Sigh

I just sighed, did you? Is your sigh depressing? Is sighing an act that distrust God? Let's read on, "And looking up to Heaven, He sighed as He said, Ephphatha which means, Be opened!" Mark 7:34 [Amplified Bible] You are not alone...

I have never thought of God as one who sighs. I have thought of God as one who commands. I have thought of God as one who weeps. I have thought of God as one who called forth the dead with command or created the Universe with a word...but a God who sighs?

Perhaps this phase caught my eye because I do my fair share of sighing. I sighed last week when I visited my grandma, due to old age, she couldn't recognize me till I seat awhile with her. I sighed when I saw huge crowds often worship the idols, not knowing the truth about God. I sighed just when I hope my fever will not return to torment me for the night...

If you have tried to resist temptation, you've had probably sighed. If you've had your motives questioned or your best acts of love rejected, you have been forced to take a deep breath & let escape a painful sigh...

The sigh described in Mark 7 is a hybrid of frustration & sadness. It lies somewhere between a fit of anger & a burst of tears. All these sighs come from the same anxiety; a recognition of pain that was never intended, or of hope deferred. Man was not created to be separated from his Creator; hence he sighs longing for home. The creation was never intended to be inhabited by evil; hence she sighs, yearning for the Garden. And conversations with God were not intended to depend on a translator; hence the Spirit groans on our behalf, looking to a day when humans will see God face to face...

All I want to say is that, even when you sigh, Jesus feels the pain and in the agony of Jesus lies our hope. Had he not sighed, had he not felt the burden for what was not intended, we would be in a pitiful condition. Had he simply chalked it all up to the inevitable or washed His hands of the whole stinking mess, what hope would we have?

But He didn't. That holy sign assures us that God still groans for His people. He groans for the day when all sighs will cease, when what was intended to be will be! Jesus had planted His foot on the serpent's head, Jesus speaks loudly enough even with His sigh...

John 11: 25 says, "I am [Myself] the Resurrection & the life. Whoever believes in (adheres to, trusts in, & relies on) Me, although he may die, yet he shall live..." Do you believe this? I do...

Inspired by:

Max Lucardo

Poverty is a curse!

The first instance when one open their mail box, most of them are expecting bills. Mobile bills, Utilities bills, Insurance bills, Internet bills, all seem to be never ending. Your heart beats faster with their lawyer's letter attentioned to your names, late payment, expired payment, payments at that instant; it is like a never ending story...Where is my Jesus? Where is Abba? Where is my Lord?...help me with my pile of debts!

Hope arises to the birth of faith as faith comes from our ability to hope, & faith comes from the knowledge of the Good Gospel of Christ Jesus. What is the Gospel of the poor; that Jesus has come to redeem us & we don't have to be poor through our eternal life! Not very many poverty-stricken people have ever heard the whole Gospel.

"But seek first His Kingdom & His righteousness, & all these things will be given to you as well. [ Matt 6:33] Didn’t God said ALL? Jesus listed very specific categories. On of them was preaching the good news to the poor man, thereby giving him, Hope & Strength. We need to stop allowing these poverty stricken people to believe that by staying poor it will somehow make them more pious & sanctified. The Lord took away poverty 2000 years ago on that cross for you & me...

Brother Kenneth Copeland shared three main things regarding the laws or prosperity. 1. You must know that it is God's will to prosper His people: People have the idea that spiritual things are separated from material things. That isn't true. Spiritual law government material things. The laws prosperity will work for anyone who will meet the biblical requirement to walk in them. 2. We need to know God's reason for prospering His people: The whole purpose of gainful of employment & prosperity is to take God's laws, prosper by them & then do something about the poverty in the rest of the World. 3. The last thing we must know is God's way of prospering His People. God prospers by prospering the soul (3 John 2) & through the avenue of giving: It is to have a giving attitude to take over in the Body of Christ.

Forget about your own needs. Get involved in the whole Gospel. Begin to meet the needs of others, spirit mind and body, watch how quickly God will move in your behalf. Seek Matt 6:33 Take your eyes off your own life & put them on the lives & needs of others! In seeking first the kingdom of God, we first learn to walk in the Word, to seek the Word & get the word inside us. Then things will be added to you. If you walk daily in His word & His truth , you have a sure connection to health & prosperity...

