Spiritual Formation starts from within

(From the last chapter of Cultivating Your Inner Life by Edmund Chan)

"External spirituality short circuits the work of God's grace.

Spiritual formation starts from within.

If we do not take care of our inner life, we will measure things by the external. We will miss the grace that transforms us from within.

We need the tutoring of divine grace to help us to be fresh, passionate, and hungry for Him.

The glorious grace of God calms my inner compulsions, strengthens my inner convictions, quickens my inner conscience, steadies my inner compass and anchors my inner composure.

...We cannot sustain spiritual passion by our own strength. My journey in spiritual formation continues. Until Christ is formed in me.

How's your journey? May you have a blessed pilgrimage ahead.

Until Christ is formed in you!"

Five process of Spiritual Formation.

(From this morning read of, Cultivating Your Inner Life by Edmund Chan)

"Our coming to Jesus is the first step towards spiritual formation in our lives! It comes full circle. Our search ultimately leads us to the One to whom we must surrender in a fresh and fuller way. 

Our search. Our struggle. Our surrender. Our service. Our significance. 

Five process of spiritual formation. These are the five milestone in our inward journey of cultivating our inner life! God lovingly leads us inward in our pain (our search and struggle), to move us upwards in our posture (our surrender and service) so as to launch us forward in our true power (our significance)."

The Full Surrender

22 Aug 2013, I will remember how God woke me up this very morning & filled his fresh anointing of his spirit presence in my very own room in TTC. Thank you God for this deep encounter of you.

It's so true of what Hebrews 11:6 says,

"...anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

And to add to this wonderful morning, in my reading of Cultivating Your Inner Life by Edmund Chan, this is a summarised portion of this chapter...on "the FULL SURRENDER".

"I believe for many Christians who have long for God and desire to seek Him, the greatest contradiction in the Christian life is in the area of surrender.
The greatest paradox of Christianity is wanting God but not surrendering to Him!

We've got to lay hold of God's blueprint for seeking and finding Him. Surrender to God. It is the blueprint for spiritual victory. The blueprint for vital walk with God.
...We are are not victims of our circumstances; God wants us to be victors over our circumstances! But first, He calls us to a willing surrender. Absolute surrender is the key to absolute victory!
Surrender is not about giving up, but about giving in.. The problem lies not in my clenched hands but in my closed heart which has closed my hands... We have to come upon to a point when we say, "God, open my eyes to see what You are giving me; so that with all my heart I can give in to You."...

May this be my prayer, "Dear Lord, You are Lord of every arena of my life. With all my heart, and in all my ways, I Surrender to You." In Jesus Name I Pray. Amen.

The lovely TTC Community! :)

(My TTC Class-mates, 2013)

I really want to take this time to thank God for such wonderful friends that He has provided me after 2 mths starting this new season in Seminary life! I’ve never met so many like-minded brother & sister’s in christ in one same place ever like this until i’ve begun this journey. We may come from different countries, different denomination, but somehow God has His divine plans of bringing us together in this same seminary. Many of whom are really great godly friends who have encouraged & inspired me so much! Some who have went to the extent to hear my struggles, to pray with me and i’m truly very appreciative of friends like this which I will treasure for life. :)

I also want to thank everyone else out there who have been praying for me. I’m truly so grateful for you all even if I may not know some of you all very well. :)

Lessons from Edmund Chan & St Augustine

(20 Aug 2013, Cultivating Your Inner Life by Edmund Chan)
"People try to find meaning in life from outside or from within themselves. Yet, true meaning in life can only be found from above. Because we are spiritual beings, all of us have an inner quest for something that is ultimately real. Something deeply spiritual. Something eternal.

...The first process of spiritual formation is our deep search. Born out of our hunger for reality... At the heart of this deep longing is the search for God. Psalms 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God." This is the starting point."


The Prayer of Augustine (from On the Trinity)
“O Lord our God, we believe in You the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit…Directing our purpose by this rule of faith, so far as we have been able, so far as You have made us to be able, we have sought You, and have desired to see with our understanding what we believed; and we have argued and laboured much…


O Lord, the One God, God the Trinity, whatever we have said in [this class]…that are of You, may those who are Yours acknowledge them; but if anything is of our own, may it be pardoned both by You and by those who are Yours. Amen.”

