October 6, 2011

立下心志，这一次40天禁食要跟以往不一样。。。
我要每天有聆听的耳，敏锐的灵，要从上帝那里得着启示，听到他跟我说话，并把它记录下来。。。

愿40天过后，这也成为我的日常习惯，到老到死。。。
其实在大学期间，有一段日子我有培养这个习惯，但不知曾几何时已消失的无影无踪！
求主怜悯！也求主复苏我的灵～

这一次从10月3日开始，一直到11月11日为期40天的禁食，只喝饮料，不吃任何固体食物，一直到最后10天，只喝白开水，求主保守及引领。。。

以下是第一天的领受。。。

I am determined to make the 40-day fast this time different from the previous ones…
I want to have listening ears, sensitive spirity, to receive revelations from God and hear Him talking to me, and to record all that down…

May after these 40 days, this will also become my daily habit, till old, till death…
In fact I did cultivate this habit for a certain period during my university years, but I cannot remember since when has that disappeared totally!
May God have mercy! And may God restore my soul~

This time, starting October 3rd till November 11th, for a total of 40 days, I will only take drinks, no solid food whatsoever, until the final 10 days just taking plain water, may God uphold and guide me…

The following is what I received on the 1st day…

第一天：10月3日(一)
如往常我星期一待在家里。。。
意想不到的写了一首歌，跟我一向来写的歌比较不同形式。通常写的都较“重情感”，倾心吐意那一类歌曲，可是今天写的却是“属灵”或圣经字眼比较显着的，如“和撒那！和撒那！”。。。如同当初犹太人欢呼，欢迎耶稣进入耶路撒冷城的情景。。。

反复思想，我想这是一个预言或启示吧，就是上帝要我们这40天的禁食，最主要的渴望就是欢迎他进入我们的生命、教会、城市、国家。。。歌好听不好听是其次，重点是要有渴望及兴奋耶稣同在临到的那颗心。。。

Day 1 : October 3rd (Mon)
As usual I stayed home on Monday…
Unexpectedly I wrote a song, and it is rather different from my typical style of songs. Normally my songs are more “emotional”, pouring your heart out type, but today the one I wrote has obviously more “spiritual” or Biblical words, for instance “Hosanna! Hosanna!”… just as the scene when the Jews rejoiced and welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem…

As I pondered more, I think this must be a prophecy or revelation, that is God wants us for these 40-day fast to desire above all the welcoming of Him into our lives, church, city, country… Whether the song sounds nice or not is secondary, the important thing is to have that heart that hungers for and feels excited about the presence of Jesus coming to us…

 

Translation of the song:

We welcome Your presence

Hosanna in the highest, hosanna
Hosanna, O gates, lift up your heads
Glory, glory
King of kings, Jesus, You are my King

See He who comes on a donkey
The gentle King, Humble King
I will open up my heart to You
Prince of Peace, I welcome You in

May my worship be like the clashing waves
Lord of the universe, I welcome You…

 

 

写完了才发现这欢迎主到来的歌，真的配合到我们禁食的原因！
感谢主第一天就给予这样的鼓励～
願神恩膏我在這40天內寫更多榮耀他的詩歌。。。

It was only after writing, I realized it is a song welcoming the Lord’s presence, that really flows with the reason we fast!
Thank God for such an encouragement on the first day~
May God anoint me to write more songs to glorify Him during this 40-day period.

 

May 29, 2011

 

她瞪大眼睛看著我，凶神惡煞的說：“你們沒本事把我趕出去！”。。。以為這樣我們就會害怕或停止！
企圖使你害怕和威脅是魔鬼慣用的其中一種武器，若沒足夠的真理或沒親身經歷過還真會被牠欺騙而停止驅趕。。。

已經有一段時間沒遇到或親自趕鬼了，早期就因為很多這種個案而趕鬼趕到喉嚨也沙啞了。昨晚禱告會時才有個念頭閃過說最近喉嚨狀況彷彿好多了，禱告會一結束就有人發作了！
其實一星期前有輔導過，當時只是在帶她禱告時有點小發作，昨晚是來真的了。這對我們說是一大鼓勵，因為只有在聖靈恩膏很強時，一些大鬼才會發作；在場的新人也大開眼界，看到屬靈爭戰的真實，也看到耶穌的名的能力。。。

我對那鬼說：“本來就不是我們的本事，是主耶穌的大能！”
說畢我們一群弟兄姊妹同心讚美、禱告，奉主耶穌的名一起把鬼趕出去。
剛從臺灣回來的例外人，祖和田聖也加入趕鬼行列，哈哈！

感謝主，爭戰了一段時間，魔鬼屈服了，主耶穌始終是得勝的！
回家睡覺前向主禱告，求上帝看顧這姐妹，因為那鬼夜夜來騷擾她。。。
感謝主，今早主日散會時她告訴我說昨晚鬼沒出現了！
求主繼續看顧保守，讓這初生的屬靈嬰孩每天都平安，阿們！

She stared at me with piercing big eyes and said wickedly,”You all are not able to cast me out!”… thinking that we would be afraid and stop because of that!
Attempting to make you afraid and threatening you are some of the weapons the devil regularly uses, if not for God’s Word and truth or personal encounters before, one would have been deceived and stopped casting it out…

