Visions and recurring motifs: the call of God, and making an impact

As we seek for God to be at work in the world, we can reflect on what it means to be invited into God’s work. God is also calling us to be sent ones, to make an impact that tells of his Kingdom, salvation and character. Just as Isaiah replied “Here am I. Send me” (Isaiah 6:8), we must also decide on what our answer will be, and what impact we might make in partnership with God and others.

To what, where or who is God calling and inviting me to partner with him?

What part do I hope to play in God’s transformation of people (and the world!)?

Do I feel particularly called to a particular ministry, community or workplace? How do you hope God will use me in this area?

How do I feel about the ministry God is calling me to? Excited? Daunted? Prepared?

What kind of legacy of faith do I hope to leave? If someone was to describe the impact that I have made for God’s kingdom what do I hope they would say?

“Many people have never taken the time to step back and intentionally look back at our entire life, seeking to identify an overarching theme or identify lessons that God had continually been trying to teach us.”[1]

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[1] Seidel, "Life Story and Spiritual Formation."

I believe that God often calls people through visions and recurring motifs. For me, this included motifs of the ship, the wind, the orphan, the heart, the fruits, the eagle and the bride.

When I was a new Christian, I was especially inspired by the verse on the fruits of the Spirit. In the months before Chris became one of my housemates, the motif of “the fruits” predominated.

https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2019/09/high-times-hard-times-hand-of-god.html

During my first few years in the work force, the motif of “the orphan” vs “the heart of flesh” predominated, as I began to shift from being task and goal-orientated to being more relationship-orientated.

https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-orphan-heart-rev-james-liaw.html

“Eagles and flying” is another motif that comes up from time to time. Various people I know have likened me to an eagle: not restricted by groundly borders as I have flown across so many places, and highly independent. Personally, I feel especially inspired by scriptural verses with eagles in it. Birds are my favourite animals and I enjoy the idea of flying so much that I always go for the roller coasters, drop towers and pendulum rides in amusement parks. 

Whilst studying in the theological college and doing some field education in the church, there has been several years where “the ship” has been a frequently recurring motif. After all, ships are commonly used as a metaphor for the church.

https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2017/10/ships.html

https://youtu.be/IqKT2GT_RZE

Then, ever since preaching my first sermon in the church on Ezekiel 37:1-14, the Valley of Dry Bones, the wind has become the dominant motif.  

https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2018/11/my-first-sermon-ezekiel-371-14-valley.html

https://youtu.be/YtAygiZQvbE

As the bride of Chris, “the bride” has also become another dominant motif lately.

https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2019/10/true-bride-vs-false-bride.html

Looking back on the wedding, it was a particularly windy on the day Chris and I got married. Some of Chris’ colleagues started laughing about Chris and this wind because his job is “tunnel ventilation” engineering: ie. his job is to create wind artificially! Between the wedding and the reception, we went to a few places that has special meanings for us for photoshoots. One of the places we went to was the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the first place I have worked in as a doctor. We decided to take some photos at the new murals. I did not even look to see what was drawn on the wall. Interestingly, a month later, when our photographer Alex sent us the photos he took, the pictures reminded me of the visions from the Valley of Dry Bones! It seems as though God is speaking to us through the murals!

My job involves trying to restore people to health and wellbeing where possible, sometimes even making certain decisions that impacts the life and death of a person.

The question now is how can God use us to make a spiritual impact on others?

Eventually, Chris and I will be doing this together as a team. However, he is not quite “ready” currently, so I can only speak on my own behalf for now. I long for the wind that is the “ruah” or the Spirit. I long for the restoration of life that will last to eternity.

The calling to remain in the medical field is clear. This was the conviction I had when I listened to George Verwer’s message a few years ago: 

https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2014/10/revival-prepare-thy-heart.html

So is the calling for missions.

https://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2016/09/mission-impossible.html

https://youtu.be/VtQbzRmmMfk

If you combine these together, the term “medical missionary” comes up. However, we are waiting on God’s reply as to “who, what, when, where, and how.”  

Meanwhile, we are to remain faithful in the current position God has placed us in as we wait on Him. 

ships

I have been thinking a lot about ships since the first intercessory prayer ship to set sail around the whole Taiwan Island last week during Rosh Hashana. My friend's aunt was on the ship and she photographed a cross appearing on someone’s flag.

My parents told me that the first time I saw the ship, I exclaimed, “a swimming car!”

I moved to the United States when I was eight, and rode on a ship for the first time. Immediately I realised I get seasick. I can never stay inside the cabin because I’d vomit. Therefore, even if someone pays for me to go on a cruise, I will not go.

In 2015 marked the greatest number of times I rode on a boat in one year. I went back to Taiwan in June because my paternal grandmother suddenly passed away in June. There was a typhoon coming to Taipei, so to avoid the typhoon, we went on a trip south to Sun Moon Lake, and that was the first time rode on a yacht in that lake. The Sun Moon Lake is often called “the heart of Taiwan” because it is located in the centre of Taiwan geographically. Furthermore, it plays an important role as water plants and power plants for Taiwan. In the centre of the lake is the Lalu island, where the Aboriginal tribe of Shao practices ancestral worship. This island gradually became smaller and smaller as the water level in the lake rose. There used to be a Taoist temple (“The old man under the moon temple”) on the island, which got moved elsewhere when the island sank too much. There was also a tragic yacht disaster in the Sun Moon Lake in 1990, and one of my friends was a survivor of that disaster.

