ARE YOU AS SACRIFICING AS JACK MA’S BODYGUARD?

You might have heard about Jack Ma, one of the richest men in the world, but have you heard about his former bodyguard, Li Tianjin? During the time, when Jack Ma was still the chairman of Alibaba, Li was his personal bodyguard. At one time, Ma’s life was threatened and Li immediately used his body to block his boss from any impending harm of flying bullets. Li was not only a good martial artist but a very responsible bodyguard. He was willing to sacrifice his life for that of his boss. Are you willing to sacrifice for your Lord?

Paul the Apostle wrote in Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

This portion of scriptures has fascinated me since I got saved in 1974. Going to church and attending weekly prayer meetings, bible studies, cell group meetings, youth services and Sunday services was not a sacrifice for me even as a young national serviceman. In fact, it had never crossed my mind that all these activities were sacrifice.

From the beginning of my walk with the Lord, being able to attend church and serve in various capacities such as an usher, cleaner, worship leader, youth leader, church designer, van driver, logistic helper, magazine editor, deacon and a whole host of other work positions was a privilege. After all that the Lord had done for me on the cross, how could all these little things that I did in the church be a sacrifice? As Missionary Charles Studd said, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” In fact, I was thankful that the church leadership had given me so many platforms to utilize my talents and gifts for the glory of God.

Recently, I heard some believers complaining about overworking when they were asked to do some church’s works like once a week or even once every fortnight, I was taken aback. What happens to the modern disciples of Christ? How come they have become so weak? Maybe they are working such long hours that they just cannot find time to serve the Lord. I don’t understand what kind of work that is so demanding and they are not telling me.

Whether it is really due to a work-related situation that a person drops out of serving or otherwise, a paradigm shift is greatly needed for all modern disciples. They have to view that serving the Lord in His kingdom and reaching out to the lost in the world are divine privileges. No other people in the world have been given such privileges except the disciples of Christ.

Till this day, because of this awareness, everything that I do in the kingdom of God is a privilege and is given by the mercies of God. God does not owe me anything but I owe Him everything. I am happy that He has healed me from a dilapidating disease that had crippled me for more than ten years. I am happy that He has given me sufficient energy and good health to continue serving as a pastor. I am happy that He has given me a supportive spouse and ministry partner to serve Him. I am happy that God has blessed me and my family with a roof above our heads, foods on the table and clothes on our backs.

How can all these be a life of sacrifice for me? What I have received is an abundant life and a privileged life. Brothers and sisters, maybe to some of you, serving the Lord is a sacrifice. If it is so, it is your “reasonable service” as mentioned in Romans 12:1.

My challenge to you is very simple:

Would you sacrifice your personal entertainment time for the Lord? If you can cut half of that time and spend it on reading the bible, meditation and prayers, that will be great.

Would you sacrifice your personal time to attend prayer meetings and Sunday worship services?

How about spending time in a cell group and fellowshipping with your brothers and sisters in the Lord?

You may not need to sacrifice your life like Li, the former bodyguard of Jack Ma but God will still take note of your sacrificial effort to please Him and read His Word.

Everytime, you want to change your mind about reading the bible, meditating or praying, immediately count backward 5-4-3-2-1 and just then just do it. The reason is that when the helpful idea comes, your brain will seek to kill it in 8 seconds. Therefore, by using the the Five-Second Rule, you practically destroy the opportunity for your brain to kill your idea. It is that simple. Try it and gain victories in your life for the glory of God.

Watch the following video and learn how to conquer every procrastination.

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Are Signs and Wonders for Today?

Albert Kang

A Lutheran missionary to Cambodia visited me while I was working in Phnom Penh to ask for some advice on casting out demons. He did not know what to do with a demon-possessed person in his congregation at Siem Reap. He said he was never taught how to cast out demons during his seminary training. In fact, he was taught that all signs and wonders have ceased.

After showing this missionary how to use his God-given authority and power to cast out evil spirits, he went back to do so by faith. After a week or so, he returned and happily informed me that he had successfully cast out the evil spirits from the afflicted person.

Through The Elijah Challenge and Healing Encounter Ministry, we train believers to exercise their faith in healing the infirm. Here, in Gujarat, a deaf and dumb man was healed. He could hear and speak after the healing command.

Are The Modern Miracles Lying Wonders?
Today, there are Christians who believe that signs and wonders have ceased in spite of many evidences and testimonies of unexplained instant healing cases reported in news portals and various social media channels. These “anti-miracles” Christians explain all these signs and wonders away by calling them “lying wonders.”

