Officially switched to my official blog

ok..after months of ranting around and looking for a suitable blog platform, i have settled on my Wordpress blog at Leow-john.com. So, there won't be any more updates from here.

The new blog's here at http://www.leow-john.com

Goodbye leow-john.blogspot.com!

The power of mindsets..

Now i wanna share my thoughts haha...

I believe the Spirit has been starting to do a work of breaking the constricted mindsets we've all begun to harbor in our lives. I 'm starting to see that our level of fruitfullness in ministry, in our secular jobs, in our academics etc.. is only limited by our mindsets!

Just think about these familiar scenarios that i've always asked myself:

1.Why does my cell feel so dead and dry every week? PnW sounds like a karaoke sessions.

2.Why can't i seem to communicate well and confidently with certain people in my life like my sheep, my peers etc.?

3.Why do i feel that i'm not really doing anything worthy and valuable for the ministry?

4.Why do i always feel so self pity?

5.Why do i feel visionless?


See..I've realised that asking these questions is also a constricted mindset in itself!And what a limited mindset i have! As long i'm asking 'Why' all the time, change will never come. As long as i ponder and try to identify solutions to these 'why' questions, i'll always remain in the same place.

That's why our cells don't grow to their potentials! That's why our spiritual lives are still at point A all these months! That is why our lives and cell group feel so dead and quiet.... because we've been asking too many 'whys' and have stopped seeing the 'What-Ifs'!

It all boils down to a decision of the mindsets we harbor in our heads. The greatest threat to the devil is not the next great move of God we experience in our lives and in our cells, neither is it the number of souls that we've 'supposedly' brought to church. The greatest threat to the devil is when the real sons and daughters of the house of the Lord start seeing the prophetic destinies God has placed in their lives, and then, they begin to step into it! We can have many saved members in church, but if they do not step into their destiny, they are just pew-warmers. We can raise a gazillion leaders in the ministry with the finest training and inspirations, but as long as people do not see the mind-boggling destiny God has ordained for their lives, they live in a life devoid of power and vision!

To begin to learn to see the prophetic destinies God has for us, we must first begin to break our man-made, limited mindsets. One mindset i struggle with is that i always question: Why isn't my cell so passionate for God? Then i realised that i can't blame my cell members, but that it has got to do with the leaders not teaching them how to be passionate for God. And the reason the leaders do not teach is because we ourselves have got the same mindsets. Here are 3 mindsets that i outrageously hate:

1.It's good to dream big dreams, but please be factual and realistic now.

I acknowledge that people who dream tall dreams every hour but do not lift a single finger to take action, are just NATO(No Action, Talk Only). However, I prefer to err towards this side, because to dream is better than not to dream at all! Yes, sometimes the dreams God has placed in me seems impossible and totally unrealistic now, but if you really believe the dream will be fulfilled, only the sky's the limit. I've got dreams my entire extended family will get saved one day, but i remember people telling me i should start with just one family member years ago. In just the past 2 years, 2 cousins, 1 auntie, my mum, sister and bro got saved, all without me even preaching Christ to them! God surpassed my expectation and faith..Anyone dare to ask me to dream about getting 1 soul saved only still?

Yes, it is true it is a fact now that your family isn't saved. But what are you gonna do about that fact? Let facts lead you to dream dreams, not control your dreams!


2.You're faith level is higher than mine.So, i don't think my dream will happen.

Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say that we should compare our level of faith. It is true that God has planted a measure of faith in every heart, small or big, but size does not matter, because as long as we look around and think others have got bigger faith than us, we are unknowingly squeezing ourselves into a mold of self-pity and envy.. Come on! Jesus said if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to a mountain "Move!", and it will be cast into the sea! Visionless people always compare others to themselves, because they do not see the prophetic destiny God has for them. Stop comparing, and start seeing!

