Once again we woke up early to have morning devotions at 6am and then had breakfast together. I think we had fried rice. Lost memory of what we ate because we kept on eating! But today, everyone will be fasting together - to pray for the whole convention as was requested by the Vice chairman of the Prayer Mountain Committee - Guru' Pudun Tadem.
It was 7.30am when we decided to go to the church hall (Gedung Haleluyah) to book a place. 2 years ago, we were just as kiasu and we had a favorite place in the hall, so Lyd and I wanted to sit at the same spot again. Mind you, the service was to start at 9am, and yet half of the hall was already full when we got there at 7.40am! Talk about being kiasu and punctual!
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| The 3 of us infront of the church hall |
By 8.30am, there was basically no more space to move. 9am, literally shoulder to shoulder. Never before has there been such a crowd. Then they called out the folks from BKM central to give seats to the sakai (guests) as still many others were waiting outside the door.
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| This was 8am - yes, we were very kiasu |
We were all nicely layered in thick clothes when we first arrived. But as soon as the worship started it got really hot and stuffy in the hall. The mats on the floor stopped the wind from blowing in and the windows of the hall were not designed to be opened. It was like being in a oven for around 3.5hours. In the end, I couldn't take it anymore, so I went to sit outside the hall together with the locals. Ahhh... much better :)
Spiritual feeding
As the service started, Cikgu (teacher) Sang said that as the intercessors where praying in preparation for this year's convention, God had revealed to them that these year's participants has been "hand-picked" by God to come. As much as this is a privilege (to be hand-picked by God!), I find myself telling God, thanks, but really? All this pains and aches to come up here??!! Haha... I thank God that He is someone I can joke with even if He is the Creator of heaven and earth!
The theme for this year is "Gereja yang bergerak dalam kuasa Roh Kudus di akhir zaman" The church that moves in the power of the Holy Spirit in the end times. The scripture text is from Genesis 41:38 - 39 and Matthew 21:2. Every year in May, a group of intercessors from BKM central will go up to the mountain to wait upon the Lord and to ask Him of several things - The theme, the scripture text, the speaker, the worship leaders, the musicians and even the translator. For the past few years, Aunty Sipai have been the one to receive these words as the intercessors pray together. As I spend some time talking with her, she said that God even revealed that this year, the turn out will be like never before - even the smallest child to the oldest men and women will come to seek God. In their limited human understanding, they didn't know how that would come to pass. But indeed it did. The oldest people came in their body limitation, children of all ages came with their parents as well - I bet we could have started a few sunday school classes! It was certainly amazing.
When we got back to the house in the afternoon, while being lazy and lying down comfortably in our corner, Lyd and I discussed the sermon and the connection between the 2 passages from the bible. So this is what I got:
Genesis 41:38-39
We are all like Joseph, chosen (hand-picked) to be in a "foreign land" (i.e. end times land). When we are filled with the Holy Spirit and we have the power of the Holy Spirit in us, we then will be like Joseph:
- One in whom is the Spirit of the Lord
- God made known all "this things"
- Discerning
-Wise
Matthew 21:2
We need to humble ourselves, even as lowly as the donkey and colt, to bring Jesus into "Jerusalem" i.e. into the foreign land (end-times land). But first, we need to be released of all the ties that binds us. Even when we are hand-picked like Joseph, we need to humble ourselves like the colt.
That afternoon, since we were not having lunch, we spent some time to pray together as we fasted and each went to do their own meditation. Lyd and I promptly meditated in our nap after our afore mentioned discussion!! Haha. We didn't even bother that there were people coming in and out of the kitchen to visit and talk. Oh I love that corner!
Night session was to start at 7.30pm. So we all decided to break fast at 5pm to get ready. Once again, we were at the hall early and it was full by 6.30pm. If only this was the culture of our churches in the city! Here in my church, service starts at 10.30am, people only start coming in by 10.45am! Forgive us dear Lord! I can't recall what was being preached that night. Will update when I do. That night, they did however gave a headcount - which was to a total of 1,500 people! Hallelujah Praise the Lord! Aunty Sipai said, in the history of the past 30 years, the most they have ever seen had only been 800pax. This is already almost double!
Service ended at about 10pm, we head back to the house for some hot drinks and night devotions and everyone snuggled back into their sleeping bag.
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