the football game tonight vs the Real Game going on (1 Pic + 1 Experience with the Lord today), 30-day challenge

I think I got myself into trouble with this "one picture per day", since sometimes I am not really going out in London - unless you count going to home meetings, prayer meetings, young people meetings, and the Table Meeting as "going out"... Today I was thinking - well, apart from work, gym, and the prayer meeting, where can I take a picture? And then it dawned on me, as I was walking to the saints' house tonight - it is such a privilege to be ONE with the Lord in His prayer today! One with the saints in praying for the Lord's interest! But then I got to come home after the prayer meeting and this is what I saw this...

The Football Game Tonight VS The Real Game Going On - 1 Pic + 1 Experience with the Lord today

This is how Holloway Road looks like on most Tuesday nights at 9.30-10.30pm, and this picture was taken close to Highbury and Islington tube station. Almost every Tuesday night there's a football game at the Emirates - Arsenal plays some team, and tonight there was Arsenal Vs. Shrewsbury in the Carling Cup. Don't ask me what that means, but it looks like Arsenal won 3-1(thank you, BBC Sport News). As I am intending to make my way up the Holloway Road, thousands of people are streaming down from the game, many reaching home close to midnight... The buses rarely work during this time, and both Holloway Road and Highbury & Islington stations have limited access... - too many people!

There have been many times I made my way up the Holloway Road against the crowd, being literally bumped and kicked shamelessly by the people streaming down from the football stadium... Usually the Brits say, "Sorry", or they apologize somehow - but not after the game, and not these people! Hundreds of British people, Polish people, Romanian People, Arabs, Indians, French, etc walking down the street from the game... You hear all kinds of languages being spoken when they pass you by. All these come from the tonight's football game - which sometimes coincides with the time for the prayer meeting, Tuesday night at 8pm.

So what about this football game? In the football game thousands of people get together to watch some select ones play ball on a wide football pitch, and usually one of the team loses and the other wins. But no matter whether one wins or loses, the score counts towards the final score - after many other games... It's a whole system, with points, penalties, goals, etc - it will give you a headache to try to understand... And then there's the many transfers of players, the coach, the boss, the TV commercials, the club, the fans, the magazine, the scarf, etc. Everything is to get people fully involved and occupied with this game, out of which they don't gain anything - but they spend lots of money!

What about the REAL GAME? As we were praying tonight, though less than 20 of us, I had the clear feeling that we touched the Lord's heart and we were praying one with Him. Can you believe that? We as human beings can move God's hand to accomplish His heart's desire by us praying in oneness with Him! We don't just pray for our needs, our problems, our families, our new ones, our jobs, etc - we pray for God's will to be done! We pray for God's economy to be accomplish! We pray that God's kingdom would come and His will be done on earth as it is being done in the heavens(Matt. 6:10)!

When we pray in this way, God has a group of people on earth that are one with Him in the heavens - this is all He needs so that He would go on in His move and accomplish what's on His heart! I believe that in the prayer meeting we're praying THE REAL GAME, the game that is played in the universe between God and Satan, where we already know the end score! In the end, Satan loses and has NOTHING, while God wins and gains the glory in everything. And we are here to "be God's team", be on God's side - not just "God's fans" wearing "the scarf with God's club initials", but to be One With God!

The "ball" we play with - and we surely do play ball in the prayer meeting - is our prayer one with His prayer! It's actually a real thing and also a very good experience to enter into Christ's prayer in the heavens and pray what's on His heart! Christ as the Great High Priest is interceding right now, and we can be those who hear His prayer, utter His prayers, and offer Christ's prayers to God as the Body of Christ. When this happens, when God gains a response and a cooperation from man in the principle of incarnation, He wins! He can tell Satan,

Look: these men whom you have usurped and damaged now have not only been redeemed and filled with the divine life but they also cooperate with Christ to pray God's will on earth! Go to the lake of fire, Satan! Your sentence has been uttered - and your full judgement is being hastened! 

