Reflections on Gifts (Spiritual/Natural)

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The Bible has taught us that our spiritual gifts such as prophecy, teaching, encouragement and leading are all gifts of grace. (Read Eph 12:6) If these gifts were given to us as an act of grace it is therefore a privilege and not an entitlement. God gave us these gifts as a result of his goodness and has nothing to do with us. So we must not be boastful if we have them, or complain and grumble against if we do not have them.

Gifts comes in different form, there are two types of gifts - spiritual and natural. Spiritual gifts are given to us when we were born again into His kingdom, it is only given to those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, example of such gifts are prophecy, speaking in tongues and teaching (the word of God). There is also another type of gift such as natural gifts that is put in a person at birth. Such gifts are given to every one at large even to non Christians. These gifts could be gifts of creativity such as writing poem/songs, playing the piano, singing and dancing -what is also commonly know as natural talents.

But whatever these gifts may be, one thing I do believe is that God never gave us these gifts and intended for us to use them for our own selfish desires/purposes.  I believe these gifts are for us to use in His Kingdom to give Him glory and it is also to the benefit of the body of Christ at large. While the bible says that God's gifts and his call are irrevocable (Romans 11:29), I do believe that our gifts must be used actively, otherwise they might become dormant and as a result we might lose our effectiveness in them. If the Lord has given us any gifts, we should take care that we use them humbly and in the right manner.

Gifts such as prophecy and teaching, if not used in the correct manner, it can cause a leader to go astray allowing him to start his own false doctrine such as The Prosperity Gospel or Hyper-grace message, drawing crowds of people after themselves. Instead of preaching Biblical truth, they twist the scriptures to please "the people who will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

People who have the gift of teaching and prophecy should teach and prophesy in the fear of the Lord, they should be drawing men to God and not to themselves. We should encourage our sisters and brothers to use their spiritual gifts to edify the body of Christ and not hide them under the rug and collect cob webs. Practicing the gifts of the Holy Spirit is best exercised in a weekly small group meeting, when the members are encourage to give a word of encouragement or a word of knowledge for ministry.

Sometimes "situational gift" can happen, if a demonized person turns up in a meeting, but the "deliverer" is not available, does that mean that a deliverance ministry cannot take place because of that? Of course not! God will put the anointing to cast out a demon on another person temporarily for the sake of His glory, so that ministry can take place. This particular person may or may not be "anointed" in this form of ministry, but if this person continues to involve himself/herself in this ministry, in time to come she/he might just develop the anointing eventually to cast out a demon.  Spiritual gifts operates in the same fashion as natural talent, the more we use it, the better and sharper we become in these gifts.

Everyone has been given a gift from God, some are left undiscovered and unexplored until we venture out and try it because I personally don't believe that there is such thing as an un-gifted child of God.  We therefore, must always be willing and opened to try new things, you never know what you are good at until you try it. 

What natural/spiritual gift has God given you today? How are you using it to glorify God? Go try new things and perhaps you might in the process, discover a hidden talent you never know you possess!

God bless you!

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;
Princess Michelle -
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

Tears of Healing

Tears are my prayers when I'm unable to speak
Lord You see my heart, You know that I am weak
Drop by drop they flow continually from my eyes
Like the rain that is falling from the sky
How loud O Lord is the sound of my cry
How long more O Lord will You continue to pass me by
Every ounce of hurt, with each tear I choose to let go
May Your healing touch through each one of them flow
Receive my tears as my worship and prayer unto Thee
Do not ignore my cries when I'm on my knees
I will continue to wait on You
Trusting Your grace to see me through
For my hope comes from You and You alone
My Abba Father, who sits on heaven's throne

Written by Michelle Yee

Reflections on love

What is love? Love is not just a feeling or an emotion, it's much more than that - Love is an action word. I once heard this quote that if you love someone, you have to let him/her go. Love is not about possessing someone, you can love someone from afar.  Love requires sacrifice and to love someone is a choice. Feelings and affection for someone can fade in time, but true love doesn't go away that easily. If love is just based on what we feel in our heart, than it can be a dangerous and deceitful thing. If your love is only based on an emotional feeling, than it means that if one day you feel like you love him, you will do anything for him, but if the next day you feel like you don't love him, you will just walk out on him, because the feeling of love is no longer there. But love is about choosing to stay put and work out all the wrongs to make it right, no matter how hard the circumstance. The Bible tells us that "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

