Short Reflection on Praying in tongues

This might answer a frequently asked question especially from the new receivers whether speaking in tongues is by themselves or from the Holy Spirit. 

The short answer is both. It is part Holy Spirit and partnership with the person receiving it. 

Long answer - Praying in tongues is very similar to playing prophetic worship. While the music comes from the Holy Spirit, the musician has to activate his/her own fingers to play the 1st  note either on the keyboard or guitar, in order to produce a sound. The Lord will than add on more melody and notes while he/she plays. Similarly, for speaking in tongues, the person receiving the tongue has to move his/her own tongue and just say something. The Lord will eventually add more syllables to it.

Both scenarios requires the partnership of Man with Holy Spirit. If the man doesn't do anything, nothing shall be produced!

God bless you!

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;

Princess Michelle -

Beloved Daughter of the Most High King 

The Value of a Woman

From the perspective of the Bible, men and women are made equal in the sight of God. Even though the men are celled to lead the house and take charge and the women are supposed to submit to his authority, both are supposed to work together as partners, no one is more superior than the other. God is fair.

Let’s look:

From the account of creation in Genesis 2:18 – 22. “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a suitable helper for him. Now the Lord God has formed out of the ground all the beast of the field and all the birds of the air. He bought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature that was is name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, and the birds of the air and the beast of the field. But for Adman, no suitable was found. So the Lord cause the man to fall into a deep sleep and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s rib and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman form the man, and he brought her to the man.”

Notice this:

From the man, God made woman, but from the woman (when both man and woman come together to procreate) another human is produced. God called the woman a suitable helper for the man; I believe God made the man the head of the house, not because he is more superior, but because he is stronger of both gender and he is to protect the woman, since he came first into the picture. We came in second after him, not because we are an afterthought of the Lord, or because we are inferior, but because God saw that the man cannot be alone and therefore, He made us to help and compliment whatever is missing from him.

Many women (including myself) do not understand or even very often forget, their value, nor do some of the men (unfortunately). However, I do believe that a person who is truly rooted in Christ will see and understand that men and women are equal.  They are not to compete with each other but to help one another. Although, God has set in place the order that men should be the head and the women should submit, it does not give the men the right to abuse this authority and do anything he pleases, disregarding the women. Neither, is the woman supposed to be so passive in submission that she doesn’t contribute to the leader of the man.  The men should respect his woman and consider having her come along his side in partnership for anything they might want to embark on, together, even as individuals. Both are to respect each other and hold one another accountable in whatever they are doing.

God is equally fair in distributing spiritual gifts to His children. In Acts 2:17, ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see vision, your old men will dream dreams….” What does “All” means”? The bible is clear all means everyone - the men and women the young and the old. God doesn’t exclude women when he gives the gift of teaching, prophecy, healing, shepherding etc… if that is the case the ministry of the church would be male dominated with no room for the women to play.  But you know that’s not true. All of us make up the body of the Christ, and the body consist of men, women, young people and older people. The body have hands, legs, mouth, eyes etc. Each member of the body has a part to play in the healthy functioning of the church.

The Bible showed us women that have played very important roles in history. Queen Esther, Deborah, Huldah are some great examples. The virgin Mary, Hannah, Elizabeth; without these women, Jesus would never come about, we wouldn’t have the prophet Samuel and John the Baptist. Some of the other women that were mentioned in the Bible was the woman in the well, the woman with the alabaster jar and Rahab the prostitute who hid the 2 spies in Jericho. The woman in the well evangelised to the whole village and brought many to Christ, (John 4:1-29) the woman with the alabaster jar was commented by Jesus that her small act would always be remembered and mentioned, in the preaching of the gospel (Matthew 26: 6-13) and we also have Rahab who was credited as righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in different directions (James 2:25).

We have already seen in all these examples that women are indeed equally important and of great value. So, we as women, shouldn’t look down on ourselves nor should we ever allow ourselves to be put down by men. No! The order of the family as shown in Eph 5:21-33, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husband as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ as is the head of the church, his body of which he is the saviour.  Now was the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husband in everything.” “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  In this same way, husband ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church – for we are members of his body, For this reason a man will leaves his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the who will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery – but I’m talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself and wife must respect the husband.”

