Tuesday, 18th July 2006Dear brothers and sisters in Christ
I have just finished reading a booklet by Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church entitled "Right Place Right Time".
In this book, he tells us that as Christians, there is no such thing as "coincidences", or "it just so happened". Rather, it is the Lord God that causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him (Rom 8: 28).
Pastor Prince cites 2 examples in the scriptures of "qarah", or "right happenings":
(i) In Genesis 24, we read about how Abraham's servant was tasked to look for a bride for Isaac. In verse 12, he prayed "O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham." The word "success" in that passage has been translated from the Hebrew word "qarah". The servant asked God to grant him "qarah" or "right happening". Sure enough, God caused Rebekah to be at the right place at the right time, and she was the one selected to be Isaac's bride.
(ii) In Ruth 2:3, we read about how Ruth "went and gleaned in the field of the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz...". The word "happened" in that passage is again translated from the Hebrew word "qarah". Ruth ended up marrying Boaz and they became the great-grandparents of King David, the lineage through which came our Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
When I reflect upon my own life, I also thank the Lord for such "qarah" events. How I met Sock Pin, my wife, was really a case of "qarah". We were classmates for all our 3 years in NTU. I remember 2 weeks into our first year when we had our first tutorial lesson. That morning, Mrs Angela Tan, our Financial Accounting tutor informed us that we had to form discussion groups of 4-5 persons to handle tutorial assignments and class presentations.
That very same afternoon, I had just finished lunch with a classmate called Joseph Lee when 2 girls approached us outside Canteen 2. One of the girls told us that everyone else in the class had already formed discussion groups (talk about kiasu Singaporeans), leaving only the 2 of them, and the 2 of us. There was therefore "no other choice" but for the 4 of us to form the final group.
Unlike Adam who exclaimed "flesh of my flesh, and bones of my bones!" when he first saw Eve, or Isaac who lifted his eyes to behold the beauty of Rebekah, the first thing I said to that girl was, "Are you in my class?".
Thankfully, God was gracious and merciful to me and gave me several subsequent chances to get to know that girl better. She became my girlfriend at the end of our 1st year in campus, and has since become my wife for the past 14 wonderful years!
"Right Place Right Time" is only about 80 pages thin, and can hence be read in less than an hour. It however gives very practical steps on how to enjoy and experience God's presence by just "sitting at Jesus' feet" the way Mary did, and allowing God to then fill our days with divine appointments.
Speaking of which, there is no such thing as "luck" from a Christian's perspective, but rather God's blessings. This is probably why we call our makan sessions where each person brings a dish as "potbless" rather than "potluck", and we wish one another "God's Blessings" rather than "Good Luck".
If you would like to borrow the booklet, just drop me an email. Alternatively, you can also get it for S$12 from the Rock Gifts & Books Store at Suntec City (located above Carrefour) or order it online from New Creation Church's website (www.newcreation.org.sg).
Shalom
3 comments:
My Husband and I attend a Church in the North West of England. Our Pastor preaches Grace like Joseph Prince. An interesting "qarah" event happened to us in the Autumn of 2006. We were on our way home from Australia and stopped off for 2 days in Singapore. We had never heard of Joseph Prince. We had no intention of going to Church because we didn't know where to go, and thought the service might be spoken in Chinese. On the Saturday night on our way back to the Hotel we caught a Taxi. On the floor was a lost purse. Inside, amongst other things, was a ticket to New Creation Church. We wanted to return the purse to its owner. After making enquiries we subsequently attended the service at NCC. Joseph Prince was preaching a wonderful message of Grace. My husband and I sat there with tears rolling down our faces because we realised that God had brought us there, and was confirming yet again the message of Grace. Siow Pheck Luan kindly gave us a 6 CD Set of Joseph Prince's Grace & Favour Seminar Live at Hillsong. We have listened to these with our housegroup. They too have been really blessed by Pastor JP's teaching. Together with our Pastor and his wife, our housegroup continue to be blessed, and all this has come about through a "qurah" event.
thanks Linda for sharing a most wonderful and edifying testimony to the goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ!
I'd like to share a similar quick qarah as well.
For Christmas, I wanted Joseph Prince's CD Album on "Good things happen to people who believe God loves them." I didn't get it, but I ended up buying it myself. In February during my birthday, my mom bought it for me without me knowing I already had it. I told her and she planned on returning it.
I'm in San Antonio, TX and my parents visited Houston, TX which is 3 hours away. They were looking for a church called "Christian Family Church" and went to a church they thought was it. However, it wasn't. They sat down and heard the Pastor say, "Y'know, it's like Joseph Prince says, don't marry a guy if he doesn't have a job!"
My mom was surprised he mentioned Joseph Prince. At the end of the service she gave him the CD album I mentioned above. The Pastor was so grateful, because he didn't have any albums and was only able to record each episode on TV.
Now the Pastor can share the love of God to his congregation, and even the testimony of how he got it shows that Good things do happen to people who believe God loves them.
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