12+1 Core Values: Prayer-Powered | Pr Dr Daniel Kong

You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

We hope this message will light up your day. Today's

topic on prayer is pretty important, right. How many of

you or even every Christian will agree that prayer is important,

regardless of whichever level you're at, We all understand this.

And if you would ask you, do you believe pray

is important? I believe almost everybody would say yes, prayer

is indeed important. If I would ask you, do you

believe God answers prayer? I think most people will say

yes as well. Hands up to that. But if I

ask you how many of you truly are prayer powered?

Maybe not all hands will be raised? Okay, And maybe

some people were looking down the floor and like, okay,

hope we don't look at me. I don't have a

eye contact kind of thing. But that's the thing, right,

That's the main interesting here. Believing in something or believing

in prayer is one aspect, but living a prayer powered

life is a different thing altogether. Okay, two different things

all together. I'll start off this question over here. Is

there a difference between a church that prays and a

church that is prayer powered? Okay? Food for thought? Okay,

and I believe even in your book you have some

excerpts up the top of there you can read through it.

But before I carry on, let me just start with

a quick question. How many of you charge it? Charge

your phones every day, every night? Right? You put it

on charge? Right? I don't. I'm one of those that

I don't charge until I gotta forget. Okay, the different

thing altogether. But I would say most people would do that.

Right now, imagine this, if you have the latest, fastest,

bestest iPhone, you know, Android phone, et cetera. Are incredible camera,

incredible processor, fantastic battery, life, et cetera, et cetera. Okay,

but if you do not charge it, some may ask

you what do you do with it? Do you just

admire it or admire its potential? And that you think

that it's a bit ridiculous right to have such a

powerful tool in your hands. But if it's not charged,

it's basically not very powerful. Not the maximum potential is

not really it remains unused. It's what I'm trying to

say here. You catch you trying to say, and you

think that's ridiculous, right, you spend so much money, so

much investment of your own resources, but without power, all

the potential of that particular quote unquote gadget remains unused.

And I can suggest to you that many Christians sometimes

admire the power prayer similarly without actually plugging into it

and actually using it. That's what we're talking about, right, Yeah,

we talk about prayer, we read books about prayer, we

attend conferences, uh you know, about prayer. We agree that

prayer is important, but we don't actually live connected in prayer.

And you must understand this prayer is also the source

of power. Similarly, like you're you know, the the gadget

that you have, If you're not plugged in, whatever it

may be, it's not fully maximized. So I want to

hopefully by the end of the day remind us that

we need to be prayer powered, because otherwise it's just

like the photo I have over here is just disconnected, right,

and there's no potential in it. So that's why the

core value today isn't simply called prayer, but call prayer powered. Okay,

every okay, so far right, there is a difference, right,

there's a difference. So the big idea is what I

have on the screen over there, prayer isn't something that

we do before. Me. Of course, we have prayer time

at ceogies like today, we started off by having prayer

ministry as well. But prayer is what powers the entire ministry.

A lot of difference there. Again, isn't what we do before.

It's not an activity, but it's actually what powers the

entire ministry. Okay, So essentially for us, it's not just

part of our Christian life. It's the source of power,

all right. And that's really important because you understand that perspective, right,

you do things a little bit differently, right, and you

just like how I said earlier, you would definitely have

it plugged in because you know that without it being

plugged in, you're only using or rather you know we're

using any potential. All right, Hopefully the analogy helps a

little bit. All right, Now, let's turn to the scripture.

We have X two forty two up on the screen.

There's a whole lot over there, but let me just

focus on a few things. Okay, The first part forty

two it is says they devoted themselves. Key thing to

focus on is devotion. Now, I think I spoke a

little while ago about being devoted to something during your anniversary. Right.

Remember when someone is devoted to something, all everything, all

focus is on it. And these people are devoted devoted

to what apostles teaching, to fellowship, to breaking a bread

and to prayer. Okay, now notice something prayer isn't just

randomly inserted into their Just let me just quickly say,

it is not the lasting on the checklist as well.

Some people think because it's located at the very end,

then therefore it's the least important. No, no, no, no it's not.

It's teaching, fellowship, food very important for us Malaysians. But

if there's time prayer, is that how it is supposed

to be? No, right, all is important. Now why is

this important? Because as you see here is woven into

the early churches history. It's not just an activity. It's

an atmosphere. Just not what we're saying about prayer changing

the atmosphere, right, This is essentially it's not just a

one time event. Sometimes we look at prayer as a

one time event, prayer service or my scheduled time as

an event as well. But no, it's actually culture. It's

actually what we do. It's actually a lifestyle. Now, before

you think that, oh this is the instructions. But you

remember in X chapter one, right, what happened X chapter one,

If you turned back one entire chapter before, what were

they doing to people? They were waiting, right, they were seeking?

What else were they doing? They were also praying, praying

for what recovered it. It's a very first topic, praying

for the spirit to be spirit filled. Right. So next light,

sorry an X one prayer before the Pentecost, there was

prayer before the Holy Spirit came. There was prayer right

before Peter even preached what happened? They were also so

prayer right before three thousand were saved. What was there?

Prayer all right? Before any miracles that you know and

recognize happen, there is prayer. So instead of thinking of

it as me the last is actually the very first,

but we start off and also we finish off with prayer,

if that makes any sense. Even before the very church,

first church began, prayer was there. Again, it's not the last.