Let's look into the Bible for it's definition of love; "Love is patient, love is kind, and it is not jealous; love does not brag and it is not arrogant, does not act unbecoming; it does not seek its own, it is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness; but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hope all things, endure all things….. But now abide faith, hope, love these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:4-8,13)

True love was demonstrated to us by Christ, "But God demonstrated His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) "Greater love has no one than this, that he lays down his life for his friends. (John 15:13), "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16) Love is always about sacrifice, God gave and gave and gave. That is just His nature, "The one who does not know love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8)

What motivates you to do the things you do?  Is it out of obligation? Out of love? Out of fear? The bible teaches us that "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives our fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not perfect in love." (1 John 4:18).

Fear however has two types… Irrational fears such as fears of cockroaches and a reverent healthy fear of the Lord, which leads to life, " The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death." (Proverbs 14:27)

The fear of God, actually drives us towards him, not away from Him. God has shown us so much of His love that, our only response to Him is to love Him and worship Him by following and obeying him. We fear him because, He is God Almighty, Just and Holy and we are mere dust and sinners, damn to hell. God can smite us anytime if our sins arouses Him to anger, but He chooses to withhold His judgement from us because of grace.  "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both the soul and body in hell."  (Matthew 10:28), "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the father, full of grace and truth". (John 1:14) "For if, but the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life, through one man, Jesus Christ! "(Romans 5:17), "He made him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, that we might be the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21) That's grace and that's true love!

Love can be demonstrated in a few practical ways - by words of encouragement, by praying, by works of kindness… "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountain, but do not have love, I am nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:1-2). Therefore, we ought to "Do everything in love" (1 Corinthians 16:4), "We love because he first loved us" (John 4:19). "A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)

Love - because God first loved us and it is a demonstration to the world that we are indeed His disciples! Fear the Lord, because it is life!

God bless you

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;
Princess Michelle -
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

Hope

Give me faith when my world is crashing
Lift me up when I am falling
Lord, I'm calling out to You
I have no where else to turn to

When darkness covers me
Open my eyes and help me see
You are all that I have
And You are all that I really need

Nothing else matters
No one else will do
Help me to have faith
And truly put my trust in You

You are the light, You are my hope
You are the answer to all I need
Whatever it takes, break me
Bring me to my knees

When all else fail, Your word remains true
Hope draws me back, and I'll wait for You

Written by Michelle Yee

Serving with you in His kingdom with love;
Princess Michelle -
Beloved daughter of the Most High King

Good Friday/Easter Reflection

Good Friday/Easter Reflection

God made man - man. Man made god - idol.  When God created human it is in the natural. But when man tries to create God who is more supreme than Him, this becomes pride. Idolatry therefore equals pride, as it takes the focus off the Creator to the creation. The creation becomes the object of our worship and when that happens, our sight on our Creator is lost. We then walk away from Him leading our own selfish lifestyle. Idolatry and pride are both sin and require death.

The Bible says that "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift is eternal life through Jesus Christ" (Romans 6:23).  Remember that even though your gift is free, it didn't come cheap! Jesus paid for it with His own blood!

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that who ever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)

Are we living in pride? Do we have idols that take the place where God should be. What do we live for? What are our priorities? Have we lost our sight on God and start to pursue other stuff?

As we approach Easter and Good Friday this weekend, let us bring our focus back to our Creator who loved us so much that He will hang on the cross for our sins. "He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we may become the righteousness of God."  (2 Cor 5:21).

May we all take this time to reflect on our lives and if we find ourselves guilty of any of the above mentioned, may we all repent before the Lord. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:19).

God bless you all...

