The fear of God

What does it mean to have the fear of God?

It is the one important vision and goal in our life that we can follow hard after:

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all" - Ecc 12:13

If a person has no goal in life, no vision, no purpose then it is good to adopt this verse as our vision and purpose statement. 

This is what we are created for, this is all that we need to do, to fear God and to keep His commandments. Everything else will flow from this obedience!

To gain the fear of God, we need to put first thing first:

1. Put away our idols

Joshua when encouraging his people after they have crossed over to Canaan said this to them, "Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord!" - Joshua 24:14

What are idols? Physically they refer to images of persons, animals or things that are the focus of our worship. As a Buddhist before, I worshiped gods of wood and stone. When I became a Christian, I had to put away my idols.

However another type of idols exist that are unseen that I bow down and worship. It is the idol of SELF. Self-importance, self-survival, self-serving, self-interest, self-justification, self-will.....these may be unseen idols but they are spiritual bondages that are very real. They will keep me from serving God in sincerity and truth.

They will cause me not to have the fear of God.

2. Serve God in sincerity and truth

It is only in putting away my idols that I can serve God in sincerity and truth. 

What does it mean then to serve God in insincerity and deception? 

It would mean that I am serving God with an ulterior motive. If I have the idol of SELF that I bow down and worship then my service to God is without sincerity and truth but in hypocrisy and with the agenda of promoting my BIG SELF to be hero-worshiped.

I have to be cautious about this because this can happen to anyone at anytime. The only way to serve God in sincerity and in truth is to KEEP ON REPENTING OF SPIRITUAL PRIDE! 

A more effective method for me is to pray before I stand before a crowd asking "God to hide me under the shelter of His wings and promising to give Him all the glory, honor and praise".

When I did this in Philippines before preaching, I could sense an incredible liberty of the Spirit and a great release in my soul! 

3. No iniquity, no partiality, no corruption

There is a need for us to intentionally and determinedly "take care and do it". This means that this kind of behavior may not naturally come upon us but we have to actually make up our mind to:

• to be released from any iniquity
• to show no partiality
• to be free from corruption

2 Chron 19:7 "Now therefore, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, no partiality, nor taking of bribes"

This is something we need to take care and do it. When people type "take care" in reply to sms, it really means for us to take care. 

Some effort on their part is needed when we asked others to take care. Perhaps drink more water, sleep earlier, fast and pray, make it habit to leave work earlier....

How do we take care to ensure that we are always in the fear of God?

Make every effort to keep a clean heart, to treat everyone equally and not to be swayed by others who give us monies or treats.

4. Not taking advantage of the people

It is important for leaders to have the fear of God. That's why I often pray for leaders in the civil service to fear God.

God-fearing leaders have certain marks about them:

• they do not take material gifts or things from the people
• they do not take money from the people save that which is necessary
• they do not act like a BIG SHOT over the people

"But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even the servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God" Neh 5:15

Many times we avoid doing certain things because of the fear of God.

I was talking with some lawyers about certain political leaders and they commented that some politicians are really "clean". I realized that when leaders are not corrupted they will actually be known as such. Their reputation will precede them, no need to boast!

Leaders who act like BIG SHOTS or stressed out the people through heavy taxes and huge demands will not last long. Soon, they will be on their way out. 

5. Just

"The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: 'He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God" 2 Samuel 2:3

Benefits of the fear of God

1. Long life

A definite and sure blessing is long life.

"That you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged" Deut 6:2

As I want to live to see my children's children, the fear of God is a MUST for me. No compromise. I need to "take care and do it"!

2. Protection

"And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day" Deut 6:24

I have heard many testimonies of God's protection from my church members. Testimonies of those who escaped serious injury because they fear God.

I had a very bad encounter on the plane from Miri to KL when making the last lap back to KLIA 2. 

