Strong, Blameless & Holy

1 Thessalonians 3:13 “May He make your hearts strong, blameless and holy.” So my friend (whom I wrote about yesterday) pinged me with some great encouragement. I think the snippets speak for themselves. Hey john, thank you so much for the call last night and taking the time to talk to me. I spent last night and today praying really hard about it. I reflected and asked if my heart was in the right place and how i've been treating God. I realised i've been focusing so much on my startup and pushing God out, and i wanted to do things on my own terms. I recognised I was wrong and told God I would never be stubborn again, and let him take the wheel. And, some how, I believe God has answered my prayer today. Prior to this, i was very afraid of starting this startup because i didn't have a CTO and no matter how hard i tried to find one, i couldn't find one. But just on saturday, i met a friend who was a former startup founder and a programmer. He wasn't interested either. Today he casually asked to sit in for my huddle with my tech team. And all of a sudden, he just said the product is great and he wants to support us fully. I suddenly felt this wave of confidence and comfort. I was always afraid of failing, because i was just relying on myself. And i only prayed to ask God to bless it and make it work. But today, i prayed to ask God to take the wheel and should it fail, i know it's all part of God's plan. I've not felt so much comfort in a while. It was such an incredible occasion that just yesterday afternoon my Sunday sermon was about being a true Christian as compared to a lukewarm Christian. I was originally a bit shy to show how staunch I am as a believer. But just today, I’ve become more open about my faith and I’m less afraid or shy about showing my faith. It’s quite a “behavioural change” for me, because most people know me for the vices and the sins. And people call me a fraud or a fake. But... I think God is more important than the voices of the world haha I never wanted to pray in front of my friends. But for the first time I prayed in front of them and was not afraid or shy. It was a life changing moment for me :’) Thank you so much for talking some sense into me last night. It really pulled me closer to God. Thank you so much. :') Lord you are so good. Moments like these make life worth living. Thank you for making our hearts strong, blameless and holy. In your son’s most precious name, Amen. (P.S. Thanks all for your prayers. My dad had a good appointment with the doctors yesterday and should have a plan back in the next day or so.)

Greatly Encouraged

1 Thessalonians 3:7 “So we have been greatly encouraged in the midst of our troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith. It gives us new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord.” Last night a friend called to ask for some advice. “Work is great, but I’ve always wanted to jump out on my own. I have this startup idea, but I feel like God might be telling me the time is not right. What should I do? What if I don’t do it now and someone else takes the idea and makes it a big company?” I told him a few stories from my life and from scripture that outlined why he should always listen to God. “I believe God is the ultimate dreamer, and we’re made in his image. So it’s our responsibility to dream big. But it’s only when we show God that He’s more important than our dreams, that He sees our heart in the right place and blesses us with those dreams. The way to a billion dollar company is to not care about the billion dollar company at all in relation to God.” I advised him to fast and pray, and he resisted. “I love my food. That’s really hard to do for me.” “Yes that’s the point! You can never outgive God. I dare you to see if He doesn’t totally blow you away when you put Him above your deepest desires.” “Yes I get it… but sometimes I’m stubborn.” “That’s fine bro. God still loves you and wants the promised land for you. But it might take 40 years of wandering in the desert to get there. It’s not punishment so much as love… cause blessing us when we’re not ready can totally kill us.” We hung up the phone and honestly I wasn’t sure how he’d land on it. But this morning I felt God lead me to 1 Thessalonians 3. Paul had similar concerns about the church there, but had heard reports back from Timothy that they were thriving, and that their faith was carrying them through. Today I feel like God calling me to call out the gold in this friend, and to speak truth that his faith will also carry him through. Lord, thank you for protecting me and my friends. Thank you that you love us and want the promised land for us. I submit my will to yours today, and declare that all I need is you. Thank you also for protecting my father who has a doctor’s appointment at 2pm. We look forward to good news. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Death Penalty

Mark 15:37 “Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last.” On June 19th I wrote about how Pastor Danny Silk gave us an exercise to write down 100 dreams. (https://www.johnkim.co/post/dreaming-big) I wrote down 12 in the first day, then it took me a week to get the next 12. Today after 3 months, I’ve hit dream 98. At one point I started flipping through the gospel of Mark to see what Jesus did. He said that we’d do greater things than he did, so I thought at least getting on par with what he did would be a good exercise in faith. Now I’ve always considered myself a dreamer, but this took things to a whole new level. I literally wrote “cast out demons,” “walk on water,” and “raise someone from the dead” in my list of dreams. It felt so awkward at first, but after praying into it, I got really excited at what it’d feel like if God did anything close to these through me. This morning I flipped to the end of the gospel of Mark, and I realized that Jesus did do all those miracles. But at the end of his life Jesus suffered incredible shame, torture and eventually brutal execution. I thought to myself “should I also put these on my list of dreams?” This morning Syed Suhail was scheduled to hang at Changi Prison here in Singapore. He had been caught with 39g of heroine in 2011 and given a mandatory death sentence in 2016. An incredible outpouring of support for leniency has swept across the island, and his execution was temporarily delayed. In many countries around the world today, imposing the death penalty on a drug trafficker is considered both insane and inhumane. So to see execution for yourself as a thing to aspire to… how much crazier is that? Lord, I love you. All I need is you. I submit all my plans to you, and I welcome any trials that may come my way. I know that they are only temporary, and the greater they feel, the greater the glory they’ll bring you and your kingdom. I die to myself and want nothing more than to create space for you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.