Dear..
‘And even to your old age I am He, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you; I have made, and I will bear, even I will carry, and will deliver you.’
Isaiah 46:4
Is man by nature transactional? With the first bite of the apple, men have shifted from looking at life from God’s perspective to an attitude, be it deliberate or in the subconscious, of what is it in for me? Mercantilism was the school of thought(15th to early 20th Century) that dominated the European psyche that fueled imperialism and the advent of colonial conquest globally. Mercantilism works on the assumption of one party can only benefit at the expense of another and maybe this explains to some extent the loathing many had for the merchant class, be it in Shakespeare’s Shylock(aka Merchant of Venice) or the general disdain that the scholarly elite and Imperial ruling class in the bastion of power in the North held for their Southern brethren in China.
Prayers is what our Lord Jesus Christ showed by example and come what may, he took time with the Lord our God.
'In returning and rest you shall be saved. I quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But you would not..'
Isaiah 30:15
Should we also not take time in prayers with the Lord always? But will we be like Christ who in his role as the “human” man struggled with the knowledge of what is to come, his cruxification, but unlike man, knew and was obedient to the will of God?
‘Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints..’
Ephesians 6:18
The Apostle Paul in the last chapter of Ephesians reminds all that there is both the natural world that we live in as well as the spiritual world that encapsulates our very being, much as our carnal man does not sense it. And he urges us to put on the whole armor of God, for without which, we will be overwhelmed by the spiritual forces of evil that rules our fallen world. And prayers must be the underlying glue that must bind and undergird our every moment, wherever we are, whatever we are thinking or doing.
‘…woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time…’
Revelation 12:12
I have in the past few years of actively seeking God in His words and work, learned to appreciate the privilege of being able, without any advance notice, to take time in with Him and take time out from whatever in this difficult world of ours seems to be oppressing my sense of well being.
‘For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.’
Acts 17:28
It is a right given to all, through our Lord Jesus Christ, to come unto the presence of God, the source of peace and joy and comfort, yet many are either not aware or do not feel inclined to avail themselves of the sanctifying presence of our Lord. And for those who do eventually come to the Lord in prayers, it is often about their needs rather the will of God.
‘Then said he unto me. Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.’
Daniel 10:12
Daniel was a man who seeks after the Lord with his all. And God gave him the highest honor amongst men and shielded him through the storms. And how wonderful that the prayers of the faithful are like sweet incense reaching out to our Heavenly Father, and how reassuring it is that He not just hears our prayers, but send His angels in response.
‘O my God, incline Thine ear, and hear, open Thine eyes and behold our desolations….for we do not present our supplications before Thee for our righteousness, but for Thy great mercies…’
Daniel 9:18
And that is the wonderful thing about prayers. It is not like a legal contract, where we must provide consideration in order to obtain a response from God. And it is not about what we have done or promise to do, but it is about the faithfulness of God and His often unrequited love for us. Prayers bring us into an intimate communion with the Spirit of God. Prayers allow His Spirit to minister to our thirsty soul and sanctifies our very being, to be made ready to receive the promptings of His Spirit. And prayers ensure that we allow the Spirit of God to remind us on what is not right with our walk with Him and to prompt the correct response from us.
‘For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.’
Luke 12:2
Just this morning, the Lord reminded me that indeed every day is a new day, and often, we take as given that we will wake up the next morning, which need not always be the case. Should we not then be thankful for a new morning and respond to that privilege by asking God in our morning prayers or “conversation” with Him to teach us to honor Him with the day given, assured that His grace is indeed suffice for the day, much as we live in a fallen world? Is this no the Lord's prayer that Christ taught us all?
'For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for Him.'
Isaiah 30:18
Rgds and God Blesses
Eng Hieang
Orison??
‘And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like a noise of many waters, and the earth shined with His glory…..So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house. And I heard Him speaking unto me out of the house…
Ezekiel 43:2-6
It has been a blessed ten years since the Spirit of God brought me forth from disinterested believer to determined follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it has been 9 years since in His way, I have been led to an active role in prayer ministry, both in school, church and at the office.
God, for myself, has been an interesting relationship. He brings me to places and roles that I never imagined ever doing and in following, I have been most blessed and this is the reassurance that gives me certainty of faith, as I look forward to wherever He places me next, but till then, learning to be thankful and to honor Him, wherever He places me in for the present.
‘This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.’
Ezekiel 43:12
In the rudimentary years(back in 1998) of my returning to the faith, when I did not like to croak in church, hardly read the Bible and rather use my worldly wisdom, and felt quite ill at ease about praying in the presence of others, our good Lord gave me a vision one night while I was fast asleep on my son’s bed.
I saw this azure blue sky, a lovely blue that briefly captivated me, before unexpectedly a dazzling bright light, so bright that my eyes cringed, shone forth from the same sky. And I felt myself being lifted upright to a seated posture and running parallel to this was a voice that roared like the waves, commanding yet not threatening, and the words I heard was “to rise like the Oriole.”
This was a momentary experience and I woke up and looking at the time, it was 2am and much as I sense that it was more than a dream, I said a little prayer to thank God for the experience and went back to bed. The next morning, I looked up the dictionary, much as I do recall “oriole” refers to a bird with colorful plumage. But one other word smack right below the word ‘oriole” was this hither till then unfamiliar word “orison.”
Orison is defined in the dictionary as “a reverent petition to a diety.”
‘But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost…’
Jude 1:20
Prayers is indeed what God has brought me to these past 9 years. I have come to learn that prayers is not a matter of choice, but a clear command from our Lord, for prayers bring our spirit man into communion with the Spirit God. And prayers must gird our daily journey as a believer as the Spirit of God leads us through this fallen world, where hovering and always ready to pounce on us, is the devil and its demonic cohorts.
'Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it..'
Isaiah 30:21
God will always show us the next step. If our heart is right with God, there will be no confusion as to His will for us for the next step, in the path He has already laid for us. And as we walk in faith, He will clarify His ways and as I looked back at the past decade, He is indeed Sovereign.
Ezekiel 43:2-6 is a verse that is ensconced in the particular segment of the Book of Ezekiel, which for most of us, is quite uninteresting, unless you happen to be an architect. And it was only back in year 2009, as I took time to pray, as Rosanne my publisher and myself pondered upon a mystery that seems to hinder the final printing of our book “Reflections – a traveler’s muse.” We could not figure out the cover page(see pictures below), which should have showed travelers moving up a mountain slope, with a lovely blue clear sky as a backdrop but instead the blue sky was replaced by the gleaming darkness of dusted gold when the printing press was run.
The Lord brought me to Ezekiel 43:2-6, and as I read this verse for the first time(much as I have been reading the Bible diligently for the past decade), it was as if the doors of heaven were flung wide open for that peek into the ways of God. For this verse crystallized for me the vision I had a few years earlier and it affirmed that prayer ministry that God has brought me to. And interestingly, as I read a little further into Ezekiel 43:12, the verse summed up the purpose of the art book that we published. Which is, a reminder to man as they struggled up the slope of human attainment, to take time to look away from their worldly endeavors and to look up into the sky above. For the God is very present in our lives and He is holy, but are we holy in our living? Prayers are the pegs that will ensure that we correctly ground ourselves in this finite journey that all men have to go through, till the Lord brings us home.
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