Joy - June 11, 2014

Scripture: Psalm 84-86

5 What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord,
who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 

6 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.
7 They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.
11 For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory.
The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.
12 O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, what joy for those who trust in you. - Psalm 84
16 Look down and have mercy on me. Give your strength to your servant;
save me, the son of your servant.
17 Send me a sign of your favor. Then those who hate me will be put to shame,
for you, O Lord, help and comfort me. - Psalm 86

Message:

What joy for those who belong to GOD, those that trust and depend on GOD.

Observation:

Great are the blessings, joy and privilege for those that trust GOD. There is great favor and blessing that await those that trust in the LORD.

Application:

We have to put our trust in GOD, we shouldn't trust in man or anything else. We ought to put our trust in GOD. 

Sovereign GOD - May 11, 2014

Scripture: Job 11-12
7 “Just ask the animals, and they will teach you. 

Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
8 Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you. Let the fish in the sea speak to you.
9 For they all know that my disaster[a] has come from the hand of theLord.
10 For the life of every living thing is in his hand, and the breath of every human being.
11 The ear tests the words it hears just as the mouth distinguishes between foods.
12 Wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to the old.
13 “But true wisdom and power are found in God; counsel and understanding are his.
14 What he destroys cannot be rebuilt.
22 “He uncovers mysteries hidden in darkness; he brings light to the deepest gloom.
23 He builds up nations, and he destroys them. He expands nations, and he abandons them. - Job 12

Message:

Sovereign GOD, He alone has the power to bless or bring trouble.

Observation/Promise:

GOD is Sovereign. Nothing happens on heart without His approval or consent. Both disaster and blessing comes from GOD. He allows trouble to come into the lives of his children and beloved sometimes to test us or to purify our hearts. But GOD will not give to us beyond what we can bear. Although He tests us, He gives us everything we need to succeed and pass the test. HE is a faithful GOD and He will never fail us when we depend on Him and His power save us.

Application/Command:

Be faithful to GOD no matter what happens, GOD is great He alone is the source of everything and causes everything to will and to act according to His will. Trust in His kindness and love. Cling to the Lord more than anything else in this world. He only want us to be the best that He can transform us to be. His plan is always for our good.

The Blessing from GOD - April 16, 2014

Scripture: Genesis 8-11Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. 2 All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power.3 I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. 4 But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.

8 Then God told Noah and his sons, 9 “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10 and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11 Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

Message:

Be Fruitful and Multiply. 

Observation/Promise:

GOD has put power within us humans so that the animals of this world may fear us. HE has given different kinds of animals for food and the plants, grain and vegetables. He wants us to live by providing us the things that enable us to live. More than that, GOD has blessed us with a blessing to multiply and fill the earth to be fruitful with everything we do. We cannot be stagnant being idle, we need to do something which GOD has called us to do. GOD has confirmed His covenant with us to bless us and not to harm us with HIs raging flood of anger and judgement. How wonderful it is to hear and receive the blessing of GOD for humanity in the morning when you just woke up.
Application/Command:

Be Fruitful spiritually and physically, multiply your good works. 

Do not eat animals that still has blood on it. 

Eat your fill in the land which the Lord our GOD has given us.

Our Part in Honoring GOD - March 11, 2014

Scripture: Nehemiah 10-13

28 Then the rest of the people—the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, Temple servants, and all who had separated themselves from the pagan people of the land in order to obey the Law of God, together with their wives, sons, daughters, and all who were old enough to understand— 29 joined their leaders and bound themselves with an oath. They swore a curse on themselves if they failed to obey the Law of God as issued by his servant Moses. They solemnly promised to carefully follow all the commands, regulations, and decrees of theLord our Lord:
“We promise together not to neglect the Temple of our God.”

Message:

Our Part in Honoring GOD.

Observation/Promise:

GOD wants to bless us but in return for His goodness, GOD wants us to do our part in honoring Him. GOD has issued commands and decrees for us to follow. Like Honoring our parents and it will go well with us, we have to pay our respect and honor to our parents because they are the people that GOD chose us to be raised with and in return GOD wants them to be happy. Loving GOD first with all of our hearts, because when we love Him first before anything else, it is easy to obey the things He wants us to do. His commands will not be a burden if we love GOD.

Command/Application:
We ought to put GOD first in our lives. We cannot obey GOD or understand HIs ways when we do not put an effort to know Him and love Him. GOD is a person and He wants to be known and loved, just like anyone of us. When we obey GOD, we gain more, we gain blessings, and inheritances, promises from the Lord. When we struggle with obeying a certain command from GOD, we can come to Him and ask for His grace to enable us to obey them. When we obey GOD we will never regret anything in life, He will make sure we will have all we need and more. Our part in Honoring GOD is to obey HIM.