Prayer came first. Everything else followed, and then we seal

it all with prayer. And that leads me to my

very first point. Okay, very short message today. Okay. The

first point is prayer is God's gift for us Okay,

if you have your I know it's a little bit

different from what I what is in here? I think

here it says a sorry, let me just come to

the right page. I lost my page. Okay. The gift

of prayer right in here? Write your notes, okay. But

I just got to add on to that. Prayer is

God's gift to us, Okay. And what do I mean

by that? It is not to burden us. What is

a gift? You don't give somebody something to burden the person. Right,

But sometimes we look at prayers. Oh, you know, here's

another thing I gotta do. And you know what, growing up,

I was just like that. It felt like prayer was

homework for me. Right, read your Bible, prayer every day,

go to church, repeat and rinse. So prayer was came

to a point that it became like a chore, homework,

Like I said, right, anybody felt like it's just just me?

All right? We do feel but it's a gift. How

can a gift be Oh? Here we go again, pray again? Right?

So it's almost like telling God, why are you giving

me another religious duty? Right? And this is being very

honest here, right, But that's how scripture actually presents it.

It presents it as a gift. Right, it's an invitation.

It's God's gift to you. What is God's saying? You

don't have to face this alone. It is something that

you could do, and I hope you do it well. Right,

it's not something you have to do. But sometimes I

think over the cost of time, we forget and then

we change emphasis or we lose the the you know,

we lose the origin story of prayer, and then we

take it as Okay, this is a religious duty or

regious item. You've got to check off that list. Let's

read Philippines for six to seven. Right, it says here

be anxious, sorry, be anxious for nothing. Sorry, do not

be anxious about anything. But in every situation, again, in

every situation, by prayer. So you see here, what is

every situation in the English language? Is everything? La? Right?

Our English is like everything lah? Okay, every time, every situation,

every things big or small. You you bring it to prayer.

And notice Paul in here didn't didn't make it too complicated,

is it didn't? He didn't even say don't worry? Of course,

worry is something you know in built into us. Right

by says do not be anxious for anything, because when

you do, you bring it to prayer. Also, they say, good,

all the best to you. All right, hopefully you succeed. Right,

you go figure it out. He didn't say that, What

did he say? Bring everything to prayer? Everything, small things,

big things, family things, uh, children, marriage, what else? Career, health,

et cetera. Packing, right, students, exams. By the way you're

parking here is fantastic. Can fight parking on anyway? Last

time a bit more difficult. You know, even your dreams,

You know, your dreams for your future, everything, your business

is everything in prayer. Now, one thing I have to

say is that when we have this, like I said,

it's a gift, right, because why does God give you

this gift? He actually wants you to have this relationship

with him. Right. It's not a performance. Right again, it's

not by pastor Gloria praise more and therefore she's performing

better than all of us kind of thing. It's not

about frequency, it's not about how long, it's not about

how the words that she uses or the words that

we use, et cetera. Is No, it's about relationship. It's

a gift. Everybody has a gift. Right, So there's something

that we need to understand. Now. Let me just share

with you maybe as quick simple analogy as a father.

I have father, two boys. You know, my boys, they

are teenagers. Know. They don't often schedule appointments with me,

all right, Some other people do, right, they schedule, they

check whether you're free or not, et cetera. They will

just come to me, or they willn't send me a

Google calendar invite. Okay, can we meet? Are you free

that daddy? Are you free next Tuesday at seven pm? No?

They don't, right. They just come to me, even when

I'm busy working, even when I'm tired. Sometimes even tell

me something completely random and throw me off my thoughts,

et cetera. But that's what they do right now. They

will say things like, Ohdaddy, look what I built, Look

what I found, Look what I discovered, Look what happened today?

Can I ask you something? You know? That's again? Do

I get interrupted? Yes? I do? I do get interrupted.

Do I secretly actually want them to come to me

even though they interrupt me? Absolutely? Yes? Right? Right? Why?

Because they are my kids, my sons, right, that's relationship

and that's what God wants. It's not that ah, yeah,

he doesn't. He must understand it's all relational. Right. So

imagine one day, right, my boys don't come to me.

I'll be absolutely sad. Not because they don't come to me,

because not because I'm angry or because they hate me

or whatever. But the simple thought is that if they

don't come to me anymore in future, it's maybe because

they do not need me anymore, or they say, ah,

Daddy not relevant anymore. That will hurt me more than

interruptions itself. Even at the time I would say the

interest get to say, yeah, so this is where we

need to put a perspective into things. You know, Church,

our heavenly Father never gets tired of his children, you know,

really coming to him. It isn't about twisting God's arm.

Sometimes we think that prayers about that. You know, we

come and negotiate, we you know, try to get a

contract done. Oh, it's just walking into God's presence. That's it.

Relational okay, uh, And that's really as simple as That's

why it's a gift. Right now. Let me also share

you some of you may know that I have started

a little bit of a healthier lifestyle. I started running,

uh intensely this year. Okay, uh so I came in

button now since I'm very proud of anyway, then then

it is besides the point and and and the why

I share this is because this morning there's actually a

run in but dryer, and I can see some people

are not here because of that. Uh uh And there's

a bout of people from even my church. Uh I

surf in the one thirty subdy service. So I don't

no excuse. Okay, you get to come unless your leg

is broken anyway. Jokes aside, jokes aside. What I've learned

is that a long run, or let's just use the

word race, isn't one on the day itself, the miss.

It's not something that you only do like let's say

this morning as an example, a right, it is actually

one or achieve with many months of preparation. Okay, of

course you can go in there. I've got some of

our jokers. I always say, you're going there. They even

do anything. Then you expect to runch and one kilometers

half marathon, that's quite a fabit. And then they're like,

I hope to finish in four hours. I mean that's

the cutoff timeline. Right. But if you're doing that, you're

just leaving things by chance. Right. How often I run,

they say a round eighteen kilometers, not for half maraton,

but I just do it because it's a progressive thing.

