In This Corner

     In this corner is God and in another corner there is Satan. God has his people and Satan has his.
     What kind of people are with God? The deeply spiritual holding tight to righteousness. Those who care and give from the their hearts. The powerful in spirit, who are loving and forgiving, are those with God.
     What kind of people are with Satan? The shallow without empathy. The selfish without compassion. The powerful, who are without mercy or love, are those with Satan.
     Two corners, two opposite kinds of people, one wanting what the flesh has to offer and the other wants what the spirit has. One wanting to be a king in this world and the other to be in God's kingdom.
     In one corner are those who live without a conscience and hurt others for selfish gain. Those who see empathy as a weakness and live in a cruel way. The intelligent ones who have no wisdom and create and do things that one should not. They are the ones who stand in the darkness with Satan.
     In another corner are those who have a conscience and are compassionate. Those who see empathy as a strength and help others. The intelligent ones who have wisdom and use their intelligence for the good of mankind. They are the ones who stand with God.
     Yes, there are two corners, God's or Satan's. I believe each of us need to be asking ourselves in which corner do I stand?  

The Sprout of Life

     I believe we all are born with a sprout of life within us. It is something that if we nourish it and make it grow, we will feel complete and whole inside. It is not a material thing but spiritual one, a spiritual maturity within us that is waiting for us to nourish it in someway. It is enclosed in our sinful body, in a sort of darkness and needing light to make it grow. If we do not give it light, it will stay a sprout until the day we die.
     The sprout of life within can never die nor matter how evil we may become, it just waits patiently for the light of life to make it grow. This means that a great change can happen to any of us at any point in our life, provided if we would only change the way that we live. In the forgiveness, the mercy and the grace of God the sprout of life is given a chance to grow and flourish. The sprout of life matures and blossoms under the light of God. Our spiritual maturity is made whole and complete by the guidance of God's word and spirit.
     The light that we need comes from God. John 8:12 "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." By having this light of life we will be made satisfied. Jesus said in John 4:14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  By us embracing the words of Jesus Christ the darkness within us is overcome and the spiritual sprout within us grows.
     For us to spiritually mature, we are told to long for spiritual food. 1 Peter 2:2 "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation." The sprout of life within us needs proper nourishment and that nourishment is the spiritual food that comes from God. John 6:35 "Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." The bread of life, which is Jesus, is the food and water source that will make the sprout of life within us to flourish and grow.
     There is hope for us and that hope is in God. He knows how to make our lives better. We do not have to live in fear and darkness. The sprout of life within us can be made to grow, we can mature into a higher spiritual being and have happiness, joy and love. Our minds can be made over by God's word and spirit. The sprout within us, can grow and blossom making us feel whole and complete inside.

2 Peter 3:18 "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."    
   

Do Not Lose Faith

     Do not lose faith for God is with you and he will sustain you in your hour of need. Times are getting worst and violence seems to be ever increasing throughout our world. More and more I am hearing in the news about violent acts that are being carried out and this reminds me of what is written in the book of Matthew about the lasts days before the return of Jesus Christ. Matthew 24:12 "And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of the many will grow cold." And lawlessness has increased throughout our world bring with it fear and great sadness, making us feel a little less loving and forgiving toward each other.
     What can I say is this, now is not the time to be losing our faith but on the contrary to be growing stronger in our faith in God. God is our great healer, he is the one we should be looking to for our comfort in these hard to deal with times. There is a spiritual war that is going on around us, the devil is trying his best to keep his control over mankind through fear and violence knowing he has only a short time left. He is trying to plant his seeds of hopelessness, despair, hatred and mind numbing fear in everyone's heart.
     The devil is trying to drive out our love, for Jesus said in John 13:35 "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." If we lose our love the devil wins, we let our fear to paralyzed us into inaction for God. Our love reaches out to others while our fear will push them away. 1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." Spiritually, fear will stop us from trusting in each other for fear of being harmed. We will start to see people as our enemies instead as our future friends. How will we be able to love and to forgive, if we let fear and hate take control over our own heart?
     Trouble times are upon us and it looks like that it will only get worst but do not let your fear paralyzed you, always trust in God to see you through. Keep your heart soft and do not let it become harden by what is happening around you, be the light in the darkness and give hope to others. Let the loving spirit of God pour out through your heart so to give healing and comfort to those who are in need. Let not the devil win but keep your faith and be strong, knowing that God is working hard to bring these dark times to an end. Jesus Christ will someday return and bring an everlastng peace and love that will change our entire world, so if possible live in peace and keep your faith and your love.
     Take comfort in these words. Psalm 34:17-19  "When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. ¹⁸The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. ¹⁹Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all."

