Discipline of Prayer

1 John 5:14-15 

 “And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” 

Prayer is a discipline that completely transforms our lives!

Why?

The more we understand the heart of God, the more we are taught to see things from God's point of view and not just our own. 

 

When we plug back into our Creator, He gives us the answers we seek.

Christianity's heroes of the faith have viewed prayer as the most important activity of their lives.  Jesus, Moses, David and the Apostles invested a regular part of their day in prayer.  Other great inspirational leaders such as Martin Luther, John Wesley, Charles Stanley, and Billy Graham - all have proclaimed the discipline of prayer as the most important of spiritual disciplines.

Prayer is something we learn and cultivate over time.  The more time we spend in prayer, the better we get at it.  The Bible teaches that prayer makes a difference in the events and situations of our lives.

Prayer is so important that it is mentioned over 250 times in Scripture.

In 1 John 5 above we are reminded of several things:

Prayer gives us an opportunity to share all aspects of our lives with God

Prayer gives us the chance to express our gratitude for the things God provides

Prayer provides the platform for confessing our sin and asking for help 

 Prayer is an act of worship to acknowledge that God is really in control of our lives

During prayer, we find communion with God

One Minute Reflection

How much more time could you dedicate to prayer this week?

"Fight all your battles on your knees."(Charles Stanley) 

Excerpt and adopted from Tracy Fox, Having A Heart for God: 365 Days of One Minute Bible Study. 

Audience Of One

Matthew 6:1

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven.”

Most of us, whether we are aware of it or not, do things to please an audience. This has become increasingly true in our modern, publicity-seeking, popularity-concerned, reality-television, social media based society.

The question is not whether we have an audience but which audience we have.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we should only be concerned with God being our number one fan. When we take this pursuit seriously almost all of our endeavors are transformed.

God has designed each of His commands for our benefit: to protect us from harm and help us develop a foundational contentment, regardless of circumstance.

Jesus makes it very clear in our passage today that we are not to practice our righteousness in front of others because if we do, we will receive no reward from our Father in Heaven. When we live only for God’s praise, we realize that His commands are actually blessings in disguise.

If we want to create a tangible difference in our own call as Christians, we need to grow in our awareness that only one opinion ultimately matters.

Our desire should be to please God alone.

One Minute Reflection
What audience do you care about and why?

“I have only one audience. Before you, I have nothing to prove, nothing to gain, nothing to lose.” [Winston Churchill]

Tracy Baumer Fox, Having A Heart For God Devotional: 365 Days of the One Minute Bible Study

Selah Amid COVID-19

 

The COVID-19 pandemic helps us realize that we are a community. We are not meant to live as an individual in our private world. Somehow, somewhere each one of us has a connection. Every action we do affects someone, in our country, in our town, in our community, our neighborhood, and our family.

The question we need to ask is after this pandemic is: “Will we ever be the same?” I hope our answer is: “No, we will never be the same. The worst that could happen is to go back to the way we were before. We must not stay the same. We must never be the same again.”

The sons of Korah wrote this song during a time of chaos, trouble, and uncertainty. This Psalm was written for the nation of Israel, but it applies to us today too. Reading this Psalm, we will notice the word “Selah” mentioned repeatedly in verses 3, 7, and 11.

The word “Selah” is a direct transliteration from the Hebrew. Psalms are songs meant to be sung. “Selah” refers to a musical rest. The singers stopped singing to take a breath. It also means a silent reflection.

Moreover, “Selah” can also be translated “to praise” and “to lift.” Perhaps the singers paused so they could think about what they had just sung in praise to God. It is something required for the singers to do. So “Selah” means that we should pause and praise God. Every time we see “Selah” while reading Psalm we pause, look up, and praise God.

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. (Selah) 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;he lifts his voice, the earth melts.7 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.(Selah) 8 Come and see what the LORD has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;he burns the shields with fire. 10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 11 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Selah)

So while reading this Psalm, we can pause, look up, and praise God for:

His Promise: God Is For Us (1-3)

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. (Selah)

The word used here for God is “Elohim” which means that He is the Creator, King, Judge, and Savior. Regardless of what we are feeling in this troubled time. This is a reminder to us of God’s promises that He is our refuge, our strength, and our help. He is not asking us to go to a safe place. But He (himself) is our place of safety. The word “refuge” is a place of trust and literally, it means “to flee” running into an indestructible shelter.

God promised us that He will hide us in His shelter, and His strength will help us. He is a “very present help in trouble.” The word “very” means His help is great and abundant right now in our present situation. God’s help exceeds any kind of help that any humans can do. We should be glad that we are serving a God who is always ready to help when we are in trouble.

