Living In Godliness

I've been studying and reading about this word godliness recently. And I've come to realise that many people have been living their live contrary to the word 'godliness' that was used by Jesus and various apostles such as Paul and Peter. Thanks to a curriculum that my dad wrote called 'Discipleship 200' under the chapter 'Kingdom Qualities', I'll be writing many things base on that, a very good book indeed.

The word 'godliness' in Greek that they used often in text such as 2 Peter 1:5-7, Titus 1:1, 1 Timothy 4:6-8, 1 Timothy 6:3-5 and etc. was the word eusebeia which means a true and vital/essential relation with God.

It is the opposite of the word threskeia, meaning an outward act of religious observances or ceremonies.

In Acts 10:1-4, we see a centurion named Cornelius that was a devout (Gk: eusebus) man which God was so pleased with that He sent an angel to tell him that his prayers and alms were acceptable before Him. In other words, this guy Cornelius was a person that went to church every week, never skipped any prayer meetings, gave his tithes and offerings regulary, reads his Bible everyday, probably fasted very often too and there was a special celebration, a festival you might say, in heaven because of his deeds. Seems pretty obvious hes a "godly" man and God sent him an angel to praise him coz he's doing all these "religious" stuff. But before we come to any hasty conclusion about what's upon God's mind, we see so often Jesus rebuking the superficial charitable deeds, prayer, and fasting of the religious people of Jesus' day (Matthew 6:1-17).

The final stage of maturity of threskeia is fanaticism. An extreme pride for one's conviction.

Now, the attitude of Cornelius was an important factor in the whole process. He was a eusebus man. He wasn't athreskeia sort of person. In Acts, you will come across that Cornelius did things because he feared God. In other words he didn't do all this things so people could see how "faithful" he was. He simply gave and worshipped because he had a true and a vital relation with God. He loved God because he loved God. Nothing more nothing less. He had a relationship with the Almighty God. A relationship that he understood was special to him and that it didn't matter what people thought of him but what God thought of him. He didn't give in to the pressure of what people thought of him. He didn't try to prove anything before God because he knew that he was already in a relationship. He wasn't doing all those stuff because he needed recognition. He didn't do all those stuff because he needed God to notice him or love him more.

Religion is working for something you already got by relationship. Cornelius knew that very well!

Godliness is always and will always be eusebeia. A wonderful relation with our Father in heaven, our Creator.

I hope your blesse by this note. For further in depth in thought of this subject, check out the 'Discipleship 200' book. I'll try to get better at my writing and maybe add in a few personal encounters of my own in the next edit.

Also check out http://skipmoen.com/2009/04/29/buried-by-desire/
You'll surely be blessed by this amazing teacher. God bless!

Interested in the original Bible language?

I found a very cool website recently as I was searching for the Hebrew word for prophet, naba, on google. The site by a man called Skip Moen, is really helpful if you're interested in getting the raw authentic essence of certain words in Hebrew and Greek. I for one am very into authentic word study because it draws me closer to the heart of the one I'm pursuing in relationship and as a teacher of the word of God, I don't wanna get my doctrines messed up right?

I love the caption of his website, 'Recovering the intent of God's Scriptures, one Hebrew or Greek word at a time'. Awesome site indeed.

I recommend this site to any pursuing lover of God and if you want to get better, more authentic and accurate in teaching the word of God, I highly recommend this site.

Here's the link to the website.

http://skipmoen.com

I've also updated my website and you can now watch messages that I've preached there. I hope you'll be blessed and empowered as you tune in to them. God Bless

Daniel Wong

Messages

It's been exciting months since my last post. Just for a start, I've been to heaven a couple of times. Awesome much!

Been occupied with ministry and have been to 2 conferences since March. Randy Clark's School of Healing & Impartation and James Goll's Open Heaven Conference. Been blessed by great men of faith :)

I've also added links of messaged I've shared in the past month on my shutterfly web.

I hope to blog more and bless you more.

Daniel Wong

How Can I Please God?

How can I please God? A defining moment question in any believers life.

• Before we can answer this question, we have to bring some things into perspective.