3. I have no control over my mindsets. The enemy has control over them.

This the greatest lie from the pit of Hell, that you have no power to change your mindset, and that the devil can read your mind, every thought of it. Too often we spiritualise things, like "The devil has been affecting my thoughts with evil pictures", when actually the fault lies with us not taking responsibility to guard our mindsets! It's true that Satan has been long around enough to know human behavior patterns, but realise the truth that only God created you, and so only He knows every single thought you have within. Plus, God gave us the gift of will(i.e choice) to make decisions. So if you feel you've lost control of your mindset, you're believing Satan's lie. Right now, where-ever you are, be bold and make a conscious decision to guard your mind with the Blood of Christ!You only lose your mindset when you willingly choose to surrender control of it to the devil...

Updates...

Ok sorry here..but i haven't updated for 1 week. Was super busy with my tele-receptionist job and with planning for last saturday's zone outing at East Coast Park!

Here are some short updates of the week:

-Received retrenchment notice from Teledirect that all receps are working for the last week. The company offered another telemarekting job though, but i declined because of personal focuses.

-Got my April pay of $1028 this week! However, it came 2 days later in cheque than everyone else (15th May), and i was so frustrated, i kept pestering my manager & team leader. The reason: The HR lady forgot to key in the last two digits of my bank account no....duh...

-Had a fabulous zone games outing@ East Coast Park! The mood was quite awkward at the icebreaker game at first, but the games got very fun at the middle till the end with sabby and my impromptu idea to get some malay guys to be the judge of the 'Most Beautiful Sandcastle' award. Thank God for smooth games, and excellent weather! Other than getting floored by Joseph and getting an UPPER-CUT on my nose from his fist in Captain's Ball..Nose feels like dropping anytime now.

-Witnessed baptism of my fellow zone mbrs. Congrats to Kim Siong,Daphne,Geneviene,Clarence,Sarita,Joey,Meida,Vanessa on taking that step of faith! No turning back, but looking onward at the Lord Jesus forever yea?

-Had a quite hilaroious time making fun of lavvie's swollen foot at work and sending her to CGH in a cab,and visiting her on Friday morning. She's discharged now. (Please don't eat crab after snakebites in future..)


Yup..I basically had quite an eventful week. But i still praise the Lord for all He had done throughout the week,especially His encouragement to me about delighting in Him when i was feeling moody and depressed over certain issues in my life. Interestingly,Pst Dan has been talking about returning to delighting in the Garden of Eden this 2 weeks..a timely Word in season.


Ok that was just updates.

Age Key Discovered..How to calculate your age in x yrs quickly..

While doddling around with a calculator and notepad yesterday at work in the night shift calculating how many days its been since i got saved in church, I accidentally discovered a very useful mathematical equation!

Its called the Age Key Concept(my coined term..), and it will help anyone calculate their age in any year to come quickly! Say i wanna know how old i'll be in 2050, and i'm born in 1987,knowing Age key is a simple solution to solve that question!


Here's the formula:

Your Age in year x=Age Key + last three digits of year x


Computation for Age Key in 2 steps:

Get the raw age key:

If you're born before 2000:

Take the last three digits of year you were born in, and subtract them from 0 to get your age when you were born . Meaning:

I'm born in 1987..

0-987= -987 (raw age key)

That's my age key in 1987, but it doesn't make sense, so i have to flip it into a correspondding positive number:

Then take 1000+(-987)= 13.-> Age Key

There you go.. That is your Age Key!

Now, i want to know how old i'll be in 2050, so all i need to do is to apply the formula above:

Age in year x=Age Key + last three digits of year x

Therefore,
Age in Year X=13+050= 63 years old.

The Age key serves as a very simple tool for you to calculate your age anytime between the year 2000 to 2999. If you're born in 2000 or after, the calcualtion is exactly the same, except you're raw age key is negative, and it is also your final Age Key.

Say i'm born in 2001:

Age Key=0-001=-1

Age in 2050= 050+(-1)=49 years old.


So if someone asks you offhand how old you'll be in future, just use the Age Key formula and you'll get your answer quickly!

I don't have a knack for mathematics, but i accidentally discovered this concept while doddling with the years i've lived. So you'll never know, the next senseless thing you do can bring out another great discovery!

Spidey 3!

