Smile at the Storm

January 27th, 2023, there was a thunderstorm and flooding in Auckland. Like many others, I was scared while driving on motorway, doubting whether I would make it home. 

Then a song came into my mind:

“With Christ in my vessel, I will smile at the storm, smile at the storm.” 

Though outside winds and storms still go on, I have this blessed assurance that Christ is in my vessel,and there is nothing to worry about. 

In Matthew chapter 8, when Jesus and the disciples were in a boat sailing in the sea. There arose a great tempest in the sea, the disciples came to the Lord saying, “Lord, save us; we are perishing!” Verse 26 says, “and He said to them, why are you cowardly, you of little faith? Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.”

Our human life is filled with physical, mental and even spiritual storms, causing worries, upsets, and fears. What can we do? What shall we do? 

Friends, do you know there is One, who can rebuke the winds and the sea, who can give you a great calm? This One is called Jesus. Even though we are coward and of little faith, we can still run to this Jesus and cry out, “Lord, save us; we are perishing!” 

just a few minutes ago, the emergency alert came to my phone, must also to yours. Are you anxious?? Are you scared?

My friend, why not try now? Just say these simple sentences, and see what the Lord will do:

“ Lord Jesus, save me. Lord Jesus, I open my being to Your now. Come into my heart. Calm all the winds and storms within me. Lord Jesus, I need You.” 

Jesus Lord, I'm captured by Thy beauty

at YP meeting last night, some trainees joined us. Each time when I hear some sharing, there is usually at least one point which will supply me.

one brother mentioned corporate morning revival. this was also one of the most challenges during my short-term training. I am used to have personal MR, which is really sweet and intimate. but just as he mentioned, in the training, over 10 saints want to have corporate MR with you every morning! you even have no way to escape. Most of the time, I just feel so reluctant to open my mouth to pray or to sing. this is something beyond my understanding. why must I have MR with so many people? anyway, I still feel a bit uncomfortable when have MR with other sisters on Saturday. but I can testify that I am on the way of changing, from avoiding to eagerly awaiting. what I really feel is that during corporate MR, I indeed can get some supply from other saints. you know, I am a weak person especially during morning time. I usually spend the whole morning in my bed. early morning is the most terrible thing for me. but when MR with other saints, at first I will feel so sleepy that I cannot sing hymns or pray. but when I hear the strong pray of other sisters, I will be filled with energy. it just draws me out of all myself. also I must testify that it does make much difference on the day when I have corporate MR. it will help to keep me turning to my spirit during the day.

also, another trainee mentioned about gospel team. what he shared is just what I felt during short-term training. at first, when I went out to door-knocking with Danya's team, for we would have 2 saints staying outside praying, I always volunteered to be the praying one. I felt so so so so unwilling to go close to the door. when Oliver and Oni asked me to knock the door, I was praying to Lord, " no one please, Lord. no one!!" second time, I went to gospel with Elisha, Samuel and Tom. something did change, although I was still unwilling to get closer to the door. But when we met with a Chinese gentleman, I did speak a bit. Thank You Lord!

time is always flying. it has been one year and 5 months after I got baptised. but just as Fuxing mentioned, during this one and half year, how much time can be really counted in God's eyes. one day we will all stand in front of Lord, and maybe He will ask, "how many hours in your life did you spend for Me?" at that time I hope that I can answer like the verse in hymn 1159, "Lord, behold, i've saved the best for Thee. Dearest Lord, I wast myself upon Thee. " so I started recently to record the hours I spent on our Beloved Lord every day, so as to remind myself not to be occupied by anything other than Lord. when i review the record before sleep every night, really feel that I am not giving Him the first place. I am always busy with something for myself, putting Him aside. but He is always waiting at the door of my heart, keeping on knocking gently, waiting for me to open to Him patiently. as soon as I cease from myself and come to His presence, He will so willingly and quickly fill me with Himself, becoming my all and all.

Yes Lord, we come to You to receive and contain You. consume everything within us that is not pleasing to You. Fill us with Yourself. we are willing to be fully occupied by You. Make all of us useful vessels for You.

