Dear Friend, How are you? I’m well. On November 20th, 2020, I woke at 3:33am to go to the restroom. I knew I had dreams, but I was not able to recall any vividly. I recalled I was in peace in the first dream, though. I prayed to the Lord in the restroom, “Father, if the dreams were from you, please help me recall them and interpret them.” When I got back to my bed, to my amazement, the second dream got back into my memory. In the dream, it was the wedding day of a young Christian lady I know. It was supposed to start at 1pm and I was in a big hall for the wedding after 12pm. The big hall seemed to belong to a university. I tried to find the bride’s room to greet her before the wedding starts. But I was not able to locate the bride’s room, even after I asked the bride’s mother. In the process of trying to locate it, I saw many guests start to eat in the tables in the big hall. The table setting looked like a food court. Then, I felt so hungry and had such a craving for a traditional Korean food. So, I decided to order the food and eat it like other guests did. There was a place to order menu way up high that looked like a stage. I had to go up the stairs to order and the stairs were so steep that I held the bar. Finally, I reached the stage to order, but my legs were trembled due to the height. Thankfully, I was able to order the traditional Korean food. Then, the cashier man returned my credit card, only after he snipped it, saying “Your card is about to be expired soon. You might want to discard it.” I received my card with a few pieces snipped, but I knew my order was successfully taken. After I recalled the dream, it dawned on me that the traditional Korean food I wanted to eat and finally ordered was the food we eat in New Year’s days. So, I interpreted that the dream was about transition to a new era. And we must throw away the old things, whatever they might be or how much we got used to them. They would be expired and would not work in the new era to come. With regard to the bride I was looking for and the wedding, I thought of the Bride as Church who would get married to her Bridegroom, Jesus. Interestingly enough, later in the afternoon, I received an email from The Academy of Light. It had the link of its quarterly magazine, Our Finest Hour that I had been waiting for. To my amazement, the title of the first article was The New Church, written by Pastor Mark Johnson. And he wrote “We are moving into a new age and if we strive to go back to the old way ‘church’ operated, we will miss this next move of God.” I think he emphasized the temple, or the building of church is not the Church, but we are the Church (The Body of Christ). And he wrote home church, underground church, cell groups would be a pattern we must to transition to. Then, I was able to make sense of my dream where I could not locate the bride and her room in the wedding. The Bride, the Church is not the temple, nor the church building, but us. I would agree with him and many prophets also prophesized what the end time church would look like. In 2017 when I decided to leave Singapore for good, my pastor in Singapore church said to me, “Yunee, when you’re back to Korea, do not try to search around which church you go to. But you can be a church. You might want to ask a few neighbors to your home. You don’t have to necessarily teach the Words, but you might take a part as a hostess, but each will play a role in the home group meeting.” That was very refreshing to me at that time. Yet I think my pastor already knew what the end time church would look like and encouraged me to prepare for it. Dear Friend, Are you excited for the new era and the new church? Are you willing to throw away the old things that our Father wants us to? I pray that you and I become part of the new church that shines brightly in the darkest season to come in the name of Yeshua. Have a bliss! Yunee Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13~14) Dear Friend, How are you? I’m very well. I got to learn doves are the symbol of the Holy Spirit. I didn’t know why, but our Creator knows it all. In 2019, I had a chance to listen to Pastor R.T. Kendall’s sermon “Pigeon Religion.” Interestingly, he explained what the difference between dove and pigeon is. He was curious about it and met a few people to learn about it. They all said doves and pigeons are anatomically the same. But, Pastor R.T. believed there must be something different between the two and searched and studied. Finally, he was able to share his findings. I think they are very interesting: · Pigeon - fight with each other, warlike, noisy, not bothered by noise, loves attention, take themselves very seriously, greedy, aggressive, depend on men for foods, eat junk foods, territorial, can be trained, dozens of pigeons fly together, have more than one mate; · Dove – don’t fight with each other, peaceful, quiet, very bothered by noise (very sensitive), don’t want attention, don’t take themselves seriously, not greedy, not aggressive, eat the food only they can find, eat only nuts and fruits, not territorial, cannot be trained, one or two fly together at a time, have one mate for life Interesting, huh? They look the same, but they have very different characters. I find it interesting his explaining counterfeit of the Holy Spirit and sharing his testimonies in his sermon “Pigeon Religion.” Knowing the characters of doves, I was reminded of my late Korean pastor’s teaching. He said demons enter people by forcing them through, no matter whether they want them or not. But the Holy Spirit is Person. Unlike demons, He never comes into people, if they don’t want Him. He is Person, and He is sensitive. He comes to those who welcome Him and He dwells in them. Dear Friend, Would you like to invite and welcome Him and ask Him to dwell in you? And would you like to make yourself His dwelling place? I