The Need For Solitude And Community
Are you someone who prefers to be alone or hang out with people? Does time alone draw you closer to God, or lead you deeper into certain temptations or loneliness? Bonhoeffer ever said, “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.” Do you sometimes feel that as long as you get the support you need from the Christian community, you do not need to pray so much to God yourself? Or do you feel that you do not need to be in a Christian community because you can build good relationship with God on your own?
All Is Not Lost! God Restores!
Do we see that we are actually experiencing spiritual drought in our lives? Do we see “locusts” eating up our lives over time? Beyond the glamour and prosperity of this world, do we see our land or even the churches being wasted and withered? We are unconsciously living in a state of hopelessness. However, the Lord had brought about divine interventions for us. Let us learn more through the book of Joel.
Trusting God In Our Perplexities
As Christians, we often grapple with some existential issues, in particular why bad things happen to God’s people, or why didn’t God shield His people from cruelty of wickedness? Through a short survey on the book of Habakkuk, may we deal with life’s perplexities rightly by bringing it God, trusting, and waiting in God who works out all things for God’s glory – even though things are at times beyond our comprehension. The righteous will live by faith, and this summaries the path of life God sets for His people.
The Risk To Be Taken By Christians
Risk exists in almost all human activities. And risk increases especially with volatile or uncertain situations. Most people’s mentality is to minimize risk. In fact, if given a choice, no one wants to take risk. However, what if God instructs us to take risk? Those risk will be worth taking. Why? Because if it is from the Lord, it will always trigger an overwhelming and abundant response from Him. Find out how this is so.
Counterintuitive and Sufficient Grace of God
We have always heard that there is no free lunch in the world. Thus, we tend to get very suspicious of deals which are too good to be true. Also, we are very used to the idea of “earning for our rewards”, so it feels strange when we do not have to put in efforts to attain something precious. That is why God’s grace is so counterintuitive to the human mind. How is the gospel counterintuitive? How is Jesus enough for all human needs? Find out more through this message.
Fear The Vengeance Of The Lord
Sometimes, we have heard so much about God’s love that we’ve forgotten that God does take vengeance upon every injustice. The fact that God takes vengeance upon injustice is not only a stark reminder for us to fear the Lord, but also for us to take comfort in the Lord if we’ve been victimized innocently. Find out how our righteous God exercises his vengeance and his power to repay is not to be reckoned with.
Reconciliation and God’s Sovereign Goodness
One important theme in the Bible is reconciliation – reconciliation with God, with men, as well as the mission of bringing men to reconciliation with God. Are you already reconciled with God? On the foundation of our reconciliation with God, are we also reconciled with men? One key to reconciling with those who have hurt us is to trust in the sovereign goodness of God, but can we believe that God is sovereign yet good at the same time, especially when seemingly bad things happen to us?
Learn To Take Wise Counsel
Listening to the wrong advice could be one of the pitfalls in our life. Sometimes, if there was ever a regret in our life, it is usually not just because we’ve made a wrong decision, but it could be that we have listened to the wrong counsel prior to that. And with the world interconnected now, people are giving unsolicited opinions and advices. So it is important that we learn to take wise counsel in our life. Find out how the Bible instructs us in this area.
It Is Good To Bear Christ’s Yoke
In a world where instant gratification and quick successes are highly sought after, how do we recalibrate our spiritual perspective to see the value in certain burdens and labouring hard on the works that the Lord has set forth for us? Let us expound the verse from Lamentations 3:27, on the true meaning of goodness for a person “to bear the yoke while he is young”.
Living As Committed Christians In This World Today
We live in a world that promotes keeping options opened. Such non-committal spirit is also prevalent in church and our faith living, diverting Christians from an authentic Christian living. As children of God, we need to return to biblical integrity and understand what it means to live as committed Christians who glorify God. It is counter-cultural and unpopular, but it’s the way to a fruitful and genuine Christian living.
