Rendezvous in Korea

 

     My mind was arguing with God....But, but...it's going to be expensive now; the airfare's gone up for sure; besides the whole tingy is in Mandarin, and I am a 'banana Chinese', I won't be able to understand what the speakers are talking about....Actually Korea Prayer Mt. is indeed one of the 2 places in the world I want to visit before I go home to heaven (the other is Jerusalem), only I didn't expect or want to make the trip that soon. But as usual, God has a way of messing up my nicely laid-out plans... He just shut up my objections with 1 line - Go for the sake of  ( a dearly loved one) ... . And so it was, I found myself on a plane 6 months later bound for Korea Prayer Mt.... joining our Chinese church on what is now their annual 'pilgrimage' to the Asian Christian Conference held there every year. I went with this burning desire in my heart - to meet with God, since it was His call.  I have learnt when God calls, if we answer, He is sure to bless, and so it was that I was tremendously blessed during that 1 week in Korea.
I had expected a 'mountain' but found instead a place built up with main sanctuary, prayer grottoes and chapels which functioned as spartan dorms to accommodate the thousands who troop in for the 2 1/2 days conference. It was no 'walk in the park' tho, very grueling schedule, starting at 5.30 am, ending only about 9 pm... and fasting throughout the duration. Guess what time we had to wake up to "Q" for open communal toilet/bath and to 'jom' a seat in the sanctuary.... imagine people so packed into pews there is no space to even maneuver our knees.... and minimal breaks in between sessions. Some chose to catch their 40 winks, some hung around to yak, desperadoes like me hogged the prayer grottoes...I had heard much about these little cubby holes, where one just gets 'shut in' with God. And truly they are little... rooms so small you have to stoop to get in, and once in, you can only kneel or sit, and all the walls enclose around you like a brick cocoon. (those with claustrophobia definitely have a problem!).

I have never seen worship the way they do it on Prayer Mt. I always thought I was pretty 'liberated' in my worship. But Prayer Mt opened me up to an entirely different level of corporate worship and prayer. The experience of  4500 united hearts beating as one is nothing less than awesome. We were all dressed in different color codes, gathered in groups all over the sanctuary, and my first sight of so many hands raised in praising God, so many happy voices shouting, singing, people dancing... was that this is how heaven is gonna be like... the very air was pulsing  with joy. If i didn't know better, I would conclude this was a bunch of very crazy people, high on something.... come to think of it, yes indeed, we were high drunk..with and in the Spirit of God. It was very spontaneous, and no, it wasn't mass crowd hysteria. I was totally in control and yet not in control. The desire to just praise God was so overwhelming; it didn't matter that I didn't know the songs, I couldn't bother about the fella/s next to me. All I knew was the joy bursting out from somewhere deep inside me. And whenever the call for prayer was issued (which was often), a whole chorus of cries would rise in immediate response. No wonder Bible tells us the whole of heaven stops to listen to the prayers of believing saints!

 Truly I have never seen prayer the way they do it on Prayer Mt. For the first time in my life, I heard, I saw what prayer can and should be. Of coz I pray, and I do believe all prayers are heard, however and wherever prayed. But the way Koreans pray put me into shock. They don't 'just' pray; they PRAY! - loud, clear, and insistent.  Finally I understood what the Bible meant when it talks about 'travailing  prayer'.... that's equivalent to a woman in labor pain. The Koreans know how to travail - deep. You can hear their cries from the individual grottoes, some even park themselves in the cemetery grounds to pray. Initially, I thot what the heck, this is soooo strange, praying in an open graveyard?? But I steeled myself, I had come to pray, so pray I did... That nite, I stood and  unloaded all of my heart's burdens to God under an open heaven. Never have I prayed so hard, so long and so loud. And it was in the throes of totally unhindered prayer, that I realized the truth of what Jesus said, Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.(Mark 11:24)  By faith, I have already received answers to every prayer I prayed on that mountain; and I merely wait for its physical manifestation in due course. How do I know? Because I have come in faith, asked in faith and thru faith in Jesus, I can approach God with freedom and confidence, that it's a done deal, sealed 2000 years ago by the blood of Him who hung on the cross for me.