One thing that I say I've learned is that it

is every training matters, right. Every rests or recovery also matter.

Also to share, I was injured about a month ago.

I tore three muscles. Now I'm back at running again.

But let me just tell you this, everything from the

slow runs, fast runs, recovery. Every morning getting up, I

get a five in money to run. By the way

I ran this morning before I came anyway. But again,

it's not something that you do. You don't get fit overnight.

It's what I'm trying to say here. It's built over

daily habits. And what I'm trying to illustrate here is

that prayer is the same. Right. Sometimes we go to

prayer as though it's like we're running that race, that marathon.

We go help me, you know, bring me out this right,

And we only pray when life becomes race day, like

a marathon. Now what I mean by dad, oh, there's

a medical diagnosis that's not very good. Race day, I

go to the Lord, or there's a job loss, I

go to the Lord. Relationship crisis, what else, financial pressure,

et cetera. You only run or rather pray. Suddenly, Lord,

there's nothing, there's nothing I can do right now, Lord

help me. Now that's again I'll go. It's very merciful

he will talk. Nothing wrong with crying out to the

Lord in these moments, don't get me wrong, but imagine

how much stronger you can be. It is really continuously built,

as what I said earlier, on a relationship that you

have every single day for your life, and even when

it comes to race day, you can still do it right.

Like I said, I came to a point before I

got injured. I did seventy kilometers a week, right as

every day at five in the morning. Why do I

do it because I'm crazy? It's because I want to

do it before my kids wake up. So again it's

alone time. Now. These are the times where there is

nobody looking at you, and prayers to be like that

as well. Nobody sees you. You just have to have

that discipline. So prayer. My main point is, prayer isn't

emergency power, right, Prayer is every day power. But you

need to tap into it on an everyday basis. All right,

So once again, if you didn't catch the first point,

prayer is God's gift. It's also God's invitational invitation to

be a relate, to to go into a relationship, all right, Now,

then this raises a question here. If prayer is such

a gift, why do so many Christians actually struggle to pray?

I've got that slide up there, right. Firstly, I don't

think it's because people think or believe that pray doesn't work.

Let's let's let's get that myth over there, right. I

think it's because sometimes we misunderstand or misunderstood what prayer

really is. Okay, Again, Prayer isn't informing God. He already

knows anyway. So it's not like sometimes you haven't met

your your spouse or you have children or whatever, or

this is why I've done No, no, no, no, he doesn't

need that. He knows already, So it's not about counting back.

Prayer isn't impressing God, right, He's not grading the Christianese

language that you use or the vocabulary that you use. No,

prayer is meant to be simple. So if you ever

felt that that it's a limiting factor. Don't worry about it, right,

can speak in whatever language you're comfortable with, broken, et cetera.

It's fine. The other thing I want to say is

that Christian isn't earning God's love in that perspective. Your

identity in Christ is already secured anyway, and where is

it secured? What He's done in across is already done, right,

it's not earning God's love more so, Again, it's not

about frequency, it's not about what you say, what you pray.

But really, all we're saying when we come to prayer

is this simple thing, God Father, I need you. That's it.

I need you. And every time we pray, we're declaring, Lord,

I want to build relationship you, I need you. And

that's essentially that. Okay, So I like you to come

to this understanding that prayer is actually a language of dependence. Right.

It's not a prayer weakness. You don't come to law

because Lord, I'm so needy. No, I just want to

build reship. I am dependent on you, right, And that

brings me to the close off point numbout one. And

when when I am preparing this message right again, sometimes,

as I said earlier, the question isn't do I believe

in prayer? The question is the real question is rather

what does my prayer life or your prayer life or

our prayer life reveal about what we or I actually

depend on on the Lord? Do I depend on the

lot fully? Do I trust a lot fully? That's the

main thing about prayer, because it reveals, right, And this

moves on to the second point and after that any

really very fast? All right, no, but but let me

just spend a bit more time here because it's very important. Now.

The second point is about the integrity of prayer. It's

possible that sometimes we say things like that, oh I

prayed about it, right, I prayed about it. Now think

about this. If you didn't catch any of this whatever

Shaw today, this is the most important part, right, the

second the second point, the heart of the entire message

today is really to understand that. Firstly, prayer is not, uh,

it's not designed to make us feel guilty, all right,

it's not. It's it's a way to help expose something

that many of us don't realize. And that's why when

you pray more, you you you you then depend on

Him more. And it's in this way I wanted to

focus a bit more, right, So can I just be

very honest with you this phrase, let's put it up

the phase up on screen. I prayed about it is

very common ever noticed when someone comes to you and

talks to you. Oh, you know I I I I

feel led to change jobs. I prayed about it. Right,

I'm dating this person. I prayed about it. I'm moving,

I'm relocating. God has caught me to this far far

away land, et cetera. I prayed about it. I'm making

this huge financial decision, this business decision. I've also prayed

about it. Now, Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying

that these guys scenarios people do not pray about it.

But I'm just asking what does this actually mean when

you say I prayed about it, he thought about he

taught true that sometimes so easier to say I prayed

about it, right, And sometimes when somebody says I prayed

about it, it may just simply mean that I've only

mentioned to God once, or I thought about it with

God about making decision once, I've asked God. Sometimes even

I've asked God to bless the decision that already made,

and therefore I prayed about it with silent there right

right right can be also I prayed about it. Sometimes

you don't ask further what do you mean by that? Right?

