‘Headlines’
Morning Prayer at Heart of God Church (9th – 13th February 2009)
One would think that waking up before dawn, even before the sun shines its first ray (not to mention even before the first bus leaves the interchange), would be an impossible task for many Singaporeans.
Apparently not!
You can really tell the level of commitment City Harvesters have towards praying and seeking the face of God by how willing they are to sacrifice sleep to be at the prayer meetings.
For five consecutive days, at 6.30am, the crowds would gather to queue at Singapore Post Centre and squeeze into the lifts, which would bring us to the Heart of God (HOG) Church auditorium on the 12th floor. Along the way, we would be greeted by friendly and vibrant HOG ushers. Honestly, I don’t know how they do it!
Every morning without fail, the hall would be fully packed with our members interceding for our Church, families, cell groups, etc. By 7.00am, you would not be able to find a seat.
As we prayed, faith began to arise in our hearts to believe that truly, like in Matthew 21:22, “…whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive” (AMP).
After praying up a storm one morning, God reminded me of 1 Corinthians 13:1 and 13.
1“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”
13“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Prayer works – it is effective and will produce results – when we pray out of genuine, unselfish love. This is the kind of love Jesus has towards each and every one of us. He is now in heaven, intensely interceding for us (Romans 8:34), wanting us to succeed in every aspect of life.
Just think about how you might pray for someone close to you, whom you care about dearly – a family member, a close friend, a loved one – compared to an acquaintance or a stranger. When we are passionate about something, we will go all out, pray with all our hearts to make sure something happens.
So, let’s pray through our entire prayer list or prayer book with that same passion and love as Jesus us praying for us, and I’m sure we will see God move mightily in our lives in 2009!
It boils down to this one word – Amazing.
Everyone came in with much expectancy after the first lesson last week. We were all expecting a life transforming session with Brother Poh and true enough we were not disappointed.
This session was like a hands-on session, where we could put theory into practice. I felt really blessed to have Poh putting time and effort to impart the skills he learnt.
First and foremost, he mentioned that preparation for the songs that we will be singing during cell group meetings is necessary and important. We, as guitarists or song leaders, got to know the flow and what was going to be preached as well. One of the ways was to build a better relationship with our leaders.
“Go to your leaders and not wait for your leaders to call you.” – Poh
Secondly, we must get our hearts engaged and ready to let God speak to us. It is not all about the songs but also about our heart. We need to first open up our hearts to God, open up our spiritual ears to hear from him. Of course, he told us that we should not be complacent in our walk with God – we got to keep on pressing in, seeking His face in our quiet time and allowing Him to speak to us.
A verse that was shared on that day – Psalm 97:12
Psalm 97:12 (NKJV)
Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
From this verse, I learnt that we ought to give thanks to God regardless of all the trials and tribulations in our lives and it is important that we remember that He is always behind us all the time. Everything that is happening in our lives is already planned out by God – He is sovereign. We should walk in the path of righteousness and praise Him for every little thing. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. Let our renewed mindsets bring us to the next level of breakthrough!
Poh also mentioned something that made me really think. To be creative, one must be doing something that he or she likes. Something that is new and different from the normal. For example, I enjoy jogging late in the night. And sometimes I like to look for company to jog with me. But, it is also good to spend time with myself. It is a healthy way to ‘get to know myself’ better. What is true in the natural is also true in the spiritual. After a jog, I feel refreshed in the mind and soul, and I would take my time to stroll back home and even sing my favorite worship songs (sometimes even praise songs!). So DO THINGS THAT MAKES YOU ‘TICK’ – Happy! Creative and better ideas will then come out of those happy moments and from there, we can all grow with the sharing of creative ideas!
Here’s what Eugene from W389 has to say..
“It was fun! Brother Poh was very humorous and the atmosphere was really electrifying! I could felt goose bumps every now and then during the few hours we were there. Learnt a lot on the art of worship and how to flow in the Spirit! It was a great meeting!”
I believe all those who attended this session were greatly blessed and it’s time to share the skills that we have learnt with our fellow members J
Reported by Kar Wen N391
It was a significant day for many of us on 5th February 2009. We gathered with members from other zones of City Harvest Church for a worship-leading and guitar class, known as iWorship 101. It was spearheaded by our all-time favourite worship leader- Brother Poh. As far as I know, every single person who attended this class left with their lives never the same again.
Brother Poh was frank in showing us the need to strike a balance between skills and spirituality when it came to worship-leading. In his opinion, skills and spirituality ought to go hand-in-hand and neither is to be neglected. According to the very experienced worship leader, skills are definitely essential to pull down the presence of God in an even greater way.
In response to what Brother Poh taught, Si Jia from E99 remarked, “I have learnt the guitar before. However, now, I feel I need to really improve my skills. I used to think it is just about the spiritual life.”
Zone Beau, Oh Yan Ming, mentioned, “I feel that I have gotten a whole new mindset about prayer and worship now. It is not just about going through the motions of playing the guitar, but pulling down the presence of God. I learnt from Brother Poh that as we have a balance, we can engage God’s presence.”
It is evident that iWorship 101 with Brother Poh had enriched us greatly and had renewed our minds, preparing us for greater encounters with God ahead.
During the course of the lesson, besides just equipping us with the necessary skills to song-lead and be effective guitarists, Brother Poh also shared with us his heart-felt revelations. The revelations which he shared left us in awe of the glory of God.
Brother Poh’s attitude and heart towards God touched us deeply as well. One of the impactful statements he made was, “Through the years as a Christian, I have never seen anyone growing to be more on fire for God by not going cell group meetings and services.” He asserted that the key to have more spiritual encounters with God was to first cultivate a deeper hunger for His presence. Just as the bible says in Matthew 5:6,
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
Upon listening to Brother Poh said, Serene Ho from N317 sincerely shared that what inspired her most throughout the lesson was the reminder that we have to bring our body, soul and spirit together as one when we worship God to really touch His presence.
No words can sufficiently express how grateful we all are for that Thursday night spent with Brother Poh. It was not just yet another church meeting, but really a life-transforming two hours.
Reported by Gwendolyn Tan N317