The plane shook so violently that I thought it was going to crash. Lights went off and people were screaming and shouting all over the place. I saw lightning flashed outside the plane window. I thanked God that even as I shouted JESUS and prayed loudly in the Spirit with my husband (who cares when this could be my last day on earth), the turbulence gradually subsided.

We landed safely but what a nerve-wrecking experience it was for me. I had never been on a plane with such turbulence before. Totally unexpected, totally scary....but the fear of God preserved our lives and the lives of all those on board with us.

3. Deliverance

"But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies" - 2 Kings 17:39

In my office, I am still learning not to fear man but to fear God. Even if my reputation is at stake, God will work things out for me until I come out of the difficult situation looking good!

The victim will always become the victor, the defeated will always become the conqueror!

4. Holiness

"Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" - 2 Cor 7:1

Cleansing is a process, holiness is a process, perfection is a process.....

5. Knowledge and wisdom

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction" - Prov 1:7

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" - Prov 9:10

How can we learn the fear of God?

No need to worry if we do not have the fear of God. There are several MAJOR KEYS to gain the fear of God:

The first key is to read and read and read the Word of God.

"And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes" - Deut 17:19

When we soak ourselves in the Word of God, the Word of God will soak us in the FEAR OF GOD!

The second key is to tithe faithfully.

"And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herd and your flocks, that you may learn the to fear the Lord your God always" - Deut 14:23

Can we learn to fear God through our faithful tithing? Certainly yes!

The third key is to pray, pray, pray and pray....

"Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God" - Isa 50:10

Can a non-believer have the fear of God?

Cornelius is such a man with the fear of God even though he was not a believer.

Cornelius is a man from whom I can learn many precious lessons. A truly god-fearing man will find God if he faithfully practises the 2 things:

1. Giving faithfully

2. Praying constantly 

"A devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always" - Acts 10:2

Because of the story of Cornelius, I can pray for political leaders and judges in the judiciary to have the fear of God!

Watching & Praying - More Bario lessons

Date: 12/10

3. Watching & Praying

The Bario churches have a one and half hour morning watch daily from 5:30 to 7 am before they go to the fields.

I sense that the morning watches kept by the Bario churches are indeed the back-bone of the spiritual revival and they continue to sustain the revival for the past 40 years until today. 

Pause for a moment to absorb this truth - for the past 40 years, the Bario believers have been waking up at 5:30 am daily to pray for their community! 

For our church in Ampang, Pastor has been at the morning watches for the past 16 years. As for me, I have only been coming to the prayer watches for the past 2 months! 

Not only is the morning watch held in one church but in several churches scattered all over Bario! The way they call the people to the watches is also unique. A drum is beaten at 5:30 am in the morning as a sign that it was time to awake, arise and to pray.

Currently there are about 15 churches scattered all over Bario, a town of about 1,000 people. 

This does not include the morning watches in the primary and the secondary schools (the latter being the place where the revival first started).

Think about this for a moment - will there not be a great revival in Ampang if several churches in Ampang build the morning watches on a daily basis? Not just one watch but several churches.....

How can a place like Bario not experience a revival with this kind of fervent, sacrificial and sincere praying. 

How can God not move in to answer the prayers of such a prayerful and watchful community.

However it is not just praying alone but also watching and praying.

Both are integral to the prayer life of the Kelabit people.

They watched and prayed over the following:

1. The Kelabit diaspora all over the world. Little wonder that the Kelabit people are doing very well in their respective vocations whether it be in politics, business or education.

2. They watched over the church, the nation and the nations of the world. They watched over their community, praying against forces that try to convert them to another faith.

Recently one of the leaders shared a wonderful testimony about a group of pagans who wanted to come to Bario for this very purpose. However their efforts were thwarted when their flight had to be cancelled due to turbulent weather!

I am reminded of Exodus 14:24, a scripture that the Lord had given to me about the morning watch in our church. When the Lord looked down in the morning watch and saw the pillar of cloud and fire that His people had built in the morning watches, He "troubled the Egyptians" on our behalf!

