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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.

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Time for repair

Scriptural readings Genesis 1:1-2; Romans 8:38-39;28

I am once again fascinated with what God and the Lord Jesus Christ has been doing in my life and I would like to give Him all the honor and glory. In the same manner, being a Christian it would be good thing for me to share things that God has given and shown me… His Words and wisdom.

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

To create is to make something out from nothing and to create is the ability that only God can do. He has been showing me the wonders of His creation. He has once again strengthen my faith. He is constantly reminding me that whatever things may come my way He is in control of it because He created things with a purpose. He created you and I.

Genesis 1:2

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of the God moved upon the face of the water.

I do not think that God created the earth with out form and void and with darkness. I do believe that in between verses 1 and 2 something happened and God has to do some creating but majority restoring. The same manner that some or maybe many of us think that we humans which is God’s creation is now in between verses 1 and 2. God is restoring us one way or the other and we have to respond to this. Let us be thankful to our Lord Jesus who promised us that He will never leave us or forsake us.

Romans 8:38

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Romans 8:39

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We might be facing some restoration at this point of time. We have to be patient. God has created us.

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.

We are His creation and we have a purpose. He is restoring, reinstating and even re enforcing the whole things in us that we missed.

Let God continue to restore us form inside out that He may continue what He has started in us. Amen!

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Does it fit you?

Scriptural readings: Acts 9:16, Phil 1:20-21, Luke 18:25,28-30

Acts 9:16

For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

This is how Paul was fitted in his life after he met the lord Jesus Christ and from then on he became a christian. A chosen vessel for our lord to bear His name for everyone of us. Isn’t terrifying to know that we are facing a lot of suffering. WE ARE NO DIFFERENT from Paul. He followed Jesus Christ and so do we and we will SUFFER FOR HIM too!

Phil 1:20-21

v.20 According to my earnest expectation and [my] hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but [that] with all boldness, as always, [so] now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether [it be] by life, or by death.

v.21 21 For to me to live [is] Christ, and to die [is] gain.

What is this thing that after following Him and then to suffer and at the end to die is to gain? What is good about this? Nobody wants to suffer! Why is the apostle Paul thrilled about leaving our world?

Luke 18:25

Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

We live in a temporal world relating to worldly as opposed to spiritual affairs. There is nothing wrong with gaining much of these things that we deserve to have. As a matter of fact, Jesus said He will double the talents you are having but Jesus NEVER WANTS us TO TRUST in these temporal things.

These things can be taken from us at any time AND ONLY GOOD IN THIS WORLD!. The suffering that we are having is the FEAR OF LOSING THESE TEMPORAL THINGS WE HAVE.

Luke 18:28-30

v.28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”

v.29-30 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God v. 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Now there is the reason why we should be more than thrilled to follow Jesus, suffer for Him and to die for Him is to gain.

Does it fit you?

Heavenly Father give us all the reason to know Jesus more. Grant us the strength through the power of your Holy Spirit to follow Him and endure the pain of suffering as we hold on to your promises of blessings come eternal life. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!