in other ministries. Do a heart check. Are you doing your work out of obligation? If you are, it's time to re-evaluate. Be sincere. Yosh said it's not my work, but the Lord's. It's not our battle, but His.

¹²"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you.- John 15:13

I am a friend of God. WOW! =)

Regards,

MarcusDS

The Rise and Fall of a Nation

I recently finished reading about the judges and the kings of Israel. One thing has become very clear to me as I look back. Everything in the nation depended on the leadership!

As soon as the elders who served under Joshua died, the Israelites sinned and turned from the Lord. But then, in His mercy, the Lord provided a judge and the people served Him. Yet, as soon as he died, the people reverted to sin.

Then came the kings. The people served the Lord under David's and much of Solomon's lives. But Solomon sinned and the kingdom was divided. The northern kingdom of Israel had one wicked king after another. The southern kingdom of Judah had a better record, but what was evident in both was that the condition of the nation reflected the condition of the king. If the king served the Lord, the people did too.

As youth of Malaysia, I believe this means two things for us. First, we must pray for our leaders. The rise and fall of our nation literally does rest with them. A corrupt government means a corrupt nation. Imagine what would happen if our politicians were unselfish and full of integrity!

Secondly, WE are the leaders of today and tomorrow! I know it's incredibly cliche to say it, but there will come a day when our parents and leaders will be gone. New generations will look to us. Our decisions will determine our nation's government, education, health care, media, and just about everything else.

We are leaders! The rise and fall of our nation rests with us! Let us remember this.

All-consuming fire

Yesterday morning, while praying for thePlan and MYPG4, God brought me to Joshua 11. He revealed certain things about the whole movement that I feel compelled to share them with you. I shall post the main parts of the chapter that got me, so it'll be easier for to read.

Joshua 11:1-9
And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor had heard those things, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, And to the kings that were on the north of the mountains, and of the plains south of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west, And to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh. And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many. And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for to morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire. So Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly; and they fell upon them. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them, and chased them unto great Zidon, and unto Misrephoth-maim, and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward; and they smote them, until they left them none remaining. And Joshua did unto them as the Lord bade him: he houghed their horses, and burnt their chariots with fire.

Joshua 11:23
So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.

The story of victory is cool enough, but I thought I'd study further. These are certain names of kings and places (I didn't have time to look up all).

Jabin - intelligence
Jobab - howler
Hazor - collective village
Dor - dwelling/age/generation
Merom - height

If we're going to look at things the way the world does, we're going to doubt our radical ideas of transformation. Wisdom of this world, of this age, will be sitting on her high horse howling at us.

"It can't be done... Where are you going to get the resources? The people?... Ah the church nowadays not interested... You wanna be thrown out the window?... You all young young why think so serious? Go study get a job earn money can de what... Malaysia no more hope. Migrate only lah!... Kena tangkap go ISA then only you know... How to change people's mind? Impossible... Got tuition... What for? They don't deserve any compassion... The world's going to end anyway.... You gila kah?"

Opposition came from all sides. They numbered like the sand on the shore. But God said, "Be not afraid." He's saying the same thing now. He's going to deliver us. But that's not the end. When Joshua and the people fought against the armies, they chased them to three places.

Zidon - catching fish
Misrephoth-maim - burnings of water
Mizpeh - watchtower

Actually when I first read burnings of water, I thought of all the boiling water visions. But then my mom pointed out the story of Elijah vs. 400 Baal priests, and how the fire from heaven licked up the water. So I'm telling ya, it'll be an all-consuming fire we've never seen before. Amazing yeah?



So thePlan and MYPG4 is in a week's time. I realize that the time leading up to it is going to intensify. The enemy's going to use all possible ways to hinder and rob God's glory. But God tells us, "Be not afraid. I will deliver you." Let us keep pressing on the upward way, before, during and especially after the conference. Let us cling to His faithfulness and promise, that "tomorrow this time (when tomorrow is I don't know but it's soon!)" the cities will be set alight by a heavenly fire, as His children keep watch over the cities, and call all men unto Him.

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam -- for the greater glory of God.
Charmain

Melaka-laka!

City walls

August Report:

Marcus called Cathy and me the night before and shared about what happened at Kulim's LYPG. I can say we were both very encouraged after that and excited for LYPG.

Cathy led us in this session. She asked us to read Psalm 43 and pray whatever was impressed upon our heart from it. Her words, "I felt God give me this verse the morning itself... it couldn't have been more perfect for this time." We spent about 50-60 minutes praying. This is what we got in our order of sharing.

Charmain: Word for Malacca and LYPGs all over.
- Ezekiel 4:2 -- We are laying siege around the cities, preparing for battle.
- Joshua 8:24 -- This is when we take over the city. And when we do, we need to break down all strongholds.
- Joshua 8:8 -- We're gonna set the city on fire yeah!
And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.

Timothy
- Encouraged by Psalm 43, especially verse 1 in praying for an ungodly nation
- and verse 3, that what was done in darkness will be revealed in His light and truth.
Psalm 43:1 -- Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

Cathy
- Hebrews 5:1-11 - We are high priests. I felt that we're not living on par with God, and how he wants us to live.
Hebrews 5:1 - For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:

Lara
- got the phrase 'Children of God' and 1 John 3:1
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
- God loves us. He's our Father. He sees us as heirs. Those who have not seen him do not know Him. We know Him, we have seen Him.

Summary: Revival and change will come. But we as children of God ought to reflect our Father's heart, and as high priests ought to set and live up to God's standards as examples.

We separated the prayer points for thePlan into 7 cards (and there were 7 people!) and took turns to pray. Overall we kept praying for calling and change of heart for the participants.

