Just quickly jotting down a thanksgiving point!

God's presence was so strong and real during the night conference. WHOA. Ps Dennis from Hope Kuching preached "We are Holy Spirit Empowered". And during the altar call for people to respond to ask God what spiritual gifts He has given them, I responded.

And whoa, whoa, whoa... when I went up to the altar, one of the pastors (I think he's from Australia) came up to me, laid hands on me and prophesied.

He prophesied that the Lord has given me the gift of prophecy! And he said that like Samuel, God will use me as I grow from strength to strength. And that the Lord is very appreciative of my heart for Him, a heart like King David.

So i knelt down and prayed, asking God why did He give me the gift of prophecy. And I got this strong impression that His answer was: "Because you were faithful with the small prophecies that I gave you, and now I have given you much more." WHOA.

And when I told HQ abt this, he replied, "Great! You do have a great wealth of word for Holy spirit to use!"

And I think it's also because it's really a desire of my heart to minister to people through speaking a divine word from the Lord. Whether it's words of encouragement, or words of warning... or even words of foretelling (yes, foretelling what is to come - but no, this is NOT fortune-telling, only what the Lord Himself chooses to reveal to us.)

Hee. I just feel very thrilled by this confirmation. Not only from this pastor, but also 'cos I've been trying to exercise the gift of prophecy for many years... even for non-believers, if I sense the Holy Spirit wants to give them a specific word.

Actually, in fact, there have been times where I sense very strongly that the brother/sister has certain attitudes that may destroy him/her spiritually. In those cases where I obeyed even though I was trembling while sharing the word of knowledge... I'm very thankful that it seems that God protected these people from further harm (except one particular case... he left God.)

But... gee... there's other times I chose not to say anything, 'cos I wasn't sure... and somehow, sooner or later, the person left church... and even God... so I started wondering if what I sensed might have been a prompting from the Holy Spirit, so that I might help look out for and caution my bros/sisters, just in case.

Hmm. Actually, there's one brother right now, that I've been wondering about, whether it's a genuine prompting from God to caution him, or just my own worries. And another friend, whom I've been feeling concerned for, but not sure.

I need to pray for them further... so that can be more sure... it might be the Holy Spirit's prompting, for all I know! :)

Wow! :D So I want to encourage all my dear brothers and sisters to likewise desire and exercise spiritual gifts, because these gifts help to build up the Church! Don't belittle yourself by saying that it's not for me... then gee, it's rejecting God's gift to you. (Which is not very nice to do that to anyone, including God.)

1 Corinthians 14:1
"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy."

Ephesians 4:11-13
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

So desire to be a faithful servant of God, and ask God to use you to help build up his Church, the body of Christ, in order to help prepare God's people for works of service. Don't practice false humility - practice glorifying God! Amen! :)

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And then the pastor continued to prophesy. That my case is like that of David as a young shepherd boy. That David was the last one of Jesse's sons to be called, and he had to be called in from the field, 'cos his own dad didn't include him in the original line-up...

This particular line touched me very deeply, because in my eleven years as a Christian, I really was the last one to be called in to serve as a shepherd, among my peers... you know, in a church where your spiritual buddies in the same age group have all started taking care of people, and they're much younger than you in terms of number of years as Christians... it did bother and discourage me a lot for quite a number of years.

In fact, one leader described me (not in a negative spirit, thankfully, but as a matter of fact, because it IS true) to the other brothers and sisters that I was chosen to take care of a caregroup for a while, not because I was skilled or even had the maturity in a sense, but only because I was willing... then he/she scolded the rest, "Do we have to go to this extent, that we have to actually scrape the bottom of the barrel to find leaders?"

Because I know i'm not a natural leader... nor am I charismatic or outgoing.

So that's why the prophecy tonight really touched my heart. Because God was assuring me tonight that though I'm the last called in from the field, the "bo-pian-have-to-use-him-now" benchwarmer, He has chosen me, who is less than the least of all God's people.

WOW. Feel very touched! Thank You Jesus for loving me and choosing even a wretched sinner like me to do Your wonderful work... whoa, whoa, whoa! You chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong, the lowly things, the foolish things, the things that are not to shame the things that are... so that none may boast before You! =)