In ancient Israel, there is a clear distinction between a good shepherd and a hired hand. A hired hand only goes as far as tending to the needs of the sheep for the day.

A good shepherd tends to his sheep above what is required of his duties. He enjoys the time spent with his sheep and he answers to the faintest cry of each lamb. He comforts each lamb and knows their livelihood depends solely on his protection and provision. A good shepherd has deep knowledge for each of his sheep’s characters and his care is faithfully abiding.
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In John 10: 14 – 27 Jesus refers Himself as the Good Shepherd, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me…” Just like the sheep, we are able to place our helpless self to the capable care of our Good Shepherd, Jesus. How wonderful it is to know that we are not sheep with shepherd and with The Good Shepherd beside us, we are no longer helpless. We are able to rest in the promise of His sustaining care in each trial and season we face.

The Lord knows our livelihood depends solely on his protection, love and provision. Try our Good Shepherd, he is faithfully abiding.

John 10: 14 - 16
I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me - just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

- Irene Soon

Do you wake up with a heavy feeling; constantly worrying about things? Do you feel alone with your thoughts as if no one is there for you? No one understands you?

​Have you stopped for a second and think that these thoughts would make us susceptible to the devil’s lies? We tend to trust our heart conditions and let it dictate our feelings.
 
Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, who can understand it. Our loving Father knows of our human trait and when we do not guard our hearts, it magnifies our problem to the point of exhaustion. In Deuteronomy 30:6, God assures us that He will never leave you nor forsake you. He also says that not to worry, He will take good care of you (Matthew 6:26-30). The Word of our Lord uphold the highest credibility as He is a God who doesn’t lie. When He assures us that He will never, He stands by His words to never forsake us.
 
If we human could place our utmost trust to one or few people in our lives to never forsake us and to always be there for us when we are in the lowest valleys, how much more have we belittled our Lord who is capable of an everlasting and consistent care upon us. He loves you so very much, dear friends. Let us reset and trust a little more in our Lord.
 
John 3:16
For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

- Annie Pisca

How did God perform the miracle of the Red Sea? By shutting His people in on every opportune side so that there was no way out but by the supernatural  way. The Egyptians were behind them, the sea was in front of them, the mountains were on both sides of them.

There was no escape but from above.The devil can wall us in, but he cannot roof us over as we can always get out at the top. Our difficulties are but God's challenges, and many times He makes them so hard that we must get above them or go under.

During such trial, it presents us with highest possibilities to build the muscles of our faith. We are pushed by the very emergency into God's best inteference. Friends, this is God's hour. If you will rise to meet it you will get such a hold upon Him that you will not be in extremities again; or if you are, you will learn to call them not extremities, but opportunities.

Like Jacob, you will go forth from that night at Peniel, no longer called Jacob, but as victorious Israel. 

2 Corinthians 4:9
We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.

- Writing of A Simpson

The goodness of God endures continually.”- Psalm 52:1

Good things show up in our lives in many ways: friends and family, health, a roof overhead and food on the table, the enjoyment we receive from music, nature, books and so on. The Bible teaches us that God is the giver of these blessings. “God’s gift to us is the happiness we get from our food and drink and from the work we do. “Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created the heavens.”

These gifts however, as wonderful as they are, are just a small illustration of God’s love. God didn’t have to send His Son; and Jesus didn’t have to lay down His life for our sakes, but He did, and as a result, we are eligible to receive forgiveness of sins and the assurance of an eternity in God’s loving presence.

Without Jesus’ sacrifice, without His sufferings on the cross, without His death, without His resurrection and triumph over the grave, we would not have the promise of everlasting life. Let us take some time to thank God for His gift of salvation. Thank Him for these eternal gifts of forgiveness and redemption.

“Thank You, Lord for sending Your Son, Jesus, to bear the punishment for all my mistakes and shortcomings. Please keep my heart, mind, and life open to You, so that I always remember Your daily goodness in my life.” Amen.

James 1:17 ESV
​Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

- Anonymous 

Dear blessed friends and families, 

We pray into the year of 2021 that it may bring you abundant favors and beautiful beginnings. May you continue to bring the Lord as the center of your 2021 and let Him lead you in all of your plans.

May you receive fullness in health, joy and love in abundance. Together, we proclaim the blessings of the Lord and may our cups overflow to bless others around us and in this, lead them to the Victory of Christ Jesus. 