Just returned from watching Spiderman 3 today, and i give the show 4.5/5 stars thumbs up!
Really one of those rare action movie shows nowadays that brings up a moral theme so clearly and evidently, rather than just focusing traditionally on action. I confess here.. I was nearly moved to tears though, cause of the superb underlying storyline in the ending scene about forgiveness and choices we make in our lives, when Sandman(Flint Marko) tells Spidey the true sequence of events(he was jobless and simply needed cash to save his sick daughter's life that's why he stole money) that lead to the accidental murder of Peter Parker's uncle, uncle Ben Parker, and then Spidey forgives him. Won't tell you the rest of the story here,because the best things are only reserved when you watch haha.

Ok, i found the Spiderman 3 theme song here from youtube, and thought it would it be cool with i got you to watch..

Ok, that's not really the real Spiderman 3 theme song, but a stop action frame movie some joker posted on Youtube haha..


Anyway, i took MC today from work, because i had a giant sty growing in my right eye which was hampering my vision. I went to the Poly clinic to get my MC, and gosh, the waiting queue was estimated at 2hrs! However, i got therough the process of registration and seeing the doc in only 45 mins, and i was elated when i could proceed to make payment and collect my ointment for that sty. But i waited 30, draggy mins instead, because i didn't know that i had to submit my prescription form into a box. (How silly! my number was 2305, and numbers like 2310 were being called in 10 mins and i couldn't understand y my took 30mins at first..)

Proceeded to collect my new bio metric passport from ICA for church camp, and had to endure another horrific 1 hr of queueing up (there were 158 people in queue!). Not as bad as the polyclinic though, as i slow-walked to Beach Road hawker center for Beef noodles, and when i returned after 45 mins, it was just about another 15 mins before i got my new passport with my handsome photo taken 4 days ago in it. (want to see my passport must pay money..my face is copyrighted.)

Thereafter I went down to Hangout for a few games of Fifa 07, where i thrashed my cell member Kevin 4-1, (Portugal vs England), but later got thrashed by Cameron the other way round (1-4, Korea vs Brazil). Ok fine, i admit cam trained up daily with Pst dan the past 2 weeks, but one day i will reverse that!

Then i watched Spider-man 3 with Jasper,xiaoyun, kwan,joo keng,kevin at GV tampines. As i said earlier, don't ask me about the show, because i won't tell you. Go watch and you'll know! After the show,the group of us was comparing how jasper looks like Harry Osborn(Green Goblin's son), kevin looking like Venom (Brock), and me looking like the Sandman without my glasses, short haircut and high forehead! Xiaoyun claims to be Mary Jane though..1% truth only..


Then had a late dinner at Macs with Kevin, and what started as a discussion about Spiderman 3 ended up with me preaching 3 messages off-handedly about 1. how we believers are all X-Men in the Holy Spirit, 2. edifying cell group and brethren with the word of God always 3. The 4 parts of every person that God made : the person ppl and yourself know, the person only you know that others don't, the person you don't know that others know, the part that ppl and we ourselves don't know that only God knows.. Cool eh? I just can't stop ranting on and on when i speak to my cell members about the things of God sometimes haha..


Yup, I'm looking forward to a fresh day at work tommorrow. Also waiting in expectancy for a fresh touch from God to touch our cell this saturday. God is pruning the raw areas in our cell and in our lives this season, and the process has been quite rocky i admit,but praise God that its only because He's moving us all coporately to the next level of spiritual maturity and unity!

Hillsong United - Hosanna

My current favorite song.."Hosanna" from the new Hillsongs United album "All of the above".

God's raising up the next generation of anointed worship leaders and musicians in Hillsongs United, and it's no surprise that the worship leader is Brooke Fraser, currently the hottest artiste in New Zealand and Australia. She's impacting the secular music scene for Christ!and she's also signed to Sony BMG.

Rock On Brooke!

Hearing God's voice is better than anything else in this world!

Oh!..to hear the voice of God is better than all the empty voices of this world! I've found that it's so much more satisfying and joyful desiring to hear the Almighty speak than to hear about the latest happenings in the movie scene!

