From the Chairman: Realigned To God’s Purpose

“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19

Many have understood that God has a purpose for each person. We are fitted together, with Christ as the cornerstone. Becoming the His children is definitely the highest calling that one can have. However, being in this world we have to deal with all kinds of problem and situation. As a result, our mind and soul have to be constantly battered with them. To make it worse, the glitter of this world keeps trying to enchant us, making it difficult for us to spread our influence and to color the world, though we are called to do so. Many even went all the way to world, got trapped and lost. Even worsesome also have denied that Christ is the only Way, Truth and Life. This is the picture of society that we lived in.

Crisis is a turning point whether a situation will become better or worst. Whoever can make use of the situation will certainly benefit most. For almost one year, many have found the challenges of life, whether business or ministry, have become so overwhelming. This is almost similar situation as in Jesus’ time, when Simon and his friends encountered problems. Business had been slow for them. Being fishermen and having caught nothing was definitely stressing them up. Probably they also needed to deal with staggering inflation and interest rates, or increasing minimum wage that they had to pay their workmen, and on top of that the amount of fish that they caught just could not meet their needs. They were confused, angry, and lost. All their expertise of being professional fishermen by generations, and long list of experiences seemed to fail them.

Until one day, a commotion happened in their fisherman village. There was this man of persona who came to their village: Jesus who was able to attract the crowd everywhere He went. Many simply shouted His name to get His attention, in today’s time it would be like many ask to take selfie with him. Among the crowd, there were also some desperate people who wanted their needs to be met. The fame of Jesus was astonishing because of the mind-blowing miracles He performed. Many witnessed how he raised a dead young man over a funeral procession in the city of Nain, turning water into the finest aged wine, putting sight to the blind, and even restoring the dumb and deaf so they could speak and hear.

Jesus was walking, and He stopped where Simon and his friends were washing their nets. He said he wanted to borrow Simon’s boat. With such charisma that was shown, Simon agreed to lend his boat and brought Jesus a little bit off shore. Then Jesus began to preach and teach about how the Kingdom of God was at hand, and probably Jesus was also preaching about purpose, faith, and destiny. The words of Jesus were penetrating not only the people’s heart but also their joints and marrow, to the deepest of their conscience. Simple,yet giving peace that is not the same as what most people would have known.

Then, he turned to Simon and said, “Let’s go to the deep and launch your net for a catch.”Simon was trying to argue with him that this is such a bad timing for getting fish, and trying to explain all the facts that he is an expert by generations and so on and so forth. Then he realized that the words which Jesus had taught some moments ago started to flourish in him, and faith rises, then Simon said, “Nevertheless at your command, I will let down my net.” Not long after that, Simon felt that his net was pulled down; usually this signifies a huge number of fish beingcaught!  His eyes were wide opened, and with his expertise, he started to signal his friends at the other boat to come. Both boats were filled with so many fish – more than their capacity. The boats were overloaded with fish and started sinking, something that never happened before! Jesus was teaching them that He gave people dominion over the fish in the ocean.

Looking at this, Simon and his friends were so frightened. They started to realize who this Jesus really was. They said to Jesus, “Depart from me as I am a sinful man, we doubted you and the things you said.” Jesus replied, “Fear not! From now on, I AM putting a new purpose in your life, and I will make you fishers of men!”  Suddenly their hearts grow bold upon hearing the words that Jesus said. This encounter has realigned their ambition, vision, and dreams to God’s purpose. These men ended up putting the world up side down.

The message that God put in our heart for 2015 is The Year of Realignment to God’s Purpose. As Indonesia has been stretched for the past year. We know that whatever is happening in the physicalrealm is aligned to what had happened in the spirit realm. We believe this stretching moment is for the better. The purpose would beaswritten in 2Peter 3:9b, “… He does not want anyone to perish but all should come into repentance.”The best way to prepare us for this would be to consolidate ourselves to focus on Jesus. Getting our family, business, work, and ministry ready for this cause. Don’t put ‘me and myself’ in the focus of attention anymore, but putting Jesusand His purpose as the main drive of our lives.

At the end of 2014, allow us to thank you for all your support both in prayer and finance. We pray that the seeds you have sown would eventually grow and bear so much fruits for His Kingdom. We also pray that this Christmas would be a great moment for you to reunite with your family and putting things in order. Have a good holiday. Merry Christmas 2014 and Blessed New Year 2015.

This post is also available in: Indonesian