At just the right time - March 25, 2014

Scripture: Esther 6-10
2 In those records he discovered an account of how Mordecai had exposed the plot of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the door to the king’s private quarters. They had plotted to assassinate King Xerxes.
3 “What reward or recognition did we ever give Mordecai for this?” the king asked.
His attendants replied, “Nothing has been done for him.”
4 “Who is that in the outer court?” the king inquired. As it happened, Haman had just arrived in the outer court of the palace to ask the king to impale Mordecai on the pole he had prepared.
9 ‘This is what the king does for someone he wishes to honor!’”
10 “Excellent!” the king said to Haman. “Quick! Take the robes and my horse, and do just as you have said for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the gate of the palace. Leave out nothing you have suggested!”
Message:
The LORD hears and answers the prayers of His people at just the right time.

Observation/Promise:
We are all undergoing hard times in life but when we are pressed on every side, is the best time to all the more press in on GOD and rely on HIM. When we press in on GOD, we seek GOD, we cling to Him for salvation. Sometimes He doesn't act right away, sometimes it feels like HE doesn't hear, but every prayer and tear that comes out of your heart, are all stored and kept into GOD's heart. HE is moved by every cry, every sigh, offered to Him. He is not slow in action, HE is making everything work at it's perfect time. Just like Mordecai, he wasn't given the credit due him when he saved the kings life, but at just the right time when he was supposedly planned to be killed, the King honored his life by letting his killer do the honoring. The most ironic of all events has happened and it happened at just the right time.

Command/Application:
If you are crying out to GOD and asking Him for something, wait upon the Lord. Be faithful in your prayers and do not give up because at just the right time, HE will do a miraculous thing. When you depend on Him for salvation, when you trust Him for deliverance, He will come for you like a Knight and shining armor, He will save without failing. GOD is perfect, all that we need to do in our part is to endure and pray, pray for breakthrough, believe, and do not stop believing, look up and expect for GOD's salvation. 

True Love is worth the wait - March 20, 2014

Scripture: Song of Songs 5-6
2 I slept, but my heart was awake, when I heard my lover knocking and calling:
“Open to me, my treasure, my darling, my dove, my perfect one.
My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”
13 His eyes sparkle like doves beside springs of water;
they are set like jewels washed in milk.
16 His mouth is sweetness itself; he is desirable in every way.
Such, O women of Jerusalem, is my lover, my friend. - Song of Shlomo 5

1 Where has your lover gone, O woman of rare beauty?
Which way did he turn so we can help you find him?
2 My lover has gone down to his garden, to his spice beds,
to browse in the gardens and gather the lilies.
3 I am my lover’s, and my lover is mine. He browses among the lilies.

12 12 Before I realized it, my strong desires had taken me to the chariot of a noble man. '
- Song of Shlomo 6


Message:
What Love truly is, is worth the wait

Observation/Promise:

Everyone needs true love. We seek it from family and friends, from a partner or soul mate. But among all these, true romantic love is hardest to find. When love is young it is sweet and wild, fresh and promising, because it has no responsibilities just the pleasure of having love. But Love is tested when it has to take on responsibilities and it becomes mature through the test of time. There is a time to wait for love until it becomes full growth. Waiting is hard but it will keep you from getting burned from rushing into love. 

Command/Application:
Know what True love is. You can find true love first in GOD. Desire true love and wait for it. Love between a man and a woman can be deceiving by its newness. Do not rush love but test it through time. Allow love to grow through time. When love lives through time, love is proving to be true. When love sticks together even after bad times, love is maturing. Seek True Love. True romantic love should that be like of GOD's. True love sacrifices for the other to the point of even giving up one's life for the sake of the other. If love comes to this point, then you know that you are ready for the commitment of loving forever.

Waiting on the Lord

25 The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.
26 So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.
27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline:
28 Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord’s demands.
38 Does not the Most High send both calamity and good?
39 Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?
40 Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord.

- Lamentations 3

Would your rather stay when you feel like running away? Would you rather rest, when you feel like doing something? Busyness is every human's way of escape to get away from pain. When we don't want to deal with issues in our lives, we resolve to shove our sadness and disappointments down by burying our feelings. But no matter how we try to solve our problems by shrugging them off, we can only deal with problems when we face it and bring it to GOD. Depending on GOD is a hard thing when we can do something to solve our troubles. If is easier to find ways and solutions to rid ourselves of trouble than to search for Him in quietness and stillness because it is very hard to be still.

But it is good, to depend on GOD, it is good to wait on the LORD for Him to act and move on our behalf. It is hard to depend on GOD to defend us when we could actually defend ourselves. It is crazy to some, but it is even better to submit to GOD's discipline while we are young, because while we are young, we are more teachable in Spirit and humble in heart. If you are going through difficulty today, it is good to to trust GOD and be silent under His demands. We need to trust GOD even in calamity because the LORD knows every little detail of our lives, from beginning to the end. It will not do us any good when we complain and blame others for our mistakes. But it is rather good to come before GOD in vulnerability and wait for Him to deliver us. Wait on the LORD, HE will never fail.

Don't Move Ahead

4 Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” 5 Then the Lordtook Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” 6 And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

- Genesis 15:4-6
2 So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife.
- Genesis 16:2-3

The LORD when HE gives a promise HE gives it abundantly. GOD has promised Abraham not just a son to be his heir but He promised Abraham many descendants, grandsons and great grandsons and even more as many as the stars in the sky! And when Abraham believed GOD without a doubt, GOD was pleased with him and because of his faith, GOD saw him as righteous.

But something went wrong. Abraham's wife Sarah didn't fully believe GOD's promises to them. In fact, she said "The LORD has kept me from having children." How can she say such a thing when they already have a promise from GOD? She beleived a lie that was not from GOD but from the great enemy. Even though she still didn't see GOD's promise at that time, it didn't mean GOD was never gonna do it. She lacked trust in the Great Giver and so she made sure GOD fulfill His promise by exerting effort on her own by letting her servant sleep with her husband. This alone was a result of impatience and lack of trust. And Abraham even though HE beleived GOD's promise, was convinced with his wife and therefore slept with Hagar. When we have a promise from GOD, we need to remember to stand firm in GOD's promises so that we don't move ahead of GOD and inherit problems instead of inherit HIS great promises in our lives.