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;
Princess Michelle
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

Following the shepherd and discerning His voice

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God has called us sheep in the Bible (Isaiah 53:6) and when God uses that to describe us, it is not a compliment. Sheep are by nature, dumb and clueless animals. There are many references in the Bible that uses "sheep" to describe us... (Ezekiel 34:6 -31, Matt 9:36, Mark 6:34). And Jesus calls Himself our Good Shepherd. (John 10: 1-18)

Now sheep being naturally dumb, tends to bump around like a headless chicken if we do not have a guide to lead us. But Jesus calls Himself our Good Shepherd, we are the sheep of His pasture and those belonging to Him can recognise His voice (John 10:26 - 29), He is the way the truth and the life.  (John 14:6)

The only way we can recognise His voice is unless we spend time with Him on a regular basis, listening and talking to Him. It all boils down to our relationship with the Lord and how closely we desire to walk with Him. The more time we spend with Him, the easier it will be for us to identify and recognise His voice and discern between Him and the Deceiver!

We all know about the famous story about the Pipe Piper of Hamelin… He blew his pipe and all the mice in town followed the music. The Pipe Piper led them to the river where the mice just followed blindly and subsequently one by one landed into the river and they all drowned. The Pipe Piper returned to the town Mayor to collect his reward,  but because the Mayor didn't honour his promise, the Pipe Piper blew a different tune and it attracted all the children after him, leading them into somewhere, where they eventually got lost forever, except for one lame boy who got left behind because he was not able to catch up with the rest.

Like the children and the mice in the story, if we just follow the crowd blindly because everyone is heading for that direction, we would all be in trouble. We need to keep our eyes focussed on our Shepherd and stay close to the flock and we are reminded always to be aware of wolves in sheep's clothing (false prophets - Matt 7:15, Matt 24:4-5,24.) In the preceding verse of Matthew 7:15, verse 13-14 says, "Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is broad, that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it."

We need to be careful where we are heading and who we are listening to… Are we following the voices of the world or are we following the voice of our shepherd? God speaks to us in a still small voice, and because of that, we need to learn to be silent and still before Him in order that we are able to discern and listen carefully to what He is saying.

Are we allowing the distractions and the temptations of the world to cloud and block His still small voice? Remember Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit warned the leaders in Acts 20:28-30 saying, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them." (In current context, be aware of Prosperity Gospel and Hyper-grace messages.)

What is God speaking to you about right now? What is your response? May we always be in constant prayer and communion with the Lord. Don't follow the crowd blindly, listen to the voice of our Shepherd! Remember the warnings about the narrow and the wide gate and about the false prophets! Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32)

God bless!

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;
Princess Michelle -
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

Bodily function - spiritual implications

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Bodily function - spiritual implications

The Bible tells us that we are made in God's image (Genesis 9:6) and that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). We are also taught that in Him, we live and move and have our being, for we are His offspring. (Acts 17:28)

Having read the above Scriptures, what is the spiritual implication on us? In order to answer that, let us take a look at our physical body and study it in parallel to the scriptures. But before that, note that there is one commonality in all the above 3 verses… They all point us to the fact that life is meaningless without God - our source of life!!!

We were all created in His image for His purpose… 

Now let us examine our physical body… 

1) We are given a heart - 

God made us in His own image to fellowship with Him and to have communion with Him. Because God created us, we all have a natural void in our heart that can only be filled and satisfied by the One who created it. We are to open it and allow Him to come in to fill us, to have fellowship with Him, to worship Him, to love Him… 

2) We are given eyes - 

We are given eyes to see the things which God have created, we all have spiritual eyes to see the works of God in our lives. Open up your eyes to see what God is doing!

3) We are given a nose

We have nose to breathe oxygen to keep us alive! Without it, we cannot survive.  If our nose are blocked, we cannot breathe properly. God gave us life to enjoy the things we have, appreciate them before it is taken away from you!

4) We are given mouths -

We have a mouth…. What for? If we cannot see, or feel, or smell, we have mouth to use to open and ask God for it. Ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you. (Matthew 7:7) We use our mouth to sing His praise and declare God's goodness, to speak blessings on one other. 

5) We are given ears - 

We all have ears. After we have opened our mouths to ask for something, open our ears to hear what He has to say to us… Listen to the Spirit's prompting!

6) We are given legs and hands - 

What do we do after listening to God's voice? We need to act on it. Use our legs to walk in them, and use our hands to do what needs to be done.

7) We are given brains - 

Finally, last but not least, we all are given brains. God did not make us into mindless robots. We are given brains to process, think, study and than finally choose and decide what we want to do with all we have been given. 

We all have a purpose and it begins and ends with Christ!

God bless you!

