Marvel God with Your Faith

  “Only speak the word and my servant will be healed” (Matthew 8:8 NKJV) 

Knowing God is God and that He answers is the most essential factor for any miracle.

“Say the word”, the soldier thundered. 

It halted Jesus Who turned towards the man to go in motion to his home. This soldier interrupted Jesus’ way into the city, pleading to heal his servant. Moved with compassion, Jesus stilled the shaking of the soldier’s eye when He stared into them and noted that He will help him. 

“And Jesus said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.'”(‭Matthew‬ ‭8‬:‭7‬ NKJV)

This when the soldier stops Jesus and says:

“Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.” (Matthew‬ ‭8‬:‭8‬ NKJV)

Then he explained himself: 

“For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it. ” (‭Matthew‬ ‭8‬:‭9‬ NKJV)

This soldier was an officer, a centurion in the Roman army who commanded a hundred men. Being one who takes orders and gives orders, this centurion understood authority. Amazed at the presence of Jesus, the soldier realized that this simple carpenter also spoke with authority. A stronger authority. 

Taken back, Jesus turned to those following Him: “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Matthew‬ ‭8‬:‭10‬ NKJV)

The faith of the centurion marveled God. He came to Jesus believing that He was God and that He would answer his request if he sincerely sought Him. 

Miracles happen in your life in the matter of Who you seek. 

No one can’t approach God without believing He is God! I believe a lot of my prayers hit the brass ceiling, because I forget Whom I’m talking to. I’m talking to God. 

We must approach God believing that He exists and that He cares enough to respond to us. 

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”(‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭6‬ NKJV)

Faith that marvels God is the confidence that when we come to Him, we will find the Source of all our wants and needs. “The assurance when we turn to Him”, adds Pastor John Piper, “we will find the all-satisfying Treasure”.* 

See God as God Who can and Who will. 

Miracles happen when you start with a miracle of seeking God as God in your asking. 

*John Piper, Desiring God is (Colorado Springs, Colorado: Multnomah, 2013), 71. 

Help Iraq with G.A.S., Lifegiving Acronym

Open Doors has provided 3 ways we can help Iraqi Christians suffering by ISIS. Remember the acronym: G.A.S.

Follow the link: http://blog.opendoorsusa.org/powerful-ways-iraqi-christians/

Share this:

Iraqi HOLOCAUST: Children, BEHEADED, Displaced

You can say: War of ISIS is a War on Children.

Dr. Sarah Ahmed, from the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, shared with CBN some of the great horrors happening to Iraq’s small children.

“ISIS [is] shooting the kids and people, and they were laying them on the ground and they bring tractors that they walk [drive] over them in front of their families.”

CBN also reported that the Islamic State are beheading children and burying them alive.

ISIS’ attacks in Northern Iraq has forced thousands to flee from their homes. According to Al Jazeera, over 20,000 people are taking refuge in the mountains and neighboring countries.

People especially children are enduring horrific circumstances just to stay alive.

Sky News revealed this report: “One man has just told us how he saw four children die of thirst. There was nowhere to bury them on the mountain so they just put rocks on their bodies. Another man was saying the Iraqi children were so thirsty, their parents started cutting their own hands and giving them blood to drink.”

Families, desperate for asylum, have hired human smugglers to safely lead them out of Iraq. According to the Assyrian International News Agency, one nation, Turkey, is refusing Yazidi (another persecuted religious sect among Christians) children with no passports entry to their country.

Children continue to be targets by Islamic extremists days after reports of ISIS fighters beheading children at a park in Mosul and putting their heads on sticks.

Iraqi HOLOCAUST, Petition to Help Iraqis

The world knew about the Jewish Holocaust and did the least they could do about it except to win the war which at that point it was too late for 6 million Jews.

Now there is an ongoing Iraqi Christian Holocaust and we have an opportunity to not let history repeat itself.

We can do something.

