I came across a writing that states, “men are better than walls and faith is stronger than castles.” I believe one of the ways our God strengthen us is by making us strong in the inward might, this is done through perseverance, quiet trust and giving thanks amidst all situations and faith, faith being our spiritual weapon; the castle and unshakeable fortress  of our inner man.

When we place our faith in the author and the perfecter of our faith, God can take the feeblest of us and make us to be courageous like David. He could fortify you better than walls before your enemies. We serve a living God who gave victory to a small shepherd boy who had only a slingshot and stones against an almost 7 feet trained military soldier. We, the armies of the living God as proclaimed by David, are not weak and hopeless, our confidence is in our living God; He makes His champions mightier than all of their enemies. Let our faith be strong, let our stance be strengthened, the Lord is our Victor and He gives us victory!

Lord, infuse Your strength unto my faith and fill me with the courage to rise above my situation and take up my victory. Amen!
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Hebrew 12: 2- 3
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

- John W. 

When Jesus first called His disciples, He told them, ‘I will make you fishers of men.’ (Matthew 4:19 KJV) Yet after hearing His promises, they went back to what they were doing before they met Him: fishing. God will use your past experiences to teach you, but He always leads you forward, never back. When fear and uncertainty make you want to go back to the security of what you know, you end up like the disciples: "That night they caught nothing."
 
But the good news is: if God has called you, you’re still called. In spite of your lacklustre performance, you’re still God’s redeemed child.

In the Bible, Jesus approaches the discouraged disciples and instructs them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. "When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish…Then, as soon as they come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it and bread (John 21: 9 NKJV). Despite the disciples going back to 'their ways', Jesus provided them abundance including cooking them breakfast. Jesus then ate breakfast with the disciples and renewed their fellowship. Jesus knows what you need before you even asked Him to, He has you always in His minds; He is your provider.
 
When you work outside God’s will, it’s like fishing on the wrong side of the boat; you wear yourself out and end up having little to show for your efforts. Are you struggling? Things will start to change when you submit to Christ, renew your fellowship with Him, and allow Him to direct you.

John 21: 3 NKJV
Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We are going with you also." They went out and immediately got into the boat and that night they caught nothing.

- Bob Gass - Word for Today Devotional 

Recently one of our relatives lost one of their family members and due to disappointment in Christ, they stopped going to church altogether. I believe in all seasons; we will face trials and tribulations but the recent loss of our relatives made me think why do some people persevere and endure in trials and why some just walk away from God when they are disappointed that God was silent or did not intervene in the eleventh hours of their tribulations.
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In my own life, I believe these are due to my own lack of understanding; I try to figure out God’s ways and I could not produce the faith with my own will as God’s ways are higher than mine. It is in the time like this, our faith is put into practice: whether we keep trusting and persevering or we choose to put the trust in ourselves rather to trust God.
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And actually, Jesus had reminded us about troubles in life, but the most important promise of His is an assurance to us: I have overcome the world (John 16:33). We do not have a ‘silent’ God, He is a God who is acquainted with grief and suffering and even to the point of death. We are called to persevere and endure in this journey of faith because our faith rest in the victory and promise that our Lord has overcome the world. He is a God who gives us victory in the land of the living!

Psalm 27: 13
I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

John 16: 33
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

- Jenni Wang 

​In an old movie, I watched a story about a shrewd businessman who eagerly helped to restore a damaged nunnery during the WWII. When asked why he did it, the unbelieving businessman said, “just in case!” It made me think, aren’t we all like this businessman somehow?

We too, do things for God because of “just in case.” We store our good works like cookie points for the Lord to answer our prayers or needs whilst the businessman believed his good deeds would earn him an eternal place in Heaven if there is a God.

May I respectfully say, “it is foolish to think we could buy our own righteousness or answers to prayers.” If we think of such, we allow pride to bound ourselves to human law and we deny the free gift of salvation including the righteous privileges that Jesus has died for us to have.

Friends, humble yourself before the Lord (James 4: 10) and have faith that the Lord always have your back, He will not forsake you. Jesus do not keep any scores for us to achieve till he unlocks another reward for our good works.

None of us could ever buy our own righteousness and salvation with any good works, Jesus is bigger than that; He gave it for free for us who needs and seeks it. Come to Him in prayers, friends. Jesus loves you. When we invite the Lord into our hearts, we gain in this life a wonderful Counsellor, a loving Saviour, a best friend, a Father and much more I could not fathom. He is the Rock we could lay our foundations on and rely on when the storm hits.
 
James 4: 10 NLT
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

Philippians 3:9 NLT
and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

- John W.

Most likely all of us have been through the season of waiting.

In my own season of waiting, I imagine the people of Israelites during the time in Babylon. They might be wondering when it would end. Will it really end just like Isaiah had spoken hundred years before that? Waiting for them probably is a mixture of many feelings summed up through expectation, anxiety, hope, dismay and it may reel them into a cycle of restlessness.

In seasons such as that, I wondered if the Israelites faltered the way I do, did they ever doubt that it was God who spoke to them, or if they have listened well, did they disobeyed God or will God bless them as He said He will? In the midst of my own doubt, God’s powerful message of hope to His people suddenly spoke to me: fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God: I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).

When I become discouraged in in my own waiting, He has reminded me that even when I am tired and prone to dismay, He has strengthened me daily; help me not to lose sight of Him as His grace and His love envelope me surely. 

- Jenni Wang

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

Mark 11:24
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
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Faith is not working up by will power or mustering some sort of certainty that something is coming to pass, but it is choosing a belief as an actual fact that God has said that this shall come to pass and lifting praise rejoicing to affirm the promise and entering an active rest when doubts constantly attacks because we choose to believe God has won the battle for us.

Faith turns the promise into a prophecy. While it is merely a promise, it is dependent upon our co-operation; it may or may not be. But when faith claims it, it becomes a prophecy and we go forth feeling that it is something that must be done because God cannot lie.
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Faith is the answer from the throne saying, “It is done.” Faith is the echo of God's voice. Let us choose to believe, speak boldly of God’s promises, and go out to triumph in His glorious power.

Hear the answer from the throne,
Claim the promise, doubting one,
God hath spoken, “It is done.”
Faith hath answered, “It is done”;
Prayer is over, praise begun,
Hallelujah! It is done.

- Writing of A Simpson

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.