Luke 17:12-19
The story of the leper in Mark 1:40 this way
"'Hello, I'm a leper!' A man popped out from behind a building and stood right in front of Jesus. 'Please don't run away, Jesus!'
"'What's the matter with your skin?' asked Jesus.
"'Can't You see I'm covered with runny sores and crusty scabs?' No one wants to look at me, my face is so horrible.'
"'What do you want Me to do?'
"'You can make me better. I know You can,' said the man, falling on his knees in front of Jesus. 'If You don't, I'll scratch myself to death.'
"Jesus felt sorry for the poor man.
"'Don't touch me,' said the man. 'That's how you get it.'
"'I'm not afraid to touch you.' Jesus reached down and took hold of the man's arms and pulled him to his feet. The itching was gone. The sores started to dry. The scabs began to fall off.
"'Thank You, thank You, thank You!' shouted the man. 'What can I do to thank You?'
"'You can go to the temple, show yourself to a priest and say a prayer of thanks to God.'
"'Yes, yes; I will, I will!' promised the man hurrying off.
"'One more thing,' said Jesus.
"'Anything, anything,' said the man.
"'You don't have to tell anyone what I just did.'
"'I won't tell a soul,' said the man as he skipped toward Jerusalem; but the man was so happy and the walk to the temple was so long that he forgot and told everyone he met. Then all the other lepers along the road began to look for the wonderful Man with the healing touch."
The story well told of the gratitude of good lepers. Good lepers are those who are healed and never forget the disease they once had. They remember how good clean feels. Bad lepers, on the other hand, are those who are healed and go on acting as if they never had the disease.
Ninety percent of all the lepers in Luke 17 are ingrates—bad lepers pretending they never met Jesus. What a shame! They were so completely healed that there was not a smidgen of their former state of decay left to them. They were se healed, they headed back to the social centers of their communities. These pretenders were free to run for office—any office they might imagine. They were free to return to their former bridge clubs, Kiwanis clubs, golf clubs. Their once former scourge-word-confession, "Unclean!" had been replaced by, "Give me five!" The untouchables were now the embraceables. The infected had become the respected. The isolated tomb-dwellers had become the officers at Toastmasters.
However, for all the joy of their cleansing, we never would have known about them at all, except for the 10 percent of their group who knew the art of gratitude. One of the 10: "when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked Him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked a most perplexing question: 'Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to give praise to God except this foreigner?'" (Luke 17:15-18).
Sit at the once eroded feet of a thankful, Gentile leper and learn from him. It is the season of the year for us to come before God with the Old One-Hundredth on our lips and give praise to the Him for all of our abundance. I don't know if all lepers are pictured here to indicate that all praiseless people are in the 90th percentile of the blasé lepers who can receive so much from God and mention it so little.
C.S. Lewis said that ancient man approached God out of a strong feeling that he was approaching a judge. "For modern man, the roles are reversed," says Lewis. Modern man is the judge and God is in the dock (cited in A Hunger for Meaning, Inter Varsity Press, 1984, p. 114). Maybe this is why we feel we have no obligation to thank Him. I suspect this is what lies behind the reason we are developing a culture without a sense of thankfulness. For me, our thanklessness smacks of a lazy atheism. Remember, one old definition of atheist is "someone who sometimes feels gratitude, but has absolutely no one to thank for it!"
There are two sides in the issue of all self-righteous abundance. These two categories are the thankful and the thankless. The thankless tend to act as though they and their circumstances are entirely self-made. The thankful see the providence of God in all they hold. The thankful believe that it is not how much we have or have not in life, but what we see as the source of what we have or don't have that is the real issue.
I have sat down with a great many people who fed me more sumptuously, but their sign to begin eating was not a bowed head but the green light signal of a fork which the host picked up.