Firstly, as humans, we naturally go through a "response-cycle". We noticed something (it may be a problem or it may be a positive ligetimate question) > we ask a question > we formulate an answer > we act accordingly. Secondly, what does God look at? Outward actions or heart (attitude, character, mindset)? Obviously the answer is, He looks at our heart. By understanding first these two points, we then can answer the question.

Character, attitude and mindsets are very important factors in our Christian life. We got saved by accepting Jesus into our lives and our nature changed, from sinners to saints. But attitude, character and mindset (ACM) change/transform as a process. One key factor of pleasing Him is being humble (teachable, correctable, moldable, changeable). Letting Him have complete say over our dreams and "5 year plans" will definitely please Him. Jesus is the perfect example.

He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane before He was crucified, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42). So, letting Him invade our lives (hurts, fears, comfort zone included) is something that will please Him.

• Dealing with the problem

Sadly many Christians respond wrongly. Instead of letting God invade their souls and transform their ACM, they instead focus on actions rather than the heart issue. Being occupied by activities or even ministry does not settle the heart issue. Only in the light of Jesus there can be restoration and overcoming. The often quoted statement in avoiding the issue of the heart would be, "Don't worry, I can deal with it" or "You don't understand me, I wasn't at fault and he started it" or "You don't know my dad like how I know him".

• A true story

Let us take the last sentence as an example. Chileab is a 9 year old boy who hates his father because he doesn't spend enough time with him, always isn't at home, and nothing ever seems to meet his father's expectations. Years pass and Leinad hears the gospel and accepts Jesus into his life. Praise the Lord, he is saved! He then grows in the Lord and learns that we should forgive our enemies and love our neighbour as ourselves. Chileab then "deals with the problem" which is to not expect much of his dad coz' he will be disappointed anyway. So to avoid being disappointed, I shall not put my trust in him. To avoid quarrels, I shall just not talk with him. After all I'm now serving in church and I've got God's things to do now. Wow, so smart! NOT!!! My friends, that is not dealing with the problem whatsoever. It's just avoiding the problem.

Avoiding the issue of the heart is not dealing with it. Busying yourself with stuff, even ministry, is not dealing with the problem.

• OK.... I understand what you mean. I understand that my heart is what pleases Him and that this "daddy issue" is not pleasing Him. What am I suppose to do now?

Deal with it....... by letting it expose to the light of Jesus. Acknowledge before Him that you hate your father and let all the memories of the pass surface and forgive him!We should all this.

• But what about if the issue of the heart was not settled for a long period of time? That seed of bitterness has grown to become a tree. It even is bearing fruit! Bad fruit!!!

If that is the case, comes my first point in the first place. Humility. You need to be open to someone for correction, wisdom, accountability, guidance, direction, advice and counsel.

• And who should I be open to. Who should I be open to for correction and the other stuff ?

The only people you should be open to correction, counsel, accountability, etc. is someone that does likewise also. Meaning the person you are open to is also humble (teachable, correctable, moldable, changeable), such as your section overseer or your leader if he/she is humble as well (best applied by WHC members).

• Can I be open to a friend instead?

Well you can, but only if they are humble people (teachable, correctable, moldable, changeable). I don't encourage this.

• Why not? I think he/she is humble.

You have to develop accountability. Accountability is not people who have your same struggles. That's called friends.

• So who should I be accountable to?

The right person

• So you might ask, "How do you know if you're accountable to the right person?"

Well if you fail you'll be nervous about telling them. I'm not talking about paranoid. But listen, if you can go "Hey dude, slept with a girl last week man, feel really convicted about that." "Hey no worries man, I've done that before too. I know how that feels." That's not accountability, that's misery loves company.

So what is the conclusion of the matter?

1. Don't focus on what you should DO to please God, but first let God deal with your heart. Because occupying yourself with activities for God is not the thing that pleases Him and it might lead you into further hurts because the issue of the heart is not dealt with in the first place.
2. Be open for correction, counsel, direction, etc. from someone spiritually mature (someone that is also teachable, correctable, etc.). Example (for WHC members), your section overseer.