GOD, Faithful, Restorer of my Joy - March 10, 2014

Scripture: Deuteronomy 26-28
7 So we cried out to Adonai, the God of our ancestors. Adonai heard us and saw our misery, toil and oppression; 8 and Adonai brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders.9 Now he has brought us to this place and given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.10 Therefore, as you see, I have now brought the firstfruits of the land which you, Adonai, have given me.’ You are then to put the basket down beforeAdonai your God, prostrate yourself before Adonaiyour God, 11 and take joy in all the good thatAdonai your God has given you, your household, the Levi and the foreigner living with you.
12 “After you have separated a tenth of the crops yielded in the third year, the year of separating a tenth, and have given it to the Levi, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, so that they can have enough food to satisfy them while staying with you; 13 you are to say, in the presence of Adonai your God, ‘I have rid my house of the things set aside for God and given them to theLevi, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, in keeping with every one of the mitzvot you gave me. I haven’t disobeyed any of your mitzvot or forgotten them. 

Message:

The Faithfulness of GOD

Observation/Promise:

GOD hears His people. GOD is such a merciful GOD, He heard the cries and anguish of His people when they were oppressed in Egypt and not only did He hear, He brought them out of Egypt to a land where abundant blessings flow. A land where they don't have to depend on others to provide them with food but a land where GOD richly provides them with everything they need and more. But with all the blessings that GOD gives to us, what does He require of us? More sacrifice? Something burdensome? No, instead He requires that we His people give to Him a firstfruit of our blessings by giving our tithe for GOD's house and be giving and kind to the poor and needy people and even the foreigners in the land that GOD gave to them. Is a 10th too much to give??? See how gracious and just, compassionate and faithful GOD is to His people. He only requires us to be faithful to Him and to His commands that are good and will benefit us as a people.

Command:

Separate a tenth for GOD in the firstfruits of your harvest from the blessings GOD has richly given you, this tenth will given to four people:
1) The Levi in GOD's house
2) Poor Foreigner
3) Poor Orphans
4) Needy Widows.
Offer and surrender whatever GOD wants to have in your life because it only means HE wants to give you more.

Application:
Initially, did not chose to give up my beloved dog Cherry but GOD took her away so suddenly, it was so painful how she died and I kept crying about it but later I surrendered her to the Lord trusting that HE only knows what's best for us. GOD took our Cherry on a Sunday but GOD gave us another Cobe on another faithful Sunday that HE chose to display His great faithfulness and loving kindness to us as a family. All I can say is glory be to GOD, HE is sooo good. HE truly turned my mourning into dancing! HE truly restored my joy.

Heart's Delight

“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy day of the Lord honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking your own words,
14 Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord;
And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

- Isaiah 58

There is a day that the LORD requires should be dedicated to Him, to honor Him, by making this day a delight, a day of rest from all the toiling that is ever done on earth. This day was given to the jews as the Shabbat. But during this modern world, it may not be possible to never do a little work during Saturdays because a lot of people work during Saturdays. It doesn't have to be a Saturday, but GOD does require a day in one week, no matter which day that is to honor Him with not just simply not doing any work but to worship Him and enjoy quality time with Him.

God's to those that make Him a priority in their lives by allocating one day in one week to Him is the extreme satisfaction that one can have with Him. One will experience great pleasure being in the stillness and quietness of GOD's presence. The GOD of Israel will grant those that love Him to acquire and inherit the blessings of Jacob His chosen one. GOD will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, to travel far and wide enjoying His blessings, His favor, His grace. All this just for a heart's delight found truly in GOD. But first comes obedience to His command which is to set aside just one day in a week.

Trusting GOD in the Dark

19 Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s story about how Joseph had treated her. 20 So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained.21 But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. 22 Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison.23 The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.

- Genesis 39

The Favor of GOD rests in you when you are accused of something that you have not done. How could one feel that they are in GOD's favor when they are being accused of something that they have not done? But it is true in Josephs's life. He was favored by His father Jacob and was loved more than any other sibling. But he was envied by his siblings and didn't know how such envy could result into them selling him as a slave to strangers. He worked his best in Potiphar's house and earned the Potiphar's trust but the Potiphar's wife betrayed him by accusing him of something he had not done and was sent to prison. After all these things, Joseph was still faithful to GOD and that he managed to excel even in the prison cell.

When we remain faithful and humble even when the world has been so hostile to us, we receive GOD's favor. Everytime there is injustice being done in our lives and we trust HIM with it instead of plotting to have revenge, we received GOD's favor and the opportunity for GOD to bless us in the right time. The LORD was merciful to Joseph and understood the hardship he had to go through that GOD gave Joseph strength to be in the worst place on earth - the prison cell. But even in the darkest place in our lives, GOD's light can shine when we chose to trust Him with everything.

