NOEL TO YOU ALL!

Unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

A SAVOURY FRIENDSHIP

When the men got up to leave, they looked down towards Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Genesis 18:16-17

These words… “Shall I hide… seemed to have struck a deep cord when I read them once again this morning. I mean… this is God thinking and thinking aloud for that matter! What He was about to do to Sodom was already decided…but there was a moment of hesitation. God wasn’t about to surprise Abraham with the aftershocks of the destroyed Sodom. No…He hesitated. Why? Because what He had with Abraham was special. It was a SAVOURY FRIENDSHIP! A friendship which was pleasant and enjoyable. Yes…God enjoyed His friendship with Abraham more than Abraham could every know. His opinion on what God was about to do mattered. His suggestions or requests were not lightly taken into consideration.

Lets go down the ages…. its you and me. God is thinking…He is thinking aloud for that matter! But….have we heard what He is planning to do? Much of what I read in the Bible is God thinking aloud. He is still the same God who wants to enjoy A SAVOURY FRIENDSHIP with us His children. He is not will to do things before He passes the message to His children. He desires to hear our opinion in the matter. He is willing to stoop further than we can every imagine. What He was willing to do for Abraham inspite of Sodom’s great sin…He is willing to do for us…inspite of the fallen world we live in.

Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?” He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” Genesis 18:32

God is willing. Are you?

PRAY FOR MY FAMILY

Hebrews 10:35-36 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be RICHLY REWARDED. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

I don’t know who will read this…but my friend…DON’T GIVE UP! SIMPLY DON’T THROW IN THE TOWEL. Your reward is on the way. Just a little while longer….and you will be rewarded greatly!!!

As some of you might well know, my family and I are in a season of transition and we have been preparing to leave our country for sometime now. In just a little over a week, we will be finally saying goodbye and heading to our new home. Of course, we have this blessed hope and assurance that it will be well. And even much more than that. GOD HAS GONE BEFORE US….and He is OUR REAR GUARD. I am encouraged each day…and especially by the many blogging friends I have come to know through this blog. I thank God for each and every one of them. And I thank God for my readers….who I will not be able to communicate with through this blog for a while as my family settles into our new country and home.

I therefore humbly request that you keep my family in prayer because we need it. And may the Lord bless and keep you all…hoping to catch up with you….sometime later before the end of Summer.

YOU ARE ALL A BLESSING….and MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU ALL!!!!

GOD IS IN THIS PLACE…

Genesis 28:16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the LORD IS IN THIS PLACE, and I was not aware of it.”

I just opened my email randomly this morning…and was excited to find a reply email from my blogging friend, Dora from Hong Kong. As I began to read her mail…tears began welling up in my eyes. But one sentence…one sentence in her email….made the tears begin to flow down my cheeks unstoppable. She was praying for me…and my family. She was praying for the very things…I have been praying for privately, and which I wouldn’t have thought of sharing with people outside my inner circle. Then, God took me back to Jacob’s encounter. Yes….GOD IS IN THIS PLACE…and I didn’t know not. It was as if…God was telling me….that He knows my thoughts ten years from now. He knows….what I will think, ask or do….come ten days, weeks or years down the room. GOD IS IN THIS PLACE….not because He comes and goes….God is in the place when I am at the present, God is in the place where I have been in the past, God is in the place where I will be in the future.

The tears are unstoppable, friends. GOD IS IN THIS PLACE…as He was with Jacob, so He is with each and everyone who looks up to Him…and even when we are unaware of it….GOD IS IN THIS PLACE.

COMFORTING OTHERS

2 Corinthians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the FATHER OF COMPASSION and the GOD OF ALL COMFORT, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can COMFORT THOSE in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Wow! I have to say here one thing before I start. By reading this scripture verse, I understand why so many people are lost for words when it comes to comforting others! If you have never been comforted…you might not know how to comfort another in trouble. And while it is true, at one time or another you might have been on the receiving end of comfort…that still doesn’t qualify you to be a source of comfort for others.

One thing though makes all the difference: GOD….the GOD OF ALL COMFORT!

By comforting one who is in trouble…one doesn’t need to look up for the right soundly words. I learned that a little over a year ago. A friend was in trouble. BIG TROUBLE. My words…no matter how well meaning could do nothing to lighten her burden. Instead…her burden became my burden. Even though she never got to know it…I ached as much as she did. I wanted so badly to fix her situation…but I didn’t know how. I cried her tears; I asked her questions; My heart bled for her dreams; Then God showed up….to comfort her! Suddenly, my burden for her lifted. And in the most amazing way…words…WORDS OF COMFORT began flowing from my mouth. And she listened…and little by little, God began patching together her broken heart!

