Irene In Christ

John 15:3 has given me so much new revelations in the past weeks.  You can read  part 1  and part 2  of my reflection, where I reflected on the conditions of how we are in Christ - cleansed and victorious.  Let's go back again to John 15, Jesus' saying on the True Vine.  15 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  7 If you abide in Me, and My

I wrote about my reflection on John 15:3 in my previous post:  You Are Already Clean Because .  If you are like me and have overlooked this wonderful verse,  John 15:3 (NKJV) You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you, I urge you to read my previous post and pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal the truth and the truth will set you free.  The Holy Spirit has been revealing and reaffirming one revelation to me throughout the past year or so. And that revelation has to do with my identity and my position in Christ, which is a position of victory.  On top of being forgiven, redeemed, reconciled, saved and loved everlastingly, I am also already whole, already cleansed, already healed, already victorious, already righteous, already blessed in Christ.  All that I am, all that I have, all that I do are in Christ. And therefore, all that I am, I have, I do are from a place of "already".  In the same way, all that I am, all that I have and all that I do in Ch

I mentioned previously that while I was reading the book of John, Holy Spirit spoke to me from three particular verses. Today, I'm going to pen down my reflection on the 3rd verse.  (The other 2 verses are from John 20:17  and  John 6:29 . You may follow the link to read my reflections on these 2 verses.) Now, shall we look at the 3rd verse? John 15:3. A verse spoken in the illustration of the True Vine.   OK, I think I can confidently say that every Christian knows about the True Vine. It is a chapter in the gospel that must have been taught from and taught on countless times. Verses from John 15:1-8 must have been quoted and referenced numerous times as well.  Source: Internet Jesus, the true vine and we, the branches. Abiding, pruning and bearing fruit.  And right smack in the middle of Jesus's Words is this revelation that caused my spirit to leap!  John 15:3 (NKJV) You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. I don't know about you. But I felt

Interrupting my God Story journal to pen my thoughts on something that is dear to my heart: my identity - a beloved daughter of God. This month of April 2021, I have been studying the book of John. As we all know, John's gospel is slightly different from the other three gospels and is filled with the words of Jesus, including the seven I am sayings of Jesus that is unique to John's gospel.  In my bible, quite literally, the majority of the pages in the book of John is in red - the words of Jesus. As I read John this month, three things that Jesus said jumped out of the page at me.  One of it is from John 6:28-29 on doing the works of God. I have penned down my reflection  here .  Today, I would like to share my short reflection on something Jesus said after His crucifixion and resurrection from John 20.  Reading John 20, you would find Mary Magdalene, Peter and John coming to the tomb only to find it empty.  Read further along and you'd find Jesus saying this to Mary:  John

I was in Kerteh from 2011 to 2018, a long 7 years.  In this 7 years, you won't believe it, but I was with a church that does not have a full time resident pastor or an administrative team. Or a fixed number of congregation. Things that one would usually expect to find in a typical church. Ours was a small church, where the congregation was made up of mostly non-locals who were working in Kerteh. Much like T and I. At a time, although there were (and still are) a few families in the church, a majority of the congregation were young working single adults (like how I would be, had I went to Kerteh in 2005 - fresh out of uni and single). We were blessed to have godly brothers and sisters who faithfully served in church - preaching the word, leading praise & worship, prayer meetings, Bible Study and carrying out administrative work.   We have pastors from neighboring towns over periodically as invited speaker to preach on Fridays (Yup, Fridays are our Sundays. In Terengganu, weekend

As you're reading this, you may or may not know about my journaling journey. If you do, I hope you've had a good laugh reading my story so far. Otherwise,  here are the links to  Part 1  and  Part 2 . I would highly encourage you to read these 2 parts, or you may find it hard to follow my story.  So, here I am continuing  on Part 3 of my God story.  At the end of Part 2 of my God story, you'll find Jonah (that is me) about to exit the wilderness (Kuching) and enter the promised land, Nineveh (Kerteh - a small town in Terengganu)  through the big fish (my beloved husband). After 3 years of long distance relationship with my other half, we finally tied the knot.  The day we flew to Kerteh from Kuching, after the wedding, was the very first time I set foot and eyes on that town. You'd think that given my hesitance and reservations about Kerteh earlier on, it would be quite logical and understandable if I had at least visited and checked the place out first before committin

Do you want to work the works of God?  I know I do. And I know the crowd of people who 'got into the boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus' (John 6:24)  also want to work the works of God. I'm sure you do too. I would like to bring you to the conversation between these people and Jesus in John 6, particularly John 6:28-29. All through the Good Friday weekend to Easter, this verse kept coming to my mind. It was as though Jesus was repeating the answer He gave to those who asked Him, to me.  First, let's compare a few Bible translations for John 6:28-29.  1) NKJV Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” 2) NLT They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” 3) ESV Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the

This is something I reflected on 3 April 2020. Recording it here, for my own remembrance.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I have been pondering this question - What hinders God's people from coming to full consciousness of Christ?  What hinders us from our complete union with Christ? I believe that there could be many factors. We are not be able to grasp our fullness in and our oneness with Christ due to many hindrances.  But as I was reading the epistles of apostle Paul, I realized that there are 2 biblical truths (from 2 verses) that are so profound and fundamental yet never fully realized by Christians. 1. The first is on our faith. Galatians 2:20 (KJV) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. Many Christians go through

I previously wrote about how  I refused to go to Kerteh in the beginning  and by doing so, I ignorantly yet willfully  disobeyed God's will . Read them to understand my story better. 😀 I now know that it is partly due to my lack of knowledge in the Lord. I became a Christian, not knowing much. At the time, I didn't have a clear understanding about "the will of God" nor did I know that the Holy Spirit actually, really speaks to us and directs us.  As I was reflecting on my big fish season, 2 truths became so clear to me.  The first truth that dawned on me was this -  I was a Christian, alright, but I was a shallow, surface Christian.   Unfortunately, even after moving to Kerteh, my knowledge in Christ and in the deep things of God, although deepened and grew, it was still veiled in certain areas.  The second truth was this -  I see and testify that God redeems my story and makes all things beautiful . As I wrote in Part 2 of my God story, God redeemed me and did not d