Just 2 weeks ago, i had been hearing God say to me :"Tithe the first part of your day to Me". So what i did was to spend about 30mins each day last week to seek God in the secret place before doing anything else. Before that, i had faithfully switched the computer on every morning when i woke up tracking and trying to manage my money making referral programs(it sort of became an addiction). But when i did what God told me to do, guess what? I earned my first $2 in commission out of the blue from promoting an online stationary shop(something i never expected),and i mysteriously met my aunt on that saturday as i was going for prayer meeting and she forked out $50 out of the blue for me! Before that, i was trying aimlessly daily to earn cash online for one month, sitting in front of the PC for hours..

Now i know why God said that: He was getting my attention to trust Him in the area of my finances. As long as i stayed close and strained to hear Him speak, He would take care of all my financial needs! How's that for hearing the voice of God?

Has a cell that feels 'dead' got to do with the leaders not hearing God's voice?

A thought that i've been pondering over the weekend...Are my cell members more spiritually 'inclined' to the things of the Kingdom of God, or are they more inclined towards movies like 200 pound beauty, frivilous talk and TV shows like Prison Break? meaning what is the talk on their lips all the time.

Because I realise that sheep take on the inclinations of the shepherd, and the shepherd always personifies the things he or she is passionate about. As such, I do believe that one practical measure of the level of the spiritual atmosphere of our cell groups are the type of conversations the shepherds model when they talk. I'm starting to see that, even though i as a shepherd and cell intern i sometimes think that i don't have that much of an influence over most of my cell members lives, the truth is that i'm still being observed and watched by them all the time, in the way i dress, in the way i talk, in my mannerisms, in my behavior, and in my actions.

Therefore, if a shepherd always ranting about the latest movies in town all the time (Spidey 3 is here..Tobey Macguire is stylo! Pirates is next!), then it really comes to show that the shepherd personify movies as something he or she runs after. Conversely, if the shepherd is always making an effort to encourage sheep about the latest experiences with God in his or her life, and encouraging and exhorting them with the Scriptures, then it comes to show that he or she is really putting Romans 8:6 "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" to the walk!

Thus, I've compiled the following stock-check of questions that I as a leader and shepherd in the youth ministry should always ask myself from time to time. As i go through the list every now and then, i do so in prayer, because it takes the Holy Spirit to illuminate the hidden faults in my life:

The 5 mini-diagnostic questions

1. Do i find ministry(cell, functional ministry etc,) exciting and alive with the Presence of God each time i serve?

2.Do i find it very easy to talk about God in my life when people ask me, or is it easier for me to talk about material stuff around me(movies,tv,games, clothes etc)?

3.What are the topics that i am always keen to talk about to others?

4.With what manner do i speak?Abrupt? Loud? Soft-Spoken?

5.Do I speak with hope and grace on my lips and carry the fragrance of Christ around all the time? or do i shirk and give pessimistic, replies?

As you may see, the questions are quite progressive and serve to reveal the general situation of where i currently am at. Honestly, majority of the time the 'NO' answers to the questions have got to do with a broken communication line with God. Then, that's where the most rudimentary question comes "Am I on talking terms with God?". In other words, have i been talking to God lately and hearing from Him in the secret place? Because if I really do hear God speak, i would not be personifying all these other idolatrous loves like the latest movies in town! Hearing God speak is a cause-and-effect process.; the more you hear hear the Lord speak, the more you'll be driven to obey what He's telling you! God speaks, I obey, and i obey easier when i have been closer to hearing His voice!


If we feel our cell group is very 'dead' and purposeless, could it be because the shepherds and leaders have not been hearing the voice of the Lord speaking? When leaders articulate great ideas, plans and instructions from their minds, nothing really happens. But when God uses leaders to speak the words He has told them, life comes in and is infused into the very hearts of the sheep!

So let's press on to hear His voice everyday!

Bitten by snake..

Yet another day at work, but I had to work the night shift alone..because lavonne did not turn up for work. I'll tell you why.

When i woke up in the morning, i received an sms from lavonne (my work colleague..) and she told me that she was not reporting for work today. When i asked why, she told me that she was in the hospital. Being curious, I asked further why she was in hospital and her reply STUNNED me..

