There are more crimes and natural disaster happening around us. Sometimes we wonder where is the grace of God? Will there be justice? How is it that the righteous are suffering? Is there no deliverance for those who insist on following God’s Way and Truth?

Where is the grace of God?

The Lord’s second coming will come in due time. This is a great spiritual event with the descent of the wrath of Almighty God. It is also the time for judging the dead. All who fear the name of the Lord, His servants and prophets and disciples, will receive their reward.  (Rev 11:15-18).

Place your hope in His promise that can be found in the bible:

1. Grace of God for those who follow His Way and Truth.

The Lord promised, “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (Jn 14:2-3).
The Lord will come to deliver us, for we (the church) are the promised virgin to the Lord (2 Cor 11:2). When the time is fulfilled, He will come (Rev 19:7).
The Spiritual church is His perfect one (Song 6:9). “I belong to my love, and my love belongs to me.”
When He comes again, we will be caught up with Him in the air (1 Thess 4:17).

2. Grace of God in delivering those who wait for Him.

Jesus Christ will come as the judge, unlike His first coming when he came as a saviour. His second coming is for the deliverance of those who believe and wait for Him. To those who do not believe, He is the Lord of Judgment.
On His second coming, the era of grace will end and the door will be closed. Many who want to enter will be kept out (Lk 13:24-25).
He will punish those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of Jesus. What will the end be for those who disobey the gospel? How will the sinful stand?

3. Grace of God in destroying all evil in the world.

This world is corrupted by evil and falls under the evil one. This was not God’s will in creation. Therefore, it must end in order that the new heaven and earth can be accomplished. The end is not reformation but destruction. When the Lord comes again, “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” (2 Pet 3:10).
Will Jesus come again to destroy the world just like in Noah’s days?   We may find answer in the great flood (Gen 6:12-13). The Lord said, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulphur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.” (Lk 17:26-30).

The grace of God is with us. He did not hasten in His second coming so that man still have the chance to turn back to Him.

Jesus’ second coming signifies the end of the world. What bearing does it have on the world?  It will mark the end of the old world and the beginning of the new heaven and earth.  Every Christian who yearns to enter the new heaven and earth regards Jesus’ coming as their greatest hope (1 Pet 1:13).  Will Jesus come again to mark the end of you and I? That will depend on our faith and obedience to God’s words.

If you want to know more about the Second Coming of Christ, feel free to request for one by providing your name and email address below…

The following is a sermon transcription that will hopefully help you to find confidence in the True God that answers prayer.

Heavenly Prayer

(by Pr Hsieh Shi Hai)

“Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.” (Rev 8:3-4)

This is a record of a vision seen by Apostle John in which an angel with a golden censor came before the Lord to worship Him. He was given much incense to offer together with the prayers of all the saints before God. This means our Lord God esteems our prayers highly. This incense can also mean Jesus’s intercessory prayers for us, that through His grace, our petitions can come before God. The sheer fact that we can all come before God and ask of Him is a grace. And when we come before God to pray, it would definitely benefit us more if we have a clearer understanding of the God whom we worship.

What kind of God do we worship?

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (Jas 1:5)

We are urged by James to ask from God for the things we lack
and it speaks to us the kind of God we worship:

1. Our God is one of abundant grace

In God, we can say that we are all abundant. He is the creator of the universe and there is nothing beyond His means. This is illustrated by many examples in the bible, where those who ask of God receive responses from Him that are often beyond their expectations or understanding. For example, when God sent Moses to lead the Israelites in the wilderness, there were many times when they were weak. Once, they wanted to have meat and Moses asked from God, to which God replied that the Israelites would be given meat to eat till they were sick of it. Moses did not understand how God was going to make it happen and thought it an impossible feat, but the hand of God is not shortened.

Today, the Lord God wants to give us abundant grace and as James 1:17 says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. What we ask of God, He gives in abundance, and they are beautiful and perfect gifts. Similarly, the grace we receive from Him is given to us without woes. So as we enjoy the grace from God, we see His abundant grace and we are greatly encouraged spiritually.

