Yesterday was my day of reckoning for all of my life.
I cannot, I know I cannot put in words the experience I had yesterday, but I am sure of one thing, and that is that I will remember it for the rest of my life.
God is truly truly truly amazing. I cannot imagine where I would be and what kind of life I would have had had I not known Him.
The scripture in Jeremiah:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…”
has never meant so much to me like it does now.
Yesterday I let go of the past, and are now looking ahead, with God (and B), we are moving ahead, to bigger, better things, a prosperous future. No more tears, no more pain, no more false joy.
…and He said “Let go and move on, do something you have never done!”
Ho ho ho… bring it on world, am ready for this, been preparing for this!
Oh what a day! What a day indeed!
God Bless you Father Raymond, bless you immensely!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Is there anything too hard for the Lord?
"Never was God so Godlike as when Jesus died upon the Cross! Never was Omnipotence so potent as when He died that men might live, crushing the old dragon as He bled, leading captivity captive while He was, Himself, bound to the accursed tree, casting death into an eternal grave..." CHS
God has done tremendous things and has displayed his power, and proudly so countless times in the Bible. We read of how He created the Heavens and the Earth from nothing, how He fed three million people for 40 years on food from above, how He destroyed those who disobeyed Him in a flood and how, (from the quote above) He saved mankind from death by demonstrating His love through the death of His Son on the cross. And it is not just the big things that He can do, He even has power over the little things: He takes care of the birds in the air, He ensures that the plants are blooming without effort (Math 6:26); and even He sent ravens to feed Elijah.
Now when we think of our problems for which we cry to God ever so often and doubt seems to over take us, let us remember the paragraph above, (the details of which we should read more on from the Bible). For be it, hunger, financial difficulty, a dwindling ministry, loneliness, little faith, addiction or any and all of our trials, - there is nothing too hard for the Lord.
Therefore, let us trust, believe and exercise our faith. Let us live in hope, love and joy knowing that everything and anything when put before our Father in Heaven, is possible because and through His Son Jesus Christ. Let us serve Him, rejoice in Him and live as free men in Christ, because out God is a big God, such that in times of trial and pain in our physical circumstances, we see, joy, victory and the glory of God reflecting through each and everything we do, think and say.
Written after a night of meditation on the fear of doubt creeping in from unfavorable circumstances regarding the very thing for which i am praying for for the last 10 days.
God has done tremendous things and has displayed his power, and proudly so countless times in the Bible. We read of how He created the Heavens and the Earth from nothing, how He fed three million people for 40 years on food from above, how He destroyed those who disobeyed Him in a flood and how, (from the quote above) He saved mankind from death by demonstrating His love through the death of His Son on the cross. And it is not just the big things that He can do, He even has power over the little things: He takes care of the birds in the air, He ensures that the plants are blooming without effort (Math 6:26); and even He sent ravens to feed Elijah.
Now when we think of our problems for which we cry to God ever so often and doubt seems to over take us, let us remember the paragraph above, (the details of which we should read more on from the Bible). For be it, hunger, financial difficulty, a dwindling ministry, loneliness, little faith, addiction or any and all of our trials, - there is nothing too hard for the Lord.
Therefore, let us trust, believe and exercise our faith. Let us live in hope, love and joy knowing that everything and anything when put before our Father in Heaven, is possible because and through His Son Jesus Christ. Let us serve Him, rejoice in Him and live as free men in Christ, because out God is a big God, such that in times of trial and pain in our physical circumstances, we see, joy, victory and the glory of God reflecting through each and everything we do, think and say.
Written after a night of meditation on the fear of doubt creeping in from unfavorable circumstances regarding the very thing for which i am praying for for the last 10 days.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Priorities…priorities (Cont’d)
I have, for two days, been searching the scriptures, praying and meditating on how to seek God, and now I believe i have found the answer and it is this simple…God will help us to seek Him!
I believe that, there is not only one way, one written way in stone in which we can seek Him, because we all have a different relationship and experience with Him. All he needs from us is the expression of the desire, the hunger, the thirst for Him.
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.” Jn 7
We need to go to God, heavy with a deep intense thirst for Him and He will satisfy our thirst- “and the water that I give them will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” For we may not know how to absolutely surrender to Him, we may not know what to do or not to do or even how to seek Him. However, we have the assurance that:
“it is God that worketh in us, both to do and will of His good pleasure” Phil 2
- This is what we should seek. As Andrew Murray says:
“...to go on our faces before God, until our hearts learn to believe that the everlasting God Himself will come in to turn out what is wrong, to conquer what is evil, and to work what is well-pleasing in His blessed sight. God Himself will work it in you.”
