An Evening With Covenant Pastors

1 August 2023 2 Comments

I attended a Covenant Pastors fellowship recently. This was not my first time experiencing the gracious hospitality and welcome in the home of Pastor Justin. He has been doing this for many many years. Long ago, I was a regular, until the pressures of ministry drew me away. Now that I have stepped down from pastoring I found myself gravitating to the fellowship. Of course, it is because I have more time and less responsibilities now. I even bring my wife these days to this and other pastors’ fellowship. 

Covenant Pastors is a fellowship of pastors and ministers from church and marketplace that has as its main focus fellowship, bonding and ministry to one another. They also focus on Singapore and the nations, and the wider Body of Christ. The fellowship is led by Rev Amos Jayarathnam, a humble but bold prophet, whom I got acquainted with in the late 1970’s. We were from World Revival Prayer Fellowship. He is the real thing, a prophet: authentic and gentle, but a lion when he delivers the word of the Lord. 

Pastor Justin Leong and his wife cooked up a sumptuous dinner for about 25 of us. It was pleasant to meet and get to know other ministers. I sat beside pastor Clare and she shared about her ministry with another church. Then we sang and worshipped the Lord (always led by Pastor Isaiah). I always loved this part – the anointing of worship helped me become keenly aware of God’s presence and always lifted up my spirit.  Pastor Beulah had a vision of a high priest with the gem stones on his breast-piece, and those gemstones had our faces reflected in them. 

Jacob Sim, a prophet and an effective marketplace minister shared a word in season from his heart. It was about how to reach the omega generation by looking from God’s PERSPECTIVE, and facilitating PERSONAL ENCOUNTERS with God, and POSITIONING.

Amos then shared with us stories of his ministry in Russia and Estonia, and prophesying over Russia, and in the spirit, over Putin. His testimonies were astounding and inspiring. I never get tired of the stories of his prophetic encounters. 

Pastor Henry then prophesied over me, and while he was prophesying, I felt a fire and heat rising up within my belly, and he too was moved by the Spirit. Later when we broke up into groups to pray for Ukraine & Russia, Singapore, and the Singapore church, I went to Henry and shared what I experienced while he was prophesying over me. There and then, Pastor Andrew shared what he saw. He saw the mantle of Isaiah 11:2 upon me: the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and counsel. I received all their words with joy and reverence. I was indeed surrounded by prophetic ministers all around me. I will sit with these words before the Lord and continue to wait on Him. I left the fellowship that night in animated conversation with my wife, and walked with energy to the Tanah Merah MRT station. I pondered, “What does all these utterances point to?”

Have you been ministered to by prophets or prophetic ministers? Share your experience with us in the comment box.

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MFIS Equip Seminar: Prophetic Ministry

23 February 2023 Leave a comment

The Ministers Fellowship International, Singapore (MFIS) Equip Seminar was held on Thursday, 23rd February 2023 at Covenant Vision Christian Church and the participants were blessed by the hospitality of this church that worshipped at Cemtex Industrial Building.

The MFIS leadership has put considerable thought into the programs that they offered. Their goals of 2023 were to build the 5-fold equipping tracks, form 5 ministry equipper teams, and develop a 5-level ministry training framework. This Equip Seminar focuses on the often misunderstood and underappreciated ascension gift of the prophet, the Cinderella of today’s church. 

After praise and worship, Rev Calvin Lee gave a devotional meditation about what we can do to flourish like a palm tree as a minister. This message he gave never gets out of date. It is a constant reminder that busy ministers in Singapore need to hear again and again. Calvin reminded us of the recent honest confession of Jacinda Adern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, who announced her reason for resignation, “I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple.” Thankfully, when Christian ministers do not have enough in the tank, they do not have to resign. They can go to the Lord’s presence and receive fresh power.

He Gave Some To Be Prophets

The devotional word imparted a tenderness and humility in our hearts toward the Lord. We could feel God inviting us to draw near and keep close to Him. It was the entrée that whetted our appetite for the next speaker, Rev Dr Amos Jayarathnam, my favourite prophet, a local Singaporean that God raised as a prophet to the nations. He delivered the burden of the Lord he always carried in his heart. I have heard his heart cry many times when he preached in the church I serve, and in other meetings. THE CHURCH MUST LEARN TO HEAR THE LORD ACCURATELY AND OBEY HIM UNCONDITIONALLY.

