Are you happy or joyful? Happi-ness is like being happy of what is HAPPE-ning around you, in your life. I'm happy I just got a new job, I'm happy because I just got engaged. Then what happened when the HAPPE-nings in your life turned upside down? Don't depend on what is happening in your life, depends on the satisfaction of God's love that is Joy. Joy comes from within, an internal and eternal peace from within that no matter what happened you are assured that you are love by God. Jesus said to His disciples, John 16:22-24New King James Version (NKJV)22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. 23 “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. May your joy be full in Jesus today and for the rest if your lives, stopped depending your happiness from the things around you, people around you or begged love from the people you want to be in your life, or career you are working so hard. Starting fulfilling an unexplanable joy found only in the comforting love of Jesus. True Joy comes from Jesus because true joy comes forth only after a great sorrow. Those who went through great pain and sorrow has the most Joy after. That is why we need Jesus to be truly Joyful. Because only God can fully heal anyone from great sorrow and pain😊😊😊 Have a full of Joy monday! So, last night i had a movie marathon with the charis girls and d13 girls. We started with soul surfer, Mom's night out and lastly Me Again. All the movies just made me realize how God planned ahead who we are. We need to be exactly who we are created for everything to make sense. Knowing who we are in the eyes of our creator is the only way to be happy and satistied for who we are. Different people have different journey to take. People have their own battle to fight and life to live. We can't be in our position right now wishing to be someone else or somewhere else. I love that scene in Mom's Night Out where in she is contemplating about how mess she is as a mother, a wife and a person and amazingly and unexpectedly she get the word of wisdon to a biker who don't seem to say anything good. He is a believer that is not very active in the church but knows confidently that Jesus loves him. That is what his mother have been telling him since he is a kid that "God will love you for who you are."He then said to the woman that she needs to be just who she is. He shared his moment while watching the eagle flies in the sky and how wonderful it is to watch the creation of God do exactly what they are made to do. Isn't it amazing also to see God's greatest creation doing exactly what our purpose here on earth? Why we are created? We often get to that woman's shoe also or the pastor in the "Me Again movie" who are not satisfied of his current life, we can relate greatly from them when we think that we are not good enough. For who? For the people around you? For God? Or for your own standard of who you should be? You are beautiful just the way you are, the way God created you and me! If today you are a mess, remember you are still a beautiful mess because you are God's MASTERPIECE! God can always turn test into a testimony and a mess into a message! No one is perfect but God doesn't want perfect He just want you to be who you really are. Don't ever doubt the love of God for you. Don't lose faith! There is always hope. 😊🙏🏻 Psalm 139:13-14New International Version (NIV)13 For you created my inmost being; I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; The Matter of the Heart Matters. Jeremiah 17:9 said our heart is deceitful and wicked. But we all know also that it is the very core of our being and if we don't let the Holy Spirit control it we might end up being led by our own heart. Be careful with the line, "JUST FOLLOW YOUR HEART." You might be following a road to destruction. #wordofGod #warning #notetoself #wickedheart #devotion #Godsreminder #Godmoves #Godslove #Godspromise #allforJesus #guardyourheart #christianlife Love is more than just a feeling. It is an action word. It is not something that we just talk about and say just to get love in return. Love needs an action where in people can see it. Jesus demostrate it clearly when He died for us in the cross. He willingly gave His life just to show us how much He loves us all. John 15:9-13New King James Version (NKJV)Love and Joy Perfected9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. Truly there is no greater love than to lay down your own life for a friend. Thank You Jesus for dying for us. Thank You Daddy God for your unconditional love and immeasurable grace! We often present ourselves the way this world can accept. We often create another us for the eyes of men but God look at us differently. He knows who we really are. Be the exact person God created you to be not how this world wants you to be. 1 Samuel 16:7New King James Version (NKJV) 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees;[a] for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Footnotes: 1 Samuel 16:7 Septuagint reads For God does not see as man sees; Targum reads It is not by the appearance of a man; Vulgate reads Nor do I judge according to the looks of a man. John 15:1-8 (NKJV) The True Vine 15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;[a] and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. God prunes so we can grow beautifully and the less we get the more we bear fruits. I always wonder during school days when the care takers prunes and cuts our yellowtops plants in the school while actually it still look good and just went high. Then they will cut it in one level and amazingly it will grow back with