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;

Princess Michelle -

Beloved Daughter of Most High King

Beyond it all

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Behind this smile
Hides the pain you've never knew I was in
Behind the laughter
Are tears you've never seen

Beyond the pain, my heart can bear
A yearning desire for one who will love and care
Beyond the fear, and doubt that lies within
I seek the One, whom my eyes have not seen

Though my eyes seen Him not,
My heart has felt Him near
Though many words others have said to me
His words of love and truth I hold most dear

Beyond all the struggles, I face in life
Beyond all the disappointment, I continue to fight
Beyond all the darkness, failures and human fault
Is a steadfast love I behold that fails me not

Written by Michelle Yee

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;
Princess Michelle -
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

The Old Testament God verses the New Testament God - Are they the same or different?

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How many gods does the Christian faith has? Is it 1, 2 or 3? Answer - we only have one God! Some would wonder than if the God of the old testament is the same as the God of the new…. Well, in this blog, we will answer this question..

I'm currently doing a one year Bible reading plan covering both the old and the new testament, and have just recently finished reading the book of Exodus and co-currently reading the book of Matthew. I was initially quite appalled by the fact that God commanded death/violence for so many occasions. (Exodus 21: 12-36). Whereas, in the new testament, we don't see that happening. In fact, quite a stark difference, we have a peaceful, gentle and loving one as demonstrated by Jesus. Initially, when I read the account in Exodus where God apparently appears to be so violent, I had problems reconciling the two together. Yet as I ponder, I realised and remembered what I was taught last time - The New Testament is the Old Testament fulfilled, therefore the Old and New Testament God is the same.

In the old testament, the people were given the law of God, by God Himself through Moses, and they were required to follow them. Because God is a just and Holy God, He cannot let sin go unpunished, and since at that time, there was only God and his people. Therefore, when they did wrong, they had to pay for their own sins (because that was and still is the penalty - "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" Romans 6:23). And as there wasn't any one at that time who is able to atone for them, except for the animal sacrifice which was done by the priest once annually. This, however, was only a temporary measure, since it has to be done on a yearly basis.

Now fast forward to the new testament, where Jesus is now in the picture. Jesus himself said that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it (Matt 5:17, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.) Jesus was God in the flesh (John 1:14), Jesus was God's own son (John 3:16) And only a sinless man like Jesus (Hebrews 4:16) can atone for the sin of others - the sinner is not able to atone for himself or for someone else that's why an animal atonement was required in the old testament. This is however, unnecessary in the new testament because of Jesus. God had made Him (Jesus) the object of the wrath we deserve. "God made him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, that we might have the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Therefore, Jesus, became the "sacrificial lamb" by which His blood, all mankind were saved, making Christ the only way to salvation. Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6) As all of judgement due to us were poured on Christ, when He went to the cross, we no longer see "death threats" as sin requires in the new testament as compared to the old, except for two instances in the book of Acts in the case of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:3-10) and King Herald (Acts 12:20-22). Death is still the penalty for sin, but now it is no longer the just physical death but a spiritual one. (A soul that is away from God for eternity).

We have just learnt that the old testament God is the same as the new testament. Now some will start to ask, about the Holy Spirit? Christian worship the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Some mistaken this as 3 different gods, but they are actually the same. Just like we have learnt that Jesus was God in the flesh (being the 2nd person in the Holy Trinity) The Holy Spirit is the 3rd person of the Holy Trinity as demonstrated in Acts 5:3-10 in the death of the Ananias and Sapphira. The Holy Spirit was given to the followers of Jesus Christ as a promise by Jesus Himself after His resurrection from the death and before His ascension into heaven and it was also a mark of identity and empowerment for those who are in Him. (Acts 1:4,8)

Now back to the main question - Is the old testament God different from the new testament God? Nope, they are one and the same! And how many gods does the Christian faith have again? Just one! "Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one." (Deuteronomy 6:4).

God bless you!

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;
Princess Michelle -
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

The danger of over celebrating a celebrity

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The danger of over celebrating a celebrity...

