Against the authority!

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During one of my vacation in the Philippines, my family and I went to this beach. The surrounding is very clean because it is against the rule to throw any garbage at the beach. There are also no vendors alowed there to sell to the beach goer, but sometimes thet do came although it is against the authority. They want to earn money from the visitors. 

Are the vendors guilty? Yes, because they are violating the rules.

But I am not going to talk further about them ( vendors)  or talk about us. Although in one way or another, we are guilyt of something that we should not have done or said. 

Who was the guilty one?

This time, not us, but Jesus according to the accusers!

How did it happened?

Luke 22: 66   At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them.

Think about that! Jesus, the  innocent was on trial. The religious leaders wanted to judge him, because they were challenged by Jesus by his good deeds and powerful words. Not only that, they manage to bribe the crowds to do the same.

Luke 23: 18-23 But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!”

(He was the one, who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.)

Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!”

And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified.

 And their voices began to prevail.

And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted.

And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will.

Pilate, attempting to get rid of the responsibility over his himself, asked the people who would go free. They chose Barabbas. They chose evil over good. Guilt over innocent. The life-taker over the life-giver.

Thanks God, that he had a plan. It looked like that the evil had won, but it turned out that Jesus death on the cross is our key to heaven.

And we lived happily ever after……do you think so?

People still makes mistakes. Still judging Jesus nowadays! In fact, many schools around the world prohibits reading the Bible or talking about Jesus, They were afraid to offend those that practice other religion or does not believe to any god at all. It is not allowed to have Christmas parties anymore in some schools here in Norway, where Jesus is the center. Santa Claus is now the center of the celebration. During Easter it is the bugs bunny or the hens who gets all the credits. It seems that the evil is under control everywhere. Not only that. Many people read the bible, take God’s words as it suits their wants and needs. Some use the bible to gain power or earn money from it. What a tragedy!

If you profess that you are a believer, some will laugh of you, mock you and says that you are nuts. It takes courage to go against all odds. The good thing is that the most powerful one is with us!

source

In the midst of it all, God is still under control. He still got the answers. The road to his kingdom is narrow, but very easy to go there. It is open for all. He is no respecter of persons. No matter how guilty we are, he is there to accept us with open arms and to forgive. The enemy make us filthy, but God can make us whiter than snow. Have you seen the snow when the sun is shining so brightly? The snow reflects the sun that it glitters, shines, and looks whiter. That is how we will be when we accept Jesus in our lives.

So, what would you choose?

My prayer for you and me!

Thank you Jesus for being the way, the truth in the life for us.  ( John 14:6) I pray that we will always believe in your words although the circumstances shows the opposite.  I pray that we will not stop trusting and hoping that you will answer our prayers. To believe that you know what is the best for us. I pray for you to give us wisdom to tackle every circumstances that comes along the way that we don’t understand. Open our eyes to the truth so that we will not be deceived by evil.

Thank you for you tolerated to be judged, so that we can go free.

JOY

Abilities!

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Lately, I have been thinking about God's goodness. Actually, we can use the whole alphabet to describe God.  Then the best way is to begin with the A. 

So I began with letter A with this word:

Abilities:

God has abilities to many to count.

What does this word really mean to us?

In Oxford American dictionary, ability means:

1.The quality that makes an action or process possible, the capacity or power to do something. 

2. cleverness, talent

What kind of abilities do we have?

-talents

-time

-strength

-gifts

-resources

What do we do with them?

God says:   Don't let yours demenish!  

 Exodus 28:3 Tell all the skilled men, to whom I had given wisdom.

God is telling us to remind the skilled men whom God had given wisdom to use what they had received.

I can begin with myself, not that I see myself as a woman of wisdom. But God said, that if we lack wisdom, we should ask God and he will give us. So since I often asks God  for wisdom, then He must had given me something. I asks for wisdom not to bring glory to myself, but to God. It means that whatever he had given me, I have to use those gifts wisely, so that I won’t dishonor His name.

I am a kind of person that does not like to involve myself in politics and the politicians. I am pretty much in the background. I thought that I voted for them and I have to let them do their job and I do mine. Actually, I must be more aware of what they are doing because whatever decisions they are making affects everybody and that includes me too. So, it is a reminder for me not just to focus on myself, but to those skillled men in authority. See to it   that I can contribute to make the community a better place to live in.

 God says that we have responsibility to use them well.

All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded.

Exodus 35:10

                             

Suppose you would say or I would say, I am not a skilled person. Really?

