FAST FORWARD 2

Come to CF on this Friday to learn how to serve God in the health field
as Ms. Chin share :)

PRAYER

Luke 10:38-42. Martha was rushing around wanting to serve Jesus; she was distracted by all that needed to be done. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to what He had to say. Jesus said, “…only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better.”

            Prayer is communing with God (according to Dr Living Lee, ‘communing’ is a much much deeper version of communication ), spending time not only to talk to Him but to listen to what He has to say. God is talking, are we listening?

Mark 1:35. In the busyness and hectic pace of his ministry, Jesus would wake up very early in the morning, go to a solitary place, and pray.

            The mistake we make: We think that by sheer effort we can achieve it. We say we have no time to pray, but really, we waste more time and energy doing our work or ‘ministry’ in the flesh because we do not know what God wants us to do, and we do not tap into the source of power which is Him.

Matthew 6:5-7. Jesus tells us not to pray to show off. But to pray privately, secretly, to God alone.

            Now this doesn’t mean we do not pray in public at all. BUT, if the only times we pray are when we can be heard by others (meaning, no private prayer at all), then something is wrong!!

Matthew 6:8-13. Jesus says that the Father already knows what we need before we ask Him. Then, he models a prayer for us (what we call the Lord’s Prayer). Interestingly, the first half of that model prayer is not bringing our needs/wants to God, but about God being glorified and His will being done.

So why pray, if God already knows what we want? Because prayer isn’t about getting what we want. Prayer is not about bending God to our will, it’s not about treating God like an ATM machine. Rather, prayer bends us to God’s will; knowing Him and what He desires becomes the ultimate goal.

Ephesians 6:8 says “Pray at all times”; 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says “Pray without ceasing.”

            How?? When we still have to get so many things done?? By learning to turn our hearts and minds to God in the midst of busyness. Even in performing our daily duties, to constantly turn our minds to God whether in praise or in petition. Making prayer a lifestyle. *Warning: This does not come overnight; learning takes a long time. We do not aim to achieve this; rather, it happens when we are so surrendered and so in love with God that constantly thinking about Him becomes quite natural!!* 

 The final conclusion? Quoting Dr Living Lee, “Just fall in love with God lah…”  That’s what prayer is about. Drawing us to a deeper, closer intimacy with God, as we learn to listen to Him; and in listening, we learn His heart. We learn to discern His will. Then, we request and act according to His will.

Some practical steps that may help us get started in the practice of prayer (for yes, just like all other important things, prayer can get pushed to the background if we do not consciously take certain steps to make sure it keeps on being a priority):

1)      Think of your routine behaviors from the time you wake up till you get to bed. Eg: eating breakfast, going for class, bathing, checking Facebook etc.

2)      Select one or two of that routine behaviors, and commit yourself to praying (or any other spiritual exercise, like reading the Bible) every time before you perform that routine.

3)      Write it down: eg. “I’ll pray for 5 minutes before I eat breakfast”, or “I’ll read a chapter of the Bible before I start studying every day”.

4)      If it doesn’t seem to work (eg: Generally, reading the bible and praying before going to bed doesn’t work!! Too sleepy, or we just say “I’m so tired, Il just do it tomorrow…” But yes yes for some it does work), then choose another routine behavior.

5)      Ask someone to help keep you accountable (check on you if you have been doing it). Having someone else to encourage and push you really does help)

*A note: Since prayer involves listening to God, meditating on God’s word is actually an integral part pretty hard to separate prayer and quiet time, really, the way I see it!!

*Most points from this write-up were from Dr Living Lee’s talk on 9Dec.

Hope you guys and gals are blessed!! Lets pray!!

Lifeline

Helllloooo ppl!!! CF gathering is on as usual this Friday, 1-2.30 pm, venue 1.08. (The venue in the poster is wrong, sorry about that )

Topic: “LIFELINE”. hahaha ok i bet ur all wondering what in the world is LIFELINE?? Its about prayer how do we perceive prayer? just a one-sided conversation with God: us talking and Him listening? what about prayer with other Christians, seriously, why must we do that?? Does prayer really ‘work’? Is it really important at all??!!

Do come and be blessed with Dr Living Lee’s sharing. Look forward to seeing all of you this Friday, as we come together to worship our God, learn from Him and lift His name high as a CF