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.  
   

Something You Need to Know

    This is something that everyone needs to know. A way to have freedom, a way to have control. You do not have to be a slave to your desires. You have been given the right to choose in how you want to live your life and because we have the right to choose, we sometimes make the wrong choices. Why do we sometimes make more wrong decisions rather than the right ones? It is because we have one thing in common with everyone else, a thing that was handed down to us by our first parents, Adam and Eve. It is a great imperfection that is within our flesh that we cannot get rid of, it is called sin.
     When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God told them not to, something happen to them. Genesis 3:5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." After eating of the fruit, their mind knew evil where they never knew it before. Before Adam and Eve ate of the fruit their body and mind were perfect, there was no evil within them, their thoughts were pure. But after both of them ate of the fruit, their mind became corrupted by sin and they saw themselves as naked before the LORD. Adam said to God in Genesis 3:10 "And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." Before that happen, Genesis 2:25 "And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." But after they both ate of the fruit, they became ashamed, meaning they both had something to hide. What was it? It was their wrong doing, they knew that they sinned against God.
     After Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of good and evil they did not become like God but more like the devil, a rebellious sinner, not doing what was right but what was evil. What does all this mean to us? Sadly to say we have all inherited this evil sin. Romans 5:12 "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned." Not only was the way we think changed, our bodies also became mortal because of it. Yes, sin has corrupted both our mind and body.
     This is important to understand that you are inclined to think in an evil way because of the evil condition that you inherited at birth. You inherited sin. Sin has changed you from thinking pure thoughts to thinking bad thoughts. Genesis 8:21 "And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done." God saw our sinful nature and took pity upon us.
     Psalm 51:5 "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Iniquity definition is the quality of being unfair or evil. So this means we were born in an unfair evil condition. I think this is why we kept on doing the wrong things when we were growing up and our parents had to punish us because of them. In a way our parents had to act like God in our life showing us what was right and wrong. Why? Because if it was left to our own sinful desires we would choose to do wrong most of the time.
     The apostle Paul explained how sin worked within his body in Romans 7:15,17,18,20 "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁷So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For I have to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me." The apostle Paul told us he was having a conflict within his flesh. The flesh being influenced by sin was telling him to do wrong, while his spirit wanted to do what is right. He said nothing good dwells in my flesh. Why? Because that is where the evil of sin dwells.
     The apostle Paul also said in Romans 7:25 "....So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." He said he follows the commandments of God with his mind while his flesh is inclined to break them, due to the sin that is within it.
     So when bad thoughts come into your head, you now know where they come from, from the evil of the sin that is within you. Like for example if you feel a need to steal, to hurt others, to get drunk or to do immoral things, this is the sin that is within you telling you to do it. You do not have to give in to it because we all have a choice. You can say this to yourself. You can say yes I do have a feeling to steal but I will not act upon it. You can say yes, I do have a desire to hurt others, to get drunk and to do immoral acts but this is only my sin's desires, it is not my real desire. I am not my sin. My sin does not define me. My sin does not have control over me. I am more than this and I do have a choice.
     We do not have to live by our basic nature in doing evil, just because our first parents sinned against God. We can actually choose a different path, the path that Jesus Christ set for us to follow. Yes, we are all sinners but we do not have to act in a sinful way. Jesus showed us how to live our lives. He gave us a choice to follow him and have eternal life rather than live our life by our sin's desires and have death (Romans 6:23). God gave Adam and Eve the freedom of choice, and he gave us one to.

The Taking Back of What Was Lost

     In the beginning man had dominion over the Earth (Genesis 1:25) and then Satan took that control away from man (Luke 4:5,6). Then Jesus Christ was sent into the world to reclaim what man had lost. He succeeded in defeating Satan for Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 "And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Daniel 7:14 "And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." Just as man lost his earthly dominion to Satan, Satan lost his dominion over the Earth to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ took back what man had lost.

     It is interesting that Satan tried to give Jesus control over all the kingdoms of the Earth. Matthew 4:8,9 "Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." These verses showed me that Satan has complete control over all the governments of the world and that is why we are told to not to fight against the physical governments but against the power that is behind them. Ephesians 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

     Jesus through his death and resurrection broke our captivity to Satan. Jesus opened our eyes and gave us a way out of the sin and death that we were living under. 1 Corinthians 15:21,22 "For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²²For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." Romans 5:19 "For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one's obedience the many will be made righteous." 

