Month: August 2019

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Knock..Knock….Who is there?

Scriptural Readings.  Exodus 20:2; 2 Corinthians 6:18; Luke 11:11-13; Luke 11: 9

“Knock..Knock….Who is there?” This is an old joke that most of us probably already had known which starts with “Knock..Knock..Who’s there?”. When it comes to making us laugh, most of us are more attentive and more serious to it. Talk shows, comedy films and stand up comedy on bars are only few that one can catch up with the latest jokes. But what if you have been having a lot of things to settle to yourself like financial problems, domestic problems? Do you think you need a little bit of sense of humor or do you think this is the time that we knock and knock to our God? Right?

While many are arguing about how do we call our God(Jesus said simply our Father) we should be more importantly and be well sensible of our relationship with our God. Jesus taught us that if we pray, we have to address our prayer to our Heavenly Father. If He is our Father then we are His children. What does it mean? It means that we came from Him! Do we fully understand what this means? Have we seen and fully comprehended what it is to be His children? Is this relationship entirely different from our earthly father? Surely, we will be bogged down by problems and as Christians we should be more definite that we should come to the throne of grace of our God. Our spirits should be in depth in all undertakings with what God has to say.

Exodus 20:2

I [am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Obviously, it tells us that we should acknowledge Him as our God but in this modern world, one might argue that it does not matter anymore if He has taken us out from Egypt. Jesus has already freed us. That is true, one thing though that we might have missed is the power that He has shown. This is the same power that He has entrusted to us His children through His Son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have the same power to be freed from any bondage!

2 Corinthians 6:18

And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Luke 11:11-13

verse 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if [he ask] a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

verse 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

verse 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

With this established and accepted relationship with our Heavenly Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, where do we stand? Now here comes the perfect part. Here is what Jesus promised.

Luke 11: 9

verse 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

As children of God, we now know that the door of heaven will be opened for us. We have a loving Father. A Father who will provide and give us all the things we need, be it physical or spiritual through His Son Jesus Christ.

If you will knock and knock.. I [am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

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Who…What…When…Where…Why?

Scriptural Reading John 10:30; I Peter 1:15-16; John 3:3; Revelation 21:1-3; Romans 8: 14-17

A day never ends with out having good news or bad news. Sooner or later or whether we are interested or not, one way or the other we are going to be affected on what is happening in and around us. We cannot escape news. The Cyberworld or cyberspace which involves the inter computer communication nowadays is the hub, core and the heart for a lot of us in order to obtain information and to top it all fresh news locally and around the world.

Living in the secular world, we are to live and survive with a who, what, when, where and why. It is always a question of who, what, when, where and why in order to have a continuation of maintaining finances and keeping up with present and the future etc. In short, how to survive.

On the other hand, have we given ourselves a real and by heart serious thoughts on about how do we have to govern our spiritual lives with the who, what, when, where and why?

John 10:30

 I and [my] Father are one.

Let us first start with the who. Who are we going to depend and believe on? In the spiritual domain we have to look upon and to admit that we are vincible, vulnerable and of course powerless. It is imperative that we need God. This should be the first. Now the invisible God the Father is now seen in the person of Jesus Christ the begotten Son(God). We can now see the Father in the person of Jesus Christ. I and the Father are one. The God that cannot be seen and touched revealed Himself in a human form in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is up front behind the unseen Father God making the two of them only one God in essence and existence. This is the relationship of a father to a son and the son to a father. Now we know that the power that we are having is coming from our Heavenly Father through His Son our Lord and savior Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit reveal to us.

I Peter 1:15-16

v.15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

v.16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Next in line is what. What happens next if we are saved? Holiness and sinfulness simply cannot exist together. Sanctification is what we have to undergo. We cannot have a continuous relationship with the Father if we commit the same sins repeatedly. Every christian will go through with sanctification. God will make sure that we will be holy as He is. First is who and that will be God who will give us the power. Next is what and this is the business of making us holy. Sanctification.

John 3:3

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The next question is when?. The who is when we come to the knowledge that God is the One we need. What will be referred to as the sanctification. So when all these things going to happen?. All these things happened when we got born again. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our lord and savior. When we with our mouths confessed that Jesus is lord and savior we were born in the spirit and this is the time that we have to live holy. There are a lot of whens in our spiritual life and these whens can be dealt by acknowledging that we need a savior as we go through with sanctification.

Revelation 21:1-3

verse 1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

verse 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

verse 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God.

