The opposite of fear is…

Here are the notes from an activity that I facilitated for a group of artists, followed by my own sharing of what I received while doing it.

Question: What do you think is the opposite of fear? (choose one only)

1. Faith

2. Hope

3. Love

4. All of the above

Answer:

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18a

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

→ Only when we have experienced His perfect love and unconditional acceptance are we able to 

• Trust in Him fully that everything He has planned for us is for our good

• Believe that He will never leave nor forsake us

• Base our hope on His unfailing promises

• Face all adversity without fear

Often, it's a matter of changing our perspective to see things from God's perspective. The next activity will hopefully help us to do just that.

Activity:

1. Using your digital sketching/drawing app, write down all the fears (including worries & anxieties) you have.

2. Draw the outline of a big heart around all your fears. Colour it in slowly, stroke by stroke, to cover over all your fears while giving your fears to God and asking Him to reveal His love for you.

Play these songs while artists are drawing and colouring the heart:

I Will Fear No More by The Afters 

Stand in Your Love by Josh Baldwin

3. Write on the heart key words to help you remember what He spoke to you just now. You could also draw pictures/symbols to represent what He has shown you.

Play this song while artists are writing/drawing on the heart:

Rest in Your Love by Martin Nystrom 

4. Take turns to share. 

Closing prayer. 

Sharing of what I received:

I heard Him say in this order: Rest, Peace, Joy, Assurance. The last word - Assurance - came as a surprise but it reminded me of my favourite hymn after I had just received Christ, Blessed Assurance (by Fanny Crosby). We have assurance not only for eternal life beyond this life, but He also assures us of His loving presence, protection and provision in this life. God brought me back to my early days as a Christian, to my first love for Him, and the joy that results from a childlike faith in Him.

1 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.

2 Perfect communion, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight.
Angels descending bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love. 

3 Perfect submission, all is at rest.
I in my Savior am happy and bless’d,
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with his goodness, lost in his love.

Lord, make my mess into Your message

 

Notes from a recent sharing with a few artists.

1. View the following and share responses:

- Broken Hallelujah by Dawn Schneider

- O Come, All Ye Unfaithful by Sovereign Grace Music

- I Will Rise by Chris Tomlin (with paintings from Arts Release Creative Studios)

2. While thinking about all the problems and challenges you've faced this month/year, draw lines across a piece of blank paper using a pen/fine tip marker - they can be zigzag, wavy, curved, spiral etc, and in any direction.

Next, colour in the spaces created by the lines while allowing God to show you where and how He had showed up in the midst of your troubles. What do you see in your picture?

Egs of the kind of drawing can be found at

- Nandrigal Yeatrukollum (Accept My Thanksgiving) by Jeswin Samuel (with video of Aimee drawing and colouring in)

- Endless Praise by Anne Soh

- By His Stripes by Anne Soh

- Big Picture by Anne Soh

Bible passages (read aloud while artists are colouring in, then share insights after):

Psalm 42 - aspects of this Psalm can be seen in the painting Broken Hallelujah, also it reminds us to draw near to God in our lowest moments and put our hope in Him even when the solution isn't apparent

Jeremiah 18:1-6 - the clay may look messed up but the potter has a plan to mould it into something good / useful / beautiful, and God uses it to tell Jeremiah a message for the nation.

Hosea 1 & 3 - the prophet's life is way messier than any makjang K-drama plot but God uses it to reveal His redemptive message for the nations.

John 8:2-11 - instead of answering the men immediately, Jesus started writing in the sand. Some translations say He was drawing lines, much like what we did in this activity. Ultimately, people were convicted of their sin and the adulterous woman was forgiven.

→ Whether it's through pottery, drama, drawings or any other artform, when they depict how God shows up in the midst of our messy lives, He will use our artworks to bring across His message of forgiveness and redemption.

Therefore…

Habakkuk 3:17-18 - we will rejoice in the Lord even though we may be going through hardship, pain and suffering, and don't see any results.

→ When stories / artworks project hope while being authentic and “firmly aware of the brokenness within which we live and build, suffer, expect, laugh and cry,” (Seerveld, 2000) they will become vessels to change the hearers and “heal our wounded souls.” (Mead, 2017)

References:

1. Calvin Seerveld, Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves: Alternative Steps in Understanding Art (Carlisle: Piquant, 2000), 112.

2. Geoff Mead, Coming Home to Story: Storytelling beyond Happily Ever After (London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017), 3.

