Abide in Him who loves us so so so so much!

There is no other place that I want to be, just resting and abiding in Your love.

Let the wave of Your love to wash over me.

How refreshing is His love!

For I can do nothing apart from Him, who is the vine.

For I can do nothing without my great high Priest whose name is Love!

Lord, let Your love invade us over and over again!

You Love is Everything!

Where would I be without Your Love, O Lord!
Your everlasting, eternal and steadfast love
Is the air that I breathe
Your love never changes, it is constant and it does not run out on me
I know i can trust in Your love.
Your love is all that I ever need!!!!!

May I know Your love more and more!
Your precious one,
Nat :)

I am me, you is you, that's just come naturally!

Have had such an awesome time in the presence of God last night. The whole church just got all hyped up, dancing, rejoicing and worshiping; giving all their praise and worship due His Holy name! When the presence of God came upon the church, there is just so much freedom. People can be themselves. They don't have to act 'proper' among-st the church but they can just worship God wholeheartedly without inhibition. That is the work of the Spirit - He releases, He frees us and He teaches us how to worship and to give all that we are unto Him who is worthy of all praise!

Philippa preached wonderfully about freedom to be who God has made us to be. She encouraged each of us to love ourselves, to love our quirkiness and that there are things that God has uniquely put in each of us that we don't have to change.

Then Judith brought a prophetic song as per the title of the blog. Everyone just got crazy again, lol! She is really anointed.

Too many people in this world dislike themselves. They tried too hard to be someone that they are not. They try to imitate models, superstars, their friends, celebrities, etc. They just strive to be everyone else but themselves. They failed to see the beauty in them.

I used to be like one of them. Before knowing Christ, I did not even know who I was. I tend to go along with others, trying to be what other think is right or acceptable. I didn't know how to appreciate it to be me.

Praise the Lord, now I know who I am. I know why I am here for. I know that God has created me with His own hands, He has created me for a purpose. What a wonderful truth!

I am no longer afraid to be who I truly am. I like the idea that I am different from others. I am unique because there is no one else like me! There are things that no one else can do as well as I can do. No one else can replace me in this world! This is the beauty of God creation. Each and every individual is His masterpiece. He is such a creative God that when He created the snow, none of the flakes is the same! There are millions of flowers, insects, leaves, fish, birds, etc, etc...Imagine that!!! It just blows my mind away!

The trees are all bare now. Every detail of the branches are unveiled. They are absolutely beautiful and trust me, none of them look the same! They too stood tall, proud to display their Creator beautiful creation!

Thank God that I can be who I am, I am amazing, just the way I am! :D

Love you to bits, Father!

Nat :)

Sunny Saturday!!!

It is such a beautiful day out there! It's been awhile since the last time when I saw sun shinning this brightly. I never remember liking the sun, maybe because growing up in a hot country where the sun is scalding hot most days make me unappreciative of it. I learn to see the sun in a different way now :) It's radiance makes this world so much more beautiful and exciting.

Manchester is well-known for its gloominess and when the sun comes out once in a blue moon, people just flocked out into the streets and enjoy it to the maximum. We always take things that we easily get for granted. I now know how to appreciate the things that I used to take for granted. It's also a lesson for me not to take things around me for granted, the things that I see everyday and the people has always been there, who love me and care for me.

Having some of the amazing guys over for dinner. Will be good to spend time with these guys as we are handing the group over before leaving Manchester in a few months time. Oh, how time flies!!! Shudder when I think of it, it's going to be sad but at the same time exciting! Guess hubs is more excited that I am. For me it's going back to long hours of work in the hospital. Although I am still working now but I can't help but to wonder how our new life would be like. These are the excitement and adventures that we have living in His will. We may not even know where He would lead us the next but we are positive that it will be good because there is no other place that we want to be than to be dwelling in His will. Trust in the Lord and He will make our paths straight :)

Looking forward to great food, fellowship, friends and fun!!! All the good things which starts with 'f'!!! :) Need to check the cooking korma chicken!

