Testimony: Healed

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7

This is the very verse that I strongly felt God spoke to me about before and ever so again about the power of prayer. A prayer, stated in Wikipedia, is a direct approach for man to appeal to God to grant one's request; be it financially, in studies, health, relationship, family, personal or even for another. However, it should not be taken that prayer is like genie in a lamp; there's no "more efficient" or "better" way to pray so as to achieve the desirable results. On that, praise God that there isn't any fix way to pray for that will seriously contradict and undermine God's own limitless creativity and power.

I'll like to point out that even with prayer, one must be active to hold on to God's promise: praying for a new job but not sending out resume or praying for good results but not studying. God want to bless us and prosper us, but we have to give God things to work with! Another important point about prayer that is to believe that God has/will listen to our petition and will fulfill them in His timing. As human, we tend to rush and want instant results, but God is the unmovable and the omnipotent God, He sees the future and know what's best for us at that very timing/season of our life.

Praise the Lord for my Lifegroup, D2, whose precious individuals were handpicked and placed together by God to grow and nurture us as unique characters and as group of Christians in this season. One area that I'm thankful for is the readiness of the group to pray and to intercede for one another, be it in the area of health or studies etc.

One occasion whereby I've taken ill in the middle of the night but had a major report to be handed in the next day. SOSes (sms) were spammed to my lifegroup asking for prayer for healing and for His divine wisdom to handle the report. Within minutes, I received 2 replies (MX & Pari) with prayers over those areas. As I struggle to stay awake, in pain and at the same time trying to use the reminder brain cells to work out the report, I had to keep reassuring myself that God is in control and that I'll be made well and my report will be good.

And indeed, our God heard and answered our prayer; not only did I manage to finish the report that very night, I actually became well within just 3hrs of praying. This happened again the following day during a prayer meeting where I felt nauseous and a group laid hand on me; recovered even before the prayer meeting was over.

In two days, God's power were shown to me twice. Demonstrating His authority in heaven and on earth, that He can easily cause illnesses to flee at His command and that He can use whatever remaining brain cells to work out a miracle in my report. Praise the Lord. I thank Him for allowing me to experience these miracles and to stand witness to Him, the God Almighty.

By Tony

Growing a Prayer Life

New technology amazes us, even though we may not be able to afford all the latest gadgets. The forefront of technology has a lot to do with communication. Cell phone developments and the use of G.P.S. and other satellite capabilities have created a world in which we are almost never out of touch. You may be browsing this website at a wi-fi café that would astonish your grandparents. You can’t imagine living in a world without instant communication.

Yet all these modern advances have lessons to teach us. Take the theological mysteries of prayer, for example. How many of us have wondered about God’s ability to give attention to the simultaneous prayers of millions of people around the globe. Yet communications satellites are regularly handling hundreds of thousands of cell conversations at the same time. The analogy isn’t perfect, but it helps us appreciate God’s much greater divine capacity and uniqueness.

More and more vehicles come equipped with an emergency call button. Press it and an operator is instantly available to answer questions, offer directions, and relay emergency calls. In certain emergencies, such as an airbag deployment, the system automatically signals a distress call and supplies your location to emergency personnel. It turns out that the satellite global positioning software has been tracking your every movement.

For anyone who has ever wondered if we are ever out-of-touch or out-of-mind when it comes to God, our own primitive technology points to the answer. It may be amazing, but God knows where we are, what we’re up to, and what we need.

Prayer—simply talking with God—becomes a spiritual "emergency call button" that we are able to press at any moment to access our heavenly Father, knowing that he has been tracking us continuously. He loves you, and wants to hear from you. He is always available. Tell God your thoughts and concerns; praise him for who he is; thank him for his answers.

Prayer also involves listening—to hear God’s still small voice. This is not an audible voice, but an impression in our heart or mind, a particular verse in the Bible that really hits home. As we develop our relationship with God, we become more and more comfortable with these quiet "interruptions" of God’s counsel, direction, and help, even when we haven’t asked for it.

That magic blue button on automobiles comes with a fee; the privilege of prayer comes free with our relationship to God. The ancient songwriter David may have known nothing about the G.P.S., but his words echo the truth that God is ever with us, ready to hear our prayers:

"O LORD, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.

You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, LORD.z
You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me."
(Psalm 139:1-11)

How aware are you of God’s presence in your life? Have you talked to him today?

taken from http://www.newlivingtranslation.com

Testimony: Assignment Relief

This is from a few months ago, but a particular testimony I want to share as it goes back to my time as a student.

During the time when things needed to be handed in and assignments being done, I had to go into the city for my next SAC (School Assessed Coursework) which is an in-class assesment that afternoon. the day got off to a bad start when i missed my bus, which led to me walking up to the tram stop instead. I then missed the tram, this got me starting to feel a bit worried that I'd be late, especially since the teacher had said that if we were not on time we wouldn't be allowed into the room to sit the assessment. So finally when I was on the next tram, I realized the ticket machine was not working so I couldn't buy one, so at first I just sat there until I felt bad inside because I wanted to keep the honesty in my heart, so I got off.

Then the next tram after that was late, so by then I was stressing a little in my heart as I felt like I was going to be late for sure now. Eventually i arrived in the city, and by then I felt rather desperate, so I finally released it unto God and prayed in my heart that the teacher would be late also (haha) or that she'd talk for a while first.

When i got inside the building and got to the room, I found that the teacher was going through the normal part of the lesson as she had decided for some reason to shift the assesment to the second half of the class. So I really praised God for that relief and just through those small things made a big difference! Amen. :-)

By Simon

Testimony: God's Better Plan

I’ve been having difficulties making to Life Group (LG) on time for the past few Thursdays due to classes.

Then when I heard I was going to have night classes on Thursdays from this semester onwards, I became deeply troubled. I could barely make it on time if classes end in the afternoon, so what more night classes!

I told God how bad the timings were. And in my heart, I was making plans to attend classes on another day instead of Thursday night in order to make it for LG.

As I was feeling troubled about all the hassle of having to speak to trainers about changing classes as well as facing the possibility of being rejected by them, I prayed to Him, “Lord I know it’s according to Your will that I will be able to be part of a small group. And I will pray according to Your will and leave all things into Your hands.”

After I said that prayer, I was pretty assured things will work out right somehow if I can get the chance to chat with the trainers and persuade them to let me off on Thursday nights. But God has a better plan! I soon received an sms on the same day from the college that my entire Thursday's worth of classes will be shifted to Monday! For no apparent reason! I cannot comprehend that decision of the school, but I certainly know that it must be God! Praise the Lord, I can now be available to attend LG on Thurs without much of a rush anymore. Amen. :)

By Mx

Testimony: Prayer for Presentation

My presentation slides were going no where even after 1 week of working on it and it was only 50% completed and absolutely boring.

On the night before the presentation at LG, Sister Atom and Lorena helped say a prayer for me and when I worked on the slides again later that night, it was all done within an hour! Plus, God definately planted the inspiration into my head because I received good reviews post presentation on how unique the ideas were put together.

So Praise God! Please pray for a good score for me too. Hee hee.

By Pari

Prayer Quote

“Prayer is the key to Heaven, but faith unlocks the door.”- unknown

Put On Your Full Armor of God

As a soldier of Christ please put on the full armor of God. We need to be ready and fully equipped.

Ephesians 6:10-18 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

I encourage of us to begin to pray and to step out in faith together so we may experience the spoils/blessings of victory that God will give to us! Your prayers will make a significant impact. We maybe ordinary people but we have an extraordinary God! Amen.

(Contributed by Eric)