Today's Passage - 2 Thess 3:4-5

2 Thessalonians 3:4-5   We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command.  May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.   Paul said that "May the Lord direct your hearts" because the heart of our faith comes from the inside of our heart.  Faith is not a set of doctrines or ceremonies, but it should come from our heart.  Our heart must turn back to God first, then our whole person may turn back to God.  There are two directions towards which our hearts are led towards: First, we are led to love God.  We often think that to love God is to do something for the Lord, thus we would hear about so and so brother really loves the Lord because he goes to Sunday service each week, tithe faithfully, enjoys participating all kinds of church ministries, or whatever else he does.  We can easily do lots of things on the outside, but it doesn't prove that our hearts truly love the Lord.  When Martha and Maria served the Lord, Martha was really busy, but Maria simply became close to Jesus and knew how to love Him.  Lord wants us to love Him; He's not only demanding that we serve Him and work for Him, but more importantly we ought to come before Him to simply love Him.  When our hearts truly love God, serving Him is no longer heart, but it would instead come out naturally; loving God is the momentum for truly serving Him.   Also, we need to learn to persevere like Jesus Christ did.  When we are in hardship, we need the perseverance of Christ, because God wants to discipline us.  Sometimes we are like seeds; when seeds are held in hands, they can feel the warmth and security from those who are sowing the seeds.  When the seeds are suddenly sown and buried underground, they would feel lonely and dark, surrounded by all kinds of pressure.  During the process, the seeds might question whether those who had sown them really cared about them.  In the same way, when we are going through hardship, we also question whether God is really out there looking after us.  Let us strengthen our faith, learn to persevere in Christ and continue to believe in God.  We need to believe that the one who sowed the seeds will continue to water them, and life from God will continue to grow.  Once there's sufficient water, life inside us will start to grow, break through the darkness and enter into light.   In our life, we need to have the perseverance of Jesus Christ in order to overcome the circumstance of hardship.  May the Lord guide our hearts to love Him more, and to have the perseverance of Christ in order to overcome any circumstance.   Pray with Pastor Tong   Lord, please guide us and let our hearts turn back to you and love you.  Let us learn from your perseverance so that we will not lose faith and be afraid under any circumstance.  We want to simply follow you and experience your power of breakthrough.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!    Shekinah Glory - ROLCC Building Expansion Project - We have almost reached our Phase I Target!  Click here to donate online.