On Eagles Wings

Isaiah 40 talks about God’s comfort to His people and it heralds His coming. God is exalted in all His ways and Isaiah gives us a glimpse as to who God is:

1) God’s comfort (v1)
2) God’s justice (v2b)
3) God’s glory (v5)
4) God’s strength (v10)
5) God’s reward (v10)
6) God’s provision (v11)
7) God’s incomparable greatness (v15-18)
8) God’s grace (v29)

Isaiah 40 closes off with these words:

“But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”

As we wait upon the Lord, we experience Him in all the 8 characteristics that Isaiah writes about. In God we truly can rise on wings like eagles. In God we can truly run and not grow faint. Why? Because He is my all in all much as He is yours.

“Foolish” Wisdom

Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say,
“He traps the wise
in the snare of their own cleverness.”

And again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise;
He knows they are worthless.”

1 Cor. 3:18-20

This portion of Scripture is a puzzlement to me but at the same time there’s a great comfort that I have from it whenever I do/act/speak on things that are contrary to popular culture especially when I go against my sense of self-preservation.

• Turning the other cheek & being silent even when wrongly accused.
• Putting others above myself.
• Giving rather than receiving.
• Long-suffering.
• Having faith even when I don’t understand.

These values go against what our natural selves want and there are many times when I feel stupid in doing things that are contrary to the norm.

If you feel like me sometimes, take heart cos’ God’s foolishness is wiser than the wisest that humanity has to offer. Amen?

Hearing from God: The Promise

Hi everyone,

It’s been a whirlwind for the past 2 weeks and I’m glad that I have some time this morning to write this very important post that I’ve been mulling over for a very long time.

Hearing from God is a very important thing to me so I’m just gonna take a couple of minutes to distill a lil’ bit of what I know about this in this first of a series of posts that I have planned on the subject.

First and foremost, I think we need to know what the Bible says about some things and in my searching & doubts about my ability to hear from God I came across this particular passage from John’s gospel.

Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

John 10:25-30

The Good Shepherd

The passage above gave me a lot of assurance especially in my questioning on how I know I can hear from God. As I searched my heart I felt led to these 2 things that make up a promise that comes from Jesus’ words.

1. The challenge to us: Believe in Jesus & accept Him as Lord of our lives
2. The promise to us: By accepting Him as the shepherd of our souls we become His sheep and we can listen to & recognise His voice. He knows us and we follow Him. Of course there are other wonderful gifts too but that one small detail which I have often overlooked just shone through as I read the above one day. Having a promise like that is a big deal once you realise just how much we are designed to be dependent upon God.

I’m still figuring things out but having this assurance means the world to me because there are many times when I wonder if I am able to hear from God or if I’m able to recognise His voice but this passage gives me a comfort that God does indeed gift us with a special privilege to recognise His voice when we have accepted Him into our lives.

Now that we have this foundation in place; tune in later this week in Part 2.

The Prayer of Jabez

There was a man named Jabez who was more honourable than any of his brothers. His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful. He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” And God granted him his request.

I was just reading the above in 1 Chronicles today and my heart leapt at Jabez’s prayer. The final bit of this very short passage in the Bible tells us that God granted his request. The sincerity of his prayer strikes a chord in me especially the bit about wanting God to be in all that I do and I most certainly would like to be kept from ALL trouble & pain too.

The Prayer of Jabez

Why did God grant Jabez his prayer? Here some reasons why I think God answered his prayer:

• I think that Jabez had it right in his heart and motives. He wanted God to be with him in all that he did. That demonstrated a reliance on our Father in Heaven. Most of us would much rather do things our own way and in our own strength.
• Significance in life is one of the key things that we look for in life and if we were honest with ourselves none of us wants to fade away without having some sort of impact in our lives. Jabez prayed for God to bless him and to expand his territory. While the prayer might have meant that Jabez wanted more land I believe what he also meant was that he wanted more “influence” in his life; which I believe would also lead to him glorifying God more.
• The more I read the Bible the more I am convinced that God blesses us with more only when our hearts are right and when we put Him first in our lives. I don’t see how we can be good stewards of riches, etc if He’s not number #1. His glory should be made manifest in all that we are and that includes how we are stewardd of our material possessions.

I would hope & pray for my life to be free of trouble & pain but that’s really in God’s plan. As much struggles are tough to go through I wouldn’t ask God to spare me because I truly want to be the man that God wants me to be. I can face whatever comes my way only if I have Him by my side and it’s really awesome that He has promised to never leave me or forsake me. And that’s one promise that I will always cling to in the Bible.

Amen.

Others First

Other First?

Here’s a little something I read in Leadership Promises (a daily devotional I receive courtesy of John Maxwell’s EQUIP).

