Life – Light from the Word

I Will Say of The Lord…

Every time we face problems with faith and courage we are proclaiming who and what the Lord is to us: our Refuge, our Fortress; He is our God in Him we have put our trust. This is truly a summary of Psalm 91. When abiding in God’s hiding place with certainty we can experience safety. The storms might rage near us; thunders might vibrate the earth and lightening’s flash of fire come down and burn it, even quakes might split the earth, still nothing will touch those who securely have embraced the Lord’s refuge. He is our impenetrable fortress. Nothing in this world and below is greater than He. Therefore nothing can touch us. He created the world and the heavens and all submit to His command and power; He created all living things big and small, great and powerless, all are His creation. The same Lord is the One Who says to us, I AM with you always, fear not!

In one occasion when the disciples were with YAHSHUA in a boat, a storm raged greatly against them, but He was found asleep. With only a whisper of His voice, the wind calmed down and all became peaceful again. The disciples asked the question: Who is this that even the winds obey His voice? He is God almighty, my refuge, my fortress, He is my God; in Him I have put my trust. Let be and be still, and know that He is God; He will be exalted in the earth!

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Guard Your Heart Above All

(Heb. 13:9; Prov. 4:23)

Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life (Prov. 4:23).

The physical heart is not just a muscle; It is the body’s engine room, responsible for pumping life-sustaining blood via a network of vessels. It sends oxygen to the entire body. The heart is an amazing pump; it beats 72 times a minute. It is truly the spring of life. When it stops life stops with it. It is the center of our emotions. As such it is the symbol of goodness or meanness. At the act of one’s goodness, it is said to be from a heart of gold. But it is there that bitterness is harbored and evil springs forth. A carrier of life in the physical, the heart is also a receiver of good and evil in its emotions. The Bible says that the heart is deceitful above all things and perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it (Jer. 17: 9). The tendency of the heart is to be evil. It is in agreement with the ingenerated soul of men which comprises the mind also. It is hard to understand that a body organ so vital to bring life is also a haven to harbor corruption, destruction, and bitterness. Solomon admonishes us to guard the heart with all vigilance, because the heart is vulnerable to all things. The heart receives and the mind processes whatever enters the heart of men. The Apostle Paul admonishes us to hold our thoughts captive into obedience to Christ and to have a renewed mind. That in itself is guarding the heart. We are what we think in our heart. As the heart is, so is man. The mind, the master controller of the body, is key in guarding the heart. When the soul is mentioned, it is implied to be the heart and the mind, that is, emotion, will and intellect. We feel with the heart, we desire with the heart and we think with our mind. Heart and mind are inseparable in their functions.

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Every Life is a Book

Without paper, without a pen, every minute pages are written through someone’s life. From the crib to the grave, life speaks through attitude and actions without language, without voices one’s book is developed page by page in a subtle way, until life’s breath is taken away from us. Life is a beautiful expression of God’s wisdom, love and His mercy. It demonstrates the immensity and depth of God’s wisdom. Created to bring glory to God, we humans have failed God’s purpose for creating us, but not nature around us. Look at the flowers of the field, the firmament declaring His glory. They are faithfully declaring their Creator’s glory. The Word of God says, The heavens declare the glory and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day after day pours forth speech, and night after night shows forth knowledge (Ps. 19:1-2). From the time we are born we start the first page of our book. For many, their stories are filled with joy, pomp privileges and smiles. For others, not so fortunate, nonetheless. The pages of their book start with misfortune and death. Millions of others will not have a chance to see the light of the day, only anguish and despair, for their lives are taken away in suffering. They have been denied the right to live when being sucked out of the mother’s womb, the supposed safest place to be. Their book is a wordless book. No one knows what would have been their lives’ story registered in a forever book. Only God knows. Life is given to all by God with a future planned under each name, as David so wrote: I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret intricately and curiously wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when yet there was none of them (Ps. 139: 14-16).

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Truth Is the Only Key to Open the Doors of Freedom and Hope

Let’s talk about truth, a scarce subject everywhere these days. News is passed around the internet, filled with make believe stories, some with a twist of doubt and some not sure and others with a hint of truth. The complete truth is in no way found in the media. These are as the days the Prophet Isaiah dealt with when the nation of Israel rebelled against the Lord and denied Him. Justice, he said, is turned away backward, and righteousness stands far off; for truth has fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot enter [the courts of justice]. Yes, truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice (Isaiah 59:14-15). What is truth? Asked Pilate to YAHSHUA many years ago, when YAHSHUA stood in front of him, being accused on the basis of lies. Pilate, a Roman and unaware of the Jewish law, needed something called truth to hang on to punish the accused. The more that the crowd yelled accusations against the Lord, the more that Pilate’s curiosity grew. He wanted to know the truth, so it seemed, although with his hands tied by the Jewish authorities, he was limited in his freedom. He asked YAHSHUA, Are You the King of the Jews? When YAHSHUA truthfully admitted by saying, My kingdom belongs not to this world… then He answered, I am a King. This is why I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the Truth. Everyone who is of the Truth hears and listens to My voice. Pilate, curiously asked, WHAT IS TRUTH? (John 18:31-40).

Pilate’s question, What is truth? Echoes throughout the ages. Believing YAHSHUA to be the King of the Jews, Pilate wrote an inscription on a placard that read, YAHSHUA THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS and put it on His cross, although not staying to hear YAHSHUA’S answer of what is truth. Pilate stood firm on what he wrote, when the Jews asked him to change what he wrote, he said, What I have written, I have written. For once he stood his ground and defended YAHSHUA’S title. The title was written in the three main languages of those days: Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. This act of Pilate was of great spiritual significance, for it carried a prophetic weight soon to be happening through YAHSHUA’S death and subsequently, His resurrection. YAHSHUA’S death constituted salvation for the world. The Truth stood uprightly on the cross at Calvary. YAHSHUA, the Savior of the world; the Truth, the Way and the Life!

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No Death with YAHSHUA, No Life with Him

The sound of a new born baby touches we mothers the same way as when we had our own. Life is beautiful! Life is a miracle only our Creator- the Lord YAHSHUA would create us in the womb of our mothers. The completeness of our birth is amazing in its intrinsicality, connecting all parts of the body to harmonize and synchronize with each other, without interference. The brain, the control center of the body, is an important organ of the body in its functions. But with all its complexities, the physical body will not have an entrance in heaven, for it is contrary to the laws of God. Paul said, For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the Holy Spirit; now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death; but the mind of the Holy Spirit is life and peace, because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot. So, then those who are living the life of the flesh, cannot please or satisfy God or be acceptable to Him (Rom. 8:5-7).

In his saying, Paul was echoing the words of YAHSHUA: If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever would preserve his life and save it will lose and destroy it; but whoever loses his life for My sake he will preserve and save it; for what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and ruins of forfeits himself? (Luke 9: 23-25). Faith without commitment to God is not faith that is alive, or be counted as such, for faith demands action, or it is not faith at all. Faith is seen in one’s conscious decision to obey God. In the parable of the seeds YAHSHUA told, it has an application we must pay attention to and take to heart, in order to understand that one must die to self in order to bear fruit into eternity. Three were the soils in which the seeds were planted; but only one was the good soil. It was noted by the fruit the seed bore. Faith is like that; where there is faith, there is growth and fruit producing tree. No servant can serve two masters, for either he shall hate the one, and love the other; or else he shall lean to one and despise the other; you cannot serve God and riches (Luke 16: 13). We cannot serve God and the flesh and the world.

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