Stand up for Jesus

https://odb.org/2026/03/12/the-cost-of-commitment

2 Timothy 1: 6-12 NIV 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

After the pastor handed out fifteen Bibles he’d brought with him, one woman gave hers to someone else. Like many others, she’d memorised chapters of Scripture so she would have its wisdom secured in her heart if she were to go to prison. She later asked the pastor to pray that their church would be free to gather just like his. Instead, marvelling at how they sacrificed, suffered persecution and risked imprisonment, he prayed that his church would be just like theirs. (Xochitl Dixon, Our Daily Bread 12th March 2026)

During the early days of my Christian faith when I was still a teenager in secondary school, I already heard of Open Doors and the work they were doing supporting the underground church. It had a profound impact on me. Even though Xochitl did not explicitly mention, we know from experience that she was speaking about the underground house church in her ODB life example today. There was a time (perhaps even today) that members memorise Scripture and pass around portions of it as the Bible itself was so hard to come by. Once committed to memory, even if the authorities were to take away the physical bible from them, Scripture was already etched in their hearts. That is why the Word is written in our hearts in this era of Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected! We memorise, remember and live out the Scriptures! We are a living testimony of God’s love, grace and mercy.

This brings us to the second point of today’s message, which is the suffering that Christians go through for Christ. This is a topic that often comes up for discussion during our Young Adults Group meetings. Most of us will likely not go through the persecution that the underground church go through, unless we also live in closed countries like them (closed here means closed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ).

The “suffering” we face is different in the sense that, usually in our context, it mostly depend on whether we are willing to make a stand for Christ, in our family, at work or in school. If we make a stand as per Scripture, we may be branded as extreme or a religious fanatic and in some organisations (not all), that may mean that we are not suited to be senior management.

We cannot blame the world if we suffer such a fate as the world has its own standards while we are guided by Romans 12:2 (not to conform to the pattern of this world). What’s the point in gaining the whole world if we were to lose our soul. For example, I’ve seen Christian business people who became so engrossed in chasing after success and wealth that they dabble in Feng Shui (some are so immersed actually), justifying it as being a science of Yin and Yang. But the whole idea of structuring our lives such that our business may be filled with opportunities, wealth and prosperity is by itself preposterous when looked at through Christian lenses. Wealth is something that God blesses us with as a labourer is worthy of His wages. It is not something to be chased after or coveted. As a believer, what matters most is our faith, not whether we are rich or poor, a mere manager or a CEO or President?

Having said the above, it is not impossible, in fact, highly possible, that we may one day face persecution that our brethren in closed nations face. The time may come in these end-times that every nation may be closed to the Gospel and believers may be hunted down like during period after the book of Acts or like during the Dark Ages. History may repeat itself in modern times but in a different and perhaps more subtle form. Will we be able to say at our last breath – I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith?

Forgiveness

https://odb.org/2026/03/11/the-release-of-forgiveness

Matthew 18: 21-34 NIV Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ 22 Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 ‘Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 ‘At this the servant fell on his knees before him. “Be patient with me,” he begged, “and I will pay back everything.” 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go. 28 ‘But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. “Pay back what you owe me!” he demanded. 29 ‘His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, “Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.” 30 ‘But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 ‘Then the master called the servant in. “You wicked servant,” he said, “I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

Decades later a Christian friend said, “You need to forgive them.” Sy’s anger exploded: “Never!” His tormentors deserved no such thing. Yet when Sy finally did try forgiveness, a weight lifted. “[The] hatred was the first thing I let go of,” he recalls, and later he also abandoned his belief “that God’s love was something I did not deserve and could never know”.

