Today allow me to share an excerpt on Legalism that I read awhile back. Its from a book called, ‘When Trying harder isn’t Enough: BREAKING the BONDAGE of LEGALISM” page 225.
Legalism enslaves us and makes us fear that we are not doing enough to please God. Being led by the Spirit (as we are filled with the Spirit) gives us the assurance that we are part of God’s family, privileged to walk in intimacy with our heavenly Father, guided into the things that please His heart. The difference is like light and day. We ran across this short meditation on “guidance” on the Internet:
When I meditated on the word “guidance”, I kept seeing the word “dance” at the end of it. I remember reading that doing God’s will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn’t flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.
When one person relaxes and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It’s as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and gentle guidance and skill from the other.
When I saw “G” in guidance, I thought of God, followed by “u” and “i”. And it hit me: God lets u (you), and I dance. This statement is what guidance means to me. As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let God lead.
(Adapted from the internet)
Thursday, August 26, 2010
DEATH
Death
If you should take my child Lord
Give my arms strength to dig his grave
Cover him with earth
Lord send a little rain
For, grass will grow
For those of us who love true stories you may want to check out this movie that I watched sometime ago in ntv, o.k. don’t seem to remember the title...it was eh em... well forgive me folks, my memory bank is doing it again…. Well never mind that I am digressing, just a little bit. Allow me to describe it; maybe one of you may know its title.
The movie based on a true story was about Andre; a baby seal. Andre was taken in by an animal lover and he grew up fondly attached to his adopted family but the climax was the bond Andre had with Toni, the baby girl of that family. The pair were inseparable. This resulted in the duo sharing the good and the bad times, such that Andre even adapted various human habits like watching television, playing basketball, dancing and many more tricks. All that made Andre a national celebrity, thanks to Toni, his companion for life. The presence of Andre metamorphosed the little shoreline town into the biggest tourist attraction.
Circumstances however proved to overwhelm the duo, such that it became a painful reality that despite their strong bond, Andre could not take up lifetime residence at his adoptive home. Toni was devastated when Andre had to be taken to an aquarium where he could be taken care of better. Painfully, she reluctantly let him be taken after being re-assured that she could visit Andre whenever.
I was moved to tears when Toni after a couple of years later, realized that Andre needed freedom and she had to make the most painful decision of her life. She let Andre go. Yes, with the full knowledge that it could be the last time she ever saw the only friend she knew. Her love for Andre was worth the hurt. To all animal lovers out there, I know it struck a cord.
I’ve witnessed first hand to the emotional breakdown of letting a favorite pet go back to the wild. But sadder, the trauma of losing a cherished pet to death. To kids, it’s the beginning of the tormenting questions. To parents, it’s the start of enigmatic response that drums in resigned acceptance of death.
It is the death of a loved one however that throws the living into an abyss of emotional trauma. Losing a loved one hurts so deeply to the point that others totally shut off or are forever changed after a sting of death.
It strikes all. It knows no bounds. Its un-quenchable appetite, plus its unpredictability makes it the one event that paralyses the living with fear so much that though many great verses have been written on death. It’s still talked of in hush tones. To most communities around here, it is still a bad omen to even mention it.
It is with the death of a child, a spouse or a lover that nails harder the fact that we are all pilgrims in this world; Sojourners to a better world.
“When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the
Book, but translated into a better language; and every
Chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators;
Some pieces translated by age, some by sickness, some by war,
Some by justice; but God’s hand is in every translation, and
His hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that
Library where every book shall lie open to one another…….
As I write this piece, the earth is still red on the grave of my dear friend David. Even as I spell out my sorrow, the questions never end. The pain of death pierces each time you lose a loved one. I'm yet to hear one accustomed to the chilling news of the demise of a loved one. It simply has no resistance pill however many times the dose of death you swallow.
Following these events, a slow revelation made me view death differently and I pray that it will change yours too, if only it may offer a better understanding next time it strikes, for to many, you never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.
Just letting Andre go hurt, losing David hurt even deeply. Now imagine how much it must have hurt God to let His One and Only Son to be pierced as a ransom, to correct man’s Great Fall! How many times we Christians fail to reflect on that? Or even allow its full meaning to sink in. If for us, creatures that exploited God’s freedom love our dear ones so much to hurt that badly when we loose them, imagine how much more for one who was pure and blameless!
Picture this; say one of your colleagues commits a crime. For their sake, your boss takes the blame though fully innocent and hence faces execution (ok, execution is abit on the extreme but you get the point). Well, ask yourself, are you worth that sacrifice? My sister, are you? Same to you my brother. Or you continue taking back Christ to the cross by your continued sinning…….I have fallen short of His love myself many times but He still calls me His own.
