NEWS

Let Praying Hands be Uplifted at CPC

“As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.” Exodus 17:11

In today’s sermon passage (Exodus 17), we read about Israel’s battle with the Amalekites and the very significant observation that Israel’s victory or defeat was not determined by the relative strength of the two opposing sides, or by the superiority of their respective strategies, but by whether or not Moses had his hands raised or not, on the mountain overseeing the battle.

Raising of hands was apparently associated with prayer and worship, as indicated by many biblical references, including:

"Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you" (Psalm 88:9b).

"O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!" (Psalm 141:1-2).

Moses had his staff with him when he prayed, the staff that God gave him and by which he performed the various miracles to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. It was symbolic and certainly a reminder of God's power on which he relied totally.

God’s power accessed through prayer being the determining factor for victory and success is the ordained truth for all of God’s work. Hence, it should be the first resort when we serve our Lord. Unfortunately, in reality, it is frequently our last.

CPC is greatly in need of a revival in our prayer life. We utilise a lot of God-given resources and gifts in a large variety of ministries. Many brothers & sisters work tirelessly and diligently in them week after week. However, do they bear much fruit? Are they achieving their objectives of growing our members spiritually? Unless we are committed to praying for these ministries, the people who serve in them and the people being served, we cannot expect abundant fruit and for the Father to be glorified. What a waste of God-given resources, effort and opportunities that would be!

May I encourage us all to take this to heart? It would be great if you would consider joining the monthly Combined Prayer Meeting of the church, held online every first Wednesday of the month (meeting link published in the bulletin each time). The advantages of that include praying as one united church for common objectives; getting to know about and understand the ministries and needs of other congregations, and encouraging others by your participation.  As an alternative or in addition to that, you may pray regularly in your small groups. Whichever the case, please try to broaden the scope of prayer to include the ministries beyond those you participate in and for the needs of others beyond your family and friends. We need mutual prayer support within our spiritual family.

And pray earnestly for the revival of prayer life in CPC. I hope and trust that when we are willing to experience God together through our earnest prayer (uplift our hands), we will see the wonders and power of God manifesting in us, the church and the world. May CPC truly become a temple of prayer and be dedicated to the Lord!

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