Back to the lone Samaritan leper, whose thankfulness mandated a bent neck and said, "God, you are the Giver of this feast": The 90th percentile lepers are those who begin to eat when the host picks up his fork. All of this goes to prove the old cliché: Gratitude is an attitude. Gratitude has absolutely nothing to do with what we have but is a lifestyle. It rehearses praise so continually that God is always the Giver, and lepers are cleansed by His giving.
Is Jesus sorry He cleanses ingrates? Of course not; it is God's nature to cleanse, heal and give; but He does ask a very profound question in Luke 17: "Where are the other nine?" It's a fair question! If 10 lepers are healed and only one comes back, where are the other nine?
We were eating out the other night and I happened to look around the restaurant filled with people, 39 percent of whom were born again then saw one person praying before beginning a meal. When he finished praying, I ask him, "Sir, I couldn't help but notice you were praying. Are you a Christian?"Yes!" he replied. "The Lord saved me four years ago. Ever since then I've been filled with gratitude for all God is doing in my life. I cannot cease to thank Him."
This lone believer reminded me that Jesus taught a very practical principle of rejoicing in the things that mean most to me. I enjoy singing the chorus: "Thank You, Lord, for saving my soul." It has old-fashioned words in the new world of upbeat worship. Still, I think about it often. My thankfulness is not rooted in the grace of mealtime, but in the awareness of my own salvation. If this Thanksgiving your own table is more sparse than you'd like it to be, just thank Him for saving your soul. Remember this great hymn:
Could my tears forever flow,
Could my zeal no languor know.
These for sin would not atone,
Thou must save and thou alone,
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling.
Spafford—in that hymn which celebrated the death of all his family—would write that beautiful stanza:
"My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious tho't
"My sin not in part, but the whole
"Is nail'd to the cross and I bear it no more,
"Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"
Horatio G. Spafford, "It Is Well with My Soul"
Therefore, let us live in a constant attitude of God's abundance along with the writer of Hebrews 12:28, who said, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably, with reverence and awe."
I know God does not always provide us all the abundance we want, but Psalm 37:25 says, "I am old but have been young and I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread." My suspicion is that this week most of you will sit down to a very fine meal. I hope as you do, Psalm 100:4 will come to you, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and enter his courts with praise." God is the Keeper of your feast. He is the Maker of your feast.
Tony Campolo said that as he was eating a meal in Haiti, he started to pick up his fork and eat when he glanced to the window, which was near his table, and saw the faces of little hungry Haitian children, faces pressed against the glass watching him eat, mesmerized.
"For a moment," he said, "I had the awful feeling of guilt and sat poised, not knowing whether to eat or not." Then the waiter stepped over and said, "Sir, don't let this bother you," and pulled the blinds. "I laid down my fork, unable to eat that meal."
He said, "It's so like the American culture to forget to thank God for what we have, to pull the blinds and forget that we are part of the 6 percent of the world that has enough continually to eat again and again and again. ‘Enter His courts with praise; enter His gates with thanksgiving.'"
While you eat your nice food , consider this: 600 people will die of starvation while you're eating that meal. On Thanksgiving Day, 12,000 people will die of starvation. Eight hundred million people in this world have not had enough to eat today. One of every 10 babies born this week will die within the first week. Twenty-five percent of those babies never will reach age 5. I now understand what it means to be a nation upon whom God has rained His blessings.
I understand how Malcolm Muggeridge must have felt when he watched Mother Teresa take from a dustbin a baby someone had cast aside, believing it dead, then suddenly chirping, "See, there's life in it!" Most of the world is not dying under nuclear annihilation; rather by the thousands, many die whimpering in the night. T.S. Eliot's lines haunt us: "This is the way the world ends for most people, not with a bang, but with a whimper!"
We all sometimes complain that God is unfair, but gratitude is an attitude. Habakkuk 3:17-18 shouts our obligation to praise, whatever our financial circumstances:
"Though the fig tree does not bud
"And there are no grapes on the vine,
"Though the olive crop fails
"And the fields produce no food,
"Though there are not sheep in the pen
"And no cattle in the stalls,
"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
"I will be joyful in God my Savior."
