Believe

March 21, 2026

"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

"Do not be unbelieving, but believing." John 20:22,23,27

These are what Jesus said to the disciples when Jesus showed up to the disciples after the resurrection. The disciples just heard from Mary that Jesus was resurrected. Peter and John witnessed the empty tomb. And so the disciples were wondering where Jesus was. Maybe they were worried.

Then Jesus shows up to them! All were there but Thomas. Jesus told them to "receive the Holy Spirit." Isn't that powerful? Jesus has promised the Holy Spirit to us. He is wanting to come into our hearts. We should be open and be able to welcome Him to our hearts. He is knocking at your heart. Please remember to welcome Him.

When Thomas heard about Jesus, he did not believe. He needed solid proof and evidence. When Jesus appeared in front of Thomas for real, Jesus told Thomas "to believe."

Oh how many times we doubt. We don't need to. What the Bible says, we must believe. This is the basis of faith. We must believe.

It Takes Prayer

March 14, 2026

“Now it came to pass in those days that he went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.” Luke 6:12-16

Jesus came down to this earth with a mission. He came down to us with a mission to save us. Because of His death on the cross we can be saved. As Jesus returned back to heaven, He passed on the mission to His disciples to spread the gospel. Jesus used His disciples to change the world. 

The whole book of Acts talks about how these disciples went out and shared the gospel of truth, the message of Jesus Christ. Because of what these disciples had started in the first century, millions of us today are influenced, changed, and saved by the gospel of Jesus. We have become Christians and we dearly await the second coming of Jesus Christ. 

What started this? Luke 6:12 tells us that the night Jesus chose the 12 disciples, He spent all night in prayer. It was the prayer of Jesus that ignited the movement to change and saved the whole world. Jesus prayed and He chose His 12 disciples to have them trained for three and half years. After Jesus returned to heaven, these disciples were the ones that changed the world. The first part of Acts tells us that the disciples gathered to pray. And the Holy Spirit was upon each of them.

We need to pray. Jesus commissioned us to go out and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19,20). Jesus doesn’t do any background checks on us. We don’t have to be smart. All it takes is a prayer to ignite ourselves, to kindle a fire of the Holy Spirit. We need to pray.

Be Ready

March 7, 2026

There is a 14-hour difference between here and Indonesia (15 hours for Korea), and getting used to the new time zone is always a challenge. I just returned from this trip, and getting used to the Central Time Zone is no joke. Due to the day-night difference, I have been waking up at 3am for the last couple of days. Then I would get super sleepy after lunchtime, and it was easy for me to just sleep. 

The key to fast recovery time is to stay awake no matter what (at least for me). You just have to stay awake and force yourself into the new biological rhythm. The first day, I was successful. I got up at 3am and managed to stay awake the whole day until 10:30pm. But I still woke up at 3am the following morning again. On the second day, at noon, I gave in. I decided to let myself fall asleep where I had been sleeping until 5pm. As a result, I didn’t get back to bed again until 1am, then got up at 3:30am. I should have stayed up and not fallen asleep that day, yet I gave in.

The virgins fell asleep while waiting for the groom. “But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.” Matthew 25:5. The verse mentions that all fell asleep. The difference was evident when the midnight cry rang out, and the groom finally arrived. Half were ready with enough oil in their lamps, while the other half weren’t. The parable ends with this verse, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” Matthew 25:13.

Despite all the signs showing these days, we will slumber and fall asleep. The question is, are we ready for the second coming of Jesus? Are we prepared? I pray that we will be ready to join the groom when He comes!