O Our God!
God is a great God. Always amazing us more and more over!
God is a great God. Always amazing us more and more over!
A family pet kitten called Meshach died today. My brother was out washing his car and she followed him out. Because he was there she assumed all was well. She let her guard down and trusted the world. Unfortunately, because the world is not operating according to God’s original plan, she got killed by a neighbor’s dog.
Sometimes, we let our guards down too. We lack the discernment to see that some things are not our friends, and not there to build us up, but to tear us down, steal from us, kill and destroy us. I am guilty of this, and still healing from wounds caused by poor and sometimes sinful decision making. I’ve acknowledged this, and looking forward to God’s help in rebuilding me, restoring me better than the former, returning to me everything stolen and everything I foolishly, like Esau gave away. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, trust not the world, nor the things in this world.
“And I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, and the consuming locust, and the cutting locust, My great army which I sent among you.” – Joel 2:25
1. It looks like daily prayer. Daily listening to God. You can be anywhere: driving, bathing, doing domestic chores; it doesn’t matter, talk to God daily, and often. Be open with every emotion, and let Him know when you feel wronged and when you have done wrong.
“Never stop praying.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:17
“Leave your troubles with the LORD, and He will defend you; He never lets honest people be defeated.” – Psalm 55:22
2.After you’ve come to God letting Him know what’s on your mind (He of course already knows what the problems are, we just put our faith in action when we talk to Him), don’t stop there. Use scripture related to your case so as to focus on God’s promises, instead of the problem. The Bible says that we can remind God of His promises. This shows that we are not focusing on the problems but the faithfulness of His Word to heal, comfort and deliver us. See this list: http://reapwhatyousow.org/remind-god/
3. Always thank and praise God for who He is. The world is full of pain. But that’s not God’s fault. He didn’t want it this way. Even in the storm, He is still the Good God, our Good Good Father. Besides, praise is also a powerful weapon which confuses the enemy. When we are going through hard times and we choose to worship Jesus, this is especially annoying to Satan, because he wants to keep us in a pit of despair.
“In every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18
4. Listen. Practice listening to God. He speaks in various ways, but always in alignment with His Word. He may speak as a still small voice, through a friend, even maybe a non-friend, through a song, through dreams, through an event or occasion and the list goes on. Don’t limit how you should hear Him. He’s creative and purposeful. He knows just what we need, and when we need it. So trust Him.
“Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly.” – Psalm 85:8
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”- Proverbs 3:5-6
It’s not normal the heartaches of the world, because it is not part of God’s original design. Sin brought pain and death. It is up to us, with God’s grace to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not let our guards down. The enemy is very persistent, and we must be violent in prayer. We must keep a constant flow of communication with God. Then when He instructs through whatever way, we need to trust and obey. He’s coming back again, so this struggle is only for a moment until we see Jesus again on His second return.
Be very blessed indeed.
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In loving memory of my cat Meshach. Rest in peace where ever is that place God takes His animals. If there is one…God knows. But I know that you Mesh, are in no more pain.
Our actions generates celebrations from one of two kingdoms. “Do things for the glory of God” is not for God’s benefit, as God is already all sufficient. Operating for His glory is a benefit to us. When we do or say something that His kingdom can rejoice in, we welcome Psalm 91:11 in our lives.
On the contrary, when we do or say something that the enemy and his kingdom can rejoice in, we reject God, and join the company of the enemy and his bandwagon.This saddens God because He knows the enemy has nothing but death to offer us. And God’s desire for us is to have life through Him the life giver, and have that life in abundance.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” – 1 Corinthians 10:31
I often hear people say that God created us with a longing to be with Him. Perhaps, but I think it is the mere fact that Jesus, who is God, declared to be life (John 14:6) itself is the reason why every human being on the planet needs their Creator. God put the breath of life within us, and apart from Him, there is no other source of life. Just like the physical body cannot survive without water, in the same way, the spirit of every human being cannot survive without fellowship with God. That’s why many folks try to fill themselves with something as a way of trying to overcome the void. Many found no fulfillment in the earthly riches or accomplishments obtained. Wish at the end of the day, folks would realise that there is no substitue for God, since He is God, and there is no other like Him.
“There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides You; there is no Rock like our God.” – 1 Samuel 2:2
Be blessed in Jesus’ name.
This was on my mind during Christmas. It is back on my heart. So I’ll post it here as a reminder.
I love this part of God’s nature. “He is a consuming fire.” God doesn’t tolerate the sin in our lives, though He really loves us. His holy nature assures me that whatever He does for us is right, just, pure. We can have total confidence in what He says. He is always correct and always keeps His promises. Our greatest gift or reward this Christmas, and all year round is the grace that a holy God bestows upon a generation who constantly bites His hand that feeds them, and spits in His face that see and watches over them. If you are alive today, that’s not because you made that happen. That’s grace, and another day to seek the Lord while He may be found. Have a blessed day friends!
“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” – Hebrews 12:28-29
There is no love greater than the love of God. It is an unconditional kind of love. No human can offer us what God offers. It is a sad situation when we put other things, other persons as our top priority. It leads to dry spells and a lacking of peace and joy, because nothing and no one can compare to this Great God; nothing and no one can satisfy our souls but God. During this season of memorial, that is, remembering the Death, Burial and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus I am reminded of His love. How on my behalf, and your behalf He took the penalty of sin upon Himself. I see in the Gospels that He didn’t take the sour wine (Matthew 27:34) to numb His senses on the cross, but experienced the full pain of that torturous punishment; my punishment, your punishment. I am forever thankful. What a great love.
