Petitioning for Greatness

Ever signed a petition? What is a petition anyway?
A petition is a request to change something.
One thing i realised is that God loves petitions.
The more the better. He even has a nickname for these petitions.



They're called prayers. And the difference is, He listens.
I had the opportunity to participate in the Global Day of Prayer on the 31st of May 2009. The Global Day of Prayer has seen millions of Christians unite in a day of repentance and united prayer. Started on July 2000 by Graham Power who had a vision to see Capetown come together and pray to the Lord in unison. Today hundreds of millions of people from 220 countries pray this prayer in unison. 10 days of constant prayer lead up to the Global Day of Prayer on Pentecost Sunday. On this day, Christians in almost every country assemble and pray. Some gather in small groups. Others gather in large stadiums of public venues.

I had the opportunity to participate in The Zion Praise Harvest Church's assembly of Christians. There were other churches and Christian groups that participated in this assembly as well. I must say i was pretty excited, imagine participating in something so big, on a global scale. I think God was excited as well. The focus of the prayers was to pray for our world, in one voice.

"If My people, who are called by My name,
will humble themselves and pray
and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways,
then will I hear from heaven and
will forgive their sin and will heal the world."
2 Chronicles 7:14

And so we prayed for the world. We prayed for our brothers and sisters
across the world. We prayed for the oppressed, the poor, the sick.
We prayed for the rich, healthy and well off.
Everyone was prayed for.

2 prayers that broke my heart yet gave me hope:

Father of mercy and grace,
We acknowledge that we have sinned
and that our world is gripped by the power of sin.
Our hearts are grieved by injustice, hatred and violence.
We are shamed by oppression, racism and bloodshed in our land.
We mourn the loss of life in murder, war and terrorism.
Our homes are broken and our churches are divided
by rebellion and pride.
Our lives are polluted by selfishness, greed, idolatry and sexual sin.
We have grieved Your heart and brought shame to Your name.
Have mercy on us as we repent with all our hearts.

God of mercy,forgive our sins.
Pour out Your Grace and heal our land.


Spirit of the living God,
Apart from you we can do nothing.
Transform Your church into the image of Jesus Christ.
Release Your power to bring healing to the sick,
freedom to the oppressed and comfort to those who mourn.
Pour Your love into our hearts and fill us with compassion
to answer the call of the homeless and the hungry
and to enfold orphans,widows and the elderly in Your care.
Give us the wisdom and insight for the complex problems we face today.
Help us to use the resources of the earth for the well being of all.

Holy Spirit, we need Your comfort and guidance.
Transform our hearts.

And what will you be petitioning for today?

Your problem, ain't my problem

Your problem, ain't my problem. Seems like a harsh thing to say.
But then again aren't we practising in our lives almost everyday?
And we say, "Hey, i totally understand what you're going through, been there, done that."
But in truth, we will never totally understand. A persons problem is unique
as seen through their mind, their eyes, their hearts.
Would you lose sleep the same way the person that encounters the problems feels his insommnia? Would the fracture in their hearts crack the same way as yours?
Its true, you might have encountered the same core problem before,
but the measure of pain, the effects, the weight of loss differs from one person to the next.
So, what does it mean to you? When you experience loss, pain and hardship
In their cases,


they aren't just losing houses, they're losing places where they grew up, places where they raise children, a place where you can feel safe.





It's more then a loss of property, or the loss of material goods.
All that you once knew, swept away in the space of days
How do you measure a lost of a brother, a mother, a spouse, any family members,
a dear friend?



For someone once said to me, Love cannot be measured. And it would be impossible to put yourself completely into someone elses shoes.
But think about it. If such disasters were to happen to you,
if such pain, such loss.
What is it to you, that you would be losing?
What would the lost of a house mean to you? The lost of a loved one?
What does it mean to you?



Wouldn't some help be nice? A prayer even?
Who cares right? Ain't my problem anyway

feeling healthy?

Not too long ago i saw on a friend's messenger status that it was Nurses' Day. Hmmm...never knew when it was so i went of to google it. Sure enough 'International Nurses Day' - 12 May.Betcha didnt know that. And so we find that, Nurses are one of them unsung heroes. So to all you nurses out there, Happy Nurses Day!