:) I want to choose to play The Real Game - and be on God's side! This doesn't mean I will never watch a football game (remember, some things like these can shepherd others or can "waste your time") - but when the time is for the REAL GAME to be played, when "the game is on", I want to join the winning team and learn to be One With The Lord in the Body so that He may accomplish His economy! :)

Praying My Problems Away - Glorious Freedom! - One Meaningful Thing I Did Today (30-day challenge)

What a busy day today! The whole day at work was filled with emails, quotes, orders, calls, payments, paperwork, online stuff, twitter, facebook, people, customer care, prices, updates, issues, quickly do that, help me with this, pick up that phone, send this email, check up on this payment, delete this or that, disable that product, etc... And it was good! I mean, I like it being busy! It always keep the blood pumping, you don't have time to get bored, you even find fun things to do or talk about! It may sound crazy, but among the busy-ness you may have some nice conversations, have a laugh, do some helping of one another, etc. Of course, you guessed it right, this can happen mainly in a small-size company, where everyone needs to know how to do everything! :)

But after work and during work, whenever you're alone or when you're exposed, there's this particular PROBLEM which is obvious to everyone else around you but not to you! I'm not talking about necessarily a BIG problem, a HUGE issue, or a HUMONGOUS thing - there's something particular about you, a need or a problem, an issue, that just bothers you or others! You try to think about it from this angle or that angle, try to solve it, ask for advice and people are kind and help you out of the goodness of their heart, and... still, the problem remains. Believe me - we will ALWAYS have problems and be problems: human beings never solve problems entirely; rather, when one problem is "seemingly solved", other 10 come up right away! This brings me to this,

One Meaningful Thing I Did Today - Praying My Problems Away: Glorious Freedom!

This post is not about "self-help" or "how to solve all the problems"; it's not about solutions in relationships or how to make a lot of money ;) - no, it's just my experience today with this particular problem that was bothering me. You can try your best to guess it - it doesn't matter what the problem / the need was; what matters is what happened (at least today). You know, you can even ask older ones with more maturity and experience, even some with professional qualifications, to help you with your problem. And it may get solved temporarily - but more than other 10 problems will come up! You meet one need and you're happy - but 10 more needs come up!

Today I discovered - or I should say, re-discovered - the key to freedom from problems: PRAYER! Yes, we need to pray to the Lord - especially pray over His word, who has the power to "discern between spirit and the soul"(Heb. 4:12) - and especially pray with a companion! We need companions, we need saints that we run to when we are happy or not so happy - just to open up, fellowship, and especially to pray! The best companion you can have is one who leads you to pray with him! Why do we try to do so much and really accomplish so little, when we can accomplish much more through our prayer than through our working!?! [adaptation from Watchman Nee] The best way to deal with the problems or to try to figure out how to meet the need is to pray.

I had this privilege both at lunch time(remember? Redeeming the lunch break time...) and after the prayer meeting (remember? The most meaningful thing on a Tuesday Night is the prayer meeting!) to pray with a companion and get mingled with the Triune God! Don't pray "for the problem" - focus mainly on your spirit which is mingled with the divine Spirit! Pray over the Word of God! Pray for God's economy to be accomplished! Pray for God's purpose to be fulfilled! Pray for the building up of His Body! Even pray for other saints, other people, the young ones, the church life, the Lord's work, the Lord's recovery! When you pray for God's interest, God's purpose - just like Daniel prayed 3 times a day towards God's city & God's house - God will meet His need and He will also take care of your need!

When you pray with a companion and open up, there's a RELEASE within! The problems will never go away and the need will always be there - but the burden of it, the weight of it, can crush you down and bring you to desperation and disappointment! The best way to deal with it is to ENJOY THE LORD with your companion, praying over the Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit(Eph. 6:17)! This Word of God will kill the enemy in the air and the enemy in you, and you will be released from Satan's usurpation! WHAT A RELEASE the Savior gave me - Christ indeed has set me free! What a freedom, to "pray your problems away" with a companion!