We all struggle with the unfairness of forgiveness—both in receiving and in giving it. Hence, Jesus told the story of the servant who owed his master a debt he would need lifetimes to repay (Matthew 18:24). Yet the master “took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go” (v. 27). Was this fair? No, it was astonishing grace!But then this forgiven man threw a debtor—someone who owed him a relatively small amount—into prison (vv. 28-30). How could he not forgive after receiving abundant grace? Such injustice! (Chris Wale, Our Daily Bread 11th March 2026)

“To err is human, to forgive, divine,” wrote poet Alexander Pope. Indeed, it is divine. We tend to fall into one of two traps with forgiveness. The first is the belief that what we do doesn’t matter because we can ask for forgiveness later. The second is that we limit God’s forgiveness. The point of the parable in Matthew 18:23–35 is that God forgives lavishly and infinitely, yet we must accept His forgiveness and behave accordingly. We’re to forgive others as we’ve been forgiven. True forgiveness is unnatural to us. Only through Jesus can we truly forgive. (Tim Gustafson, Insight, Our Daily Bread 11th March 2026)

It is a tenet of our faith that we forgive despite and inspite of what we have gone through. It doesn’t depend on the severity of the offence or wrong against us or our suffering or consequential impact on our life. We forgive because God first forgave us. Not that He commands us. But because we are forgiven. No matter how angry, painful or hurt we are, we forgive because He had forgiven us. When we meet Him face to face and He asks us why we couldn’t forgive, I believe He’ll say the same thing – I forgave you and thus you should likewise forgive.

That in my view is the essence of Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 18 in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. How could the servant be so unmerciful? In fact, we could say how could the servant be so ungrateful? Granted his receipt of the mercy and grace from the master doesn’t directly corelate to him being obliged to forgive his own debtor. Yet at the very heart of the Parable, the expectation is that one should be merciful when God was and is merciful to us. That is why, in the same vein, we must be generous when God has been generous to us. Not so much tithing but just being generous as a person.

We all know very well unforgiveness is a poison that kills us instead of the person who had wronged us. So holding on tightly to the hatred and injustice just slowly eats us up from within. Let it go and let the Holy Spirit liberate us. What’s happened has happened. It’s in the past. Let it remain there. Don’t bring it to the present or relive it again and again. Move on to the greater things God has in store for us. There are new adventures the Lord will bring us to. New missions for Him in the Kingdom of God. Great exploits in our own promised land. Be strong and courageous like Joshua. Leave our baggage and burden behind in the wilderness as we cross the River Jordan into the land filled with overflowing milk and honey!

The other thing about unforgiveness besides killing us softly and slowly is that it alienates us from God Himself. In His world, it is a world of forgiveness. The spiritual realm is a realm of forgiveness. We cannot function if we harbour hatred, unforgiveness and vengeance. Forgive and let our past go. Look to our continued future in God!

Christ in You the hope of glory

https://odb.org/2026/03/10/the-hope-jesus-brings

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NIV- Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

What was the essence of our conversation that day? We discussed our sadness. And we cried. But mostly we spoke of hope. True, authentic hope based on God’s promises. “We do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope,” the apostle Paul explained. “For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and . . . God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). For the believer, beyond the grave is life—life eternal. (Dave Branon, Our Daily Bread  10th March 2026)

The loss of a loved one, especially a child, is indeed sad and often traumatising. This is because a parent’s aspiration is to grow old together with their children and to live the day when they get to see and play with their children’s children. That’s the essence of a family. It is also one of the reasons why my wife and I make it a priority to travel 27 hours door to door to spend time with our elder son in Cardiff, Wales. Since 2022, we have made this trip at least an annual affair and we hope to continue doing so as long as we are mobile. We are still working. Thus, our annual leave from work is limited. Seeing the world can wait until we are properly retired. Meanwhile, we prioritise this annual trip to the UK.

