{"id":9333,"date":"2022-02-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-06T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/?p=9333"},"modified":"2022-06-15T14:56:26","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T06:56:26","slug":"sermon-reflection-extraordinary-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/sermon-reflection-extraordinary-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon Reflection &#8211; Extraordinary Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid\"><\/div><div class=\"wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12\"><div class=\"vc_column-inner\"><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\t<div class=\"wpb_text_column wpb_content_element\" >\n\t\t<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Posted by Darren Lim \u2022 Feb 07, 2022<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_separator wpb_content_element vc_separator_align_center vc_sep_width_10 vc_sep_border_width_5 vc_sep_pos_align_center vc_separator_no_text vc_custom_1653980010483\" ><span class=\"vc_sep_holder vc_sep_holder_l\"><span  style=\"border-color:#b11f24;\" class=\"vc_sep_line\"><\/span><\/span><span class=\"vc_sep_holder vc_sep_holder_r\"><span  style=\"border-color:#b11f24;\" class=\"vc_sep_line\"><\/span><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"wpb_text_column wpb_content_element\" >\n\t\t<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Truth be told, I have been going through a challenging season in life when it comes to listening to the will of God. This in turn is affecting my prayer life as there is this prolonged feeling of what could be described as a dampened sense of God&rsquo;s presence. Scripture is the very Word of God and is used to inform, inspire and instruct. However, I long for the days long gone when Scripture felt so fresh and alive. There was clarity, there was power in every word. Each verse birthed insights that have shaped and transformed the way I live my life. Presently, I plow on, as best I can, with daily devotion and the week&rsquo;s Bible reading plan but there is a certain spiritual brain fog that has somehow created a barrier between God and me that I can&rsquo;t seem to break through. I crave for those moments &#8211; though recalled from imperfect memory &#8211; when there was spiritual intimacy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was during a pre-CG sharing that I was encouraged to persevere and trust the Holy Spirit to continue His sanctifying work in me. I felt affirmed when my spiritual partners acknowledged that the struggle is real due to our sinful nature and that it will never truly end until Jesus comes again, where we will be made perfect. I felt supported knowing that others were praying for me as I am reminded that we have the Holy Spirit who will slowly but surely, day by day shorten the throes of this spiritual drought. I am eternally grateful for these brothers and sisters who continue to mutually support and affirm as we go through our individual faith journeys.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Upon reflection, I have come to realize that God always avails Himself and is ready to receive us with open arms. The closeness and spiritual intimacy I long for is not something to grasp for &#8211; like how one gasps for air when submerged for a time in water &#8211; but it is freely laid upon open palms when in a posture of surrender&hellip; a surrender that starts with giving up time in the busyness of our days to spend time with Him. I will continue to wait upon Him for God is good all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. (Psalm 119:36\u202d-\u202c37 ESV)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Truth be told, I have been going through a challenging season in life when it comes to listening to the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[119],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9333"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9371,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9333\/revisions\/9371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}