"I got bitten by a snake."


I dialled her hp to ask how she was, but thank God! it was nothing serious, just that she had been walking back the night before to home and was bitten in her foot by some strange creature. By the time she got home, she said she was literally crying in pain for 2 hrs, and in the end when she was warded in the hospital, doctors found two large fang like wounds on her feet, so they were suspecting it was a snakebite. So, they were doing blood tests and observing her for any signs of fever, but thank God she's completely fine with the exception of a swollen foot haha...(she should be discharged at the time of this post or tommorrow, so don't panic.)

Well, the DP's praying for her, and we know she'll be up and running very soon. Be healed in Jesus's name Lavvie!

Todd Bentley Meeting

Just returned after a really long. exhausting day out. I didn't work today, because i had to renew my passport before the church camp..


Here's my schedule for the day:

11am: Met Xiao Ming for lunch in TP Mensa canteen

12-2pm:Create and paste up my Hits4pay posters at bedok and lavender interchange

2-3pm:Queued 45 agonising minutes to take passport photo, and another 15 minutes to do the application.

3-6pm:Went to Sim Lim square to scout for a Linksys Wireless G router for my mum, and to get Starhub to reset the password of my MaxOnline backend.

6-630pm:Travelled to church from bugis for the prophet, Todd Bentley's night meeting. On the way, i was asked to take charge of helps duty for the night at the last minute as Samuel the Helps IC was arriving late

7pm-11pm onwards:Patrolling and Cleanup duties for Helps duty

11pm On: Home Sweet Home!


My legs are seriously aching like no one's business man! When i came home, i still had to set up the new wireless router my mum asked me to buy, and she just coulodn't understand all that geek gibberish and kept asking me to guide her step by step (What's WEP?What's Leow's Network??..).


I did not really focus in on Todd Bentley's message, because i was roaming around the auditorium and the Theattree 2 most of the time. But Todd was basically releasing prophetic words over our nation, and over cornerstone, and his most remarkable prophesy was that of when he saw in a vision just before he flew from Canada to Singapore, the angel named "BreakThrough" , standing with his two legs,one feet on one end of our island, and one feet on the other end. And what was most interesting was Pastor Yang preached a similar prophetic word about the 'Key of the House of David' on Sunday, the breakthrough anointing that God was now giving to the church. The altar call was something i've not experienced for a long time, and it was one of those very rare altar calls that i wept and wept and wept so much, because I felt the Lord speak to me two things regarding my life. And they were:

1. He revealed to me that He had in His love,been chasing after me fervently more than I had for Him by the hard circumstances recently in my life.
2. He was breaking the man-made rituals and mindsets that i always harbored when i worshipped Him, because they were actually blocking me from entering into His presence.

To sum it all, what God revealed to me was that He basically only wanted to draw close near me, to fellowship with me, and to enjoy my presence and me enjoying His presence, and to speak good promises and blessings over me. Whereas, i had it totally on the opposite, as i was struggling with depression and hopelessness, and was always thinking that I was not worthy enough for God to be near me, nor to believe that i had so much bottled up God-placed potential within me.


I have been going through quite a rough patch recently with my finances and physical strength, as i blew my UOB savings on Internet money making programs carelessly. Also, i've been facing some communicational breakdown issues with my sheep and the cell group due to work schedules and focuses, but it's something which i know is a learning point, because i still know that God has promised G2.3 to be a vibrant, live-giving community. So for Matty,Joanne,Kah Wai, Janice Loh,Avis,Xiao Yun, Kevin, Xiaoming, Cameron and myself, i really believe the day will come very soon when God will ignite that spiritual fervor for Him once again in the cell. Though i admit most of the time the cell feels so 'dead' and 'quiet' in Praise and Worship, I keep holding on to that promise! (Cell core...if you're reading this, we've gotta stop playing around in the cell, and start getting serious about the things of God in our cell.. I really believe God is starting to stir the cell leadership to begin pressing in and seeking Him for the great promises He has declared over the cell. The cell that does not pray is a playing cell my dears!..)