2. God gives liberally and without reproach.

Our God is able to understand our weaknesses as well as our needs. Those of us who know our God well may ask of Him according to His will. But every man has shortcomings, so sometimes in our weakness or out of ignorance, we ask of God according to our own needs. The Lord will provide according to our request and in the process, He lets us understand our weaknesses; by the grace of God, we come to understand His love for us.

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Rom 8:26)

Sometimes our prayers do not benefit us or we find ourselves in a loss as to how to pray. We may have personally had or heard of such experiences where one who had been away from church for some time, returns with the encouragement from fellow brethren. This person may be at a loss as to how to pray but the Holy Spirit of God makes intercessions during the prayer. This is because God does not want to reproach us; He wants to edify us and change us so that we can all come before Him in courage.

3. Our God does not tempt, nor is He tempted by evil

“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” (Jas 1:13)

Our God does not tempt us or others. Knowing this, we understand that to test and to tempt are two different matters; our God will not deliberately make things difficult for us. 1 Corinthians describes how we are tested according to our abilities. He comes to our aid and grants us power to overcome tests that we would otherwise not be able to bear. Hence, when we are tested by God, we should not be afraid because He means for us to succeed since He has chosen us to be saved, not fail.

4. Our God is impartial

“For there is no partiality with God.” (Rom 2:11)

Our God does not show partiality so whoever comes before Him with a sincere heart need not be afraid or worried. Some of us may feel worried because we do not know how to make eloquent prayers. While some of us are able to say poetic prayers, the rest of us who only know to pray in a few words need not worry. God overlooks these and sees the inner heart.

This is great encouragement to everyone and if we understand this of God, we are able to come before Him with greater courage and boldness.

So now that we know more about our God, how can we pray?

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Just as James encouraged us to, we can ask of the Lord for help with things we lack such as wisdom.

In the book of James, he discusses some principles on prayers for us to consider:

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” (Jas 1:6)

We should ask from God in faith. Most of us would know this but we may doubt the extent of our faith. There is no standard for faith but Elijah’s example helps understand a little more. James 5:17 describes Elijah as a man with a nature like ours. God had instructed him to rebuke Ahab, the King of Israel then, and to pray for no rain. The drought was a punishment from God and Elijah’s prayers spoke of the communion between him and God. When the time of the Lord came to pass, he was to pray again for rain. This was a great miracle that God performed through the hands of Elijah, a man with a nature like ours.

Like the rest of us, he was just a man, no matter how powerful his prayers may have been. We see how he was at times strong and able to courageously point out King Ahab’s mistakes and take up the challenge of beating the false prophets. We also see how he was weak when others sought to take his life and he fled to hide in the caves, refusing to come out even when the Lord told him to. His example resounds with our own and helps us see that we should not worry about our lack of faith because of a setback. Our God is willing to help us as long as we are willing to pray to Him. As the examples of many great characters of great faith attest and encourage, God fulfils our prayers according to His will. This is how we can come before God with courage; this is our faith.

James 1:5 also tells us that when we pray to Him, God will not reproach us. We are able to come before Him with ease because our God is one without reproach. There may have been times when we were weak, stopped coming for service or found ourselves lacking in our livelihood. We doubt and question whether God would listen to our prayers.

Hebrews 4:15-16 tells us that our Lord Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses. He came in flesh to this world so that He would be like us and sympathize with our needs because He has overcome all kinds of tests and temptations. We are encouraged to come boldly before God, to obtain mercy from Him, so that we may find help in our times of need. This boldness may require a breakthrough in our mindset; sometimes when we are strong in our faith, we feel that our prayers are powerful but when we are weak, we feel our prayers lack strength. With the help and encouragement among fellow brethren, we can come boldly before God even in our weaknesses and receive true help from God.

James 4:2 tells us that we should ask from God boldly because we do not receive when we do not ask. In a seemingly contradictory manner, he tells us in verse 3 of times when we ask but do not receive. How is this possible?

