Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. – Hebrew 10:35-36

The bible tells of many characters who have to endure hardships and sufferings in the midst of trials and difficulties. Through the trials, these characters have learnt to endure and emerge victorious. But how did they do it? The secret lies in the strength of the mind called Fortitude.

What is fortitude? Fortitude is the “strength” of the mind that enables a person to encounter danger, to bear pain or adversity with courage. Without fortitude, you will not able to complete your journey. God does not want us to start off well. He also wants us to end well. 2 Cor. 6:4 tells us that we are the ministers of God as the ministers of God, we must have the ability to endure or else we will never be able to fulfil God’s dream for us. God uses people who never give up. In life, we will meet with obstacles and delays. The bible does not promise us a bed of roses after we accepted Jesus Christ. Instead, the bible tells us to be ready to face trials and difficulties as well as to endure hardships like a good soldier of Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3). Not everything in life is about success and being rich or powerful. In fact, success is not about achieving our goals or being famous. It is about us not being stopped by obstacles and delays during our journey to achieve our goals. It is about not giving up. It is about enduring.

Mother Teresa was once asked how she and her helpers managed to pass each day and face sickness and death in their works by a senator. This senator visited the hospital where Mother Teresa has set up for the sick and dying children from the streets. He saw the poor and unbearable conditions these sick children were in. He couldn’t understand how Mother Teresa could bear to see these children suffered and died in her arms without a moment of despair or depression. Mother Teresa simply told the senator that she was not called to be successful but she was called by God to be faithful. This is a real champion – A champion who does not quit or give up when the going gets tough. She endured everything to the very end till she was called home. (more…)

During the times when the disciples were with Jesus, they understood very little of what He said to them even at the point of His resurrection. In Acts 1:6, they asked Jesus before His ascension whether He would restore the kingdom to Israel and led them out of oppression. Throughout the four gospels in the New Testament, you would read that the disciples would pull Jesus aside and asked Him to explain His parables. In the parables of the sower, Jesus said that if they did not understand the parable of the sower, they would not be able to understand all the other parables. (more…)

The word of God is like a piece of soap. The purpose of the soap is to wash away all dirts from your body. But it does not serve its function if it is not used or applied. Similarly, the word of God is useless if you do not apply it into your life. In this article, we will talk about the Holy Spirit and I hope in so doing, it will educate your mind, move your heart, and motivate your will to inspire you to represent Jesus in the marketplace in a new way with a renewed mind.

Acts 9 & Luke 4
In Acts 9, it provides a background to the conversion of the Apostle Paul. Paul, before he was converted, he has a passion of killing Christians. His mission was to source out the Christians and gets rid of them. On the road to Damascus with a mission to kill Christians, Jesus got hold of him. He had a personal encounter with Jesus and this turned his life around. In Acts 9:31, it stated that as a result of Paul’s conversion, he started to preach about Jesus being the Christ. The churches throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria were greatly edified by Paul’s teaching. The churches became united and multiplied. They became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Notice that there were two things at work here in the churches to give them strengths and increase. It was:

1. Fear of the Lord
2. Comfort or Encouragement of the Holy Spirit

What do you mean by the fear of the Lord? This fear is not talking about being frightened. It is about reverence, a reverential fear and respect of God. The believers were living in that mindset of reverential fear, honor and respect for God. It was this reverential fear, honor and respect for God that guided their daily lives, their choices, their relationships, their speech, and their thoughts. It means that their daily lives were lived in constant awareness of honor and respect for God. They lived in an awareness and consciousness of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. (more…)