When the Worlds Falls, Stay with Me

It’s funny that frequently when there is a problem in my life, I walk away from God. 

My present state of health discourages me. Headlines in the news disheartens me. Entertainment and music become my means of escape from the difficulties of life. 

But What did God make unclear that we are meant to rely on Him for everything? 

If God is God, being all sufficient that He is, then to remain in Him is the safest place for a person to be. 

What irony to see the disciples who urge Jesus to send the masses of people who sat to listen to Jesus away so they can feed themselves. 

Thankfully, Jesus refuses them (Matthew 14:15). Jesus confounds them even more when He says: 

“They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” (‭Matthew‬ ‭14‬:‭16‬ NKJV)

They found five loaves and two fish, but they saw that wasn’t going to sustain a crowd of 5000 men (this number did not include the women and children who were with them). Veins rose from their foreheads as the crowd grew restless.

It’s like the disciples all wore baseball caps that day that they could not see over the bill of their caps.

The answer is right in front of you! 

Jesus performs a miracle where not only feeds everyone there but also fills 12 baskets of leftovers!

God demonstrates His inexhaustible power that magnificently floored human independence. There was no way that any man could feat to feed those countless thousands instantaneously. Stretching a fish lunch would be a joke. 

Jesus did this supernatural wonder for one important reason: 

“I am all sufficient. Stay with Me.” 

At wake of the ills of the world, the failures of man, the decline of health, the ear of disaster, the sense of hopelessness, you can either turn for an escape, turn on others or turn to Jesus. 

If you’re hungry and have no food, don’t leave me to find food. Didn’t I tell you: 

“do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭25-26‬ NKJV)”

At your want to desert Me to bring meaning and satisfaction in your life, did you hear: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst (John‬ ‭6‬:‭35‬ NKJV)”!!!

When the sky folds and when people turn on each other, don’t run for a solace, “STAY WITH ME”! Stay with Christ. 

“Christ is enough for me. Christ is enough for me. Everything I need is in You. Everything I need” (“Christ is Enough” -Hillsong Worship). 

Listen to the song and let it be an anthem to you. There isn’t a resort outside of Christ. 

He is everything you need. He is everything you want. I just need to change the way I think and just “taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! (‭Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭8‬ NKJV)”

Look at Him and find that He is the river and you’re the tree. Sink your roots in the bank. Stay with Him. Your leaves won’t wither; in fact, you will prosper and live to produce what you couldn’t think was able to come out of you (See Psalms 1:3). 

Jesus is everything you need. There is no one like Our God! 

Discovering New Music

  

Summer licenses you to try new things. Like fries with mayonnaise or pancakes for dinner. Both great I might add. 

Here are some Christian worship artists who aren’t currently in the present mainstream, like Hillsong United, but nonetheless very “ears-worthy”: 

1. Starfield.     They’re aren’t your typical Christian radio band. These boys from Canada write songs that are personal to their relationship with God, sojourning a style of music that is beyond relevant, rather relative to the listener with God while he worships. Since their launch in 2000, Starfield aspires to create music that prints people’s experience with God onto notes. My favorites like “All for You” and “Alive in this Moment” spur this “this is exactly how I’m feeling with God” vibes. 
2. Audrey Assad.    Assad stimulates quiet moments with her music, encouraging me to listen carefully to her words and see the relationships between my heart and where my heart should be. Her rendition of “Open the Eyes of My Heart” awakens a sense of revival within to the sincere message of the song, for these such anthems have a way of becoming cliché, or more so me becoming complacent. Listen also to “Deliver Me”. 
3. Glorious Unseen.   Tears broke from my eyes when “Hear Our Prayers” streamed from my earbuds. It is a sober heartcry, imploring God to tune His ears to our brokenness. It’s rare you hear repentance songs, so this is one definitely for the set list. 

More than bringing variety to your playlist, I hope these artists’ music move you powerfully with their unique expressions of praise to our beloved Savior. 

Maybe while you’re at McDonald’s, trying fries with mayonnaise. 

God’s Plans Override Our Ideas

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise…”(I Corinthians 1:27 NKJV)

God confounds our intellect when He uses debased things to carry out His intelligent operation. An excellent example is God’s sovereign use of Jonah to convert Nineveh.

Jonah hated Nineveh. Their people had oppressed Israel. Now God called Jonah, an Israelite, to witness to his enemies.

From start to end of the book of Jonah, Jonah carried a bitter grudge against the very people God desired to experience his mercy.