Just asking God for his blessing right now? But what

does the Bible actually talks about in prayer? And this

is where, like I said, the point of about the

integrity of prayer is very important because there is integrity. Now,

let me give you a simple illustration. Imagine, Uh, I'm married,

my wife is Jessica. Let's say if one day I say,

just don't worry, I spend a lot of quality time

with you this week, okay, And she's like, really when when, oh,

you know the time when I said beside you, I

was maybe I was reading some articles on my phone,

messages on my phone, or watching Netflix. I don't, by

the way, but let's say i'matching Netflix, et cetera. By

spend quality time with you, I maybe even uh not

a few times when you when you're saying some things

all right, or or I even true in a few yeah,

I agree. Now would she be impressed? Probably not? You

know that she can probably tell. Right, that's what it

is right presence itself. It's not the same with connect

right being there itself is not connection. You can sit

beside somebody and never really be with them. Sometimes tell

us my kids, you know, it doesn't mean that you're

in the same house. We are connecting, right, And sometimes

you often wonder why do we do that with God? Right?

We almost like I said, tick a box, Oh Lord,

I prayed, we say these words, we spend five minutes,

so I gave you five minutes. You know how busy

my morning is five minutes? But have we really met him?

Connecting connected with him? Is the question here? All right?

One thing that really challenged me a lot of these

core values. Of course, it's drawn off from a Book

of Acts, chapter two by passing Kennif also, you know,

shared a little bit and about about some of these topics,

and that's why this this material is also there. One

of the things that really hit me is that he

shared about how someone before making a life or major decision,

can come to him and and and and and and

uh and say these things. Let me give an example, right,

he said this, Uh, this particular person came to him

and say, oh, I feel led to change church. Okay, Now,

changing church itself is is a is a major decision, right?

Why because it doesn't just involve the person. It involves

the spouse, the family, uh, even the future of the

entire family, right, the children, et cetera. But the person

came to past and said, Pastor, I prayed about it, right,

Very common commonly say I prayed about it. And then

sometimes you say, when you say you pray about it,

what can we say? Right? But when Pastor ken felt

led to ask this question, when did you start praying

about it? And then the person actually answered very uh

honestly five days ago. Now, again this is not to

not the person, but just an example of sometimes we

just do this a little more haphazardly. How much prayer

reallyeds to go into something like this, a major change

like this? And again this can be translated to anything

else you big move, big change, et cetera. But I

love this question because it's not trying to condemn the person,

but the question that is like a reverse who know

kind of a thing? Sa reverse? Who know? A reverse card?

Is it? How does the weight of the decision of

the of the change match the weight of the prayer

that has been invested into the decision. Okay, think about it.

All of us know some decisions warrants or needs a

little bit more investment in the area of prayer. Right.

Some decisions deserve not just hours or minutes. They deserve

maybe weeks of prayer, seeking God right, sometimes even fasting,

waiting and listening, inviting vice council as well. You know,

you've got different ones, leaders, et cetera. Support you because

these decisions, some of these decisions will affect you and

your family and the rest of whoever's involved in that

decision for the next ten years. Maybe it's not just

a five minute impact, right, So don't give it a

five minute prayer. And this is a reminder to all

of us to be very careful to say I prayed

about it, right, because prayer is not something that we

tag on to our decisions just because of formality. We say, okay,

I've done it checked. Because prayer, as we discussed earlier,

has actually a real power. It should be evident in

the way we see God. Over time, the fruits of

your decision will reveal whether you really truly prayed about

it or not. That's why I'm always very careful not

to say I prayed about it, right, even though I have.

But I just don't want to say it right, because

it's actually very scary. Now, let me just give you

another illustration. Some of you may know I'm an engineer.

My service plan knows that because that's the way I'm white,

I think. Okay, so let me confess a confession here.

As an engineer, I like solving problems. That's just the

way I'm wired. You See, when I see a problem,

I analyze, I calculate, I optimize, I find a solution.

Right now, that is a gift from God I believe

to some extent, right, But here's why I discovered. Sometimes

I bring that mindset into my spiritual life as well.

Let me just very honest. Yeah, hm, I wide that way.

I operate that way. My family sees it that way,

my chispa sees it that way. Even I work, I

operate like that. But sometimes if I'm not careful, I

bring that mindset to my spiritual life. Now what I

mean by that? Instead of praying, I plan. Instead of praying,

I optimize. Instead of praying, I calculate quote unquote risk.

Right Now, have you ever done that before? Or it's

just me all right, you gotta do it a bit more.

But before you even prayed about things, right, sometimes we

or Mila A Mila, I open up a spreadsheet of

my finances, you know, or I google a solution. Nowadays,

the other tools out there before I pray. Right before

I prayed, I've already answered or sent messages out to

the five friends about you know something, before I prayed.

I haven't had three backup plans to day. Now is

this all wrong? Probably not? But somewhere along Lisa, I'm

not careful, right, God maybe and this is just me

imagining God maybe just looking at me and say, hey, bro,

you've spoken to everybody else except for me even as

you were coming to the decision. Now, that really just

hit me hard because I'm like, oh wow, you know now,

I'm not against planning by the way, I love it,

and the Bible also encourages wisdom. Right, but planning should

follow prayers. I'm trying to say here, not replace it. Right,

So on more time, planning or whatever you do should

follow prayer, not replace prayer. Okay. Scriptures tells us this, right,

James uh one five to six. I don't know where

where I had it at, but if any of you

lacks wisdom, let him ask go right. Notice God never

criticizes us for needing wisdom. Right, He only tells us

where to find it. Right, So if you look at

the scripture, it tells you where to find it us, right,

But can I also say something? There is also some

dangers or one of the biggest danger is when we

become prayer, prayer, prayerless all right, or it became it

has become eventually just a religious prayer. Prayer that sounds

you and I notice, prayer that sounds spiritual but changes nothing. Right.