acknowledge that I often flied away the Dove when I was not kind, nor patient. But I’m grateful as He is always gracious and merciful enough to visit me again. I pray that you and I become His Holy Temple where He dwells 24 hours now and forever more, in Jesus’ name. Have a bliss! Yunee When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16~17) Dear Friend, How are you? I’m well. In my previous blog, I wrote about tongue and I would like to continue. Today, I would like to talk about the Tongue, the gift of the Holy Spirit. In my twenties, once in a while I attended the early morning prayers in my Seoul church. When I heard someone in the church pray in tongue, I was made so uncomfortable that I left the prayer meeting soon. Many years later in my church in Shanghai, I started to feel ok when I hear some people pray in tongue. My late pastor in Korea church and the American pastor in Shanghai church once asked people, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit?” Then, I wasn’t sure whether I received it. Precisely, I didn’t know what it meant. Years later in my Singapore church, I started to attend a prayer meeting at 9am before Sunday service at 10:30am. The prayer meeting was open to everyone, but not so many people came up, although I saw regular members in there. I somehow felt I must join the prayer meeting. Then, one Sunday in the prayer meeting, my pastor asked, “Who has not gotten the Tongue yet?” So, I raised my hand. I got to know most of them in the prayer meeting had received the gift of Tongue. Then, a sister next to me said, “Yunee, try to stick out your tongue, when you pray.” She kept forcing me to do it. I was made so uncomfortable and a bit annoyed with her in all honesty. And I thought to myself, “What is this all about? Why should I stick out my tongue, to pray? It’s ugly and stupid. Why is it so important to pray in tongue?” After a week or two in a prayer seminar, however, I received the gift of Tongue! I didn’t even have to stick out my tongue nor worry about the weird sound. Graciously, He gave me the Tongue that sounds like humming. Nobody notices when I’m praying in tongue. It just sounds like I sing or hum with La La La. My late pastor in Korea church once said tongues are very different. Some people speak in tongue in a very aggressive way and some people speak in tongue as if they sing. I was grateful that He put a new song in my mouth. I learned the gift of Tongue is the evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit from the Lord’s faithful servants. And I like David Pawson’s teaching and his metaphor on speaking in Tongue. He said that when we are full of laughter and joy and we can’t contain the laughter anymore, we laugh out. When we are filled with sorrow and we can’t contain the sorrow anymore, we cry out. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit and cannot contain Him anymore, we speak in Tongue. That’s the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We can’t control our tongues when the Dove rains down on us and fills us. I think Derek Prince mentioned that praying in tongue in a sense needs humility, as it sounds weird. And he said the people in Pentecostal church in the UK couldn’t believe he spoke in tongue, as they knew he used to be a philosopher and professor in Cambridge university and thought the intelligent people like him wouldn’t speak in tongue. After my baptism by the Holy Spirit in the prayer seminar and total change with joy in my life, I got to be curious as to how other people were baptized by the Holy Spirit too. I found out He doesn’t have any formula, and He uses different ways, just as He gives each one of His children different tongues. A friend of mine in Singapore slept at night and had a dream. She was simply happy and joyful in her dream. Interestingly, she received the tongue when she was sleeping. I heard the story of a man who felt the thick presence of the Holy Spirit while driving his car that he couldn’t drive any further. He stopped driving and came out of his car and knelt down next to his car. And the Holy Spirit came upon him. Derek Prince also shared his story. In the military during the World War II, he received the Holy Spirit in his room that he shared with his roommate soldier. First, he sobbed and then he burst out in laughter in the middle of the night and his roommate thought even if he threw water onto Derek Prince, it wouldn’t stop him. In my sister’s church in San Diego, the wife of an evangelist shared her story over our lunch and coffee. She said she seldom asks people to do something for her or give her something. When she was young, it was hard for her to ask even her parents for something. Then, one day in her church revival meeting, she wanted the Holy Spirit’s baptism. Many participants received it in that meeting. But, she didn’t. After coming back home, she closed the door of her room and said to the Lord, “Lord, T... T... Tongue! I want to receive Tongue.” Then, the Holy Spirit came down. (Indeed, we must ask Him!) In 2017 when I took the Aquaponics seminar in Hawaii, I had quite an awesome experience in YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Kona. In a Thursday evening gathering, before the students in Discipleship school went to three month of outreach trip, the audience was told to pray for them. Some students might have been worried about the trip or might have lost confidence. So, we were asked to gather around those who would leave Kona soon for the outreach trip and pray for them. People gathered around the young people to go, making circles around them. In front of me, I saw a middle-aged lady standing next to a young female student to pray for her. They were only two, while other circle of groups had many. So, I thought I would pray for the young lady, as she only had one to pray for her. Then, I was standing behind her