It's A Boy!

A couple of days after my wife and I took over the operation of an ice cream shop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, we noticed that nightly, there were about twenty street children sleeping at the corridor outside our shop. Many of these street children were orphans and all had become street-wise. They lived by scavenging, stealing and prostituting themselves. Our Toyota, which was parked in front of the shop, soon had its mirrors, hubcaps and side rubber strips stolen. After losing the mirrors for the third time, I decided to duct-tape a fifty-cent Chinese-made mirror as my side mirror. The mirror was never stolen because these children were too smart to steal a cheap mirror.
Some of these street children were as young as five. Many ate from the garbage dumps when they could not steal food. The diseased and death rate among them were high. When the monsoon season arrived, it was devastating for these children. With nothing, except some discarded cardboards to protect them from the ravages of the elements, the children would huddle together to keep warm.
Every night, when the children congregated to sleep in front of our shop, my wife and I would serve them with warm food and beverages. We treated the sick ones with over-the-counter medicine and for the more serious cases, we brought them to the clinics. As the words spread about these free meals, more and more children started to turn up at our door.
One evening, while I was praying for these children, God showed me a vision of an orphanage. It was in my mind’s eye that I saw the orphanage filled with hundreds of happy orphans. This vision was in line with the vision that God had given to my wife before we came to Cambodia. As this vision caught hold of my heart, it became a driving force within me.
My wife and I began to share this vision with some of our business friends and customers. Quite a few promised us their support. God also sent us volunteers who were willing to work with these children. Within a few weeks after the catching the vision, we rented and fitted a 3-storey building into an orphanage. We named it “Bukmak Kumphrey”, which means “Little Friends” in the Khmer language.
Along with a few volunteers, we gathered the street children, photographed and registered them. We then took them to the new orphanage in a convoy of tricycle taxis known as “cyclos”. The orphanage began to grow in size as more street children found their way there.
These children were given an education and also taught some skills like carpentry, dressmaking, motorcycle repair, hair dressing etc. We had to train them so that they could earn a living when they grew up. That was in 1994 and today, this orphanage is under the care of our good friends, Sebastian and his wife, Barbara, and the ministry has grown from one center into five. These five centers are now serving more than 1,000 Cambodian underprivileged children. Some years later, we were to help set up two more Cambodian orphanages with two Christian organizations.

Internalizing The Vision
All these were possible only because of the power of visualization. My wife and I had to receive the vision of God before it could become a reality. Nothing will happen outside of us until it happens inside us. The vision must be internalized before it can be actualized. We must recognize that when God gives a vision, He intends to be a part of that vision. When we launched those orphanages, we did not have much money or manpower. There was no guarantee of regular donation to pay the bills. We had to trust God to provide for those hungry children. When God gave us the power to visualize His vision, He also gave us the faith to activate it.
God has been using visualization to lead and direct His people for a very long time. In 1992, I wrote a book entitled, “Seven Keys of Success” and one of the keys mentioned was the “Key of Visualization”. Here is the updated extract from that chapter.

Abraham – The Father of Many
When old Abram changed his name to Abraham, everybody thought it was funny. Here was an old man whose name used to mean “Exalted” but it was changed to mean “Father of Many”. All he had was a son born through a maid and now, at the age of ninety-nine, he claimed that God was going to give him a son of promise through his old wife, Sarah. The fact of nature was against him – how many ninety-nine years old men could produce offspring… especially with an old woman? However, God helped Abraham’s faith by giving him more than a verbal promise – He provided him with the power of visualization.
Initially, God asked Abraham to visualize the sands as his descendents (Genesis 13:16). Abraham was the last person on earth to be enthusiastic at the sight of sands. He was living in a place where there were sands everywhere. He had sands in his mouth, sands in his food, sands in the folds of his clothes, and he was plain tired of sands. The soldiers in the Iraq war would be able to identify with him.
However, with this renewed vision, old Abraham became different. Every morning, when he saw the sands, his faith soared. He did not see just the physical sands, he saw what the sands represented - the promises of God. In the night, when he lay down to rest, he could see the stars from the opening of his tent. Once again, he became excited as he visualized the thousands of stars as his descendents. Therefore the old man did not only become excited in the day but also in the night. That was how God strengthened Abraham’s faith by the power of visualization.

