My Camp Ohana Testimonial

Praise the Lord! Camp Ohana was truly an extraordinary camp set apart for Godly purposes.

Hi, I’m Boon Bing, the worship steward with Priscilla. I would like to share the goodness of God and how this camp had such an impact on me.

The world sees responsibility as an agenda and work of strategies only – Many a times I have been like this too. Yet as I was given this opportunity to lead worship, God spoke to me. I felt that this is more than an agenda and work of strategies. It is also about serving and expecting. As I continued to prepare myself, God dealt with me in becoming an empty vessel to be used by Him and prompted me to change doubt into expectancy (faith). I was brought to two verses, which I used to mediate upon and prepare myself. Meanwhile, God continued to prompt me to use these two verses as an effective prayer o just like the Jabez prayer.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” – 2 Timothy 1:7

“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” – Galatians 5:18 (also read Galatians 5 to mediate)

Day 1 (Learn to Please God):
I was grouped under Quan Wei (Group 3) and I must really thank him for being so understanding and funny. Whenever I felt tired or stressed, I experienced such family-togetherness in my group, which gave me strength to carry-on. There was a guy who was introverted and quiet at times, yet Quan Wei’s unconditional and fatherly love shown to him motivated me to learn more about his motivation to love the way God called us to love.

At the night session, Pastor Lawrence preached about learning to please God with the PHD (Pacesetter, History-Maker, Disciple-maker) concept. God not only wants to hear our pleas but also our faith prayers and what we specifically want from Him. I asked God to lead me by the spirit and to be sensitive to Him. As Pastor advised us to review our goals and measure how far we are to success, I started to visualize Livingstones worshipping God as one family. And I told God that I am ready to be used to lead His people to worship Him.

Furthermore, Pastor spoke about reaching out to make disciplemakers. God showed me a vision of a person sitting on the sofa and watching news on TV. Soon, I realized that the person is in fact me. God showed me His compassion for the people around us, yet my fire for Him was not pushing me enough out of my comfort zone. Again, I was reminded that it is up to me to stand up and step out of this zone. As I shared this with Junming, Clarence and Andrew, they prayed for me and I felt a stirring inside me to press on.

The night worship at the beach was truly a miraculous worship. During the debriefing, Pastor told us the story of the miraculous voice of Jesus even as He called out to Simon Peter in deep water from the shore. Similarly, I felt that my voice was too soft. Yet he said that my voice was audible from the back even without shouting. I believe this is just one story of how God moved that night. For me, God emptied my heart that night and for the first time, my heart, mind and soul were totally empty as I worshipped Him. It was a break-through for me as I always had to force myself to clear my mind to worship Him. This time, it came naturally.

Day 2 (Love to Please God):
After jogging to the beach before sunrise, we had solitude and God showed me a vision after bringing me to re-mediate on Galatians 5. The vision was an open heaven with chariots of horsemen literally pouring down on us. I prayed for engagement with the Spirit.

The first all-male session was on knowing the difference between a ‘Godly’ man and a ‘Worldly’ man. Though us guys may know how to be Godly males, not all of us are working towards it. That is why we have to be accountable to our spiritual fathers to be mentored and watched over. As males, we have to live a life of manhood and service to the sisters.

During the evening worship, I was prompted to pray for some of the people present. One of them is someone with a pain in his/her bone at the lower body. And the other were people with financial problems, whom God wants to touch with His love. By faith, I asked these people to raise their hands and I prayed for them. I prayed for faith to arise in them to receive this love: love of healing and freedom from financial bondage. I spoke the renewal of the liberty we have in Christ as mentioned in Galatians 5:1. Indeed, I was affirmed when I saw people raise their hands in response although it was my first time doing something like this. (For those in this category, continue to pray in faith and review the miracles of God by testifying before your family)

In the afternoon, I had a great time of fellowship with my group through the games we played and the fun we had, especially throwing water-bombs at Pastor and Kelvin, our camp commandant.

The all-male session at night was the climax of day two where Alvin spoke on giving up all our sins, pleasures and desires to God. As guys, we may look strong on the outside, but buckle inside due to lustful desires. That is why we need God and His protection from the evil one. I decided to confess and give up my all to God to discourage any foothold of the evil one. In return, I felt His love pouring into me. After pastor prayed for me, I felt like crying and as soon as I realized, my eyes were flowing with tears. The words that Alvin released from the Bible came to me hard and strong.

“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words” – Isaiah 58:13
“Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with heritage of Jacob your father” – Psalm 37:4

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart” – Isaiah 58:14

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” – James 4:10

Day 3 (Live to Please God):
Pastor released us two by two into the streets to evangelize. As according to Luke 10 principles, evangelizing begins with blessing, followed by fellowship, meeting felt needs and then sharing of the gospel and not the other way round.

My group went to the cable car and Carlsberg Tower. My partner was Sky. Though we met many ppl who didn’t wanted to talk to us, we still encountered a few people open to our sharing. I met a group of NUS engineering students consisting of a Christian, Muslim, Taoist, Buddhist and an atheist. We chatted about the stress and hectic lifestyles of youths today. Though time did not permit me to speak more to them, I was given the chance to pray for them and bless them with the cards. Through this, I realized that there are still many ppl around us who need God. Faith to believe and boldness in actions must be put into practice as we make reaching out to others a lifestyle.

Conclusion:
The camp for me was filled with spirit and vision just like the prophet Daniel in the Bible. As we ended the camp, I left in my heart to continuously learn, love and live to please God. I was reminded of the book ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ which mentioned that God created us to be a part of the family in order to worship and please Him. By doing so, we are no longer His servants but rather, His children who know the Father’s plans and will carry His burden to save the lost.

“Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Chris” – 1 Thessalonians 1:3

“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” – Galatians 5:13

I hope that my testimony has encouraged you, the reader. Let us spur one another for God and to reach out. Thanks to the camp committee and all present at the camp for making this camp possible. And thank God for being present which really mattered the most.

“Lord I pray that Christ will dwell in our hearts through faith; that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend and know the love of Christ; that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. In Jesus name, Amen.”

Written by:
Boon Bing, Dennis
(Alvin’s 12)