Reflection #1 You are Mine

I am currently reading the book, "I Have Loved You: Getting to Know the Father's Heart" by Cynthia Heald, and I decided to the reflections at the end of the chapters here, so I can really explore what my heart is telling me, and to maybe return to these reflections later on.

1. Why do you think God emphasizes in Isaiah 43:1 that He calls us by name?

I think that  God emphasizes that he calls us by name because he wants us to know that he knows us personally. You can only call someone by name if you know them personally, and God wants us to know that he knows us at that intimate level.

Also. the fact that he "calls" us at all, means that he wants to get our attention. You only call someone if you want their attention to be on you, so I believe that God calling us and not just calling us by calling us by name, must mean that God has put some sort of importance on our life, on our being and that he wants us to focus on him and know him. 

The fact that he calls us, and calls us by name must mean that he wants our attention and he knows us and that in itself is profound, as it points to God, an all powerful, immortal, intelligent and wise being, that wants us and knows us and it proves that God wants a relationship with us, which I think is profound, as he is so much bigger and stronger and more amazing, than anyone, and to think he would care for a relationship with me... it's unfathomable. Usually powerful and amazing people like to call on people just as amazing as themselves, but God calls someone like me, by name... it must imply a deeper relationship than I understand.

2. Tell the Lord in prayer how you long to be held close by a loving Father.

Father, as I come to you today, I thank you for your goodness toward me. Thank you for thinking about me and creating me at all. You never forgot about me and you didn't decide not to create me, and for that I am grateful. Throughout my life, you have held my hand. You have pulled me close even when I've pushed you away. You have been there with me through good times and bad, and I am eternally grateful for your presence always leading and guiding me in my life.

Father, you know that my earthly father abandoned the family institution that builds the foundation for a happy family and security, early on in my life. Since then I have lived with my mother and sister, but without the protection and provision of an earthly father, things were hardly easy. You, oh God, have been a place of comfort and protection throughout my early life, and you have been a source of comfort and strength to me, fulfilling my every need, so I lacked nothing. 

Father, since then I have grown up a bit, although I feel like I have a long way to grow, I pray that you will continue to be a guide me. I long to be held closes by a loving father. To be protected and provided for, so I can be myself without worry of fear or anxiety of the future or the past that sometimes still hurts me. God, I need you to be that father for me. To be a source of strength, guidance and for your leadership as I navigate life as we move forward together in my exixtence. Please God, be my security. Please be whatever I need in any season and help me to seek you. Allow me to get to know you on a deeper level, just like you spoke to David and the apostle Paul, help me to hear your voice and be guided to do the right things. 

God, just like a real father, please remind me of the good in me. Remind me that I am lovable, that I am worthy, and that I am precious to you. Remind me that you will be there to protect me throughout my life and live in confidence knowing that I am protected and loved by you.

I thank you for your love and mercy toward me father.

Thank you for listening to and answering my prayers.

Through Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. 

Come to Him

I have grown so much in the last few years, yet I still have so much to learn and a long way to go.

God has been my rock and helper, and I have continued to serve and love him in my daily life, trying to deepen my faith.

Truth be told, there have been times, over the past 7 years, when I have grown apart and even been stubborn with him, but God; my God, my maker, my father, and my friend continued to support and love me through it all.

I have reflected on his love and goodness and have seen his greatness, his might, and his mercy in so many ways, on many occasions. Whether it was comforting me on difficult days, encouraging me as I continued to pursue my education and career, guiding me to make the right decisions, answering my prayers and making heavy days lighter, not to mention forgiving me in my transgressions and picking me up when I stumbled. I have seen God's goodness in so many ways in so many areas of my life 

I still struggle with many things, but I have learned that God is faithful and merciful, loving and kind and he continues to love and support me on this life journey. In fact, just recently, and perhaps as a result of my own thoughts, I started to question God's love for me and whether he actually does love me. I figured that maybe he didn't and that he might in fact love everyone else but me (as far out as that thought might be).

For that reason, I decided to fast for just one week. I figured, at the time, one week was all I could manage, or at least as long as I felt I could last in my fast. You would never believe how God drew me into himself during that week! Yes, I still struggled, as I was fasting from certain thoughts in my mind, not a food fast, but a thought fast. I have thoughts that I realized I felt more drawn to and that comforted me, more than I was comforted and reassured by God and those very same thoughts were drawing me away from him and making me feel like he was being unfair to me. 

During my one-week fast, during the day I would try to think positive thoughts, and those I felt would please God, and bring the other thoughts, that were leading me to my own desires back to God. In the evening I would go back to God in worship and prayer, and read scripture. 