James reminded believers then and reminds us today that there will be times when we ask for things from God but do not receive because we spend it on pleasures. This means that when we ask, we come before Him with a heart to make good use of His grace. When we ask from God and He grants us the things that we need, we need to come before Him, to know how to use His grace in the right way.

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King Hezekiah’s example serves as a good reminder of how sometimes, even when God grants us our prayers, not knowing how to put His grace to good use serves us little benefit. Isaiah 38:1 records how the Lord had sent the prophet to inform King Hezekiah of his impending death and the need to set his house in order. Hezekiah was considered a good king then and after he heard the news, he must have prayed zealously to God. God immediately heeded Hezekiah’s prayer and before Isaiah had left the palace gates, God told him to return to inform Hezekiah that the Lord had added fifteen years to his life. Did this great grace from God do Hezekiah or the nation of Judah any good?

After his recovery from the sickness, Hezekiah received envoys from other nations and the King of Babylon who had travelled to congratulate him on his recovery. He was rebuked by the prophet for being arrogant and showing off things that he should not have. Despite the grace from God and the extension of his life for fifteen years, he did not use it to contribute more for his country. His example illustrates how we take God’s grace in vain if we do not know how to use it in the right way or be humble and repay this grace. It will also not benefit us in the very least. For Hezekiah, it caused great damage. After an extended fifteen years to his life, he passed away and was succeeded by his son, Manasseh, who turned out to be the worst king in the history of Judah. Manasseh was twelve when he became king and there are two explanations for how Hezekiah’s extended lifespan was damaging: He either bore Manasseh during his last fifteen years or co-reigned with Manessah when he was sick. If it were the latter, it would suggest that Hezekiah failed to nurture his son in the right way despite having fifteen more years with his son.

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Let us know how to make good use of gifts from God and let it be good testimonies for God. In the process of our life of faith, we should “confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (Jas 5:16)

We can pray for each other. There are times when we are strong and times when we are ignorant or weak. Weaknesses do not mean just missing out on services; perhaps there are times when we are unable to understand or see things in the right perspective. Since we belong in the household of God, we ought to care for one another and pray for each other.

Our intercessory prayers made with faith will ascend to God and be esteemed by God. He listens and grants us strength to maintain and strengthen our faith. And with these experiences, we are edified in our faith!

Some people gets disappointed when they had pleaded to God for help but He did not seem to have heeded or help. Is it always good that our prayers are immediately answered? Do we say repetitive words and not mean what we pray? Or is it our wrongdoings and our clouded mind preventing us to see the beautiful will of God right before us? Or is our will stronger than His will that we refuse to submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit?

Does God heal us immediately when He hears our prayer?

Let us not waver in our faith and trust in the Faithfulness of God, that He hears our prayers no matter great or small it is. Let us come before Him with the right attitude, knowing He hears all our prayers.

God hears our prayer when we have the right attitude:

Having the right attitude in prayers pleases God. While praying, our heart, soul and body should be in unity, consecrated as a holy living sacrifice, not to be distracted by other things and giving all attention to prayer (Acts 6:4).

Jesus said, “Worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” When we abide by His word and act upon them, God will be pleased. He will hear our prayers.

While praying, we may sit, stand (2 Sam 7:18; Lk 11:25; Jer 18:20), kneel (Acts 20:36), fall prostrate (Mt 26:39), lift up our hands (1 Tim 2:18), look up to heaven (Jn 11:41), cry out in a loud voice (Ezek 11:13; Acts 4:24), pray silently (1 Sam 1:13), shed fears (Heb 5:17), beat our breast (Lk 18:13) or rejoice (Lk 10:21; Job 22:26).

Whatever attitude we may have, let us be spontaneous and guided by the Holy Spirit. God hears our prayer, so we should not follow any fixed pattern nor should we be like Hypocrites (Mt 6:5) lest we leave a foothold for Satan.

