blind eyes open
-1 Corinthians 6:19~20-

Well, after this long and energy-draining, brain cell-killing day, Peter and I went to IHOP-SD as in IHOPancake in San Diego to re-boost our half-dead souls with some real stuff -- aka we were really tired to cook.

As I was passing by the front to use the restroom, there sat a homeless man, later known as Eric, sitting inside by the door, rubbing his right knee with his hands. I approached and found out that Eric was hit by a car and injured his right knee. I offered a prayer. After the first prayer, he told me from a scale of 1 (pain) to 10 (healed), he went from FIVE to around EIGHT! I told him that Jesus is here right now, and let's ask Him for a complete healing. So I thanked Jesus for what He's already done and asked Him to take all the pain away and heal Eric's right knee. I asked Eric whether he feels warmth in his knee, he said, "No... I don't feel any heat, but I don't feel any pain now!" I shook his hand and told him how much Jesus loves him and has a better plan for his life than his own plan. I went to the restroom rejoicing over what the Lord had done even though I knew there are many unseen wounds and untold stories within Eric that need to be dealt with. I pray that Eric would know God's heart for him and be known by God and God alone. He is not homeless; he has a home in Heaven. He is not abandoned; he has a Father in Heaven.

Yay Jesus!

Johnny

ps. I believe this song speaks out my heart for Holy Spirit to have His way in me. We will sing this on Sunday for sure.

For You make me glad by Your deeds, O LORD;

I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.

How great are Your works, O LORD,

how profound Your thoughts!

-Psalm 92:4~5-

Jeff, my roommate from last year, called round midnight wanted to pray, so he came to Peter and my pad to hang out. He was in need of prayer support and God's intervention. Jeff was my roommate last yearAnyhow, as we started praying for Jeff, he felt heat all over his body and started sweating. He was amazed, then I told Him that Holy Spirit shows up through heat and fire quite often, so I told him to hold his hands out receiving as we asked more of His presence to fall upon him. Then he started saying, "look at my left hand, why is it moving? I'm not moving it though.... ahaha.." So Jesus showed up as we gathered in His Name, and started to speak to Jeff revelations. After about five minutes of this thickening of the presence of God, he said, "I feel so much better now."

"Believe it man, Jesus is here in this room."

"Yeah."

Then he started to share with us a dream he had two weekends ago:

It's in the future. He is driving a flying car, and his best friend is driving another. Somehow they have to drive upside down because that is how the traffic works. They start to go up a mountain and reached the peak.

As they are going down the mountain, he crashed into a house accidentally. However, the house is not damaged, but some furniture gets blown out of the house undamaged, floating away as if an object flying in space, without gravity. His best friend disappeared after the accident.

Scene changes. He is now behind bars, arrested for crashing into a house. The jail guard happens to be the exact same person in his dreams back in March 2008:

In that dream, this guard was a policeman with the last name "Lucipher" (aka Lucifer) and first name "Judas" (aka Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus) who gave him a speeding ticket while he was driving under speed limit; moreover, he hissed at him with his snake tongues. Jeff also got put behind bars in that dream, with Lucipher saying, "you cannot run."

Now, back to this dream. He gets transferred from regular cells to death row cells and back to regular cells for multiple times. But in the end, he is released from the jail without any punishment. When he walks out of the jail, in front of him is this beautiful and peaceful oceanic scenery.

And there stands his own father, smiling at him, and he said to Jeff, "It's okay. It was only an accident." He couldn't stop smiling at Jeff. Then his father embraces him and shows the kind of love and care that he knows cannot be pretended.

Here ends the dream.

I had anger in my eyes as soon as I heard about the jail guard. Then tears filled my eyes when I heard about his father. I knew exactly what the dream means, and after explaining the entire dream back to him, he was in awe, and I couldn't stop praising God and thanking Him for what He has done. His ways are so much higher than ours.

Here's what I got from it:

Driving upside down: We live in an upside-down Kingdom.

Going up mountain means that life is getting better, loving Jesus more and more, and finally reaching the high point (peak). Accidents and sins came in as he goes down the mountain, then the devil came as the accuser and puts him behind the bars for what he has done wrong, even though it was an accident. The devil tried to put him on death-row but in the end there is no way he could do that, so Jeff left the jail. The beautiful scenery is the place God has prepared for him to be, and of course, the father in the dream is the Heavenly Father, embracing him with love and welcoming him home.

Jeff was especially confused about the father part of the dream because in reality, his father is very stoic and barely smiles, and he always scorns if Jeff did something wrong. I explained to Jeff that there is a Heavenly Father who is always there for him and never forsakes, always loving and good, full of mercy, grace, and kindness; moreover, He sent His Son Jesus to die on the Cross for him, along with all his sins in order to be reconnected with His beloved children.

Then I said to Jeff, "You have to make a decision right now."

"Yeah. You mean to get baptized?" (I believe that's totally from the Lord)

"Yes. Not only to proclaim that Jesus is Your Lord but also to make a commitment in your relationship with God."

So once again I led him into the sinner's prayer and once again be reconnected with this Savior, this Father, this God who is always faithful and always true. Heaven rejoices over Jeff as he returned to his Father's embrace; a party's going on up there fo sho.

Thank you blog readers for your patience. If you have read all of the above, please pray for my bro Jeff for just a second, as in front of him stands mountains of challenges -- that the Lord would strengthen him and fight for His beloved son against the kingdom of darkness!

Rejoice! For I have found my lost coin.

- Jesus

I love You, Jesus.

Johnny

Most importantly, I thank the Lord for being with me for the entire day today. I had class from 8am to 5pm almost non-stop, and I was having headaches periodically. Now my headache is gone yet I started coughing. I know God's with me and no one can be against me, not even my physical body!

Lord, I also lift up Your son to You! You are throwing a big ol' party just for his return! I pray that he would get baptized soon and walk confidently with You and love You!

Something dawned on me as I was listening to a song by Leeland from their latest album "Love Is On The Move": If we are Jesus' hands and feet, then we are already nailed to the cross. Remember, the nails went through His hands and His feet. As we declare our identity, we ought to look at ourselves and see the bruise which should constantly remind us of the Cross. We should do the works and walk the walk of Christ if we are called His hands and His feet; most importantly, bring ourselves before the Cross regularly.

I hope this dawning blesses you as much as it has blessed me.

Johnny

A Brief History:

Ever since I could remember, I love to listen to music. I learned my first English song "Country Road, Take Me Home" when I was four, and I fell in love with "Billie Jean", "Black or White", and "Bad" at the age of 6. Memorizing lyrics has always been my habit of listening to music.

Enough about childhood memories. After playing classical music on the piano for more than ten years, I encountered worship music after I accepted Jesus at the age of 15. Suddenly my heart was drawn to worship so much that I decided to drop classical music at once and turn my focus on playing piano to worship this God who is worthy of my everything.

I moved back to SoCal and started to be more involved in worship at my church, Impact Harvest Church. It has been a good two years, and I have learned so much about corporate worship and what worship means, what worship carries, and most importantly, what the role is of a worship leader. Let me quote Bob Kauflin, author of "Worship Matters", a book from which I have been gaining knowledge regarding to worship lately.

It all comes down to the matter of the heart. Despite the dreadful rehearsals and unorganized arrangements and tiring spirits, I have to examine my heart before I set foot on that stage: Is there a war going on inside of me? Do I love other idols in place of Jesus? Do I care more about the arrangements and the tightness of the band more than the presence of God? Do I have pride and think that I am superior than others?

Bob also writes, "[You] could lead others in worshiping God and be worshiping something else in [your] own heart."

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.