Now that we know the who, what, when now we are going to look at the where. Where designate places. We can formulate a lot of questions regarding where in our spiritual walk but we should be excited about where we are going to spend the rest of our eternal life. Christians should be thrilled about the final place where we will be spending. We are just passing through in this world and our permanent habitation is the new earth. God promised that there will be a new heaven and earth and this is where we are going to spend eternity with our God.

Romans 8: 14-17

verse 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

verse 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

verse 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

verse 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together.

And finally why. Why all these things of who, what ,when and where? The world the we live in right now is basically run by a system where in we are controlled by the idea of having more. If the parents are rich it would be more likely that the children or the heir would be rich. Exactly the same we are heading to. God sent (who)Jesus and (when) we accepted Him as our Lord and Savior(what) happened next is that we are sanctified that is (why) we are now joint heirs with Jesus Christ to our Heavenly Father.

Holy Father continue your work in us.Let us be the bearer of the good news(Gospel)of Jesus Christ. Let your will be done as we share the… Who…What…When…Where…Why. Amen!

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Alone with Someone

Scriptural reading: Matthew 14:23; Luke 6:12, 5:16, 9:18; Mark 1:35

“No man is an island”. This old saying remains very true in our modern world. The mere fact that population is increasing, there are now people willing to live alone.

Whether we are battling the hustle and bustle of the city or enjoying a quiet Saturday afternoon there is still an urgency to be alone. To be in a state of solitude seems to be a part of everyday life in order to get away from the never ending complexities of a 24 hour cycle.

Why is this so? Answers would be numerous. To take time out to be alone is a thing that is a must for everyone. Obviously this will give an individual the needed time for what ever reason. Would it be good to be alone? If one would be after a private moment not only to escape the reality of this chaotic world but also to enjoy a quiet moment. Is it good to be alone?

Matthew 14:23

And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

In this passage, Jesus wanted to pray. The word “pray” in Greek is “proseuchomai”. This word is derived from the words “pros” meaning a preposition of direction. Example: Forward or toward to. The other word is “euchoma” by implication to pray to God. We have to see the essence in this passage what and why Jesus is trying to tell us to do and to understand.

Our spirits has to be open at any time. Our spirit will tell us that we have to go forward or towards having a prayerful attitude.This is the characteristic that the Holy Spirit would be installed in our lives as the Lord Jesus tells us as we pray, we are not alone. We are with SOMEONE. We should be alone with our Heavenly Father.

Luke 6:12

And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

Luke 5:16

And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

In these two passages, let us take a look at the environment where our Lord Jesus prayed. On verse twelve of chapter six, Jesus went into the mountain. In Greek to go to the mountain means to be lifted up from the plain and is therefore in a place where it is quiet. The same environment as that of verse sixteen of chapter five of the same book. Here Jesus in the wilderness or a place inhabited, desolate continued to pray. Why in a quiet desolated place like the wilderness or a mountain which most likely people will not go?

Mark 1:35

 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Once again we can see here that Jesus even before the sun rises has to go in to a solitary(quiet) place to pray. A solitary place where He can pray ALONE. Is He? Of course not. He is praying, getting in touch with the Father. Communicating through prayer is where He gets EVERYTHING.  And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. This is what Jesus wants us to follow. He wants us to be alone with Someone and that Someone is our Heavenly Father for us to have EVERYTHING.

To be alone with our Heavenly Father is a MUST. The restoration of our relationship with our Heavenly Father is the thing that the Bible is telling us. This is the very reason why He sent His only son Jesus to be our only WAY the only TRUTH and our LIFE. God wants us to be Alone with (Someone)…. HIM.

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Why win…? It is better to lose!

Scriptural reading Matthew 16:25-26,19:21

At times, for most of us, winning is always the best thing to happen. This is what most of our parents tell us when we were young. Always strive to be on top whether we are on a competition or not. We are told that success is tied up by becoming a winner.

What about in our spiritual lives? What is winning and losing is all about? Is winning good all the time? Is losing a bad thing? God has already something compatible and totally fitted for our spiritual lives.

Matthew 16:25

 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Jesus knows we are made up of. We are to live and survive the toughest way. Our disposition is to cling on to our dear life.The problem with this is that the WAY we live our lives. We have this certain kind of impulse or force that is uncooperative and a submissive thing in us and that has to be cut off from us through Jesus Christ in order not to take advantage of people, situations or things or even to ourselves. As long and the longer that we will be carrying out these affairs, we will lose our lives. Life in the bible sometimes refer to the soul. The soul which contains all our beliefs, principles and decisions reside. It can also be called as our self awareness or self consciousness.