Jesus all to You I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, You washed it white as snow.
Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Happy new year everyone! I hope you’re stepping into the new year with Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. If you have not made that decision as yet, I pray you will surrender to Him and leave the burden of sin behind with 2013. If you don’t see any reason to follow Jesus, I want to remind you that your rejection of Him does not void His sovereignty. God is in control, why fight against the One who loves you the most, the Creator of all things? Do not move forward with that burden, that losing battle. Let go, and let God.
I have been really been blessed by the following sermon (James MacDonald – God is in control), and just wanted to share it with you.
The main points of the sermon are:
1. God is in control even in your suffering
2. God is in control even at mid-night
3. God is in control even when your faith is weak
4. God is in control even when the wicked seem to prosper
Watch the sermon and be blessed!
God is abundantly more than good, abundantly more than great. I think I can grasp a little bit what He meant when He said, “I AM that I AM”. God can only be described with His own self because there is none like Him.
A financial struggle really can shake someone up, atleast for me, these past few months was really a walk of endurance.
What do you do when you are sure God told you to do this but the storm is so wild in that moment that you wonder did God really say this? Well, in short, you trust and obey.
Easier said than done because there are many activities involved in trusting and obeying. For one, we cannot accomplish either without praying. We must be in constant communication with God. From my experience, whenever I’d allow my mind to wonder when I could spend that time in prayer or even meditating on the Word of God, I’d find myself in trouble. The trouble is really a lack of joy, lack of faith. We run into problems when our focus changes from God to the magnitude of the problem. Our Elder Peter got in trouble because he started to look at the waves and took his eyes off Jesus. Bad idea, and today many of us continue to focus on the problem and not focus on the One who is constant, never changing in strength, ability and faithfulness. When sailours are in a storm, the way to find land is not looking at the waves, but looking at that unchanging object. In the same way, if we render our eyes not to the right nor to the left but straight to His throne of grace, we can overcome the trial. God never allows His children to go through more than they can bear. We can be certain that His grace is sufficient. Our struggles is not a lack of His love. We must always remember that planet Earth is diseased with sin and thus nothing on this Earth is perfect, so trials will come. The hope is that Jesus will come again to take us from all of it, but until then, we must trust and obey.
The God of my rock; in Him will I trust: He is my Shield, and the Horn of My Salvation, my High Tower, and my Refuge, my Saviour; Thou savest me from violence. – 2 Samuel 22:3
There was once a farmer who had a dog that had been very useful to him. But the dog was getting old, and sad to relate, his ungrateful master made up his mind to get rid of him by drowning him. So one day he took the dog with him to a large stream near his farm, and getting into a boat, rowed out to the deepest part of the river. He had brought along a heavy stone which he had tied to a cord and this he fastened around the dog’s neck. Then he threw him into the water. The poor dog sank, but the cord broke, and as he rose to the surface with a whine he tried to get into the boat again. Unmoved, his pitiless master pushed him off a number of times with an oar.
At last the heartless man stood up in the boat with the oar in his hands, intending to strike the dog a blow that would send him to the bottom. However in the attempt, he lost his balance, and fell into the water himself. He could not swim and would have drowned, but when the noble dog saw his master struggling in the water, in spite of the cruel treatment he had just received from him, he swam up to him, caught hold of his clothes, and brought him safe to land.
Cruel, heartless wretch! we exclaim, to treat the noble dog so; he deserved himself to drown. at any rate we surely hope he had a change of heart and well repaid his faithful friend for his devotion by showering him with kindness for the rest of his days.
But stop a minute, my dear friend; and consider if you yourself have not been guilty of a far worse breach of the laws of kindness and uprightness. Let us go back nineteen hundred years ago to the time when Jesus the Son of God came into this world. Though He was God Himself, the truth and the light, yet in His hands He brought nothing but love and blessing for poor ruined man. He went about doing good- healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, feeding the hungry, and bringing joy to the weary and sad. And yet what did man do with Him? They cried out “Away with Him,” and nailed Him on a cross of wood. O the wretchedness, the enmity of man’s heart. But that is your heart, and mine, too. The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9 We will take His blessing from His hands one minute, but will get rid of Him the next if His will crosses the path of our own.
But now let us look at that blessed Man on the center cross, and see the heart of God told out. Not a word of scorn or resentment, not a finger raised in opposition; “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb.” It is all love going out to a world of guilty sinners.
O lovely attitude! He stands
With open heart and outstretched hands;
O matchless kindness! and He shows
His matchless kindness to His foes.
Then we may hear Him pray, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Though the cross was the place where men sought to get rid of Him, in His death it became the place where His saving grace flows out to all who come in repentance, confessing their sins, and own Him as their Saviour and Lord.
The faithful dog of our story turned around and saved his masters life, but Jesus saves not for time only but for all eternity; He gives eternal life to “Whosoever will believe.”
Dear reader, if you do not yet know this blessed Saviour, we urge you to come to Him now, while it is the day of His grace. Soon He will come in judgment on this world, when “His anger shall burn as an oven,” and where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear in that terrible day?
“God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him!”
You have given me forever to show You
All of the love I want to bring back to You
And You’ve given me a reason for living
I love You, I love You, I do
With Your blood, I’m bound
And I never want to let You down
As surely as You live
Through Your Spirit I will be true to You
I’ll love You, I love You, I do
You have spoken Your truth
I’m listening, Your words are so sweet
Through Your grace, all ends will meet
I can do all things through You who strengthens me
I love You, I love You, I do
Kindness You are teaching me
Your love changes my heart
Just the way You want it to be
All Your goodness, so amazing
I love You, I love You, I do