We had the honour of having Kar Peng, deacon at Lifespring, share his testimony of how God saved him, encountered him, and released him to be a blessing.
As Kar Peng was sharing, I felt God wanted to encourage this family that there is much yet to come. Like Kar, many of us have had encounters with God. His real, tangible, and overwhelming presence has swept over us and God has truly saved and encountered us. Yet sometimes the encounters lead to very little transformation. As Adrian eloquently explains it in his book, like a caterpillar to a butterfly – there is a complete transformation. Wherever and whenever we encounter the Lord in our lives, don’t let it be just an encounter – let it transform you!
I used to pray that God would challenge me during sermons, my prayer is now that he would transform me by the renewing of my mind.
As we continue on the path of maturity, God is good. He gives us visible reminders of His promises and commands to help us along the way. God gives us rainbows to remind us that he will not destroy the earth in flood ever again. We do communion as a reminder that he died for us – but that He is coming back again. He helps us on the journey because the journey has many distractions.
Karyne and I had an amazing privilege to go to Israel on vacation, we noticed that in every entrance of Jerusalem there was a scroll at the side of each gate. In every home and at every doorpost there was a scroll attached to the door frame. When the people entered and when they left – they would always touch it. In fact, the scroll attached to the city entrance has been touched so many times that it started to disappear. They call this a Mezuzah and the reason they have it is found in the Scripture:
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts… write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates
Deuteronomy 6:6,9
The Mezuzah is meant to be a daily reminder of God in your life – the promises, the commandments, the rhema words. Our homes have so many reminders of the world – TV, computer, home office, dishes, laundry, things that need to be fixed, things that need to be vacuumed, mopped – things that simply need to get done. But God wants us to have daily reminders of Him as well.
Last year we gave a plaque that said “blessed” – as a reminder that whenever you see that plaque you would know that we are blessed to be a blessing. This year we are giving floor mats that say “Love God, Love Others” as a daily reminder that our God given assignment and command as a Kingdom Family is to Love God and Love Others.
This is not a religious practice, this is simply God’s amazing grace to remind us of how good He is. You may not have had a complete transformation in your life that Kar had, but know that if the Holy Spirit is in you – He is in the business of transformation.
God is with you.
Remember that He loves you.