We've heard some of these prayers before, or prayers they

are there to make us feel better, but actually we

don't fee better after that, all right, or prayer that

is there because of formality, prayed about it. Right. Let

me give you an example. You know how sometimes you

say grace before a meal. Now it becomes sometimes a point,

right that it's just yeah, routine, that's right, without ever

thinking or really thanking God for that, you know, for

providing that meal. That's why I'm meant by It becomes formality.

Sometimes I catch myself as well. I end a conversation

that I'll pray for you, then forgetting two minutes later

what the problem is, and I forget to pray for

that person. Right, So prayer needs to go beyond just

a Christian expression. It has to come to a point

of really, that's what we say in point one, a

general relationship we've God, right, So you need to be

very careful with this, and that is where the dangerous

because if you do not remember what is it all about,

we sometimes can go into this autopilot mode. Right now,

I'll give you an example. How many of you own

a house here or bought a house, purchase a property

or Nick Sen's halfway there all right? Now, a lot

of you know, young people, young looking adults, young couples,

et cetera. They when they buy their first home, you know,

this is one of the biggest investments in their life.

Why because you're talking about hundreds and hundreds of thousands

or first car whatever, okay, just first houses the year.

You're talking about a lot of years of repayment. How

many years these days home loans? Nick No, thirty five okay,

thirty five years of commitment, right, thirty five years of commitment. Now,

this affects a few things, you know, the effects of course,

your monthly expenditure or planning if you have kids. It

also affects where your kids grow up in, whether it's

near school, et cetera. It affects maybe how your family

serves some people that, oh, you know, I live so

far away, so therefore I cannot serve feature us anymore,

et cetera. Just being very honest. Heah, all right. It

also affects how they would spend their next stage of

their life, something as simple as just the very first home.

Now imagine the process, nik you readbot houses there or okay,

so you would have spent maybe if you've done some

renovation to the house, you may spend maybe eighteen hours

or twenty hours looking at the floor plans, designing or

thinking okay, okay, the architect, where do I do this?

Whether I do that, or maybe even look at some

resources YouTube, you know, reading what should I do for

my first home? How should equipped me? Twenty hours, et cetera. Okay.

It may even spend weekends, three weekends at the showroom

talking to the different ones, right, or even having four

or five or six meetings with the bank. The banks

right to get your loan have to at least two

meetings if you're a lawyer, because you have to sign

that document. Right. But all this time being spent again,

not Nick, all of us in general, Okay, all this

time spent, but how many how much time have you

spent in prayer? I have this particular slightly just to

show perspective. Okay, the big stuff that we normally do

prayer is a small portion. Sometimes we say three minutes

of prayer. Okay, give you one hour prayer. But do

you spend similar time eighteen hours, twenty hours planning looking

at your floor plan? Probably not so again, just to compare. Usually, yeah,

we do more of the like the planning side the

than the actual prayers, which one Actually it's out of proportion,

That's what I'm trying to say here. And sometimes if

you look at your calendar as well, you'll see a

lot more of these kind of things more than these

kind of things. Right. So again it's just putting things perspective,

not knocking. I'm also one of them included in that perspective.

So even as I was looking at this, Yeah, it's

just a reminder about the balance. We should really be

doing this more, but sometimes we are doing other things more,

all right, So Pastor, can I say this next light

the day you stop praying, you're saying, I've got this

that really stuck with me. You know, sometimes you're like that, right,

I don't need this any I got this covered a lot.

It's okay. I got discovered. Maybe I pray for all

the other things, things I cannot resolve, but some of

the small stuff. God, this lot. I don't want to

disturb you already have like a million and one prayers

to answer. Ready, I don't want to, but no, you

must understand it's relational. Remember the analogy I gave you,

my kids coming to me. No matter how busy I am,

I want to still spend time with them. And that's

exactly because this can be frightening. Just as I used

an energy earlier. You may say one day without realizing it,

it's re suttle, God, I don't need you anymore. Or

nobody does this. But Christians can wake up one day

and say, Lord, I want to be independent from you,

and it's re suttle. It starts off by, yeah, I

don't need you today, tomorrow, then for weeks and months

and years, but I just want to be independent. I

don't need you anymore. I can. I've got this right,

And even if you don't say it, you slowly live

it out right, every day we are quietly trusting ourselves

more than putting our trust in the Lord. And that's

a scary part. Very quiet here. So some honest questions

here you ask yourself this, right, When was the last

time that you've changed an important plan because of prayer?

Sometimes you're there and I always all done up, radio

or plant you want you win. I get frustrated too.

But when was the last time God interrupted your agenda?

When was the last time that you actually sense God

saying I'm not ready to release to this particular adventure

or this adventure yet hang on, wait for a while.

Or when was the last time that you prayed long

and hard for your heart to change? Right? Because most

time I will say, we will always pray God, change

my situation, help me. But somewhere along the lines, I

think we need to transition to allowing God to actually

change us rather than change the situation. Don't get me wrong,

you like to change the situation as well. But it's

more than that, all right, praise not uh not Gods.

We are getting information from you. We will establish that.

