Where Positions ARE Available

I got this email recently, and thought of sharing it and replying to it publicly. Here’s the actual email itself (with the sender’s name abbreviated for privacy).

----

Dear Sir

I am A. M. Worship Singer from Pakistan. I am a Christian fellow and I sing to praise the Lord our God. God has blessed me with a wonderful voice to sing. I am singing since last ten years. I wish to continue to praise God and pray through my singing talents. But unfortunately, I do not have many resources to get my singing on recordings. I wish to join a group or a ministry filled with the Holy Spirit to accept me as a singer. I am praying and wish you to support my dedication and talent. If there is any idea or any support from you and your ministries please let me know and I will be ready to join you for this. Thank you. God bless you.

A. Worship Singer,

----

Well, firstly there is no need to call me ‘Sir’. I am not a very formal person and go by the name of Junjie. People may not know how to pronounce it (since it is Chinese) but typing it on an email should be OK, right?

>> I am a Christian fellow and I sing to praise the Lord our God.

That’s great!

>> God has blessed me with a wonderful voice to sing. I am singing since last ten years.

Confidence. No false humility. I can respect that.

>>  I wish to continue to praise God and pray through my singing talents. But unfortunately, I do not have many resources to get my singing on recordings.

And why would that be a problem?

If you really want people to hear your singing, get a video-cam, video yourself and upload it on Youtube. You may not earn any money from it, but you will certainly bless others with your abilities if you are as good as you say.

Because of what the world was like when we were growing up, we can end up thinking that a singer’s success is measured by how many albums he or she can sell. So if he or she can’t even get on a recording in the first place, that’s sad, right? But for believers who are singers, success does not only mean selling albums. You need to specifically know what kind of singing God wants you to do. What I personally believe is that there are 3 main types of singers within the Kingdom of God.

1) Worship Leaders – when they sing, they get the congregation to sing too. They successfully lead people into singing wholeheartedly unto the Lord when they take the mike.

2) Evangelists – when they sing, they touch the hearts of pre-believers and open their hearts to receive the love of God.

3) Prophetic singers – when they sing, they minister to the people of God. They testify of Jesus in such a way that people are edified, encouraged and comforted.

1 Corinthians 14:3 (ESV) - On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.

I am not saying that a singer can’t do more than one type of singing, but many singers I know have one that they are most effective at. And they will do well to focus on that one if they want to bear fruit quickly and with less effort.

So which one are you?

>>  I wish to join a group or a ministry filled with the Holy Spirit to accept me as a singer.

I can direct you to such a ministry. It’s called your local church. I am not sure what you mean when you say “filled with the Holy Spirit”, but surely it would apply to your home church. If not, why call that church home, right?

Your pastor will know where your strengths are, since you have been serving there for ten years. And he will want you to be effective, since that will help him serve the people God has entrusted to his care. So he does have a vested interest in your success.

Of course, that assumes that you have been faithfully serving for the past ten years. Moreover, you have to be willing to try different stuff, not just what you are comfortable with. If you are a performance singer and need to lead worship for example, that will mean a lot of work and learning for you. But it is only after you have put in all that kind of effort that your pastor will be able to see what you are best at and can give you accurate advice.

But you will most certainly start off as a volunteer. Which means you won’t get paid. It is this time as a volunteer when you will be tested, to see if you have what it takes to serve.

1 Timothy 3:10 (ESV) - And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.

And one crucial area you will be tested on, in the sight of God and man, is faithfulness.

Proverbs 20:6 (ESV) - Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?

Talented people are easier to find than faithful people. Many talented people want quick glory and the applause of man, so they are unwilling to demonstrate faithfulness in serving. So if you want to be used by God to bless his people, be faithful!

Now what if your home church is small? That would mean that even if your abilities suit the church and they appreciate you, they may not be unable to pay you. If that is the case, let me just say that if you are truly faithful to that church, you will set aside your own abilities and preferences, and work with your pastor to grow his church. And since it is a small church, what would grow that church may not be you singing. It may be you making it a point to share the gospel and invite people to church. It may mean you serving as an usher or running errands for your pastor. Many preachers started off as janitors – they had to sweep and clean the church!

