Articles/Blogs

by Sarah Ng

The way God relates and deals with His chosen nation Israel is a picture of how God relates and deals with us His Church. We can learn much from their history with God especially through their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. God humbled them and tested them to reveal what was in their hearts. Would they really love and obey God when circumstances changed for the worst?

“And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” (Deut. 8:2)

Before we shake our heads and sigh at the Israelites, we need to see that God allowed what had happened so that we today can learn from their mistakes. In His longsuffering and kindness, He admonishes us to look to them as examples:

“Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them… Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Cor. 10:6-7, 11)

How can we apply what happened to Israel to us in the midst of COVID-19 today? Among the many things that God is doing in this global pandemic, He is testing and humbling His people. 1 Cor. 10:12 says, “… let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”

The nature of man in all our frailty remains the same, whether a thousand years ago or now. The same temptations surround and ensnare us. We lust after evil things; run after other idols; commit sexual immorality; tempt, resist and doubt Christ; and complain and grumble against God (1 Cor. 10:6-10).

We can also be doing all the “Christian” things — going to Church, fellowshipping with believers, serving, giving, tithing etc., but yet still not be living lives that are pleasing to God. We see this clearly through Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness.

“…all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” (1 Cor. 10:1–5)

God has caused the global pandemic to humble most of the world’s population by putting a halt to our usual routines and highlighting the mortality of man when faced with a virus. He is also testing us as His people — when things go south, will we still love Him, trust Him and obey Him? Or will we become offended and grumble at God?

May we take heed and respond to God and rend our hearts and not our garments. May we seize this window of getting right with God! Our confidence rests not in our ability to repent or humble ourselves, but on our faithful God. We can be assured that if we take heed and turn towards Him, He will hear our prayers and respond.

“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
(2 Chr. 7:13–14)

by Sarah Ng

I grew up being nagged by my parents with threats like, “Better study hard and get a stable job in the future, else good for nothing…”

Our parents who have brought us into this world feel the immense responsibility to bring their children up well so that we may be found of good use – both to the family and to society-at-large, and rightly so.

One of the worst nightmares any person could have is to be found “useless”, especially when it comes to the very purpose for which we are created. Each one of us is created by God for a purpose. There comes a time when we will face a reality check. Will we be found of good use or found good for nothing?

It is quite a stigma in society to be labelled as someone who is “good for nothing”, but even Jesus used this strong language to put across the severity of the consequences of not being found useful in His Kingdom.

In Matthew 5:13–16, He says to all believers,

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

This passage is a call to all believers to have an impact on society and transform nations. It is a call to be relevant and to be a change agent wherever we are. It is an invitation given to all of us, His disciples, regardless of how weak we are and regardless of our position, status, or career path.

We are all called to be vessels and channels of God to make Him known and transform society. We are called to influence, create impact, and advance the Kingdom of God here on earth.

In the frenzy of hand-washing, safe distancing, and working from home, which has already become our new normal, the constant thought in my mind is this, “Do believers stand out as different? Are we relevant — do we have an answer and can we make sense from God’s Word regarding what is happening and where this is all going? Are we a change agent that brings hope, direction and peace to many hearts in such times of uncertainty?”

Like how salt is used to preserve, are we able to slow down the moral decay and depravity in society in accordance with the Truth of God? And like how eating salt causes us to be thirsty, are we making people thirsty for God because of the reality of God in our lives and the vibrancy of our hearts?

Pause.

God in His great wisdom creates opportunities in for us to look inward and deal with areas of compromise in our lives. With this global pandemic, He is giving us the chance to do a healthcheck — have we lost our “saltiness”? Are we light in the midst of chaos? Have we been found of good use? Or are we good for nothing?

We lose our “saltiness” when we neglect cultivating the Beatitudes and living the Sermon-on-the-Mount lifestyle (Matt. 5–7). We cease to be the light when we ourselves lack “oil in our lamps” — a life of spiritual intimacy with Jesus that gives rise to knowing His heart and ways. If we were salt and light, we would be able to give understanding and thus point people to Him.

