Living Victors in the World

Losing out on blessings: Knowing who we are 

What is the hindrance of believing and receiving God's blessings could be yourself; thinking that you are unworthy, thinking that blessings and favours of God is through doing good works and serving long enough in God's ministry - the more I do, the more I will be blessed.

 

Did Jesus redeem us by dying on the cross because we have so much sin that only death can be the ultimate measure? No, He was there on the Cross and His death is for a simple reason; He loves us (*John 3:16) and wants to revert us to the privileges where we should possessed initially – to have a relationship directly with God.

 

Many of times we create boundaries within ourselves in fear of the unknown. We hold so tightly to ourselves and with the much that we have, in lieu of the abundance of what God can give to us.

 

Why?

 

We are human, and we are fearful to step out of this 'self'. I always imagine, that we live in this 'transparent non-penetrative world dangers and harm proof bubble' that keep us free from the dangers of the world. We will rather not receive (thinking we are self-sufficient) what He has for us and hold on to what we have and continue to live in this self-contained bubble.

 

Let us just look back to that day when we are born into the world, we had nothing, we are naked and bare. This 'self' was once empty. Now look at ourselves today; we are who we are today, we have what we have today because God has given us all things.

 

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." Job 1:21(NIV) 

  

It is the containment of us within ourselves that has refrained us from further blessings and favours that God cannot wait to give us.

 

Receiving our blessings: After knowing who we are

We should live like Kings and Queens on earth because of what God has given us. We are the children/heir to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

 

To know the greatest love of God and what He has done for us is the road to repentance. Hence, also the beginning of receiving super abounding grace and favours in your life. There is no benchmark in determining the goodness and blessings you will receive. It is once again His wonderful love and grace.

 

Free your life in the crutches of self and the world's expectation of you - our life is beyond ourselves and beyond this world because we are the heirs to Jesus who love us very much; He has brought heaven to earth for us and we should live in victory today and everyday of our lives on earth. 

 

Dear Lord Father, I give you thanks and praise for the life you have given us, the victorious life and the freedom from sins that you have exchange for us through Your death. I pray O God, set us free from the crutches (self, disappointment, anger, sadness, etc.) that we held so tightly on and filled us with Your super abounding blessings, grace and favours. Dear Lord, continue to work in us in areas that need to be change and transform. God, I pray that in this year we will be able to draw closer to You and experience wonderful encounters of You through prayers and through spending time with You. O God, continue to guide our every step of our lives in the world. I pray for blessings upon blessings, favours upon favours to fall in our lives in this coming year. Thank You God, for loving us so much and in Jesus name I pray. Amen. =)

 

 

*John 3:16 (NIV)

 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Where's my Appetite?

Appetite

1.            a desire for food or drink- I have no appetite for lunch today
2.            a desire to satisfy any bodily need or craving
3.            a desire or liking for something fondness taste an appetite for power an appetite for pleasure

I simply love the first definition of 'appetite'. That word just set me off thinking of the wonderful spread of food and drinks on the long table.


Let us digress our perspective from something that is tangible (where one can touch and see) to something that is intangible (cannot see nor touch, like the oxygen that is in the atmosphere). So, in this context, it is flesh versus Spirit.


As important as to feed your stomach when you are hungry; we must also feed our soul with spiritual food as stated in the second 'appetite' definition; 'a desire to satisfy any bodily need or craving'.


Where will my appetite be when it comes to 'food' for the soul and spirit? 'Where' indicates a direction, circumstances that draws you closer to a direction to what you want; it could also bring about broaden choices because now we are looking at a much broader perspective.


Where should we go from here in feeding our spiritual hunger and are we ready for the path we will be taking in fulfilling our spiritual hunger and needs?


Developing spiritual appetite
It means the feeding of spiritual needs (God's word and gifts) and developing spiritual fruits (Galatians 5:22) of the bible.


Hunger is the main essence for you to seek. In the absence of this hunger, one will not begin to seek.


Then, search for your lack, by knowing your lack – you will then search to satisfy the lack.


So, it comes to the same, when you feel hungry (hunger), you will search for food and by knowing that your tummy is empty (lack), you will eat to make it full.


This goes the same for your spiritual needs, 'hunger' for it; and you will search to fulfill it. Consciously develop a hunger for your spiritual needs and the seeking comes almost instantaneously because by feeding spiritual appetite, it draws you nearer to GOD and to know who God is and how much He loves you.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." John 7:37-38 (NIV)

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. James 4:8 (ESV)

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. Jeremiah 29:13-14

By equipping ourselves with spiritual food, we may be able to experience gradual life transformations in ourselves – unconsciously without consciously noticing we actually become closer to GOD and may also be living testimonies for God on the way we live our daily lives. 


What have u been feeding on?


If you have been feeding of what is of the world then that is temporal, if you have been feeding on the Word and building of spiritual needs (of God) then that is eternal.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

Evaluate on what you are feeding on and where has all these brought you to. A paradigm shift on current lifestyle, beliefs and thoughts - Jesus say to look to Him, because He can make the change in your life; as His grace is sufficient for you and this grace abounds.