Soon I found this app, which had Biblical positive affirmations, which I started saying. It reminded me of God's promises and his word to me, and I felt like God established my identity in him, and all the insecurity and fear I kept on feeling practically vanished. I knew in my very soul that God loves me and cares for me. I could not deny it any longer. I started seeing things in the scripture I didn't see before, and didn't understand before, and it was so profound, it was as if God was lifting my confusion and replacing it with his own knowledge and understanding. He brought me back on the right path.

Then I began praying in the morning and in the evening, I became hungry for God!

Today is actually the last day of my one-week fast. I did it during this week as it was my birthday, and I felt like it was an appropriate time to reconnect with God, but during this time, as I returned my eyes to him, I felt such profound love and peace.

Maybe God is calling some of us to turn our eyes back to him. He needs to remind us of our worth and his love for us. I strongly believe that for me, fasting was a good way to do that. 

In whatever way the holy spirit leads you, I wanted to encourage you to come back to God in an intimate way. He is love. He is mercy. He is comfort. He is strength. Whatever you feel you might be lacking or you feel you need, he is rich in it, and he will give it to you because he loves you.

If you are feeling lost and can't pinpoint your feelings or what you might need to bring to God, I want to encourage you to turn back to him anyway. He can help with all your feelings and he will love you until you feel like the strong, happy and healthy person you are in the spirit, in God by Jesus' goodness and grace.

I would suggest that you start with a scripture, and maybe a prayer. It doesn't have to be long, it could be, 'God help me.' Calm your spirit and listen. Sing songs to God and praise him. Affirm his words, and soon you will feel his love springing in your spirit.

Of course, you can go back to him however you feel you need to. 

Your relationship with God is personal, he is a personal kind of God who cares about each of us in the very specific way each of us needs.

God loves you even right now, and he aways will, no matter what. Come to him.

Day 47~ Our God who Loves Us

Isaiah 43:4-5;

"I will give up whole nations to save your life, because you are precious to me and because I love you and give you honor. Do not be afraid - I am with you!"

Today, we look at Our God as the God who loves us. 

I saved this particular quality of God for last because it is the most important quality of all to remember.

The reason it's the most important is because everything God does in our life is going to reflect this one truth; God loves us.

The struggles we face, the battles we fight, the difficulties and the disappointments, inside all of them, if we were to look closely, we would find God's love, his protection and his grace. You see, God knows what we're made of and he would never send us things we could not handle and he certainly wouldn't put us in a situation without giving us the strength to handle it.

One may say, " But how could you say that God loves us? This world is less than ideal, we see crime, corruption, starvation and war."

The truth is, none of those things reflect God, they reflect human nature.

How can we blame God when we are the ones hurting each other?

Until we learn to truly love one another, wars will never end, starvation will never end corruption will never end, crime will never end and suffering will never end.

All it takes is love.

Not the corrupted kind of love that we see in today's world which is disloyal and seeks pleasure and gain, but the kind of love which is selfless, forgiving, considerate, cooperative and kind. The latter love is the kind of love God wants us to have for one another.

Today, the day we commemorate our Lord's resurrection, is the day we see God's love in action.

It was on a day, much like today, that God restored the hope of humanity by proving to us that he can rise us from death.

Before, it was thought that such a thing could not be done, but now we know, and rejoice in the fact that our God is powerful enough and compassionate enough to restore life to us, even after death.

Our God is a living, loving, merciful God. He said so himself in Isaiah. 

Can you imagine God giving up nations just to save you? 

Is it simpler then, to imagine God putting his perfect, wonderful son to death, for the sake of sinners like us?

It doesn't make sense. There's no way anyone would do that yet God did that for us.

Why?

Because he loves us.

In reality, there's no real reasonable cause for God to have sacrificed his own son. He is the Almighty God. He could create new worlds with new people. Better people, but no, he never gave up on us. He proved his love and loyalty to us. 

He has never left us or forsaken us. And you know what? 

Even if you were the only person on Earth, God would have done the very same thing to save you.

How do I know that?

I know because that's who our God is. He wants to save all of us.

I truly believe that we don't read the Bible to find God, we don't have to find God, he isn't lost. We read the Bible to find ourselves and who better to teach us about ourselves than our creator.

Are you a courageous person fighting giants like the Shepard boy David? Are you running away from something like Jonah? Maybe you're looking for healing like Naaman or perhaps a seeker of wisdom like King Solomon.

Even if you can't relate to any of these, you will find yourself in the Bible and you will see how our loving God can move mountains for you.

This Easter Sunday, which we spend in jubilation at the miracle of our Lord Jesus' resurrection, I encourage you to read the Bible and be a light wherever you may go. 

This world needs you and your life is important and precious.

