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Showing posts with the label #Forgiveness

Saturday Vespers: No word like hopeless

Life can sometimes make you feel hopeless: death, disease, misfortune dog our footsteps. No matter what happens in our life, there is hope. God is there. When we come to God in prayer, we do not come with our own righteousness but with a humble heart, seeking His great mercies. Sometimes, in the midst of our struggles, it may feel like God is not listening or paying attention to our cries, but, if we do as Hannah did, pouring out our soul for the Lord, God will hear our prayers. We come before you in awe Lord, acknowledging your greatness and magnificence. We humbly approach you with our prayers, knowing that you are the one who hears and answers. As we navigate through the challenges of this world, as well as our own personal challenges, we ask for your guidance and wisdom. In times of uncertainty may we find solace in knowing you are with us and your purpose for our lives will prevail. Almighty father, we praise you and thank you for your deliverance and protection of some of the peo

Are You and Asset or a Liability?

Reference: 2 Timothy 2 14-26 Our world revolves around two things - assets and liabilities. We define and classify people around us with these two scales. That is of course in the material world. In the Christian world, a similar question arises: are we an asset to Christ? Firstly, let us understand that we are NOT a liability. We, each one of us are valuable to God. Not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of what we have cost . Second, just because we are not a liability does not mean we are an asset. An asset is something or someone who is useful to the world, people around us and to society at large. As assets we become agents of change for the better. Last, and following from the above, as assets we become agents of change for God. His word tells us what we need to do, how we must behave and act. How we need to build a relationship with Him as well as the people around us. That we, become a lighthouse for Him, guiding others to Him. If our light starts to dim, w

Sunday Quotes

                       1. “If you sell your soul to the Devil, you will spend the rest of eternity trying to buy it back.” – Matshona Dhliwayo 2. “If Noah waited for signs of rain to build an ark, he would have been swept away by the flood.” – Matshona Dhliwayo 3. “Before you look for dirt in people, look for treasure.” – Matshoa Dhliwayo 4.  "Wisdom is the capacity to see things from God's viewpoint." – Charles Stanley 5. "Do not judge others, we do not know the battles they face. Love and be kind, for it costs nothing.” – Henrietta Newton Martin 6. “One of the enemy's sneaky attacks against the joy of our salvation is to put us in the spiral of self-condemnation. ” – Linda Evans Shepherd 7. “If you want to know your worth, look at the old rugged Cross.” – Gift Gugu Mona 8. “The fact that I'm a biker doesn't make me a different kinda Christian, but the fact that I'm a Christian makes me a different kinda biker.” – Dano Janowski 9. “Forgivenes

Revival- A Fire in the Belly: By Pastor Rajiv

Revival refers to a spiritual reawakening from a state of dormancy or stagnation in the life of a believer. It need not necessarily mean a movement but can be personal as well. Most, if not all, of us need a revival from time to time. Pastor Rajiv shares his thoughts today on revival. The first question is "why revival"? What is the need?  First let’s refer to this verse from ‎2 Chronicles 7:14 “ If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves , and pray and seek my face , and turn from their wicked ways , then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land”. This verse answers the "who", the "why" and the "how". It is extremely crucial especially at this point in time for the world we are living in because we all need healing. We need forgiveness. These are words said by God on the dedication of the temple by Solomon, and yet, it is so distant from our world today when churches are empty, church attendanc

What does Forgiveness from God look like?

Pastor David Jacobs, trying to understand his mothers forgiveness asked her, "Would you be able to forgive me of I had committed murder?" She answered - "You will always be my son. I would not approve of what you did but I would be there in jail, visiting you whenever I could." So would God!  This leads to a thought: what does forgiveness from God look like?   I would guess pretty much the same. When we sin, He would still love us and still guide us, if we wished, but He would not approve of what we had done. David's story is a case in point. He broke the 6th, 7th and 10 commandments and had to pay the price, yet God loved Him. Like David, we sin all the time, yet God sacrificed His son to save us from complete annihilation. Just as knowledge of the depth of our mother's love fills our heart with joy and gives encouragement to abstain from hurting her, understanding the depth of God's love also gives us that desire to not hurt him, but try and please Him

True Power!

The celebrated Scottish preacher, James Stewart, made a statement explaining ....: "It is always upon human weakness and humiliation, not human strength and confidence, that God chooses to build His Kingdom; and that He can use us not merely in spite of our ordinariness and helplessness and disqualifying infirmities, but precisely because of them." This fact actually transforms our mental attitude toward our circumstances. Our cribbing and self-pity over issues we face, weaknesses we have and lack of resources, all fade away once we acknowledge all and yet commit to being ready to serve. We maybe financially broken, physically challenged or mentally destroyed, yet we are of use in His kingdom. How we will be used is left to Him. Let's take a look at some of our Biblical greats who served God . As a leader, Moses need to be a great speaker yet he couldn't speak straight. Jacob was deceptive. Abraham, too old to father a child, begot a nation. Did you know Elijah was

Unseen Anguish !

Genesis 42 : 21 ESV Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” This is a very familiar story about Joseph and his brothers. So familiar in fact, that we sometimes overlook the small nuances which is the case in this verse. Nowhere in Joseph's story is it written about what he went through. What he felt. But in this verse, it talks about the anguish he felt as he was left in that pit to die. He was distressed and anguished to his very soul. Such a strong emotion that his soul itself was distressed. Or so he thought. If only he knew Gods plan, he would have happily gone into the pit on his own, singing merrily. Isn't it much like a lot of situations we face in life? We don't know the outcome, so we are distressed and anguished. In that anguished moment we envision the worst outcomes, like probably Joseph did. Or we