Listening to God's Voice

Hello Prayer Center,

 

  You know the hard feeling so time things dos not go your way and you just have to let it go and let God taking care of it? Well, reflecting back to this weekend I believe that God is teaching me to view things the way He see it. From man’s prospective it is very alarming as long as you haling on to”your ways”. Well, a few days before this past weekend I have a place a new online order on "XXX" online store, and have no idea that it would be difficult to communicate  a simple request that seems making sense to me.  In Isaiah 55: 8-9 the sculpture says:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”.

 

 If I would still looking at things by my view I would still be stressful about this experience that is.  Looking back on this past weekend, I find out that I was holding on to "My way" which would sound more logical on my end but it did not work out for the "XXX" online store as well as the carrier for the package. It was always “my”, me and I. It was the lie that the evil one want you to keep on biting on so that he may setup his operation in your heart. In the book of Ephesians 5: 15-17 Paul teach us to:

 

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. “

 That was the key element that I was lacking of. Despite all my vain effort God is still showing grace through it all. I see now that He was crafting my rough edges. This morning I was letting go and making decision that I should be making. I believe that God do honor that request. At the end of day I realize that I was wasting my time and effort to try to fix thing during the weekend. I learn that we do need to taking care of our responsibility that God has entrusted in us before God could reveal a greater responsibility in the future. A lot of time if we cannot see God’s heat, we should always trust His heart. A lot of time we are minding our own business and not allow God to be part of our life and because of our narrow view often we miss God’s blessing. My friend, if we need to make this right  we need to backing off form our view and take the issue through the Word of God and setting up the priority of focus. I we will making good use of time that God has given us with. And remember God Loves you: He Always Has- He always Will.

Closure: Our God is Greater

Read the story below:
JOHN 6:2-12 (The Voice)
2 As Jesus walked, a large crowd pursued Him hoping to see new signs and miracles; His healings of the sick and lame were garnering great attention. 3 Jesus went up a mountain and found a place to sit down and teach. His disciples gathered around. 4 The celebration of the Passover, one of the principal Jewish feasts, would take place soon. 5 But when Jesus looked up, He could see an immense crowd coming toward Him. Jesus approached Philip.

Jesus (to Philip): 
Where is a place to buy bread so these people may eat?
6 Jesus knew what He was planning to do, but He asked Philip nonetheless. He had something to teach, and it started with a test.

Philip: 7 I could work for more than half of a year[a] and still not have the money to buy enough bread to give each person a very small piece.
8 Andrew, the disciple who was Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up.
Andrew: 9 I met a young boy in the crowd carrying five barley loaves and two fish, but that is practically useless in feeding a crowd this large.
Jesus: 10 Tell the people to sit down.
They all sat together on a large grassy area. Those counting the people reported approximately 5,000 men—not including the women and children—sitting in the crowd. 11 Jesus picked up the bread, gave thanks to God, and passed it to everyone. He repeated this ritual with the fish. Men, women, and children all ate until their hearts were content. 12 When the people had all they could eat, He told the disciples to gather the leftovers.

As we come to a close for the school year of 2012-2013, we can say that God has done a marvelous work at the LU Prayer Center. In the Fall Semester, God brought a faithful, God-loving, people-caring pastor into our Prayer Center Team--Pastor Tim Voogd. As Pastor Tim and Dr. Hughes poured their lives into the students serving here at the Prayer Center, God also brought a team of God-loving, people-caring students together, and manifested His blessings to us day by day. From the formation of the mission of the Prayer Center, to the implementation of SharePoint (Thanks Mr. Matthew Coplin!)--God had brought much effectiveness and influence to the ministry of the Prayer Center. With our "two fishes and five loaves of bread," God had granted us a feast to dine in! As of today, we have received over A THOUSAND prayer request from the Liberty Family in this past half-a-year! Praise God for giving us the privilege of ministering and caring for people around us.

Having been serving at the Prayer Center since 2010, I am able to say that God had brought us a long way. In increasing the amount of student volunteers and the magnitude of our influence, God had started a fire within the hearts of the students here. The LU Prayer Center’s mission is "to encourage, comfort, intercede, and uplift people by walking with them into the throne room of almighty God and presenting their requests through prayer." As students gather together to pray for others, we can sense that God is doing something marvelous these days. What is God doing in the coming semesters? I do not know, but I know that we are confident in the promises that God has given to us through His Word!

