TODAY’S VERSE
“Listen to my prayer for mercy as I cry out to you for help, as I lift my hands toward your holy sanctuary.” – “Praise the LORD! For he has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.”
Psalms 28:2, 7-8

TODAY’S THOUGHT
David knew what it was like to be tormented. He knew the pain that comes with great need. He experienced difficulties that had no escape, except by the mercy of an Almighty God. So David came to God and he cried out for mercy and help. That was the beginning of today’s passage. Verses later David is praising God. God had heard his cry. As David faced his situation, we see that God became his strength and protection. David trusted God with all his heart. The result was a deep spiritual joy. God did not take David out of his situation. David still faced his problems, but instead of doing it on his own, God provided David with strength. God protected David like a shield. Do you have a story similar to David? Are there times when you need to cry out to God for His mercy? Rest assured He hears you. You too can end up praising God for He promises that He will be your strength. He will be your shield. You can trust Him with your situation. When you do, you too will experience the deep joy that can only come from Him.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, I come to You today asking for Your mercy in my life. I thank You for hearing my cry and offering to be my strength and shield. I accept this promise and put my all my trust in You. Thank You that I will not be disappointed. Fill my heart with a deep joy today so that I too will burst out with thanksgiving. In Jesus name I pray.
AMEN

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So I can’t say that this past Thanksgiving has really given me much to be thankful about. My mum and I officially aren’t talking anymore and I’ve found out that my aunt has cancer. This is like the 8^th person I know in my family alone to be afflicted with cancer. And let’s not forget that my friend passed away at the age of 25 from pneumonia. It’s been a grand week.

It’s been a week that has brought me into serious reflection. A week that has made me stop and look at my faith-look at God and ask the question, Is He even there?

I’m sure that my Christian and Muslim comrades would reassure me that He is there and that this is just a test and trial of my faith but my question is: Why would you test those who already believe? I’m sure that my Christian and Muslim comrades would say that I need to be faithful and pray and that God will help me through this difficult time…really? Does God heal amputees?

At some point I’d be told that this is God’s mercy, His justice- I’m beginning to think that what we call God’s justice is really what we would do if we were God. And mercy? What kind of a merciful God inflicts cancer on a woman who is half way blind, diabetic, trying to take care of her mentally handicap daughter, not to mention her grandchild and has recently been let go from her job? Oh that’s right- God’s ways aren’t man’s ways.

What a bunch of bull shit.

As I’m sitting here looking at everything, looking at my study of Mormonism and looking at my practice of Islam, I’m asking “what’s the point?” I’m beginning to think, there isn’t one.

It’s been awhile and I find it funny how Alpha decides to post something at the same time as  I was. Although posts haven’t been made here lately, it by no means shows that God has stopped working in my life. When it comes to ministry, sometimes there comes a time when things become very routine and task-oriented and the passion is forgotten. I think there’s always a needed break to step back  because eventually you become a servant running on an empty tank. Maintaining a relationship with the Lord isn’t always going to have its highs on a 24/7 basis. What matters is how we deal with the lows.

I believe that God is pleased by what we do here with this blog but I also know that this isn’t what our salvation is based on. It’s not  determined by how many posts we make or how many viewers we get a week because again, we are only used as His vessels.

Ephesians 2:8-9  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.”

I am reminded by this verse that all the things we do in ministry, such as singing in the worship team, being a youth leader, sunday school teacher, ushering..whatever it may be, will not solely get us our spot into heaven. We could spend so many hours dedicating ourselves to ministry but if our hearts aren’t right with God, then we might as well not do any of it rather than being lukewarm. We start to do these things for ourselves or out of obligation to others rather than God.