Zig Ziglar says, “You can get everything in life you want if you help enough other people get what they want.”  How do you do that?  How can you turn your focus from yourself and start adding value to others?  You can do it by:

1. Putting others first in your thinking
2. Finding out what others need
3. Meeting that need with excellence and generosity

In my experience it’s really tough to put/think of others first especially when there’ve been lots of times when I’ve given till it hurts. It’s especially painful when everything we do is unappreciated by the very people we do them for. Nevertheless that’s not the main reason why I do what I do. After reading the Bible all these years it just makes sense to live life with others in mind; being focused on self alone is a terrible way to live life in my opinion.

I can’t say I’ve figured it all out but I’m thankful that God has laid some foundations in my life that help me to think a little bit more of others rather than myself. It ain’t easy but I suppose it’s worth it at the end of the day.

We love because He first loved us and we give because He first gave to us. Amen?

Psalm 130

Waiting on Him

1 From the depths of despair, O Lord,
I call for your help.

2 Hear my cry, O Lord. 
Pay attention to my prayer.

3 Lord, if you kept a record of our sins,
who, O Lord, could ever survive?

4 But You offer forgiveness,
that we might learn to fear You.

5 I am counting on the Lord; 
yes, I am counting on Him. 
I have put my hope in His word.

6 I long for the Lord 
more than sentries long for the dawn, 
yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord;
for with the Lord there is unfailing love.
His redemption overflows.

8 He himself will redeem Israel
from every kind of sin.

The Love Formula

Hi true believers,

The Formula to Love

I’m down with a bit of a runny nose & bad throat and have been sleeping the weekend away and playing Game Dev Story on Android. I used to get depressed a lot when I get sick but now I see it as a sign that my body needs to time out. The only thing I hate about getting sick is feeling unproductive and I still haven’t figured out if it’s possible to be productive when one is sick. Maybe the best thing to do when I’m down is to ask the Lord to lead me to a good book that I can glean from.

Anyways, here are some thoughts I have about learning to love. The apostle Peter writes this in 2 Peter 1:

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It would seem that love stems from faith! In my own walk with God I’ve always tried my best to love but that love is very much limited and today I felt like I got hit by lightning when I read the above in my devotional. How do we grow to be more loving towards others and to ourselves? Peter seems to suggest that these characteristics come to us bit by bit as we grow our faith in God and as I reflect on it this morning it’s very true for me. Every good quality I have has grown bit by bit in pretty much the order above.

It’s still hard to love and persevering to love someone who rejects and pushes you away is the toughest thing to do. It’s hard. It’s hard to love my cell members. It’s hard to love my colleagues. It’s even harder to love my family members and closest friends. In our imperfection, it’s so easy to hurt others with our words and our actions and I’ve been burned many times. It’s hard to hold our tongues or to remain patient. It’s difficult but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth and the truth is there is no way we can love others fully unless we have more and more of God in us.

I’m still far from perfect in love. But the awesome news is that it doesn’t take very much to have more love in my life because all I need to do is build up my faith in God and in His Son, Yeshua. That doesn’t mean I won’t get angry or frustrated but I need to learn how to channel my anger & frustration healthily and I need to learn how to express it properly too at work and in the closer friendship & relationships I have in my life.

It may seem strange but somehow faith equals love.

Till next time.

Temporary

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 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.

No Separation

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,t neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There are days when hurts so bad at times and reminders like the above make a world of difference in knowing that God loves me. On the days I doubt it I get a gentle reminder from Him of the fact that nothing can separate me from the love of the Father. I see life with my eyes but to see life through my eyes; I still have quite a ways to go in seeing through His eyes.

Some things in my life aren’t as great now but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have the best right now.

Before I forget; “good morning upside down world”, please treat me kindly today.

To the rest of you who are right side up, have an awesome one this bright Thursday morning! 🙂

Remember

I’ve been mulling this over for a bit and after listening to a Ravi Zacharias pod about memorials I figure now’s as good a time as any to write this. But first a lil’ rhyme to give you guys a bit of background as to why this post.

I woke up one morning  feelin’ quite blue
I asked God for something at Uber’s annual do
I started my day and left it at that
I didn’t think He heard, I didn’t think He cared

But God He took notice and He had a  plan
Tho’ I was late for dinner with the rest of the clan
My number was called and God is no fool
A big gift He gave me, something way too cool

PS3 Slim (Black)

It really was a nice surprise and even though I already have 2 Ps3s (one’s busted) it really made me see God’ goodness and answer to prayer. I could’ve been ungrateful and told God, “What? Another PS3? Why not the LED TV?” but I decided to be thankful and even though there were offers to buy the PS3 off me I didn’t take any one up on it. Why? Cos’ the new console is a gift from God! And in lot of  ways it’s a tangible reminder of God’s goodness to me. Joshua 4 has a similar story about having monuments that remind us of who God is. Read on.

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

We all need physical reminders to remind us of God in our lives and much like the Israelites’ memorial on the banks of the Jordan, the black PS3 in my room now serves the same purpose. I am blessed and seeing it reminds me every day that God knows my heart and that if He can bless me with a PS3 then I should trust Him in the deeper aches in my life.

Thanks BIG GUY!