Your faithfulness WILL be tested.

If your home church is small, they will need you to work hard at many things, singing, ushering, administration, evangelism and discipleship. And all that while you work at a day job to pay for your own living expenses and tithe to your church. If your home church is large, you probably won’t get the limelight at the very beginning. You will have to start small and slowly work your way up as a volunteer, all the while keeping your day job.

What if there is no local church you can join?

If there is no church in your area, district or county, then the needs of God’s people there are great indeed. They will need solid, practical teaching in the Bible more than they will need singing. And if you have a heart for God’s people, you may have to set up a church there yourself.

Sounds daunting? It is. But on the bright side, you need not worry about how to feed the flock with God’s Word. Email me and I can refer you to online sermons that are solid, Scriptural teaching that will bless the people and build them up in the faith.  Your job then will be to pray for your people when they have needs. That should not be a problem for you, since you have said before that you wish to continue to pray through your singing talents.

>> I am praying and wish you to support my dedication and talent. If there is any idea or any support from you and your ministries please let me know and I will be ready to join you for this.

Any ideas from me and my ministry? I’ve written an entire email of ideas for you! The biggest ideas are:  

1) Start where you are, doing what you need to do right now.

2) Be faithful in service.

3) Don’t think of yourself as a singer but as a Christian. If singing is what it takes to be a blessing to God’s people where you are, then sing! But if it is something else, are you willing to do that something else so that God’s people will be blessed?

I leave you with this Scripture, the one that sustains me in my ministry when it gets difficult.

Hebrews 6:10 (ESV) - For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 

If you truly love God, serve his people. He will remember your labour and reward you in due season.

Be blessed, A. M.!

Conclusion:

I know this has been a long post. What do you think of what I said here? Let me know your thoughts. You can do so by leaving a comment below.

Thanks!

Faithful in 2013?

It’s nearly the end of 2012!

I’ve already started planning for 2013, paying special attention to the areas of my life I believe God wants me to exercise faithfulness in.

Proverbs 20:6 (ESV) - Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?

This passage tells me that faithfulness, a person who can diligently exercise faithfulness in his or her life, is a rare find.

Proverbs 28:20 (ESV) - A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

In this passage, we see that faithfulness does not only lead to blessing, it leads to an abundance of blessing. Sounds good to me! People, however, tend not to appreciate the value of regular consistent effort, whether in their health (eating, exercise and rest habits), work or in other areas. They tend to do things in spurts, hoping that the next special gym machine, money-making opportunity or chocolate-fudge-cake-diet plan that comes down the road is THE answer to the toned physique, loaded bank account and weight loss that they SAY they really want.

That is especially true in money-making, by the way. People who are hasty to be rich can end up shutting off their common sense or conscience. I remember being prospected by someone for a lottery-based “business opportunity”, in which people pay money to buy lottery tickets as a group and share the earnings. The company also paid recruiters for every person who was recruited into the scheme.

When I told the fellow I really wasn’t interested and did not want to be involved with anything involving the lottery, he mocked me for my qualms, especially since he COULD  prove that the government has given this company license to operate in Singapore. My reply was, “So what if it is legal? Prostitution is also legal in this country, does that mean I want to become a pimp?”

Needless to say, I didn’t win any friends that day…

The spiritual equivalent for charismatics would be hoping that the next anointed preacher who prays for them or the next big overseas seminar they attend will suddenly catapult them into the heights of their walk with God. In the meantime, however, they neglect prayer, renewing their minds with Scripture and regular serving in church (to actually put into practice what they learn from the Bible and the preaching).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that there is no room in a believer’s life for attending special seminars and all that. I’m just saying that seminars and other events cannot replace regular, consistent time and effort in the basic disciplines of the Christian walk.