Let us take a look at these 2 kinds of loses. The last part of the passage Jesus is simply telling us though it is indeed how unbearable for us to lose the things we save, we are going to lose it inevitably but on the other hand,if we are going to lose it for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus we are winning the likeness of His character, we are winning the unquestionable,irrefutable everlasting life.

Matthew 19:21

Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go [and] sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come [and] follow me.

In this passage the thing that we have to learn from God about is how to handle losing or how to lose. Jesus said to him that he should sell everything. To sell in Greek is “Poleo” probably ultimately from pelomai (to be busy, to trade) ; to barter (as a pedlar) meaning to sell or sell, whatever is sold. When some one trade during that time it means automatically that person gains something more than he or she wants and the man in the story has a lot of things to barter and therefore he has got a lot of things to gain and Jesus said what ever he will gain he will give it to the poor.

The problem lies not in the money that we hardly earn but the attitude that we have over our possessions. If these possessions turn out to be more important than our Lord and savior Jesus then we truly lost our spirituality.

It is a must and better to lose these material things that are really and easily for us to love. It is the best to lose these things in our hearts that make us to love more relating to ourselves and the material things we possess and then finally to win. Why win? For Christians the most significant is to win Jesus in our hearts. He is the prize for losing all those things that we easily love and above all He paid the price for the forgiveness of our sins.

So…Why win? Now we know why…, It is better to lose!

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Heart attack

Scriptural reading

Psalms 119:9-11:1 John 3:8-10; Matthew 15:18–20;Proverbs 4;23-27;Hebrews 4:12.

In a 24 hour cycle in our lives, heart ache remains the best seller of all times. Every second in this world pushes humanity to the edge. It tells us how vulnerable we are and we need an instant and constant reminder that it is impossible to go on and handle this kind of situation in our lives.

God is FOREVER with us in our meditation and prayers. Our entire being is in the holy presence of God Almighty through our spirits. Our Heavenly Father will communicate to us by way of His spirit then to our spirit and will progress to our soul which contains our HEART.

It is of utmost importance and is inevitable that we should fully comprehend how the heart plays as precious and highly regarded part in our spiritual life. To be in the holy presence of God is to be our priority and this is where our heart is incorporated in the equation.

In Greek, the word heart is “kardia” prolonged from a primary kar meaning the heart. Figuratively, the thoughts or feelings (mind) also by analogy can be found in the middle like as for an example broken (heart) ed. In Hebrew the word heart is translated as “leb” and figuratively also used very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the center of anything love, peace, joy etc. This tells us that even in different language the meaning remained the same.

Psalms 119:9-11

9BETH.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed [thereto] according to thy word.
10With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
11Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

We cannot be in the presence of our HOLY GOD being a sinner, we will surely die. To clean our way of living(cleanse his way). We have to live a holy life as Jesus instructed (taking heed) us through God’s (word)s. If we humble ourselves under the mighty hands and the authority of God then His Words and commandments which we as Christians go after(sought) and act accordingly(wander from thy commandments) then we will be in a position not to commit sin. All of these things happen in our heart.

This is why Satan is always waiting for the right time for us to make a mistake to commit sins(1 John 3:8-10). He is making a heart attack(Matthew 15:18–20).

The only way to deal with this is to protect our hearts(Proverbs 4;23-27). Let us trust God’s words to protect us( Hebrews 4:12). Now we are ready at all times even for a heart attack.

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Power forever

Scriptural reading I Corinthians 1:18

It seems that for most of us both Christians and non believers, struggle is a form and a way to survive and then again, just a normal thing. To be a Christian is not easy and we have to conform our lives the way Jesus lived and He has been continually instructing us as He connect our spirit to the Holy Spirit.

v.18

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness…(King James version)

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…(New American Standard Bible version)

As Christians we have the task to preach and share the Gospel of Jesus but as we share and preach this gospel to those who are perishing this Gospel of Jesus Christ does not mean anything. It is foolishness for them. The word foolishness in Greek is “moria” meaning silliness or absurdity. Moria is derived from the word “moros” and probably from the base of the word “musterion” meaning dull or stupid as if like saying shut up. Musterion is from a derivative of “muo” meaning shut the mouth. Knowing this, it tells us that we need power to get the message across. The POWER is not in us. The words we are preaching and sharing to them will not take effect unless POWER will be given to us.

….. but unto us which are saved it is the power of God”.