much brighter colors. In verse 2 Jesus said that anything that don't bear fruits will be taken away. In our mind we might think, yeah! They just deserve it. But going on we will read the part when Jesus said that those who bear fruits He will prune. Then we might say, God! We are bearing fruit how come you still put a knife or pruning tools to chop us off. I can be painful you know? Why do You need to take and cut? Is that what I get from bearing fruit? Well them that is exactly what God wants to do, he wants to shape us in the best shape that we can get and while bearing fruits due time there can also be some unwanted grass and unhealthy elements that grow alongside with us. He needs to take it off so we can continue to grow beautifully. Do you have some stuff in your life that needs to be chop off for you to bear fruit and grow? Some vices that needed to quit, bad habit that needs to turn away from, immoral or unwholesome relationship, unhealthy lifestyle? Whichever it is God will sure prune you until you thing you have less or even left with nothing at all but God, then you will realize while you have less there is more opportunity and space to bear more. 😊😊😊 John 8:7King James Version (KJV)7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. In the Jewish culture if you fail to abide in the law you will surely be stone to death. I wonder if the jewish law will be implemented worldwide by this date how many people will still be living? Zero I guess. How thankful I am to be living in grace because none of us can ever escape from those many lists of commandments. In some point we did lie or should I say still lying, in some point we people became fornicators, drunkens, cheaters, thief, adulterers or what ever is listed in the commandments. Nobody is perfect but God so all of us will be guilty of those. We all deserved to be stone to death but God said we are loved and can be forgiven, if only we know. Many people though we are not experiencing the stoning to death physically nowadays we still experience it emotionally,mentally and spiritually. Many people cast stones intentionally or unknowingly to other people by words or by condemnation and I believe we can all be guilty of that. But as the recipient of the stones what should we do about it? Like what I have said earlier if we know God's grace we will know how to react. Everyone makes mistakes and the more we get critism, condemnation and stoning we should draw closer to God because the only comfort we can get in times of darkness and whenever we are lost is found in Jesus. It is very sad when most people in times of wilderness and failure instead of picking up those stone to build bridge towards God they build a high wall blocking everyone and even God. If we do that we are blocking the way for God to be able to help and saves us from the situation. Are you building wall from the stones thrown to you by people, separating you from the presence of God? Or are you building bridge so you can get closer to God? I hope you are making the right choice. Come closer to God. He loves you and is always wiling to forgive. We are all saved by grace. Ephesians 2:5New King James Version (NKJV)5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), Peace? What comes first in your mind when you hear the word peace?Jesus said in the book of John,John 14:27 (nkjv)27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.Jesus said He will leave peace unto us. The kind of peace Jesus is talking about here is not a peace that we usually know which is the absence of war but the peace from within. He said it's not the peace that this world gives because the peace of this world is temporary. It is a cotton candy peace wherein it's floppy, it's colorful and looks beautiful but after you taste it, it melts easily and after few seconds its gone. The true and genuine peace come from knowing God, honoring God and coming into agreement with God in righteousness. The other side of that, if we choose to do things apart from righteousness of God and honoring God, and keep on living in a sinful life it will be a life with an opposite of peace and destruction will come your way. Jesus continued and said let not your heart be troubled. That is exactly what we will feel when we have true genuine peace of God. We will not worry about anything. Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6-7(NKJV)6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The peace of God is the kind of peace that we will not be able to explain and understand it comes from within. It is not of this world, it is not an absence of conflicts for this is a fallen world that will continue to get cruel day by day. It is the peace that we have even in the midst of trouble because we trust fully in the presence of our God. That peace can only be attained if we truly know our God, knowing God is knowing His grace that He loves and forgives no matter what and He will always provide for us; And being satisfied by that mindset and heartset will result to peace.Try to look for every first page of all the epistles of paul, you will read these words: "GrAce to you and peace from God our Father and The Lord Jesus Christ."It is his common greeting for everyone because he knows that it is important for everyone to know Gods grace and peace. Have a peaceful day everyone.