I Am Alright

     When I experience difficult times of my life, I can always find encouragement from God's word to give me the strength to carry on. I can pick myself up and say to myself that I am alright, meaning that I am not in a perfect condition but I do have enough strength and hope to keep moving onward in life. I thank God for that, for without hope, I would not have enough mental energy or motivation to start my day. With the help of God's spirit I can still say to myself, I am alright even after the difficult times of my life.

The reasons why I am alright:

     I am alright because I can count on God's help in my time of trouble. Psalms 107: 19,20 " Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. ²⁰He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction." Psalms 34:19 "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all." Psalms 41:3 "The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health." God is always my hope in the darkest hour.

     I am alright because the LORD is my protection. Psalm 9:9 "The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble," Proverbs 18:10 "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe." Alone I feel fragile, with God I feel safe.

     I am alright because I find comfort in Jesus Christ, he makes me feel that I am loved and cared for. Matthew 11:28,29 "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." 

     I am alright because of the beautiful promise of God's future kingdom, where all of God's loving children shall dwell someday. There will be no more pain and sorrow. These words of hope brings me comfort when I see our world in a state of chaos. Revelation 21:4 "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." What a wonderful world that God is planning for our future.

     Yes, I am alright for God is my strength. Exodus 15:2 "The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him."
     I am alright because God has put a spirit of strength within ourselves. 2 Timothy 1:7 "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."
   
     God watches out over his children, we are his sheep and he is our shepherd. King David's words in the book of Psalm sums up how I feel. Psalm 27:1 "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
     I am alright because of the love of God. He has strengthen me through the hard times. He has stayed with me and guided my way, even when I could not clearly see. I am alright not because I relied on my own strength but I relied on his, and I am alright for a great future awaits me someday in his beautiful kingdom.

       

If You Were The Only One

     If you were the only one with a heart filled with love, where did your love come from? If you were the only fountain flowing in a desert, from where did you get your water? If you are the only blossoming flower in a garden, from where did you get your beauty? And if you are the only sheep that is left among a large pack of wolves, from where did you get your peaceful nature? These are good questions to asked ourselves, if we think that we are surrounded by evil and that we also think that we are the only one that is holding on to love, wisdom and righteousness.

     Yes, when we think that we are standing alone, where is our strength, our determination coming from? We may feel abandon and alone but we are determined to carry on despite everything that is going on around us. What is making us to persevere under our hardship? 

     The answer I believe is that we will never abandon our faith. We will not stop caring and loving because others have given up on it. Even if we may feel that we are all alone in our beliefs, we will never give up on them. For some reason, doing what is right and good is written within our hearts and we follow that code no matter how bad our world has become (Hebrews 8:10). We carry God's light within us and it makes us happy to express it anyway that we can. If this makes us strange or an outsider to others, then so be it. We cannot be anything other than ourselves. 

     When you feel you are just giving and you are not receiving anything back; how do you still keep on doing good and not become cynical? Because you refuse to give in to your sadness and hurt others, instead you hold on to your belief to be peaceful, to do good and to love one another. If no one is giving you anything for all the good that you are doing, why keep doing it? Because there is more to us than our fleshly desires, we live by the Holy Spirit and we want to do good over evil. Our love for our God and his words are far greater than anything that is within our world. We want to please him and to do his will. We are made more happy by serving our God, than by serving the world. 

     Even if we believe we are alone, we are not alone for God's spirit is always with us. We feel God's spirit even when we feel that we are isolated. If the whole world were to turn against us, we would still hold tight to our love, for it is God's precious gift to us and we will never throw it away. Seeing the bad in the world sickens us but doing what is good heals us. We are God's children and we want to do what is right, even if we feel the whole world is doing what is wrong. What keeps us going is God's spirit which strengthens us. Externally we may not get anything back but internally God's spirit energizes our soul. Psalm 46:1,2 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ²Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,"

     I wrote this post because I wanted to remind myself and to tell others that we are not alone. If we feel that we are abandon and alone, all we have to do is to look within ourselves and see the spirit of God that is at work within us. You still do good when others are doing bad. You still hold on to your love, when others seem to abandon theirs. Why? Because God is standing next to you and helping you through your hard times. He is empowering you with power of his love and his spirit. He is protecting you from the darkness that is around you and shining down upon you his loving light. Our connection to God is a strong one and it would take a whole lot more than what the world has to break it. If you felt that you were the only one left with God's spirit of love then it was God who put it there and through his spirit, your heart kept it there.

