I used to think strength meant never showing weakness openly.

If a man was struggling, he would work and try harder. Strength in my definition would be the absence of visible need for help. Foolishly, I held on to that belief and later learned that what I thought is strength was actually, just silence and silence is not peace.

I think I may not be the only one who thinks that way. Many of us believe as a Christian, we need to be responsible and dependable at home and work, helpful to everyone around us but somewhere, somehow, we have forgotten to ask for help, even from God.

But Paul, who was not a weak man, wrote in 2 Corinthians that is both humbling and brave. He carried a struggle he could not shake yet the Lord did not remove it. Instead, God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God’s power is made perfect to enable Paul in his weakness, the Lord is Paul’s source of strength.

If you are carrying something heavy, even in quiet perseverance, you do not have to have it sorted before you bring your burden to the Lord. He is not waiting for you to be stronger. He is simply waiting for you to come. Are you brave enough to ask for help? Asking for help is not weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

​- John W.

In my years of working, I have observed a pattern in workplaces, ministry and teams. Leadership or power quietly drift from servant posture into control and pride stemming from insecurities.

It simply happens when protecting our position becomes more important than caring for the people we lead or working with. You will see the changes when collaborations turn into compliance, others may stop speaking up because they no longer feel safe in offering ideas or suggestions in the fear or worry of being seen as challenging leadership or any power above them.

The shift is often subtle but the observing it and shifting our behaviour as someone with authority, power or leadership matters. When something goes differently than we planned, do we feel concern for those affected or do we feel personally threatened and exert control at, sometimes, the expense of others’ inconveniences. The answers will reveal whether we are leading or simply guarding our own authority and pride.
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In Matthew 20, James and John asked Jesus for positions of honour. The other disciples were upset at the questions because they too, wanted the same thing. Jesus gently redirected all of them: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.”
In God’s Kingdom, greatness is not measured by influence, title or how many people “listens” to us. It is measured by how well we serve. Control grows from insecurity but service and a servant posture grow from knowing who we are in Christ.
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When our identity is rooted in Him, we no longer need to cling to our title , power and influence. We can lead with open hands, free to give, free to listen and free to serve without fear of losing our authority or leadership. We can lead through serving, just like Jesus.

Matthew 20:26–28 NIV
Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant… just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.

- John W.

There is a beautiful stained glass window in the historic Wesley’s Chapel in London. Etched into the glass are these tender words: “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me.”

For as long as people have lived, we have longed for wings or metaphorically, freedom from our troubles. We seek ways to rise above the weights and troubles of our days and surely, we have had days where we think life must be easier, brighter, freer somewhere else or for other people.

The Psalmist understood that longing too. He cried, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest”  Psalm 55: 6 NLT. Yet he also discovered the true secret of rest and he proclaimed: “The Lord sustained me.”
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The Lord will sustain us and He extends the same promise in Isaiah 40: 31 NLT, “But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”

When we pause and dwell on God’s Word and promises, His presence visits our weary hearts, in quietness and prayers, something beautiful happens; we rise. We find ourselves lifted into peace, steadied by His love and sustained by His strength.

The world will try to run on their own strength, they too, wish for wings and hope they can outrun their troubles. But in the Lord’s promise, He reminds us that running and walking come after the renewing. Wings come before feet. What hope does a weary soul have when it rushes to run before being renewed and restored?
 
Psalm 27: 14 NLT
Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.

Isaiah 40: 31 NLT
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Psalm 55: 6 NLT
Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest

- Irene Soon 

The winter season has a way of exposing what is strong and what is fragile. In the depth of storm, resilience appears. Not through resistance, but through the quiet bending of branches and the unwavering steadiness of a deeply rooted trunk like a tree.

A tree stands tall through the cold and rain, quietly growing itself. When the storm deepens, their resilience becomes visible, they do not resist the forces of wind; the branches bend, yielding to the nature’s force as its leaves are torn away. The trunk however, remains steady and deeply rooted, making the tree stays grounded and unmoved, holding firm through it all.

