Write Every Day

It was so simple. I knew it from reading about writing. WRITE EVERY DAY. The discipline of writing every day yields benefits, as sure as sowing results in the joys of harvesting. 

For the past week, I tried a few times to write, but could not get down to it. I did not feel like doing it. I did not feel motivated nor inspired. However, on Sunday, when a friend asked for help to write something about frequently asked questions about retreats, I got it done in less than an hour. I actually could write (without inspiration). I suppose the motivation was there though: the desire to help out as a member of a team that supports retreats. So I wrote, and as I wrote I did not feel inspired, just motivated.

Today over tea and curry puffs, I talked with a friend about writing, and journeying with younger pastors, post-retirement. I was pretty sure this is what the Lord is leading me towards thus far. I have given God a blank page and he has written. My friend casually mentioned something about the importance of writing every day. It hit me, like God was prodding me: Just write it. Don’t have to post everything you write every day. Some days the post is not complete. Leave it to stew. Work on more than one posts. Edit. Rewrite. More thinking and research. Then shoot when its ready to be sprung from the bow. That motivated me.

I sat down in the evening, and wrote this. Ha! 

Thank you, Lord. Let this be the start of a fruitful and godly and happy habit. Amen.

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Personal Prophecy from Amos Jayarathnam

A dinner invitation to John & Martha Johney’s home? I was told prophet Amos Jayarathnam would be present too. Wonderful …great. Furthermore, I used to enjoy his late dad’s and mum’s hospitality. Even better, Amos will probably pray and prophesy over each of us. 

AMOS JAYARATHNAM, A PROPHET

Amos has the marks of an authentic new covenant prophet: holy, godly character, Word-based, humble, tried and tested and found faithful in years of ministry and hardship, and many of his prophecies have substantial accuracy. This I can attest to, for he has ministered in our church over many years. He is one of the few friends of World Revival Prayer Fellowship of whom we can say, “kaki lang”, which translated from Hokkien dialect, “one of us”.

John had invited Paul and Miriam Chan, my wife Jenny, my daughter Elaine, and myself. Dinner was a feast of flavours, colours, textures, smells and the taste was plain delicious. The fish briyani  was the first I have ever seen or tasted, and I liked it. Martha packed some briyani in an ice-cream tub for me to bring home, and I am now writing on that energy because I had it for lunch a few hours ago. 

Amazing and amusing stories of faith and God’s interventions in the politics of Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and laughter peppered the gulps of water, roasted chicken, chapatis, curries, and mango salad. 

After dessert, the gear shifted with Holy Communion and when Amos started to pray and prophesy over each one present including the domestic helper. We recorded our prophecies on our voice recorder app in our phones. This is one of the advantages of mobile phones: we can record and later transcribe our personal prophecies, and this is important, because our memory usually misses out on important details. Personal prophecies need to be prayerfully assessed, meditated upon for the Holy Spirit to throw further light on them, and interpreted in the light of God’s word and his past dealings in our life.

WRITE, WRITE, WRITE

This is the umpteenth time over many years that I have received this prophecy, and I am glad that with my recent retirement, I have already begun to write more regularly on my blog. At least I have taken some steps to obey the Lord. I was too busy earlier with studies and ministry burdens to write much, but now there is more space for me to do so. 

The prophecy to me is that there is a lot I can write about: manuals, teachings, messages to the Body of Christ. That writing is timeless and can bless God’s people of different generations. God’s riches in my life can be released to bless, lead people to truth and free people from lies. Giving the balanced Word can renew people’s conscience according to the true knowledge of God and not according to the world’s values and expectations. 

I like the part where the prophetic word urges that I do it slowly, not under pressure of deadlines, but according to the inspiration and motivation that the Spirit gives. I believe that discipline is important, but I have been in the place where discipline is futile, because there is no sparkplug. So I liked this bit of instruction to me about when, how and what to write.

The prophecy encouraged me to model myself after apostle John in the island of Patmos, living in solitude and prayer, giving God the space to grant revelation and inspiration, so that I could write to instruct and inspire hope in God’s people.  This restfulness, focus and inspiration need to permeate my writing. As an introvert, this suits me fine. My prayer room, my home, the parks nearby can be my Patmos. 

Do pray for me as I seek to obey the Lord. He has stirred my desire to write and I pray he will be in the front and back and center of all my writing – whether in this blog, in future e-books or in other social media like Instagram. 

Have you received personal prophecy from others before? What do you think of them? What has been your experience?

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Write what you see

The blank page is no longer a blank page for me. As I delight in the Lord, and observe the desires that the Spirit fans aflame in my heart, I get an idea of what the Lord wants of me in this new season. Writing is one of them. 

Therefore, I need to start writing in simple faith and obedience. What better way than to return to blogging. Even if the traffic and eyeballs may have gone to Facebook, Instagram and all kinds of other social media, blogging is a great way to build a rhythm and discipline of writing. It’s a way to get the ideas flowing, and I am trusting that the Lord would help me surface some themes and burdens that can be turned into an e-book.

Writing three paragraphs seems such a small first step, but I should not despise small beginnings. The more I faithfully obey the Lord, the more he will add on, and inspire and sharpen. As I have been reading the book of Revelation, one of the phrases that attracted my attention was: Write what you see. Its another prod to me to Write, write and keep writing. I am also reminded of prophecies from prophet Amos Jayarathnam, and others, exhorting me to Write. So write I must.

Lord thank you for stirring this desire to write. I will take steps of faith to do so – even if they are tiny steps. Let your anointing be present to make words flow from my fingertips and fly off into cyberspace and land on hearts that are open and hungry for you. May those words find root, resonance and stir holy desires for more of You. Amen.

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Website hacked and restored

I am unsure what happened but my blog, which had been down for three months, is now restored. This is not the first time my blog had been hijacked and used to re-direct traffic elsewhere. I am thankful that Vee my friend managed to get it up and running again. Thank you Lord.

Praying that it will be stable and safe. I will use a complicated password. Hope this helps.

My heart is full and lots have happened in my soul. I have a lot to write but this is still a test post. The enforced silence has increased my desire to write. Looking forward.

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Blogging with a mobile

I am used to blogging on a laptop. Then two years ago, I started blogging with my iPad when I travelled, which I found cumbersome because photo transfers from my phone to iPad was ponderous.

This time round, due to restrictions on luggage weight, I tried using my Galaxy Note 9. It was not as difficult as I had thought. I only had to install an image resizing app. My pics are already in the phone gallery;  the story is ready in my mind; and I am used to typing with my index finger. Everything else is the same. In fact the the process was smooth and  convenient and required less steps!

It means I can write on the go, or while waiting I could redeem the time with blogging.

I do not have to go home and transfer and resize photos with the laptop.

I will also write with brevity and conciseness.

All the previous posts beginning with the camino were posted via my mobile. Its too early to tell yet, but I am liking this method of blogging thus far! I do hope the ease of writing will encourage more posts. However, with longer posts I would still prefer using a laptop.

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