prayer4MYnation #1

Lord God Almighty, my heart is troubled as I become more and more aware of the times we are living in here in Malaysia.  Malaysia is the nation I was born into.  Malaysia is the nation I grew up in.  I love this land call Malaysia.  And I love the people in this land.

I want to move on from awareness to intercession.  I want to begin to pray for Malaysia the nation I belong to, regularly and meaningfully.

I want to start with praying for the Christians and Churches in Malaysia.  Lord, forgive our prayerlessness.  Young and old, we have been so distracted by earthly things, and/or we are so disinterested in Your Kingdom agendas.  We are so engrossed with trivial stuff.  Some of us are so busy making money and accumulating wealth.  Many of us are just focused on pursuing our self-centered dreams and building our own little kingdoms.  Others are only interested in that which will make us feel good and look good.

Awaken us to seek You O Lord!  Stir us up to intercession O God!  And if we refuse to be aroused, take away from us the things that we have loved more than You.  Do this by sending trials, testings and tribulations; for You have warned us that it is better to enter into life crippled or lame, than to be whole and be thrown into the fire!

And even as You begin Your good work in some of us, help us who have come out our slumber to begin to nudge and provoke our brothers and sisters in the right direction.  We need to realize that we have this responsibility; that You will hold us accountable for what we say and do, as well as what we fail to say or do.

And so Lord, empower us to reach out and help each other to be on guard, to be alert, and to watch and pray.  I want to be part of Your answer to this prayer.  In the mighty Name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Jason Fong believes that the Lord is leading him to pray more meaningfully for our beloved nation Malaysia.  He is sharing these prayers with the church at large through this blog and the Facebook.  He hopes that this series of prayers will further catalyze more Christians to watch and pray… and to act as the Holy Spirit guides us respectively.

Please read Jason’s earlier article: LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY in this same blog, which was posted on 23 March 2011.  It would be a helpful reading for us to learn how to pray with a more biblical perspective.

Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this prayer may not necessarily reflect those of the Christian organization Jason works in, nor the church or denomination he belongs to.

TOOLS AND TOYS

TOOL /tu:1/n

1 instrument held in the hand

and used for working on something…

2 anything used to do or achieve something…

TOY /toI/n

1 thing to play with, especially for a child…

2 thing intended for amusement

rather than for serious use…  

I was chatting with a South African in Phnom Penh recently, during the coffee break at a Youth Ministry Conference where I was teaching.  He was like a “tent-maker missionary” in Cambodia.  In the course of our conversation, he said something like this:  “Today, too many Christians have too many toys and too few tools…  If my children come to me for money to buy a tool, I will gladly give them almost immediately without any questions…  But if they want to buy a toy, I would have to think hard and long…”

The two words TOY and TOOL got stuck in my heart and mind, and have kept me thinking till now…  A gift I received from my daughter recently (for Father’s Day) spurred me to ponder further.  Sarah gave me an iPad 2, and she specified that I could only use the iPad for play and not for work!  And, I posted on Facebook that this caveat will make it so boring! Ha!

Increasingly, the line between toy and tool is getting more and more blur.  I remember that there was a time in the past I have regularly (and strongly) reminded my children that the main usages of a computer are one, work; two, communication; and three, education.  I could not afford to spend RM3000.00 on a piece of equipment to be used primarily as a toy.  And even if I could, I think my convictions would not allow me!  And so, that created lots of tensions at home!

Today… music listening, movie watching, emailing, smsing, internet surfing, facebooking, youtubing, tweeting, etc, etc… are all inter-twined into gadgets that “Babylon” wants us to buy and possess.  Personally, I think there are unseen forces at work here…  Beside the issue of mammon and making money, there is also this issue of conformation to the pattern of the world (Rom 12:2).

The attitudes, mindsets and worldviews that are being created, promoted and reinforced so subtly, so systematically and so effectively may be summarized like this:

“It’s all about me…  I want to enjoy myself…”

“I don’t care…  I must have…”

“I must feel good…”

“I like when admired for the stuff I have…”

“I want…  I like…  I…  I…  I…”

Because the big “I” resonates so powerfully with our fallen nature, the drive is so strong that a 17-year old Chinese teenager Zheng arranged to have one of his kidneys sold over the internet; so that he could buy an iPad 2 and a laptop (BBC News, Beijing; 3 June 2011)!  Sigh!  Sigh!  Sigh!

Whether we are young or old… youths or adults… we can just make a simple mental calculation of our possessions and gadgets.  How many of these are tools?  How many of these are toys?

Yes, I agreed with what the friend I met in Cambodia said: Too many of us have too many toys and too few tools…  And, I personally think that too many of us are far more interested in toys than in tools…  And I also think that too many of us are sliding down this dark and slippery slope… unknowingly…

But just a caveat before I end, I have not given away the toy my daughter recently gave me…  And please don’t tell her that I am using it more as a tool than a toy.  Hahaha!

IMPORTANT NOTES:

If this article has blessed you, or if you think this article will bless someone; please feel free to forward it or used it in any way that would bring glory to God.  If appropriate, please acknowledge the source when quoting this material.  Jason Fong also welcomes your thoughts and comments for mutually edifying interactions.

Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this article may not necessarily reflect those of the Christian organization Jason works in, nor the church or denomination he belongs to.

THE SUCCESS

FAMILY

Father SUCCESS is a very successful man. 

His wife’s name is VISION.

The eldest son is DILIGENCE

and the rest of the boys

are called PERSEVERENCE,

ENTHUSIASM, COMMITMENT

and PRUDENCE.

The eldest daughter is INTEGRITY.

The sisters are LOVE, JOY,

KINDNESS, HOPE and UNITY.

The baby in the Family

is OPPORTUNITY.

The WORD OF GOD is central

in the Success Family.

Father Success affirms that the BIBLE

brings and holds the family together.

Many want to be friends of Success,

but few knows the secret.

To be a friend of Success,

one needs to get acquainted with

the rest of the Success Family first!

And most of all,

to know that SCRIPTURE is

the foundation of the Success Family.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth;

but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,

that thou mayest observe to do

according to all that is written therein:

for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous,

and then thou shalt have good success.

Joshua 1:8

IMPORTANT NOTES:

This is something I have adapted and rewritten some years back.  The original source is unknown.

If this article has blessed you, or if you think this article will bless someone; please feel free to forward it or used it in any way that would bring glory to God.  If appropriate, please acknowledge the source when quoting this material.  Jason Fong also welcomes your thoughts and comments for mutually edifying interactions.

Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this article may not necessarily reflect those of the Christian organization Jason works in, nor the church or denomination he belongs to.