Remember Abraham, all he did was believe, then God made him righteous:
“Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” Gen 15
He did not do anything, or use his intelligence to do good works. He simply believed in God’s promises and he received righteousness. Oh how I have searched for righteousness in the past thinking I needed work for it by my might! But if we only go to God, even with our feeble and fearful hearts and say “God I am willing, make me willing”. He will remove all our fears, and replace it with the boldness to say “I can conquer everything!”
God will help us to surrender, He can, and He will.
I believe that, there is not only one way, one written way in stone in which we can seek Him, because we all have a different relationship and experience with Him. All he needs from us is the expression of the desire, the hunger, the thirst for Him.
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.” Jn 7
We need to go to God, heavy with a deep intense thirst for Him and He will satisfy our thirst- “and the water that I give them will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” For we may not know how to absolutely surrender to Him, we may not know what to do or not to do or even how to seek Him. However, we have the assurance that:
“it is God that worketh in us, both to do and will of His good pleasure” Phil 2
- This is what we should seek. As Andrew Murray says:
“...to go on our faces before God, until our hearts learn to believe that the everlasting God Himself will come in to turn out what is wrong, to conquer what is evil, and to work what is well-pleasing in His blessed sight. God Himself will work it in you.”
Remember Abraham, all he did was believe, then God made him righteous:
“Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” Gen 15
He did not do anything, or use his intelligence to do good works. He simply believed in God’s promises and he received righteousness. Oh how I have searched for righteousness in the past thinking I needed work for it by my might! But if we only go to God, even with our feeble and fearful hearts and say “God I am willing, make me willing”. He will remove all our fears, and replace it with the boldness to say “I can conquer everything!”
God will help us to surrender, He can, and He will.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Priorities, priorities…
Jesus gave us our priorities in life. If we do nothing else, but first- Seek the Kingdom of God, and second- Seek the righteous of God, then all things- not some things, or a few things or most things; but ALL things, we be added to unto us.
In life, we need many things. We need basics like food, shelter, clothing- luxuries like love, cellphones, TV, Internet etc. Sadly we do not have enough time to do and have all we want to have. So we spend waste time chasing this and that. I know someone who keeps saying “life is hard”, and I keep telling him it isn’t. But come to think of it, how can life be easy when we want everything and have to get it ourselves? Of course it will be hard- very hard actually, especially considering man’s average potential.
Jesus knew this, and hence he said “Seek ye first the Kindgom of God”. As in, forget what u want, and need, and desire; seek the Kingdom of God- FIRST.
Priorities. We need to know what our priorities are. Before our husbands, parents, children, job, before anything- God’s Kingdom needs to come first. It is the No.1 Priority!
The question then is: How do we seek the Kingdom of God?
In life, we need many things. We need basics like food, shelter, clothing- luxuries like love, cellphones, TV, Internet etc. Sadly we do not have enough time to do and have all we want to have. So we spend waste time chasing this and that. I know someone who keeps saying “life is hard”, and I keep telling him it isn’t. But come to think of it, how can life be easy when we want everything and have to get it ourselves? Of course it will be hard- very hard actually, especially considering man’s average potential.
Jesus knew this, and hence he said “Seek ye first the Kindgom of God”. As in, forget what u want, and need, and desire; seek the Kingdom of God- FIRST.
Priorities. We need to know what our priorities are. Before our husbands, parents, children, job, before anything- God’s Kingdom needs to come first. It is the No.1 Priority!
The question then is: How do we seek the Kingdom of God?
Friday, March 4, 2011
Love..finally!
Until today, I have been under the delusion that love is a feeling.
Now I am talking of real love, not the eros or philia-the kinds which I now know do not last and are both selfish; but the real selfless agape love as commanded to us by God. I have waited a long, long time for someone to love me, [the proverbial “right person”] and all I have gotten is the roller-coaster, short-lived eros, philia type that has left me more drained than fulfilled.
Love is an art, it can be learnt and the real love still loves even when there is nothing in return. (1 Cor. 13: 5).
People end marriages mbu “I just do not love her anymore”- men say. The Bible commands “Husbands, love your wives”; thus if you do not love her, you are disobeying God! Funny, I have never heard a woman say that she is ending her marriage because she does not submit her husband anymore- seeing that we women are commanded to submit ourselves to our husbands.