& recently that’s where I’ve found myself, feeling dry and burnt out. I’ve been feeling the pressures of all the responsibilities in all parts of my life. It’s a dangerous road to be on. I’ve struggled and have felt the lows, but I’ve also felt God’s love so strongly. I can try to live my life  the way I want or try to hide, but eventually my soul becomes thirsty to be in communion with Him. I am undeserving of God’s patience with me, He is  still actively molding me & building up my character every day. It’s a battle that can be won. & this is why I can really be thankful and come back to the purpose of my existence. I can try & try so hard to please Him by my own abilities but in the end I’ll always fall short. But through the grace and mercies that God offers, I can remember to find peace & rest in what He did for me so i may find my worth through Him and not my own doings.

That’s why this Thanksgiving, I’m just really coming back to the cross in acceptance of my short comings and brokenness. There’s nothing I can do to earn His love and i’ll always fail, but His love never fails.  I’m not perfect or not even close to the woman that He desires me to be. But I am caught by his overwhelming love for me through all my imperfections. The fact that the God of the universe would sacrifice his Holy & blameless Son for a sinner like me so that I could stand clean and forgiven before Him is enough to make me fall to my knees in humility. I stand ashamed but filled with an assurance of knowing that through His blood I can be called His child.  Because of what He did at the cross, I can be in His presence. . Because of what He did, I can be forgiven…Because of what He did, I can live.

I love You more than life, thank you Father for being my Amazing Grace.

Lamentations 3:22-23“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every  morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Source: Red Mountain Music      Words: Depth of Mercy

Written by: Charles Wesley, 1740

Where have we been? The last post by me was made last October 12(not counting the worship song I posted yesterday), exactly 43 days where I am incognito and the last post by Nicole was last October 18, exactly 37 days of complete silence. Whatever happened to us writing here every week? We totally let our responsibility slip. Our excuse, you’ve heard this over and over again, “We are so busy we got no time to write something for our Lord and spend some time on our ministry. But guess what? We have time to watch random youtube videos, waste time on FB, study for our tests, hang out with our friends and a lot more. We have a lot of time to spend on other things but we can’t even put aside, even 15 to 30 mins of our time in writing out how our Great God is sustaining us every day.

And consider the following questions and thoughts:

Isn’t it strange how a 100 dollar bill seems like such a large amount when
you donate it to church, but such a small amount when you go shopping?

Isn’t it strange how 2 hours seem so long when you’re at church, and how short they seem when you’re watching a good movie?

Isn’t it strange that you can’t find a word to say when you’re praying, but you have no trouble thinking what to talk about with a friend?

Isn’t it strange how difficult and boring it is to read one chapter of the Bible, but how easy it is to read 100 pages of a popular novel or the TWILIGHT series?

Isn’t it strange how everyone wants front-row-tickets to concerts or games, but they do whatever is possible to sit at the last row in Church?

Isn’t it strange how we need to know about an event for Church 2-3 weeks before the day so we can include it in our agenda, but we can adjust it for other events at the last minute?

Isn’t it strange how difficult it is to learn a fact about God to share it with others, but how easy it is to learn, understand, extend and repeat gossip?

Isn’t it strange how we believe everything that magazines and newspapers say, but we question the words in the Bible?

Isn’t it strange how everyone wants a place in heaven, but they don’t want to believe, do, or say anything to get there?

Isn’t it funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell.

Isn’t it funny how someone can say “I believe in God” but still follow Satan (who, by the way, also “believes” in God).

Isn’t it funny how you can send a thousand jokes through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Isn’t it funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what God thinks of me.

Why are we so sleepy in church but right when the sermon is over we suddenly wake up?

Why are the churches getting smaller but yet the bars and dance clubs are getting larger?

We try to keep God in church on Sunday morning, maybe Sunday night and, the unlikely event of a midweek service. We do like to have Him around during sickness and, of course, at funerals.

However, we don’t have time or room for Him during work or play. Because that’s the part of our lives we think we can and should handle on our own.

May God forgive us for ever thinking that there is a time or place where HE is not to be FIRST in our life. We should always have time to remember all HE has done for us.