Remember: before you get the answer, you get the Answer; before you get the things you asked for - you get the One! Before you get the object - you get the Person! Before you get the answer, you get the Lord! Problems are here to help you turn to the Lord and enjoy Him - He is the solution, He is the One who can release you, and He can solve your problems by giving you more of Him!(enjoy this wonderful song online) .... I just love Him so much more right now! Lord, I cast all my anxieties on You - I give them, I commit them, I throw them once for all! Lord, I throw my whole life with all its cares on You - because it matters to You concerning me(1 Pet. 5:7)!!!

Get some rest + the Prayer Meeting - One Meaningful Thing I Did Today (30-day challenge)

After that football yesterday with the brothers, my whole body is aching... and it's the same with several of the brothers, I asked them on facebook. For some reason, though we played football "with our legs", even our back (in the case of the older ones) and our arms are hurting... Football exercises or stretches some muscles in the body that one does even not know he has! But exercise is good... even though I was almost limping when I was walking the whole day today...

On Tuesday evening right after work I usually have approx. 1.5hrs of gym - and it's so good to exercise before you go to the prayer meeting! You get your whole body in gear, and while you are at the gym, you can also get your spirit into gear! The Bible says that "bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness profits for all things"(1 Tim. 4:8) - so even while you exercise the physical muscles, why not exercise the "spiritual muscle", the spirit, to either call on the name of the Lord, pray, say Amen to the Lord, listen to some spiritual messages or some hymns, or converse with the Lord! ... but today since I was so tired, I...

One Meaningful Thing I Did Today -
Get Some Rest + The Prayer Meeting!

I got some rest right after work! You know, it's really good to get some rest! The human body needs rest, and in this rest there's also the supply to go on! You can't just "push it" and "press on" until there's no more breath in you... even in the Lord's work, in serving the Lord in our spirit, we need to learn how to REST first, enjoy the Lord first, and then do something for Him with Him in oneness! So I got some rest, and even though it was just a couple of hours, it gave me strength :) I was advised by someone I need to get some more rest... but being a "young man", many times I tend to discard such "menial and trivial things" as "taking a nap"...

O Lord, I want to learn how to balance my living, my resting, my eating, my exercising, my spiritual exercise, my cleaning, my attitude, my relationships... only You can do this in me, Lord - keep me coming to You about all these aspects of my living! Lord, make Your home deep down in my heart, and be the Proper Human Being who Fulfills God's Plan in me!

And after such a wonderful rest, I made it to the Prayer Meeting! Especially as Tuesday night draws close, there are a million reasons, problems, and other things that come up and give you that feeling, Nah, maybe I shouldn't go to the prayer meeting today - I suddenly need to do this or that, to go there, do some shopping, etc. It's in all of us, and it happens all the time! It doesn't happen on Wednesday or Saturday night, but when it comes to the Prayer Meeting time, it's almost as if there's an invisible person who brings up things to hinder you to get there!

But once you "get your bones to the meeting" and you get together with the saints and start fanning into flame the gift of God which is in you, once you start praying, you have the deep realization that you can be one with the Lord for the advancement of His kingdom! We may pray for the students, the young people, the freshers' fair, the Amana Bookshop in Central London, or even for the personal needs of the saints - but in all these, when you exercise your spirit, you touch the reality of the Praying Christ! We pray - one with the Lord! In all our prayers we basically say,

Come Lord Jesus! Your kingdom come! Your will be done! We bring You this situation or that person - may Your perfect will be done! Release on the earth what has already been released in the heavens! Bind the strong man and release the captives! Bring in Your kingdom in us, in the church, in our city, and on the whole earth! We stand here on earth one with You, Lord!

I guarantee you, no matter how tired you are when you get to the prayer meeting, and no matter whether you may have fallen asleep during the prayer, or maybe you didn't pray too much - it is the greatest blessing to participate in the prayer ministry of the church, even to have the Prayer of the Age! What can we do more than pray one with the Lord for what is on His heart? Why would we work so much and accomplish so little when we can pray more and the Lord will accomplish so much more? (adaptation from bro. Nee). It is so good to be in the prayer meeting of the church!