They base their understanding on 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12.  This portion says that Satan will deceive people who do not love the truth by using signs and lying wonders. They also refer to Revelation 13:13 that describes the false prophet as having the ability to produce signs and wonders such as causing fire to come down from heaven. Then they invoke the serious warning by Jesus found in Matthew 7:21-22, misquoting this portion to associate those who are still doing signs and wonders to be false prophets.

However, a closer examination of the scriptural context reveals that the Lord had already identified the false prophets in Matthew 7:15-20. And he had indicated that the way to recognise true or false prophets is by identifying their fruits. From Matthew 7:21 to 23, Jesus was talking about obedient and disobedient disciples. He had given all of them authority and power to prophesy, heal the infirm and cast out demons in His name. The undeniable credential of a true disciple is his obedience – he is most willing to do the will of the Father. A disobedient disciple is not a true believer.

According to Luke 9, Judas was an Apostle and Peter declared in Acts 1:17 that “He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.” Being among the Twelve, Judas also received the authority and power from the Lord to do miracles. However, due to his disobedience and self-will, he was ultimately denied of his place in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, Matthew 7:22 is not for the purpose of rejecting people who exercise their God-given authority and power to heal the sick and cast out demons. It is a warning for people who are disobedient and do not do the will of the Lord.

These ladies were from a local tribe and they suffered from chronic backpain because of the hard labours they had to do every day. Many were too poor to see doctors and that day, we brought the healing miracles of the Lord Jesus to these ladies. All of them were healed in the mighty name of Jesus.

Signs And Wonders Ceased After The Bible Was Completed?
Another reason that some believers give as to why God performed miracles and healed people only in the past is that those incidents were primarily for the purpose of writing the New Testament. Since that task has already been completed, all miraculous powers have also ceased. For the same reason, not only miracles have ceased but the spiritual gifts, particularly speaking in tongues and prophesying, have also ceased. Their favourite supporting verses are found in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10.

Let us read verse 10: “But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.” (NKJV) or in the NIV translation: “But when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.”

They have taken the Greek word, “tevleio” which means “completion” to refer to the “Completion of the Bible” as written words of God rather than the “Completion of the Age.” Did Paul actually write about the completion of the Bible or was he referring to something else?

The context of this scriptural portion has no indication that Paul even had the “Completion of the Bible” in mind when he wrote to the Corinthian Christians.  In fact, Paul did not even realize that God would use his epistles to become an integral part of the New Testament. How could he write something that he had no idea at all? How could he add an idea that was outside the context of his explanation?

A good basic rule that governs biblical interpretation is that the Bible should never be interpreted to say what it never did say. Why then is this traditional argument that depicts the “Completion of the Bible” as the reason to reject all signs and wonders? Could it be due to the lack of miracles in these churches that has forced them to find an excuse?

It seems that once a certain theory is repeated long enough, it is then believed to become synonymous to Biblical Truth. People tend to equate their own subjective experiences with objective truth. To begin with, they already have no faith to trust God for any healing miracles and therefore, no miracle happens in their ministries. How to explain to their flock about this lack of signs and wonders? They conveniently declare that signs and wonders have ceased.

In Elijah Challenge and Healing Encounter Ministry, we believe that as long as you are a true disciple of Christ, you can heal the sick and cast out demons in the mighty name of Jesus. With more than 10,000 healing miracles since 2005, we can safely share that “all things are possible to those who believe” (Mark 9:23). If you have read up to here, you must be ready to put your faith on the line. I did that in 2005 and it totally changed my life and ministry.

Way back in 2006, when Elijah Challenge took root in Malaysia. From left, Rev William Lau, Rev Lucille Lau (Founders of The Elijah Challenge) Rev Albert Kang, Rev Grace Kang-Ong (Founders of Healing Encounter Ministry and Coordinators of Elijah Challenge Asia).

I will explain further in future blogs why you can actually obey the Word of God and that signs and wonders can be an integral part of your life and ministry.

This article is adapted from the book, Three Authorities of the Church written by Albert Kang

“The Three Authorities of the Church” is available in Canaanland Bookstore in Kuala Lumpur. You can also purchase it for RM30 each right here through this blog. Just write to me.

For further understanding about why signs and wonders are still available today and also applicable in your life and ministry, please check out the following video teaching.

