THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD ( PSALM 23 )
Most of us live with fear and contain dread of the future.
The fear that someday we will lose everything even to in death, someday the bottom will fall out.
A fear that the plague will eventually get us.
JESUS- our loving shepherd can lay these fears in us to rest. Consider or think of His
promises given to us in Psalm 23.
If I am fearful of losing my way, He offers me direction.
He leads me beside still waters.
If I am fearful of poverty: He offers me provisions.
I shall not want... My cup overflows
If I am fearful of fatique, tiredness or burn out ; He offers me rest, renewal or re-energisement.
He makes me lie down in green pastures beside still waters. He restores my soul.
When I am fearful of spiritual compromise; He offers me growth / knowledge.
He guides me in the path of righteousness for His name sake.
When I am fearful of loneliness ; He offers me His companionship and solace / braveness.
You are with me, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
If I am fearful of humiliation, he offers me honor.
You anoint my head with oil.
If I am fearful of calamity, He offers me His bountiful kindness and love.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
When I have the fear of rejection or isolation; He offers me His merciful favour.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
If I am fearful of being lost, He offers me His salvations.
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
PSALM 23
The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want,
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads beside quite waters,
He restores my soul,
He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name sake.
Yea, eventhough I walk through the valleys of death,
I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.
Thy rod, and Thy staff,
they protect me,
Thou prepare a table before me,
in the presence of my enemies,
Thou anoint my head with oil,
My cup runs over,
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me,
All the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.
Reference: This piece was adapted from the journal of Mr David Navaraj Peters, my late granduncle who was called to the Lord on the 10th of November 2008. May God bless his soul.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
I AM THE SERVANT OF THE LORD!!
We all know Mary as the mother of Christ, chosen from among all women to bear the child of the Most High God.
" (31) You will be with a child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name
Jesus. (32) He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High." (Luke 1:31-32)
And yet when we look at Mary, there really is nothing about her that we do not have. Physically she was made the same as we were made. But in terms of spirituality, how could we tell?
Speaking about spiritually, how many of us, really believe in the existence of God in everything we do, we see, we feel, hear and taste?
How many of us , really, have entrusted to the Lord all our cares and burdens??
" Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)
How many of us trust that He will show us the way?
" I am the way, the truth and the life." ( John 14:6)
How many of us keep His commandments?
" But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave to you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to obey his commands, to haold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and your soul." (Joshua 22:5)
Even if we do, how many of us obey Christ?
And most of all, how many of us love Him without doubt??
But Mary, she did not doubt. No, she didnt. Not as Zechariah the father of John doubted.
" And now you will be silent and not be able to speak until the day it happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time. " (Luke 1:20)
She was submissive to God's plan, " I am the Lord's servant , may it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1: 38)
How sweet were those words. How very obedient she was. That was the very fact why she was chosen. She had entrusted her entire life into the cares of the Almighty God.
You think its simple, being pregnant when you are yet to marry? She was a virgin when the angel came to her.
" God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth , a town in galilee, (27) to a virgin .... virgin's name was Mary." (Luke 1: 26-27)
And in those days, conceiving a child before marriage was despicable.
And she was already engaged to Joseph!!
" ...pledged to be married to a man name Joseph.." ( Luke 1:27)
Wouldnt she be stoned for allegedly commiting adultery??
" In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women ( caught in adultery)." (John 8:5)
But yet she said, "YES."
Even though she was troubled on how it was to happen and was initially afraid, "Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be "( Luke: 29),
she rejoiced at the very fact that she, among all women was chosen, " (47) my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.... (49) for the Mighty One has done great things for me. (Luke 1: 47-49)
If Mary could do it, why CANT we??
If Mary had cast her cares to the Lord, why DIDNT we??
If Mary could be so obedient, " why CANT we??
Why COULDNT we TRUST the Lord?? Why CANT we LET GO??
Why CANT we just ACCEPT His will???
Why CANT we just LISTEN???
It is easier said than done. I know and you know it. But if Mary could , we could!! If Samuel could, we could!! If Paul could, we could!! We can, we just have to commit to the Lord and trust in His ways. Why worry unnecessarily??
" who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (26) Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? " (Luke 12: 25-26)
It all comes down to this challenge:
How many of us can say I AM THE SERVANT OF THE LORD. MAY IT BE DONE TO BE AS YOU WILL! ???
hopefully , by fulfilling this challenge , we become true witnesses of Christ.
Reference: All scripture adapted from the New International Version of the bible.
" (31) You will be with a child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name
Jesus. (32) He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High." (Luke 1:31-32)
And yet when we look at Mary, there really is nothing about her that we do not have. Physically she was made the same as we were made. But in terms of spirituality, how could we tell?
Speaking about spiritually, how many of us, really believe in the existence of God in everything we do, we see, we feel, hear and taste?
How many of us , really, have entrusted to the Lord all our cares and burdens??
" Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)
How many of us trust that He will show us the way?
" I am the way, the truth and the life." ( John 14:6)
How many of us keep His commandments?
