4 minute read
Pressing In
Before God gets ready to do a great work, He always sets His people a-praying. As Andrew Murray says: “It is in intercession that the church is to find and wield its greatest power.”
WORDS: BRENDA GOH, TEAM LEAD, PRAYER & INTERCESSION
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At our February 2020 Pastoral Prayer Leadership (PPL) meeting, we had a strong inkling that 2020 would turn out to be a different and difficult year. At that time, COVID 19 was still well under control in Singapore, though by contrast, it was already raging in China, having first surfaced in Wuhan in late 2019.
But even prior to this, ever since the outbreak, one phrase that we had consistently received from the Lord was “the Body of Christ”. We discerned that God was speaking to His people. He was on the move. Shaking, shifting and sifting. And a global crisis was a defining moment for the Church to wake up.
The following words and visions received at the February 2020 PPL confirmed the shakings and siftings:
1. a vision of a burning candle, but with a flickering flame, with the sensing that the wick must be trimmed so that it can burn more brightly; 2. a vision of a long-handled frying pan tossing food over hot fire, with the sensing of shaking and tossing; 3. vision of a diamond master examining diamonds to separate the real from the fake; 4. several other visions involving cutting and stripping away (some received in subsequent months).
Combined with Hebrews 12:26-28, received at the same PPL, we discerned that cosmic shaking had already begun — not least through the virus. Things that can be shaken will be shaken. Only the eternal, the things that cannot be shaken, will remain. God was doing a new thing in our midst. Pruning, refining, and purifying His Church to “rightly represent Christ, being ready for the harvest and fit for battle” (LoveSingapore). God was preparing us for greater things to come!
PRAYER — THE FAITH-FUELLED RESPONSE
The days that followed were unfamiliar and unprecedented. A small virus turned the world upside down. Economies were battered, travel plans were grounded, and working and living norms changed. Lockdowns were imposed. Those were very challenging times for everyone, no less for the Body. And as case numbers rose exponentially in the foreign workers’ dorms, a concerted call for repentance by Christian leaders was made. Prayer groups sprouted up. The recognition that we desperately needed God was fuelling prayers and intercession. In the darkness, light was shining.
In response to a 24-hour round-the clock prayer initiative led by LoveSingapore, 62 from our prayer training pool signed up to pray round the clock on every Wednesday. Other churches also took up the baton to pray round the clock on other designated days. This marathon prayer movement lasted several months, upheld and sustained by the grace of God. In the midst of the pandemic, we learnt that the trials of life were taking us to places in prayer where we had never been before.
Note in Acts 2 that prayer precedes Pentecost. Before God does a great work, He always sets His people a-praying. Having received Psalm 110:3 at the end of 2020, we believe God is at work, gathering and preparing His army to arise and shine as His revival firehouse of prayer. God is a God of battles. He is a Person of war. One of His Names is Jehovah Sabaoth (Lord of Armies/Hosts). Disciples in the dew of youth are being summoned, willing and ready to lay down their lives as Christ’s freewill offerings in His day of battle. Hear what Andrew Murray says: It is in intercession that the church is to find and wield its highest power.
FOLLOW — FURTHER UP AND FURTHER IN
In His mastery of time, and the long reach of His purpose, we believe this may well be God’s appointed season for SJSM and Dover. “It is the time to favour her, the appointed time has come.” These words from Psalm 102:13 echo in my heart, as I write this. Psalm 102 has been received more than once during our prayer walks around SJSM Village/Dover in the past several months. The walks were initiated by Him, to prepare the “way of the Lord”. He yearns to fill every heart, every home, and our community with more of His glory.
His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than ours, so let’s stay in tune with the Holy Spirit and in touch with the ground to see how things may develop in the days ahead. He has led us through our PSW journey; doubtless SJSM Village will remain a catalyst in His hands to revive us, reform the community, and release a new evangelistic movement in the midst of the pandemic.
In His providence, all this coincides with SJSM’s Year of Jubilee. In His timetable, it’s a new beginning, even as in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus proclaims a new beginning through His offer of divine deliverance.
On our part, we must continue to press in and pray. Revival will not come cheap.