There's no use whimpering. Harold Kushner said he once had an old teacher who said, "To say life is unfair is like saying a bull won't charge a man who happens to be a vegetarian." God has a plan for His world, and that plan is that everybody would know Christ. Somehow we are involved in that plan. If that plan does not speak in our lives a sense of worship and praise, we miss the whole point.
Jesus' lone leper is a picture of great gratitude, a picture of grace.
Those of us who have been redeemed by a living Lord Jesus cannot help but say, "Thank You, God. Thank You for eternal life. Thank You for our daily bread."
Break from that crowd of thankless lepers long enough to remember Somalia. Somalia is a land where there aren't any title holders any more. There are no grain fields. Everyone there lives in extremes. Somalians spend their days waiting on U.N. grain trucks.
Consider children of Somalia. Parents each morning send their children forward for rice. They are cheering and goading their children to be first in the line so they can be part of the 200 of 500 who are fed; 300 return to weeping parents, weeping themselves, because there wasn't enough for everyone.
A few years ago, one of my very favorite poets was picking up scraps of paper in a park in Brazil. Quite a poet she was. She saved the big pieces of paper that she found and wrote poems on them. Nobody really knew it then, but on those big scraps of paper with rough pencil, she wrote a book that was destined to be published in America as Child of the Dark. A woman starving to death with her poor little family wrote these words:
"Today I'm sad. I'm nervous. I don't know if I should start crying or running till I fall unconscious. At dawn it was raining…I have a few tin cans and another little scrap of metal that I'm going to sell to Señor Manuel…to buy food for the children). O Sao Paulo. A queen that vainly shows her skyscrapers as her crown of gold. All dressed up in velvet and in silk…but with the cheap stockings of the slums underneath. Sometimes I imagine I am a grand lady, dressed in a satin gown with diamonds shining in my black hair. But then the smell of the sewers comes in through the thin walls and my satin gown turns to rags, and the only thing shining in my hair is lice."
This Thanksgiving, enter His courts with thanksgiving and enter His gates with praise. "Were there not ten lepers healed? Where are the other nine?"
Then answer, "Lord, I do not know where the other nine have gone…I only know I have received healing and not to praise You is a sin I must not condone. I have been loved. I am clean. I must enter Your gates with thanksgiving. I must come into Your courts with praise."
(This Touched me as I read it..Thought id Share it.)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
WHAT DO YOU DO?
Life is not easy, someone told me if it were then it would be boring. Life sucks sometimes it throws things at you that you never could see coming and if you could, you failed to dodge. So when you're beyond being lower than the lowest thing alive..what do you do? Who do you turn to? When things go wrong my first reflex isn't to get down on my knees and pray. No. I try fix it on my own, or tell a friend or drown our sorrows in earthly things.
What do you do when you have lost everything. When you are hurt beyond comprehension. When you feel like looking up and screaming “WHY GOD...WHY MEE!!!!”. Well if not you then who? Life is not easy at all. Awful things happen to the best of people. You read your bible everyday, you go to church and you say your prayers but still you seem to wind up with the short end of the stick. What do you do? Who do you turn to?
What can you do when your world is crashing down and your all alone and nobody understands or nobody seems to care. Where do you start, picking up the pieces. When the road you walk is paved with thorns. And the cross you carry just keeps getting heavier. What can you do when you feel like crying out “WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME LORD?”. You stumble, you fall, you make bad choices and the devil beacons you further into the dark. His offer seems more attractive than the pain you face. What do you do?
What happens when all your strength and will power is gone. When it seems like there is nothing to live for. You could just shout “here take your life back!”. What happens next. When your heart is broken and you feel like a fool. When you have lost so much and given just as much away. What in the world can you do!! How can you master the strength to rise again with your head held high. How? What is it that needs to be done. Who lied to us and said we were destined for greatness. Who lied to us and said we were the chosen people when all we do is struggle and fall flat on our faces. Why is it that the devil is always there. Why is it that we feel like God has turned away from us?