But it's actually a way to really, you know, establish

a dependence on the Lord. It's relational, right, and so

a sign of surrender to what we sang Earlione to

allow God's will to be done? Right, And what does

it mean surrender? And here's my last point. Right, there's

a few more things, but let's move on to the

last point. What does it say here? Sorry, let me

just remind myself. Prayer is being powered power, prayer powered, okay,

being prayer power. But the short answer is this prayer

is a lifestyle that uh that that powers us forward.

So if prayer isn't something that we do before we

make disions, only, if prayer is uh actually the way

we express our dependence on the Lord, then prayer. Let

me just say this, prayer cannot remain as an occasional,

one time event. That's what I mean by lifestyle. Remember

I shed about the whole running marathon analogy, same thing.

We cannot just make it a one time event. Those

are important, but it's not the way, not the way.

It must become a way of life. And that is

what prayer power people are like. They don't just pray

when life falls apart, when things do not make sense,

but they build their entire lives right continually, depending on God.

And that's exactly how Jesus taught us as well. In

Matthew sixty six, he says, here when you pray, not

if you pray, but when, right, So prayer in itself,

as Jesus did, he did present it as an optional

spiritual discipline. Right, it is expected, it is I like

to use the word normal, just like breeding. Do you

plan your breeding? Probably not eating, sleeping or do I

like to sleep more these days? Anyway, But it's meant

to be a part of life. Okay. So that's why

the core values, uh, you know, the the what we

are talking about here focuses on Jesus said, when we pray,

and not if we pray, because prayer is not optional.

In fact, when you pray, it is an act of obedience.

And then the way I guess it's in the way

how God intended that we live. Okay, So I mentioned

by breeding in my dream. Somebody comes up to you.

I decided that I only need to breathe on Sundays.

You'll probably laugh, right, I only need to brief on Sundays, right,

because breeding isn't an event, right, as I said, it's life.

Nobody said I brief this morning. It is so I

don't have to brief till Tuesday. Right, because why breeding

is continuous, it is actually what keeps us alive. Right. Similarly,

prayer is the breeding of our soul, our spiritual life.

That is the breeding. When prayer stops, it's similar like

what I just that's ridiculous as what I just said earlier.

So this Sunday we pray it, receive prayer. Even I've

been prayed upon, then I'm said for the rest of

the week. I hold my breath for the rest of

the week. And sometimes you wonder why something inside of

verse is slowly suffocating? Because why even suffocation, even suffocating, right,

it's not immediate, and it takes some time. You slowly

lose life, lose touch. You become more and more anxious,

You become more and more impatient, You become more and

more self reliant. Right, you become easily offended, you become

fearful of different things. Why because essentially, just like how

I just says, stop reading, like you just disconnect yourself

with the one who is actually the giver of life.

Sofully you understood that simple analogy. But some people are

doing that. They just wait too next Sunday, wait to

next Sunday. It comes Friday, so nearly there, nearly there

right now. Pastor can also share this right you know

how we've got a lot of plants around the Klang

Valley and also around the world. Some people ask him

this question, what make made X church ex church? The

DNA behind it? Uh And sometimes people may look at, oh,

you know, the demographics, the campuses, the different locations, maybe

the leadership, the system, the teachings, the creativeness of how

churches run. But Pastor Kenneth answered a bit differently. He said,

one simple thing, He said, prayer was what led the

church to be where it is. So every plan has

been prayed for. Every nation that we've gone to has

been prayed for. Every leader has been prayed for as well.

Every breakthrough that we've experienced as a church collectively has

been prayed for. And he says something profound. I'm just

gonna say it out forbid him because I don't to

misquote him. He said, we don't just believe in the

power of prayer, pass the Canava. Prayer is the power

that powers us forward. With doubt it, we will not

go forward. Every ex Church plan is there because everyone

has been prayed for. So you see at the start,

I mean pasta Gloria's shared a few weeks ago, go

about the birth of extraras. Right, do you know how

much prayer has gone into that before even the very

first meeting? Prayer? Right, that's not just our history, you know,

that must become our future, how it propels u or

drives us forward. So prayer is not just you know,

something that some people coined two thousand years ago in

the very first church. No, it's something that keeps us going. Right. Now,

imagine if we look at churches. Sometimes we look at

different churches. Oh, this church has got this lights, fantastic worship,

amazing speakers, programs, et cetera, or good branding, good social media. Now,

all those things are not wrong as well. But perhaps

sometimes a smaller church when we travel. We visited a

very small Brethren church. Let's put this way. I traveled

a few weeks ago. When I went there, right, my

family went there. We became almost like majority. Now in

the outside may see, okay, this church is maybe less impressive,

that's men's eyes are. But I believe that every single

ministry in that particular church is definitely soaked in prayer

because we really felt it. Small, but powerful. Now, if

a church is like this, every leader is seeking God

is praying, every decision is surrendered to him. If you

ask me, I RelA to church B than church A right,

because why it determines where the church would move in

the future, not just in the the temporaria in that sense.

So which church if you have the two type of churches,

which church you think God and trust His power on?

Definitely Church be right Because throughout scripture, God reminds us

again over and over again, is never impressed with human strength.

He's always drawn to humility. Right, to be more specific,

humble dependence on the Lord. Not because it's needy, but

it's just a correct posture, right, and that's where it's

built with a life of prayer. Okay, Zacharia for six

reminds us not by mine nor by power, but by

my spirit. Again, it doesn't say no planning, no excellence,

and no preparation, doesn't say all that we still have

to do all that planning, excellence and preparation and all

that kind of thing. But you must always remember and

prayer remind you that the source is always God. We

must always continually even as we are planning, even as

you're striving for excellence. Even as you're preparing to always

continually return to the source. Otherwise you and I notice

my head will be too big. It's or me where

I am is because of myself. No, it's really the source.

