VICTORIOUS FAITH

1 John 5:4, 5

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world— our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

WHAT is this “world” that we have to overcome? Did not God make the world and did He not see “everything that He had made and, behold, it was very good”? Yes, He did. But after sin entered this world, men came under its power and, now, by “the world” is meant all mankind who remain under the power of sin and are enemies of God. “The world” means the whole corrupt mass of human society out of which God has taken a people whom He has chosen for Himself, whom He quickens by His Divine Spirit and whose business it is to overcome the world. They will find that the world— the power of evil—will war against them and they also must war against it! And the issue of the battle must not long be doubtful. There remains for us only one of two courses—either the world must overcome us and we must yield to it—or else we must overcome the world and cause it to submit to us.

       The Apostle helps us to understand what he means by “the world” by what he says in the third verse. “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not grievous.” Now, anything which makes us think that God’s will is grievous is of the spirit of the world, against which we have to fight. If, for instance, we are tempted to think that the restrictions of God’s Law—His commandments and precepts are too stringent, it is the spirit of the world which tempts us to think so, for, “His commandments are not grievous” to those who truly love Him. It is only to the rebellious world that the restrictions of God appear to be too stringent, or that the commands of Christ be- come burdensome. If we are suffering pain or poverty, or whatever form of trial we may be called to endure, if we are tempted to say, “God is dealing harshly with us, He is unkind to us,” that, also, is manifesting the spirit of the world against which we are to contend until we conquer it.

      For God’s wil1 is always right and if we really love Him, we shall acknowledge that it is right and though, for a while, we may have to fight against the spirit of rebellion, yet if we are, indeed, God’s children, we must get the mastery over that spirit of evil and, so, the will of God, even when it involves pain, weakness, shame, or death, itself, shall still be perfectly agreeable to us because it is the will of God! We have not completely conquered the spirit of the world until we can truthfully say that the commandments of God, so far from being grievous to us, are acceptable simply because they come from Him. 

Lets endure this Year building our Faith and having victories throughout the year.

Pr Anand Kumar

God does miracles. We as believers of Christ know that. We know it from the Bible, like from the book of Exodus or the book of Matthew. We sing praise hymns of how amazing His good works of wonders and miracles were in the time of Moses. Even non-believers themselves know that God is all powerful and can make miracles happen in a wink of an eye. If a high percentage of us can all agree that God does miracles, does it mean that that same percentage of people experience God’s miracles?

Tuition centre was my second home. I showered, ate, finished my school work, joined in some classes and did basically anything a 7 year old girl can do at a tuition centre. I had that routine every day after school and in the evenings, mum picks me home after office hours. Despite the fact that I grew up in an educational area where all my tutors were available to me at all times and could help me in solving my problems in my school subjects, I was not a bright student. I was a late bloomer instead.

Despite all the tutorial help, I still didn’t do well. My total mark averaged below 50% for many exam terms. I remembered how I reacted when I saw a big round zero scored on my BM (Bahasa Melayu) test when I was 8. I remembered how I always stayed back after school to attend extra classes to sharpen my grammar in BM. I was 9 years old and those classes were meant for students who aged 7 years and below. And how could I forget that I can’t even speak proper English. I only started speaking a proper sentence when I was 7. An understandable sentence would already make my mum so proud of me in those days.

My mum could only pray for me and commit it to the Lord. Amazingly, she was not really worried about my education and my future. She knew somehow that whatever it is, God will take care of my future.

When I was 10 in year 2006, my family were given an amazing privilege to move aboard to Rome, Italy. My step dad had been called to do a project there for a few years and he was given a choice to bring his close ones along. He decided to bring us with him. My step dad, mum, older brother, Thomas, and I went together with enthusiasm and excitement to the upper side of the world which has a different climate and a different environment which calls for a different lifestyle. My brother and I were given the opportunity to study in an international school. I made many new friends and learnt so much about different cultures and backgrounds. Besides that, I got the chance to learn new international languages such as Italian, Spanish and French, even though I didn't really speak BM at that point. I took extra classes for English too. I learnt so much when I was there for the first few months. Everything was so different there compared to my old school system back home. We stayed in Rome for nine months and it was through this that everything changed. God had answered my mum’s prayers.

