Prepared with the Truth

1 Peter 3: 13-17

"Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. 'Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.' But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil."

When I was younger, I used to believe that I knew very well what the Scripture said. Although I knew that I did not know everything, the things I did know were quite clear and that I knew how to live life according to things I did know. In my passion to help others, I started to share with them how to best live their lives. I also enjoyed debating with those who thought differently. It all seemed very logical.

Unfortunately, when it comes to people, it isn't always logical. People have emotions that plays heavily in their ideas and understanding. To ignore these is to ignore them as a person. The truth will always remain the truth. It will never change, and cannot change. However, how it is expressed can greatly affect how it is received. If the truth is shared in a peaceful, loving, and humble way, then it is more likely to be accepted, if not at least heard. However, if it is done as criticism or causes shame, then it can fall on deaf ears or sometimes cause rebellion against the truth.

We are to be prepared with the truth in all occasions. Such preparation is not just the logistical reasons, but preparation of our mind, spirit, and our emotions. Otherwise, we may be able to state the truth, but it can be clouded by the errors of our emotions.

Unknown Future

Romans 8:28-30

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."

In the midst of trials and tribulations, we quickly turn to God for help. However, in many cases it is either done out of desperation, or just words seeking His intervention and not Himself. We do want our God to help fix our problems, but not be a part of it. In other times, we may be joyful and very content with our lives. We enjoy it, and we may give God credit, but again do not want God a part of our lives in fear it may cause us to do things that may ruin the good life. If we really think about our relationship with Him, there are probably many instances we treat him like we do our plumber. We may have our special plumber, and when the pipes are broken, we want them to immediately come to our house and fix it. As soon as it is fixed, we want them to leave so we can continue with our lives.

The problem is that life is never a constant. It is ever changing. Every action we take causes other events to occur leading us down a path. The world around is also changing and events are taking place that also affects the path we take. There is no magic formula that defines how we should live and by doing so will result in the exact events we desire. This can make it challenging. We sometimes hope that God would simply lay out exactly what we should do to live a better life. However, if this was done, then what freedom would we have? Therefore, the unknown of the future can be fearful.

However, we do not have to live in fear. We have something better. God wants us to have our freedom in life, so He gives us the promise to take care of us. To be taken care by someone requires a relationship. He promises us good things if we "love him." To love someone requires us to have a relationship with them. It means that we want them as a part of our lives. The plumber would not only be welcomed to our homes to fix our pipes, but to stay have dinner with the family. If the plumber is our wife, she would even stay at the home. Not only will our pipes be fixed whenever it is needed and without any fear, but more importantly we have a relationship.

God wants us to invite Him into our lives... to be a part of it. We can enjoy our walks together, and when issues arises we can have the confidence that it can be overcome because He will help us through it. When times are good, we can party with the Lord. My pastor recently said, "we should have no fears in the unknown future when we have a known God." To know our God is to have a relationship with Him. When He is a part of our life, what do we have to fear?

Our Comforter

Psalm 119:25-88

"I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word.... My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.... May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant. Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight." (v. 25, 28, 77-78)

9-11, Hurricane Katrina, and now Hurricane Rita... such devastations. I cannot imagine how difficult it would've been if I was in the middle of these catastrophes, or if I had lost a loved one to these. How devastating it must've been. All would seem lost leaving very little hope.

Although, immeasurable to these events, most of us reach a point in life where all seems to be lost. Our depression is a catastrophe in the making. Life seems to spin out of control, and little hope may be left. It may be life threatening such as cancer, or simply stresses and depressions in our lives.

Regardless of the storms we go through life, we can find a calm in the storm. There is only one place we can turn to without any fears and can always rely on. There is one person who is always the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. One person whose love for us is unchanging and without any conditions. He will always meet our needs if we turn to Him. He will pick us up when we are down and carry us if necessary. He is our Lord and our Saviour... He is our Father in heaven.

We can find shelter in Him, and will be comforted in our times of difficulties. We just simply need to turn to Him, release ourselves to Him, and let Him take care of us. Let us therefore fix our eyes on Him, and lean on Him.

Be still, My child, and know that I am God!