As we go through our finals week and enter into our summer season, we believe that God will do marvelous things in the lives of those whom we have been praying for--not because our prayers are big, but because the God we pray to, IS BIG! Let's praise Him and trust in His Word as we go forth from here!

Forgive me, Father!

Hi! My name is Bryan Tang and I am a Student Worker at the LU Prayer Center. Just as God wrote Joey's love story (see previous post), God also brought me a wonderful lady by the name of Becky Wood! In fact, we are preparing ourselves for our wedding in August. How exciting it is! Well, at least for the both of us:)  Part of the preparation entails us reading through several books together. As of now, we are reading through "The Five Love Languages of Apology" by Dr. Gary Chapman and Jennifer Thomas. It's a wonderful book that gave us much practical insights as to how people apologize and such. A good read!

As I was reading through the book, one of the things that convicted me the most was the purpose of apologizing. The book said, "When we apologize simply to avoid facing an issue rather than seeking genuine reconciliation, the apology ceases to be sincere. Remember, the purpose of apologies is to receive forgiveness and reconciliation with the person you have offended."

Many times in the past, I have confessed my sins to God and asked for forgiveness because I know that my sins deserved to be punished and judged. However, whenever I have such a perspective on seeking forgiveness, I have merely scraped the surface of the issue-my rebellious heart towards God. In fact, I have missed out on what God had originally intended for me to experience. Picture this,

"There was a young little boy who got in trouble in his house. A huge trouble - he broke his mom's favorite cookie jar! Afraid of being punished by his mother, he teared up and cried out to his mother for forgiveness. His mother, who loved the boy to death, bent down to the little boy and gave him a kiss on his forehead, and told him, "my son, I love you. I forgive you." and she wrapped her arms around the little boy and held him until he stopped crying"

This story, in some sense, illustrates the forgiveness that believers ought to experience through the cross of Christ. Just like the little boy in the story, we ought to experience his love, and his forgiveness -- and the reconciliation that comes when we humbly come before Him and confess. 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Romans 5:10 tells us, "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life."

The next time you come before God, remember that He has reconciled us to God! Not only are we forgiven, we are also reconciled into a relationship with Him and loved by God Himself! Therefore, let us examine our hearts and humbly lay it before Him - ask Him to examine it and reveal to us how we can please Him, the glorious King who deserves all the glory, honor, and praise! 

When God writes your love story

Hi everyone, my name is Joey and I am a prayer manager at the prayer center. I will love to share my love story to you all today :)

Last Wednesday, the last day of 3 years together with my boyfriend, Alvin, he got down on one knee, under the Brooklyn Bridge, overlook the beautiful sunset of NYC, and he asked me the most beautiful question of all time, "Will you marry me?"

I was in tears, couldn't even say a word, just nodding my head, lol! There were so many things running through my head at that time, all I can think of is, Jesus, You are good, all the time.

To be frank, I went through a lot of broken hearts before I met Alvin. I would spent time feeling sad about my loneliness, cried myself to sleep over boys who do not love me back. Sometime I feel like he was the right person but it was just at the wrong time. I did not understand why God will allow me to be so lonely and broken, yet He promised that He has the best plan for me. However, I did not know that all the while, Jesus wanted me to know that right thing in the wrong time is still a wrong thing.

There's one night when I was crying and praying in the balcony of my dorm in the heart of the city of Malaysia, God gave me a peace to trust in Him. I committed myself to Him, let go completely the pen of my love story to allow Jesus to write one for me. I still remember doubting Him that He will take away my feelings toward a particular someone at that time completely but I promised to keep on trusting.

I committed myself in doing morning devotion early in the morning at the balcony, praying while the sun was rising. I volunteered to help out a missionary from the states who were serving in Malaysia at that time. My heart was occupied by Jesus every day. I was very busy but I was full of joy. I found love and joy that I will never find in an earthly relationship. Little did I realized, I had completely let go of thinking about boy friends or liking someone who will not like me back.

