God's Divine Timeline
Sherine Chong
Spring 2018, Unity
Since the Bible College of Wales has a rich and deep history of intercession that changed the world, I thought maybe God wanted to teach me how to pray for nations during my time at the college, but there was nothing of that sort.
God had a different plan. My time at the BCW was a period of rest and drawing near to Him with greater intimacy.
It wasn’t easy after graduating from the college as I didn’t get any direction or blueprint from God. I heard many stories of breakthroughs – some more immediate than others, but for me, it was a journey. I knew that God’s divine timeline surpasses all our ideas and expectations. I had to go back to work the day after landing in Singapore. And honestly, I struggled a little as I was unsure of the next step.
Things at work seemed to be the same. It was around that time when my co-workers in the US had started an intercession group and so I joined them “just to check things out”. The first meeting felt awkward as I was the only one from Asia joining a group of believers that I did not know personally over a video call. After the meeting, I asked the Lord if I needed to do this every week.
As time passed, the group also grew smaller and sometimes there were only two or three of us, it wasn’t particularly encouraging. In addition, I had to wake up extra early to meet them! But soon after, the Lord put a distinct, unexpected joy in my heart after the meetings. When this happened 2 or 3 weeks in a row, I knew my being in the meetings pleased Him. So, I continued joining without further question.
What I didn’t expect was that the Lord would use a secular platform to teach me how to pray and change my perspective on prayer. I didn’t resonate with prayer when I was in BCW, and I thought I was probably not called to pray or intercede like the other amazing intercessors.
But that is not true. Every believer can and should pray, and prayers offered in faith are powerful!
I began to witness the power of God after 3 months of praying together with my co-workers. God answered our prayers, no matter how big or small. It broke some of my old mindset – none of us prayed “like a pro” and yet God showed up. I learnt that God honours simple and sincere prayers with childlike faith, and us being faithful in the small things.
God reminded us not to despise small beginnings – from a humble start of just having two or three of us, God has added many faithful brothers and sisters to the group. God has knitted our hearts together with such sweet and deep fellowship, though I have not met most of them in person physically.
This prayer group has been the foundation and anchor of many new beginnings and works of the Kingdom in the marketplace. Through this prayer group, God also opened a new door that has connected me with other believers from different companies in my industry to serve and pray together.
I work in the tech industry. I truly believe God has a redemptive plan for each industry and He is moving powerfully to awaken His remnant to His purpose. Last year, my company hosted a 12-hour worship and prayer meeting in one of our offices in the US, and many believers across different tech companies in the Bay Area and beyond came together as ONE to worship! It was powerful. This also sparked and inspired other tech companies to host prayer and worship in their premises.
Fast forward to 2020.
With offices closed globally, God is still on the move. Instead of the physical 12-hour worship and prayer in our office, we had an online 24-hour global prayer and worship meeting for the tech industry that spanned nations such as US, UK, Mozambique and Singapore. Companies, churches and ministries, from Google to Facebook, Microsoft to Amazon, IHOP to Bethel – were joined in unity, hand in hand, lifting up the Name of Jesus.
I am still in awe about how God has given me this privilege to be a part of and to witness the prayer movement that is happening in my industry. Out of this 24-hour Pray for Tech, many other prayer communities are being birthed across the globe.
We cannot afford not to pray if we want to break new ground and to see revival break out in the marketplace God has put us in.
It’s been two years since I’ve graduated from the Bible College of Wales, and batch 6 will always be the best batch for me. God has handpicked and put us in the batch that is the best for us individually and collectively with a divine purpose.
The theme for my cohort was Unity, and it is truly beautiful to see God’s children across different industries and companies coming together in unity to love one another and to honour Jesus. But, we must steward what the Lord has given to us.