Testimony-11,07,2013

i went to shopping mall this afternoon.
The Lord will not ban us from shopping, as long as this is not for the purpose of worldly enjoyment.
i was for the purpose to find a suitable dairy book so that i can record the time period when i spent for my Lord. therefore, when i was in the shop, looking around, the spirit didn't stop me. after i found the suitable book, i soon began to look for something else, that i did not need at all. during this time, the spirit came to remind me about the lust of eyes. Oh Lord, preserve me from the lust of flesh. Thank You Lord. You are always offering me guide within my spirit.

Testimony-23,06,2013

just back from YP conference in Hamilton.
The subject of this conference is about Lord's second coming.

When asked whether I am prepared or eagerly awaiting for Lord's second coming, I will certainly say " Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!"

but when I have personal fellowship with Lord, I feel deep within that I am not thinking in this way. I even would feel like that " Wait Lord!" I haven't got married yet. I haven't got any children yet. I even haven't fallen in love with someone yet. My life is incomplete. Lord, You see?

Praise the Lord. He came to grant me a revelation. Lord talked to me that, " Do you not know that you are in love with Me? Do you not know that I am the Bridegroom?"
And He came to remind me with verse Psalms 73:25 " whom do I have in heaven but You? And besides You there is nothing I desire on earth"
just at that moment, I suddenly got enlightened. Yes! that's it!!!!!

Oh Lord, You are my first love and best love! Lord, You are my everything! You are the reality.
Lord, make us those who love and eagerly awaiting for Your appearance. Make us Your useful vessels. Make us those who You can use to turn this age!

Yes, Lord. We love You.
Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

Stand for Jesus's glory

Dear Team One

thanks for the sisters who will share with all the others. Feel free!

three weeks have passed since I finished my short term training. I have always been reviewing these two weeks with dear team one. It just feels like that we were still gathering together, serving together yesterday. I cannot believe this happened three weeks ago. Time really goes by flying when the saints are gathering together. Sister Danya, thank you for visiting me the other day with your lemons. It does work to heal my voice and cough by drinking lemon with honey. It's so happy to see you in Auckland. it's even happier to see you this coming weekend at YP conference. I cannot wait any more to see all the members of team one. I shall also bring some snacks down to Hamilton. Hope you will enjoy :-9

Since my return to Auckland from short term training, many saints have been asking me whether I will join long-term training, changing my title of "sister short-term" to "sister long-term". Actually, I have been considering even when I was still in short term. I also was praying about this, so that I can touch the Lord's intention. just like Danya shared in her testimony, if i cannot get a confirmation from Lord, this may just come from my own mind. Indeed, if i can make this decision by my own, I am willing to come and join you next semester in July. But this will be my own decision. I need to leave this decision to Lord. I need to cease from my own effort and let Lord to lead me with God-ordained way. I haven't got any confirmation from Lord yet. Anyway, Lord has His own arrangement and plan. If Lord would not let me come to training now, I will wait for the right time when Lord will call me to the training. I got enlightened in the whole-week class God's Economy. We all may be Abrahams, doing something good for God with our own flesh, even spiritual things. So I will continue to pray about this to Lord, and waiting for His guiding. I do feel regretful that I may not be able to meet most of you, even all of you, when I will come to the training at the God-ordained time. But, we are still in the universal one Body, and in the one spirit. We may be in different parts in the world, but we still remain in the oneness. Amen! Also, there are many chances to visit you, even after you come back to your localities. I will go to visit Taiwan church at the end of September, with the saints in Auckland. So I also can go to visit your local churches later.

During these three weeks, I got some fresh experience of Christ. I breathed out my old experience, and breathed in fresh newness. I attended the memorial conference from 31/05 to 02/06, which was really high peak revelation. Even during serving, I still can get some enlightment. In the next week, we got two gospel friends baptised in our YP meeting, two sisters. One sister was thinking about baptism one month ago, but couldn't make the final decision. but Praise the Lord! She got baptised and is growing very fast. Another sister was touched by one Chinese hymn "Zhen'ai" (真愛). I shared in my testimony that, this is just the hymn, which Lord used to recover my love towards Him. Ask Lily or Tom, if you cannot understand the Chinese characters. We were singing various hymns, both English and Chinese, that night. And the gospel friend got touched and baptised. She will still cry each time when singing this hymn. These two new believers are living in the same house, and they will have MR, read the Word, and pray together every day. Brother KC is taking care of them. And I will also help for they are quite close to me. We served in Lord's table this morning, and had a whole day fellowship until 10:35 p.m. Thank You Lord for giving them such a seeking heart. When I was talking with them today, they just focused on Christ and the church. I was amazed that we did not waste even one minute on gossiping. They are really blessed by Lord. May Lord will keep them with this seeking and pursuing heart.

