Every month John would ring and gather them all for their reunion. These 7 friends had known each other since university where they served in the Christian fellowship there. Three of them were still faithfully serving the Lord in their own churches but of different denominations. One was active in evangelism and missions, the other in healing and prophetic ministry and the third in Sunday school. These 3 would never talk about the differences in their churches, complain about Malaysia but would focus on their love for the Lord and doing His will and praying for each other and the Nation. As for the rest, they would argue about theological differences, complain about churches, the Nation. their circumstances and how people had let them down. The sad fact was that their hearts were on the things of this world and they had lost their passion and zeal for the Lord.

As we approach May 22nd Run for the Nation and May 23rd the Global Day of Prayer, let us humble (ourselves) and pray and seek (His) face and turn from (our) wicked ways, then (He) will hear from heaven and will forgive (our) sins and will heal (our) land.” (2 Chron 7: 14)

Prayer points - Father forgive us your children, your beloved Church for our sin of ;

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As we prepare for the prayer run on May 22nd let us not neglect our spiritual preparation. It’s very easy to just focus on our physical training, striving to be the fastest team over 5 km on May 22nd, hurrying with our prayers, yet lose direction and purpose spiritually and forget about our goal, intercession for 8 spheres of influence over Malaysia. Let us remind ourselves that we run inorder to pray, so that with all the runners combined we cover as much territory as we can with prayers, declaring the word of the Lord over Malaysia.

Let’s follow the apostle Paul’s example :

• Run in such a way that you win an eternal prize not an earthly one that fades away (1 Corin 10: 25)
• “ So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches. “ 1Corinthians 10:26
• Don’t let anyone or anything interfere and hold you back, get you sidetracked Gal 5:7
• Focussing all my energies on this one thing. Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize Phill 3:13 – 14

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Sulong had dreams of being a doctor, but no one in her orang asli village had ever gotten past form three. The daily 5km grind of trekking up and down the hills and forests to the secondary school in town was too much for many children. Her father was already asking her to help him out selling petai.

Mun Loong’s teachers kept telling him he was slow and that he was keeping the class behind. However a visit to the orphanage where he stayed by some volunteers showed a hearing impairment which could have hindered his progress in school all these years.

The continous pressure of exams, the rigours of tuition and then more tuition the next day made Bryan’s life miserable. His parents expectations were high. How he wished school was not just about studies and homework, that there would be games and sports like soccer, badminton but sadly there were no facilities available.

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The Webster dictionary states that a fore – runner is “ one that precedes and indicates the approach of another” (or a notable event), “ one who goes before or announces the coming of another, “ a person or thing paving the way for the success or accomplishment of another”. It is anything that serves as a sign to something better.

These 5 years will be crucial for Malaysia, either we see revival and growth or decline and stagnation, we need to arise to run and pray and be a fore – runner , paving and preparing the way for transformation, for God’s kingdom to come and will to be done.

On May 22nd 5 am, We will go as fore – runners before HIM in the spirit and power of Elijah ( Lk 1: 17 updated NASB) , declaring the word of the Lord, restoring righteousness in the Land, defeating the spiritual forces of evil and turning hearts back to the Lord.

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According to THE STAR 3rd April, it states “ Malaysia has reached a defining moment in its development path. It risks being left behind or worse still, suffering a reversal in living standards unless it implements far reaching and comprehensive reforms.” “ Malaysia is in urgent need of an overhaul as it runs the risk of a downward spiral and also the painful possibility of stagnation if it fails to reinvent itself.”

Half of the foreign direct investment that flowed into Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand from 1990 to 2000 went to Malaysia, now this figure is under a third. With rising prices and stagnant low wages, many are suffering, especially the poor and low income earners in the urban areas.

The New Economic Model (NEM) aims to transform the country into a high income nation from a middle income one by lifting gross national product ( productivity) per capita by increasing growth rates of an average of 6.5% per annum till 2020. In line with other reforms like 1 Malaysia, GTP (Government Transformation Programme) which targets 6 national key result areas , crime, corruption, education, low income household, rural basic infrastructure and urban public transport, an environment would be created to make this transformation to a high income nation possible.

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Eric first met his friends at the cybercafe, there they would play games after school till the early hours of the morning. One day someone came and introduced them to some special ‘pills that he promised would make them feel good. He soon lost interest in school, preferring to hang out with his ‘cool’ friends who introduced him to an ever wider circle of ‘friends’ and girls. He soon began to hang out in illegal entertainment outlets, nightclubs as his dependency on the drugs made him follow wherever his friends went. Deep in debt to his friends who sold the drugs and paid for his ‘entertainment’, he soon had no other choice but to be involved in the drug trade as a dealer, caught up in a vicious trap set up by the drug syndicates to lure young people like him.

The Star (25/3) writes that more and more people are getting involved in syndicates involved in drug trafficking due to high demand and money ,because as the police (narcotics dept) states , “the demand for drugs in Malaysia was so high that the drug trade was only to supply 30% of demand” only. “Furthermore demand has pushed the price so high that traffickers are willing to go to great lengths to deliver these drugs for high profit.”

