prayer4MYnation #4

O God, so often we are lazy to pray, and so often we just pray lazy prayers.  Our prayers are shallow, simplistic and generic.  We simply mumble: May God bless my beloved nation…  We just say: Lord, watch over our country…  We naively declare: You are Lord over Malaysia…  Please forgive Your church.  Please forgive Your people.  Please forgive me.

Dear Lord, we have also use too much positive thinking and positive talking in our prayers.  We simply claim victory over this and claim victory over that…  We mindlessly cast this out and cast that out…  We used Your Name in vain to curse this and to curse that…  Please forgive Your church.  Please forgive Your people.  Please forgive me.

And Father God, in addition to all the above, most of our prayers are just concerned with blessings.  Give us this and give us that…  Bless this and bless that…  Let me be happy, let me be successful, let me be healthy, let me be wealthy…  Make all my problems disappear…  Please forgive Your church.  Please forgive Your people.  Please forgive me.

For such a time as this… in my beloved land, Malaysia; is blessing what my country really need?!  Is blessing all that I know how to pray for my nation?!  And, how do we expect You O Lord to bless Malaysia?!

O Lord God, move us beyond just praying for a blessing over Malaysia.  Stir us to know a little bit more about what is happening in this land.  Let us be aware of the challenges in our country… in the Government… in the Business Community… in the Society at large… in our Schools… in our Neighborhood… in our Churches…  Only then can we begin to intercede.  This is my prayer.

O Lord God, as You stir us to want to become more aware; may each one of us make effort to open our eyes and look around us… may we begin to take time to read and to think… may we take note of names and people and places and issues at hand…  Only then will our intercession be meaningful.  This is my prayer.

O Lord God, as You stir your people to arouse us from our slumber; may I be an instrument that You could use… may I be Your mouthpiece to speak to my brothers and sisters around me… may I be a channel that You could use to provoke another to love and good works… may I not be lazy, not be shy, not be afraid, not be ashamed to say something and do something for You.  This is my prayer.

O Lord God, we do want Your blessings upon Malaysia.  But forgive us Lord for thinking that such blessings are confined only to prosperity, peace, unity, education opportunities, economic growth… and all the rest of the good stuff alone.  Ultimately, You want Malaysians to repent from our wicked ways… You want the people to seek Your face… You want us to come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ…  Lord God, help us to understand that often the “blessings of the good stuff” actually will not contribute positively to what You want in Malaysia.  This is my prayer.

And so Lord, please bless us with whatever it will take to awaken us from our indulgence in sin, so that we may repent and return to you O Lord.  Bless us with trials, troubles and tribulations; if these will contribute to the coming of Your Kingdom.  This is my prayer.

For Your Kingdom… 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.

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 to pray more biblically.

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.