The grief that comes from losing a child. That’s unbearable to many. Parents, particularly mothers, may lose their bearings. The emotional spiral may lead some to deep depression and other mental illnesses. Not just the loss of the companionship but also the dashing of hopes, dreams and aspirations. Suddenly there is a vacuum. An acute one. Even for families with a few children, what more for those with an only son or daughter. I have a friend who always remembers and cherishes the child she miscarried. She has 3 living children but in drawings she will depict 4, not forgetting the one lost in the womb… 😔 ☹️ 🙁 😢

As believers, Paul reminds us that we should not grief like the rest of mankind who have no hope. We have hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. We have eternal life. There will be Eden Recreated, the new heaven and new earth, at the end of time. God will bring with Jesus those who had died in Him. The rapture is our hope of glory when Christ returns for His church, those who are with Him. One day, we and our loved ones will be reunited in Christ. Those who departed earlier in Christ will join us if we are still alive when Christ raptures all who are in Him.

No words can comfort you if you have lost a child. As the Chinese say, the black goes first before the grey. We should not outlive our children. God however is sovereign and we acede to His will. We cling on to the hope that we will see our loved ones again one day. Work out our salvation with fear and trembling so that we may be found worthy of His name! Amen!

Our job is not the centre of our life

https://odb.org/2026/03/09/true-satisfaction-in-god

Genesis 25:7–11 (NIV): 7 Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, 10 the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.

Thirty years ago, I participated in an activity at an unemployment workshop that I still remember today. My fellow laid-off coworkers and I were asked to write our retirement speeches. Huh? We were looking for work and far from retirement age. But the facilitator revealed the purpose of the activity by saying, “Your speech will probably have little to do with your work.” She explained to us that a job really isn’t the center of our lives. And while we may be grieving the loss of a job, our lives mean much more than being employed.

The details about the end of Abraham’s life remind me of this lesson. He died at a “ripe old age” and had lived a “long and satisfying life” (Genesis 25:8). Throughout Scripture, we read about Abraham’s faithfulness in following God’s instructions, but we don’t read much about his work. The faith the patriarch displayed (15:6) reminds me of the Teacher’s conclusion in Ecclesiastes: “To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness” (2:26). The Teacher said this after considering the meaning of life and how one can find enjoyment in the midst of work or toil (vv. 24-25). (Katara Patton, Our Daily Bread 9th March 2026)

It is interesting to note that while we may be socially defined by our job, vocation or business (i.e. what we do for a living), God looks at us beyond what we do. In fact, I believe that even as much as the LORD may have a calling for our lives, plans and purposes prepared for us before the foundations of the world, He still looks mostly at our faithfulness to Him. So an oft-repeated phrase is, for example, not what a pastor has done or so much what He does as pastor but more His faithfulness to God and His calling. Thus, a good Pastor is remembered as one who is a faithful servant, rather than his achievements or work amongst his congregation.

In society, a pastor may be defined as man of the cloth in terms of how large his congregation is (that’s really how the world looks at things), yet to God that’s actually of less importance. It’s not about achievements but his faith and his faithfulness. This is something I think most of us don’t take full cognisant of. We are still very much driven by results and measurable KPIs, very much like the world.

In the spiritual realm, it is God who will do the rest – in this lifetime or in generations to come. In these few years or in the next 30 years! Our role is just to remain faithful to the thing God has placed in our hearts to do. We persevere on notwithstanding the lack of tangible results. There are, for instance, house fellowships that do deep work although there are only a handful of members. I’m not saying results are unimportant or unnecessary but they are less essential in the larger scheme of things. For church program planners and/or church budgets, it is more prudent to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit than to rely on pure logic or just tangible results. The church is not the world or of the world. Our work brings changes to the spiritual realm that our natural eyes cannot see.

What’s God message for us this morning? Like the ODB human story of today, a job is not the centre of our life. Yes, it pays the bills. It helps us own assets. It prepares us with savings for our retirement. It helps us in raising our family. Our faith is more important. If we trust in God and keep our faith in Him, a job loss now may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. God may mould and bring out the best of us. For instance, if we had remained as a lawyer, we could be just a mediocre one but if we branch out into HR, we may end up being an excellent HR person. Sometimes, a job loss may cause us to pivot our careers and in the process, we find an area that we excel in. Let God mould and guide us as we put our faith in Him!