The circle we chose in the 4 spiritual laws booklet was not just a formula to get into heaven. It was a road to becoming a perfect man (Eph 4:13 aka 'maturity' in NIV). Lets not forget this and put ourselves back on the throne again.

Wasn't simple of an answer was it? :)

False Prophets

It’s been said that God does nothing in the affairs of men except they pray. Prayer is the catalyst for worldwide transformation. Prayer incites the angels, restrains darkness, and releases nations into their destiny. Prayer is the key to revival, building bridges between what should be and what will be.

The devil also knows the power of prayer and he understands that he can’t stop us from praying. But he is the master of deception and he tries to convince us that his destructive schemes are “acts of God” so Believers will not release the arsenal of Heaven against him! Unfortunately, satan has been more successful at deceiving the saints recently than he has for decades. One of the ways he has shrewdly crept into our society is by convincing the Church that it is our responsibility to release the wrath of God against sinners. This authorizes the dethroned prince of darkness to kill, steal and destroy while we stand aside applauding the demise of these ravaged people. To make matters worse, this evil prince frames the Lord of Redemption for his crimes, poisoning the people of His passion, which causes many of them to reject His wedding invitation. Meanwhile, those who have been empowered to police this property lack discernment and assist these angels of light in their killing spree.

There are 2 kinds of false prophets. The first is the example we see is in Acts 16:16-19.

¹⁶ Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ And this she did for many days.
But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. ¹⁹ But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

This is the first kind of false prophet. The person has a wrong spirit or gift (spirit of divination) and an evil heart. Notice that this particular fortuneteller prophesied correctly! (Well its not hard to predict a crime that if your boss is the one behind the crime).

The second is a classic example from the old testament. The story of Balaam. You can check out the story of Balaam in Numbers 24 & 31. The summary of the story is that Balaam had the correct gift/calling but an evil heart.

It is interesting to know that the heart is what makes a false prophet..... FALSE

What am I trying to say? Are you saying that I'm a false prophet? No. What I'm saying is that you might be influenced by the same spirit a false prophet is influenced by.

Oh ok.... So what to do now?
Simple submit to God resist the devil and he shall flee from you. Meditate on the word of God so that you think in such a way that makes you healthy. This post is to edify and give you grace to escape any trickery and deception from the devil and nothing else besides this point. God bless and may you live in freedom where you are joyful and you make people joyful too. Thats true freedom.

'FUN FACT'

Your gift gives you your ability, your calling gives you your identity and your anointing gives you your purpose.

Kris Vallotton

God The Glory Of His People

The sun shall no longer be your light by day,

Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you;

But the LORD will be to you an everlasting light,

And your God your glory.

Your sun shall no longer go down,

Nor shall your moon withdraw itself;

For the Lord will be your everlasting light,

And the days of your mourning shall be ended.

Also your people shall all be righteous;

They shall inherit the land forever,

The branch of My planting,

The work of My hands,

That I may be glorified.

A little one shall become a thousand,

And a small one a strong nation.

I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.

Isaiah 60:19-22 NKJV

Just So Awesome

Christmas is around the corner and being excited would be an understatement. I feel like developing a culture of celebrating thanksgiving like the west where families come together to be thankful about things and to appreciate one another.

World Harvest is where I grew up in, met God in, discipled in, evangelized with, learnt prayer, learn forgiveness, hope, love, grace and so many more indescribable experiences. So in this season of Christmas and Thanksgiving, I'd like to thank everyone for loving me despite my character flaws and weaknesses. I wanna thank my parents for teaching me and imparting to me my inheritance. My church buddies that have sticked with me even though challenges are fierce and being just great human beings. My section/cell members, your faith and lives have been such an inspiration to my life and joy to my soul (every single one of you). My youths, instead of teaching you stuff, I've been taught stuff. My colleagues, with you all times of joy always way outnumbers the times of sorrow. My special friend, I have learned and have been transformed by your grace and love. And most of all my Jesus, who is not just a loving God in theory or in a story book but truly ever faithful and good in experience. You deserve all the glory and everything in your light seems insignificant.

'YE' OLD GOOD BOOK'
For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17 NKJV)