Hi Christoggers!
I went shopping today and because the weather was so nice, my state of mind was different :-)). I was calm and cool as I soaked in the atmosphere and felt good about myself. Everything seemed to be much brighter and full of life and it got me thinking: What is it about God that has made my life better?
Sometimes, I am too busy asking, pleading etc., that I forget how far I have come or rather, how far God has brought me. Yes, I do say 'Thank-you" but I wondered what it would be like to write God a letter - just as if I were talking with him. So, this week, I would like to share my letter with you:
Dear Father,
I just thought it would be nice to write to you, even though I talk to you everyday! I appreciate you for all you are, Father. It has taken me a long time to even begin to understand you, much less than I needed to understand myself! I know you have had to put up with so much and I thank you for not giving up on me.
I have come to realise that the value of life depends on whom one shares the journey with. I am indebted to you for committing yourself to accompany me on my life's journey. I thank you for being the patient listener to all my complaints, the unseen eyes that watch over me, the unheard voice silencing my storms, the peace within that destroys my fears, the impenetrable wall that shields my life, the song of joy always on my lips, the mighty Word building my faith, the Spirit in me directing my paths, the Blood that speaks of unending mercy and the God of love, I can't stop loving.
My heartfelt gratitude, though of little worth, together with my life, are both now yours. Love loving you, Father. Many thanks for being the best!
With much love
XXX
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Why don't you try writing your own letter to your heavenly Father?
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Till next week, keep on walking in Christ.
Yorz-in-Chirst,
Lahyorz
Hi Christoggers!
I love it when I have peace about an issue; it is, I believe, God's way of approving whatever decision needs to made concerning the issue. In Proverbs 3:17, the Amplified Bible referring to Wisdom, says:
Her ways are highways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
This then settles it or should put to rest any qualms that may arise. There just seems to be one tiny problem: we start rationalising along these paths and all of a sudden, our decisions do not make any sense!
"Wonderful! The Lord wants me to start a business - with what? How can I make any profit in this economic situation?"
"I'm to have a child after fifteen years of marriage, especially now my period is not regular!"
"I'm supposed to get a promotion when people at my place of work are being made redundant!"
I could go on but I'm sure you get the essence of the matter. In the book of Proverbs, the Wisdom of God is usually defined by two adjectives - godly and skillful. The 'godly' part seems to be clear or is it? Yes, it's from God but do we appreciate what that means? Godly means :
- It's not human - not determined, influenced nor controlled by human concepts.
- It's not worldy - not determined, influenced nor controlled by worldly situations.
- It's not of self - not to ease, please nor appease our self-centredness.
Godly wisdom originates from God, is given by God and controlled by God. It is, the bible tells us, also skillful. The dictionary describes skillful as 'having or exercising skill'. Our wisdom has no skill: we react, respond or act based on what we have experienced or are experiencing. Our predictions for the future are juggling acts of the past and present. In other words, human wisdom is a game of chance.
On the other hand, skillful and godly Wisdom not only disregards the past and the present but can change the parameters to accomodate God's plans! Consider the Israelites if you will, running away from an enemy and reaching a dead end, caught between the enemy and the Red Sea. Human wisdom tells them to give up and worldly wisdom tells them to negotiate. Skillful, godly wisdom on the other hand, comes, not only to show it's ability to divide the Red Sea, (based on the knowledge that God alone has), but also it's competent excellence in getting 'all the host of Israel' through unto dry land, before obliterating the enemy!
The wisdom of God is really foolishness to the human mind - it just cannot comprehend it. It is truly mind-blowing; trying to work it out can be detrimental to one's health but working with it results in favour and blessing. The revelation knowledge of God opens us up more to the 'why God does...' as opposed to the 'how God does...'. God's ways are higher than ours! When we get to the stage of utterly leaning and trusting in ALL he is, we become appreciative of the 'how he does...' because our confidence in him increases. Then, we can fully surrender to skillful and godly Wisdom, confident of the truth: With God, ALL things are possible.
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Dear Lord, I surrender to your Wisdom to keep, defend, protect, guide and lead me in all my endeavours, Amen.
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Till next week, keep on walking in Christ.
Yorz-in-Christ,
Lahyorz
Hi Christoggers!
I was in a shop a couple of days ago and met a young woman I knew. "Hello!", I said and she replied in the same manner. Nothing much - it was just a casual 'Hello'. Out of the blue, I commented: "You look so beautiful today". Her face lit up as a big smile followed, changing her countenance, as she replied, "It's the grace of God". I then wondered how the person to whom she accredited her beauty would have felt if he also had received some compliment.
We are too busy giving credit to the wrong people. As a child of God, you are not lucky! Luck has no role to play in your life. What you are is blessed!
"Oh, aren't you lucky you did not get stuck in the traffic jam!"
No, I'm not lucky, my steps were ordered by God!
Now, I can see you cringe a little - you're not alone ;-). It sounds a bit religious, doesn't it? Okay, let's try the other way.
"Oh, you got stuck in the traffic - you poor thing! Now you're two hours late for work and you're soaking wet from the heavy rain."
"Yes, can you believe it! The devil messed me up this morning and I could not get my car started. I finally got it going and got stuck in a terrible traffic jam. Now, I'm soaking wet - I bet someone's got it in for me today. Nothing seems to be going my way. I was in bed the whole weekend with fever and..." (Sorry, this was dragging on too long!)
These conversations give too much attention to the devil! You see, our God 'feeds' on praise and adoration and the more we 'rabbit' on about all what the devil's doing and what's wrong with our lives, the more we feed the devil's ego. Positive thinking and positive confessions boost our confidence in ourselves. However, when we brag about God's goodness, we are boosting our confidence in him.
I woke up one morning after a horrible night and when I started re-collecting what happened, I stopped and laughed. I found myself saying - "No more! No more! No more!" I wasn't referring to the nightmares but to the words I was about to utter - my reaction. I was about to start lamenting about what the devil had done - again. Then I made a decision:
I HAVE DECIDED TO STOP HONOURING THE DEVIL BY SPEAKING OF HIS ATTROCITIES BUT INSTEAD, TO START GLORIFYING GOD BY SHOUTING OF HIS VICTORIES.
How? In all I say, as much as I can, to thank God for my 'half-filled cups' instead of lamenting about them being 'half-empty'. I am going to lavish him with so much love by expressing my gratitude as often as I can! Now, if 'Mr. D' does not like it (and I'm sure he doesn't), he can go to h... Not a swear word, just the fact!
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Dear Lord, I love you so much. I am sorry for not saying it often enough. I promise to never let your ears have any rest from hearing it 'cos Lord, I love loving you
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Till next week, keep on walking in Christ.
Yorz-in-Christ,
Lahyorz
