Pray First, Pray Most by Max Lucado

(Please take some time to read this, I know it's long-winded but I think it's meaningful! ;)

With LOVE,
Xue Ying)


One of our Brazilian church leaders taught me something about earnest prayer. He met Christ during a yearlong stay in a drug-rehab center. His therapy included three one-hour sessions of prayer a day. Patients weren’t required to pray, but they were required to attend the prayer meeting. Dozens of recovering drug addicts spent sixty uninterrupted minutes on their knees.

I expressed amazement and confessed that my prayers were short and formal. He invited (dared?) me to meet him for prayer. I did the next day. We knelt on the concrete floor of our small church auditorium and began to talk to God. Change that. I talked; he cried, wailed, begged, cajoled, and pleaded. He pounded his fists on the floor, shook a fist toward heaven, confessed, and reconfessed every sin. He recited every promise in the Bible as if God needed a reminder. He prayed like Moses.

When God determined to destroy the Israelites for their golden calf stunt, “Moses begged the Lord his God and said, ‘Lord, don’t let your anger destroy your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with your great power and strength. Don’t let the people of Egypt say, “The Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt for an evil purpose.” . . . Remember the men who served you—Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. You promised with an oath to them’” (Ex. 32:11–13 NCV).

Moses on Mount Sinai is not calm and quiet, with folded hands and a serene expression. He’s on his face one minute, in God’s the next. He’s on his knees, pointing his finger, lifting his hands. Shedding tears. Shredding his cloak. Wrestling like Jacob at Jabbok for the lives of his people. And God heard him! “So the Lord changed his mind and did not destroy the people as he had said he might” (v.14 NCV).

Our passionate prayers move the heart of God. “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16). Prayer does not change God’s nature; who he is will never be altered. Prayer does, however, impact the flow of history. God has wired his world for power, but he calls on us to flip the switch.

Most of us struggle with prayer. We forget to pray, and when we remember, we hurry through prayers with hollow words. Our minds drift; our thoughts scatter like a covey of quail. Why is this? Prayer requires minimal effort. No location is prescribed. No particular clothing is required. No title or office is stipulated. Yet you’d think we were wrestling a greased pig.

Speaking of pigs, Satan seeks to interrupt our prayers. Our battle with prayer is not entirely our fault. The devil knows the stories; he witnessed the angel in Peter’s cell and the revival in Jerusalem. He knows what happens when we pray. “Our weapons have power from God that can destroy the enemy’s strong places” (2 Cor. 10:4 NCV).

Satan is not troubled when Max writes books or prepares sermons, but his knobby knees tremble when Max prays. Satan does not stutter or stumble when you walk through church doors or attend committee meetings. Demons aren’t flustered when you read this book. But the walls of hell shake when one person with an honest heart and faithful confession says, “Oh, God, how great thou art.”

Satan keeps you and me from prayer. He tries to position himself between us and God. But he scampers like a spooked dog when we move forward. So let’s do.

Let’s pray, first. Traveling to help the hungry? Be sure to bathe your mission in prayer. Working to disentangle the knots of injustice? Pray. Weary with a world of racism and division? So is God. And he would love to talk to you about it.

Let’s pray, most. Did God call us to preach without ceasing? Or teach without ceasing? Or have committee meetings without ceasing? Or sing without ceasing? No, but he did call us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17).

Did Jesus declare: My house shall be called a house of study? Fellowship? Music? A house of exposition? A house of activities? No, but he did say, “My house will be called a house of prayer” (Mark 11:17 NIV).

No other spiritual activity is guaranteed such results. “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action” (Matt. 18:19 MSG). He is moved by the humble, prayerful heart.

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ.
(Colossians 4:2–3 NLT)

God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you created all that exists, and you keep it running through your infinite wisdom and boundless power. Yet you invite me to come to you in prayer, boldly and with the expectation that you will hear me and answer me. Teach me, Lord, to take full advantage of this amazing privilege, especially in regard to reaching others with your love. Give me a heart for those who have yet to experience the fullness of your grace, and prompt me to pray for them and for their welfare, both in this world and in eternity. Lord, bring me to the front lines of this battle. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

From Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2010) Max Lucado

2nd Shortest verse in bible : Remember Lot’s wife.
Luke 17: 32


Who is Lot? and what happened to His wife?
Read Genesis 19: 12 – 26
In short, the angel told them not to look back yet she looked back, and became a pillar of salt.


so why remember Lot's wife??
Looking back will hinder you from coming into your future

So God don't want us to look back at 4 things :

1.) Old Sin which is forgiven

- When God forgive, He really forgets. If God forget, you must forget too!