" But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave to you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to obey his commands, to haold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and your soul." (Joshua 22:5)
Even if we do, how many of us obey Christ?
" If you love Me, you will obey what I command." (John 14: 15)
And most of all, how many of us love Him without doubt??
But Mary, she did not doubt. No, she didnt. Not as Zechariah the father of John doubted.
" And now you will be silent and not be able to speak until the day it happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time. " (Luke 1:20)
She was submissive to God's plan, " I am the Lord's servant , may it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1: 38)
How sweet were those words. How very obedient she was. That was the very fact why she was chosen. She had entrusted her entire life into the cares of the Almighty God.
You think its simple, being pregnant when you are yet to marry? She was a virgin when the angel came to her.
" God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth , a town in galilee, (27) to a virgin .... virgin's name was Mary." (Luke 1: 26-27)
And in those days, conceiving a child before marriage was despicable.
And she was already engaged to Joseph!!
" ...pledged to be married to a man name Joseph.." ( Luke 1:27)
Wouldnt she be stoned for allegedly commiting adultery??
" In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women ( caught in adultery)." (John 8:5)
But yet she said, "YES."
Even though she was troubled on how it was to happen and was initially afraid, "Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be "( Luke: 29),
she rejoiced at the very fact that she, among all women was chosen, " (47) my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.... (49) for the Mighty One has done great things for me. (Luke 1: 47-49)
If Mary could do it, why CANT we??
If Mary had cast her cares to the Lord, why DIDNT we??
If Mary could be so obedient, " why CANT we??
Why COULDNT we TRUST the Lord?? Why CANT we LET GO??
Why CANT we just ACCEPT His will???
Why CANT we just LISTEN???
It is easier said than done. I know and you know it. But if Mary could , we could!! If Samuel could, we could!! If Paul could, we could!! We can, we just have to commit to the Lord and trust in His ways. Why worry unnecessarily??
" who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (26) Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? " (Luke 12: 25-26)
It all comes down to this challenge:
How many of us can say I AM THE SERVANT OF THE LORD. MAY IT BE DONE TO BE AS YOU WILL! ???
hopefully , by fulfilling this challenge , we become true witnesses of Christ.
Reference: All scripture adapted from the New International Version of the bible.
JESUS, OUR HOPE!
From the beginning of time, prophets have prophesied the coming of the Messiah - the Promised One.
Isaiah in Isaiah 9: 6 said,
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace.
God Himself had promised to David in 2 Samuel 7: 11-14,
The Lord declares to you that the Lord Himself
will establish a house for you: (12) When your
days are over and you rest with your fathers,
I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who
will some from your own body, and I will establish
his kingdom. (13) He is the one who will build a
house for My name and I will establish the throne
of his kingdom forever. (14) I will be his father and
he will be My son.
How do we know that this son is Jesus Christ?
Luke 4:41 says : Moreover the demons came out of many people, shouting, "You
are the Son of God!"
And how do we know He is the promised one, descendant of David, Isreael's second King???
Again we look at Luke 18: 38: The blind beggar called out, " Jesus, Son of David,
have mercy on me!"
And in another place, " (32) He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, (33) and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and His kingdom will never end." (Luke 1:32-33)
There, 2 out of the many verses in various translations of the Bible that states and verifies that Jesus, born of Mary, was, is and will always be the Son of God, the one promised to be from the line of David, a man who was after God's own heart.
Now, why did I bring this all up?
Why was Jesus even promised to us in the first place? Why did God sent His only son to us?
Let me tell you why....
God on creating the world, created man and woman in His own image to share with Him His life and His glory. This man we know as Adam and the woman, Eve. God loved them so much that He trusted to them the Garden of Eden and all beings that His hands have made only restricting them from the tree of knowledge. But what did they do? Instead of obeying God, their creator, Eve listened to the serpent and ate a fruit from the tree. Tasting that it was good, she shared it with Adam and both soon realised that they were naked and hid from God.
' (8) Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was
walking in the garden in the cool of the day. and they hid from the Lord God among
the trees of the garden.' ( Genesis 3:8)
This was Man's first sin. And this was the sin that banished Adam and Eve from the comfort of Eden. This was the sin that saddened the Lord and made Him doubt His creation. This was also the very sin that drifted Man from God. And this sin is why Jesus came.
This sin caused nations to be in a state of confusion and lost and always searching for the truth. This sin caused the downfall of man.
But God loved us so much, He couldnt bear to watch us drift away. He tried with prophets to bring us back to Him but that failed. He could easily turn our hearts to Him with his majestic powers, afterall it was He who created us, but He wouldnt. He wanted us to choose Him on our own free will. He wanted us to love Him because we WANT to not because we HAVE to. That's why He sent His only son to us; "God loved the world so much that He gave His only son, that whomsoever who believed in Him shall not perish but have an eternal life" (John 3:16) We are His world , His children, His creation.
He sent us Jesus in the form of a man, so that Jesus may feel, know and understand our lives as human. We cannot say that God cannot understand us as He is God and we are mere humans when Jesus himself lived and died a man on earth.
