We spoke with Dr Rev David Demian at the 17th Pastors' Prayer Summit to learn more about his thoughts.
Q: Hi Pastor, this year's theme is 'journeying together' and one interesting point is that God is looking for us to move as a corporate 'David' or a corporate 'Moses'.
A: The word corporate is not a new word, even in the church. If the leadership aren't walking corporately, you will not see any advancement of the vision. You go to a lesser scale on the family, if the husband and wife are not working corporately, then the home will not function. In the city, and in the nation, it is the same principal. Not one church can take over the city. So the Lord is looking for a corporate walk if we are really wanting to see authority in the city and in the nation.
Q: Pastor, you also mentioned that in order to function as one body, all individuals have to have complete surrender to God. But many a times, being in the ministry we find that we spend so much time doing things for God, but not with God. How would you encourage people in this situation?
A: When people realise that there is not real success except the one that comes out from God – meaning the success that we look at, are more or less actually trying to do things for God. So i think the encouragement is if I know that the breakthrough comes when the Lord speaks then I have to find myself coming into the place of God and waiting for Him and hearing His voice.
Q: Pastor, you also highlighted the importance of understanding the Father's heart.
A: When you're talking about the Father's heart, the whole bible is about a Father and a home and the family. In the beginning God created a family with Adam and Eve and their home was the garden. In Israel, God wanted a people that He could call His own family and His presence was with them in the tabernacle. In the new testament, the key is that the Lord redeemed us from every colour, tribe and nation to make us as a family where we are baptised into body.
If we don't connect as a family, then we find ourselves unable to fulfill what the Lord has called us for. We often find that we gauge how much God loves us by how much we do, then all this becomes a performance. This system based on performance creates a mindset that we become afraid to fail. This becomes a danger where we are not transparent. But it is when the times we fail that we need our family to lift us and strengthen us. And that's why Jesus said, and they will know that you are my disciples by the way you love one another. And i know that there is a restoration of what it means to walk as a family for Singapore.