Here the story begins, last year we started a mini youth ministry in our high school, gathering Christians in the school to come together to fellowship every Friday afternoon. Our vision is to reach our school for Christ. (more…)

I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Josh Harris
Review by Rachel MôK, RTF Staff Writer

I first read this book when I was 14 years old, well most people think I was weird, why? Because that is THE AGE when “dating” in High School is cool, apparently its the “in” thing. I mean why would a 14-year-old girl be thinking about a long term commitment, in other words marriage. All she would think is, “oh that guy is cute, I think I like him.”

Sadly, high school flings are getting more common these days, in fact I use to think that
was alright, part of teenage life and growing up, but I have changed that mind-set. (more…)

Every Rose has its Thorns

by Rachel Mok

Just like every rose has its thorns, I have my rough edges as well. Yeah we were “born” with our weaknesses, like they always say you don’t have to teach a baby to do something bad, they just do it. But, why do we always use that as our excuse? Shouldn’t we always strive for the best, aim for perfection? We can’t with our human nature, that’s why we need God! On the other hand, we lack the that faith and trust, so how does that work anyway? (more…)

Let’s welcome Rä¢HÉl MôK, our international RTF staff member. She lives in Australia, but is from Singapore. Rachel will be blogging once or twice a month on RTF.

Today she gets real about True Faith.

True Faith
by Rä¢HÉl MôK, 17

Faith may become to us like a promise on demand and we operate it through formulae, mechanisms and techniques. The truth is, no matter how great our faith may be, God is the source of our answered prayer and cannot be manipulated in any way.

People often misunderstand what faith is. Recently, I just attended a church seminar on “True Faith”. A particular lesson taught about a number of different misunderstandings that people have about faith. Having true faith does not imply that we should not or are not supposed to do anything at all. So here I am going to share some common misunderstandings about faith, and my major struggle I go through.

The first common misunderstanding is that “faith works like magic to enable us to receive whatever we desire”, that is not true. Faith is not for getting the things that we want. We should not get confused with faith and God’s power to change things. Faith is to trust God even when we do not exactly understand what God’s plan actually is.

Secondly, people believe that “unanswered prayer is a sign of lack of faith”, which is false again. For example, I am currently praying for a scholarship for my university studies, however if God decides not to give me the scholarship, it doesn’t mean that my faith is weak. Although it is true that we must let God do His part, we must do our part as well. In this case, it would mean I have to study hard for my exams. Faith should be centered on God’s will for our lives. Our faith may increase the possibility of God fulfilling our prayer request, but if God doesn’t answer, it doesn’t mean we are lack of faith.

Finally, some also think that “lack of prosperity is a sign of lack of faith”, however prosperity has nothing to do with faith but it has something to do with what God has planned for our lives. Material wealth is not equivalent to spiritual wealth. We should be contented with what God has blessed us with. As stated in the bible – For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So we shouldn’t be so focused on material wealth.

BIO: Rachel is 17, originally from Singapore, but studying high school in Australia and going on to study the bachelor of social work in University of Queensland next year. Her interests range from music, photography and writing, basically ways that she can express herself in art forms. Most of all, she has a great passion for people and hopes to be able to touch lives of many in all that she does. Check out her
blog, JUST LIKE HEAVEN.