He talked about how God’s people are of different levels of faith. Some remain on the land content to have experienced the miracle of five thousand fed by a boy’s lunch. But there are those whose faith are like the disciples’ who went on the boat to the sea and left the safe and dry land. Then there are the few who like Jesus, walked on water, living in the spiritual realm where winds and waves, depths and sea monsters does not bother them. Finally, there are those who like Peter are willing to get out of the safety of the boat and take risks, and fail forward, to reach the level of faith that walks on water. He shared some inspiring stories of radical faith that landed him in great danger, strange adventures, and standing before Presidents to deliver God’s word. 

He bemoaned the two weaknesses of the Singapore church. First, the church’s inconsistency in hearing God accurately and obeying Him. Second, the church’s weakness in demonstrating the full authority and power of God. However, he believes that there is grace and favor upon the Singapore church to turn around and respond to God’s invitation. The message stirred my soul and I could sense God’s invitation to me to kneel and pray with an open Bible, and to seek God. I am sure God was stoking the fire of love in many other ministers too.

Round Table Discussion on Prophetic Ministry

The next session was interesting with the leaders of Ministry Equipping Team(MET) representing the ascension ministries (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher) sharing from different perspectives in a panel discussion about the practice of prophecy in the church. The discussion covered the fears of pastors, untrained prophetic ministers, accountability and biblical boundaries, gifted but immature ministers, restoration of wounded prophetic members and other matters. I loved this session because it answered questions, probed problems, suggested solutions, and promised hope and development. The discussion was practical, balanced and enriching.

After lunch we worshipped and interceded and I felt the presence of the Lord and was refreshed and washed with the Spirit. I saw younger pastors from different churches lead everyone in intercession for the churches of Singapore – revival among young people, marriage and family life, soul winning and discipling churches, and anointing on ministries of preaching and teaching in the churches. 

After a heavy lunch and prayer session, my attention was beginning to fade as Rev Dr Francis Khoo took the pulpit. He looked young for one in his mid-seventies. As he preached on, I got more absorbed and captivated as he weaved his life and faith story into how God loves us and have a plan and destiny for each and every one even at our conception in our mother’s womb. We are Called, Appointed and Anointed. His story was encouraging, whole-hearted, and inspired my faith and hope in God’s sovereignty in the midst of the world’s increasingly uncertain and perilous future. 

I could see that these seminars have been planned with deliberate and intentional steps towards nurturing and encouraging the growth of the five-fold ministry in the church so that they will equip church members to do the work of soul-winning and discipling.

If you wish to catch up with an earlier MFIS event click HERE.

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Tabernacle of Holiness: meeting the pastors

1 June 2021 Leave a comment

They are a five minutes walk away from my home church, so I parked outside my church and took a quick walk to the Citiraya Centre, to the sixth floor where the Tabernacle of Holiness gathered for worship. The Tabernacle is a Pentecostal church with a track record of raising prophetic people with a passion for evangelism and missions. I went there on Sunday morning to fulfil a guest preaching engagement. 

STRONG PROPHETIC MANTLE

Churches tend to take after their leaders, and the founder of this church is Prophet Amos Jayarathnam, a man of God with a validated prophetic office and apostolic reach. A humble, holy man very gifted in personal prophecy and used by God to speak to Presidents, to political, church and business leaders. It is therefore not surprising that their leaders and congregants have stronger than normal prophetic awareness and exercise of the gift of prophecy. In fact one of their leaders, Jacob Pillay discovered, developed and was released into prophetic ministry during the decade of being a marketplace leader in the church. Amos is now the senior overseer and besides the churches he fathers, he also oversees a prophetic-pastors fellowship called Covenant Pastors. 

Amos and I drank from the same spiritual source. We were fellow participants of a revival that began at the Dunearn Technical Secondary School. That revival morphed into a church called World Revival Prayer Fellowship, and Amos and myself drank from this powerful stream of living waters. Many pastors, missionaries and full-time workers were awakened and called into service during the revival. Amos and I were two of them. 

MASKED BUT NOT BOUND

We were smack in the middle of covid-19 phase 2 (heightened restrictions) and I was informed that I would have to preach with a mask on and there would be less than 50 people on-site with the service streamed online on YouTube. I felt comforted that there would be a live audience. It is much better than preaching to empty chairs. In a sense, preaching is a dialogue. It is reflexive. You say some things and the audience react with facial expressions and body language, and if needed, you respond by adjusting what you had originally planned to say. 

I found that people were listening and I felt my message was getting through and touching hearts. I spoke about the Holy Spirit as our faithful and helpful friend, who shares his wisdom with us, and also his quieter less glamourous but essential ministry of edification, comfort and encouragement. I was pleased to be informed later that the people felt blessed by the message. 

