Praying is the first thing a Christian learns to do, but how does it become a spiritual discipline? Madeline Chua, a cell group leader and intercessor in City Harvest Church shares with us how praying became a discipline for her.
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I have been a Christian for the past 24 years and a cell group leader for nearly 16 years. Despite that, it was only when I joined the Intercessory Ministry seven years ago in 2016 that I grew deeper in building a spiritual discipline of praying.
At the time, the church was undergoing a trial, and the head of the Intercessory Ministry, Pastor Eileen Toh would encourage us to pray for our senior pastor and those involved in the trial, as well as the church. There was a two-week period when all the intercessors took turns to pray so that there was continuous prayer that fortnight. I took the 3am to 5am slots because those were not taken up.
The experience of waking up in the wee hours to pray really deepened my love for praying, for interceding for others and spending time with God and telling Him how much I love Him. Since that time, the Holy Spirit would wake me up at 4am or 5 am to pray. It doesn’t happen every day but I would wake up before sunrise without the alarm going off, and I would know it’s the Holy Spirit beckoning me to pray. I would then sit at the balcony with my Bible and notebook and listen attentively to the Holy Spirit as He impressed upon me who to pray for. Inspired by Pastor Bobby Chaw, I would at times voice-record prayers on my mobile phone and send a voice message to the person I was prompted to pray for.
Prayer has become like breathing to me. I find myself speaking in tongues throughout the day and talking to God in my mind wherever I go. One of the highlights of the Covid season for me was the ability to pray in tongues behind my mask whether I was prayer-walking, driving, riding public transport, strolling through shopping malls. Nobody noticed my mouth moving behind my mask. I found myself more sensitive to Holy Spirit and would pray for whomever He would always remind me to pray for in my daily commute and walk with God.
Another prayer spiritual discipline which I love is Silence and Solitude. For the past two years, we have organised Silence and Solitude weeks for the Intercessory Ministry. Pastor Eileen, Pastor Glordia Goh and Pastor Lynn Tan would equip us with various techniques like Lectio Divina, and Centering Prayer so that we can listen to God better.
Pastor Eileen would also organise full-day or half-day retreats during which we spend undistracted time with God over longer periods. Pastor Kong has been guiding us on how to do Silence and Solitude over the pulpit too. From the start of this year, I spend every Friday morning at the Singapore Botanic Gardens seeking God, and I have grown so much in love with Him through my encounters.
Madeline often connects heart to heart with God amidst nature
ENCOUNTERING GOD THROUGH SILENCE AND SOLITUDE
Let me share three encounters I have had with God during Silence and Solitude.
Last year, I noticed a tree with its trunk so badly bent that it had to be upheld by two poles. Half of the tree had green leaves and the other half was brown. At the moment, I felt my life was like this tree—broken and defeated. While some parts of my life are bearing fruit, other parts are actually dying.
I told God, “God that’s exactly how I am feeling now! I really feel like I am dying. Why is my work so challenging? Should I stay on or should I leave? It’s a real struggle to stand up upright again.”
I heard God’s voice speaking to me, “Did you see the two poles? I am holding you up. I am not giving up on you.”
Immediately, I was reminded of Isaiah 41:10: “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand”. I felt God really ministered to me at that moment. I just allowed tears to roll down my cheeks and Holy Spirit came to comfort me.
From that moment, I knew it was not time yet to leave my job. I knew God would give me the strength and grace to stay on. Fast forward to today, I am glad I stayed on in my job. God used me to establish mandatory training governance and guidelines for the whole of the Asia Pacific region in my organisation.
Through this encounter, I learnt what resilience and determination are. I prayed even more at my workplace whenever I felt stuck. I felt I had a closer relationship with the Holy Spirit as He guided me step by step, connecting me to the right people at the right time to work out the governance requirements. It was a beautiful journey indeed.
The second encounter I want to share happened in April 2021. I was sitting quietly on a bench, meditating on His word and thinking about Jesus. It was very quiet, and I could only hear crickets.