Being the salt and light is the result of walking out the eight Beatitudes. Matt. 5:13–16 comes after Matt. 5:3–10; in other words, we can’t truly advance God’s Kingdom unless we become Kingdom people. We can’t be God’s change agents and effectively transform society without walking out the Sermon-on-the-Mount lifestyle. We cannot transform others unless we ourselves are firstly being transformed.

Make no mistake, being salt and light is not a strategy or program. It isn’t about relying on our talents, gifts, plans and strategies to attempt transformation. It is about firstly reaching to become the very Kingdom people of God in our lifestyle, character and values, and then from there influencing those around us. Then, we would be found of “good use” for His Kingdom.

by Cynthia Sundram

As of the end of June 2020, about 500,000 — half a million — people have died from COVID-19 worldwide. More than 10 million have been infected, with actual numbers likely to be higher due to the lack of diligent reporting and widespread testing in many nations.

Many people have lost jobs, with scores of businesses and national economies affected. The price of oil went negative for the first time in history underscoring the disease’s impact on the global economy. In the midst of the lockdowns, social problems have increased, suicides have increased, and domestic violence has increased.

Where is God in all this? Worse still — did this pandemic catch God by surprise?

What Do These Signs Point To?

The Bible is God’s Word that is living, that speaks to us of who God is, who we are in Him, what He desires from His people and also what is to come. There is much prophetic Scripture written about the time before Jesus’ Second Coming. The prophets and even Jesus shared in the Gospels of things that will take place specific to the time before He returns (Matt. 24, Mk. 13, Lk. 21).

Firstly, we must all be aware of the times we are living in. Many agree that we are seeing things escalate at a scale like never before. All of this points to the reality that we are currently living in a specific time and generation — the generation where Jesus will return.

In Matthew 24:3–14, Jesus gave us specific things to look out for in the time before His return. He warned of earthquakes, wars, rumors of war, pestilences, among many other things. Jesus did say “pestilences”. In fact, because He used the plural, it means that this coronavirus we are currently facing will not be the end. SARS and MERS both came and went, but now COVID-19 is here.

Jesus likened these signs to the “beginning of birth pangs” (Matt. 24:8), which in the context of giving birth, signals to a mother that her baby is about to be delivered. Birth pangs get more and more intense and frequent as the delivery of the baby draws closer. They alert the mother that her time to deliver is drawing near and to prepare her.

Similarly, COVID-19 is meant to alert us to the more intense times that are to come. We can expect diseases to come and go with greater intensity and frequency as we draw nearer to His return. So yes, while this pandemic will eventually be over, we can be sure that worse will come.

However, Jesus tells His people not to be troubled by all that we see happening (Matt 24:6). In fact, He proceeds to warn us of a more intense season of persecution that is ahead for His people (Matt. 24:15-22). This, and other signs, will intensify in magnitude and culminate with His Second Coming (Matt. 24:30-31).

As His people, the key is to know what God is alerting us to, and how to prepare ourselves for the more severe and intense things that are to come (Matt. 24:15 – 21).

Things Will Not Get Better, But We Can Grow Stronger, We Can Burn Brighter

In His grace and mercy, God always warns before judgments takes place. However, more than that, He also shows us how we should respond so that we can through His shakings, grow stronger and prepare for even more intense times to come. “Things will not get better, but we can grow stronger and we can burn brighter!”

In 2 Chronicles 7:13, God told Solomon that when He sends droughts, commands locusts to devour the land or sends pestilence among His people, He would respond with forgiveness of sins and healing of the land IF His people “humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways” (2 Chr. 7:14).

This is similar to Joel’s call to the ancient Israelites to rend their hearts and turn to God with wholeheartedness, and with fasting and prayer (Joel 2:12-17).

A Time To Turn To God

In a national crisis — or in our case a global crisis — God requires His people to turn back to Him!

Firstly, we need to know that we are also partly responsible for what is happening today. When His children are not walking fully in His ways or have sin in our lives, our heavenly Father does chastise and discipline us (Heb 12:6), oftentimes by sending shakings. In fact, judgment does begin in the family of the Lord (1 Pet. 4:17). Thus, shakings happen to get our attention. Shakings happen because God wants to remove sin in our lives.