"Let them shout for joy & rejoice, who favor my vindication & let them say continually, "The Lord be magnified, who delights in the prosperity of His servant. And my tongue shall declare your righteousness and your praise all day long. Psalm 35:27-28 [NASB] God has pleasure in our prosperity! Verse 28 means continually, steadily walking in His word. This means meditating on God & His promises all day long. I believe if we do this day after day, God's word will eventually take root of your soul. When our soul starts to walk continually in His truth, God's blessings are not far off.

Jesus teaches us how to be well in spirit, soul & body, regardless of our circumstances as He said, "I am the way, the truth & life." When we walk in His ways, meditate on the truths our life, health will prosper. Money is not the root of all evil . "For the love for money is a root of all sorts of evil, & some by longing..." [1 Tim 6:10 NASB] Prosperity covers more than finances. We should prosper both in health & soul. To prosper in your soul, you must be able to control your mind, will & emotions. Prosperity of the mind comes when you use the information that has been acquired; when you are controlling your mind instead of your mind controlling you. We cannot control our mind completely without the Word of God being alive & operating inside us.

Emotions we all have. God made us an emotional being. We are created in His image. Therefore, He must experience emotions as well. "...Jesus wept" [John 11:35 NASB] "He who sits in the heaven laughs..." [Psalms 2:4 NASB] Expressing feelings are certainly not wrong. To remain prosperous in our soul, however, we should be motivated or controlled by our feelings.

True Prosperity: Defined as physical prosperity includes gold, silver, financial power, political power & social favor. True prosperity is the ability to meet the needs pf mankind in any realm of life. Wealth & power cannot answer to every need. Money makes a lousy God! It can't buy good health, prevent sickness & disease from take over the human body. What produces spiritual, mental & physical prosperity? What brings all these together? The Word of God. The bible says in Hebrews 4:12 that the Word is alive, powerful & sharper than a two-edged sword. When we are walking in the Word of God, you will prosper & be in health. It is Jesus will for us to be made whole - spirit, soul, & body; & to be kept that way until the return of Lord Christ Jesus...

Inspired By

Kenneth Copeland

Oh Jesus...

The World says an apple a day will keep the doctor away, yet what I experience is a prayer a day will keep the Devil away. How Godwyn? I experience the miracle healing of severe food poisoning, yet hours after I wrote the entry, 'His Majesty', healing came in 'Cheetah Speed'. I was well with just some pain killers & charcoal pills...

The fever subside & the pain is gone, the definite results of everyone's prayer. How bless I am with you as part of my family, shadowing Jesus's love for me. We see our selfishness, for we cannot give. We see our pain, for we cannot heal. We can only be embrace in the arms of our Father, Abba...

Jesus could have come back as a man in another era when society wasn't so volatile, when religion wasn't so stale, when people would listen better. The Lord could have come back when crosses are out of style. But His heart wouldn't let Him. If there was hesitation on the part of His humanity, it was overcome by the compassion of His divinity. His divinity heard our voices. His divinity heard the hopeless cries of the poor, the bitter accusations of the abandoned, the dangling despair of those who are trying to save themselves...you & I...

His divinity saw our faces. Some wrinkled. Some weeping. Some hidden behind the veils. Some obscured by fear. Some earnest with searching. Some blank with boredom. From the face of Adam to the face of the infant born somewhere in the World as you read these words, He saw all them all. Praise for His divine heart for us, His eternal listening ears...

Your silent prayers uttered on tearstained pillows were heard before they were said. Your deepest question about death & eternity were answered before they were asked. Your direst need, your need for a Savior, was met before you ever sinned. And not only did He hear you, He saw you. He saw your face aglow the hour you first knew Him. He saw your face in shame the hour you first fell. The same face that looked back at you this morning's mirror, looked at Him And it was enough to kill Him...

Since Jesus could bear your sins more easily than He could bear the thought of your hopelessness, He chose to come, Son of God, The lamb of God, The light of the World, The Resurrection & the Life, the Bright & Morning Star, the alpha & the omega...But the Lord said, "Just call me Jesus" How humble is our living God...