What do you do? Do you get up again, dust yourself off and keep going? I've been told the way to grow strong in Christ is to be weak in yourself. What does that mean? My bible tells me in Isaiah 40:29 “God gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength.”. What do you do...you have faith and trust in your God. Let go of the steering wheel for a moment and let Him take over. Its hurts but trust and get down on your knees bare your soul to the one that truly deserves it and believe and know that help is on the way.
What can you do? Be patient and wait for the Lord. We do not serve a dormant God. Yes we are destined for something bigger than us, but it comes at a price. We have to fight to get it just as hard as the devil is to keep it away from us. It calls for patient endurance on our part and persistence in prayer. He will never forsake us. We are the chosen people,and because we were chosen we need to take courage “ be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord” Psalms 31:24.
“Jesus knows that we must come apart and rest a while, or else we may just plain fall apart.”
We need to take heart, and let God take over completely and not only when it suits us. The time to be Christians has come. We must use the little strength that we have even if it means hanging on His robes. Reach out and let Him do the rest. Keep the faith and love you have for him going. Keep praying, because the devil is always there always waiting and being watchful of every step you take.
Turn to our all mighty Father and He will be light at your feet.
by Nicola Manduna
What do you do when you have lost everything. When you are hurt beyond comprehension. When you feel like looking up and screaming “WHY GOD...WHY MEE!!!!”. Well if not you then who? Life is not easy at all. Awful things happen to the best of people. You read your bible everyday, you go to church and you say your prayers but still you seem to wind up with the short end of the stick. What do you do? Who do you turn to?
What can you do when your world is crashing down and your all alone and nobody understands or nobody seems to care. Where do you start, picking up the pieces. When the road you walk is paved with thorns. And the cross you carry just keeps getting heavier. What can you do when you feel like crying out “WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME LORD?”. You stumble, you fall, you make bad choices and the devil beacons you further into the dark. His offer seems more attractive than the pain you face. What do you do?
What happens when all your strength and will power is gone. When it seems like there is nothing to live for. You could just shout “here take your life back!”. What happens next. When your heart is broken and you feel like a fool. When you have lost so much and given just as much away. What in the world can you do!! How can you master the strength to rise again with your head held high. How? What is it that needs to be done. Who lied to us and said we were destined for greatness. Who lied to us and said we were the chosen people when all we do is struggle and fall flat on our faces. Why is it that the devil is always there. Why is it that we feel like God has turned away from us?
What do you do? Do you get up again, dust yourself off and keep going? I've been told the way to grow strong in Christ is to be weak in yourself. What does that mean? My bible tells me in Isaiah 40:29 “God gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength.”. What do you do...you have faith and trust in your God. Let go of the steering wheel for a moment and let Him take over. Its hurts but trust and get down on your knees bare your soul to the one that truly deserves it and believe and know that help is on the way.
What can you do? Be patient and wait for the Lord. We do not serve a dormant God. Yes we are destined for something bigger than us, but it comes at a price. We have to fight to get it just as hard as the devil is to keep it away from us. It calls for patient endurance on our part and persistence in prayer. He will never forsake us. We are the chosen people,and because we were chosen we need to take courage “ be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord” Psalms 31:24.
“Jesus knows that we must come apart and rest a while, or else we may just plain fall apart.”
We need to take heart, and let God take over completely and not only when it suits us. The time to be Christians has come. We must use the little strength that we have even if it means hanging on His robes. Reach out and let Him do the rest. Keep the faith and love you have for him going. Keep praying, because the devil is always there always waiting and being watchful of every step you take.
Turn to our all mighty Father and He will be light at your feet.
by Nicola Manduna
Monday, November 1, 2010
When will you start being a Christian??
So I'm on this walk with Christ and we are getting really close. I mean the amount of love between us is amazing. Yet my heart is sore. My mind is troubled. As Shakespeare put it “oh full of scorpions is my mind”. I'm deeply troubled and for what?
