SALVATION TESTIMONIES (III)

I Cried Out for God to Save Me

I was born in a Christian family and since young, I started attending church. I was taught many Bible stories. I knew God was real but I didn’t really believe in Him until I was about seven or eight when the Lord touched my heart and I started taking God’s Word more seriously. God finally spoke to me when I was eleven during the Children’s Worship. When I went home that day, I immediately cried out for God to save me, as I knew I was filled with sin and I was not saved yet. After God saved me, I try to be a good testimony to the people around me and I spread the gospel to my friends and encourage them to come to church. Thank God for helping me reaffirm my faith and saving me. Han Shih Min

He Is There for Me

I was born into a Christian family and baptised as an infant. I grew up attending Sunday School and had participated in Bible Study activities. I have never complained about going to church. It was part of my life, growing up naturally knowing that God exists and that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I enjoyed the Bible stories during the devotion time with my mother and all the Christian VCDs that she bought for me to watch.

Unlike many people, I did not really have any ups and downs in my spiritual walk with God. Perhaps I did not know if I had any. My spiritual life was just plain sailing, sort of like a plateau.

The need for God started in 2012, the year that I had my Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE). My parents kept reminding me that I must pray for God’s grace and wisdom and to let Him know my heart’s desire; but I must always bear in mind that ultimately it is God’s will that I must yield. I prayed very hard. I think it was the first time in my life that I have ever prayed that hard. Every night, my parents would pray with me for my results and the school that I wished to go to. The day came when I got my results. The Lord answered my prayer. I got into the school that I wanted to go. I felt elated! It is so good to know that God hears my prayers!

“Fear thou not; For I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” (Isa 41:10). How true is His word. Whenever I am helpless and troubled, I know He is there for me.

Once I had a mental block during my History paper. I prayed there and then, asking God to help me to calm down and recall. Again He did not fail to help me. I did very well that year and I know it was He who had delivered me. I know there is a long road ahead of me and my mother always says that God did not promise a bed of roses in life but thorns along the way. But I know I can overcome it because I have Jesus with me. He has always been there for me.

I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ because He is the only way, the truth and the life. I know that He died on the cross for me, wearing a crown of thorns, to be ridiculed in order to wash away all my sins. I want to be with God forever. Daily devotions have more meaning than before; they draw me closer to God. My mother once shared the story behind the hymn, “Let Your Lower Lights Be Burning.” Yes, I must do my best to keep my lower lights burning … that the world may see Christ in me. Isaac Hong

I Am Still Grateful to God

When I was three years old, I told my mother a lie which caused her to be very angry. She told me God would not be happy that I lied. I asked, “Who is God?” She explained that God is the Creator of all things including me. That was how I first learnt about God.

In Primary School, I had met with lots of unpleasant things. But there is one unforgettable incident which I am still grateful to God about even today. One day, I was dismissed from school at about five o’clock due to a school track and field event. My mother was waiting to drive me back from school. My mother stepped out of the car when she saw me to help me with my school bag. However, she forgot that it was under autolock mode and would lock itself when she stepped out of the car. She stared in disbelief because my younger brother, Stuart, was still napping in the car with the air-con on. Our only hope was for Stuart to wake up instantly from his deep slumber. “All we can do is to pray for God’s help to wake Stuart up and unlock the door. Keep knocking on the door until he wakes up”, she said. My mother told me the seriousness of air-con poisoning. Immediately, I prayed to God. Within a few minutes, Stuart finally woke up, and in bluriness he unlocked the door. It really showed one’s prayer could change everything.

Even though I am only 13 years old, I have already seen many of God’s blessings upon me. That is why this year I would like to reaffirm my faith in Christ the Lord. Matthew Owen Yeo

To Please God Better

I was born into a Christian family and have been attending church since I was young. I was infant-baptised at Hebron Bible-Presbyterian Church when I was seven years old and I attended church regularly with my family. When I was in Primary Six, the teachers asked who truly believed the Gospel and I raised my hand. I then said the sinner’s prayer there and then. I attended youth Bible study for a while and subsequently only went for the youth service. I was often distracted during service times and though I was physically present, my mind was wandering elsewhere. I did not read the Bible nor pray and was a ‘Sunday Christian’. The situation did not change until my sister invited me to join her at True Life Bible-Presbyterian Church, the church that her university module mate invited her to join.