God had called me to Korea so that i could appropriate this truth into my heart, not just know it as a doctrine in the head. I will never pray the same again. Looking back, I see the grace of God extended to enabling me to comprehend enuf Mandarin to catch the main gist of the messages presented by the various conference speakers. Indeed He even prepared an easy start for me, for the first 3 sessions were 'conveniently' taken up by an African pastor who spoke in English!  Feeding on so much spiritual food, I was already more than satisfied by the time I said goodbye to Prayer Mt, as we headed down into Seoul city But there was more... there always is more from the God of abundance!!

The programme called for us to attend a Korean cell meeting at a local resident's home. I had been warned it would be very much 'touch-n-go', since most times, the sessions would end up like chickens trying to talk to ducks! But the cell group I was slotted in with turned out to be a group of Korean ladies who had all married foreigners and so could handle English, thus we could follow and understand the lesson pretty well indeed. And contrary to expectations, our host group didn't take the easy way out by simply going out for makan...instead we were treated to an authentic (and fantastic) home-cooked spread of Korean food...such a blessing it was!

But God saved the best for last.... we got to attend the Sunday service in the world's largest church - Yoido Full Gospel Church. Currently numbering some 800,000 members, the church services run thru out 7 sessions every Sunday, back to back. 1 session finishes and walks out from 1 side of the building, at the opposite  side a stream of people are coming in for the next session.  If you think 4500 a crowd, just try to imagine some 120,000 bodies at any one time, packed corner to corner, pew upon pew, downstairs, upstairs...practically an indoor stadium of people gathered together intent on 1 single focus - God. That's Yoido church service, complete with full orchestra and choir. When they sing, I swear it  must be how angels sound like! My mind and eyes boggled at the sheer magnitude and magnificence of it all. As I put on the headphones to listen to the simultaneous translation (in 7 languages, i tink), I heard God speak, or rather He sang, to me, such a beautiful song. I had come to Korea with heavy burdens in the heart, I had released them up on the mountain. And He now capped it all with a very vocal assurance coming straight into my ears...the unseen voice translated the words of the worship song.... God will take care of you, He will take care of you, He will take care of you, thru every day, over all the ways, God will take care of you. Over and over again, the words sounded and resounded, throbbing into my ears. Yes, it's just a song, and the translator ain't God. You can be cynical all you want, but I know God meant it for me. In the midst of 120,000 people, God was thinking about little me. So whilst the music played and the song was taken up repeatedly, I heard it as God taking all the trouble to console, comfort and convince me He has everything, absolutely everything, in my life under His control. I did the only thing I could do.... I cried.

That was the high but by no means the end of my Korean rendezvous. For beyond being so tremendously blessed at the receiving end , God made sure to give me some 'work' to do. We had a pretty amiable Korean lass as our tour guide in the city. Not only pretty, but efficient too, taking care of all our transport, tour and food arrangements. On our second last day, I felt the familiar tug in my heart to open my mouth and share, for God had given me a very specific vision for her. I found just enuf time to release it to her as we were walking out of a museum. Still my heart was burdened; the job wasn't finished. But I was hesitant, unsure and truth be told, a little wary, for I didn't know how she would react. I simply told God if He wanted me to carry on, He would have to make more time available and put us together somehow. The very next morning, we had a 1 hour journey ahead, and there was an empty seat next to her on the bus. Not only that, at a stop over in a Christian bookstore, I picked up 5 similar book-marks for frens back home. At the counter, I spotted another 1 of different design, but was told it was the very last 1 available. I was thinking to buy or not to buy, since it was the odd one out. I bought it anyway as it was a very pretty butterfly design with the words, God is Love. It was only back on the bus it struck me, that's the very message I just shared with the Missy guide. Obviously God picked it out for her, not me. Talk about divine appointments....

