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The Confrontation between Elijah and King Ahab in 1 Kings 18

The confrontation between Elijah and king Ahab in 1 Kings 18 is organized around a theme on restoration of the covenantal relationship between Yahweh and the people of Israel. Through the entire narrative, Elijah was on the mission of calling the people of God to repent as they had “forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed Baals” (v. 18) and to return to the worship of the LORD and to follow Him wholeheartedly. Elijah’s mission is presented in a chiastic framework in 1 Kings 18.

The story begins with the promise from God that He is going to send rain if His people repent and follow Him again (i.e. “…I will send rain…” in verse 1) and concludes with the fulfillment of God’s promise (i.e. “…there was a heavy rain.” in verse 45) as the people of God repented and returned to Him. In the Bible, “rain” often symbolizes the outpouring of God’s Spirit and His blessings. The Lord loves us but He hates idolatry. He will hold back His blessings in love when we have “idolatry” in our hearts.

The turning point of the entire event is when Elijah ”repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.” in verse 30. The altar of the LORD often symbolizes the restoration of our covenantal relationship with God and our wholehearted devotion and worship of our Almighty God. As we rebuild the “altar” of our lives, the Lord will repay to us those years of “famine” in our lives.

The Patterns and Characteristics of a Forerunner Ministry

The narrative in 1 Kings 18 also forms a pattern and characteristics of a forerunner ministry. As we study carefully, we will discover several unique patterns and characteristics of a forerunner ministry.

1. Season of Hiding – Times of Preparation and Training

Before his public confrontation with king Ahab at Mount Carmel, Elijah was led by the LORD into hiding (1 Kings 17:2 – 3). He went into hiding for about 3½ years before appearing again in 1 Kings 18. It seems that going into a place of hiddenness before a public ministry is a pattern of the forerunner ministry.

It is similar for John the Baptist who is known as the forerunner for the coming of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. We do not know much of John the Baptist except the fact that he was in the wilderness for many years. All we know about John is that he was living and hiding in the wilderness before the word of the Lord came to Him in Luke 3:2. Interestingly, both Elijah and John the Baptist had a relatively short “public” ministry in comparison to their time of hiddenness.

“Hiddenness” is a place where God prepares and trains His forerunners for their “future” ministry. It is at the place of hiddenness that the Lord refines and tests the motive and the heart of a forerunner. The place of hiddenness is also a place where character is being built and grown. Most of all, our faith, trust and intimacy with Him are being cultivated and established during this season of hiding. It is at the place of hiding that we become the voice of God, just like Elijah and John the Baptist.

The ministry of forerunner is often strategic and vital in shaping history and preparing the Church. Therefore, they need to be well-prepared and equipped for the task. It is at the place of hiding that a forerunner is being made ready. It is interesting to note that IHOP, which is also known as the Friends of the Bridegroom, is also a place of hiding for many. I believe that the Lord is preparing and equipping many would-be forerunners in the coming age. We need to be patient and submit ourselves to the training and preparation of the Lord, for the moment that He is going to use us!

2. The Voice of God

The forerunner is the VOICE of God. They are the ones who trumpet the very heart and message of God for their time. More than just “echoing”, they have the message of God for the hour and they will bring it to the people of God with great zeal. This means that the forerunner must be sensitive to the voice of God and have the ability to know the heartbeat of God and His kairos word for the NOW!

In 1 Kings 18:1, “the word of the LORD came to Elijah” which launches him into the ministry of the forerunner. The LORD gave Elijah a specific message and a clear mandate. Suddenly, Elijah became the voice of God in confronting king Ahab and calling the people of Israel to repent and return to the LORD.

Mike Bickle is a type of forerunner in these last days. The Lord has given him a message for the Church of Jesus Christ on the Bride of Christ and the Bridal Paradigm. He is the voice of God who is trumpeting and preparing the way of the Lord.

3. Sent by God

A forerunner has to be someone who receives a clear call and mandate from the Lord! He is not self-appointed or man-appointed but one who is appointed and sent by the Lord. He is one who has been set apart with the unction and anointing of the Lord. The ministry of Elijah clearly demonstrated that. In 1 Kings 18:1 – 2, the LORD spoke and appointed Elijah with the mission of confronting king Ahab.

“And it came to pass after many days that the word of the LORD cam to Elijah, in the third year, saying, ‘Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.’ So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab…”

To be a forerunner, we must have a mandate from the Lord. With the mandate of the Lord, we also have the zeal of the Lord, His authority and His power to authenticate our message.

