Posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008                                                 by Llenis M

Times are uncertain and our everyday news come loaded with nonetheless disappointment. Many are filled with fear, while others sense the raging turmoil of despair as their investments diminish. What can one do when our nation is not only facing economical crisis, but also natural disasters? It could be easy for anyone to become anxious and filled with doubt.

Our security, our future, and our nation are between crossroads to changes that could affect our lives dramatically. What can we do as Christians who are living and witnessing all these historical events? First, we should like the Psalmist in Psalm 46:1 turn to the Lord with fearless trust. I love how he starts confessing his confidence in the Lord, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” This man trusted that God’s providence was no match for any trouble one could face in earth. He makes a decision to not allow fear overcome his heart, Psalm 46:2, “Therefore we will not fear through the earth give away and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea…through its waters roar and foam and the mountain quake with their surging. Selah” Secondly he reassures himself again in knowing that his confidence is not in man, but in God alone the creator of all things, Psalm 46:7, “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” God is calling us to trust in him. We can rest assure that he is in control of our lives and future. This discipline however is not easy to attain for we are creatures that naturally want to walk by sight rather than faith.

Our natural inclination is to want to “fix things”, or even “manipulate situations”. Perhaps, we could do that in our old nature as one who doesn’t know what kind of God we serve. As a believer we are called to trust in that Almighty God and trust that he will be faithful to show, protect, and guide us in troublesome times. He has an amazing tract record of victories! We are exhorted in v.10, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations.” Third we are called to be still before him and acknowledge there is no other way, but for Him to be in control of our lives and destiny. God’s voice breaks here in this verse; “Be still” here in the Hebrew it means “Enough” “Stop”…Acknowledge that He will be exalted in the earth. God’s mighty acts will bring him universal recognition! God desires that we fully surrender ourselves and allow him to God of our problems. Let us be reminded that if the Lord offers this kind of protection to his people Israel, will he not offer it to us also?

    Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008                                                       by Llenis M

I was sitting outside during the evening time and picked up a little flower that caught my wondering eye. It wasn’t big, but rather small in size. I couldn’t avoid watching the beauty within it. I began just to contemplate on God’s amazing creative and detailed work. The little flower was just perfect in every petal size and form. It had some distinct curves at the end of each tip.

The color combination was so appealing and perfectly put together. Our God sure does have some great taste in putting things together! The petals were all white and in the center of it was an intense fuchsia. But that wasn’t all to this pretty little flower, inside of its core was a yellow color that circled the inside. Then it’s thin, but fragile stem was a lime green. As I observed this lovely flower I couldn’t help, but ponder on the Creator who made it. His thoughts are too awesome! Our God is so amazing and His creation testifies of it everywhere the human eye can see.

Lately, God’s been speaking to my heart about humility. I would like to share with you what a missionary named Josue Yrion wrote about this issue of meekness.  

Humility is the antonym of pride.  Some definitions for humility are:

-absence of arrogance

-absence of deceit

-absence of pride 

God answers our prayers when they are accompanied with humility. William Barclay quoted, “Prayer is not a form to make use of God, but prayer is that we offer ourselves to Him to make use of us.” 

God listens to hearts that are humble: 

1.  He hears our desires. Psalms 10:17, “Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.” 

2. He revives our spirits. Isaiah 57:15, “The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place
with those whose spirits are contrite and humble.  I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.” 

3. He looks after the humble. Psalms 138:5, “Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud.”

4. He forgives our sins. 2 Chronicles 7:14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

5. He restores our lives. 2 Chronicles 33:12-12, “But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought the Lord his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. 13 And when he prayed, the Lord listened to him and was moved by his request. So the Lord brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh finally realized that the Lord alone is God!”

Pride keeps us from:

God’s plan for our lives ~ we want to do things our way

Being content ~ we feel we deserve more

Keeps us from learning because you already think you know it all

Healing your soul ~ we’re to full of ourselves that we don’t ask or give forgiveness

From holiness ~ we don’t admit when we’re wrong

Seeing the glory of God ~ we’re too busy looking for our own

Let’s watch out for pride, its long term payment is separation from a relationship with God! It can keep you from taking time out of your life and thanking God for the little things that surround us, such as the little flowers. One can only appreciate the things we have once we have learned to be thankful.

