YOU Raised Me Up

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until You come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on Your shoulders;
You raise me up… To more than I can be.

There is no life – no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when You come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on Your shoulders;
You raise me up… To more than I can be.

You raise me up… To more than I can be.

 

It is all You, Lord Jesus!

 

Quote Of The Day – The Uncertainty Of Tomorrow Can Be Reassured By The Promises Of Christ Today

The Uncertainty Of Tomorrow Can Be Reassured By The Promises Of The Christ Today

Don’t be anxious about things; instead, pray. Pray about everything. He longs to hear your requests, so talk to God about your needs and be thankful for what has come. And know that the peace of God (a peace that is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus, the Anointed One.   Philippians 4:6-7

Days In Prosperity and Years In Contentment

 

If they obey and serve Him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment.

Job 36:11

(New International Version)

By His Stripes

Warning: The visual image is graphical and shocking. Caution is advised.

 

Yet it was our suffering he carried,
our pain and distress, our sick-to-the-soul-ness.
We just figured that God had rejected him,
that God was the reason he hurt so badly.

But he was hurt because of us; he suffered so.
Our wrongdoing wounded and crushed him.
He endured the breaking that made us whole.
The injuries he suffered became our healing.

Isaiah 53 : 4-5

 

But sometimes, we need to really see that our sufferings, pains, sins and sorrows have all already been thoroughly and completely afflicted on Jesus’ body. We need to really let that thought and reality sink in. The reason is because it is only by His agonising stripes that we are healed and made whole.

If we neglect this, then His suffering would have been in vain for us. But once we see that He has indeed suffered terribly in place for us, then we can rise up confidently and reject all the hurts, condemnations and sickness facing us everyday. Jesus Christ has already paid our debts. We must claim back very of His blood-earned victories in our lives.

Only by His body broken, are we made whole; only by His blood, are we cleansed. Only by His stripes, are we healed.

 

 image art by wakethesilence

A Covenant Is When God Says “I Will”

 

And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For He says,

“This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day,says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

Then He adds,

“I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.”

And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.   Hebrews 10:15-18

See Israel, In The Footsteps of Jesus

Experience the Bible in a montage. Walk where Christ walked when He was on earth. Be filled with the beauty and the places that you have only read about in the Bible. See the village where Jesus was born, walk the field where the angels declared His birth, sail the Lake of Galilee, sit at where the Sermon on the Mount was preached, ponder on Mt of Olives, gaze at the place where Jesus was crucified for our sins, and rest in the garden where His empty tomb testifies of His complete and perfect work.

Come have a journey of discovery… of His love, for us…

Ephesians 3:18-19  And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Fear

Fear. An emotional distress of impending doom, real or perceived. It creates a physical response from the brain to the rest of the body for a fight or flee action. If left unchecked, it degrades into irrational behaviors, threatening health and paralysis.

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 1 John 4:18

Fear robs you of the ability to enjoy the life God wants you to have; the victorious life, the abundant life. The quality of your life is not measured by how much possession you have, but how free you are free from fear – how much you experience His perfect love. Let the perfect love of Jesus cast out all fear in your life. Perfect love has no fear.

He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water. John 7:38

The Holy Spirit connects believers to the Father and Jesus, His Son. So any fear about being disconnected and abandoned is gone; the Creator of the Universe dwells within His people, sustains them, assures them and will accomplish the impossible through them.

But sometimes, we just loses focus and let fear gotten the better of us. Even faith giants in the Bible like King David and Elijah feared. Even Peter feared -> right in front of Jesus, in the storm.

Peter: Master, save me!
Immediately Jesus reached for Peter and caught him.

Jesus: O you of little faith. Why did you doubt and dance back and forth between following Me and heeding fear?   Matthew 14:30-31

Even so, our one cry will reach the highest heaven. And our rescue will come; in legions.

But there is a better way. When we behold our trust in the Lord tightly, even in the midst of the storm, we open the floodgates of our beings and the rivers of life will gush forth with living water.

No obstacle will still stand.