I will probably never go back to Korea again, since I am saving  up for Jerusalem now. But this one trip alone has changed my worship and prayer life forever; I have received so so much. And the fruits are immediately evident...the very next morning back at work, as I led in our regular morning worship/prayer before the start of the day's routine,  the presence of God came down into our midst .....Hallelujah.......the Korean 'fire' had swept in..... praise God, for to Him belong all the glory and honor.


"For this is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him".....1 John 5:14-15



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There's Something about the Cross..

It's another Saturday afternoon at the alley where we distribute free chicken curry rice to the motley crowd who come every week. My eyes range over the people seated along the alleyway. Some are regular faces, some are new. No matter. Most are just  waiting for the food. That seems to be the story of their lives - waiting, and more waiting...waiting for food, waiting for a job, waiting to strike lottery, waiting for something to happen, waiting to die even. My heart breaks. Even as I take the mike and start to talk about Jesus, again. In fact that's all I ever talk about there, with or without a mike in hand. I guess I could talk of other things like the weather or politics. Or I could just shut up and serve the food. I am sure many can't be bothered to listen to more Jesus stuff. Some are chattering amongst themselves, some just sit quietly, lost in their own world of cares, some roll cigarettes from old newspapers. It's hardly a captive audience.
But I plough on anyway, proclaiming the Name above every other name, quoting the Word of God, sharing my heart out to a people that only God can love and only He can save. It's an old old story, but that doesn't make it less true, for there is something about the Cross that compels me to return to it not just every Saturday at the streets, but everyday in my life.
The Cross stands so high that even now it speaks as a decisive point in historical time. Every time we write the year, we are counting it from that moment when an innocent Man was crucified on a hill-top. Thanks to Mel Gibson's Passion of Christ, the events that led to the Cross have been so vividly captured on film.
Inevitably the first thing that catches the human heart is the sheer 'suffering-ness' implicated in the Cross. More than anything else, the Cross stands as a reality of the ultimate lengths that God is willing to endure for the sake of redeeming mankind. It's not just a symbol of pain or death. It is. But beyond the suffering, there is something more about the Cross, that I have learnt as I plod along on this journey called life...I have found at the Cross....
- the purest love  - Hard is the heart that will not respond to this kind of sacrificial  love -  unsought for, undeserved but given anyway. Over the years, the awesomeness of that truth has never failed to humble me. How could Jesus love me this much?
- the utmost justice - No one could ever complain that God isn't just. A righteous God demands holiness; sin demands penalty, the Cross provides satisfaction.
- the supreme mercy - when it should have been me hanging up there, when it should have been me cast into hell, when it should have been me....God had mercy on me, a sinner.
- the most significant truth - of who I am, why I am alive and how I am to live this earthly life.
- the complete victory - Death was killed at the Cross; I have 'crossed' over from death into life, from old into new, from darkness into light everlasting.
- the richest promise - of eternity, a resurrection beyond the wildest imagination, an inheritance beyond compare.

A writer once said, the Cross provokes and demands an answer from each one of us, once we are faced with it. And there are only 2 answers - Yes/No. There can't be any fence-sitters. God didn't sit on a fence, deciding whether or not to go to the Cross for us. Without wavering, He went all the way. What would it take for us to say Yes? Come to think of it, why should anyone ever want to say No?


What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?..  Romans 8:31
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us...Romans 8:37

There is fear, and there is fear...

Fear. A 4-letter word that strikes at the heart and makes the knees turn to jelly. Some are struck dumb, others scream their lungs out. Nowadays it seems fear is creeping into even the most mundane activities like shopping or walking down the streets. We cant even stop at a traffic lite without eyeing suspiciously evry motorbike that scrapes past our cars. We go jogging clutching umbrellas and sticks in hand. Women arm themselves with pepper sprays and sign up for wing chun classes. Homes are installed with hi-tech alarms that go off at the slightest intrusion of a frisky cat on the lawn. Access roads to our houses are barricaded and guards patrol the lanes round the clock. At least in KL, we get all worked up over the possibility of getting robbed, raped, kidnapped or car-napped. Fear has gone beyond the home, for 'it' can now happen anywhere, it's also gone beyond time, for 'it' can happen anytime.

