Dec 1, 2020 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
Extend the kindness of Jesus. One of the greatest expressions of the kindness of Jesus was His intentional entry into the story of a broken humanity. This story of kindness is unique because the very ones to whom Jesus extended kindness, had rejected Him and rebuffed His love. Yet Jesus looked past the undeserving and saw through to the plight of human lostness. To frame His act of kindness we must somehow get our minds around the magnitude of this immense, all-powerful, transcendent, holy, perfect God, who was propelled by love and kindness to redeem a hopeless humanity. So, Jesus took on the nature of humanity, whilst being fully God and entered into a world that was incapable of being liberated without the One who had the right to enact salvation. This is immense and it really counts for every person, as we have been unhinged from our creator since the fall. This act of kindness is the greatest hope that humanity has ever been granted. Imagine if Jesus was not kind. Life would be heading in the direction of despair and ultimate destruction. But this act of kindness on the part of Jesus totally changes the outcome. We are now the recipients of His benevolent love and kindness and we are saved. Kindness is a defining part of our journey and it is now on us to extend the kindness of Jesus to others, because kindness moves others towards healing and restoration. It fans the flame of hope and helps to raise others out of the ashes. Kindness changes the atmosphere no matter what the circumstances are. Unsolicited kindness points people to Jesus.
As we enter the story of Jesus and look around the Judean scene of the first century AD, we will see a plethora of characters who were all in deep need of love, redemption and kindness. One of the striking characteristics of Jesus is His kindness. Jesus showed kindness to every suffering, marginalised, unlovable, dirty, sick, rejected, degraded person He encountered. Every single person was changed as a result of His kindness.
Think about the impact of kindness in your life. What has an act of kindness meant to you and how has it changed your circumstances? Last week, our family suffered a trauma on so many levels. Yet what made the difference was kindness. It enabled us to function. The kindness of Jesus was touching our hearts every single moment. Everyone of us who have received kindness knows the immeasurable impact and value of this Christ-like characteristic. And so, we are called to extend the kindness of Jesus at all times. When the recipients don’t deserve it; when the person appears unlovable; when we are too tired to do it; when pride gets in our way, extend the kindness of Jesus anyway. It’s not always easy, but it is the Jesus way.
So, friends, get your “Jesus kindness” on today.
Best days to come,
Wen
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Nov 25, 2020 | Wens Pen
We sow to grow. So, what seeds are you sowing today? I’ve recently been learning about planting tomatoe seeds. It is the most incredible process to take a minuscule seed, full of potential for growth, plant it into the void of the dark dirt and watch the petite plantlets pop their heads through to find the light. The end result of the sowing is the growing; a crop of big, rich red, delicious tomatoes ready for harvesting and consuming. It seems like God has given each of us fields of opportunity every day that are ready for the planting. He has placed the seeds of truth, love, kindness, generosity, mercy, and encouragement (to name a few) in our hands and He calls us to sow these seeds into the soil of the lives of others, on His behalf. As Matthew 5:16 says, we must let our light shine before others and as they benefit from our good works, they will see and glorify Jesus. Each seed we sow will produce something. We sow to grow. So, what seeds are you sowing today?
Every time we plant a seed we must be aware of the potential contained within those seeds. Yet, whilst every seed may have potential, this potential can only come to fruition after we have planted the seed. Unless we sow the seed, the seed won’t produce fruit. We sow to grow. So, what seeds are you sowing today? Think about how you respond when someone sows a seed of encouragement into the grounds of your life. It lifts you up and spurs you on and makes you want to encourage others in return.
We sow to grow. So, what seeds are you sowing today? Are you sowing seeds with your words as you speak life and hope? Are you sowing seeds with your hands through acts of kindness and generosity? Are you sowing seeds of faith as you pray for others? What will your crop look like when it comes to fruition and what will be harvested from the seeds you have sown? Every seed you sow will have an impact; a word of encouragement can make all the difference to another who is feeling off their game. One expression of love can turn a lost person around. One act of kindness can restore a person’s hope. One act of service can relieve a weary soul. One prayer of faith can help turn the key that unlocks a miraculous change another person desperately needs. One generous heart can bless those in need. Whatever seeds we hold, we must sow. Every word and action, no matter how small will stir the growth of another and life will be birthed. As we sow our seeds, we help others to pop their heads through the dirt of life to embrace hope and to see the light of the glory of Jesus. We sow to grow. So, what seeds are you sowing today?
