On 1 Feb, 2009 the dedication of MNPN office in Jalan Ampang took place with 62 Pastors and prayer partners. It was a meaningful time with Rev Ong Hwai Teik, President of Trinity Annual Conference, Methodist sharing from the book of Nehemaih. 4 Klang Valley pastors prayed for the KL and also for the nation. Bishop Hwa Yung read and prayed the prayer of our Lord Jesus found in John 17:20-26. The service ended with the Benediction given by Mr Sam Ang , the Secretary-General of NECF Malaysia. After that the group had fellowship and extra refreshments which some people graciously brought along with them! 


         
 
         

Rev. Ong Hwai Teik message for Dedication Service of MNPN
“NO GAP LEFT” - Nehemiah 6:1

NLT Nehemiah 6:1 Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained-- though we had not yet set up the doors in the gates.

NRS Nehemiah 6:1 Now when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Geshem the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall and that there was no gap left in it (though up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),

I. Intro

Let me first thank our MNPN Team for the privilege & honour of sharing at this Dedication Service.
If I may, I shall bring something that I feel the Lord is saying to us on this most significant establishment of what we pray would be an extension of “the council of God” meeting place.
 
What is of the heavenlies, is not always reflected commensuratively in the terrestrial/ earthly. So we see that the manger & the barn became the most significant place contrary to earthly measurements & reckoning.
TODAY, as we gather to dedicate this place, we thank the Lord for the provision of this location by people who love Him & His Kingdom work, so that the MNPN birthed by the Lord, has a spiritual “nerve center” to seek, find, know & do the “counsel of God” for such a time in Malaysia & the world.
 
In 2007, God called some 40 plus of us together on 12-14 Dec in Kajang, to start laying the foundation for the formation of the MNPN. On 19 March 2008, our Divine Intercessor Who is now at the right hand of the Father, led us to officially form the Malaysian National Prayer Network, avowedly focused only on the Lord’s agenda.
ON 15-17 Dec 08, we had 80 plus joining us at our 2nd NLP Consultation in Kajang.
 
We recognize & acknowledge with thanksgiving, the sovereign & timely hand of God at work in fulfilling His own purposes.

          

II.    God’s Timing – Beyond one lifetime, but sure.

God had His long & larger purposes to be fulfilled. While He sent Israel into Exile in order to rid them of the great scourge of spiritual prostitution, so that through the lives of Daniel & the other prophets, they returned staunch monotheists to this day, as Yahweh’s people.
He could then fulfill the purpose of calling them to be a “light to the Gentiles”, from whom the Saviour of the world will come.
 
In a particular, microscopic sense, the repatriation & return of His people, was a promise to fulfill a greater & macroscopic promise. The rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple (516 BC after a 20 year- lapse) & the Wall (445 BC after a 12 year lapse) fulfilled this particular promise.
 
The time frame of fulfilling His promise was more than a life-time!
 
•    The Exile took place in 598 – 539 BC
•    The Return began in 538 BC
•    The Jerusalem Temple was only rebuilt in 516 BC (22 years after return)
•    The Jerusalem Wall was only completed in 445 BC (after about 70 years from rebuilding of Temple)

It sounds like a long time, but with God, at the right time His promises & His purposes will be fulfilled.
It would seem like an eternity for us in Malaysia, as we look forward & prayed for change to come upon this land; for a “new Malaysia” with new purity, righteousness & spiritual freedom marking our land.
 

• We are the generation that is privileged to live to see & work through March 8 2008 ( the 12th General Election), as with Nehemiah & God’s people “who had a mind to work” (4:6), who “prayed to God, & set a guard as a protection against the enemy day & night”.
   
• On-going & the latest developments tell us that we are not “out of the woods yet” – hence the Lord’s establishing of the MNPN in this hour of the life of our beloved nation.
   
• We are living in an exciting generation where we see new light & hope from the Lord, so that a tremendous change in the breakthrough of American prejudices have taken place, an African-American President of mixed parentage & international background in his upbringing, is now the 44th President & the most powerful man in the world.

III.    Nehemiah’s Response

1.    Nehemiah’s heart was sold out to God: he was totally committed to pursuing, knowing & doing God’s will.
His heart was so open to God that it was not difficult for the Lord to lay His divine burden, His purpose onto Nehemiah’s heart.
 