I have said before in the beginning of the blog that the man was made the head, because he was the first to come in to the picture and the woman was subsequently brought to him to help him. I did say too that the Lord is fair to both men and women.  The above passage shows us in marriage God gave specific instructions to both the man and the woman. And it is fair, both have a role to play in order to make things work out. The famous saying goes “It takes two to tango”. That’s so true!!!

So women, chin up! You are just as important as the men, don’t let others tell you other wise and men, don’t put down your women! You were there to protect and lead us, not to trample upon us and abuse us!

Be blessed!

Serving with you in His kingdom with love;

Princess Michelle –

Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

Thinking a loud

The lie - I have not been effective and successful in xxx what makes me think I can do well in xxx....

The truth - Failure doesn't define me, God does.

The reality - I'm still learning and exploring to discover what it is that God has called me to do... There is also a part of me that fears...

Due to my many failures,  I sometimes doubt my capabilities and competence and struggle to find my strength!

Being involved in differen ministries /mission trips exposes me to different gifting I never knew I had... So far, I discovered I could do prophetic art and music... Now, I'm exploring children ministry, I've already been in childcare for 11 years, I'm just expanding my "experience" in the mission field to "test" my effectiveness... Too early to say anything yet, since I just started.

After all these years, I'm still trying to find my niche, what I enjoy doing and what I'm really good at. I roughly have an idea, but to be honest, I am just average, I'm not the best or the most sought after but I just want to be available... Possibly, a way for me to explore and discover what I'm truly called for in my calling in ministry...  Different people have different opinions of me, ultimately it is God showing me and convincing me in the specific areas I should focus on...

Many failed attempts are also experiences, that I learn... Looking to see which area I've done well in and see how I can be better in it... This applies to my career too...

Reflections on Obstacles

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As I was looking at some of the situations I have encountered over recent weeks, sometimes even looking back at things I have went through over the years… I have just learnt something about obstacles that the Lord is teaching me.

Often in lives we face obstacles in many forms… One example I like to give is this, quite often on the same day or week, which I have an important church activity to attend to, I will suddenly find myself drowned with a lot of work that will cause to me be stuck at home and thus preventing me to attend it… This doesn’t happen just once or twice but it happens so many times that I have lost count of the number of events I missed just because I got stuck at home… I realised this is a trick the devil uses a lot on me… Knowing that my weakness is my work and until I have finished my work, I rarely have any peace in my mind and heart  and often I will make a lot of excuses not to go anywhere else because of it… Because you didn’t go, you miss out on the blessing God has intended for you.

Don’t you think it is too much of a coincidence if it happens almost half the time?  Every time, you have something important you want to attend to, related to church, something happens; you suddenly get into a quarrel with someone, something crops up at work, it clashes with an office event, out of the blue you fall sick…. Either for some reason you missed it, (and regret that you did, and wished you were there) or you eventually attended the meeting but with some struggles in your heart.

I remembered once I didn’t feel so good, and I was really tempted to skip church but I still pressed my way and made it to church no matter what, and I thank God that I did, because I was hungry for God, He blessed and honour me for preserving to seek Him. Sometimes, if you just give in to the excuse, you have just fallen for the trick of the enemy and you just missed out on something great that God has in stored for you.

Obstacles can come from two different sources carrying two different types of purposes. The first type of obstacles are God ordained, when God allowed these obstacles to come your way, it is either to train you for something greater or to protect from something is probably going to harm you in some ways or maybe God is just saying no because he has something else better for you. Once I was looking forward to attend a Christian concert, but many things prevented me from being able to buy the tickets and there was also a clash of events, I had classes to attend prior to that. Eventually I didn’t manage to attend it because I realised later (somewhere in the midst of it), that mom was having her birthday dinner that same evening, and God wanted me to be there instead. That’s no wonder why I was having a hard time planning and trying to get my ticket for the concert. On one hand, I didn’t know if I was able to make it after class, on the other hand I had a hard time getting my tickets online…

The other type of obstacles comes from the Devil. (Like what I have shared in my above example in the beginning) If this happens, there can only be one purpose, it is to destroy, distract and derail you away from the plans of God.

While God has a plan for you, remember that the devil also has a plan for you… John 10:10 says, “The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I (Jesus) have come that you may have life, and life more abundantly.”  Whenever God has a plan for you, the devil is also working behind the scene to attempt to bring you down, so that you are not able to fulfil God’s plan.

