Friday 24 April 2009

spirit of prayer

Last Thursday, in prayer school, after the teaching on praise and worship (by a colleague), i led worship. Just two songs. The glory of God descended upon us as we lifted our voices in worship near the end of the second song. It was already towards the end of prayer school, but it was at that moment the atmosphere distinctly intensified, and a deep adoration of our Lord rose up within me. I knelt and worshipped Him.

Then the spirit of prayer just fell upon many of us. This felt different from the adoration just minutes before, and we continued praying in this manner for another 10 to 15 minutes past the end of prayer school. Tears fell as i cried out on behalf of people i did not know. It was as if despair took hold of me. It was as if i experienced, together with those who have yet to confess Jesus as Lord, the hopelessness they felt. My hands were on the floor as if supporting me.

At times, i felt i just needed to hold hands with someone to take hold of it together with me.
Then i remembered that the Holy Spirit helped us to pray as stated in Romans 8:2-28.

Another shared after prayer school that she felt she was in the midst of utter darkness as we prayed for souls. i saw her kneel, then bend over till her face was almost touching the floor.

God is surely doing a work to advance His own Kingdom.

Thursday 23 April 2009

there's something about May

May 2007 was the month hubby and i, together with another couple, visited two cities in East Asia, and prayed for the believers there as we walked on the land. We waited two years from the conception of the idea till we could finally go on the trip. Whilst there, we did not fully understand our role, which was to pray in the harvest. The times of prayer felt almost dry, perhaps reflecting the spiritual climate of that particular city, but our prayers were ploughing the ground so that seeds of truth can be sown, and then watered, and then bear MUCH fruit. Only later did we begin to comprehend the spiritual impact of what we did there.

May 2008 marked the end of one season of our lives and then began the next phase. The transition was one of the smoothest in our lives.

I am uncertain what May 2009 will bring. But there's just something about May. i believe God will accomplish much in the spirit realm, and we will see the results in the natural realm.

As i continue to pray what the Holy Spirit puts in my heart, I am sure this phrase does not only carry spiritual significance in my hubby's and my life, but in the lives of many in the Kingdom of God and also those who are entering soon.

Wednesday 22 April 2009

calling forth pray-ers

I started to write this on 18 Dec 2007, and again on 14 June 2008. This is the third time i'm starting this, and it is already April 2009. I'm not sure why my first two attempts were thwarted. I didn't feel it was the right time to write and/or publish the entry, but now here it is.

I've been praying this phrase on and off for the last three to four years without fully understanding why:

There's something about May.

Then, last year, God showed me that things are coming together in the spiritual realm.

There's a calling forth of pray-ers to pray in and bring in the end-time harvest of souls. This is the heart of the Father as exemplified in Jesus.

Matthew 9:36-38 (AMP)
36When He saw the throngs, He was moved with pity and sympathy for them, because they were bewildered (harassed and distressed and dejected and helpless), like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38So pray to the Lord of the harvest to force out and thrust laborers into His harvest.

I like the amplified version as the phrase "force out and thrust" seem to contain an active driving propulsion, resulting from the love and compassion of the Lord.

Prayer plays an active role in the end-time harvest.

Psalm 2:8
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.

That scripture encapsulates the role of prayer.

Tuesday 21 April 2009

growing in the anointing

A brief statement about growing in the anointing found in my old handphone sparked off the following entry:

I remember when i went to bible school in August 2003 to May 2005, i attended prayer school every day. At that time, prayer school, except for Exhortation once a week on Wednesday, was not compulsory. Healing school was held every Thursday, and there was lunch break before that, so some of us prayed during lunch hour.

Sometimes, there would be just 5 of us, sometimes 20. I would always be watching out and observing how the instructors taught and were led by the Holy Spirit in their prayer and worship, and in their response to God's power and also in the way they ministered to people.

We also had morning prayer at 8.15am, led by one of the instructors (just prayer, no teaching) and/or morning worship led by students, sometimes simultaneously.

Many times during these prayer times in prayer school or other prayer sessions, i would have this strong sense that the Holy Spirit was doing a strengthening of the spirit man within me, like a rod of iron placed on the inside. And this rod (2 parts joined together) would be extended (by unscrewing or turning). It was quite an establishing in the Lord.

There was once one of the instructors placed her hand on my back as she prayed strength for me, and strength came into my very being. I could sense a spiritual work within me, and i felt my back literally, almost physically, straightened and strengthened.

There was impartation of anointing, and soaking in the presence of God in those times of prayer.

