All hail the power of Jesus’ name!
Let angels prostrate, fall!
Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all!
Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all!
Again, I just want to go ahead and take time to give glory and honor to where it is due, rather to WHOM it is all due – to our God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all-powerful, all-present, all-knowing, all-wise. He is worthy of all the praise and accolades we could ever produce, and more! We give Him thanks and we are so grateful, because it is only through Christ that we are able, not only to see our God, but to be with Him, fully reconciled with the Creator of the Universe, who not only hears us, not only listens to us, but fully, completely, consistently cares for us!
Somewhere in social media I read that our prayers are more for ourselves than they are ‘to change God’s mind‘; We bless His name, and we are the ones who are changed. I believe it is the same right here, right now – I may not necessarily be speaking in prayer with the Father, but I am writing right now, but at the same time reveling in His presence, enjoying His comfort and His everlasting peace – indeed, because I have peace beyond understanding, I have every reason to believe that by the power of the Holy Spirit, I am also able to receive revelations beyond understanding, here and now – not necessarily mind-blowing, not necessarily overwhelmingly amazing, but surely sustaining, and ultimately ministering to all aspects of my being.
Such is His Word – as it is alive, because Christ is alive, so it serves as life to my being and all that concerns me. His Word is, as the Psalms say, a lamp unto my feet – it illuminates what is immediately before me, ensuring that every single step I take is in His light.
The same Psalm says that His Word is a light unto my path – and, indeed, not only does it serve as light for the immediate steps that I take, but it also shines far ahead of me, to see what lies before me. For the Word of God, and for Jesus Christ – the living Word, I am full of thanks and praise.
Oh, by Your Word, minister to me, Father. By Your Word, shine Your unfailing, never-ending light upon me, that I would see within and around me – and behold Your glory, from the smallest and least relevant of things, to the greater plans and schemes. Minister to my heart – overflow me with hope, comfort, and everlasting love, for I have been hurt time and time again – by my own selfish decisions, by my own doing, and just because of the natural cruelty of this world, and the callousness of this sin-tainted reality. Indeed, give me hope, knowing that You are at work, moving in and through me – but, yes, more importantly, bring me to move according to Your statutes! Remind me that I have the mind of Christ, in each and every social gathering, every conversation – that I am ministered to, and for Your name to be glorified to the maximum, each and every time!
By Your Word, minister to me, Father! Overflow me with comfort on top of the hope – Bring healing from Your throne, and allow me to be free from all that pierces me; However it all turns out, my Lord, continue reminding me of Your grace which is sufficient for me, and continue to satisfy me, reminding me that Your power is made perfect in my weakness… for, indeed, Father, I have many reasons to feel ashamed.
Oh, minister to me, Father! For I am full of regret. The pain of past decisions, and the consequences of impulsiveness have caught up to me, and though I know I have nobody to blame but myself, I am humbly crying out to you, even through these words, not necessarily through prayer – KNOWING beyond a shadow of a doubt, Father, that not only do You hear me, but surely, You read all this – ultimately, Father, thank You, because You care for me!
Be exalted in my affliction, Father! Let the Light shine ever so brightly in the darkness, and let Your glory burst forth, for me and the world to behold! Continue to shine Your goodness upon me and all that concerns me, Father – that all would see Your goodness, and that we would all be led to repentance; Shine Your goodness upon me, Father, that we would all see and behold Christ, and cry out in praise and thanksgiving!
In all this, my Father, my Lord, my King – thank You. Thank You, that I can cry out to You, in any form, and that You care for me. Thank You, for the fact and Truth that You are making all things new; Even now, You are making all things concerning me and my being… You are making all of it new. You are working all things concerning me, for the good of those who love You – for the good of the body of Christ. You are glorified, great Savior and King, through all this that’s going on in me and around the world – indeed, Father, may Your works be seen and known!
Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see!
All I have needed, Your hand hath provided!
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Another Aces’ Youth Service is coming up, and as usual, I’m up to bat.