Amidst the by-ways, whose terminus is often nothing at all….where the mysteries call us onward, and the shy nightingales sing, and the stress of life is lifted off, and the ticking of time is still. Where life seems larger because of silence and calm, where the soul may be invaded and taken captive, unresisting, by the powers of the world to come. That’s when death knows on your chambers. Will you be ready?
His love for you was tougher than the nails. What are you doing to acknowledge that love? Remember all He asks is for you to go to Him. Jesus is the way to the Father, where the sting of death has been swallowed up in victory…….
Allow me to stop there today; I leave you with this verse. John 3:16.
Lots of love!
If you should take my child Lord
Give my arms strength to dig his grave
Cover him with earth
Lord send a little rain
For, grass will grow
For those of us who love true stories you may want to check out this movie that I watched sometime ago in ntv, o.k. don’t seem to remember the title...it was eh em... well forgive me folks, my memory bank is doing it again…. Well never mind that I am digressing, just a little bit. Allow me to describe it; maybe one of you may know its title.
The movie based on a true story was about Andre; a baby seal. Andre was taken in by an animal lover and he grew up fondly attached to his adopted family but the climax was the bond Andre had with Toni, the baby girl of that family. The pair were inseparable. This resulted in the duo sharing the good and the bad times, such that Andre even adapted various human habits like watching television, playing basketball, dancing and many more tricks. All that made Andre a national celebrity, thanks to Toni, his companion for life. The presence of Andre metamorphosed the little shoreline town into the biggest tourist attraction.
Circumstances however proved to overwhelm the duo, such that it became a painful reality that despite their strong bond, Andre could not take up lifetime residence at his adoptive home. Toni was devastated when Andre had to be taken to an aquarium where he could be taken care of better. Painfully, she reluctantly let him be taken after being re-assured that she could visit Andre whenever.
I was moved to tears when Toni after a couple of years later, realized that Andre needed freedom and she had to make the most painful decision of her life. She let Andre go. Yes, with the full knowledge that it could be the last time she ever saw the only friend she knew. Her love for Andre was worth the hurt. To all animal lovers out there, I know it struck a cord.
I’ve witnessed first hand to the emotional breakdown of letting a favorite pet go back to the wild. But sadder, the trauma of losing a cherished pet to death. To kids, it’s the beginning of the tormenting questions. To parents, it’s the start of enigmatic response that drums in resigned acceptance of death.
It is the death of a loved one however that throws the living into an abyss of emotional trauma. Losing a loved one hurts so deeply to the point that others totally shut off or are forever changed after a sting of death.
It strikes all. It knows no bounds. Its un-quenchable appetite, plus its unpredictability makes it the one event that paralyses the living with fear so much that though many great verses have been written on death. It’s still talked of in hush tones. To most communities around here, it is still a bad omen to even mention it.
It is with the death of a child, a spouse or a lover that nails harder the fact that we are all pilgrims in this world; Sojourners to a better world.
“When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the
Book, but translated into a better language; and every
Chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators;
Some pieces translated by age, some by sickness, some by war,
Some by justice; but God’s hand is in every translation, and
His hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that
Library where every book shall lie open to one another…….
As I write this piece, the earth is still red on the grave of my dear friend David. Even as I spell out my sorrow, the questions never end. The pain of death pierces each time you lose a loved one. I'm yet to hear one accustomed to the chilling news of the demise of a loved one. It simply has no resistance pill however many times the dose of death you swallow.
Following these events, a slow revelation made me view death differently and I pray that it will change yours too, if only it may offer a better understanding next time it strikes, for to many, you never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.
Just letting Andre go hurt, losing David hurt even deeply. Now imagine how much it must have hurt God to let His One and Only Son to be pierced as a ransom, to correct man’s Great Fall! How many times we Christians fail to reflect on that? Or even allow its full meaning to sink in. If for us, creatures that exploited God’s freedom love our dear ones so much to hurt that badly when we loose them, imagine how much more for one who was pure and blameless!
Picture this; say one of your colleagues commits a crime. For their sake, your boss takes the blame though fully innocent and hence faces execution (ok, execution is abit on the extreme but you get the point). Well, ask yourself, are you worth that sacrifice? My sister, are you? Same to you my brother. Or you continue taking back Christ to the cross by your continued sinning…….I have fallen short of His love myself many times but He still calls me His own.
Amidst the by-ways, whose terminus is often nothing at all….where the mysteries call us onward, and the shy nightingales sing, and the stress of life is lifted off, and the ticking of time is still. Where life seems larger because of silence and calm, where the soul may be invaded and taken captive, unresisting, by the powers of the world to come. That’s when death knows on your chambers. Will you be ready?
His love for you was tougher than the nails. What are you doing to acknowledge that love? Remember all He asks is for you to go to Him. Jesus is the way to the Father, where the sting of death has been swallowed up in victory…….
