In search of God

Matthew 11:28-30, 'Come unto me, all  ye  that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. ' Life is very burdensome and each one of us carries a personal burden of some sort that sometimes pushes us even to our breaking points. We feel depressed and overwhelmed by the constant struggles, worries and anxieties of everyday life and are enticed to just give it all up and walk away from it all. And some do  choose to   walk away physically, mentally and emotionally , living sad, lonely and depressed lives;  while others give up on life itself and sadly  choose  to take their life. And even those who do try to fight a good fight with life seem to be no better because they have to endure laboring in an unending cycle of ups and downs, wins and losses that is frustrating as...

Romans 8:28, "   And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to  His  purpose." I have been offered these scripture countless times whenever I'm going through a hard patch and I have offered it countless time to others still as a way of comfort. I must confess though that whenever this statement is said to me by well meaning friends, at that moment of unimaginable pain and trouble that seems too much to bear, when the wound is still fresh oozing with blood, and when the eyes are blurred by tears, at that moment I must confess, the above scripture does less than comfort me. I guess that when our perspective is so focused in the moment, so focused in the trouble or pain, the above scripture won't make sense to any of us. But if you read the scripture in its context, then you understand that what God is telling us is to look at the bigger picture. When you understand what God has in store for t...

Mark 9: 43-48 “And i f your hand makes you sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed, than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched – where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. And if your foot makes you sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched – where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. And if your eye makes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire – where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” How can your hands make you sin you ask, by taking things that do not belong to you or writing things that are untrue about someone online. What about your legs you might ask, by taking you to places that you know you shouldn't be going. What about your eyes, looking at things ...

Psalm 8:3-14, 3  When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4  What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? 5  For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6  You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all   things   under his feet, 7  All sheep and oxen— Even the beasts of the field, 8  The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. 9  O   Lord , our Lord, How excellent   is   Your name in all the earth! The God that created the universe, created you too and He loves and cares for you dearly. Due to the lies of the Deceiver, Satan, man lost the glory that God had crowned upon him and the dominion given to him on earth. But God in His great love and mercy upon...

Psalm 7:14-16, ‘Whoever is pregnant with evil  conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out   falls into the pit they have made. The trouble they cause recoils on them;   their violence comes down on their own heads. ’ We are living in evil times. News today is full of sad, heartbreaking, evil stories you would be mistaken to think that men are falling over themselves to see who is the sickest and vilest of them all. Our leaders are no better because all they conceive is evil and wickedness. They promise one thing with their mouths but plan the opposite in their hearts. Even though we are living in the age of great advancements, we are the most disillusioned lot. Suicide rates are higher all over the world than half a century ago. And the median age for those that are committing suicide is getting younger. All that are engaged in evil think that they are ahead of the pack, they are smarter than the re...

Judges 16: 16-20 16  And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him,  so  that his soul was vexed to death,  17  that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I  have been  a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any  other  man.” 18  When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand.  19  Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, [ a ]  and his strength left him.  20  And she said, “The Philistines  are  upon you, Samson!” So he awoke ...

Matthew 4:3-10 New King James Version (NKJV) 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship t...

Romans 12:2, 'Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.'  The behaviors and customs of this world shape the way that we think. The way we think shapes our values and our values determine our character. Salvation gives you new life, a spirit that is of God but your mind still remains the same and there results a conflict within you between the old you - your mind and soul (your carnal self) and the new you - the spirit of God that is within you.  The spirit of God desires to carry out the will of God but the carnal self is contrary to this desire and wants to carry out your will. Now God unlike us knows what is best for us. From the beginning of time, before you were created, God had a perfect plan for your life and His desire is for that plan to manifest in your life. But the Devil, whose ...

Acts 3:1-8, “One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.” God is sovereign. He is because He is. He does what He pleases. He is good. He is love. He is the creator of Heaven and the world ...

Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.” God has an acceptable, good and pleasing will for us. He wants us to have life while the Devil wants us to perish in sin, He wants to be a blessing to us and the Devil wants to destroy us. God has given us the freedom to choose. Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial. The world promotes a culture of ‘everything goes’. The shape and direction of our culture right now leaves you with more questions than answers as to what is right or wrong. But the word of God provides us with the wisdom to make up our minds what is beneficial for us or not. There is a battle going on for your soul. God is a just God and wants us to choose for ourselves who we want to abide by. It would be cruel if you did all you could to turn away from Him and His Kingdom now...

Acts 6:1-4 “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." We all have our place of ministry and those that are called to the ministry of the word of God and intercession should not allow other good things to distract them and turn them away from ministering the word of God to His flock for theirs is key to our survival. They have been given the word that ministers life to the spirit without which we perish. It is written that man shall not live by bread alone ...

