Coolcat's Jottings

The second parter of the prophetic conference was awesome. Every prophetic-gifting-activation exercise was highly charged and we barely had time to even feel fearful or think too much about it. Everyone had to prophesy for their partners and adhoc group members that all we could do was just depend on the Holy Spirit to do all the talking. The amazement comes from the consistency of the prophetic word given by various folks who did not know us.

Ron Sawka cautioned us not to marry, buy or sell (make major decisions) based on all these prophecies. "It's just common sense," he said. Basically, the purpose of this spiritual gift is to edify, exhort (encourage) and comfort the recipient. Prophecies on marriages or babies are not allowed.

But when it comes to praying for prophetic healing, my group did not get a single ailment correct. If anyone senses a particular ailment in the group and someone in the group actually has it, then healing might be on hand. Alas, no one had joint pains, ankle pains, hand ache nor back pains. I was actually waiting for someone to say 'Tooth ache' or 'Tongue ulcers' both of which I am currently suffering from but no one did. I guess I'll have to go for the root canal after all.

Eating has been such an ordeal for me the past two days. It's really sad when a Malaysian Chinese can't enjoy her food This also comes at a bad time for I've wedding dinner to attend tomorrow. All those nice dishes of an 8-course dinner and a healthy appetite. But no hearty set of chompers to process them. Woe is me!

Tonight's prophetic conference was not what I had expected. Actually, I had no real expectations - but what transpired was quite mind-blowing.

For one, I initially thought Ron Sawka was too jolly for a teacher on the solemn subject of the gift of Prophecy. "Wah, I thought prophets were supposed to be sober and intense. But here he was encouraging us to sing from the Psalms and all."

For another, I was freaked out when he encouraged us to ask 4 to 5 questions to our partner who was prophecying for us. "You mean, my partner can actually clarify with me on what I sense God is speaking to her? Aiks, what a tremendous pressure to perform!"

In short, the gift of prophecy is a word from God given to His children for the benefit of the body of Christ - in order to build them up and encourage them. We are encouraged to desire for this gift:

"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy....everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort." 1 Cor 14:1-3

As the conference progresses, I began to appreciate what Ron was doing and bringing about in our midst. We, Asians are mostly inhibited creatures and tend to be self-conscious and filled with self-doubt when it comes to receiving and exhibiting the spiritual gifts God wants to give us. By encouraging us to sing Psalms loudly to one another and prophesying for one another, all inhibitions dropped and the gift was activated in us.

The word given by different prayer partners to me were spot on and I was also encouraged when the word given by the Lord through me was appropriate for them, too. And we were thrilled to discover that when being asked to clarify what we were prophesying for, the Holy Spirit just drops the right words to us. But me and my partner were quite freaked out and stopped prophesying after answering one question each. Heh, yeah - can do better next time when our faith level increases.

Anyway, it's really amazing to see what God can do through ordinary people like us when we just believe His word and avail ourselves to be channels of His blessings.

I'm looking forward to Part 2 of this conference tomorrow!

Note: For a more info on what this gift of prophecy is all about, click here.

I haven't been to the dentist for the past three years. I figured that as long as nothing breaks or hurts, it's cool. Why fix it if it ain't broken, right?

Well, something did break last month. One of my tooth fillings came out and left a gaping hole in my tooth. There wasn't any pain then so I deferred going to the dentist until about a week later. The verdict? I could choose between pulling the tooth out or going for a root canal. The dentist gave me some time to think about it. Looking at the two options, a root canal would be the best one. Anyone has been through it before? I would much appreciate some info about it - at least I would know the whole deal rather than listening to just one dentist.

Well, I must say that I was suitably impressed with Dr. M's clinic. I found it through the Yellow Pages and the first thing that went through my mind when I was seated on the patient's chair was, why was there a computer in the room? And what's a tv set doing up there in front of me? Something to keep the patients entertained while their teeth are being filled or scaled? Heh.

Dr. M himself was a surprise to me. He was very young, gentle and had braces. A dude who practices what he preaches. He was very courteous, patient and explained everything I wanted to know about my options. Little did I know that it was part and package of the consultancy charges.

My company is on a hiring spree and many resumes have been flooding in - all to be sorted and channelled to the appropriate persons by yours truly and Mike.

The only weird highlight in this hectic day was receiving a resume that was directed to my department.

It wasn't not just any resume. It was a resume of a guy who used to be quite a pest in the past. A guy who chased after me (and any other sweet young things) for dates. But also a guy who used to look down on me and would turn a deaf ear to what I have to say just because I was younger than him.

Would I ask him to come for an interview for a position that will report directly to me?

Go figure

I've just got to know that PMachine Pro is now free for download! And it used to cost about USD50. It's got loads of nifty features and spam control. I wasted no time and upgraded immediately

If you want to leave a comment (or a meow!), you will notice that you would now need to add a random word before submitting it. This will hopefully prevent all those nasty comment spammers from advertising their nefarious activities like casino, poker and porn.

Things like this just makes me believe that yes, there is such a thing as a free lunch!