and carefully laid my hand on her. I recalled Derek Prince warned in one of his books that we must be careful in laying our hands on others, if we don’t know the spirits inside them. (“Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure.” 1 Timothy 5:22) Though I didn’t know her in person nor knew the spirits inside her, somehow I carefully laid my hand on her. When I prayed in tongue together with the middle-aged woman for the young girl, she started to sob. And it seemed she couldn’t stand on the ground anymore, as the Presence of the Holy Spirit was overwhelming. She knelt down, weeping, and finally, she started to speak in an unknown language. It really reminded me of my receiving the Holy Spirit after weeping out uncontrollably loud for so long. The young girl seemed to want to lie so we helped her lie on her back on the ground. Then she laughed for a while and seemed to be at peace. I was in awe watching all of these. The next day, in a building inside the YWAM campus, I overheard a young girl speaking on her phone to her friend. Somehow, I felt it was her who received the Holy Spirit the other day. She said, “I received Jesus in our meeting. It was an awesome experience. I can’t describe it, but He came to me and I couldn’t contain myself. I was filled with Him!” Her tone told how excited she still was. I do not know why He put me in that circumstance and made me witness the awesome moment of the Holy Spirit raining down on her. Maybe for writing at such a time as this or for ministering to the youth at home or in small community gathering in the future? I do not know, but I believe He has His providential purpose. Dear Friend, I would like to share more on the Holy Spirit, Dove, in my future blog. In the meantime, if you have not received the Holy Spirit, I wish my blog makes you start to long for it or even more, yearn for it. Ever since I received it, I prayed for my loved ones who have not received it yet. As I experienced it’s such a precious gift from the Lord, I want many to enjoy it and be transformed. I believe this is our Heavenly Father’s heart to give the best thing to His children. Like I found out, there is no formula from Him in receiving the Holy Spirit. All you need is to A.S.K. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) Please keep on asking the Heavenly gift from the good Father. I stand with you in prayers! Have a bliss! Yunee “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:15~18) Dear Friend, How are you? I’m well. On November 25th, 2020, I had a dream where I seemed to be in my old hometown. There I bumped into a classmate who went to the same elementary school and high school, to my recollection. I was not close to her at those times and I had an impression that she was bragging and shallow. In the dream, she was proud and said she came back from a trip to a certain place, naming the place. The place was new to me and I didn’t even clearly pick up the name. So, I said to her, “Excuse me? Where?” Then she repeated the name of the place and I said to her, “I’ve never been there before, nor heard of it.” Then, she laughed out loud and kind of ridiculed me, saying “How come you’ve never heard of the popular place, nor been there?” I became very upset about her attitude. And I said to myself, “Does she even know I’ve been looking after my mom and my hands are all tied? She has no clue!” Being so upset, I took my motorcycle, which I don’t own nor drive in reality. While I drove my motorcycle, I crossed the yellow line in the middle and drove further and further down the wrong side of the road. I saw many cars drive toward me as I drove the wrong way. Yet I was not scared at all, but actually enjoyed driving backward in the middle of the cars that were running against me. While driving my motorcycle, I knew there was an unidentified person or Person behind my back all the way. Many cars kept on running toward me and the road was crowded with cars. I felt I should stop driving the wrong way, worrying about the safety such that I flew up to the sky, still riding on my motorcycle. I kept driving in the air, seeing high rise buildings. I felt I was already driving at way too high a speed, but I was not able to slow down. Then, I saw a very high rise building in front of me, but it was too late to slow down or brake before crash. At that very moment, I was reminded of Sister Margaret Seaward’s testimony. When Pastor Fred Seaward, her late husband and she were on the highway, and there was a moment of big crash, she didn’t even have time to pray, but cried out to the Lord, saying “Jesus!!!” Then, Pastor Fred saw two big hands grip their car and move it to the side of the express way. Being reminded of her testimony, I desperately cried out loud, “Jesus!!! Jesus!!!” closing my eyes. In a few seconds, I found myself still alive, without any crash and not riding on the motorcycle anymore. I opened my eyes and I found myself fall prostrate before the feet of Jesus. I saw His sandals and the floor was like transparent glass carpet. I knew I was still on the flight in the air, as I saw clouds through the glass carpet. When I looked up, I saw Jesus driving calmly, looking at front! He saved me when I cried out to Him, calling His name. And He was there with me. He was the one behind my back even on the motorcycle all the way. He is Immanuel and always with us! Then I woke up from the dream with the awe and the joy that He saved me, and He revealed Himself in my dream; it simply overwhelmed me. I lingered on my bed, thinking of Jesus that I saw. He wore a white robe with scarlet or crimson shawl. Then, I was able to recall the verse from Isaiah 1:18, which I read and tried to meditate and memorize the other night: Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool” A while later, when I played the worship instrumental music online on my mobile phone, I