The love I thought I had found with someone all gone. Just like all we had didn't matter.
Certain aspects of my life have changed though for the better. I've been called to step forward , yet I'm afraid I wont be able to keep up and do the right thing.
My family slowly falling to pieces.
My friends going through so much heartache and pain. Plagued by peer pressure as they wonder like the lost sheep they are.
Life on earth is not a pretty thing. Was walking the streets of Jo burg and I saw a “common” sight that broke my heart because there was nothing I could do. I saw a elderly woman sitting under the harsh sun on the the filth that we call the streets of jozi. A blind beggar, a woman that could've been my own mother. Sitting there dressed in rags like she had be stuffed into them. There she sat, trapped in her circumstances. She was eating as she sat, but what she ate...her meal for the day was a paper plate of chips generously covered in flies and mould. My heart sank. It became sore so sore. But I did nothing, I carried on walking.
My heart is sore, the tears keep coming, rolling down my cheeks filling my eyes till my vision gets so blurry I feel myself stumble as I walk. I walk. I walk. I continue on my daily walk with Christ. These are but a fraction of the things I face. What do you face or try to escape from. How can we say we walk with Christ when we do nothing in this world to help others?? That's all Christ did, that was His main objective, to help those in need. But what do we do, we keep walking thinking we're walking with Christ, while He's standing there next to the blind beggars in our lives. Waiting on us to be CHRISTIANS!
How many have you walked away from? For how long must it be this way. My bible tells me in Proverbs 19;17 “he who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord”. What will we lack by giving? Yes we have our own problems in life to face our “drama' to deal with. But “ the best exercise for strengthening the heart is reaching down and lifting people up.”. We have become so selfish and self absorbed in things we think matter most. But does the bible not say love thy neighbour as you love thy self.
What are we doing about the beggars in our lives? Literally the poor that need us to share just a bit of what we have. And the poor that are weak in their faith and need us to share our daily bread with them. My heart is sore.. but the love He has for me will make up for the love I lost. My mind is troubled but that call will keep coming, He'll hold my hand and as the light at my feet He will guide the way. But what of those that don't see and haven't learnt what it is that I have learnt on my daily walks with Christ. You can not walk with Him and not be affected by what He stands for.
Yes I do not understand His ways totally, but what would be the point if I did? The point is to grow, and with this growth in turn share it with others. Its time for us to start being Christians. Its time for us to start being active and help those around us that need it. Yes it may seem prayer is not effective but it is oh yes it is. Pray and be active be a vessel that wants to be used. It's time to pull each other up.
When I saw that woman it wasn't the first time I'd seen a beggar. But today I saw through different eyes. I felt, I was moved. Foolish of me to think nothing can be done. I'm reaching down, the beggars in my life are there for a reason and I will not be held accountable on judgment day for walking away. I've started, so I ask you now He wants to know after so long...When will you start being a Christian?
by Nicola Manduna
The love I thought I had found with someone all gone. Just like all we had didn't matter.
Certain aspects of my life have changed though for the better. I've been called to step forward , yet I'm afraid I wont be able to keep up and do the right thing.
My family slowly falling to pieces.
My friends going through so much heartache and pain. Plagued by peer pressure as they wonder like the lost sheep they are.
Life on earth is not a pretty thing. Was walking the streets of Jo burg and I saw a “common” sight that broke my heart because there was nothing I could do. I saw a elderly woman sitting under the harsh sun on the the filth that we call the streets of jozi. A blind beggar, a woman that could've been my own mother. Sitting there dressed in rags like she had be stuffed into them. There she sat, trapped in her circumstances. She was eating as she sat, but what she ate...her meal for the day was a paper plate of chips generously covered in flies and mould. My heart sank. It became sore so sore. But I did nothing, I carried on walking.
