Sabbath Prayers

                                         

“He restores my soul.” — 

Psalm 23:3

Gracious God,

As this Sabbath begins, we come before You with hearts and bodies that long to be restored.
We bring the pieces of our week — the weary parts, the wounded parts, the forgotten parts — and we place them gently in Your hands.
Restore us, O Lord. Restore the joy that has faded, the strength that has been stretched thin, the hope that feels distant. Let Your Sabbath rest become a healing river, washing over every place in us that needs renewal.

We thank you Lord for restoring Samira, Jen and Joan. We pray for them as they continue with their therapy. Please pray for Sharon. Please pray that the lump on her leg is not her cancer spreading. Pray for her cancer to be healed. Pray for good health.
We pray for the healing of Pastor Jordan from pneumonia and high blood pressure. Also for Pastor Vikram and Pastor Ben in India for healing and recovery. We pray for the healing and restoration of Amber.

Lord , Where relationships are strained, bring reconciliation. Where dreams have dimmed, breathe life again. Where our spirits feel burdened, lift the weight we cannot carry alone. 
On this holy day, remind us that nothing is beyond Your mending. You restore what is broken, You revive what is tired, You rebuild what has been torn down.
May Your peace settle over us like a gentle covering. May Your presence steady our hearts. May Your love make us whole again.
Restore our minds with clarity, our bodies with rest, our souls with Your unfailing grace.
As we enter this Sabbath,
renew us so that we may rise again — rooted in Your peace, strengthened by Your Spirit, and ready to walk in the fullness of Your purpose.

Amen.

Please join us every week in our Sabbath Prayer for the week. We request your support in adopting prayer points for people mentioned, in your own prayers this week and become vessels of His healing. 

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When Hope Finds a Voice: Jen Tan

John 7:13

“But no one spoke openly about Him for fear of the Jewish leaders.”

Fear has a way of silencing even the sincerest believer. In John 7:13, the crowds' believed Jesus was extraordinary—yet they kept quiet. They admired Him privately but hid their faith publicly. Their silence wasn’t due to lack of conviction, but fear of rejection.

Jen’s testimony mirrors this tension so honestly. Today she shares her experience of John 7:13

"This verse calls me to be courageous. It reminds me to speak up for Jesus and for all that He has done for me—because this is what God intends for us to do.

There was a period in my life when I believed that God is real, yet out of a desire to conform and be accepted by non-believers, I told people that I was a free thinker. In doing so, I distanced myself from God and, in a way, disowned Him.

Even today, I must constantly remind myself not to feel shy about speaking up for Jesus, especially to those who do not believe. I am learning that my faith is not something to hide, but something to live out with courage.

There was a time when I thought I might die. After being diagnosed with cancer and its subsequent treatments, I became very frail, and in my desperation I bargained with God—asking Him for a second chance at life and promising to do whatever He wanted me to do. Yet in my heart, I worried whether I could fulfil those promises because of my limited knowledge of God and my weakness in expressing my thoughts openly.

But God reassured me that He would provide the resources needed to fulfil what He has called me to do".

God reminded Jen that courage doesn’t come from personality, confidence, or eloquence—it comes from Him.

Today Jen is A Living Testimony!

Jen continues to learn what it means to speak openly about Jesus. Not perfectly. Not fearlessly every moment. But faithfully.

Her story reminds us that:

Faith is not meant to be hidden.

Courage grows when we step out, even trembling.

God provides every resource we need to fulfil what He calls us to do.

Our testimony—especially the imperfect parts—can awaken faith in others.

________________________________________________

We request our readers to faithfully pray for Jen as she goes through her treatment and lives life by the day. 

Why Did Christ Have to Die

Without the shedding of blood is no remission. — Hebrews 9:22

As we draw near to the Lenten season, a familiar question rises again—one so foundational that it deserves fresh reflection every year: 

Why did Christ have to die?

Most of us instinctively answer, “For our sins.” And that is true. But if God is all-powerful, couldn’t forgiveness have come another way? Couldn’t He have simply declared us pardoned?

Scripture gives us a sobering and beautiful answer:

The Unalterable Truth of God’s Way

From the earliest pages of the Old Testament, God established a pattern: sin cannot be removed without the shedding of blood.

This wasn’t a symbolic idea—it was a divine decree.

Think back to Egypt, when a spotless lamb was slain and its blood brushed on the doorposts. That blood didn’t just mark a home; it marked a covenant. God Himself set the terms, and He does not break His own word.