So, friends, get your ‘sowing for growing’ on today.
Best days to come.
Wen
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Nov 18, 2020 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
Jesus will prevail.
As 2020 turned the history pages and a new century opened, we all seemed so perfectly positioned on the 21st century timeline for the best year ever. We bundled up many of our new, God-shaped dreams, hopes, desires and plans and placed them into the promise box of 2020 and stepped out with faith and expectation. Yet the wet blanket of calamity was cast over us and it feels like we have hit the decade of doom rather than the dawning of the new. The tiny particles of fatigue have settled into the grooves of many broken dreams and numerous unfulfilled expectations. What appears to be a whole heap of doors slamming and shutting, I believe is, in God’s economy, a time where new doors will open and Jesus will prevail. Whilst we are waiting behind the boarder lines of our current reality, it is also a time to embrace the truth that no shut door can keep the plans of Jesus contained because, no matter what Jesus will prevail. His plans and His timing will be enacted perfectly. Ultimately, it is not closed doors that have us pinned in a position of spinning our wheels; God has us perfectly positioned in spite of what appears to be a successful assault of the enemy on humanity this year. No! The enemy has already been defeated and Jesus will prevail. Colossians 1:16.
God is faithfully holding every promise we started the year with in His abundant, cosmic-sized hand. God will finally remove the fence line of this pandemic and redeem the pain of this season.Jesus will prevail past the borders of a year that has hemmed us in through a pandemic. He will bring us into a renewed, expanded territory that He has prepared for us to inhabit; a new season of life. What seems like a narrow passage will become an enlarged territory under the direction of the prevailing Jesus. He invites us to look past the doors of doom as He opens the borders and invites us into new frontiers of faith. Whilst the enemy creates the illusion of us being stuck in the narrow trenches with no way out, Jesus is using to advance His kingdom purposes. Jesus will prevail.
Ephesians 1:11 tells us that we are chosen, predestined according to His plan to work everything in conformity according to His purposes and will. Nothing can beat that. Jesus will prevail no matter what!
So, friends, get your ‘Jesus will prevail’ on today.
Best days to come.
Wen
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Nov 10, 2020 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
When the Father speaks. Spoken words and sometimes unspoken words are defining. They fall upon the ears of the soul and seep into the cervices of our beings and affect us in either a good way or sadly, at times in negative ways. But when the Father speaks, His words not only define us, they redefine us, reposition and restore us. When the Father speaks, He speaks out of His right to speak as our creator, out of His pure and perfect character and out of His right as Lord and King. No other voice has that level of authority to speak and settle the issues of our souls. When the Father speaks, He speaks truth and love, with power, authority, justice and grace. He speaks with the voice of a loving, passionate, dedicated Father who seeks our very best. So, when the Father speaks, that is the voice that we must attune our ears to. (Read through John 10).
There is a plethora of “voices” in our world that seem to have assumed the right to speak. Sometimes and somehow, we can get caught, allowing these words to spin a distorted message of truth around in our heads; voices that have a counterfeit authority and an opinion about who we are, what our purpose is, how we are to live and how we should relate. These distorted messages become a collective cacophony of noise that jag our thoughts and reel us in on the hooks of deception and distortion. If we listen for a single moment or entertain a tiny word that is not God’s truth, we risk our thoughts becoming entangled and ensnared by an orator that has no right to speak.
