a lovesingapore concert prayer celebrating God s love for our nation! 8 th AUGUST Singapore Indoor Stadium 7.30 pm Free Admission

Transcription

1 t h e e l e v e n t h h o u r

2 a lovesingapore concert prayer celebrating God s love for our nation! 8 th AUGUST Singapore Indoor Stadium 7.30 pm Free Admission

3 The Eleventh Hour Twenty-Eleven is a year of reckoning. That s not foresight. It s hindsight. The stunning events of the past six months confirm it: The Arab uprising. The killing of al-qaeda s top leaders. The arrest of the two men suspected of the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia. The indictment of the IMF chief for sexual assault. The exposure of a New York congressman who tweeted lewd pictures of himself. Just to name a few. God is settling accounts suddenly and severely. Twenty-Eleven has also seen an alarming increase in natural disasters: the earthquake, tsunami, and meltdown in Japan, monster tornados and floods in the USA, wildfires and volcanoes in Europe and the Americas, the worse droughts to hit Africa, Europe, and China in decades, the E.coli outbreak in Germany. How many more disasters must strike before we see the last grains of sand sifting through the hour glass? Crisis demands response. We are living through an Eleventh-Hour moment in history. The world as we know it is coming to an end. God is tipping scales, turning tables, testing hearts. God is writing on your wall. Are you reading the signs? This is no time to be half-hearted or fainthearted. Our redemption (or retribution) draws near. Astonishingly, this is the theme of the majority of Jesus parables. Parables are pray-ables. They are about as close as you can get to the mind of Christ. The stories He told address our times as they did His. They not only comfort and console, they also confront and convict. Rightly read, they read us. They expose our secrets and bring us to our knees. They warn us to wise up to the Midnight Hour. The way to be ready then is to get ready now. All is at stake. Fast and pray. Watch and wait. Sleepers, Awake!

4 HOW TO FAST HOW TO ENJOY FASTING HOW TO INVOLVE OTHERS CREDIT You are free to fast however the Spirit leads you. Here are some options: Total Fast Abstain from solid foods and beverages for 24 hours. Take only water. Partial Fast Abstain from solid foods for an extended part of the day. Take only water. You may fast from sunrise to sundown or from breakfast to afternoon tea. 1-Meal Fast Sacrifice one full meal a day. Beverage Fast Abstain from solid foods for 24 hours. Take only water and liquid foods such as milk, milo or other health beverages. Daniel Fast Abstain from meats and other favourite delicacies. Take only small portions of fresh vegetables, fruit and juices. You may practise this as a 40-day routine. Or as Daniel 1:12 suggests, make this a 10-day fast. Esther Fast Abstain from solid foods for 24 hours for 3 days. [ESTHER 4:16] Set aside time each day to seek God in prayer and fasting. It may be half an hour or one hour or more. Adopt an attitude of prayer as you go about your daily duties at home, at work or at school. Apply what you learnt in tangible actions. Scale down your normal activities. Avoid rigorous exercise such as rock-climbing, cycling or jogging. Be alert! Besides fasting from food, fast from things that distract, such as television, internet, computer games; or things that destroy such as coarse jesting or careless words. Break your fast gradually and wisely. For health reasons, you should consume small portions as you break fast, avoiding chilli or acidic foods as much as possible. HOW TO USE THIS PRAYER GUIDE Daily pray through the 40-Day prayer guide. For each entry, first read aloud and meditate on the Scripture referenced. Pray as the Spirit leads. Stop, listen and wait for impressions from the Spirit. Record them in your personal journal. And then, whatever He says to you, just do it. Fasting together as a group is easier than doing it alone. Family Agree to fast and pray as a family. Decide on the type of fast your family members are comfortable with. Use this 40-Day prayer guide for your family devotion. Neighbours Find out who are the Christians in your block. Get together as often as possible for prayer. Cell Group Obtain more copies of this 40-Day prayer guide for your cell members. As a group, commit yourselves to a specific type of fast. Throughout this 40-Day period, yearn for personal transformation and national transformation. Ask God to use your cell group to be His mouthpiece and His outstretched hands here in Singapore and the nations. Friends In this city of mobile phones, prayer is really just a beep away. Keep a daily prayer appointment with a friend by phone. Send SMS reminders. At the agreed time, connect to pray! Office Inspire colleagues to fast with you. Utilise tea breaks or lunch breaks at the office to pray together. Follow the 40- Day prayer guide. Rally others in your same office block to pray together. City@Prayer Every weekday. 1-2 pm. City Mission Church, The Arcade Office Building 13th Floor Opposite Collyer Quay. Nearest MRT Station: Raffles Place. Join with Christians from all walks of life, representing diverse church families, to pray for Singapore and the nations. SCRIPTURE quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version, Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, Other quotations are from: The Holy Bible: New International Version, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996; Holy Bible: New Living Translation, Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004; Eugene H. Peterson, The Message. Colorado Springs, Colorado: NavPress, Used with permission. All rights reserved. Short quotations are italicized and often paraphrased. RESOURCES CONSULTED AND RECOMMENDED: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Fortress Press, 2003 (1937). C.H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, New York: Charles Scribner s Sons, Arland J. Hultgren, The Parables of Jesus, Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Joachim Jeremias, Rediscovering the Parables, New York: Charles Scribner s Sons, Peter Rhea Jones, Studying the Parables of Jesus, Macon, Georgia: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Inc Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God, London: Hodder & Stoughton, Helmut Thielicke, The Waiting Father, New York: Harper & Brothers, Copyright and Distribution Enquiries: Please send an to LoveSingapore at fortyday.2011@gmail.com or visioncity.singapore@gmail.com

5 July 1 to August 9 Monday to Friday 1 pm - 2 pm The Arcade Office Building 13th Floor Nearest MRT Raffles Place CONTACT fortyday.2011@gmail.com