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After Everything Done, To Stand Firm Yesterday, from the last few words of King David, we learnt that we need to be strong and courageous. Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians in the last chapter also said, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm." Note that, after everything that could be done is done, all that we must do is to STAND firm in the promises of God's Word, pray and continuously to have faith in Him, holding fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23) https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Be Strong and Courageous In law, once a will is written, it takes effect upon the demise of the person. Even the Court cannot amend the contents of the will once it is established that the will is done in accordance to law. Hence, the last words of someone is of crucial importance.  In Chronicles 22:12 & 18-19, we read of  King David's words to his son, Solomon and his leaders. He charged his son to keep the law of the Lord and be careful to observe the statutes and the ordinances and finally be strong and courageous. As for the leaders, King David charged them to arise, set their heart and soul to seek the Lord to build the sanctuary for the name of the Lord. Let us draw strength from our Lord to be strong and courageous, not to fear nor be dismayed especially during these tested times of beginning of end times. https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Walk In A Manner Worthy of our Calling In Ephesians 2, we have seen that we are saved FROM sins so that we are justified FOR goodworks. In Chapter 4, Apostle Paul further implored us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We were taught, with regard to our former way of life, to put off our old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of our minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Let us walk our talk as we continue to worship God, testifying of His goodness in our marketplace ministries from Mondays to Saturdays."Much of our culture has a distinctly Greek view of work:We work out of necessity.But, you see, we are made in the image of God, and as such we are made to work..to create,

Pray To Be Filled with the Fullness of God Today, I would like to just paraphrase the prayer of Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:16-21. Dear Lord, may You strengthen us with might through Your Holy Spirit in our inner person, that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith that we may understand what is the vastness of the love of Christ which passes knowledge AND to be filled with all the fullness of God. Dear Lord, to You be glory to all  generations, Who are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. In Jesus' Mighty Name we pray, Amen! https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Saved From Sins, Saved For Service Whether we like to admit or not, inevitably, we sin in one way or another. We are then considered dead in trespasses and sins. But, God, who is rich in mercy and because of His great love for us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. What are glorious and a just redemptive plan! We are saved FROM our sins BUT saved FOR service i.e. for good works! Do not walk according to the course of this world which is counted as disobedience for the prince of the power of the air, the spirit now works in the sons of disobedience. Read Ephesians 2. https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Wait Upon the Lord Yesterday, I had ice-cream with my hubby, celebrating my birthday. I was thanking God that I did not need to wait for the ice-cream as after we  bought, there were so many people coming and a long queue soon formed. I may not want to queue up to wait for food BUT I better jolly well WAIT upon the Lord for His direction before I ever take the next step. In 1 Chronicles 14:14-15, David inquired again of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; circle around them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. And it shall be, when you hear a sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.” Obviously King David obeyed - he WAITED for the sound of marching before he went to battle and successfully struck down the enemies. Let us say this prayer by Pastor Dr. Peter J. Marshall, " Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wai

Be Loyal and Faithful Followers We know that King David was the apple of God's eyes. He was anointed and the Lord of Hosts was with him. BUT,he did not rule Israel all by himself. In 1 Chronicles 11 & 12, we could see that he had faithful, loyal and strong mighty men with him. In 1 incident, he was just longing to drink water from the well of Bethelehem which at that time fell to the hands of the enemies. Nevertheless, his 3 closest assistants, risked their lives, broke through the camps of the enemies and brought back the water for him. This shows such great loyal and dedicated teamwork! Not only that, King David had 30 mighty loyal men with him and the rest of the men kept rank with him, came with loyal heart and were of ONE mind to make David king. How we need to learn from all these mighty men to have such loyalty to their leader; willing, ready and able to unite and of ONE mind to achieve the vision and mission of the company or church. In fact, unity is the utmost desir