We need to see our own condition and how we have fallen short of what God wants from us as His people. We need to lean in to Him and ask Him to anoint our eyes with eye salve so that we can see our living condition. Then we must repent and seek Him with all our heart (Rev. 3:18). God is using this divine “pause” to get our attention. He wants us, the people of God, to see that we have placed our security in the wrong places and then turn back to Him. Jesus is knocking on the doors of our heart (Rev. 3:20). Will we hear and let Him in?

He is so jealous for our love and so zealous for our fullness. If we hear and respond, we can be like the ones whose house is founded on the Rock so that even when the floods and the winds come, we will still stand (Matt. 7:24-25).

Secondly, how His people respond to Him can stop and even reverse the course of this pandemic. This is referred to as the “perhaps” of God, which the prophet Joel alluded to: “who knows if He will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him?” (Joel 2:13–14) Our God is a merciful God who desires to show mercy. In this we can be confident. If His people hear Him, turn and repent from our wicked ways, He will surely hear our cries and break in for us.

Exhortation

God is in this whole pandemic. If we have eyes to see, we can see that even in this disaster, He is working for the good of those who love Him, those whom He has called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). However, there is a requirement for us. We must see and we must respond. Then, and only then, we might see God turn this crisis to a blessing.

By Joshua Yap

Have you ever been locked outside of your own house? And without any means of getting in because your family member inside was blissfully ignorant of your plight? It’s an annoying experience: being so close yet so far. What if I told you that this is what Jesus faces with many of us in the body of Christ today?

In Revelation 3:20, we see the Lord of the universe knocking on the doors of our hearts, waiting and longing to enter in. At first glance, this sounds like a Scripture written to unbelievers. Yet we find that this verse was Jesus’ message to the church in Laodicea – it’s written to believers! In their lukewarmness, they had locked God out of their lives and kept Him waiting in a place where they could be blissfully ignorant of His presence and desires.

So often we attempt to search for lesser things to fill the gaping emptiness inside of our hearts, but to no avail. Life for many believers is a frantic pursuit to do more and to achieve more, all the while being independent from God. In our daily frenzy, we do not hear the knocking God, who is waiting to “dine with us”. Eating with our loved ones is a way to spend quality time with them, and a time for us to hear their heart while pouring our own hearts out to theirs. This is what God desires; this is what it means to abide in Him.

Why would God desire this? We must understand that we are relational beings, made in the image of a relational God. We were made by God, for God — the core of who we are was designed for relating with Him. This is the only way we will never thirst again (John 4:14), the only way we can bear much fruit (John 15:4-5), and the only way we can possibly live in abandonment unto Him (Phil. 3:8). Through the Bible we don’t merely see a list of “dos and don’ts” or some moral lessons to learn. We see the God Most High interacting with human beings. The wonderful miracles or works are just an outflow of relationship and brought about through this interaction!

Pause for a moment! Do we truly relate to God as a Person, or just as a means to an end?

If a heart exchange is what He desires in Revelation 3:20, we must come to realise prayer is more than just going through a list of requests as if Jesus were our genie in a lamp.

Are we impatient with God? During this season, God is confronting how I am in a hurry to move from that place of waiting upon Him to doing things for Him. My mind is racing to my to-do list instead of treasuring the time that I have to engage Him. My heart is anxious to receive His words so that I can do something with it, instead of wanting to simply hear His heart. Why are we in a hurry if the God of the universe is continually patient with our ignorance, knocking on the door of our hearts? Deep relationship with God is not a waste of time!

How should we respond to “the Knocking God”? It is simple: we open our hearts to Him and to His presence in every part of our day, every day of our lives! This is the season to cultivate the openness of our souls to His presence. We must pursue that He would increase in our lives, and we would decrease (John 3:30).

Do we take time to behold Him? God is bringing us back to the simplicity of entering His presence with thanksgiving (Ps. 100:4), not for anything that we can get out of Him, but just to enjoy the wonder of who He is with gratitude in our hearts! Instead of avoiding them, we should wrestle with the deep questions we have about God and ask Him to redefine our ideas of who Jesus is!

Finally, if dining with us is what He desires, then He wants us to know Him intimately! Would He find ones who stand in His counsel (Jer. 23:18) and not just assume what He actually desires? May we not be a church who keeps God knocking, but know Him in an even deeper way in this season!