Floodgates 100_Issue1_2019_FINAL

Events
by Michelle MY Chan, PJN5
PRAYER ALTAR
Prayer Co-Ordinator of Forerunners,
the prayer ministry of DUMC
- A Journey
What is a prayer altar?
A new method?
What happens there?
Why do it?
Prior to 2015, anyone talking to me about prayer altars would be
greeted with a quizzical look followed by a polite brushing off. It was
not that I did not know how to pray; nor did I feel anything lacking in
my relationship with God… but in my mind, the topic of prayer altars
(or anything that remotely sounded that holy) was off limits for me.
It belonged to the territory of the “mature aunties and uncles” who
loved spending long hours talking to God, but some of whose lives
were so other-worldly that it seemed strange and incomprehensible.
I did not understand.
CRISIS POINT
However, 2015 was a tumultuous year for Malaysia. Just a year
before, we had lost two planes — one went missing in mid-flight
(MH 370), and another was shot down on foreign soil (MH 17). Most
Malaysians still feel the loss right to this day. Coupled with other highprofile,
unprecedented national events — political and economical
— the morale of the country plunged to new depths. Many ordinary
citizens took it upon themselves to do something for our nation.
We were desperate for a change.
During this time of despair, there was a call for believers to cry out
to God in earnest. It was then that we realised that the destiny of
our nation did not lie with political maestros, governmental giants or
religious masters — it was to be held in the hands of a sovereign God.
As our nation dived further into a tailspin of disasters and turmoil, the
church began to wake up, and took keen interest in the affairs of the
nation. Malaysians were seemingly waking up from a spiritual slumber.
The desire to pray was stirring; not just to pray like business as usual,
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