God is faithful!

“It is part of God’s plan to grant us,in answer to the prayer of faith,that which He would not bestow did we not thus ask”-Great Controversy,p.525

 


Let's just say that's all in my life-His faithfulness,nothing good on my side.Timing wise-ever perfect.
Perhaps when I have the time,I'll tell you about His faithful leading.
Let Him lead you,dear friend,He knows best.
Sometimes,if not always,we need to ask and He'll give.

I've seen Him give exceedingly more than my heart's desires
Just today,I was trying to figure out the 'hows' and 'when'
Reached to my mother,she couldn't help
Yet he led two individuals to come to my aid

I guess he's been teaching me that the hand of flesh fails-even more,when we want to do it by ourselves, YET He cannot fail
Moreover,I cannot do life without Him and worry never helps,so why should I bother worrying?
So who better than Him to cast our cares to?
Who better,but He knows the morrow before us.

He's faithful,He's got you and He's got me.
Perharps not so evident at first,but reflect and you'll see He remains faithful,ever so true.
 If you get blinded by the struggles,remember Him in Gethsemane,in the wilderness,in Calvary and
remember His promise,"I go prepare a place for you".

Personally,theis the 'place He goes prepare' may consume more than the trials than are meant to make me like Him.That instead of focusing on the situations,I'd let Him mould me--even if it means letting go of my ideals.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,-Ephesians 3:20

 

Practical Lessons:To minister and give His life as a ransom to everyone (Part b)

But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.~Luke 9:55

Whose spirit did the the disciples manifest? 

Consider the following texts:

¹² How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
¹³ For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.~Isaiah 14:12-14


Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.~Ezekiel 28:17


And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
² And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
³ Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
⁴ And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.-Zechariah 3:1-4


⁷ And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
⁸ And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
⁹ Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
¹⁰ Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
¹¹ But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.~Job 1:7-11

Traits that  come up: Quick to condemn,ever seeking to point the fault of others,hurling insults and accusations,self-centeredness, life revolves around the physical etc.

More often than not, I find these traits in me as well;but God's grace is helping.These traits often manifest themselves when  around certain individuals.I've noticed a trend where it's so quick to point errors when others have fallen into sin.Problem with this quick,condemning spirit is:We were not even there when the brother/sister was struggling.Did we go to have Bible studies with him/her,counselled,and prayed?Nope,couldn't be bothered.We often manifest the same pharasical spirit;WANTING TO CAST A STONE,LOOKING FOR OTHERS' SINS,WHEN WE OURSELVES ARE NOT PURE.

Now,do hear me out:The Bible does tell us to point out error and a procedure is outlined in Matthew 18:15-17 and rightly so.Question is,do we do it in the right spirit?Galatians 6:1.At the same time we often do not do  other duties:carrying each other's burdens (Galations 6:2;Romans 15:1-3).I've been saying this and I'll continue to say it:acquaint yourself with your brethren,be there,counsel,and then point out error.

Did the pharasees bother themselves with the salvation of the woman they brought to be stoned?What means were done for her to see Christ and in beholding His righteousness and them loving her?

In need of the mind of Christ.

Jesus:To minister and give His life as a ransom for everyone (Part a)

⁵¹ And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
⁵² And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.
⁵³ And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
⁵⁴ And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
⁵⁵ But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
⁵⁶ For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.~Luke 9:51-56

• This passage is so beautiful.A clear contrast exists between Christ and his disciples (before their conversion).They had this condemnatory nature of dealing with those whom they deemed as disrespecting Christ (more like 'us' at times).
• They were also genuine in this:they believed it was their place to protect Christ and make sure He received the respect that He deserves but unfortunately that's not who Christ is.
• Christ does not possess highmindedness.Even when wronged,mocked,He never reacted in pride.Instead,He'd keep quiet or show love instead.
•  Christ sympathises with the wrongdoer nor does He treat us like we deserve.Just a thought on this point:when we reject Christ's gift of free salvation,then we want to carry upon ourselves the penalty of sin.
•  Christ knew that Judas would betray Him yet He never showed partiality.He even called Him friend--never accused Him.
• Even when he dealt with the enemy of souls(Satan),He never hurled out insults;instead He said "The Lord rebuked thee".

That is who Christ is : redemptive and meek--love

After the incident,the disciples' egos were bruised on behalf of their Master (Jesus),they ask: "should we call out fire to consume them?" .Jesus instead of looking out for His own benefit,rebukes them saying: The Son of man came not to destroy men's lives,but to save them. It was for this purpose that Jesus became flesh:"But we see Jesus,who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,crowned with glory and honor;that he should by the grace of God should taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9).Christ voluntarily took our place so that He may break the bonds of sin that threatened to destroy mankind and lead to eternal death.He was willing to suffer shame,to be rejected,to be mocked,and even killed so that He may "bring many sons unto glory" (Hebrews 2:10).