After this week of two baptisms, I eventually relaxed from this high tension. I feel since I joined the short term training, my nerves have always been highly intensified, feeling like I was kept in a very high mountain. After these two got baptised, I finally came back to the valley from the peak. My accumulated tiredness just burnt out. I was down with the flu, and was in the bed for almost a whole week. fever, cough, vomiting, everything seems to come at the same time. After attending Lord's Day, I came back to sleep in the afternoon. since this afternoon, until today, I haven't got fully recovered yet. During the first two days, Monday and Tuesday, I only got awake for about 4 hours, all the other 20 hours sleeping. Praise The Lord! He still drew me to YP meeting and prayer meeting within these four hours. I just slept until 5 pm, and had something to supply my energy, then went to attend the meeting and prayer, and go to bed again after coming back home. Even when I was sleeping, I did feel Lord was with me. Lord talked to me with the verses, Psalms 22:14-15, " I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a shard, and my tongue is stuck to my jaws; you have put me in the dust of death." at first, i could not remember from which psalm. When I opened the Bible to find the exact place, Lord just put my finger on the exact page. I read the whole psalm, and couldn't stop my weeping. Moreover, during my sleeping, one hymn was lingering within my mind, hymn 893. I could not memorise the whole hymn, but the melody looped again and again. I was repeating the sentences, " Behold, I come quickly; Jesus the Lord is near; Jesus the Lord has come." this encouraged me and granted me power. However, this is not yet the end of my experience. Lord came to visit me, and I sacrificed myself again to Lord. then, the enemy came to attack me even severer so that he can frustrate me from my sacrifice. My fever is gone but my cough even worse. I even coughed a bit blood, which did frighten me. but praise the Lord. He is with me all the time. Lord just talked to me that everything I saw was just shadows. Only He Himself is the reality. I said, 'Amen! Lord, I didn't believe my eye. didn't believe the blood, my own body. I only believe in You. You are my faith, my everything. All these are just shadows, just the subtle way of the enemy. Go away, Satan! I am of Jesus! Lord, bind the serpent! bind the dark powers!' Lord came to strengthen me again with one hymn. I cannot remember the number. I only remember I sang this hymn in the class during the two weeks training. He just strengthens me with one sentence, "stand for Jesus's glory" Yes Lord! You are Lord! Jesus is Lord! I say Amen to You! Lord, make me stand for Your glory. I cannot stand. Lord, You make me stand for Your glory. I defeated the enemy, not by myself, but in this ascended Christ! We are fighting in His glory, in His victory! He is the Victor! He has already won the victory! Praise you Lord! Therefore, I will certainly be at YP conference with a strong and healthy body :-0 See all you soon this coming weekend!

PS. I really enjoy our shouting " Jesus is Lord" on that Tuesday afternoon, when we were going for campus work, with the sisters.

Much grace!
Grace upon grace!

From Lilo's iPad Mini

Lord, recover our first love towards You

I really enjoyed today's message, the indwelling Christ.
Brother Lin shared that our need to recover firstlove to the Lord.
I feel that I really need to testify that during this one year, the Lord came to recover my love again and again with several hymns.

During last team blending, I gave my testimony that each time I turned away from the Lord, He would come to recover me. Praise the Lord! Our Lord is a recovering Lord!

The Lord has never let me go even for a moment. Thank you Lord! He loves us so much that he is unwilling to let go any of His children.

I mentioned last time that the first hymn Lord used to recover me was a Chinese hymn. After that I began to read the Word. I don't know whether I was quite strange. I began from the Old Testament, although many saints told me to start from NT. Anyway, I didn't come to NT, until I finished OT. When I came to the books of Chronicle and Kings, I felt a bit boring, therefore turned away. At that time, I attended a memorial meeting of a sister. We sang hymn 82, " down from His glory". In this hymn, I was touched by stanza 2, " that in the dead of night, not one faint hope I'm sight, God gracious tender, laid aside His splendour, stooping to woo, to win, to save my soul." This hymn recovered me that He is the hope of hopeless. He is the true light, and darkness cannot prevail Him. Where there is Christ, where there is light and hope. He is our breath, our sunshine, our all in all.

