Witnessing Jesus

https://odb.org/2026/08/13/of-all-people

Acts 22:12–16 (NIV): 12 “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. 13 He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.
14 “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15 You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

I’ve heard it said, “We can’t make our children believe. We can only give our children reason to believe what we believe.” That’s a wise observation—but how do we do it? Saul had been on his way to persecute Christians when Christ intervened. This man fell to the ground, blinded (Acts 9:1-9). Soon he was visited by Ananias, who restored his sight and explained his mission: “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard” (22:14-15). Saul, later called Paul, did witness, and God gave him a quiverful of spiritual offspring. His “parenting approach” was to share what he’d seen, and to pray.

Whether parenting our own children or interacting with others, we can’t make them believe. Rather, we witness with our words and lives as to what we’ve seen and heard. And we pray. Our God, who sent Paul to the gentiles, sends us with the same instruction: Witness so they may believe. Then entrust them to our Father, who loves them. (John Blase, Our Daily Bread 13th August 2026)

One trivial fact we all should know is that Saul didn’t become Paul after his road to Damascus experience in Acts 22 when Christ turned him from a persecutor of believers to a crusader for Christ, the most fervent of all especially his ground breaking contribution to Christian thought and theology. Saul was his Hebrew name, while Paul was his Roman name in Greek. Unlike Simon (in Hebrew) who was given the name Cephas (Aramiac) or Peter (in Greek) by Jesus and became known as Simon Peter, Saul was Paul all the time. It’s just that after that experience with Christ, Saul began to use his Roman name Paul more as the mission Christ gave him was to reach out to the Gentiles.

I think most of us would know by now that we can’t make our children believe but we can give them a good reason to believe and that is our own personal testimony of Christ in our family life. We may bring them to Sunday school when they were young and to church every Sunday when they were growing up, but whether they become fervent believers and serve God in church and live a life glorifying His name, it’s really up to them. Faith can’t be forced. Faith has to come from within, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

In the end, salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit. As believers, our role is to speak of His goodness and live out Christ. That is why if we are a vindictive, manipulative, selfish and nasty person at work, it is incompatible with our faith as a believer of Jesus Christ. We cannot separate how we behave with what we believe because what’s in our hearts is what comes out of us. Christianity is not make believe. It is neither mask wearing. We are real and genuine inside out, living lives that are rightside up, or upside down to the world. We are non-conformists as far as the world is concerned. We have values that pursue righteousness before God. Yes, we have weaknesses and are essentially work in progress in a broken world. But we must increasingly be transformed into Christ’s image each day so that we will decrease and He will increase. Our old self must remain crucified so that our new born-again self is in control always.

Although witnessing Christ requires us to share the Gospel as part of our verbal testinony of the power of salvation, we must always remember to present a single and consistent picture of who we are and who we are in Christ. Allow the Holy Spirit to work in us to take away all the hatred, resentment and bitterness we may still habour from our past experiences and be healed and renewed in our spirit, soul and body each day as we seek Him out in prayer. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. It is new every morning like dew. Great indeed is His faithfulness! Amen!

Jesus’s parting words

https://odb.org/2026/08/12/precious-parting-words

Matthew 28:16–20 (NIV): 16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

My friend José was in hospice care. He’d been alert and talkative during my prior visit but a week later was now frail and speechless. At the end of what would be my final visit, I was the last one in the room with him. I finally stood and slowly headed to the door but stopped and turned around one last time to say, “Love you,” not expecting a response. There I saw José moving his lips. He was mouthing the words “love you” in return.

A person’s parting words, can leave a lasting impression. As Jesus was getting ready to return to His Father in heaven after His sacrificial death and resurrection, He assured His disciples that all authority on heaven and earth belonged to Him (Matthew 28:18). And He left them with this lasting charge or Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (vv. 19-20). Christ also assured His followers that He would always be with them (v. 20). (Nancy Gavilanes, Our Daily Bread 12th August 2026)

When my dad was hospitalised for the last time after his abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) ruptured, I was not able to visit him as I was under statutory quarantine at home for Covid-19. Fortunately, my wife insisted that I come over and applied from the attending doctor a special permission for me to break quarantine and visit him. By the time I went over, he was already unconscious and so I didn’t hear his last words but I whispered to him my last words for him, telling him I loved him and thanking him for all he had done for us in the family all those years.

