In light of all that has been going on in the political arena in Malaysia, there are definitely lots to speculate, lots to question and even much more to doubt. However, there is no point in me trying to write my own view on this, since to be honest, it would just add on to the mountain of blogs that have been writing their own opinions and views on the situation…

But what it has done is stir within each Malaysian heart a renewed desire to see justice and truth prevailing in our country. What it has done is create an ache and pain in our hearts at how the situation keeps dwindling downwards, the plot just goes thicker every minute, a sense of unrest continually rising amongst the people of this nation.

What can be done?

Last weekend, I went to Kluang, Johor with a handful of the youths from the church for Malaysian Youth Prayer Gathering (MYPG). Although I did not expect anything out of it except that it was a full day of prayer and Pastor Kenneth Chin was speaking in that event, the returns of this has been overwhelming and totally humbling!

I will attempt to write a bit of what happened:

Friday

After a full, crazy week of work, I fell sick and so took mc on this day. I slept most of the day away which was really what my body needed. Then set off to meet Adrian, Yew Meng, Sue Yin, Sue Ann and Wai Yan in church.

Before we started our road trip, Dai May prayed over us as representation that the church is covering us as we set forth for this event. We went in two cars – Adrian drove his car whilst I drove Sue Yin’s car (she was on prescribed drugs at that time )

A very uneventful drive down to Kluang, other than a minor detour (we turned out one exit earlier) and the conversation in my car turned a bit morbid with funny eulogies and what not (I don’t know what the other car was talking about…)

Reached Kluang to be welcomed by Isaac. Now this guy is one character. He spent the whole entire day receiving and welcoming envoys from other states and bringing them to where they were staying for the night etc. We were the last of the lot to arrive (at nearly midnight!) We chatted with him for a bit whilst having some local Johor supper. Our lodging was on a hill and is actually a convent. Interesting. Plus they have really cute dogs.

Saturday

Woke up super early in the morning to grab our brekkie at the all famous local Kluang Rail Coffee, which is really next to the komuter train station! It was definitely great coffee!

Then we adjourned to Prime City Hotel in Kluang where MYPG was held. At 8am, people were already gathered in their groups and praying. We joined in. The opening speech by Isaac was enough for me to know that the coming few hours was going to be a God-honouring, God-empowering and God-fearing time. Followed up by an equally electrifying worship session consisting of young youths, mostly still in their secondary school years, leading the congregation into the presence of God.

Pastor Kenneth Chin then spoke on the words from Joel, reminding us once more of the call and promise that God has given to him many years ago which caused him to travel the road that I have witnessed him travelling throughout these years in Malaysia (you want to know more please click the link to his website)

We proceeded to pray – with many spiritual acts conducted as per what God has told the organizing committee to carry out, amongst them, the physical act of washing the feet – one representing the youths and another representing an authority figure – whether it be the parents, teachers in school, pastors/elders in church and political leaders.

And here… to actually write out all the details of what we prayed for and all that… Well, next time round, come for this event yourself! =P

But what I learnt over this day was the realization that even if I thought I was hot for God and desirous of seeing God moving in this nation, compared to the bunch of youths from Kluang, it was like nothing. And considering how much more resources we have available here in PJ, we seem to have taken it for granted and under-use them!

More than that, it has inspired me to continue to press on in prayer (as well as in my actions) to truly be watchmen to usher in God’s sovereign authority over this nation. That truly, Malaysia will not yield to darkness, but God will continue to shine His light over this nation & break the stronghold the enemy has over this nation.

At night after dinner, we gathered together as the church (PPBC) to have a real post-mortem of what we have learnt and what we can do when we get back to our own church. Many things have been discussed and it is truly encouraging to be able to share with one another and combine our hearts together with God’s to continue to believe that there is more in store for our own church as well.

Sunday

We woke up not so early (esp Sue Yin and I, since we yakked a bit more after the post-mortem) to meet Pastor Jit Pang, who brought us to another branch of the Kluang Rail Coffee for brunch. He actually skipped church so that he could spend time with us and see us off! *malu*

It was such an enriching time! He shared with us his journey and his testimony of how God saved him, disciplined him, called him and prepared him for the work that he is doing now. It was also very inspiring to hear and learn from his faith and his heart for the younger generation. Truly a spiritual father to all the youths in Kluang! Even as Isaac, a 21 year old young man can rise up to be the heart behind MYPG, it was truly because of the investment that Ps Jit Pang has placed into Isaac that MYPG took flight. Not only just Isaac, but throughout the whole of Saturday, I saw many young people taking ownership of their faith and the vision to gather young praying youths who would be willing to pray for Malaysia and love Malaysia at all cost.

Truly a hardcore and inspirational weekend.

Even if my physical body still feels weakened from the sickness, my spirit man is revived, inspired and excited to be in Malaysia at such a time as this!

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Even timelier, is that the 40-day national prayer and fasting starts tomorrow – 22^nd July! All Christian Malaysians out there! Don’t give up! Don’t lose hope! Don’t migrate (unless it is a specific call of God)! Even in the midst of the chaos, there is still hope in Christ for a better tomorrow!

After traveling back from Kluang, a few of us went to watch The Dark Knight (My favourite comic book hero). There, a line caught my attention which I feel appropriately describes where we are now at in Malaysia… “The night is darkest just before the dawn”

And from a more ‘holy’ source, the lyrics to Hosanna [Praise is Rising]

Praise is rising, eyes are turning to you
We turn to you
Hope is stirring, hearts are yearning for you
We long for you

When we see you we find strength to face the day
In your presence all our fears are washed away, washed away

Hosanna, hosanna
You are the God who saves us, worthy of all our praises
Hosanna, hosanna
Come have your way among us
We welcome you here Lord Jesus

Hear the sound of hearts returning to you
We turn to you
In your kingdom broken lives are made new
You make all things new

Lord, make us like new wineskins so that the new wine of your Spirit can be poured into us! You are truly making all things new!

Ps: By the way, The Dark Knight is really by far the best Batman movie I’ve seen to date! I’m gonna watch it again!! Kudos to Heath Ledger for such a brilliant performance and to Chris Nolan for amazing directing & screen-writing.