During one of my plane flights, a violent turbulence occurred from bad weather. It caused the plane to lose its altitude in one sharp drop whilst on air. Drinks and foods were spilled on the plane floor and some passengers were visibly nervous. The silence that followed was uncomfortable until two kids giggled loudly and yelled, “yeah, again! Do it again!”

The Bible reminds us to receive the Kingdom of Heaven like a little child (Mark 10:15). Children are fearless, they are bold in asking and highly expectant, they are receptive to any changes and have an unrivalled sense of wonder; they believe in magic and miracles, they laugh and have full joy in daily life.

As adult, life throws us challenges and issues that could defeat us and most of us could relate to Jeremiah in his anguish yet he has hope.

“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.

Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lamentation 3: 19 – 23)

Jeremiah finds comfort in the Lord’s unfailing love every morning; nothing will be able to consume us. This is where we could embrace a childlike expectation that the Lord’s mercies and love are new every morning, fresh for our weary soul to receive. We could ask boldly without fear knowing God’s goodness and faithfulness is ever-flowing and with that renewed faith, we wait in expectation daily for our miracles; for the good He will do next in our lives.

- Irene Soon 

Bearing our sins, Jesus carried the heavy wooden cross 2000 years ago, today. The cross was believed to weigh about 70 – 80kg for its solid pine-wood plank whilst the crossbar was estimated to be around 30-40kg, totalling at least 100kg.

​A man weakened by brutal torture, forced upon a crown of thorns on his head, persevered silently and carried the cross under the hot sun until his physical strength failed him.
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Jesus carried two heaviness that day; the weight of the sin of all mankind and the weight of the cross that His weakened body had to endure. Jesus knew His torture and crucifixion will come if He leaves His Heavenly throne to save us, He did it anyway. The Lord who could silent the waves and part the sea, raised the dead to life, cast out Demons, chose to surrender Himself to a human death as the symbol of an atoning sacrifice for our sins. He cancelled the record of sin charges against us… and took it away by nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2: 14). This way, the darkness will no longer have a hold on us and we have His power to overcome all things.

Dear friends, accept the Lord as your Redeeming Saviour for a life a victory and if you have, proclaim His sovereign victory over all of your trials, praise Him and await your supernatural resurrection from “death.”  

Jesus loves you and on this Good Friday, we celebrate His sacrifice as the beginning of victorious miracles to come. 

- Hopeful Heart Team

The birth of Jesus was not just a difficulty; it was an impossibility. Mary was a virgin but God could breathe life into her womb. And just as God caused Mary to conceive the sinless Saviour who is fully God and fully human, He too can accomplish through you, those things that seem impossible in your life.

There are many times where we feel it is impossible to see a change nor there are ways for us to surface out of the metaphorical water signifying the trials we are drowning in but these are the times we have humanized God. We have brought His Sovereignty down to our own level of understanding and abilities to figure a way out.

The Lord our Saviour is above all of our circumstances, externally and internally; He is the creator of Heaven and Earth and even the devil obeys the Lord’s authority and sovereignty.  Would all these facts comfort you? Would you be tempted again to box the Lord in our own confined understanding and comprehension of His ability to be our Deliverer and Saviour?

Dear blessed friends, the Lord has given His words to grant us peace and wisdom when we ask of Him. He has promised a heritage that no weapon formed against us shall prosper. His promises are as solid as His credibility through the Ages as the Living Lord who works miracles through and through again. Just as Mary conceived a child through a way that is outside of our understanding, we need to believe the Lord has a way out for us and grant us victories in situations we claim to be impossible. To you, it would be impossible but to the Lord, He is always victorious. He is a God who sees no impossibilities.

Isaiah 54: 17
no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.

- Irene Soon

Where do I start? That is the most common question asked when it comes to reading the Bible for the first time. As a young believer, I remember starting to read from the beginning – the book of Genesis but I didn’t last long as I got to the Book of Leviticus. Nevertheless, as my personal relationship grew with God, I was starting to understand preached sermon better and took another try to re-read the Bible.

In my second attempt, I took into the Book of Psalm with full delight and studied the Psalmist’s struggles and prayers with a better discernment. A psalm may start in a tone of despair but as you read on, it always ends in praise and thanksgiving. There are 150 psalms and if we could read five in a day, we would be able to finish the book within a month. Another is the Book of Proverbs with 31 chapters making it a wise choice to read one day for a month.

When we come to God in humility and seek discernment from His Words, we will find strength for life’s battles. It will also help us to stay close to the Lord’s wisdom and assurance of His unfailing mercy and acceptance.

Where do you start? Start by asking God to help you understand what He wants you to learn from your daily reading and be willing to start on your reading wherever you are.
 
Psalm 119:18 - 19
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.
 
-  John W.

When we are faced with an unfavourable situation, the thought that is often the loudest in our mind tends to be why.

Life is like being in a boat and when we accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, we can and should be assured that we have him in the boat with us.
At times we think that having Jesus, the sail would be easy. Then the waves hit, the storm rages, we think this should not be happening. Jesus is in us, with us and for us but why is this happening? Everything is against me, I am overwhelmed, why Lord, why?
 
Remember what Jesus says in John 16: 33
"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth
you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have
overcome the world.”
 
Yes, we have trials and sorrows but His promise is that He has overcome the world for us. This is where our faith in Him and His promises matters. Our faith in Him navigates through the waves and storm of our life. We are never alone and we have Him in the boat with us. It means that even though the storm hit, it will not sink our boat.