(21 Aug 2013,Cultivating Your Inner Life by Edmund Chan)
"Are you struggling with God's will in your life? Don't resent the struggle of the will of God. To resent the struggle does not resolve it. It is part of your spiritual formation. It is a necessary part of the journey. Instead, grow through it.

It is in the struggle that our illusions are exposed. Our need for God is awakened. The key is to understand what the will of the Lord is. And to do it.

This calls for the posture of Full Surrender."

Do what you already know!

(From this morning read of, Cultivating Your Inner Life by Edmund Chan)

"Our Spiritual Pilgrimage is a process, not an event. God will guide us with His Word. The chief difficulty isn't not knowing what to do rather it's not doing what we already know. When you do what you know, you will know what to do."

2 wonderful testimony of God Answered Prayers!

Testimony of a God Answered prayer moment this morning, at the start of Missions & Evangelism class, realised that all my M & E notes which i've typed in my Macbook was somehow deleted, and was searching and searching different folders. And as usual before we started the class, we broke into groups to pray for a particular country and my dear classmate Calvin just said a casual prayer that I will be able to find my notes in that prayer too. And after that I checked my laptop again, re-typed in the searched and there was an update of my notes infront of me and there it was the original M & E notes which was somehow gone previously appeared! Moments like this you just give all PRAISE & THANKS to such a Faithful God!

Another powerful testimony! In the midst of our prayer run with my TTC classmates, suddenly sprain my ankle in the midst of the run. However after Byron prayed for me, the pain actually gradually disappeared, and I could actually continue, and right after we reached back to TTC the pain was totally gone! Praised to our God who Answered our prayers again!

Spiritual Formation should be seen Diachronically

(From this morning read of, Cultivating Your Inner Life by Edmund Chan)

"...We often see spiritual formation synchronically, as an event in time. I attend a conference, I do my quiet time, I memorise scripture, I join a cell group etc. Each takes places at one point of our life. Piecemeal. 

But Spiritual Formation should be seen diachronically. 

Not as an even in time but as a process through time. Spiritual Formation is a long term investment, a long term process. Not short-term. Spiritual formation must be viewed as an entire process. Not piecemeal. 

... We are tutored by the different seasons of life and are humbled by them. We grow in the seasons of life. When that happens our walk with God mellows, matures and deepens. From the inside out.' 

What is our Inner Life?

What is our Inner Life? (From this morning read of, Cultivating Your Inner Life by Edmund Chan)

"We find in our inner world two dimensions that pull us is opposite directions- our dark inner compulsions and our inner convictions. This tension is contained by our inner conscience. However our conscience can be seared. All is lost unless we have an inner compass that points us God-ward to what God has done for us! (How can someone whose conscience is seared find a good compass? Through repentance. Repentance activates the blessings of redemption!) 

And when we follow that inner compass, we will learn to abide in Christ and through this. find an inner composure that is truly out of this world! It gives us a calm mystery over the challenges of life. For out of our innermost being will flow rivers of living waters. 

That's living from the inside out. 

Abiding in Jesus!"

4 Truths about Intimacy with God

4 Truths about Intimacy with God, (From this morning read of, Cultivating Your Inner Life by Edmund Chan)

Truth 1: God Delights in Intimacy with Us and Invite Us to it. 

Truth 2: Intimacy is God-Given Birthright for All Humanity 

Truth 3: Intimacy Takes Trust and Not Just Time 

Truth 4: Intimacy with God Results in Redemptive Acts of Love 

"Intimacy is about going INWARD, by looking UPWARD, so that we can move OUTWARD and FORWARD!

The purpose of looking upward and going inward is so that we can move forward with meaning and live outward with Joy.

Intimacy with God results in redemptive acts of love. In Intimacy with God, we grow to understand the heart of God. God loves people and He seeks to redeem them. His motive is love and His heart is pure compassion. And we are to reflect Him. "