My heart is sore, the tears keep coming, rolling down my cheeks filling my eyes till my vision gets so blurry I feel myself stumble as I walk. I walk. I walk. I continue on my daily walk with Christ. These are but a fraction of the things I face. What do you face or try to escape from. How can we say we walk with Christ when we do nothing in this world to help others?? That's all Christ did, that was His main objective, to help those in need. But what do we do, we keep walking thinking we're walking with Christ, while He's standing there next to the blind beggars in our lives. Waiting on us to be CHRISTIANS!
How many have you walked away from? For how long must it be this way. My bible tells me in Proverbs 19;17 “he who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord”. What will we lack by giving? Yes we have our own problems in life to face our “drama' to deal with. But “ the best exercise for strengthening the heart is reaching down and lifting people up.”. We have become so selfish and self absorbed in things we think matter most. But does the bible not say love thy neighbour as you love thy self.
What are we doing about the beggars in our lives? Literally the poor that need us to share just a bit of what we have. And the poor that are weak in their faith and need us to share our daily bread with them. My heart is sore.. but the love He has for me will make up for the love I lost. My mind is troubled but that call will keep coming, He'll hold my hand and as the light at my feet He will guide the way. But what of those that don't see and haven't learnt what it is that I have learnt on my daily walks with Christ. You can not walk with Him and not be affected by what He stands for.
Yes I do not understand His ways totally, but what would be the point if I did? The point is to grow, and with this growth in turn share it with others. Its time for us to start being Christians. Its time for us to start being active and help those around us that need it. Yes it may seem prayer is not effective but it is oh yes it is. Pray and be active be a vessel that wants to be used. It's time to pull each other up.
When I saw that woman it wasn't the first time I'd seen a beggar. But today I saw through different eyes. I felt, I was moved. Foolish of me to think nothing can be done. I'm reaching down, the beggars in my life are there for a reason and I will not be held accountable on judgment day for walking away. I've started, so I ask you now He wants to know after so long...When will you start being a Christian?
by Nicola Manduna
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Inbox (1)
You hurt me but i still love you...I reached out to bring you closer, but you pushed my hand aside. "Not now" you said. Standing by me at that point in your life was not important to you. You hurt me but i still love you. I tried to get your attention, tried to make you see that the love i have for you is not the kind of love the world has blindly perverted. I tried to bring you to me. I still am...waiting for you. You hurt me but i still love you. YOU still mean everything to me..
Yes you there covered in sin and shame
yes you there choking on your lies
yes you there terrorizing your loved ones
yes you there with the broken heart
yes you there who is struggling with immoral temptations
yes you there fighting to get closer yet you feel your unworthy
yes you there with your head down
yes you there that feels so alone and unloved
Yes...You hurt me but i still love you....
Make the decision here and now....get on your knees where ever you are...and reach out; with your hand, with your heart, with your spirit. Reach out. He's right there doing the same...reaching out. We hurt Him but He still loves us, let Him fill the void. Reach out through prayer..and grab on to Him, once you do, your journey as a Christian and your journey to be more like Him begins.
let us pray....
by Nicola Manduna
Yes you there covered in sin and shame
yes you there choking on your lies
yes you there terrorizing your loved ones
yes you there with the broken heart
yes you there who is struggling with immoral temptations
yes you there fighting to get closer yet you feel your unworthy
yes you there with your head down
yes you there that feels so alone and unloved
Yes...You hurt me but i still love you....
Make the decision here and now....get on your knees where ever you are...and reach out; with your hand, with your heart, with your spirit. Reach out. He's right there doing the same...reaching out. We hurt Him but He still loves us, let Him fill the void. Reach out through prayer..and grab on to Him, once you do, your journey as a Christian and your journey to be more like Him begins.
let us pray....
by Nicola Manduna
Thank you
We all got to thank God for :
Who he is
What he does
Why he does it
When he will do what we ask
For friends
FAmily
HArd times
Good times
Happy times
Sad times
Tears & Laughter
Pain & Joy
Poverty & Riches
Nakedness or Clothing
Hunger & plenty
He still remains God, who does what he does to the Glory of His name!!!!