Fear can be completely irrational. It doesn't respond to logic. My child can't explain why she runs away from a cockroach or a rat, she just does. I only know I have a thing about looking down from tall buildings, - i get this quesy feeling in the stomach and a tingling in my toes. (so I will never understand how anyone would want to go bungee-jumping.) People fear all sorts of things, dead or alive. We fear other people, we fear events that haven't happened or may happen. There are all sorts of reasons for fears - becoz we don't want 'something bad' to happen to us; so we fear hurt, pain, suffering, loss, damage. Becoz we don't understand or we don't know whats going to happen, so we fear death or growing old.We even fear 'good' things like change, becoz we can't or dont want to get out of the comfortable familiar rut of the old. I guess in the journey of life, we run thru a whole gamut of fears from the ludicrous which makes us laugh to the deeply unsettling and upsetting ones that tear us apart.

I have had my share of fears. As a kid, I was scared of worms, ya, the creepy crawly kind. To get out of science experiment that required us to touch/dissect earthworms, I passed over the job to my classmate. When I went fishing with my husband, I left him to hook up the squirmy cacing. Until one fine day I decided no self-respecting fisherman/woman should be afraid of a leeetle worm, so I finally screwed up enuf courage, grit my teeth and got my hands on a live cacing. I no longer fear worms, but I still don't like them (and I have long since stopped fishing). At the ripe old age of 40, I confronted worse fears than wriggly worms - losing a cushy job and worse, losing a much loved spouse on whom i depended for the most simple affairs like balancing a cheque book and making a good teh tarik. (I have since learnt to balance my own accounts, but I still haven't got the knack of making a good cuppa at home). At Bersih 2 and 3, I have faced the fear of tear gas and possible arrest - I have had to literally run for my life. And like every parent, I have feared for my kids whenever they go out (which is like everyday). I 'worry' (another word for fear, only supposed to be less intense) that they will get drunk, get high or get into accidents.

Significantly in the Bible, apparently God tells us 365 times (in one form or another) not to fear. That's once a day for all of a year. In some passages He repeats it more than once in the same paragraph. I guess we humans must be a pretty fearful lot, that He has to issue daily reminders to us. The Bible is replete with incidents of how God helped people overcome awesome fears, saving them from chariots, horses, storms, lions, fiery furnaces, demons, devil and even death. It heartens me to know that there is such a powerful God at work who is ready at the breath of a prayer to come to aid those who call upon His name. Of coz that doesn't mean we leave everything to God. Praying comes along with doing. God's given us common sense to take care of ourselves, so we have a responsibility to be cautious in our coming and goings. Like they say Trust in God but lock your car. Still it gives me such a tremendous assurance to know that I have a God who stations angels to encamp around me, to protect and shield me from harm and evil. It doesn't mean bad things won't happen to me, but I can be certain the hand of Almighty God is upon me, so that I no longer fear the things that I have absolutely no control over. That kind of security beats any hi-tech alarm system or self-defence technique flat anytime.

Indeed God even tells us what or rather who it is we should really fear, and it's actually nothing of what we commonly fear at all. Reputedly the wisest king on earth , Solomon declared in his proverbs, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding....The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death" (Prov 9:10, 14:27) . Jesus  told people, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him."(Luke 12:4-5) Jesus talks about a totally different dimension of fear; not the physical 'here and now' but the spiritual 'after'wards. For the 'here and now' fears of everyday living, God already tells us Do not fear. The fact that He issues 365 reminders tells us we still haven't 'got it' and that we are still distracted by them. Yet these are not THE important stuff.... the real important stuff is to fear God Himself.

But I am learning... this fear is unlike the 'normal' fears that consume us, scare us and make us afraid of this, that or the other. I am not frightened of God, but I fear, respect and honor Him out of love as my Creator, the Shepherd of my soul, recognizing Him as all that is good,powerful and loving, and obeying Him willingly as the sole authority of my life. This is a fear that liberates, contrary to a fear that imprisons. Now that's a fear I can live with....

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole  duty  of man. Ecclesisastes 12:13