Allow me to stop there today; I leave you with this verse. John 3:16.
Lots of love!
yep! that's me!!
One thing has been consistent in my apparent inconsistent life at least concerning my emotive nature. The exhilarating thrill of conceptualizing ideas that border on fanatism and its bloated optimism that lasts only for the first tear drops to reach my neck.
The overwhelming urge to do the thing right on, has always (on the occasions that I've acted on my emotions) left me wondering if I have a dual personality. Extreme are the changes I experience, one full of optimism and the other deflated.
That is why I have decided to wait for my adrenaline to slow on this occasion as I watch my perfect stranger to disappear from view. Then when all is calm around my cardiac area, I switch on the part of me that I use for alternative measures. After I analyze the whole situation, that's when I get to see the situation a whole lot differently, together with loosing sight of my perfect stranger.
At this point, this is the beginning of my real problem. The entry of factual reality, the exit of faith or what they call 'evidence of things not seen’. The kind of faith I build my life on. For my faith in God is my positivity, my enthusiasm, my optimism, my hope and the only window that I view the rest of my life with.
So yes, you've guessed right. Without faith, it is impossible for me to act. I remain just a zombie in life, using 99% of the life I've to wait for my 1% to make it happen. And that my dears is my consistency amidst my inconsistencies, which leaves me not foolish but unwise.
The overwhelming urge to do the thing right on, has always (on the occasions that I've acted on my emotions) left me wondering if I have a dual personality. Extreme are the changes I experience, one full of optimism and the other deflated.
That is why I have decided to wait for my adrenaline to slow on this occasion as I watch my perfect stranger to disappear from view. Then when all is calm around my cardiac area, I switch on the part of me that I use for alternative measures. After I analyze the whole situation, that's when I get to see the situation a whole lot differently, together with loosing sight of my perfect stranger.
At this point, this is the beginning of my real problem. The entry of factual reality, the exit of faith or what they call 'evidence of things not seen’. The kind of faith I build my life on. For my faith in God is my positivity, my enthusiasm, my optimism, my hope and the only window that I view the rest of my life with.
So yes, you've guessed right. Without faith, it is impossible for me to act. I remain just a zombie in life, using 99% of the life I've to wait for my 1% to make it happen. And that my dears is my consistency amidst my inconsistencies, which leaves me not foolish but unwise.
New Beginning!
New Beginning
Begin this day with fortitude;
Spread out your wings to reach the skies,
Trust in the vision in your mind
And press ahead with eager eyes.
Fear not the storms that drove you back
And waste no tears in vain regret.
Though yesterday your fortunes crushed,
This day holds splendid visions yet.
Remember friend, no arm of fate
Can thwart your dream if kept alive.
Stick to the fight though ways are steep
And do not loose your will to strive.
(‘Everything is possible for him who believes’)
Mark 9:23
Begin this day with fortitude;
Spread out your wings to reach the skies,
Trust in the vision in your mind
And press ahead with eager eyes.
Fear not the storms that drove you back
And waste no tears in vain regret.
Though yesterday your fortunes crushed,
This day holds splendid visions yet.
Remember friend, no arm of fate
Can thwart your dream if kept alive.
Stick to the fight though ways are steep
And do not loose your will to strive.
(‘Everything is possible for him who believes’)
Mark 9:23
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
who am i?
Most of the times, life just happens for me. I get to wake up, not out of choice (though ofcourse, I thank God for every waking moment), other times, I get to anticipate and make things happen. One thing I have learnt though is that for every one of the ticking seconds of my life, I'm in control of barely 1% of my entire life.The rest, its unfolding is out of my control.
Its been many many years since my zero years up untill this moment. Many many more are yet to be lived.The question at this point of my is, have I even started the real living? I thank God for every beat of my heart and will praise Him eternally, but question? what is LIFE if I may ask you guys?
I stopped questioning things, that is at large scale.I stopped because I learnt that,most poeple were as ignorant as me.Everyday I learn that there are tonnes of stuff that i don't know. Take for instance today, I woke up thinking that it was going to just another day filled with normal activity, nothing extraordinary, but then I realize that it is not only the quantitative value of each second that counted but its qaulitative also.So here I am trying to make every second value in my existence in this life.
Its been many many years since my zero years up untill this moment. Many many more are yet to be lived.The question at this point of my is, have I even started the real living? I thank God for every beat of my heart and will praise Him eternally, but question? what is LIFE if I may ask you guys?
I stopped questioning things, that is at large scale.I stopped because I learnt that,most poeple were as ignorant as me.Everyday I learn that there are tonnes of stuff that i don't know. Take for instance today, I woke up thinking that it was going to just another day filled with normal activity, nothing extraordinary, but then I realize that it is not only the quantitative value of each second that counted but its qaulitative also.So here I am trying to make every second value in my existence in this life.
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