However, 3 years plus back from that time, when he was first diagnosed with AAA, he was also found to have ischaemic bowels and colon cancer and before he went into surgery, we did speak. I remembered what he whispered to me then when he thought he might not make it through that night when he was wheeled into the operating theatre. Those last words (in Malay – pesanan terakhir) remained with me till this very day and they will remain so until my dying day. I know that one day I will meet both him and my mum again after the day of the Lord.

Jesus also had his last words before He was arrested and crucified at the cross at Calvary. He told them that, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” The promise is that He will be with them (and thus us) always until the very end of age. Thus He commanded us to go and make disciples of all the nations as all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. We are to baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and to teach them to obey all that He had commanded us. 

Although everything that Jesus has ever said and taught are important, in fact every teaching of God in His Word from Genesis to Revelation are also pertinent, Jesus’s last words hold a special place. This is because those words summarised His heart’s desire for us. It culminates His vision and mission on earth which is to bring salvation to mankind that we are reconciled to God. He did the most difficult job on Calvary only He as the perfect and unblemished Lamb of God could do, and now it’s our turn to continue His vision and mission for humanity until the end of time. His return to rule the world and judge is a certainty and many have predicted that it could well be in our present lifetime.

Fulfil God’s plans and purposes for our lives. Respond to His specific calling for us. Whatever may be our present age and at whatever stage of life we are, it’s never too late. Remember to make disciples of the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost!

Rental car

https://odb.org/2026/08/11/what-my-rental-car-taught-me

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 (NIV): 12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

I recently traveled to Los Angeles and had to rent a car. Soon, I was driving through narrow downtown lanes, full of traffic and people. I found myself driving very carefully, slower than normal. Why? Well, I didn’t want to have an accident. But I really didn’t want to damage my rental car. It wasn’t mine, after all. I was just, well, borrowing it. But as I drove, I couldn’t help but think that renting that car illustrated something important about my relationship to God. Scripture teaches that even our bodies—which we might think we own—don’t belong to us. In a larger conversation about sexual sin in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul concludes, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (vv. 19-20). (Adam R. Holz, Our Daily Bread 11th August 2026)

Some scholars believe that people in Corinth may have viewed Christianity as a means of advancing through society (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-31). Slaves and nobles stood equal before Jesus (Galatians 3:28), so perhaps they thought they could also move up through the social ranks. In his first letter to the misguided church in Corinth, Paul challenged many of the wrong beliefs about what it means to be a servant of Christ. Following the risen Messiah doesn’t mean pride in social status (1 Corinthians 1:26-31), abusing food (ch. 8), or indulging in all kinds of licentious behavior (ch. 5; 6:12-20). Instead, God calls us to honor Him with every part of our lives, including our bodies. (Jed Ostoich, Insight, Our Daily Bread 11th August 2026)

I think it is uncommon for people to exercise as much care for a rental compared to their own whether it’s a house or a car. Somehow when something is ours we take better care of it. However as much as a rental is not ours, we still make it a point to take good care of it. Why? Because if it’s a house, we will be staying there for a long time. So we will make it as comfortable and as clean as we can. Or if it’s a short term car rental, we don’t want it damaged or else we will be paying for the repairs and if you’re abroad, that can be very costly. That’s why it’s always makes more sense to buy a no excess insurance for overseas car rental.

To equate the rented car with our own bodies in Christ as Adam R. Holz did this morning is somewhat unique because it may not cross our minds that our own bodies are not ours. Even if we have nothing to our names, surely we still have our own bodies! But Paul’s teaching is that we have already been redeemed by Christ on the cross. When He died for our sins, as much as it is freely given and by the grace of God, He used His life to buy us from the ruler of this world and leads us to the road that brings us to eternal life. When we are redeemed, we are no longer slaves to our old self and former master. In parallel with this teaching, we are now “slaves” to Christ as the meaning of servants in the bible is usually that of a bond-servant or slave. So Christ becomes our new Master. Unlike our old master who leads us to destruction and who is a thief bent on to steal, kill and destroy – Jesus is a shepherd that cares for His flock. God’s plans for us is to prosper us, not to harm us, to give us hope and a future – Jeremiah 29:11.

Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is where God resides. If we are intimate with another person, we become one with that person together with the Holy Spirit in us. That is why sexual relationship is only to be pursued by believers within the confines of a marriage, not out of it or with a sex worker (1 Corinthians 6:16). Paul said it very plainly and it’s very clear.

The message this morning is that our bodies are no longer our own. Elsewhere Paul taught that we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice – Romans 12:1 –  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Besides avoiding sexual immorality, we must respect the physical limitations of our bodies. Keep it in good shape to avoid diseases and illnesses. Eat healthily, not like a glutton. For example, as much as steaks and durians are nice, we must avoid over-indulging. Don’t eat musang king every day just because it’s cheap and abundant! Eat sparingly, maybe a few times a season. Always pursue moderation and like a rented car, take good care of our body and keep it in proper working condition. If we are healthy and strong, we will be able to serve Him better! After all, we are bond-servants of Christ, our Lord and Saviour, our Master! Amen!

Hope in the Lord

https://odb.org/2026/08/10/hope-in-him-2

Lamentations 3:19–26 (NIV): 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
      20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
      21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
      22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
      23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
      24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
      25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
      26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Because of his father’s alcoholism and mistreatment of his mother, Pablo left home when he was a teenager. He moved in with an uncle, graduated high school, married, and had three children. But sadly, Pablo began repeating the same destructive behavior he’d once fled. His own alcohol addiction and behavior began to tear his family apart. Soon, it was all gone—his marriage, family, job, and home. “My life was terrible, and it got worse,” he said. Finally he turned to a treatment facility for help. “I was in bad shape, and God opened the door for me.” One day after praying, he experienced God through the beauty of nature. Soon his youngest daughter noticed he’d changed, and reconciled with him. (Alyson Kieda, Our Daily Bread 10th August 2026)

In the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), books are usually named for the first word or words in the text. As such, the Hebrew title for Lamentations is “How,” taken from verse 1: “How deserted lies the city.” Those who translated the Old Testament into Greek (the Septuagint) titled the book “Lamentations.” Both titles are apt. In many lament psalms, the psalmist’s cry is rooted in the phrase “How long, Lord?” (see Psalm 13:1). (Bill Crowder, Insight, Our Daily Bread 10th August 2026)

It’s not uncommon to see families that are broken ending up with children whose families are also broken. It’s tragic and really sad. I have a colleague whose mum had two failed marriages and coincidentally she is also into her third marriage. It’s like a trait that run through generations. This is somewhat similar to the father and son article a few days back – https://ronnielim.com/2026/08/05/like-father-like-son/, except that this is a negative social issue. Families of gamblers raising children who are gamblers and the trend continues down the family line. Or those involved in drugs or crime sort of inherited those influences from their parents. If you’re a child raised by a mum who needs to support her junkie habit by selling herself, it’s tough to know a life that is different. I’ve seen families involved in occultic practices, unfortunately some to earn a living driven by lack of choices, suffering the consequences of mental health and demonic harassment issues.

In the Christian world, we speak of these negative family traits as generational curses, a negative trait that travels along the bloodline like an evil spirit. If we were to revisit the story of the Aramean general Naaman, you will see that after Gehazi lied to gain one of the many gifts that Namaan brought for Elisha that the latter declined, Gehazi for hos greed and disobedience was inflicted with Namaan’s “leprosy” (tzara’at in Hebrew), for him and his descendants (see 2 Kings 5:27). Generational curse is thus recorded in the bible.

But a generational curse can also be scientifically predicted if it’s part of our genetics. For example, if we have a family history of diabetes or asthma or heart disease, we are more likely to be similarly inflicted, which is why the SOP for medical practitioners before treating us is to ask us of our family history of illnesses and sicknesses.

However, due to the power of the resurrected Christ, He is able to break those generational curses in the lives of those who believed in Him. It is debatable whether genetic illnesses may be broken (as in healed) but nevertheless we know God heals supernaturally. So even if some medical conditions are hereditary, God in His grace and mercy may reverse its effects. At least with advancements in the medical field, we are able to enjoy a better quality of life, say compared to 50 years ago if we are inflicted by a hereditary illness. Other generational curses like socio-economic situations are definitely reversible by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we come from a family of substance abusers, we can surely break free from such bondages. Occultic influences and chains need to flee and will be severed in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord as Christ has washed us white as snow from all our sins including the sins and curses of our ancestors! Spiritual bondages of the past will not live on as we sanctify our lives and purify our hearts by the blood of the Lamb!

