"Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by His own desires and enticed.
Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." James 1:12-17

We are tempted in many ways- tempted to sin, tempted to stray away from God and disobey His commands, tempted to take the easy way out and shun the struggles in our spiritual lives, tempted to just fall away from God when the going gets tough. But the above verse makes it very clear that it is not God that does the tempting. God is perfect and righteous, He cannot tempt with evil. We are tempted by our own desires; Satan comes and gnaws at our desires, making them seem so attractive and irresistable, until we succumb. And to sum up the reasons why we would give in to temptation is simple- we want something for ourselves, we want some sort of pleasure for ourselves.

So when we face this temptation, we must bear this in mind- it may be part of God's will for us to face this temptation, or face whatever struggle that may come our way, but it is not God who tempts. What God wants from us is simple- "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." God wants us to face and endure the temptation. God wants us to hang in there, keep our eyes on Him and press on. God doesn't want us to take the easy way out. God wants us to triumph over the temptation.

It isn't easy, everyone knows. But we also have this motivation- "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning". Instead of yielding to the temptation in order to get something for ourselves, we can bring it before God and entrust our desires to Him, knowing full well that the good and perfect gifts are with Him, which He will give in His time and in accordance with His will. When we face temptation it is all too easy to just succumb and let go, but we must tell ourselves- we mustn't, we must hang in there and seek Him for His glory, and we know that in His time He will make everything right, He will give us His good and perfect gifts, and it will be much sweeter than anything that any temptation can ever offer.

In a Bible study some time ago I learnt an important principle- in the Old Testamant, whenever man fell into sin or disobedience, God would subsequently proclaim judgement and punish them. When Adam and Eve fell, they were cast out of the Garden of Eden and cursed. When man became evil beyond reckoning, God sent a flood to destroy all mankind. When man became proud and wanted to build the Tower of Babel to heaven, God came and confused them and scattered them all over the earth. God made it very clear to the Israelites- "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God...But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you..." Deut 28: 1-2, 15.

However, what is significant is that whenever man fell, God would always provide a way back for man, a means of salvation. With the Flood, God saved Noah and promised him that never again would He destroy the earth with a flood (Gen. 9). After the Tower of Babel, God set aside Abraham and promised that through him, all nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12). In the story of Gideon (Judges 6), because the Israelites were unfaithful to Him, God delivered them into the hand of the Midianites for seven years; however He raised up Gideon to lead an army of a mere three hundred men to defeat the 100000 strong Midianites and free Israel. Of course, with the original sin in the Garden of Eden, God provided a means of forgiveness and reconciliation- Jesus Christ.

In this New Testament era of grace, does God still punish and abandon us like He did with the Israelites? I believe He does; the God of the Old and New Testament are one and the same. Why He does it no one can ever know and say for sure, but I can think of three reasons why. Firstly, as a punishment for our sin and disobedience. We know that our God is a loving and gracious God, but He is also a holy God who hates and detests sin. We should never neglect that aspect of His character. While we know that the punishment of eternal damnation has been taken away by Jesus and salvation assured us by grace and faith in Him alone, God can still choose to punish us for our disobedience, to teach us a good lesson, like He did with the Israelites. Secondly, God may allow us to feel a deep sense of abandonment and despair, or even punish us, when we walk away from Him and choose not to follow His ways. He may hold back His blessings from us and allow us to go through a time of deep sorrow and anguish. Why? Perhaps to allow us to see and experience for ourselves that His way is the best way; that true life and joy comes from Him and we should never stray away. A lesson learnt in time, so to speak. Thirdly, God may allow us to feel that abandonment in order to test and strengthen our faith- true faith is not forged on calm seas, but in the midst of raging storms. We must learn to walk by faith and not by sight; to follow Him and hold true to Him even when things do not seem to be going right. And when we learn to do that our faith would have grown so much deeper.