God inspires, we transpire

Notes for a sharing session with some artists:

 

1.     Read Psalm 1

 

2.     Transpiration in plants 

o    Water absorbed from the soil by the roots is pulled upwards through the plant and evaporates through stomata on the surface of the leaves 

o    Nutrients from the soil dissolved in the water help the plant to grow - more transpiration equals more growth 

o    Transpiration also helps to cool the plant down

→ We need to be grounded in the Word (soil), filled with the Holy Spirit (water), and create good works (transpire) in order to grow healthily.

 

3.     Some external factors that affect transpiration

o    Water level in the soil

o    Air temperature

o    Humidity

o    Air movement ie wind

→ Make sure we place ourselves among people who encourage us to be creative, and also get the right training, resources, and conducive environment to boost our creativity.

 

4.     What happens when plants don't transpire

o    Wilt if due to soil being too dry

o    Explode/burst if due to other factors that prevent transpiration

→ Keep soaking in the Holy Spirit and keep creating!

 

5.     Transpiration is part of the water cycle 

o    Water vapour released into the air forms clouds and falls down as rain

o    Water is essential to all life on earth

→ Creative works inspired by God change the atmosphere and will bless others by sending them showers of love, joy, peace, hope… all that is essential for an abundant life! The impact could also be remote like clouds that are blown far away - transcends space and time.

 

6.     Different plants

o    Have different rates of transpiration 

o    But all plants transpire!

→ We have different gifts and talents, different skills and abilities. But everyone is creative as we are made in the image of the Creator! Don't compare with others cos we're all unique. Just be assured that God has equipped each one of us uniquely to produce the good works that He has prepared us to do/create (Eph 2:10).

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the one

    who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

    or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

    and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

    which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither –

    whatever they do prospers.

4 Not so the wicked!

    They are like chaff

    that the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

 

"Conspiracy in the Court" (2/2) - Foothold vs Stronghold [SPOILER ALERT]

Continuing from my previous entry about this drama...

When the chief of the local police (Park Chul-Min) first receives a bribe from the merchant Yang Man-Oh (Lee Chun-Hee), he has given Man-Oh a foothold by allowing him to smuggle in a ship load of illegal goods. However, as he continues to accept more bribes from Man-Oh, he relinquishes more and more ground to the merchant who can then keep smuggling in and selling off even more illegal goods.

 

At the same time, Man-Oh is sending bribes to other officials including some high-ranking ministers. Gradually, he builds up a stronghold where he has control over all those corrupted officials who have accepted his bribes. So much so that they give him permission to conduct all kinds of illegal activities under their noses.

 

Similarly, if we sin and give Satan an opening to cause a one-time disturbance then it is a foothold. However, if we continue to sin and allow him to gain increasingly more control over our life, then it becomes a stronghold.

If the police chief had come clean after receiving the first bribe and stopped accepting further bribes, Man-Oh would not have been able to gain control over him. By the time the merchant has extended his control over the many corrupted officials, they already find it extremely difficult to stop him and his illegal activities.

In the same way, we need to confess and repent of our sin that gives the devil a foothold and kick him out. Otherwise, if we neglect to do that and the enemy builds a stronghold in us (eg addictions or negative thought patterns), it would take much more effort to remove his control over us.

Read more about "Conspiracy in the Court" - Power vs Authority

"Conspiracy in the Court" (1/2) - Power vs Authority [SPOILER ALERT]

This drama is only eight episodes long but it was so difficult to understand initially due to the fast pace, convoluted storyline and countless mysteries and secrets that were only unravelled much later. So reading the recaps after viewing each episode really helped me to follow the plot.

While I was watching this series, I also happened to learn about the difference between power and authority in a course that I'm attending. And I realised that some of the characters actually illustrated these two concepts really well!

Police officer Park Sang-Gyu (Jin Yi-Han) serves in a small town and his team consists of a handful of scaredy-cats with no martial arts skills whatever to boast of. As the team leader, he's not much better off. In fact, when they confront a group of smugglers at the dock, he backs up and hides behind his team while ordering them to charge ahead, which of course they don't.

As a result of their incompetence, they are entirely knocked out by just one smuggler! So although Sang-Gyu has the authority to enforce the law by virtue of his position as a police officer, he doesn't have the power to exercise his authority due to the lack of ability.

As he is lying on the ground contemplating his next move (of how to surrender!) a master swordsman flies off a nearby rooftop and single-handedly overpowers the smugglers! It turns out that he is Seo Joo-Pil (Han Jung-Soo), Sang-Gyu's good friend and fellow officer from the police HQ in the capital city. 

