Category: Faith

Scriptural Readings: Matthew 24:6-8,13-14


King James Version


Matthew 24

v.6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all [these things] must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

v.7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

v.8 All these [are] the beginning of sorrows.


New Living Translation

v.6 And you will hear of wars and threat of wars , but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately.

V.7 Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes and many parts of the world.

v.8 But all this is only the first of birth pains, with more to come.

It seems that what is happening today is becoming clearer as days pass for Christians and as Christians we should be well aware of what is going on. We have been reading, hearing and seeing a lot of the worst news ever in our lives. What do these things tell us? Where are we heading?

A lot of us today who live in different parts of this world whether a Christian or not, we are definitely somehow affected by what is happening on this planet. While this is written, there are some countries who are having a conventional war. People are suffering and dying because we are plagued by a virus. Unemployment rises, political instability threatens almost every country in the world. Economy is on the brink of collapsing. We cannot deny the fact that uncertainties continue to intensify as days go by. What do these things sum up to?


see that ye be not troubled…

The Lord Jesus said that we should not be troubled , alarmed or panicked.
These are His words. There should be no reason why we should not believe and follow it, and as Christians, if we are not to follow the things that He instructed us, it is going to be a disaster for sure at the end for all of us if we continue to ignore these things that we are asked to do by our Lord Jesus.



What about the good news? Will there be good news? Or some will say that there is no more good news happening today neither will there be happening in the future.


There is a good news.


King James Version

v. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

v.14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.



New Living Translation

v. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

v.14 And the Good News about the KIngdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.


Nobody knows when the end will come. It is only our Heavenly Father knows, but what is very clear right now is that the signs are for real and we cannot deny it and as we go on reading the whole chapter to the end, it tells us that we have to be strong in the Lord.

The big question now is are we strong in Him. It is indeed a scary feeling of what is happening today but we have to endure. How? Verse 13 said those who will endure will be at the end and be saved. The word “endure” in Greek is “hupomeno”. Hupomeno comes from the root words hupo and meno meaning “stay behind” or in other words remain; figuratively it means persevere- abide.

Jesus the son of the living God wants us to remain, persevere and abide in Him. We should stand on His ground. As soon as we stand on His ground, we will have fortitude. We are going to be immovable. We are the ones who will proclaim and preach the Good News about the KIngdom. If we stand on the ground of the good news, the finished work at cavalry, we will have the task of spreading the good news. This is the strongest ground that we will be standing on as Christians. This is the ground where the foundation of our salvation was fortified and this is the ground we are to stand on as we go through with our Christian lives.

We are always given the option where to stand on. It is important that we have to stand on something otherwise we are going to be miserable with our lives. We have to remember that we humans have the tendency to lean on or stand on something if we are in distress. This is our nature. We need a saviour. We need God through Jesus Christ. No one goes through the Father but through Him.

We can continue to stand on the ground where we cannot be sure of what will be for us at the end or stand on the ground where Jesus our Lord and Saviour promised us that we cannot be moved. Let the Holy Spirit guide us. Let us always have a prayerful life that the Holy Spirit will protect, sanctify and empower us on these times of trouble.



Heavenly Father, we are always weak. We can never be strong without Your Son Jesus. We come to Your throne of grace. Help us with our frailties and weaknesses. Cleanse us from our iniquities and let Your Holy Spirit comfort us in times of uncertainties. In the mighty name of Your son Jesus, our Lord and Saviour we pray. Amen.

Scriptural Readings: Acts 13:2, James 4:8, Matthew 22: 36-40

Intention is all about planning including our feelings and all those sorts of things that we want. True enough we considered a lot of things arriving from these intentions. Considering the things and the time we gave and went through with these intentions as Christians, the question is…Is it God’s will?

King James Version

Acts 13:2

As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

New Living Testament Version

Acts 13:2

One day as these men were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.”

One sure thing is that God has a plan and intentions for us. Make no mistake about it. He will reveal a lot of things for us as soon as we go through with our day. The Holy Spirit Whom the Father promised us will guide us. We should not doubt it. God never wanted for us to have intentions without His will. God has a plan for each and everyone of us.

If our intentions is all for God’s glory there is no doubt that God will not delay His response for us. The only reason we cannot understand, comprehend and all mixed up is because of our own intentions hidden in our hearts that only God can see.

One day as these men were worshipping the Lord and fasting….