God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful grace became more abundant. Roman 5:20

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

Trials Makeover

Trials in life come and go and some stay longer than another. How long would you allow a trial to stay in you depends in you. 

 

1) Set a cut off date

This is to help you to know when to stop entertaining the thoughts. What you sow is what you will reap (Galatians 4:7-10), if you allow the seed of disappointment, discouragement, sadness, rage or anger to grow, what you reap could be disastrous as you allow yourself to seep into it and when it grows, it consumed you and you lose grasp of yourself.

 

2) Know you are God's child

God is faithful and just (Psalm 111:7). Stay fervent in prayers and seek God in these time. When you seek Him in prayers, be firm and know what God can do in your life, it can progressively shift your focus and perspective that helps you to move forward than moving back pondering on the issue - the issue that you think is bad enough would not turn to be better or to even make you think something good will come out of it - not yet.

 

Stay positive and not self inflict more negative elements to that issue.

 

I've learnt never try to make a 'wrong' right-leave it to God cause we will never ever get it right. 

 

Know God already has a plan; He already knows the future (Jeremiah 29:11), and He will bring about justice! Before eternity is through, He will right the wrongs that have been done unto you. But, you have to release the situation into His Hands first.

 

3) Forgive (Matthew 6:12) and forget

This is the difficult part I think, where many would think they could have actually forgiven that someone, but they have not; do a deep search and if you find anger and disappointment or even sadness persisting then you have not forgive.

 

I agree this is not an exceptionally easy thing to do..so don't be cruel to yourself, let yourself have some time in this, diluting and eventually wiping out the hurts and scars that cuts deeply. Seek God and ask God to bring this to pass.

 

Forgiving is releasing negative emotions, feelings and thoughts out of you which could prevent you from receiving the abundance of God blessings and withholding God's grace in your life. When forgiving is achieve forgetting comes easy.

 

Dear Lord Father, I commit my brothers and sisters and also myself into Your Hands, God as trials and tribulations befall us in this world we are living in, God help us to know that You are a God who is faithful and just and You are always with us in this trying period; and, God I know that You'll not allow anything that's too difficult for us to handle, so God, please help us to overcome and rise up above these. Help us to know making the wrongs right which we certainly can't do because it is beyond us but not beyond You . God, I pray and ask for Your unceasing grace to release forgiveness to ourselves and to others that have caused the hurt  and to know that You are God that is sovereign in our life and will make everything goes well for us. I thank You God for the good and bad things that have happened and is happening to us that make us realize that You are so real and also be able to experience Your wonderful love in our life. Thank You God, in Jesus name I pray, Amen =)

have a blessed day =)

CAPTIVE-ated

"This is what the LORD says: "In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, 'Come out,' and to those in darkness, 'Be free!' "They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water." Isaiah 49:8-10 NIV

Captive

1. One, such as a prisoner of war, who is forcibly confined, subjugated, or enslaved.

2. One held in the grip of a strong emotion or passion.

adj.

1. Taken and held prisoner.

2. Held in bondage; enslaved.

3. Kept under restraint or control; confined.

4. Restrained by circumstances that prevent free choice.

We are often too deprived of God's love and wonderful blessings, often suffocated in our tiny self; unable to break free and falling too often into the traps of temptations of the world. We are held captive by the world - too often lied and deceived on what we can really do and to achieve the freedom and blessings from our wonderful God.

Little did we know, we are actually unaware or perhaps in denial that we are the culprit of our own captivity. In fact, our fears and uncertainties and our relentless effort of blocking off reality of the Truth have kept us in captivity for the longest time. And, these have deprived and have locked us in from receiving what God has prepared for us – His love, joy and blessings. God would not want to withhold all these blessings from but, to give it to us freely when we ask from Him. 

"This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name: 3 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." Jeremiah 33:2-3

Come before Him this day and let Him show you. Ask God to help you to take the step of faith to walk out of this captivity to experience His wonderful blessings and freedom.

Dear Lord Father, let us come before you and pray, God, we surrender ourselves once again to you. As we live in this world and could have been blinded by materiality and worth of the world; once again, God, keep us safe and away from these temptations of the world. Search our heart God and shows us Your Magnanimous will for us so that we can boldly take this step that You have already planned and prepared for us. Guide us and set us free from the captivities and barriers that our minds have created, so that we can boldly walk this path that is set forth before us. Open our spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear what You have called and yet to call us to do and also, to see and listen to the call of the needy, lost, troubled and weary. Bridged this gap so that God, so they too will be able to experience Your Wonderful and Marvelous Love and Blessings. Dear God, I commit this prayer unto You, thank You Lord, in Jesus name I pray, Amen. =)  

have a blessed day =)

yechow

Aftermath of Disasters and Calamities

Many things have been happening that got me to sit down and think. Day in and day out we have been hearing about earthquakes, tsunami, the unstable nuclear plant and the unrest in Libya and the rests of the Middle East. No one have predicted n foresee these calamities n disaster.

