Dear Church,

Greetings in the blessed name of Jesus!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Chinese New Year! WOW! What a wonderful season it is… I still remember those days when I was still a little kid, Chinese New year is like the time of the year where there were lots of food, entertainment, hang-outs, lion dance, home visitations and of course the most important one of all ANG POWS! Well, it is still very much the same these days except for the fact that now I have to give ANG POWS instead of receiving them. But it is all good. The Bible tells us that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

As believers I want us to learn to give with a generous heart. It is a good thing that all of us can do. Apart from giving money to those whom we love, we should also learn to give of our time and our energy. Most of us will want to rest when we get home. Our ideal holiday is one that is filled with food and sleep! However, this is also the only time we are home. So, use this time to help out your parents and families with all the home decorations and shopping. Company your mom and dad to the market. Show them that you care and that the things that matter to them matter to you too. On top of that, it is also through actions like these that we show our honor to our parents.

Friends, our mom and dad have done a lot for us. Sometimes the sacrificed that they have made is way beyond our imaginations. It costs them too to raise us up. As your pastor, I want you to learn to be thankful and grateful to them. I want you to go all out this Chinese New Year to show them that you love them and that you care very much for them.

This CNY is not going to be the same if we all go home with a totally changed and transformed attitude.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Dear Church,

Greetings from freezing cold Seoul, Korea!

How are you doing? I pray that this edition of Word Weekly finds you blessed and well. A few of us have been here since Monday and the trip so far has been life-changing. Though the weather has been extremely cold, our hearts are warmed by the presence of God and the fervency of the Korean Christians.

Every day we have to wake up at 330am to get ready to attend the 430am prayer meeting. The first day was rather tough to get up. However, it got easier and better the next day. I find myself being able to wake up earlier and actually look forward to the prayer meeting. Honestly, the first day was so tiring. I just couldn’t plug into it fully. On the second day, I just prayed and prayed and praise God that I finally plowed through. After that, it was a breeze. I just so enjoy the fact that so many of us can wake up as such an early hour to seek the LORD. And every one was just so serious and so fervent. By the way, there are 24,000 people gathered to pray every day at different locations. They usually do this for 21 days in January so that all of them can align themselves right with God.

Church, I want you to know that I am very impacted by them this time round. Seoul is a city larger and busier than ours yet the believers here make time to pray. They could have given a million reasons why they could not make it. But they didn’t. They adjust their lifestyle, reschedule their meetings and humble themselves before God and pray. Friends, I want to encourage you to do the same. This year, we will have once a month weekly morning-prayer meeting. And when we do that, I want the whole church to participate. I want you readjust your schedule, go to bed early and wake up early to seek the LORD. Don’t find excuses. Don’t try to reason. Just make God your priority. Make prayer the #1 exercise in your life.

Revival begins and continues if we will pray. ‘IF’ is a big word… if you will pray…

Pray, City Harvest!

KEV

Dear Church,

Greetings in the blessed name of Jesus!

Once again, I would like to wish everyone in our church a happy and blessed new year! 2009 has just begun and I am sure all of us are excitedly looking forward to a great year that the LORD has in stored for us.

It is the first week of the year. What shall we do? Well, I know you have heard it many times but it is still important. In this first week, I want you to set your visions and priorities right. I want you to set yourselves goals and have plans on how to achieve them. This is very important as it sets the tone and pace of our lives. It also helps to define our year. However, please do not try to have too many goals. Please do not try to achieve too many things. Why? It is because we can easily get distracted and end up with not meeting any of them. So, my advice for you this year is FOCUS. Learn to focus on things that are major in your life. Do the more important things. Focus on building your spiritual life, family, career (studies), finances and ministry. And in each of them clearly define what you want to achieve. For example, in the area of your spiritual life, set yourself a goal whereby you aim to pray at least 15 minutes a day. Subsequently, have a chart that you can track yourself. By doing that, you can quantify your progress! Or in the area of your finances – set a savings target. Try to aim something like RM10,000 or RM100,000 by the end of the year. From there, have a spreadsheet that you can track your savings. You and I will not be able to meet our target if by the 10th month of the year we hardly have anything in our bank account. Start now, though the amount may be small. If you have debts, make it a priority to clear it as soon as possible. Stop spending and start saving. Forget about investment in this season of your life. Forget about starting a business. Sort out yourself first before moving on to the next phase. If our foundation is not strong, what can we build? Make sure we first keep our house in order. And it is only once we have done that we can build a community….

2009 is going to be your best year yet!

Run with faith