Love is action. It can be demonstrated. If I say “I love John Smith”, he would not know it lest I show it. I would need to do or not do(for that matter) certain things for him to “see” my love; but with this feeling-based love, how would one see these so-called feelings? Love should be action-based, not feeling-based. Do (act) first and the feelings will follow.
The God-commanded love, the Agape Love is the one and only solid basis for marriage. In marriage one loves, even when they will not be loved in return- selflessly. Of course I am no authority on marriage, but if my newly acquired knowledge on love is any qualification to go by, I can say now I know one of, if not the most important thing about marriage.
“Love is not a feeling, love is a decision you make and continue to make in order to create an experience that is described as love. Love is an action that if you don't use it you lose it. Love is like any communication, if you never send it out, you won’t get a return. Love is something you give to others not something you feel because something happens to you.”
Remember love is not a feeling!
Have I finally realized the truth about love, how to have it, how to create it and how to sustain it? Maybe…
…and what is the point of having all this knowledge if I do not share it with the world. So here you go world!
Now I am talking of real love, not the eros or philia-the kinds which I now know do not last and are both selfish; but the real selfless agape love as commanded to us by God. I have waited a long, long time for someone to love me, [the proverbial “right person”] and all I have gotten is the roller-coaster, short-lived eros, philia type that has left me more drained than fulfilled.
Love is an art, it can be learnt and the real love still loves even when there is nothing in return. (1 Cor. 13: 5).
People end marriages mbu “I just do not love her anymore”- men say. The Bible commands “Husbands, love your wives”; thus if you do not love her, you are disobeying God! Funny, I have never heard a woman say that she is ending her marriage because she does not submit her husband anymore- seeing that we women are commanded to submit ourselves to our husbands.
Love is action. It can be demonstrated. If I say “I love John Smith”, he would not know it lest I show it. I would need to do or not do(for that matter) certain things for him to “see” my love; but with this feeling-based love, how would one see these so-called feelings? Love should be action-based, not feeling-based. Do (act) first and the feelings will follow.
The God-commanded love, the Agape Love is the one and only solid basis for marriage. In marriage one loves, even when they will not be loved in return- selflessly. Of course I am no authority on marriage, but if my newly acquired knowledge on love is any qualification to go by, I can say now I know one of, if not the most important thing about marriage.
“Love is not a feeling, love is a decision you make and continue to make in order to create an experience that is described as love. Love is an action that if you don't use it you lose it. Love is like any communication, if you never send it out, you won’t get a return. Love is something you give to others not something you feel because something happens to you.”
Remember love is not a feeling!
Have I finally realized the truth about love, how to have it, how to create it and how to sustain it? Maybe…
…and what is the point of having all this knowledge if I do not share it with the world. So here you go world!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Know Him
The whole world is full of the glory of God, and tonight I have seen His glory sparkle in my house, and I am inspired to share how such an awesome revelation has come to pass from the knowledge of God.
We spend a lot of time doing the things we need to do to survive and live in this world. We are always thinking about the things we need and how to get them in our possession, or it is about how we feel and how to hold on to those feelings if they are good or change them if they displease us. The jobs, the relationships, the money, the possessions, all the things in the world can never meet or give us that which we truly and inherently desire- God.
Believer or not, whether we realize it or not, we are all searching for the same thing- God and a knowledge Him. Sadly unbeknownst to most this is the only thing that will truly and permanently satisfy our souls.
“The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
We do not have to look very far to find Him. He is not in a particular worship house or present on Sundays only. He appears not only in the morning when we wake, or at night before we sleep. Remember his name is I AM, not “I was” or “I will be.” He is ever present, He is here now, He is here forever. So look into your soul, answer His call and dedicate your mind to seek, study, learn and know Him.
When know Him, then His glory is reflected through our lives and affects the lives of others. We need to spend quiet time with Him and in Him until we are so filled with His presence and glory that it reflects all about us.
However, to begin this journey, is to accept Jesus Christ.
We spend a lot of time doing the things we need to do to survive and live in this world. We are always thinking about the things we need and how to get them in our possession, or it is about how we feel and how to hold on to those feelings if they are good or change them if they displease us. The jobs, the relationships, the money, the possessions, all the things in the world can never meet or give us that which we truly and inherently desire- God.
Believer or not, whether we realize it or not, we are all searching for the same thing- God and a knowledge Him. Sadly unbeknownst to most this is the only thing that will truly and permanently satisfy our souls.
