The other day I met T at her beautiful home. She stays in a fabulous penthouse with ecletic furnishings. The walls were embedded with seashells, the sofas were plush sofas with soft fur drapes. The hanging lights were unique as they had veils over them. She obviously spent a lot of time making her home beautiful and elegant.
On the cabinets were photos of her children and her husband whom she loved very much. Yet sadly her home was an empty shell. She told me that she worked very hard to make her house a lovely home but her husband rarely came home and her daughters would go out for days without telling her where they going. She broke down and cried even while sharing about her family. Here was a lady who truly desired to build a family but was completely unappreciated by the very ones she loved.
There and then the Lord told me to tell her "Maybe its time to stop working but start resting"! I shared with her Ps 127:1 "Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted". I told her that unless she surrendered her family to Jesus her efforts to bring them home while be wasted. I told her to find rest from her hard work in God. Then Heb 4 came to me and I shared from Heb 4:9-10 and 14-16 how we can enter into the rest from our labors. "For all who have entered into God's rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world." v 9. Its time to stop working out things with our own strength but to start surrendering them to the Lord, be they relationships, work, careers, businesses, ministries, our children, our husbands.....
"So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most" v16
This is the way to rest from our struggles, our battles, our trials and our temptations, the way is through coming to the God in prayer! Simple but profound. It is an act of faith. "So then since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe" v14. I told her to surrender her husband and daughters to the Lord and let God take over the restoration/building of her relationships with them. I told her to stop worrying but to start asking the Lord for help!
Later after sharing with her the gospel, T prayed the sinner's prayer to accept Jesus into her heart.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Praying in Jesus name
There is power in praying in Jesus name!
John 14:13-14 says "You can ask for anything in my name and I will do it, so that the Son can give glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name and I will do it". I have often pondered over these verses...did Jesus literally meant anything? Will God answer me if I were to ask for the first prize in the lottery or millions of RM in my account?
I realize that Jesus had a conditon attached to praying in His name. The condition was that whatever we ask in His name had to bring glory to the Father. Further the prayer need had to be genuine/not selfish or to fulfil our lust so as to ensure that in the event we testify of it, God's glory will shine through.
Recently during our 4th cruise to Phuket and Langkawi, we stopped over at the famed underwater aquarium to view the myriad marine life, walruses, penguins, birds, starfishes, seahorses, jelly fishes, sharks, stingrays and other exotic sea creatures. It was at the entrance while buying tickets that Amanda discovered her IC missing (Malaysian IC holders qualify for a discount on the tickets). All through the aquarium visit she fretted and worried about the misplaced IC. I told her to give thanks and she got upset with me! She even called home and asked Jen to check her belongings for the missing IC. It could not be found.
The first thing she did upon stepping into the house after our holiday was to search through her bags, pockets and cabinets for the missing IC. When she still could not find it, we did the one thing we had not done earlier, we asked Tim to pray for it to be found. "In Jesus name, Amanda's IC will be found" Tim declared. Praise the Lord, in less than 5 minutes, she found it in the pocket of her pants which was just in the nick of time as it was about to be tossed into the washing machine!
On the same night itself, I realized that I had left a bag containing my facial cleansers and sandals on the double decker. I tried calling the bus company but they had closed for the day. I turned to Tim and said "Since you are so good in praying for things to be found, please pray for my bag to be returned to me". Shortly after he declared in Jesus name that my bag would be returned to me intact, the taxi man called me to inform me that he would be returning my bag to me in half and hour. I was shocked as firstly, I thought that I had left the bag on the bus and secondly, I had not written down my contact no. anywhere in the bag! He told me that he called Star cruise and got my contact. Praise the Lord for answering prayers uttered in His name.
I still have one more piece of cardigan which I left at Hard Rock Hotel Singapore (forgetful me). However they are already arranging to have it couriered to me!
On Friday when I got back to work, God gave me another opportunity to pray in His name. My good friend, K called me to ask for prayers. She said that her menses had spilled over into the usual no. of days and that it was a cause for concern for her. There and then over the phone I declared healing for her and prayed "I command the bleeding to stop in Jesus name." One day later she sms-ed me to thank me for praying...her bleeding had stopped!
John 14:13-14 says "You can ask for anything in my name and I will do it, so that the Son can give glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name and I will do it". I have often pondered over these verses...did Jesus literally meant anything? Will God answer me if I were to ask for the first prize in the lottery or millions of RM in my account?
I realize that Jesus had a conditon attached to praying in His name. The condition was that whatever we ask in His name had to bring glory to the Father. Further the prayer need had to be genuine/not selfish or to fulfil our lust so as to ensure that in the event we testify of it, God's glory will shine through.
Recently during our 4th cruise to Phuket and Langkawi, we stopped over at the famed underwater aquarium to view the myriad marine life, walruses, penguins, birds, starfishes, seahorses, jelly fishes, sharks, stingrays and other exotic sea creatures. It was at the entrance while buying tickets that Amanda discovered her IC missing (Malaysian IC holders qualify for a discount on the tickets). All through the aquarium visit she fretted and worried about the misplaced IC. I told her to give thanks and she got upset with me! She even called home and asked Jen to check her belongings for the missing IC. It could not be found.
The first thing she did upon stepping into the house after our holiday was to search through her bags, pockets and cabinets for the missing IC. When she still could not find it, we did the one thing we had not done earlier, we asked Tim to pray for it to be found. "In Jesus name, Amanda's IC will be found" Tim declared. Praise the Lord, in less than 5 minutes, she found it in the pocket of her pants which was just in the nick of time as it was about to be tossed into the washing machine!
On the same night itself, I realized that I had left a bag containing my facial cleansers and sandals on the double decker. I tried calling the bus company but they had closed for the day. I turned to Tim and said "Since you are so good in praying for things to be found, please pray for my bag to be returned to me". Shortly after he declared in Jesus name that my bag would be returned to me intact, the taxi man called me to inform me that he would be returning my bag to me in half and hour. I was shocked as firstly, I thought that I had left the bag on the bus and secondly, I had not written down my contact no. anywhere in the bag! He told me that he called Star cruise and got my contact. Praise the Lord for answering prayers uttered in His name.
I still have one more piece of cardigan which I left at Hard Rock Hotel Singapore (forgetful me). However they are already arranging to have it couriered to me!
On Friday when I got back to work, God gave me another opportunity to pray in His name. My good friend, K called me to ask for prayers. She said that her menses had spilled over into the usual no. of days and that it was a cause for concern for her. There and then over the phone I declared healing for her and prayed "I command the bleeding to stop in Jesus name." One day later she sms-ed me to thank me for praying...her bleeding had stopped!
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