- Annie Pisca

A little boy hastened his steps away from the shelter kittens as I saw his mom shifted her gaze towards him. “Dan, did you touch the kittens?” she asked. “No,” the five year old shook his head adamantly and before I looked away, I heard my friend asked again, “Dan, which kitten is the softest?” He quickly pointed to the ginger tabby kitten and replied, “That one and it mewed at me!”

We often smile at such innocent lie but Dan’s lie displays our innate tendency to sin. No one was taught to lie ever since they were a child. Paul recognises this tendency to sin by stating in Romans 5: 12 - when Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

Adam brought death and sin unto our path but Jesus gave us hope. He has redeemed our sins; Jesus is in favour to lavish us abundant grace instead of the punishments we deserve due to our innate aptness to sin. Adam’s sinful nature manifested to everyone in his lineage but the good news is what Christ Jesus has done for us on the cross has also redeemed us wholly.

Christ’s sacrifice has enabled us to receive a life of abundant forgiveness and grace. Come to the Lord in repentance and in faith and let the Lord strengthens you to win over the hold of any sins in your life.

Romans 5: 12 – 21
Just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead.

- Irene Soon

Recently I watched a movie that touched my heart and it made me ponder on the message of the movie. The message relayed - “If you are sincere enough, even flower will bloom in the rock.”
 
The saying reminds me of Jesus’ saying: “If you have a faith as small as a mustard seed, you can move a mountain”. I believe every God’s word is true and He will always fulfil His promise. But when I think of those people who are suffering, their hardships and tears shed, I wonder why their suffering persist? Also, if they do not know Christ but believe in ‘God’, did God just turn His back to them? What hope do they have?
 
Then I came to a resolution that God has entrusted us with the mystery of the Good News that is fit for all races, gender, tribe and social class; that each one of them would be able to feel His love and experience the supernatural life-changing touch from the Lord. As for us, the believers, we are to share the Good News of the Lord to our world and pray for the seed of the Good News will continue to grow in the hearts who hear it.
 
Maybe we can see flower blooms in the rock or maybe not, but it won’t be because that we did not put enough effort or sincerity in our journey; it is a gift from God.   Our focus should not be on the effort, nor the anticipated result that may discourage us if we do not see any progress but we need to focus on the One who promises and trust in His Omnipotence.
 
Let us trust.
 
Numbers 23: 19
God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

- Jenni Wang

This is a reminder that our God is a living Saviour. He has won wars over the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world; the mighty powers of the dark world.

The devil has been against you since the day you were born, he is always out to kill, steal and destroy. He studies you, knows what angers you, your weaknesses and he knows when to attack when you are at your most vulnerable state. He does all these to deviate you from one simple truth; he fears that you will know how truly powerful being a child of God is. This is why he plans custom-made strategies to crush even a shred of faith or hope within you.

The Lord however, has promised victory over these. Ask the Holy Spirit to protect you against all the devil’s strategies, admit your vulnerability and weaknesses to the Lord and proclaim victory over all. The Lord is above your enemy, no weapon formed against you shall prosper. These are the heritage of the servant of the Lord (Isaiah 54: 17). Yes, this the truth the devil doesn’t want you to know and profess.
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Isaiah 54: 17
no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.

- Irene Soon

In 1950, professor Curt Richter experimented with rats to analyse their survival instincts. He plunged a dozen of rats into a large jar filled with water. The rats drowned in an average time of 15 minutes. Richter then decided to save the next set of rats before they give up swimming due to exhaustion; he took them out of the jar, dried them and gave each rats a few minutes to rest before putting them back into the water jar.

The “rescued’ rats lasted an astonishing 60 hours afterwards. Richter concluded that by “saving” the rats, it gave the rats the motivation to swim approximately 240 times longer. He believes the rats have been given a glimpse of hope of “being rescued” and they pushed their bodies beyond what they thought possible.

We as Christian would also agree that hope is the essential ingredient in our own faith journey. Christ has come and given us hope that we have a living Saviour. His Word breathes hope to our inner spiritual sanctuary and it fuels us to stand, to push and believe again with an unsurpassable peace.
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Henceforth, as the Lord encourages us daily, let us extend this hope and encourage people around us. Kind words go a long way and it may be the glimpse of hope they need to push further. Be a bringer of hope as the Lord fans the flame of hope within us.
 
Hebrews 6: 19
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.
 
Zechariah 9:12
Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.

- Irene Soon 

I’ve recently watched a documentary on Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch woman who persevered in her Christian faith. She helped many Jews into hiding in her house, got captured and survived the concentration camp in World War II.

She displayed an extraordinary forgiveness to everyone who have wronged her and her family and even when she loses her ability to speak in her old age, she remained faithful to the Lord in her ministry. She penned a famous poem titled ‘the Tapestry poem’ in which it revealed the bittersweet truth of faith with God being the weaver of threads in the canvas of our lives. What we see as tangled threads and disarray of colours are due to our limited human ability to comprehend God’s perspective from above.

Our Omnipotent God is able to oversee all patterns of weavings to His purpose; He is making all things work for good for us. Ten Boom trusted the Lord in all her sufferings and tribulations. She worded ever so beautifully, “He gives the very best to those who leave the choice to Him.”

Dear blessed ones, the Lord loves and cares for you more than you could fathom. Even if anything does not make sense, know that the Lord is for you and He is making all things work for good for you.

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

- Irene Soon