“The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
We do not have to look very far to find Him. He is not in a particular worship house or present on Sundays only. He appears not only in the morning when we wake, or at night before we sleep. Remember his name is I AM, not “I was” or “I will be.” He is ever present, He is here now, He is here forever. So look into your soul, answer His call and dedicate your mind to seek, study, learn and know Him.
When know Him, then His glory is reflected through our lives and affects the lives of others. We need to spend quiet time with Him and in Him until we are so filled with His presence and glory that it reflects all about us.
However, to begin this journey, is to accept Jesus Christ.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Importance of the Law
I have always wondered how the Law in the Old Testament is relevant to a believer in Christ, till I read an article by Tyndale, which I am going to attempt to summarize below:
The Law was given by Moses, for the purpose laying down the commands of God to His people, and the consequences of following or not following them. It laid down strict and specific instructions and only those that obeyed ALL of them were considered worthy of God’s love.
As a new covenant Christian, the purpose of the law is to bring us to the knowledge of who we are- so that we can perceive our nature. It is this Law that condemns us for from it we realize that we can never, even if we be ever so good, do anything by and of ourselves to please God. For the Law requires a perfect life and nothing less.
The Gospel is the good news, the news of joyous tidings about Christ and the evidence of God’s love for us by freeing us from this Law. It is Christ telling the whole world that if you repent and believe in Him through faith and grace, the bondage to the law will be broken and we will be restored to life and saved.
Man’s disobedience earned us a nature so evil and corrupt that we are bound by it. Because man chose to disobey God, the devil became our father. We naturally consent to the devil’s will and because of that we are nothing but loathsome and damming in God’s sight. For us to come to this realization of our nature is when we read and or hear the Law, for from it we then realize that we can never fulfill it to the extent that it requires. The Law convicts and sentences us to damnation and offers not a way out, and for this reason, without hope or mercy we are left with guilt and the fear of impending death.
This is what Christ came to save us from, for with His blood, he purchased for us new lives, loosed us from the law and through Him, Our God could then “see” us as His children once more! – This is the Gospel!
For when the Gospel is preached, and believed, then the Spirit of God begins its work in the new believer. Love, kindness, goodness, faithfulness then becomes evident in our lives. We live not to go to Heaven, for this is already obtained for us through the blood, but to love, obey, worship and follow the will of our Father. There is nothing we can do to earn ourselves a place in Heaven, but through Christ, we, by faith, believe that we are co-heirs of all that is promised.
…and now, I hope, I have shed, even if it be a miniature of light, on the value and importance of the law, without which we would never know the magnitude of what Christ did for us and how, without faith in Him, it is impossible to please God.
The Law was given by Moses, for the purpose laying down the commands of God to His people, and the consequences of following or not following them. It laid down strict and specific instructions and only those that obeyed ALL of them were considered worthy of God’s love.
As a new covenant Christian, the purpose of the law is to bring us to the knowledge of who we are- so that we can perceive our nature. It is this Law that condemns us for from it we realize that we can never, even if we be ever so good, do anything by and of ourselves to please God. For the Law requires a perfect life and nothing less.
The Gospel is the good news, the news of joyous tidings about Christ and the evidence of God’s love for us by freeing us from this Law. It is Christ telling the whole world that if you repent and believe in Him through faith and grace, the bondage to the law will be broken and we will be restored to life and saved.
Man’s disobedience earned us a nature so evil and corrupt that we are bound by it. Because man chose to disobey God, the devil became our father. We naturally consent to the devil’s will and because of that we are nothing but loathsome and damming in God’s sight. For us to come to this realization of our nature is when we read and or hear the Law, for from it we then realize that we can never fulfill it to the extent that it requires. The Law convicts and sentences us to damnation and offers not a way out, and for this reason, without hope or mercy we are left with guilt and the fear of impending death.
This is what Christ came to save us from, for with His blood, he purchased for us new lives, loosed us from the law and through Him, Our God could then “see” us as His children once more! – This is the Gospel!
For when the Gospel is preached, and believed, then the Spirit of God begins its work in the new believer. Love, kindness, goodness, faithfulness then becomes evident in our lives. We live not to go to Heaven, for this is already obtained for us through the blood, but to love, obey, worship and follow the will of our Father. There is nothing we can do to earn ourselves a place in Heaven, but through Christ, we, by faith, believe that we are co-heirs of all that is promised.
…and now, I hope, I have shed, even if it be a miniature of light, on the value and importance of the law, without which we would never know the magnitude of what Christ did for us and how, without faith in Him, it is impossible to please God.
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