In God's eyes, you are a masterpiece of great value and worth. Remember that God loves you so much that he sent his Son to release you from guilt and shame and prove to you that there is life beyond death.

If you ever need love, it's not far away, it's tucked under the loving embrace of your heavenly Father's arms and the good news is he's only one call away.

Thank you so much for reflecting with me on the qualities of God for these 47 days. I wish you and your family a Happy Holy Easter. I pray God's blessings upon you; blessings of health, strength, love, long life, happiness and an abundance of God's favor, today and forever, and may your life always be an inspiration to others to the honor and glory of God.

Day 46~ God our Redeemer

Isaiah 47:4

"Our Redeemer, The Lord of Hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel."

Our God is an awesome God, he is very wise and wonderful and he has redeemed us.

To understand God as our Redeemer, we must first understand what it means to redeem.

The word redeem has multiple definitions:

Firstly, to redeem means to compensate for the faults and bad aspects of.
We may have heard someone say at some point, "You must redeem yourself." This means that the person in question has to compensate or make amends for something wrong that they may have done. It also means to save.

Secondly, to redeem means to gain or regain posession of something in exchange for payment.
That is to clear a debt, or free yourslf from debt by paying a ransome.

Lastly, to redeem means to fulfil ot carry out a promise.

So which of these three definitions explains who God is as our redeemer?

Well, unsurprisingly, God's redemption covers all the possible definitions redeem could have.

Through Jesus Christ, God compensated for our faults and bad aspects. He did this by allowing Christ to take our place. Since Jesus was perfect, he atoned for our faults and bad aspects, thereby making amends with God for our transgressions and saving us from sin and shame.

God also regained posession of us. He gave his only son to die for us. Jesus paid for our sins by dying since death is the payment for sin. He paid for all our sins, by being a sacrifice. 

Lastly, through Jesus, God fulfilled his promise of sending a messiah to save us, the very mesaiah that  was prophesied about in the old testament. 

So there you have it. God is our redeemer in every way we look at it. He saved us, he paid our ransome and he kept his promise. 

Today, I pray, that we all will gratefully accept the gift of redemption which God gives freely to all of us, through the death and ressurection of Jesus Christ, for God is our redeemer.

Day 45~ Salvation Belongs to our God

Good Friday; the day our God made the ultimate sacrifice for us by offering his son, Jesus Christ, so that we could be made holy through him.

Revalation 7:10;

"And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the lamb."

So, let us start from the begining; this all began when God made something like a contract with Moses and the Israelites.

He wanted to live among his people, but thanks to their sin, he couldn't come among them because his Holiness would destroy them. In order to live among them, there were certain purification rituals that needed to be done.

So, in summary, the first contract said that if we are guilty of sin, we must confess our sins and offer a sheep or goat as a sin offering to God and he would forgive our sins. 
Leviticus 5:5-6.

Today, we don't live under that contract any longer.
Why?
Because God gave us salvation.

What is salvation?
Salvation is generally defined as preservation from harm, ruin or loss.

This definition fits perfectly with what God has done for us. Through Jesus' sacrificial death, we have been preserved by God from harm, that is, we no longer have to live life under God's wrath because now, we have been made clean by the sacrifice that Jesus has made for us.

He has also saved us from ruin because sin leads us down a path of destruction, we know that the price of sin is death, but through Jesus, our sins have been paid for.

He also saved us from loss, which is why we believe that death is not the end of our Journey. We know that our souls will live on even if our bodies die.

Theologically, Salvation is defined as deliverence from sin and it's consequences.

Our God has given us salvation and he has given it to us freely. This means that none of us have to pay for it, none of us have to earn it, we are given salvation because our Lord Jesus Christ was generous enough to be the perfect lamb sacrificed for the payment of our sins.

So how do we claim this free gift?
Well, God made a new contract with us.
The new contract says that if we believe in his son, we will not perish.

John 3:16 says;

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life."

So today, we can simply confess our sins and ask for forgiveness because the sacrifice has already been made. 

Through confession, we let God know that we are aware that we have sinned and that we are sorry about sinning. Jesus' sacrifice and our confession together is the same as the sin offering as written in Leviticus.

God made it even easier for us to be forgiven and what's more is that everyone on Earth can be saved, because of what Jesus has done.

Remember, Jesus' sacrifice is enough to cover our sins.
Trust in the Lord your God. He gives us Salvation.

If we truly take the time to understand the scripture, we will find that God is very real and also he is a very loving and compassionate God. The depth of what is written in the Bible, can prove that God exisits because it does not conform with the way humans usually think.

Who would sacrifice their perfect child for the sins of the world? No one. 
God did that.