We need to learn to discern which ones are God ordain and which ones are from the devil (which normal comes as a form of spiritual attack). How do we discern? Sometimes you just know, you can sense it, otherwise, simply go to God in prayer and ask Him to reveal it to you through the Holy Spirit.  If it comes from the Holy Spirit, you will feel peace in the end, and it is normally for a good purpose, otherwise, you would probably be able to guess that it is coming from the other side.   

The devil has a lot of tactics he uses to prevent you from doing God’s work or drawing close to Him. Sometimes, he uses your own weakness against you; sometimes, he uses the people around you. Otherwise, he will cause a situation to arise that will either; destroy, distract, defeat, discourage, delay or detour you. The Bible however  encourages us that in some situation, God has the ability to turn what the devil intend to be harmful, to be good for his purpose in the case of Joseph (Gen 50:20)

And Romans 8:28 says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose”.

We can be encouraged therefore, that nothing happens to us that is unknown to God, sometimes even if is from the devil, God also has a purpose for allowing it, which we may never understand as in the case of Job.  (Job 1:6-12).

We can however be encouraged that, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God for justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one, Christ Jesus who died, more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written; “For your sake we face death all day long, we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything things in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 31-39)

Be encouraged, God is always on our side no matter what happens in our lives. It is up to us, however, to choose which side we want to be on.

God bless you!

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;

Princess Michelle –

Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

World's standard vs God's view

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By the world’s standard, I will be most probably labelled as a “failure” - I’m a female and 35, yet I’m still not attached, I don’t own a house, I don’t have a driver’s licence, I’m not academically talented, I’m not a high flyer, I don’t have a high earning job. I’m the eldest amongst my mom's 3 children and yet I’m the least accomplished in most of the aspects – relationship, academic and career.

Let’s talk one thing at a time

Relationship wise

I’m 35, I still have no one.
My younger sister is 33, she has been married for 2 years
My younger brother is 25, he is currently dating someone.

Academic wise

I’m considered average among the 3

Career wise

My sister has found a good job with stable income.
My brother is doing well in his company and is earning quite a sum.
I might be living out my childhood ambition, but over the last few years, it has become a nightmare, and I’m now just fighting every day to keep the flame that is almost gone and it’s also not paying very well too.

But by God’s standard, I’m probably the only one who is pursuing the right thing….

While both my siblings are establishing good things that by world's standard say it is a must to attain, I on the other hand, sought after the Lord Jesus. I’m constantly seeking Him, His direction for so many things, I enjoy being in church to worship Him, to sit and listen to His word.

I have got some talent in music, poetry and art and I have used it to serve the people. I serve as a keyboardist, backup singer in church and am currently training to become a worship leader. I have ministered in prophetic worship and many have told me how greatly blessed and ministered by my “anointed playing”, I am also ministering in prophetic art where I will draw for them.  I have written so many poems and have posted in my blogs, and have received lots of feedback how they have been encouraged, blessed, touched, and inspired by them. 

I’m using every one of my God – given talent to serve Him and His people.  Whatever talent I found I have inside me, I give back and use it for God’s purpose.

Maybe to many people I am not successful, be it in career, relationship or even in academic, but is that really important? Does this really matter at the end of your life? Does all these even define your value or your worth in life? What define us really? Our identity in Christ, knowing who we are in Jesus, and that, is what defines us.

At the end of your journey, God is not going to ask you how much money you earned, or what your highest qualification was or what position you held in church etc…  He is most probably going to ask you what you did with the talents He gave you, or if you did what He told you to do… Read the parable of the talent in Matthew 25:15-29.

I still have things which I know, I haven’t really done well before Him and I still have many things to account for which for most part, I’m still learning and making mistakes.

I still have a lot way to go before I actually get to the end of my life… I have a long life, so I have lots more to do for Jesus.

I won’t have to worry about worldly success actually because God promised us in Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” In order to know what all these things are we have to look into the preceding verses.

25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Than it goes on to say in verse 33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. “ And verse 34 says, “ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

The bible doesn’t promise us success like the world does, but He does promise to provide our every needs. “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

We also all know verse from Jeremiah 29:11, “ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” With this promise in mind, we don’t really have to worry about our future, because God already declared that in His word and He is a God who cannot lie, what He says, He must do, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

"God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?"
(Numbers 23:19)

After all at the end of the day, “What profits a man if he gains the whole world; yet forfeit his soul” (Mark 8:36)

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you. It is God's promise.

God bless!

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

Best Friends - Short Reflections

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I have a couple of "best friends" I cannot do without...