At the morning watch, God "looks down" from heaven. What does this mean? It means a time of His favor. The moment the face of God is drawn to us and He sees us, we are assured of His deliverance and answers to our prayers!

Who are the Egyptians? Anything and anyone that try to stop us from worshiping the living God!

The Lord has been speaking to me about the importance of the morning watches since our church started the 6 to 7 am watches after the 40-day prayer & fasting.

I believe that there are many benefits from waking up early not just to pray but to watch and pray.

To watch is to be alert, be awake, be aware, be attentive, be active in praying (5 As I call it) over the events happening in our community, region, nation and in the nations of the world. 

It is also to hear/see the events in the future that God will graciously reveal to us in His time. A watchman is actually standing in a prophetic end-time function - seeing, hearing, declaring and preparing God's people for the things to come!

Initially it was tough to keep awake (and on certain days it still is especially when I have had a late night the day before) but the benefits far outweigh the physical discomforts!

The 5 purposes (SSSSS) of the morning watches are as follows:

1. Spiritual strength to overcome the works of the flesh

Jesus actually put a period of time for "watching & praying" for his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The best period of time for watching and praying is one hour as advocated by the Lord which seems to be the optimal and best time for one to gain victory over the flesh!

Matt 26:40 "Then he came to His disciples and found them sleeping; and said to Peter, "What? Could you not watch with me one hour?"

Matt 26:41 "Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak"

Look at the scriptures closely again. 

Jesus did not actually tell His core team the testing that was about to come upon them. He wanted them to be prepared to face it on their own but with the help of spiritual strength gained through prayer!

If they had known perhaps they would not have fallen asleep while praying. Jesus saw the details of what He was going to go through at the Garden of Gethsemene and He gained the strength to go through it. If our Lord and God needed to pray that one hour to gain the strength to resist temptation, even so the more we need that one hour in prayer.

I believe that if Peter and the disciples had prayed that one hour with the Lord at Gethsemene, the Gospel would have a different story to tell us.

Nevertheless all things are written as a lesson to us!

2. Spiritual stamina for the long-haul not only for ourselves but also for others

Eph 6:18 "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints"

For the believers in Bario, the watching and praying is for the Kelabit diaspora all over the world!

3. Seriousness in prayer, not 'play, play'!

We show the Lord that we are serious in praying when:

- we are awake when praying, not sleeping

- we are aware of national and world events, not ignorant of what is happening to God's people in other parts of the world

- we are attentive to the problems being faced by our members, not distanced from them

- we are alert to any spiritual attacks and deception against our members, not dulled or lulled ourselves by the same deception

- we are to be active in upholding the events happening in our nation in prayer unto the Lord, not having an attitude that it has nothing to do with me

1 Peter 4:7 "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers"

1 Thess 5:6 "Therefore let us not sleep as others do but let us watch and be sober"

4. Sensitive to the signs of the Lord's return

I believe that those who have been watching and praying will know the signs of the Lord's return more acutely than others as the time draws near. 

They will know it more sharply and more accurately than others who have not been watching and praying. Recall that Daniel was given many visions of the end-time when he was watching, praying and fasting......

They will be more sensitive to the signs than those who are not watching and praying!

Rev 3:3 "Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you"

Jesus said "if you will not watch" then the day of the Lord will come upon us like a thief in the night. 

Does this mean that if we will watch, the day of the Lord will not come upon us like a thief in the night?

The answer is a resounding YES if we remember the parable of the 10 virgins!

5. Standing with our pastor in prayer

In my recent post, I highlighted that Jesus said to his core team "will you not watch with me" at the Garden of Gethsemene. 

He did not ask them to "watch for him". If he had done so, they might as well go home to pray!

Why bring them to the Garden of Gethsemene on the night that He was going to be betrayed unless it was to get them to pray together with Him?