This we know for sure, that God always provides a way back to Him, and although we may feel abandoned or be punished, we know that God still loves us all the same and will never leave us. He is in control of our lives, the captain of the ship who will never fail. "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives." Hebrews 12:5-6. All that happens is part of His plan for us, part of His plan to deepen our faith and build our relationship with Him. So if you ever feel this way, come back to Him, reexamine yourself, seek Him, persevere in Him, and know that He is still there. He is always there.

But don't get confused- at the same time, even if God punishes, that does not mean at all that we are not saved. The punishments are not to take away our sins, but to teach us lessons; through His Son Jesus He has already given salvation to all who receive Him, whether He punishes them or not. Jesus has taken the punishment for sin. We know that beyond death, there will be no more sorrow, no more punishment, only an eternity with Him thanks to the atoning work of our Lord Jesus.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Matt. 6:33

I realise that I am still very stingy and reluctant about giving money to God and to His work, although God has constantly blessed me with much. I find myself constantly counting how much I have given and wondering if I am giving too much. That's the thing about money; you would think that the more you have of it, the more you would be able and willing to give to God, but no, that is not so with us humans. The more we get, the more stingy and protective we get about it, the more we hold back, the more we are unwilling to give, because we start getting enchanted and seduced by the thought of having money. No wonder Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kindgom of God." Mark 10:25

But looking back I thank God for teaching me this important lesson. There is no such thing as giving too much- if God calls you and places it upon your heart to give, than give generously and cheerfully. "God loves a cheerful giver" 2 Cor. 9:7. This is not thoughtless giving, but giving as God leads us to give, trusting that all our needs are in His hands. Cease the worrying and surrender it all to Him, because we can trust that God will provide all the money we will ever need. "...and all these things shall be added unto you." And from young we should aim to develop this kind of faith and trust, for money is a snare that traps many people in this world. We must be free of that; we would be far more ready and able to do God's work if the burden of money is not upon our backs. We have no qualms about spending money on ourselves; why do we hold back from giving generously to others, and to His work? We should realise that God gives us money not so that we can hoard it for ourselves, spend it all on ourselves and feel good and secure about it, but to supply our needs and so that we can also help to supply others who are in need, and invest in His kingdom.

God has shown me constantly that He will always supply my monetary needs if I am willing to invest in His work and kingdom. But to taste that, we have to be willing to give it up in the first place.

At the same time I believe that money is not the only area in which this principle applies. In every area of our life, God calls us to surrender the reins to Him and let Him take full control, and He promises to never leave us short or empty. Money may not be the thing that you are struggling with; it may be work, relationships, etc. etc. But in the same way, seek God first, and He will add all things that you need. I think the problem with us is not that God is not supplying. I think the problem is that we are not surrendering, and seeking Him and His kingdom first.

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." John 15:9-11

There is incredible joy in being right with God. I don't know how to describe it; it is not like any other kind of happiness and pleasure. It is just a deep contentment and satisfaction and peace that comes when we are right with Him and when we have experienced Him. I'm sure we have all felt at one time or another that we just couldn't feel the love and joy of God; the promise of God seemed empty and distant and we were all caught up and frustrated at the problems that we were facing. But when God broke through, we felt a joy that we could not describe. I think this is one of the greatest testimonies that our God indeed does exist and that life with Him really is joyful.

One of my friends shared that she has not been feeling good and that her spiritual life has been down. That got me thinking- how are our spiritual life and "life", so to speak, related? It is easy to get drawn into thinking and feeling that when we face problems in our lives, our spiritual lives will also take a turn for the worse. But the opposite is true. Life problems do not cause our spiritual lives to be down, rather it is vice versa. More often than not problems lead people back to God and strengthen their faith when they learn to depend on Him. But when our spiritual lives are down, that will lead to more problems in our lives, and make existing problems even worse. When we are far away from God, we have no clue of what to do and how to react to situations, and we are missing His joy in our life. We feel confused, helpless and frustrated. And one of the worse things that can happen is that we turn to our own devices to find relief. Instead of going back to Him we run further away, thinking that we can find happiness. Often we turn to sin, lust and so on. And it just makes things worse; it is a vicious cycle.