It has been a while I have not encountered or cast out demons myself, in the early days my throat had become coarse due to many of this kind of cases. Incidentally a thought just flashed across my mind last night during the prayer meeting that my throat condition had improved somewhat, and immediately after the prayer meeting, someone manifested!
Actually I had counselled her about a week or so ago, at that time there was only a minor manifestation when I was leading her to pray, but last night was the real thing. This to us was a great encouragement because it is only under the strong anointing of the Holy Spirit that bigger demons would manifest. It was an eye-opener for the new believers too to see how real spiritual warfare is and also to witness the power of Jesus’ name…

I said to the demon:”It has never been our ability but the power of Jesus!”
Then with one heart, a group of us brothers and sisters  praised God, prayed and cast the demon out in the name of Jesus.
The Remnant Jaydon and Daniel who have just returned from Taiwan joined in the deliverance team too, haha!

Thank God, after some battle, the demon conceded defeat, Jesus will always be the victor!
At home before going to bed, I prayed that God would protect that sister as the demon has been harassing her every night…
Praise God, this morning after the Sunday service she told me the demon did not appear again last night!
May God continue to take care of and protect this spiritual baby that she may have peace everyday, Amen!

 

 

August 25, 2010

那是在1993年10月16日，我在新加坡东岭圣经学院的第一年。。。
That was in Oct 16th, 1993, my first year at Tung Ling Bible College, Singapore…

先让你们看看我“神学生”的样子，怎样？很阳光吧？哈哈。。。
Show you first my “Bible-school-student-look”, how? Very sunny huh? Haha…

事情的经过是这样的，我一直很想写一首歌让人听了很感动与超喜欢的，我想要有一首“代表作”。。。
所以我那天就很认真来到上帝面前，宣告禁食早餐和午餐。你要了解当时的我，禁一餐都会几乎要死，但为了要写一首很有恩膏的歌，我觉得那是很值得的。。。你赞成吗？

那天没课，我还乖乖留在神学院，没跟同学出去。。。自己一个人躲在一个小课室里，禁食祷告、赞美敬拜好几个小时，真的很摆上、很付出；我觉得自己还蛮伟大、爱主的。。。
我为我的谦卑感到骄傲。。。

The situation was such, I had always wanted to write a song that would really touch people or people would just love it upon listening, that is my own hit or “signature” song…
So I was very serious in coming to the Lord that day, I declared a fast on breakfast and lunch. You must understand, at that time it would almost kill me to fast even one meal, but for the sake of writing a very anointed song, I thought it was really worth it… don’t you agree?

There was no class that day, I stayed back in school like a good boy, not going out with friends… I hid myself in a small classroom, fasting and praying, praising and worshipping for hours, very sacrificial and committed; I felt I was quite great and really loved the Lord…
I felt proud of my humility…

好，给你看我那谦卑的“浩恋”(骄傲)脸。。。这也是在神学院拍的。。。
Ok, show you my humble proud face… this was also taken in the Bible school…

正当我觉得我的赞美敬拜和祷告都已经很够时，我跟上帝说：看吧，我已经很付出和认真的来亲近你了，所以来吧，给我一首很有恩膏的歌吧。。。
我就很努力的尝试去写，可怎么写来写去都没灵感。。。我有点不耐烦了，再说：怎么搞的，我都牺牲了那么多来亲近你，你连一首歌都不给我吗？

这时只听到上帝轻轻的在我心中说一句话，很温柔但如刀一样刺入我的心，他说：林义忠，你为什么亲近我？
只那么一句，我就懂他的意思了。。。我知道他很难过，因我亲近他只是为了自己得着好处，并不是自己想要亲近他，我顿时觉得好惭愧。。。

When I thought my praise and worship and prayers were very sufficient, I told God: Look, I am very serious and have sacrificed much to draw near to You, so come, give me a very anointed song…
Then I tried very hard to write, but no matter how I did not have any inspiration… so I was getting impatient and said again: What’s wrong? I have already sacrificed so much to draw near to You, can’t You even give me a song?

At that point, I just heard the Lord softly speak to my heart, very gentle but piercing into my heart like a knife, He said: GT, why do you draw near to me?
Just that one sentence, and I knew what He meant… I knew He felt sad because I came near to Him just for my own benefit, and not really because I myself longed to be near Him. I immediately felt very ashamed of myself…

过后，我不敢再求什么，我只是悔改，然后用一首歌把我的悔改表达出来，以下这首“亲近你的时候”，就是在那一刻写的。。。
After that, I dared to ask no more, I just repented and used a song to express my repentance, and the song “When I draw near to You” below, was written at that moment…

亲近你的时候 / When I draw near to You

当我亲近你的时候，抱着什么样的心情
哦主啊，唯有你看得清
当我亲近你的时候，我心里有什么动机
主啊，求你鉴察我的心

让我亲近你只单单因为我爱你
只因为喜欢和你在一起
让我亲近你只单单因为我爱你
只因为喜欢和你在一起

When I draw near to You, what is actually my feeling
O Lord, only You can see clearly
When I draw near to You, what is the motive inside
O Lord, do search and examine my heart

Let me draw near to You just because I love You
Just because I long to be with You
Let me draw near to You just because I love You
Just because I long to be with You