Receiving blessings and be blessings for others are. what we as Christian are called to. What we have received and seen from God, that is what we can share to the world so that the world will know Him.

​In saying so, I still struggle with family issues and uncertainties about how to continue serving the Lord even after many encouraging moments in my life. It is so easy to be discouraged when you have not received the breakthrough you pray for your trials or salvations of loved ones.
 
In a moment of discouragement, I would like to remind us Roman 8: 24 – 25 NIV For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?  When the darkest day comes, it is His timing to show His glory among the people (Psalm 102: 12 - 13) and everything is in His timing, not mine. Trusting God even when it is difficult, is when I seek His strength to continue on. I believe My God is a Saviour who never fails to fulfil His promises.

Though I do not know when Salvation will come to my household nor when He will answer my prayers and opens doors in my own mission fields, I remind my soul that He has been working all things for my good and His timing is perfect. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double (Zechariah 9:12 ASV). Return to your place of hope, the Lord is your loving Saviour. Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! - Psalm 27:14 ESV

Psalm 102: 13
You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.

- Jenni Wang 

Happy New Year dear blessed ones, 

It is such a sweet fragrance to have a timely word from the Lord in time of need and a new beginning. In this first day of the new year of 2024, we pray the Lord presence will always be something you tangibly notice and believe. May His presence brings timely words in all your needs, directions and guidance with strong convictions and courage. The Lord is always near to us and as His children who proclaims that the Lord Jesus Christ is our Saviour, let us also say that we are choosing to trust the Lord everyday.

Deuteronomy 33: 29
Happy are you, O Israel!
Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord
The shield of your help
And the sword of your majesty!
Your enemies shall submit to you
And you shall tread down their high places.

- Hopeful Heart Team

Struggle after struggle and God brought into light how much I tried to depend on my own strength. There are times when it is too difficult to pray, but He gently reminds me of His love that always draws me back to Him in prayers.  As our family continues to go through some crisis, I went through restless sleepless nights, thinking when my family will trust and depend on God completely.

As a prayer coordinator, there are many issues that burdens my heart, the country I constantly pray for, my family, my health, praying to go the mission field and to spread the good news of the Lord. To think about it, I’m a fool if I don’t surrender all these burdens that I can’t control the outcome of, to the Lord. His love is vast as the ocean and overflowing like a river in my life. I am reminded that He is God and when I fall again and again, He will pick me up and reminds me that even if I can’t, He can.

When I am full of concerns, He tells me not to be afraid. Even when the trials and tribulations come to my life and my own foolishness make me forget who He is, He always reminds me to go back to Him and to learn to trust Him more and more. I am a lifelong learner of how trustworthy God is and I am learning to trust Him more and more.

May we continue to strengthen our prayer life and remember that when we can’t see any result, it does not mean the Lord is not working. Have faith, trust in Him and the Lord will carry you in all seasons of trials. 

Isaiah 12: 2 NIV
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.

- Jenni Wang

In this modern life, we are often served with choices and like a clueless sheep, we often gravitate towards what appeals to our flesh even if it will lead us away from the Shepherd’s protective care.

You may say that God has given me the ability to make choices and if it is bad, He will lead me away from it but are you listening to His guidance? We often do things due to our own needs and timelines and if we are being truthful, it may have led us astray far too many times as well. How do we make the right choices then? The ones that will lead us to the path of righteousness?

God has sent Holy Spirit to be our guide in this choice-full life. He may impress certain choices that bring peace to your heart and you will find strength in God’s words and promises in the Bible. Take time to seek Him in your quiet time; the one where you intentionally choose to listen and not speak out of many requests. The Holy Spirit will instil in you a conscience of right and wrong, a sense of peace and calm amidst the storm.

You may ask, “would God want to speak to me despite all the mistakes or wrong choices I have made?” Yes… He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice (John 10: 3 – 4).

- Irene Soon 

​In everyday life, the Lord lovingly leaves His fingerprints on His creations. I believe, these are reminders for us to believe in His provision and plans.

Take a look at a palm tree – 1) This tree will bend but it will not break. Despite how strong the storm or wind may come its way, the palm tree will bend its branches even to the ground and when the storm eases, it will straighten its branches and be its strongest in the place where it bent. 2) You can’t kill a palm tree; you may be able to cut it but it will grow again. The nutrients it need to survive are stored through the tree’s rough outer rings and it also remains close to its roots. 3) Palm tree’s roots can grow as deep as hundreds of meters in search of water hence why it could thrive even in a dry place as it stays close to its water source.

If the Lord could equip a palm tree to be enduring and robust, how much more would He equips you? He readily equips us, His beloved children with His enduring grace. You may be overwhelmed and bend but you will not be broken, lay your root deep to the source of the Living Water. Let no wind nor storm be able to uproot and break your faith.

​Yes, you are more than able to endure and rise stronger. The Lord is your source and you have His enduring grace to rise stronger.
​
Isaiah 40:31
"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

- Irene Soon

Why pray you asked? Prayer is a weapon, why don't you want to invite a victorious Saviour into your situations? Think of the acrostic P-R-A-Y:
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P – Praise the Lord! Not sure how? Think you’ll run out of words? Not if you use the Scriptures.

