Last week there were still some empty seats in the sanctuary; this week, every seat was taken. It wasn't a hot worship concert with Grammy Award winners from overseas, it wasn't a power-conference with internationally acclaimed 'men of God' come to deliver prophetic insights and impart deep teachings. It was very simply a...prayer meeting. Only special in the sense that there were gathered people from different Christian denominations under 1 roof. When Pastor asked how many churches were present, the answer was roared back - 1. Only 1 church of Jesus Christ was present that nite and will be present for the next few weekly nites right up to voting day on 5th May 2013, when M'sians choose the people who will govern their nation for the next 5 years ahead. These combined church prayer sessions had been going on as far back as Dec 2012, starting then on a monthly basis till April 2013 when the election date was finally announced. As much as the political tempo has stepped up, so has the praying tempo been correspondingly stepped up to feverish pitch. As the bantering and posturing of politicians grow ever louder, so do the prayers of God's saints rise up all the more to heaven's holy altar.
And it's not special to this or any one particular church. Everywhere all over M'sia from north to south, from east to west, Christians are praying like never before - at least I haven't seen anything like this. Whether in individual churches or combined churches, many many many voices are being raised up to our heavenly Abba Father in 1 accord, in 1 heart, in 1 spirit. Not just weekly, but daily. Some are holding 24 hr prayer, some are gathering at 12 am, 5 am, whatever am/pm to pray, some are prayer-walking all over their neighborhood. Different preachers, different pastors, yet the same messages are coming in thick and fast - all in sync with each other somehow. They didn't sit down at a pow-wow seminar to compare and prepare notes. The only pow-wow happening was when people prayed. Yep, there's something stirring in the M'sian church - fresh fire exploding, fresh wind blowing, fresh rain falling. And without a doubt, it began and is being sustained all by prayer - the heartfelt expression of a united people crying out to God to come and bless this nation that we all love. Already there are testimonies of how the miraculous hand of God is moving over the land.
Dr A. T. Pierson once said, 'There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.' In 1857, in response to an invitation by 1 man (Jeremiah Lanphier) to pray, 5 others out of the city population of 1 million responded. The result was a revival that spread out over America and jumped over the Atlantic into Scotland, Wales, England, South Africa and South India. There have been other revivals since then. But consistently without any exception, every revival began when people prayed. There's an old song which goes "For every time I pray, I move the hand of God. My prayer does the things my hands cannot do" (for updated local version, click here)
Say what you will, that it's all 'in the mind', mass hysteria, PMA (positive mental attitude) or whatever experts in psychology wanna call it. We, who believe and pray, know better. Not becoz we are smarter or 'gooder' than those who don't. Christians are no better than non-Christians, with only 1 difference - we are sinners saved by grace, believing and trusting in a God who is all grace, mercy, love and compassion, a God who hears and answers prayer. I don't know how He does it, when there are probably billions of prayers being prayed all the time to Him, but that doesn't bother me. Just like I am not bothered to know how my car runs, I only know that it runs when I turn the key and step on the gas. After all He's God, He must have hosts of angels to man His 'hotline'. I don't know when or exactly how He will answer my prayers, but that doesn't bother me either, coz I know whenever/however His answer comes, it will always work out alright somehow (even when it seems all wrong), because He promised "that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28)
Someone challenged me, why then even bother to pray, when your God is just gonna do what He's gonna do anyway? Does God even 'need' us to pray, if He's so great and all? Valid questions. I can only say this for myself - God doesn't 'need' my prayer, I pray because I need it. Prayer has become the air that I breathe. I cannot not pray. Someone once said "Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help." I am sad for this guy, whoever he is, since he obviously doesn't know or maybe he's had a very bad experience with/about God, for surely it takes strength to realize and admit how weak one really is. Anyway, he's probably right, I dunno because I am not into religion.
I am into a relationship with the Lover and Beloved of my soul. Incidentally, God doesn't need my adoration or praise either, (He's not some narcissistic Being hard-up for flattery) but I adore and praise Him anyway, because I love Him, because He loved me first. It's that simple. Isn't that how it's supposed to be in human relationships - that a couple in love simply adore one another, and give each other the best of each other within the norm of marriage?? So what's wrong with adoring the Creator who loves me more than any human possibly can?? God has given me the best of Himself in Christ Jesus; He died for me, and rose again alive to set me absolutely and totally free. Why/how can I give Him anything less than the best of me? I can't touch God like I can touch my loved ones on earth. But I can pray, and pray, and pray.
My praying used to be about 'getting' things from God, but now it's grown much beyond just that. In seeking things from Him, I have found actually the greatest joy is not in getting the 'things' that I seek but in getting Him, coz He's the only 'thing' that satisfies the deepest longing of my soul, which I have no words to even put into. Prayer is my wonderful privilege. It doesn't take away the storms in my life; it simply takes me through all the storms in 1 'peace' (pun intended). My prayer doesn't change God; it changes me; to look at all things in life on earth from the higher viewpoint of heaven. Prayer puts me in the right perspective; that I have nothing to boast about really except the one thing that matters - that by the grace of God, He saved me to know Him, and that's the greatest most joyous blessing of all.
"Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent"- John 17:3
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