4. Repairing of Altar – Message of Repentance, Return and Restoration

During the reign of king Ahab, the nation of Israel has compromised and strayed away from the LORD. The people of God began to serve and worshiped Baals and the altar of the LORD was broken down. This really provoked and angered the LORD.

Out of His love and jealousy for His people, the LORD called Elijah and gave him a mission of repairing the broken altar of the LORD. In the Old Testament, the altar of the LORD symbolizes a wholehearted devotion to the LORD and a covenantal relationship with the Almighty. The purpose of the ministry of Elijah is to restore the covenantal relationship between God and the people of Israel. His message is a message of repentance and return to the LORD!

This is the very message of a forerunner ministry. The message of a forerunner ministry is a message of repentance, return unto the Lord and restoration by Him! The trumpet call of the forerunner ministry is to call forth a Bride who is worthy of the Lord, a Church that is ready for His return and a people of God who are wholehearted unto Him! This is the message of Elijah. This is the message of John the Baptist. In fact, the message of the forerunner is being stated in Isaiah 40:3,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’”

A forerunner’s message is often about calling the people of God to repentance and to return to the Lord so that God will make them ready. John the Baptist preached the same message in the New Testament. His typical message is “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2) and he preached a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

5. Ministry of Intercession

A forerunner is not only a messenger and a voice of the Lord; he is also an intercessor of the Lord, who births forth the purpose and promise of God through his fervent prayer and intercession.

After Elijah had confronted king Ahab and the people of Israel, repaired the altar of the LORD, and restored the covenantal relationship between God and the nation of Israel, he interceded for the fulfillment of God’s promise in sending the rain in 1 Kings 18:42,

“So Ahab went up and drink. And Elijah went to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees.”

As a result of his intercession, the LORD sent forth rain (1 Kings 18:45). Therefore, intercession is part of the “job description” of a forerunner.

We are truly unique by virtue of the time in which we are living. We may actually be living in the final prophetic moments preceding the Second Coming of the Lord. The Lord may just raise up an entirely new generation of forerunners out of the wilderness of obscurity to proclaim the same message as John the Baptist: Make the way straight for Christ’s Second Coming!

by W. Choong

Many Christians (myself included) are like 5-year olds. We read the Word and pick out the nice bits, and conveniently ignore the difficult bits. How does that apply? Take John 15:7, where Jesus says:

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

Many of us would take to heart the second part of the verse that says that God will give us all we desire – and forget that we have to abide in Him! We want what we desire, and not what our Father in heaven wants for us. This is the perfect recipe for frustration. We yearn for more money, influence, a fulfilling career, and for Christians, even “spiritual” things such as ministry and outreach. All these things are good, and God does desire to bless us with them, but if we ask for such things when they are not part of His will, we will never be truly be satisfied.

God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him. ~ John Piper

Let’s think about the context of John 15. In the five chapters running from John 13 to 17, Jesus is having a private time with his disciples at the Last Supper. What Jesus said to them was His last will and testament before He went on to the pain (and joy) of the Cross. And boy, did Jesus pour out all of Himself into those 5 chapters! In Chapter 13, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, and “loved them to the end” (v1). In Chapter 14, he promised to “prepare a place” (v1) in His Father”s house (which was mind-blowing to the Jewish disciples, because the distinct imagery was that of a Jewish man preparing a house for his betrothed, and as such, Jesus was offering a marriage proposal – to the soon-to-be birthed Church!). In Chapter 16, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will guide the disciples into “all truth” (v33). In Chapter 17, Jesus says something truly staggering – God the Father loves us the same way He loves the Son (v23)!

But if Chapters 13, 14, 16 and 17 constitute the “cake” that Jesus was offering, Chapter 15 would be the icing. Embedded in this chapter is the answer to the question that philosophers have wrestled with through the ages – how and where does man get joy?

What does Jesus say? We will get what we want, and the true joy that we desire, when we abide or remain in Him.

What does “abiding” mean in practical terms? Three things. To abide in Jesus means to talk to Him as a man talks to his friend. More than that, it means using the Word of God as “conversational material” to talk back to God. For example, Song of Songs 1:2 declares that His (God’s) love is “better than wine.” When we use this to talk to Him, we simply ask: “God, thank you that Your love is better than wine, better than all the finest things in the world. Please show me what this means.” And lastly, abiding involves obeying His commandments.