Unity in Church

https://odb.org/2026/03/07/one-russian,-one-ukrainian,-one-lord

Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV – 4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the war that followed, a Russian man and a Ukrainian woman walked into a building. There was no argument or hatred exchanged between the two. Instead they sang together in unison. Why? The building was a church, and the two were Christians, worshipping together. “In here we have one leader,” Nenad, the minister, explained, “Jesus Christ, nobody else. Over the centuries, across the world, people who should be sworn enemies have united in Christ and called each other family. It is remarkable. In the apostle Paul’s day, the great divide was between Jews and Gentiles. Though Gentiles were always welcome to worship God in the Jewish temple, they were relegated to a separate, inferior area. (Tanya Marlow, Our Daily Bread 7th March 2026)

I guess divisions in the church may transcend even racial/political lines as in the case of Russians and Ukrainians or Catholics and Protestants amongst the Irish or even the hostilities between the Chinese and the Japanese due to the atrocities of the latter during WW2. More often the church is divided because there are those who support one group while there are others who support another group. Pretty similar to divisions in political parties. Except that for the latter it is about power and we all know power corrupts. Sadly, sometimes in the church itself, divisions may sometimes be also about power. That’s so tragic because the church should be all about Christ crucified and Christ resurrected.

Paul’s exhortation in Ephesians 4 thus becomes meaningful because we must live lives worthy of our calling. Paul advises us to be completely humble and gentle and be patient, bearing one another in love. Indeed humility and patience are essential in church. There are just so many colourful characters in church. Most mean well and are totally sincere. But there are few who may actually be wolves in sheep clothing. Not agents of the devil per se but just simply driven by the lust of power or pride or just plain personal agendas. Paul hopes the Ephesians would make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit, meaning to make sure we are united as a body. Not to have groups or alliances for political purposes in church. In other words, there should be minimal or no politics in church! Everyone should all work together for the good of the Kingdom of God.

With the ongoing war in the Middle East and its potential impact across the globe, this may well be another milestone towards the Second Coming of Christ. Therefore let us all focus on what really matters and remove the peripheral and the personal. In all that we do in church, always put the community of believers first. We do our best for the good of everyone. Make all effort to keep the unity of the Spirit as Paul teaches!

Goodness of God

https://odb.org/2026/03/06/god%E2%80%99s-goodness

Deuteronomy 6:10-19 NIV – 10 When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you – a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant – then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

13 Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.

Even good things can become dangers when they turn us from what matters most. Moses cautioned God’s people about this after they left Egypt and before they entered the land God was about to give them—a land with “houses filled with all kinds of good things” that they “did not provide” (Deuteronomy 6:11). “When you eat and are satisfied,” Moses warned, “be careful that you do not forget the Lord” (vv. 11-12). Remembering God in our blessings helps us because He is the source of “every good and perfect gift” (James 1:17). When we humbly respond to His goodness by loving Him with heart, soul and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5), we find in Him the best blessing of all. (James Banks, Our Daily Bread 6th March 2026)

One of our weakness as a Christian (myself included) is that sometimes in the “euphoria” of complaining about life and its challenges, we forget about God’s goodness. Granted, life could have dealt us a better hand. Who wouldn’t want to be born with a silver spoon? Who wouldn’t want to come into this world and be part of a family with wealth and influence and power? Yet even those with wealth haggle over silly things like why was I left with RM10 million while my brother had RM100 million? There are challenges at different families.

Philosophically, I think, we should accept that we need to make the best of what we have or what we were given. Actually, that’s the fact of life – everyone makes do with what God has given them or where God has placed us and we do the best under the circumstances. Some do better than others. Some do exceptionally well.

