In search of God

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...

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...

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...

Psalm 73:2-10,12, ‘But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits. They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. This is what the wicked are like – always carefree, they increase in wealth.’ How many of us are envious of the wicked – the liars, cheats, murderers – of the world. Life looks like it is kinder to them, they have the best in and of life. And the world honours and adores them; we aspire to be like...

Romans 8:29-33, ‘For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.’ Do you know who you are to and what you mean to God? Do you know the extent of the great love that God has for you, His thought about and for you? Before you were God knew you, before the beginning, He knew you, He set aside a destiny for you, that you would be conformed to the likeness of Christ. This means that the plan of the Father is that as Christ is you are; as He is the Father’s beloved son in whom you are we...