At times when you hear the words of the counterfeit orator, speaking falsehoods like “you aren’t good enough”, “you don’t measure up”, “there’s no way back and no way forward”, “you are strapped down by sin and failure”, or “the mountain ahead is insurmountable”; STOP and listen to the one authentic voice of God. For when the Father speaks He says “I have made you worthy and this is not up for debate.” He says “I have made you enough and the measure of who you are is defined by Me as your creator and I get the final word on that”. He reminds us that we are free from sin and death by the righteousness of Jesus who has ultimate authority and by the word of His mouth keeps us by His grace. And as for those insurmountable mountains, the Father says “I will never leave you on the path alone; take heart, we will take down that mountain together.” When the Father speaks, His declarations are reality and they are final. What a relief when we listen when the Father speaks. The Father’s words are the only words that count.
So, friends get your “Father-attuned ears” on today and listen when the Father speaks.
Best days to come.
Wen
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Oct 27, 2020 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
Shaken but not stirred. Some of you will recognise this famous statement from the James Bond movies. When requesting his preferred beverage, James Bond, the British Secret Service agent, 007 would request his drink be shaken and not stirred. When it comes to the journey of faith, the idea of being shaken but not stirred relates to our foundations and what pins us in place when hard times hit. In other words, the more we understand who God is, the more secure we become when we collide with the ballistic missiles of affliction, fired at us by the enemy, designed to demolish our faith. Although we feel the impact of difficulty and we may be shaken up, our foundations are not stirred because we are planted in an unshakable Kingdom. (Hebrews 12:28). We might feel shaken but we remain unstirred.
Every one of us have, or will experience the tremor of tragedy and distress throughout our lives. Yet, we have a hope that runs deep and flows from the arteries of Kingdom truth, and that will always lead us back to our solid foundations which remain unstirred, even when we feel shaken. When the missiles are fired at us and we feel like the shaking could take us out, we turn to the unchanging King, who sits on His immovable throne, in the kingdom that is built on unshakable foundations. This King always, always, always knows what He is doing. Being confident in who our King is and who it is we belong to allows us to be shaken but not stirred.
So, friends, get your ”Kingdom foundations” on today.
Best days to come
Wen
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Oct 20, 2020 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
God’s master work on display.
In one of our last TEC Thoughts for the Week, we spoke of being a master work of God. God is the ultimate artist. All of God’s creation is an expression of His creative work, with His signature and imprint visible in all His works (Psalm 19:1-4). Humans however, are God’s exquisite master work of art; His prize creation that most portrays the Master Artist (Psalm 8).
The whole idea of art is to create a work that gives expression to the heart, thought and intention of the artist. No work of art is created only to be hidden. Art is intended for display, allowing others to enjoy and engage with the story behind the work and to gain insight into the artist; to convey meaning. A number of years back when I was taking art classes, our teacher selected some of our art works to be displayed in his gallery for the annual student art exhibition. To my surprise, my teacher hustled me into the gallery, quickly pointing to a group of artists admiring the paintings and wanting to engage with the story behind them. One artist commented “I love the thick, organic flow of the brush strokes that bring your work to life and point us to the deeper meaning”. Well, that was nice, but there was a conclusion to be drawn. Those artists could only have had that discussion if my paintings were hanging in the gallery. The paintings were not meant to be stuck in a private space that concealed their meaning. They came to life as they hung on the walls at the exhibition. The nature of art is to display what has been crafted. God has created us and intends us to be His master work on display, never to be hidden from the world. We are the authentic expression of God’s creation and He has placed us on the gallery walls of His kingdom here on earth, to point others to Himself. God’s intention for humanity is to give expression to the Master Artist, so the purpose of God is revealed. We are God’s master work on display.
We are a portrait of God worth more than a thousand words. We God’s poetry in motion, eloquently expressing His truth. We are vessels of the Master potter, moulded into the shape of Jesus; filled with the aroma of His Spirit. We are the music that God writes; an expression of His heavenly anthem. We are His mosaic, as He arranges the pieces of our lives to be the Body of Christ, placed together, to display the image of our creator. People come into the galleries of our lives every day to view God’s magnificent master work, pointing them to the Master Artist. We the manifesto of God; we are God’s master work on display.
So, friends, get your ‘display’ on today.
Best days to come.
Wen