False humility

Coming from an Chinese-Asian background, I grew up with a lot of false teaching/understanding of what true humility means.

As a child, I was taught/observed that expressing feeling good about our achievements or success is 'bragging' and 'impolite'. We must be humble and refuse 'praises' because that will make us proud. Often the parents would deny or seem to refuse compliments for their children as they thought those compliments will make them arrogant and ungrateful.

I seldom hear any compliments from my parents themselves, quite rarely, my dad would say well done or 'clever girl' but I don't really remember hearing these remarks often. I do know that they love me to bits and that they are very proud of me but they just don't think it's good to express it.

When I became a Christian, I was surrounded with people of faith and encouragements. They see me as God sees me, they reminded me of who I really am and who God has made me to be. These truths gradually set me free from low self esteem and insecurity about myself. It is not surprising that many men and women of God deny their talents and gifting by agreeing with the lies of the enemies as they do not truly know and appreciate who they are. We are God's sons and daughters! We are the very children of the most High God. If we really believe what God says about us that we are wonderfully and fearfully made, what power does the lie of the enemy has towards us? Knowing our true identity releases us into our destiny!

When I first came to King's Church, I heard Richard preaching one day and he was asking us to repeat after him, "I am amazing!" These three words I have never repeated and probably never thought about myself suddenly broke something in my mindset! It was so powerful!

It was for the very first time I 'see' through the revelation of the Spirit of God that I am indeed amazing! Why? Not because of what I have done or achieved, not at all! It is because I am clothed with Christ. If I have the power of resurrection living in me, how dare I think or call myself insufficient or unworthy?

You see, having confidence in ourselves is not being proud or arrogant. I need to know who I am, to appreciate the gifting and talents that God has placed within me before I can use them to bless others. "Pai she" is so often heard from my culture that it has unknowingly seeped into the mindsets of many believers, leading them to believe and achieve less than what God has for them.

This is just an example of living counter culturally is important to continue to living as God called out and sent people in this world. We acknowledge our culture, we appreciate them but at the same time not allowing it to become the hindrance to the work of God by establishing real truth according to His word.

Trying to feel better by belittling the power of the Holy Spirit that is in us does not bring glory to God. Living a bold, humble (acknowledging who God is and who we truly are) and courageous life do.

We gotta let the light shine!

This is who we truly are :)

End of week worship :D

This amazing song has truly blessed me this week! Hope it blesses you too! :D

There is no One like You, Lord! I need you more than anything!

Wooop!!! Date night tonight :) Darling Hubby going to cook ;D Yummm!

Have a blessed and fun weekend enjoying His presence! :D

Signing off,

Natalie

Relationships

We have had such an amazing time with Kofo yesterday. His pastoral gift is indeed a great blessing to the church and it is such a privilege to have him sharing his heart on relationships with our home church. What he shared was really relevant to the age group as well as most of them are university students, young adults or single men and women who are en route to finding their other halves.

It is good to have the wisdom and guidance as to what to look out for in men-women relationships. Kofo encouraged the young and vulnerable girls to treasure and protect themselves as they are jewels in God's eyes. He encouraged men and women of God to not just get into a relationship for fun or for the sake of it but see 'dating' or 'courtship' as a tool to know each other better and explore whether they are meant for one another. In this cyber world, many relationships and marriage have been made cheap and 'instant'. People get married one day and fell out of each other the next. Divorce is so common here in the west and is increasing alarmingly even in the east.
Many people, and sadly including Christians may not understand marriage as God intended it to be - a lasting-covenant relationship.

Eve was created to be Adam's helper. Women are created to 'help' men, the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit as our Helper. Kofo made us look up the word of "help" which most of us may not have fully understood it to be. According to online dictionary (Thesaurus) To help means to:

To give assistance to; aid:
To contribute to the furtherance of
To give relief to
To ease; relieve medication to help your cold.
To change for the better; improve
To be of service

That is why marriage is such a kingdom thing, it is in the very central of God's purposes and intention. The Church is the bride of Christ. Marriage is about serving one another, encouraging one another and to help the other party to be all that God wants them to be. It is not about me. It is about our spouse, to assist them and to add onto their lives. I personally have learned so much from my marriage. I learn to see my husband as God sees him. I learn to be patient with myself and with him (patience - this is another word that is often overlooked of its meaning in completeness). I learn to serve him and think honour him, to allow him to take the lead and to submit to his leading.