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The Confused Helper

By Albert Kang

Imagine you hire a helper to clean your house. She comes with very good credential, having served as a housemaid for many years. So, when she turns up on the first day, you gives her the “authority” to enter every room of the house so that she may clean them. Then you give her “power” which is your expensive cordless vacuum cleaner. With her working background, she should be able to clean all the rooms in no time. However, to your surprise, she looks at you and says, “Madam or Sir, would you please clean the rooms?” What would you do in a situation like that?

You may think that this story is ridiculous…but read on. Your response would definitely be that of confusion and frustration. You would ask this helper, “Excuse me, am I the boss or are you the boss? I have given you the fullest authority to go to every room and even given you the power which is my best vacuum cleaner to do the job. And now, you are asking me to clean the rooms. Are you having a fever or something?”

Before we carry this story further, let’s look at some scriptures to show you the correlation between this story and your story… that is if you are a disciple of Christ. Let’s see what has been given to the disciples of Christ:

“Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (Luke 9:1-2 NKJV)

Let put the narrative in the context of the story of the helper – Jesus is the boss and you are the helper. The boss gives you power and authority over all demons and cure diseases. He sends you to preach the kingdom of God and he emphasizes that you are also to heal the sick.

When you encounter demons and diseases, what would you do? Normally, the believers will PRAY and ASK Jesus to get rid to the demons and heal the diseases. I did that for many years and received very little results. I think around about less than ten people got healed through my prayers. You most probably get around the same result. The reason that you and I got very low number of healing miracles is because we are really the “confused helpers”.

When I prayed, I was actually telling Jesus to be the maid. He did those healing miracles during the first 20-plus years of my ministry was because of His grace and mercy. But something happened in 2005. I learned something that I had never learned in seminary – I learned how to minister healing without forcing Jesus to be the maid. Rev William Lau, the founder of The Elijah Challenge taught me and Grace how to really minister as true servants and “maids”.

Through Elijah Challenge Ministry and Healing Encounter Ministry, we provide training and healing practicum for believers.

We no longer “instruct” Jesus to do the healing but we command the diseases and demons to go in the mighty name of Jesus. The result was astounding – since that time, Grace and I had encountered and initiated more than 10,000 healing miracles. Deaf ears were open, the mute talked, lame walked, arthritic limbs were healed, chronic pain left and as our faith grew, more miracles happened. That training by Rev William Lau literally changed our lives and ministry.

You can visit the website of The Elijah Challenge and receive your training from there. Everything there is free. Rev William believes that freely he has received and freely he is giving.

www.theelijahchallenge.org

You may watch this video to further understand about how you can minister as a true servant of Jesus instead of asking Jesus to do your job.

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The Missing Two-Hand Punch

By Albert Kang

Recently, a Chinese boxer by the name of Xiong Cheng Cheng (熊呈呈) was able to, with one hand, beat a pugilist named Yu Changhua (俞昌华) who claimed to be a Wing Chun master. Throughout the match, Xiong punched only with his left hand. While placing his crippled right hand behind his back, he was able to knock out his opponent. This boxer reminded me of most churches that are doing evangelism with only “one-hand punch” and they do it expertly. However, in the early Church, evangelism was done with”two-hand punch” – the first “punch” was healing the sick and casting demons. The second “punch” was sharing the Gospel of the kingdom. This Holy Spirit’s empowered “two-hand punch”combination of miracles and message was very effective and productive in soul-winning.

Xiong Cheng Cheng was able to defeat Yu Changhua with only one hand. Is the Church today going to depend upon the “one-hand punch” approach to evangelism?

Looking at the present situation of the modern Church, did the Lord remove one arm from the Church so that she has to depend solely upon spreading the Gospel without the accompanying signs and wonders?

Before, we look at the answer, let’s get back to Xiong, the one-armed boxer. When asked, wouldn’t it be better if he could use both hands, Xiong said how he wished he could do that. With both hands, he was sure that he could be a lot more powerful and effective in boxing. However, his handicapped right hand, though it looks normal, has a couple of screws holding the bones together. That practically renders the right arm useless, especially in a bout.

Is the Church today given two good hands or just one hand to fulfill the Great Commission? Let’s see if there are any biblical precedents in this matter.