“My shelter, my mighty fortress, my God, I place all my trust in You.”
For He will rescue you from the snares set by your enemies who entrap you and from deadly plagues. Like a bird protecting its young, God will cover you with His feathers, will protect you under His great wings; His faithfulness will form a shield around you, a rock-solid wall to protect you. Psalms 91:2-4

Quote: The Bible Was Not Just Written

Just to add: And to tell us what the Lord had done for us…

The Curses Redeemed Through Christ in Deuteronomy 28

Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God’s life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it. Galatians 3:13

I have written about The Inheritance Blessings Through Christ in Deuteronomy 28, and I thought I should “balance” it with the curses mentioned in there as well; Deuteronomy 28:15-66.  You see, we are not only blessed with the blessings of God through Christ, but in addition, we have also been redeemed from that defeating and cursed life as well! It is like the central bank giving you a huge sum of inheritance, and in addition, gives you a banker’s guarantee that you will never be in debt ever again! Yes, a double blessing and it’s quite unbelievable, but that is just how our God is.

Jesus Christ took every curse meant for us due to our sins and absorbed all within Himself, so that you and I are able to receive God’s life, His Spirit, His blessings. Jesus was cursed in our place to redeem us from every curse that comes from disobedient to God and His laws. We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. (1 Peter 1:19) So now, every time we see the curses mentioned in the Bible like those listed below, we can legally proclaimed it to be totally redeemed and dissolved by Jesus Christ. And what God has blessed, no one can reverse it (Number 23:20).

So go on and read without fear; read it with a heart of thankfulness. Remember each curse is redeemed by the beautiful Lamb of God!

But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you:

1. You’ll be cursed in the city and cursed in the fields.
2. Your baskets will be cursed, and your harvests will be small.
3. Your kneading bowl will be cursed, and you’ll always be short of food.
4. Your children and your crops will be cursed. Your herds will dwindle, and your flocks will shrink.
5. You’ll be cursed when you return to your home and cursed when you go out from your home.
6. The Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do, until at last you are completely destroyed for doing evil and abandoning me. 
7. The Lord will afflict you with diseases until none of you are left in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
8. The Lord will strike you with wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew. These disasters will pursue you until you die. The skies above will be as unyielding as bronze, and the earth beneath will be as hard as iron. The Lord will change the rain that falls on your land into powder, and dust will pour down from the sky until you are destroyed.
9. The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will attack your enemies from one direction, but you will scatter from them in seven! You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. Your corpses will be food for all the scavenging birds and wild animals, and no one will be there to chase them away.
10. The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, scurvy, and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and panic. You will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the darkness, but you will not find your way. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you.
11. You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You will build a house, but someone else will live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will never enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be butchered before your eyes, but you will not eat a single bite of the meat. Your donkey will be taken from you, never to be returned. Your sheep and goats will be given to your enemies, and no one will be there to help you. You will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves. Your heart will break for them, but you won’t be able to help them. A foreign nation you have never heard about will eat the crops you worked so hard to grow. You will suffer under constant oppression and harsh treatment. You will go mad because of all the tragedy you see around you. The Lord will cover your knees and legs with incurable boils. In fact, you will be covered from head to foot.
12. The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you.
13. You will plant much but harvest little, for locusts will eat your crops. You will plant vineyards and care for them, but you will not drink the wine or eat the grapes, for worms will destroy the vines. You will grow olive trees throughout your land, but you will never use the olive oil, for the fruit will drop before it ripens. You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, for they will be led away into captivity. Swarms of insects will destroy your trees and crops.
14. The foreigners living among you will become stronger and stronger, while you become weaker and weaker. They will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail!
15. If you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and to obey the commands and decrees he has given you, all these curses will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed. These horrors will serve as a sign and warning among you and your descendants forever. If you do not serve the Lord your God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received, you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. You will be left hungry, thirsty, naked, and lacking in everything. The Lord will put an iron yoke on your neck, oppressing you harshly until he has destroyed you.
16. The Lord will bring a distant nation against you from the end of the earth, and it will swoop down on you like a vulture. It is a nation whose language you do not understand, a fierce and heartless nation that shows no respect for the old and no pity for the young. Its armies will devour your livestock and crops, and you will be destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine, olive oil, calves, or lambs, and you will starve to death. They will attack your cities until all the fortified walls in your land—the walls you trusted to protect you—are knocked down. They will attack all the towns in the land the Lord your God has given you.
17. The siege and terrible distress of the enemy’s attack will be so severe that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you. The most tenderhearted man among you will have no compassion for his own brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving children. He will refuse to share with them the flesh he is devouring—the flesh of one of his own children—because he has nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns. The most tender and delicate woman among you—so delicate she would not so much as touch the ground with her foot—will be selfish toward the husband she loves and toward her own son or daughter. She will hide from them the afterbirth and the new baby she has borne, so that she herself can secretly eat them. She will have nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns.
18. If you refuse to obey all the words of instruction that are written in this book, and if you do not fear the glorious and awesome name of the Lord your God, then the Lord will overwhelm you and your children with indescribable plagues. These plagues will be intense and without relief, making you miserable and unbearably sick. He will afflict you with all the diseases of Egypt that you feared so much, and you will have no relief. The Lord will afflict you with every sickness and plague there is, even those not mentioned in this Book of Instruction, until you are destroyed. Though you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, few of you will be left because you would not listen to the Lord your God.
19. Just as the Lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the Lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy. For the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone! There among those nations you will find no peace or place to rest. And the Lord will cause your heart to tremble, your eyesight to fail, and your soul to despair. Your life will constantly hang in the balance. You will live night and day in fear, unsure if you will survive.