We all love famous people. Yes we all do, they are famous for a few reasons - either they are handsome, pretty, talented, rich or influential in one way or the others. We all have famous people we admire, we call them celebrities. They are either actresses, actors, singers/songwriters or directors. We have famous singers and songwriters both in the secular as well as the religious (Christian) sector. Is there anything wrong with them? No absolutely not. Is there anything wrong with them being famous or popular? No of course not. Is there anything wrong with celebrating them and their success? Why of course not… Than why I'm talking about it? There is absolutely nothing wrong with them being famous or popular nor is there anything wrong with celebrating them and their success, but it becomes a different issue altogether when we start to idolise them. This can become very tricky in the Christian music industry as compared to the secular ones.

Why am I talking about it? Well, it is because we can subtly fall into the trap of idolising these Christian artistes without us realising it. Why subtle, because the line is very thin and we can cross it without realising it. Is it possible you ask? Yes, it is. How do I know? Well, it is because I personally have fallen into a trap which took me years to get out of. I didn't even realised my sin until I was convicted by the Holy Spirit that I've made my subject of adoration into an idol!

There are many famous and influential Christian celebrities be it band or individual - Kari Jobe, Hillsong, Planet Shakers, Bob Fitts, Chris Tomlin, Michael W Smith, Paul Baloche, Darlene Zschech and Israel Houston just to name a few and my personal favourites Don Moen and Lenny LeBlanc…. What are the roles of these people? They are called to lead worship and bring us into God's presence…

We all love them! And there's nothing wrong with loving them, but it becomes wrong when we over celebrate them to the point we lose our focus on Jesus… They go from town to town bringing their band along to sing and lead worship… We all enjoy their presence, singing their songs and worshipping God together with them. But when does a concert intended for us to worship God becomes just another performance we enjoy watching? That line is very thin, and we do not know when we might accidently cross it.

I'm not saying this because I'm against anyone. No, that's not true, in fact I have my own favourites that I look forward to meeting them when they come to my country. But like I've mentioned the line that divides a worship meeting from just another artiste performing their songs is very thin. We just ought to be very careful how we treat this, because we are not careful, we might end up worshipping the worship leader instead of the Lord whom the leader is leading us to worship. I personally have crossed this line many years ago, and it took me as many years later to finally get out of the pit. So is it the fault of the worship leader? No it is not! Don't be mistaken, the fault lies not with them, but with us! Our focus is out of whack! At least mine was! I still adore and love my favourite singers, (who are now my friends) but at least now I'm more careful that I don't treat them (one of them) like an idol like I used to. But the transition from dethroning my idol to become a status of a friend is hard, I sometimes still struggle to find the balance of trying to maintain a healthy friendship with him without trying to become overly obsessive in getting him to reciprocate it. I still fail at times.

I give this warning to all so that you do not fall into the same trap as me… Let me be very clear that I am not against any celebrities, I'm not even saying that my favourite artiste (whose identity I shall not reveal), is the one who caused me to stumble. I repeat again that it wasn't anyone's fault, not his, just mine! These awesome favourite artiste of mine has done a lot of good to me, their music has ministered so much to me, they have encouraged me on a very personal level, I had the privilege of meeting them a few times, I send them cards on every special occasions such as birthdays, wedding anniversary, Thanksgiving and Christmas and we correspond with each other over emails (I do most of the sending). I am personally very grateful to these wonderful people whom God has placed in my life, I'm so thankful our paths have crossed, I love them and I'm so thankful I can call them my friends! They will always have a special place in my heart that no one else can replace, yet God is still over them and I cannot allow them to take over the place of honour and adoration that only Jesus rightfully deserves. And I ought to be careful not to let them become an idol!

So let's get back to the point. Is it wrong to be famous? No, there isn't. Is there anything wrong with liking and celebrating them and their success? No, but we must be careful with way we treat them. We thank God for the works they do, we celebrate their success in ministry, we enjoy their songs, we attend their concerts and all these are purely neutral and fine as long as we know when and how to draw the line and not let them become the object of our adoration instead of Christ!

Disclaimer: I respect and honor every Christian celebrity and this blog is not intended to belittle anyone. If any one is offended by my blog, please accept my most sincere apology!

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;
Princess Michelle -
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

Love the sinner NOT the sin

Love the sinner NOT the sin

Short reflection…

There's has been much controversy about the LGBT agenda… Some are for it and some are against it. It is clear in the Bible that God made us Male and Female and homosexuality is clearly forbidden as taught in the Scriptures. Yet, today we are not talking so much about what the Bible says is wrong with being gays and lesbians. I want to discuss about how we relate to the people involve in such activities.