 

It doesn't matter if you are a millionaire or a farmer today, you have just lost everything overnight - and they are of equal status overnight and maybe they are spending day n night in the same place hoping for aid and food brought in to feed their 3 meals or maybe just 2.

 

What is of the world is so temporal n it just take a disaster to wipe it all away from us. We are at ground zero, owning nothing at all and where do we go and what are we going to do then?

 

God is a 'constant' in our life. Knowing who God is and knowing what He can do for us is can serve a great comfort in whatever situation we are in. He said in the bible in Romans, "If He is for us, who can be against us." (Romans 8:31) and He's our comfort in time we need Him (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

 

These verses alone sent us great comfort and there are the very promises of God for us. Nothing else or no one else have any hold on us when we have God who is CONSTANTLY with us.

 

Spend some time to think about how the people in places hit by calamities; think about the millionaire and the farmer who totally loss everything overnight.

 

Seek God fervently and really get to really know Him (if you do not know Him as yet) because He's the One who can bring about changes to situations and help us to look at the situation in an entirely different perspective. He has never change yesterday today and in days to come.

 

Please pray for people who are grieving n suffering in calamities and unrest around the world. Pray that God will sent them comfort to the lost and those in grief. And, may God presence be so eminent in these days for them, so they may come to know who this true and living God is. 

thanks for your prayers and have a blessed day.

yechow

Living Mary in Martha's World

Luke 10:38-42 (NIV)

At the Home of Martha and Mary

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

⁴¹ "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one.^[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

I am sure that most of us would have come across this context of Mary and Martha uncountable times. But, we are so consumed into the world system that often times we forgot we ought to take on Mary's role and come before God – take time out from the world and to quieten down our hearts and just listen to HIM.

Martha who was seen to be hospitable and characterised in this context as she was too often distracted doing many things, often upset and worried. Sometimes, I felt it is like most of us – too busy with our work, ministries, wearing too many hats that kept us distracted often enough where we were only meant to run or do only one or two tasks (v 41-42). Is this what GOD has put into our hearts or called us to do? God has planned and managed our time for us, making sure the load (i.e. our job, family, ministries, position held) was enough for us to take and giving us time to rest and time to spend with HIM; but, did we do our part in managing this part of life well and well for GOD?

GOD yearns for us to come to HIM, to listen to us and for us to listen to HIM; like what Mary had done; this context of scripture would not be in the bible if it is not of any significant or of any importance. GOD foreseen that to happen to HIS children for them to fall in the trap of 'works of the world' – and, GOD was then forsaken of HIS time with us due to the many things that we do.

When you spend time with God, many things will be revealed in due of HIS time- the purpose that has been planned for you in the world. And, it is this task that you have to work on it and put other things on secondary.  

GOD have been calling to us time after time but, have we yet responded to this call of HIS, the call of a FATHER yearning to spend a little time with HIS precious child?

The World 'FIRST'

Matthew 19:30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

If we want to be the first, what could we be chasing? Chasing is defined as 'to rush or hasten', could we miss out on GOD and HIS blessings in this hasten and rapid move we are making? If we rush and hasten our walk, our focus will also be quickened and our focus is narrowed.

Many of us in the world walks and talks too quickly, what follows after could be destructive. In the world, as to the relevance of what I perceived so far; relationships are the far most essential element in survival (even in times of Adam and Eve). Like it or not, humans living in the world need some kind of human contact. What if there is a disruption in this link? A person may just be alone, depress and maybe eventually self destruct.

Although running and rushing may get you to the first place. But, let us put things in perspective: when you are running and rushing, did you manage to run your thoughts and ask GOD the best way to do it, did you manage to look out for danger signs that GOD had been wanting to show you, and did you manage fill the needs of people that GOD wants you to fill along the path.

Your thoughts and focus is narrowed – your ultimate goal is the finish line. Imagine this, if you looked back from the finish line, what have you achieved or left behind – unfinished business and unsettled or destructive relationships. What about our relationship with GOD? Did the chasing, rushing and running make you a glorious champion of getting the FIRST place with much fulfilment and satisfaction?

Take the backseat, start thinking and reflecting, what if you have pace or slow down your steps, you could have obtain a broader horizon – widen your scope to what you can do or how you can go about doing it (by putting in more effort and thoughts); this will eventually give you a better position in life – physically and spiritually.

If you could have taken a step slower, spoke after running through your thoughts, react and attempt after much consideration and in prayers; would not all these put you in a better position when you see the ultimate outcome and wouldn't that calls you to be in the FIRST in the goals (races) of your life as you have gain more and save yourself from destruction, making someone's life more meaningful and happy because of what you have done and developing a closer relationship with our CREATOR? 

have a blessed day.

yechow

Rascal Flatts - My Wish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyjq5SCbjQk&feature=related