Currently working on my third (and final) cup of coffee for today. God willing, I get to sleep right tonight in spite of this risky decision.
Things have changed ever since I started (and ended) work. I’m not sure I mentioned any of this before in my previous writings, but it has taken a toll on my routine. 10000 steps a day went from difficult to near impossible. My writing came off as robotic (probably still does), less genuine and more for just hitting 1000 words. At least three people have come to me within the span of a week saying I gained weight.
But it’s not to say that everything went downhill. Working ‘brought me away’ from my Mom – I was working at home, but I needed to be so focused at work, much so that every bathroom break I needed to check in on Mom and my cousin at home, just to refresh myself and to check in on them. Before my shift and before heading to the home office I would tell my Mom jokingly that I was heading over to Washington. So I wrote ‘brought me away’ in quotes because in reality I became more proactive in actually caring for the people that mattered – I was more willing to brave traffic and the scarcity of parking spaces to drive my Mom during my days off, to help her out with whatever she thought was important.
And it’s not to say that EVERY article I wrote came out as robotic – There were some instances that I really needed to let off steam – either before or after work, or during my days off.
And, of course, through it all, in and out of shift, I can say with confidence that I saw the goodness and glory of God in ways I never thought I would.
But now as we transition out of that season and into this new one, and into this new year, I’m telling myself that things need to change. I need to get back in shape, both physically and mentally.
The former can be approached, no problem. We’re going back to eating clean again. Less processed stuff, more of the greens and the organic, natural (real) food. Bringing back the actual power to say ‘no’ whenever events involving the possibility of food intake come one after the other in a single day. Obviously going back to getting more steps done in a day. Going back to regular resistance training, although now I’m going to be more mindful in prioritizing form over reps, prioritizing mobility over weights (and, really, we need to be more focused now more than ever in making sure I’m actually able to carry myself *cough* bodyweight *cough*).
Mentally, well, let’s just say that last night I deleted Threads from my phone, because I was taking too much time scrolling and sending all sorts of replies and messages there, admittedly because I was craving attention. It’s tempting for me to go back to what I used to do last 2018 – going on social media only once a week; But, no, considering all the online interaction I’m probably going to need for transactional purposes I may need to just ensure that my phone time is brought down to an hour a day, at most.
Take note that I mentioned phone time and not screen time. I’m praying, as early as now, to be more efficient – that is, I’m invoking the promises of the Word (particularly where it states that by God’s grace I have the mind of Christ) to ensure that whatever time I DO spend looking at a screen (whether it be the PC, laptop, or the phone), is spent with the most focus and mindfulness.
Take this session, for instance, where I’m writing right now. Some of this is me letting stuff out of my chest but it’s also me actually planning on something which will impact me, God-willing, in the days and weeks to come. I’m also praying that, God-willing, this goes beyond just me making these resolutions with a good majority of the rest of the world at the beginning of the year.
I understand that it is all documentation. And I am thankful that I let it all out there in these past days – the implementation is going to take at least thrice the amount of time and exertion.
With all this said, well, to God be all the glory and praise, both now and forever.
Let’s keep going.
Of course, we had to be writing this on the 27th day of the month, as I jump into one of my favorite pieces of Scripture – the 27th Psalm.
Throughout the years I’ve had a couple of worship songs very close to my heart, not because I want them led for others to sing, but just – it’s as if they minister to me on a very deep and personal level. It’s Open Heaven (River Wild) by Hillsong Worship, and Everlasting God by a worship team whose name escapes me (often). The latter was based on Psalm 27, which eventually implied that was and is one of my favorite Psalms.
And, well, I’m just glad I had that song saved on my laptop, because I had to play it, here as my device runs on its battery, placed on a bamboo table, with the ocean directly in front of me.
Thank You, Lord.
Before anything else, The Everlasting God isn’t the only song that was drawn out of this wonderful Psalm. There’s also You Are, You Are God by old-school Darlene Zschech era Hillsong, and that one other derivation performed by Jonathan Ogden.