[Not my own writing, unknown source]

As I reflect upon this, I feel ashamed yet grateful of how God has been very patient and forgiving of my short comings.

Think about it…Look at your life. Who or what is the center of it?

Football season is in full swing (or should I say in full punt) and there is excitement in the air as the week of Thanksgiving is upon us.  There is certainly no shortage of games to watch this week.  I don’t know about you, but I’m glad to be able to watch the instant replay of the action, because I somehow seem to miss a lot of details while the play is happening.  Replays are not only helpful for the audience, but sometimes even the officials need to check the replay to make their determination. 

I’m glad there are replays when it comes to football, but I am also glad that God is not in the replay business when it comes to believers and sin.  The Bible tells us in Psalm 103:

 8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
       slow to anger, abounding in love.

 9 He will not always accuse,
       nor will he harbor his anger forever;

 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
       or repay us according to our iniquities.

 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
       so great is his love for those who fear him;

 12 as far as the east is from the west,
       so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

I’m thankful that God’s mercies are new every morning and that he is not holding onto what we did in the past.  Now we may experience very real consequences to our sin, but as believers in Christ God has removed our sin from us. In I Peter 1:22 we read, “You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. “  Since we have been cleansed from our sin through faith in Christ, we must not replay our sin constantly in our minds – God doesn’t do it and neither should we.  But let’s take it a step further, we also must be careful not to keep replaying other people’s sin against us.  We must forgive, as we have been forgiven.  We need to stop replaying in our minds how someone hurt us. 

Just as our sin is done, gone, and removed from us through the blood of Christ, we must demonstrate this same type of forgiveness toward others.    So this Thanksgiving as you are watching the replays in a football game or reruns of an old movie, remind yourself that God does not replay your sin and neither should you.  Don’t replay the sin of others either.   Give thanks this week for God’s mercy toward you as a follower of Christ, and have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:4-10 -

God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

 Biblical scholar L. Ann Jervis in her book At the Heart of the Gospel: Suffering in the Earliest Christian Message comments -

God’s mercy, not our sense of justice, has always defined God’s relationship to God’s people. In other words, God’s freedom to have compassion on whom God will have compassion (Rom 9:15) is at once God’s righteousness.

While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8), when we were dead in trespasses (Ephesians 2:5), God showed His love for us, dying on the cross in order to save us.  The Cross – the place where the Crucified Lord dies – is His very throne of judgment and His righteousness.  This is the great mystery of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ.  

In the end, God has no desire for the death of the sinner (Ezekiel 18:32), nor does He take any pleasure in such a judgment.  God however does, as He always has, allow us humans to make our our choices even about eternal things.  As C.S. Lewis wrote in The Great Divorce  - 

 There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done’, and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’

Don’t be fooled into thinking that many are on their way to heaven. Jesus said that “few there be that find it” and I can see what he meant.

Based on the percentage of what I see and hear out there, few are on their way. What can I base this on?

Well, I can base it on Jesus and their receptivity to him. He is the one that I share out on the streets. Many snub their nose up at the mention of His name. Many laugh and make fun at Him. Most don’t take it serious. Occasionally, one will smile and make some kind of positive jester.

And of course, the demons rise up every so often. The very mention of the name Jesus brings out the demons. The mention of God usually doesn’t stir up much. But Jesus, that’s a different story.

One brother that I met this week was not convinced that we could know for sure what was God’s plan and purpose for us personally while here on the earth. He believed that we could only go on “I think I know”, but not with certainly. This kind of mentality is why we don’t see things happening as we should out there. The Kingdom of God would be happening on the earth if each believer would seek Him and find out what they were created to do on the earth. But, most are doing their will on the earth, not The Fathers.

And there is something that has never ceased to amaze me. And that is when Jesus is being preached, along comes sister or brother so and so, and they want to stop the preaching and add their two bits to it or correct you. Whatever happened to common courtesy? Or how about letting the message go forth and standing back and praying? You think? (praise God there are those who do, behind the scenes).