Jesus And His Two-hand Punch
The ministry of Jesus began with a two-hand punch. He said, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matthew 12:28). Healing miracles may be found in the Old Testament but casting out demons is strictly a New Testament’s phenomena. The Savior had come and the rule of Satan was threatened. Therefore, we find more reports in the New Testament of the two-hand punch combination – confronting the works of the evil one with signs and wonders, plus simultaneously proclaiming the Good News.

Matthew 4:23
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

Mark 1:39
And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons. (NKJV)

The Early Church And Her Two-Hand Punch
If you were to read carefully through the Gospels, you will see how often this two-hand punch concept of evangelism approach was being used. Jesus subsequently passed this approach to His disciples. Jesus said to them in John 14:12, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” With Jesus going back to the Father, the “two-hand punch” ministry of preaching the Gospel with signs and wonders fell upon the apostles and the early Church. The Holy Spirit was given that they could continue the “two-hand punch” ministry of Jesus effectively.

Can the churches of today still apply the “two-hand punch”?

The Book of Acts opens with the coming of the Holy Spirit and subsequently, we read about different miracles that the Church was performing as they spread the Gospel. For example, Peter and John healed the lame man in Acts 3 and that miracle opened the door of opportunity for them to preach the Gospel. That day, about 5,000 men turned to the Lord (Acts 4:4). Philip the Evangelist, who was not an apostle, also used the two-hand punch approach effectively in Samaria.

Acts 8:4-8
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.

The “two-hand punch” approach was peppered throughout the Book of Acts:

Acts 5:12-16
The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.

While healing and deliverance may not always be recorded as being accompanied by preaching, we note that this “two-hand punch” approach was accepted as the norm of the Christian ministry in the early days. Today, many put aside the healing and deliverance ministry primarily because of a mental block – “we can’t possibly do those things”. For twenty-plus years as a Pentecostal pastor, I had similar mental block. Less than ten people were healed in those twenty-plus years of ministry. How was that mental block removed from me?

Some of you may know that my wife, Grace and I have been involved in the healing and deliverance ministry for many years. Since 2005, after being trained by Rev William Lau, the founder of The Elijah Challenge International, we have witnessed over 10,000 healing miracles in our own ministry. The reason is that we no longer “pray” to Jesus to heal the sick because we are no longer the “bosses” who have been ordering Jesus by our “prayers” to heal. We have instead become servants who are doing the work of healing by directly commanding the infirmities to go in the mighty name of Jesus.

This “boss” and “servant” concept became the paradigm shift in our ministry. When Jesus the “Boss” has given us power and authority (Luke 9:1-2) to minister healing in His name, then we should just do it accordingly. We cannot “pray” and request the “Boss” to do our work. It was of little wonder why in twenty-plus years, my healing ministry was pathetic at best.

Grace and I have been using this two-hand punch approach to witness to pre-believers. Very few people, after they received their healing miracles, ever rejected us when we shared the Gospel of the kingdom. This two-hand punch approach makes evangelism so easy – healing the sick in the mighty name of Jesus and then sharing the Gospel with the healed person.

In another blog, I will share some definite steps how you can actually minister healing in the the mighty name of Jesus. Grace and I have trained so many ordinary believers who are now ministering healing as they share the Gospel. All things are possible when you believe.

If you are interested about how you can have your own healing ministry, please write to me. To understand further, please check this message that I have shared about why the churches need to apply the two-hand punch approach.

#healingmiracles #elijahchallenge #healingencounterministry #HEM #albertkang #faithLine #two-handpunch #evangelism #church #christianministry #callofgod #deliverance #faith #jesuschrist #christianity #bible #jesus #christ #faithlineinternational #god #prayer #holyspirit #godisgood #blessed #hope #worship #truth #believe #scripture #jesuslovesyou

The Double-Ambush In Spiritual Warfare

The double-ambush is a military strategy that leverages upon the common weakness of human character – pride. Many stronger forces were defeated because they had become proud and extremely confident in their own abilities to defeat the opponents. In spiritual warfare, we must be aware that the enemy of our soul is using this double-ambush effectively. We have to find a way to counter him.

James Oliver Rigney Jr. aka Robert Jordan, a well known author and a much decorated US helicopter gunner during the Vietnam war wrote, “A crafty enemy will set a weak ambush you are meant to break through. Confident because you have dealt with the threat, your guard relaxed, you walk into the second, stronger ambush.”