Inspired By

Max Lucardo

His Majesty

Took a medical leave & slept the whole day as I suffered from sleepless night with food poisoning. Burning sensation took over the body & I kept going to the bath room, flushes out the toxic in my body. I do not know what I ate made me felt so bad though I sanctified any food before I consume with prayer. Spiritual attacks transforming to physical attacks? "My Lord, my God, have you forsaken me..."

Is it the changes around me that terrified me? Changes always brings fear before it brings faith. We always assume the worst before we look for the best. God interrupts our lives with something we've never seen, rather than praise, we panic! That's how I feel around me now with a light dose of anxiety...

I'm so glad that I am able to see God's creation through my eyes as most of us who have lived a lifetime with vision can't really know how wonderful it must be to be given sight. We can live next to something for a lifetime, but unless we take time to focus on it, it doesn't become a part our life. Unless somehow have our blindness lifted, our World is but a black cave...

Think about it. Just because one has witnessed a thousand rainbows doesn't mean he's seen the grandeur of one. One can live near a garden & fail to focus on the splendor of the one. A man can spend a lifetime with a woman & never pause to took into her soul & a person can be all that goodness calls Him to be & still never see the Author of life...

Being honest or moral or even religious doesn't necessarily mean we will see Jesus. No. We may see what others see in Him. Or we may hear what some other say He said. But until we see Him for ourselves, until our own sight is given, we may think we see him, in having in reality seen only a hazy form in the gray semidarkness..

Have you caught a glimpse of His Majesty? A word is placed in a receptive crevice of your heart that causes you, ever so briefly, to see His face. You hear a verse read in tone you'd never heard, or explained in a way you'd never thought, & one more piece of the puzzle falls into place. Someone touches your painful spirit as only one sent from Him could do...and there He is...Jesus, The God who claimed to be older than time & greater than death!

His Majesty. The emperor of Judah. The soaring eagle of eternity. The noble admiral of kingdom. All the splendor of Heaven revealed in a human body just for you & my sins. There is no run-of-the-mill-messiah. He story was extraordinary. He called Himself Divine, yet allowed a minimum-wage Roman soldier to drive a nail into his wrist. He demanded purity, yet stood for the rights of a repentant whore. He called His men to march, yet they refused to allow Him to call Him King. He sent men into all World, yet equipped them with only bended knees & memories of a resurrected carpenter. Oh how great thy Lord...

Has it been a while since you have seen him? If your prayers seem to stale, it probably had. If your faith seems to be trembling, perhaps your vision of Him has blurred. If you can't find power to face your problems, perhaps it is time to face Him. I am fellowshipping with the Lord while I pen down the entry as the Lord our God is always with us:-)

One warning! Something happens to a person who has witnessed His Majesty. He becomes addicted, just like me! One glimpse of the King & you are consumes by a desire to see more of Him & say more about Him. That same Christ will emerge from a wavy figure walking out of desert mirage to become the touchable face of a best friend you can count on, through eternity...

Inspired by

Max Lucardo

You Raise me Up

I was impressed when I open up the Bible just, when the Spirit speaks, "For the Lord will not abandon His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance." Psalm 94:14 [NASB] As I am trying not to 'back-slide' with my close brother in Christ who has influenced on me. A few days back, He shared with me How angry he was with God & his suicide thoughts...

Then & there, the Devil was quick to put thoughts on me as well telling me God has forsaken me. Yet I remember even our Lord, Christ Jesus was 'tested' & He says: Man does not live on bread alone but every words of the living God. The next verse it says, "For judgment will again be righteous, And all the upright in heart will follow it. Who can stand up for me against the evildoers? Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness?" Psalm 94:15-16 [NASB] these are the exact thoughts I have been carrying...

I try talking the brother in Christ down, we spend hours late Friday night till Saturday morning while he let out his anger & I hold my stance in Christ, he did felt better but those hours are hell to me as the Devil cease not to battle us on with spiritual attacks so real, have you ever been through one? Yet it says in the Bible. "In the multitude of my [anxious] thoughts within me, Your comforts cheer & delight my soul!" Psalm 94:19 [Amplified Bible] Oh how true this verse says...

