by William Choong
We live in unprecedented times in the early 21st century. At a time when there is increasing prosperity, technological advances and interconnectedness among countries of the world, there are also growing challenges such as religious divisions, a widening rich-poor gap and the threat of climate change. The same contrast can be found in the spiritual dimension.
As the Lord spoke in Isaiah 60:1 – 2, the glory of the Lord will shine on the Church at the End-of-the-Age, such that she will burn and shine for Him with unprecedented glory and power. This glory, however, will come at a time when a deep darkness looms over the land. The light is getting brighter as the darkness is becoming darker. The greatest revival and crisis in history is soon to come. In short, the darkness will grow – but so will the glory of His light!
One manifestation of His glory is the raising of a global worship and prayer movement, focused on 24/7 worship and prayer. Just fifty years ago, the entire notion of unceasing prayer before the throne of God was relatively unheard of (although 24/7 prayer has many precedents through history). In the past 10 to 20 years, however, the Holy Spirit has raised up thousands of new houses of prayer across the world. In 1984, the number of 24/7 houses of prayer totaled less than 25. Today there are more than 10,000 – and most of the growth has been in the past 10 years. According to Mike Bickle, Director of the International House of Prayer at Kansas City, such staggering momentum cannot be due to human ingenuity; rather it has to be the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. This is a definite sign that the Lord is returning soon! 1
Asia has not been left out in God’s grand plan to prepare for the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 42:10, Scripture prophesied that praise and worship would be offered up to Him across the earth. In Asia, houses of prayer are emerging in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and mainland China, to name a few.
Again, this is all part of God’s divine orchestration and we stand at a critical juncture in our nation’s history. The Holy Spirit is visiting His people with power as darkness continues to increase. It is darkest just before the dawn for we know through the Word of God that a great awakening is soon to sweep across the nations. We look with confidence to God’s promise to pour out His Spirit on all flesh to empower His people to bring the gospel to all nations. What a privilege to live in this awesome hour of history!
The Spirit is speaking about this outpouring even as we see this crisis looming. We are already in the early days of the great End-Time outpouring of the Spirit (Joel 2:28 – 32). In this great revival the Spirit will release the miracles seen in the book of Acts and the book of Exodus combined and multiplied on a global scale. The greatest outpouring of the Spirit will be released through the unprecedented worship and prayer that the Lord is raising up at the End-of-the-Age!
The implications of all these events are staggering, to say the least. Christians in Asia have a unique call in the kingdom of God, to build houses of prayer that will pray the very things of His heart and cooperate with His divine will to prepare for Jesus’ return.
We are calling out to all intercessors, worship leaders, musicians, singers and anyone else who has the heart to establish this House for the LORD to join us in keeping this fire burning continuously in Singapore!
References 1 Mike Bickle, “The Call to be a Full-Time Intercessory Missionary,” http://www.ihopkc.org/intercessorymissionaries/