It is so important to consider, during courtship, whether the man is someone who can take the lead (not in selfish, arrogant, chauvinistic way) but in a godly way which will lead to the empowerment of both the man and woman in their calling in God. There is so much more that I am learning and I an thankful that the Holy Spirit is my Helper and He constantly speaks to me and convicts me to be obedient and to be a holy and reverential woman of God. Thank You, Lord! :)

I pray that the group will take all that You have spoken to us on board and that each of them will find their respective husbands/wives who will lead to strong and powerful marriages in the Church that will bring glory to our Creator who is Love!

God is Awesome!!!

Let me burn---with Your Spirit!

"Saturate me with the oil of Thy Spirit, that I may be aflame. Make me Thy fuel O flame of God." Jim Elliot

This is a famous quote of Jim Elliot, the Martyr for Christ in dense forest of Ecuador whilst God called him to reach out to a group of Waodani tribe.

What a prayer! It stirs up the Spirit in me even as I read this out loud and repeat it again, and again and again. Jim Elliot must be so full of the passion to fulfil his calling and he knew well Who he need to depend on.

We cannot be lukewarm; be either cold or hot! If not, God would spit us out. There is no in between living as a Christian. If I do not give every part of my life up, I am only deceiving myself. I am not living a full life that God intends for me. To ask Jesus to be my Lord, He has to be the Lord of all.

I remember someone prophesy over me during school of the Word that I am not lukewarm but I am hot! I received the word and continue to run this race with my Jesus. It is not that life is always bed of roses but I know that if I am in His will, it will be altogether good, pleasing and perfect.

There is nothing like knowing You God, nothing at all. Thank You, Lord for all that you have done for me. Continue to fill me to the overflowing with the power and anointing of Your Holy Spirit to enable me to accomplish all that You have called me to do. I love You!!!!!!!

Freedom and Grace

I remember reading a book by Watchman Nee entitled "The Normal Christian Life" a few years ago which really opened up the eyes of my heart about the difference between Law and Grace.

Although there are many so-called 'grace preachers' or 'prosperity preachers' around and some have been found to be quite 'flaky' but there is no excuse not to explore and understand this important truth about Law and Grace.

Ian Russell reminded us as a church about the purpose of Grace through Christ who came to set us free.

Too many Christians has been bound up in legalism and religion rather than practicing the love and truth of the gospel in Grace.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free! We are a covenant people who has been called out of bondage of sin into a life of freedom and hope. Freely we received, freely give (this does not just apply to offering and tithing).

I love how God is showing us as a Church community, especially speaking a lot to me individually regarding freedom and grace.

Freedom is not a license to do what we want to do but it is a gift to enable us to do what we need to do for the sake of the gospel. Freedom when understood in the light of the Gospel leads to empowerment and the advance of the kingdom of God.

There are so many areas of freedom that God has taught me for the past few years. Freedom from sin, freedom to be myself, freedom in worship and expressing my heart to God, freedom in prayers, freedom from fear of men, freedom from guilt and fear, freedom to fulfill my calling in God without being afraid of the fleshly incompetence, freedom to reach out to people, to bless them and to love them with the love that I have freely received, freedom to express myself, freedom from false humility, etc etc. All these areas have been and are continued to be worked upon by the gentle and powerful person in me, the Holy Spirit as where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!

When I first became a Christian, I used to be afraid of what people think of the way I act, the way I worship, the way I think and so many more. It was trying to please men rather than God. Praise God for His grace and His love who has taught me to fear Him and no one else. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom which then leads to much more understanding of what the gospel of Grace is all about.