How then do we get true joy by doing these things? As we do them, our will and His will become indistinguishable – one and the same. If one is into Venn diagrams, we take His will to be one big circle, and our will a small circle. The area in which the two circles meet is life’s “divine intersection” – where joy is realised. By abiding more and more in Him – that is, when the smaller circle moves deeper into the big circle – the scope and depth of joy is maximised. Conversely, anywhere in the small circle (man’s will) which is not part of the “divine intersection” results in what the writer of Ecclesiastes refers to as the “vanity of vanities” (1:1).

Abiding in Him involves the simple “formula” of speaking to Him, using the Word to converse with Him and obeying His commandments.

John 15:7 is not some diabolical device for God to be a killjoy – taking away the things that we want and replacing them with things He wants. Rather, true joy stems not from getting what we want, but from asking God what He wants for us. This is the statistical equivalent of the “sure thing” – you will always get what you ask for, when your wants become His wants!

Therein lies Jesus’ promise of joy. Joy lies in the fact that the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are deeply committed to making us “ornaments of gold” (Songs 1:11) – that is, the Trinity will see that we grow in godly character. In John 15, Jesus shows how we can cooperate with God’s nurturing – we abide in Him. To abide in Him, we talk to Him, use the Word to interact with the Living Word and obey His commands, Jesus promises that His joy will remain in us, and that our “joy will be full” (15:11)! Unlike happiness, which is from without and based on external circumstances, true joy is from within. As John Piper writes, God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him. C. S. Lewis called joy an “unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.” “Joy,” he said, “must be sharply distinguished both from happiness and from pleasure” [1] Lewis found joy because he had found God as its source.

Abiding in Him sounds simple, but consistent application of this principle is the path to true joy.

In On War, one of the classics in the study of war, Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz wrote that “everything is very simple in war, but the simplest thing is difficult.” This powerful axiom applies to our quest for joy. Abiding in Him involves the simple “formula” of speaking to Him, using the Word to converse with Him and obeying His commandments. But these “simple things,” however, can be difficult because it requires consistency, discipline and determination – even in the mundane, and even when He doesn’t seem to respond. But Jesus is worth all our effort! Press in to seek out the “true vine” (Jn 15:1) and source of all joy! He is the true source of all life, vibrancy in the Spirit and the fount that will satisfy the thirst of the human heart!

References [1] Leland Ryken, James C. Wilholt, Tremper Longman III (eds.), Dictionary of Biblical Imagery

[Editor’s note: Having just concluded IHOP Internship III last week, we are once again getting back into the grind and routine of life at the House of Prayer. Burning in the House for seven sessions a week…fasting on a weekly basis…growing deep in message… After the adranaline-rush and all the excitement that such an event brings, it’s always good to remind ourselves why we keep coming back day after day, week after week, event after event, to burn in His House and to sit at His feet.]

(This is Part 2 of our first article that can be found here.)

Prayer with worship is at the heart of a House of Prayer. This is because the Lord Jesus requires that Christians congregate across the earth, crying out for His return in fervent prayer with worship (Matt 9:15, Rev 22:17).

If prayer with worship is at the centre of all Houses of Prayer, this brings up a critical question: what happens when one doesn’t enjoy prayer?

This is something that many believers struggle with. In fact, Mike Bickle, the founder of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, testifies of this. In his younger years, he would tell God that he planned to persevere in prayer for an hour, but those times were more agony than anything.

But there is hope. God has mandated that believers congregate in prayer across the world, and that such prayers would bring joy (Isa 56:7)

Sustaining days, weeks and even decades in the House of Prayer boils down to this: we pray, because He enjoys us; He enjoys us, because our gaze at Him – weak, distracted, and however momentary – overwhelms Him!

He is overwhelmed when we stay engaged, seeking Him and Him only, even when we don’t seem to see, hear or feel Him.

How does this work? The Lord has buried this mystery in the Song of Songs, an allegory of how the Church (or the believer) grows from an immature bride who is dark and lovely (Songs 1:5) to one who comes out from the wilderness of a sinful world, leaning on her Beloved (8:5)

In the Song of Songs, the Shulamite woman (a “type” of the individual believer and the Church) learns to relish His love (1:2), the sweetness of His Word (2:5) and the joy of ministering to younger, less mature believers (5:8)

In Chapter 5, however, the Bride experiences a 2-fold crisis – at a time when she has overcome her fears to seek after Him, she loses two precious things – her veil (or ministry) is taken away, ironically by the leaders of the church (5:7). Even His sweet love – love that is more precious than all the delectable pleasures of the world (1:2) – is gone as He withdraws His presence momentarily to enable her love for Him to grow (5:6).