In our previous session, we tackled the very first item on a long list of virtues I was told to discuss: Courage. I couldn’t remember the precise Scriptural references I used – ah, no, there it is – but I do remember me talking about my being scared of having rabies, then my being confident in the streets of Manila, and finally my workout journey kicked off by a negative colonoscopy exam.
…Right. Anyway, I shared on how courage was not the bottom line, because if you’re consumed by something like fear and anxiety (e.g. regarding rabies), then it impacts your actions and reactions – you lack courage. On the other hand, having someone with you (as in Manila) makes you courageous, just as not having something (as in the negative colonoscopy test) also makes you courageous.
Then I pointed out that one and only Scripture I used – Joshua 1:9. We are to be courageous, because we don’t just have anybody with us at all times, in all things – Just as the Israelites had God, so we have God: We have our Father!
Furthermore, just as I was confident of taking my body back after a negative test, so we can all be courageous in taking on this existence… because we are no longer slaves to sin, no longer doomed to oblivion!
God is always with us, so we are courageous.
We have courage, because God is with us.
Now, this coming Friday, we’re taking on another virtue: Honesty. No accident that it follows Courage. Why?
If you search for tenderness
It isn’t hard to find
You can have the love you need to live
But if you look for truthfulness
You might just as well be blind
It always seems to be so hard to give
Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you
Yes, I’m this old, and I shouldn’t really be here sharing in a service for the Youth, probably because my age disqualifies me… But here we are. And I’m courageous enough to tell you fine folk, I think it’s a good thing to be this old. In fact, a (small) part of me thinks I want to be even older – old enough, that is, to drive as slow as I want and park as miserably as I want without caring about my surroundings or the people around me. Part of me wants to be older so I can say whatever I want, to whoever I want, without caring about what they think or how they react, because I know what I’m saying is a general fact.
No, but if I’m really being honest, I’m in no rush to get to that age to be that brutally honest – and there it is, isn’t it? Honesty has its reputation for being brutal. But what I’m trying to say here is that, yes, as Billy Joel sang, honesty is not only brutal, but it’s such a lonely word – that is, if you’re apparently honest enough then you WILL find yourself alone.
We’re talking about honesty after talking about courage, and it’s no accident, because honestly, honesty requires courage. Honesty may be the best policy, but it doesn’t mean that everybody is using that policy.
People are scared of being honest. What about you folks? First of all, what’s honesty to you, and second, do you find it hard to be honest?
Should honesty really be associated with being brutal? Well, let’s get into it.
First of all, the Oxford dictionary conveniently defines honesty as ‘the property of being honest’ (wheee), and it defines an honest person as one who is “free of deceit and untruthfulness; sincere.”
Honesty is being free of lies (deceit: misrepresenting or concealing the truth, untruthfulness)…
Honesty is being true to yourself, meaning no hypocrisy, but more importantly, being authentic, being genuine, acting in line with your feelings and your values.
…BUT, for those of us in the body of Christ, we are more than just sincere – for because we have been filled with the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Truth, we are FAR more than sincere – we are full of Truth, we are truthful.
….And, really, that’s as far as we went yesterday. I just emphasized that honesty is more than just speaking the truth and not saying lies.
Honesty is more than actually being true to yourself and avoiding hypocrisy.
For us in the body of Christ, Honesty is living the Truth, as the Truth is alive in you… And how do you live the Truth? Or how do you know if what you say or do is truthful? Well, the answers lay in John 8:31-32:
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”John 8:31-32
Living the Truth is living in freedom. Speaking the Truth sets you free, and sets others free.
And how can you sustain this life and speech of freedom? Look no further than the verse earlier: ‘abide in My word’, Jesus says. Let the Word be your guide to the Truth.
So if having Christ gives you courage, then having the Word keeps you honest.
Go forth, and set people free.
Wasn’t the best of messages, but all the same, I pray I left some impact for our youth.
Until the next post, the Lord continue to bless us.
Let us continue to have a good, great, unimaginably, overwhelmingly blessed weekend.
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