Be Encouraged - By Merry Wirawan

  There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens - E cclesiastes 3 (NIV) Ecclesiastes 3 mentions that in our human life, there are many seasons that we have gone through in our lives and will go through in the future. There are season of joy, season to work hard, season to be successful, season to build our lives. But there are also seasons when we will experience hardship, lost, disappointment, and weep.   What season are you in right now? Are you in a season of joy or are you in a season of weeping? Whatever you are right now, you must know that either of this season has the same characteristic, they don’t last forever. That is why it is called a season.   When we are in a good comforting season with full of joy and abundant, we always want this to last as long as it can be. But we do not want to dwell even for one day on the season which gives us a discomfort. Therefore in this week sharing, I would like to focus on the...

We have a lot of things that we want to get and achieve in life. Either big or small, long or short term goal, all of them are important to us. As Christians we normally request to God for something that we really want to get. If we think our request is good and reasonable, we are hopeful that most likely God will support us. Unfortunately that is not always the case.  We do not know the future, only God knows what will happen. Something that we think is good now, is not necessarily better than God can offer you later. Our part is just to request whatever we really desire, but we leave it to God if we can get that or not. Sometimes we can force to make it happen and God will let us have it, but is not necessarily His will in our lives. It is best to really surrender to Him and let His will be done in us. When we let His will be done in our lives, though it may take longer time to see, you will eventually receive a better deal from Him. I would like to share the testimony of my ...

  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the  Lord , “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) Many Christian loves to quote this bible verse especially in times of trouble in their lives. Believe me, I do too. Whenever I am believing for His promise, His blessing and His favour, I love to quote this verse. One day when I was in desperate situation and I tried to read out loud this verse again, I felt God asked me to read from verse 10. 10  This is what the  Lord  says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.   11  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the  Lord , “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:10-11 (NIV) I meditated on verse 10 for a bit of time and tried to understand. Then I...