In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

Dear blessed ones, 

As the year is coming to a closing, we celebrate the joys, tears, losses, gains, blessings and sorrows with a grateful heart to the Lord. We thank Him that He has brought us through another year which has been different that any other year we are used to encounter. Nevertheless, we are children of God who believes the best is yet to come. Let us always praise the name of the Lord through good and bad, through darkness and light for He sustains us through it all. 

We wish you a blessed season of favours, abundance, joy and health to everyone around. Merry Christmas 2020. 

John1: 16
From His abundance, we have all received one gracious blessing after another

Jesus loves you.

- Hopeful Heart team

As we have just celebrated Thanksgiving recently, let it not only be a practice on that one day. A life of gratitude expands goodness that the Lord has provided to us, a smile breeds another and a thankful speech delights another soul. 
  
The Bible shows the miracle of giving thanks when Jesus faced a lack. Jesus did not fret when He did not have enough to feed the multitudes. He did not heed the requests of the disciples to send the multitudes away instead, He gave thanks to His Father in Heaven for the little He had and we knew the rest of the story about the miraculous multiplication that left twelve basketful of food and the 5000 people fully fed.

In another words, Jesus did not listen to the negativity of the disciples, he did not walk away from the trials, instead He focuses on what He already has and He gave thanks. The Bible did not record any lengthy prayers either. Everything God did, He does it with purpose and faith in His Father’s love for Him.

Let us embrace a thankful and grateful approach to all lacks, stir ourselves to praise the all-knowing Lord and avoid complaining or murmuring. Surely, He will not let His children fade away.
 
Psalms 100: 4
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

- John W.

Some of the loneliest people in the world are those who are constantly surrounded by others, yet they feel that no one truly knows or understands them. They may even have an abundance of material things yet the loneliness they feel still stings. 

We may have a spouse or dear friends who love us, but even they will never know or understand us completely. We may climb the heights of success or accomplishment, yet there is no one who can fully share the emotion of that moment when we finally reach our goal. Even some of our dearest friend could be strangers to our supreme joy and don't always understand our most bitter pain. Some tears are always shed alone. No other human being can ever enter the deepest recesses of our mind or soul.

God Himself is the answer, the fulfillment to these deepest recesses. He who made us is the only One who can fill every part of our life. God’s Word says He is our “satisfying portion.” Not until He fills that inner longing will we ever be truly satisfied or completely free from loneliness.

There’s no need to ever be lonely. Jesus promises in Hebrew 13: 5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” and “I am with you always.” 

So when you feel this loneliness, it is the voice of Jesus saying, “Come to Me.” And every time you feel that no one understands or the load is too heavy to bear alone, it is a call for you to call unto Him again. The truth is, you can never bother or tire God too often, His limit is endless. Come as often, come as you are. His presence satisfies the lonely soul.

Psalm 16:5-11
LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

- Anonymous

We often ask the question, "Why didn't God help me sooner?"

It is not His order. He must first adjust us to the situation and cause us to learn the intended lesson from it. His promise to us is, "I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him."

God must first be with us in the trouble until we step into our own persevering quietness. Then He will take us out of it. This will not come until we have stopped being restless and fretful about it. He desires for us to be in calm disposition and trustful. Then we may find Him say, "It is enough."

God uses trouble to teach His children precious lessons. They are intended to better us. When the good work is done, a glorious recompense will come to us through them. The Lord does not regard trials as difficulties but as opportunities. Without difficulties we cannot have a mercy worth praising God and the glory to see His sovereign power. 

Psalm 91: 15
He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.

- Writing of  A. Simpson 

Oh, how it helps and comforts us to remember that we have a Saviour who spent the first thirty years of His life swinging a hammer in the carpenter shop at Nazareth, he was covered with sweat and grimy dust, physically weary as we often are, and without a doubt, able to understand all our experiences of drudgery and labor of daily lives.

Moreover, He still loves to share our common tasks and equip us for our difficult undertakings every day every hour. Yes,  He will help you at the kitchen and the house as gladly as at the hour of prayer. Yes, busy laborer, He will go with you and help you to swing the hammer, or handle the saw. You will be a better mechanic, a better student, a successful worker at the office because you take His wisdom for the common affairs of life.

There is no place or time where Jesus is not able and willing to walk by our side, to work through our hand and minds. In this way He proves Himself to be our all-sufficiency for all things. Prayerfully lay your task to the Master and let Him guide and strengthen your every step with His loving peace. Find His promised rest in your souls.

Matthew 28:20
Jesus said, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

- Writing of A. Simpson