Is there hope for our situation? Yes, there is hope. He is our hope and He will give us the breakthrough we are seeking. Commit it all to Him and present ourselves as holy and acceptable in His presence. We will be saved because of our faith! Amen!

Like a roaring lion

https://odb.org/2026/08/07/the-conqueror

1 Peter 5:6–11 (NIV): 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Before he became famous, the Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan (ca. ad 1162-1227) killed his own half brother to advance his position in the family. As he solidified his power, he began to build an empire more expansive than Alexander the Great’s, stretching from Asia’s Pacific coast to Eastern Europe. Ruthless, the Khan and his army left a trail of death and destruction everywhere they advanced.

Today we face a vicious foe even more intimidating than a marauding army—an enemy who wants to conquer and devastate our souls. The apostle Peter cautioned, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). This enemy is cunning and dangerous like a great warrior and is much more than we can handle on our own. The apostle John wrote, “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). This “one who is in you” is the Holy Spirit Himself. We need not fear the enemy. (Bill Crowder, Our Daily Bread 7th August 2026)

What does the New Testament tell us about our “enemy the devil” (1 Peter 5:8)? First, it gives him a variety of names: “Satan,” which means “accuser” or “adversary” (Revelation 12:9-10); “Beelzebul, the prince of demons” (Matthew 12:24); “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4); “the ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Ephesians 2:2); “the evil one” (2 Thessalonians 3:3); “the great dragon” (Revelation 12:9); and the “ancient serpent” (20:2; see 2 Corinthians 11:3).

Second, Satan’s mission is “to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The devil is opposed to God and seeks to drive a wedge between Him and humans. James says, “Submit yourselves . . . to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). The Holy Spirit will help us resist the devil and stand strong in Christ. (Alyson Kieda, Insight, Our Daily Bread, 7th August 2026)

By now we should all know who Satan or the devil is. He is the one who tempted Jesus after His 40-day fast just before Jesus started His ministry at the age of 30. Most importantly, the devil came in the form of the serpent and tricked Adam and Eve into sinning when they ate of the fruit from Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil by creating a doubt in their minds whether God actually disallowed that. But a trivial fact we should all know is that the first person to ever sinned against God was Lucifer (Satan’s angelic name), and not Adam and Eve, when he rebelled against God and he brought along one third of the angels down to earth after they were banished from heaven. That is why there are legions of demonic forces on earth. Satan was however not human but an angel. Thus his sin did not separate humanity from God.

Jesus refers to Satan as the ruler of this world. This is partly because Satan, amongst others, controls the 7 mountains or spheres of influence in society and over us as individual human beings. As revealed to 3 American evangelists/theologians separately – Bill Bright, Francis Schaeffer and Lorren Cunningham – we should first exert authority and break these 7 strongholds in the lives of individuals (in the spiritual realm) for us to reach out to them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is as Paul asserts in Ephesians 6:12, our fight is not against flesh and blood. The 7 mountains of influence in an individual’s life are: (1) religion, (2) family, (3) education, (4) government, (5) media, (6) arts & entertainment, and (7) business, and these form part of our culture and upbringing no matter where we live.

What I like to highlight this morning is not who the devil is, but the fact that he is a roaring lion that prowls around looking for someone to devour. While it is apt for Peter to use the analogy of a lion to describe the devil, Satan is actually worse than a real lion in the wild. A lion is ever-ready to kill for the next meal like all other brute beasts but they rarely make the effort when they have had their fill. Meals are hard to come by for carnivores in the wild but once they have eaten, they can sleep for hours and even days. But not the devil and his cohorts. They are never satisfied and their purpose and intent is always to kill, steal and destroy. They strive to kill off our relationship with God, steal away our peace and joy in the Lord and destroy our inheritance in the saints. They don’t do all these “in your face”. Instead, they are subtle and are great deceivers and temptors.

