A foothold?

"26 When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down.27 Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him]." Eph 4:26-27 (AMP)

"8 Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory (the splendor, magnificence, preeminence, and excellence) of them.9 And he said to Him, These things, all taken together, I will give You, if You will prostrate Yourself before me and do homage and worship me.10 Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.11 Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him." - Mat 4:8-11

Most times, we should try our best not to give a foothold to the devil, not even the smallest window of opportunity to come and challenge or tempt us, to derail us from our faith. Simple things not only anger is included into this, sometimes perhaps just not going online for a long period of time can help rob the opportunity away, sometimes turning off the tv at a certain time, not watching a certain series, yeah, I am not saying the TV is evil, neither am I saying the internet is bad! If it were then how would I blog?

But there are times when it's impossible to evade the devil, times when you draw so close to God, he hates it and whispers in your ears, "do you really think you are in his grace?" or " isn't it a bit to quiet " . Now in situations like this what do you do? Well to be honest, just rebuke him, there is no need to have a heated argument with him, and command him to leave in the name of Jesus. Jesus did not entertain him, but rebuked him, in fact more than once did he rebuke satan, and the most amazing part is, satan has to listen. Now this doesn't mean go out and find satan, coz that's literally saying, come get me, and by doing so you're giving him footholds. Instead think about things that are worthy of praise, good, think about whatever is lovely what ever is pure :). Remember always who you are in Christ, more so who you are now as a child of the Most high, whom we can now call aba father!

"8 For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them]." - Phillipians 4:8

A Jar of blessings

I know it's been a while since I posted, and well it's simply because I haven't really gotten any inspiration to post. But I thought I'd keep this updated and now things are flowing in to my mind! here it goes~~~

Earlier this month, I had a tough time, and well frankly felt like I was the worst kinda person to our Father I could be, obviously that was a lie, and later on wrote the psalm you saw in my previous post... Now I had a plan to talk about a jar of blessings, but for some reason I'd like to talk more about Psalms.

Most recently I have been reading The bible Jesus read by Philip Yancey. It talks about Psalms in one of the chapters. It brings realism into our relationship with God I would say, a Psalm is amazing in this one thing, it's not all about the good things that happens, but also about the worst things that can happen in life, and how we as people feel distant to God, we complain and well, it's kinda like a personal walk with God. Though a lot of Psalms I would say praises God, they also bring their problems together to God, and sometimes even bring praises in places where it just seems like we did it. some revelation it was, every good we do, we can and should give all glory to God, be it, a promotion, or escaping death slimly by some sort of skill. That's how David did it, it is quite amazing...

With that said, I am going to come back to my topic Jar of blessings, I was down and a friend of mine said let's get a jar and everyday write some good that happened in our lives to it. I agreed, and well it's really filling up now. Simple things we forgo and think is normal can always be a praise to our Father. for instance, a friend, Awakening in the morning, beauty of nature, safety to walk, a watch, a car, a laptop, your church, legs to walk, eyes to see, ears to hear, a video, songs, water, escaping something which you know will put you at a dead end, solving issues that were stuck with you all day and night and the list goes on! I'll tell you it has been great, I called my jar a Jar of blessings, and frankly I encourage you too, if you can to create something similar if you don't have a jar use a box or something :) at the end of the year 2013, open it up and read it again, and see how much you have to be thankful for all the things God has done, both small and BIG! Everything, absolutely everything, can be a blessing. So let's give him all the glory! :).

Many blessings and love from,

Chris

In Darkness you shone

In the darkness I walked, and each time I fall I fall harder than before,

The tears streamed down my eyes, a pain I could not handle,

A Failure I felt, how many times I asked myself?

Barely could I lift my eyes to you, yet you stretched out your arm,

Yet when all hope left me, You did not.

When I was in the ditch, you followed me.

Giving up on life, on the edge of the cliff,

I lost all my hope, yet you kept going before and after me.

As I fell on to bed, with nothing but my tears to be fed,

With logic and pain, death was all I wanted to see,

Not another time I said, no more I want,

to continue sinning before you.

How dirty was I, so dirty I felt, no where to run cornered by myself.

Yet you God, in all the confusion I was in,

You my Father, did not give up,

No you kept on beside me, reminding me of hope.