We too, are living in a season where the storm seems relentless. The news carries unsettling headlines one after another and the future which once felt exciting and full of hope now seems to be full of uncertainties. If we are honest, the weight of daily life can bend us, tearing away the sense of peace we have cultivated as God’s children.

The Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians not from a place of comfort but from a prison cell and yet, he wrote words that have outlasted every empire, generations and times that has come since, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Paul did not promise that everything will work out, he did not assure everyone of a smooth circumstance but he simply urges us to present our requests, to bring all of it; to bring all the fears, tears, the uncertainties, the helplessness, the thoughts that keeps you awake at early mornings, bring all these to God. Paul also did not say the storm will immediately cease but because there is peace available to us, the ones that Paul testify to “transcend all understanding”

This could simply mean a peace that does not require us to have the answers first, a peace that guards our hearts even while the storms are roaring and our branches are bending helplessly. The Lord, He is the unshakeable root that holds the tree, unseen yet fully present holding us when we feel like we are failing.

Dear friends, when life feels out of control, it is not truly beyond His care. We belong to the One who spoke the world into being, the One who can calm even the fiercest storm. He is our steady ground, our unchanging certainty. We are not meant to carry the weight of being the trunk or the roots. We are simply called to remain connected to Him.

So let us gently release all things that steals our peace and rest in the One who holds all things with care.
 
Philippians 4:6-7 NIV
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

- Irene Soon 

This Easter Sunday, let us remember the Hope that Jesus has gifted us. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus cancelled the charge of our sins' debt that could condemn us by nailing it to the cross. 

Receiving Jesus' gift of sacrifice for the wrong we have done means we are able to wake with fresh new grace, hope and mercy everyday, free from the burden of sins. He has RISEN, He has beaten death and darkness and oh dear blessed ones, He loves you so very dearly.

Dear Lord, thank you for paying the price of my sins. May Your mercy and forgiveness helps me to extend forgiveness and love to those who needs to know you and of your Love. In Jesus Name, we pray.

Amen.​

Colossians 2: 13 - 14 NASB
And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings

- Hopeful Heart Team

I often wondered how could Jesus forgive his enemies whilst He hung in pain and grief from the cross and graciously said "forgive them for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34) and for those who put Jesus on the cross, didn't they know they were killing an innocent man?

Perhaps, they were just following the protest where most people yelled "crucify Him" but would they know what was Jesus' crime? If only they knew how much Jesus loves them. Jesus demonstrated His love on the cross by dying for His children and He did not impose any blame unto them. If an earthly parents will never dream of seeing their own children suffer, how much more God will not allow suffering unto His children.

Are you weary and burdened today, let us return to the Cross.

The Lord has died on the cross to set us free from all torments, sins, shame and guilt; He reconciled us to God at the cross. For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more , having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (Romans 5: 10-11). His resurrection then becomes the assurance that the same power that raised Him is available to lead us into a life of victory.

How would our lives be if we have the boldness and hope to live in the overflow of God's abundant love for us? That His Light could break through any darkness and no metaphorical death could defeat the power of Christ, His Spirit courses through our body with strength and assurance of victory. This Easter, return to the Cross, remember the Lord's unconditional love for you and receive His forgiveness. Let Him renew your strength and hope once again, to live wholly and joyfully assured that His mercy and goodness will follows us all of our days.

Psalm 23: 6
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

- Irene Soon 

We are taught the great lesson from the Bible, that to get, we must give; that to accumulate, we must scatter; that to make ourselves  happy, we must make others happy; and that in order to become spiritually healthy, we must seek the spiritual good of others. In watering others, we are ourselves watered.

How? Our efforts to be useful brings out our power for usefulness. We have latent talents and dormant and dormant skills which were brought to light by usage. Our strength for labour is hidden even from ourselves, until we venture forth to fight the Lord’s battles or to climb the mountain of difficulty.

