Week 20 (11 - 17 May): Rooted in His Love, Empowered for His Work

Last Saturday, our Home Fellowship was deeply blessed by the visitation of Ps Elaine and Ps Ra from Bacolod in the Philippines. Through their message and testimonies, I was reminded again of what it means to trust God with childlike faith.

Ps Elaine shared about returning to the One who loved us first. So often, when faced with life’s uncertainties and difficulties, fear quietly fills our hearts, and we try to numb our pain or emptiness with worldly distractions such as social media, entertainment, achievements, and other temporary comforts. Yet beneath these things is a deeper longing that only God can satisfy.

From Ephesians 3:7–19, she emphasized that “by constantly using our faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside us.” The Christian life was never meant to be sustained by self-reliance alone. Faith is not merely something we profess once, but something we continually exercise daily. That istrusting, surrendering, obeying, and depending on God even when circumstances seem uncertain. As we continually use our faith, we make room for the life of Christ to be formed deeper within us.

One phrase stayed with me: “The resting place of His love will become the very source and root of our life.” It made me reflect, if God is truly my source, where then is my worry coming from? If He is the root of our lives, then even when circumstances do not go according to plan, there remains a peace that cannot be shaken. Nothing in this world can truly move the person who rests securely in the love of Christ.

Ps Elaine also reminded us that before we give, serve, or even begin our day, we first need to be filled by His love so that we do not minister from emptiness. I realised this connects with the idea of God becoming the very source and root of our lives. When we rest first in His love and continually exercise our faith in Him, we stop living and serving from our own strength alone. Instead, ministry, generosity, and endurance begin to flow out from His presence within us rather than from human striving.

Ps Elaine and Ps Ra also shared powerful testimonies from the pandemic season. When everything was shutting down, God led them to open a bakery ministry through which they prepared around 4,500 care packages. Many whom they reached are now serving faithfully in ministry. Ps Ra also testified about distributing 51 sacks of rice during the pandemic; somehow, the rice did not deplete as expected when they kept giving them away. Similar things happened when they distributed Jollibee meals. Their testimonies demonstrated that in God’s Kingdom, multiplication often happens in the place of surrender, generosity, and fulfilling needs.

Their sharing continually pointed back to the faithfulness of God. As Romans 8:38 reminds us, nothing can separate us from His love. If God faithfully cares for the birds of the air, surely, He will care for His children too.

By the end of the session, after they had prayed over each of us with words of encouragement and knowledge, I left reminded that true strength for ministry is not found in striving harder, but in learning to rest deeper in the love of God. When “the resting place of His love becomes the very source and root of our life,” we stop striving in our own strength and begin ministering from the overflow of His presence. It is by first seeking refuge and rest in God that our faith is strengthened, allowing Him to empower us to carry greater things for His Kingdom far beyond what we could do on our own.

On behalf of Belimbing and Diakonia

Eng Siong