I have never had the chance to pray daily with my pastor until the past 2 months during the morning watches. 

For the first time, I really sense that I was fulfilling my call as the prayer leader of the church. 

For such was the role I have been appointed to, for such is the work that God has called me to do....

LORD JESUS GIVE US GREAT GRACE TO CONTINUE WATCHING AND PRAYING & BUILDING THE MORNING WATCHES. AMEN

Giving & Sowing - More lessons from Bario

Date: 12/10/14

2. Giving and Sowing - Lessons from Bario (continued)

While in Bario, we had the privilege of hearing the testimony of Nekson Balang, a young man whom I considered a hero of faith in Hebrews 11.

Like the men listed in the roll-call of faith in Heb 11, Nekson fulfils the criteria as a singing evangelist. Called into full time at the age of 14, he gave his life to serve the Lord. 

He traversed jungles, mountains and forests in Indonesia to reach the unreachable tribes in Indonesia with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Indeed it is men like him who is hastening the return of the Lord as they determined in their hearts to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth, to people living in unreachable parts of the world or in the most difficult terrain!

One of those tribes is the Suku Wana tribe in Central Sulawesi. To travel there will take 5 days and 5 nights by foot in the jungle.

Naively I thought that we could go there for missions but was informed by Nekson that the only other way there is by boat to Pala and helicopter to their villages!

We were stirred in our hearts as we heard the testimonies of this modern-day Sadhu Sundar Singh:

1. He was almost killed 3 times by the people of the Suku Wana tribe deep in the Sulawesi jungles.

The first time, they came at him with an axe (tombak) but he escaped. The second time, they threw poison darts at him but the darts landed on trees instead. The third time, they threw spears at him but he also managed to escape!

The 4th time he fell deathly sick but survived. With all these attempts to murder him coming to nothing, the tribal chief was in awe of the power of God upon him and commanded his entire tribe to listen to what this man of God had to say!

2. Little by little, the community started to experience change. 

According to Nekson, this tribe is most "jahat" or wicked due to the immoral things they do. They are a lawless people who do not know the difference between right and wrong.

They go about naked, practised child marriages, incest (young girls married their fathers, young boys married their mothers) and lived on top of trees.

Nekson told us that he was their pastor, teacher and doctor. He attended as midwife to the women giving birth. He taught the children the word of God. He even put the dukun or witch doctors who practised child marriages in prison.

Today the community has stopped all their wicked practices by the grace of God!

3. He went without food for 4 months in the jungles in the Sulawesi looking for tribes that have yet to come to know Jesus. 

Eating only the batang pisang or the bark of the trees, he prayed and committed his life to the Lord. He said to the Lord "If I die, I die serving you and I am prepared to die but if I live, I will also carry on serving you preaching the Gospel to the tribes who have yet to know you"

He said he became really thin like a stick and even had kutu on his head!

I was awed to be in the presence of this young man (in his 30s) who is quite unknown but quietly evangelizing the lost for Christ deep in the jungles of Sulawesi and going where others do not want to go.

These verses in Hebrews aptly describe the ministry of Nekson Balang.

Heb 11: 33-34

"who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of aliens"

Heb 11:38 

"of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth"

Today he writes songs and produces CDs for sale to support himself in the ministry (he has no fixed financial support from any church). 

Each time he ministers to the Suku Wana, God will give him a song to sing about them as a story to tell the whole world. Indeed because of his life which has been poured out as a love offering to the Lord, he sings under a wonderful and rich anointing of the Holy Spirit that can be felt tangibly!

When he sings, I will instantly be drawn deep into the presence of the Holy Spirit and begin to drink of the rarified air of the glory of the Lord! 

I will sense a certain fullness of the spirit as though I have drank that I needed to drink of the waters of life, ate all that I needed to eat of the bread of life!

As he had no financial support from his own church, the Bario leadership decised to make a collection for him on the last night. People streamed forward to put their money on the table. Soon there was a huge pile of money on the table for Nekson's ministry!