This is the much-feared “dark night of the soul” of which Saint John of the Cross wrote about – a term referring to the times when the saint doesn’t feel the presence of God. As ominous as this sounds, the Lord’s training school has this core module – training us to press into His presence, even when He says nothing, or little.

The Bride does well in this module. She doesn’t take it sitting down. In 7 verses, in Songs 5:10-16, she goes on to tell the daughters of Jerusalem (younger, less mature believers) about her lovesickness and determination to pursue Him. In these 7 verses – one of the longest passages in Scripture that go into fine, exquisite detail about the beauty of her Beloved – she calls Him the “chief among ten thousand,” “altogether lovely” and one whose “mouth is most sweet.” These are descriptions of Jesus that believers should spend their lives – and through eternity, for that matter – meditating on.

The response from Jesus (as typified by Solomon) is one of the climaxes of Holy Scripture. In Song 6:5, Jesus calls on the Bride to turn her eyes away from Him, as they have “overcome” Him!

This is profound and mind boggling. Jesus, the one who rules the skies and created the heavens, the One who is at peace and in perfect fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, this same Jesus is overwhelmed, captivated and downright goes weak in knees when He sees the gaze of a weak, sinful broken believer!

As believers, this is a mystery that will take us years – again, even through eternity – to ponder and wonder about. When she doesn’t feel anything in her heart, He feels everything! Likewise, our hearts feel might feel cold and numb, but based on this truth, we can still reach out to Him in the poverty of our spirit, knowing that He is deeply, deeply moved. Indeed, His heart burns with holy passion for us when we reach out to him in weakness!
 This is the secret to staying and burning long in the House of Prayer. Sometimes, burning in the House of Prayer can be mundane and routine. In the House of Prayer, people can at times feel distracted and weighed down by cares. Sometimes, I have felt that my prayers are so weak that they have not even ascended to the ceiling. But knowing that He hears, and is deeply moved, motivates me to press in.

This is a mystery that we will through eternity meditate on and rejoice in.

We can live this out in 2 ways.

Firstly, this truth is buried in the Word. Even when our hearts are not moved, our minds are distracted and we would rather be somewhere else than burning in the House of Prayer, we know that He desires and is overcome by us – simply because His Word says so.
 Secondly, there will be times of sweetness when the Spirit of God touches our hearts with His love, or when He reveals His heart for us and His desire for us. Many of us who burn in the House can testify to this. In this His Word is validated by experience. Indeed, feeling His love, and loving Him back constitutes one of the sweetest, most delectable emotions imaginable this side of heaven!

This is what causes us to burn, and stay long in the House of Prayer. It’s not the music, the eloquence of the prayers nor the length of our intercession. Rather, it is about how our weak hearts move a strong God.

As part of a nation-wide partnership with various prayer networks in Singapore, IHOP – One Thing Ministries started the year by taking the first 50 days of 2015 (1 Jan to 19 Feb) to pray and fast for the nation. During these 50 days, we gathered in sacred assemblies at the House of Prayer to pray for our nation. Here’s an article on what God has spoken to us in contending for our nation.

We are also gathering in sacred assemblies from 31 July to 9 August 2015 to contend for the destiny for our nation. The House of Prayer will be open during these 10 days at the following times:

Mondays to Thursdays – 4pm to 6pm & 7.30pm to 9.30pm
Fridays – 6.30pm to 8pm (Devotional cum Intercession) & 8pm to 9.30pm (Teaching)
Saturdays – 4pm to 6pm & 7.30pm to 9.30pm
Sundays – 1pm to 3pm & 4pm to 6pm

The sessions are open to the public. Join us to pray for our nation!

See Meeting Schedule

(by Kay-Chong Yeo)

1. Blowing the Trumpet

Joel 2:1, 15
“Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the LORD is coming, for it is at hand… Blow the trumpet in Zion, CONSECRATE A FAST, CALL A SACRED ASSEMBLY…”

The LORD spoke to me of the necessity for a season of consecration and contending in the year of Jubilee for the fullness of God’s destiny and plan for Singapore.

The year of Jubilee is a significant time for change: transition and turning. Our response to this prophetic word determines the spiritual outcome for generations to come. It is imperative that the Church seek God like Daniel (Daniel 9) and wage war like Timothy (1 Timothy 1:18).

Let’s celebrate the year of Jubilee through solemn consecration and contending for the release of the fullness of God for our nation: Prayer and Fasting are key.

