Exile and Restoration

God revealed something I wasn’t exactly looking for this morning, but I’m glad He did because I feel it is such an encouraging word for anyone.

During the time of Jeremiah the prophet, Jerusalem was besieged by the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar and a number of Judeans were exiled to Babylon.

As I read Jeremiah 29, I felt that the Judeans were in exile in more than 1 way. They were:

1. Distant from God,

2. Distant from home,

3. Distant from peace.

We can imagine while they were in Babylon, they probably felt anguish, worry, confusion, fear, uncertainty and/or sorrow.

Perhaps, in the same way, we may be going through trials where we’ve distanced ourselves from God, people we love and who love us and from peace of heart and mind. Perhaps we may feel like the Judeans in exile; one or a whole mess of their emotions.

Despite the fact that the Judeans had forsaken God, He knew His promise to His chosen and remained true to it.

Likewise, God chose every one of us who know Him, or at least, knew Him at a time. And for those He chose, He’s made special purposes and promises. For the Lord says:

“For I know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you and will bring you back from captivity.”

Rest assured, God knows and God loves us. Whether we are going through a challenging time or not, know that God has better things in store for us. He is forever faithful and standing by our side, so that the moment we call upon Him, we will find Him and He will bring us close to Him.

Cookie

If our life is a cookie, the crumbs are the pain and regret we leave behind because Jesus Christ has made us a whole cookie again

Testing Windows Live Blog Updates

Windows Live has this ultra-cool feature where I can update my blog without going into blogspot. How cool is that? :)

Amazed..

I have been working on The Purple Book (Biblical Foundations) for devotion and am currently on the chapter on discipleship. I haven't even finished the chapter but I'm too excited over something that has happened repeatedly and I felt it could be good for people to know.

Recently, I decided to take note of what I learn during devotion. My methodology was to write a WORD for the day, then the LESSON from devotion and the COMMAND or ACTION to apply in my life.

So yesterday, the word I received was discipleship and the action was to obey Christ's teaching. It may sound hard, having to remember every command and detail and so forth each day. It sounds like having to memorize a rule book and play the game. But what I learned today made things much, much simpler.

Today's word was crucifixion and that is, being crucified with Christ. Don't get riled up or run off yet; at least listen to what I have to say for the next two lines. Being "crucified" simply means to "die" or put off old, undesirable habits (I am confident every one of us has some of these) and live a new life in Christ. Here's a popular phrase on how to live a new life in Christ: What would Jesus do? (WWJD)

How often do we realize that by living a WWJD life, we are already obeying God? The math is simple: Jesus is the perfect example of how God wants us to live. By asking WWJD in our lives and applying the answer, we're already living how God wants us to live!

Upon this revelation, I said, "But God, Jesus is different! He is You in the form of a man; He had more power to overcome than any normal man on earth!"

And as God has done so many times before this, He said to me, "Isn't that why I gave you My Holy Spirit? He is your guide, counselor, guard and source of power. However incapable you as a person are, you are capable with My Spirit."

Once again, I am revealed the awesomeness of God's ways. I gotta admit, He has every detail thought thoroughly; every loophole filled.

I am amazed by Him.

Incredibility

Today, I was overwhelmed by the incredibility of God! This book, the Bible could not have come from simply any man or any hundred men cracking their brains together because it’s like a puzzle that fits perfectly. I have a vision that gets rather confusing and I’m attempting to write it down in words in hope that you may understand what I see.

Let’s start with this: Yesterday, I learned that the Word of God not ONLY = The Bible but also = Jesus Christ who = God who = the Creator of all the world and universe. Therefore the Word of God was present before earth and way, way before books and writing. If you didn’t understand that, to sum it all up: the Word of God is God Himself.

Today I learned that God’s Word isn’t simply about authority and commands. True, while it ultimately is that, it comes with love and benefits. That’s what makes Jesus (remember God’s Word = Jesus = God) so special. To love God is to obey Him. Obedience can seem like a burden sometimes (like performing chores or running errands for our parents or bosses. Especially bosses.). But the obedience God expects from us is different because He knows that in obedience, we will benefit; we will be rewarded.

And here’s the thing. Obedience sounds scary. It sounds like work; it sounds difficult to do. But in anything, what do you ever accomplish by not getting up and moving? Realistically, to lounge all day means to get nothing done. Though we do have to get up and get going, we’ve nothing to worry about because God has given us the easiest way towards this obedience. He has:

1) Given us the Bible
a. Which ultimately are His words.
b. He deliberately made it into black and white print (throughout the course of humanity)
so that it becomes easy for us to access and understand.

2) Given us the Holy Spirit
a. Which ultimately is Himself.
b. In His promise, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit when we repent and are baptized
in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is our guide, our guard, our counselor, our power.
Simply put, the Holy Spirit keeps us on track in our walk with God.
c. “On track” means that He is the one who teaches us to obey God, by speaking through
our hearts, minds, consciences and in any other way possible. It’s almost like we don’t
even have to try.

At this point, I wonder if you’re starting to understand what I have seen today. I guess what I’m trying to say is God really is perfect and He created; He IS His Word that is perfect. While God asks for our obedience, it’s not because He wants to rally subjects to worship Him. It’s because He loves us and wants the best for us. That great love and mercy, though He is sovereign and authoritative, is why He deserves that worship. When God asks for our obedience, He doesn’t take pleasure in watching us struggle and suffer on our way toward it. That is why He made it as easy as possible, by providing us a source of help for our minds and our hearts (the Bible and the Holy Spirit, respectively).

What I’ve mentioned is only a puny portion of what the Word of God has to offer and already they tie up together perfectly! I’m just summing it all up now:

God wants obedience so we can prosper. We want to be successful in life and the best way is obedience towards God. In the end, both parties look toward obedience for the same result. In other words, it’s like two parties working together for a common goal. As if things couldn’t get any better, God has provided us signposts that we can turn to for help on our journey to obedience. It makes things easy for us, and we learn to obey: God’s happy, we’re happy.

It’s like a fairy tale but it’s real.