For example, Joshua was able to destroy the Kingdom of Ai by using this technique. In the first battle with the army of Ai, the Israelites were defeated and ran. (Joshua 7:4-5). The underlying reason was the sin of Achan that had caused God not to stand on the side of the Israelites. However, in the subsequent attack, God had fully forgiven the Israelites and as Joshua’s army drew near, the soldiers of Ai, having been emboldened by their previous victory, came out in full force. Their attack was ferocious and the Israelites started to fall back in retreat.

“All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.”
Joshua 8:16-17 – NIV

What the king of Ai did not know was that Joshua had set a double-ambush. He had secretly placed a troop behind the city of Ai and when all the men came out in pursuit, this troop had entered and burned the undefended city. The kingdom of Ai was destroyed because of self-confidence, pride and ego.

This Double-Ambush approach is also regularly used by the devil against God’s people. For example, Samson killed countless burly Philistine warriors, even with just the jawbone of a donkey, only to fall prey in a second ambush prepared by Delilah. David could face Goliath but fell flat in the presence of Bathsheba. Solomon, with all his wisdom and wealth, could not withstand the religious fervor of his pagan wives and concubines. He too fell and sinned against God. Peter the Apostle who was proud of his courage melted in fear at the words of some servants and maids. He denied Christ not once, not twice but three times.

The devil does not really need any new tricks to bring Christians down. As long as the “pride of life” continues to dominate us, the devil will easily have his way with us. The reason why big-time preachers, pastors and church leaders fell like flies to scandals is because of this unrealistic sense of being “untouchable”. The Bible has warned that “pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18).

Others who considered themselves to be highly spiritual, fell into religious pride and became creators of Christian cults. In every instance, the luciferin spirit of pride was responsible for the fall of every single one of these people. All across Christendom, we see shadows of Lucifer behind every arrogant person who defies the correction of the Church and seeks to interpret the Scriptures according to his or her own way. Of course, the excuse has always been “what can I do when I receive this divine revelation”?

C. S. Lewis said, “Through pride the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every vice, it’s the complete anti-God state of mind.” It is not just the double-ambush of the devil that causes a proud person to fall but God also does not like anyone with an arrogant and haughty spirit (James 4:6). If any believer is caught in this type of self-centered pride, he is going to encounter a double whammy. One side, the devil is going to nullify him and on the other side, God is not going to help him. The end-result is going to be really tragic and ugly. A walk through church history should be helpful in seeing how the double whammy happened and how the double-ambush worked.

How are we to keep from being trapped by this double whammy situation and to be destroyed by the double-ambush?

Here are a few practical steps and hopefully they are of use to you.

LIVING IN THE PRESENT AND PRESENCE
I am learning to live in the moment and be very aware of the presence of Jesus Christ in my moments. I have wasted enough time reminiscing the past and pondering the future. Don’t get me wrong – I do appreciate all the past victories and learning experiences that God has given and also what He has for me in the future. However, in order to be productive and useful for the kingdom of God, I have to learn how to treasure the present.

100% FOCUS
This is a tough one – when I talk to anyone, I am practicing how to give them 100% of my attention. I am learning to listen more, even though I fail often in this. However, I know I can overcome. Whenever I catch myself thinking about what story I want to share when my friend finishes talking, I count silently, 5-4-3-2-1 and snap out that bad habit. This little “Five-Second Rule” trick by Mel Robbins is really helpful for me to stay focused. The 100% attentiveness is not only a good way to learn more about other lives, show appreciation and gratefulness to them, it is also a fantastic way to kill my self-centeredness and self-indulgence. This practice leaves little room for the devil to maneuver me into pride again.

GODLY COMMUNICATION
Another helpful practice that I am learning in this journey of humility is how to communicate in a godly manner. Some friends may think that I must be joking since I am teaching “Effective Communication” in Haggai Institute. Seriously, I know myself and how evidently arrogant I am in my communication. Snobbish. proud and unpleasant words would subconsciously escape from my mouth. So, being present in the moment, is helpful in making immediate correction to those loose words. In self-evaluation, I would attach an emotion to a word. Was that word snobbish? Did that statement come across as arrogant? By recognizing and tagging these feelings to everything that I speak, I am able to make definite adjustment in my attitude and behavior.

Finally, let’s listen to the advice of a once-arrogant man and see what we can learn: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…” (1 Peter 5:6-9)

I hope these few simple steps help you and if you have other practical ideas, please let me know by dropping a note in this blog. Thanks.
PAK

Here is a video excerpt that might help you to engage in spiritual warfare from another angle.

