HAVE YOU NOT KNOWN. HAVE YOU NOT HEARD.

Isaiah 40:28-31 (Amplified Bible) - Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

The everlasting God, the Lord and Creator of the ends of the earth does not faint or grow weary. What a God we worship. He is super-duper great and wonderful. We should never doubt His goodness. He gives power to those who are weary. He gives strength when we are wearied from the many onslaughts of the enemies of life. Sometimes we are not sure what hits us. We are not looking for trials. We are not searching for trouble. But life itself does not leave us alone. As long as we are here in this broken world anything unpleasant can happen. It is not always bad – maybe a little – but it certainly will shake us out of our comfort zone. Even in those circumstances He increases strength – causing it to multiply and making it to abound – so that we will be renewed. God did not promise us a trouble-free life, trials-protection scheme and zero-temptation pathway BUT he promises changed and renewed strength when we are faint, wearied and exhausted emotionally and spiritually.

I remembered a song by Phil Driscoll entitled Soldier. The song speaks of believers are soldiers engaging in the battles of life and returning home from the battlefield discouraged, wearied and exhausted in our spirits.  There have been long hours and days digging deep into the trenches with no sign of relief. There have been battle scars, wounds, weariness, exhaustion, doubt, fear and uncertainty all around. But the song ends it this way: when the day is over, when the night comes and you lie down on your bed REMEMBER you are still a child – a child of God.

Especially those of us who are serving the Lord; feeling weary and tired battling through tough situations, difficult people and relationships, and engaging in spiritual battle and warfare – we need to know clearly that when we put down our fighting gear for the night to rest a little we remember we are still His child. We are our Father’s sons and daughters. We may be soldiers for Christ in this battle torn world advancing the Kingdom of God but we are still His children – loved by Him with an everlasting love. He will renew our strength. He will cause us to mount up with wings like eagles. We will soar above the clouds – above our circumstances and into the very arms of the Father’s warm embrace. We will have abundant strength in the weary-land.

Whenever I feel the strain and the weight of responsibility in the work of the Lord, I needed to stop on my track, pause for a moment, and go into the chamber of my King. It is there that I would receive renewed strength and the comfort of the Lord. It is there in His presence that I am once reminded that I am His child and I belong to Him. He loves me with an everlasting love. No weapon forms against me will prosper. Nothing can separate me from the love of God. The devil cannot snatch me out of the palms of His hand.

Nothing can compare with the time a child has in the presence of his Father. His abiding presence removes all weariness of self-imposed expectations, all frustrations of the unexplained dynamic of relationships and unexpected circumstances and all fears of unknown paths that we know we have to walk through. Like Isaiah, in quietness and confidence, shall be my strength. It is learning to rest in Him completely – confident trust and quiet faith!!

Father God, I love you! 

Today's Spirituality: Pandering to the Drama of Some Side Show Artists?

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THANK YOU.

THE STILL SMALL VOICE OF GOD

The cacophony of secular ideas and thoughts have slowly but surely silenced the still small voice of God calling us to gaze upward into His countenance, to emanate the light of His glory, and to surrender to His perfect will. We are being bifurcated in our allegiance; on one hand, we pledge to follow Him all the way, but on the other hand we are drawn to the stirring of the growing barbarians – the relapse to neo-paganism where we make our own gods out of our hearts and our minds.

Let us stop on our track, pause for a moment, before we go any further down the path of foolishness or in a cruder form, a sublime stupidity. Why? How could we ever live our lives without the Lord? How could we even try to make sense of our lives by ourselves? We need the Lord. We need to learn to gaze into His face. We need to surrender to the perfect will of God!

There are no options and no substitutions to being in the presence of God. It is better to spend a day in His court than a thousand elsewhere. It is better to hear the still small voice of God and walk in obedience than justifying and debating within ourselves because of the rational yet dissonant sound of secular ideas and philosophies. We have the Word of God. We have the Spirit of God. We need to open our hearts to the leading of the Lord.

I am struggling with my mental processes, my imagination, what the Bible says, and what I see within and without the church. All of these have given me a spiritual “headache”. As an example, I don’t see how people could say so easily “God said these” or “God spoke to me” or “God told me to tell you.” How could we use terms like these so easily and freely? How do we know that we know He has spoken? What is the indication? What is the sign that He said it? Is it audible? Is it an impression? Could our impression be wrong? How often have we been right? Is there a possibility of presumptions and assumptions when we said it so freely? If we could use it so freely, then those who can’t means what – they are not in tune, not in close intimacy?