During the Feast of Tabernacles in 2015, I was on the Jesus Boat in Israel (exactly two years ago today). During the flag raising when the boat was preparing to set sail, a cross suddenly appeared in the Israeli flag!

https://youtu.be/w7J_m23ZTCc

During the Christmas/New Year holidays in 2015, I visited Taiwan again and took my maternal grandmother on a round-island tour group. I did a marching prayer during that trip. Coincidentally the first stop was the Sun Moon Lake, where we rode a yacht around the lake.

On the day before the “Twelfth” (Orangeman’s Day, Orangefest… usually a time of instability in Ireland because of potential clashes between the Catholics and the Protestants) in July 2016, I visited the Museum of Titanic in Belfast. The Titanic was built in Belfast, and I learned of many heroic and sad stories from the museum, which gave me a deeper understanding of shipwrecks. As soon as I returned to Australia, there were nonstop incoming of speakers talking about missions both in the church and in Morling College. The most profound thing I remembered during that time period was watching a shipwreck film produced by Reinhard Bonnke’s ministry, which used a rescue ship called “Corpus Christi” (Latin, meaning "the body of Christ") to describe the church.

https://youtu.be/FBUI5oOdpXQ

In November 2016, I went on an educational exchange with the Mackay Memorial Hospital. I gained a deeper understanding of the missionary George Leslie Mackay from the Mackay Museum and the hospital library. In his diary, I saw that he was constantly seasick and vomiting! It is hard to imagine! I get sick just staying on a boat for minutes, and those missionaries had to stay on ships for weeks! No wonder so many people died on the ships in ancient times!

In Rosh Hashana, 2017, I began to reading a book about church leadership for a Morling assignment. The author also used ship as a metaphor for the church. He said that the mission is the direction of the ship bound, the vision is a picture of the destination port, the core values ​​are the navigators’ souls, and the strategy is how the ship will actually sail to the destination.

Just as a navigator cannot guide a ship from port to port without a compass, strategic leaders cannot guide their ministry ships toward their desired destination without a ministry compass.[1] The church is a "ship without a compass" when it doesn't have a good visionary strategic planning.[2] The vision provides us with a picture of what the mission will look like as it is realised in the life of the community, a picture of the port where our boat is headed. The mission states the direction and the vision supplies a picture of it.[3] The navigators not only sail ships, they also have a soul. Churches, like people, have a soul: a collective soul.[4] Core values explain who you are. They form the foundation on which the mission and vision are built. They function like the GPS. Eg. Acts 2:42-47.[5] The ministry strategy is, “How will the leader-navigator guide or sail the ministry ship to the designated port?”[6]

Interestingly, many of the church vocabularies have “ship” in it: worship, fellowship, leadership… and even sheep sounds like ship. The Chinese character for “ship” is interesting too. It’s composed of three simpler Chinese characters: ark + 8 people. This is reflective of Noah and his family on the ark. Our ancestors were on a ship to escape a flood of mass destruction once upon a time (since we are all descended from Noah)! We are all people of the ship! Paradoxically, “waves” are often used as the metaphor for revival, even though waves pose as one of the greatest threat to ships! And we do see that historically, revivals tend to happen during times of great instability where the church were persecuted!

Been thinking about "fear of the Lord" lately from my Psalms studies.

In Ps34, “fear of the Lord” is the psalm’s most profound insight, where one simultaneous trembles in dread and joy due to the paradoxical awareness of one’s fragility, mortality and sinfulness as opposed to God’s almightiness, immortality and graciousness (V10).Lions is a metaphor for those who do not fear or seek the Lord (V11).

In Ps36, the wicked is not described as a violent threat to the psalmist but pictured as one who lives life by setting up the self as the autonomous standard, living life according to “what seems good to me.” Another word, one who is self-dependent instead of God-dependent.

Revival has to start from the self first. I really need seek God more and to pray for the Holy Spirit to help me better align of the word of God with real life actions.

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[1] Malphurs, Advanced Strategic Planning, 30.

[2] Malphurs, Advanced Strategic Planning, 32.

[3] Malphurs, Advanced Strategic Planning, 128.

[4] Malphurs, Advanced Strategic Planning, 145.

[5] Malphurs, Advanced Strategic Planning, 146.

[6] Malphurs, Advanced Strategic Planning, 195.

Rev James Liaw’s Sermons at 1503 Mission Network 廖雅各牧師在我們教會講過的道

http://www.krtnews.com.tw/church/item/19753

I am deeply saddened by the sudden passing away of Rev James Liaw, a dentist/minister in healing and deliverance from Canberra, Australia. He visited our church a few times and gave some sermons which I personally found very helpful.