It is definitely not about taking the grace of God for granted and continue to sin as what Paul was saying in Romans 7. In fact, he told us later that we should use our freedom to love others. Well love is patient and love is kind, it does not envy and it does not boast, it is not easily angered. Love is a verb, not a noun. It always leads to action, not just based on a feeling.

This is the freedom that helps us not to offend and to be offended by others easily, rather to practice patience, forgiveness and kindness to others. Do I have a choice not to take offense? Yes, I do! Do I have the choice to forgive and move on? Yes, in freedom I do! Am I able to overcome self-pity and choose to believe the voice of God rather than the devil? Absolutely! Freedom gives us the ability to choose life over death, love over hatred, kindness over evil and light over darkness.

Freedom gives us power to love and love with power. Richard, one of our elders made a beautiful statement, 'What good is love if it is powerless?' What is the use of love if we have not got the power to help the ones what we love. Imagine if God says He loves us but He is unable to help us? But thanks be to God, this is not the case! He is our Almighty, Al-powerful God! Name above every other name and He is seated far above all rule and authority, power and dominion. Wow! That is what I call powerful!

I am so so privileged, absolutely blessed to know this freedom in Christ Jesus. Thank You, Lord. Forever I am Yours! :)

I am the Lord that heals you

Our God is our Healer. He heals us physically, emotionally and spiritually. He restores and bring us not just back to where we were but forward and towards a even better place before we were unwell. That is how he works. He is Jehovah Rophi, He has taken all our infirmities and brokenness. He has taken all our earthly disease, that none shall separate us from His love, His everlasting presence.

The word has been coming to us recently as a church about freedom. We as a body of Christ has been constantly challenged to be living and abiding constantly in the Holy Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

There is so much dimension and level of His presence that He is manifesting amongst His people at a time such as this. I believe even as I have encountered His presence, there is still infinitely more to be encountered. That is the beauty of the Lord. His Spirit is limitless. It is a river that will never run dry.

Looking at the church around the world, one can see that the church has never been stronger in all history. God is indeed restoring His church, He is bringing us back to a place of glory and beyond. He is accelerating up the growth and maturity of many believers at an incredible rate. Bill Johnson said, 'The thing that took him 20-30 years to learn is now being caught hold of by the young generation in 2-3months! What an exciting time to be living in!

We are called to be like children of Issachar, men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel (the body of Christ, the people of God) ought to do...( 1 Chronicles 12:32)

Having a heavenly perspectives enable us to live in a heavenly rather than an earthly reality. It enables us to carry the revelation of God and bring heaven onto earth. Now as He who is our Healer has also made us co-heir with Christ, who has been empowered through the Holy Spirit to heal the sick, to set the captives free and to preach the good news of the Kingdom to all nations.
Indeed, we are loved, we are free, we are powerful, so Lord, be glorified in us :)

This has always been his intention for His people, to be fruitful and increase, to rule and reign in all that we have been given to accomplish during our time here on earth.

O God, You are amazing!!! Our Lord who heals us!!! :)

Even when the flesh fails...

Finding my place in this world

This is a big big world, often if we do not even realise, we may be lost in it.

Where is my place in this world? Where do I belong?

What is the right thing to do? Is it according to my feelings? Or am I bounded by the general rules and ethics of the human law?

Most people are directed by our mindsets, our perspectives, our up bringing, what we learned through experiences and heard from the ones we trust and respect.

Nowadays, there are just too many voices in the world. You hear it when put your headphones on, through the songs you listen to, the programmes that we watch, the media that we were exposed with, the different lies that we believe in.

That is why it is such a privilege to live life in the Spirit. Our lives is no longer being tossed back and forth by various teachings but we can stand firm in our own conviction and stay true to our faith in Christ.

Many people can tell you what is right or wrong, what to believe and what not but ultimately, the Holy Spirit is going to be the One to confirm it through the Word of God. Even as I am writing this now, I know not everyone will understand what I was trying to say. This is the whole point. Unless the Spirit reveals to us, we will not understand the things of God.

"because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction..." 1 Thes 1:5

It's probably not related but this song came to mind :)