Allowing Creativity

Today, Jeshua drew on the wall with his colour pencils.

Obviously, this has "destroyed" the white, clean wall and made it rather messy.

However, my wife and I decided to let him draw on the wall in his room. This is important because we want to create a safe environment for him to explore his gifting and abilities. I believe that he is a very creative boy as I have seen him using unconventional ways in approaching his toys and other stuff.

It's easy for us to focus on the mess and miss out the potential in a person. God the Father always sees our potential in the midst of our mess. Jesus saw the ability and boldness in Peter even when Peter was still uneducated and impulsive. Peter turned out to become the apostle who preached boldly and powerfully on the day of Pentecost, with 3000 souls receiving salvation in one sermon. Jesus saw the unrelenting spirit in Paul when he was still ignorant and killing Christians. Paul turned out to be the apostle who had planted more churches than anyone in this world.

I want to be a father who focuses on the potential of Jeshua. I want to call out his identity and destiny. I want him to know that material things don't matter to us (parents) as much as he does. I want to create a safe environment for him to take steps of faith in exploring who he is and what God has gifted him with. More Lord!

Presence - Dependence On Me

Was at the youth camp in Sembawang Camp Challenge when I received a call from my wife that Jeshua has injured his toe as the door closed on him. She has brought him to the family doctor but he advised that we should bring him to KK hospital for X-ray as it looked serious.

As I was taking a cab there, I was thinking about what different Christian ministers have shared concerning family emergency. A good handful of them believe that they should not stop ministering even if the family is going through emergency. The reasons they gave are as follow:

1) I have to trust God to take care of my family.
2) I want my family to trust God and depend on Him so that they know how to fight when attacks come.
3) I don't want the devil to use this over and over again as his platform to stop me from ministering to many other lives. If he knows that a family emergency can stop me, he will keep attacking.

Yet as I was pondering over it, I felt God speaking to me.

The Father's presence is the most important thing to me. It gives me comfort, confidence and assurance. If God the Father's presence is vital to me, my presence is vital to Jeshua. However, I can't be with him forever. It will come a point when God the Father has to be Jeshua's Father.

What do I mean by that?

Jeshua has to learn to depend on God the Father when he grows up. Even if an emergency happens, he has to learn to trust God himself. God is the One who can provide for all he needs. God is the One who is his ever-present help.

But before that happens, I represent God the Father to him, because he is still too young to understand the need to depend on God. Now he has to depend on me as the father. In other words, if emergency happens, I have to be present with him. My presence is important... at least until he learns how to be dependent on God.

When he comes into a relationship with God the Father, when he learns to be dependent on Him, it will be the time when I can be absent (if I'm ministering to other lives).

Thank You Jesus for this revelation.

Polliwogs Playground

Jeshua was playing at the bouncing castle. Suddenly, there were many other older kids who came up to play. They were jumping violently.

My heart was beating faster as I was concerned that they might accidentally land on him, who seemed to be the youngest there.

This was the only play station that I didn't get involved with him because I was afraid that the castle would burst if an adult goes up. There seemed to be an unspoken rule - no adult for this station.

As I watched over him, my heart was praying for his safety.

I am reminded that God the Father is especially concerned when we tread on dangerous grounds. He would be watching over our every single move to see if we are safe.

However, there is a rule that He set - He wouldn't interfere with our choices. If we choose to tread on dangerous grounds, we have to answer the consequence. Jeshua was treading on dangerous ground while I was constantly keeping my eyes on him.

The important thing is this... we have to watch out for the voice of God in the midst of danger in order to be kept safe. As I saw more and more kids coming up, I called out to Jeshua and he came towards me. It was then that I could bring him out of the bouncing castle.

Whose Will?

Son cried for 30 min today simply because he wanted to latch on wifey. It wasn't because he needed it (he wasn't hungry or sleepy). He wanted it out of habit.

As such, he threw tantrum when he couldn't get what he wanted. He's such a persistent boy. Man, he's going to be such an overcomer in life on earth. I believe he's gonna be a great and powerful communicator too.

Despite his loud and desperate cry (it was really bad!), we refused to give in. We were teaching him that if it's not our will (right and good one), he won't get it no matter how hard he tries or cries.

Similarly, if it's not God's will, no matter how much we try, God won't answer. We can pray long hours; fast for many days; cry desperately for God to do our will and He will still not give in, because He desires to give us what is best and according to His will.

There is no way we can bend God's hand to do our will.

On the other hand, if it's God's will, then we need not cry for it. It's not based on our efforts and works. If it's His will, a simple trust will bring down His will from heaven to earth. That's why we don't need to cry desperately for healing to take place. It's His will. We simply believe it.