聽到廖雅各牧師於澳洲突然辭世的消息很難過。他是澳洲的一名牙醫/牧師，長期致力於在台灣傳講醫治釋放信息。來我們教會講過幾次道，每次都受益許多。

The Orphan Heart (Rev James Liaw) 孤兒心態 (廖雅各牧師) 8Dec 2013

http://www.1503.org.au/download_files/sermons/AUDIO131207001.m4a

(點入連結可聽有中文翻譯的講道)

http://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/the-orphan-heart-rev-james-liaw.html

(My notes 我的筆記)

Performance mindset (Rev James Liaw) 成就導向 (廖雅各牧師) 8Dec 2013

http://www.1503.org.au/download_files/sermons/SS_N_2013_12_08.m4a

(點入連結可聽有中文翻譯的講道)

http://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/performance-mindset.html

(My notes 我的筆記)

Not living in fear (Rev James Liaw) 不要活在恐懼中 (廖雅各牧師) 6July 2014

http://www.1503.org.au/download_files/sermons/SS_N_2014_07_06.m4a

(點入連結可聽有中文翻譯的講道)

http://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/not-living-in-fear-rev-james-liaw-6july.html

(My notes 我的筆記)

The Orphan Heart (Rev James Liaw) 孤兒心態 (廖雅各牧師) 8Dec 2013

http://www.1503.org.au/download_files/sermons/AUDIO131207001.m4a

(點入連結可聽有中文翻譯的講道)

Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. (Exodus 22:22)

Fatherless child in the Jew meaning, just meaning no father, not no parents as the Chinese language implies.

Heart: mind vs heart clear in English but ambiguous in the Chinese language. The heart is sensitive. People who don't know you don't understand why you say certain things/act certain ways.

Without the father's love, we get sad and aimless people. Other people can't see the deeply wounded heart. In people with an orphan heart condition, there is a sharp arrow in their heart, "the arrow of separation", which separates us from love. Even to those closest to us, eg our partner & children, the "arrow" causes problems and separations. Hence divorce rate is 1 in 2 couples. In society today, even in church, 7/10 Christians have such a condition, which can make us feel numb emotionally, very logical in our thinking and neglect our feelings. Every relationship must involve love and feelings. This condition affects the development of our character.

There are 21 Symptoms & signs of this condition.

There are two extremes in reaction in those who have this condition: 1) Denial, denying there's a problem, vs 2) thinking we have problems in everything.

Most of us are in between.

We need to learn to be open, but not vulnerable.

Don't wear a mask to disguise our weaknesses. Even when we may be cracked/fragmented, sometimes people cannot see it because some of us paper over it well. In fact some of us cover up so well we deceive ourselves thinking we are well.

When people accidentally bump the bruised part of our heart, we overreact, out of proportion to the size of the issue.

Bumping can happen when an important person in our lives does not seem to value us. As a result, people find it hard to get along with us.

We need to get to know who we really are, or why we react the way we react.

Today, we will talk about 10 symptoms:

1)      Abandonment (被棄絕): For example the child sees father go out to work and was left under others' care and picked up in the evening. If this goes on for many years, the child feels forsaken by the father. The child may then avoid talking about their feelings and become unable to express their feelings and even start to express anger out of frustration.

2)      Rejection (被拒絕): This can be active like being bullied, or passive like being in a family of many children and feeling neglected/isolated.

3)      Loneliness (孤單): The feeling of being lonely, even in a large crowd. This is when there is no one you can share your feelings with, and you can't develop intimate relationships. Feel isolated and uprooted, feeling like an outsider in a crowd of people.

4)      Hopelessness (沒盼望): The father is supposed to give us hopefulness but many give the law instead! The father is supposed to be an encourager, encouraging the child to achieve their dreams. If the father doesn't act as an encourager, this brings purposelessness, lack of direction, and despair.

5)      Worthlessness (沒價值): Guilt and shame often get mixed up and are not the same. Guilt is a negative feeling when you do something wrong. Shame is a negative feeling about yourself or even your family background, low self-esteem. This is a destructive emotion state which prevents one from achieving in life. Humbleness is different from worthlessness.

6)      Sadness (悲傷): Some people may appear like a comedian as a mask, but the true face is sad. This is a deep void/ grief because the unconditional love of the good father is missing.

7)      Insecure (沒有安全感): If you lack security, you will feel you need a lot of affirmation from other people, eg wife keep asking husband if he loves her etc. The orphan hearted person finds it hard to know who they really are and can't believe how people can love them.

8)      Hypersensitivity (過度敏感): If someone tells you certain things and you take certain words in and examine every single word, you may start finding something wrong with it and you start think it's targeting you! Sometimes when a person talks louder, you think that person's scolding you, when in fact it could just be the person's culture/the way they are brought up. This can bring obsession into your relationship.

9)      Fear (恐懼): A good father is a loving father who protects you. But if the father uses a police-like attitude as the way of protecting you, you feel fearful about many things. There is the fear of failure, isolation, not being good enough, etc.

10)  Poverty mindset (貧窮的想法): Sometimes the father who's the provider is not generous with you or provides enough love. You feel as if someone will take away everything you have, and you feel you need to collect materialistic goods so you don't run out of these things one day.