Isaiah 41:10 "fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."    

Who Do You Serve?

     Romans 6:16 "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? " This verse made me think, to whom am I serving, sin or righteousness. Am I letting the sin within me have control over my actions or am I following the spirit of the LORD? I believe, this is where the violence in our world is coming from, from us serving the darkness from within rather than serving the righteousness of God's word.

     Are we obedient to God's commandment to love one another or do we hate each other? John 13:34,35  "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love another. ³⁵By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." And if someone has hate in his heart and wants to kill. It is clearly stated in God's ten commandments in Exodus 20:13 "You shall not murder." 

     And if you are angry and want to take matters into your own hands, the apostle Paul told us to do this instead. Romans 12:16-21 "Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." ²⁰To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." The apostle Paul is telling us to live in peace and harmony with those that are around us and leave the vengeance that we may want, for God to do. God wants us to be a living example to our enemies that it is better to do good than to do evil.

     Is it not a whole lot better to serve a God of love rather than spreading evil throughout our world, working together to make it a beautiful place to live rather than an ugly one. It is far better to live in a world as a family, than an world full of enemies. This is the will of God, for us to be a family, living in peace, harmony and love. If we all take it upon ourselves and serve God, darkness would have no hold upon our world and murder would not be upon our minds.

     Who do I serve? Everyday I make it my choice to serve God. Even though I may have bad thoughts, I will not act upon them. God gave us a free will and I chose to do good over evil. I chose righteousness over the darkness of sin. We can bring about a greater change to our world by serving God, than we ever could by spreading evil through fear and violence.
   
     Galatians 6:9 "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."     

Where does Your Love Come From?

     Where does your love really come from, from within yourself or from others? I asked this question to myself because sometimes I do not feel I have love within my life.
      I wonder how did the apostle Paul kept feeling loved while he was still in prison. He did not turn bitter, nor did his heart turn to hate. It was the same way with Job, when the devil took all that he had away from him. Job's love did not lose strength. He still loved God with all of his heart. Those two men showed me from where their love flowed not towards the material world, but towards God.
     I wanted to know, what is the difference between their love and those who do not believe in God? I notice this about myself and about most of the people in our world that we really care what people think about us and how they view us. We want to feel accepted and that we belong somewhere, we want to feel their love. However if we get ignored or the people around us are negative instead of positive, we will begin to believe we are not wanted or even loved at all. We heavily rely on the opinions of others to how we feel about ourselves.
     Now think about how we would feel if we did not believe in God for our support and we were put in prison unjustly and everything and everyone was taken away from us. We would not feel loved, we would feel rejected. The outside sources for our approval and love would be gone. We would be on our own, probably with bitter feelings and self pity. Hating the world around us for what it have done to us.
     So how did the apostle Paul and Job maintain their love through the harsh conditions that they went through. The answer; Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." God never abandoned apostle Paul or Job, his spirit was always with them. They felt the love of God within their heart and they never felt separated from him.
     When I am alone, sometimes depression comes over me and I feel sad and lonely. In this dark state of mind, I feel that I am not loved. What really saves me from this condition and brings me back into an happier state of mind is reading the Bible. God's spirit somehow works through his word and brings strength back into my weakened condition. It's like a fountain bubbling forth water into a dry desert, bringing life back to what was dead. All I can say it is, miraculous! For me I found from where my love comes from, it is not from others even though having people around you who love you is very good; I found my main source of love is from God's spirit that pours into me. I believe it is the same love that the apostle Paul and Job experienced.
     I believe to experience love you must first reach out in order to receive. When you reach out to others and to God your heart touches theirs, a connection is made. Sometimes with others they will return your need for connection but with God you can count on him every time. When you reach out to God, he will reach back to you, touching your heart with his loving spirit. His love lifts you up and makes you feel loved and happy. In my feeling of God's love, all I want to do is to rejoice and praise him. In this dark world that we live in, God is always my guiding light, my main source of love and my savior.