Today I learnt
that I live for others. They are my purpose for living. I am needed because of them. I live a life of service in which I am here to love God and serve him by loving others, as Christ did.
Before and After Rebirth
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Before I died…
- I was in pain
- I was miserable, made the wrong decisions and lived to suffer the consequences
- I was looking for blessings in life from the wrong people, always
- I was living a lie, a fictitious, embellished, fake life so it would not be as sorrowful as I felt it was
The day I died…
- I was able to let go of my prior days and ways
- I was able to see past my own pain
- I was able to stare someone else’s pain in the face and see past their anger
- I was able to endure pain with grace
- I was able to face reality with humbleness
- I submitted to Him
The day I was born again…
- I was able to feel compassion for a suffering fellow human being
- I was able to understand that I live for others, always… that I live to serve God by letting him operate through me
- I was able to forgive, to endure the look of contempt and disgust in someone else’s eyes and still love that person
- I was able to understand that the centre of human life is God, there is nothing else but Him
- I realized that there is no greater comfort than being in the presence of God
Meekness and Love
From what little I understand about meekness, it is a mix of humbleness, of self-sacrifice, and love.
Jesus was meek, a servant to all, and yet our king. He was ridiculed, humiliated, and yet there were nobody greater than him to ever walk upon the face the Earth. Day after day, he was obedient to his Father, a father who was in him, and him in the Father. He spoke his Father’s words every time he opened his mouth, did his Father’s bidding, healed the sick, forgave sinners, taught his people about his Father. He loved his Father, and loved his people. Never did he lose patience with his disciples because they did not understand his words; never did he turn away someone willing to repent no matter what his or her sins were. Jesus loved God and God’s creation (of which we are), plain and simple.
Why are some people arrogant and contemptuous, and some others simply modest and loving? Are these traits innate or can they be learnt or developed? I would not know, but what I do know is that you can ask for the fruits of the Spirit.
7Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Matthew 7:7-8, KJV
Can we truly love without being meek? Can we obey God without being meek?
If God himself does not give us the capacity, we cannot love, and we cannot be meek, that much I am certain of. If we have the capacity to love someone (be he foe or friend) and if we possess a personality trait called meekness, it is God’s doing, not ours. If left to our own device, we are consumed with anger, pain, anxiety, arrogance, and a thirst for vengeance.
Whatever good we have in us comes from God.
Light
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
– Matthew 7:20 (KJV)
Words are deceptive. I have always believed action speak louder than words and the true colours of someone’s character reside in their behaviours and actions.
As mentioned in the New Testament, be a servant to all, like Christ himself. Your actions bespeak of the light within you.
Love God, love each other like Christ loves you, and help those who need it.
Simple commands yet hard to obey because there is one truth from which no one can escape; we are all sinners.
Thank-you God for your love, your grace, and compassion for your creation.
God’s Comforting Presence
4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
Isaiah 54:4 (KJV)
God’s words to me in a moment when I needed reassurance that I would get through the hardship I am experiencing.
This difficult time is making me closer to God. I seek His presence, His advice, and His comfort. He is who keeps me together, who gives me the strength to pull through and who keeps me strong in my faith in Him.
The Lord is my strength.
Mouthpiece
Have you ever open your mouth and said something you thoroughly mean but wouldn’t have said at that particular moment?
It happened to me very recently.
Time and time again thoughout the Bible, God has put words into his servents’ mouth, and He does so each time his prophets open their mouth, and it occurs still today.
9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 (KJV)
When you are on a mission from God, do not worry about what you will say, or how you will do something. God will put the words that need to be said in your mouth and you will accomplish what God wants you to do.
It is a weird feeling to watch yourself say something you have not thought about, and much less about uttering it outloud, to observe your own action while standing as a participant who is not in full command.
I thank God for doing so; it reassures me greatly. It tells me that I am doing what He wants me to do, that my actions are accomplished according to His will, and that He is with me every step of the way. From my personal experience, the certainty of knowing that you are doing your Father’s Will is one of the nicest feelings in the world. His allowing you to have the certainty of His presence while He walks with you and speak through you is one of the ways He lets you know how much He loves you .
Thank-you God for allowing me to see Your face in my life.
Teachings
Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
– Psalms 106:1 (KJV)
God listens to your prayers; none of your teardrops fall without Him knowing about it. So when God Almighty gives you instructions, it means He has already made the way for you.
Praise the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endures forever.
He has done so for me and He teaches me along the way, telling me who He is and how much He loves me. God doesn’t yell at His children; He teaches with love, forgives mistakes, and patiently explains the lesson until you have learned it.
My God, God Almighty, is about love; He is Love.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
– John 3:16
Praise the Lord!
Stop Believing in Your Worthlessness
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
– Matthew 10:29-30 (KJV)
If God cares so much about sparrows, a living creature we deem to have very little worth, if the hairs on our head are numbered, why do we have doubts about our worth in His eyes?
Every now and then, we all wallow in self-pity, in self-deprecation, and we work at reinforcing our own belief of worthlessness.
The last time I went on such a tirade, I got chided, like one chides a child, for I did not see the obvious, for I doubted the simplest of principles: God’s Almightiness.
Who do you think you are to criticize God’s creation? God made you with perfection. You are who He wants you to be. You are perfect in His eyes!
God did not make a mistake, your attributes He chose with care. God’s opinion of you is all that matters. It matters far more than the opinion of your family or your colleagues, your teachers or your neighbours, or even your own!
Why don’t you focus on seeing the truth about yourself? The truth is, you are neither a figure on the scale nor a grade on a report card; you are neither the hardship you had to deal with nor the privileges you take advantage of every day.
You are God’s child, a child whom He loves unconditionally, you are His creation. You are who you are meant to be; you are God Almighty’s beautiful and wonderful creation.
Don’t you forget it!
The Truth
How many times have we heard “The truth will set you free”?
Did you know it is actually a paraphrased, partial verse?
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:32 KJV
Quite interesting, is it not?
Have you ever experienced it for yourself? Has knowing the truth (the absolute truth) about something ever made you free?
Being bound by lies, by your belief in those lies, is the worse kind of prison. You made yourself prisonner, on your own, in your own pain, in your own fallacies. Unless God gives you the truth, you will remain helpless in getting out of your self-made jail.
Jesus said:
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6
Ask him for the truth, be ready to accept the truth (whatever it turns out to be), and you will know.
As a man of God Almighty once said to me:
The truth answers all the questions, it leaves no room for confusion.
A Pen for Christian Fiction 