When I have a tummy ache, my "Ru Yi oil" is my "best friend".
When I have a sore muscles, my "Eagle brand muscle rub" is my "best friend".
Whenever I'm stressed and need to relax, my piano is my "best friend" where I go to, to release pent up frustrations.

When I'm down, and need some cheering up, I either call up a friend to chat, text them my problem or pick up some of my favourite Christian artiste/band to listen to, otherwise my bible is always available for me to open up and read....

All these physical things, no matter how helpful they can be, we as Christians we must always remember (as human we do tend to take for granted and sometimes neglect it), there is one Ultimate Best Friend whom we can always depend on, no matter the circumstances or where we might be physically.

The Bible is perhaps the only exception to the list of the other physical items that is considered an essential for us to turn to when we do need help. The lack of other items, may not be that crucial should we be in need of them.

We also have the Holy Spirit as our 24/7, Best Friend.... He is our refuge and strength, our ever present help in times of trouble. (Ps 46:1), He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:4).  On our part though, we ought to be disciplined enough to spend time to build our relationship with this Best Friend, we as humans some times have a bad habit of taking things for granted and we just don't prioritize time for doing this very important thing that has eternal implications.

As I'm writing this short blog, I'm reminded that I need to conscientiously put in time, effort and prayer to have this precious relationship grow and florish to a deeper level of intimacy. Every Child of God is given this Best Friend, the Holy Spirit is also called our Comforter/Helper and He is also known as the Spirit of truth (who guides us into all truth and also convicts us of our sins etc) read John 16:7-13.

We thank you Jesus for giving us the Holy Spirt, and we repent for the times we might have grieve You or neglected You, please help us to grow more in love with You. In Jesus' name, Amen!

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

The Power of Names (my testimony)

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The Power of Names (My testimony)

Names are very powerful it can effect the course of your life and your destiny…  Jabez's name meant "Pain", it was given to him by his mother because she bore him in pain, thus as a result of it, his life was bitter throughout, that's why we have the famous prayer of Jabez we read in 1 Chronicles 4:10 - Jabez cried out to God of Israel, "Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain" And God granted his request.

I too have a name given by my parents and grandparents, I never knew it's meaning or it's impact it would have on my life until today… This is my testimony…

My name is Yee Wei Ling Michelle or in Chinese it is written as 茹瑋鈴 or 茹玮玲 in simplified Chinese…  I wanted to find out what is the meaning behind my name…. So I went on a search and according to the Chinese dictionary's definition, 瑋 means rare/precious/magnificent and 鈴 means little bell... So the meaning of my Chinese name 瑋鈴 or 玮铃 (given by my late paternal grandma) in simplified Chinese, could be literally translated as a rare, precious and magnificent little bell!!!

And according to Goggle, the purpose of a bell is to make sounds... Mmm, what's that supposed to mean/symbolise of me??? Haha Does that mean I'm a rare, precious and magnificent little sound making gal??? So with the combination of the definition of my English name, given by my mother - Michelle (gift from God or in some other version it means "Who is like the Lord?")... What does that make me??

I was pondering about it for a long time, so in the end I decided to ask of my pastors who gave me a prophetic revelation which was a confirmation to my calling…   According to him, I was called  to be a worshipper and have the worship leader anointing. God sees me as a music making precious little bell… 

When I thought about it, I realised it was true of my calling and my desire I had as a child…  I've always loved music when I was young, and I was always making a lot of noise singing… Later I began to develop a love for the piano and I've discovered the gift of song writing….  Growing up, I always wanted to be in the church choir and subsequently in a church worship band, along the way I met some one who has greatly influenced me and caused a stirring in my heart to be a worship leader… One I had a vision of being a worship leader singing my own song… I have kept this my heart for a very long time…

I saw this vision and dream being broken and dashed a few times over and I was beginning to feel very discouraged. I even told God, "If this vision isn't from You, please take it away from me!" but it seem like this desire never did fade over the years…  Years passed, I finally got the opportunity to serve in the worship band of a small church, I also had the opportunity to sing as a backup singer… Suddenly, all these desires of mine came to pass…  I did receive a couple of confirmation along the way too and when I begin to look at everything now, I suddenly saw the connection and see how all these make sense… My name really did have a direct impact on my destiny… 

I guess God must have set me apart for His service since young, because I always felt different from the rest… It was like I have been chosen by God since I first responded to Him when I was a tender age of 10…  According to my mom, she said that since young I never "belonged" to their religion….  (my grandparents and parents are pre-believers)… They still are, my grandparents have since passed on but my parents are still doing well in their early 60s. Since a young and new believer, I have been opposed and persecuted of my life from the beginning of my journey.. Well, I think the devil must really hate me to the core as if I'm like a thread to his kingdom, he has been trying to kill, steal and destroy my destiny and my walk with God from day one and he is still at it.  God however has been very faithful,  He has preserved me and strengthened me all these while, even though there were times I did fall. 