Faithfulness does NOT mean complacency

I know someone who has been a church-goer for 15 years (or more). Whenever he ran into spiritual problems and started complaining about God letting him down, I would ask him “Have you been reading your Bible?” And he would say, “Yes. I did my daily chapter of Proverbs. Why? Isn’t that good enough?”

When you are a baby Christian, the daily chapter of Proverbs (moving on to a new chapter each day and starting again from the beginning when you have completed the whole book) is fantastic. When you are supposed to move on and grow up, however…

And personally I doubt he is consistent with even one chapter of Proverbs a day. I believe that people who are consistent with Scripture grow in their appetite and hunger. They want to explore and meditate on the rest of the Bible also, now that they have tasted and seen that the LORD is good (Psalm 34:10).

Especially in spiritual matters, we ought always to seek to expand our understanding of God and his ways, and live them out in our lives.

Hebrews 6:1 (ESV) - Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God…

This passage is the background to one of the sternest warnings given in Scripture.

Hebrews 6:4-6 (ESV) - For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,  and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Often, people look at this passage and argue about the doctrine of eternal security, whether it is possible for a believer to lose his or her salvation. But that is missing the most important point here. The purpose of this passage is to warn us and urge us to grow up in Christ. Whatever you think the warning means, we can all agree that it is something bad. We don’t want to go there, and the correct response to that warning is to grow up.

So what is God nudging you to be faithful in for 2013?

What will is it that will give you the greatest bang for your buck, the most results for your time and the greatest growth in your life in 2013? It is going to be different for everyone. Talk with your pastor or a good friend, someone who has known you and your life for years, and ask for their advice if you have no idea.

We are not talking about massive time commitments, such as attending Bible college full-time (though I’m sure you will know if you have to). I’m much more small scale in thinking: what would be the best way for YOU, to invest 20-30 minutes a day, every weekday, for the next year? Exercise? Music practice? Scripture reading? Learning new songs? Family time with the kids?

For me, for example, I need to spend a lot more time in the New Testament next year. Following my Bible reading plan this year showed me that I am not as familiar with the New Testament as I want to be. But my ego fights against the idea, since it looks like a step down. My pride says that I ought to go through the entire Bible again, and expect it to work out better next year. But given that I am struggling to keep up with this year’s readings (and have them sink inside me) while juggling work, family and my health, I think I ought to just work on my weaker areas and add in other stuff (like Psalms, Proverbs and the Minor Prophets) after that.

Then Get Started

Find some way, even if it is just 20 minutes a week, to get started before the next year. Many people try to start new habits at the beginning of the year, and find it too much of a change. Far better to start gradually now and step up the pace when January 2013 comes. 

And when it comes to meditating on the Bible, I am toying with the idea of setting up a Facebook group where people can join and find others to hold them accountable to their commitment to God’s Word. And if that interests you, email me and let me know!

In the meantime, however, do seek God for his wisdom and direction for 2013. It will be upon us soon. Let’s face it with a clear direction from God as to what he wants us to achieve and how.

Be blessed!

Like Water in the Morning

I drink a cup (or two) of water every morning, before I take breakfast in any form.

I gulp it down as I wait for the water to boil and I get my kids ready for school. I read in passing that the body is dehydrated and all that water will help to flush out toxins, waste matter and all that. *shrug* Maybe that helps explain my kid-like face after all these years?

Whenever I drink the water, I feel like it’s a clean slate, a fresh start to the day, as if all my dietary transgressions of yesterday have been wiped out. I’ve now got today to eat right. Over the past year or so I’ve grown very careless with my diet. Because I am usually traveling around all day for work, I end up eating fast food, sometimes even up to 5 times a week. It’s not good for me, and I know it. So the morning water is a symbol to me, that maybe, just maybe, today is the day I can start getting things right?

Likewise, sometimes we need spiritual symbols to tell us the same thing, that our sins and failures of yesterday (and last week, last month, last year and so on…) need not hold us back today. Today we have a clean slate, a fresh start with God, so maybe today is the day we can start getting things right?