Set Free From Sin We have seen on Sunday that salvation is not by works nor by observance of the LAW. It is by faith working through love. We have been called to LIBERTY; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” We are to walk in the Spirit and not to fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galationas 5:6, 13-14, 16). It means that we do not use grace of God as a LICENSE to sin against Him. In fact, we are free but FREE FROM SINNING against God. As stated in Romans 6:6-7, "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been SET FREE FROM SIN". https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Be Zeolous and Fervent Disciple-Makers We know the last command of Christ which must be our first concern is to make disciples. Apostle Paul obeyed this command very well and hence it is good for us to explore his insights and his experiences. In Galatians 4:16-20, we can learn that in his discipleship journey, he told the truth, he was zealous and above all, he laboured in birth until Christ was formed in his disciples. If this is how and what Apostle Paul did in his discipleship, we must do likewise to have a small group of people whom we must laboured until Christ is formed in them. We truly lack these disciple-makers nowadays. Let us pray and trust God to stir our hearts to be more zeolous and fervent in disciple-making like Apostle Paul. https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Trust and Obey Yesterday, we saw how we need to have faith in Jesus to be saved. But, it is not a one-off "registration fees" that you paid and then, you can forget about it. No, not at all! We need to CONTINUE to have faith in God. One historical incident is found in 1 Chronicles 5:18-22, whereby the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 men ready for military service—able-bodied men who could handle shield and sword, who could use a bow, and who were trained for battle. They were helped in fighting them, and God delivered the Hagrites and all their allies into their hands, because they cried out to him during the battle. He answered their prayers, because they TRUSTED IN HIM and many others fell slain, because the battle was God’s. Note that though they were able-bodied and trained men, they still prayed and trusted God and God came to their rescue. Yes, once we believe in Jesus, we come under the shadow of His Wings (Psalm 91:4) and the battle

Saved By Faith In Christ Many, if not all want accomplishments - they feel very good when they are ABLE on their own accord put in their efforts and hard labour to achieve something! This is commendable BUT not in regards to our salvation of our souls. No matter how many good works we may have accomplished, a man is not justified by the works of his hands BUT by FAITH in Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:16). If good works can justify salvation, the next question to ask is how many good works one needs to accomplish? The next questions may be on what type of good works and how is the quality of the works and the list goes on. Find out more on how to be saved for eternity from any church. Today, visit a church nearby or  to the church whom your friends have invited you before. https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Let Jesus be King In Us In Galatians 1:24, it is recorded that the churches of Galatia glorified God in Paul. Wow! God was glorified IN the Apostle Paul. How can this be achieved? We can get some answers in Exodus 19:5-6 whereby God Himself  duly informed the Israelites that they SHALL be to Him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. When we are to Him the Kingdom of God, we glorify Him. How are we to Him the Kingdom of God - it is simply trusting and letting Jesus to rule and reign and sit on the throne of our hearts by obeying His voice and keeping His covenant (verse 5). Knowing this, let us glorify God IN us! Dear Lord, we know You will help us, Amen! https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Fear God, Seek Wisdom Yesterday, an elderly weak man came to my office. I did not have any appointment with him. But, to my shock, he said he came to make payment for his son. I asked him as to why he came to pay for the son's debt. He said his son refused to go to work, just thinking of making fast money. The son is already at least, in his late 20s. I have heard of the phenomenon of social-withdrawal and school-refusal due to addiction to computer games but I am really saddened by this work-refusal and fast-money syndrome. How we must guard ourselves and our children from being enticed by such people or go along with them or set foot on their paths as warned in Proverbs 1:10-16. We must teach our children to fear God, love wisdom, listen to father's instructions and mother's teachings for these are like garlands to grace their heads and like chains to adorn their necks (verses 7-9). https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Do Not Take God For Granted We know our Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor His anger forever (Psalm 108:8). By this, it means that God can still be angry albeit slow and still will harbor His anger albeit not forever. We witnessed His anger in 2 Kings 23:25-27 when even King Josiah turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.  Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of His fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to arouse his anger. This is what the fear of the Lord is all about! Do not take God for granted...let us fast and pray and seek His face and plead His mercy! https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Guard Our Motives In 2 Kings 20:12-17, recorded the incident of King Babylon, Berodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. And Hezekiah was attentive to them, and showed them all the house of his treasures—... When prophet Isaiah asked him, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.” ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. How we must be careful of our motives! If our motive is to show off ourselves and to show how talented we are as opposed to glorify God, it amounts to pride and pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).  Remember 2 Corinthians 10:17-18, "he who glories, let him glory in the Lord .” For