During the past 3 years 2007 – 2009 , those caught dealing in drugs, drug users and drugs smuggled in, have increased dramatically. More and more young people are caught in this vicious cycle of drug usage and drug dealing, trafficking. International drug trafficking syndicates have begun targeting Malaysia as centre of operations or as transit point.

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There was once a king called Hezekiah , it was said in 2 Kings 18 : 5 that “ he trusted in the Lord” and that “ there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah”. However near the end of his reign , he displayed all his wealth to some visiting Babylonians, and Isaiah prophesied that as a result one day, everything would be taken away to Babylon. Yet Hezekiah’s response was not to mourn, repent, or even to intercede. He was actually relieved and said the word spoken, was good because he thought “ will there not be peace and security in my lifetime.” (2 Kings 20 : 19).

Hezekiah unfortunately here, was only thinking about the here and now, his own welfare and security, not about the future, his people and God’s purposes. Similarly in our situation in Malaysia, we often think like Hezekiah, but the reality is, we cannot afford to do so, as every thing that happens in every sphere of influence will affect us somehow, whether it be us, our family, friends, the poor, disadvantaged, our community, loved ones or the church. We need to arise in these coming weeks and months, even after May 22nd and lift up our nation in prayer, for at least 10 minutes every other day. To pray through every sphere of influence for God’s purposes and will to come through in each realm, government, education, church, religion, media, commerce, social and family.

Let’s pray for the up-coming elections of the MCA on Sun, 28 March. This has much to do with a great spiritual conflict behind the scenes for the soul of Malaysia. On the political level, 8 March 2008 was the first major shot. Others have quickly followed including the PKFZ debacle, and the latest, the mess within MCA.

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The laughter and shouting, teasing of children, clinking of spoons on plates, gentle words of the teacher, filled the room as the children ate their breakfast at the kindergarden. It was like any other day, and their parents at home also felt the same, as they thought about their children at the pre-school. Suddenly a short, shabbily dressed and unkempt man, abruptly enters, sprays pepper on the teacher, the only protection for the children and raises his hammer to strike. Blood and screams replace the happy sounds earlier, and much later, weeping, as mothers wait in anguish at the hospital.  The assailant still on the loose to strike again.

The above just happened yesterday (Star 11/3) in Muar and it highlights the vulnerability of children, even in places considered safe places like pre-schools and schools. Children are specifically targeted and we see this everyday as we hear cases of bodies of young children found sodomised, brutalized, raped in shrubs, under bridges, ponds, lakes. Those that survive live shattered broken lives full of fear and hate. In 2007, there were 8 Malaysians being raped daily, not including the countless unreported cases with children and those involving their physical abuse. In most of these cases the children trusted, knew their attacker and their attacker, knew children were innocent, weak and helpless, very easy prey.

Prayer Points

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She worked as a clerk in an office, not well paid and not well treated, but there were mounting credit card debts to be settled. Yet she loved going to the malls and there was always so so many things she wanted to buy. Then this man came and promised her a hard to resist job offer with incredible money and travel to Europe, luxury dining, entertainment. She would start first by approaching people to sign up for (fake) ‘credit cards’, she would give the particulars of those who signed up to her boss. If she did well she could progress to other jobs like carrying ‘parcels’ to countries in Europe with free lodging and money to spend.

He was a regular at the disco’s and nightclubs in town, and very much hooked to the designer drugs (Ket, syabu) . Money was running out but his hunger for drugs, sex, street fashion and entertainment grew exponentially. One day his drug supplier told him he could earn easy money. All he had to do was to hang out at the ATM Counters at the Banks, when he saw someone put his card in, he would drop some money. When the victim bent down to pick the notes, he would replace the victim’s ATM card with another.

Each day there are numerous stories of scams, people being cheated of money, jewelry, criminal breaches of trust, money laundering, land titles illegally transferred etc. The NST on 4/3/10 reported that commercial crime cases rose from $845 mill in 2008 to $1.3 billion in 2009. The bulk of the losses were from cheating and criminal breach of trust amounting to $1.2 billion , while the balance came from cybercrime, misuse of property, forgery, counterfeit of money. “The reasons why people were cheated were due to greed and a lack of common sense” .

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As we read daily the newspapers and listen to the media, we read of the overwhelmingly negative news and publicity about the state governments under the PKR in Selangor, Penang, Kelantan from within PKR and outside. whether they are real or imagined or partly true, a disjointed , unstable state government affects us (though we take many things for granted), especially the poor, small traders, shop owners, business owners, factory workers, foreign workers, refugees, single mothers, those struggling to make ends meet(esp with rising prices and low wages). We need these state governments to be committed to what they promised and set out to do (inspite of opposition) especially as our nation is affected by ’syndicates’ who will try anything to steal, cheat innocent people of their money, property in scams, and many other problems.

Let us continue to heed 1 Tim 2 : 1  and pray for everyone, for kings and those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Saviour. Let us covenant to pray the following items for at least 10 minutes during our lunchtime this friday, sat, sun and mon. Prayer walk around the place where you have lunch or office .

Pray for ;

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