Now that I realise the weight, that my name carries, I'm kindda grateful that I was given that name… It seemed like a prophecy and everything is coming to pass before my very eyes..  I believe, however all these were predestined by God, not by coincidence… This is my life story and it's just the beginning of something exciting!

God bless you

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

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

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

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

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

Women in power - A good thing or a bad thing? A look at Wu Zetian China's first and only woman Emperor and Queen Esther of the Bible

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"Wu Zetian" - China's first and only woman Emperor started off in the palace as an ordinary young courts girl who one day found the favour of the Emperor Gaozong and eventually becoming one of his many concubines. At one point, she was so highly favoured that a lot of people sent her gifts to get into her good books. One day, there was a prophecy that predicted "Tang dynasty will end by the 3rd generation. A woman warrior named "Wu" would overtake it.

 Overnight, she became a national threat. Wu was a girl of beauty and intelligence and the Emperor was mesmerised and charmed by her. While the other men (the high officials)  saw her a threat and wanted to eliminate her, the Emperor did not approve and consent to her execution citing that she is "only a woman", what can she do?

 While the Emperor did not consent to her execution, he had subsequently became wary of her and hence Wu began to lose her favour with the Emperor. Wu was devoted and truly in love with the king, and while she patiently waited day and night for the Emperor to return to her, he never did. A woman's value seemed to have be of no significance to a man and they were treated like a plaything. For the Emperor, he changed his women like clothes and they were merely a means to satisfy his sexual desire. And a statement like "she is only a woman, what can she do" indicated that a woman in those times were lowly esteemed.

 But despite that, history has it that Wu eventually became the first and only woman Emperor who ever ruled ancient China for almost half a century. And she was no ordinary woman but one of beauty, wits and of great military prowess. After Emperor Gaozong died, she married his successor - the ninth prince and after he was down with a stroke, Wu took over the empire from him not without viciously killing her own sons as well to becoming China's first and only woman Emperor who ruled for almost half a century. That's quite a formidable feat for a woman of those times, not to mention cruel as well when one is power greedy!

 The importance to history of Wu's period of political and military leadership includes the major expansion of the Chinese empire, extending it far beyond its previous territorial limits, deep into Central Asia and engage in a severe war on the Korean Peninsular. Her leadership also resulted in important issues effects regarding social class in China society and in relation to state support for Taoism, Buddhism, education and literature. She also had a monumatery impact upon the stating of the Longman Grottoes and the "Wordless Stele" at the Gianliang Mausoleum, as well as the construction of some major buildings and bronze casting that no longer survived.

Now let us look at another example - Queen Esther of the Bible (Esther 1-9)

Queen Esther was but an ordinary Jewish woman, she and her people were merely exiles living in a foreign land.

When the previous Queen Vashti refused to obey Ahasuerus's request for her to display her beauty in the presence of the people and prince at the King's command during a banquet he had thrown to show off his riches and his royal glory and the splendour of his great majesty, King Ahasuerus became very offended and furious. At the "advice" given to him by some wise men, they incited him to decree a royal edict that Vashti should come no more into the presence of King Ahasuerus and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she. (Esther chapter 1)

 In replacement of the position that was left vacant by Vashti, the king's attendance who served him said, "Let beautiful young virgin be sought for the king". Esther became one of this beautiful young virgin who has found favour in the eyes of King Ahasuerus and subsequently made her queen. (Esther chapter 2)

Esther has an uncle by the name of Mordecai who works in the palace, and one day he found out a plot by two of the king's official who were planning to assassinate the king, he reported this to Queen Esther and Esther informed the king in Mordecai's name. Now the plot was investigated and found out to be so, they were both hanged and it was written in the Book of the Chronicles in the king's presence.

