Irene In Christ

A brother in Christ, Ps Ashok RK, wrote this previously  - spiritual warfare is nothing but the devil’s attempt to draw us out of our position in Christ so that he can bring death in some form to us. When I read this, I caught a glimpse of the many other aspects of this truth. Apart from spiritual warfare, there are so many other things in life that will attempt to (and can) draw us out of our position in Christ.  And when that happens (when we are drawn out of our position), it will result in some form of death. And today, I felt prompted to delve deeper into what this mean.  Our Position in Christ First, let us define our "position in Christ”. I would like to define that as a place of “already”, as the Holy Spirit gave me revelation in this post .  Of course, when we are in Christ, we are forgiven, redeemed, reconciled, saved and loved everlastingly.  AND we are also already whole, already cleansed, already healed, already victorious, already righteous, alread...

  John 9 recounts the story of Jesus opening the sight of a man born blind. I wrote about how I was captivated by this story  here.   Of course, this man was not the only man that Jesus healed. In the 4 gospels, there are other accounts of Jesus healing the blind. (Some are of course the same discourse recorded in the different gospel.) Source: Internet After studying the story in John 9, I was intrigued to study the other healing accounts as well. I had wanted to know the difference (or the similarity) when Jesus healed all these blind men.  Here are the other accounts recorded in the Bible: Matt 9:27-31 (two blind men) Matt 20:29-34 (two blind men, out of Jericho) Mark 10:46-52 (blind Bartimaeus, out of Jericho) Luke 18:35-43 (certain blind man, near Jericho) Mark 8:22-26 (a blind man, Bethsaida) Let us first see the way these blind men were healed.  In Matt 9, Jesus first asked the two blind men " Do you believe that I am able to do this? " He touched their e...

This year's Pentecost falls on 23 May 2021.  Few weeks ago, a beloved brother in Christ has asked us to share our story of how we first got baptized in the Holy Spirit and how has the Holy Spirit helped us in our walk with God.  So I tried to recall my Holy Spirit baptism experience. And I realized that there was nothing spectacular with my baptism moment. There was no burning temperature, no vision, no outburst of emotion or anything like that at all. 😅 Although my baptism is supernatural (all Holy Spirit infilling is supernatural), it was quite a very ordinary experience.  I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at a church camp, shortly after I accepted Christ while I was in university.  I had desired it -  to speak in tongues - although at the time, I hadn't truly understand what the baptism of the Holy Spirit really meant beyond the ability to pray in tongues, where the Holy Spirit will help us to pray. That was all I knew. That all believers should be w...

The other account of Jesus that captivated my heart was from Mark 9.  Mark 9:14-29 records the account of a father who brought his son who had been tormented by a mute spirit since childhood to the disciples (who couldn't cast the demon out) and then to Jesus.  (I'm sure you can now see the pattern of the gospel stories that captivated me in that season in life - they are both stories of suffering parents with their suffering child.😅) Again, I can relate to the father's words  in Mark 9:24  -  ' Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!' Jesus had said to him,  If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.  And every time I prayed for Daniel's healing, I would i magine Jesus saying to me - 'If you would only believe, Irene, all things are possible.' I would then feel the guilt of not having enough faith for my child's healing.  I would condemn myself - you have the faith to believe and testify that Daniel has been doing great, as...

In the early years after Daniel's diagnosis with the genetic condition, Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS), two stories from the gospel captivated me. One is the story of Jesus giving sight to the man born blind in John 9. The other is of Jesus healing the boy with a mute spirit in Mark 9.  Today, I would like to reflect on the story from John 9.  John 9:1-38 records  the account of Jesus healing a blind man by making mud with His saliva and instructing him to go wash in a pool.   This was a man who was blind from birth. Who could not see from the moment he was born.  Just as the genes in the chromosome  15 were not functioning (silenced) when Daniel was born.  It is a story that I can relate to. And there is this question in the story that gripped my heart because it is a question I myself asked.  The disciples' question in John 9:2 " Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?".  Those years, every time I would read or...

I turned 40 a week ago.  Source: Internet Those who know me will know that I am very fond of 'counting down to my decade'.  In my 20s, I would count down to 30 on  every birthday, counting on my hands (or hand) how many fingers (years) left until I turn 30.  In my 30s, that tradition continued, only I would be counting down to 40.  I used to be wary of my age, not just because of the fact that I'm growing older (and therefore, more wrinkles and growing more white hair and all the external changes that come with age 😂) but also because my children are still quite young. I would often lament - my youngest will only be 4 years old when I turn 40.  Add to that, the fact that I had this thinking - my remaining years of actively serving God reduces every year I grow older.  But in recent few years, God has subtly changed me in the way I view 'age'. I no longer have this silent restlessness when it comes to aging.  In this past first week of being 40, t...

I wrote about my pregnancy adventure with Daniel - the miscarriage scare, the complication and the negative medical report - in my previous post  here .  You'd remember what the pediatrician said about my son at birth - he didn't know if my son will live.  I wouldn't lie. I was devastated bu t I held onto this promise of God and declared it over my baby. Psalm 118:17 Daniel shall not die, but live, and he shall declare the works of the Lord. Source: Internet Baby Daniel was in the hospital nursery for 10 long days. Although he was not in an incubator, he was placed under an oxygen box with tubes and wires attached to him for monitoring purpose. As he couldn't leave the nursery and I was not allowed to leave my bed after the surgery, I didn't get to see him again nor hold him until the next day. That was a long night for me.  Meeting My Daniel There is a funny story about how I first met my baby boy.  I was supposed to be wheeled to the nursery only the following...

Continuing on Part 5 of my God Story, about my children.  (Warning! Super long and detailed post ahead! You may wish to prepare yourself first if you are faint hearted. 😄) When I was younger, even before having a potential husband candidate, I had always felt that being a mother is my highest calling and I had always wanted to be a full time mother.  I had also have always wanted a son and a daughter, a Daniel and an Esther.  (I realize that is a lot of 'had always'. 😂 Haha! I guess it just goes to show how I love children.) Source: Internet Trying to Conceive After both my husband and I felt that we were ready to start our family, I didn't conceive promptly. It was a long one year wait for us before I finally got pregnant. It was such a difficult and sad season for me. Every month I would find myself crying,  praying,   worrying, asking why? and fearing the worst. After all, I wasn't getting any younger. I was,  as one would say, already well past the 'i...