Wilderness

Sister was discharged, not because she is well, she feared staying in the hospital [at a young age, I can understand]. Thus, medical procedures are being arranged in this month for out-patient medical procedures. I just pray with perfect love, it casts out fear. She was diagnosed with possible periodic paralysis with history of laparoscopic adhesiolysis & appendicectomy...

My Godpa who is a doctor, never was sick till such extreme was admitted to the hospital with the ambulance last Wednesday morning collapsing at home, before he could visit his patients, how ironic isn't it? He is very dear to me, in fact I am closer to him than my Dad. Physicians did all kinds of test, believe he might have suffered Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) that might lead to a stroke if not treated with care. Discharged on Saturday morning, with prayers, medication & a good rest, he will be well but he has yet willingly to pray the Salvation prayer...I'm trying. For the weeks, I keep telling myself daily I can do all things through Christ! Indeed, it is finished...

Grief can lead you into the desert. So can divorce or debt or depression. Been through transitions lately? A transfer? Job promotion? Job demotion? A new house? If so, be wary. The wilderness might be near. How do you know when you're in one? You are lonely. Whether in fact or in feeling no one can help, understand or rescue you. And your struggle seems endless. In the Bible the number 40 is associated with lengthy battles. Noah faced the rain for 40 days. Moses faced the desert for 40 days. Jesus faced temptation for 40 nights. Please note, He didn't face temptation for 1 day out of 40. "Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil" The battle wasn't limited to 3 questions. Jesus spends a month & ten days slugging it out with satan. The wilderness is a long, lonely winter...

A tough marriage can make a good man look twice at the wrong woman. Extended sickness can makes even the stoutest soul consider suicide. Stress makes the smokiest nightclub smell sweet. The wilderness weakens resolve. For that reason, the wilderness is in the maternity ward for addictions. Binge eating, budget-busting gamble, excessive drinking, pornography - all short-term solutions to deep-seated problems. Typically they have no appeal, but in the wilderness you give thought to the unthinkable....

Second Adam has come to succeed where the first Adam failed. Jesus however, faces a test more severe. Adam was tested in a garden; Christ is in a stark wasteland. Adam faced satan on a full stomach; Christ is in the midst of a fast. Adam had a companion: Eve. Christ has no one. Adam was challenged to remain sinless in a sinless World. Christ, on the other hand, is challenged to remain sinless in a sin-ridden World. Trust His word. Don't trust your emotions. In the wilderness heed only the voice of God...

Again, Jesus is our model. Remember how satan teased Him? "If you are the Son of God..."[Luke 4:3,9 NCV] Why would satan say this? Because he knew what Christ had heard at the baptism. "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased [Matt. 3:17] "Are you really God's son? Satan is asking. Then comes the dare - "Prove it!" Prove it by doing something: "Tell the stone to become bread" [Luke 4:3] "If you worship before me, it shall all be Yours" [v.7] "Throw yourself down from here" [v.9]

What a subtle seduction! Satan doesn't denounce God; he simply raises doubts about God. [Ever caught in one?] Is His work enough? Earthly works - like bread changing or temple jumping - are given equal billing with heavenly works. He attempts to shift, ever so gradually, our source of confidence away from God's promise & toward our performance. Jesus doesn't bite the bait. No heavenly sign is requested. He doesn't solicit a lightning bolt; He simply quotes the Bible. 3 Temptations. 3 Declarations. "It is written..." [v.4 NCV]. "It is written..." [v. 8 NCV]. It is said... [v.12]

Jesus' survival choice is Scripture. If the Bible was enough for His wilderness, shouldn't it be enough for ours? Don't miss the point here. Everything you & I need for dessert survival is in the Book. We simply need to heed it. "God is...higher than the heaven." [Job 22:12 TLB]. "The LORD is high above all nations" [Ps 113:4]. Can He not see what eludes us? Doesn't He wants to get us out & bring us home? Then we should do what Jesus did. Rely on the Scripture. Doubt your doubts before you doubt your beliefs. God is constantly & aggressively communicating with the World through His word. God is speaking still!

Hang in there. Your time in the desert will pass. Jesus' did. "The devil left Him; & behold, angels came & began to minister to Him" [Matt. 4:11] Till the angels come to you:

Trust His word - We need a voice to lead us out.
Trust His work - We need a friend like Jesus to take our place.

