King David, following the lust of the eye, fell into the grave sins of adultery and homicide. For not dealing with them, he suffered consequences marked on his body, called disease. He was also mentally disturbed through the torment of guilt. He describes his ordeal in Psalm 32 by saying, When I kept silence [before I confessed], my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long. Got fay and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought of summer; I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord then You forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin (vs. 3-5). Two organs felt the consequences of David’s non-confessed sins: the bones and the kidneys- (my moisture was turned into the drought of summer). We have here the confirmation that we bring on ourselves diseases because of non-confessed sins. The weight that they have on us is difficult to deal alone without confession to God and to the one we have offended. We all know the hold that guilt together with fear have on us. Fear, because guilt brings with it the spirit of fear, and fear brings with it remorse. It is fear and remorse that devastate our mental capability, leading us to mental illnesses and ultimately, suicide. If only we had the courage to face the reality before us, we would rid of fear of confessing our sins. We also would experience peace and spiritual and mental freedoms. The Bible says, If we admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).
Month: November 2022
Do You Love Me Peter, More Than These?
(John 21)
It was the third time that the Lord had appeared to the disciples after He arose from the dead. They were waiting for Him at the Sea of Galilee, as they were told, although not everyone was there. Only seven out of eleven disciples. We don’t know how long they had waited before Peter decided to go fishing and the rest with him. YAHSHUA came to them in the early hour of the morning, when they were exhausted, for not having caught anything all night. YAHSHUA stood at the beach, without them recognizing Him. His familiar voice called to them saying, Boys, You do not have any meat, do you? They answered Him, No! And He said to them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find, so they cast the net, and now they were not able to haul it in for such a big catch of fish (vs. 5,6). 153 large fish were caught that morning under the command of YAHSHUA, Whom they did not recognize at first. YAHSHUA had breakfast ready for them when they got to land. He invited them to eat. He took the bread and the fish and gave them to the disciples. After they had eaten, YAHSHUA directed a very important question to Peter. A question that would connect Peter once again with Lord, for saying, “I do not know the man,” he had left the Lord. A question that would challenge his love for YAHSHUA. Three times the same question was asked, measuring up to the three times he denied the Lord. Grieved that YAHSHUA should ask him the third time, Do you love Me? He said to Him, Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You (vs.17).
The first time YAHSHUA asked the question, Do you love Me, He added, more than these? Peter’s mind was on going back to his old life style. “I am going fishing.” With that, he disregarded YAHSUA’S calling of while back: “I will make you fisher of men” (Luke 5). The love that YAHSHUA was challenging Peter was not to the extent of the love the disciples had for Him. As you know, they too failed in their demonstration of their love for YAHSHUA. One betrayed Him, one doubted Him, and the rest forsook Him at the moment He needed them the most. It was not a question of comparison of his love with the other disciples’ love for YAHSHUA. No, this had to do with the love that Peter had for his fisherman’s business. Under the command of YAHSHUA, he had caught many fish. That was his livelihood, his money maker. Was Peter willing to leave all behind once again to serve the Lord, after the Lord had left the world? His past actions showed otherwise. YAHSHUA had to re-instate Peter with the question, Do you love Me more than these? In order for him to realize where he was and where he should have been. “I do not know the man” were the words Peter uttered to confirm he had forsaken the Lord. YAHSHUA was bringing him back to equip him for a task that required his complete surrender. A task that required the giving up his life to die for YAHSHUA, not only spiritually, but physically. It would be only through his genuine love for the Lord that he could accomplish the calling to be a martyr. Had not the Lord reinstated him, Peter would have gone his old way of living; but God had a purpose for him that only him would fulfill it: Feed “My lambs,” three times YAHSHUA challenged Peter’s love for Him. “Not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me (Gal. 2:20) Peter had to die to self to receive the supernatural strength that came from God for him to go through the hard road ahead of him, as the Lord told him in which manner he was going to die as a martyr.
