Soldier

My spirit echoed through the days, "Let the weak say I am strong, Let the Poor say I am rich & Let the sick say I am Whole." The past weeks of trials lead to tribulation, my younger sister was hospitalized, my work was in huge confusion, and warfare came to the whole family as my mum the last in the family finally was baptized. Total salvation, how bless we are Halleluiah, His grace deeply rooted in us! I hold onto the truth where in 2nd Timothy, 2:1 says, "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus'. [NASB] His grace delivered the family, the fiasco, nights of worries, days of pain...

"Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 2:3 [NASB] we are known to be the good soldier where tribulation built upon our perseverance. "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." 2 Timothy 3:12 [NASB]. Therefore Rejoice even in persecution Amen?!

His foot planted on the serpent's head, Jesus speaks loudly enough that His words echo off all walls in our life. "I am the resurrection & the life, he who believes in me will live, even though he dies; & whoever lives & believes in me will never die." [John 11:25] Do your 'Dare' to believe in this? Too good to be true?...The struggle. The snake. The lie. The enticement. Heart torn, lured. Soul drawn to pleasure, to independence, to importance. Inner agony. Whose will? The choice...

Through the weeks, miracles surfaced, Jesus unfailing love embraces the family. Miracles Divine miracles. These are miracles because they are mysteries. Scientifically explainable? Yes. Reproducible? To a degree...But still they are mysteries. Events that stretch beyond our understanding & their origins in another realm...

God Has opted to display His power daily. Proverbially. Pounding waves. Prism-cast colors. Birth, death, life. We are surrounded by miracles. God is throwing testimonies around us, how we could escape God. But somehow we do. We live in an art gallery of divine creativity & yet we are content to gaze only at the carpet...

Or what is pathetically worst, we demand more. More signs. More proof. More hat tricks. As if Jesus were some vaudeville magician we could summon for a dollar. How have we grown so deaf? Have we grown to immune to awesomeness? Why are we so reluctant to be staggered or thunderstruck?

Perhaps the frequency of the miracles binds us to their beauty. After all, what spice is there in springtime or a tree blossom? Don't the seasons come every year? Aren't there countless seashells just like this one?

Bored, we say ho-hum & replace the remarkable with the regular, the unbelievable with the anticipated. Science & statistics wave their unmagic wand across the face of life, squelching the oohs & aahs & replacing them with formulas & figures.

Would you like to see Jesus? Do you dare be an eyewitness of His Majesty? Then rediscover amazement. The next time you hear a baby laugh or see an ocean wave, take note, Pause & listens as His Majesty whispers so gently, "I'm here."...Soldier

Inspired by:

Max Lucado

Coffee Cuppa

I recieve this article from a sister in Christ, I believe loving is sharing: Enjoy your cup of coffee & Have a great week ahead, May the Lord keep you & Bless you:-)

Coffee Cuppa:

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups -porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive,some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups. Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

So, don't let the cups drive you... enjoy the coffee instead, especially for us, who have Lord in our hearts, "Fear not be glad and rejoice for the Lord will do great things in our lives" [Joel 2:21] Know it, proclaim it, and received it...

My Birthday

I was born on the 9th of April, the day when my cries awake our Father in Heaven. This year, I came to realize my life it's not about me, it's about Him. It's about our daily fellowship with God & knowing the goodness of the Son of God, Christ our savior, our redeemer, our healer, our all & everything, our eternal life...

Our World out there is all about me, the "me-centric" World. Me, myself & Godwyn...Marriages are often ruined because one or both partners are focused on their own happiness. Successful men & women are ruined by our own success, believing we do not need anyone else's input. And for many of us, our life's troubles are magnified because we believe our life is all about us...selfish thoughts, insolent attitudes & greedy hearts...

Believe in the truth & the truth will set you free! The truth? Lead a Christ centered life & start to look upon Jesus & His glory will set you free from all bondages, if only you choose to do so, as Our God we serve is a good God that gives us free-will of choices...

Aren't we all born with a default drive set on selfishness? I want a spouse who makes me happy & co-workers who always ask my opinion. I want weather that suits me & traffic that helps me and a government that serves me. It's all about me. Self-promotion. Self-preservation. Self-centeredness. It's all about me [Godwyn]...We thought self-celebration would make us happy...does it?

We will see our suffering differently when we lead a Christ-centered life. "My pains proves God's absence" will be replaced with "My pain expands God's purpose." God turned the Red Sea into a red carpet. Manna fell. Quail ran. Water bubbled from within a rock. It is only Christ, who can move mountains...

