Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Today when I left work with all my business attire (shoes, pants, shirt, tie) on, I noticed that it was raining quite hard outside. So instead of walking outside, I took the underground “PATH” and hopped on the subway to go home.
I didn’t think much about it until I got to Davisville. There I noticed it was raining cats and dogs. The sky was covered with rain clouds, and the rain was pelting against the windows. It was then that I realized that if I had to trek 15minutes home in this weather that I’d be drenched. Not just a little wet, but I’d be sloshing around in my own shoes.
Then in a moment of clarity, it was like God spoke to me and told me to have faith. You see, I’ve been studying Matthew for the last month and all of a sudden all these verses started popping into my head…
“if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)
“You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. (Matthew 8:26)
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour. (Matthew 8:10,13)
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9:1)
Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment. (Matthew 9:22)
Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; and their sight was restored. (Matthew 9:29)
And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. (Matthew 13:58)
I could go on, there is Peter walking on water because of faith; Jesus rebuking the disciples for not having enough faith to perform their own miracles (Ch.16), etc.
But the point is that at that exact moment, I suddenly had faith that God would make the rain go away and I was happy and relieved. I prayed asking God to make the clouds go away and that he would not let a single drop hit my head. and that he would clear the skies and give me a nice walk home. I was still in the subway without any knowledge of what the weather was like outside, but as I got closer to my stop I got more and more excited to see the great weather God was preparing for me.
I was so excited I ran up the stairs and when I got to the doors, the clouds had just swept disappeared. I could see the last of the grey clouds and then what was left was sun and blue skies. I was amazed. That is my story. Praise be to God, who honours faith the size of mustard seeds and gives power to those who believe.
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile.
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
Just as a ship must deal with invisible forces at work, like the wind and the current, our lives are influenced by many invisible factors that cannot be ignored. Do not dwell on earthly things such as television and music which will renew your mind with materialistic views, but renew your mind with the word of God and with songs of worship that praise God instead of men.
Men and women do not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from God’s mouth.
- Matthew 4:4
Part of our way of life is to expose ourselves to God’s scripture. Dallas Willard, a highly respected writer on the “Spiritual Life”, shared that memorizing scripture has changed his life because it feeds your mind with God’s word in a way that becomes a part of your life.
So let’s stop feeding our brain with worldly things such as: sex, money, career; and instead fill them with the promises of God.
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
You gave me hope
You made me whole
At the cross
You took my place
You showed me grace
At the cross where You died for me
And His glory appears
Like the light from the sun
Age to age He shines
Look to the skies
Hear the angels cry
Singing Holy is the Lord
This is probably one of my personal favorites. Because the Lord’s glory is like light from the sun; splitting the darkness in a matter of seconds in such a beautiful and powerful way.
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
Wisdom from Watchman Nee
The difference between defensive and offensive warfare is this, that in the former I have got the ground and only seek to keep it, whereas in the latter I have not got the ground an am fighting in order to get it. And that is precisely the difference between the warfare waged by the Lord Jesus and the warfare waged by us. His was offensive; ours is, in essence, defensive. He warred against Satan in order to gain the victory. Through the Cross he carried that warfare to the very threshold of Hell itself, to lead forth thence his captivity captive.
Today we war against Satan only to maintain and consolidate the victory which Christ has already gained. By the resurrection God proclaimed his Son victor over the whole realm of darkness, and the ground Christ won he has given to us. We do not need to fight to obtain it. We only need to hold it against all challengers.
Satan’s primary objective is not to get us to sin, but simply to make it easy for us to do so by getting us off the ground of perfect triumph on to which the Lord has brought us. If only we will not try to gain the victory but simply to maintain it, then we shall see the enemy utterly routed. If we believe the Lord, we shall not pray so much but rather we shall praise him more.
In Christ Jesus, we are victor in the field. Live a life that reflects and understands the great battle already won.
