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

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

 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." (1 Kings 19:7)

After killing the false prophets, Elijah fled for his life. At one point he asked God to take his life and God said nothing but told Elijah twice, to get up and eat for the journey ahead will be too much for Elijah to bear. God then asked Elijah what he was doing and he told God that he was the only believer left and the rest have been killed.
 
Probably most of us can identify ourselves as Elijah sometimes. We think we have done the right thing for God or that we have done our best but instead of achieving victory or a breakthrough, we felt like we have hit a big boulder or a dead end.
 
Can we listen to God’s voice when we feel exhausted and even to the point of desperation? Can we feel assured that God knows what happened, what you are currently experiencing and what you will experience in the future?
 
Just as God assured Elijah that He knew the journey is too much for him and did not belittle his response to fatigue, we can rest assured that God knows what we are going through. As He provided for Elijah’s sustenance to continue his journey, we also have the assurance to continue our journey in the midst of any uncertainty life may throw at our path. Cry out to the Lord, He is listening attentively and He will provide.  

- Jenni Wang