Yet I can’t deny the fact that God would choose to do that either. I have read in the Bible how he had spoken in a still small voice to the prophets. It is a known fact that God does speak in such fashion.

So what should we do? I believe that it’s a learning process for all of us. I think I will have to press in and press through, patiently wait upon the Lord and learn to hear and recognized His voice when He speaks. There’s no other way to go. Even if we said that He speaks through His Word we still need that still small voice reassuring us from deep within that indeed He meant for that text, that passage or that portion in the Bible to be personal to you. Perhaps one of the most assuring thought from the Scriptures is found in Isaiah 30:18-21 –

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,  yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

I think now is the time when God’s grace is found in abundance. He will be gracious to our cries. He will hear us as soon as we call upon Him. Isaiah said that even though God gave us “the bread of adversity and the water of affliction” – times of testing and trials – yet in the midst of it all the Holy Spirit, the Teacher of righteousness will not hide anymore. We will see the Teacher of righteousness and will hear when He leads and guides us with the still small voice from behind us – “this is the way, walk in it.”

AM I A PESSIMISTIC CYNIC, A CONFUSED WAYFARER AND A FRUSTRATED SINNER?

After being a Christian for so many years I still struggled...just like Paul said: I do not do what I should and I did what I should not have committed. It is very disconcerting when deep within oneself there is this struggle like hell still going on. Recently, I found myself struggling once again in an area of my life that should have been dealt with long ago. I hated myself for falling into it. I know that it displeases God. I don’t need spectacular or divine revelation to make me realize that this is SIN. Yet, I walked into it even with such knowledge of wrong-doing. I try to justify by saying that I can’t help it, that I can’t stop it, and that I don’t have the strength to resist it. We can try to make a case for it. It makes no difference to God.

That’s when I realize that we can present ourselves in the best behaviour; we can talk our way through a convincing sermonette; we can play-act perfectly with our piety. But in our inner world we struggle like hell. In our inner being a war broke out. In our soul there is no hiding place for our indefensible case – we are broken, weak and far off from the mark.  

Maybe you may think that I am a pessimistic cynic. I would not argue with you on that. Maybe you may term me as a confused wayfaring stranger. Yes, that’s true. But I am not confused. It is my inner struggle that causes me to ponder over and over again. Maybe you may see me as a frustrated sinner trying hard to live a true Christian life in this sinful world. I may have to agree with you but still it is too justifying on my part because this may give the implication that God is a tyrant and enjoys seeing us squirm. It would nullify the grace of God. It would make God look weak. It would be offensive to the Holy Spirit. It would have made Calvary a wasted cause for Jesus Christ.

I think I am just winning. I think I am moaning and groaning. I think I should just stop it – stop this pity-party, stop sinning, stop justifying and run into the name of the Lord. The Word of God said it – the righteous shall run into the name of the Lord and they shall be save. Salvation comes from acknowledging our sin, our weakness and our inability to save ourselves. That’s when we receive the grace of God and see the brighter side of life. I know that my struggle will continue to haunt me. I know that temptations will continue to jump at me round the corners and everywhere. But what do I do? But what can I do?

That’s where I am envious of people who seem to know the Heavenly Father so well. They use terms of endearment and intimacy. I could never come to a place of using such endearing terms like “papa” or “daddy” of my Heavenly Father if even for a second I felt that I am not meaning it with my ongoing thoughts or with my previous actions. Such terms of intimacy and endearment should never easily fall from our lips unless we mean it – I mean we mean it, is backed up with our attitude and our conduct. I still stand by what I said in one of my Facebook post: Sometimes I wonder when we "papa love me", "papa this and papa that" are we actually suffering from insecurity under the guise of the grace of God or do we really, really? I am just saying.

Please do not interpret what I have written here as a man with an unrelenting complains and cynicism. I am trying to look squarely at it in my own inner world – my own struggle with sin, with insecurity, with such glaring weakness. My biggest question is this: Father, why do you still love me for who I am after what I have done?

Thank you Lord for your intrinsic love manifested through your grace and mercy. In your grace I received what I don’t deserve, that is, eternal life. In your mercy I did not received what I do deserve, that is, eternal damnation.

