Samantha Wiraatmaja »

January 20, 2014

The Prayer Series – Standing In The Gap

Prayer has been called many names through the ages. Some call it travailing, some intercession, and others say that it is simply talking to God. Still others call it a calling and some might even call it boring. I personally like the phrase “standing in the gap”.

When I was 8 years-old, I found a song that captivated my heart. It became my earnest prayer:

Won’t You Lord take a look at my hands // Everything I have use it for Your plan

Won’t You Lord take a look at my heart // Mold it, refine it, as You set me apart

I want to run to the altar and catch the fire

To stand in the gap between the living and the dead

Give me a heart of compassion for a world without vision

I will make a difference, bringing hope to my land

I vividly remember listening to this song and having its lyrics pierce my heart. This song was referring to what Aaron did in Numbers 16:42-48 (if you haven’t already read this story, please please do! It is amazing). It moved me deeply that God SO wanted to save the people of Israel; all He was waiting for was a man who would stand in the gap – literally between the living and the dead.

The story was seared into my heart. I thought to myself, “How wonderful it would be to do what Aaron did and know the heart of God in that way!”

Right there, I made a silent wish to God that I wanted to be like Aaron. To be someone who would stand in the gap on behalf of God.

God took my prayer and held me to it.

From the time I was a child, a deep longing for more of God was deposited in my heart. I would make up songs to Him in the night; He seemed to be part of my DNA.

At the same time, I was also deeply affected by the emotions (especially pain) of others, and could sense what was going on inside their hearts.

I went through a season of depression in my teen years as these two aspects intensified and seemed to stretch me in two directions.

On hindsight, I realize now that I was learning what it meant to stand in the gap – It is a stretching out to God on one side, a reaching out to people on the other, and bringing the two together.

What does standing in the gap look like?

1. Surrender. This has to be the first and foundational step. We need to come before God and say, “Lord, I offer everything I am and everything I have before You. Use it according to Your will for your plans.” Without surrender, the journey is going to be pretty rocky. Prayer/intercession/standing in the gap MUST originate from God – meaning that we only pray the thoughts & desires of His heart (more on that in this post). There are times that God will tell us to do/pray something that goes against our own desires/wisdom/comfort zone. Without surrender, we will be like the prophet Jonah who ran away, rejected God’s Word, and grumbled – he ended up being an oracle for God but missed out entirely on the heart of God.

2. Consecration. As we pray, we come closer and closer to the heart of God. That also means that our hearts keep getting refined & purified – God is a consuming fire, and closeness to Him means that all the impurities in our hearts will have to surface and be burned away. This is an awesome process and I love it dearly, though it is challenging and painful at times. Why do I love it? Well, I have found that the closer that I come to the heart of God and the greater the purification, there is a new level in which He shares the secrets of His heart with me. God is looking across the earth for men and women whom He can trust to carry His heart & His burdens.

3. Sacrifice. The burdens of God’s heart often require sacrifice on the parts of those who carry them. Look at Abraham, Noah, Samuel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, Esther… These people had to sacrifice their families, the good esteem of friends & neighbors, and often even their own lives, for the purposes of God. If we want status, popularity, or glory for ourselves, then being a servant of God is not the right career path. Through Church history, men and women have chosen to sacrifice everything in order to follow Jesus – I believe, and can personally testify, that once we have seen the greater picture in eternity’s light, none of it will feel like sacrifice. Instead, it would be something we delight & find our deepest joy in.

4. Compassion. The purpose of anything God does has its root in love. Every thing that He does is in love and for love. Apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, pastors – these are given to the Church for the purpose of building up the people. Without compassion, we can speak plenty of spiritual things and even move in powers, signs, and wonders, but we would be about as useful as a clanging gong.

Choose to stand in the gap and you will find that there is a constant stirring in your heart. It will constantly be crying out and wanting more of God for a person/group of people/nation.

Another aspect of standing in the gap is illustrated in the battle between Elijah and the false prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18: 16-39). In the story, the only things necessary to have the fire of God fall were:

1. An altar

2. A sacrifice pleasing to God

The altar symbolizes the place where people meet with God – it is a symbolism of my inner man, who communicates with the Spirit of God as deep calls unto deep (Psalms 42: 7). The sacrifice God requires is me – a living sacrifice, surrendered and yielded to Him.

He is asking if we would be the living sacrifice – Aaron ran to a physical altar and caught the physical fire, but now we need to become the dwelling place in whom the fire of God can rest.

Then, we carry the fire of God in us. And wherever we go, death will stop and life will come.

Being an intercessor is to have our own lives become an intercession.

Have you ever felt the burden for a particular person/people group/nation? What would it look like for you to stand in the gap for them?

Show Hide 2 comments

January 11, 2014

Godly Wives: Perception & How My Caveman Husband Thinks

The title of this post was entirely Alex’s idea – he thought it’d be funny. This post was birthed over our coffee + study date today.