In sheer awe of God’s wrath, Nineveh immediately repents:

“Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.” (Jonah 3:10 NKJV)

God enjoyed to take pity on Nineveh; however, Jonah shared a different response:

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.” (Jonah 4:1 NKJV)

Hatred propelled Jonah to run to Tarshish, and hatred hardened his heart to Nineveh’s revival. He hated the idea of Nineveh receiving salvation. Yet God chose this hateful person to deliver hope.

God doesn’t choose us by our skills or talents; He qualifies anyone whom He wills to accomplish His plan to receive glory for Himself.

Jonah shows us that God’s delight to receive glory exceeds the liberty of man. God doesn’t bend His plans to suit man’s feelings. He uses whomever, whenever and however.

He used a disobedient, unreliable son to be the chosen ancestor of the Messiah to convey God’s road of glory may even include unexpected potholes.*

He used a prostitute to save the spies of Israel to show His grace confounds our reason.**

He used a false prophet to bless His chosen people to say He can even use evil men to please His wants.***

God has called all his own to serve in bringing Him praise:

“…who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”(II Timothy 1:9 NKJV)

God saved you not to be a pet in His collection of souls, but a masterpiece of His wide scale operation to fulfill His wants.

Ephesians 2:10 puts it this way, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 NKJV)

If God has determined an event that involves our participation, He may use us even with our unwilling attitudes. Let us then see that our destiny is designed by God to glorify Him. And on that thought, let us want to complete it with a willing spirit.

*Gen 49:8-10
**Joshua 2
***Numbers 22-24

God’s Pleasure for Glory

God is eager to glorify Himself. He goes as far as using providence to manipulate the course of man’s will to author a testament of praise to God.

Joseph is a classic work piece of praise to God. Joseph suffers the anguish of being sold into slavery by his own brothers, then is framed for adultery and imprisoned for 2 years. Yet it delighted God for Joseph to undergo these trials. And while we know the prosperous outcome of Joseph, we neglect to imagine the grief Joseph experiences through these circumstances for the sake of God’s pleasure.

And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. (Genesis 45:7 NKJV)

At the moment Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, he comforts them by disclosing to him that his descent was purposed by God to save their lives.

God confounds the wisdom man when he uses tragic episodes of life and transforms them to handiworks of glory.

Joseph did not expect his struggles will result in being a father to Pharaoh and a ruler of Egypt. Egyptians hated the Hebrews so this is never enter into the thought of Joseph (Gen 43:32). Yet Joseph’s trauma birthed a testimony of God’s grace that forces him to glorify God.

God wants to author your life to tell of His magnificence. God does works all things together for good to those who love God (Rom 8:28), but those who are sincerely being conformed to His image (Rom 8:29) would hold their good to the good of God which is for His name to be lifted up.

God desires for the knowledge of His glory to fill the whole earth (Hab 2:14).

All the scans of the known world lived off the fat of Egypt during the global famine, and it is inevitably possible that the nations learn of Joseph’s Great God and worshipped. Joseph’s house manager glorified God at Joseph’s brothers’ curiosity of their money in their sacks (Gen 43:23). Pharaoh glorified God and set His ambassador Vice President of Egypt (Gen 41:38).

You have to give God every chapter of your life for the praise of His glory.

He is passionate for His glory, and He has commanded that you effort everything for His glory (1 Cor 10:31). Make it a delight to God to offer yourself available to His pleasing (Rom 12:1). He wants to be praised!

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani Freed Again!

I was startled when my dad told me around the dinner table the other night that Pastor Youcef was released from prison. I had to look it up for myself.

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been freed from prison, following his most recent arrest in Iran. After spending three years in prison for apostacy, Pastor Youcef was freed in early last year September. He was re-arrested on Christmas Day on the charge by Iranian authorities that Youcef needed to complete his remaining 45 days of prison time. (See more on Christmas Tragedies)

Actually, according the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), the Iran pastor was released 11 days ago.

Since 2009, Pastor Youcef has been under arrest under charges of apostacy. During his imprisonment, he was then sentenced to death for converting Muslims to Christianity. Over his imprisonment, he has been taken on and off death row due to the overwhelming international outcry for the pastor’s release.

I hope you all can rejoice with me over Pastor Youcef’s release. We do need to pray for the pastor’s lawyer whom has been recently placed under arrest for advocating for Pastor Youcef.

 

Our God by Chris Tomlin

God is passionate for His glory to shown on the earth. He desires that the earth look to Him and accredit Him for their existence, their success, their capabilities, their strength – their everything pretty much.

The Lord thunders His own greatness in Isaiah 45:5-7:

“I am the Lord, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other.”

Chris Tomlin’s song “Our God” really grabs you by the shoulders and rattles you to remind us that “Our God is greater”. This song touch me personally when I was under a stockpile of stress. I was in over my head with assignment deadlines and on top of that I was under the weather.