Jesus came bearing this words, " I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to Father
except through me." (John 14:6)
He loved both men and women equally. Examples would be Lazarus, Mary and Martha, the widow of Nain, Jairus, his disciples, his apostles....everyone..He LOVED everyone.
He summarized the 10 commandments into 2 simple ones:
a) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
b) Love your neighbour as yourself.
(Matthew 22: 37-40)
He loved us. So much as to bleed and die for us on the tree of Calvary.
"but He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds, we are
healed." (Isaiah 53: 5)
Yes, by dying on the cross, our sins were forgiven, our souls healed. We are now called the children of light, God's children. We are princes and princesses of the Most High God, King of all kings. Isnt that great?? Jesus is our only hope, our only way and He promised us a guide, the Holy Spirit : "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8)
True. All we have to do is confess that Jesus is Lord of All and at His name, every tongue shall confess and every knee shall kneel. Amen.
Besides, what do we have to fear? Jesus said," Do not be afraid. I have conquered the world."
yes my friends, why fear?? Jesus has conquered all!
Reference:
Verses in green indicate the New Testament while verses in red, the Old Testament. All scripture was adapted from the New International Version of the bible.
Isaiah in Isaiah 9: 6 said,
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace.
God Himself had promised to David in 2 Samuel 7: 11-14,
The Lord declares to you that the Lord Himself
will establish a house for you: (12) When your
days are over and you rest with your fathers,
I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who
will some from your own body, and I will establish
his kingdom. (13) He is the one who will build a
house for My name and I will establish the throne
of his kingdom forever. (14) I will be his father and
he will be My son.
How do we know that this son is Jesus Christ?
Luke 4:41 says : Moreover the demons came out of many people, shouting, "You
are the Son of God!"
And how do we know He is the promised one, descendant of David, Isreael's second King???
Again we look at Luke 18: 38: The blind beggar called out, " Jesus, Son of David,
have mercy on me!"
And in another place, " (32) He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, (33) and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and His kingdom will never end." (Luke 1:32-33)
There, 2 out of the many verses in various translations of the Bible that states and verifies that Jesus, born of Mary, was, is and will always be the Son of God, the one promised to be from the line of David, a man who was after God's own heart.
Now, why did I bring this all up?
Why was Jesus even promised to us in the first place? Why did God sent His only son to us?
Let me tell you why....
God on creating the world, created man and woman in His own image to share with Him His life and His glory. This man we know as Adam and the woman, Eve. God loved them so much that He trusted to them the Garden of Eden and all beings that His hands have made only restricting them from the tree of knowledge. But what did they do? Instead of obeying God, their creator, Eve listened to the serpent and ate a fruit from the tree. Tasting that it was good, she shared it with Adam and both soon realised that they were naked and hid from God.
' (8) Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was
walking in the garden in the cool of the day. and they hid from the Lord God among
the trees of the garden.' ( Genesis 3:8)
This was Man's first sin. And this was the sin that banished Adam and Eve from the comfort of Eden. This was the sin that saddened the Lord and made Him doubt His creation. This was also the very sin that drifted Man from God. And this sin is why Jesus came.
This sin caused nations to be in a state of confusion and lost and always searching for the truth. This sin caused the downfall of man.
But God loved us so much, He couldnt bear to watch us drift away. He tried with prophets to bring us back to Him but that failed. He could easily turn our hearts to Him with his majestic powers, afterall it was He who created us, but He wouldnt. He wanted us to choose Him on our own free will. He wanted us to love Him because we WANT to not because we HAVE to. That's why He sent His only son to us; "God loved the world so much that He gave His only son, that whomsoever who believed in Him shall not perish but have an eternal life" (John 3:16) We are His world , His children, His creation.
He sent us Jesus in the form of a man, so that Jesus may feel, know and understand our lives as human. We cannot say that God cannot understand us as He is God and we are mere humans when Jesus himself lived and died a man on earth.
Jesus came bearing this words, " I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to Father
except through me." (John 14:6)
He loved both men and women equally. Examples would be Lazarus, Mary and Martha, the widow of Nain, Jairus, his disciples, his apostles....everyone..He LOVED everyone.
He summarized the 10 commandments into 2 simple ones:
a) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
b) Love your neighbour as yourself.
(Matthew 22: 37-40)
He loved us. So much as to bleed and die for us on the tree of Calvary.
"but He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds, we are
healed." (Isaiah 53: 5)
Yes, by dying on the cross, our sins were forgiven, our souls healed. We are now called the children of light, God's children. We are princes and princesses of the Most High God, King of all kings. Isnt that great?? Jesus is our only hope, our only way and He promised us a guide, the Holy Spirit : "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8)
True. All we have to do is confess that Jesus is Lord of All and at His name, every tongue shall confess and every knee shall kneel. Amen.
Besides, what do we have to fear? Jesus said," Do not be afraid. I have conquered the world."
yes my friends, why fear?? Jesus has conquered all!
Reference:
Verses in green indicate the New Testament while verses in red, the Old Testament. All scripture was adapted from the New International Version of the bible.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)