If forgiveness requires atonement, then humanity stands hopeless—unless Someone steps in.

If God’s law demands blood, then only one question matters:

Whose blood will speak for me?

No moral life, no generosity, no patriotism, no admirable personality can bend the rule.

We are all equal at the foot of the cross—equally needy, equally unable to save ourselves.

There is only one blood that carries the power to atone:

the blood of Jesus, whom God set forth as the perfect sacrifice.

So we must ask ourselves honestly:

Am I trusting in Him alone? Has His atonement been applied to my heart?

Those who rely on rituals, good works, or religious performance often struggle to understand the joy believers have when they say, “My sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake.”

Their ceremonies give them little comfort because they are trying to find remission without blood, peace without Christ, salvation without surrender.

But There is only one place to run.

Fly to Jesus. 

As Lent approaches, may this truth settle deeply within us:

Christ did not die because God lacked power.

Christ died because God keeps His word—and because His love would not leave us without a way home.

Life Happens

                                           

John Lennon once wrote - 

"Life is what happens to you while your busy making other plans".

As a follower of Christ - life can be defined as God's will, persecution through spiritual or physical attacks, sickness, enmity, fraud, failure etc.  Look at Job. He was in the best of places. God was happy with him, and he was happy in God. God loved Him and he loved God. And that was the very reason he came under a severe spiritual attack and "life happened".

In such times what does one do? 

Love and worship God with as much, if not double the intensity. Seek shelter in His shadow. Only He has the solution to defending you as well as healing the situation.

Many turn away in panic and seek healing in alcohol or drugs or druids or astrologers. We make them our God's hoping they can help us. They cannot.

Today, if life has happened to you, go to Him who made life.

Standard Operating Procedure of Church: Pastor Rajiv

 

Is Church going such a habit that we become desensitized to worship? Today Pastor Rajiv talks about the core of worshipping God. 

Let My Heart Be Broken: Pastor Noom

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” The Great Commission. 

"In 1947, a young American minister named Bob Pierce traveled to China. What he encountered there shattered him. Orphaned children wandering streets bombed into rubble. Families torn apart by war and famine. The overwhelming suffering of a nation in chaos. But one moment changed everything.

A Chinese schoolteacher brought a little girl to him—a child she could no longer feed. With tears streaming down her face, she placed the girl in Bob’s arms. That night, overcome with grief and conviction, Bob Pierce wrote in his Bible words that would become the foundation of World Vision, one of the world’s largest humanitarian organizations:

“Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God"

This was not sentimentality. This was not emotion for emotion’s sake. This was a man aligning his spirit with the very heart of the Almighty—a God who sees the suffering, who hears the cries of the oppressed, who acts on behalf of the helpless.

The question thundering from heaven today is this: Has your heart been broken lately?

Or have you become so comfortable, so insulated, so self-absorbed that the suffering of millions passes by your eyes like background noise on a television screen you’ve learned to ignore?"

The Great Commission given to every Christian is His or her mission.

Bob Pierce understood something that much of the modern church has forgotten: A Mission doesn’t start with a program. It starts with a broken heart.

When God looks upon this world, what does He see?

- He sees 8 million children who die every year from preventable diseases.

- He sees hundreds of millions living in crushing poverty, without clean water, without basic medical care.

- He sees the lonely elderly forgotten in nursing homes, yearning for a kind word.

- He sees teenagers contemplating suicide because they feel worthless and alone.

- He sees families torn apart by addiction, abuse, and abandonment.

- He sees the unreached peoples who have never once heard the name of Jesus.

And His heart breaks

When was the last time your heart was broken?

(Rev Noom Pastors the Christ Church, Bangkok. This is an excerpt from his power message. We will share more excerpts from this powerful message on Thursday. Contributed by a reader)

Monday Reset: Ghosts of the Past

 

Read: Genesis 33

Sometimes, like Jacob we fear the ghosts of our past. When faced with confrontation, like Jacob, we try to plot and plan or try to buy our way out.

What we don't realize is, the most faithful solution to such situations is giving or receiving forgiveness.

None of what Jacob feared actually happened: quite the reverse in fact. He found unasked forgiveness. Just as we have received from Jesus.

This week think about anyone you have been rude to, or have accused because of gossip, or yelled or been yelled at and abused at without fault or so many situations that maybe disturbing you. Try forgiving those who did you wrong or ask for forgiveness of those you have wronged. To forgive, don't wait to be asked. Just do it and move on. Forgiveness begets forgiveness.

Have a happy week.