God bless you
Who he is
What he does
Why he does it
When he will do what we ask
For friends
FAmily
HArd times
Good times
Happy times
Sad times
Tears & Laughter
Pain & Joy
Poverty & Riches
Nakedness or Clothing
Hunger & plenty
He still remains God, who does what he does to the Glory of His name!!!!
God bless you
Monday, October 25, 2010
The day i got down on my knees..
The day i got down on my knees,
the troubles around me were put under a spotlight
my soul was broken, on my knees my eyes were filled with tears,
like a never ending stream flowing,
with all my pain and afflictions wearing me thin
the day i got down on my knees,
i was in the dark i was alone,
i was misunderstood, shunned and judged
On my knees all was revealed
my heart in pieces, all my desires out in the open
all my fears towering above me
with sin stains on my being
the day i got on my knees;
i found myself at the feet of a merciful Saviour
the one who comforts you as a mother would her child
The day i got on my knees....I PRAYED
by Nicola Manduna
the troubles around me were put under a spotlight
my soul was broken, on my knees my eyes were filled with tears,
like a never ending stream flowing,
with all my pain and afflictions wearing me thin
the day i got down on my knees,
i was in the dark i was alone,
i was misunderstood, shunned and judged
On my knees all was revealed
my heart in pieces, all my desires out in the open
all my fears towering above me
with sin stains on my being
the day i got on my knees;
i found myself at the feet of a merciful Saviour
the one who comforts you as a mother would her child
The day i got on my knees....I PRAYED
by Nicola Manduna
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
A dose of tough LOVE...
As Christians we love to romanticize things , I suppose it's human nature. We love to hear things like, “We are destined for great things' or “ My sister your husband is on his way”. We seem to overlook the fact that the devil hates us. He wont let us 2 step into heaven . He's going to fight tooth and nail to get what he wants. Trust me the battle will be scary and gruesome. It's time for us to face reality. I ain't a pastor or anyone with a degree to back me up. I may be uncultured in my speech but my Lord God has given me His stamp of approval. And I tell you now He is coming soon. Now is the time to ready ourselves, He may not be here tomorrow but I will sing this tune till the end of my days.
In 2 Peter 3:9 my bible tells me , “ The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” In the same way we do not view time the way He does. He may be arriving next week, next year or maybe in century or so, but the point I'm stressing is that the time is NOW for us to ready ourselves as the chosen people. Job 6:25 “ how painful are honest words” we make God sound like some hippie at times, who will not step up and get tough when the time comes. We view the devil as some guy that will consider your situation or your feelings before he strikes. That is not the case. He's the type of guy that will kick you when your down, spit in your face, push you so low and so far into the dark, you'll find yourself in a slump you will fail to rise from. Yes the battle is already won but it still needs to be fought!!
There is so much that has to be done we need to prepare ourselves and not stick to this comfort zone of following Christ. We need to break free from this cycle, the longer we stay the further we stray from a our true potential and purpose for which we were intended. There is nothing good about life on earth when God has prepared rooms for us up in heaven. We are simply passing through embarking on a journey that, yes, seems so never ending, but, here comes a cliché....there is light at the end of the tunnel. We say seek He 1st , but we don't really get the seriousness and intensity of such a statement. It took years of wading through sin, but when I finally surfaced I understood. Feeling anew. I was nothing and God gave me chance. What right do I have to give up on Him now?? Seek He 1st and everything else shall fall into place. I don't know about you but I do not serve a dormant God...Isaiah 66: 9 “ Do I bring the moment of birth and not give delivery?”
Like the lost coin in Luke 15:8 God will look high and low for us. It now becomes a personal choice as to whether you want to be found. And when you are found will you live by the spirit, will you “Endure hardship with us like the good solider of Christ Jesus. No-one serving as a solider gets involved in domestic affairs-he wants to please his commanding officer.” 2 Timothy 2:3-4. Someone once said and I quote “ we are married to too many things here on earth” how can can we embrace Him if our fists are already tightly clenched with our fingers, lips and hearts stained with immorality. Which has now become part of our day-to-day life. Look deep within yourself and you will realize I'm talking about you, about your life. About the lives of those close to you and you do nothing but watch them slowly self-destruct.
