Tag: Mercy

Stuck Emotions, What Are They?

“Emotion is a complex experience of consciousness, bodily sensation, and behavior that reflects the personal significance of a thing, an event, or a state of affairs. It is a strong feeling, often accompanied by a physical reaction. Aristotle defined emotions as “all those feelings that so change men as to affect their judgements, and that are also attended by pain or pleasure.” (Britannica).

When God created man, He created him with body, soul and spirit. The soul dictates man’s doings. It is a word for the intellect, the will and emotion. Without the soul, man would be without action. Emotions are feelings; they can be happy or sad depending on circumstances. So, emotions are affected by positive or negative circumstances. They are expressed through tears, especially in women.  It is the part of the soul and it affects the organs of the body. When we cannot let go of past emotions, we hold them in the organs, weakening them with diseases. One thing that many of us hold onto is bitterness with unforgiveness. The emotion that expresses anger gets stuck in the liver, if not dealt with. The Bible tells us, “Be angry and sin not; do not let the sun go down on your anger- do not give the devil an opportunity” (Eph. 4:27). A child, when traumatized in the atmosphere of abuse against him, will without a doubt, suffer the emotional consequences of stuck emotion through his life. This will constitute an open door to the devil, who prows over us to destroy us. As a matter of fact, the mind is a battlefield most fought for, since it is through it that Satan has access to its control. Peter said, Be well balanced, be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring, seeking someone to seize upon and devour (I Peter 5:8).

Good emotions are essential for the construction of a good and strong character. The Bible encourages us to be kind, compassionate, loving, forgiving. While our Lord YAHSHUA was being crucified, He prayed forgiveness for those who were crucifying Him. The emotion that reflects the Lord in our life is love, for love forgives and overlooks an offense.  In love we develop positive thoughts that guide us to positive emotions. Paul said, For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things (Phil. 4:8). The main reason for stuck emotions is unforgiveness and self-pettiness.  Learning how to let go and let God take vengeance on those who offended us, is a good way to let go of them. Stuck emotions are doors for the devil to control our thoughts. Cain expressed jealousy toward his brother and in anger, he killed him. He held unto the fact that his offering was not accepted by the Lord, but his brother’s was. “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.” The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why do look sad and depressed? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it” (Gen. 4:6-7). Stuck emotion in the life of Esau against his brother, Jacob, almost caused him to kill him. To this day, stuck emotions of anger and jealousy have governed his descendants as well as in Ismael’s the half-brother of Isaac and in Esau Jacob’s twin brother. For this reason, the Middle East is a place empty of peace. Only when the Prince of Peace -YASHHUA comes will He bring peace to all.  

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

It Was at the Cross Where Judgment and Mercy Met

In the Garden of Eden, the first judgment was pronounced to our parents for their disobedience to God. Sin, spreading to Adam’s and Eve’s children, their first son committed the sin of disobedience, as in his offering of fruits and vegetables to the Lord, instead of offering Him a lamb, as was commanded. And as a result, he committed murder by killing his brother. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.” Life is in the blood. The lamb was pointing to the Son of God, Who was to come in the far future as the Lamb of God to be sacrificed to redeem the world with His blood. There is life only in the blood. And the blood of YAHSHUA never dies, never lost its power to save and give life to all who seek Him. Cain misrepresented God’s future plan; he in his pride, offered of what he represented, not what God commanded him. It is when one tries to be saved through his own effort, disregarding the Word of God. The Bible says that we are saved by grace; it is not based on our work, it is a gift from God, and this gift was His Son, Who sacrificed His life, so we can live eternally with Him.  God pronounced judgment to Cain and for the rest of his life he was a wonderer. (Gen. 4:11-12). God said to Cain, and now you are cursed by reason of the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. A wonderer, Cain became separated from the rest of his world as a result of his disobedience and homicide.

Throughout the Old Testament, we read about God’s judgments on His people because of their practices of infidelity against God’s covenant “You shall have no other gods besides Me.” The Lord God takes very seriously the sin of infidelity. In Ezekiel 14:13-14,20 it reads: Son of man, when a land sins against Me by committing a trespassing and I stretch out my hand against it and break its staff of bread and send famine upon it and cut off from it man and beast, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they would save but their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord God… Though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live says the Lord, they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would but deliver their own lives by their righteousness. To transgress is to act contrary to God’s law. It is infidelity to the covenant God made with them, through the law, which requires both parties for its validity.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Mercy and Loving-Kindness of the Lord

      Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me bless His holy name;

       Bless the Lord, O my soul; and forget not all His benefits-

       Who forgives all your iniquities; Who heals all your diseases,

       Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption;

       Who beautifies and dignifies and crowns you with loving-kindness

       And tender mercy; Who satisfies your life with good things

       so that your youth is renewed like the eagle (Ps. 103:1-5).

