Praying for Alpha

It was the first meeting for Alpha 2010 @ 633 King's Road yesterday, and woo hoo was it awesome! The room was packed, and my friend stuck to his word and came along! In the beginning, he was a little nervous, because he was worried that he wouldn't know anyone and feel out of place, but I reassured him, "Are you serious? You're O! I'm sure you'll know a ton of people!"

And sure enough, as if "by coincidence", he not only recognized a few people that he had met before, but a really welcoming brother, Geoff, that O had not only met, but worked with previously, is the leader of our Alpha group! God is so awesome in how He orchestrates things to happen!

Even though O is going to miss Alpha next Monday, but he is keen to come back the week after. I can't wait to see how God will work in his heart through this Alpha course, and prayed for him that night that God will touch him in a special way in the next 10 weeks. I pray that God will reach out to him and let O know that He is God, the Alpha and the Omega, in a way that O comprehends and needs. I also prayed for the other members of my Alpha group by name. I'm thankful that God has placed us together as a group, to grow together, and to support and encourage each other. Whether we have walked with God for years, or are still holding God off at a distance, I pray that He will speak to each of us personally, and that we would encounter Him in a mighty way!

"The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.

Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages. He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people:

"Gather to me my consecrated ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice." And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God himself is judge.

"Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you:
I am God, your God.

I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."

But to the wicked, God says: "What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips? You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you. When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers. You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit. You speak continually against your brother and slander your own mother's son. These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face.

"Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue: He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."

Leave it to God to do the judging; we are just called to love

Have you ever seen those people who stand on the streets holding cardboard signs that either say, "Repent for the Kingdom of God is near", or "Jesus died for your sins"? If you haven't seen them on the streets of downtown, you've probably seen them in an end of the world type movie, like 2012.

When I was shopping with a sister in a busy intersection of Mong Kok this afternoon, we saw one of these men. We just walked by him, and I jokingly said to my friend, "heh, maybe we should go say hi and give him a shout-out." Jokingly, because I was taught not talk to strangers. Not thinking too much more about it, we spent the next 2 hours wandering around and looking at the interesting knick-kacks in Flower Market.

As we were leaving, we spotted the old man again! The "normal" me would just smile and walk by, but for some reason, I turned to my girlfriend and asked if we should go say hi, to which she agreed! We timidly went up to him together to ask if we could buy him a drink, since he had been standing there holding the sign for some time now. He declined our offer, but began chatting with us about theology. Splendid! I love talking to theology; this was turning out to be much less frightening than I imagined it to be!

The conversation we had was quite interesting, and personally, I questioned a lot of his theology and also how effective his method of standing there with a cardboard sign was. However, I realized that it's not for me, but for God, to judge; I was only there to give the man encouragement. I pray that somehow and some way, God will use this man to point others to Jesus. Because the simple Truth, with everything stripped away is that "for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

Being real - Part 2

Lately, God has been using many different ways to show me the realities of life. That's not to say that I have been living with my head in the clouds for the past 20+ years, but that hearing about pain and suffering is very different from truly understanding it with your heart. Knowing about these painful events in our heads is just being able to recite the facts, but only by knowing with our heart can we then be prompted for action.

Recently, I've been staying at home to spend time with my mom, and we've started watching a really good TV series called 蜗居, Dwelling Narrowness. It's such a realistic depiction of the struggles of life for the Chinese people living in the big cities, that it's been banned from airing in China.

For the past 6+ years, God has placed the Chinese on my heart, and I've been praying for them and seeking God's purpose for making me a Chinese American. But honestly, it wasn't until I watched this TV series that I felt my heart break for them. Yes, China's economy has been growing at rapid speeds for the past 10 or so years, but it doesn't come without dire social consequences. Surely there must be more to life than just the rat race!

Although I'm still unsure as to what exactly God wants me to do, but at the very minimum I have become more compelled to share the Good News with more of those around me, especially with my coworkers. May they come to know that only through freedom in Christ can they break their bondage of sin and of the chains of this fallen world!

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

Loving Mike-y

Mike-y is like the younger brother that I always wished I had; he's fun, kind, and hilarious! I met Mike-y when he was just starting out as a freshmen in college. I had graduated then, but was still helping out in college ministry, and one of my good friends asked if I could help watch out for Mike-y, and plug him into our fellowship.

