CHC Jurong West kept a night watch as SOT students embarked on an overnight prayer meeting, with a distinctly international flavor.
By Clinton Dixon
CN PHOTO:Daniel Poh.
Late night prayer meeting, all-night prayer meeting, Friday night prayer meeting or whatever you call it, for many SOT students, it was their first taste of praying through the night. Some would argue that any prayer meeting held four stories below constitutes some sort of overnight experience but I digress. Overnight prayer meetings hold a special place in many Christians’ hearts and for good reason. Forgoing sleep to pray through the wee hours of the night is a surefire recipe for signs, wonders and miracles.
I have been part of many overnight prayer meetings in my native country of New Zealand and I was very excited to experience what God was going to do that night. My New Zealand experience definitely had a family flavor to it. Parents would bring their whole family along, and as young eye lids began to droop you would see all these little prayer warriors tucked up asleep in sleeping bags and pillows scattered all throughout the church auditorium. I remember seeing my one-year-old son with dummy and blanket in tow, squared up in his portable cot sound asleep as his parents prayed and worshipped throughout the winter’s night.
At SOT, in the days leading up to the prayer meeting, I sensed a paradoxical mood amongst the students. Conversations were contrasting affairs of equal parts expectation and apprehension. Students were expectant of Godly encounters throughout the night but were also wondering how to keep awake through THAT night (Yikes! Did someone really say 5 a.m. finish?). It really was going to be a night of new beginnings for many.
The meeting led by Pastor Kim Hock kicked off at 11:40 p.m. with a brief outline as to the schedule ahead. After that the worship team swung into action and the night’s course was set, as we scaled the heights of praise, stormed the heavens in prayer and were washed in God’s presence throughout worship.
One of my personal highlights of the night was at 2:50 a.m. when we were all handed a list with 30 prayer items covering the needs of the CHC body as well as SOT. We grouped ourselves in twos and threes and for 30 minutes prayed like no tomorrow. It was a time where we all just shrugged off our tiredness and threw caution to the wind. It was raw, it was real and it was revelational.
As 5 a.m. approached, the closing prayer honors were given to the international students. A student each from Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, China and India all took main stage to lead prayer for their respective countries. It was quite a sight as each student poured out their spiritual heart for their nation in their native tongues. It was a sobering end to the night and even though the prayer languages and dialects were foreign to most, we envisioned revival and salvation in these vastly populated lands. It was a fitting end to the night, and I’d like to think that we shook up some ground and threw some heavenly punches with our prayers.