Monday 20 April 2009

show us

Again, from my old handphone... i forgot to date it...some time in the last 21 months, this simple song came to my spirit.
Hubby has the recording somewhere, i believe.

If i remember correctly, it was during a prayer time we had together one evening about the next steps for our lives.

Show us your way
Show us your will
we will follow
we will go
we will obey
As your sheep we hear your voice
as your sons we are led as your spirit speaks

Sunday 19 April 2009

Prayers from Scripture

I came across these scriptures in my old handphone. (I just upgraded mine -- free! I love my shiny new red and silver handphone/music-shuffler! Yay!)

I believe i was preparing for prayer school, and these were some of the scriptures i used as reference. Like Paul who prayed regularly and consistently for the church, his spiritual children, we can pray for ourselves and those in our families and cell and church and workplaces to grow in Christ, being FULLY formed in Him, and He in us!

God's WORD is powerful - these words are LIFE and they are SPIRIT!

Galatians 4:19

My little children, for whom I am again suffering birth pangs until Christ is completely and permanently formed (molded) within you,

Philippians 1:3-11
3I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. 4In every prayer of mine I always make my entreaty and petition for you all with joy (delight). 5[I thank my God] for your fellowship (your sympathetic cooperation and contributions and partnership) in advancing the good news (the Gospel) from the first day [you heard it] until now. 6And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. 7It is right and appropriate for me to have this confidence and feel this way about you all, because you have me in your heart and I hold you in my heart as partakers and sharers, one and all with me, of grace (God's unmerited favor and spiritual blessing). [This is true] both when I am shut up in prison and when I am out in the defense and confirmation of the good news (the Gospel). 8For God is my witness how I long for and pursue you all with love, in the tender mercy of Christ Jesus [Himself]! 9And this I pray: that your love may abound yet more and more and extend to its fullest development in knowledge and all keen insight [that your love may display itself in greater depth of acquaintance and more comprehensive discernment], 10So that you may surely learn to sense what is vital, and approve and prize what is excellent and of real value [recognizing the highest and the best, and distinguishing the moral differences], and that you may be untainted and pure and unerring and blameless [so that with hearts sincere and certain and unsullied, you may approach] the day of Christ [not stumbling nor causing others to stumble]. 11May you abound in and be filled with the fruits of righteousness (of right standing with God and right doing) which come through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One), to the honor and praise of God [that His glory may be both manifested and recognized].

Colossians 4:12
Epaphras, who is one of yourselves, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. [He is] always striving for you earnestly in his prayers, [pleading] that you may [as persons of ripe character and clear conviction] stand firm and mature [in spiritual growth], convinced and fully assured in everything willed by God.

1 Thessalonians 3:10
[And we] continue to pray especially and with most intense earnestness night and day that we may see you face to face and mend and make good whatever may be imperfect and lacking in your faith.

Philemon 1:6
[And I pray] that the participation in and sharing of your faith may produce and promote full recognition and appreciation and understanding and precise knowledge of every good [thing] that is ours in [our identification with] Christ Jesus [and unto His glory].

Wednesday 15 April 2009

His promise in a rainbow

I saw, for the first time in my life, the full arch of a rainbow, while driving back from Malacca to Singapore on Easter Sunday. As there were no high-rise buildings in sight, the rainbow was in full view for at least half an hour.

It was bee-oo-tee-full, deserving all four syllables of emphasis! :D

I was in the front passenger seat, and looking through the windshield at the road ahead blending into the sky. The rain had just stopped, and the windshield wipers were turned off. I reached for my water bottle to take a sip from it, and at that very moment, a rainbow - just a quadrant of it was visible, the rest covered by clouds - appeared in the horizon. The colours were at first faint.

I pointed the rainbow out to the rest in the car. It's nice experiencing a rainbow with children too. They make much of the rainbow, enhancing my experience. My niece started explaining the purpose of a rainbow - a promise made by God never to flood the earth again like He did in Noah's time.

(We did not have a camera with us at that time. The following images most closely capture what we saw)

That was so precious to me - an indication that God is faithful and will always keep His Word. He still keeps a promise made thousands of years ago, and signed His covenant with multi-coloured lights contained in a rainbow.

We talked about the colours in a rainbow...the children said they could only see four, then five.

I glibly recited an acrostic i learnt in primary school, still easily recalled. The mind is an amazing thing! It really has a life of its own. One almost can't control what one remembers and cannot remember...

Richard - Red
Of - Orange
York - Yellow
Gained - Green
Battle - Blue
In - Indigo (more blue)
Vain - Violet (closer to purple)

If you look hard enough, i told the kids, you can see all seven colours. Yes, the last two are hard to tell apart because they are so close.