It is also part of our inheritance that we proclaim our redemption through Jesus Christ. Whatever He had suffered on the cross was not in vain and should be in vain due to our ignorance. We should not suffer from anything and everything that Christ has redeemed us from! It is our right to claim it over any sickness, any curse, any defeat, any failure, any bondage; anything that robs us of the victory in life.

The cross is our very own victory sign!

Walking In The Spirit

Dear Lord, I thank You that You have given me a spirit, the Holy Spirit of Yourself. A spirit of fear and timidity is not from You and I reject it. Help me to not let my own thoughts control me or cause me to feel down, powerless, or afraid. I lay claim to Your Word now, and I refuse anything less. Help me to always be walking in boldness and power in love, bring glory to You. Renew my mind today and make it to be completely calm, disciplined, and well-balanced. Give me a mind that is full of Your love and Your compassion.

In Jesus’ name. Amen

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7

A Birthday Prayer – Thanksgiving and Blessings

Dear Lord Jesus, it has been another year… Another year You have crowned with great harvest and overflowing abundance. You have filled my life with Your blessings and grace; abundant blessings for the joyful times, and abundant grace for the sad. When I am weak, You carried me – then I am strong. You are always faithful.

You have anointed me with the oil of Your Spirit and Your grace on me. I will prosper for in your glory, there is no sickness, poverty or shame. Like a tree planted deep by the living water in You, I will not be anxious even in drought. But I will stay green and fruitful, no matter what the situation is. Give me the faith to be bold and courageous.

I thank You for Your love and the abundance of love around me, my family and friends, for they all come from You. Fill me with Your love and goodness, that I can overflow to others. You grant the desires of my heart because Your favour is upon me. You will open supernatural doors for me, that no man can shut; and shut doors that are no good for me, that no man can open.

I will be at the right place, at the right time; by Your divine appointment. You shower me with Your supernatural favour with man and Father God. Although I am here on earth, I am the ambassador of heaven – I don’t live by the rules of this earth, I live by the supernaturals of heaven. I bear Your name and there is power in Your name, the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God! I will fear no evil for You are with me always.

Grant me wisdom to make godly decisions that really makes a difference. Give me the strength and self-control to experience more breakthroughs in the year ahead, to a higher level and a greater glory. Use me, let my life make a difference, for You and Your kingdom.

Overflow me with Your divine Peace and Joy, Victories and Blessing, Favours and Grace, Provision and Promotion.  Give me powerful revelations of Jesus Christ, and light up my life! So others will know the Lord is really good.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.   Psalms 23:5-6

Living God’s Way

Lord Jesus, You have put a holy Helper to help me so that I will have the strength to resist, overcome and not compromise Your ways. You helped me to focus on You at all times, my Rock and Redeemer. You still care even when I fail. When I am weak-You are strong. When I cannot, You carry me to continue. Thank You for the wonderful rewards of peace, wholeness, and fulfilment You give to all those who live according to Your commandments, You have empowered me to have.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.   Psalm 19:12-14