Isaiah 43: 25

“I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake
and will never think of them again.

²⁵ 惟 有 我 为 自 己 的 缘 故 涂 抹 你 的 过 犯 ； 我 也 不 记 念 你 的 罪 恶 。

2.) Old Defeat

Only the one, who never try, will not taste defeat！

Proverb 24:16

¹⁶ for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,

Psalms 37:23-24

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way. {24} Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand.

even the righteous will fall, yet God is uphold him with His hand!　it is okay to fall or fail, for God is still in control!

3.) Old conflict / argument that make you bitter ( who’s right and who’s wrong)

There is no perfect people, family, friends, or even pastor or church. In a Imperfect world, there is sure hurts through maybe by words or action of other.

so what to do if there are hurts?

Don’t nurse it, don’t curse it, don’t rehearsal it, release it and God will dispose it.

Importantly, don't complain about it! because God dislike complainer

Numbers 11:1

And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. (KJV).

so what should we do?

Number 11:2
When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down. (NIV)

Get back to God!

‎"If you complain, you're going to remain; but if you praise, you'll be raised!"

4.) Past victories

- God is looking at now! What are you doing? Not really the past.

- You might be once a leader, once someone who served God, yet now what are you doing?

- are your victories making you proud ?

Deuteronomy 8:14

then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

James 4:6

"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble”

So now , if TODAY is what God is looking at, let us leave our past to God and move forward with Him! :)
jiayou!! :)

Lord, We want to love like how you love!

我们爱因神先爱我们！

Jesus, teach us how to love like you love!
We wanna be more like you!



Let's jiayou together to love the not-so-lovable ones, our family members and our friends!
Princesses! 我们一起加油!!!!!
Put Him infront of us, so the world can see our love! He's our love!!!!
Everything's gonna be alright as long as he's our guide!!!! hehehe! Jiayou princesses! (((:

Father God, we pray to you;

Father God, strengthen us in Your will for we're weak without You.

Father God, unite us as one just like You, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Father God, shut all evildoers' plans and actions from Your dear children.

Father God, we give thanks to You for Your every grace to us.

Father God, let all Your children spread Your love around their families, friends, school, workplace and every single place.

Father God, teach us to love like how You love us!

In Jesus's name, and all God's children say, AMEN!!!!!

The Greatest Love

You know our Heavenly Father never fails to answers our prayers. Just these two months, we have two new Princesses with us. How great is our LORD! Hallelujah! With faith, we didn't stop praying for our 12th princess, and just two days ago, Yiting's friend, Jing Hui accepted Christ! All of us were so happy and excited for her, rejoicing was one of our greatest points. HEHEHE. :p

“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

--Hebrews 11:11 NIV

Faith is trusting what the eye can’t see.

Eyes see the prowling lion. Faith sees Daniel’s angel.

Eyes see storms. Faith sees Noah’s rainbow.

Your eyes see your faults. Your faith sees your Savior.

Your eyes see your guilt. Your faith sees his blood.


Many times what our eyes can't see, but our faith can see and knows what God will prepare for us. We have a belief and that is, God will always prepare the best for us, every single little thing, be it our friends, families, future spouse, education, workplace and the list goes on.

So Princesses, let's continue to do things with our faith and not with our eyes! :)

In this world, we are His warriors, in His Kingdom, we are His lovely Princesses!

I thank God for His unfailing love towards us. For His love is unconditionally and so amazing. Jesus died on the cross for us, to give us the grace for us to be healed and have eternal freedom. In this world, there's no other could replace the love He has given to us.

Sooooooooooooo! I believe that we are gonna save more souls in the coming days, so PRINCESSES! get yourselves fully armed with His words and love, to conquer the world!

Together we pray, satan's troops gonna all fall down! AMEN!

Get Your Eye Off Yourself

By Max Lucado

“Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” Philippians 2:4, NASB

What’s the cure for selfishness?

Get your self out of your eye by getting your eye off yourself. Quit staring at that little self and focus on your great Savior . . .

Focus on the encouragement in Christ, the consolation of Christ, the love of Christ, the fellowship of the Spirit, the affection and compassion of heaven.

Let's always learn from here and there, everywhere around us. Be it in school, at workplace, at home or even outside. Let us all have a generous heart, like Jesus, to shower love and care for the people we come across.

Let us learn to stop living for ourselves but for Jesus. Let us share the joy to live like Him!

AMEN! :)