Building Faith

20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith, and pray in union with the Ruach HaKodesh. 21 Thus keep yourselves in God’s love, as you wait for our Lord Yeshua the Messiah to give you the mercy that leads to eternal life.
22 Rebuke some who are disputing; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and to yet others, show mercy, but with fear, hating even the clothes stained by their vices.
Jude 1:20-23

It is important to feed our Spirit everyday so we can grow and build ourselves in the most holy faith. We do so by reading GOD's holy word and praying in union with the Holy Spirit. How do we do so? We need to be quick to listen and be still in HIS presence. When we spend time in praying, we don't just tell GOD our side because prayer is a two way communication, it is not just one way. We talk to GOD through prayers but GOD also talks to us when we take time to listen and read His word. We have to keep ourselves in GOD's will, in His grace and in His love so that when He comes back to us, we are found waiting and depending on Him to lead us to eternal life with Him. We can't have faith on our own, we need GOD all the time.

We need to be faithful with our bretheren, we can't just leave them in their sin when we know that they should be rebuked. When we truly love GOD, it is impossible not to love others. When we show our love for others especially those who are in the path to destruction, our corrections will not be resented but will be heeded. We need to show mercy to those who are perishing by praying for them and loving them but despising the sin that has entangled them. Building up our faith will not only benefit ourselves but our faith will greatly bless others around us that are needing our prayings, love and mercy.

Blessed to be a Blessing

33 “I have never coveted anyone’s silver or gold or fine clothes. 34 You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my own needs and even the needs of those who were with me. 35 And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
- Acts 20:33-35

To covet is to want somebody else's things, possesions, people in their lives or life. To covet is to be ungrateful because what you have is not enough. It is wise to live with gratefulness and contentment it is the key to a happy and satisfying life. It is good to have ambitions and goals but it should not be caused by envy or covet. Covetiousness leads to discontentment. Discontent can be used to drive you to do your best because you wish to have the life of another by working hard to get have that same life. But discontent as a result of covetiousness will cause one to be envious and will not drive you to work your best but will drive you to put others down or steal from others what you have coveted from them. It is good to work because you want to have your needs met and it is very good to work not just for yourself but to work to meet the needs of others by sharing what you have. 

We are respected by others when we are able to provide for our needs and by not being dependent on others. When we work, GOD will bless us when we do all these for HIS glory. We are blessed even more when we work to share our blessings because GOD honors the cheerful giver and the generous HE will give even more. If you are trustworthy then HE will entrust you with more because you can be trusted with HIS wealth by distributing them with a happy heart, the way GOD wants every child of HIS to do. When we work, we should always keep in my mind that it is not only for our own benefit but for the benefit of others especially the needy ones that surround us. So let us work for GOD's glory and GOD will bless the work of our hands so we can be a blessing!



Related verses:
11 Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. 12 Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others. 

- 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

Giving

6 The Lord your God will bless you as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations but will never need to borrow. You will rule many nations, but they will not rule over you.
7 “But if there are any poor Israelites in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward them. 8 Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. 9 Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year for canceling debts is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord, you will be considered guilty of sin.10 Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. 11 There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.

- Deuteronomy 15:6-11

GOD is a loving and compasionate GOD. He thinks about the poor and needy and commands those that are not poor to help them. Why is it important to help the poor? It is important so that we can purge ourselves from selfishness and stingyness. Selfishness is a trait that leads to sin and death. As GOD's children we should reflect the very character of GOD, His generosity and selflessness. But as humans we are naturally selfish and we think about or care for ourselves more often than we even think about others or care for others. That is why GOD commands us to help the needy by giving, lending and sharing what we have. Generosity is an important trait of GOD and we should have that trait within ourselves. For how can other people worship the GOD we serve if the GOD we serve doesn't care about other people.

When we are generous with our finances or material wealth, we will also be generous with our time, our care and our love. If we are not generous with our wealth, how can the love of GOD be seen in us? You cannot be Godly and stingy at the same time. It is good to have self-control in how we spend our money, it is a Godly trait to have financial management. But we cannot be stingy with helping others especially the poor. We can't ever turn them away because GOD has chosen to bless us so that we can bless them and help them. If we do not care about them and ignore the command of GOD to give to them, GOD will take away our wealth because we are not deserving or worthy to possess wealth when wealth has possessed us. When we hold on to material things too much, it only means our god is not the Creator of Heaven and Earth, but our god is money. We are greedy. But when we give away what we have to help the needy, we are giving away to GOD Himself, not because He is poor and needy but because the poor and needy are close to His heart. When we bless the poor, we bless GOD and in return, GOD blesses us even more. For we can never outgive GOD, HE is more generous than we are, HE will make sure to give us more than what we have given HIM.