We were discussing a book that I am currently reviewing for Stasi Eldredge (which I will be sharing with you soon!). I enthusiastically described to Alex how beautiful and poetic the Eldgredges’ writing style is, and he agreed that he enjoys the poetic/emotive writing styles of John Eldredge and Richard Foster. For more standout recommendations, https://fandom.my-passion.com/category/top-picks/ offers a collection of must-read titles worth exploring.

“But,” he said, “the only setback to these authors is that they often use poems/song lyrics to illustrate a point. So I usually just skip that part and get straight to the main point.”

WHAT?!!

That really got our discussion going because I LOVE poems & songs – I strongly believe that music and art are very powerful tools that can slip past a person’s defenses and go straight to their heart. They can speak to the heart and change us in ways that no amount of ordinary words can. Look at Walt Disney and how his work & dreams are still shaping millions of lives today.

Alex’s defense was that he didn’t need a poem to make a point; he could summarize an entire paragraph in a single sentence. My argument was that that wasn’t the point!! The point of a poem is not simply to state a point; poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words (Edgar Allan Poe) and it can communicate before it is understood (T.S. Elliot).

Obviously, Alex prefers intellect and efficiency while I prefer romance and idealism.

So we decided to have a little competition – we would choose a poem, and do our best to convince the other why our way was better. The below is a capture of Alex’s exact words. I was both extremely amused and extremely appalled.

Warning to non-Singaporeans: Singlish, the colloquial version of English in Singapore, was used in the following. If you have any confusion, just ask in the comment box and we will do our best to explain.

poem

This is just one example of how different both of us are. Alex is an INTJ, I am an INFJ. We are on a constant journey of learning, and being (usually) pleasantly surprised, that the other sees the world in a way that is SO different from our own. We can laugh and learn from each other’s unique perspective – and become better people because of it.

But it wasn’t always like this. When we first got together, we literally fought every day (not an exaggeration) because of how different we were. I thought he was a caveman. He thought I was stubborn and in-submissive. The only thing that kept us together was that, despite it all, there was a deep love and inexplicable connection between us. And also because we knew this relationship was from God, orchestrated from years before we officially became a couple.

Through the past couple of years, we have learnt that the other is different from ourself and there’s nothing we can do to change that. And that’s ok. In fact, now we wouldn’t have it any other way. In learning to see the other’s point of view, our worlds are made all the more beautiful and colorful.

From my own experience, there are some ingredients I feel are important for a happy relationship:

1. Communication. Very important! Talk, share, and talk some more. Communication helps us to understand the other person, and put their needs & feelings before ours.

2. Forgiveness. We are human and will hurt each other. Master the art of forgiving and you will have a much happier relationship.

3. Humility. It’s not always about being right. Sometimes we need to give up our right to be right in order to love our spouse.

Now we are united in the things that matter, we just have different expressions of that. As I write this, we are sitting side-by-side in a cafe – both typing furiously away on our laptops, our minds are working hard, but the stark contrast is that I am writing this conversational story-piece while he is writing a paper on the spiritual decay of Israel.

And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Show Hide 9 comments

Alexander Wiraatmaja
Man… I did butcher the poem. But, a man gotta be true to his heart.ReplyCancel
Alexander Wiraatmaja
On the more serious note:

One of the things that Samantha and I are learning is letting go of self, in order to be the whole man/woman God wants us to be. A preacher once struck my heart saying : “I used to think I am holy… Until I got married!” A friend once taught me “Marriage is the ultimate form of discipleship.” How true… (I wonder what about parenting though).

Although our church wedding is still on the way, we are really experiencing this. When I was single, if someone clashed with me, I just blocked them off. Outwardly it might seem ok, but inwardly I was closing off my heart from that person. A closed heart can’t learn love as God intended.

But in this relationship, no matter what hurts we experience from each other, we have to choose to open our hearts and put each other before ourselves.

God really gave us each other so we can be molded into the man and woman He fully intends us to be. Over the years growing up, I could feel we are being distorted from our true image in Him as we experience hurts and happenings of life. And this relationship is one of the ways God chooses to pursue us back into His wholeness. So, we can be wholly His.

I am so thankful…ReplyCancel
- Samantha Lee-Wiraatmaja
  Agree (: love my caveman <3ReplyCancel
Vina
Wow such a cute and funny post, yet it speaks so much truth! love the comments too <3ReplyCancel
- Samantha Lee-Wiraatmaja
  Haha thanks vina! (;ReplyCancel
Celine
Where can I find his paper on the spiritual decay of israel?

– a woman who unfortunately thinks like a guy. 🙂ReplyCancel
- Samantha Lee-Wiraatmaja
  Hi Celine, what a blessing to have a unique way of thinking – Your husband will enjoy it (;
  Unfortunately, Alex’s writing is a paper for his theological studies and won’t be made public until/unless he preaches it some day!ReplyCancel
jean
hahahhathis is sooooo funny!!! i prefer romance and idealism too 😛ReplyCancel
- Samantha Lee-Wiraatmaja
  Jean, yay! so be prepared if your husband doesn’t!! (;ReplyCancel

January 9, 2014

The Prayer Series – What is Prayer?