 Now there was a man called Haman whom the King has promoted and established his authority over all the princes who were with him. All the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down to him for so the king has commanded but Mordecai did not. When it was found out that the reason why Mordecai refusal to bow down to him was because he was a Jew, Haman was enraged and wanted to destroy Mordecai and all his people. So Haman said to the king "There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the province of your kingdom, their laws are different from those of all the other and they do not observe the kings law, so it is not in the king's interest to let them remain. If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed and I will pay then thousand talent of silver into the hands of those who carry out the king's business, to put into the kings' treasuries." The King thus consented him, by giving him the signet ring and so the decree was made. (Esther chapter 3)

 Esther soon found out about this plot through her uncle Mordecai. He also gave Esther a copy of the text of the edict that he might show the Queen and inform her in order her to go in to the king to implore his favour and plead with the king with him for her people. However Esther initial respond was this, "All the king's servant and the people of the king's provinces know that for any man or woman who comes t o the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden sceptre so that he may live, And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days." Mordecai than responded, "Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews, for if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as that?"

Upon hearing Mordecai's word, Esther finally had this to respond, "Go, assemble all the Jews and fast for me, do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maiden also will do fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish." (Esther chapter 4)

After the fast was over, Esther put on her royal robe and stood in the inner court of the king's palace. And it happened when the king saw Esther, standing in the court, she obtained favour in his sight and the king extended to Esther the golden sceptre. When the King asked Esther what her request was, she requested and invited him and Haman to the banquet she has prepared for them and subsequently prepared a second banquet.  During the second banquet that Esther has prepared, Esther finally brought her petition towards the king and revealed Haman's evil plot. As a result of this Haman got hanged, the edict has been revolved and the Jews has been given authority to defend themselves from the enemies who were about to attack them, therefore saving her people. Her uncle Mordecai subsequently also got promoted for all the deeds that he has done. (Esther chapter 5-9) (I suggest reading the book of Esther for yourself to get a better and fuller understanding of the whole story, due to time, this is just a summarised version)

 As we can see from the above two examples what a woman in power is capable of… One came into power through vicious means, while the other came into power purely by favour… Yet despite the way they came up to the top, their achievement is no less greater than the other. Both women accomplished great and mighty deeds on behalf of her people. The question now we ponder might be, "Is it more important how she came into power or what she is capable of attaining after coming into power?"

 I suppose the more important question to answer is the motive behind their actions. While Wu Zetian accomplished just as much as Queen Esther if not more, she only had one thing in mind and that is power. Whereas Queen Esther's actions and moves were all sincere and purely from her heart with only the intention to serve the well being of her people even to the extend of risking her own life. This alone sets her apart from Wu Zetian. It is pretty scary to imagine what a woman is capable of when she is in power. So is it a good thing or a bad thing to have a woman in leadership? Well, you decide for yourself.

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;

Princess Michelle -

Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

Reflections: The Proud vs the Humble - The danger of pride and greed

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The Bible taught us the Lord chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong (1 Corinthians 1:27) and I never really understood it until now.

In all of God’s wisdom and mercy, it is fully understandable and reasonable and it makes perfect sense why it is so, when the Lord gave me the following understanding based on these few familiar verses….

For once, the foolish and the weak have nothing in themselves to either offer or to boast, therefore when the Lord uses them for His glory, these people have no chance or reasons in boasting in themselves.  These are the ones whom God will use most mightily in His Kingdom because they are the humble ones and the Lord taught us saying that He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Paul also explains in the later verses of 1 Corinthians 1:28 – 31 saying, “and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God but by His doing you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that just as it as written, “LET HIM WHO BOAST, BOAST IN THE LORD.”

The crux of the message is in Paul’s statement, “Let him who boast, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:31)

Men have the natural tendency for taking credits for themselves the honour and praise that is due God and put the blame on God for things that goes wrong. We forget that all wisdom and good gifts comes from the Lord, including our wealth and our talents, therefore we should not be too quick to boast about every success that we experience. I suppose that’s why the Lord opposes the proud, because they become self-centred.  And sin is always the result of self-centredness, when everything is about I, me and myself – my glory, my success, my reputation, my wealth, my name… Christ is not the centre of it all but ourselves making “Me” the biggest idol.  That’s why Proverbs 16:18 warns us, “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit, before stumbling.”

It is easy to be become humble in your failures but it is difficult to remain humble in your success. However, the world defines success differently from the word of God. The world defines success with the amount of money you make, the house you live in, the job you hold etc, where else in the eyes of God, success is define in your commitment, faithfulness and obedience in Christ at all costs.  