That is why Peter advises us to be alert and of sober mind. That means be vigilant and not reckless. The bird is already in our hands (our salvation). Don’t throw it away to catch two other birds (as in pursuing our own dreams), we may end up losing what the Lord already gave us. Or another illustration – when we were taking exams, we were taught not to spend too much time on one question as there are many more we need to answer in that allocated time. Dwelling too much and too long on one aspect of our life may well be a way the devil is subtly distracting us to bitterness and hatred or even depression and thus away from God and His calling for us. A lost love, a missed opportunity, a healing or promise that has yet to come to pass. Move on, the race is in progress. We need to strive on to reach the finish line.

Finally, when it comes to dealing with the devil and his evil plans, James teaches in James 4:7 to resist him and he will flee from us! For indeed greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Stand firm on our faith and God Himself will restore us and make us strong, firm and steadfast (1 Peter 5:10)! Amen!

Our life stories are a part of the LORD’s story

https://odb.org/2026/08/06/part-of-his-story

Judges 4:4–9 (NIV): 4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. 7 I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’ ”
8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”
9 “Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.

Archaeologist Jodi Magness and her team have been excavating a synagogue in the ancient village of Huqoq in Lower Galilee, where they’ve found an incredible collection of mosaics, paintings, and carvings. Particularly rare, however, is a mosaic telling the biblical story of Deborah and her role in Israel’s battle against the Canaanites; there’s no other known ancient depiction of this heroine. The Bible preserves for us a literary mosaic of historical events in the life of God’s people—collectively and individually. We can take courage from these examples to heed God’s instructions even in the face of hardship and struggle. We can trust Him to equip us with the strength to do so. (Kirsten Holmberg, Our Daily Bread 6th August 2026)

The book of Judges bridges the times between Joshua and the beginning of the monarchy under Saul (see 1 Samuel 9). It’s characterized by what some scholars call the “cycle of apostasy.” Each cycle begins when Israel falls away from God. Then He sends a neighboring nation to discipline them, followed by God’s provision of a judge to deliver them from that nation, and then a season of spiritual revival. Twelve different judges, from Othniel to Samson, are God’s instruments of rescue. Deborah is the fourth of those judges (Judges 4), whose season of leadership over Israel lasted about forty years, second only to Ehud, who judged for eighty years. (Bill Crowder, Insight, Our Daily Bread 6th August 2026)

Knowing the stories and timelines in the bible helps us understand the various seasons Israel had with Yahweh starting from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We then have Joseph who was sold to slavery by his envious brothers but as the LORD was with him and his heart was pure, he ended up as the prime minister in Egypt, the superpower of this side of then known world. As God revealed the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream to him, he saved the 70-strong tribe of Jacob as well as the Egyptians from the severe famine that lasted 7 years by storing up 7 years’ worth of grain in large barnhouses.

The clan stayed on in Egypt for 430 years and ended up as slaves to the Egyptians but God raised up Moses, an adopted Hebrew raised in Pharaoh’s court as a prince, to bring the Hebrews out of Egypt back to Canaan. Canaan or the Promised Land is the place the LORD had earmarked for the clan when He called Abraham out of the Url of the Caldeans. Canaan was where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob resided before their time in Egypt.

The strange thing was the Hebrews were rebellious and insolent (a trait resurfacing time and time again in future generations) despite witnessing miracles like the 10 plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. What could have been just a 40-day journey through the wilderness to Canaan ended up as a 40-year sojourn with the presence of God residing amongst them in the Tent of the Meeting (later became the basis for the Holy of Holies in the Temple) and although they were moving about led by a pillar of cloud in the day and a ball of fire in the night, they spent most of their time at a desert oasis south of Canaan called Kadesh Barnea. All who were 20 and above in age died in the desert, except Joshua and Caleb. Joshua then led the second generation of Israelites into Canaan.

Thus the book of Judges as mentioned by Bill Crowder bridges the time of Joshua until the time of kings starting with Saul and later David and Solomon (recorded in 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles). It was after Solomon that Israel split into two kingdoms, Judah (capital in Jerusalem) and Northern Israel (capital in Samaria). The era of the kings was also where Yahweh used conquering nations to discipline the children of Israel with the first exile by the Assyrians and later by the Babylonians.

