ICS Daily Devotions
Walking in the Will of God (Pastor Daniel Ho’s Testimony)
Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV) “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
When I was sixteen, I was given an opportunity to preach in Mandarin during a missions trip to Northern Thailand. The elder of the church saw and heard me minister in Mandarin and suggested that I attend Bible seminary after serving my national service in Singapore. Even though I knew that I had a calling to fulltime ministry, I turned down the offer because the study allowance wouldn’t allow me to support my parents. I started to work as a professional at the age of 25. I forgot all about my calling until I was posted to the United Kingdom for a skills upgrade program. It was during a short winter break when I attended a Christian conference in Sweden that God reminded me about my calling to be a fulltime minister. The thing about God’s calling is that you can run, but you cannot hide from God. “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29 NKJV) The individual who has a call to serve God fulltime will be miserable if he does not respond.
Upon my return to Singapore from the UK, I quit my job and applied to study in Sweden with my wife, Doreen. I had the desire to become an evangelist after my theological studies because I didn’t want to be a pastor. I wanted to travel and preach the gospel in third-world countries, see people respond to altar calls, get saved and witness signs and wonders. I felt that it would be burdensome to be a pastor, having to love and care for the flock, listen to their problems and be on call 24 hours a day. However, God had other plans, and it was not for me to travel around the world as an evangelist, although by then I had preaching assignments from New Zealand to Norway to St. Petersburg, Russia. Little did I realize then that the Lord had given me the gift to pioneer and break new ground for Him.
I was assigned to a denominational church to help pioneer a Mandarin ministry with approximately forty (mostly elderly) people and also to direct the entire outreach to the community. We had a family service center, kindergarten and after-school care. Initially, I was resistant because I was not very conversant in Mandarin. Nevertheless, I submitted after praying the prayer of consecration and knew that it was the Lord’s plan for me. In time, and despite my poor Mandarin, people started getting saved weekly and the ministry grew into a vibrant Mandarin fellowship. God provided very good teams to work with me from different ministries and these ministries still exist today! That is the grace that He will provide when we are walking in His will. This calling in Singapore lasted for six years, then the Lord gave me my next assignment, this time to Shanghai.
Truly, if God opens the door, then nobody is able to shut it. Doreen and I sought God’s face, He spoke to both of us very clearly before we took the leap of faith to come to Shanghai. Now all of a sudden, I had to preach in English. Nevertheless, we submitted to God’s plan and will to plant and develop the International Church of Shanghai. Most international churches are not pastored by Singaporeans, but the Lord made it happen.
ICS started as a small group of twelve people. The authorities gave us permission to hold our services in a local three-star hotel for foreign passport holders only. The Lord provided us with people from different backgrounds, with different gifts and talents for our ministries. We launched our first service in 2008. I preached simple and practical messages to a diverse, multicultural and international congregation. Ensuring that the sermon was balanced and acceptable to everyone present was like walking on a tight rope on a weekly basis. But God did the rest of the work; He caused ICS to grow and prosper to what it is today. It is a pioneering work that God had called my wife and I to do. I thought I had wanted to be an evangelist, but this has taught me to say to God, “Not my will be done, but Your will be done, O Lord, till the day I die”. I do not struggle with my gifts and calling, and neither do I feel insecure or inferior to those with different gifts and callings. My greatest desire is to walk in the center of God’s will, plan and purpose for my life.
The wonderful thing about living the consecrated life that is wholly surrendered to the Lord is that it is a brisk walk of faith. I am completely dependent upon Him: for good people to support the work of the ministry, for financial provision, for men of peace while working with the leadership of the church and with different government bodies. There is an absence of strife in the church. I am absolutely secure in Jesus Christ, I only want to be the person who God has uniquely created and called me to be. It is an exciting journey when we are yoked with God and walking in His calling, He helps us to be resilient during the “storms of life”.
Sermon Series: Resilience (Part 3)