Of late, I am running across more and more people that have once walked with Christ, and now have taken up with some far out teaching or religion. His Spirit helps me to remind them that they have knowledge of Christ and will be held responsible for that knowledge.

However, we press on and count it a great privilege to be able to share Jesus out in the open. The good thing is that there will be no excuse on the day when they stand before God alone. They will have had lots of opportunities to hear about Christ. This is His mercy, giving them opportunity time and time again to turn.

If Jesus is truly Lord of your life, then you will be taking every opportunity to share him. If you are obeying His commandment to “love your neighbor as you love yourself” than you will not be stuck on having your own salvation, but will reach out in love to help your neighbor obtain salvation through Jesus. Neighbor means anyone close to you.

One thing I know for sure, and that is that time is short. The harvest is ripe. The labourers are few based on the amount of unsaved people out there. Staying in the church building won’t get the job done. In fact, I don’t see where trying to get them to come to church is the answer. What did Jesus do? He went out.

From Anthony Carter at the Gospel Coalition blog:

At a recent prayer meeting someone asked the question, “How do people make it in this world without Jesus?” The answer to that question is that they don’t.

There is a sentence of death over every one who has not professed faith in Jesus Christ. This sentence is executable at any moment. And the only reason that it is not executed and the sinner is not immediately experiencing the terrible judgment due for sin is because of the grace and mercy of God.

Yet, even more is the reality that instead of having the sentence immediately executed, millions of people experience the grace and mercy of sunshine and rain; seed time and harvest. The fact that there is any light or joy in the life of a sinner is owing to God’s desire to show mercy and to be longsuffering.

Nevertheless, those who have come into the knowledge of the truth and have experienced the forgiving grace of God in Jesus Christ are aware of the pending danger of judgment upon the unrepentant and thus we plead with them, even in the midst of God’s longsuffering and patience, to repent and believe. We plead with them because God will not strive with them forever and without repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ, judgment for their sin is coming. The sun they take for granted will be darkened, a perpetual night will grip their soul, and they will know the true nature of their sin and the necessary punishment for it. It is a terror just to contemplate. And so we say with all our energy, “Flee from the wrath that is sure to come! Flee to the mercy of Jesus Christ!”

Everlasting life is not possible without Jesus. Neither is life in this world. Those who acknowledge it in this world will have life in the next. Those who don’t, won’t.

Dr. Kim Riddlebarger on the second half of Job 9:

Beginning in 9:25, Job describes his situation as a sign of God’s condemnation. “My days are swifter than a runner; they fly away without a glimpse of joy. They skim past like boats of papyrus, like eagles swooping down on their prey. If I say, `I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile,’ I still dread all my sufferings, for I know you will not hold me innocent. Since I am already found guilty, why should I struggle in vain? Even if I washed myself with soap and my hands with washing soda, you would plunge me into a slime pit so that even my clothes would detest me. He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.” Even if he does as Bildad suggests, and repents, Job knows that he cannot stop God’s will. What Job needs is a mediator, someone to arbitrate his case before the holy God. What Job needs is the intercession of Jesus Christ–something he already has but does not yet understand.

Exodus 34:6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, [1] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Ezekiel 18:20 says, “The soul that sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.”

John Piper, in a sermon “The Lord, a God Merciful and Gracious”

The second problem in this text [Exodus 34] comes from the next words in verse 7. It says that God “visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” But Ezekiel 18:20 says, “The soul that sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.” How can these two texts keep from contradicting each other?

What Ezekiel Has in View

The most crucial thing to see is that Ezekiel has in view a son who does not follow in the sinful footsteps of his father, but Exodus has in view children who do continue in their parents sinful footsteps.

Ezekiel 18:19 says, “When the son has done what is lawful and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live.” In other words, he won’t die for his father’s sins because he is not following in his father’s footsteps.