God has given everyone something to contribute. A skill learned in school, or with inborn talents. How do we use these resources? We have hands and feet that are functioning. We have a voice to speak.  I suppose God is telling us that whatever we have, can be useful to others and ourselves if we are willing to use them.

I am thinking of the elderly in the nursing home where I work. One can think that they cannot contribute anymore to the society because they are old. But wait, without them I and many more will be jobless. In fact, working with them teaches us to be patient, to show kindness. They reminds us that one day it will be us who will be needing help. In addition, many of them have so much wisdom to impart to us workers. They had lived lives different from this generation and through them, we are learning many things. If they can just give us a smile, it is enough to change our bad day or the other way around.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Luke 12:48

Think about that! The more we have or got, the more we have to share! 

It made me think of people, including me wishing to have what others have of talents and skills. For example, I have a terrible voice and wished that God has given me a voice that one does not need to cover her/ his ears everytime I tried to sing. But, although I couldn't sing, I can talk. God can use my voice to inspire others, to comfort, to defend the helples and most especially to proclaim his love to others, if I let him use me. Maybe I can inspire too through what I write from the inspiration God gives me from His words.

How about you? What is your talent ( abilities) that can contribute to the people around you?

 God says that we should invest wisely what has been given to us.

To one He gave five talents of money, to another two talents and to another one talent, each according to his own ability. Matthew 25:15

  God has given to us what should be given to us, according to our abilities and  we should start with that! Anyway, anything we plant, if we take care of them, grows. Or if we give, it will be given to us in return a hundredfold. That is God's promise.

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully, administering God’s grace in it’s various forms. 1 Peter 4:10

God bless us so that we can be a blessing to others. For me it is like a love circle. You give love, you get love in return. Think how wonderful this world would be if we could just learn to love and understand each other. See others how God sees us!

 

But how about our ability to:

-love or hate?

-Forgive or not?

-help or do nothing?

-pray or be prayerless?

believe or be unbeliever?

What would we choose?

……choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve….as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:25

God has given us ability to choose....so I hope that we choose life!

JOY

Heart- shaped and turtles!

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Hello everyone. Today is Sunday and still a rest day for many or for someone it is church day. For me, everyday is Lord's day and one can find rest too in every day.

Well, I don't know about you, but I do things I like in any day when when I have the opportunity. These past few days, I had been making potholders and this time I made heart- shaped potholders since soon it will be love-month.

Heart-shaped potholder nr.1

Heart-shaped potholder nr.2

and for the kids: Simen and Klara turtles

How about you? What are you doing in your spare time?

Wishing you a happy resting day!

JOY

Abandoned!

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When I was a child, I thought God  abandoned me. I felt that He was not around when I needed Him the most. That He was unfair! Sometimes, when the going gets tough, I might feel that God is not on my side. 

How many of us had been through this kind of situation?

Abandoned by:

• parents
• boyfriend or girlfriend
• friends
• siblings
• someone we trust
• or most especially God

Exodus 2: 23-25  During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

How do the Israelites reacted when they were mistreated or felt abandoned by God?

They cried out to God. Wouldn't that be a good example for us to follow? Cry out to God in every difficult situation?

This is a reminder for me and for you especially if we are  experiencing a tough battle in our lives. To hold near to God and trust Him that it will be all right no matter what.

Maybe we don't feel abandoned by God, but the other way around. We cast him aside. His teaching, his calling, his words and guidance. We want to be the boss of our own lives. We are not a slave of somebody, but slaves of ourselves. The enemy tempts us, probably. Like he tempted Eve in the garden of Eden. God is calling us, but our ears won't listen because we are trapped by our own desires. Slaves of this world and our own desires that does not bring glory to God's name and polluting our body and soul. Making our lives a mess.

Whatever it might be, we can cry out to God. Remember that He is willing to listen and help us if we seek him with all our heart, soul and spirit.

He said that if we seek, we will find. If we knock, the door will be opened, and if we ask, it will be given unto us.  Matthew 7:7

God's rescue doesn't always come the moment we want it. God had promised to bring the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt. ( Genesis 15:16, 46:3,4). 

 The people had waited a long time for the promise to be kept, but God rescued them when he knew the right time had come. God knows the best time to act. When we feel that God has forgotten us in our troubles, we should remember that God has a time schedule we couldn’t see.

Remember God is concerned about us, we only need to wait and trust.

Often the worst of times are

what leads us to the best times

because we all go through

inspires us into our very Best Self.

( Recharge you mind)

JOY