What do we do in time of trouble? " Psalm 50:15 [NASB] says, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, & you will honor me." The brevity of life grants power to abide, not an excuse to bail. Fleeting days don't justify fleeting problems. Fleeting days strengthen us to endure problems. Will your problems pass? No guarantee they will. Will your pain cease? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But Jesus gives us this promise: "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison..." 2 Corinthians 4:17 [NASB]

The words 'weight of glory' conjures up images of the ancient pan scale Remember the blindfolded lady of justice? She holds a pan scale - two pans, one on either side of the needle. The weight of a purchase would be determined by placing weights on one side & the purchase on the other.

God does the same with our struggles. On one side He stacks all our burdens. Famines. Firings. Parents who forgot you. Bosses who ignored you. Bad breaks, bad health, bad days. Stack them up, & watch one side of the pan scale plummet. Now witness God's response. Does He remove them? Eliminate the burdens? No, rather than take them, He offsets them. He places an eternal weight of glory on the other side. Endless joy. Measureless peace. An eternity of Him. Watch what happens as He sets eternity on our scale.

Everything changes! Burdens lifts. The heavy becomes light when weight against eternity. If life is "Just a moment", can't we endure any challenge for a moment? We can be sick for just a moment. We can be lonely just a moment. We can be persecuted for just a moment. We can struggle for just a moment. Can't we? Can't we wait for our peace? It's not about us anyway isn't it? And it's certainly not about now...but for a moment...

Inspired by

Max Lucado

Changes

With life comes changes. Changes are like taxes, it is necessary but unwelcome. My body changes, with lack of sleep more stress element, I fall sick. My faith changes, with more tribulations either I leap ahead & walk in faith or I will fall, not knowing when I will arise...

With changes comes fear, insecurity, sorrow, stress. So what do you do? Hibernate? Take no risks for fear of failing? Give no love for fear of losing? Some opt to. They hold back. A better idea is to look up. Set your bearing on the one & only North Star in the Universe - Jesus. For though life changes, He never does...

"For ever since the creation of the World His invisible nature & attributes, that is, His eternal power & divinity, have been made intelligible & clearly discernible in & through the things that have been made [His handiworks]. So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification]." [Romans 1:20 Amplified Bible] Jesus strength never diminishes. Yours & mine will & has. We aren't as alert in the evening as in the morning. We can't run as fast when we are eighty as when we are twenty. Even the strongest among us must eventually rest...

Daniel 6: 26 [NASB] reads. "For He is the living God & enduring forever, & His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, And His dominion will be forever" Psalmist 59 16-17 [NASB} sings, "But as for me, I shall sing of your strength; Yes I shall joyfully sing of Your loving kindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress. O my strength I will sing praises to You; For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me loving kindness."

Need a strong hand to hold? You'll always find one in Christ. His strength never changes. Need unchanging truth to trust? Try Jesus. His truth never wavers. "The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever. Isaiah 40:8 [NASB] Our outlook may change. My convictions may sway, but "the Scripture cannot be broken" [John 10:35 NKSV]. And since it can't, since his truth will not waver, God's ways will never alter...

God will always hate sin & love sinners, despise the proud & exalt the humble. Christ will always convict the evildoer & comfort the heavy-hearted. He never changes direction mid-stream. recalibrates the course midway home or amends the Heavenly Constitution. God will always be the same!

No one else will. Lover call you today & scorn you tomorrow. Companies follow pay raises with pink slips. Friends applaud you when you drive a classic & dismiss you when you drive a dud. Not Jesus! Jesus is "always the same" [Psalm 102:27 ESV]. With Him "there is no variation or shadow due to change" [James 1:17 ESV].

Catch God in a bad mood? Won't happen. Fear exhausting His grace? Think He's given up on you? Wrong. Did He not made a promise to you? "God is not a human being, and He will not lie. He is not a human, & does not change His mind. What He says He will do, He does. What He promises, He makes come True." [Numbers 23:19 NCV]. Jesus will never be sullen or sour, sulking or stressed. His strength, truth, ways, & love will never change. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday & today & forever." [Hebrews 13:8 NASB]

Jesus plans will never change, because He makes His plans in complete knowledge. Forget hopeful forecasting. He declares "the end from the beginning" [Isaiah 46:10]. Nothing takes Him by surprises. "The plan of the Lord stand firm forever." [Psalm 33:11 NIV]

The cross will not lose its power. The blood of Christ will not fade in strength. Heaven will never announce the collapse of any failure. God will never return to the drawing board. "What He does in time He planned for eternity. And all that He planned in eternity He carries out in Time."

"The Lord almighty has spoken - Who can change His plans? When His hands moves, Who can stop Him?" [Isaiah 14:27 NLT] God never changes. Everyone else does. Everything else will...

What changes are you facing? Age withers the strongest bodies. With life comes change. But with change comes the reassuring appreciation of heaven's permanence. "Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands" [2 Timothy 2:19] His house will stand forever...

Inspired by:

Max Lucado