This has many implications. One of the most effective ways to fight sin is not to fight it in the flesh, as Paul warns, but to focus rather on a spiritual life lived with God. When we have experienced the joy of living with Him and in His life, sin totally loses its appeal. It's just not worth it anymore. And also, when our spiritual lives are right, we will find that we are more than equipped to deal with any problems that come our way, because the joy of the Lord is in our heart. It's an awesome thing really, that joy; I am sure many will testify to that! Come back to Him always, seek to be right with Him and to know His will, even if your flesh screams out to do its own thing. That is the solution to all our problems, and the path to a joyous life.

"For the love of Christ compels us... that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." 2 Cor 5:14

I have always regarded this verse as one of the most important verses in the Bible, especially pertaining to our relationship with God. To me, nowhere else is the call of God more clear- the love of Christ motivates, compels us to live not for ourselves, but for Him. Easy to say, but terribly hard to do. Only when we, compelled by the awesome love of Christ, commit ourselves to live for Him, do we slowly begin to realise how much we really are living for ourselves, and how difficult it is to tear ourselves away from the bonds of our selfish nature.

But do not give up. One of the awesome things about God is that the God who calls is the same God who supplies. We can go wholeheartedly into our relationship with Him and pour our heart and soul into serving Him knowing full well that He will also take care of all our needs and desires. "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Matt 6:33. A divine promise from the Lord Jesus Himself. That being said, the difficult part is getting to that point where we have the faith to trust Him to take care of all else in our lives, even those things that we hold so dear.

Another awesome thing about God is that He meets us where we are. He comes with no expectations or demands, but knowing everything about us- He created us after all. He knows our weaknesses, our strengths, our concerns, our worries, our hopes, our dreams, our fears; everything. And He will build our faith up and mould us from exactly what we were to exactly what He wants us to be. No matter how low or weak our faith and trust is, the author and perfecter of our faith will take it and build it up. That being said, the question is, are we desiring to have that kind of faith today?

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Phew. Another chapter in my life is over, and looking back over the past year, it has definitely been the hardest chapter of my life. Never before have I faced so much pain, so much internal struggle, so much doubt and uncertainty, so much anger and bitterness. But also, never before have I seen so much breakthrough, so much joy, so much victory, so much strength, not on my account, but from Him who gives all things. Thank You Lord.

It is in our nature to doubt the Lord; to walk by faith and not by sight is one of the hardest things to do. We have heard many times that God only has the best in store, yet we struggle day in day out to trust Him and obey Him, choosing instead to go our own way. We lack the faith, and deep inside our hearts we do not really believe that God only has the best in store, and hence are easily influenced and led astray what our eyes see. So it was with me. But after a year of seemingly endless struggle and disobedience, I have come to see that God really has the best in store. God is not some heartless slavedriver who whips His slaves into shape and denies them every need and desire. God is a loving caring Master who knows our deepest needs and desires and will fulfill them, but wants us to learn first that He must take first place in our lives. For that is where He truly belongs. He intends for us to be a joyful people, living and serving Him willingly and contentedly. God took away the things in my life that meant the most to me, so that I would learn to seek Him and delight in Him first. Clinging on to those things, I learnt painfully, is totally useless and self-devastating; release them to Him, and you will find, I assure you, that He has much much more in store. "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." Psa 37:4. I used to doubt if it was true, but now I see more clearly than ever that it is.

I know that this is a time where many people are entering into a new chapter of their lives. As usual there is the uncertainty and fear of what lies ahead that haunts the heart. But go with the assurance that God is with you and will always be, and that He truly has the best in store. Go with expectant hearts to see it for yourself, if you have not already seen it. Go with patient hearts to wait upon Him, listen to Him, obey Him and await the unfolding of His will in your lives. Go with the assurance of our Lord Jesus Himself, "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33.

"let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" Hebrews 12:1-2