Here are those whom God hears their prayer:

the righteous (Jas 5:16; 1 Jn 5:17);
the humble and penitent (Lk 18: 13-14; Ps 51:17);
the pure in heart (Mt 5:8; 2 Tim 2:22);
devout believers who fear God and give generously to those in need (Acts 10:2, 31);
people who observe the Lord’s commandments (Lk 1:6, 13);
people who vow to be consecrated to the Lord (1 Sam 1:10-11);
worshippers who serve before the throne of God day and night (Rev 7:15; 8:13-14).

When we read the prayers of His people from the Bible, we are more affirmed that God hears our prayer. We may ask, “Does God  heal us immediately after our prayers?” The fact is we may not necessary get our answer to our prayers immediately, some have to wait for many years. Even so they will meet with their deliverance because God is Faithful and our hope in Him will not be in vain.

Let us trust that God hears our prayer and acted upon it the very moment we bring our request to Him. The healing may not happen immediately but don’t give up hope. Instead, let us put in efforts to make our every prayer pleasing to the Lord, knowing that He hears our prayer and will reward us in His time.

If you want to know more about the True God that hears our prayers, feel free to request for one by providing your name and email address below…

Some Christians may or may not believe the miracles recorded in the Bible. They claim, “Whether Jesus did or did not perform those miracles, does not affect them. What matters are His teachings such as the new commandment and sermon on the mount which are sufficient for our use. Those miracles have become obstacles to our belief – so we might as well give them up.” This view is very wrong.

Why will some not believe in miracles?

If Christians believe in Christ’s teaching without believing in the miracles, their faith is useless. Christ’s teaching is certainly important; but without the miracles Christ is only a great man or a saint, who may not be worthy of our trust.

A great man or saint cannot satisfy our need for eternal life nor can he solve our problem of sin and death. Great men and saints may be exemplary but they cannot deliver mankind from sin or despair.
Ultimately, they themselves are swallowed up by death but Christ, in one sentence, raised the dead to life (Jn 11:43-44).

This is the most powerful evidence that Christ is the saviour of mankind. We need Jesus who by performing miracles confirmed the truth He taught (Mk 16:20).
Without miracles, we would have had a human teacher. With miracles, we have a divine saviour. No human teacher can deal with our sin and death. Only the divine saviour can.

If we trust in Christ as a social reformist, we do not have to believe in miracles. If we believe Him to be the redeemer, we would undoubtedly believe in miracles.

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Why is the faith of those who do not believe in miracles futile?

Jesus Himself is depicted as the greatest miracle (Lk 11:30).
He came in flesh, born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit, raised from the dead to life and ascended to heaven.
He will come again.

All these facts constitute the foundation of the Christian doctrine. Without miracles, there is no gospel. Christians who do not believe in miracles hold the view that what men cannot do, God cannot do too. They regard God on the same plane as man.

So, why do they believe in God then? Christians who do know the nature of Christ, do not believe that by the power of God, He chose a virgin to be with child through the Holy Spirit and that He resurrected Christ three days after death.
Therefore, they have no relationship with Christ. Jesus is our saviour not because of His teachings but because of the redemption He provides. He was “declared with power to be the son of God by His resurrection from the dead,” (Rom 1:4) so that our faith might not rest on men’s wisdom but God’s power (1 Cor 2:5). Therefore, all true Christians believe in miracles.

Do you know that miracles and wonders accompany preaching?

In the church, miracles confirm what is preached. God’s message is not preached with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power (1 Cor 2:4-5).
People preach with words – God confirms with miracles. This combination confirms the correctness of what is preached.

Elijah revived the child to prove that what God said through Him was true (1 Kgs 18:23-24). So it is with the church.

“The Lord confirm the message of His grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.” (Acts 14:3)

Very often, great miracles in our church have a great impact on the communities near and afar, and many have come to believe. Therefore, not every preaching needs to be accompanied by miracles, which only come about by God’s will and sufficient faith (Acts 14:9-10; Mt 13:58).
Often, a great miracle in the church has a long term profound effect on faith.

If you want to know more about the True God that perform miracles, feel free to request for one by providing your name and email address below…