Suddenly, a rooster crowed alerting me of its presence. I heard it before I saw it. I decided to follow it to see where it was going. I captured a photo of it on a green field, then on a pile of dead leaves.
There and then, I felt the Holy Spirit say to me that “I have a voice and I need to speak”. The rooster may look pretty in a green field, but it stood out more against the dead brown leaves. To me, the green field represents people who are doing well while the dead leaves represent people who are dying and perhaps in their darkness, challenging moments. I felt the Lord encouraging me that I have a voice and I need to speak to both groups of people, particularly those who are in the dark seasons of their lives.
I was really encouraged. A year before that, in May 2010, I tried to launch coaching services and training programmes to encourage believers in the marketplace. But I had to put a stop to it after one successful training session due to the implementation of the Circuit Breaker. God reminded me this time to use my voice and continue to speak up to encourage the people around me. I am picking up my momentum this year to use my voice to encourage the believers in the marketplace through training programmes and coaching.
The last encounter happened on March 2023. This was my most recent encounter with God. As I was looking a tree with brown and green leaves, I felt that it reflects our lives—we have roots in the water, tapping into God’s resources and love but we do not always have green leaves. Yet Jeremiah 17:7-8 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green. And will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”
God has reminded me that as we continue to trust in God and hope in Him, we will not fear when the heat comes—our leaves will stay green and we will not stop producing fruit. This Word is once again timely, as I am in a transition in my career this year. I felt an assurance from the Lord to proceed with my plan to be a freelance author, speaker and coach. He will be my Provider.
START BUILDING YOUR OWN PRAYER LIFE
These are just three of my many encounters with God. By sharing them, I hope you can see that there are rewards in building the spiritual discipline to pray and seek the Lord. Pastor Kong is right to say that we are really too busy with our lives and busyness is a curse. The pandemic was very difficult for me mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. My mind never stopped moving, and I was constantly exhausted.
Without making this deliberate effort to slow down my pace and seek God, I would not have been able to maintain my sanity. I am extremely thankful to Pastor Eileen for teaching us how to pray. I’m also blessed me to have a group of prayer warriors in my pastoral zone, cell group and intercessory ministry who pray together with me.
I hope what I have shared will encourage you to start building your spiritual discipline of praying again. First, dedicate a fixed time for God in a week, then you can move up to fixing a time every day.
Pastor Kong said that “spiritual theosis through daily communion is our first and primary calling”. It takes deliberate effort, there is no doubt about it. However, it will become a habit eventually when it becomes a routine for you. You may not have encounters with God daily or whenever you pray. But the moment He speaks, the memories and God’s encouragement stay with you for life.
Pastor Lin Junxian told the cell group leaders at a recent meeting that God is “jio-ing” (inviting) us to commune with Him. He preached from John 15:5 (MSG) which reads, “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is true to be abundant”.
To be joined to something requires commitment. Life and growth happen when we abide in Christ. We can be joined with Jesus through our meditation and contemplation.
Intimacy can only happen when we are open and naked. In Genesis 2:24-25, when Adam sinned and God asked him where he was, it was not a question of geography but relationship. Sometimes we think we have encountered God and that is enough. But God is a real God and He wants to touch the real us. If we hide from God, we cannot be intimate with Him. God wants us to be completely open with Him—it is all right to really bare it all to God.
How to build a discipline of silence and solitude: find a quiet place to spend your time alone away from distractions
Transformation in God is organic and not forced. Sometimes, we think we need to be all good and well before we come to Jesus. But the Bible says that we can come to God with unveiled faces. Luke also wrote in Luke 5:36-39, “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one… and no one pours new wine into old wineskins… Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins…” When we have a union with God, our growth is natural and organic—He will give us new wine to pour into our new wineskins.
I pray that we all can accept God’s invitation to commune with Him daily or more regularly. Setting dedicated time to have Silence and Solitude with God is a good place to start.
