God the Builder

World Harvest Church Camp 2009 is here! HURRAY!!

Last night was our first session of preaching with Ps. Dennis Lee from River Glory Ministries, Singapore. I guess most if not all of us are so hungry and thirsty for the Word, that it was truly a refreshing and restrengthening time as we listened to His preaching.

It's awesome to have the opportunity to hear from this man of God again. Though I am unable to join the camp at MBS Recreation & Training Centre, Rawang, I know I treasure it even more because I can only attend the night sessions after work. Thanks Denion, for driving us to and fro every night. :)

Ps. Dennis started off the message for this camp as his usual self -- seriously humourous. Yet in his jokes there was deep, profound truth that you couldn't overlook.

It was a message that struck the exact chords and notes that Ps. Gloria had delivered last Sunday -- God builds. And Ps. Dennis, full of the Holy Spirit and completely speaking under His anointing, spoke exactly the same message -- God is a Builder and He builds us individually, that we will build up one another and to build His Church.

He began by saying that it is time we Christians recover our positions as salt and light to the world -- salt as an antiseptic and anti-decaying agent, and light as the source for direction to truth. And He said, "It's time to BUILD! to join ranks as the body of Christ and push back the darkness to advance and expand the Kingdom of God!"

The Lord spoke to me about Ps. Gloria's message where she preached 3 points: (1) God builds on revelations; (2) God builds on relationships; and (3) God builds through generations. And He impressed upon my heart the word 'BUILD'. I checked up the definition for this word and this is what it means:

1. to construct (esp. something complex) by assembling and joining parts or materials.
2. to establish, increase, or strengthen (e.g. to build up)
3. to mold, form, or create.
4. to base; found. E.g. a relationship is built on trust.
5. to form or construct a plan, system of thought, etc. (usually followed by 'on' or upon'). e.g. He built on the philosophies of the past.
6. to increase or develop toward a maximum, as of intensity, tempo, or magnitude; to heighten to a climax

Now, we often hear of the phrase 'Build up' in preachings, and we are always told that it means 'to edify'. But if you really break it up to details, it means precisely this way:

a. to develop or increase
b. to strengthen.
c. to prepare in stages.
d. to fill in with houses; develop into an urban area.
e. to praise or flatter.

I love the last definition -- aren't we suppose to build up with praise? Aren't we suppose to build up in our praises and worship to God, to exalt Him in shouts of praise and to just cry out to Him?

From all these definitions, we can clearly see that God has a construction plan -- a blueprint -- for our lives, and He builds according to it. Yet, He doesn't rush in to build us, but this building project of our lives is a process, step-by-step, increasing little by little, built upon what has already been founded and established previously, and will eventually heighten to fulfil the fullness of our destiny.

God builds on what we have already known and on our knowledge of who He is in our lives. If we believe that Jesus is our God, Healer, Provider, Saviour, Redeemer, Deliverer, Renewer, Restorer, Creator and Sustainer -- if we really, really believes that He is -- then the gates of hell will not be able to prevail against us (Matt 16:18), we will stand fast and not fall away.

In Matthew 7: 24 - 27 it says that if we establish ourselves on the Word of God, hearing and obeying Him, we are building our house (our lives) on the Rock -- on Jesus, the Beginner and the Finisher of our faith. This is what it says:

24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine [Jesus], and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Incidentally, these are also the closing words of Jesus' long Sermon on the Mount. Now, that means 'these sayings of Jesus' were all the principles He taught in that three-chapter long sermon. And Jesus described us as the salt and light to the world in the early part of the sermon. (Wow! Go figure!)

Perhaps we have always known Him as the Creator, or as the Master Painter of our future, or as the Potter who moulds us to become who we are, but He is no lesser the Builder of our lives. And He's still building us, shaping us, not giving up on us even though we may have given up hope on ourselves many times.

Do you know why He doesn't give up on us? I believe it's because He must have seen something in us that we can't see. He must have seen that no matter how misshapen we are because of our past failures and ugly sins, His blueprint of building us is never with flaws and mistakes. He knows what He's doing. And if we hear Him and let Him build us the way He wants to, then we will never be shaken, no hell is going to prevent us from living out His will for us, because we are founded on the Rock.

Prayer of response:
Lord, build me, the way that You want to build. I may not understand what You're doing, but Lord, have Your way in my life. I just want to surrender myself to Your love and let You build me til I'm complete and mature, lacking nothing in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Your will be done in my life. Amen.