Those who were there, if there's anything else I forgot to put in, please let me know.

All praise to God for another good prayer gathering. A major prayer need is our planning and preparations for MYPG 4.
Oh and yes, our video report is coming out soon too! =D

Cathy and Charmain

Growth..

Hi guys,

Just wanted to affirm what Liz said. My dad spoke in our LYPG yesterday on spiritual growth. In 1 Cor 2 (the last few verses) till chapter 3:3, Paul talks about 4 kinds of people.

- Natural

- Spiritual

- Carnal

- Infants

Since we are already brought out of darkness into light, we are no more of the natural, but the supernatural - Spiritual. However, there is the possibility of "down-grading" to the carnal.

I'm a new driver. Ever so often, i change gears too quickly (assuming from 3 to 4) and i meet with an obstacle up front, and i slowly down and the car starts to "shiver". So naturally, i will down-shift to a lower gear. Sometimes, after shifting to a lower gear, the car continues on smoothly. Sometimes, it starts jerking back and forth, and before you know it, you "si hui / sei fo" (mati enjin) in the middle of the road. Now all the world is honking at your behind, and in your panic, u forget to enter neutral, and you start the car, causing it to jerk front and back and stall again. Now because of that experience, a new driver usually gets spooked, and tends to take some time before getting confident at travelling at high gears. I remember riding my motor in gear 3 for 6 months before i really mustered the courage to go to gear 4. It was just one gear away, yet it scared the daylight out of me.

I want to share something close to heart. Kulim LYPG started out, with no structure. It went on that way for a few months, and it began to become tiring. We tried and tried, but humans have no means to coax God to fall unless by a broken and contrite heart. Maybe, we were proud of getting our "license" while others were not even going for their "undang-undang test". U get my drift?

So, i as a leader, went on without consulting others, nor God. and the result?

Failure.

After that, i sort of retreated into a shell. At a time, i wanted to leave MYPG. Wanted to put it all behind. My failure had shown how weak i was. I was defeated. As a team, we were going nowhere.

Come MYPG3, new strength was given. I know it sounds like im looking for a booster, but i do believe MYPG3 strengthened me and FWP2 gave me a new mindset. For the past 3 months after MYPG3, I see God's hand moving. We were getting closer as a team. We were experiencing visions and dreams and than, we got comfortable.

We had moved from natural to infants, but were drifting back into carnals. And as infants, we could not take solid food, but as carnals, i don't think milk would have helped either.

So as a team, we decided to form a structure, with 2 adult supervisors, supervising what we were and are going to do. With that, the flow of LYPG in Kulim has been much better. No more beating round the bush when we pray, no more 2 word prayers.

Now, we are far from perfect. As i look at the picture above, i rmb the times as a kid, i would mark a tiny wee bit higher than my real height. Just to give me some encouragement and just to sort of "show" that i have grown. So in our growth, please maintain a humble spirit (i speak to myself too) and know that we plan, but God orders. That's a story for another time.

We must remember that we are all subject to Spiritual Numbness like Liz said. Try squatting for 5 minutes. You know the feeling. But if you continue to leave your body part in that position, the feeling doesnt get better. It gets worst. So there is no "comfort zone" actually. Because, it's either you feel the pain gradually increase, or you change position and deal with the pain as much as you can. Either way, THERE WILL BE PAIN! Change is not easy.

So, let us not CONFROM to the world, instead be TRANSFORMED in the renewal of our minds(and actions, and words).

=)

MarcusDS

From the South

(As seen on Facebook)

JB LYPG August report:

The 1st vision: Driving a car using the 1st gear. I sure you would know that the toughest part of getting the car to move is coz the car might "die" if you release the clutch too soon. So likewise, getting something moving is always the toughest part. When it actually starts moving, it gets easier (in this case, I am referring to the JB LYPG). But the thing is, when it starts to move, we forget that we are still in 1st gear and if we stay in the 1st gear for too long, it strains the car.

What I got from it is that the JB LYPG is like the car, it's moving, but so far, it's still in the 1st gear. And unless effort is made to change it into the 2nd gear(and so on), the LYPG will continue to move like this. Of course, there are risks to consider while changing into 2nd gear coz it might juz "die" as well (once again, the changing gear analogy) But this change is necessary if we wanna see change and build momentum in our prayer as an LYPG. It will get easier at each level of change, but we must make sure we are not trying to jump from 1st gear to 4th gear (or something like that). So yeah, that was the 1st vision and what I got from it.

The 2nd impression is more personal, meaning more for individuals and not so much for a whole group. Numbness. What causes physical numbness? Well, most of the time it is because we've been remaining in a fixed position for too long a time. Likewise, I felt God telling us that some of us are spiritually numb. Even though we know we are suppose to move at certain times (take certain actions regarding some things), we refuse to because of disobedience, stubbornness or perhaps pride (once again, it has to do with change or rather not wanting change).

And because of that, we have become spiritually numb, and no longer sensitive to the Holy Spirit when He speaks to us. We might think it's alright to feel numb forever and it's more convenient as well. But that would just prevent us from coming closer to God and knowing His heart. The song we sang that day, "Break my heart for what breaks Yours (Hosanna)" cannot truly be our prayer unless we deal with this numbness. And how we can do it is just by "moving again". Of course, it would take effort. When recovering from physical numbness, we tend to experience the "pins and needles". In other words, it would be "uncomfortable" but nevertheless, necessary if we desire to "feel" again.

So I suppose the two things I received have a sort of similar theme -- CHANGE! And it has been shown in 2 aspects: Individually and as a group (LYPG).

Blessings,
Liz