Exodus 23:24, ‘You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely breakdown their sacred pillars.’ It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’ In this world there are many gods that demand worship from us but we need to be vigilant that we do not succumb and idol worship. Before salvation, we unknowingly or knowingly worship these gods in our life. Through salvation we denounce all other gods and submit and surrender ourselves to the true living God. We recognize our foolishness and acknowledge that there is no other god but Him. After salvations we are aliens in the world being here but not of here. But these other gods of this world are treacherous and want and demand we worship them through enticement, deception or force. But we must renounce them with everything, choosing to serve only our Lord God. Anything that is an altar, a place of worship, should ...

Matthew 5:13-16, ‘“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” ’ We are called into Christ to be the seasoning of the world, pointing them to the truth that is in Him. We are called, set apart and separated from the world to be in this world but not of this world. The trends and fads of this world should not dictate how we live for we live for a higher purpose. We live for the glory of our Lord! In Christ there is life abundant and we should live in a way that the world will not see you but the Christ that is living in you manifest in e...

What is the cross? Why is the crucifixion of a Jew called Jesus of so much importance to us Christians, after all, He was not the first or the only one to be crucified. And why was there a need for a cross? And oh, did we really need a Saviour in the first place? To answer these questions let us first ask ourselves, did we need a Savior in the first place? The answer is yes we did need a Saviour. God is Holy while we on our own are not holy for the word in Romans 3:10-11 says, “As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” All of us have a problem, a SIN problem, that separates us from a holy God. Now sin is not the act but it is our very nature assumed at the Garden of Eden when Adam rebelled against God’s command. To explain further, a mango tree is not a mango tree only after it produces mangoes but it is naturally a mango tree and can only produce mangoes therefore the sins we commit are the outward manifes...

Numbers 13: 27,’28 ‘They told Moses, we came to the land to which you sent us; surely it flows with milk and honey. This is its fruit. But the people who dwell there are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, there we saw the sons of Anak [of great stature and courage]. God had promised Abraham to give His descendants the land of Canaan as their inheritance. Over 400 years later, the descendants had been redeemed from Egypt by their God and were now at the brink of entering their promised land. In conformity to the disbelieving nature of man, they sent out spies to inspect and confirm if indeed the promise was true. They selected 10 men, one from each tribe of Israel, to go to spy on the land out of which two report were given. In the first report, all the ten confirmed that indeed the land was flowing with milk and honey as promised by the LORD. They even had evidence of fruit and produce from the land. The second report was given by 8 of the 10 spies who s...

Psalm 106:13-15, ‘But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert. And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls and [thinned their numbers by] disease and death. The above passage details how the children of Israel after liberation from Egypt through miracles and wonders, after crossing the Red Sea and seeing their enemies vanquished, they rejoiced in the LORD for a short while but were quick to forget their God and started to rebel. They forgot the mighty deeds God had done before and for them in His faithfulness and love for them. They did not wait for His plans for taking them to the promised land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey to unfold. Impatience was their downfall. It was a manifestation of their lack of trust in their Heavenly Father. They rebelled against ...

Genesis 2:9, 16, 17, ‘And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’ ‘And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."’ When God made the Garden of Eden, there were two particular trees that were specifically mentioned, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now the command God gave was for man not to eat the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and His wife were free to eat of the tree of life. Had they eaten the tree of life instead of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would have enjoyed eternal life with their Creator and Father; living a life free from shame and condemnation that came with their choice to eat frui...

Deuteronomy 4:35-39, ‘You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides Him there is no other. From heaven He made you hear His voice to discipline you. On earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words from out of the fire. Because He loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, He brought you out of Egypt by His Presence and His great strength, to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today. Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.’ God shows Himself to us through signs and wonders so that we may know His mighty power and majesty. The LORD choose the Israelites as the people through which to show the world Himself; His love, His faithfulness, His power, His mercy, His majesty, His judgment and so many other characteristics of His divine nature....

John 3:16, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ The birth of Jesus was a love gift – a sacrifice made by God for the world, (that is you and me) that He loves with immeasurable and incomprehensible love. To fully understand this, we need to go back to the beginning, to the genesis of all things. John 1:1-4, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.’ You see God is the beginning of all things and in all things He has set laws to govern. Because He is a just God, He will not break even one of His laws that He has set. The first man Adam sinned and as a consequence his nature became sinful which we have inherited as his descendants. The consequence of man’s sinful nature was death and e...

In Romans 12:17-21 'Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.', It is hard for us to forgive because the world teaches us from a tender age that tit for tat is the order of the day. If someone wrongs you, you must avenge yourself so that you can feel better about it. Even us Christians, when we are wronged, we might not do it ourselves but we ask God to avenge on our behalf so that we can feel better. But is that why God commands us to forgive and do good to those that have wronged...