GOD'S COVENANT ENSURES HIS PROMISES ARE FULFILLED

Genesis 15:1,4 (NLT)1 Sometime later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”4 … for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.”The Lord appeared to Abraham and gave him these promises. Then Abraham fell into a deep sleep. In his sleep, these were what he saw.Genesis 15:17,18 (NLT) 17 After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. 18 So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River—Abraham saw in his sleep that God cut a covenant with him, a covenant of promise. For the promises in the covenant to be fulfilled, Abraham had to believe and hold fast to the promises. He had to persist in following God’s plan to fulfil the promises and persevere when confronted with challenges. Likewise, we must adopt these attributes to fulfil God’s promises.In Abraham’s sleep, he saw the Lord cut a covenant with him with these promises:- The Lord would protect him.- The Lord would reward him.- The Lord would give him a son.- The Lord would give him and his descendants the Promised Land.When God cut a covenant with us, He will not change His terms of the covenant, and He must fulfil it. A covenant is an oath, and God will keep His oath. God would protect and preserve Abraham to fulfil His promises, and He would reward Abraham greatly as he obeyed. However, Abraham must keep his part of the covenant for it to be fulfilled by God.We have the covenant established with Jesus’ blood. How much more must the Heavenly Father protect, preserve, and reward us by fulfilling His promises? The promises of the Heavenly Father are far greater and more valuable than Abraham’s.Abraham had to:- Believe the Lord’s promises.- Hold fast to the Lord’s promises. - Persevere in the Lord’s promises. - Persist in pursuing the Lord’s promises.The Heavenly Father is faithful, so we can trust and believe He will fulfil His promises. When confronted with challenges, and it seems like the promises are just wishful thinking, keep holding fast to them. For the Heavenly Father has the power to make it happen. Believing in the faithfulness of the Heavenly Father and His ability to fulfil the promises, even in the face of challenges, is the cornerstone of His promises coming to pass in our lives. Perseverance is necessary in navigating life’s challenges while holding onto the beliefs and promises. It’s about enduring hardships, maintaining faith, and staying committed to the covenant despite obstacles or moments where fulfilment seems distant. Abraham’s example can serve as a source of strength, guidance and hope for us, providing a framework for navigating life’s complexities while staying grounded in faith and trusting in the promises of the Heavenly Father.Rev. Cheong Yew KwongFaith Church SingaporePlease visit our website at faithchurch.sg#goodtoread ... See MoreSee Less

GOD DELIVERED ISRAEL BECAUSE OF ABRAHAM'S COVENANT

The nation of Israel, after Jacob, did not keep the covenant and was deep in bondage in Egypt for more than 400 years. Israel's cry to the Lord for deliverance must be initiated on earth for divine intervention. It wasn't God who kept them in bondage in Egypt for so many years. If they had left after the famine, there would not have been days of suffering in Egypt. Exodus 2:23–25 (NLT)23 Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. 24 God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.During the period when Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, knew Joseph, one of the sons of Jacob, they lived well there. After that, they were poorly treated and enslaved by other Pharaohs who did not know Joseph.When they could not take the suffering anymore, they cried out to God - that's their prayer. It was their prayer and supplication, pleading with God to deliver them. Even though they were held captive in Egypt, and God's plan was on hold for 400 years, God could not have them delivered until they prayed - cried out to God. It was at that juncture that God chose to act. God said it was time to act, and that was after they prayed. The time for God to work on our behalf is after we pray. As we cry out in prayer, it is an acknowledgement of dependence on Him, an expression of faith, and an act of submission to God's will. As Israel cried out to God, God delivered them because of His oath with Abraham in the covenant. God delivered them not because of their sufferings but because of God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants. If it was because of their sufferings, He should have delivered them when they suffered and without their crying out. But they needed to cry out to God for deliverance. God could do nothing for them unless they prayed. God would keep His promises because He had a covenant with Abraham and Israel. While God had made promises within the covenant, there was to be a synergy between sovereignty and human response. The act of prayer is required for divine intervention. The covenant between God and Abraham extended to his descendants and was foundational in God's commitment to deliverance. God promised and was faithful to fulfil them despite human failings or disobedience. The blood covenant of Jesus is a profound connection between God and humanity through Jesus' sacrifice. It grants us access to God's grace, forgiveness, and salvation, allowing believers to approach God in prayer confidently. God will answer all our prayers if His Word abides in us and because we have Jesus' blood covenant. We must have faith in His covenant. Then, our prayers have a firm foundation when we seek the Heavenly Father's intervention in our lives. God is faithful to His commitments within His covenant with humanity. Rev. Cheong Yew KwongFaith Church SingaporePlease visit our website at faithchurch.sg#goodtoread ... See MoreSee Less