While most LBGT accused us Christians as being intolerant and unloving saying that we despise them and treat them as outcast of our society. I want us to reflect on the life of Jesus and see how he relates to the sinners. We should be following the example of Christ. I entitled my blog "Love the sinner NOT the sin… Isn't that what Jesus did for us as well? But before I dive into this topic I would like to clarify that loving someone DOESN'T MEAN that we accept what he/she does to be right.

Jesus loved us despite our sin, but that doesn't mean He closes His eyes to our sin and says, "Hey buddy, you can continue to do whatever you like because I accept you and love you as you are.." No, no that's not what Jesus did…

Remember the incident when a group of Pharisees caught a woman in the act of adultery and brought her to Jesus saying, "Teacher, we found this woman in the act of adultery, and the law of Moses allow us to stone her to death, what than do you say?"  But Jesus kept quiet and continue to draw on the floor, when the Pharisee pressed Jesus for an answer, he finally stood up and say, "Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone at her".  After hearing theses words, every one left including the Pharisees. When the woman was left alone with Jesus, He asked the woman, "Woman, where are they, has no one condemn you? The woman replied, "No one sir." Jesus answered, "Neither do I condemn you, now go your way and sin no more". (John 8:1-11) 

Jesus accepts the sinner as they are. When He called Zaccheus and found him on the tree, saying "Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house" And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. And when they (the Pharisees) saw it, they all began to grumble saying, "he has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." And Zaccheus, stopped and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much." And Jesus said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he, too is a son of Abraham, For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost." (Luke 16 4:-10)

The heart of Jesus is that He is always seeking out the lost and He loves them just as they are, but just like the incident of the adulterous woman, Jesus tells her to go and "Sin no more". Jesus still does have to deal with our sins even as He loves and accepts us.

Now back to our dealings with the gays and lesbians. We are not saying that we hate them, as what most of the guys and lesbians thinks that we do. No we don't hate them, we just don't agree with their lifestyle.  We just need to love and accept them just as Christ loved and accepts us despite our sins and continue to pray for them, that eventually the love of Christ will transform them to change. Remember it is not us who cause them to change, it is the work of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to bring about the conviction and transformation. Our part is just to be the instrument of God's love to them.

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;
Princess Michelle -
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

Let go and surrender to God

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Has it ever occurred to you that sometimes, you yourselves may be the very hinderance that is preventing the blessings of the Lord to come upon you? Yes, that's true! Sometimes, we are the ones who are preventing God from blessing us...

How so, you may ask. Well, let me share with you what I mean...

Let's imagine you have something in your hands. And when you do, your hands would naturally be in a clasp position. What do you have to do if you want to receive something bigger that God is giving you? Common sense tells us that, we would have to open up our hands and let it go before we can receive the greater things of the Lord.

But sometimes, that is our problem. We don't want to let go of the things that we are holding on to and that's why God cannot bless us...  God is not able to bless us because our hands are full, and we cannot receive any more unless we open our hands and let go. We must be willing to empty everything and lay them at the foot of His cross.

That's why whenever we receive prayers, the posture that we always have is to open up both hands, palm facing upwards to the Lord. This is a posture of both receiving and surrendering, we are telling God that we want to receive from Him and yet at the same time we are willing to surrender whatever He ask of us.

God is a gentleman who will not force His way into us, if we refuse to give in... He will not try to pry your hands open, if we refuse to do so, but He will always gently pursue us with His love until we ourselves are willing to submit and surrender it to Him.

Is there anything that you're holding on to that God is telling to you let go? May the love of God gently pursue us so that we are willing to surrender it all to Him, and see that what He is about to give us is not greater than what we used to be holding on to.

Oh Lord, I thank you that You desire to bless me, but I confess that unless I let go of what I've been holding on to, I'm not able to receive the greater blessing You are waiting to pour out on my life. Father, I ask for Your grace and the willingness on my part to surrender what You are asking of me. Forgive me of my unwillngless to submit and surrender and help my unbelief. In Jesus name I pray, Amen!

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;
Princess Michelle -
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King