There is a petition at whitehouse.gov that is persuading the President to help relieve Iraqi Christians suffering in this modern holocaust.

Sign the Petition

Sign It and Share It

Let’s write our own history.

IRAQI CHRISTIAN HOLOCAUST

Innocent young girl beheaded because she was of a Christian family. (photo by Catholic Online)

ISIS is senselessly slaughtering Christians in Northern Iraq.

The Isalmic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have strategically targeted Christian communities and attack its churches, crucified men and systemically raped and beheaded women and children.

Chaldean American leader Mark Arabo stated recently in an CNN interview that “they’re killing absolutely every Christian they see.”

The Inquistir reports ISIS “cleanses” towns Qaraqosh, Tal Kayf, Bartella and Karamlesh of their original Christian population.

Arabo told CNN that “there is a park in Mosul where they actually beheaded children and put their heads on a stick and have them in the park.”

On July 14, the Isalmic extremists told the Christians in Mosul that they had until noon of that day to completely evacuated the city. ISIS have signaled out Christians for persecutions by marking Christian homes in that city with the Arabic letter “N” (“Nasrani”) for the Christian name Nazarene. Similar to the German Nazi’s marking of Jews with the yellow Star of David in WWII.

Catholic Online has described these atrocities as “the purest manifestation of evil witnessed since the Rape of Nanking during WWII” as Islamic militants in Mosul made music videos of themselves murdering innocent people.

ISIS’ crusade in Iraq has become more than a religious war. It is a genocide. 

Men crucified for not recanting faith. (Photo by Catholic Online)

Child of the global terrorist group Al-Qaida, ISIS has been existed since the US Iraq War in 2003. Fragments of unrelented Iraqi rebels and Syrian rebels from the recent war in Syria make up the terrorist group today. Their aim is to forcefully established an Isalmic regime that supports Sharia Law.

“From a splinter group of Al-Qaida, [ISIS] today, has grown to be a complex threat to peace and security in Iraq, the entire region and beyond,” documented Nickolay Mladenov, head of United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in an UN Security Council that met late July (UN Security Council 7224th Meeting).

ISIS continues uncounted massacres in north Iraq under their pledge, “convert to Islam or die.”

Together, we can come as ONE and end this holocaust.

Iraqis should enjoy religious freedom and not be terrorized because they share different religious beliefs. This brutal massacre with all its vicious acts especially on children must immediately cease. The killing needs to end.

With this petition, we can draw worthy international attention and pressure our governments to act.

Woman’s throat is slit and her blood captured in a bowl. (Photo by Catholic Online)

HOLOCAUSTS won’t happen under our watch.

 

>Hashtag your voice: #noiseforiraq
>Watch Mark Arabo’s Interview with CNN
>Draw attention
>Pray

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.

 

Dealing With Heartache

Dealing with heartache is a life transition that still today I struggle traveling through.

Maybe everyone does.

Old Wounds seem to reopen and refresh their infliction. Last night I reminisced a girl that I really loved and I grieved for her all over again. It seemed it was just yesterday that this pain occurred.

Some immediate remedies I find in the Bible are “the Lord is close to the broken hearted” (Psalms 34:18 NKJV). Strength to find that God will meet me at my pain.

“Pour out your heart before [The Lord]” (Psalms 62:8 NKJV). I can cry to God. That’s soothing to me that I can just fall apart to Someone. I can just vent all my hurts, upsets, etc to Him.

It’s been 18 years since God adopted me into His family. I do feel belonged to Him, but honestly there are times where I still struggle with just running to Him first and disclose my pain, rather than dealing with it my way.

I think also that I’m just feel pulled to releasing my hurt to another human soul. Even then Jesus is also man who sympathize with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15 NKJV).

Please if you can pray for me.

Thank God that He is a refuge to all of us, especially during the storms of life.