Now this was totally unexpected as they had just collected an offering as a seed for building the prayer house in Bario!

The people in Bario are not rich being farmers and homestay owners. Yet in a matter of two days, a collection of RM5k was received two nights in a row for two different purposes!

As S and I did not have much money with us, we decided to take down Nekson's bank account to send him a love offering when we are back in KL.

Giving and sowing with the right heart attitude brings much blessings to the giver and the recipient.

Giving and sowing involves

1. Bountiful reaping

2 Cor 9:6 "But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully"

2. Joyful and hilarious giving

2 Cor 9:7 "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, or grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver"

"Cheerful" means "hilaros" - willing, good natured, joyfully ready. Spirit of enjoyment in giving that sweeps away all restraints. Hilarious giving is the appropriate English word.

3. "No sweat" meaning "No problem in giving"

2 Cor 9:8 "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work"

God is the one who will enable us to give! So why worry! Giving is no sweat at all or like the Cantonese say "MMT" or "Moh Man Tai"!

4. Increase in the fruits of righteousness

2 Cor 9:10 "Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness"

What are the "fruits of our righteousness" mentioned here?

These are the fruits of the Spirit freely flowing in our life i.e. love, joy, peace, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, long suffering, self-control!

Lessons from Bario - Sending and Going.....

Time: 5 am
Date: 12/10 (Sunday morning)

The Lord downloaded this message to me today while I was deep in His presence in the early watches of the morning in the quiet presence of my room....

I guess there are times when I need to be away from others just to be alone with Him. It is good that Sunday is the day I need not go to church for the 6 am watch otherwise it will be a big rush for me and I will miss listening to His gentle and loving voice....

The Lord said that it is ok for me to do so....and that He wanted me to set aside at least a few days a week to be alone with Him in my personal morning watches. 

He had things to share with me, He said....

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH HOLY SPIRIT!

Lessons from Bario

Here are the lessons I received from the Lord from my recent trip to Bario. I went there to learn about their morning watches and I want to thank the Lord for teaching me much more than that....

1. Sending & going

Jesus said to go into all the world to preach the gospel to the nations and to make disciples of them (Matt 28:19).

Before going there has to be the physical act of sending. 

There can be no going to the nations without the sending forth by the church under the authority of the Lord Jesus Himself.

Sending out our short term missionaries in a manner worthy of God

In Acts 13:1-3, the apostles in Antioch as a collective group of teachers and prophets, Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen fasted and prayed and received from the Lord to send Barnabas and Saul "for the work I have called them" (the Lord speaking to the apostolic group collectively).

The sender is just as important as the goer as the senders have a part and a share in the ministry/fruits of the goer.

How should we send a person forth into missions whether it be Bario, Manila, India, KKB or China?

- We should send them forth with our heartfelt prayers and the laying on of hands

Acts 13:3 "Then having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them (Barnabas and Saul), they sent them on their way"

- We should send them out in the power of the Holy Spirit desirous to see a great harvest of souls and signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 

Acts 13:4 "So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit...."

Acts 14:3 "Therefore they stayed there (Iconium a long time) speaking boldly in the Lord, who is bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands".

- We should send them out "with one accord" as the sending forth is not just an act of the leadership but also of the whole church. 

Acts 15:22 "Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas...."

- We should send them forth in peace.

1 Cor 16:11 "Therefore let no one despise him (Timothy) but send him on his journey in peace, that he may come to me; for I am waiting for him with the brethren"

- We should send them forth with the expectation of an encouraging report

Phil 2:19 "But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state"

- We are sending them forth to comfort the hearts of others

Col 4:8 "I am sending Tychicus to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts"

- We should send them forth as though we are going with them in the Spirit

Phil 2:25 "Yet I considered it necessary to send to you, Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow messenger...."

