the pneumatos retreat

July 28, 2003

i had a wonderful time of fellowship with old and new friends this past weekend. it's been a real blast to hang out with everyone again, though our time was so short lived. it was awesome. i love the fact that despite the distance or time that i haven't had a chance to really talk with some of my old friends, we can still pick up where we left off. it's like we didn't miss anything, even though it's been so long. markham will always and forever be my home. no matter where i go, or what i do. the friendships that i have there are everlasting. i believe that with all my heart. and it brings me so much joy to see how God has moved within the hearts of my friends over the past years. i can really relate with paul's words when he was speaking to the church at colosse after being away from them for some time: colossians 2:5 says, "and delight to see how orderely you are and how firm your faith in Christ is".

when we left our campground, we returned to markham to wash the tents off, because we didn't have the facilities to do it. we waited around at the chuch until about 5 or so to get the washing materials. and so we proceeded to wash the tents in the parking lot, but we didn't realize how long it would take us. some people started to set up the tents so they could wash the insides and outsides. and then the wind picked up. it made it very difficult for us to set things up. and our attitudes sunk. we were tired and frustrated and most of us needed showers! in any case, i think a lot of us weren't too pleased. i know my attitude wasn't the greatest. and then colossians 3:17 hits me in the head, "and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him". that totally shifted my perspective. in that, i think i failed to see what was happening around me. chung asked me to pray for everyone, so i did. and it was amazing to see our attitudes change almost instantaneously. it was awesome :) "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of Him." (1 john 5:14-15 [NIV])

from this experience, i learned some things about myself:

1) i still have a long way to go in my walk with God - i desire to move to a place that WHATEVER i do, it's always in the name of the Lord Jesus - that i'm doing everything without complaint (philippians 2:14) - even though i won't verbalize them anymore, i still might be thinking them and that has to go! bad news friends. bad news!

2) i'm not the 'praying man' that i want to be. and that's a person who is CONSTANTLY aware of what God is doing and can intercede on behalf of those needs. a person who is always thinking about God. i've 'preached' these words last sunday at markham, but i'm not there myself yet. and i desire to be. i LONG to be. thanks chung for bringing this to my attention, by asking me to pray for you guys! those words spoke more to me than you know, and you were just asking me to pray!

3) it's a struggle of your pride when you pray for something on the behalf of someone and it happens. because there's a tendency to think that part of the credit that it happened belongs to yourself. in actuality, it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with God. prayer is still a mystery to me. God doesn't 'need' us to pray, because in fact He already knows what we ask before we even ask it. but He still wants us to pray regardless. james 5:16 says "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective". maybe the reason for that is because a righteous man is praying out the will of God? *shrugs*

4) the necessity of keeping the Word of God hidden in our hearts at all times (aka memorizing Scripture). what did Jesus do when satan was tempting Him? all of His responses were based on the word of God. we're in spiritual warfare people. we have to the Word in our hearts and mind at all times!

my desire is this, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (philippians 3:10-14 [NIV]) amen!

Posted by Leo Chan at July 28, 2003 11:19 AM