As much as these bible stories and historical events teach us God’s relationship with His chosen people and nation, it is also a reflection of how He relates with us as born-again believers in Jesus Christ. We are the modern-day Israel, in the spiritual sense, and we continue to write His story with His people through our own life stories from the days of the Acts of the Apostles until the day of the Lord. We face similar issues of overcoming the desires of our flesh against the call to righteousness by the Lord. As we suceed and fail, we write our stories with Him, all that we have ever done and will do, recorded in some heavenly annal like how the stories of the prophets and judges and kings are preserved throughout the ages. Our life stories are written down and recorded as our names are also written down in the Book of Life. Always remember and I remind myself today, when we do something good and noble, when we pursue righteousness in our hearts – even if no one sees, our Lord Jesus Christ sees and His angels write them down. As He writes, allow Him to rewrite our stories into His image and His plans and purposes for our lives!

Have a good day ahead, everyone! Let’s continue His story with us with our own life stories written and rewritten by the Lord, giving glory and honour in all that we do! Amen!

Like father like son

https://odb.org/2026/08/05/like-father-like-children

John 14:5–11 (NIV): 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

“What makes you smile when you think about your son?” That was my question for Clarence—a younger man I was mentoring. The proud father proceeded to share some of his bright four-year-old’s accomplishments. One particular detail left me amused. Not only does the child have his father’s first and last names, but he already looks so much like his father that he can unlock his father’s smartphone using facial recognition! In John 14, Jesus made it clear how closely He resembled His Father. When an inquisitive Philip requested, “Lord, show us the Father” (v. 8), Jesus responded, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time. Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (v. 9). (Arthur Jackson, Our Daily Bread 5th August 2026)

When we look at a father and son or a mother and daughter, we cannot but see an uncanny resemblance. They are not the same as identical twins, but we could tell that they are father and son or mother and daughter. I recalled my friends saying that my elder son looked like me when I was young or there are aspects of my younger son that reninds them of me. Beyond looks, fathers and sons have other similar behavioural traits – perhaps in the way they speak or walk or their body language. That is why when Jesus said to Philip that you see the Father when you see me – we could naturally identify with that.

But the concept of “when you see Jesus, you see the Father” goes much deeper than just a son resembling his father. This is because in the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son are separate and yet one! Jesus was God the Spirit, incarnated in human flesh. He was Immanuel. In other words, when Jesus says that you see the Father when you see me, He was actually saying that He is the Father! Jesus was the form of God that man could see and not die because He was man as much as He was God. In the Old Testament, God had appeared before to a man when Jacob wrestled with an angel. In that encounter, the LORD took the form of an angel qland even then He implored Jacob to release Him before daybreak as seeing His face would have killed Jacob.

The lesson for us this morning I believe is that as much as the manner that Yahweh related to Israel is a beautiful picture of our spritual relationship with God in Christ, we should look at the pages of the Gospel as God having walked on earth in the form of a man. In pure human form, we can see that God is much more compassionate and loving. As Jehovah His heart was with the fatherless, the widows and the foreigner during Israel’s ancient past but as Jesus Christ our Lord, His heart was with the peasants, the poor, the sick and the crippled as seen in the Gospels. He was close to His disciples and to Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Those relationships are not relationships that God the Father in the Spirit could muster with man except with Adam and Eve before the Fall. Sin separated man from God and Jesus restored that relationship for us as believers of Christ after His death and resurrection.

Therefore my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, rest assured that He loves us and is compassionate and just. No matter what we are going through or had gone through in our colourful or miserable past, cling on to His Word as expressed by Paul in Romans 8:28 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Angels for those who will inherit salvation

https://odb.org/2026/08/04/the-help-we-need

Hebrews 1:7–14 (NIV): 7 In speaking of the angels he says,
         “He makes his angels spirits,
         and his servants flames of fire.”
8 But about the Son he says,
         “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
         a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
      9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
         therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
         by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
10 He also says,
         “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
         and the heavens are the work of your hands.
      11 They will perish, but you remain;
         they will all wear out like a garment.
      12 You will roll them up like a robe;
         like a garment they will be changed.
         But you remain the same,
         and your years will never end.”
13 To which of the angels did God ever say,
         “Sit at my right hand
         until I make your enemies
         a footstool for your feet”?
14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