Later, I met one Japanese sister who lives close to me. She came to my house and asked me to sing a hymn with her. That was her favourite hymn, which now is also one of my favourite hymns. Hymn 507, " once far from God and dead in sin, no light my heart could see; but in God's Word the light I found, now Christ liveth in me" that was first time when I realised that He is living in me. We are different from unbelievers, since we have Christ dwelling in us.

Later, I was criticised much by the older sister who was shepherding me, because she wanted to perfect me. I know she really wants all of us to become overcomes. She asked me to serve the children, serve the kitchen, and do this do that. At that time, I could not understand why she did so to me, and I asked her the reason why she always thought that I was not good enough whatever I did. She refused me and didn't allow me to ask her any question from then. I really felt so sad and under too much pressure. I began to consider that maybe it was much better and happy not to be a Christian. Thank you Lord! He came to recover me with hymn 1307 " when Jesus comes... When Jesus comes...when Jesus comes...." This hymn made me realised that our Lord is coming soon, and we need to be prepared to be His Bride when He comes to His feast. We are His Bride and He is our beloved Bridegroom. Oh what a divine romance!

Although The Lord used these hymns to recover me, my love towards Him was still not so deep, so stable, and so pure. I didn't give Him the best love and the first place. I loved the world so much that I didn't submit much love to Him. So Lord drew me to a song called " I don't know where they had laid Him" Mary's love so touched me that I looped the chorus of this song and couldn't stop my tears for a whole week. Each time I came to the chorus " where is He, my Jesus; where is He, my Beloved; where is He, whom my soul doth love" I just cannot control my crying. This made me realised that the heart desire of Lord. He desires to gain a corporate bride. He needs some people who love Him and willing to fight for Him. The Lord opened my eyes so that I could see a vision that He deserves our best love. We must be those who give Him the firstlove, the best love, who desire nothing else, except Him, otherwise, how can He gain His bridal warriors.

In February, I got the chance to prepare the bread for Lord's table. I quite enjoyed the process of preparing with calling upon the Lord's name. The brother asked me to prepare a big one for Easter Conference. At the Lord' s day, I brought my bread. The older sister shepherding me saw my bread, and said that " your bread is too small, cannot be used for the conference. Take it away." Since then, I haven't got a chance to prepare the bread. And the sister told me that our home meeting will be stopped for April and May, and that I can join other home meetings. So I went to young people meeting, where I met Danya. What shocked me was that, when the sister heard that I came to YP meeting, she got unhappy, and texted me, criticising me that i would not read carefully her txt since i was at YP meeting. and she told me that one should not come to two meetings, which was the principle of proper church life. She asked me if I want to continue to join another home meeting, I wold not be allowed to come to her home meeting and she would stop shepherding me. This really made me quite down, and I began to resist any contact from the saints. I just felt that I didn't want such church life any more. Maybe I had better pursue the Lord alone. At the coming Lord's day, we sang hymn 987 " one day they led Him up Calvary's mountain, one day they nailed Him to die on the tree; suffering anguish, despised and rejected; bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He. Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me; buried, He carried my sins far away; rising, He justified freely forever; one day He's coming- o glorious day!" Considering the process our Lord went through, I just felt that compared with what He did for us, His love constrained us that we cannot prevent ourselves from loving Him. Thank you Lord! You loved us first that we can love You! You turned to us that we can turn to You! Oh what a love!

Love Lord's appearing

In the ministry, we are always being told that
Be watchful, prepared and longing for Lord's coming
We certainly say Amen to Lord's second coming
But sometimes in my mind, I will think like this
Oh, wait a moment, Lord, after I finish this game.

Many saints may also be like this
First we will love the world,then
At the last week, we turn to pursue Lord.

In the Scripture, the word says
"Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him." - 1 John 2:15
To love the world, to stand with the world, is to be the enemy of God.

We need to remember the story of Lot's wife.
She treasured the evil city of Sodom, and became a pillar of salt.

We need to love Lord's appearing, and we desire to be raptured.
Then we need to be filled with the heavenly breath and
Always have oil in our vessels.