If success is dependent on how much money you make and all the measures of worldly materials, than Jesus and all His disciples by definition are considered utter failures, because they do not have all of these. We have become so obsessed with being rich materially, that we overlook the importance of being rich spiritually. That’s why Jesus taught us in Matt 16:24-26, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

We must remember, “For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and may foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction for the love of money that is the root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many a pang (1 Tim 6:-610), and all these stems from one root word - greed.

The bible says very clearly that God opposes the proud and give grace to the humble. So let us always remember to be humble, not despising the foolish or the weak (for these are the ones God uses to shame the wise and the strong) and most importantly keep away from greed. For the Lord promises us, “Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you.” So we can say confidently, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid, what shall man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6)

God bless you

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;

Princess Michelle –
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

Reflections: Preaching the Gospel (part 2)

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Previously in my blog, we discussed just briefly about the call to preach the gospel, but today we shall emphasise the more important issue - the reason why we should preach the gospel and I’ll also explain a little more on why there is so much struggles in preaching the gospel.

First and foremost, not only is preaching the gospel a command of the Lord, given to us through the Great Commission, but the preaching of the gospel is about the souls of people. The reason why God had to come down to die for us is because we are in great need of a savoir, we are all sinners condemned to hell and God has to do something to redeem us from that curse. Isaiah 53:6 tells us, “All we like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to its own ways. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him (Jesus Christ)”, Romans 6:23 tells us, “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The reason why the gospel is so offensive is because tells people the hard truth that it’s a message of heaven or hell.  Previously, I’ve talked about some hard core evangelist pushing the message forcefully down the throat to tell people straight to the face that either you accept Jesus or you’re going to hell. Initially, I thought they were being unloving and tactless, but as I was listening to my pastor preach this morning (surprised that he was talking about the same topic that I’m sharing) I’ve learnt from my pastor that apart from sharing with them about the love of Jesus, telling and warning people about hell is actually the most loving thing you can do. I like to use the example that my pastor shared with us – It is like when you see an oncoming car going toward your loved ones, the most loving thing to do is to tell him there’s a car coming and push him away from it to prevent him from being killed.

Similarly, the hard truth that the gospel preaches about Jesus being the way, the truth and life and no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6) and “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), is a message that most find it hard to swallow because of the nature of pride and sin in men, we refuse to accept that we are sinners and are damn to hell. Previously in my earlier blog, I’ve quoted John 3:18, the fact that we do not believe in the name of the Son already spells condemnation for ourselves. This truth in itself is offensive, but preach it we still must because of the next point I’m going to talk about…

The next point is about the urgency in preaching the gospel, as we are now living in the end times, and signs are showing that Jesus may be coming back any time. From now to the final day that Jesus is coming back, He is giving us opportunity upon opportunity to repent of our sins before it is too late. No one knows when Jesus will come back, but when He finally does, that would be ultimate judgment day and our fate would have been sealed by the decision that we have chosen before either eternal life through Jesus in heaven or eternal damnation and separation from Jesus in hell, and there would be no more chance left to repent. Those names that are not in the book of life will be sent to hell. And Hell as described in the Bible is a place of 1) Eternal fire (Matt 25:41), 2) Eternal punishment (Matt 25:46), 3) Outer darkness (Matt 8:12), 4) Eternal destruction (2 Thess 1:9) and finally 5) Lake of fire (Rev 19:20). We have to make up our minds now to decide that we will boldly share the gospel no matter how daunting the task may seem and that takes me to my final point.

My last point touches on the fear of the preaching of the gospel which I’ve already covered in my previous blog when I talked about persecution. Because the gospel is offensive, it is also confrontational therefore people face the fear of being ridiculed and rejected.  But let me add this, since we know the reality of hell; are we still going to be selfish and not share the gospel with those who are still lost?

Like I’ve also mentioned previously, Jesus has this promise for us “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the words I said to you, “A slave is not greater than his master, if they persecute me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.” – John 15:18-20.

We have been promised persecution as Christians whether a not we chose to share the gospel, therefore sharing the gospel should not be an excuse at all, because sharing the gospel has got no co-relation with persecution. As we have already established that fact that the gospel itself is offensive, so it makes no difference to us whether a not we are going to be ridiculed by preaching it.  Persecution is part and parcel of the Christian living because we chose to follow the ways of Christ which is ultimately very different from the world and we are bound to face a lot of conflicts, and therefore as a result of that, meet with persecution for our faith and our conviction.