😊🙏🏻 Kinds of Wilderness from Daniel Kolenda's book surviving your wilderness: *The Wilderness of Opposition "Sin can reroute us into a spiritual wasteland." Do you remember what happened to the Israelites when they went out from egypt on their travel to the promised land? God multiplied the years of their travel as the result of their disobedience. "You will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you," He told them (Num 14:34 NIV 1984). "Most of Israel's wilderness was a wilderness of opposition" - God's opposition to their disobedience and unbelief (Heb. 3:17-19). Sin is an evil power that stands contrary to God. When we allow unresolved sin to grow and become habit, not only do we experience a wilderness of separation, but also of divine resistance. James 4:4 New International Version (NIV) 4 You adulterous people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the worldmeans enmity against God?Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Are you trying to walk against the stiff headwind of God's resistance? It will be an exhausting battle for sure. It is not necessary to go through such. There is no need to stay in that wilderness that long. There is an easier way of dealing with our wilderness of opposition. James 4:6-10New International Version (NIV) 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”[a] 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Footnotes: James 4:6 Prov. 3:34 #wordofGod #christianlife #repentance #wilderness #Godspromise #LoveofGod Isn't it Cool to wake up in the morning everyday and remember that you are L❤️ved by our Holy God? Isn't it enough to put a smile on our face everyday? You are precious! You are amazing! You are loved! Remind yourself always about that! Jesus died for you in the cross and is still dying for you when you sin! Isn't that the greatest expression of love you will ever witness and experience? He loves you and me! I am sure of that. It's time for you and me to see that love and be joyful each day knowing that God loves us. ☺️☺️☺️ Spread Love! 😊😍 Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. There is power in our Words. We proclaim what we believe and today I am declaring awesome things to come in your life. Isn't it exciting to start your day believing in the awesomeness of our God. I believe i will be witnessing it Later in the breakfast With Love for the elders. I encourage you friends to always find ways to see Gods mercy, power and strength. Find people, places and events that will reveal to you Gods awesomeness. Be zelous on this one and your will witness great things to Come! God You Are Awesome! Psalm 68:35 New International Version "You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!" Jesus is all merciful. He is always willing to forgive and always willing to embrace us from our own failures. He is full of Love the only thing we need is to ask for forgiveness and repent. I believe most of the believers of Christ know that. We are sure how the grace of God had changed us and gave us hope, Redeemed us from our sins. We are so inspired of many testimonies of this time and in the bible of how the power of Love of God gave us the chance to change our life and be healed. We all have heard how the merciful heart of Jesus forgave those who broke the law of His time, that is "grace"! Grace supercedes the law it did not replace the law. So, it is for God to forgive us and it is our side to keep ourselves from honoring that mercy and grace given not to have a mindset that we are OK to sin because God will forgive us. That is TWISTED! I guess we all loved the story of the woman who commit adultery wherein Jesus asked: "Whoever of you here who do not have any sin throw the stone first!" It was a meaningful moment. Jesus did not broke the law of letting the woman skip judgement but to receive grace she deserves from God, He introduce grace. It is all we have when we fall short in the glory of God. Yeah! We all love that part but we often not magnify what Jesus said after He forgave the woman. John 8:10-11New King James Version (NKJV)10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” Jesus said: GO AND SIN NO MORE! Jesus healed a man in the pool of bethesda and He said again; "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. (John 5:14) Do I need to highlight it even more? True, salvation is free and we don't really need to do anything but Believe and accept. What actually we need to consider big time is what are we going to do after we receive the gift of salvation. Will you use it as an excuse to sin continiously? Will you be just be comfortable being save and remain satisfied of you alone being saved, "Just good enough!" Or, will you be thankful to God in everyday and always desire to bring glory to God? Which one are you? It's already 6 in the evening, for us the day is almost over, just almost but in jewish time this is really the end of the day when the sun begins to set and the sky begins to get dark that is the start of the new day. I don't know what happened to your day, if you turned out to be satisfied and happy or disappointed with your day but whatever happened to your day you have to remember that today you are blessed because you are alive. That each day that you wakes up in the morning is already a blessing. Life is a gift from God which is for us to decide how to live. What did you chose to do today? I hope you are thankful for your life to the creator of life. I hope you have chosen to live today for God. I hope you chose to bless others through your life because today you are truly blessed. You are forgiven. Smile! Share that happiness to the world. Lamentations 3:22-23New King James Version (NKJV)22 Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, They are new every morning; My usual bus ride is always in the second deck if have. I will either plug worship songs and