How Do You See Yourself?
Another incident in the Bible that proves the importance of visualization is found in Numbers 13:31-33. God had asked Moses to send twelve spies into Canaan. We read that ten of those spies came back with negative reports. They influenced the Children of Israel against possessing the Promised Land by showing them a very negative picture. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there were of great size. We saw the Nephilim (giants) there (the descendents of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them” (italics mine).
Talking about exaggeration - these spies had a way of painting the bleakest picture of the situation. Did you notice what they saw internally? They said, “We seemed like grasshoppers in OUR OWN EYES.” They had internalized a vision of fear instead of a vision of faith. They saw themselves as grasshoppers instead giant-killers. In their minds, the giants had become larger and stronger than God.
Two other spies, Joshua and Caleb, saw a different picture and disagreed with them. They had faith in their God while the other ten spies had faith in the giants. The damage done by the ten negative spies was evident. The Israelites lost courage and wanted to return to Egypt. They did not realize how much effort God had made to get them out of the slavery in Egypt. God may have taken them out of Egypt but He could not take Egypt out of them. That is quite similar with some Christians. Even God has taken them out of sin but they still have sin in their hearts. When they become unhappy with the church, they want to return to the world and the slavery of sin.
The Children of Israel were even willing to commit murder in order to get their way. They picked up rocks to stone Moses, Aaron and the two positive spies. That night, God could not put up with their faithless action any more and He intervened. He came down and judged them. If He could not convince the Israelites in forty days that His promise was valid, then He would be forced to convince them in forty years. For the next forty years, the Israelites wandered aimlessly in the wilderness. The tragic result of the Israelites’ decision serves as a lesson for us. Some of us are still going round and round in an aimless journey because we have faith in the giants of our life. We need to switch our allegiance and start building up our faith in God. When we trust the Lord completely, we will not need to spend many wasted years doing things that are of little value.

Using What You Have
The most tragic lives belong to those who do not know how to develop their God-given vision. Train yourself to observe the “truth” rather than the “fact”, the “promises of God” rather than the “obstacles of the situation”. You will soon learn the skill of seeing positive things in adversities, advantages in disadvantages and riches in poverty. Every worthwhile vision will bring with it some form of obstacles. You will overcome these obstacles when you stop looking at what you do not have and start praising God for what you have. Do not stare long at the closed door because you might miss looking at the open door.
Helen Keller inspires me much with her writing. In spite of the fact that she was blind and deaf, she possessed the right attitude and saw the right vision that made her life into such an overwhelming blessing for millions of readers. Here is a simple but powerful poem that she wrote about the right vision:
They took away what should have been my eyes,
(But I remember Milton’s Paradise).
They took away what should have been my ears,
(Beethoven came and wiped away my tears).
They took away what should have been my tongue,
(But I talked to God when I was young).
He would not let them take away my soul,
(Possessing that I still possess the whole).
Are you having a right vision of yourself today? Are you having faith in God or faith in the giants? Learn to climb behind the eyeballs of God and see as He sees you. You are not a loser but created NOT only to be a conqueror but MORE than a conqueror – “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). See yourself as a victor and not a victim. You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength (Philippians 4:13). May I challenge you today to fulfill God’s vision for you and become a success in Him. Start activating that vision now. God bless!

For the rest of Pastor Albert’s articles, please visit his Web Page: http://www.praize.com/ministries/pastorkang/
If you enjoy reading this E-Bulletin, please share it with your friends.
If you like them to be on our mailing list, please send us their email addresses
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Reprint Permission
Although this material is subject to copyright, please feel free to reprint this E-Bulletin, in whole or in part, in your church publication, use them in training, presentations, or wherever you feel they would be of benefit to the kingdom of God. This also holds true for members of the media. All we ask is that you use the following credit line:
Reprinted with permission from Pastor Albert Kang’s E-Bulletin – Weekly Thought.