I think when it comes to physical wealth or riches, contentment is key to being at peace with our station in life. We strive to do better but as believers who live based on “right side up”, we balance our quest for achievements with contentment. At the same time, in parallel, we have spiritual goals and milestones. We know our destiny is not here on earth. We are pilgrims passing through. But far from not being bothered with the affairs of the world and live life in isolation, we are aware that we’re very much an integral part of this world. We fully participate in its affairs although we are not of this world. Fulfilling God’s calling, His plans and purposes for our lives is more essential than living out our own dreams and aspirations.

Be contented and be grateful for where we are in our career, spiritual walk and ministry. We try our best to live a balanced life. We do our best at our jobs. We do our best in our ministry. We fulfil God’s calling for us for this season and His plans and purposes for our life. Most importantly, we appreciate and are thankful for His goodness in our lives – our job, our marriage, our family, our ministry, our wealth, savings and assets. The opportunity to travel while we can. Our health, our physical body, our home. God has been good to us. He is good, all the time! Amen!

P/s

We are thankful for the opportunity to travel to the UK to see and chill with our first-born. We are grateful for the goodness of God and His grace that we avoided the Dubai mayhem although in our Emirates flight to London on Friday/Saturday, we had a 5-hour layover in Dubai. We missed the Iranian missiles targeted at Dubai International Airport by a few hours! There’s some hassle rebooking our flights back to KL to avoid the Middle East and at the same time incurring some additional expense. But that’s nothing compared to the situation if we had been stranded in Dubai in the midst of war.

Does God notice our service?

https://www.odbm.org/en-GB/devotional/devotional-category/the-unnamed-women?ts=1772582400000

The parable of the sower
Luke 8:1-3 NIV – After this, Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

After wiping down tables with disinfectant, Shelia stooped to tie a rubbish bag filled with used cups and plates. She heaved the bag over her shoulder and turned to survey the church’s social area. She’d volunteered to clean it for the next gathering and wanted to make sure it was ready. A thought fluttered through her mind: Would anyone notice? It’s easy to wonder if our everyday contributions to the kingdom are valued. Whether we clean, balance spreadsheets, lead a Bible study or give money, so many of us remain unseen in our places of service and unnamed in public commendations. (Elisa Morgan, Our Daily Bread 4th March 2026)

I think most of us have at some point in our lives thought about whether anyone notices our service in ministry? Our pastors and leaders surely know exactly what we’re doing in church but no one in church may know if we serve elsewhere in our personal capacity whether for voluntary organisations or other Christian ministries. Except if we publicise the same via social media or some other means.

However, I believe most of us don’t and won’t mind if no one notices because we know in our hearts that we’re serving God and we know God knows. It’s a personal conviction to serve the Lord and the motivation is always Him and Him alone. We serve Him because we love Him. It is our simple way to repay Him for all He has done and is doing in our midst. For His goodness and grace upon our lives and our family.

Of course, over a long period of time, sometimes our service ends up being a responsibility and an obligation and may eventually become a burden. Instead of joy, we struggle and end up serving grudgingly. That’s a tragedy but if we are in this predicament, we should, in my view, re-examine our calling and see whether the Lord has a different calling for us for this present season of our lives? We should always experience joy and gladness in serving God and not dread or misery. Or only a sense of responsibility or obligation.

What’s our calling for this season of our lives? He is forever in our lives and He is with us and sees us through the seasons. Yet His calling may evolve over time as we grow older and mature in our faith. The work the Holy Spirit is doing in our midst may be changing. Spend some time to seek out His plan and purpose for us at this period of time. Serving Him must be the happiest thing we could do in our life. Something is terribly wrong if we are grieved when serving Him. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us and guide us so we may find peace, joy and love in again in serving Him!