Someone thinks that Lord is delaying His coming.
He is not delaying, but is long-suffering towards us.
He desires all men to be saved and to come to repentance.
Everything is done, and He is sitting on the throne waiting for our mature.
He needs a corporate and matured bride.
Our maturity can hasten His coming back.

But, the maturity is not an overnight matter.
You cannot say that I start to grow today
And got matured over tonight.
It's impossible.

We need to grow in life and unto maturity.
Only Lord can cause us to grow in Him.

So that we may declare the last verse in the Bible
Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

Thank you Lord for the angels

In the book of Acts, it talks about
For every saint, no matter great or ordinary
There is an angel by the side
Who is protecting each saint.

I never felt quite consciously that
I am being protected by my angel
But today just now,
When I was rushing down the stairs for food
Sorry, too hungry :-9
I nearly fell down from the top of the stairs
Felt like something on the ground pulled my feet
Actually it was a part of the carpet.
I thought maybe I would dive like I'm the movies
I always someone is pushed by the murderer
Fell down the stairs and killed.
However, praise the Lord!
The angel just held me back
I was able to get balanced and stayed safely on the stairs
At this moment, I came to realise so clearly that
I have one angel who is always by my side, protecting me
This angel is sent from our Savior, our God.

Thank you Lord for these angels
Oh Lord, we praise You for these angels!

Lilo's Testimony-11,02,2013

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, it shall be done for you.
- ( John 15:7)

When I come to week 5- day 3 of the morning revival, it says that we do not know how to pray.
I think it quite funny.
How can we do not know how to pray?
We are always praying, asking for this for that.
This is prayers right?
God is just like Santa Claus.
We tell Him I need this, I need that.
Let them be done, oh Lord.

I still remember my first time to attend drivers' license practical test.
I prayed quite earnestly to Lord.
Lord, please let me pass. Do let me pass.
But the result is that I failed.
I cannot understand why I failed.
Isn't it written that "ask whatever you will, it shall be done for you"
Where is my " shall be done"

Then I come back to this verse.
Aha, there is a former part of this whole verse.
" If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, it shall be done for you"

What kind of prayer shall we offer to Lord?
He does not care whether you pass or fail.
He doesn't want us to pray for such trivial things.
We need to be like Daniel, a man of prayer.
We need to pray towards the Land, the Holy City, the Holy Temple.
We need to pray towards Christ
The centrality and universality of God's economy.
If we take care of Hid economy, He will take care of all our life.
He is the Almighty One in the universe.
Is there anything too marvellous for Jehovah?
Everything shall be done for us.
Amen!

Lilo's Testimony-04,02,2013

I quite enjoy last week's morning revival
In two points

First, it talks about thanksgiving
We are prayless for we are lacking in thanksgiving.
The sign of lacking in prayer is the lacking in offering thanks.
We should be those who continuously offer thanks to God.

Before I always thought that I am a person full of thanksgiving.
I say thank you t bus drivers.
I say thank you at supermarket and post shop.
But actually these are all empty thanks.
I just get used to say thank you at any time
In order to show that I am a polite person with good manners.

We should offer genuine thanks to God at all times.
Just as the brother shared in message 2 during winter training.
Thank you Lord for another day.
Thank you Lord, I am still living.
Thank you Lord, we can come to DVD training.
There are so many things we can thank Lord.

Also another thing quite touches me, is that
If you do not pray today, you cannot pray tomorrow.
If you do not pray in the morning, you cannot pray at noon time or in the evening.

Just as the brother shared during thanksgiving conference.
We can make a vow to Lord, saying we would pray.
And hand clearly the responsibility over to Lord.
Do not let me go.
Lord, remind me to pray.
Actually He would remind us, from time to time,
Even when I am brushing my teeth
The Lord will remind me that you should pray.
I just say, wait Lord, after I brushed my teeth.
And then I just forget to pray.
Then when I am having lunch
The Lord again reminds me that you should pray.
I say, ok Lord, after my lunch.
After I finished my lunches I forget to pray again.
I nearly fail everyday.

So, one thing we should get clear that
Prayer is the most priority in our life.
Nothing should hinder us from prayer.
Whenever Lord reminds us to pray
We should stop anything we are doing
And respond to Lord
Yes, Lord, I come to pray!