MEETING THE PASTORS

It was a joy to meet with the Senior Pastor Xavier Dawes. He is a pastor through and through, immediately making me feel comfortable, and able to draw out my thoughts and feelings, and give affirmation and encouragement. It is good that every congregation have a good mix of different ministry-gifts. Christ gifts to the church includes apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Eph 4). Having a pastor in leadership establishes stability, and calms restless souls so that they comfortably feed well and drink well of God’s green pastures and still waters. 

Senior Pastor Xavier Dawes (L), myself and pastor Isaiah Mahendran (R)

I also met their administrative pastor Isaiah Mahendran, who has been co-ordinating all the Covenant Pastors fellowship meetings. Gifted in administration and with a strong worship anointing. When he is around things run smoothly, and when he leads the worship among pastors, we feel the presence of God. I think that together with Amos, Xavier, and Jacob they form a strong team.  I left the church after the service ended feeling blessed and privileged to have the opportunity to preach in this church.

I remembered I preached there about ten years ago and wrote about my experience and observations about my visit. You can read more about my earlier visit and their faith and missionary zeal HERE.

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Personal Prophecy from Amos Jayarathnam

29 December 2020 2 Comments

A dinner invitation to John & Martha Johney’s home? I was told prophet Amos Jayarathnam would be present too. Wonderful …great. Furthermore, I used to enjoy his late dad’s and mum’s hospitality. Even better, Amos will probably pray and prophesy over each of us. 

AMOS JAYARATHNAM, A PROPHET

Amos has the marks of an authentic new covenant prophet: holy, godly character, Word-based, humble, tried and tested and found faithful in years of ministry and hardship, and many of his prophecies have substantial accuracy. This I can attest to, for he has ministered in our church over many years. He is one of the few friends of World Revival Prayer Fellowship of whom we can say, “kaki lang”, which translated from Hokkien dialect, “one of us”.

John had invited Paul and Miriam Chan, my wife Jenny, my daughter Elaine, and myself. Dinner was a feast of flavours, colours, textures, smells and the taste was plain delicious. The fish briyani  was the first I have ever seen or tasted, and I liked it. Martha packed some briyani in an ice-cream tub for me to bring home, and I am now writing on that energy because I had it for lunch a few hours ago. 

Amazing and amusing stories of faith and God’s interventions in the politics of Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and laughter peppered the gulps of water, roasted chicken, chapatis, curries, and mango salad. 

After dessert, the gear shifted with Holy Communion and when Amos started to pray and prophesy over each one present including the domestic helper. We recorded our prophecies on our voice recorder app in our phones. This is one of the advantages of mobile phones: we can record and later transcribe our personal prophecies, and this is important, because our memory usually misses out on important details. Personal prophecies need to be prayerfully assessed, meditated upon for the Holy Spirit to throw further light on them, and interpreted in the light of God’s word and his past dealings in our life.

WRITE, WRITE, WRITE

This is the umpteenth time over many years that I have received this prophecy, and I am glad that with my recent retirement, I have already begun to write more regularly on my blog. At least I have taken some steps to obey the Lord. I was too busy earlier with studies and ministry burdens to write much, but now there is more space for me to do so. 

The prophecy to me is that there is a lot I can write about: manuals, teachings, messages to the Body of Christ. That writing is timeless and can bless God’s people of different generations. God’s riches in my life can be released to bless, lead people to truth and free people from lies. Giving the balanced Word can renew people’s conscience according to the true knowledge of God and not according to the world’s values and expectations. 

I like the part where the prophetic word urges that I do it slowly, not under pressure of deadlines, but according to the inspiration and motivation that the Spirit gives. I believe that discipline is important, but I have been in the place where discipline is futile, because there is no sparkplug. So I liked this bit of instruction to me about when, how and what to write.

The prophecy encouraged me to model myself after apostle John in the island of Patmos, living in solitude and prayer, giving God the space to grant revelation and inspiration, so that I could write to instruct and inspire hope in God’s people.  This restfulness, focus and inspiration need to permeate my writing. As an introvert, this suits me fine. My prayer room, my home, the parks nearby can be my Patmos. 

Do pray for me as I seek to obey the Lord. He has stirred my desire to write and I pray he will be in the front and back and center of all my writing – whether in this blog, in future e-books or in other social media like Instagram. 

Have you received personal prophecy from others before? What do you think of them? What has been your experience?

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