This alone we can see that they were no doubt serious with their worship and fasting as well. This is a time only for God. Their intention and focus is just all for our God. There is only one thing in their spirits, soul and body and that is God. They are doing this for one reason and that is to draw near to God and sure thing was that they knew God will draw near to them. And as they expected the Holy Spirit responded by giving them His intention.

James 4:8

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.

This is why a personal relationship with Jesus, accepting Him as our Lord and Savior is needed.

We are asked to draw near to Him but when? Tomorrow? Next week? next month? because we have to finish something? God knows all our intentions. There is no doubt that if we draw near to Him He is always there and He will draw near to us. This is the reason why we always regret things at the end. God is always waiting for us to draw near to Him but we always have other intentions which has become a priority not Him.

Matthew 22: 36-39

v.36 Master, which [is] the great commandment in the law?

v.37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

v.38 This is the first and great commandment.

v.39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

v.40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

All things do matter. Our responsibilities to our families. Our social responsibilities matter too. Our rights also matters a lot. Jesus wants us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves but the first thing Jesus wanted is to love God with all our hearts, soul and mind.

If our intention is to think what are the good reasons why we should divorce our partners, a legitimate reason why we should be having abortion because these are bothering us. Do we think that these intentions are more favorable for God? Did we ever asked God how to have a forgiving heart so that I can forgive my cheating partner? Have we given some serious thoughts about the innocent life that has to be removed because of an untimely pregnancy? Did we ever have the thoughts of giving God the time and not asking Him the reasons why we should have reasons for these things that we did and decided in the first place ? These are our intentions. True enough we are focused on God but our intention is for our own good not His will. Again, true enough we will be having these uncertainties but God wants us to focus on Him not with the things that has given us these discomforts. God is bigger than any of our countless unbearable problems.

God wants us to acknowledge Him. His presence in us should tell us that we are precious to Him and not to waste time looking for what is good for us. God knows what is best for us. It would be a real comfort and peace of mind focusing on Him. Despite the fact that we are weary and heavily laden, Jesus said “ I will give you rest.”

Scriptural Readings: Matthew 19:26

We always exert our effort our best if not most of the time at times with all the things that we do. During this time we attach the word difficult maybe at the beginning or at the middle and sometimes we end up concluding it’s impossible.

Life itself is difficult. Rich people whom we think should not be having difficulties in life because of their riches would be probably having difficulties juggling their time how to maintain their riches. Difficult times like health issues, lack of family time and as well as personal time at the end of the day we conclude it’s difficult and sometimes being impossible.

It is a fact that even before we start with all the things that we want to accomplish we always have to put in our minds the difficulties we are facing and just on the planning itself we arrive with impossibilities up to a point that quitting is the best option.

Matthew 19:26

But Jesus beheld [them], and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

In this passage alone we should see that Jesus is the only and entirely the answer to everything. Our way whether we seek for salvation, success and all endeavor will come to naught and to its end without Jesus in the equation. It may seem that we actually have success but only to realize it is only a smaller part of a bigger job and seeing that it is becoming more and more difficult for these undertakings and clearly has become impossible for us to continue.

but with God all things are possible

Having success in all aspects is first that it should and has to be God’s will. Unless we seek God through our Lord Jesus there will be no revelations from Him making things impossible for us to do His will…but with God all things are possible. The Holy Spirit who will reveal things to our mortal bodies will in turn and now allow to be under the control of Him and in no other way but to follow therefore beating the purpose of the flesh. Let us put in our minds that we do not have the capacity to change ourselves but only God through Jesus. God will work for us, inside us. We cannot and it is impossible to do it by ourselves. It seems and becomes difficult and impossible because we have forgotten a time of prayer and full trust in Him. We are overwhelmed with our emotions instead of having a much stronger faith and thinking that our struggles and problems are bigger than our God. Let us not turn our backs from God. He never turned His on ours as a matter of fact He sent His Son to touch us.

Whatever struggles we are having today making it difficult and impossible, we have to surrender it all to Jesus. He is at the right hand of God making intercessions to make things easy and possible for us. It may seem that we are fighting this battle alone, we are gravely, greatly and totally mistaken. It is not our battle. It is His. He is totally in control of our lives. We have to see the truth that at the end of every struggle is victory in Jesus Christ. This is the truth and Jesus is the truth and the truth shall make you free. Alleluia! Amen!