Col 4:7 "Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me"

Paul considered that sending Epaphroditus and Tychichus to the churches in Philippi and Colosse as if he was going there himself because he described them as his "brother, fellow worker, fellow messenger, fellow messenger". 

Conclusion

God is pleased when we send out our short term missionaries with the above heart attitude.

3 John 6 "who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well"

In the same way we will be blessed when we receive traveling missionaries with the same heart attitude.

3 John 8 "We therefore ought to receive such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth"

New wine at Bario

I just came back from a wonderful trip to Bario from 2/10 to 6/10 having attended the 40th anniversary of the Bario Revival.

Bario experienced a great revival in 1973 and each year since then revival meetings have been held to commemorate it.

Outside the beautiful house on a hill where we stayed in Bario

Bario Team with our hosts

Supang, Aran Raja, Sina Ngubur Tuan and Sina Inan Paran

Lighting candles to commemorate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit

Ngubur Tuan, Inan Paran, Sina Inan Paran, Supang, Sina Ngubur Tuan, Aran Raja, Madah Ulun, Nelson & Linda

Dancing and waving the flags of Sarawak and Malaysia

Singing songs of joy unto the Lord 

Dancing with joy on the last night of the Kebangkitan Kerohanian

Supang, Nekson Balang (a hero of faith and evangelist to the suku wana tribe in the Sulawesi), Sina Ngubur Tuan & Nelson Maren

Note: By the way, our new Kelabit names have special meaning. You have to ask us to find out what they mean!

Here is my report written for the church magazine:

New wine in Bario

What is so special about this place called Bario in Sarawak?

Is it the cool weather, the scenic mountains, the laid-back lifestyle or the paddy fields?

Is it the quaint longhouses (many of them converted to homestays) or is it the fact that it is a place away from the maddening crowd? 

In Bario, there is no TV, no internet connection (except for a small part of the town), no hospital and no handphone connection!

One journalist who came with a group to write about Bario called the place "authentic" and "original"!

Two things about Bario really fascinate me:

1.  The morning watches that start from 5:30 am till 7 am daily from Monday till Sunday.

2.  Warm and genuine people with humble, simple and childlike faith.

Although I had no opportunity to go for the morning watches (most of them were put on hold in view of the Revival Conference held on 2^nd to 4^th October each year to commemorate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit), I can imagine the impact of the morning watches on the people of Bario.

There can be no revival without sustained and persevering prayers like the morning watches in Bario neither can there be spiritual barrenness if there is ongoing prayer in the churches of Bario on a daily basis.

I believe this is also a truth that will come to pass for HGC as we persevere and sustain the morning watches from 6 am to 8 am from Monday to Saturday.

In fact I saw something like shafts of light shining from these small churches piercing the morning darkness going to all the nations of the world where the Kelabits are based. The shaft of piercing light seem to come from the mouth of the prayer warriors in Bario even as they pray for their loved ones, family members and relatives scattered around the globe.

Little wonder that the Kelabits are people who are successful in their respective vocations. As many of the young people leave Bario to study and work in the bigger cities, the older folks who remain are like the Anna (s) and Simeon (s) who uphold their younger ones in prayer daily during the morning watches.

In fact I was amazed when they actually prayed for their Kelabit members by name during the Conference especially those who had submitted their requests to pray for healing!

The other fascinating thing about Bario are the people whose hearts are humble, simple and child-like.

They readily approach us (the team from HGC) to ask us for forgiveness even though they did know us! 

In fact, Datin Mariam (Linda’s sister who had opened her house to us to stay) told me that during the Bario revival, little children would come crying to adults, hugging them asking forgiveness.

In fact this also happened during the Revival Conference as absolute strangers came up to me to shake my hands and to ask me to forgive them!

It was this kind of openness and humility that prepared the ‘wine-skins’ of the heart to receive the ‘new wine’ of the Holy Spirit.

I realized that if there was no child-likeness, humility or openness, such an act of asking each other for forgiveness openly would appear to be ‘weird’ to those not accustomed to it!