2. The Word of God

The LORD spoke to me through two passages of Scripture pertaining to this call for a season of consecration and contending.

Joshua 3:3 – 6, 8
“And they commanded the people, saying, ‘When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD you God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Yet it shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.’ And Joshua said to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.’… You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you have come to the edge of the water of Jordan, you shall STAND in the Jordan.’”

Church in Singapore: walk circumspectly into 2015. Stand firm. As in Joshua 3, we are slowly transiting from “Shittim to the banks of Jordan” and being prepared in the “3-day period” preceding the crossing of Jordan River. What, then, is the process of preparation to possess the Promise Land?

Re-alignment
During this period of transition, it’s time for us to RE-ALIGN our lives and focus on the Lord. Joshua 3:3 says,

“When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.”

The Israelites were to follow The Ark of the Covenant, the presence of God.

Likewise, it is time for us to re-align ourselves with the Lord through earnest soul-searching. Get rid of every distraction, and seek the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Surrender ourselves wholeheartedly to a holy God. He is serious! If we are not, we will be burnt by the All Consuming Fire!

Consecration
What is consecration? The word comes from the root word that means “to be holy”. Consecration simply means being set apart for God. More than just re-aligning ourselves with the Lord, we need to be completely consecrated to Him. God is holy and He is attracted to a people who are pure and holy.

In Joshua 3:5, the Lord commanded His people to consecrate themselves so that He could do great and wonderful things among them. Nothing is impossible with God once He has a consecrated people!

Unity in Agreement
Unlike the Moses generation marked by grumbling and rebellion, the Joshua generation submitted eagerly to God-ordained authority. “Whatever you have commanded us we will do and wherever you send us we will go.” (Joshua 1:16). No wonder they possessed the “Promised Land’.

Encourage the army of God to unite in agreement so as to effectively contend for the fullness of God!

Joel 2:12 – 17
“’Now, therefore’, says the LORD, ‘Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning. So rend your heart, and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him – a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call the sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders,..Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and do not give your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

This is the clearest passage in the Word of God that describes exactly what God requires of us as we contend for a breaking in and a breakthrough of God. The principles of repentance to release mercy, deliverance and the promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Joel 2:28 – 32 are not limited to Israel, but for all who hear and understand. It is a clear roadmap for the Body of Christ!

Joel 2:12 – 14 is a call to an individual response of consecration!

Joel 2:15 – 18 is a call to a corporate response to a sacred assembly of prayer and fasting!

3. A Three-Fold Call

God is calling the people of God in Singapore to 221 days of consecration and contending for Singapore in the year of Jubilee to fulfill her Antioch Calling. It will encompass:

1. A time of consecration (1 Jan – 9 Aug 2015)
2. A season of prayer and fasting (1 Jan – 9 Aug 2015)
3. A monthly sacred assembly (every Tuesday during the monthly Global Bridegroom Fast)

Let us take heed and respond to God in this time and season!

Prayer Focus

We are to focus upon Micah 2:13 for 221-days (January 1 to June 21) and to contend with God for the promise of breakthrough. From June 21 to August 9, the prayer focus can be found in the prayer guide from LoveSingapore.

by W. Choong

Last month (Dec 2014), we had an enjoyable time at the International House of Prayer (One Thing Ministries). About 40 people joined us for the IHOP Internship II, where Kay-Chong, director of One Thing Ministries, and Aaron Frazee – an intercessory missionary from IHOP-KC – taught on the whys, hows and whats of establishing a House of Prayer in the spirit of the tabernacle of David.

It was a stirring time hearing God’s heart for raising up houses of prayer all over the earth. And when different teams of participants tried out the harp-and-bowl model during the hands-on clinics, even more so! Singing and praying the Word, responsive singing to one another and just dwelling in the House of Prayer, hearing His heart, was enjoyable!

As many discover in real life – while the wedding day is easy and enjoyable, living out a marriage and with one another day-to-day, through the seasons and highs and lows of life, is not so easy. The same applies to burning in the House of Prayer – while singing and praying the Word at the Internship was enjoyable, doing it for the long-run requires sacrifice, commitment and adjustment in people’s lives. As the prophet Joel writes, solemn assemblies and consecrated fasts require sacrifices – elders will have to gather, nursing babes and children have to join in and even the bridegroom and his bride must come out of their wedding chamber (Joel 2:16).