I heard of people saying, "when you stop thinking about dating, that guy will appear". I guess, love is waiting till you are ready, till is right. And I met Alvin. I did not have any feelings towards him at first, we were just friends. I love being with him. He never lead me on emotionally, instead he protected me like how a brother of Christ should protect their sisters in Christ. We are both crazy about Jesus and as times passed by, I started to have strong feeling towards him.

However, the feelings I have is different. There is no scary moment or sadness, it was just pure joy and peace. Even though we knew at that time that we like each other, we decided to wait and pray since he would be going to school in New York while I was in Virginia. Jesus makes things beautiful in its time. This is true! Despite of long distance, my feelings towards Alvin grow stronger each day and finally he asked me to be his girl friend after talking to my parents. As an engineer who loves logic, Alvin is not boring at all. He is so romantic and he makes me fall in love more and more each day. Most importantly, with his leadership in the relationship, we fall in love more and more to our first love, Jesus Christ.

I am thankful for all the blessings from my beloved families and friends. And I am amazed and beyond grateful to my sweet Jesus.

I love this quote from Brooke Fraser, my favorite singer:

I could write a million songs about the way you say my name
I could live a lifetime with you and then do it all again
and like I can't force the sun to rise or hasten summer's start,
neither should I rush my way into your heart

I am glad that I waited for the Lord, and when God writes your love story, He will blow your mind away ;)

Love,

Joey

Watch and pray!

"My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me." And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." And Jesus came to His disciples and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:38-41

While I was reading this passage today, I was reminded of the importance of watching and praying. Jesus encouraged His disciples to watch and pray with Him before He was taken from them to be crucified. As I read that passage, I wonder, "if Peter had watched and prayed that night, would he still have denied Christ three times? Would Peter had the strength of God to overcome his fear that caused him to deny Christ?"

Ephesians 6:10-12 says, "be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can 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 the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." 

After reading these passages, I have to confess that I have depended on my own strength to fight against sin far too often. As a result, I have doubly failed. First, I do not have sufficient strength to fight against sin. Second, I have declared independence from God the moment I depend on my own strength. Instead, I should acknowledge my total dependence on God. In Matthew 26, Jesus did not ask Peter struggle harder in his strength. Instead, He called Peter to watch and pray! Oh how we need to just let our guards down and allow the Spirit to work within us!

1 Corinthians 15:50-57 says, "I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the persishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The string of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! HE gives us Victory through OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

"Father, forgive us when we depend on ourselves for strength. We acknowledge our desperate need for You. Far too often have we depended on ourselves--in our struggle against sin, in our ministry to honor you.. You have said in 1 Peter 4:11 that we should depend on you for strength and for words. Forgive us Father! We let our guards down in Your presence, and acknowledge our total dependency on You! Fill us with the Spirit. Stir within us a sense of dependency on You every moment! Father, we praise You for You give us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Breathe upon us O God! We pray these things in the mighty name of Jesus! Amen!"

Keep Praying!!

If you quit before the call, you'll never get the reward you were intended to have. I recently started working at the Liberty University Prayer Center and realized that the 4-6 hours a week were actually making an impact on my own time. With all of the homework and other groups that I'm involved in, I began to wonder if God had me in the right place. Sadly, I started feeling like maybe I needed to focus on my own needs rather than others- a convicting thought. But today I realized that God has me in the exact place He wants me to be. I received a prayer request and responded with an email and prayer. Surprisingly, the requester asked me if there was anything he/she could pray for me about. I responded and thanked him/her for his/her kind effort! Within 2 hours I received a fantastic email and prayer from him/her that encouraged me beyond what I could have imagined. Breaking down in tears I realized that praying with the Prayer Center team has been more of a blessing than an hindrance as I thought at first. This simple prayer changed my night and my perspective of God's sovereignty. Prayer WORKS as proven by my experience tonight. So I challenge you...Who can you reach out to and pray for today? Take 5 minutes to truly listen to and to pray for someone else's need, not your own. Maybe you're interested in praying for others in the Prayer Center and seeing the change in your own life? If so, stop by/email us and tell us you want to volunteer! Or maybe you need prayer? Let us help by emailing us at prayercenter@liberty.edu, texting us at (434) 515-1854, or coming to visit us on the first floor of dorm 17 on the hill! May God work in your lives as He just worked in mine!

By Liz Kemmerer

Prayer Center Minister