I began to speak better. My English improved after I came back from Rome in the year 2007. I began to do better in school. I used to be always behind in my studies, but later on, I started to get ahead of the students in my class after I came back. And it did not stop there; I continuously grew and became better in studies up to secondary school when I was 17, studying for my final year exam, SPM.

It was on the year 2013 and that difficult period is still very fresh in my mind. I studied very hard. So hard to the point that my head started to hurt. I also began to lose appetite which lead to me losing weight and health. It was a very stressful period due to the fact that I wanted to get the results that would get me a scholarship.

During the trial SPM examination period, I get headaches that seem incurable at that time because it still hurt even after a lot of prayers for recovery. I missed some important trial papers like Biology and Chemistry so that I could rest. Due to the pain, I could not study efficiently for the actual SPM and I worried about my performance in my papers. I prayed and prayed during and after taking all my SPM papers. I prayed in faith and complete trust in the Father to have full control over my life including my future.

On March 20, 2014, our SPM results were announced. I have to admit that I was very nervous but somewhat calm. I didn’t really think of what to expect and was worry-free. Praise God for that! When I went up to queue in the line to take my results, I began to have butterflies in my stomach, that I tried to get everyone to take their results before me. I didn't even want to see it when it was my turn to take it! When I stood in front of the desk opposite my class teacher, she smiled with her eyes. She then stood up and gave me a hug which made me questioned a lot like, “Why is she giving me a hug? Is my results good that she’s proud of me? Or is she just trying to comfort me because I got bad results?” I gave her a puzzled look, thanked her, and went off far away from that crowded place to have a look at my thin piece of paper that seemed so flimsy but important. I widened my eyes in disbelief. I was shocked that I double, or maybe triple, checked the name of the student on that piece of paper. Then mum called me over to find out what I got. She was speechless for a moment and asked me, “Are you satisfied?”

Indeed, I was. After that very day, my mum has been telling all her friends about my achievement from her business friends to our home fellowship group. My mum has been telling about how amazing God has been for me. Our home fellowship leader, Uncle Pao was also amazed and asked my mum to tell me that I should share my testimony to more people through the church's magazine, Rejoice!

On March 19, 2014, when I was on bed ready for a night rest, in the quiet room I whispered, “God, tomorrow is the day. You know all the prayers I've said and how many times I have mentioned them over and over again. Just know that I am not requesting you to give me straight As. The only thing I request for is faith, trust, and peace. May not my will but your will be done. Amen.” If you were wondering what I got for my results, I got 9 As and 1 C.

I really thanked God for writing my life story from the very beginning until now. He had everything planned out and that really assures me that God has a reason for everything. All the strengths, personality traits, and even weaknesses have a reason why God put them in you. God did not simply create you in the way you are right now but made you the way He wants you to be. To Him, you are perfectly imperfect. You already are the miracle. God does not want you to fail but to succeed in His God-given plans specifically made for you only. We are not made to be victims but to be victors. So, do not worry and commit it to the Lord. Trust Him in the heart and believe that God does miracles and He can and will do it in your life. Praise and glory to the Lord!


- Wei Chen

Buck It Up In Faith

SCRIPTURE

Joshua 7:2-5 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.”So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.

OBSERVATION

Like the men who spied out Ai, we often misinterpret situations underestimating what is at hand, only later to run in to challenge that cause us to lose heart or be filled with doubt. Imagine what Joshua and the people of Israel experienced in terms of God’s miracles and faithfulness; only to doubt, lose heart and melt with fear in the eye of challenge due to their own cause. We later learn that God tells Joshua to buck it up.