Brasil Clama a Sua Liberdade
Outubro saiu deixando o povo Brasileiro desmoirado e sem esperança. Um país que se orgulha das suas belezas naturais, riquezas da terra, de um povo pacifico, de uma vida movimentada pelo futebol e suas músicas ritmadas alegres e ao mesmo tempo melancólicas. Mas O Brasil acordou na manha do dia primeiro de novembro, assustado com a possibilidade, de ser roubada a sua liberdade, a vida feliz que desfrutava. Anos atrás, quando o comunismo tentou invadir o Brasil, as forças militares agiram de uma maneira rápida e sem prejuízo a pátria. Hoje, a história repete-se, mas a ação dos militares difere do passado na sua ação demorada no agir pelo país. A angústia que o povo sente é transmitida pela rede da internet, àqueles que assistem o seu reporte. Chora Brasil a tua liberdade nestes dias de incerteza, na tua dor da possibilidade que tudo que representava a tua vida, o teu calor humano, acabou. Mas, contudo, isso, do Senhor vem a resposta final que precisas saber encontrada em Isaias 7: 1-4, 7,9 que diz:
The Lord Waits to Be Gracious to You
(Isaiah 30:18)
Walking alone through the desert of life, in the winter season, life becomes obscure and uncertain. Doubts controls the mind with the question, Is there a God? If so, why are we suffering? They measure the existence of God by circumstances, a thing that is here today and gone tomorrow. The Prophet Jeremiah was thrown into a mire of a deep well because they did not want to hear the message against them; Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den for not denying his God; his friends were thrown into a furnace for not worshipping the Babylonian god. These servants of God walked the desert while they confidently feared and trusted God. Paul and Silas were thrown in jail for preaching the Gospel of our Lord YAHSHUA, and Peter was thrown in jail for believing YAHSHUA. Yes, the deserts of life and the winters of life are for everyone. But that does not exempt God’s presence in every circumstance life brings us; that is not a confirmation that He does not exist. The parable that YAHSHUA told concerning the two sons, one left at his own will to enjoy the world with his own inheritance. He tasted both sides of the world in his pursuit to his independence. Soon, life became to him a desert in that world that once he enjoyed while he had money. Lonely and hungry, abandoned by his friends, he was left to ponder while feeding on pigs’ food. Then when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father have enough food, and to spare, but I am perishing here of hunger! (Luke 15:17). Back home, however, his father never stopped waiting for him to come home. With the true love of a father, he longed for him day after day. In one of the days while waiting for his son, he recognized him from a distance, although his appearance was not the same as when he left home. Running to meet him, he embraced him filled with joy and forgiveness for that lost son. A change of clothes, a new sandal, and a ring were given him and once again he was established into the family with much festivity.
From Glory to Glory
(II Cor. 3:18; Ephesians 5:27; I Cor. 15: 43)
And all of us, as with unveiled face, continued to behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [who is] the Spirit (II Cor. 3: 18).
“In justification, through faith into Christ the sinner is accepted in Christ (Ephesians. 5:17) who Himself is the pure and perfect Image of God, and that divine image is freely imputed to the believer. In sanctification, through the operation of the Holy Spirit who enables the believer constantly to behold the glory of the Lord, that image is increasingly imparted to the Christian. In glorification, justification and sanctification become complete in one, for that image is then finally impressed upon the redeemed in unobscured fullness, to the glory of God throughout eternity” (Second Corinthians, p. 120) Philip Hughes.
When God created Adam and Eve, He made them in His image and likeness (Gen. 1:26). But when they failed out of God’s image, they received the spirit of fear instead. In His customary time when He came to talk to them, God found them hidden and afraid when they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? He said, I heard the sound of You in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself (Gen. 3:8-10). Because Adam and Eve had lost the image of God, they became slaves to the spirit of fear and to the demands of the flesh. Men lost the sparkle of the glory of God. A wall was now in between them and God; no longer did God walk in the garden to talk to them. But God’s love for men compelled Him to do something to restore them to Him again. And at the fullness of time He sent His Son YAHSHUA to restore and reconcile men to His Father, God. In that reconciliation man was justified through faith in Messiah; he was sanctified through the work of the Holy Spirit given him at the moment of his spiritual birth; God gave them His image through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. The fullness of the glory of God will be complete in those who have accepted Him in their glorification, God’s final work in men. Man is justified, acquitted, and forgiven in the process of salvation; he is sanctified to reflect the glory of YAHSHUA, which is increasing from one glory to another, as he grows in Christ and matures in Him. Finally he will be glorified and completely holy and blameless and he will be as YAHSHUA is when men see Him.
Light from the Word 