Back to my running story. Okay, as I said, I've

been running for a while, nobody gets fit or runs

their marathon or by the way, I just got some

text elier by some of my guys are high survived

blisters and all that, but I survived, and some of

it is I really silly because it's just like small things, blisters,

and it's because they're not very see, very very brave

of them. You know, they've actually gone out there without

even tracking one kilometer and they're running twenty one kilometers

for the first time. Nobody's fit in that, in that

in the short amount of time. But a person that

quietly runs again and again and again and again when

nobody's watching what happens You build become stronger. As I said,

prayer works the same way as well. Sometimes we think

I need one amazing prayer, I need one amazing race

to get there, But no, it's daily dependence, daily reliance,

daily discipline. Right, don't get me wrong. Spiritual mount the

tops are fantastic experiences, but God's you know, building something

we've got is actually much deeper than that one time high,

that moment. Okay, it's a lifestyle. As I said, it's

the quiet prayers before work, or the frustrating time when

you have to go to the toilet and pray because

I just had it. You're whispered, quiet prayers when you

drive that is, or prayer even before a difficult situation

or the difficult meeting. Recently, I had to talk to

somebody about performance. I had to performance manage somebody out.

That was easier than sorry. That part was hard, don't

get me wrong, But prayer actually made it easier, not comfortable. Still,

I don't I don't like to deal with sorry. I mean,

it's get my words straight. I don't like to disappoint.

I'm not good at people. Pleaser are previous way so

I even the most difficult and honest things I find

never have to say. But I remember getting my need

to say, Lord, I can't do this. Can you just

help me do this? So pray before you had to

reply a message. Pray before making any decision small or big,

right prayer should slowly become a riedom of life. That's

what I'm trying to say here. All of us use

ways right right? Sometimes I say his ways on the

phone is higher than my ways, because usually they will

tell me the right things. Now, imagine this. I live

in Subang, Okay, I used to live in Ko. But

when you want to navigate to Ko at each hour? Okay,

ever done that before? Right? It's crazy? Right now? Do

you just open ways once before you leave your house

and then okay, got it covered, put it away, never

look back. Now, why don't you do that? Because yeah,

change will happen. Traffic changes, road closures happen, accidents may happen.

Routes that didn't exist existed later on. So if anybody

use ways, you'll see that. It's what's the word they

are recalculating? Yeah, whatever, it progressively changes? Right now? If

you live life thinking that, Okay, I got up again

to the car, I checked it once. It's enough, ah,

And then I think it'd be very surprised. That's what

I'm trying to say. Prayer is a bit like that

as well, you know, because why we recognize that life changes, right,

Your journey changes, situation changes, people change as well. Sometimes

other things will change, but you forget people. People is

the biggest change. But true prayer, God keeps directing you

turn by turn. Sometimes you say go, sometimes say wait,

and we don't like to wait right, always wait the kid.

Somebody says turn around, right, make a U turn all right.

Sometimes God says not yet, not quite there yet, chill

right or rerouting that's a better way, but we don't

like that sometimes. But you only will receive these instructions

one if you have a relationship with God and also

your your app right. If you do, don't refuse to

then then refuse to then then that's it. Again. Prayer

isn't just asking for directions. I'm not simplifying it. But

it remains connected to the one who actually knows the way.

That's my main point. But if you're not connected, yeah,

you will know what lies ahead of you. So can

I encourage you? Yeah? Make it a lifestyle. Sometimes the

very best or simple prayers are the best. Right it says, Lord,

help me, I need you give me wisdom. I don't

know where to thank you Lord, Yeah, coming thanksgiving as

all right, I'm sorry. I trust you again, As I

said earlier, it's not a measure of vocabulary. It's not

a measure of uh, you know what you choose to

say by sexually relational. It's all about region. Don't make

it complicated. Right, he's not grading your your your prayer

or you know he's praying okay, let me see better

use the correct punctuation here, or they use the right words. No, no, no,

he's not. He's just listening to his children. Right now.

Here's the beautiful thing. When prayer becomes a lifestyle, the

unexpected things will happen to your life. You will see

that even the way you pray uh transitions to something

else changes maybe at the very beginning when you when

you do this, you keep asking, Lord, bless my plans. Right,

over time you'll be asking or shifting and you be

praying this, Lord, what are your plans? Trust me, you

try it more. Over time, it will transition. Why, because

prayer actually reshapes your heart. When the relationship is built,

you begin wanting what God wants. First John five, he

says there fourteen to fifteen. It says, if we ask

anything according to his will, he hears us. Now, sometimes

when we read this scripture, right, we think that if

we pray hard enough, God would agree with me. Right,

But prayer, let me just tell everybody, it isn't a

platform to convince God to adopt my agenda or your agenda.

Prayer is actually an opportunity to allow God to reshape us,

as I said earlier. So that's why when we say

prayer powered mindset reminds us that this is what it

takes to keep us grounded, to keep us dependent on

him and to align us with his will. Okay, even Jesus,

it gets se many year right what he said. He

didn't just pray once, He prayed three times, three times.

And what was his final prayer? Not my will but

yours be done. Now the prayer change God's father's the

father God's will. No prayer actually strengthened the son Jesus

to then walk in it. Sometimes that's what exactly prayer does.