Prayer of Jabez

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested. (I Chronicles 4:10 NKJV)

The prayer of Jabez was a cry of a man, in his pain, to God for a breakthrough of blessing for his life. Dr. Bruce H. Wilkinson popularizes Jabez’s prayer in his book, Prayer of Jabez. From his focused study, Wilkinson reveals Biblical evidence that God wants to answer our prayers. He wants us to center ourselves around Him and He also wants us to bless our lives. We deprave ourselves of betterment in life when we neglect to involve God into our lives. Jesus himself said,”You have not because you ask not.”

Wilkinson leads readers to allow God transform their lives to be blessed and influence people to see Christ by personalizing the prayer of Jabez into our daily lives, taking Jabez’s initiative to just ask God. Wilkinson dissects the prayer into four parts: first Jabez ask God to bless him. Second, He ask to expand his territory or increase his responsibility. Third, He asks God to draw close to Him. Lastly, He asks for safety. It’s not prayer for prosperity, but a plea to change and succeed in order to exalt God.

I’ve used this book as a devotional, and I can say in this little prayer, there are giant openings to experience God uplifting your circumstances and directing your passion in prayer to be changed and blossom for God.

Christmas Tragedies

Christmas is a joy in itself. Ultimately, we joy in the gift of a Savior who is Christ Jesus coming to earth to save us from the consequence of our sins against God and restore true, eternal peace. We also delight in joyful memories that are produced around loved ones as we gather together to celebrate Christ’s birth.

But while we sang glad songs to our Messiah, across the sea many shed great tears of tragedy.

Nigeria

Early Christmas morning, 12 Christians were killed by gunmen. These killings occurred during open attacks against the Christian community that included raids upon two churches and in numerous Christian homes. While the assailants have yet to be confirmed, the BBC strongly believes it to be none other than the aggressive Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram that has claimed the lives of over 700 Christians in 2012.

Boko Haram is devoted to convert the entire nation of Nigeria into an Islamic state and since beginning of this year has demanded every Christian to leave the country. Last Christmas, Boko Haram massacred 44 believers.

Iran

Pastor Nadarkhani with his beloved family.

We all rejoiced in September when we received the news of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani’s release from prison. On Christmas Day Pastor Nadarkhani was rearrested by Iranian authorities.  According to the Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Pastor Nadarkhani has to complete the remainder of his time in prison (45 days) and finish uncompleted paperwork.

Since October 2009, Pastor Nadarkhani has been detained in prison without bail for his protest against his children being taught the Qur’an in school. Later on, Iranian authorities also charged Pastor Nardarkhani with apostasy and converting Muslims which is illegal in Iran.

During his time in prison, Pastor Nadarkhani has suffered aggressive persuasion to recant his faith and also had been sentenced to be executed on several occasions that were continually dropped because of the overwhelmingly outcry by the international community on Pastor Nadarkhani’s behalf.

WHAT GOD DID

While here on earth, Jesus did promise to those who would testify of Him, will suffer persecution. In fact Jesus said,

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19 NKJV).

As followers of Jesus, being persecuted is part of what it means to belong to Christ. Paul made this evident to us in Philippians 1:29: “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”

God sees our brothers and sisters suffering for His cause. We should honor their work to proclaim Christ, and God has stored great eternal rewards for their exchange to risk their lives to expand God’s kingdom.

WHAT WE CAN DO

1. PRAY

>These people are suffering at the hands of sinful, depraved people who are plagued by Satan’s hatred for God’s people. We hate their sin, but desire that these sinners be reconciled to God. We need to PRAY that God save them.

>PRAY for the peace of Nigeria from all the mass genocides, especially the attacks against Christians.

>PRAY for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani’s immediate release. God got out once. He can do it again. Also PRAY for him to remain unharmed while detained and for strength for his family.

2. PUBLICIZE

The social media is a very powerful tool of influence today. Get the word across – wherever, however – telling the world, we don’t tolerate these social injustices.

Feel free to repost this blog for the purpose of promoting public awareness of these social injustices.