My niece asked whether we could ever climb the rainbow or get to the end of it. (Talk about chasing rainbows... hehe...)

Well, her mother replied, it's in the sky, and it's too far away.

It's made of lights, i explained.

Yes i remember, exclaimed my niece, my teacher told us the sun splits the light into many colours because of the water droplets. You can make your own rainbow, you know. Just take a transparency, wet it, and then shine a torch on it. You will see the different colours... a mini rainbow.

I smiled. I had forgotten that, so immersed i was in my own meditation on God's faithfulness. I was also regretting we had no camera on hand to take a picture of the rainbow.

Then, the full arch was revealed. I almost gasped: First time i ever see the full arch of a rainbow. The colours also slightly sharpened in focus.

God's promise, fully revealed, fully fulfilled, contained in the SEVEN-coloured spectrum of a rainbow stretched across the horizon.

I basked in His LOVE.

It began to rain again, and once again the windshield wipers were at work.

His Promise Still Stands.

Tuesday 14 April 2009

Spiritual Birthdays

I went on a weekend trip to Malacca with my husband's extended family over Easter.

Because of the long drive to and fro, exacerbated by the rain, we had much opportunity to talk in the car.

On the way back, we got to talking about not fearing the dark or ghosts. My nine year old niece had cried in the middle of the night as she did not dare venture into the toilet on her own in a strange hotel. Her parents had offered to go with her, but perhaps she was disoriented and embarrassed. When i taught her that "He who is in her is greater than he who is in the world", and clarified that the Holy Spirit dwells within her, she suddenly realized that she need not fear anymore. She was rather quiet so i asked her whether she understood. I was concerned that she felt awkward or uncomfortable as we were focusing on her behaviour. She said no, she just got very 'excited' inside when she heard these truths.

She then asked about heaven and hell, and how the devil came about, and we had a good and lively discussion with all contributing. The driver actually missed a turning, and we went into the Woodlands customs instead of the Tuas link we had intended to go, but praise God, we cleared the customs rather quickly. :b

I was excited too, as i always am about things of God.

She revealed that her spiritual birthday was 29 March 2009. I expressed my surprise as she had always been sensitive to the Holy Spirit. I remember her telling us at another family vacation, when she was just six or seven, she sometimes had tears running down her face when she sang certain worship songs like Shout To The Lord and Light of the World. Anyway, she explained that this was the day she was sure of her salvation and understood what it meant to have Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. I shared with her that i did not remember the exact spiritual birthday, but i knew that i stopped raising my hand when the sunday school teacher asked us who had prayed with her to receive Jesus as Saviour.

We then turned our attention to her younger brother who will be four this June. She was concerned whether he would go to heaven, and we felt that he understood about Jesus and how he himself needed forgiveness of sins to confess Jesus as Lord. As he was four, his concept of heaven was still a little hazy. After asking certain questions about Jesus and sin, my sister in law led him in prayer. It was so touching to hear his little voice so sincerely praying and repeating after his mother.

My niece pointed out that all the angels rejoice because a soul has been saved... two souls, in fact, born again!

Thursday 2 April 2009

baptised in the Holy Spirit

We taught two subjects each in the two weeks we were there... so four subjects altogether.

In the second week we were there, we were teaching on the baptism of the Holy Spirit on Wednesday. At the end of the session, which was also the end of the day, we asked the guitarist to play and the people began to worship - just a simple song of praise to the Lord. Hubby invited those who wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit to come forward.
I saw about 8 ladies and two men come up.

After he explained a little on how to receive and what to expect, we began to lay hands and pray for them. I must have prayed for about 8 people, so i assumed my husband prayed for the rest, and there were perhaps altogether 15 people who responded.

I saw a picture later of the people who responded and was surprised. There were 3 rows of about 10 people each, so a total of 30 responded. Hubby must have prayed for the rest quite quickly as i lingered on the eight. The whole session took us perhaps 30-40 minutes.

Some of the students later shared that they enjoyed the time with God. His presence was very strong. Some were crying. Many were worshiping. Almost half of the 65 students were filled with the Holy Spirit. A few testified to a powerful encounter with God.

God does amazingly above and more than we can ever imagine! All glory to GOD!!

Wednesday 1 April 2009

change

Hubby said that the yellow of the previous blog layout was too glaring.
That confirmed it... i changed to a calmer white and blue with my orange chatbox.
A little dull... but it will do for now...
Daisypath Anniversary Years Ticker