There has been a long struggle over this issue for a while now. Every month there is either a prayer service or healing service. During these services, at the end of the regular service, there is a separate session where one is invited to walk up to the front for Pastor’s wife to pray for him or her, either for specific needs or for healing.

Coming as we do from a Methodist background, these practices are not our staple diet. While they are not alien (I first went for such a service maybe 25 years ago!) such practices never became part of us. We have always remained on the fringe, just either silently observing or in my case, often just sitting down and praying on my own.

I am not sure how I feel. On the one hand there are skepticisms galore in my head. Why for example, are temporary losses of consciousness an invariable occurrence? Some who administer the prayer even appear to take such a loss as indicative of the adequacy of prayer. They stop and move on to the next person when it happens and kept on praying for that person until it occurs. Sometimes it is a self-fulfilling thing. Lose consciousness and you’re with it. Don’t and somehow doubt and resistance are implied.

On the other hand, I know God works in all sorts of ways and we shouldn’t restrict His ministry to just the traditional way. Why for example shouldn’t we be prayed for with a hand on our heads and someone standing behind us to catch us when we fall? Why should He speak to us only through the Bible? Can He not minister to us through such “anointing”? By the same token, why do these practitioners limit God’s working to such laying on of hands? If God wishes to minister to us (and it is His sole will, not for us to trigger by adopting some practices) why must it take man to do it in any given way at all? I could for example, pray early in the morning next to my study desk/table at home and He can speak to me then?

Last Sunday an unscheduled prayer session took place. A guest speaker was there and he had this session at the end of the service. As usual I felt no prompting, urge or any “voice” for me to step forward so I sat next to my Theresa and just prayed on my own. As the session wears on and people started to move outside for their coffee, I too stepped out to lend a hand with the table setting.

I came back into the hall to take the car keys and 2 leaders were standing at the back of the hall. As usual they urged me to go forward. I politely declined but 1 of them prodded me a bit more and suggested he would come up with me. I felt trapped in a way but I didn’t mind very much. After all, I think I am mostly ready to respond if there was a clear and unequivocal signal from God that it was what He wanted me to do. So I went, and that speaker prayed for me. What was his special word for me? “Believe and you shall receive”.

As we were driving around that afternoon I told Theresa I didn’t like going out precisely because of what I actually experienced. I have always believed God will heal if it was His will. I know He can. I also believe He has His own reason and timing. While faith is a prerequisite it cannot be used to force God’s hand. Or can it? Anyway, it messed with my head and I wasn’t sure after that whether I was right in my approach. Was something amiss with my belief? Do I harbour any sins in me which blocked my receipt of such healing?

I exchanged these emails with an Uncle in Sydney today. Helped get things in perspective on a Monday morning…

 

 

Hi 6 Chek

 

Yes, I agree that Malaysia has much to offer. I often tell friends/ex-colleagues that my heart is with Malaysia, although my mind says we have to move out of that place. If my focus was to generate wealth, I would opt for Malaysia, because it is a developing economy and growth there is more and faster than a mature economy like Australia. However when you deal with mindless and inefficient bureaucracy, manipulation and corruption on a regular and extended basis, you wonder what is happening and where it would all end. This was true, I think, 20 years ago. It was still pervasive when I left last year and I hear it has not abated. There are no signs it would. I don’t have any reasons therefore to think things would be different by the time Elysia joins the work force and starts a family of her own. Would she think of leaving then? Can she then (say 10-15 years later) if she wanted to? I don’t know. I’m just thinking ahead and basing my thoughts on what is presently available.

 

I hate to say this but I doubt people like [       ] or Mr [     ] (Are you referring to the [              ] who owns the Concorde Hotel/Hard Rock Café in KL?) got to where they are without throwing major handouts to Malays especially Malay politicians or civil servants. It is an imperfect world for sure (there are some unbelievably bad specimens here in Melbourne as well) but here I can hope to quietly lead a life free of such corrupt elements.

 

Those of us who grew up and started our careers and families in Malaysia, will always have a nostalgia which would never die. It would remain, even only as a little amber. Maybe as we age that nostalgia will be rekindled and we long to see the land we grew up in. Just like Ah Kong used to remember China very fondly and visited frequently. I believe however, that Elysia would have a better chance of giving herself and her children/grandchildren much better lives here than in Malaysia. One can never be sure of decisions like this. Thankfully, we have a gracious God who will take care of us, and will take even our mistakes and change them into His blessings. So if this decision (to move and live here in Melbourne) turns out to be a mistake, I know God will work His miracles.

 

Yes, now every morning I pray for Theresa to be safe when she travels in the train to the city. Terrorism threat is very real here in Melbourne, especially after the latest events. In Malaysia we fear thieves, robbers and carjacks, kidnappings etc. Our old neighbour in Berkeley had snatch thieves rob his daughter/daughter in law right in his own car porch three times! Here we fear terrorist threats. There are all sorts of uncertainties these days – hurricanes, tsunamis, terrorism, economic turmoil and political upheavals. The only safe and peaceful place is in heaven. Theresa and I sometimes remind ourselves how frail life can be. We tell each other if anything happens to one of us, then we simply have to wait a while and meet again in heaven. I just “celebrated” my 40^th birthday recently and I feel the ravages of age even though I keep reasonably healthy and fit. Every time I see a recent photo of myself I notice my hairline receding.  Recently Enoch was here in Melbourne and we shared about our respective receding hairlines! Elysia also says lately, I have nagged her more than before. Thian Ser is going to Cambodia end of this month and talks of getting his 40-year old body ready. Everytime I encounter the slightest reference to the uncertainty of life, I am reminded of the teacher in Ecclesiastes who said everything is meaningless, and that the only thing a person should aim for is to fear God and enjoy his or her work. I try to do that everyday and although that is very often a struggle, it has for now, become my guiding light.

 

I am sharing all these with you because you have always been an encouraging and blessing in our lives. People like you make our struggles easier to cope with and keep us on the “straight and narrow”.

 

Thian Hwa

 

—– Original Message —–

From: Ian Teh

To: ‘Theresa Chew’ ; rjcteh@optusnet.com.au

Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2005 3:52 PM

Subject: Malaysian Budget – More Bumi Handouts

 

Leslie Lau’s Singapore Straits Time article was attached, as extracted from Jeff Ooi’s blog (the one which made a comparison with Brendan Pereira’s piece in the NST)