You know, God doesn't always just change the situation, although

we pray for the situation to change, all the circumstances

to change, but prayer itself definitely would change us. Just

like how Jesus pray three times? Yeah, change you prepared

him to strengthen him. So slow down, guys, slow down,

care on praying. Prayer is not something you fit into

your life. Prayer is something that you need to allow

it to shape your life. Okay, don't just jam it in,

all right? So as I close, imagine if every homes,

if every dream team, every ministry, every leader, every family member,

every young working about, every student, business owner, parents, every

church plan coordinator, every decision, every God given dream, every

challenge is continually covered with prayer in prayer, can you

imagine what the church will look like? Not because you're

the smartest, or the biggest, or the most talented or

the most had the most resources. Why because we are saying, Lord,

the greatest strength is not ourselves. Our greatest strength is

actually our dependence on You. And that's what we call

prayer powered. Not prayer, but prayer power. So as I close,

I want to ask you one to find a question

before I go all right? Do you believe in prayer? Amen? Yes?

Do you believe in coming to prayer meetings? Yeah? Do

we need to pray eloquently or use the right words?

Not really just pray? Most important you could ask us

to this question, is pray empowering your life? You might

start up with the whole energy using the mobile phone.

The most changai mangay mobile phone is actually not use

even a fantastic ev car. If you don't plug it in,

it's not gonna do much. Right, same here are we

actually powering our life? Because you know what, everyone is

powered by something. That's the other there's the other flip

side of it, right, Some people are powered by ambition,

maybe by achievement, by money, what else, by I don't know, security,

by fear, you people's approve. I'm one of those people.

Please are right, sometimes even by their own intelligence or

experience or connections. But as followers of Jesus, we are

men and designed to be powered by prayer, because prayer

is another way of saying I cannot do life without you, Lord,

won't you just step in? So even as we close today,

I just like to remind us that we need to

be dependent on the one true thing. We cannot be

dependent on the world. Sometimes as a student, we say, oh,

it's all dependent on my grades where I go next?

True but half truth, okay, all your businesses, you know,

and depending on the experiences that I've done in that

particular trait, that particular dealing. Again, true but half truth

as well, or even how we our kids. We can

be equipping ourselves with all the resources, all the books,

all the things that we can digest. But do you

know that when you go to the Lord in prayer,

that is a better resource, that's a better dependency or

even ministry. Sometimes when we take up different things or

I pray about it, I prepare myself, I go to

Bible school, et cetera. No dependency on God that trumps preparation.

Even so, even sometimes as when we prepare for to share,

spend hours and hours preparing. But can I tell you

this prayer is more important. So sometimes I tell myself

I've got to shift from that early picture I showed you.

I got to shift. I got to increase whatever was

on the right right than once on the left. Because

I can prepare all I can. But if I do

not go into prayer, I'm not doing this in just

because I'm doing it out of my own dependence, of

my own ability. No, really is about God is not

looking for more capable people. God's not looking for more

people that are intelligent. But God is looking for dependent people.

You look at Moses, Dude, the guy can't speak, but

God enable He relied on God Paul, Even what do

they say, when I'm weak, then I'm made strong. Weakness

is never the problem, guys. It is the the shift

to become independent, or the desire to become independent, detaching

away from God is the problem. So this is where

prayer grounds is. So can I make it practical for everybody?

How do we become prayer powered? Maybe tomorrow morning you

refrain from touching your phone when you get up, talk

to God, right, don't check your WhatsApp? Not important on Instagram?

Is okay? And Jennifer, I say it's okay. And by

the way, I haven't I a bit detech Instagram. But anyway,

I know people, some people are you know, check the emails, emails,

et cetera. But won't you just spend a few minutes

saying God, good morning, I need you today, speak to me.

Maybe a way to work, you know, if you really

can't spend the time before it's day at home prevarring

the kids to go to school, et cetera. On the

way to work, do that one thing I wanted to

put out on the screen. Maybe never simply be a

church that prays, but we always be a church that

is prayer powered. A church that's prayer powered. I'm just

gonna close with one more story. I like to tell stories,

my wife says, I sometimes I get a bit too

what stories always better? Now, I imagine two wood cutters. Okay,

the first one starts swinging and cutting the tree. He's busy,

he's sweating, he's working hard. But the second one pauses,

and I'm cast sure you heard the story before he

spends time sharpening his ex before he attacks it. What

would the first man do? Ah, laughing at what are

you doing? Wasting your time? I've already demolished or chopped

down how many trees? But after an hour of sharpening,

do you know that the sharper ex accomplishes far more

than the one that's dull? Abraham Lincoln said this, So

say give me six hours to chop down a tree.

I will spend the first four hours shopping an X Why.

I mean, of course, also, it's no it's exact words.

It's probably a little bit. But the the principle is

timeless because sometimes when we get our knees to pray,

it almost seems as though we're not doing much, nothing

is really moving. But do you know that pray also

sharpens your your your your spiritual life, your soul. It

aligns our heart before we do anything. It prepares us,

gives us wisdom, It gives us peace peace that was

a past or understanding, gives a strength we notice, courage

and discernment as well. So I don't know what we're

facing today, but I just want to appeal to you

to really just uh you know, not just believe in prayer,

but come to Him again. If you've lost that, today's

the day tomorrow start afresh again. It's okay. Relationships are

built not overnight. Takes time, but as long as you

put priority in it, you will get there. Like I said, hey,

I started running early this year. Now I'm running faster

than some of the other guys. Right, I had to

start somewhere, right. I didn't just do twenty one kill

this overnight. I did two and two. A struggle to

kill umbus was a struggle. But yeah, you can. We

hope you've been blessed by this message. For more information

on our church, please visit as church dot org. We

are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you, God bless