Psalms 103:2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-
The heart of praise proceeds from a place of remembrance. Remembering the goodness and the kindness of the Lord. The psalmist does not however exhort his soul to remember but to not forget. We are more often than not likely to forget the benefits and the blessings of the Lord. Whether its out of abundance or lack, somehow we forget the source of our supply and become either ungrateful or complaining. May we forget not his benefits that our souls may praise His name.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Psalms 103:1 Of David. Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name....
The Lord is great and greatly to be praised. Before anything else; before the confession of sins, before the submission of our supplications, before the casting out of demons, the heart ought to pause in the view of the awesome majesty of the glory of God and offer praise. To be simply silent in His majesty and be awed. Let our praise be sincere. Let our affections be heart affections and not merely mind-affections. Let our mouths be silenced by the grandeur and splendor of God's glory. Praise the Lord indeed O my soul.
Monday, July 25, 2011
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Psalms 23:5
The table of the circumstances you find yourself in are not unknown to the Lord. The emphasis is YOU. The Lord has brought you this far and He is fully aware of the circumstances that you find yourself in. Your Father hears, your Father sees and your Father knows where exactly in the wilderness on the journey to Canaan you are.
Psalms 23:5
The table of the circumstances you find yourself in are not unknown to the Lord. The emphasis is YOU. The Lord has brought you this far and He is fully aware of the circumstances that you find yourself in. Your Father hears, your Father sees and your Father knows where exactly in the wilderness on the journey to Canaan you are.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Why does God allow suffering?
Sin
Sin’s consequences are separation from the goodness of God. This is usually exhibited by suffering. Hebrews 12:17 speaks of the ordeal of Esau after he exchanged his birthright for a morsel of bread. It says, “Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. These tears from Esau came after the realization that what he had taken for granted was beyond recovery. The misery that he endured for the sin of compromise was great.
The agony of being apart from God is great. Sin will cause great suffering until repented. It was not for naught the Judas had to hang himself after betraying his Master. David cries in Psalms 32:12 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
Sin
Sin’s consequences are separation from the goodness of God. This is usually exhibited by suffering. Hebrews 12:17 speaks of the ordeal of Esau after he exchanged his birthright for a morsel of bread. It says, “Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. These tears from Esau came after the realization that what he had taken for granted was beyond recovery. The misery that he endured for the sin of compromise was great.
The agony of being apart from God is great. Sin will cause great suffering until repented. It was not for naught the Judas had to hang himself after betraying his Master. David cries in Psalms 32:12 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Why does God allow suffering?
Sovereign Purpose
God is the creator (Elohim) and we are the creatures. He is then at will to do anything He wants with us and through us. This means then that there are moments that we will not fully understand the reasons for His allowing sufferings to fall on believers apart from that He does what He knows is righteous. Deuteronomy 29:29 states The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
When Job went through great suffering, his friends assumed that they knew the mind of the Almighty by declaring that Job had sinned and that God was punishing him for his sins. Job on the other hand went on the defensive and justified himself to be guiltless to the point of declaring God unjust for punishing a righteous man. When confronted by God about his accusations, Job realized himself to be a fool and God’ wisdom too high for him. He observes in Job 42:3, Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
There are times suffering can not be explained away. It is in the infinite wisdom of God. And as the singer said when we get to heaven, we shall understand it by and by.
Sovereign Purpose
God is the creator (Elohim) and we are the creatures. He is then at will to do anything He wants with us and through us. This means then that there are moments that we will not fully understand the reasons for His allowing sufferings to fall on believers apart from that He does what He knows is righteous. Deuteronomy 29:29 states The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
When Job went through great suffering, his friends assumed that they knew the mind of the Almighty by declaring that Job had sinned and that God was punishing him for his sins. Job on the other hand went on the defensive and justified himself to be guiltless to the point of declaring God unjust for punishing a righteous man. When confronted by God about his accusations, Job realized himself to be a fool and God’ wisdom too high for him. He observes in Job 42:3, Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
There are times suffering can not be explained away. It is in the infinite wisdom of God. And as the singer said when we get to heaven, we shall understand it by and by.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Why does God allow suffering?
Obedience Lesson
In the military, the training requires tough exercises and grueling tasks. These demanding trials and punishing duties are not just meant to prepare the body for the battlefield. One general explained that they are supposed to drive the soldier to a point of breaking down mentally. The military will use these taxing and often monotonous rigors to ‘deconstruct the soldier before they reconstruct him. When the soldier is completely broken down and built back up, only then can the military be sure that the soldier will follow orders without question.
Hebrews 5:8-10 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Christ learnt obedience through suffering. To learn obedience the Spirit of God allows us to go through deconstruction in the wilderness of suffering that we may stand ready to follow orders when we get to the battlefield – many souls depend on our obedience.
Obedience Lesson
In the military, the training requires tough exercises and grueling tasks. These demanding trials and punishing duties are not just meant to prepare the body for the battlefield. One general explained that they are supposed to drive the soldier to a point of breaking down mentally. The military will use these taxing and often monotonous rigors to ‘deconstruct the soldier before they reconstruct him. When the soldier is completely broken down and built back up, only then can the military be sure that the soldier will follow orders without question.
Hebrews 5:8-10 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Christ learnt obedience through suffering. To learn obedience the Spirit of God allows us to go through deconstruction in the wilderness of suffering that we may stand ready to follow orders when we get to the battlefield – many souls depend on our obedience.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
UNDERSTANDING SUFFERING
Why does God allow suffering?
Character/maturity
In Romans 5:1-5, the bible records, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Ultimately God is more interested in making the messenger fit for the message. This is because to God, the messenger is very much part of the message. Through suffering then, He forges the character of His servant. Men who have not been through suffering are very much likely to give up in the face of trials. They have no hope. But to those whom has allowed to pass through the fire, the trials only serve to expose their perseverance and the waters of hope come bursting forth in the midst of the wilderness.
Why does God allow suffering?
Character/maturity
In Romans 5:1-5, the bible records, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Ultimately God is more interested in making the messenger fit for the message. This is because to God, the messenger is very much part of the message. Through suffering then, He forges the character of His servant. Men who have not been through suffering are very much likely to give up in the face of trials. They have no hope. But to those whom has allowed to pass through the fire, the trials only serve to expose their perseverance and the waters of hope come bursting forth in the midst of the wilderness.
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