APPLICATION

I want to be reminded by this that there will be great days and challenging days, great times and challenging situations. However, it is in those challenging times and situations that I need to remember God’s faithfulness, miracles and answered prayers that I would not lose heart, doubt or become fearful. I want to be able to stand on God’s promises and in His power. I want to be self-motivated to buck it up and stand strong in the Lord.

PRAYER

Lord, thank you for again reminding me of my mind and the perspective of faith, trust and power in you when I come upon challenging times and situations. May my heart be strong, may my focus be on you and may I be stalwart in my persistence to follow in your way.

Reflecting on Grace: Humility and Faith

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich…Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anythingas being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God…"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his crossdaily, and follow Me." (2 Corinthians 8:9; 3:5 and Luke 9:23)

Let's take a reflective look at humility and faith. We have repeatedly encountered these two relational realities. This is to be expected, since "God…gives grace to the humble"(James 4:6), and "we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand"(Romans 5:2).

In our first devotional study, humility and faith were evident. "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, thatyou through His poverty might become rich." In order for Jesus to rescue us from our desperate situation, He had to become poor. When He hung on the cross for us, He took the spiritual poverty of our sin and guilt upon Himself. What a humbling picture of our inborn spiritual condition. Basically, we had to agree with the Lord, humbling ourselves before Him, asking for His help. Additionally, faith was involved. We had to believe that through His death, we could become spiritually rich, that is, forgiven of sin and righteous in His sight.

Humility and faith were later seen as vital for walking in this new life in Christ. "Not that weare sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but oursufficiency is from God." The sufficiency we need for Christian living does not originate in us. Actually, we must not think of "anything as being from ourselves." How humbling to learn, even as born-again believers, that we need the Lord in everything. Then, how do we find the necessary resources? This is where faith applies. "Our sufficiency is from God."This is truth that we are to believe.

When we examined Christian discipleship, humility and faith again appeared. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). Jesus' call to come and follow Him can only be received by those who will say, "No to self" and "Death to self." This is humiliating to the self-life, to think it is not good enough, to admit that it belongs on the cross. This is especially humbling when we see that these are to be our daily confessions. The rest of the discipleship issue is settled by faith, trusting in Jesus each step of every day.

More on Faith and Grace

The just shall live by faith…So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God…I know whom I have believed and am persuadedthat He is able to keep what I have committed to Him. (Romans 1:17;10:17 and 2 Timothy 1:12)

The entire Christian walk is designed to be lived by faith. "The just shall live by faith." In every step of every day, in every issue that we face, we are to rely upon the Lord. This path of trust accesses grace. Faith allows us to receive and respond to the grace that God desires to shower upon us. Remember, faith is what corresponds with grace."Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace" (Romans 4:16). Trying ourhardest does not ensure God's grace working in and through us. Attempting to bepassive does not bring forth a display of His grace. However, humbly trusting in the Lord, whether taking action or patiently waiting, will always result in His grace undertaking for us.

Yet, how does one specifically learn to live by faith? "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." As we get into the Scriptures, desiring to hear from the Lord, faith has opportunity to grow. Through the word, God speaks to us about Himself and His ways. He tells us His plans and purposes. He provides insights into reality. He drives away illusions and misconceptions. He offers promises and assurances. As we are thereby getting to know who the Lord is and what He wants to do, we are stirred to trustHim to work these matters into our lives. We face trials or opportunities, and we trust Him to be faithful. We learn of our own inadequacy and are driven to His sufficiency. We look to the Lord in daily personal issues, and He proves faithful. Through it all, our faith continues to grow in response to what the Lord is revealing to us and is doing for us. This is God's grace at work, because His word is "the word of His grace" (Acts 20:32).

This process illustrates the relational reality of faith. Faith is not something we can produce. It results from getting to know the Lord more and more. Paul spoke of this pattern in part of his testimony. "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him." As the years passed, Paul was getting acquainted with the Lord in whom he had first believed. Then, as this relationship with Christ developed, Paul was increasingly convinced of his Master's ability to handle any matter entrusted into His hands. All the while, Paul's growing faith was drawing upon theresources of God's grace.