just look outside while listening, Or plug online preaching and read my bible together with the preacher, or read my book. So today i decided to plug worship while reading my book and i came to one section of the book that made me open my bible. Year of 1944 one of the people saved in the mission trip in panama of the four square church was Gregorio Gutierrez. He really gave his life to Jesus and bacame a minister with deep understanding of the word and relationshiop with the Lord. As i was reading the work that has been done through him, on one conversation with the author Leland Edwards. Gregorio said to Leland: "Do you know that Jesus prayed for me?" Then there was just a verse, john 17:20. I got very interested and read chapter 17 of John. I was overwhelmed. I have read through the Whole book of John many times. How could I missed this out. My heart suddenly felt that unexplanable thanksgiving to our Lord and security and Love. For those who are serving the Lord, for all the leaders of the church and for all those who have chosen to give your life to Jesus and spread the Gospel remember this: "JESUS IS PRAYING FOR YOU!!!" Take heart and be strong. We are being prayed for of our saviour. John 17:6-23 Christ Prays for His Disciples 6 k“I have 3manifested Your name to the men lwhom You have given Me out of the world. mThey were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words nwhich You have given Me; and they have received them, oand have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that pYou sent Me. Christ Prays for All Believers 20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who 1will believe in Me through their word; 21 gthat they all may be one, as hYou, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the iglory which You gave Me I have given them, jthat they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; kthat they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Note: Please read the whole chapter. True beauty just comes out naturally from someone who is beautiful from inside. People will notice and ask about that radiance from you that actually comes from within. Within us is Jesus: who is perfect and love. If He is truly within us, the Jesus within us will naturally comes out from us and people will surely see it. Same goes with Joy. You don't need to show to people that you are ok when you are not they will still sense and feel it. You don't need to pretend you are happy when you are not. Genuine happiness comes from within. Most of the time when I am emotionally challenged with my own personal struggles or the people around me or the issues I am dealing with I am always left questioning, because I always wonder how I can still feel ligjt and joyful after and in the midst of it. That Joy is from God that comes out naturally from within when we abide in Him no matter what circumstances that we are. I heard one preaching said: "The true meaning of Joy is far different from Happiness. Joy is seeing the circumstances around you but you are confident and secured that God is fully in control." 😊😊😊 Trust God with all your heart you will eventually find that unexplanable joy in the midst of the storm. Philippians 4:4Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.John 8:7King James Version (KJV)7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. In the Jewish culture if you fail to abide in the law you will surely be stone to death. I wonder if the jewish law will be implemented worldwide by this date how many people will still be living? Zero I guess. How thankful I am to be living in grace because none of us can ever escape from those many lists of commandments. In some point we did lie or should I say still lying, in some point we people became fornicators, drunkens, cheaters, thief, adulterers or what ever is listed in the commandments. Nobody is perfect but God so all of us will be guilty of those. We all deserved to be stone to death but God said we are loved and can be forgiven, if only we know. Many people though we are not experiencing the stoning to death physically nowadays we still experience it emotionally,mentally and spiritually. Many people cast stones intentionally or unknowingly to other people by words or by condemnation and I believe we can all be guilty of that. But as the recipient of the stones what should we do about it? Like what I have said earlier if we know God's grace we will know how to react. Everyone makes mistakes and the more we get critism, condemnation and stoning we should draw closer to God because the only comfort we can get in times of darkness and whenever we are lost is found in Jesus. It is very sad when most people in times of wilderness and failure instead of picking up those stone to build bridge towards God they build a high wall blocking everyone and even God. If we do that we are blocking the way for God to be able to help and saves us from the situation. Are you building wall from the stones thrown to you by people, separating you from the presence of God? Or are you building bridge so you can get closer to God? I hope you are making the right choice. Come closer to God. He loves you and is always wiling to forgive. We are all saved by grace. Ephesians 2:5New King James Version (NKJV)5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), |
AuthorI am a FOLLOWER OF CHRIST Cleverly disguised as an Architect who loves to share my experiences and encounters with God in every simple and possible way to the people out there who needs to hear Gods' greatness and goodness. Archives
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