And, well, why not? These are just some really wonderful words out of David’s composition.
An Exuberant Declaration of Faith
A Psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
In our deliberate reflecting on updates to our Church’s Statement of Faith, I feel we should strongly consider mentioning the value of the Bible at the onset – only because it is the authority that sets the tone for the rest of the declaration. We’ve talked about how it is legitimate, authentic, historically reliable, and also how it serves as our premiere reference to Truth.
With that said I believe that all items that follow in said Statement should be Biblically sound and Scripturally founded, starting with our belief in God, and the one True God.
Lots of things come into mind off the bat – He is Yahweh, the Almighty God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Creator of all things seen and unseen, the Maker of the heavens and the earth, the Infinite One who established and is therefore beyond all borders, the Eternal One who created time and is therefore beyond it.
I could imagine our brethren in the council (one in particular) also insisting we establish how this God is our Jehovah Jireh (our Provider), our Jehovah Nissi (our Banner of Victory), our Jehovah Tsidkenu (our Righteousness), our Jehovah Rapha (our Healer), and so on… and I do see the need for that being mentioned…
…but right now, in this moment, yes, it’s close to me now to mention that this God is the God of all gods; He is the LORD, and He is, as David composes, our Light and our Salvation. To understand that He is our Light and (consequently) our Salvation is to eventually come to realize that our salvation is our being brought out of darkness; also, that our being saved is our being brought into the light. Indeed, this brings us to boldly proclaim – whom shall we fear? Also, when we realize how God is the strength of our life, we say, as David says – of whom shall we be afraid?
This causes me to consider that as we ponder on what the Word says about our God, we are ministered to, and we are brought to minister to others. In other words, the Word of God changes us. It makes us brave – so brave, to boldly proclaim we have nothing to fear.
2 When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell.
3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident.
4 One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.
But it’s not to say that our believing on God magically changes our circumstances in this existence. For, see, David writes all of this with the wicked, and his enemies and foes and their war and armies in mind. It’s the same with us – we’re still going to have enemies. We’re still going to have powers and principalities wanting nothing but to rise against us and to consume us.
We may not see it now in this day and time but I believe the times are coming that the influence of satan, sin, flesh and death would cause men and women to literally seek our loss, death and destruction. If we aren’t seeing it with our eyes, we’re certainly starting to see more of this going on, online.
No, we are fully aware of all of this, yet we still say ‘whom shall I fear?‘, and ‘of whom shall I be afraid?‘ because
5 (For) in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.
6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.
The one who seeks to kill our bodies may eventually succeed, but the One who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell is both willing and able to save us (Matthew 10:28). And save us He did – through Jesus Christ and His finished work we have been brought from darkness into the Light (saved, as Paul elaborated to King Agrippa in Acts 26:15-18);
Realizing all this has me considering: The Word of God reveals the goodness and glory of God through Christ, and we are bold to sing praises, we are confident and have nothing to fear.
7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8 When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
9 Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.
10 When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the LORD will take care of me.
As we have read earlier in Romans 8, God is for us, and will not hide His face from us. God does not bring a charge against us, and as, through His resurrection, He did not turn Christ (His Servant) away in anger, so we count on God to be our help. God is the God of our salvation, and not our condemnation! He is our Guardian even when the rest of the world casts us away, and even when those we counted on to care for us forget about us.
11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.
In our rejoicing, and in our proclaiming that in Christ we have nothing to fear, I believe that we are continually being planted as trees by streams of living water. We are constantly being taught and led, we are consistently being given revelations, knowledge beyond what our enemies and adversaries have.
Give praises to the Lord, for who He is!
13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.
14 Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!
In our meditation of the Word, we naturally see more about who our God is. We naturally realize how good our Father is, and this brings us to praise. This causes us to move on without fear, and this also causes us to wait in courage.
Take heart, for we shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Thank You, Lord! Amen.
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