Called To Be A Prayer Warrior
Last night, I set my handphone alarm to go off at 8am this morning so that I can have my devotion and pray before going for cell group at W192 in the afternoon. I also needed to download the chords for 'Amazing' in key E, and had to practise the songs. However, I didn't manage to hear the alarm and woke up at 9 plus instead. That left me with approximately 1 and a half hours or so before I had to start getting ready and pack my belongings at 11am. So I quickly washed up and began to pray and worship God in song.
Praying up before a cell group meeting is of utmost importance, something that I have learnt from my leaders in church all this while. It's not just about praying for a smooth cell group meeting. Neither is it about clocking 15 minutes of prayer on cell group day so as to achieve a certain sense of satisfaction thereafter. Prayer is an indication of our dependence on God. Prayer reflects the degree to which we humble ourselves before God and acknowledge His Lordship, His Presence and His power. It's about coming before God in faith to ask the Holy Spirit to move supernaturally in the cell group meeting and touch every single one who comes. The responsibility to pray should not fall upon just the cell group leader alone, but on every member. And when every person takes up the responsibility to pray, I believe that's when they begin to take ownership of the cell group.
Praying up keeps us sharp and alert in the Spirit. It helps us to get in tune with God. For myself, I've experienced times where I feel somewhat dry and restless in service and cell group when I don't pray beforehand. At other times, I have found myself being able to flow with the Holy Spirit and becoming productive and effective in my service to God when I do spend time to pray. As we all lead very busy lives everyday, we may sometimes feel that we have no time for prayer. But I believe that time is in our hands. No matter how busy we are, we need to take time to pray. And we need to make the time to pray. Because the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16) :) Prayer changes things; prayer also changes us. We are all called to be prayer warriors in the Kingdom of God! :)
Carrying on from the point where I was having devotion this morning, God's Presence fell on me... and I felt a prompting in my heart to turn to Galatians 6:9 'Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.' This verse was the opening verse of the cell group sermon this week. Though I had come across the verse on Thursday cell group, I believe God wants to remind me again not to lose heart. Sometimes, discouragement comes into my life unexpectedly and tries to get me down. Problems may even seem bigger than God. But I have a great God, a God who is bigger than any problem that I face. When I look to the Lord and His strength and seek His face always, I realise that breakthroughs will definitely come, and all in God's own good timing. I just have to fix my eyes on Him alone. :)
At W192 today, we sang 'Glorious Redeemer'. One thing I really thank God for... I thought that there were only 2 worship songs today. But there turned out to be 4! And 'Glorious Redeemer' was one of them. But after downloading the chords for 'Amazing' at home, I was then reminded of 'Glorious Redeemer'. I was thinking, maybe Sis Selena may want to sing that or want to have a try at that song, so I downloaded the chords as well. What a relief I had when I looked at the songsheet and saw 'Glorious Redeemer' there. The other song was 'You Alone', and thank God we sung it before the previous week. Has to be the Holy Spirit who gave me the prompting. Thank You Holy Spirit!
The cell had 'Basketball Challenge' today after they ended. I didn't stay to join them but made my way home instead. Had Shimin accompanying me in the train because she was going to the North side as well. But I enjoyed a delicious, mini Strawberry Cornetto (ice-cream refreshment) after the cell group. And there I was again, taking pictures of people and the ice-cream...
I bought a packet of Hokkien Mee home for dinner. My mother used my camera phone to snap a pic of me eating the Hokkien Mee. And I also snapped a few pics of myself holding up a large, juicy prawn with the chopsticks. In addition to the Hokkien Mee, my mother heated up some japanese seaweed chicken. And my father gave me a bowl of Hockchew fishball soup. As I was happily tucking in, my brother came!! With durians!! :) Praise the Lord for durians... I took a pic of the durians too. After all that feasting, I came to blog... And finally, it's now time for me to retire for the night. :)
Praying up before a cell group meeting is of utmost importance, something that I have learnt from my leaders in church all this while. It's not just about praying for a smooth cell group meeting. Neither is it about clocking 15 minutes of prayer on cell group day so as to achieve a certain sense of satisfaction thereafter. Prayer is an indication of our dependence on God. Prayer reflects the degree to which we humble ourselves before God and acknowledge His Lordship, His Presence and His power. It's about coming before God in faith to ask the Holy Spirit to move supernaturally in the cell group meeting and touch every single one who comes. The responsibility to pray should not fall upon just the cell group leader alone, but on every member. And when every person takes up the responsibility to pray, I believe that's when they begin to take ownership of the cell group.
Praying up keeps us sharp and alert in the Spirit. It helps us to get in tune with God. For myself, I've experienced times where I feel somewhat dry and restless in service and cell group when I don't pray beforehand. At other times, I have found myself being able to flow with the Holy Spirit and becoming productive and effective in my service to God when I do spend time to pray. As we all lead very busy lives everyday, we may sometimes feel that we have no time for prayer. But I believe that time is in our hands. No matter how busy we are, we need to take time to pray. And we need to make the time to pray. Because the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16) :) Prayer changes things; prayer also changes us. We are all called to be prayer warriors in the Kingdom of God! :)
Carrying on from the point where I was having devotion this morning, God's Presence fell on me... and I felt a prompting in my heart to turn to Galatians 6:9 'Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.' This verse was the opening verse of the cell group sermon this week. Though I had come across the verse on Thursday cell group, I believe God wants to remind me again not to lose heart. Sometimes, discouragement comes into my life unexpectedly and tries to get me down. Problems may even seem bigger than God. But I have a great God, a God who is bigger than any problem that I face. When I look to the Lord and His strength and seek His face always, I realise that breakthroughs will definitely come, and all in God's own good timing. I just have to fix my eyes on Him alone. :)
At W192 today, we sang 'Glorious Redeemer'. One thing I really thank God for... I thought that there were only 2 worship songs today. But there turned out to be 4! And 'Glorious Redeemer' was one of them. But after downloading the chords for 'Amazing' at home, I was then reminded of 'Glorious Redeemer'. I was thinking, maybe Sis Selena may want to sing that or want to have a try at that song, so I downloaded the chords as well. What a relief I had when I looked at the songsheet and saw 'Glorious Redeemer' there. The other song was 'You Alone', and thank God we sung it before the previous week. Has to be the Holy Spirit who gave me the prompting. Thank You Holy Spirit!
The cell had 'Basketball Challenge' today after they ended. I didn't stay to join them but made my way home instead. Had Shimin accompanying me in the train because she was going to the North side as well. But I enjoyed a delicious, mini Strawberry Cornetto (ice-cream refreshment) after the cell group. And there I was again, taking pictures of people and the ice-cream...
I bought a packet of Hokkien Mee home for dinner. My mother used my camera phone to snap a pic of me eating the Hokkien Mee. And I also snapped a few pics of myself holding up a large, juicy prawn with the chopsticks. In addition to the Hokkien Mee, my mother heated up some japanese seaweed chicken. And my father gave me a bowl of Hockchew fishball soup. As I was happily tucking in, my brother came!! With durians!! :) Praise the Lord for durians... I took a pic of the durians too. After all that feasting, I came to blog... And finally, it's now time for me to retire for the night. :)
posted by Sabrina at 10:34 PM
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