Blessings of generosity

https://odb.org/2026/03/02/refreshing-generosity

Proverbs 11:24–25 (NIV): 24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. 25 A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

An auditorium full of medical students at Albert Einstein College of Medicine listened intently as ninety-year-old Ruth Gottesman spoke. As she concluded, Ruth announced—to the students’ gasps, cheers, and pandemonium—that she was donating $1 billion so they could finish their education tuition free. This is the largest donation ever given to a medical school. Yet in the interviews that followed, you would have thought that Gottesman was the one receiving the gift. She expressed joy, delight, and honor to be able to give her money away. Proverbs tells us that this is how generosity works. The one who “gives freely,” far from being left diminished or bereft, finds blessings they hadn’t anticipated (11:24). (Winn Collier, Our Daily Bread 2nd March 2026)

Just like to glorify the LORD our God that we flew off from KLIA via an Emirates flight on Friday 6.30 evening KL time and after an 8-hour flight landed in Dubai for a 5-hour layover. We then boarded the connecting flight to London Heathrow (LHR) and landed safely in LHR at 6.45 am (UK time) to the news of the US and Israel having attacked Iran and Iran countering with missiles towards US bases and allies in the Gulf including the Dubai International Airport! We missed the missiles but more importantly we were not caught stranded in Dubai! Praise the Lord indeed! God was good to us! We usually take a past or near midnight flight to LHR but this time we somehow booked an earlier flight and those 6 hours could have saved us from being stuck in Dubai in the midst of the war crossfire.

Getting back to the topic at hand on generosity, an oft-repeated topic in these blog pages. Nevertheless it will never go stale or outdated. This is because the Kingdom of God, in my mind, is all about the generosity of God. God in His grace has been generous to us with His abundant grace, mercy and love. Picking us up in our lives when we least deserve Him. Beyond the principle that we should repay God for being generous to us for sending Jesus to die for our sins that we do not perish but have life everlasting (per John 3:16), there is a spiritual principle at play that as we give, we will receive. Giving doesn’t deplete but increases. Crazy but true!

It is a spiritual principle where its reality has been exploited by the “properity gospel crowd” to give to God in order to have a breakthrough out of our financial situation. It was exploitative in the sense that the Godly cause is their ministry but their success albeit its somewhat dishonest application, speaks of its reality. In other words, I’m sure that many have experienced God’s generosity as they give out of their misery and poverty. It may look like fraud in a large scale but I’m sure that many have somehow benefitted when they put this principle into practice! I don’t advocate as I believe this is wrong. Yet I believe it is difficult to dispute the reality of the principle!

Rather than enriching others (read questionable ministers) for Godly purposes in name (questionable ministries or causes), we should, in my view, just be broadly generous. Not to enrich ourselves in the process but to use resources at our disposal for the Kingdom of God. When we are working, we set aside some for the rainy day. Yet we should also allocate some for generosity’s sake. But when we retire or about to retire and need to start dipping into our savings as we age without a fixed income, we should nevertheless be generous. There is no need to horde. Remember the story Jesus taught about the rich man who tore down and wanted to build bigger barns to store wheat for years to come? That night itself his life was taken from him! The point is we could hold on tightly to our fortune to keep healthy reserves for our old age but we may end up having too much when we pass. Alas nothing can be brought across. Granted it’s a fine balance to hold and yet give but the spiritual principle remains that if we are generous, God will bless us. In other words, we need not worry too much what lies ahead if we were to give to help someone out. We have a responsibility to God to be a good steward of our wealth, for example, for our old age and our children’s future but that responsibility in my view also includes the obligation to be generous for Kingdom causes. The spiritual principle is that the more generous we are, the more will we be blessed! Amen!

God’s Rainbow 🌈

https://odb.org/2026/02/26/gods-rainbow-answer

Genesis 9:12–16 (NIV): 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

Owen was on holiday abroad when he received a disturbing message from a colleague: “The boss is looking to replace you.” Deeply upset, he prayed one morning at dawn and asked God, “Where are You?” Then he went to the window to open the curtains—and spotted a huge, beautiful rainbow suspended above the lake outside. Immediately a comforting warmth gushed over him. “It was as if God was simply telling me, ‘It’s okay; I’m here,’ ” he recounted later.