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How To Stop Day-Dreaming And Live In The Moment

By Albert Kang

Don’t keep dreaming about the past because you don’t stay there anymore. Don’t spend a lot of time talking about the future and forget to live your life now. You can learn how to enjoy your God-given moments and live in the present.

I don’t know about you but at one time, I was wasting a lot of time day-dreaming. There were so many “monkeys” in my head that I could catch any one of them and idle my time away by day-dreaming. (I call the stray thoughts that jump into my head “monkeys”).

Since I was a little child, I was already in this regular day-dreaming mode. My parents suspected that it was due to my talents in art that day-dreaming was the result of that creative artistic process in my mind. They arrived at that conclusion was probably because of all the impressive pictures that I drew, as a toddler, on the walls of our house. To encourage me from using the wall as my canvas, they bought me many drawing blocks. Even though, I day-dreamed through all my school days, I still managed to win a couple of awards in various art competitions.

After hundreds of drawing blocks later, I grew up and the habit of day-dreaming followed me to my adulthood. Initially, day-dreaming became a means of escape for me when the workloads got overwhelming or when relationships became intense. However, the reality of life did not permit me to ignore the present moments- especially when I had a goal to pursue and a career to build. You may say that it was circumstances and my desire to excel that forced me out of day-dreaming to engage the present moments and put 100% of my focus on what I was doing at hand.

Then the call of God came. I left my career to attend Bible College. Those years were demanding at best. Once again, it was the desire to learn as much as I could and do the very best for the kingdom of God that forced me to focus upon the studies and the countless papers that I was writing. Being focus and living in the present was crucial for all these tasks to be accomplished effectively.

Then one day, I became a pastor, running my own church and learning to focus was to be a daily ritual. I could not afford to day-dream any more because there were too many things that demanded my 100% “in the moment” concentration. I do not really remember how I made that switch? It was probably at the time when I was entering into the workforce and realizing that to be competitive, I had to learn how to face reality and stay focused. Then the intense experience of studying in Bible College was also helpful.

In short, switching from day-dreaming to being in the moment is a lot easier than what most people think. Staying and living in the moment is not a cliché but something doable and enjoyable. I am doing what Joshua Becker suggested, “Soak in as much of today as you possibly can – the sights, the sounds, the smells, the emotions, the triumph, and the sorrow. These are in our daily lives, but we often forget to take them in and truly appreciate them.”

Just think about it – the past is gone and will not happen to you again. Someone points out that you can never put your feet in the same river. The water that flows now is not the same water that flowed pass your feet before. Reminiscence may be nice but too much of it will cause you to live in a standstill.

How about day-dreaming the future? Planning for the future is good. However, after you have planned, it is what you do in the present moment that propels you to your future and ultimately accomplishing your goal. You don’t plan and plan all the time. And since the future is yet to come it will be futile to spend your time just dreaming and procrastinating.

How to practice living in the moment? It is simply paying attention to what you do, why you do, how you do, where you are and who you are talking to. Nowadays, it is common to see people gazing at their mobile phones while eating their meals. I know that God has given us a mind that can multi-task but to do multi-task while eating may be a little inappropriate. I was also doing that type of multi-tasking while eating but I have since made a change. When I eat, I want to savor every morsel of food that goes into my mouth. I want to be thankful to God for the sight, smell, taste and texture of every bite.

Do I still day-dream now? Yes! Day-dreaming comes easily for me. If I allow a pleasant memory or future dream to float in, my subconscious mind would immediately create a mental movie. However, I have learned how to run out of the theatre really fast before the movie begins. I use Mel Robbin’s five-second rule. When I catch myself day-dreaming or procrastinating, I count backward, “5-4-3-2-1” and hey presto, I am back to do the task at hand. There is a science behind this little technique. When I count backward, I actually prevent my subconscious mind from taking charge and I get to stay in the moment.

Staying in the moment not only help you to get your job done but also create better relationships. For example. when I engage in a conversation, I make sure that I am giving the person a 100% percent attention. Previously, while the person was talking I was thinking about my own story to tell him. I was in my own world while my friend was fully detached from my attention. I was not in the moment with or for him.

Try being in the moment for your friends or loved ones and see how they endear themselves to you. Try staying in the moment, and reap the benefits of having a better understanding of yourself and also the joy of appreciating everything that God has blessed you with. Enjoy your moments.

For extra benefits about being in the moments and other related topics, please click below:

Why You Must Have A Growth Mindset?