Yes we are sinners but if we let go and let God, our sins though like scarlet shall be white as snow. Revelations 14:12 says it best “this calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints..”. Patience with others is Love. Patience with self is Hope. Patience with God is Faith. And that's what we need to cover ourselves with; love for one another that 1st Corinthians kinda love. Hope which in itself is such a powerful thing how can the devil win when there is still hope within us, we are more than conquerors because of the hope factor rooted within. Faith that link between us and our Saviour that needs to be nurtured daily through prayer and interaction with others in fellowship.
Lets not restrict ourselves by giving the devil free reign in our lives. We need to challenge ourselves more in our faith, we need to WAKE UP from this slumber and get to know God and get to experience Him fully. Because He loves us so much, giving up is not an option and if tough Love is required then so be it...
by Nicola Manduna
In 2 Peter 3:9 my bible tells me , “ The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” In the same way we do not view time the way He does. He may be arriving next week, next year or maybe in century or so, but the point I'm stressing is that the time is NOW for us to ready ourselves as the chosen people. Job 6:25 “ how painful are honest words” we make God sound like some hippie at times, who will not step up and get tough when the time comes. We view the devil as some guy that will consider your situation or your feelings before he strikes. That is not the case. He's the type of guy that will kick you when your down, spit in your face, push you so low and so far into the dark, you'll find yourself in a slump you will fail to rise from. Yes the battle is already won but it still needs to be fought!!
There is so much that has to be done we need to prepare ourselves and not stick to this comfort zone of following Christ. We need to break free from this cycle, the longer we stay the further we stray from a our true potential and purpose for which we were intended. There is nothing good about life on earth when God has prepared rooms for us up in heaven. We are simply passing through embarking on a journey that, yes, seems so never ending, but, here comes a cliché....there is light at the end of the tunnel. We say seek He 1st , but we don't really get the seriousness and intensity of such a statement. It took years of wading through sin, but when I finally surfaced I understood. Feeling anew. I was nothing and God gave me chance. What right do I have to give up on Him now?? Seek He 1st and everything else shall fall into place. I don't know about you but I do not serve a dormant God...Isaiah 66: 9 “ Do I bring the moment of birth and not give delivery?”
Like the lost coin in Luke 15:8 God will look high and low for us. It now becomes a personal choice as to whether you want to be found. And when you are found will you live by the spirit, will you “Endure hardship with us like the good solider of Christ Jesus. No-one serving as a solider gets involved in domestic affairs-he wants to please his commanding officer.” 2 Timothy 2:3-4. Someone once said and I quote “ we are married to too many things here on earth” how can can we embrace Him if our fists are already tightly clenched with our fingers, lips and hearts stained with immorality. Which has now become part of our day-to-day life. Look deep within yourself and you will realize I'm talking about you, about your life. About the lives of those close to you and you do nothing but watch them slowly self-destruct.
Yes we are sinners but if we let go and let God, our sins though like scarlet shall be white as snow. Revelations 14:12 says it best “this calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints..”. Patience with others is Love. Patience with self is Hope. Patience with God is Faith. And that's what we need to cover ourselves with; love for one another that 1st Corinthians kinda love. Hope which in itself is such a powerful thing how can the devil win when there is still hope within us, we are more than conquerors because of the hope factor rooted within. Faith that link between us and our Saviour that needs to be nurtured daily through prayer and interaction with others in fellowship.
Lets not restrict ourselves by giving the devil free reign in our lives. We need to challenge ourselves more in our faith, we need to WAKE UP from this slumber and get to know God and get to experience Him fully. Because He loves us so much, giving up is not an option and if tough Love is required then so be it...
by Nicola Manduna
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