How should I battle on? Shall I remain still? Shall I use my own effort to overcome the trials that seem snow ball into tribulation? "But the Lord has become my High Tower & Defense, & my God the Rock of my refuge. And He will turn back upon them their iniquity & will wipe them out by means of their own wickness; the Lord our God will wipe them out." Psalm 94:22-23 [Amplified Bible] Halleluiah! Halleluiah! The Lord is my High Tower of Defense so is He your Rock of refuge, I know there are brothers & sisters out there suffering from prosecution, yet let us be Still as if Jesus is for us, who can be against us???

Hey Godwyn, what about the title, you raise me up? What is it got to do with former words? Be patient, Amen?! This is the title of a song that was Christ centered. A year plus ago, I wrote about this song when Sister Irene shared with me the song. I know it is not Godincidence when I heard the Song on Godpa's car when he was driving me home as he hardly listen to English titles. Just two days ago I walk pass a music store & it was playing "You raise me up", I felt so much comfort that I purchase the CD though it was sang by Westlife [originated from Josh Groban]

The Lord reminded me He raise me up & brought me tears of joy as I know even I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear...He is with me & you...

You Raise me Up

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

There is no life - no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

* You can watch the MTV of the Song, it's really meaningful

a. By Josh Groban

Go to yahoo & Type in "You Raise me up+Video"
Search Engine will show up on the Top left hand corner the Video search
Click on the 2nd Video box & enjoy...

B. By Westlife

2nd Timothy 2:13

If we are faithless [do not believe & are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word & His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself. [2 Tim 2:13 Amplified Bible] My closest brother in Christ choose now to deny Christ & I found no way to talk him out of it. My mobile was stolen while I was watching 'Munich', losing all my contacts. I discover how vulnerable we are when we depend on technology. Much more unpleasant incidents that quaver my faith...

Have you ever found yourself in such situation & start to doubt the existence of God? God is true to us even when we forget Him, we do not believe in Him, because of the perfect work done by a savior, have you forgotten? If you have, let me share with you my disbelief, His name is Christ Jesus, Son of God...

God's blessings are dispensed according to the riches of his grace, not according to the depth of our faith. God's faithfulness has never depended on the faithfulness of us. He is faithful even when we aren't. When we lack courage, He doesn't. He has made a history out of using people in spite of people, that I choose to think. In my mind one side echoes, "Godwyn don't give up, look up, trust & believe in Jesus. Your optimism is not hollow. Christ has proven worthy. He has shown that he never fails, thought there is nothing but failure is us". Jesus is faithful even when we are not! That's what makes Jesus, our God, our living Savior...

It sounds like an irony isn't it, God made man, Man rejected God. Yet, the truth is God won't give up until He wins You back! Though I might hear nothing now, I know He is speaking. Though I see nothing now, He is acting as with God there are no accidents. Every incident I believe is intended to bring us closer to Him! So what does Jesus do while we are enduring the 'pain'? What does He do while we are in the storm? He prays for us! Really? It is written in the Bible in Mark...

[Mark 6:45-51 NASB] "Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat & go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. After bidding them farewell, He left the mountain to pray. When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, & He was alone on the land. Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, & cried out; for they immediately He spoke with them & said to them, "Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid." Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped;

Jesus was not in the boat while the disciples were in the storm, He wasn't in the boat because He had gone to the hills to pray. Jesus didn't stop praying while His disciples were struggling. When He heard their cries, He remained in prayer. Why? There is always two side of the coin. Either He didn't care, or He believed in prayer. I think we know the correct choice. And you know what? Jesus hasn't changed. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday & today & forever. [Heb 13:8 NASB] But Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. [Heb 7:24-25 NASB]

So where does that leave us? While Jesus is praying & we are in the storm, what are we to do? We do what the disciples did. We row! The disciples rowed most of the night. Marks says that they 'struggled hard' to row the boat. The word struggle is elsewhere translated as 'tormented'. Wasn't easy. Wasn't glamorous. Much of life is spent rowing. Getting out of bed. Fixing lunches. Turning in assignments. Changing diapers. Paying bills. Routine. Regular. More struggle than strut. More wrestling than resting.

I learned that at the right time, God comes. In the right way, He appears. So I choose not to bail out. I choose not to give up! I choose not to lay down the oars! As Jesus is too wise to forget us, too loving to hurt us. When we can't see Him, trust Him. He is praying a prayer that He Himself will answer. I have made my choice, have you? Don't QUIT!