An Article By Albert Kang

Your mindset plays a critical role in your spiritual walk with the Lord. Whether you succeed or fail as a disciple depends greatly on how your mind operates in response to the Holy Spirit. The Christian “growth mindset” is not about positive thinking but understanding the responsibility that you have in managing your mind for the glory of God. Therefore, you have to learn to be a good guardian of your mind by not conforming to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2)

What is a Growth Mindset?
In her seminal book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dr. Carol Dweck, the renowned psychologist of Stanford University, states that Growth Mindset is believing that your talents and abilities can be developed instead of being fixed and ungrowable. It means that you do not put a self-imposed restriction upon your mind by saying that you no longer can learn or change. If you have a Growth Mindset, you will have a willingness to learn and try new things. You will be willing to work hard to improve yourself, and maximize your God-given talents. Here are some of the things that people with Growth Mindset adopt:

• They can learn at any age because for them learning is a lifelong pursuit.
• They believe that their thinking process and intelligence have no limit and can be improved.
• They believe that by grit and hard work they can become highly competent in what they are doing.
• They treat failures as temporal and these are stepping stones for their achievement.
• They willingly welcome feedback so that they can learn and improve from it.
• They are not afraid to face challenges and encounter problems.
• They are not jealous of others’ achievements but instead allow these success stories to inspire them to soar to a greater height of success.

Fixed Mindset
The opposite of Growth Mindset is Fixed Mindset. These are the mindsets of people who believe that they have been born with fixed talents and abilities. They are somewhat stuck by the limitation within their minds and so they live with a sense of injustice. They feel that God has dealt them a bad hand and they are highly disadvantaged. The philosophy of such individuals is fatalistic and the common expression among them is “What to do? I am born like that?” Here are some characteristics of people having Fixed Mindset.

• They believe their intelligence and talents can no longer be improved.
• They are afraid of challenges and avoid failure at all cost.
• They do not like feedback from others because it sounds like criticism to them.
• They are very sensitive and hide their flaws from others.
• They see the achievements of others as a big threat to themselves personally.
• They believe that it is worthless to put in any effort in anything that they are doing
• They do not have the staying-power and give up easily.

The Christian Growth Mindset
When you read about the heroes of faith in the Bible, you will soon realize that every one of these men or women of God, who succeeded in their life-missions, had in them a Growth Mindset.

Let’s take a look at one hero of faith – Joseph.
One may think that Joseph would have stopped learning and growing in wisdom because he was being enslaved. On the contrary, we find that because of the favor of the Lord and the faith of Joseph in God, so much so that he had developed a self-confidence that produced courage to overcome. Deep within this overcomer, there was a tenacity, a readiness to grow, a willingness to learn and do everything well. In short, he had adopted a Growth Mindset and what was the result of that? Joseph was made the chief steward in Potiphar’s household (Genesis 39:4).

Joseph became competent in what he was doing because of his teachable spirit. Whether he learned through observation, questioning, training sessions or books, his attitude towards personal growth was excellent. Many people in similar situation would have given up and stopped educating themselves: “What is the point? I am only a slave!”

When Joseph was framed and thrown into prison, the Lord was with him. At that moment, Joseph was in a really dire situation – a slave and a prisoner. However, like what Dr. Robert Schuller said, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Even though with a double condemnable stigma, the Growth Mindset of Joseph took over.

The willingness of Joseph to do his best soon got him noticed by the prison warden. “So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.” (Genesis 39:22-23).

The favor of the Lord subsequently carried Joseph all the way to the Pharaoh’s palace. Joseph was made the Prime Minister in charge of the whole land of Egypt (Genesis 41:41).

A wonderful success story, indeed! Let’s reiterate – The mind that God gave to Joseph was not controlled or fixed by the circumstances. Neither was it influenced by the opinions of others.

Was Joseph a slave and a prisoner? Yes, but was his mind a slave or a prisoner? No! That made a whole world of difference between a winner and a loser. Joseph’s mind was enhanced by the favor of God that caused him to have the curiosity to learn many practical knowledge and wisdom.

Today, as a child of God and the disciple of Jesus, your mind is also enhanced by the favor of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit. This means that you can grow in your talents and abilities. This means that if you set your mind to do something, and persistently do it, you will succeed. It is only by adopting this “Growth Mindset” that you will really be able to do all things for kingdom of God.

To learn more about this Growth Mindset, please check the video below: