HIM PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE: PASTOR SIMON ENG
Hi HIM family! It’s great to be able to connect once again.
I want to share my heart with you in this year-end message. It is so fast that the year is about to close; 2014 is ending. I would like to share with you just two thoughts on what I have learnt.
Connecting with God
The first thought is connecting with God; having personal time to just seek the heart of God. You know, many times in ministry and through our years of experience as a leader, as a pastor, we may very easily do things out of habit, we may easily do things out of familiarity. But I think it is important for us to have a personal and close relationship with God, to build time with God. It is important for us to hear the heartbeat of God, it is important for us to hear what is the heart message from God – rather than our own thinking, rather than our own ability to generate things.
I find that when I connect closely with God and I am able to hear the heartbeat of God, I am transformed – my heart is softened, it enables me to respond to God and to people according to the heart of God.
Sometimes in ministry, our hearts can get hardened because we are so used to responding in our typical manner and we are familiar with just giving the typical answer as well. I would like to encourage every one of us as we end the year and as we build towards next year, to have that personal time with God. I do it sometimes in the late evening, I do it sometimes in early morning – just to be on my knees, to just still my mind, still my heart and connect with God. I think it is wonderful for me to do that and I derive a lot of joy, a lot of peace as a result of connecting with God.
Connecting with Family
The second area that I would like to encourage us in our HIM family is connecting with family – your actual family members. It could be your spouse, it could your children. I have my spouse Lai Eng, of course, and then we have our three children who are grown adults and also late teens. Over the years of ministry, I have been so busy that I have taken family for granted. They have perhaps put up with me: they have indeed sacrificed their time, their hours. But you know, with our children grown and working and in university, I have this time to connect with Lai Eng. Over the years, we have been busy doing individual things. Now, we have time to do things together, to think about church and ministry and family and personal connection together. It is a new thing that I’ve had to re-learn because I have taken time with her for granted; likewise with our children. You know with grown children, they have their own set of mind and thinking; they have their own set of values, and they have their own set of life activities as well. If I don’t make that time to connect, the family grows up and it grows apart. The children have their own things, they have their own life...
I find that it is valuable for me to be able to say, “Hey, let’s do family things together, let’s connect to intentionally be able to do family time together.” I feel by that, I’m able to bring the family closer together, we’re enjoying family time together and it makes family more meaningful as well.
Well, as we come to the end of the year, these are the two exhortations I would leave with you. Besides seeking God for new direction, besides evaluating etc., I think personal time to connect with God is great. Personal time and spending time with your family is great. I highly recommend to each one of us to carve out time, space and room in our hearts to do that.
God bless you. God is doing a tremendous work throughout our family. We approach the end of the year with great faith, with great expectation – there’s more to come in the new year. God bless you all. Amen.
Pastor Simon Eng
HIM President
www.byhim.org
I want to share my heart with you in this year-end message. It is so fast that the year is about to close; 2014 is ending. I would like to share with you just two thoughts on what I have learnt.
Connecting with God
The first thought is connecting with God; having personal time to just seek the heart of God. You know, many times in ministry and through our years of experience as a leader, as a pastor, we may very easily do things out of habit, we may easily do things out of familiarity. But I think it is important for us to have a personal and close relationship with God, to build time with God. It is important for us to hear the heartbeat of God, it is important for us to hear what is the heart message from God – rather than our own thinking, rather than our own ability to generate things.
I find that when I connect closely with God and I am able to hear the heartbeat of God, I am transformed – my heart is softened, it enables me to respond to God and to people according to the heart of God.
Sometimes in ministry, our hearts can get hardened because we are so used to responding in our typical manner and we are familiar with just giving the typical answer as well. I would like to encourage every one of us as we end the year and as we build towards next year, to have that personal time with God. I do it sometimes in the late evening, I do it sometimes in early morning – just to be on my knees, to just still my mind, still my heart and connect with God. I think it is wonderful for me to do that and I derive a lot of joy, a lot of peace as a result of connecting with God.
Connecting with Family
The second area that I would like to encourage us in our HIM family is connecting with family – your actual family members. It could be your spouse, it could your children. I have my spouse Lai Eng, of course, and then we have our three children who are grown adults and also late teens. Over the years of ministry, I have been so busy that I have taken family for granted. They have perhaps put up with me: they have indeed sacrificed their time, their hours. But you know, with our children grown and working and in university, I have this time to connect with Lai Eng. Over the years, we have been busy doing individual things. Now, we have time to do things together, to think about church and ministry and family and personal connection together. It is a new thing that I’ve had to re-learn because I have taken time with her for granted; likewise with our children. You know with grown children, they have their own set of mind and thinking; they have their own set of values, and they have their own set of life activities as well. If I don’t make that time to connect, the family grows up and it grows apart. The children have their own things, they have their own life...
I find that it is valuable for me to be able to say, “Hey, let’s do family things together, let’s connect to intentionally be able to do family time together.” I feel by that, I’m able to bring the family closer together, we’re enjoying family time together and it makes family more meaningful as well.
Well, as we come to the end of the year, these are the two exhortations I would leave with you. Besides seeking God for new direction, besides evaluating etc., I think personal time to connect with God is great. Personal time and spending time with your family is great. I highly recommend to each one of us to carve out time, space and room in our hearts to do that.
God bless you. God is doing a tremendous work throughout our family. We approach the end of the year with great faith, with great expectation – there’s more to come in the new year. God bless you all. Amen.
Pastor Simon Eng
HIM President
www.byhim.org