We do not know what tender sympathies we possess until we try to dry the widow's tears and soothe the orphan's grief. We often find in attempting to teach others, that we gain instruction for ourselves. So that watering others makes us humble. We discover how much grace there is where we had not looked for it.

Our own comfort is also increased by our working for others. We endeavour to cheer them, and the consolation gladdens our own heart. He that watered shall be watered also himself. Give then, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and running over.
 
Proverbs 11:25 ESV
Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

Excerpt from Charles Spurgeon @Heartlight inc 1996 - 2024

During my trip to China, I saw barbed wire fence along the border between China and the nation next to it - DPRK, it came to mind a picture of physical oppression. We as follower of Christ are no exempt as we may be under spiritual oppression – oppression of sins making us prisoners of sins.

God reminded me about freedom in Him, that we are no more slave to sin but slave to righteousness (Romans 6: 18). In the Bible, being slave o righteousness means we are fully repentant and committed to the cause of Christ, we strive to be obedient to His calling and seek to do what is pleasing to the Lord in contrast to us serving the sins that engulf and entrap us in cycles of defeat.

When I pray for clarity and guidance in trials, there are times I was met with no answers but am reminded of His promise in the Bible that when I obey, the Lord with strengthen me to continue and when I stray, He will lead me back to the path of righteousness.

This freedom is given by the Lord so we could have a life of living testimony and that we could proclaim the Good News to the poor in the spirit, freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free (Luke 4: 18). Proclaim the Good News of the Lord and set the prisoners free.
 
Romans 6: 18 NIV
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness
 
Isaiah 42:16 NKJV
I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. These things I will do for them and not forsake them.

- Jenni Wang

There are times I really ‘envy’ the faith of great people who trust God and overcome trials in their lives but then I am reminded that I have the same great God who is with me and is within me. The same One Saviour who is working through the great men and women I read in books and in the Bible; He is at work in and through me and all of us who call on His name.

I have many days where I’m persuaded that I could not do anything for the kingdom of God in my line of work, I feel that my prayers for mission work do not bring forth any fruits sought and to top it off, we constantly get fed bad news from the media. All these are enough to think why we bother to be the salt of the world.

If you are tired and doubtful, may I encourage and remind you to remember that God is ever patient and present if you feel your prayers are repetitive or if you are plagued with constant doubts needing God’s assurance daily. Please continue to seek His Heart and focus on the Lord. The Lord will strengthen us ,let us march daily with bold confidence that God is on our side and are turning things around supernaturally in our favours. Amen!
 
Psalm 108:13 ESV
With God we shall do valiantly, it is he who will tread down our foes.
 
- Jenni Wang

Recently I have been reading through the book of Jeremiah. There are lots of judgement - not only for God’s people, but also for other nations. Surprisingly though, it is not the focus of the book as God also promises restoration to other nation as well. This reminds me of the Sovereignty of the Lord, He is the Judge as well as the Restorer.
 
God’s grace and mercy is not reserved only for His people, neither is His judgement only for unbelievers. His fairness reminds me that we pray not only for believers to keep rooted in faith and be fruitful in Christ but we also need to extend His mercy and compassion to unbelievers because it is within His heart to restore, to see all be blessed abundantly and that everyone including those who are yet to believe in Him, can have a fulfilled lives through Christ Jesus.

Personally, it is hard for me to pray this, seeing corruptions, greed and suffering in my country, seeing people in power to be self-serving and harming the weaker innocents; marginalizing them to poverty rather than fostering peace and caring for the ones in need. It is however, not for me to judge as God is the judge of all and I’m called to extend His compassion and grace to unbelievers too, to pray for them to have the heart of Christ and bring the likeness of His Kingdom to the world, to instil in believers’ hearts the courage and faith to be a true ambassador of Christ, bringing hope and restoration in this uncertain, challenging and corrupt times. God want's to restore.
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May God strengthen us to bring changes and restorations in our own world through prayers and courage to do what is needed. God bless you.
 
2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV)
"We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
 
Colossians 3:13 (NIV)
“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

- Jenni Wang