In the long-run, something has to sustain people who want to burn in the House of Prayer. To paraphrase Shakespeare, then, how do the “happy few, we band of brothers,” stay focused on burning in the House of Prayer, after 11 years?

We are here, because He desires a resting place (Isa 66:1). From Moses to David, from Ireland’s St Patrick to the Moravians under Count Zinderdorf (where 24-hour-a-day prayer ran on for 100 years), God has always desired a place of rest where He doesn’t have to contend with man. This is a place where God is God, man is man, and all that God is and wants, man accepts wholeheartedly. His heart moves their hearts, and their hearts move His. They are one.

We are here, because God desires a Bride that will partner with Him in the end-time judgment that will come upon the earth in the last days.

Not all the prayers we pray at the House of Prayer are anointed; indeed, at times, our prayers feel weak and even uninspired. But our prayers at the House of Prayer count! The Lord in His tender mercy counts all of them in the golden bowls of incense full of the “prayers of the saints” in heaven (Rev 4:8)! And these prayers are critical in God’s plan to redeem the earth – Jesus uses them in the 21 numbered-judgment series (i.e. the seals, trumpets and bowls) that will see the Earth and all that is in it redeemed and restored to its rightful owner – Jesus.

We are here, because we are poor in spirit.

All that we are as Christians – how we come to know Him, how we grow to walk with Him, how we will live with Him through eternity – hinges on this fundamental beatitude.

We have to and must be poor in the spirit and know our spiritual lack, that all we have is nothing in His eyes. As a result we must press in for more of His grace and fullness in our lives. Therein lies the divine paradox of “holy frustration” – the more we see Him and know Him, the more we realise that we need to see and know Him more. While this might feel “frustrating,” it propels us forward in our pursuit of Him.

In this, knowing that we are poor in the spirit enables us to encounter God. A beautiful truth is revealed in 2Cor 3:18 – as we sing, pray and meditate on the Word before His face, we are transformed from glory to glory, to be more like Him! There is something powerful about using the written Word to interact with the Living Word (Jesus). The House of Prayer is an ideal place for meditation and transformation.

We are here, because Jesus is worthy!

Mere words are found wanting if one wants to express the inexpressible wonder and beauty of the God-Man Jesus. Think of a composite man or woman who encompasses the best attributes that humankind through history has ever had – he or she has the charisma of John F. Kennedy, the beauty and grace of Audrey Hepburn, the sublime ball-skills of Lionel Messi, the compassion of Mother Teresa, the wordcraft of William Shakespeare, the military genius of Winston Churchill and the brilliance of Albert Einstein.

Even so, Jesus will far surpass the “beauty” of such a composite man! The Scriptures scream out His beauty. All mere men of the Bible who saw Him – Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, Paul – fell down and worshipped in light of His beauty and glory.

This is how it stands – it cannot be that the Starbucks, McDonalds’ and supermarkets of our land can hawk all kinds of earthly wares 24/7, but the Desire of All Nations (Hag 2:8), the Man who is the chief among ten thousand (Songs 5:10), is not adored and worshipped enough. To not have a place where Jesus is adored and worshipped 24/7 is indeed an injustice!

If we’re truly honest with ourselves, we’d realise we don’t really desire Him as He deserves to be desired. Why don’t we desire Him enough? Because we don’t really know Him. Why don’t we know Him? Because we don’t have enough revelation of who Jesus really is. That is why the all-time favourite apostolic prayer at Houses of Prayer around the world is Eph 1:17 – that the Lord will grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may know Him more.

If Mary of Bethany lived among us today, she would not be very popular. After all, she would not be performing any miracles. She would not have many (or any) followers. She wouldn’t be very famous either.

But consider this. Jesus in Mark 14 says that her very act of pouring out a fine alabaster jar of spikenard on Him would be memorialised for all time. Each time that the gospel is preached, Jesus said, Mary would be remembered. How cool is that! And how so? Because Mary, more than any of the 12 apostles, knew Jesus’ heart. She knew that Jesus was going to the Cross and wanted to prepare Him for His burial. And how did Mary came to such a deep realisation of His heart? She simply sat at His feet, heard His Word and went after the one thing that would not be taken from her (Lk 10:39-42). She was able to carry out her extravagant act of worship in Mark 14 because of what she had been doing in Luke 10.

In the new year, particularly at a time when we go into a season of consecration, fasting and prayer for Singapore’s Jubilee year, let’s give Him the praise, worship and adoration that is due Him. If you can, do join us to minister to Jesus at the House of Prayer!