Emmanuel - God With Us Yesterday, we ponder on our God who forgives. Today, we look at a character in the Bible, King Hezekiah who trusted in the Lord , the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following Him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. (2 Kings 18:5-6). So, we see that we after we have trusted in our God who graciously forgives us, we must hold on fast to Him and never ever stop followimg Him. We must continue to keep His commands. The Lord will be with us and cause us to be successful in whatever we undertake. Praise be to God! Amen. https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

We Have A God Who Forgives When we have done wrong or hurt someone, whether intentionally or otherwise, we require that someone to forgive us. It is only then that true reconciliation takes place. There will be no reconciliation even if the person who does wrong, keeps doing good when that someone does not FORGIVE. This is exactly what Christianity is all about. We have a God who does not keep a record of our sins - with Him there is FORGIVENESS when we repent. After the reconciliation, we then with reverence, serve Him, wait upon Him with our whole being, put hope in His Word and in Him for with our dear Lord Jesus is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption ( Psalm 130:3-7). Believe in Jesus today! Today is the day of salvation! Read Hebrews 3:7-14. https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Finish What We Started One of the great challenges we face is to COMPLETE what we have started. Marathon runners are proud to receive their "Finishing T-shirt". Many started to run but few completed the race to receive the said t-shirt. However,there is ONE race that we MUST COMPLETE! Our journey of faith! Thanks be to God Who has chosen us to be His children. We have not yet reached our goal, ...but Christ has taken hold of us. So we keep on running and press on to take hold of the prize...forgeting what is behind, and reaching forward for what is ahead. We must run toward the goal to win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done (Philippians 3:12-14). Even in the matters of giving, Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 8:9 that we should finish what we started. Today, as we go to church, ponder what we have committed and pray for STRENGTH TO COMPLETE the same and surely God is always there for us as He promised t

Economy may be uncertain due to the weakening of RM. Things are more expensive due to GST. As I read Proverbs 31 today, I can learn at least 3 lessons from this wise woman in respect of work. 1st, in verse 16, she planted a vineyard. This means she invested in something that would yield more for her in the future. 2ndly, in verse 17, she set about her work vigorously. Nothing short of diligence! Harwork is needed and no shortcut. 3rdly, in verse 18, she saw to it that her trading is profitable. How we need to monitor and supervise closely to ENSURE that the work at hands is running smoothly and is yielding profits. May the Lord help us to be wise in our daily work, remembering always that unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. Read Psalm 127:1-2. https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

We know corporations have vision and mission statements. How about our own personal goals? In fact, to me, it is important that we have our own personal life goals in mind. If not, our lives will be like boats or ships, floating on the sea without any destination to go and that will be pitiful. In 2 Corinthians 5:9-11, Apostle Paul encouraged us to make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Let us spend some time to write down our own mission and vision statements; the least we must have is to LIVE A LIFE THAT PLEASES OUR DEAR LORD JESUS! https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Just yesterday, someone informed me that if I were around, he would not do certain things. Hmm...I do not know whether to take it as a compliment or not. But, it gladdens me when he went on and said that there was as if light shining around me and hence spurred him to do the right things. This is inline with 2 Corinthians 4:6 that says, "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Let us so shineforth for God that people will see Christ in us and that we are able to point them to Jesus that He may increase and we will decrease like what John the Baptist did. Read John 1:23-27. https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