This post, i hope, will be eye openers to you health care professionals and personnels out there. Especially YOU, you know who you are, this a penny for your thoughts.
Well, in poverty stricken countries today, we find that you guys are in rather popular demand.
These health care people would include Doctors, Nurses, Surgeons, Anaesthetists, Midwives ,Medical Scientists ,Psychologists, Pharmacist, Psychologists and even Dentists.
Wait a minute? Dentists?? These guy don't care too much for braces or fillings right??
WELL, imagine you find that you have a WISDOM tooth growing, nicely tucked at the back of your mouth, and oh yeah it hurts. You brave it out a day or two then submit to a very expensive dental appointment
"Sure thing, Dr. Tan will see you next monday. See you then!"
NEXT MONDAY?? @#$%**#@~~!!! i'll be dead by then!
AND you survive anyway till monday, Dr. Tan gives u some happy pills, extracts that pest of a tooth and u hurt the next few days. And life goes on.
Now put yourself into the shoes of Alejandro. Alejandro lives in the tiny village of El Castillo in Nicaragua. There are no cars and very minimal infrastructure. And you have that same wisdom tooth, tucked right at the back of your mouth, eating away at your gum. Easy, we'll just go to the nearest dentist at Managua, maybe 500km away.
oh wait, we dont have cars.


So, how does Alejandro get rid of that nasty little tooth?


We can relate this with so many different kind of situations. What if Alejandro's son had a really bad fever? What if Alejandro's wife needed to give birth? What if??
Thats where these people come into the picture.


Medicin San Frontiers - Doctors Without Borders
http://www.msf.org.au/join-our-team/who-we-need.html


http://www.projects-abroad.com.au/projects/


http://www.serveyourworld.com/articles/220/1/Medical-Volunteering-Abroad


http://www.smilepower.org/


http://www.ada.org/ada/international/volunteer/opportunities.asp

Those are just some of the volunteer projects that is around. Just countless of them out there. i think that we can deduce that there will be an evergrowing demand for volunteers in this field of work. With the poverty problem just literally growing and exploding in our faces, volunteer work is going to be around for awhile. this is one career that wont go shot.



Podcast frontline reports from MSF. Have a listen~

MSF Frontline Reports

Not so sure about u guys but field work,i tink is the most exciting thing i have ever seen! So would u rather charge some bloke an arm and a leg for a minor treatment OR save a kids arm and leg for free? We do find that people do lose arms and legs are a result of silly little infections because they didnt get proper but simple medical care.
Thats totally up to you. But yeah. think about it. if you were going to travel the world, what better way??





This post goes out to all you health care people. Every single one, whether you are out working in the field, or here in the city. City people do need doctors as well. You have one of the most honorable jobs/careers. It is after all, a reflection of what our Great Healer does so well.

Kudos to you guys, your healing hands are the real Midas' Touch.

happy mothers day

Remember the parable of King Solomon and the 2 mothers.
They were fighting over a boy, a son.
It seemed as though there was no proof or witnesses to prove maternal rights.
So the wise king said
"Bring me my sword! We cannot prove who the mother of this child is.
i have no choice but to cut him in half and give each of these women
half a child each."

The real mother cried,
"My lord! Please do not kill the child! She can have him!"
The other said,
"Neither you nor i shall have this child! It is better that we cut him in two!"

And the King said, "Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him, for she is his mother."


Most mothers will never have to go through a horrible test like this.
However, we can never doubt the sacrifices that our mothers make in our lives.
That 9 months of carrying is already love enough.

Spare a thought to, to mothers who love,
but cannot provide.
Imagine how they may feel,
having to bring their child into the poorest of conditions
unable to provide, unable to care as they possibly can
as a result of being trapped
in a world of poverty, misfortune and hardship
yes they are mothers too.
and they have a heart and they love their children as well.







And we find, that as we talk to most mothers.
That no matter how big the sacrifice,
no matter how difficult a baby you were,
no matter how much u disappointed her,
no matter how you turned out,
no matter how much you hurt her,

she wouldn't have it any other way.
she would give up her life for you
without a moments hesitation.

Happy Mother's Day.
This one goes out to all mothers out there.
including the one that carried our King.