DESIRES - THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD

Desires are not burdens, for instance, like danger or life-and-death situations. You will be far better off if you pray them out and walk into them. Then, you will be incredibly blessed, and your life will not be the same again. You will move up higher both spiritually and naturally.Desires can be God's deep things for those who would draw them out from His depths. In prayer, our spirit draws out the deep things of God. The depths of our spirit, our innermost being, call out to those deep things of God.Psalm 42:7 (NET) One deep stream calls out to another at the sound of your waterfalls; all your billows and waves overwhelm me. Here, the verse refers to mountains, streams, and rivers. You can hear water flowing from the streams mixed with the sound of the rivers. The psalmist alludes to the loud rushing sound of mountain streams and cascading waterfalls. Poetically, he imagines the streams calling out to each other as they hear the sound of the waterfalls. [Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.]So the deep cries of our hearts are like streams, calling out or drawing out the depths of God, and when we draw them out from God, they will sound like waterfalls, thundering and roaring. The deep things of God will overwhelm you. We draw out the deep things of God when we pray deep in unknown tongues. Our spirits lay hold of the Holy Spirit as He lays hold of us and draws the deep things of the Heavenly Father. And God will reveal those things in our spirits by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:9–10 (NET)9 But just as it is written, "Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him." 10 God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.There are things the Heavenly Father has prepared for each one of us. The future holds the deep things of God yet to be revealed. Our eyes have not seen, nor can our minds imagine, the deep things our Heavenly Father has precisely planned for us. But God will reveal them by the Holy Spirit when we pray with unknown tongues. The gift of speaking with unknown tongues is given to us for this very purpose: to pray out the mysteries of the deep things of God. Revelation will come. The mystery of the depths of God is not hidden against us but instead hidden for us. As we yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, He will give us the unction to pray, and the Heavenly Father will unfold them. The Holy Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. He searches them out to reveal them to us. Our spirits cannot search them out without the Holy Spirit because the depths of God are far beyond our reach. Therefore, pray much with unknown tongues and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in prayer. Do what He inspires you to do. Then, when the time comes, as He prompts you to pray deeper, yield to His promptings, and rely on the Spirit of grace to pray deep, plunging the depths of God by the Holy Spirit. When He reveals the deep things of the Heavenly Father to you, they will amaze you and confound others.Rev. Cheong Yew KwongFaith Church SingaporePlease visit our website at faithchurch.sg#goodtoread ... See MoreSee Less

CHOOSE TO DO THE FATHER'S WILL, YOU WILL KNOW HIS WILL

Many Christians have a heart for God and want to do the Heavenly Father's will. God's grace stirs their hearts to seek and do His will. They always ask, "How can I know the will of God?"In the last article, "Do Not Pray Against What is Written in the Word of God," I said His Word is His perfect will. To ask something against His Word is to ask for something that is not God's will. How can we know God's will, then?CHOOSE TO DO HIS WILLIf we choose to do His will, we will know. We will come to know. The Father will ensure we know and not allow us to be deceived. He will guide us to know. Therefore, ask the Father for a heart that chooses to do His will. Jesus revealed a principle for knowing the Father's will.John 7:17 (NET) If anyone wants to do God's will, he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. This is the primary key to knowing the Father's will concerning any matter. When it is written in the Word what His will is, and we continue to pray about it, we don't really want to do the Father's will. If we genuinely want to do the Father's will, once we know it is written, we will not want to ask the Father for something that contradicts His will. The opposite of God's perfect will is not His will. And if we persist in asking, He will surely not answer us. WHY DID JESUS CHOOSE TO DO THE FATHER'S WILL?John 8:29 (NET) And the One who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, because I always do those things that please Him." Jesus chose to do the Father's will because He chose to please the Father. At the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus changed to do the Father's will because He always pleased the Father. It was His nature and still is. God's Word is God's will. God's Word is the Father's perfect will.How did Jesus please the Father? When Jesus was on earth, He needed faith and had faith because He was the Son of man. As man, Jesus laid aside all His knowingness. He did not know all things. And Jesus pleased the Father; He is our example to follow.Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.Faith comes from His spoken Word. Faith comes from knowing His will. His Word is His Will. When we ask something against His will, there will be no faith to ask. Hence, no faith, no answer. When faith comes, we must receive and believe, and then it pleases the Father. We will know His will when we choose to do the Father's will. We will know and believe when we hear from His Word. He will give us knowledge and understanding of His Word. He will also give us the wisdom to apply His Word.We cannot please God without faith. And without faith, we cannot do His will. We need to know and understand His Word to know His will. If we know His will and still do not do it, we will not please the Father because we have rejected His Word and His will. We would also have rejected faith. Hence, without faith, it is impossible to please Him. Without faith, we cannot access the Father's grace, which flows from the Father's unfailing love.Rev. Cheong Yew KwongFaith Church SingaporePlease visit our website at faithchurch.sg#goodtoread ... See MoreSee Less

