Prayer Meeting

I believe it is important for us as the people of God to clearly and consistently hear and bear witness to what God is saying to us as well as to position ourselves to the things that God is doing in our midst... One of the ways which I strongly believe in that helps us to align ourselves with God's heart is spending time with Him in prayer- both individually as well as corporately.

So anyways, attended the Wednesday prayer meeting today and there were some things that the Lord impressed upon my heart.. Played for Auntie Ivy for the worship lah. While I was playing, when i closed my eyes, i saw for a moment that there were like lightnings released through my fingers when i was playing the keyboard. I believe that God uses us when we worship Him and when we play for worship to bring down strongholds and set ppl free. The lightning talks about God striking His enemies. I wanna press into God's presence that everytime we move into worship, God would set people free in our midst from every bondage that has held them. That's the power of God- to transform and to bring everything in our lives to subjection and obedience to Christ.

Anyways, on a slightly different note, here are some other things i believe the Lord is highlighting for this season.

I saw fire and in the midst of the fire there was a door. To me, this speaks of the way forward. Those who want to get through the door have to pass through the fire. Those who want to move to the next phase of where God wants us to be have to go through the dealings of God.

While praying in our little groups, the Lord impressed upon me "new wine", the new move of the Holy Spirit which He will be bringing about in Salem Chapel. This calls for several things. Now we all know that new wine cannot go with old wineskin cos the old wineskin will be ruined and the wine will leak out. So we need new wineskin. New wineskin talks about changes in structure, changes in the way we do things and which, more importantly, comes from changes in the way we think and see things. Lord, I pray that you will give us the eyes that see and ears that hear to move with You, change the things you want us to and to know where You are working and to join You there.

This new move of the Holy Spirit will require from us obedience. Obedience is very important, especially in the case of the leadership. God has to position us and we have to allow Him to position ourselves to a place where we can receive what is coming. This is so that we can be faithful servants and stewards of the next move of God in our midst. In this light, God is thus highlighting the importance of the purging and the stripping away of the things in our lives that may hinder Him from doing absolutely what He wants to in, through and amongst us. Of course this pruning and stripping process may not seem very pleasant to some, if not most...The book of Hebrews says that Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered. Not that Jesus was ever disobedient but He went through a season of preparation. This is our season of preparation. However, obtaining the promise is all worth it! :)

This move of the Holy Spirit will also require patience, especially for the "instant noodle generation". Many times we get sick and tired of waiting for revival. We get discouraged, we lose the vision or more accurately, we quit the vision. Now is not the time for that. We must let faith arise from within us where the Kingdom of God is and allow it to produce the fruit unto breakthrough. We have to be faithful in watching, waiting and praying for the Lord to fulfill His promises and run with the vision, the revelation that God has already given us until we see it come to pass! :)

"And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end, it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." Habakkuk 2:2-3

So may the Lord continue His work in our midst... on a slightly separate note, i was meditating on something Pastor Ban said today during His sharing.. He talked about the truth setting us free... and that Jesus is the truth. Now if you remember what Jesus said, He is the way, the truth and the life... Now then, I'm sure we all know Jesus as the way. He is the way to all that God has planned for us! He is the Saviour. the Redeemer... and the list goes on... Knowing Jesus as the way means knowing Him as our Saviour, something we all are grateful for. Yet many times we only stop there. We know Him as the way but not the truth nor the life. We go "Whew! I'm saved! I have my ticket to gloryland! Hallelujah!" but Knowing Him as the truth in our lives means knowing Him as the Word of God... it means walking in His Word and in His power. Knowing the truth Who sets us free is essentially being transformed by the Word, by the truth. Now how many of us can truly claim that we are walking in transformation? But transformation begins with the Word...

Further than that, how many of us know Him as the life. How many of us know the fulness and blessedness of life that He has to offer?? This talks about relationship, intimate, covanantal relationship, like between a man and his wife. This can only come to having a life fully surrendered to Him, having Jesus take over that it is no longer us who live but Christ who lives in us. This calls for dying to ourselves and allowing Jesus to live His life through us. This calls for surrender. As Alvin puts it, is Jesus part of my life or is Jesus my life?? This talks about Lordship and devotion to Him. This talks about knowing Jesus as Lord and really knowing His glory. The tabernacle was built with the pattern of the outer court the holy place and the most holy place. Each of them correspond to the degrees of knowing Jesus as the way, the truth and the life. Sad thing is that probably most of the church is in the outer court while it should be standing face to face with God in His glory in the holy of holies. That's where the glory of God is, that's where we find the fulness of the restoration of the relationship and life that God has for us with Him. We fell short of the glory of God through the fall, through Adam... but Christ has provided the way back for its full restoration. The Holy of Holies is where the life is, where the glory is. But how many of us walk in it?? Lord, I wanna live in the Holy of Holies...

The way into the Holy of Holies is through the veil which was torn. That is the flesh of Christ (Heb 10:20). And we know that Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh (John 1) So the first step we take to knowing the glory of God is through the veil, through the Word even as the Holy Spirit reveals it to us.

So let's start from the Word but onto the glory! :)

To those who are reading this, i urge you to truly seek Jesus as the life, to truly know Him, His glory! That's where we find our rest! :)

"The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." Romans 16:20a
Hallelujah! God bless you all! :)