After this incident, we see Joo-Pil hanging around Sang-Gyu a lot more than before and he helps provide the fighting power for Sang-Gyu whenever he has difficulty reining in the criminals. Unfortunately, midway through the drama, Joo-Pil is killed in an ambush.

Sang-Gyu is promoted - the King himself bestows him with the Royal Sword which increases his authority greatly. However, he isn't deployed more capable men in his team. So even when he wields the Royal Sword before some villains to signal his authority, they scoff at him and easily overpower him and his ragtag team as he can't rely on Joo-Pil's support anymore.

On the other hand, Sang-Gyu's nemesis, the merchant Yang Man-Oh (Lee Chun-Hee) has gathered a great deal of wealth which grants him power over many of the officials including Sang-Gyu's police chief (Park Chul-Min). Although he doesn't have any authority, he bribes these officials who then allow him to conduct his illegal activities without any liability (see my other post about the impact of this corruption). That's why he can openly taunt Sang-Gyu and challenge him to a power contest.

Because of his trespass, the chief has given over his authority to Man-Oh by default. He no longer has any say and instead is at Man-Oh's beck and call. As Sang-Gyu knows about the bribery, he doesn't respect his chief's authority anymore and defies his order of letting Man-Oh and his minions go about their shady business scot-free. 

We are very much like Sang-Gyu in the sense that we have been given all authority by the King of kings over demons and to heal diseases (Luke 9:1), as well as to defeat the enemy (Luke 10:19). However, on our own we lack the power to exercise this authority. We need a helper like Joo-Pil. And God has sent the best Helper in the form of the Holy Spirit so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can perform signs and wonders, and bring people to Christ (Romans 15:19). Not by our own power or might, but by the Holy Spirit alone (Zechariah 4:6)!

We must be careful though, that we do not hand over our God-given authority to the devil. If, like the police chief, we sin against God, then we lose our right to this authority and the enemy will gain control. Rather than allow Satan to have an opportunity to accuse us and usurp our authority in Christ, we need to keep ourselves pure and unstained by constantly cleansing ourselves of all sin through confession and repentance before God (1 John 1:9). 

Read more about "Conspiracy in the Court" - Foothold vs Stronghold

Chasing after 'Happily ever after' [SPOILER ALERT!]

Recently, My Roommate is a Gumiho seems to be doing well in the ratings and keeps popping up in my newsfeed. But I prefer to start watching a series only after it's been completed so instead, I checked out an older one with a similar title and character, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho. 

It's a pretty simple setup where the female gumiho (Shin Min-Ah) and male human (Lee Seung-Gi) fall in love but find out that only one of them can live. It becomes apparent quite soon that the non-human character will be the one to sacrifice herself in order for her beloved to live. How do we know that? It's because the gumiho is led to read the story of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid with the original ending, where the mermaid would rather die and turn into foam than kill her beloved prince. 

That immediately reminded me of Angel's Last Mission: Love which I had written about before. The Little Mermaid was also used in the drama as analogous to the angel's impending disappearance from the world. However, both of these series culminate in happy endings where the couples' selfless love for each other move the respective deities so much that rules are bent and the supernatural beings can return to be reunited with their human lovers.

So the writers chose to go the way of Disney's The Little Mermaid after all. And it seems like that's what the audience wants too. In those series which don't end with 'happily ever after', like Cheese in the Trap and The Third Charm (both happen to feature Seo Kang-Joon - perhaps he has a penchant for choosing unconventional scripts...), the poor ratings and negative reviews tell it all! 

   

Even in shows that try to inject a little more realism and portray the challenges faced by lovey-dovey couples after they get married, such as Like a Fairytale and My Love, My Bride (with Shin Min-Ah again), the convoluted plots somehow still manage to twist and turn into a happy ending. Is this an indication that we are all chasing after that elusive 'happily ever after' in every story? 

And is it a reflection of a deep-seated desire for a happy ending for ourselves in real life too? Could it be that we were made to pursue this? Maybe we have been programmed from creation to look forward to a final ending that is beautiful and triumphant?

Just like how K-drama writers are inspired to wind their tumultuous storylines into satisfactorily positive conclusions, the greatest story ever told also predicts that there will be a joyous outcome to all the troubles we face in this world. If you'd like to know how it will ultimately end, and how to acquire that 'happily ever after' for yourself, just check the Bible for the biggest spoiler alert ever!

