we gotta FIGHT to TAKE ground...

was truly inspired by saturday's session at powergen camp! was so touched by the WORD and God's presence was so strong in the place... it was awesome! for those who dunno what i'm talking about, powergen is a young adult's ministry at Paradise church which i am attending... since 2 months ago the international students have spilted from powergen to form our own international student ministry in the city... sorta miss powergen meetings every wednesday... the atmosphere the people, a lot of aussies even tho i dun really no them... the whole worship band which is just awesome...

enough bout dat... sorta got deviated... this post is supposed to be bout THE session on FAITH...
pastor cameron was preaching on FAITh from this chapter in Acts.

Paul and Silas in Prison

16Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." 18She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.

19When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."

22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"

29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.

The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas - the words of the crowd put Paul and Silas in jail, the owners of the slave girl brought them before the magistrate and said a lot load of stuff that condemned these 2 might men of God to prison... in the same way, we are held bondage by the words that are spoke over our lives... "you are stupid."" you will never amount to anything." "You are just naive." "who do you think you are?" words dat hold us down, make me fear the rejection of men. of our loved ones. holding us down from living out the live that God has calledus to. Because we are afraid. chains that are like the stocks on paul and silas in prison (he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks). not physical chains but mental, emotional, spiritual chains that are so deeply embedded in our lives that we almost feel confortable having them around. Truly, i must admit i got so used to believing certain things about myself that will never ever change or that i could not do certain things because of what people had said in the past. or hurts that never truly heal due to the sharp words of people who don't even know how much damage they ever caused by saying random things. BREAK FREE!!!!! pasor cameron shared bout how he was so afraid of being called an idiot in the past. he was worshipping God one nite in his bedroom and God told him... "pull a stupid face." it was something he found really hard to do. because in the past he had been called an idiot for doing idiotic stuff obviously. and God said, "pull a stupid face." and in obedience he did. it was such a liberation for him to jus be as idiotic as he could be in the presence of God. to dance like a mad nut. like david who gave all to God not caring what others thought of him. He danced before his King in public... and in the same name, we need to BREAK FREE, BREAK THROUGH all the chains, walls, barriers that stop us from living up to our calling.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. - this is what paul and silas did. they prayed and worshipped. they believed that God was gonna come through for them somehow. imagine if silas or paul said," i think we overdid it. we certainly threw the whole city into chaos and we are so dead. now they are gonna persecute us and we are gonna be here for the rest of our lives." but they did not. They were united in believing that by prayer and worship, they could BREAK THROUGH their physical circumstances. even in their pain, they were flogged, stuck in a dungeon... their fate unknown. They had FAITH. FAITH that could move mountains. FAITH that not only broke the stocks that held them and the prison door to their cell but shook the very foundations of the prison and ALL the prison doors flew opened... i must do a ji's, "WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH".... hehe... Like paul and silas, we can BREAK THROUGH our physical circumstances... BELIEVE IT! don't be cynical with God.He is the God of impossible. how awesome it is if we prayed and worshipped till the chains of others are broken too.

BREAK THROUGH your physical circumstances!!BREAK THROUGH from your mental and emotional barriers!! LIVE OUT the calling of God on your life. HE has called you by name. He has given you dreams. And He will bring them to pass when we lay our lives before Him. CONTEND for it. pray, worship, live it out!!! if God asks you to pull a stupid face, DO IT!!! very self liberating to go nuts before Him... We gotta fight to take ground... for God, for ourselves, for our family and friends, things are not gonna happen if we sit on our butts and jus say," ya ya... i am working on it." in other words (my translation) "i am not doing anything about it. i am jus procrastinating and hoping it will work out somehow." push it to the side and move on with life... *do... yaink!*

I think it is such a freedom in shouting out loud, " THE ENEMY HAS BEEN DEFEATED!! DEATH COULDN'T HOLD YOU DOWN!! WE ARE GONNA LIFT OUR VOICE IN VICTORY! WE ARE GONNA MAKE OUR PRAISES LOUD!!" try it... feels very, very good....

sorry this is kinda cheong hay. i figured i haven't got the gift of teaching. i go around here a bit there a bit. hope you get the gist of it and what's on my heart. love u guys, have a wonderful week~!