Irene In Christ

I found myself repeating this statement a lot lately.   I did all that I knew to do, to the best that I could do, yet it had availed to nothing. Because it had all come from my self-effort (Self-will, self-strength, self-ability, self-dependence.) Once I stopped the 'doing' (or, rather, the trying) and simply just yield to God, this happened: The grace of God came upon me, an ordinary man, and turn my live around!  Well, maybe not the same sentence or exact same words, but this expression has been a constant reflection in my life lately - in almost every area of my life.  As I was writing about my son earlier this year (you may read it here  and  here ), I saw myself from a different perspective (maybe one can say that I saw myself from the Holy Spirit's perspective 😂).  Back then, I was a manager. You know, manage-r. I was managing life the best way that I know how to. Quoting myself from my earlier blog entry, this was how I described myself.  ...

I believe this will be the last entry of Part 6 of my God story.  I started my God story with a detailed description of how I was before my God story began. I retold the events that took place, almost one after the other, as God (finally) 'got' my attention and started working a most wonderful work in me.  It is as what the Bible says:  He has begun a  good   work  in me and  will complete  it  until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6).  Yet my God story would not be complete if I were to leave out an aspect that I struggled tremendously with before, when and, in fact, even after I have become rooted in my identity in Christ - Hurt and offense.  I did an Enneagram test on myself early last year and found out that I am a Type 1 Wing 2 personality. (For those of you who have no idea what an Enneagram is, it's basically a more Christian-natured personality test. 😅) A type 1's typical character is defined as wanting to be good and wanti...

I previously wrote about sermons and preaching that had blessed me  here. Today, I would like to list down the books that had helped me grow deeper in my knowledge in the things of God.  There are many good authors and books out there. And trust me, I have read many, many Christian books. (Haha! It's not hard to tell that I love reading right? 😄) I'm simply listing  only  those which had impacted me the most in my walk with God. I don't know if it's the same with anyone else, but for me personally, I have found that different preachers and teachers ministered to me  in different seasons of my life.  Therefore, I find myself spending a bulk of my time devouring verbal and written teachings of a specific man of God over a period of time. And then, just as suddenly as I started following them, I would stopped and the Holy Spirit would lead me to another preacher/ author instead.  It's not to say that I completely stopped listening to them, but, often, fo...

God has been speaking to me about a word recently: father. It started with an article by Rick Renner on  A Father's Bad Influence .  This article reminded me of a book by Derek Prince that I read years back, while my family and I were in Kerteh: Fatherhood.  To this day, I still remember all that I read back then on God's design for earthly fathers - firstly as a priest, secondly as a prophet and lastly as a king. I think I remember it so well because, growing up, I never did have such an earthly father, who represents the family to God (the office of a priest), who represents God to the family (the office of a prophet) and who rule as a king over the household.  Please don't take me wrong, I am not accusing or saying anything negative about my parents. I love them and honour them. I had asked for forgiveness, had forgiven and had reconciled with them. What I'm saying is simply that I did not have a healthy image of the word 'father'.  ( Note: I'd like to r...

A few brothers and sisters in Christ had recently been asked (tasked 😜) to share about our understanding on the verses in the Lord's prayer (Matt 6:8-13).  I had volunteered to share about my understanding of the first line - Our Father in Heaven.  Source: Internet When Jesus taught us to pray in this manner, to me, I see it as: Jesus telling us about identity.  Jesus telling us about what this identity entails.  When Jesus said, "Our Father in Heaven",  1) He was unveiling a 2-fold revelations: God's identity and our identity. First identity: God's identity.  Most (if not all) religions (E.g. pharisee-ism at the time of Jesus and legalism in our days) approach God as Creator and Master.  And yet Jesus revealed this - the one to whom we pray to is not just our creator and master but more than that, He is our father.  There is absolutely nothing wrong in seeing God as Creator and Master. He is Creator and Master of all.  But one tends to vie...

If you've been following me, then you'd have known that I have been on a journey of journaling my walk with God.  3 years ago, I went through a dark, night season (I guess one might describe me as going through depression) which lasted for about a year. I wrote about how God loved and lifted me up out of that season in Part 6 of my God stories. Starting with my pinpoint moment to the battery recharging moment, to the prophetic words I received, God begun a good work in me.   The Holy Spirit began to uncover the veils over my spiritual eyes and started to reveal to me the deeper things of God. He taught me, both by speaking to me directly and through the teachings of various mighty men and women of God.  I devoured all the teachings that the Holy Spirit brought to my path.  And for the longest time, I had a silent desire in my heart that everyone will be able to know of these teachings and truth that has blessed me so. At that time, I had a thought: I should keep...