Yup,so really there's no need to strive anymore in His presence Johnny! You just need to rest in His goodness, and simply "be still and know that He is God"!.

Blog Revamp

Praise the Lord!


I finally managed to remember my username and password after so long!..As you can see,the blog is going through a revamp, but bear with it, cause gonna be much more lively


Stay tuned.

Anger Management

Book I'm currently reading: How to deal with ANNOYING People.-What you can do when you can't avoid them.

Conflicts. Conflicts. Conflicts.

Conflicts happen in varying degrees and forms everyday in our lives, but one thing i've learnt:

Never take a conflict personally

Taking a conflict personally equates to hurt. When someone passes a not so nice remark about you, and you actually brood over it, that's equivalent to taking the conflict personally. Often times, overreaction to a situation is a sign that we are reacting to something beyond the actual situation, and probably at a hurt. Now, that's called taking a conflict personally. Here is an illustration:

A shepherd was trying to drive a seemingly stubborn flock of sheep into the sheep pen. The shepherd ranted at the top of his voice and spanked them in hope of getting them into the pen. However, they refused, and instead ran all over the field. So what did he do? He gave up, sat on the ground and started sulking all day long. Then came along another shepherd with his flock later in the day, and with mother-like gentleness, calmly guided ALL his flock into the pen.

What the former shepherd failed to understand was that sheep are frightened by loud noises. Had he gently led his flock instead as the latter shepherd had done, he would have had his sheep in the pen in no time.

Now, that was the problem with the shepherd. He overreacted, by ranting and then sulking all day long. The actual situation did not require him to raise his voice at the sheep, nor sulk all day. He was responding to something beyond the situation at hand, and was probably responding to his anger and frustration at the stubborness of his sheep.

Taking a conflict personally blows up the conflict at hand, and only makes the situation worse. Therefore, it is very important to assess the conflicts we face, and do a stock-take of beginning with ourselves. We can do this by:

1. Taking a step back for a breather from the conflict
2. and ask, "Could i be in the wrong in this conflict?'

In all conflicts, no one party gets the full picture at any point in time. If they did, it wouldn't be called 'conflict'. It takes two hands to clap. That is why it is so important to assess the conflict we face, firstly starting with ourselves. For proper conflict resolution, it starts with humility being displayed. Humility breaks down the wall of pride that exists within us, and the question 'Could i be in the wrong', will lay the stone for reconcilation.

Therefore, don't take conflicts personally.

John's Bio

"The greatest treasure-trove of unfulfileld dreams in this world are often found buried in the cemetery"-quote by an Anonymous poet

How true this quote is! and how determined am i to see the reality of God's Will spoken through His dreams in me being fulfilled! This is life's sweetest joy, the greatest thing anyone could see come to pass in his or her life time before they pass on to eternity..

I'm a 20 year old guy, with a high forehead and a banana-shaped face, who has just graduated with a Diploma in Business IT from Temasek Polytechnic. I am due to serve my National Service in Jul 14 very soon, and am working full time as a tele-receptionist somewhere.

I belong to Generations Youth Ministry, and am a Gener who wears the colors of Cornerstone Community Church. I know that i'll one day see people in South-East Asia begin to be handled Bibles on the streets and to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour!

I have vast IT experience, from refurbishing old computers for sale, creating online systems for companies such as the Cyber Sports Association of Singapore,to making money on the Internet. In fact, i'm the unofficial Singapore representative of Hits4pay, the internet's premier Paid to Read Email program since 1998. I'm quite a risk-taker,and am always tinkering and brooding about with creative food ideas such as the infamous Oreo Blended Fruit Cocktail Blended Agar-Agar.


Ok.. That's so much about me. But most importantly, Jesus Christ is the King over all my life, and that settles every breathe i take, every move i make. I'm constantly inflamed with a burning desire for winning souls for Christ and seeing disciples raised amongst the youths in Singapore, and the following verse drives me:

Matt 28:19-20, "Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, to the very end of the age."



So, hope that tells you who I am. Thanks for dropping by! I so appreciate it!