Datin also told me that many were so filled with the Holy Spirit that they danced and rejoiced all night.

In fact she told me that her beautiful glass-windowed verandah facing the Bario mountains sank a few inches lower due to many people stamping and dancing on it all night during the Bario revival!

During those days many did not go to work but was so filled with the Holy Spirit that they travelled to all the surrounding villages to share the Gospel when the Holy Spirit fell upon them 40 years ago in 1973!

Many villages came to JESUS due to the work of the traveling evangelists from Bario (Ba Kelalan being one of them).

However there were also those with the old ‘wineskins’ who came to her husband (now deceased) being a prominent Kelabit leader and a minister of the Sarawak government then asking him to stop the revival!

Datuk (who had attended Bible school) told them not to stop the work of the Holy Spirit!

God’s work cannot be stopped and it is still evident today in the Kelabit heartlands of Bario as can be seen from the churches holding morning watches daily.

Also I noticed that Bario folks have a sense of community and spiritual one-ness just like the days of Acts.

While staying with Datin, I saw her neighbors bringing food for her. I also saw how they shared their food with each other from house to house. No wonder God chose this community to pour out His Holy Spirit upon them 40 years ago in a very powerful and tangible way!

Apart from my observation of the Kelabit community I was most blessed to attend the Revival Conference during this significant time. Ps Raymond Mooi was the main speaker while Datuk Chua shared his testimony.

The best ‘wine’ was kept for the last night when Ps Raymond Mooi moved us to tears with the sharing of his powerful testimony. He shared that he was an orphan, adopted by a temple nun, abused, scolded, rejected and hated by the other nuns in the temple; he became a rascal and a real bad-hat. Until today he does not know who his real parents are.

When his adopted mother died, he had to crawl on his knees to his new adopted mother, begging her to take him in. Every night he cried alone in his room until one night, he had a personal encounter with God as his Father that brought a deep change into his life!

It was not so much the miracles (although we saw deaf ears opened, poor eyesight healed, sinuses and asthma healed) but the living testimony of a transformed life that moved us to tears. Here was a man whom God was using mightily all over the world who was a school drop-out, who did not have any academic qualification to his name!

The new wine is also the revelation that what was most important to God was our relationship with Him rather than what we can do for Him.

If we take care of our relationship with God (especially knowing Him as our Heavenly Father) God will take care of the things that He will do through us! 

I also tasted the sweetness of the new wine when I heard the testimony of Nekson Balang.

The new wine that I tasted from the life of this young man is a life on fire for God, a life so sold-out for God that personal comfort take second place! That the advancement of God's kingdom take the utmost priority!

Here was a man so consumed by the love of God for the lost that he was willing to risk his life to bring the Gospel to one of the lost tribes of the Sulawesi, the Suku Wana.

Like the modern day Sadhu Sundar Singh, he traversed the interior of the Sulawesi to bring the Gospel to tribes who lived on trees, who go about naked and who practiced all kinds of lawless acts like child marriages.

He suffered much, survived attempts to kill him by the Wana tribe whom he eventually won for the Lord, went hungry for months eating only banana trunks, barks of trees as he walked through the jungles from village to village to bring the Gospel to the unreached tribes of the Sulawesi. We wept (and he wept) when he shared his testimony with us.

Like the men of faith in Heb 11, I realized that in our midst was one of the unknown heroes whose names may not be known by many in this lifetime but his rewards are great and eternal in the heavens!

Indeed it is men like Nekson Balang who is hastening the return of the Lord as they lay down their lives to reach the most unreached people groups for JESUS even unto the ends of the earth.

My heart has been warmed by the ‘new wine’ of the Holy Spirit, touched by the sincere and child-like faith of the saints of Bario, blessed by the testimonies of men of faith like Raymond Mooi and Nekson Balang.

COME, LORD JESUS, COME!