In verse 2, the writer imagines the worst calamity that may happen to us. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountains slipping into the sea. It seems like the destruction of the planet earth. But even though the earth gives way” or the landscape suddenly changes, we don’t have to be afraid.

Verse 3 describes the roaring waters of the sea. This represents something so violent that we have no total control. Roaring means “to rage” or “to be at war.” COVID-19 is not as violent but it is a crisis that we don’t have total control. Every country is in a commotion on what to do next. Humanity’s sense of control has been replaced with fear and concern about the future. It’s fair to say that the entire world has been humbled by this pandemic.

This Psalm tells us that when our security is suddenly gone, we’re to seek refuge in God. Our sense of helplessness and fear should draw us nearer to God. We will echo the voices of many people of God that this tragedy should bring us to our knees and cause us to be a more humble world.

God says in 2 Chronicles 7:14. “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

This pandemic is pointing us to the real problem—humanity’s pride, self-centeredness and spiritual brokenness.

His Presence: God Is With Us (4-7)

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 7 The LORD Almighty is with us;the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Selah)

God promises us shelter when we need it. We don’t have to look for Him because His presence is with us. In verse 4 the city of God refers to Jerusalem. It was a beautiful city but we all know that there is no river flowing through it like any other major cities during that time like Babylon has Euphrates, Egypt has Nile, Rome has Tiber. Jerusalem has not the physical river, but it had something even better—the presence of God.

The word “Most High” is Elyon, which refers to God as the highest of all. He is sovereign and supreme, and He is present with us. God’s grace flows like a river to bring gladness and joy to His people. While the ocean rages, God’s presence is depicted as a calm and gently flowing stream. This image in the Scripture is used to represent happiness, abundance, and peace, even when everything else is falling apart.

God’s presence with His people is one of the central truths of Scripture. Verse 5 says that “God is in the midst of her” and verse 7 declares that the “Lord of Hosts is with us.” This is from the root word “Immanuel,” which means “God with us” and was used in Matthew 1:23 to refer to Jesus. This means when we put our faith in Jesus, we have “God with us” at all times.

Notice the last part of verse 5: “God will help her at the break of day.” No matter how bad things get, God’s presence means He will help us. When we wake up to start a new day, we will experience what Jeremiah did in Lamentations 3:22-23: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” God is faithful to us. He will never leave us or forsake us.

His Power: God Is Over Us (8-11)

8 Come and see what the LORD has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. 10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Selah)

We can depend on God during times like this because of His promise, His presence, and finally, because of His power. Verse 8 says that God calls us to “come and see what the LORD has done.” The word “come” means “we are to run or pursue” in order “to see” or “to behold.”

It means “to perceive through sight, to gaze intently upon, to observe fully.” It expresses a strong feeling of hope, expectation, and certainty. “To behold” has the idea of vividness and emotional involvement. Here we are commanded, “to come and behold.”

There is a phrase that says, “We become what we behold.” A Pastor tells it like this: “Tell me what you are beholding, and I’ll tell you what you are becoming.”  When we behold the Lord and His works, we become like Him and do His works. I believe in this COVID-19 pandemic many people are seeking the Lord right now.

Verse 9 shows us that in His position as the Almighty God, He makes “wars cease to the ends of the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear, He burns the chariots with fire.” We believe that the LORD has the power to stop the war.

Sometimes we feel like that there is nothing we can do to stop COVID-19. We may even feel helpless and even hopeless. This pandemic helps us realize that we don’t have control over the details of our lives. But God is in total control.

In verse 10, we are called to “be still and know that I am God.” To “be still” means to “cast down or let fall” and was used to the idea of dropping weapons. We have to stop fighting a battle we can’t win.  We are not to just have a “moment of silence” or even to just be quiet. We are to cease, surrender to God, and let go.

The purpose of being still is so that we can know God. To “know” means “to acknowledge and comprehend, to discover intimately.” It is not just enough just to know about Him; we must have a deep personal relationship with Him. To do that, we need to be still before Him, pray and listen to His words.

The last part of verse 10 says that “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Ultimately, all nations will exalt God. Jesus will come again and all the nations will surrender before Him. No matter what happens, in this pandemic: God will be exalted among the nations and He will be exalted in the earth. He is working out all things for His glory and our ultimate good.

Verse 11 is a great summary statement of this entire psalm as it repeats verse 7. Because “the Lord of hosts is with us, and the God of Jacob is our fortress,” we can trust Him.

Conclusion

Jesus Christ is God and Lord of history. Nothing has happened outside of His plan. Through worst disaster, though the mountains fall into the sea, if we believe in Jesus we have nothing to fear.  Whether COVID-19 pandemic leads to more catastrophe and confusion, or the nations rage against one another, God is our refuge.