The first time I met Mike-y was when I drove over to pick him up for church early one Sunday morning. Even though it was the first time we met, being the friendly person that he is, he came up to my car, and said, "I saw this kid at the student center on the way over here, and he looks like he's waiting for something, can we go ask him if he wants to go to church with us?" I was a bit surprised, but this kid's enthusiasm really inspired me, so sure, why not... It turns out that this guy was actually there waiting for someone to turn up to give him a ride to church! We were his answered prayer!

Well, fast forward a few years, it turns out that because of Mike-y's invitation to this guy, they became fast friends, and throughout their years in college, they encouraged and inspired each other in their walks with the Lord, like Nathan did to David.

Mike-y is graduated now, and it came as no surprise to me when I found out that instead of settling with the status quo, he is taking 2 years off to go to Japan to share his love and hope from the Lord to those there. What faith! What love! Of course I had to support and encourage my bro! May God be with Mike-y as he heads off for another year to Japan, and may God grant him more opportunities in which he can draw others to Christ, just as he had done with his friend in college...

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Loving my neighbors

I decided that it wasn't enough to just send love and invite one person to Alpha, so I picked up a stash of Alpha cards, and stuffed them in my neighbors' mailboxes. Sure, I'm spamming people, but this spam could change souls for eternity! I thought I could take the risk of being called a solicitor, in hopes that more will come to know the glories of our wonderful Lord!

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth.
May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.
God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him."

Loving the lost by inviting them to Alpha!

I'm a chicken when it comes to inviting the lost to Christian events, because I'm scared that it would be awkward for them, and honestly, I don't really like getting shot down. However, Jesus reminds us that "Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven."

I don't know about you, but I want some reward in heaven!

There's a good friend that I've been praying for ever since returning to HK. We've known each other for years, and go way back, but I didn't get to know him better until coming back to HK this time around. Our friendship is something that I really treasure and am thankful for. And perhaps precisely because of this, I was so afraid of inviting him to church. Thankfully, God gave me the courage that I needed, and I invited him to Alpha over lunch today, to which he said, "sure!" Wow! It was so easy! I feel so silly for being such a chicken...

Crying out for the lost Part 2

Earlier, I had blogged about the challenge that Jaeson Ma had called us to, to cry out to God twice daily for the lost. Doing this for the first couple of days was quite exciting and fun; I would pray for whoever was around me at that time, my co-workers, my friends, my family, random strangers on the road. It was really refreshing to drop everything and spend a minute or two praying for those who had not yet received God's free gift of salvation.

But, just as human nature would have it, I started getting lazy, and the prayers started sounding the same...

Interestingly, God used my granny's funeral to refresh my heart for the lost. My granny's funeral was a very traditional Chinese funeral, so picture lots of chanting, and wailing, and people you never met trying to send their condolences. In the beginning, I spent my time trying to figure out what these people were actually chanting, but after awhile, I knew it was a hopeless cause, so I started praying for the people that were there. Every time the chanting got loud (and annoying), my desperation would grow, and the prayers that I shouted to God (in my heart) would get louder and more urgent. This went on for hours... from morning until night...

Although the funeral was a sad and long affair, but this episode showed me how many people were still lost. It showed me how many were still in darkness, clinging onto old traditions that cannot save them. Although I didn't get to use words to share the gospel with anyone that day, but I trust that God heard my prayers and petitions. I know that He loves us too much to forsake us.

Are you crying out for the lost too?

"Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy."

Crying out for the lost

At the Kingdom Advance conference that I went to this past Saturday, we learned about how to make disciples, and one of the things that Jaeson Ma challenged us to do was to pray for the lost. Before planning any activities, or sitting down with anyone, prayer is the first thing we should do, and it is the most important thing we can do. Jaeson challenged us to cry out to God every day, twice a day, at 10:02 a.m. and 10:02 p.m. If the lost are to be saved, we need to cry out to God to remember His people, to save the lost, and to send out harvesters into the harvest field. We need to cry out in faith, trusting that our God of the universe will send the perfect people at the perfect time, to bring the Good News of His salvation to the hurting, needy, poor, and lost of this world.

So we set alarms on our phones, and we have been praying. I decided that I will not only be praying for harvesters, but I will be praying for those who are lost - by name. Today, I prayed for one of my close friends and my cousins. Tomorrow, I will pray for my dad and my coworkers. Most of all though, I pray that God will empower me to keep praying, to keep trusting, and to keep loving the lost.

Love challenge: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."