God gave us the idea of cutting paper into shapes of fishes to represent the people that we intend to invite this Christmas. The purpose for us getting their names is to pray for them to have openness of hearts as we invite them for our various Christmas events.
Instead of the usual boring rectangular shapes, I felt the Lord said to cut into fish shapes as a creative way of mobilizing the people to pray for souls.
When Ps first proposed the idea of putting names into a prayer bowl, I began to ask the Lord for the details.
I knew we had done this before a few years back for Christmas but I wanted a fresh new way of doing it.
Firstly, I had to get the bowl. After asking around and getting a proposal for a soup bowl (which I felt was not so appropriate) the Lord spoke to me to look for a fish bowl at the fish shop.
I really saw one I like but as I paid for the purchase the sales girl said something prophetic to me "Don't you want to buy some fish to put into the fishbowl?"
Back home, I pondered on her words and realized that in a sense it is true - we are putting names of people whom we want to reach out for Jesus into the fishbowl thus the people are like spiritual 'fishes' for Jesus!
The idea just stuck and I got my prayer team members to cut fish shapes of colored paper to distribute on Sunday.
The verse the Lord gave me for the 'fishes' came clearly during one morning watch. It was from Matthew 4:19 "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men"
I began to download from the Lord four (4) principles of fishing that can be applied to praying for souls and the action required by us as part of the outreach.
The first principle is found in Matthew 4:18 - 22.
"And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen" verse 18.
When Jesus saw them, He called out to them "Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed Him" verses 19-20.
Jesus also walked further down the beach and saw 2 more persons "Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him" verses 21-22.
I saw a wonderful truth in this passage and realized that Simon, Andrew, James and John were just blue-collar workers doing their jobs. Day in, day out they labored to make a living, struggling to put food on the table with their daily catch of fish. I wonder what they were thinking.
Maybe they were pondering about having to do this kind of work for life or about the house they were going to buy with the money they earned or about how much money they were going to put aside for rainy days or about when they can take leave from fishing to go for a holiday (like some of us working people do) - just the mundane things that office workers think about whilst doing their 9 to 5 jobs.
Maybe they were thinking "Is my life going to be about all this? Am I going to keep on doing this routine for the rest of my life - fishing, mending the nets, selling the fish, counting the collection, going home at dusk, waking up early the next day, going to sea again to fish the next day and then the whole cycle goes on day after day?"
Jesus came along and declared to them the real PURPOSE OF THEIR LIVES when He challenged them and said "FOLLOW ME AND I WILL MAKE YOU FISHERS OF MEN"
Note that they were called whilst in their profession. Although they left their profession immediately to go full time, I do not believe that God is asking us to do the same unless we have really heard from God to go full time like the 4 fishermen in the Gospels.
I believe Jesus is teaching me a great truth from this story.
The truth is: my life is not just about 'fishing' as a means to make a living, it's not just about the 9 to 5 job that I am doing daily, it's not just about the salary that I bring back every month, it's not just about the EPF that I am accumulating for a comfortable retirement, it's not just about the investments that I am going to make with the money I saved from my job, it's not even about what kind of car I intend to buy...
Jesus is saying to me "Your life is more than just your careers (fishermen, lawyer, engineer, salesperson, teacher, accountant, auditor etc). Your life is more than just working or 'fishing' to put food on the table or to store up for your retirement. You have a greater and higher purposes than fishing/working. Your life goal and purpose is to become fishers of men and to reach out to souls for Me"!
Truly the first thing that I need to learn from this story is that I must know my true purpose in life i.e. to TO BE A FISHER OF MEN and I can only know this true purpose in the presence of the Lord just like the 4 men who heard the call of the Lord!
In this process, I need not be fearful as the Lord had promised me that as long as I follow Him closely, HE WILL TAKE UPON HIMSELF THE TASK OF MAKING ME A EFFECTIVE FISHER-MEN!
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