Lamentations 3:22-24 (NIV) - Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning;  great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Because God himself is faithful to us, we have hope. We can believe that God can rescue us from the pit that we are trapped in, whether it’s bondage to sin, tribulations or other stuff.

Lamentations 3:55-57 (NIV) - I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.” You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.”

God’s compassions towards us are renewed every morning. That is true even in the midst of afflictions. But we need to be deliberate in recalling his mercy and his faithfulness. The passage in Lamentations 3, just before the first Scripture we looked at, say:

Lamentations 3:19-21 (NIV) - I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.

When we are suffering, remembering the suffering is easy. It grips our minds and our souls relentlessly. People can end up addicted to drugs or alcohol during such seasons, because all they want is some temporary relief from remembering the pain. It takes deliberate and disciplined effort (“This I call to mind) to remember the goodness of God. We see this in the Psalms too, where the psalmist has to force himself to hope in God.

Psalm 42:11 (NIV) - Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Notice how the psalmist speaks firmly to his soul here? In my personal experience, it is not enough to just think happy thoughts, or even holy thoughts. I had to open my lips and speak to my soul.

What is our reason for hope and courage?

Lamentations 3:24 (NIV) - I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Say it to your soul right now, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” Say it again. And again, until you really believe it!

What happens when we know the LORD is our portion? We experience his presence and are open to being guided by him. We know we have a glorious destiny in him. Our desires for the temporal things of this world fade and our hearts are strengthened. Consider this:

Psalm 73:23-26 (NIV) - Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Conclusion:
If you are facing a tough season, whether from external trials or your own internal struggles with sin, may I be the bearer of unpleasant news? You won’t feel better, you won’t get stronger, the problems won’t go away, without YOU rising up and taking charge over them. Your soul, your emotions, will NOT settle down unless you do something about them. And the “something” I am talking about here is NOT numbing your soul with drink, TV or K-pop videos on Youtube. 

I’m talking about speaking the Word of God to your soul, remembering the goodness of God and his faithfulness. If the troubles are heavy, you should even look for regular times during the day when you will habitually remind yourself of God’s compassion and faithfulness. For example, I have tied in certain household chores with my daily confession of Scripture. You can do the same, you just need to find daily events or moments to meditate on the Scripture.

And the good news is, when you take charge over the problems, to shake of the despondency, the guilt and condemnation, the hopelessness and depression, your spirit starts rising up. Your courage and hope starts to seep into your mind and heart. You realize that you can have peace even in the midst of the storm, you can rejoice even during the trials.

Be blessed!

Dreaming of Proverbs

I just had a really weird experience last night.

I actually had specific Scriptures appear in my dreams last night. And that was the first time that ever happened. Even in my undergrad days, when my daily Scripture consumption would put many people to shame (including the current me), I didn’t get this.

So what are the specific passages, you may ask? The first is this:

Proverbs 20:6 (NKJV) - Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?

The second:

Proverbs 28:20 (NKJV) - A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

The interesting thing is that in my dream I actually saw the exact page in my study bible, and there was a further explanation of the Hebrew word for ‘faithful’.

‘emunah (Strong’s #530) – Firmness, stability, faithfulness, fidelity, conscientiousness, steadiness, certainty; that which is permanent, enduring and steadfast. ‘emunah comes from the root ‘aman, “to be firm, sure, established and steady”. “Amen”, derived from the same root, means, “it is firmly, truly so!” (Spirit Filled Life Bible, New King James Version).

So you can guess that I’ll be giving this a lot of attention these couple of days, until I think I have squeezed out whatever I can from these couple of verses!

How about the rest of the dream? Errr…. Well, it involved being with a bunch of people from my church. We were involved with the logistics of a funeral, we had a hotel room especially for us to put all of our things (clothes and bags) and we spent a lot of the time wandering around the hotel, trying to find the right lift that would bring us to the correct hotel room where we had left our stuff.

Not sure if there was anything deeply significant or spiritually profound in that. Then again, I never claimed to be spiritually profound all the time!