someone manifested during service today, as far as i can tell. sudden outburst of total gibberish. deliberately did not look, because looking is what a singaporean would do. watch, and possibly take bets. i chose to pray, so i didn't see what was going on, but it died down after about 30 seconds?
things like this remind me that the world we see is not all there is to life on this earth. that things move in the spirit realms, unseen by us. but their effects can be seen, like what happened today. strengthened my faith.
someone testified today. i'll call her Jane. (i dislike using people's real names, in general. it's just unnecessary). she discovered she had a tumour in her femur sometime last year. being an avid trekker, she was devastated. faced with the prospect of losing a leg, never walking again, living life bound to a wheelchair, or even death. that very week she came to church.
during the altar call, the pastor asked those who felt that they had a heavy burden on them to come forward to pray. as she knelt there, someone came to pray with her, and asked her what her burden was. she shared her story, and then the other lady showed Jane the scar on her own leg, and told her that God would take care of her.
coincidence?
today's sermon was about Rahab, and i didn't like it. the pastor presented it from the perspective that Rahab, having heard of the mighty things which God had done for Israel, chose to believe in God, and lend assistance to the Israelites, the people of God.
but it seems to make more sense to me that, having heard of the mighty things which God had done for the Israelites, Rahab chose to sell out her own city in order to gain favour with the invaders, and to gain her life.
what does this tell me about God? perhaps in the initial, her motives were not the best. but the Bible goes on to record that she married into the Israelites, (breaking yet another Mosaic Law, by the way), and lived amongst them, and was actually the great-grandmother of David. so i guess that she learnt the way of the Israelites, and truly followed God.
God wants everyone to be saved. no matter what your circumstances are when you first came to the Lord, He is gracious to accept you, as long as you believe.
i guess this harks back to the other things which the pastor said. her life being spared was conditional upon her leaving that scarlet cord in her window, and that in itself was an act of faith. her own countrymen might have noticed, and asked her about it, or asked her to remove it. but she left it there, believing that the Israelites would be triumphant, and that the red cord would spare her life.
it is by faith that we are saved. i find this a recurrent theme in my life these past few days. hmm....
incidently, today's my third anniversary. Jill is busy, and there is absolutely no celebration. or rather, it's been postponed. but it was supposed to be today, so this will commemorate it.