read the verse: For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds. (Jeremiah 30:17) I pondered this verse together with the dream on Jesus. In that dream, I was so upset about my classmate’s condescending attitude, while she didn’t know my circumstance. It had been my feeling toward people for the past few days. I was upset and I was even angry toward someone who I thought simply took advantage of me and even judged me. The thought about that person kept bothering me. The night before I had this dream, I sat on the floor and prayed to the Lord. I repented of my thought toward that person and I said to Him that I was still angry with that person though. Then, I felt Him saying, “I never condemn you. I know what you have been through and how you feel. You just recline on Me. You know My Words your pastor gave you the other day? That’s the Words I gave you. Memorize them.” I burst out into cry because of His love. He never condemned me, but the enemy. And He is a loving Father. I memorized the verse I received from my pastor in Singapore, personalizing it: When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, I was like those who dream. Then my mouth was filled with laughter, And my tongue with singing. (Psalms 126:1~2) Dear Friend, Chewing on my dream, I felt the Lord want us to know that He not only saves us from the crisis and sins we have, but He also heals us from our pains. Not only when we encounter physical crisis, but when we carry emotional baggage, He wants us to cry out to Him, “Jesus!!! Jesus!!! Help!!!” He is our Savior, Healer, Redeemer and Restorer. More importantly, He is always with us. He is Immanuel. Friend, I do not know what circumstances you are in right now, but I know He wants you always to lean on Him, Immanuel, who came for us. Thanks be to Father God who sent us Immanuel! I wish you a Merry Christmas! Have a bliss! Yunee So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Dear Friend, How are you? Hope you had or are having a good day, today? Is your tongue well? I mean it by whether your tongue is controlled by the Holy Spirit. Do you agree with what James wrote in the Bible? “Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.” (James 3:4~6) I do agree and I think it’s not difficult to experience and see it in our lives. In my previous blog, The Word of God, I shared a dream that led me to realizing the Word of God, Jesus is the center. The night before I had a dream, I was reading what Pastor Joe Sweet in Lancaster, California wrote in Shekinah Worship Center website. I still remember his writing spoke too much, penetrating my heart and I couldn’t help repenting before going to bed. Then, the Lord gave me that dream after. In Pastor Joe’s writing, An Essential Key to Living in His Presence, he wrote about holiness, sanctifying our tongue and so on. And he listed out ways we sin with our tongue: “Repeating things, Criticism, Passing judgment, Opinion, Debate, Gossip, Slander, Complaining” and explained each element. My heart was poked as I still criticize, pass judgement and so on. And I felt the issue on tongue is not limited to verbally saying something, but it includes texting on our phones and emailing one another. I believe and experience both our verbal and written words could harm one another. If I should cut my tongue not to go to hell, I think I should cut my thumbs I text with too. In the earlier times of the pandemic, I spent quite a lot of time on exchanging texts with my friends. But I thought that our texts did not build up one another as they were many times complaining about our government and others. And sometimes, I wanted to prove I’m right on the faith matter. Later, I chose not to spend much time on texting to chat, but rather spend more time on reading His Words and listening to sermons and others. Yet friendship is not built-up by frequency or amount of time we chat, but by quality time and life-giving talk to one another. In a Derek Prince’ book, The Coming Revival, he explained holiness as reaction, not as action. I was stunned by his definition on holy living or godliness. My definition of godliness is having a temperament controlled by the Holy Spirit. A godly person’s reactions proceed from the Spirit. What really tells the world around us what we are like is not our actions—it is our reactions. Our actions can be premeditated. But our reactions reveal what kind of person we really are because they are spontaneous. Godliness reacts in the way the Holy Spirit would react. When a godly person walks into a room, the presence of God walks in with them. Prince Derek, The Coming Revival (p. 209). Whitaker House. Kindle Edition. Isn’t this so true? It is very enlightening, and I believe much of our reaction includes our tongue. Are our tongues controlled by the Holy Spirit? In a Neville Johnson’s book, Secrets of the Kingdom, he wrote, “God is love, and as we become love, we start to be conformed to His likeness, for that’s what God is – love. It is not the circumstances of life that change us, but how we react to them.” He also wrote about our reaction. Dear Friend, Do you like to prove yourself to be right and end up with debate, sometimes feeling you won? Do you criticize your leaders in your workplace, government or church? Or you just walk away or nod your head, smiling but not talking back when you don’t agree with someone? No matter what circumstances we are in, I pray that we react by the love of Jesus and we give life-giving speech in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, I pray that we repent of any sins that we committed through our verbal and written words, in Jesus’ name. Father, please sanctify our hearts and tongues and make us represent Jesus in any circumstance. Have a bliss! Yunee A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; |
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