Thank God we have One who will. My wilderness in these 16 days, I survive with "I can do all things through Christ". So can you...

Inspired by:

Max Lucado

Loneliness

Loneliness, a word familiar to us and many has endured. I read an interesting material by Max Lucado that reflects my 17 years wondering in the wilderness though I accept Christ at a young age of 13. I never have any relationship with Jesus till I hit rock bottom 3 years ago. Here the story goes...

Godwyn's struggles weren't unusual. He was the paragon of the confused human being. Half of his life was fantasy, half was nightmare. He was not a social outcast. He was respectable. He hosted parties. He wore designer clothes & had an apartment that overlooked a World class casino. Though surrounded by people, he was on an island. Though he had many acquaintances, he had few friends. Though he has many lovers, he had little love. Godwyn felt so old. Unloved. Unwanted. Abandoned. Used up. He wants to cry & sleep forever...

Loneliness. It's a cry. A moan, a wail. It's a gasp whose origin is the recessed of our souls. Can you hear it? The abandoned child. The divorcee. The quiet home. The empty mailbox. The long days. The longer nights. A one-night stand. A forgotten birthday. A silent mobile phone. Cries of loneliness. Listen again. Tune out the traffic & turn down the TV. The cry is here. Our cities are full of Godwyns. You can hear their cries. You can hear them in the convalescent home among the sighs & the shuffling feet. You can hear them in the prisons among the moans of shame & the calls for mercy.

This moan is a minor key knows all spectrums of society. From the top to the bottom. From the failures to the famous. From the poor to the rich. From the married to the single. Godwyn was not alone. Many of you have been spared this cruel cry. Oh, you have been homesick or upset a time or two. But despair? Far from it. Suicide? Of course not. Be thankful that it hasn't knocked on your door. Pray that it never will. If you have yet to fight this battle, you are welcome to read on if you wish, but I'm really writing to someone else...

I am writing to those who know this cry firsthand. I'm writing to those of you whose days are book ended with broken hearts and long evenings. I am writing to those of you who can find a lonely person simply by looking in the mirror. For you, loneliness is a way of life. The sleepless nights. The lonely bed. The distrust. The fear of tomorrow. The unending hurt. When did it begin? In your childhood? At the divorce? At retirement? At the cemetery? When the kinds left home?

None knows that you are lonely. On the outside you are packaged perfectly. Your smile is quick. Your job is stable. Your clothes are sharp. Your waist is thin. Your calendar is full. Your walk brisk. Your talk impressive. But when you look into the mirror, you fool no one. When you are alone, the duplicity ceases & the pain surfaces...

The most gut-wrenching cry of loneliness in history came not from a prisoner or a widow or a patient or Godwyn. It came from a hill, from a cross, from a Messiah. "My God, my God," He screamed, "Why did you abandon me!" Never have words carried so much hurt. Never has one being been so lonely. And now on Skull's hill, the sin bearer is again alone. Every lie ever told, every object ever converted, every promise ever broken is on His shoulders. He is sin...

God looks away. The despair is darker than the sky. The two have been one are now two. Jesus, who had been with God for eternity is now alone. The Christ, who was an expression of God, is abandoned. The Trinity is dismantled. The Godhead is disjointed. The unity is dissolved. It is more Jesus can take. He withstood the beatings & remained strong at the mock trials. He watched in silence as those He loved ran away. He did not retaliate when the insults were hurled nor did He scream when the nails pierced His wrists. But when God turned His head, that was more than He could handle.

"My God!" The wail rises from parched lips. The holy heart is broken. The sin bearer screams as He wanders in the eternal wasteland. Out of the silent sky come the words screamed by all who walk in the desert of loneliness. "Why? Why did you abandon me?" Sounds familiar some how? I can't understand it. I honestly cannot. Why did Jesus do it? Oh, I know, I know. I have heard the official answers. "To gratify the old law." "To fulfill prophecy." And these answers are right. They are. But there is something more here. Something very compassionate. Something yearning. Something personal...

I kept thinking of all the people who cast despairing eyes toward the dark heavens & cry "Why?" And I imagine Him I imagine Him listening. I picture His eyes misting & a pierced hand brushing away a tear. And although He may offer no answer, although He may solve no dilemma, although the question may freeze painfully in midair, He who also was once alone, understands.