Living the spiritual life, perceiving the Lord’s faithfulness in His mercy and loving kindness is to express gratitude all day long. In the midst of our trials and pains, in the midst of sorrows and diseases, the song remains, His mercy and loving kindness endure forever; I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, my fortress; in Him I will trust (Ps. 91). The greatness of the mercy of the Lord is shown in the broken body of our Lord, when stricken with many blows to heal us; when He was hanging on the cross, connecting heaven and earth, reconciliating God and men. But it did not stop there. His mercy and loving kindness continued in the person of His Holy Spirit, Who is in each one of us believers until the end. Overlooking the trials and pains that come our way, instead, concentrating on the mercy and loving kindness of the Lord is to agree with Him that He is faithful at all times. There is a point in time for all of us to exercise our faith trough difficulties.

The writer of the book of Lamentations although, reflecting upon the horror he witnessed in the calamity that had befallen Jerusalem, had words that recognized God’s mercy and loving kindness, and words that calls us to accept God’s corrections. He said, … He has filled me with bitterness; He has made me drink to excess and until drunken with wormwood; He has also broken my teeth with gravel; He has covered me with ashes; and You have bereaved my soul and cast it off far from peace; I have forgotten what good and happiness are and I say, Perished is my strength and my expectation from the Lord. O Lord, remember my affliction and my misery, my wandering and my outcast state, the wormwood and the gall; my soul has them continually in remembrance and is bowed within me. But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation: It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not; they are new every morning; great and abundant is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being; therefore, will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him; the Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him (Lam. 3:15-25).

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

The World in Spiritual Chaos

Peace, peace is the cry of the world today as it faces turmoil of biblical proportion. What is really happening world widely that so many people are committing suicide in a hopeless state of mind? Can you separate what’s happening in these days from the prophecies written in the Bible? No, you cannot. YAHSHUA, when answering the disciples’ questions concerning the end of time, said this as a sign of His coming, among many other things: And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened or troubled, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, a d there will be famines and earthquakes in place after place; all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs (Matt. 24:6-8). There is a cry out there coming from the hearts of men for the normality of things, when there will no longer be as it was just two years ago. No one expected that a manmade virus would control the destiny of the world, much less that it would linger with vaccine, mandated vaccine and passport vaccine. When will it ever end? A question everyone asks anxiously wanting to see the end of the ordeal. One thing we did not realize was that what’s happening today is the result of many years the few who controls the world have been planning in the pursuit to depopulate the world from billions to five hundred million. An evil plan coming from Satan himself, performed by those who follow him. This is definitely a scary time for those who do not know God neither His word. The Bible is filled with fulfilled and unfulfilled prophecies in God’s watch. The prophets of old did not see what they prophesized; because although, some prophecies were to be fulfilled in a short time, others had a long span of weighting time for them to be fulfilled.

Nations are unsettled and will continue to be until God supernaturally intervenes their plan, and these people will be judged for the slaughter of many who took the vaccine. Used to be cradled in comfort and peace, nations are found shocked at what is happening. Why do the nations assemble with commotion, and why do the people imagine an empty scheme? (Psalm 2:1) For sure this verse describes the world’s situation of today. The chaos created by the few to bring about their “empty scheme” will not prevail, although it looks as though it has. Our God is not limited to impossibilities of problems. He shines then, because there is nothing impossible for Him. One of several examples concerning God’s unlimited power is found in II Kings in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign over Judah, when the king of Assyria came up against the cities of Judah and took them. All seemed to be impossible for King Hezekiah to overcome such power, as the king of Assyria defiantly challenged him. But King Hezekiah found a place of comfort in the presence of the Lord, when he went there to pray. The message came to him from the Prophet Isaiah saying, Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled and blasphemed Me. King Hezekiah prayed: O Lord our God, I beseech You, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know and understand that You, O Lord, are God alone (II kings19). The Lord heard King Hezekiah’s prayer and supernaturally delivered Judah from the hands of Assyria’s king.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Mount Zion vs. Mount Sinai

(Exodus 19:1-20; Hebrews 12: 18-29)

“For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, that is ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and a raging storm, and to the blast of a trumpet and a voice whose words make the listeners beg that nothing more be said to them” (Hebrews 12:18-19); “but rather, you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living YAHWEH, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering, to the assembly of the first born whose names have been written in heaven, to YAHWEH, who is the judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, to YAHSHUA, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things that the blood of Abel” (Vs.22-24).