God made me see and understanding this:

SOW YOUR SEED WELL

Ecclesiastes 11:6 SOW YOUR SEED in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.

For those who read my blog regularly, you might be aware that I have complied a manuscript…which someday I hope to find a publisher and yes…my memoir will finally hit the bookshelves. But meanwhile as I wait and trust God for the opportunity to get published…I want to share and rejoice with one of my blogger friends, Elaine Olsen.

Although I don’t know Elaine personally, I met her through the blogging world sometime in December 2009 and my heart was hooked to her writing ever since. May I say, she has a passion for the Lord, her family…and yes, the written word. Every time, I visit her blog….PEACE FOR THE JOURNEY, my heart is always stirred by the passion in her words…words which cut through and bring at times relieve, at times a radical change of heart but at most, I feel her heart…and my own lost in the things and purpose of God for her life. She is a LISTENER...and God is speaking into her heart…and she in turn, writes it out for you and me, to help us along our journey towards our heavenly dwellings.

She has SOWN HER SEED WELL….and the Lord has made a way for her. A few weeks ago, she got her first book published and I truly recommend it for reading! The book title is;

PEACE FOR THE JOURNEY:in the pleasure of his company
~f elaine olsen~

For the details on how to purchase your copy, please click on the link above! SOW YOUR SEED WELL…God is faithful.

2 Corinthians 9:10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.

God bless you!

WEAK FAITH: WHAT IS YOUR ROLE IN IT?

Romans 14:1 Accept him WHOSE FAITH IS WEAK, without passing judgment on disputable matters.

I have a CONFESSION TO MAKE. So here, I come! As a person of strong faith, I find myself often dealing impatiently with a person who has weak faith. Yes, with the knowledge and wisdom God has granted me, at times, I find I want to forcefully turn it over to the one of weak faith….hoping that they will pick up the mantle to become GREAT FAITH WARRIORS. But, God has proved me wrong again and again.

God has been teaching me this:

FAITH IS PERSONAL and even when it is cooperative, it doesn’t mean it is ENOUGH. If one person has great faith and another in their midst has weaker faith, added together it does not equal average faith. In the hearing of the Word, where faith springs from, does not mean that the hearers of the word will hear the same thing at the same time to warrant the same kind of respond.

I HAVE SEEN YOUR WIDOW’S OFFERING

Luke 21:1-4 As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a POOR WIDOW put in two VERY SMALL COPPER COINS. ‘I tell you THE TRUTH,” he said “this poor widow has put MORE THAN ALL THE OTHERS. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she OUT OF HER POVERTY put in all she had to live on.”

It is just but a little over 6 months since I started this blog. This morning, as my hands were busy doing the dishes, my mind was also busy wandering here and there. How I had managed to keep up with the pace of posting is only by the GRACE OF GOD. And yes, partly because of a blogger friend, Elaine Davenport, who stood by me…urging me on. A month or so before I started this blog, someone I had thought of as a friend suddenly turned their back on me and my family….and caused us much harm. If she had stopped there, maybe it would have been different. But no, she took it upon herself…to cause damage on relationships I had established with others…whom she had come to know through my friendship with her. And after all the pain and heartache she had caused, I forgave her….and moved on.

But…I was not the same person. Then again, two weeks later, after I ventured into the blogging world, another painful blow happened to me. But this time, even though it was as painful as the first one, I refused to be shaken. No…I had nothing except CHRIST to hold on to! And each day, despite the battle within…I kept writing. I kept giving….more than I had. I kept going…believing, hoping against hope. Some days, I had wings, but most, my hands felt feeble and weak. I never stopped. I don’t know why, but I kept going!

TODAY IS SPECIAL: I AM THANKFUL

Hebrews 10:23-25 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another towards LOVE and GOOD DEEDS. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another_ and all the more as you see the DAY approaching.

I began this blogging journey exactly 4 months ago today. And yesterday’s post was the 100th. For me, it has been a great honor to be able, through the internet media to reach out to my fellow brethren across the globe with the Word of God. I am thankful for the Lord’s enabling power through the Holy Spirit’s anointing for each and every word that has gone forth to encourage, uplift, uphold and even admonish so that the body of Christ which I am a part of, may be inspired to live holy and sanctified lives unto the Lord.

I would like to express my