NECF 40-Day Fast & Prayer - Part 1: Church

August 7 - 11

Consider this: what if the Church were miraculously removed from Malaysia in a moment? Would it be missed or would things carry on without us? Are we bringing revolutionary transformation to this land? Do we have what it takes to influence society and government policy? Can we steer public opinion? These questions and the honest introspection required to answer them will help us to gauge the influence of the Church in our nation.

In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus details His mission on earth when He said:

“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (NASB)

What is the Gospel? Is it just responding to God so that we do not go to hell? Is the Gospel not more than just saving us from hell and meeting our personal needs? Yes, it is much more than that. A large part of the Gospel is taking what God has given and done in us and allowing it to permeate our society. We must stop looking inward and at what it does for us and look instead at what it demands from us. We must begin to look at how we can be a blessing to our nation and an influence to the society we live in.

For far too long we have looked at the Church as a building or a meeting which we attend. Is this what Jesus intended for this group of people He calls His Church? We should all be aware that rather than it being somewhere we go to, the Church itself should be a-GOING! We must break out of our four walls and begin influencing society in the key areas of the Arts & Entertainment, Business, Education, Family, Government, Media and Religion. Rather than being passive and having a retreat mentality, the Church in Malaysia must remember Daniel, Nehemiah and others who used their influence to be role models for their societies. We must lead and be catalysts of change in our society.

All around us, culture is not only influencing but also being influenced. It is being influenced either by the Babylonian degradation of society or the Kingdom of God — there is no in-between. The Church must rise up and this will not happen if we just have more meetings, services and programmes. We must go out into the midst of our culture, engage it and transform it.

Reverend Elisha Satvinder

New Covenant Community