The difference between the experience at Mount Zion and Mount Sinai is worth noting for us to realize the wonderful grace of God toward us.  When God came down to Mount Sinai to meet the people of Israel, He came expressing vehemently His holiness through fire, in a dense and black cloud that enveloped the mountain. At that time, He declared His covenant with the people and gave them the Ten Commandments. At that time, Israel had a glimpse of the extent of the holiness of God; and not being able to bear it, they begged Moses to speak to them, instead.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Behold, the Lord Will Make the Land and the Earth Empty

(Isaiah 24)

The land and the earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly pillaged; for the Lord has said this (Vs.3). This chapter of Isaiah is a mini book of Revelation. Throughout the Old Testament God’s future judgements are predicted ultimately to destroy the earth and its wicked people with it. It is His final measure to deal with the stubborn, rebellious people. When this period of grace is past, His wrath will dominate the world and none who have rejected Him will escape. It will be merciless, with vengeance and no turning back. We see in this chapter, the character of His judgements, and the extent of it in verses 1-3: The scope of His judgements will include all peoples and all class of people. It shall be with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with this master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.  No class of people will escape with the exception of those who have accepted Him. YAHSHUA said, For it will come upon all who live upon the face of the entire earth. But for those who have accepted Him He gave a word of warning: Keep awake then and watch at all times, praying that you may have the full strength and ability to escape all these things, that will take place, and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man (Luke 21:35-36).

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

When the Door of Mercy Will Be Shut

(Matt. 25: 21-41; Amos 7:8)

The Lord spoke to the Prophet Amos saying, I will not pass by and spare them anymore. He was finished warning the nation of Israel, due to their hardness of heart. In their exit from Egypt, Israel experienced God’s protection in every way they needed. They escaped all the plagues applied to Egypt, and even the last one, which was the death of all the firstborn sons. By the blood of the sacrificial lamb, upon the doorpost of their houses, their sons were spared from death. That was a token or a sign that when God saw the blood He would “Pass over” the nation of Israel and no plague would destroy them. God’s mercy is available in the opportunities that come to us. Its door has been opened for a long time for all to enter because our God is longsuffering. He desires that all be saved. There is no limit to His mercy while its door is opened. God’s mercy is such that can never be compared to human’s mercy in the fullest extent of it. Webster dictionary describes mercy as: refraining from punishing offenders, enemies, persons in one’s power; kindness in excess of what may be expected or demanded by fairness; forbearance and compassion; the power to forgive, clemency, etc.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

For They Did Not Know

(Genesis 7: 11-13, 23; Matthews 24: 37-39; I Thessalonians 5:3)

For just in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah went into the ark, and they did not know or understand until the flood came and swept them all away….(Matt. 24: 38-39)

They did not know, consequently, they suffered. The phrase, They did not know implies lack of knowledge about something. Or does it? One can hear something without giving heed, or paying attention to, or not believing it. YAHSHUA uses this as an illustration in Matthews 7: 24-27. He said, So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them will be like a sensible man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great and complete was the fall of it. These two men heard the message. One acted upon it and was saved; the other ignored and suffered the consequences because his heart was hard. They both heard, they both had a choice to accept or not, and both made their decision.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Raised With Christ For Salvation

(Ephesians 2:6; 7:11, 12)

The wonderful book of Ephesians is without a doubt, a treasure for the believer in Messiah YAHSHUA. The first chapter is full of blessings from the beginning to the end: We are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and set apart as blameless; we are adopted as His own through our Lord YAHSHUA; in him we are redeemed and in Him we were made heritage and have obtained an inheritance; we have been stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy Spirit as a guarantee, an anticipation of our redemption (Ephesians 1).The beautiful thing here is that we have all of these blessings now, while in our corrupted body. Also, we have been raised with Christ and He has made us to sit down together in the heavenly sphere with Him (2:6). That’s where we are spiritually speaking; that’s the position God has given us now and forever that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable riches of His free grace in His kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Messiah YAHSHUA (2:7). The believer has become in Him children of Light. YAHSHUA is the light of the world. His light is reflected in all believers. We were marked for our redemption through the seal of the Holy Spirit, as Israel was when the door post of their houses were marked with the blood of a sacrificed lamb for their salvation.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2