Wait thou patientlyI know the path you trod
So falter not, nor fear, nor think to run and hide,
For I, thy hope and strength, am waiting by thy side. -Hein

Heavenly Pursuit

Romans 8:9-14

"Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." (v. 12-14)

Like most parents, my parents asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. When I was very young, my first response was a mailman, and my cousin, who was like a brother to me, answered that he wanted to be a truck driver. Our parents laughed at our response, but I guess both of us was fascinated by the fact that they were able to get around without any boundaries. As I grew older, my ambitions grew as well... sometimes maybe faster. Like most, I wanted to be famous and rich. Famous not like an actor, but in terms of developing something important or perhaps being the Director of the CIA. The short-lived TV show Doogie Howser was fascinating, because it was a young teenage boy who had an extraordinary intelligence who achieved his MD by high school and was practicing medicine. That was the level of ambition that grew... unfortunately, my IQ did not grow as quickly as my ambitions.

It is very easy to get caught up in our dreams, especially when the world advertise how important it is. Even at a young age, we are indirectly being "encouraged" of how important it is to be either a doctor, engineer, lawyer, or teacher (although the last two are now not as encouraged). We are constantly being filled with ideas of how important it is to be someone, have something, or be somewhere to live a good life. In some cases, these are good. However, how does this line up with our new self as a Christian? More importantly, how does it line up with God's vision for our lives?

As children's of our Heavenly Father, we have become a "new creature." Our sinful nature needs to die, and we must be led by the Spirit. Although this Scripture is focused on our nature which primarily translates to our being, it also describes our place value in our lives. Our pursuits in life should also be changed. How its value is measured should also change. Therefore, what we pursue, whether it be what we become, what we do, what we have, where we are, and how we do must be valued differently. Let us therefore focus on God and pursue heavenly things.

Constant Flow of His Love

1 John 4:16

"We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."

It is amazing and wonderful to know that our God loves us dearly. His love is unconditional and the same yesterday, today, and forevermore (Hebrews 13:8). He is love. If His love was any different, we would have great challenges. We may in fact question it. However, because His love for us is immense, without prejudice, and unchanging, we can rely on it. We should not have to worry about anything, since we know we have a safety net, His love, that will catch our falls. It is wonderful to know and have such confidence (faith) in Him.

However, this should not be kept as a secret. His love needs to be shared with others. We need to also encourage one another and remind one another of His love. In fact, if we truly embrace His love, then love should naturally flow from us. Let us therefore, open our hearts, minds, and hands to receive His love. Let us then open the floodgates, to let it continually flow through us and out of us... for His love is unending and will continue to flow.

Seek, Ask, and RECEIVE!!!

1 Timothy 6:6-19

"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." (v. 11-12)

Often times it is easy to offer a prayer to our Father seeking for help. We could ask others to pray for us regarding areas of needs. However, what do we do ourselves in order to help ourselves? It is easy to ask for help, but if we ourselves do not take the appropriate actions, then is heart in the right place? I was reminded by someone with a mutual friend who grew puzzled by the actions of our mutual friend. Our friend had admitted to having a drinking problem and sought our help in both prayer and encouragement. After several weeks had gone by, we had noticed that he would continue to stop by the bar on the way home from work. When confronted, he informed us that he wasn't dropping in to drink, but to just relax from a hard day's work. We encouraged him to seek other areas to do this. We even suggested the three of us meeting at any place he would be interested for this purpose. Unfortunately, instead of fleeing from such places where the temptations were the greatest, he continued to place himself in difficult situations. Although he seemed to be doing better after sharing with us his needs, he eventually succumbed to the temptation and was drawn further into his problem. It was not until he hit the bottom, before he began to climb out of his situation.

Seeking for help is the first step in the right direction leading to admittance to a need for help. However, if actions do not follow after the need has been realized, then it becomes very difficult to overcome it. It is easy for me to ask God to help me be a better father to my children. However, what am I doing to allow such change to occur? The action itself is not the critical element, but the attitude itself.

It is interesting how we do not want someone else including God to necessarily dictate how we should live our lives including controlling our lives. However, when it comes to a need, we expect to snap our fingers (effortlessly) and be instantaneously changed overnight.

We must indeed seek God first and ask. He will provide all our needs. However, if we ask, then we must also be prepared to receive. To receive we must open our hands and accept. Opening our hands is an action... it is the changing of our heart... our attitude. Let us therefore not ask with a close mind and hands, but ask with an open heart waiting to receive His blessings!

