When I was 17

For the past few Fridays, Brother Fish have been sharing about Genesis. How the story of Joseph is closely related to our movement-how his dream caused him to go through all things he faced to finally reach the goal.

God gave Joseph this dream in his youth. When he was 17, he told his brothers this dream, and was then betrayed by his brothers and sold. However, this dream of his from the young age of 17, motivated Joseph to keep going amidst all difficulties. He believed in it and had faith. He was also close to God, always aware of His presence.

This actually parallels God's commission to us in this movement. And after thinking about it for a while, I realized that it could very well parallel my own life!

God also appeared to me when I was 17. That was when I saw clearly how God needs me, I decided to lay down all to love Him. I also experienced how important we are in this generation, and how we are truly after His heart. This experience changed my whole life.

That was only 4 years ago....almost 5, which is actually not a short time. Sometimes in my life I face struggles, failures, I get accused and I have thoughts of giving up. In these moments, I question why I am still walking on this way when I have these struggles and failures, and why I am still trying so hard to keep walking. However, I always fall back to that experience when I was 17. Just thinking and remembering how the Lord said that He needs me, would touch me again. And I become so clear what I am doing and why I am doing it!

I realize how important it is to remember God's calling and His personal love. If one day I forget this, I will be in big trouble, and loose my whole direction in life. I need to shout for joy daily for His commission so I can treasure it everyday, so that everyday, I have a clear direction and goal. I also need His love to strengthen me and compel me.

This is actually what our church and this movement has been practising since the beginning. This movement is a movement of drawing near to God. When we draw near to God, we experience His closeness, and remember and enjoy His love. He will also remind us of how to live our life. Often, He will also appear to us personally.

All men need this experience. I can say all men need to experience God's personally appearing.

Brothers and sisters, I treasure so much that I can be in this movement. I treasure that I grew up with older b/s teaching me how to draw near to God. I treasure that I have parents that modeled and taught me the importance of drawing near to God. Little did I know when I was young, this is my foundation of life! I can never neglect this in my life, or else...I really dont know what I would become!
I also treasure God's commission upon us. I treasure to have such a clear commission and to see God's heart clearly! This is really the desire of God's heart, which was the same from the old testament till now! I treasure God's personal appearings to me. I treasure His calling. I will never trade these for anything in the world!

Wow! I am so blessed! Writing this has already uplifted my spirit! I wanna shout for joy now! YAY!!!

How precious that the Lord has a special plan and will in your life too! He has commissioned you (if you are Christian-hehe I actually dont know who reads this blog)! Its just your choice to take it or not!