Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Pray for Malaysia

We need to pray without ceasing for Malaysia because prayer can move mountains. When people pray, God moves. God responds to our prayers. Often , we are waiting for God to move. But God will not move until His people pray. As the lyrics in Ng Wah Lok’s song espouse: "… every time I pray I move the hands of God, my prayer does the things my hands cannot do." This is a powerful phrase expressing how God can respond to our prayers and move His mighty hand on our behalf.

Psalm 33:18 says "Behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope on His mercy." It is always comforting to know that someone watches over us. When we pray, God watches over us.

Pray, and we’ll see God’s will done in our country. May the Lord intervene in the issues that we are facing in this nation. We indeed need divine intervention.


EVERY TIME I PRAY

Verse 1:
I will come to You in prayer
I will seek Your face
I will stand within the gap
There will I intercede

Chorus:
For every time I pray
I move the hand of God
My prayer does the things
My hands cannot do
For every time I pray
The mountains are removed
The paths are made straight
And nations turn to You

Verse 2:
I am weak and helpless Lord
You, my strength shall be
Guide me with Your gracious hand
There will my victory be

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Remember Japan in Your Prayer

On Friday 11th March 2011 Japan was struck by a massive earthquake of 8.9 magnitude which was later upgraded to 9.0. This created a tsunami with waves traveling at 500mph. These two phenomena alone caused massive damage. Ongoing aftershocks have numbered more than 150, one of those being of 7.0 magnitude.

The final death toll is expected to reach more than 10,000. On top of all these challenges, the crisis with their nuclear reactor is also affecting the nation badly.

What can we do? Well we can do something. We can pray for Japan. The least we can do for those who are suffering in Japan right now is to remember them in our prayers

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Father in heaven, you are the absolute Sovereign over the shaking of the earth, the rising of the sea, and the raging of the waves. We tremble at your power and bow before your unsearchable judgments and inscrutable ways. We cover our faces and kiss your omnipotent hand. We fall helpless to the floor in prayer and feel how fragile the very ground is beneath our knees.

O God, we humble ourselves under your holy majesty and repent. In a moment—in the twinkling of an eye—we too could be swept away. We are not more deserving of firm ground than our fellowmen in Japan. We too are flesh. We have bodies and homes and cars and family and precious places. We know that if we were treated according to our sins, who could stand? All of it would be gone in a moment. So in this dark hour we turn against our sins, not against you.

And we cry for mercy for Japan. Mercy, Father. Not for what they or we deserve. But mercy.

Have you not encouraged us in this? Have we not heard a hundred times in your Word the riches of your kindness, forbearance, and patience? Do you not a thousand times withhold your judgments, leading your rebellious world toward repentance? Yes, Lord. For your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts.

Grant, O God, that the wicked will forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Grant us, your sinful creatures, to return to you, that you may have compassion. For surely you will abundantly pardon. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, your beloved Son, will be saved.

May every heart-breaking loss—millions upon millions of losses—be healed by the wounded hands of the risen Christ. You are not unacquainted with your creatures' pain. You did not spare your own Son, but gave him up for us all.

In Jesus you tasted loss. In Jesus you shared the overwhelming flood of our sorrows and suffering. In Jesus you are a sympathetic Priest in the midst of our pain.

Deal tenderly now, Father, with this fragile people. Woo them. Win them. Save them.

And may the floods they so much dread make blessings break upon their head.

O let them not judge you with feeble sense, but trust you for your grace. And so behind this providence, soon find a smiling face.

In Jesus’ merciful name, Amen.

Note: A Prayer adapted from http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/a-prayer-for-japan

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Salt Shaker Syndrome

Salt is a necessity in life and is a mineral that was used since ancient times in many cultures as a seasoning, a preservative, a disinfectant, a component of ceremonial offerings, and as a unit of exchange. The Bible contains numerous references to salt. In the Gospel, we are given a mandate to be salt of the earth. Jesus says in Matthew 5:13 - “You are the salt of the earth.”

One of the purpose of salt is to add flavor. Salt by itself is useless. It needs to be mixed with something else in order to demonstrate its purpose. E.g. Salt becomes useful only when it’s mixed with the curry. Likewise we become useful only when we flavor the world with the love of Christ.

We need to ask ourselves today whether we are living up to our role as the salt of the earth. Well, we can perform all our Christian duties i.e. - faithfully attend church, faithfully attend prayer meeting, live a holy life, and give towards mission and so on. But yet, we can keep ourselves within the four walls of the church. I call this “The Salt in the Salt Shaker” Syndrome”.

Instead of fulfilling our God given mandate to be salt of the earth, we live in comfort inside the Salt Shaker. From time to time, we are given some “nice shaking” through Sunday sermons and other form of messages. We lift up our hands in worship, we smile, we rejoice and we celebrate but all within the boundary of the “Salt Shaker”. Whenever we are encouraged and challenged to come out of the Salt Shaker, we give hundred and one reasons why we should stay inside the Salt Shaker and can’t come out of it. Sometimes we attend Mission Conference or Evangelistic meeting and we get ourselves “puffed up". But the “good feeling” only last for a friction of time and we go back into our comfort position inside the salt shaker and hide ourselves from the world.

Well I got some news for all of us today. Salt that refuse to come out of the salt shaker will eventually become harden and useless. Its ultimate purpose and existence will be wasted. So we must ask ourselves: Are we functioning as salt in our society? Are we adding flavor to this world with the love of Jesus Christ? In John 7:37, Jesus declared at the Feast, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." It is the church's business to produce in the hearts of unbelievers the “taste” of salvation in the Lord. Psalms 34:8 says “O taste and see that the Lord is good”.

My prayer is that we would leave the comfort living inside the “Salt Shaker” and go out to fulfill the mandate given to us. Stop playing church. Start serving the Master today. Be the salt of the earth as Jesus commanded. It means getting out of your comfort zone and start adding flavors of the love of Christ in others.

Be Blessed.