Come into me, and I will work in you

Come into me, and I will work in you

FGB Jaya One/Goh Tze Meng/22/6/12

God has been faithful. In my short career, God has made me fruitful for Him despite my age. I spent my last 8 years in Canada, working for the Canadian government. Later, UCSI Canada contacted me and asked me to set up UCSI Blue Strategy in 2008, and since then, business has been good. Two years back, God called me to come back to Malaysia. I took a major pay cut to come back, but felt I needed to spend more time with my aging parents. UCSI has many different businesses, and in Malaysia, I am also heavily involved in the construction arm.

Today, I want to share about my turning point, about how during a troubled time, God became my helper. In my younger years, my faith was not strong and I did have some doubt about whether God existed although I went to Sunday school and learned a lot about the Bible. I had the head knowledge but did not apply the principles. In my first year of University, I met had my first girlfriend and thought that she was the one for me and that we would get married one day. Studies brought me to Canada while she went to Australia, and I soon found out that she had been cheating on me with a guy from church. And to think that I was the one who encouraged her to go to church. Not long after, we broke up on my birthday. It was a double whammy and I thought that life had ended because of a girl. I considered ending my life, and proceeded to climb out of my apartment window and sit on the ledge.  Then I remembered that someone had told me that if anyone who committed suicide would go to hell where there would be painful suffering. So I decided not to do it and went back in.

It was 10pm when I turned off the lights and went down on my knees. I told God “If this is your will, I will accept it, but I am thoroughly hurt and I need your help.” I prayed from 10pm till 5am. On my knees, I kept asking God over and over “Give me peace and give me rest, give me peace and give me rest”. About 4am, my knees hurt and I got on my bed but I still kept praying. And then at 5.30am, something spectacular happened. In Canada, it was still completely dark during winter time but I suddenly saw thick clouds unfolding on the ceiling of my room, and very bright sunlight streaming out, lighting up my whole room. I thought my depression had caused me to go mad, making me see things. I slapped and pinched myself to check if I was awake. I questioned “Is that you, Lord, or is it Satan or am I going mad?” Suddenly, I heard a thundering voice say “Come in Me and I will work in you.” Now in addition to seeing things, I was also hearing things and I was worried. However, I asked the same question again and the same voice spoke the same words. Straight after that, everything disappeared and the room returned to complete darkness. I lay on my bed but felt as though I was physically lifted up and that all my troubles and sorrows were stripped away. I had never felt so much peace. When God answers prayer, He answers with honor and glory. I then felt myself being placed on the bed again.

My engineering exam was only weeks later and in Engineering, you can’t cheat. It is either you know it or you don’t. I studied 8 hours a day but it was like nothing was going in. I was still physically and emotionally drained. It was then that I decided to fast for 40 days. My non-Christian friends from different countries who had always dined with me were puzzled as to what had happened to me. I used the fast as an opportunity to tell them about my faith, to sow a seed in their hearts.

Then the exam time came. Engineering exams are such that you are only given 3 hours to attempt a paper that requires at least 3 ½ hours if you are good and 4 hours for most students. There were 5 questions, and l did not know how to answer any of them. All around me, my fellow students were already writing furiously, knowing how limited time was. I knew I was in deep trouble as I could not continue my studies if I failed. My parents could not support me financially anymore and I already had to work to help pay my university fees. I decided to pray,. “Lord, you promised me you would work in Me if I came to you. I come to you now, Lord. Work in me.

This had taken 15 minutes and now I looked at the questions again. Amazingly, thoughts came into my head and I was able to apply the principles and answer the first question. The same thing happened for the other questions, and I completed the paper. Still, I did not know what I had written and spent anxious days waiting for the results, praying to God just for a pass. Amazingly, that paper’s score turned out to be the best I had ever gotten in my entire university life.

Another testimony I have is during my working life. I was reading a book that said it our faith level is 10, we can perform miracles. If you doubt even a little, miracles cannot be performed. That day, it was raining at the construction site, and with rain, no work could be done, and we also could not get our pay. So I decided to pray to God for the rain to stop. I walked out into the rain, amidst strange stares from my colleagues and lifted up my hands. In faith, I prayed to God to let the rain stop around the construction site. After about 5 seconds, the rain really stopped. At that time, I felt my faith wavering, and I prayed “Lord, help me not doubt”. Then I asked for a further confirmation, asking God to let a ray of sun come down towards me through the clouds, and in less than 5 seconds, it really did! It was a strong confirmation to me again that God is indeed real and active in our lives!

From these 2 experiences, there are a number of principles we can learn. Firstly, Psalms 51:17 says that the Lord accepts those who have a broken, contrite heart. “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” Secondly, we are to test the spirits, to see if they are from God. 1 John 4:1-6 says that the spirits must acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and the experience must have biblical foundations. I later realized that the vision of the cloud was consistent with the Israelites’ experience when God’s presence went with them in a cloud during their travels. The command to “come into Me, and I will work in you” is consistent with John 15, where Jesus told His disciples “I am the vine, you are the branches. Remain in me and I will remain in you”. 1 Corinthians 10:13 is also an important application which tells us that the Lord will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear.  Also, we must have faith when we ask. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus says “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” We must believe what we say will happen, like my experience with the rain and the sunshine. In Matthew 7, Jesus tells us to seek so that we will find, ask so that we will receive and knock so that the door will be opened for us. We also must never forget God’s faithfulness even in our times of trials. We must not be like the Israelites who grumbled and complained, forgetting all that God had done for them.