What Exodus Has in View

But the parallel to Exodus 34:7 in Exodus 20:5 says that God visits “the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.” In other words, the children share in the father’s punishment because they share in the father’s sins.

So Ezekiel teaches that any child that turns from the sinful ways of his father and obeys God will not be punished for the sins of his father. And Exodus teaches that any child that goes on sinning like his father will share the father’s punishment.

When God visits the sins of the fathers on the children, he doesn’t punish sinless children for the sins of their fathers. He simply lets the effects of the fathers’ sins take their natural course, infecting and corrupting the hearts of the children. For parents who love their children this is one of the most sobering texts in all the Bible.

The more we let sin get the upper hand in our own lives, the more our children will suffer for it. Sin is like a contagious disease. My children don’t suffer because I have it. They catch it from me and then suffer because they have it.

Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep. (Luke 15:6)

Lord, do no let me wander far from You again. Today, grant me a special grace so that before I step out of bed, I will step into Your presence;  as I start to make this day good, I will start this day with God. Amen.

Some people have heard that they have to be righteous to go to Heaven. Therefore, they try hard to do “good deeds,” and to say “good words,” and to think “good thoughts,” and to be “good people.” When the idea that people can achieve “self-righteousness” is exposed to Scripture, however, only the most stubborn still hold onto the false belief that they can “save” themselves.

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Romans 3:10

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Isaiah 64:6

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Titus 3:5

Hopefully, upon learning of the futility of attempted self-righteous salvation, the unbeliever will repent and call upon Christ the Savior. Even the angels in Heaven rejoice when this happens! (Luke 15:10) However, there is a strange thought circulating about, by which it is sometimes said that the salvation of the Lord, which comes by His grace through faith, can be lost, stolen, or rejected. In response to this strange thought, there is probably a nicer word than “heresy,” but I can’t think of it.

Let those of us who are born again, the elect of God according to His grace and mercy, remember that we did not save ourselves, and we are utterly incapable of “keeping ourselves saved.” Many modern translations of the Bible get a key phrase in Philippians 3:9 wrong. They say that righteousness is “through faith ‘in’ Christ.” The King James (not the New King James) Version hits the nail right on the head when it says that, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” (Emphasis added.)

Today, as I type this, I am found in Jesus Christ. I am righteous in the sight of God only because the righteousness of His dear Son has been imputed to me. The eternal continuance of this gift of righteousness is not because of my great faith. It is because of the wondrous, magnificent, awe-inspiring, unchanging, never-ending faith of Christ Himself.

Today I have included the lyrics to the much requested St. Therese of Lisieux: Canticle of Love ( lyrics/arr. by Sr. Sokol ocd). I will not go into great detail of how important this arrangement was in my own awareness/blossoming. However I will say to you today, the last few years of my life, the experiences, the insights, encounters, have been….well lets say the archetype of my home state West Virginia “almost heaven”.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus and Holy Face

Come all who hunger, all who thirst,
all who long for fulfillment,
the God of mercy waits for you,
as a mother her child,
oh come to the living water,
fear not your weakness,
forever trusting in God’s merciful love.

Through the shadows of this night,
love will be my guiding light,
presence hidden from my sight,
till the clouds are put to flight,
beneath your gaze, I’ve blossomed forth
as a rose in the sunshine.
With joyful heart, I give it all
to the mystery of love.

In peace, I will come before you,
with empty hands,
relying solely on your merciful love.

Through the veil your face appears,
beauty shrouded bathed in tears,
bread of sinners I will share,
rose unpetaled everywhere.

Oh, My God, I will sing of your love,
for this one eternal day,
for this one eternal today.

Transformed in love’s consuming fire, lifted up in glory,
her fragrance filling all the earth,
drawing us unto her,
until in eternity,
we join in one chorus,
forever singing of God’s merciful love.

Canticle of love, song of love,
this eternal day, I will sing, sing of your love.