It is now clear as we share the Gospel of Jesus Christ we will be having POWER. The Gospel of Jesus is now the power of God handed to us. The words that we are going to preach and share become so POWERFUL because it will be coming from God. These words are coming from almighty God. Words will not mean anything and powerless unless it will be coming from our omnipotent God. The Holy Spirit will give us POWER and this will lasts as long as we live in God’s terms.

We have now an unrestricted and unlimited power that Jesus has given us. We have to use this to further His gospel.We have POWER from Jesus…FOREVER.

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The space between….

Scriptural Reading Matthew 14:22-33.

Should there be always a space between ourselves and our faith in God? Lately I have been burdened with having a space between me and my faith in God. It is with difficulty on what, how, who and why I am having this kind of difficulty in my spiritual life.

It has been always that fear comes into the picture everytime we are to deal with this space between our faith and God.

v. 26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

When their whole being was defeated by fear, they cried out. A thing which most of us like the disciples cannot handle we also cry a lot.Then Jesus CAME to their rescue and said…

v.27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

v.28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

Then Peter with his faith said “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water”.

The space between the time when he started to communicate to our Lord Jesus created a lot of things running in his mind. His mind meaning related with his soul not his spirit. Being a human with a small amount of faith we now start to doubt and thus the question of Peter started with the word “if”. The word “if” implies and suggests something that is unconvincing. “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water”. We know very well that if our faith comes from our soul which can disappear and not of the spirit will create in us a lot of things which would only produce frustrations not hope, faith and love. It will increase our inability to trust on the the trust that God has given us if we could have connected with our spirits to Him.

v.29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

The Lord did say only a word “Come” and Peter walked. Yes, he walked on the water. The fear of the weather though suddenly came to his attention.Once again the fear came in to the picture. Fear of which the weather cause something that has taken Peter’s whole entire being taking all his humanly faith with him going down the water.

Despite having faith we still have to conquer and learn things that God has to say. Sometime in the future, again, we might be having a space between our faith and God. This will cause a lot of discomforts in us but God will shake us until what is left is pure faith that He has given and showing us and to trust in Him no matter how big the space between our spiritual faith and God.

v.31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth [his] hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

The answer is “COME”. This one word from the Lord Jesus is simply telling us to drop everything that we know including our earthly faith and accept his spiritual faith. He has invited us to fellowship with Him that no matter what… we are on GOOD HANDS.

Allow in us Lord God the faith that you have for us. A faith that will never fade nor waver even when times seem for us that there is a space between our faith and You. A faith that only your son Jesus can give. Amen!

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Spiritual animation

Scriptural reading Matthew 5:14-16

As parents we always make sure that we get our messages get across to our children.One of the quickest and easiest way to enter and join them into their world is through animation. The character, color and the story would definitely perk a child and we can easily access into their whole entire being or their realm.

This also holds true to our Father in heaven. He is also doing the same things for us His children. Just as we earthly parents want to make sure that our children would be on the right track and so does with our Heavenly Father. The parables of Jesus is our Heavenly Father’s animation for us. We might not see the way kids do but then again it makes us think and try to paint pictures in our minds trying to figure out these things thus making these parables a kind of animation for us and teaching us what God wants us to do. These things God wants us to do is first will go through into our spirits then to our soul through our emotions and then to our mortal bodies.

Matthew 5:14

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Jesus always make known to us that He is the “light of the world”.

John 8:12

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 9:5

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Jesus is our spiritual light in our life. We can never have the light. It will NEVER COME FROM US but rather He WILL SHINE FOR US and therefore we BECOME THE LIGHT of the world. This is what Father God wants to install in our lives the light of Jesus.

A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

As for the continuation and in the same manner, Jesus wants us to know that we being the city set on top of the hill would mean that it would be impossible for us not to be seen by anybody and if a city which is set on a hill this means that we are standing on the strength of God and what ever we will be doing, it cannot be hidden. God will be magnified.

Matthew 5:15

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. If we are going to sum verses 14 and 15 we will arrive with verse 16.

Matthew 5:16

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

The light that shone which resulted the good work came from Jesus is exactly the thing that our Heavenly Father wanted for us to have. A thing that we cannot brag about that it came from us but from Jesus that the Father might be glorified. Once we acquired the SPIRITUAL light( into our spirit) our emotions(SOUL) reacting to the light would produce the GOOD WORKS( our mortal body) and finally glorifying God!

Let us be God’s children to our Father in heaven. God never stops on giving us instructions for our own good…. even if it is animation.. a spiritual animation.