Divine Guidance
By Pr. Paul Ang
“Inner guidance is heard like soft music in the night by those who have learned to
listen.” – Vernon Howard
During the last 35 years in the church circle as an author and pastor, I have personally been asked some of the following questions. These questions are probably most commonly asked among many
Christians.
1. What is God’s will for my life, family, career, ministry and future?
2. Should I quit this job?
3. Should I take up this business project ?
4. Is he/ she meant for me as a life partner?
5. How do I know God has called me into full time ministry?
6. What course should my son/ daughter study in university?
7. Is it God’s will for us to immigrate to another country?
8. Should I go for surgery for the growth or believe God for a miracle?
9. Is God asking me to sow a huge offering into this particular ministry?
10. Could I retire at 40 and serve God full-time and believe God to provide for me?
A family visited us a few years ago. The mom who brought her daughter along, asked Christina and myself an interesting question. The daughter has qualified to do Medicine but her passion is to study
Economics. How are they to handle this? What is God’s will for her? Many other similar questions followed unendingly.
I just received an email from close ministry associates asking me to pray whether they should immigrate to Australia. One of the most important thing in our prayer life and seeking God is to discover God’s will for our lives and ministries.
INTRODUCTION
A good pastor friend of mine was offered another pastoral opportunity in another city. He asked for counsel and prayer. In other words, he was seeking to know the mind of Christ in this matter.
Personal Journey
Early in my Christian life, I realized the importance of downloading from God and walking in His will. This wonderful relationship with Jesus Christ has helped me through difficult times in discerning the
mind of Christ. I learnt that divine guidance begins with God taking the first move. The Shepherd leads and the sheep follow or else we will be going on our own way.
Many of us are anxious and continue to ask God to lead us. Let me illustrate through the conversation between a father and his 10 year old son, Johnny.
Johnny got up on Tuesday morning and saw his dad at breakfast table.
Son : Dad, should I go to school today?
Dad : What day is today?
Son : Tuesday
Dad : Johnny, you know that Tuesday is a schooling day. Why do you ask?
Son : Just curious.
The next morning at breakfast table again the conversation continued.
Son: Dad, do you think I must go to school today?
Dad : Why? Are you not feeling well?
Son: I am well dad,
Dad: Today is Wednesday and it is a school day. No need for you to ask.
Johnny repeated his questions for the next few days because he wanted to make sure and doubly sure.
The following week on Monday, dad and son were eating breakfast together.
Dad: Johnny today and tomorrow you will not be going to school.
Son : Hurray. Why dad?
Dad: Last night I received a call that your grandmother had just passed on to be with Jesus. We will be driving to my hometown later in the morning to attend the funeral service and the burial.
Call To Ministry
In 1982. I was studying second year in university, I sensed the call of God to enter full-time ministry. I was only 2 years in the Lord but was on fire for God. I applied for a bible school in Dallas, Texas, USA called Christ For the Nations Institute (CFNI) to prepare for the ministry. I was saving enough money to buy a large luggage. I was telling myself that there was no virtue or reason to have a degree in Economics when I was in the ministry. The rejection of my application to study in CFNI, taught me a lifelong lesson about the importance of God’s timing. God may call us but we need to wait for
the correct timing to respond to the full time summon from Heaven’s Headquarters. This may include business transactions, purchasing real estate, investment, immigration, life partner and other issues of
life.
When there is a change, our Heavenly Father will make sure that we get the message. If not, just continue doing what we are doing. – Pr Paul Ang
1987 Australian Bible School
By God’s grace, I graduated and started lecturing at Ganella College and later at Institute Technology Mara, Shah Alam. Towards the end of 1986, I sensed that my time of lecturing was ending. Sure enough, on 1 January 1987 as I waited on the Lord, God spoke so clearly that the time has arrived to go into full-time ministry. I contacted a man of God in India whom I respected much and communicated my leading from God to quit the secular job. About 2 weeks later, he confirmed that the guidance I received was from God.
With great excitement and by faith, I tendered my resignation and applied for a Bible School in Australia. With joy unspeakable, I was accepted by the Bible School and without wasting time, headed for the Australian High Commission to apply for the student visa, so confident that the approval for the student visa was ‘just a walk in the park: I was awakened and given a rude shock when my student
visa application was rejected. Where would I put my reputation? With all the excitement and bubbling joy, I had informed my family, friends and church that I was leaving for an Australian Bible School.
The worst part was I could not go back to my job as a lecturer after tendering my resignation. I felt like the whole world collapsed on me.
