Entering into the new year, God moved in a special way.

It happened during my first weekend church service of 2009.

He is faithful

I was in a posture of worship during the corporate worship segment and I was brought back to flashes of my journey in 2008.

God led me to re-visit the ups and the downs; the successes and the failures; the high-spirited and low-spirited moments I experienced last year.

Those flashbacks were mainly surrounding last year’s second major decision that I had made.

I felt God reaching in and taking my bundle of “emotional burdens” that I had carried for feeling that I had let others down and also from being felt misunderstood by some.

By then, my ‘dam’ was breached and I broke down. I teared uncontrollably because I was  moved by His faithfulness, love and belief in me; through it all.

I’m His precious

Standing where I was in His loving presence, God spoke these re-assuring words to me:

Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.

Isaiah 43:4

It’s one thing to know that you’re precious to God from reading the bible or from others but another to ‘hear’ it personally from Him!

God really spoke into my heart and affirmed what was my cry- to do His will. And His will and highest priority is in people especially those who are lost (c.f. Luke 15:4-8).

Though my original plans to church-plant have been pushed back by my move and coupled with other decisions that I have  made,  but more importantly, I now know that my plans have now become His plans.

The divine exchange

I’m convinced that if I truly want to plant a church, it has to be built to last right from the start as it deeply concerns the lives of people; not just their salvation, but  discipleship towards biblical kingdom-living.

His Church should not be built for a ‘flash in a pan’ season just to boost my own ego or to gain satisfaction by making a tick on my list of lifetime goals.

I believe that the Holy Spirit is raising up a new breed and generation of His leaders and churches in this 21st century and I want to be part of that. That is why I’d moved.

In taking this step of faith and obedience, I know He wants  to further equipped me and established me spiritually and practically too.

In exchange for people’s lives, I know I need to stretch myself and grow. The more I grow, the more lives (or at least the chances increases) will be saved.

Thank you God for first paying the price in exchange for my wretched life. Now my life is yours. Use me.