Lord I believe! Help my unbelief. Give me the strength to call you ABBA Father, Daddy God and mean it from the bottom of my heart!

HUMANS - BEAUTIFUL CREATURES BUT SELFISH

People are very selfish creatures. We are given the freedom to choose, free will so to speak, and we undoubtedly choose to be selfish – care for ourselves and live for ourselves. We don’t live by instinct like animals do. We live by such incredible ability to think, to process, and to decide that is totally free from any manipulation. God gave us that free will. We are free moral agent. But I have a sense that we have the propensity towards selfishness.

Sometimes we get the same selfish treatment from our supposedly BFF (Best Friend Forever). Where is loyalty? Where is the spirit of camaraderie, solidarity or comradeship? Even in our vocation there is no longer loyalty – no longer longevity of service. There is always a need to move up the ladder. There is always this need to get ahead, to win, and to achieve. It’s not about the passion to work where we have a cause. The cause is no longer the company, the church or a particular ministry or activity. The cause has turned inward – what is in it for us! The cause is about our success. We are selfish and arrogant!

Even in the church today – ministry involvement is not based on genuinely wanting to help the church succeed in advancing the Kingdom but how much I am worth. If I am not being valued, appreciated and recognized or if I am being slighted I walk. Whatever happened to the call of God? Whatever happened to submission? Whatever happened to Paul’s admonition: “in all things preferring others better than ourselves.”

Whenever I see such things being played out in the church I developed jadedness in my spirit. It begins to sap away every ounce of spiritual energy still left in me. After 28 years of serving God, I have seen so many people come and go – especially those who have been in ministry and in Christian leadership. I remember when God called me long ago it is not a matter of what I can get out of it but rather how much I am willing to surrender, to sacrifice, and to allow God to do whatever He wants to do in me! This is not happening today!

Perhaps, the worse is also not about ministry involvement but about the sheer fact of coming to church on Sundays. I noticed that there are people who no longer come to church regularly. There are many reasons to it: apathy and indifferent, operating under wrong priorities, church is boring and attending church becomes not as important as a good sleep-in, running marathon, bicycling, movies vacation or even work in the office.

My conclusion: urban Christians have slipped into the mold of secularism, drowned in the cesspool of consumerism and spiraled down the tunnel of affluence. We work for play. We accumulate to dispense lavishly. We educate for status and stature. We get in the game for ourselves, our cause and our momentary happiness – oh, so that’s what we think!

Isaiah 60:1-2 - Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.   

Revive us once again! Reveal your glory once again! Establish your reign within our hearts once again!

LIFE IS AWESOME, LIFE IS BURDENSOME

I think life is a paradox – full of absurdity, irony and contradictions within contradictions!

Life can be awesome – when things are fine and dandy, when friends are nice and lovely, when comfort in life is lighting up all around. There is no care in the world. We sing with gusto: “God is good all the time.” The blessings of the Lord seem to be chasing us and we are on spiritual cloud nine!

We live in the Father’s unconditional love – His goodness and mercy follows us all the days of our lives – and we are elated, ecstatic, jubilant, euphoric, overjoyed and in seventh heaven! Oh what a thought: God’s goodness is for us and with us and in us! There is no severity of God because we are living in the grace dispensation – only good. Pain is a curse. Pain is not in God’s vocabulary.

I wish that’s the kind of wonderful picture of a Christian life at all times. I wish we can live in this sugar-coated, rainbow-painted, and chocolate-filled dream world. Life is awesome, indeed!

Life is burdensome too. Sometimes, our fantasy world comes crushing down.  It’s twelve midnight for Cinderella. Someone asked a question: If the shoe exactly fits Cinderella’s feet why did it come off? It’s a mystery just like life itself. Princess Fiona (in the movie Shrek) was different by day and by night! I think life is full of absurdity and irony. It is contradictions within contradictions! Many times when it rain, it pours! Life can be full of unusual events – painful ones, depressive ones, and mysterious ones too! I know what it means to have my world come crushing down. I know what it means to be overwhelmed with anxiety, worries and fear. When my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the Rock that is higher than I

Whoever tells us that there is no pain in this world is insane. Whoever blames the government, the people around us, the system, and family upbringing are really out of touch with reality. I will blame it on Sigmund Freud though! We are then no better that Adam and Eve!