In Genesis 9, God promised not to destroy the earth through a flood again. He promised, “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth” (v. 16). This covenant was everlasting and unconditional. It depended totally on God’s protection and provision, not on humanity’s performance. (Leslie Koh, Our Daily Bread 26th February 2026)

I only learnt about the origin of the rainbow quite late into my Christian life. I’m sure it would have been taught in Sunday school but then I never attended Sunday school when young. This is because I only knew God in my teens. The other thing about my Christian life experience is that I also didn’t grow up singing hymns. Instead I grew up as a Christian in pentecostal/charismatic churches although I did attend a Methodist outreach for a few years when I first came to know God. However that outreach was a startup and thus they sang more youth fellowship kind of songs.

We all would have learnt about the rainbow in school as part of a subject in Science. The rainbow 🌈 is unique as the colours of the rainbow represent the spectrum of light. While commonly divided into seven colours from the longest spectrum (red) to the shortest (violet), the rainbow is actually a continuous spectrum with differing shades in between. However it differs from colour pigment with red, blue and yellow (RYB) as the primary colours while light’s primary colours are red, green and blue (RGB). For instance, the rainbow cannot create black, brown or magenta.

There are bound to be moments in life when we ask God, “where are You O Lord?” Some unexpected news or change in our situation. It could be like famine during ancient times when the populace relied on crops to survive, especially wheat, as recorded in the Old Testament. Even if they had livestock for milk and poultry for meat, these need water to live. In our modern world, few are privileged not to work and yet live. Thus our jobs are essential to our sustenance in the modern world. Few of us grow crops on our own. We need to earn so we have money to buy life necessities and continue living.

The LORD is saying He is there with and amongst us. Whether we are young and starting out in career or marriage or on the verge of retirement or retired, He is there with us. For us who are about to retire, we often ponder how would it be like in the days to come when we cease earning a fixed income. We need to start digging into our reserves. Life will certainly be different but the Lord is saying that He is with us until our last breath. Because of the work of Jesus Christ in Calvary, our after life is guaranteed (if we hold on to our faith). But not only that, our life on earth is also guaranteed as we fulfil His plans and purposes for our lives and respond to His calling. He will meet our needs as the rainbow 🌈 is testament to His everlasting promise to never destroy mankind again with water. Always remember Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 6:26-27: 26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

Don’t misuse the name of the LORD

https://odb.org/2026/02/25/abusing-gods-name

Exodus 20:7–8 (NIV): 7 “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

All seem oblivious to the large banner hanging above the headquarters’ front door, half as long as the building. It reads, “By resisting the Jew, I fight for the work of the Lord.” This kind of treachery is what God had in mind when He commanded, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name” (Exodus 20:7). We shouldn’t assume we’re doing God’s work simply because others say we are. We must prayerfully check our work with what God reveals in the Bible. How can we know we’re serving Him? Psalm 119:9 says, “By living according to your word.” The God who commands us to “always give [ourselves] fully to the work of the Lord” has told us what that work is in His holy book (1 Corinthians 15:58). Let’s listen to Him. (Mike Wittmer, Our Daily Bread 25th February 2026 Condensed)

In these end days, we must pray for discernment when we come across videos or short clips that purportedly carry the name of God or appear to be Christian in nature but which may contain questionable teachings. Some do point to revelational truths and yet there are those who may present half truths like the whole truth. The point is that one of the methods Satan uses to draw us away from God is to deceive us into thinking we are on the right path while leading us on the wrong path. It may be very subtle but once we are drawn in, we may slowly be influenced little by little and after a few years, we may end up compromising our faith. The devil would have won.

Besides discernment, the principle we must hold on tightly is to always check the teachings against the Word of God and make sure they do not go against the fundamentals of our faith. Just because someone says he is doing God’s work doesn’t mean that he is actually doing so. There are many who could be wolves in sheep clothing deceiving the flock. Is he living a life in accordance to God’s Word? What are this person’s fruits? Granted everyone is not perfect and ill intention may be difficult to gauge but pray and ask God. He will surely guide us.