Hello friends! I hope you and your children are doing well. Most kids are now back-to-school this last week. Our Esther Prayer Group will start meeting together for corporate prayer again.

It’s important to cleanse and prepare your heart before the work of intercession begins. I find this prayer work to be different compared to when I pray for my own needs, family members or a friend’s requests. It feels like I enter the most holiest inner throne room of Almighty God and I need to be more careful about my heart and intentions. Despite the weightiness that I feel in this place of corporate prayer I also feel that it’s the greatest honor to meet with God in very tangible way for the needs of the people around us. Many times I break down and cry uncontrollably because I feel the pain of the situation and the Holy Spirit groans inside me to utter the petitions in words too. Please don’t be alarmed when praying people cry. It is a holy experience that only happens on earth since there are no more tears and sorrows in heaven.

Here is a good article about crying while praying:

https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/crying-while-praying-with-tears/

Interestingly, ever since I started to use my tears for prayer and intercession, I noticed that I don’t seem to cry anymore on other occasions that I used to, like watching a sad movie, reading a sad story etc. It’s almost like my tears are being stored away for prayer purposes.

When I branched out to start the prayer group in 2016 at my church, I asked the Lord what is the most important thing that I should be mindful of in leading this prayer group. He took me to Psalm 133 and advised me to do all that I can to keep the unity under my leadership. Then His blessings will continually flow down to me and the members. Therefore, I am very mindful about maintaining unity in our prayer meetings and our members. We need all the blessings that we can get! (I’d imagine a running water faucet🚰 or a water well that would amply supply all of us with good water. I’d imagine disunity is like shutting off the water valve or putting a big stone on the water well.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+133&version=NKJV

I think this advice is very useful for all relationships and not only in prayer groups. I’ve discovered that all the things that I used to argue so passionately about especially with family members are only temporary issues. Today my family members know that the only thing that I stand firm on is my beliefs about the Bible and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m unmovable about these beliefs but everything else I am quite movable, including politics. 

Speaking about politics, it appears that the presidential election in 2024 will be Biden vs Trump again. If the election of 2020 was very difficult for you and your family, please be careful and mindful about not allowing political divisions to put a rift between you and your family members including your church friends. A wise person prepares ahead for tough times coming. Let’s prepare our hearts and minds now so that the unity in your family and church will not be destroyed by politics. It is my opinion, disunity ceases the continuous, free-flowing blessings of God. And He really cares about family and church! 

Another big reason why I left the church in my mid-20s is because my college church where I gave my time, talents and resources to for five years was splitting up. I was so heartbroken and very confused how that can happen. I was naive and thought that church people aren’t supposed to break up. I’m not sure what doctrinal and personality conflicts in leadership led to the church split but as a young person who craved community, unity and love because these lacked in my family; it was very devastating. I thought the body of Christ, the church people was supposed to be different. 

The past 13 years I’ve learned a lot from pastor and teacher, Francis Chan. I stopped learning from him last few years because I was discovering other teachers. I came back to him again just recently and after listening to his podcast explaining a few hard stories in the Bible, I am in agreement with him that God is getting very serious about putting back the fear of Him into his children and the church. Please listen to this message so that you are aware and warned too. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crazy-love-podcast/id1007053996?i=1000626258823

Even the country singer, Dolly Parton dreamed this same theme and recently produced a song! 

https://youtu.be/UQmX7jT2LEg?si=4JC3EKdb6sDiGXgz

There was a big rift in my children’s school community last spring, and I’ve lost my temper at times due to the high stress. Now that the emotions has settled down, the Holy Spirit has been prompting me to reach out to each person one-by-one. It might take a while but trust me I’ll get to every person. This doesn’t mean that I will agree with those I reach out to but it means that I still want to have their relationship. Why? Read and meditate on Psalm 133. I desire the Lord’s blessings in the community that we share together through our children. Plus I really don’t want to invite God’s discipline in my life. It hurts as it should. 😣

That’s about it for this week. Happy studying! God bless you abundantly!