“We gave way to it and were driven along.” Act 27:15 NIV
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Don’t drift. Typically we react to a crisis in the same three ways as the sailors on board Paul’s ship: “The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along.”

The first thing life’s storms tend to do is make us drift. We lose sight of our goals and forget where we’re headed. We ignore our values and get off course. Because they weren’t equipped with compasses and the stars were obscured by the storm, the sailors were in total darkness.

Which raises the question: How do you characteristically react in a dark situation when you can’t see the stars and you don’t have a compass? You drift. You go where the waves carry you. You let your problems batter you and toss you back and forth. In life, strong currents can discourage you and make you wonder, “What’s the use? Why fight it?” So you end up going with the flow.

But now’s the time to do the opposite! Strengthen your grip of faith: “Hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful…Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded…persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (Heb 10:23,35-36 NIV).

Note the phrase: “He who promised is faithful.” Question: Has God ever failed you? Answer: No! And He won’t now. “Hold unswervingly to the hope we profess…he who promised is faithful” (v. 23 NIV), and He will bring you through this crisis.

- http://www.jentezenfranklin.org/what-to-do-in-a-crisis-1/ -

Did you know the term “Christians” mean Christ-ones? When Jesus renamed Simon as Peter, He has changed Simon’s identity to carry the meaning of “the rock.”

Simon who was renamed Peter did not change overnight; it took him awhile to live up to his new name. The account of Peter’s life displayed a hasty fisherman who was like shifting sand but God worked through him.

In the book of Acts, we read how God worked in and through Peter and he established the church of the Lord in Antioch (Acts 11: 26). Peter truly became a rock where God built His church upon and the first disciples were called Christians.
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When we receive Christ in to our lives, we embraced a new identity of being called a Christian, Christ-ones. This new name gives us hope that though we may not live up to the likeness of Christ-ones, we are in a journey where our faithful God will finish the good work He has begun in us when we accepted Him into our hearts.

Matthew 16: 18 NLT
Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means 'rock'), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

- John W.

There is a great difference between having “company” and having a friend in the house. The friend we can treat as a member of the family, but company must be entertained.

God is not satisfied until there exists between Him and His people a relaxed informality that requires no artificial stimulation. The true friend of God may sit in His presence for long periods in silence. Complete trust needs no words of assurance. Such words have long ago been spoken and the adoring heart can safely be still before God.

​Unquestionably the highest privilege granted to man on earth is to be admitted into the circle of the friends of God. Nothing is important enough to be allowed to stand in the way of our relation to God. Nothing in heaven or earth or hell can separate us from the love of God; we should see to it that nothing on earth shall separate us from God’s friendship.

Thought
Have we entered the circle of God's friends? Some of us remain acquaintances. We have not yet become friends. His invitation to warm friendship is extended to us.

Prayer
Lord, it staggers the mind that I can enter into friendship with You the eternal God.

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:23

- https://www.cmalliance.org/devotions/tozer?id=614 -

In a rural area of North America, rattlesnakes were making an unwanted appearance. The villagers were scared by the sudden increase in the snake population, and some people even began to move away. Other more enterprising citizens began using the rattlesnakes’ leather skins to manufacture bags and belts. It turned out that the diamondback rattlesnake, which had previously been such a pest, ended up contributing greatly to the development of that area’s economy.

And so it often is that in the midst of situations that appear to be defeats, God can use that very thing to bring something better. We are surrounded daily by problems and unwelcome occurrences. However, God always has a plan. No matter how horrible a situation may appear, we have a God who is mighty and He plans good things for us. When things don’t go as planned and when dreams are torn, He may very well be preparing something better.

Romans 8:28
We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

​- Anonymous

While imprisoned in Rome, the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian church. He wrote to extend an assuring hope in their hopeless and broken world. Despite Paul’s circumstance, he was able to write, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair…”
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He wrote to remind the Philippian church that despite the hardship and trials that life can offer, he pointed that God, who is their true source is unshakable. He will not let His children perish. 