The Parting Of The Red Sea
Little did I realize that God was training me to believe Him for the impossible. God was taking me on a journey to experience His supernatural interventions. My ability to hear the voice of God was truly tested. My repeated visits to the Australian High Commission to appeal for my visa resulted in repeated rejection which confirmed all my fears. My visa was not approved because the Bible School that I was going to was not registered with the Australian Authority. The Bible School was merely a department from this Mega church in Brisbane. “Lord, I thought I heard you saying to me, to resign and go to Bible School. I obeyed You but now I am stuck:’
I could not go forward or go backward just like the children of Israel caught between the army of Pharaoh from behind and the Red Sea in front of them.
“God have mercy and please tell me what I should do now:’ As I knelt before Him in desperation, the Lord spoke, “Your feet will step on the soil of Australia and New Zealand !” I said, “God, that sounds good but I still do not have the visa:’ God said, “Tomorrow morning, go and make an appointment to see the High Commissioner himself’
Esther
As I approached the reception counter at the high Commission, I imagined to see the receptionist’s face of disgust, with the unspoken murmur in her heart, “Not you again. We told you so. Why waste my time and yours?”
Wonder of wonders, the usual lady at the counter was replaced by a smiling lady.
As I relayed to her the purpose of my visit, she was more than happy to assist me. Suddenly my eyes focused on her name tag ‘Esther: My heart skipped a beat and I said “You have come to this Australian
High Commission for such a time as this:’
I asked Esther the reason for being so nice and helpful to me. She replied and said that she would not mind helping a brother. She meant a brother-in-Christ. (We have the same Father in Heaven!)
Interview
As I sat across this huge desk with the Australian High Commissioner seated directly opposite, facing me, he opened my file and studied my case. The High Commissioner explained the reason why he could not issue me the student visa. I showed him the approval letter from the school and the receipt of the payment of the Bible school registration fees.
I told him that I have resigned as a lecturer and had told everyone I know that I was heading to Brisbane. I knew it was within his authority and I appealed to him to help me. As his eyes raced
through the file the second time, I blurted out quite loudly” THANK YOU JESUS”.
He looked at me with a strange look and surveyed across the room to the door as if there was someone. He closed my file and smiled at me for the first time. Unexpectedly he began to talk to me about
Australia. I was waiting for those golden words and finally he said that they would issue me the student visa. I felt like screaming ecstatically like a person who had just been given a million dollars.
As I boarded my flight to Brisbane with Qantas Airways, seated on the window seat looking out to the clouds as the huge bird hit the sky, I could not help thanking God for His goodness and His guidance.
Throughout this flight, I witnessed the rainbow thrice, affirming that the God of Trinity was with me. To date, by HIS GRACE I have flown to some 49 nations in the last 35 years and I have not encountered 3 rainbows on the same flight. In fact, it was only on rare occasions that I witnessed a rainbow. Glory to Jesus Christ.
Acquiring Properties
Jeremiah 32:6-9
And Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, “Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.”‘ Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in Anathoth, and weighed out to him the money-seventeen shekels of silver.
Does God lead and guide us in buying property?
Interestingly Jeremiah received a word of the Lord to specifically purchase a piece of land. Even though Jeremiah was a prophet and used to hear God>s voice and download from God, he was still not too
sure. No matter how many times we hear from God, there is always an element of ‘faith and doubt’. No person can truly claim that what he or she receives or downloads from God is 100 % accurate.
In my own personal experience, there were times I thought I heard God but it was my own spirit man’s voice. The challenge of hearing God is to distinguish between our own spirit and God’s Holy Spirit. A few mistakes are good because they humble us and help us to realize that we are not infallible. Jeremiah needed the natural circumstance for confirmation when his uncle’s son Hanamel came
to offe r Jeremiah to buy the land.
Sri Gombak
After we were married for a year we decided to buy a house instead of renting. Nothing like your own home where you can decorate and stay as long as you desire. We liked this small double-storey house
in Sri Gombak, the last housing estate before you proceed to Genting Highlands. It was mountainous and very green, with refreshing air and beautiful scenery with a man -made lake too.
After moving in, I thought I would stay in this place until the second coming of Jesus Christ. We loved the housing community and the simplicity of life until the annual Hindu festival ofThaipusam in Batu
Caves which attracts 1 million visitors. Imagine the traffic jam for that week-long celebration of the thronging devotees and the resulting inconveniences. The traffic increased tremendously after we moved in for 3 years. Our accumulation of office computers, machines and other items had also increased greatly. Suddenly we perceived that the house was getting too small. I used to complain to God that we needed a bigger place.
Rawang
Around 1996, when we still did not have our son, Asher, we would travel for 3 weeks to a month on our some of our overseas trips – traversing some 12 to 14 nations in a year.
Every morning I would have my prayer time, looking out the window with the beautiful green mountainous view. One morning God spoke something amazing to me, «when you see the hills beginning to clear, it is time to move:’ I told Pr. Christina about that revelation but we were not too concerned, thinking it would be few years down the road before we moved.