DON'T PRAY AGAINST WHAT IS WRITTEN IN THE WORD

The Word of God was first spoken and then written. If it is written in the Word of God, then we should not pray against what is found in the Bible. For example:1 Corinthians 7:39 (NET) A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes (only someone in the Lord).2 Corinthians 6:14–16 (NET)14 Do not become partners with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 And what agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share in common with an unbeliever? 16 And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, "I will live in them and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, telling the believers not to marry unbelievers or those who were not in the Lord. This still still applies to us today. Hence, if it is found in the Bible, don't pray or ask the Heavenly Father concerning whether we should marry this or that unbeliever. Whatever is written in the Word of God is the perfect will of the Father, and He does not change. If we come before the Father praying and asking whether we can marry (we date to marry) the unbeliever, then we're asking for something that is entirely not His will. Dating and marrying an unbeliever is not even in His permissive will.When we know what's written in the Word yet ask for something that's against it, it means:1. We don't believe what the Word of God says2. We don't want to accept what is written, i.e., the perfect will of God3. We're open to deception4. The Heavenly Father will not answer our prayer because it is not His perfect willRegarding other matters in life, even though they are not explicitly written in the Word of God, once we know on the inside (our spirit) that they are not God's will, we should not continue to pray or ask the Father for them. The Heavenly Father will not answer our prayers. We will know the Father's will because it is written in the Word. Adam knew God's will concerning eating from the tree in the centre of the Garden of Eden. When both he and Eve took the fruit, God was silent. Eating from that tree was not God's will, not even His permissive will. Jesus asked the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane to let the cup of going to the cross of suffering pass Him by, but God was silent. It was neither God's will nor His permissive will.The Father will never speak to us concerning marrying an unbeliever because it is outrightly against His Word, spoken and written.Rev. Cheong Yew KwongFaith Church SingaporePlease visit our website at faithchurch.sg#goodtoread ... See MoreSee Less

GOODNESS IS HIS UNFAILING LOVE IN ACTION

There is only goodness coming out of the Heavenly Father's unfailing love. Acts 10:38 (NKJV) how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.Another way of saying God anointed Jesus is unfailing love anointed Jesus to go about doing good. The Father's love will do good, and this is the goodness of the Father. He will only do good, not anything bad. The Father's unfailing love will lead us and guide us in His strength.Exodus 15:13 (NIV) In Your unfailing love You will lead the people You have redeemed. In Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling.Then Romans 2:4 says the goodness of God leads us. Romans 2:4 (NKJV) Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?Hence, the goodness of God is His unfailing love in action. Even when we're going in the wrong direction, His goodness leads us to repentance (or turn around). Goodness is His love leading you. In His goodness, He will lead you. Let's take a look at the definition of goodness.It signifies "not merely goodness as a quality, rather it is goodness in action, goodness expressing itself in deeds…" [Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vol. 2, p. 274). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson.]The love of God causes Him to do good because goodness is expressed in deeds. Out of the abundance of His love, there is goodness. The love of the Father can be seen in His goodness in action. When He heals us, it is goodness in action. His goodness flows from His love for His children. We know God is good. So we rest in His love because He will do or work something good out for us. From the love of the Father will come the goodness of God. The goodness of the Father will lead us to turn around (repent). He will lead us into the future. He will lead us out of where we are trapped. He will lead us through the most challenging times and deliver us out of bondage, or when we are going nowhere in life.Romans 8:28 (NET) And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose …His unfailing love will do something and work something good out of any situation for us. The Father will always do something for you so that something good emerges. This is the goodness of God and His unfailing love for you. Goodness is His unfailing love in action. Rev. Cheong Yew KwongFaith Church SingaporePlease visit our website at faithchurch.sg#goodtoread ... See MoreSee Less