The Lord’s Prayer - "Give us this day our daily bread" (13 Jun 2021)

We discussed this phrase during our family time last Sun, so I thought it would be appropriate to feature photos of the various food items we've received from others in the past two weeks. 😋

Here are some of the points brought up during our discussion...

Give

We have to ask for God's provision. And we also have to receive with thanksgiving when it comes. (Duh... you may be thinking, "Isn't that obvious?" Haha!) Sounds simple but we often take it for granted. The key here is that we need to be intentional in asking, and be thankful for what we receive, so that we are fully reliant on Him and do not start to think that we deserve whatever we have or that we gained it all through our own work.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that we won't need to work and can just sit around, waiting for His provision to fall down from the sky (in case you haven't realised, manna days are over!) 😅 It does mean, however, that we should be about God's work, doing what He shows us to do through the Holy Spirit. 

When we work, it should not be by our own strength, nor chasing after selfish or worldly desires, so we don't labour in vain (cf. Psalm 127:1-2). When we are led by the Spirit to do the work that He wants us to do, and doing it His way, then He will surely provide for us even when it may not be a well-paid job by the world's standards (sometimes it may not even be paid at all).

As long as we are in His will, then we have the confidence that when we ask for what we need, we will receive (1 John 5:14, Matthew 7:7).

Us

This points again to community - and a family is a community. Maybe like me, you've also wondered before whether there's any link between verses 1-2 and verses 3-5 of Psalm 127 as they seem to be about two distinct topics. But if we look at the first two verses in the context of God’s provision (when we build our homes according to His ways), then the next three verses imply that He will continue to provide for us when we have children (and that is why they are a blessing from Him, not a burden).

This day

We must keep asking everyday in order to practise complete dependence on Him, and learn to trust in Him alone.

Our

God has already alloted to each person the appropriate portion, which will always be sufficient (cf. Exodus 16:18). So there's no need to worry that we won't have enough or try to store up extra as insurance. It may very well turn smelly (Exodus 16:20)! 😜

Also, sometimes He may give in bulk to a whole community and then it's up to us to divide it among ourselves. So if we think at a macro level, it could mean that some of the extra provisions that we're getting is meant for someone else. Hence, we need to be sensitive to the needs of others around us and be ready to give to those He directs us to.

Daily

God gives us what we need for each day so we don't have to worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34). Certainly, it is wise to have savings. After all, He did instruct the Israelites to save up a double portion of manna for the Sabbath (Exodus 16:22-26).

However, we need to be careful we don't fall into the trap of thinking that we need to save more so that we can fund our children’s further education, help pay for their weddings, chip in when they buy their own houses, and even sponsor our grandchildren's diapers and toys and education... and the list goes on and on... When we start worrying about what all the tomorrows may bring, it's never-ending!

Just be contented with what He gives, and if He does grant us more than enough then save it up for there is probably a need that He is providing for in advance. But have faith that He will continue to provide for each day so we won't keep striving to earn more and save more than what we actually need.

Bread

In addition to physical food and other material needs, His bread also includes spiritual food - His Word. In fact, spiritual bread is even more important than physical food (Matthew 4:4), as it's by the Word of God that we can live out Psalm 127 (which we looked at above). So no matter how busy work may be, do not compromise on time spent in studying His written Word (logos) and soaking in His Spirit in order to receive His living Word (rhema) on a daily basis.

Bonus

There were two lies that I had believed in from young (as a pre-believer). One was that I had to prove myself in order to be loved. The other was that I must fend for myself so as to survive. These two lies led to a fear of failure in me.

Over the years, I had already cast out these two lies and replaced them with God’s truth that He loves me regardless of what I do/don't do/achieve/don't achieve, and that He will provide for me. I had also overcome the fear of failure for myself.

However, the Holy Spirit showed me that I had subconsciously imposed this fear of failure on my children. On the surface I kept telling them that they are loved and valued despite their results, and that God will provide the right school and course for them (provided they pass). Yet deep down I still hung on to the fear that if they failed, they might not be able to make a living or even be able to do what God wants them to do.

So when we started praying together after our sharing, I repented before God and sought the children's forgiveness for passing on this fear to them. And I assured them that it'll be ok even if they fail, as long as they have tried their best, for God will surely provide a way for them to go because He loves them unconditionally and our Father only has the best in store for His children (Jeremiah 29:11)!

Check out other insights we received about The Lord's Prayer:

• Our Father
• in heaven
• hallowed be Your Name
• Your Kingdom come
• Your will be done
• on earth as it is in heaven