Peace Like a River

Isaiah 48:18

"If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea."

I recently had to counsel a young man who recently had a divorce and have been struggling to put the pieces back together. The divorce was a complete surprise to him, and all else didn't seem to matter. His job suffered to almost being fired. He had internalized the entire situation and crawled deep into a deep whole in hopes that it never happened. He removed himself from the world, including his friends. He had considered suicide in hopes to quite any remaining thoughts.

Oh how tragic for a young man who had many talents, and had quite a bit of talent to offer to the world. He shared how he felt as if he was unworthy and had nothing to share. He felt as if everything he did always resulted in failure. This reminded me of how many of us react when faced with difficulties, and especially depression.

On the most part, when we are depressed we would replay the troubles in our minds over and over again. As we replay the problems in our minds our depression and/or frustration just grows. we wished it never happened, or we blame ourselves for the mistakes we had done. "If we had just done it differently," we will tell ourselves or, "we just do not deserve it." While relive the past, our stress simply just builds. This is like a dam in a river. As we replay the issues, it is like a dam is being built. As we internalize the issues, there are very little areas to release the problems. The waters have no place to run beyond the dam when there are no areas to release. The stress will only increase as more water is stopped. Eventually, the dam will break or the water will overflow only to leave devastation.

A natural river may have may have many twists, turns, and some turbulence, but it is always moving forward. It never turns back, nor does it retrace its steps. It may create new paths when it becomes necessary, but it is always moving forward. As I heard someone say, "you can never stand in the same river twice." This is the peace we find with the river. We need to continue moving forward, and not dwell in the past. We must learn from our past, but it is in the past. Following Him will also lessen our need to look back. We need to move forward and strive to reach our goals, especially with following the path back home to God.

Miracles Needed: Forgiveness of Sin

Luke 5:17-26

"Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.... He said to the paralyzed man, 'I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.' Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, 'We have seen remarkable things today.'"

Star Trek was always one of my favorite shows growing up. I remember how the show would push the envelope as to the future. It would be great to have such a thing as a teleporter. One of the greatest things about the future is about the new technologies in medicine. However, one key rule they abide in (the prime directive) is to not interfere with lesser developed civilization to prevent any possible changes in their development of their future. This is a great idea. It would be mystifying for those who has very little medicinal expertise to encounter such technologies... it would be considered a miracle. In fact, the Native Americans and many other past civilizations had medicine men who were considered the miracle men. If we were to take our advances in medicine today and take it back in time, they would consider it miracles.

Wouldn't it be fair to say that many miracles do happen, even in the hands of men? Advancements in medicine has improved the lives of many. Miraculous cures are found on a regular basis. People are living longer and more people are cured due to the advancements of medicine.

When Jesus asked the question as to which is easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven," or "Get up and walk," it left a thought to ponder on. It may be easier to say one's sins are forgiven, but the truth is to tell someone paralyzed to get up and walk is much more easily accomplishable. The Pharisees were indeed correct that only God can forgive sins. However, they were not able to reconcile the truth that Jesus Himself is God. Jesus understanding their difficulties healed the man to display His authority. People were also amazed and gave Him praise.

It is true that all of us needs miracles in our lives. We need to see His handiwork to recognize He is God at first. However, once we embrace Him as our God, we need to mature in our walk with Him as well. Unlike the Pharisees, we acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior. We therefore should seek Him, and not His handiwork. Are we spending time with Him and developing a relationship with Him? Or do we continue to spend most of our time seeking His miracles? Is our prayer life about Him helping us in our situation? Or is about being more like Him? It is no longer about doing, but about being. And as we become more like Him, than then actions will easily follow.

Hurricane Katrina has been devastating. It has ruined many lives. The tragedy is astounding and unimaginable. It is unfortunate to see the finger pointing, but it is also great to see the number of people mobilizing to help the victims. Unfortunately, the sins of men has been even more devastating. The death rate is incomparable, and the ruined lives are far greater. What mobilization is taking place due to this natural disaster? Let us not only pray for the miracles needed for the devastated lives due to the hurricane, but let us also focus on the lives that need saving from sin.