Month: January 2020

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Be still..I am God

Scriptural Readings: Psalms 46:10

To deal with time is not easy. It is a common headache for everyone. Time tell us to stop and when to go and as always time tells us we are in deep trouble. The problem with us today is that time has become our master and we are the follower.

One might argue that we cannot do anything about it. It is beyond one’s capacity to totally take control of our own time. It is impossible to save time and sooner or later we are going to lose it. There is no such thing as perfect timing. We could have started with the right things but will end up miserable at the end. Time will always be lost and it is very seldom on our side.

Yes, a lot of us will agree. Right? Guess what? This is actually the time that we over looked. It is the wasted time not the lost time. Once we got frustrated with the time we wasted for nothing, we stop, think and ponder and ask what happened and why we wasted those time and now we need more time desperately. We can never turn back the hands of time but as Christians we should bring Him back all the glory and praise with our time.

Be still, and know that I [am] God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

God is patiently waiting for us to call on Him. Once we ran out of time because we wasted it, this is the time that we call upon His name and rescue us. Our God will always be a father to us. This is where time stops. We are so desperate for answers that we lost track of time praying. We do not care of the time just as long that we will be having answers for our prayers and as a result, we will be asking for more time.

For God, time is forever and we need to learn what everlasting is all about. We have to be still and listen to Him and know that He is God. Time stops when God tells us something. This is the time that we should stop and listen to Him. Sure thing every second will pass by but if we are going to use time for Him it is not losing neither wasting. We are gaining.

The bottom line for this is that we do not have the luxury of time. We do not even own our time at all. The truth is we only have a borrowed time. A certain time. Our time here on earth is limited. God holds our time and it should be devoted for Him, for His glorification. God will not allow us to spend eternity in hell so He sent Jesus His son to bring us back to everlasting relationship with our God. This is the true meaning and value of time. Spending eternity with our God!

Our Father in heaven, grant us the wisdom on how to use this time for You. Let Your Holy Spirit teach us on how to spend every second for Your glorification that our life would be the reflection of Your Son Jesus. We claim these promises through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen!

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Make us…Do it.

Scriptural Readings: Luke 22:62; Matthew 16:22-23

There is this built in thing in us called defeat. This thing is not really new for most of us. When we face problems, we also have this anticipating attitude of a lost battle. This is one attitude that we should lose. What really matters even when we lose the battle we learn something from the Lord and this is a win-win result for us Christians.

Luke 22:62

Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

Peter who is the rock as Jesus told him and just like you and I went to lost battles too. Having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ during that time was not still enough for him to make his life worthy as a disciple only after he went through with a lot of rough times, shaken him, leaving all the things that the Lord wanted him to be. The Lord knows we are not perfect but how many of us(Christians)just like Peter came out and wept bitterly. Weeping before God is humbling ourselves in His presence.

Matthew 16:22-23

v. 22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

v. 23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Several times Peter had to insist his good intentions of what he wanted for our Lord Jesus but he got the things he never expected instead and to make things matter worst a time of rebuke from the Lord Jesus in return. Why? Although Peter’s intention was that of the Lord’s sake, it was not God’s will.

The devil cannot conquer us though, we are covered by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ but once in while when we are caught up unaware of our intentions and if we are not careful with our decisions(sometimes ridiculous!)we end up the wrong and on the losing side.

So, what do we see here? First, the Lord Jesus is always patient with us. He continually reconstruct us. He gives us hope. He makes things possible for us to continually having fellowship with Him all over again. Just like Peter who wept bitterly, humbled himself, repented from his mistakes and finally, continue to live under the grace of our Lord Jesus.

Second, the Lord empowers us with the Holy Spirit. He makes us, then He will make us do it, His will. This is why we have to submit to Him unconditionally in order that he can continually make us the person He wants us to be and for His will for us to do it.

Yes, you and I are sinners but we must remember that we are God’s children and forgiven sinners. We are the one’s who will take this spiritual battle to the end and it starts by turning ourselves to Jesus Christ guidance through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, we’re in a war. A spiritual war. We should be having a well planned strategy before we go to the battle ground. We should not make our own decisions. We must follow the instructions. Instructions(His will) from our Lord Jesus and our weapon the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot afford to be defeated and ending up losers all over again. He will make us and we can do it.

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From faith to feelings

Scriptural Readings: John 20:24-29

Feelings are attached to our lives. It is a part of us. We cannot be detached from them. The problem is sometimes we are too dependent on them or in some cases we juggle our faith with our feelings. This should not be the case. We should put into our whole being that we should live by faith and not by sight.

If you have found faith(In God), you should not lose it. You have to follow it.

King James Version

John 20:24-29

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Some of the questions that we always ask ourselves is “How do we see our faith?” or “Are we feeling strong with our faith?” and a list of course will go on.

and be not faithless, but believing.

be not faithless,

The Lord Jesus commanded Thomas that he should not lose his faith. The word faithless in Greek is “apistos” from a – a 1 (as a negative particle) and “pistos” a word coming from “peitho” a primary verb meaning to convince (by argument, true or false). Thomas is juggling between faith and feelings.

but believing.

The word believing on the other hand also came from the word “peitho” but this time it was used with this meaning to rely (by inward certainty) or simply obey.

It is very clear that the Lord Jesus was telling us that faith should be in Him and is a necessity for us. He used the same words with different meaning but the bottom line is they are both commandments. We should get rid of this faithlessness and obey Him(believing only in Him).

And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

When Jesus asked(commanded) Thomas to put his hands on His wounds the(feeling of)faithlessness disappeared. Now Thomas was taken out from his feeling of doubt instead of having faith in the first hand. This is now faith to feelings. This is exactly what Jesus is telling us from the very beginning, to have faith first and fully trusting in Him.

Though faith is something that we cannot feel and sometimes we doubt, should always be a mindset for us. We should focus our whole being(spirit, soul and body) on faith and stand on it firmly. This is the only way the Holy Spirit can commune with us, comfort and instruct us.

We might be playing with our feelings but we should not risk our faith the way we feel things. We can be right or wrong with our feelings but we cannot afford to be wrong with our faith. Faith is something that has to be dealt completely with all seriousness. This is the reason why we choose the wrong path. We should not put feelings before faith. It has to be from faith to feelings.

Our Father in heaven, we are weak. We need strength in our spiritual lives. The only thing that we can be strong is to have a stronger faith in Jesus in our lives and the power of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, strengthen us. Let your power cover our whole spirit, soul and body. In the mighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.