Yet know this, Christ did this so that He can say, "I will never desert you nor will I ever forsake you!" Heb 13:5 [NASB] "I am the same yesterday & today forever!" Heb 13:8 [NASB]

P:S Please Pray With Us [29 August 2006]

My younger sister, Joyce had been admitted to the hospital [Doctor said it might take at least one week or more to diagnose], for her long-standing problems that many doctors could not diagnose.

She is at a gentle age of 16 but had gone through innumerable pain at various medical Institutions. Please pray for the Lord's wisdom to be anointed with the doctors examining her, in receipt of the cause of the medical issue, unravel her misery once & for all.

The fact: She was hospitalized. The Truth: The Lord had healed her on the cross! Amen?!

In 1st John 4:17 [NASB] says, "...He is, so also are we in this World." Jesus is perfectly well, so also is Joyce [We] in this World! Amen?!

Inspired By:

Max Lucado

Abandoned

The week before where I was down with gastric flu, I felt 'abandoned' as no one was at home. Parents were off for functions & my siblings were busy with their church activities. The complete quietness was deafening...

Abandoned by family? Abandoned by a spouse? Abandoned by big business. But nothing compares to being abandoned by God. On the Cross, Jesus cried out a loud shout, "Eli Eli, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "My God my God Why Have You Forsaken me?" [Matt 27:46 NASB] Our Father in Heaven abandoned His Only Son [Earth's only sinless soul] so that we can live through eternity! God loves sinners but hate sins, thus Jesus was the only way out for our salvation! Oh how Great is our God Amen?!

Abandon. The house that no one wants. The child no one claims. The parent no one remembers. The Savior no one understands. He pierces the darkness with heaven's loneliest question: "My God, My God, Why did you abandon me?"

In this hour Jesus is anything but righteous. But His mistakes aren't His own. "Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so we would stop living for sin & start living for what is right" [1 Peter 2:25 NCV] Christ called all our sins in His body...

May I get specific for a moment? May I talk about sin? Dare I remind you & me our past is laced with outbursts of anger, stained with night of godless passion, & spotted with undiluted greed? Suppose your past was made public? Suppose you were to stand on a stage while a film of every secret & selfish second was projected on the screen behind you?

Would you not crawl beneath the rug? Would you not scream for Heavens to have mercy? And would you not feel just a fraction...just a fraction of what Jesus felt on the cross? The icey displeasure of Sin-Hating God?

Jesus carried all our sins in His body...See Jesus on the cross? That's a gossiper hanging there. See Jesus? Embezzler. Liar. Bigot. See the crucified carpenter? He's a wife Beater. Porn addict & murderer. See Bethlehem's boy? Call Him by His other names - Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden. Hold it Godwyn, Don't you lump Jesus with evildoers. Don't you place His name in the same sentence with theirs! I didn't. He did. Indeed He did more. More than place His name in same sentence, He placed Himself in their place. And yours...

With hands nailed open, He invited Jesus,” Threat me as you would treat them!" And God did. In an act that broke the heart of the Father, yet honored the holiness of Heaven, sin-purging judgment flow over the sinless Son of the ages. The lamb of God who took away the sin of the World...

"My God, my God, why did you abandon me?" Why did Christ scream those words? So we'll never have to.

Inspired by:

Max Lucado

Mattew 6

For days, I rest in pain being diagnosed firstly having irritable bowel, with a second review from the doctor that I am suffering from gastric flu. Quiet time with the Lord daily is my main source of enduring the physical pain while I have heaps to share but the pain kept me away from writing my new entry...it's not about me but all about Jesus as without Him, I am just an empty vessel that makes the most noise...

Since the start of the day, Matthew 6:33 kept echoing in my mind, "But seek [aim at & strive after] first of all His kingdom & His righteousness [His way of doing & being right], & then all these things taken together will be given you besides.]" Matt 6:33 [Amplified Bible] The Lord said, Seek me first, I will give you all you need! Halleluiah! The next line read, "So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will have worries & anxieties of it's own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble." Matt 6:34 [Amplified Bible] I have been worrying about everything from family, friends to work. Yet the Lord said, Not to worry as we are the Children of Most High God Amen?! A good God who loves us not to base upon our obedience but the Grace of His son, Christ Jesus...