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	The Power of Visualization
	By Rev Albert Kang A couple of days after my wife and I took over the operation of an ice cream shop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, we noticed that nightly, there were about twenty street children sleeping at the corridor outside our shop. Many of these street children were orphans and all had become street-wise. They lived by scavenging, stealing and prostituting themselves. Our Toyota, which was parked in front of the shop, soon had its mirrors, hubcaps and side rubber strips stolen. After losing the mirrors for the third time, I decided to duct-tape a fifty-cent Chinese-made mirror as my side mirror. The mirror was never stolen because these children were too smart to steal a cheap mirror. Some of these street children were as young as five. Many ate from the garbage dumps when they could not steal food. The diseased and death rate among them were high. When the monsoon season arrived, it was devastating for these children. With nothing, except some discarded cardboards to protect them from the ravages of the elements, the children would huddle together to keep warm. Every night, when the children congregated to sleep in front of our shop, my wife and I would serve them with warm food and beverages. We treated the sick ones with over-the-counter medicine and for the more serious cases, we brought them to the clinics. As the words spread about these free meals, more and more children started to turn up at our door. One evening, while I was praying for these children, God showed me a vision of an orphanage. It was in my mind’s eye that I saw the orphanage filled with hundreds of happy orphans. This vision was in line with the vision that God had given to my wife before we came to Cambodia. As this vision caught hold of my heart, it became a driving force within me. My wife and I began to share this vision with some of our business friends and customers. Quite a few promised us their support. God also sent us volunteers who were willing to work with these children. Within a few weeks after the catching the vision, we rented and fitted a 3-storey building into an orphanage. We named it “Bukmak Kumphrey”, which means “Little Friends” in the Khmer language. Along with a few volunteers, we gathered the street children, photographed and registered them. We then took them to the new orphanage in a convoy of tricycle taxis known as “cyclos”. The orphanage began to grow in size as more street children found their way there. These children were given an education and also taught some skills like carpentry, dressmaking, motorcycle repair, hair dressing etc. We had to train them so that they could earn a living when they grew up. That was in 1994 and today, this orphanage is under the care of our good friends, Sebastian and his wife, Barbara, and the ministry has grown from one center into five. These five centers are now serving more than 1,000 Cambodian underprivileged children. Some years later, we were to help set up two more Cambodian orphanages with two Christian organizations. Internalizing The Vision All these were possible only because of the power of visualization. My wife and I had to receive the vision of God before it could become a reality. Nothing will happen outside of us until it happens inside us. The vision must be internalized before it can be actualized. We must recognize that when God gives a vision, He intends to be a part of that vision. When we launched those orphanages, we did not have much money or manpower. There was no guarantee of regular donation to pay the bills. We had to trust God to provide for those hungry children. When God gave us the power to visualize His vision, He also gave us the faith to activate it. God has been using visualization to lead and direct His people for a very long time. In 1992, I wrote a book entitled, “Seven Keys of Success” and one of the keys mentioned was the “Key of Visualization”. Here is the updated extract from that chapter. Abraham – The Father of Many When old Abram changed his name to Abraham, everybody thought it was funny. Here was an old man whose name used to mean “Exalted” but it was changed to mean “Father of Many”. All he had was a son born through a maid and now, at the age of ninety-nine, he claimed that God was going to give him a son of promise through his old wife, Sarah. The fact of nature was against him – how many ninety-nine years old men could produce offspring… especially with an old woman? However, God helped Abraham’s faith by giving him more than a verbal promise – He provided him with the power of visualization. Initially, God asked Abraham to visualize the sands as his descendents (Genesis 13:16). Abraham was the last person on earth to be enthusiastic at the sight of sands. He was living in a place where there were sands everywhere. He had sands in his mouth, sands in his food, sands in the folds of his clothes, and he was plain tired of sands. The soldiers in the Iraq war would be able to identify with him. However, with this renewed vision, old Abraham became different. Every morning, when he saw the sands, his faith soared. He did not see just the physical sands, he saw what the sands represented - the promises of God. In the night, when he lay down to rest, he could see the stars from the opening of his tent. Once again, he became excited as he visualized the thousands of stars as his descendents. Therefore the old man did not only become excited in the day but also in the night. That was how God strengthened Abraham’s faith by the power of visualization. How Do You See Yourself? Another incident in the Bible that proves the importance of visualization is found in Numbers 13:31-33. God had asked Moses to send twelve spies into Canaan. We read that ten of those spies came back with negative reports. They influenced the Children of Israel against possessing the Promised Land by showing them a very negative picture. