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Christ’s Finished Work: Blessings

11 October 2021 blogpastor Leave a comment

To be at the right place at the right time makes all the difference in the world. Think of this Covid-19 pandemic: if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person, you could catch an infection. Being in the right place and time makes a difference between light and darkness, blessings and curses, peace and worry, and sometimes life and death.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. (Eph 1:3)

In one sense, what is true in the physical, is true in the spiritual. To be in Christ makes all the difference in the world. It is “in Christ” that we have “every spiritual blessing in heavenly places”. The blessedness is found only “in Christ”, and not outside of Christ. Being in the right spiritual position in this hour of grace is imperative. Let your Google location be IN CHRIST.

What Spiritual Blessings?

What are the spiritual blessings that the apostle Paul is referring to? There is no need to speculate. Look through the rest of the letter to the Ephesus church, and they are described, especially in chapter 1 and 2. I will list a few of them, while you may want the joy of uncovering the other spiritual blessings in the rest of the letter. Here is a list of spiritual blessings:

Election – “he chose us in him before the foundation of the world” (1:4, verse 5 “predestined”).
Gift of righteousness: “holy and blameless before him” (1:4).
Adoption: we become sons and daughters of God (1:5).
Undeserved favour: “his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us”(1:6)
Redemption: our freedom from slavery to sin and death (1:7).
Forgiveness of sins (1:7)
God’s ultimate plan to heal and “unite all things in him”(1:10).
Inheritance: God’s (1:11): this spiritual inheritance is reserved for us in eternity (1 Peter 1:3,4), and the Holy Spirit is a downpayment/guarantee (1:14), the one who enables us to experience a portion of that future inheritance in the present while we are on earth. Most of all, the Lord himself is our inheritance (Ps 16:5).
The gift, the Holy Spirit (1:13).
“The hope to which he has called us” (1:18).
The power of God unleashed on our behalf (1:19).

When I look at this list of blessings, many of which I have experienced, am experiencing and will experience in the future, I feel so glad I became a Christian in 1973. The joy and peace from being a follower of Christ has been a constant in my life. It has also been exciting and self-actualizing to serve him in the power of the Spirit.

Only in Christ

These spiritual blessings and many more that can be found in the other epistles of the New Testament are available to all who put their faith in Christ’s finished work. It is all because of Christ’s death and resurrection from the dead that makes it possible for all believers to be in spiritual union with Christ and enjoy all these spiritual blessings of God (1 Cor 1:30).

(This is part two of a series: “A to Z of Christ’s Finished Work”).

Speaking in Tongues and Contemplative Prayer

8 October 2021 blogpastor Leave a comment

The gift of tongues is one of the spiritual gifts that I appreciate greatly because it is a great aid to prayer. The apostles and the women who followed Jesus, and the mother of Jesus, all spoke in other tongues on the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit came upon them in power (Acts 1, 2). This gift is very much available for today’s believers as are all the other spiritual gifts (1Cor 12,14). I find praying in tongues a spiritually edifying exercise and devotional practice.

The Apostle Paul spoke in tongues

The apostle Paul himself had this gift of tongues and he readily and frequently used it in his communion with the Lord. He described the gift of tongues as speaking “not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit” (1Cor 14:2). In Paul’s understanding, while the speaker of tongues does not understand what is being said, mysteriously he “builds himself” (1 Cor 14:4) spiritually in faith, hope and love.

Speaking in tongues seems to facilitate a prayer of surrender, of letting go of having to understand everything that is happening, of having control over all of our life situations. We are saying, “I surrender, Lord. You take over. I will trust You even though I do not understand.” Paul himself used this devotional gift frequently and extensively, and could say to the Corinthian believers who were over-enthusiastic about tongues: “I (Paul) speak in tongues more than you all” (1 Cor 14:18).

Paul uses this gift as a language of praise (Acts 2:11, 10:46) In one instance he mentioned tongues as “giving thanks with your spirit” (1 Cor 14:16) and in another he testified of his experience of tongues as “I will sing with my spirit” (1 Cor 14:15) which means to sing in tongues – a beautiful, melodic expression in tongues of a song of praise to God. I can relate to Paul here for I often fall short of expressing the fullness or depth of gratitude or praise to God because of my lack of vocabulary. Tongues certainly bridges this gap.