Scriptural Readings: Mark 10:37; Matthew 16:22-23; Luke 23:39-42; Luke 17:11-14;

Maybe at this point of time for most of us are having difficulties how to deal with our lives, whether we are struggling with personal problems or dealing with the world problems, our feelings still dictate a lot of things to us. Sadness, boredom are only few of the things to mention. People are out on the streets angry fighting for their cause. Some people are mad because for some reasons the government decided things that will make them hungry. Everyone of us has the right to do this to express our feelings and sentiments.

Mark 10:37 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on the right and the other on thy left, in thy glory.

It does not sound as a demand but more likely a request but then Jesus said it not for Him to decide on this matter. These two disciples might be having somethings in their minds that might have the approval from God but then again ended up as a failure because this is what they feel and think.

Matthew 16:22-23

V.22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

V.23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence to me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Peter having a larger than this world desire that our Lord Jesus would not be harmed and would protect Him at all cost ended up denying Him at the end and much more wept bitterly.

Luke 23:39-42

V.39 One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”

V.40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

V.41 “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

V.42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”

The man beside Jesus who said he wanted to be with Him in paradise got he wanted for. Why? FAITH.

Luke 17:11-14

11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.

12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance

13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

The lepers who, yes, because the feeling of being unwanted in the society resorted to FAITH and they were healed.

John 11:21-27

21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;

26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

Martha was mourning for her brother’s death said if Jesus could have been there would not have died. Of course, the tables were turned and at the end Lazarus was coming out of the grave all because they have FAITH in Him.

At first, these are all feelings. They are all unreliable, heartbreaking and the list goes on and once FAITH comes into the picture, we are saved from these harsh realities.

It is not a question anymore whether you went outside to fight for your right or stay home for safety or just being spectators in a certain fight. It is the question if you have done these things having faith in God doing His will or just having the feelings to do it. Feelings should not come first before FAITH. FAITH concerns God. The stronger our FAITH, the more we become firm and certain with our feelings and actions with our decisions.

Feelings come from us. These things coming from us and not from God makes us unstable and unreliable that would surely result to the things we never expected.

There are more than a million reasons why we always use our feelings and think that it would certainly work but surely ending up on the wrong side.

Take the opportunity to seek and know God’s will during this trying times whether we are inside our home or outside fighting for rights. It has to be God that should be glorified during this time because after all and again it is God who will take us out of this ordeal.

Heavenly Father, confusion clouds everything you want us to do your will. Feelings have become stronger than faith. Again we come boldly unto your throne of grace. Let faith increase in us that we might see and do your will and not on our feelings that brought us to shame. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Scriptural Readings: Luke 22:62; Matthew 16:22-23

There is this built in thing in us called defeat. This thing is not really new for most of us. When we face problems, we also have this anticipating attitude of a lost battle. This is one attitude that we should lose. What really matters even when we lose the battle we learn something from the Lord and this is a win-win result for us Christians.

Luke 22:62

Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

Peter who is the rock as Jesus told him and just like you and I went to lost battles too. Having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ during that time was not still enough for him to make his life worthy as a disciple only after he went through with a lot of rough times, shaken him, leaving all the things that the Lord wanted him to be. The Lord knows we are not perfect but how many of us(Christians)just like Peter came out and wept bitterly. Weeping before God is humbling ourselves in His presence.

Matthew 16:22-23

v. 22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

v. 23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Several times Peter had to insist his good intentions of what he wanted for our Lord Jesus but he got the things he never expected instead and to make things matter worst a time of rebuke from the Lord Jesus in return. Why? Although Peter’s intention was that of the Lord’s sake, it was not God’s will.

The devil cannot conquer us though, we are covered by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ but once in while when we are caught up unaware of our intentions and if we are not careful with our decisions(sometimes ridiculous!)we end up the wrong and on the losing side.

So, what do we see here? First, the Lord Jesus is always patient with us. He continually reconstruct us. He gives us hope. He makes things possible for us to continually having fellowship with Him all over again. Just like Peter who wept bitterly, humbled himself, repented from his mistakes and finally, continue to live under the grace of our Lord Jesus.

Second, the Lord empowers us with the Holy Spirit. He makes us, then He will make us do it, His will. This is why we have to submit to Him unconditionally in order that he can continually make us the person He wants us to be and for His will for us to do it.