Few weeks after downloading that word from the Lord, we had just returned from another mission trip overseas. It was late at night when we arrived home.
As my custom was, the next morning I opened the window and could not believe what I saw. The hill was cleared and a road of red earth could be seen in its place! Without hesitation I pointed to Pr. Christina and reminded her about the prophecy of moving to another place.
Time to Move
With obedience, we put up a (FOR SALE’ sign on our gate and within the same week we sold the Sri Gombak house. We decided to move to a quieter place with less traffic. Rawang town was a good choice
and we bought a 3,750 square feet sized detached double-storey house for RM 230,000 in 1996.
We felt we had arrived at our (promised land’. Again I told myself, we would probably reside here till we are 60 years old! There was a nearby waterfall about 15 minutes’ drive away that was perfect for my
daily prayer, meditation and devotion.
In the same year we transited from travelling ministers to pastoring an ailing church for the next 5 years. It was 1998 when God blessed us with our son, Asher. After obeying God to pastor for 5 years,
God released us back to itinerant ministry again. By His Grace, our ministry grew leaps and bounds. Our house was used for both office and home. Soon, we had so many books, tapes, recording machines,
faxes and many other furniture that our house was no longer a home anymore.
Waterfall Garden
One day, Christina suggested that we should consider purchasing 2 semi-detached houses next to each other, one for our office and the other one for our residence. I believe she was inspired by God. For to
me, this was indeed a God-given idea!
Shortly after that inspirational idea from Christina, one morning God spoke to me just before I was leaving to go to the waterfall for prayer, He said “This week is going to be an exciting week for you’
God spoke!! I knew it was a prophetic word from God.
There are two roads from our former house as we exit into town. One way is narrow and nearer to town but it passes through a winding road and squatter houses. I normally take the other broad way. As
was my custom, I was preparing to go to the waterfall for my prayer and meditation when God interjected with His prophetic declaration. For reasons unknown, I took the narrow and winding country road that wonderful morning.
Semi-Detached House for Sale
There was no sign of squatter houses anymore. A big piece of flat land was on sight. There was a large signboard advertising 36 units of Semi- Detached houses for sale. Like a bulb that had lit inside me;
I took down the developer’s address and took Christina hurriedly to the developer’s office. The official opening of sales was scheduled the following week but we would not be around since we were traveling overseas for ministry. God’s timing is always perfect. We had a favorable choice of two of the best and most excellent units to purchase. We bargained for a 4% discount off the purchase price since we were buying 2 units. We made it clear to them that one unit was meant for mission work and even asked if they could bless us with a discount.
With God given boldness, I prophesied to the director of the Developer’s office that God would bless the sales of those houses on the same day he launched, if he would bless us with the discount. That week we signed the Sales and Purchase agreement. It was indeed an exciting week just as God spoke. The rest is history.
The developer launched the sale that Sunday and as prophesied to him, all his remaining units were sold in one day!! Such a sale had never occurred to his company before. It was a breakthrough sale.
Confirmation through Asher’s dream
(By Pr Christina)
When we signed the Sales and Purchase agreement, we did not know who to ask for confirmation as it involved a lot of money. We were stretching our faith, which felt like walking on water. Both Pastor
Paul and I laid this purchase of the two units of house and office before the Lord. Then one morning Asher woke up and began to narrate to us that he saw our new house in his dream. We had kept all
details away from Asher, as he was still a little child of 7 years. He had no way of finding out about our prayer or our purchases.
We asked him to elaborate about the house that he saw. He mentioned that in his dream he walked up a building with a big balcony. On the layout plan of the building the balcony was not obvious so I didn’t
think much about it. However, out of curiosity, I took out the plan of the house and asked him if this looked familiar. Immediately he exclaimed, “Yes, it looks like this building:’
As I probed further and asked him if he knew where it was located, he mentioned the place as the land in front of his Kindergarten classmate’s house. I drove him to the place and asked, “Where is the house Asher?”
He pointed to the bare piece of land and said, “I saw the buildings here. Our place is there:’ Tears welled up in my eyes, as I knew this was the hand of God. There is no way of him knowing, let alone
walking up a building that did not exist at that time.
Dearly beloved, we were so touched that God spoke to us confirming that this was His idea through the dream of our son.
Job 33:14-18
For God may speak in one way, or in another,
Yet man does not perceive it.
In a dream, in a vision of the night,
When deep sleep falls upon men,
While slumbering on their beds,
Then He opens the ears of men,
And seals their instruction.
In order to turn man from his deed,
And conceal pride from man,
He keeps back his soul from the Pit,
And his life from perishing by the sword.