When I needed encouragement

Isaiah 58:11 
"The LORD will guide you always; 
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land 
and will strengthen your frame. 
You will be like a well-watered garden, 
like a spring whose waters never fail." 

Love that never fails

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

- Lamentations 3:22-23

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The glory around the death

“How often the priest had heard the same confession--Man was so limited: he hadn't even the ingenuity to invent a new vice: the animals knew as much. It was for this world that Christ had died: the more evil you saw and heard about you, the greater the glory lay around the death; it was too easy to die for what was good or beautiful, for home or children or civilization--it needed a God to die for the half-hearted and the corrupt.”
- Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory

Perspective matters

“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But...the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” 
― Martin Luther King Jr.

My house for God

Isaiah 66:1-2 "Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be,declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word."

During the corporate prayer session last Friday, these were the words that convicted my heart. I wept when the pastor came to this part "what is the house that you would build for me?". I wasn't sure why I was so moved or convicted but I kept thinking about the question and my answer after the prayer session.

Today, I felt that I had an answer. The house I will build for God is in my heart. 

Standing in the gap

I was in a cab heading for corporate prayer earlier when we nearly got hit by another car who tried to beat the red light. Gosh, the cab driver had to jam the brakes. I was whatsapping my friends and when I looked up, the other driver had a blank, ashen-faced look. His car was two arms' length away from my side of the cab. The cab driver said "Thank God", and I found out that she was also a Christian. When I alighted at my church, she said: "Thank God!" The corporate prayer session was powerful and quite emotional because we prayed for our incoming pastor. My take-away: I'm even more committed to attending corporate prayer faithfully and regularly.

A Benedictine blessing

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. Amen.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace. Amen.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection,starvation and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. Amen.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.