"And he made his grave with the wicked,and with the rich in his death;because he has done no violence,neither was any deceit in his mouth."-Isaiah 53:9

"It is no part of Christ's mission to compel men to receive Him. It is Satan, and men actuated by his spirit, who seek to compel the conscience. Under a pretense of zeal for righteousness, men who are confederated with evil angels sometimes bring suffering upon their fellow men in order to convert them to their ideas of religion; but Christ is ever showing mercy, ever seeking to win by the revealing of His love. He can admit no rival in the soul, nor accept of partial service; but He desires only voluntary service, the willing surrender of the heart under the constraint of love."-Acts of the Apostles,p.541

Christ,although no longer on earth,continues to work for the salvation of mankind;with long-suffering towards us He continues to knock that each may be saved (2 Peter 3:15).He continues His work as man's Saviour and this salvation is available to all that will receive Him (John 1:12;Romans 8:34)

" Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."-Revelation 3:20

"⁶ Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."-Isaiah 55:6-7
 

RAPE

 is:
Dictatorship--dictating what is not yours (cause you'll never own anyone) and BEING DICTATED BY YOUR OWN PASSIONS
Slavery,subjecting the victim to your unrestrained,unholy passions because you are slave too
Lusting
Unfeeling
Denial of one's worth,right to respect,and safety
Satanic
Scary
What I fear when I lose track of time
Evil,should never be tolerated
'You are to blame'
'You are unworthy-you don't deserve love'
'I have a right to your body'

Then some people say:

she was uncovered,so she asked for it

she/he was drunk,so she/he was carless

she/he walked late at night

Of course the statements above are pardonable because to some people,rape is not such a huge deal nor does it  even come to their mind.I had one guy say that a  rape survivor can 'just get over it'-lack of knowledge is very dangerous.

The problem with these notions is ,they make the act justifiable---and make it a circumstantial and overlook the damage caused.
We can't have a society that does that--because that means we'll end up saying rape is ok as long as don't drink,you cover and you don't walk at night and overlook the pain and the injustice that rape is.

And if rape is circumstantial:
What about the little baby?
What about the old granny sleeping peacefully at home?
What about the young boy who was abducted while playing?
What about the uncle who kept assaulting the little girl and then threatening her?
What about the lady who only shows her neck and face yet got raped?

Lastly,we need males who are not comfortable with sexual insults hurled at women.In fact, it starts with males recognising that every human being deserves respect.Furthermore,women are not objects.

Sad thing is,we have a society that limits women to the physical--check the ADs hey.We then have ponography which I believe desensitisez people's view on what sex is and dwindles it into (i don't know what) a game perhaps.

Then we have males who believe women owe them things:women owe them their cell numbers,a yes to their proposal,etc.They believe they don't have to pursue nor respect AND KNOW NOT WHAT NO MEANS(regardless of the tone);but in turn they should be respected.And I believe not everyone who does this knows it's wrong.Perhaps they grew up in an environment that fosters this behaviour and have never seen anything different.

Many factors that also need to be dealt with....Perhaps taking responsibility too,cause the society is arranged in such a way that the female must take all the precautionary measures while the male can relax and is unaffected.It starts at home:with males and females adhering to the same rules and duties,with being involved in your child's business,and to make him aware that if he impregnates a girl,he must be prepared to play the role of a father.

Perhaps more engagements on these issues,more males speaking publicly against these issues and not speaking about such evils once-in-a-while.And no,not updating a status that you're against rape.Not enough bhut' wam,but it's a start (so hey,well done).

Blogging about it also not enough (I know I know :))....worth a try too,yes yes!

P/S:I was planning to share a devotional thought;some other time I guess.An article got me thinking about rape.

RE SONA AND OTHER NATIONS IN UNREST

The nations are angry, and great preparations for war are being made. Nation is plotting against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. The great day of God is hasting greatly. But although the nations are mustering their forces for war and bloodshed, the command to the angels is still in force, that they hold the four winds until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads (The Review and Herald, January 28, 1909).

But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom-Luke 21:9-10

Counsel:
Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, ² for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.




⁴ But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. ⁵ You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.

⁶ So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. ⁸ But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. ⁹ For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰ He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. ¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.-1 Thessalonians 5:1-11