Yes, you and I are sinners but we must remember that we are God’s children and forgiven sinners. We are the one’s who will take this spiritual battle to the end and it starts by turning ourselves to Jesus Christ guidance through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, we’re in a war. A spiritual war. We should be having a well planned strategy before we go to the battle ground. We should not make our own decisions. We must follow the instructions. Instructions(His will) from our Lord Jesus and our weapon the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot afford to be defeated and ending up losers all over again. He will make us and we can do it.

Scriptural Readings: John 20:24-29

Feelings are attached to our lives. It is a part of us. We cannot be detached from them. The problem is sometimes we are too dependent on them or in some cases we juggle our faith with our feelings. This should not be the case. We should put into our whole being that we should live by faith and not by sight.

If you have found faith(In God), you should not lose it. You have to follow it.

King James Version

John 20:24-29

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Some of the questions that we always ask ourselves is “How do we see our faith?” or “Are we feeling strong with our faith?” and a list of course will go on.

and be not faithless, but believing.

be not faithless,

The Lord Jesus commanded Thomas that he should not lose his faith. The word faithless in Greek is “apistos” from a – a 1 (as a negative particle) and “pistos” a word coming from “peitho” a primary verb meaning to convince (by argument, true or false). Thomas is juggling between faith and feelings.

but believing.

The word believing on the other hand also came from the word “peitho” but this time it was used with this meaning to rely (by inward certainty) or simply obey.

It is very clear that the Lord Jesus was telling us that faith should be in Him and is a necessity for us. He used the same words with different meaning but the bottom line is they are both commandments. We should get rid of this faithlessness and obey Him(believing only in Him).

And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

When Jesus asked(commanded) Thomas to put his hands on His wounds the(feeling of)faithlessness disappeared. Now Thomas was taken out from his feeling of doubt instead of having faith in the first hand. This is now faith to feelings. This is exactly what Jesus is telling us from the very beginning, to have faith first and fully trusting in Him.

Though faith is something that we cannot feel and sometimes we doubt, should always be a mindset for us. We should focus our whole being(spirit, soul and body) on faith and stand on it firmly. This is the only way the Holy Spirit can commune with us, comfort and instruct us.

We might be playing with our feelings but we should not risk our faith the way we feel things. We can be right or wrong with our feelings but we cannot afford to be wrong with our faith. Faith is something that has to be dealt completely with all seriousness. This is the reason why we choose the wrong path. We should not put feelings before faith. It has to be from faith to feelings.

Our Father in heaven, we are weak. We need strength in our spiritual lives. The only thing that we can be strong is to have a stronger faith in Jesus in our lives and the power of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, strengthen us. Let your power cover our whole spirit, soul and body. In the mighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Scriptural Readings: Genesis 1:1; John 1:3; I John 2:1-2,

In the beginning [God] (created the heaven and the earth).

In the beginning [was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God]. The same was in the beginning with God. (All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made).

I would say most Christians know these verses. The first verse is Genesis 1:1, while the second verse is from John 1:3

One question I think that we should ask ourselves is what is the significance of having things created in the beginning? Why did God create these things including us? He has a purpose of course and a lot of them I guess. Right?

If God created us in His own image that means our lives are precious to Him. We humans are so precious to Him. Right? It is from the beginning or it is right there from the start that because of His exceeding love that we came into being. No exceptions!

v.1  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

Yes, we were cut off from what is perfect. His perfect love for us! It would have been a perfect start from the beginning and a perfect ending for us but we interrupted it. It was also right there from the start and from the beginning that He already made a way that we can go back to Him.

v.2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.

Yes, it was right there from the start, from the beginning that we are destined to live in harmony with God. And it is not yet late. God Through His son Jesus Christ sees us as co heir. We do not have to wonder far from where we are now or what we have been through and what has become of us now.

(New International Version)

v.24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.

v.25 And this is what He promised us—eternal life.

God always gives us a fresh start. It is always in the beginning that God tells us to be very careful. We should see to it that we should be having a good start and we will definitely end up with what God expects from us and be rewarded, a promise right from the start…from the beginning—an eternal life.

Father God, we are so much thankful for your exceeding love for us. We can never be right in your sight but you did something for us to be right again. Thank you for giving us your Son Jesus so we can reach out to you. We need your grace and blessings. These things can never happen apart from your Son Jesus our Lord and Savior. Help us to always remember that you have loved us first, right there from the start… from the beginning. In Jesus precious name we pray. Amen.