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there were of great size. We saw the Nephilim (giants) there (the descendents of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them” (italics mine). Talking about exaggeration - these spies had a way of painting the bleakest picture of the situation. Did you notice what they saw internally? They said, “We seemed like grasshoppers in OUR OWN EYES.” They had internalized a vision of fear instead of a vision of faith. They saw themselves as grasshoppers instead giant-killers. In their minds, the giants had become larger and stronger than God. Two other spies, Joshua and Caleb, saw a different picture and disagreed with them. They had faith in their God while the other ten spies had faith in the giants. The damage done by the ten negative spies was evident. The Israelites lost courage and wanted to return to Egypt. They did not realize how much effort God had made to get them out of the slavery in Egypt. God may have taken them out of Egypt but He could not take Egypt out of them. That is quite similar with some Christians. Even God has taken them out of sin but they still have sin in their hearts. When they become unhappy with the church, they want to return to the world and the slavery of sin. The Children of Israel were even willing to commit murder in order to get their way. They picked up rocks to stone Moses, Aaron and the two positive spies. That night, God could not put up with their faithless action any more and He intervened. He came down and judged them. If He could not convince the Israelites in forty days that His promise was valid, then He would be forced to convince them in forty years. For the next forty years, the Israelites wandered aimlessly in the wilderness. The tragic result of the Israelites’ decision serves as a lesson for us. Some of us are still going round and round in an aimless journey because we have faith in the giants of our life. We need to switch our allegiance and start building up our faith in God. When we trust the Lord completely, we will not need to spend many wasted years doing things that are of little value. Using What You Have The most tragic lives belong to those who do not know how to develop their God-given vision. Train yourself to observe the “truth” rather than the “fact”, the “promises of God” rather than the “obstacles of the situation”. You will soon learn the skill of seeing positive things in adversities, advantages in disadvantages and riches in poverty. Every worthwhile vision will bring with it some form of obstacles. You will overcome these obstacles when you stop looking at what you do not have and start praising God for what you have. Do not stare long at the closed door because you might miss looking at the open door. Helen Keller inspires me much with her writing. In spite of the fact that she was blind and deaf, she possessed the right attitude and saw the right vision that made her life into such an overwhelming blessing for millions of readers. Here is a simple but powerful poem that she wrote about the right vision: They took away what should have been my eyes, (But I remember Milton’s Paradise). They took away what should have been my ears, (Beethoven came and wiped away my tears). They took away what should have been my tongue, (But I talked to God when I was young). He would not let them take away my soul, (Possessing that I still possess the whole). Are you having a right vision of yourself today? Are you having faith in God or faith in the giants? Learn to climb behind the eyeballs of God and see as He sees you. You are not a loser but created NOT only to be a conqueror but MORE than a conqueror – “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). See yourself as a victor and not a victim. You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength (Philippians 4:13). May I challenge you today to fulfill God’s vision for you and become a success in Him. Start activating that vision now. God bless! For the rest of Pastor Albert’s articles, please visit his Web Page: http://www.praize.com/ministries/pastorkang/ If you enjoy reading this E-Bulletin, please share it with your friends. If you like them to be on our mailing list, please send us their email addresses to albertkang7000@yahoo.com or livingwordsg@yahoo.com.sg Got a question for Pastor Albert? Wish to comment on this E-Bulletin? Just feel free to email Pastor Albert at to albertkang7000@yahoo.com or livingwordsg@yahoo.com.sg Reprint Permission Although this material is subject to copyright, please feel free to reprint this E-Bulletin, in whole or in part, in your church publication, use them in training, presentations, or wherever you feel they would be of benefit to the kingdom of God. This also holds true for members of the media. All we ask is that you use the following credit line: Reprinted with permission from Pastor Albert Kang’s E-Bulletin – Weekly Thought. To be placed on our mailing list, please email: albertkang7000@yahoo.com or livingwordsg@yahoo.com.sg To unsubscribe, please email: to albertkang7000@yahoo.com or livingwordsg@yahoo.com.sg and please type, “unsubscribe” in subject box.