You sent a message within a message,

with heavy legs I did obey, and arms of dread I did go forth.

and that was it, a message within a message,

You brought comfort to my ears,

to my eyes, to my soul.

Oh when I was wavering you stood like a solid rock,

Holding on to me you did and not letting me go.

"You!" you said, are my master piece,

I do not make Junk, I make good things,

I discipline those I love, to make them on their way.

even though I said I am not good...

You hold me up with your victorious right hand,

You are my joy, You are my everything,

You are the reason I live, 

The reason I am here.

Remind me constantly who you are,

Continue to remind me, carve it into my soul,

Carve it into my spirit, my body, my everything.

So I won't forget.

Because of you, I can dwell in your goodness always.

Amen.

A Random lyric

In this place we pray our King,

You are every thing to us,

We lift our voices to your throne,

Let them be a blessing of praise.

You are every thing to us.

Our lives we lie before you,

In Suffering or in Joy,

I'll know you're ever present.

Oh who could explain the universe,

Or how you keep it all in check?

Who could say how you held it in place,

and makes it work the way it does?

Yet in your boundless power,

And in your full God right,

You still considered us,

To death you went on the cross.

I wish could sing a better song,

something that you would dance too,

But I'll still praise you no matter what,

Because you are my everything!

In troubles I will hold to you,

In pain I will trust in you,

In worry I will cast to you.

For no matter what I know,

That you are Love indeed.

Good things in life

I was going through facebook, and a friend posted something, she wrote, it's worth the watch and that you shouldn't miss the opportunity to watch it, at first I was hesitant, one hour of my life will be wasted on a you tube video? But actually I became thankful shortly after! I am reminded of things God has taught us to do, remind me to be human. I noticed time and again God wishes us to have humanity, and being human and natural is okay. Problem comes is when we misuse our words, we think natural means the worlds defninition of "human nature" thing is, what if I told you human nature is quite good, it's in our nature to reproduce, our nature to run, walk, be scared, have fun and enjoy life? Now, I know I'll probally get a few frowns on this, but I'm going to tell it as it is and be up front, being human is okay, conforming to human nature is okay, but conforming to corrupt nature, that's a different story, we are not created to just pleasure ourselves meaninglessly, nor are we created to be selfish, or to not be fruitful and multiply. No I am not homophobic, but nor will I ever admit homosexuality being any better than sexual sins or murder. There is no class in it, and we were most definitely not created for any of those, but corrupt nature I will put it, has come in to us, and the struggle is not a bad thing, as long as we come out of it better, it'll always be a good thing.

Any way back to the video, it's really great because it reminds me that we should be thankful, we should take time to be human and let people be human to, to become real and that's really what we should be, real. :). I encourage you to watch the video below it's worth it.

2013

A year has passed and times have gone by, but time has not stopped nor has life discontinued.

We still live each moment as it comes, each step of the way.

So don't get stuck in the past, but lift up your eyes and see.

We'll all make new year resolutions, new things to change the old ways.

To try to lose weight, or to become fit,

to stop our bad habits and make a new way for the new year.

---pause and think about it---

But how about looking all around you for once.

Then lifting your eyes upward towards heaven,

Asking perhaps one question to God,

Maybe how far will he let you see?

or Will you come into my heart?

---pause and think about it---

Look around the world, take time to lift your eyes in the busyness of life,

look at the nature and look at the skies, look at the rain and all clouds,

look at the creatures and look in the heart, take a moment to appreciate them all.

Do you see the complexity of simple things? 

Do you see a beauty made from not a chance?

---Pause and think about it---

Our time on this earth is but a short time,

But what we do for one another counts,

A billion we maybe and hopelessness you may see,

Yet if you were able to help one soul, you've saved the world for them.

That makes all the difference, even if it is only one in a billion.

---Pause and think about it---

So rejoice for all God has done,

Take hold of purpose in your life,

If you don't know where you're heading,

Lift up your eyes and see.

---Pause and think about it---

To My God I will praise you in this sanctuary,

Under your wings my protection is found,

by the blood I am cleansed,

Always remind me of your ways,

let them settle in my heart like a permanent mark.

Amen

"11 For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome." -Jeremiah 29:11

Amplified Bible (AMP)