When commercial fisherman Scott Thompson fell out of his boat one moonless night in the Santa Barbara Channel off the California coast, he didn’t know if he’d survive. He swam hard after the boat, but the motor was running and he couldn’t reach it. So he attempted to swim to a distant oil platform in the darkness. Beginning to lose hope, Thompson heard a splash in the cold water near him. A harbor seal swam with him for a while, nudging him along toward the platform. Five hours later, Thompson completed the long swim and described the seal as “an angel” sent to help him. The writer of the book of Hebrews describes angels as “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14).  All around us is an unseen reality in which God sends angels to aid those who have gladly received the good news of Jesus. (James Banks, Our Daily Bread 4th August 2026)

A fair comparison, in my view, between charismatic Christians and those who are more evangelical (this broad generalisation is not mutually exclusive as some of us belong to both) is that sometimes we as the former have a tendency to approach God like we are entitled to certain things or dare we say, privileges. So we claim victory over our bad habits or we exercise authority over sickness and diseases or even nature. I don’t think those teachings are wrong as there is theological thought and biblical basis behind them. Just that such approach may give us a false sense of entitlement to certain things. For example, the concept of divine healing, which may be controversial to some – are we entitled or are we seeking divine indulgence or discretion (in legal-speak)? Is healing as of right (like our birth right) as a born-again child of God or is it by the grace and mercy of God? The reality is not every one is healed, even during Jesus’s time when He walked the earth and God is sovereign.

Some posit that we are not healed because of our lack of faith, which may well be true. But note that faith the size of a mustard seed may move a mountain because while with man some things are impossible, with God all things are possible. Yet some may contend it’s not our time yet as He makes all things beautiful in His time. We must however be reminded that there are also those who did not experience healing because that’s God’s will for their lives – so that the glory of God and His strength may be made known in and through our illness or weakness.

One thing is certain – He has provided angels to serve those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14). We may not be healed or are still waiting for our healing, but as believers we must remember that we could have had it much worse! This is because there is a spiritual realm in our midst, dark forces of the air – a world or dimension that is invisible to the physical eye (Ephesians 6:12) but where we have unseen guardian angels protecting us (Hebrews 1:14) as children of Yahweh, the Great I Am. Demonic forces cannot unilaterally on a whim enter the world of the living unless strongly prompted by others or we had inadvertently invited them in, yet be rest assured that we have angelic beings as our protector. It is a known fact in Christian circles that Christian homes are not easily susceptible to evil spells or witchcraft attacks and so long as we continue to live with Christ as the Head of our household, we will continue to be a bright light amongst darkness that will not be easily overwhelmed.

No matter what’s the status of our prayers or personal supplications for healing and other requests, always be thankful that the LORD our God have our backs. There are angelic forces watching over us to ensure our safety and well-being. Accidents do happen and there are mishaps in life but remember it could have been worse, much worse! All glory and praises be unto our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!

Waiting on God

https://odb.org/2026/08/03/waiting-6

Psalm 27:13–14 (NIV): 13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

Kazuto and his wife, Migiwa, waited with trepidation for the ultrasound exam results. Migiwa’s liver had been failing for more than nine months, and she urgently needed a liver transplant. Kazuto could donate a portion of his liver to his wife, but there was one condition: Migiwa’s heart had to be strong. The last ultrasound had shown slight improvement to her heart. Would it show more this time? To their disappointment, the results were the worst yet. Kazuto shared, “After I comforted my crying wife, I also cried by myself. But . . . as Henri Nouwen writes, waiting isn’t a waste of time because God is nurturing something wonderful . . . while we wait, even though we can’t see anything on the surface.” Kazuto’s confidence in God paralleled that of King David, who wrote, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14) (Poh Fang Chai, Our Daily Bread 3rd Aug 2026).

I believe every believer has gone through a period where they had prayed for something, whether minor or major, but needed to wait before it came to pass. Some of those things we pray may have materialised in a different form, nevertheless we are still amazed that God actually took the time and trouble to hear us. We are always grateful that the Lord granted us our prayers and supplications although we don’t feel we are worthy of anything from Him.

There are times when we are less fortunate as some of our prayers are still unfulfilled. We are waiting and God is also waiting – for the right time to grant our prayers or intervene or to heal us. Perhaps it is a test of our faith or our obedience to His call for righteousness. Or perhaps God is waiting for us to respond to His calling upon our lives or we may have been stalling Him for His plans and purposes for our lives. Whatever it may be for our situation, we know where we are and we continue to pray, to believe and trust while we wait. Ultimately, God is sovereign and as much as He can move mountains, it is His decision and discretion.