The gift of tongues, according to Paul, also came to his aid when he engaged in prayer. “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also” (1 Cor 14:14, 15). The mind is unfruitful, meaning as you listen to yourself praying there is no idea, no conceptual understanding of what you are praying. After praying a while in this manner our mind comes to a place of quiet and a disposition of listening. It is a form of contemplative prayer, you might say. From my experience, when I felt weighed down or was wrestling in confusion or sensed a spiritual attack from the enemy, very often it was praying in tongues that assisted me to reach a place of peace, even without full understanding or resolution of the matter.

If you have the gift of tongues here are a few spiritual exercises you can try:

Read the Psalms until some verses about who God is, and what he has done, strikes you or catches your attention. Stay there with those thoughts about God, and lift up your heart and voice to him in praise in your own language. When you run out of words continue with speaking or singing in tongues with a melody in your heart.
List down some blessings, big or small, that you can thank God for and then praise him in your known language, before moving into thanking God in spirit.
When you feel down for no reason, or confused about something, or feel you are being tempted with disordered desires or thoughts, pray: “Lord, I am struggling about what is happening or what I am feeling or these strong temptations. Please help me as I pray in tongues…..” Pray in spirit and understanding with patience till the peace of Christ prevails. Sometimes like Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, you will need to persevere thrice before peace takes over (Matt 26:44).
Engage in a dialogue with Christ in tongues. Speak in tongues to the Lord for a while. Then wait in quiet as if to listen to his reply. Note the thoughts or desires or emotions or images or verses that comes to your consciousness. If any do rise, do not judge them yet (this is to be done later), but note any down with a pen. Do these two steps over again and for as long as you want to. When the exercise is over, evaluate what you have noted, to see if they are in accord with the teachings of our Lord. See if there are themes in what God is seeking to convey to you or what divine invitations were revealed. Meditate and pray about how you want to respond to these.

Vaccine booster received with thanks

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On hot humid Monday, I went to the nearby community club that was a ten minutes stroll from my home. It was announced that seniors could drop in and get the booster jab without any need to make a booking beforehand. That was where I had my earlier Pfizer vaccinations. However, to my consternation, operations there had closed a few days before. I was directed to a list of other venues where I could go. The next nearest was a polyclinic or another community club.

I opted for the community club and I was efficiently ushered to a station where a lady confirmed my identity and age. They moved me to the next station where a man asked similar questions to double-check on certain information I had already given. I asked him, “My earlier jabs were Pfizer. Is it okay to have a Moderna jab as booster?” “Yes, its okay”. Finally, I was sent to a booth where a young man gave me the vaccination. All this took about fifteen minutes. Then I was directed to a seat to wait for thirty minutes in case of immediate reactions that needed special attention. There were ten persons before me. When the wait ended, I was again led to another station where I was briefed about side-effects and what to do in various scenarios, and was given a free box of surgical masks. Forty-five minutes was all it took. I am thankful for such efficiency, I was thankful to be Singaporean.

Today, it’s Friday. The only reactions I experienced thus far had been some tiredness, some fever and some soreness on the spot where the injection site was for a day or two. Other than that, I have been okay. The only downside has been that I have have to forgo for two weeks the activities I usually engage in like cycling, swimming and pickle ball. However, I could still do a casual walk in the park so that is a comfort. I am thankful that I have access to vaccination. I do not take this for granted. In many countries around the world, only the very rich and connected can access vaccinations so quickly.

Then there are those in countries where vaccinations are available, like in Singapore, but there are people who have personal, scientific or religious convictions for not receiving vaccinations. For them, their reasons are valid and solid and we have to respect that no matter how frustrating and exasperating that may be especially for loved ones. Worse is the fear that the unvaccinated may endanger their own lives should they get infected. Still we have to respect their choices. As for me, I see vaccination as a gift from God to be received with gratitude. Vaccination does not protect us from infection by covid-19 but it does protect us from more severe effects should we get infected. That itself is a good thing.

Lord, thank you for your sovereign grace that we have access to vaccination and good medical care in Singapore. We pray for those in other countries where this is not the case. Lord we pray you have mercy and help countries that need better medical structures and supplies to tackle this pandemic. Lord, have mercy.