No matter what happens, we can pause, look up and praise Him for His promise, His presence, and His power.

Let’s pause here at the final “Selah” and praise God for His power. It’s time to be still and surrender before Him because we know that He is the most powerful God.

Photo is from South China Morning Post
Adopted from Pastor Brian Bill’s Sermon

Wait Upon God

He [Daniel] prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.- DANIEL 6:10

The more I think of and pray about the religious situation in our country, the deeper my conviction becomes that Christians do not realize the aim of conversion is to bring them into daily fellowship with the Father in heaven. For the believer, taking time each day with God’s Word and in prayer is indispensable.

Each day, we need to wait upon God for His presence and His love to be revealed. It is not enough at conversion to accept the forgiveness of sins or even to surrender to God. That is only a beginning. We must understand that we have no power on our own to maintain our spiritual life. We need to receive new grace daily from heaven through fellowship with the Lord Jesus.

This cannot be obtained by a hasty prayer or a superficial reading of a few verses from God’s Word. We must take time to come into God’s presence, to feel our weakness and our need, and to wait on God through His Holy Spirit to renew our fellowship with Him.

Then we may expect to be kept by the power of Christ throughout the day. It is my aim to help Christians see the absolute necessity of spending time with the Lord Jesus. Without this, the joy and power of God’s Holy Spirit in daily life cannot be experienced.

Heavenly Father, as I come into Your presence, I desire to know more of You. Teach me to wait quietly, with expectation that You will reveal Your love to me. I surrender all to You, Lord. Amen.

Andrew Murray. 3-Minute Devotions with Andrew Murray (Kindle Locations 33-46). Barbour Publishing, Inc. Kindle Edition

God has other plans

We were on our way to the Philippines when the news of the spread of the coronavirus in China and Italy spread out—on newspaper, radio, TV and the internet. At that time, no information yet was out about the spread in Thailand and the Philippines.

Our plan was to do what we must do in a short time. We cannot afford to be far away from home for long. We need to enroll the children, take care of the house rent, and prepare the children for the school opening.  We were certain that three weeks were long enough to do the blood tests, bone scan and consultation with my cardiologist, nephrologist, and oncologist. However, as I was having my bone scan when news came out that COVID-19 had spread in the Philippines and Thailand. Both governments enforced enhanced community quarantine.

We could not go anywhere. The airline canceled our flight. The result (five days after) of my bone scan stayed in the hospital. We had no way of getting it. I could not go to consult my oncologist in Baguio. We don’t have the slightest idea how long we will be staying here in the Philippines.

It further complicates our situation. On the 20th of April, the Thai government will cancel our non-immigrant visa and work permit because we will not be there to renew it. The visa that we had been using for fourteen finally come to its end. We are going back to Thailand in a tourist visa and no work permit.

The children are doing well in Thailand, we are closely keeping in touch. Thank God for technology, we can talk and see each other every day. They plan to go home to the villages this summer as they usually do in the last three years. But with the virus outbreak, we asked them to stay home.

Tilek graduated from junior to middle school and Pia graduated from primary to junior high school. In the next couple of years, four of them will be in the University. We feel sad that we could not be there for their graduation.

The year 2020 will be a real challenge for us. We thought we have this year figured out, but apparently, the Lord has other plans. Proverbs 19:21 says that:

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

Prayer Concerns

We are experiencing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. We pray that God will answer our prayers that this pandemic will be over soon. I will copy the prayer concerns we have been praying every day with our family here. Let us all unite praying for these concerns (CSM Prayer Pointers):

1. Pray for our loved ones. Let’s pray for protection and good health for our family, friends and yes, even our enemies.
2. Pray for governments and leaders. Let’s pray for godly wisdom for governments and leaders of all the countries that they may make wise decisions.
3. Pray for the frontliners. Let’s pray for health care workers, and others in the community who need to work to meet the needs of the people who are in quarantine. Let’s pray for their health and protection.
4. Pray for the poor, weak, and sick. Let’s pray for the most vulnerable sectors of our society. Let’s pray for their healing from their sicknesses and provisions for all their needs.
5. Pray for our respective countries. Let’s pray for Philippines and Thailand for peace, unity and healing for our lands.
6. Pray for the world. Let’s pray for the complete recovery of the world from pandemic COVID-19. By now we know that we are all connected. One country’s action affects other countries. Pray that God’s will amidst all.
7. Pray for ourselves. Let’s pray for our health and growth and for God to show us the next right thing to do in this situation.

Thank you once again for your love and prayers. We appreciate your continued partnership as we look forward to fruitful ministry. In a time like this, we strongly believe that God is in control.