Thank God for Pandora. I had my playlist on and then this song faded in:

Water you turned into wine, opened the eyes of the blind there’s no one like you, none like You!
Into the darkness you shine out of the ashes we rise there’s no one like you none like You!

The problems around me grew strangely dim as I listened intently to the song. Then the chorus rolled in:

Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other.
Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!

I felt like an idiot for a brief instant. I thought: “I’ve been adopted by the God who is all awesome in power and I am here moaning in anxiety?”

Romans 8:31 rung loudly in my soul: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Sounds very familiar to the bridge of the song doesn’t it?

And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
What could stand against.

God is passionate about exerting His power to us so we can see and confess His awesomeness. God delights in these situations, because it’s an opportunity for us to experience His excellent, everlasting strength when we call on Him for help.

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. (2 Chronicles 16:9 NKJV).

(Read about God’s glory and our prayers: Giving God Burdens, Your Obedience, His Glory)

Our God is greater than all and fill in the blank. I’m so grateful that God has blessed us with songs like these that awake our soul to turn our eyes upon God and trust in Him.

If you haven’t heard the song yet, check it out:

HAPPY NEW YEAR! + NEW YEAR V. BEST YEAR EVER

The best year is Jesus coming to break through our darkness

Every year is a hope for a better future. For us who are God’s children, every year is the hope for the best future to come! The return of Jesus!

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (I Thessalonians 4:16, 17 NKJV)

One day, maybe even today at the eve of a new year, we will see Him breaking out of the sky in radiant glory. There all our sadness that glued us to mourning and hopelessness will fade as we open our eyes in a brilliant joy that will outweigh all excitement this world had ever or could ever muster.

We will rise when He calls us. The world and all its sorrows will look strangely dim to us, as depart from it to join Jesus Who will lead us to place He has prepared for us.*

And we will be with Jesus! Insecurity is be swallowed by eternal security. Doubt is shadowed by everlasting hope. Darkness is hidden by the Light of Jesus, for There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light.(Revelation 22:5 NKJV)

He will wipe every tear from our eyes “because the former troubles are forgotten….they are hidden from [our] eyes” Isaiah 65:16 NKJV).

“There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4 NKJV) All the things that once troubled us and weighed us with sigh and concern will be erased, leaving behind only the memories that lighten our hearts to the greatness of our great God.

Then as the it has been foretold in the Word of God, we will altogether cry in joyful praise and celebrate, singing this song to the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are Your works,Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the saints! ^{” **}

2013 sounds great and promising, but THE BEST IS STILL YET COME!

So honestly I want to go Home! So if Jesus can today, I’m hoping in the best future I can ever enjoy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I HOPE THIS YEAR WILL BE THE YEAR THAT JESUS COMES BACK!

LET’S BE READY FOR HIM!

*Luke 14:1-4 NKJV: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

**Revelation 15:3

Giving God Burdens, Your Obedience, His Glory

Every matter, no matter the size, God wants you to call on Him. God wants your mundane issues, and He wants your big problems.

You obey God when you call on Him for help.

He commands it. When we pray, “give us this day our daily bread”.* It’s not a ritual prayer for well meaning, but a model that God planned to tells us that He wants us daily to ask Him to provide us help.

He promises to help us when we throw our problems upon Him:

Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. (Psalm 55:22 NKJV)

Give God all your problems. Especially the ones you know you can’t resolve.

Frankly, You are human which means you’re weak, never perfect. We all are!

We live in an imperfect world. You may even start off great, but then end in an overwhelming predicament. Life is like that.

You glorify God when you call on Him for help.

God delights in these situations, because it’s an opportunity for us to experience His excellent, everlasting strength when we call on Him for help.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him…” (2 Chronicles 16:9 NKJV)

Don’t keep any loads. Throw them all upon God. His strength is perfected in our weakness.*

Our God is ALMIGHTY God.

*Matthew 6:11

**“And He said to me,’My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV)

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This is what King David had to say about going to the Lord’s house: “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.'”(Psalm 122:1 NKJV)

We can say that David enjoyed church. He also said this in Psalms 84:10: “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” (Psalm 84:10 NKJV)

His passion in this verse speaks for itself.

Enjoy Sunday as you make yourself home to the presence of Jesus!

Pastor Youcef is FREE

Christian Post just released the first photo of Pastor Youcef’s release!

PRAISE JESUS!!!

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani was freed today of his apostasy charge that has kept the Iranian pastor imprisoned for three years.

Nadarkhani had also been sentenced to death for converting Muslims to Christianity. Over his imprisonment, he has been taken on and off death row due to the overwhelming international outcry for the pastor’s release.

This is glorious day!!! So happy!!!