Speed Thy servants
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/mid/d/i/s/dismissal.midSpeed THY Servants
Speed Thy servants, Savior, speed them;
Thou art Lord of winds and waves;
They were bound, but Thou hast freed them;
Now they go to free the slaves:
Be Thou with them, Be Thou with them,
’tis Thine arm alone that saves.
When no fruit appears to cheer them,
And they seem to toil in vain,
Then in mercy, Lord, draw near them,
Then their sinking hopes sustain:
Thus supported, Thus supported,
let their zeal revive again.
This hymn was chosen for Wednesday night's prayer meeting. Pastor was touched by the words, as can be seen from his request to sing it twice.
I was also touched, especially by the 2nd stanza above. Because the current work in Blk 195 is stagnant and, if I'm not judging wrongly, declining.
Our evangelism has stopped, we are merely contented with visiting our contacts and teaching the children. Children wise, some have dis-inclined to come, one cannot. Jiayu is lost, Melody seems to be avoiding us, Baoquan does not want to come, and Zhicong has tuition on Sundays now. Moreover, we are having less helpers now. Of the pioneers, Tammy is gone, Elisa has left too, spiritually not with us in this work anymore.
When I look upon this situation, I realize that the problem lies with us. We cannot blame the children for becoming hard-hearted. We cannot simply brush their indifference aside by saying they prefer to play than to come to listen to the Word of God. No we can't. We can't even excuse ourselves by saying we are tired.
Perhaps I'm in no position whatsoever to judge the last reason, because I'm a student while most of the rest are working now. But this I know: that once we've decided to start and work, and God is so merciful to give one to us, it's a lifelong responsibility, until the day we meet our Lord in heaven. It's like having children; we cannot stop caring or care lesser because we have different beliefs or we are very tired. No we can't. What kind of testimony are we giving to the children in our church who follows us for evangelism (or so-called)? That evangelism is when if you are tired you can slacken in our work? Do i dare preach to them doing their best for God if i myself can only think about my own comfort.
And one thing I know, is that we've not been praying anymore. The church has not been praying, as observed by pastor. I've not been praying. Youths no longer gather to pray. Previously, our fellowship in Aunty Mrs Lim's house allows us a time of fellowship and prayer where we'll pray for this work. Now we no longer to that.
When there's no prayer, there'll be no power to work. Our work will eventually die off. Haven't we get enough sermons urging us to pray? The story of Moses: who, during a war between Israel and the Amalekites(?), if his hands which symbolises prayer be down, the Israelites would lose, but if up, they will win. We've heard that, but we don't. We are hearers of God's words, but not doers.
I hope I won't be misunderstood. I am not complaining against anyone in church. As much as i've used the words "some (people)" or "they", I've used the words "we", "us", "I". I'm part of the youth group. And I confess of my lack of prayer as well, which makes me shudder even more because I'm a sunday school teacher there. It's a big responsibility.
Sigh...That's why the 2nd stanza in the above hymn touched me. We really need the refilling of zeal for God. First we need to repent and confess to God first. No - even more first - we need to get down to our knees to pray. There'll be no rekindling without prayer.