Whilst trying to live a Christ – honoring life and encountering hardship at the same time is sure fire for discouragement and frustration, Paul sets an example for the Phillippian church that he has drawn his strength from the One unshakable source and Paul is empowered to keep going even when he couldn’t foresee the solution of his own circumstance.

Is the Lord using a seemingly indestructible challenge in your life to produce perseverance in your faith and work? Let Him produce in you a character and through character, hope. The Lord, He is One true unshakable source and He is in control.

2 Corinthians 4: 8 - 9
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

- Irene Soon

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost (Matthew 18:12 NLT)?

You are the one. God’s grace found you when you were astray. That is what makes His grace so amazing. Every breath we take is because of His grace, and on the day we draw our last breath, it’s His grace that carries us to eternity.

No matter who you are, God’s grace is enough. Regardless of your past, God’s grace is enough. Despite the obstacles, God’s grace is enough.

There are days you will awake and feel like what you have to give is just not enough. The truth is, sometimes it may not be. But what you can give is your best knowing that where you end, God begins, and it’s in our weakness that His strength shines through.

Let the promise of 2 Corinthians 12:9 set you free today. You don’t have to be enough because His grace is always enough!

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
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HEAR THE SOUND . . . TODAY PRAY:
Heavenly Father, I stand in awe of Your Word, in awe of Your great love, in awe of the gift of Your Son. My soul waits for You, God. My heart shall rejoice, as I have trusted in Your holy name.

- http://www.jentezenfranklin.org/amazing-grace

​A friend asked, “What would you say is your biggest problem?” I simply replied, “the guy who stares at me every morning I look at the mirror, myself.” I’m referring to my own desires, what about me’s remark, myself, my selfish carnal desires to do things my own way, not God’s way.

In James 4: 1, it was stated, where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? The word “desires” speaks of our self serving carnal desires. James warns us that these selfish desires will destroy our sweet communion with God (James 4:4) and will cause war and fights.

James then put it forward to us in James 4:7, “Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James then continued to encourage us to draw ourselves near to God and purify our double minded minds. It was clear, James place an emphasis for readers to submit and draw near to God as the first go to actions. Where God is placed first, our motives will be set right but if we were to put ourselves first, war and fight will surely follow as we have opened up a loophole for devil to continue on his temptation campaigns on our double-minded mind.

Draw strength from the Lord by submitting and drawing near to Him. Let us not be double-minded, desiring both evil and good but rather focus our attention on the Lord in moments of temptation and selfish desires. Submit to the Lord and put Him first.

James 4: 1
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?
 
- John W.

Have you ever tried to button up your shirt in a hurry and got the buttons all in the wrong holes? A new year brings new adventures, challenges and a new season. It's also a chance for us to get our top button in the right place, then all other buttons easily fall into the right spot.

We may wonder what this new year might bring and the decisions we'll have to make. But before rushing into the next step, why not ask God for grace, for wisdom and for His presence to be with you.

​Make Him your number one "button". He never fails. Consider and be thankful for the last year. This way, you will know you're walking in His purpose for your life!

Psalms 27:4 One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

- Jo Voon -

Recently I heard a preacher echo a truth that God’s been sharing with me, about pain and trials. Sometimes I wonder why God doesn’t cushion me in pillows and feathers and puppies.

​Sometimes I wonder why pain even exists. But I’d be lying if I told you that I come out of trials worse off than when I entered them. I’d be lying if I told you that my character doesn’t grow from the experience. The truth is this - victory in my situation may not look like instant healing. Victory might look more like choosing joy in the trial. Because that would be spitting in the face of the enemy. And as our preacher put it - our default then becomes resilience. We win when we choose Christ - when we choose joy, love, faith.
 
James 1:2-4 ‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.’
 
Like a valuable but hardened rock, we must go through furnace in order to be refined. (Psalm 66:10 ‘For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver)
 
So instead of asking God to take the pain and trials away from me, I’m praying - may I learn everything I possibly can throughout this trial, so that I can be mature and complete, lacking nothing. 

- Rebecca Ng