     Satan does not want to lose control over us so he tries to prevent us from finding our salvation through Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:4 "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." Matthew 13:19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart..." Matthew 13:21 tells us that some people will abandon the word of God if it brings them trouble or persecution, something the devil is happy to do. Next in Matthew 13:22 tells us some people will place their everyday activities over the importance of studying the Bible. It is so curious to me why we ignore something that so important to our lives and make it so trivial. It seems that Satan has many ways to keep us distracted and in the dark, from the truth of God's word.
    If our fight is not against the physical but the spiritual, should we not be preparing ourselves for the battle, not with guns but with God's word. God's word is what Jesus Christ used to defeat Satan when he was tempted in the wilderness. It is what he relied on throughout his ministry. God's word is a powerful weapon against evil so powerful that it created all things in the beginning. No one should underestimate the spiritual power of God's word. God's word is the light we should be using against the evil darkness that is within our world.
     Jesus told us how he wants us to take back our world from Satan. Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have command you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 9:36-38 "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
     Jesus Christ wants us to spread the good news to everyone so to bring light to where there was only darkness. He wants every eye and heart to be open, not by fear but by love. Jesus Christ took back what was lost and he wants us to continue the work by rescuing the captives of Satan, by freeing them with the salvation of his words.
     

         

When the World Became Evil

      In the beginning man had sovereign power over the Earth. Genesis 1:25 "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Then Satan came along and tricked Adam and Eve into believing in his lies rather than in God's truth thereby delivering the sovereignty of the world into his hands.  
     Satan was given control over all the kingdoms of the world. The devil told this to Jesus in Luke 4:5,6 "And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,⁶and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will." And Satan carefully watches over his territory for in Job 1:7 "The LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it." This is why the apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
     We are born into this dark devil controlled world to live out our lives. 1 John 5:19 "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." Not only are we born into this realm of darkness, we have the misfortune of having a sinful nature too. Genesis 8:21 "And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth..." This showed me that the only hope that we have is through God's forgiveness and his love.
     The sin within us is inclined to do evil and the devil tempts us into doing sin. The devil uses our weaknesses against us and tries to belittle us before God. He does not want to lose any of us to God so he accuses us of being disloyal before God, trying to convince God that he is still in control instead of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12:10 "And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before God." The devil is hoping to make us feel to be unworthy to be loved by God, so that we do not seek him out.
     Our only way out of this darkness is God's love and forgiveness through his son Jesus Christ. Nothing that man is doing on his own is bringing our world closer to being a loving family. Man alone has no power over the devil, he cannot bring a lasting change to our world without God's help and protection. Whatever good he is doing will be met with resistance for the devil is evil and not good. Satan does not want his world to reflect the goodness of God but the darkness of his own desires.
   
   

How Do You Act?

     If you treated someone as though they were dead, How would you act towards them? You would not include them in your life. You would rarely think about them. You would not be interested in what they had to say. You would act as though they did not exist. This is what you would do to someone if you were mad at them and wanted to cut them out of your life but it is also something you would do if you unintentionally ignore your family and friends. We can get so wrap up in our everyday lives and start treating those around us like they are dead and do not even exist. It is can also be the same with our relationship with God.
     I asked myself, how would I act as though God did not exist, even though I still believe he is alive and I still wanted to serve him. By my actions I would not be doing what God wants me to do. I would not be taking to heart any of his words. I would be doing as I please as if the Bible did not exist. I would be more reliant on myself and on others for my answers, than on prayer and God's guidance through his word. Yes, in my mind I would believe him to be alive and still wanted to serve him but by my actions I would be sending out a different signal to God as though he did not exist.
     Our actions can be misread by our family and friends if we do not make time for them. They may think we are mad at them whereas we were only neglectful in including them in our lives. God knows our hearts but people only know us by what we say and do. Our heavenly Father also wants to be included in our lives, by us making time to talk to him in prayer and by showing him respect by living by his word.
     Jesus said in Mark 12:30,31 "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. ³¹The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." If we really love God and our neighbors we will make time for them and not ignore them like they do not exist. We would not want to be treated like that and neither does our God, our family nor our friends.