    Posted on Wednesday, April 2, 2008                                                           by Llenis M

As I sit here and write I’m reminded of times when I’ve been frustrated with myself and many times just with life. Well as human beings we all wished things would come along perfectly each day of our lives, however that is an idealistic viewpoint. The truth of the matter is that each day of our lives we are faced with responsibilities, demands, and decisions. Now what can we do as Christians to get the help we need when everything we try to do just falls short of our expectations. What about the times when we try to work out salvation on our own strength making sure we pray each day and read our bibles.

We soon find that it can become routinely or even just another task on our list. I’ve found myself on some occasions feeling like this and I’m reminded of Jesus’ comforting words to his disciples in John 14:16, “I will ask the father and He will give you another Helper (counselor, advocate, or encourager), that He may be with you forever; He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.”  Often times we forget who is living inside of us, the almighty power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. The Holy Spirit is the very presence of Jesus with us today everywhere we go. He is the greatest counselor and our greatest encourager in time of confusion, trial, and despair. Isn’t it amazing just to stop and think about that!  In the old testament the Holy Spirit came upon kings, prophets, and certain people, but today He is accessible to all those who call on Him. Jesus assigned Him to us because He knew we would need his help.  

John 14:26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. It’s through the Holy Spirit that we are empowered to do the will of God. Because the truth is most of us may struggle with sin, or desire to know more of God, but don’t know where to get the help we most desire. The Holy Spirit also takes on the role of a teacher; therefore if we are willing he can show us the deep things of God. He can reveal to us the mind of Christ and His will if we’d simply ask. Are you feeling a little burned out with the things of God?  Maybe you are asking yourself I want more; I just can’t live like this anymore. If you really desire to know God more, or need help in your daily walk just ask the Helper-the Holy Spirit. He is a person, and longs to help you and teach you! I want more of Him, I need more of Him to serve and tell others about Jesus. John 16: 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. He alone can convince man of their need for salvation. He alone can show us our sins in our life. Why not get to know him more, and invite him into our daily lives.

    Posted on Wednesday, February 6, 2008                                                by Llenis M

Happy Belated New Year! Can you believe it 2008 already? I’ll begin sharing with you all about some interesting things that God has shown me and hope it can be encouraging to you as well. Last year God began to work in areas of my heart that I thought truly were ok. God began teaching me about forgiveness and loving others. You know I began to look back as far as my childhood to find out why I am the way I am today. I realized that you need to look at your past to understand your present and be able to face your future. All along I had struggled with a lot of fear and sense of unworthiness.

My fears ranged from small ones to big ones, and the time to face it came about once I decided to allow God to heal my relationships. From past experiences I’ve been disappointed and where I expected as a young child to receive security well wasn’t readily available to me. Let’s just say that we were headed for a broken family lifestyle. Thankfully God got a hold of my family in time to keep it together, but the damage done in my little heart left scars for years to come. I won’t go all into details about all that happened, but I can tell you that until I allowed God into these areas of my heart, I have felt his warm hands healing all the brokenness that was inside. Psalms 130:1, “O Lord You have searched me and know me.” The awesome thing about God is that he already knows your past and wants to help you come out of it. Yes, He does love you so much and every experience and heartache you’ve suffered He wants to heal.

He’s seen all the tears you’ve shed at night when the whole world is sound asleep. “You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.” The Psalmist found that God not only knew him from when he was born, but also before. “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”  One thing is for sure God sees your hurt and wants to heal you so that you can continue your life growing in Him and become whole. I will warn you that it takes courage to be able to go soul searching and finding out what’s deep inside your heart, but worth the effort. We can’t live out lives denying what we’re feeling, at some point we need to get real with ourselves. I can testify to you that my heart is much healthier and better than before.

God has graciously and mercifully cared for it and know He’s the potter and He’s still working on me. Isaiah 55:6, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.” If you happen to come across this know that it’s God telling you that He cares for whatever you may be going through. He is nearer to you that you can imagine, just a prayer way! Reach out to Him.