R – Repent of your sins. Just as heat forces impurities to the surface so that the metal refiner can remove them, your prayer time will reveal attitudes that must be changed, habits that must be broken, and barriers to blessing that must be removed. It’s not enough to tell God about your sins. He already knows them. You must ask Him to help you turn away from them. This is true repentance.
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A – Ask for yourself and others. Your prayers invite God into the situations, and your faith actives His power to change it. There’s no distance in prayer, no culture or language barrier it can’t overcome. It’s like throwing on a power switch – things begin to move when we pray. Jesus said, “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven… whatever doors you open on earth shall be open in Heaven (Matt 16: 19 TLB)
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Y – Yield yourself to God’s will. Declaring the Lordship of Jesus Christ in your life is like signing your name to your autobiography and inviting Him to write you life’s story.
 
1 Chronicles 29:11
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O LORD, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things.

- Writing of Bob Gass (Word for Today)

In physics, the butterfly effect is a theory that describes on how a tiny momentum or changes i.e such as the flap of a butterfly’s wings could affect the weather thousands of miles away. There will be times when you feel insignificant, metaphorically like a small butterfly and you find yourself saying whatever you do will not matter much when you are facing trials.

As a child of God, there is much you could do. Like the butterfly effect, your words, your faith, your perseverance, your prayers, deeds and kindness could activate the heavenly forces no matter how small they may be. In the Bible, we have seen how the Lord uses things that we consider insignificant to bring miracles, things such David’s slingshot to bring down Goliath, a boy’s lunch box to feed multitudes, Samson’s donkey’s jawbone that slew thousand Philistines. What you do, could bring changes or influences to people around you and your own circumstances.

It is not about the size of seeds or actions you could do but it is about our God who could facilitate that mustard seed faith to grow. It is not about the number of prayers you pray but it is about the Lord who answers prayers of His children, He leaves no one behind and that is the beauty of His grace. He rejoices in your beginnings no matter how small, begin your butterfly effect.

Zechariah 4:10 NLT
Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin…
 
- John W.

Colossians 1:13 NLT
For he has rescued us from the kingdom of the darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son..
 
Have you ever imagined what it was like to be in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ? Joy, peace, fulfilment and love that many are seeking but many can’t find on this earth are freely offered as benefits to the citizen of His kingdom. Don’t imagine it any longer! His wonderful Kingdom is in you!

Jesus said for behold the Kingdom of God is already among you (Luke 17:21). From the moment you accepted Him as your Lord and Saviour, He lives in you. Just as Paul declared that “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20). In 2018, as I was passing through a dark moment of my life, I saw this same verse - Galatians 2:20, boldly emblazoned on the back of a random guy’s t-shirt. That very moment, I could tangibly feel the Holy Spirit administering to my spirit. Love and hope were knocking loudly in my heart that day.

If you are going through a dark moment today, surrender your pain, fear and sorrow to Him. Give Him the reins to your life. You live in His kingdom and the government will rest on His shoulders (Isaiah 9:6). This will affirms His Lordship, over your life, family, relationship, work and any activities happening in His kingdom. Let the Lord's grace flow in your life and let Him lead you to the full abundant life He has promised (John 10:10). 

Galatians 2: 20 
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

- Annie Pisca

Dear blessed friends and families, 

Happy New Year 2023

In this new year, we pray that you have the confidence and boldness of David when he penned Psalm 23.

"Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Praise the Lord that always lavishes His mercy and goodness upon us even when we feel we are the most undeserving; He doesn't see us the way we see ourselves; He condemns not. Rejoice, blessed ones, the Lord is always with you and surely, surely you are never without His goodness. Your name is engraved on the palms of His hands - "See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me."- Isaiah 49: 16

- Hopeful Heart team

As the year is drawing to an end, let us take the time to recount the goodness the Lord has brought to our lives; giving thanks to the seen and unseen protection and provision the Lord has lavished on us. We will give thanks to the lessons and tears that this year brings as well for the Lord has strengthen us through it all.

Jesus constantly remained in constant communion with His Heavenly Father, He looked for opportunities to seek His Father in prayers. I believe, this is the way our Lord Jesus Christ coped with daily demands that depletes His human energy.
​​
The book of Matthew wrote that when Jesus heard of the ill fate that befell John the Baptist, He withdrew by boat privately to seek solitude but upon seeing a large crowd following Him, He had compassion, healed them, attended to their needs and fed them. After it, He went to the mountainside by Himself to pray. 

Jesus repeatedly helped multitudes who seek Him yet He did not rely on His own strength, stay haggard and hurried, He nurtured His communion with His Father through prayers in solitude and thanksgiving. Will we follow this example and intentionally make time for the Lord before the year ends and starts it afresh with prayers? In your own solitude, be refreshed by His mighty strength and gracious fulfilment; giving thanks trusting that our days are in our Lord’s good protections and provisions.

Matthew 14: 13 - 14
When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. And when Jesus went out, He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
 
Matthew 14: 23
And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.

- Irene Soon