Nehemiah in all probability was born outside of Palestine, yet he never forgot his spiritual heritage & the deep bonds of Israel with their God, to Whom they belong. He knew where his true identity & purpose in life is rooted.
He was a man of undisputable integrity, who walked not only intimately with God, but also feared & reverenced God. This is priceless balance to be maintained. So we read:
 
NLT Nehemiah 5:15 The former governors, in contrast, had laid heavy burdens on the people, demanding a daily ration of food and wine, besides forty pieces of silver. Even their assistants took advantage of the people. But because I feared God, I did not act that way. 16 I also devoted myself to working on the wall and refused to acquire any land. And I required all my servants to spend time working on the wall. 17 I asked for nothing, even though I regularly fed 150 Jewish officials at my table, besides all the visitors from other lands! 18 The provisions I paid for each day included one ox, six choice sheep or goats, and a large number of poultry. And every ten days we needed a large supply of all kinds of wine. Yet I refused to claim the governor's food allowance because the people already carried a heavy burden. 19 Remember, O my God, all that I have done for these people, and bless me for it.

2.    Nehemiah’s heart loved God’s people.
 
He feared God & loved people.
 
He was sensitive to their plight: their physical needs, as well as their spiritual need to know truth & live by it. He called them to consecrated worship and service of God.
 
He spent a good 13 years of his life as their Governor in Judah, sharing his life, home & privileges with them as a servant of God.
 
For some of us – this will be God’s call to give a good portion of our time, life, resources & giftings – in re-building the prayer wall & the broken wall of this nation. The Lord calls us to do this in various capacities – including as volunteers, coming in to this office so as to be in the “council of God”, to pursue, know & do His divine counsel.

3.    Nehemiah’s heart refused to be shaken by the enemies of God, His people & nation.
 
He was “under siege” by his powerful & influential enemies. 
 
•    Sanballat (in the North, Governor of Samaria);
•    Tobiah (in the East, Governor of Ammon)
•    Geshem (in East & South, a powerful Arab tribal leader controlling Moab [E] & Edom [S]) & the Mediterranean Sea (West)
 
These enemies attacked him with 3 ploys.

Ploy #1: “Absence by distraction” (6:1-4)

Four times they called for negotiation in Ono, 20 miles away: to pick him off, or attack leaderless people
Nehemiah never swayed from (6:3) “I am doing a great work” – in rebuilding God’s wall

Ploy #2 : “Alarm by public Accusation” (6: 5-10)

They cunningly seek to generate fear by bringing in authorities’ name; Persian kings do not tolerate rebellion & treason; swift & brutal retaliation! They fear dissipates energy & passion.
Being a man who is often in the “council of God”, Nehemiah saw through the evil intent of making the hands of the Israelites “drop from the work” (6:9)

Ploy #3 : “Abandonment by Intimidation” (6: 10-14)

Next, an assassination plot was hatched, implanted from within the Jewish community through Shemaiah, a false prophet, who tried very hard to convince Nehemiah to flee for his life by taking refuge in the temple.
Nehemiah would rather have died while performing his duty, than have lived retreating from that responsibility.
He made the right decisions swiftly based on principles & grounds that were stronger & higher than the threatening situation or out of fear for his own life. (Like Daniel & his 3 friends [Dan 3, 6] & Esther [4:16]).
Obeying & doing what pleases God, what is righteous - was not conditioned upon the outcome; that was left to God. This is the secret of powerful leaders in the hands of God.

In the days ahead, some of us, will yet be called to take this “higher ground” of following Christ, of doing what is right, regardless the cost & danger to our selves, leaving the outcome to God. By the Lord’s great grace, we must be prepared to overcome the enemy “by the blood of the Lamb, & by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death” (Rev 12:11).

Conclusion

As we come to dedicate this office to God, to be of His heavenly Council, we also come to dedicate our lives personally anew to Him, Who twice own us – at Creation & at Redemption. In a real sense, a place is only as holy as the people who occupy it.

May the Lord of heaven & earth, grant us strong grace to pursue a “zero gap” policy as the Lord shows us the “walls” in this land to rebuild, as He calls us each to take up our respective station, in the words of the prophet Ezekiel :

NLT Ezekiel 22:30 "I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land, but I found no one. (Ezk was in the 2nd deportation in 597 BC)

NRS Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.

AMEN.

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