From the Pastor’s Desk (278)
(The following is what I sent to your shepherds on Monday. I want you to do the same that I am asking your shepherds to do.)
Shepherds and wives,
Good morning!
I am calling all of you to Early Morning Prayer in the church sanctuary!
“Without prayer we will slowly but surely die!”
If prayer is a declaration of dependence on God and sign of humility before Him, then prayerlessness is a declaration of independence from God and sign of pride before Him. A life that is independent of God will end up in disaster. You have experienced this in your own life and have seen it happen in the lives of your house church members. If you and I don’t pray, we will eventually get ruined and destroyed in the areas of our lives that truly matter the most.
If a shepherd prays, then no matter what happens to his life and his house church, there is hope because God will sooner or later take care of him because he is utterly dependent on Him. Why would our good and loving Heavenly Father ignore those who earnestly come to Him through prayer in the spirit of humility? He wouldn’t. And house church members whose shepherd prays earnestly are in good hands because they are covered and protected by God who has promised to do this in response to the shepherd who trusts and prays to Him.
People say I am very disciplined and New Life is very different and hardcore. I used to deny and disagree with this because I have always thought that I am very ordinary and New Life is not anything special. But I have heard this comment for too long, from too many people. I have also seen many churches that are quite different from New Life. So, I have decided to acknowledge and agree with people’s comments and assessment of my life and New Life.
Now, I say all this about me because I want to challenge you about your prayer life. If I, as a very disciplined person, find it very difficult to pray for even just an hour at home, then I can only imagine how much more difficult it must be for you to pray for just half an hour at your own comfortable home. But again, if you don’t pray, you and your house church will eventually shrivel up and die in the areas of your life that truly matter the most before God.
Now, if your prayer life at home is incredibly vibrant and full of passion and you think driving to church to pray is a waste of time, then this doesn’t apply to you. You don’t need to come out to church to pray. Just keep doing what works for you as long as you can honestly say that your prayer life is full of life and vibrancy.
However, if your prayer life is no way near being vibrant, then you must do something drastically different in your life to fan the flame into your prayer life. And I want to encourage and challenge you to come out to church early in the morning at least one or two days a week to pray.
If you are married without kids, then both husband and wife can come out to church together and pray. What a refreshing and God-pleasing way to start the day and have a date with your spouse!
If you are married and have little ones, then husband and wife can take turns to come out to church and pray.
If you are married with kids who are grown and can be left alone for a couple of hours (upper elementary school age and up), then both husband and wife can come out to church together and pray.
If you live close to other shepherds, then you all can carpool and come together for the sake of accountability and encouraging one another. Furthermore, it will be fun to spend the early hours of the day with those who are on the same journey.
If you are working remotely or hybrid, then you have all the more reasons to come out to church and pray since you don’t need to fight the traffic to go to work on those days that you work from home.
If you are working one to three days a week, then you really have no reason not to come out to church and pray.
How is your prayer life? Are your family members, house church members, and your village shepherds and their families covered by your prayer? Prayer is your calling and responsibility. Protection over our lives in response to our prayer is God’s domain. However, we can’t expect God to do His part when we neglect our part. Even Jesus said, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Our part of forgiving our debtors is directly linked to our beseeching of God to forgive our debts. Without us doing our part, God will not.
I come out to church a little before 5 AM almost every day. But so often, I am by myself praying in that big sanctuary. I hear one or two people coming in to pray between 5 to 8 AM and I truly appreciate them. However, often, I feel very sad because I know that many of you don’t have a vibrant prayer life, and your family members and your house church members are struggling with various things in their life, yet you are not passionately and persistently praying for them. I see you worrying about them or thinking about what you can do to help them based on your human thoughts and experiences. But I don’t see you urgently and earnestly going before the Lord to fast and cry out to God on behalf of your family and house church members. And I can’t help but wonder how your family and house church members are being protected from the fiery darts of the devil who is out there prowling around like a roaring lion because his mission is to devour and destroy us.
Without prayer, we will surely die!
My guidepost when it comes to my prayer life is this:
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)
Shepherds and wives, come out to church at least one or two days a week to pray. And do this not just for a season in your life. Do this for the rest of your life because you owe it to your family members, your house church members, and this church. And a prayerful life is good for you because God is pleased with those who utterly depend on Him.
Again, I will never ask you to do anything that I am not doing personally in my life.
Let’s pray.
Your pastor,
Pastor Eric
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