The question we may ask is what do we do while we are waiting? We may be disappointed. We may dread going through the toil and suffering. But that’s life. That’s the status quo. What we are asking is usually a divine intervention, the supernatural breaking through into the natural. It is not a given, not a no-brainer. For example, healing. There is the teaching, but we are staring at the raw reality of our situation.

What we can do is to continue to trust that He will answer our prayer, in His time and in His will. We commit it to Him. He knows what’s best for us. Indeed, waiting on God isn’t a waste of time. He transforms in the meantime. He strengthens our faith. He draws us closer unto Him.

Have a good week ahead, everyone! I pray that the LORD our God, our Heavenly Father, will grant us wisdom, discernment and patience to deal with the issues at work and in life! Amen!

The battle is God’s

https://odb.org/2026/07/31/a-battle-won

2 Chronicles 20:14–19 (NIV): 14 Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.
15 He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. 17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.’ ”
18 Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD. 19 Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

Though she enjoyed befriending and helping folks in her church’s seniors ministry, Carol found herself being picked on by its domineering leader. She felt so bothered by it that she had to seek counseling. She was advised to quit the ministry, but she didn’t want to “abandon” the seniors. Feeling caught in between, she prayed to God for guidance, and He gave her comfort and assurance as she submitted her fears to Him. He showed her that she should talk to the leader but trust Him to resolve the issue.

When King Jehoshaphat heard of a powerful enemy approaching Jerusalem, his first response was to pray. Appealing to God’s sovereignty, he said, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12). Instead of relying on their own strength, the king and people of Judah submitted themselves and their troubles to God (v. 18). God’s answer to the king and people through the prophet Jahaziel was heartening: “Do not be afraid or discouraged . . . . For the battle is not yours, but God’s” (v. 15). (Leslie Koh, Our Daily Bread 31st July 2026)

You will notice that in today’s theme of God fighting our battles for us, the two life illustrations concerns His work or His kingdom on earth. The first was Carol’s involvement in the seniors ministry where she was picked on by the ministry’s domineering leader. The second is the story of Jehoshaphat of Jerusalem in Judah being approached by a powerful enemy. These are not personal struggles with relationship issues or meeting work deadlines or dealing with office politics or overcoming personal bad habits.

There is however a tendency for us, perhaps occasionally, to look at bible stories and seeing God work in wondrous ways that we see ourselves in those stories like we are Jehoshaphat (incidentally one of Israel’s good kings) or Joshua when the LORD encouraged him, “do not be afraid or discouraged for I am with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). Or we see ourselves as Elisha when the Aramean Army in 2 Kings 6 was about to attack Israel and Elisha showed his servant Gehazi the mighty hosts of heaven in the spiritual realm ready to do battle for Israel. Thus, we imagined that God’s mighty army is on our side fighting our personal battles for us.

I am not discounting God’s heavenly hosts working for us in the spiritual realm or He loves us that He is personally involved in our lives. Unless we sensed in the spirit that God’s rhema word for us at a particular time or season are the relevant bible stories, we should not randomly pick and apply such biblical passages arbitrarily to our life situations. This is because in most of such bible passages there is a historical context that has something to do with God’s work in ancient Israel, His chosen nation and people. If we apply them to our work in the present Kingdom of God like our ministry in church or His plans and purposes for our lives (for example, our mission work to preach the Gospel), well and fine. But it may not be so directly applicable to our personal struggles in life or at work. So if we have a conflict at work with a colleague, it is not necessarily true that God is fighting our battles for us vis-a-vis this colleague. But if it concerns the battle we are fighting in the spritual realm to reach out to this colleague with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that’s a different context to the situation. Nevertheless there is nothing stopping us in seeking the Lord out in prayer for such personal conflicts, it’s just that we shouldn’t think or imagine as though we are Jehoshaphat or Elisha or Joshua of the Scriptures.

Have a good weekend ahead, everyone! May we dwell in His presence more and more each day – surely goodness and mercy shall follow us the rest of our days as we dwell in the house of the LORD forever!