Dear friends, thank you for the many encouraging messages on my post about the important things I sense for 2014. I love hearing from and getting to know my readers! I am excited – 2014 is going to be a year of so many new adventures, and the journey is made sweeter knowing that I have such amazing sisters (and occasional brother) to travel with.

The above-mentioned article was a sharing of what I sense God is going to be doing across countries, denominations, age, and language. It was a broad picture, and there are many more details for each of you that requires your faith and prayer to fill in.

For myself, God has spoken some specific things that I need to do this year. One of them is to write more (yay!). So you’ll be hearing more from me in this space and I hope it’ll be a blessing! (You can get notified of posts the moment they are published on the right-side of this page under “Follow Blog”.)

Another command for me is to go deeper in prayer & intercession. This is something I am taking seriously, and I am committing myself to spend much more time in the prayer closet this year. If possible, I want to spend equal parts of my day in prayer and in work – I’ll really need God’s grace and faith for this one!

I grew up in church watching people approach prayer in a way that portrayed a serious, boring, detached, and very ordinary God. As a child/teenager, prayer meetings were the most wasted 2-hours of my week – we literally read out, word-for-word, from a piece of paper with 5 prayer pointers, and called it prayer. I walked away every time wondering if those prayers had made any difference at all. It felt like our prayers had hit the ceiling and just kind of… got stuck there.

It also bothered me that if God was alive and loved us, why did we never hear Him talk back? It was frustrating because something in my heart was pulling me to God, but what I saw in church made Him seem totally inaccessible and very non-interactive. I finally concluded that I liked “talking to God”, but I definitely wasn’t cut out for “prayer”!

By His grace and relentless love, God eventually did a major re-shaping of my view of Him. I believe prayer is something dynamic that every child of God gets to be a part of. It is a wonderful, rich, exciting world – not boring at all!

Because of my background of running away from prayer most of my life, I will start with what I believe to be the true definition of “Prayer”. I will then zero-in (in subsequent posts) on what I have learnt about some types of Prayer and how to hear God’s voice. I will also briefly cover some pitfalls that I have had to work through along the way.

What Is Prayer?

One of my favorite descriptions of prayer is by George Macdonald who said, “When one says to the great Thinker: ‘Here is one of Thy thoughts: I am thinking it now!’ that is a prayer – a word to the Big Heart from one of its own little hearts.”

The substance of prayer are thoughts and desires that originate from the Living God. It is us, coming close to the heart of God and hearing His heart’s cry, and then crying it right back to Him. Therefore, I have the assurance that the prayers are effective because they came first from the heart of God. It is also in prayer that I get to know God’s heart. Prayer is definitely not boring!

Prayer is not a task to be done. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant it. I have seen some people pray as if they have to “earn” a response from God, just like the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18). Prayer really originates from the heart of God, therefore prayer has to come from a place of knowing that the victory is secured because God first desired it.

I have found the business of praying both a delightful and a dangerous one. It is delightful because it is the means by which there is constant communication between God and I. It is impossible to go an hour without praying, because I need Him every moment of everyday. Keeping a prayerful attitude, in which my heart is always seeking God’s thoughts and feelings about something/someone, is one of the most practical ways in which I may decrease and He may increase (John 3:30). Prayer has become my lifeline to the Life.

However, prayer is also dangerous. Whoever says that prayer is neutral or boring probably hasn’t experienced true prayer. Daniel Lim from IHOP admonishes, “Do not think that those who sit in the prayer room do nothing except talking to God. It is highly dangerous to talk to God, because we serve a God that talks back to us. If you stay in that chair long enough, you will either have to shut your ears not to hear God, or you will be so stirred with so many things in the heart of God that the works and the proclamation must emerge out of you. There is almost no choice.”

Prayer is dangerous because it is not just some superficial words spoken to thin air. It goes straight to the God who is living and very interested in His children! Sometimes, He responds with a command to do something completely out of my comfort zone, or He might show me His plan that is totally different from mine! Therefore, the question to ask when going into prayer is, “Are we ready for what He has to say?”

I know some people who view prayer as a courtesy act. Unfortunately, these people are often in a place of leadership in the Church. When making a decision, there is a lot of talking, brainstorming and discussion, but prayer is only reserved for the start & end of the meeting – it is seen as the “bookmark” to open and close a discussion, nothing more. It is sad that prayer is seen as “only talking to God”. They do not see the great dynamism in prayer – it is not merely us talking to God, it is God talking back to us and overflowing our hearts with His desires and plans! Over the past few years, I have found an hour of praying far more effective and fruitful than a month of brainstorm-meetings.

In both the delights and dangers of prayer, the fundamental principal is that prayer draws the human heart deeper into God’s heart. That should be our end goal and greatest reward.

What are some common misconceptions you have heard about prayer? How are you being challenged in your prayer life?

Show Hide 4 comments

The Prayer Series – Standing In The Gap

Godly Wives: Perception & How My Caveman Husband Thinks

The Prayer Series – What is Prayer?

Contact

Looking for something?

Let's make a search.

NEW On The Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new posts by email