We are currently at Day 25 of the 40 Days of Prayer! It has been heartwarming witnessing the FCBC family seek God as a corporate body in fervent prayer and worship, and in turn receiving and experiencing God’s revelations of truth. Now, as FCBC enter into the 3rd week of this season of prayer, we dig deeper to find out more from the perspective of the pastors. Earlier this week, we managed to catch Pastor Wendy Eng, the Lead Pastor for the Celebration Executive Group, for a chat. We asked her to share on her thoughts, as well as words of advice and encouragement.
How has the 40 Days of Prayer been for you so far?
It’s been good for me. Personally, aside from the sessions I lead, I also take time out to go down for myself. For myself, crafting out time to spend time with the Lord really takes discipline, but I find this time meaningful as I get to be really engaged with the Lord again. For that portion of time, I focus completely on Him – worshipping, praying and hearing from Him.
What do you think of the attitude of the people, who have come for prayer during this season?
Having led several different prayer sessions, I find the people who came, very serious with the Lord. I can see that they understand why we decided to enter into this season of prayer. They really take time to repent and get right with God. They respond positively to whatever the pastor leads.
I also recognise a group of people that constantly come back. I can see that they thirst for the Lord, as they do not mind taking time out of their work and rest, sometimes coming in the wee hours of the night. They do not just come during cell time or on weekends as that is service time, but just for themselves, as they long to dwell in the presence of the Lord.
We are past the midpoint of the 40 Days. What do you think is the attitude we should adopt when we go for prayer?
As Senior Pastor Lawrence said, “Repentence is not just one time”, we need to go through stages of confession and repentence.
I sense an openness and tenderness in the hearts of the people. They agree that we have not been honouring the Lord in our attitude and are serious about the fact that we shut down the services to seek the Lord in prayer. A lot of people who came for the prayer sessions, have felt the delight in coming before the Lord, enjoying his presence, seeking his face and praying with the corporate body. Now, what we can do next, is come together and seek God on what he wants to do for FCBC as a whole. We should be asking the question, “What’s next?”
I believe that after this 40 Days, when service resumes on August 11, 2012 our people will demonstrate their seriousness with the Lord in action – by being there on time and also honouring the Lord by honouring the volunteers. This is one aspect that I feel we should repent of. Sometimes, we feel that coming to church is our RIGHT, and we become rude to the volunteers and staff. I trust that the Lord will change this behaviour, that when service resumes, all of us will respect the people and volunteers who have been serving them.
Final thoughts or words of encouragement?
I want to issue a challenge – if anyone out there have not attended any of the prayer sessions, I want to encourage you to come at least three times in the remainder of this 40 Days of Prayer. It would be such a pity to miss out on this, as the whole church goes into this season. I really hope to see you, even if it means taking half-day leave or missing out on sleep. I pray that you will see that this is not just sacrificial, but also beneficial, to you.