Who can blame us mere mortal when we desire heaven, when we desire the quick return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. How can we not understand why the black slaves of yesteryears sang songs about Beulah Land, about a land that is fairer than day? How can we not pine for our Bridegroom-King? Our longing for the return of our Lord is real, is emotional, and is pivotal to our faith journey!

Think with me – we cannot bear to be alone without people around to love and be loved. We called that loneliness and depression. We long for relationships. We long for friendships. Yet we cannot stand people and wish we are alone and relationship becomes burdensome. We wish we could disappear somewhere and be alone. We called that relationship overload and depression!  Take marriage: there are those who are INSIDE who wish to get OUT and there are others who are OUTSIDE dying to get IN! Hello – there’s such a thing as a gift of celibacy.

There are more paradoxes in the teachings of Jesus than we care to ponder upon. Jesus teaches us that in order to live we need to die. That doesn’t make sense! He said that in order to receive we need to give. There, it’s illogical. Another one: in order to go up we need to go down. That’s why my conclusion is these: life is awesome, life is burdensome. My attitude in life is to praise God in whatever situation that I may be in – in good times and in bad times – but in all times be contented.

My simple life philosophy: in whatsoever state that I am in I choose to be contented! I will see life as awesome – walking in relationship with my Father in heaven. I will see life as burdensome – only for the brief span on this earth because this world is not my home. I will plough through life. I will bear with the pain, the discomfort, the betrayal, the anxiety and stress, and the evilness of a broken world. I will learn to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation in the midst of darkness. I will not let the evil, the violence and the injustices in this world keep me from appreciating the beauty of humanity and the beauty of relationships. The goodness and greatness of God will be my daily praise and meditation. I will praise the Lord at all times. I will worship and adore Him for He is good!

How about you? 

MEDITATION OF HIS WONDROUS WORKS

Psalm 119:28b – “.....I will meditate on your wondrous works.”

One of the Sunday school songs that I remembered is this: “Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done.” If I were to start counting the blessings of the Lord for the past 55 years of my life I would still not do justice to what He has done for me. The Psalmist knows that, the prophet of old knows that, the disciples know than, and Apostle Paul knows that too!

The work of God is a wondrous work – His work of creation, His work of redemption through His Son Jesus Christ, the provision of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us every moment of the day, and His soon return to establish His everlasting Kingdom on earth. He sent His angels charge over us. If that is not wondrous, awesome and incredible what is?

In Isaiah 61:3 we read of the comfort of God on His people: “To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” This is one of the most comforting words of the Lord for His people. He gave us beauty for ashes. God acknowledges that there are times of difficulties – the ash heap of life – that we all face due to the fallen-ness of man and the consequences of sins. He did not gloss over the reality that we all face the “ash heap” of failures, betrayal, and disappointment in life. He did not promise us a bed of roses. He did not say all our problems will be gone. He promises us beauty out of the ash heap of life. He promises us that He can restore, revive, and transform all ugliness, brokenness, and cracks in our lives and make it beautiful in His time.

He gave us the oil for mourning. Oil almost always speaks of joy of the Holy Spirit. He acknowledges that there will be times in this broken world that we experiences sadness, separation, and unanswerable questions of difficult life circumstances and occurrences. He knows that there will be mourning – the flow of unmitigated tears, the pain of sudden separations, and the uncertainty that accompanied a lost. Therefore, He promises us the oil of joy for mourning. The Psalmist said that sorrows may endure for the night but joy shall come in the morning. He promises us that joy will finally win – cross over the finishing line!

He gave us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. We will be clothed with praise in replacement of the heart of heaviness. Though our heart may be heavy burdened because of the many sorrows, anxiety, and worries yet He will replace it with a garment of praise – a garment that is light and does not wear us down. Praising God is good for the soul and refreshing for the spirit. He has given us that. We are to adorn our lives with praise. Our lives must exude and emanate the praise of God. Praise gives us the liberty to overcome heavy burden of fear, insecurity, and uncertainty.

We are to be tress of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. As trees of righteousness we are not just to live uprightly, carefully and with all honesty. We are to exhibit the beauty of the Lord, the oil of gladness, and the praise for our Redeemer at all times. Our goal is to glorify God (Gloria Dei)!