At times, we may complaint that we do not receive blessings from God or we may feel very "dry". Have we ever thought why? In 2 Kings 4:1-6, we read of how God through prophet Elisha blessed a widow with an ever-supplied of oil BUT when all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.” But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing. God is ever willing, ready and able to bless us BUT the question is whether are we willing and ready to go to Him, emptying ourselves to be filled by Him? Just as can be seen, if there was no more empty jar, there would be no more supply of oil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.....be filled with the Spirit! (Ephesians 5:17-18) https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Leaders are important. We need an upright, efficient and capable leaders who can lead us to greater heights.  Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing (2 Corinthians 2:14-16). Note that we have God as our Perfect Leader Who ALWAYS leads us in victory IN CHRIST. Wow! What a promise! We will ALWAYS experience constant victory! What is the condition?  Abide IN CHRIST! This is consistent with what our dear Lord Jesus Christ said in John 15:5, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Everyone of us, to a  certain extend, loves to have the freedom to choose whatever we like to do and whereever we like to go. However, as Christians, we need to know that Jesus Christ is not only our Saviour but He is our Lord! We need to seek His Will and not to conduct ourselves with fleshly wisdom (2 Corinthians 1:12). In fact, we saw how King Ahab was killed in the battlefield as he failed to listen to the Word of God spoken to him through the prophet Micaiah the son of Imlah in 1 Kings 22:14-23. Today, as we go to church, let us be still and listen to God's voice speaking to us and take heed to trust and obey (Psalms 46:10). https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

We can glean at least 3 lessons from the household of Stephanas in 1 Corinthians 16:15-17. 1st, they devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints. It means they took upon themselves to serve others, probably without even being told, just like in Luke 22:26 ..." the one who rules like the one who serves." 2ndly, this household supplied what was lacking. They are sensitive to the needs of the people - do we find a need and meet it, find a hurt and heal it? 3rdly, they refreshed the spirit of Apostle Paul and others. In other words, they are contributors! Let us contribute to others with encouraging, inspiring and impactful words! https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

Yesterday, we saw a real incident of how God provided for a widow by an ever-supply of flour and oil, our basic needs in life! There was another exciting incident happened in Mount Carmel of how God answered prayers. The prophet Elijah prayed for rain and the rain DID come. But, note the incidents prior to the rain in 1 Kings 18:43-44 where he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked, and said, “ There  is nothing.” And SEVEN TIMES he said, “Go again.” Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your  chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’ ” At times, God has already answered our prayers BUT we still need to CONSISTENTLY look to God and trust Him, even though there were as if no answer at all or no glimpse of a solution to our problems at all! We need to keep fixing, gazing and looking upon our Lord Jesus 7x or more! H

1 Samuel 2:30 says, 'For God will honor those who honor Him, but those who despise Him will be cursed! There was a true incident that showed this principle in 1 Kings 17:12-14 whereby a widow who had no bread but only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar OBEYED and HONOURED the Lord by making a small cake from what she had and offered to prophet Elijah. What happened next? "The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah." Our Lord is Jehovah Jireh! The Lord Who Provides! Let us just obey and honour God in ALL that we do and say. https://twitter.com/EstherOngHC

We may sometimes give excuses to ourselves that we may just do a little bit of "wrongdoings" as long as we do not harm people OR we justify our wrongs as not so bad as other people are doing as well. But, in 1 Kings 14:7-10, we read of what happened to Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you ruler over My people Israel, and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you; and YET you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, TO DO ONLY WHAT WAS RIGHT in My eyes; therefore behold! I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, bond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is all gone." Hence, let us remember "JUST DO RIGHT!", no matter what, no matter how, no matter who pressurises you. https://twitter.com/EstherO

Usually, we will listen to the words of a prophet, especially when he or she says that God has spoken to him or her. This is exactly happened in I Kings 13:18-26,  a prophet said to a man of God, “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord , saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” (He was lying to him.) The consequences were disastrous - “Thus says the Lord : ‘Because you have disobeyed the WORD of the Lord , and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you,...“It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord . Therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the WORD of the Lord which He spoke to him.” We are living in end times, wherein we need to be extra cautious, watchful and vigilant as warned by Jesus Himself in Matthew 24:24-25. Let us be like the Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily to  find  out wh