I pray today that as we reflect upon God's salvation, that we will be drawn closer to him and understand his beautiful heart as we journey with him through life.


Today I want to wish you and your family a happy and holy Good Friday, may God's richest blessings and mercy pour out on you today and for as long as you live.

Day 44~ Our Holy God

Today is Holy Thursday. The day we remember the Last Supper which our Lord Jesus, shared with his disciples.

Today, however, I invite you to reflect with me on the topic, Our Holy God.

What does it mean to be holy?

We call today Holy Thursday; this holy means sacred and dedicated to God. That means that we have chosen to devote this day to God.

However, when we're speaking of the word Holy with respect to God, it's something a bit different.

Leviticus 19:2 says;
"Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy."

In Leviticus 19, God tells us that he is a Holy God.
This time, however, Holy, means separate or set apart.

God is separate from humankind.
One way in which he is separate from us is that he is set apart from anything evil, in other words, God is completely good, there is nothing bad, evil or impure about our God.

Holiness is much deeper than we could ever come to understand but what we do know and understand about Holy things is this; it is so good that evil things are destroyed in its presence.

This is why there were very special and specific rules in place for the Israelites when God lived among them.

There were foods which were seen as clean and unclean. There were specific rituals which they needed to carry out for their purification and those priests who worked in the tent of The Lord's presence also had to hold themselves to a certain standard.
Why?
Because if they didn't do those things, God's holiness could destroy them.

Now, God also wants us to be Holy just like him.
Leviticus 11:45 tells us;
"For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy."

However, we humans sin and fall short of God's glory, how then can we be holy?

This was the question in everyone's minds for centuries after this statement was made, that is, until one man came and turned the tides in our favor.

This man is none other than Jesus Christ.
He was perfect, like a lamb without any defects, he came and was sacrificed to God. In fact, he was such a perfect sacrifice that God accepted him as the payment for the sins of the world forever!

Today, on this Holy Thursday, we remember the night on which our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, sat with his disciples, there he told them to break the bread and drink the wine, representing his body sacrificed for us and his blood spilled for us as payment for our sins so that we too might be holy.

Hebrews 10:10 tells us;

"For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time."

There you have it, our Holy, loving compassionate God kept his promise and now we can have a chance at everlasting life.

This Holy Thursday, I pray that we will understand the length, depth and height of God's everlasting love for us as we commemorate the sacrifice that he has made on our behalf. Our Almighty Father is certainly worthy to be praised and adored for he is our Holy God who loves us.

Day 43~ Our God Who Rescues Us

Psalms 35:10;

"With all my heart I will say to the Lord, "There is no one like you. You protect the weak from the strong, the poor from the oppressor."

Sometimes in life, unfair things happen to us. God see's this, he is omniscient, our all seeing God, and he will take care of us.

Psalm 35 reminds us of this. God will rescue us from unfair situations.

God will rescue us without fail, and he will ensure that we come out victorious.

An example of such a situation can be seen in the book of Daniel;

Daniel 6 where Daniel was placed into a Lion's pit by King Darius after he had put out a decree that for 30 days no one was to request anything from God, or any human being except him.

Daniel however still prayed as diligently to God as he usually would and thus, when he was caught, he was thrown into the Lion's den.

This was unfair to Daniel. Why should he not be allowed to serve God as he usually did?

Yet for all, he was thrown into a den of Lions to be devoured.

Now, King Darius felt guilty for throwing Daniel into the Lion's pit, and the very next morning went to the den where he called out;

"Daniel, servant of the Living God! Was the God you serve so loyally able to save you from the Lions?"

Daniel replied; "May Your Majesty live forever! God sent his angel to shut the mouths of the Lions so that they would not hurt me. He did this because he knew that I was innocent and because I have not wronged you, Your Majesty." 

God rescued Daniel because he knew that Daniel was innocent. What's more is that after this, King Darius sent out a command that everyone should respect and fear the God of Daniel.

God can use troublesome situations and bring Glory and Honor to his name.

Our God rescues his people. 

Maybe there's a situation you're facing where you're feeling trapped and discouraged.

You need not fear. You serve the God who can shut the mouths of Lions! The God who can trample giants and command the sun to stay in it's place.

He can rescue you. He will defend you. If God has placed you in a difficult situation, you can be sure that he will rescue you from it. It's only a matter of time before he sends the help you need because our God is a God who rescues his people.

Even if the odds are against your favor as with David and Goliath. Even if you need more time, he controls time, as he did with Joshua in the battle against the Amorites. Our God can and will rescue you. Whatever it takes, he is on your side. 

Continue to put your trust and hope in the Almighty God, he rescues his people and he certainly won't let you down.