Thank God, at True Life BPC, I was exposed to many activities that allowed me to learn about God and learn how to be a proper Christian. Sometimes I feel that I am not behaving like a Christian because I sometimes have worldly desires and listen to worldly music. Personally, it is very hard for me to break away, especially from listening to worldly music but I’m trying and yearn to learn even more about God and His words, so that I may be a better Christian. Many times, I feel that I’ve fallen short of God’s expectations for a Christian and have constantly struggled to stay godly especially when I hang out with classmates who are non-Christians. I pray that taking this step to reaffirm my faith would allow me to please God better. Eugenie Foo

God Is True

Before I believed, I found that I felt quite lonely as if something was missing from me. One day I read a tract in lower primary and the words convicted me as I realised that God was true and He is my heavenly Father. I then prayed the sinner’s prayer. I learnt to place my trust in God and my sister helped me to understand about God’s Word as well as my teachers. He helped me through many difficulties and guided me back to Him when I placed other things before Him in my life. I want everyone to know that God is the true God and I believe in Him. Rachael Loei

My Mother Told Me the Gospel

Since young, my parents had told me the gospel and as I grew up, I continued to grow in the faith and knowledge of God. I can only remember as far back when I was around three years old, when my mother sat down with me and told me the gospel using a picture book.

My faith in Christ was especially strengthened when I was six years old as my family went to live in China for a short while. I heard the testimonies of many Chinese Christians there, how they were constantly persecuted by the Chinese government and how they continued to fervently worship God in secret. The testimonies of these Christians really encouraged me to stand up for Christ and spread the gospel to my friends and others who have never heard the gospel. For my friends, it would mean praying to God for guidance, finding time to sit down with my friend and telling the gospel one to one. As I grew older, I learnt how to defend my faith based on the Bible and how to explain to my friends why other faiths are false and why the Bible is true. For example, many religions now believe that works can bring them to heaven, but for us Christians, we know that our works are like filthy rags to God, and because of God’s holiness, whatever we do cannot bring us to heaven and the soul that sins will surely die.

I believe that we can only go to heaven through Jesus Christ, who is God’s Son, who came down to earth to die on the cross for our sins, who was raised by God on the third day and ascended to heaven and is coming back for us again. When Jesus died on the cross, our sins, past, present, future, are all forgiven if we only believe in Him to save us. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.” Tan Xin Yuan

I Am Very Sure of My Faith

I was born into a Christian home. As far as I can remember, every Sunday I would go to church with my parents and brother and attend Children’s Sunday School. During Sunday School, I would just listen to God’s Word and listen and sing hymns. I would also go for the Vacation Bible School (VBS) and Church Camp and attend the Children’s Sunday School. I listened to many stories from the Bible but most of the times, I did not understand and I just followed what everyone did. My parents would also teach me the word of God and pray for me.

As I slowly grew older, I slowly understood the true meaning of the stories from the Bible and also the meaning of some hymns. Very soon, I was in Primary Six and was preparing for my Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). Life began to be very busy for me and I couldn’t catch up with my work. Because of my busy schedule, I started not doing my Quiet Time so frequently, and soon it was time for the actual exam. I did my papers and finished my PSLE. I waited for my results. When my results came out, I was disappointed. It was lower than my expectations and my parents too. I realised that that was God’s way of punishing me for not staying close to Him. I repented and went on to choose my Secondary School, this time praying and asking God to help me with my choice of schools. I chose my six choices and submitted them and left the rest to God.

In December, my mum signed me and my brother up for the YPF Camp 2013. The topic was “Watch and Be Sober”. During the camp, I learnt many things from Pastor and realised that Christ would come back anytime, maybe today. Uncle Clement also taught on the importance of Quiet Time. That was when I decided to reaffirm my faith as I was very sure of my faith.

The day I returned home from the YPF Camp was the day I was informed of my school posting. I got into my second choice school but I really wanted to go to my first choice. I appealed to that school, but there were many other people appealing to that school and with my marks, it was quite hard to get in. I prayed and told myself that whether I got accepted into the school or not, it is God’s will for me to be in the school. One day, my mum got a call saying that I got accepted into the school. I was so happy and after that I thanked God! My mum went to do the paperwork for me and everything was done by the end of that day. God is so merciful towards us and I was very very sure I wanted to reaffirm my faith as I was baptised as a baby. Romans 10:9 – “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Praise God! Trina Ng