Feeling drained? Roller-coaster of emotions? Just trying to get through the day? Would it surprise you that Jesus went through these same feelings as well? He is after all, all God & all human. And He also understands all because He has experienced all!

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” - Hebrews 4:15

So what does our role model do in moments like these? He Gets Away, goes up to a mountain top to pray, to spend time with the Father. And just like Jesus, we all need a place to Get Away from it all. To go back to the one place where we can hear the One voice that really matters. God’s.

Do you have a place like that?

I have. Its called Mill point. Mill point to me is like Jesus’ mountain, it is THE place I turn to when I need to Get Away. The prefect compilation of cool breezes, the slow moving swan river & not to mention the beautiful backdrop of the city skyline. 20 mins is all it takes for me to get back on track, to kickstart my brain & start having creative ideas & solutions flowing back but more importantly, it is the one place where I truly can feel God’s presence & His assurance that His been there, by my side, watching over me all the while.

Now the Bible does say “When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father” - Matt 6:6. (Firstly the purpose of this verse is for another context, if you want to know, just let me know) And yes, God is definitely everywhere, & we can meet him anywhere, especially when we close the door & pray. But let me challenge you with this, a get-away holiday is always more fun compared to one spent in your backyard.

Same goes with meeting God. You can meet him in your bedroom, in the study or in the library. But when you intentionally Get Away to be alone with Him, walk beside Him, talk to Him. Those are the times where you truly feel the weight of the world being lifted off your shoulders.

Final assignments are here & exams are peeping around the corner. So when (not if) you find yourself heavy laden, don’t resort to red bull or facebook or worst ... WOW or Shopping. Instead, Get Away ... and let the Spirit of the Lord come upon you & give you REST.

Afterall, God has already blessed us UWA people with a little piece of heaven in our very backyard! Its called Mat Bay. Go, take a walk with Lord, can come back a whole different person!

Which brings me to the point of this entry. Why CAN'T I jump onto moving trucks or run great distances? (Maybe because my stamina stinks.) But it has always been a dream of mine to be able to run, climb over, jump across, and to just overcome every single obstacle that is in my way.

Realistically though, we all know that it’s not possible (my dream has just died a premature death, haha). Which brings to mind, what other obstacle can I not overcome? Like passing my exams? Losing weight? Speeding? Finding a boyfriend?!!

Sure, when we think about it that way, there're a lot of things out there that we cannot achieve or acquire. Like that awesome car, excelling in studies or simply trying to improve your own self.

But friends, I endeavour that while we may not be able to achieve all these things, there is someone out there who can. And that person is God. God can and He can achieve them through you! Remember a while back, I wrote about doing things on our own strength? I'm not saying that you cannot achieve all this within your own strength. (It really boils down to your level of self-discipline and determination.) But rather, when you DO NOT achieve all these things, how do you feel? Tired? Depressed? Disempowered?

Be tired, depressed, and disempowered no more! When we have God in our lives, not being able to jump across those trucks isn't our biggest issue. He is our Jehovah Jireh and whatever your circumstances, be it working towards improving your studies; just remember: He will provide for us. With energy, strength, wisdom, patience, and also peace, for whatever the outcome.

And you never know. You might just see me someday... Jumping across trucks.

Every time I share my testimony and the reason why I finally decided to get baptised only after four years of being a Christian, I always joke that I’ve let God wait for too long. This then implies that God is getting impatient with me and hence, being driven by guilt and fear, I hasten to seal this deal with God.

Of course this is completely inaccurate and will remain as an inside joke between my beloved Father and me. However, I do admit that I had my fair share of excuses whenever the opportunity to get baptised arose. “I’m not Christian enough…” “I’m still too young…” “There’s so much more I have to learn and areas where I can serve…” Inwardly, I was casting the spotlight on myself.

When ZPH held a baptism workshop last semester, I received a revelation of the significance of baptism. It says in Romans 6:4:

We were buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, you too may live a new life.

The symbolic act of being submerged into the water and rising up again signifies our new life in Christ. With that act, and through His grace and love, God has made us anew. Only He has the power to transform us completely so that we can live in the peace and freedom that can only be found in Him.

Our baptism is really a declaration of the glory of our Father.

It is not at all about us.

I understood, only four years after being saved; having had my life transformed and the countless miracles I had experienced, that I should be declaring His works, His goodness and His glory. With all the excuses I used to give to justify my delayed baptism, I was converging attention to myself, when what I should have been doing is to point others towards God.

And what better way to glorify His name than to testify of His goodness and works in my life? The water baptism gave me a platform to share of God’s awesomeness through my journey with Him. And when I began to focus on letting God shine, all the excuses and fears just vanished.

In John 3:30, it explains plainly,

I encourage all of you to realise that when we start thinking about what we can or cannot do with our current abilities, we’re stopping God from working within us. Allow Him to increase as we decrease, and we’ll begin to see His glory.

To date, has there been something that God has done in your life that compels you to testify of His glory?

Remember: it is not about you, it is all about God.

See His glory and share your story.

Water Baptism Service is this Saturday! Come and support our friend and fellow brother as he takes a life changing step toward the future. There will be many testimonies and you will surely be blessed! See you at the service!

But since when did these fears come into our lives? I remember I used to bully insects when I’m young. I used to use my mighty thumb to squash every single ant I saw crawling around. NOW you might say that I’m a weirdo by being afraid of ants, but you have to go google images of ‘ants’ and see them in enlarged pictures. Real Freaky. (Seriously!)

Anyway, I remember there was one thing I did fear when I was young – caning. If you’re from an asian background then you’d probably experienced caning in school. And the period I feared most was after the exams, that was when my class teacher would cane those who did badly in the exams.

So there’s one thing I would always do if I had to go up to get canned, I’d tell myself that “at least I’m not gonna die”. By telling myself that, it helped to toughen me up a bit and thus reduce the chances of me crying in public. Lol.

I think that statement is quite a powerful one. If I know that I’m not gonna die from doing something, then what’s there to be afraid of?

I was thinking of my younger years a few days ago and that statement kicked in. However, with the added wisdom of Christ, I’ve come realized that now ... I’m not going to die anymore! Because Jesus gave us eternal life! So…by that statement, we have nothing to fear at all right?

For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"

Truly we have nothing to fear at all! Except the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 9:10 says that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

So imagine if we had courage without wisdom. We’d do all the stupid things right? So courage alone isn’t enough, we need wisdom to direct that courage we have to the right places.

This is an example of courage without wisdom:

So jokes aside, take this home with you: Fear the Lord and there’s nothing else to be afraid of.

Cheers.