"Christ in you the hope of glory". "In that day you will know that I am in my father & you in Me, & I in you." John 14:20 NASB The Lord says, "I am" & that is the mystery of the gospel of...Christ Jesus

Jesus is in you & me! Christ is the force in you, & He will do what you cannot! Can't stop drinking? Christ can. And He lives within you. Can't stop worrying? Christ can. And He lives within you. Can't stop forgive the jerk, forget the past, or forsake your bad habits? Christ can! And He lives within you...With Christ in you, you have a million resources that you did not have before!

Through my short episode of physical trial, I realize one thing, God seems less interested in talent and more interested in trust. When we assist or resist, we miss God's great grace. We miss out the reason we were placed on earth. "I have been crucified with Christ; & it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; & the life which I now live in flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me & gave Himself up for me." Gal 2:20 [NASB]

My steps, but Christ leading. My heart, but His love beating in me, through me, with me. So much Him, so little of me that in my eyes it's Him they see. No Longer I, but Christ in me.

Inspired by:

Max lucado

Sa Tan

The coach shouted instructions to the players frantically, hoping to win the mindset of the opponent, the reward? A goal for the winning team. The devil whispering lies into our mind, the reward? Another lost soul, back slide by his deceptions...

The violent rages of a father. The secret binges of a mother. The sudden rebellion of a teenager. Maxed-out credit cards. Internet pornography. Satan does not sit still. Spiritual warfare as much as you can deny, it is real...

Self-imposed pain. The demoniac used rocked. We are more sophisticated; we use drugs, sex, work, violence, & food. Obsession with death & darkness. Even unchained, the wild man loitered among the dead. Evil feels at home there. Communing with the deceased, sacrificing the living, a morbid fascination with death & dying - this is not the work of God...

Endless restlessness. The man on the eastern shore screamed the day & night [Mark 5:5] Isolation. The man is all alone in his suffering. Such is Satan’s plan. "Be well balanced [temperate, sober of mind], be vigilant & cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon & devour." 1 Peter 5:8 [Amplified Bible] Fellowship will foils his work. & Jesus. Jesus wrecks his work. Christ steps out of the boat with both pistols blasting. "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" [Mark 5:8 NASB]. No chitchat, No niceties. No salutations. Demons deserve no tolerance. They throw themselves at the feet & mercy of Christ...

"My name is Legion; for we are many." & he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. [Mark 9-10, NASB] Legion is a Roman military term. A roman legion involved six thousand soldiers. To envision that many demons inhabiting this man is frightening but not unrealistic. The demons are not only numerous, they are equipped. A legion is a battalion in arms. Satan & his friends come to fight. Hence, we are urged to 'take the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, & having done everything, to stand firm" [Eph. 6:13]

"We are fighting against forces & authorities & against rulers of darkness & powers in the spiritual world" [Eph 6:12 CEV]. The devil is a strong devil. But and this is the point of passage, in Jesus's presence, the devil is a wimp. Satan is to Jesus what a mosquito is to an atomic bomb. How hell's court cowers in Christ's presence! Demons bow before him, solicit him, & obey him. They can't even lease a pig without His permission. Then how do we explain Satan's influence? Satan can disturb us, but he cannot defeat us. The head of the serpent is crushed by Jesus! Halleluiah! Thank you Jesus...

"God disarmed the evil rulers & authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the cross of Christ." [Col. 2:15 NLT] So how does that leave us? Confident. The punch line of the passage is Jesus' power over Satan. One word from Christ, & the demons are swimming with the swine, & the wild man is 'clothed and in his right mind" [Mark 5:15] Just one command! No séance needed. No hocus-pocus. No chants were heard or candles lit. Hell is an anthill against heaven's steamroller. Jesus "commands...evil spirits, & they obey Him" [Mark 1:27 NCV] The snake in the ditch & Lucifer in the pit- both have met their match...

And yet, both stir up dust long after their defeat. For that reason through confident, we are still careful. Satan spooks our work, disrupts our activities, & leaves us thinking twice about where we step. Which we need to do. Alertness is needed. Panic is not. The serpent still wiggles & intimidates, but he has no poison. He is defeated, and he knows it! "He knows his time is short" [Rev. 12:12 CEV]...

"Little children, you are of God [you belong to him] & have [already] defeated & overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He who lives in you is greater [mightier] than he who is in the World. [1 John 4:4 Amplified Bible]. Believe it. Trust the work of your Savior. "So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], & he will flee from you. [James 4:7 Amplified Bible] "Draw near to God & He will draw near to you." [James 4:8 NASB]...

Inspired by:

Max Lucado