The fear of persecution or rejection shouldn’t deter us from sharing the gospel for we must remember what is at stake - the lives and soul of our love ones. The love that we have for them should motivate us and stir us to compassion as we pray and seek the Lord for their salvation.  Realising that the time is near, we must ask the Lord for the courage to reach out to those who are still lost and preach the gospel to them. Remember heaven is real and so is hell. Make up your mind now!

God bless you!

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

Reflections: Preaching the Gospel

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As Christians, the topic of preaching the gospel has always been a common one in church, according to the Bible, preaching the gospel is a call for all Bible believing folks. The Great Commission which is in Matthew 28:19-20 - “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age” is a very common verse known to all Christians. This verse alone tells us that preaching the gospel is the duty for all Christians not just for the evangelist or missionaries who have been called by God to these specific offices of service.

There are essentially a few ways that the Gospel can be preached. The first way is through evangelising either through a missionary or simply by sharing ones faith with another, another way is through the pulpit ministry (done by our Pastors on our regular church services), sometimes through media and the finally the last one which most Christians are not aware of – preaching the gospel by the testimony of our lives.

There have been varies of reaction to the preaching of the gospel, these different reactions comes from not only the pre-believers but also from within the church among God’s family. There have been cases where pre-believers are being offended by the preaching of the gospel, and there are Christians, who are not willing to preach the gospel because of fear. There are hard core evangelists who push the gospel message with a lot of fire and passion and some pre-believers get offended as a result of it. Sometimes people are offended by the message and a lot of times it is because of the way we do it, although the gospel itself could be offensive.

Different people use different technics and styles to get the gospel across to the pre-believers, some do it gently, some are more forceful and less tactful (and get people offended) but no matter how you do it, the message is the same – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world would be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” - John 3:16-18.

The Gospel has always known to be offensive and defensive, but offensive as it may sound, (“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18), it still has to be preached as it is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some Christian are afraid of sharing the gospel for the fear being “rejected”, some lose their friends as a result of preaching the gospel, or sometimes they are just afraid of being laughed at.

However, what we do not realise is this, when people reject the gospel, they are rejecting the God of the gospel and not rejecting the messenger. Jesus has this promise for us however, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the words I said to you, “A slave is not greater than his master, if they persecute me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.“ – John 15:18-20.

We have been promised persecution as Christians whether a not we chose to share the gospel, therefore sharing the gospel should not be an excuse at all, because sharing the gospel has got no co-relation with persecution.  Persecution is part and parcel of the Christian living because we chose to follow the ways of Christ which is ultimately very different from the world and we are bound to face a lot of conflicts, and therefore as a result of that, meet with persecution for our faith and our conviction.  

In fact, a Christian who is not being persecuted is questionable about whether he/she is a true disciple of the Lord. Some are afraid of sharing the gospel because they don’t know how to do it, in fact sharing the gospel is actually just talking to your friend about Jesus and it could be as simple as sharing your testimony how you got to know Him and how knowing Him has helped transformed you.

We forget that when we share the gospel, we are planting seeds of God’s word into their lives, and we learn in the bible that there are different soils (read the parable of the seed in Mark 4: 3 -25) representing the different condition of the person’s heart. Therefore, we must be not be discouraged if our audiences reject the message, the seed planted in their hearts takes time to take root, but we must be faithful to water it with prayer and constant sharing.

Most of us also forget that for many who do not have access to the bible, they will be “reading” our lives to see the testimony that we carry on Christ's behalf. Remember we are to be ambassador of Christ and we are to represent Christ to the world. It is therefore, important to reflect on our actions to see if we have been good testimonies to the unbelieving world.  We would be to them the “living and walking Bible”, and if we are not careful in the way we conduct ourselves, we may be actually turning them away from Christ instead of drawing and leading them towards Him and are doing a disservice to Christ. Therefore, at the end of the day, the way we conduct ourselves among our pre-believing friends and family members is a form of sharing the gospel as well.

To conclude, sharing the gospel is not just for the evangelist or for the missionaries, but for all Christians, and whether a not we are aware, our lives itself is a living testimony to the world and by our conduct we are “preaching” Christ to the un-believing world. It is therefore important to make sure that we portray the right image in order that we bring honour instead of being a disgrace to Him.

God bless you!

Serving with you in His kingdom with love;

Princess Michelle –
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King