INNER PEACE

Sometimes its hard to understand

Why things are the way they are

Why good things happen to bad people

And bad things happen to good people

Sometimes its hard to comprehend

How the world ended up so cruel

Why people act selfishly and shamelessly

Why people seek the downfall of others

Sometimes its hard to understand

Why the good people die

And why God asks you to forgive

When we will never see our loved ones again

Sometimes its hard to comprehend

Sometimes its hard to Forgive

Always its hard to forget

Always its harder to talk to God about it

But when you do

Oh, when you do

Sigh... such relief

Sigh... inner peace

For He calms our fears

For He soothes our aches

Though we refuse to understand

That He sorts out all in due time

Once we ask, When we ask

He grants us peace

He calms our fears

He soothes our aches

AGAIN

Here is a song by Donnie McClurkin that always lifts up my spirits, makes me happy and makes me thankful... here are the lyrics.


Again I call You, and again You answer
Again I need You, and again You're there
Again I reach out, and again You hold me
You console me once more, and again

When I needed company, someone
just to sit with me
When I need a helping hand, someone
to understand me
When I need someone who cares,
someone to wipe away my tears
Reach out and calm my fears,
I know that You'll be there

Again I call You, and again You answer
Again I need You, and again You're there
Again I reach out, and again You hold me
You console me once more, and again

Every time I turn around, the most
amazing thing I've found
You're there to pick me up each time
When I fall down
You never seem to mind and
You're always treating me so kind
Time after every time, You've proven once again

Again I call You, and again You answer
Again I need You, and again You're there
Again I reach out, and again You hold me
You console me once more, and again

... And again, You will come through once again



:-)  :-)  :-)
God is always there for you... sometimes his answers seem slow, sometimes its not what you quite expected... BUT ITS ALWAYS GOOD... ALWAYS ALWAYS GOOD!! He Loves You.

Amazing Love

I’ve heard it said that the book of Romans is the best book in the Bible and that its 8th chapter is the Bible’s highest point. It begins this way:

Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death (verses 1-2).

I sometimes find myself thinking back to something I did in the past, something that I’ve regretted doing and repented of. Human as we are, those of you who have given your lives to Christ and repented of your sins know that being forgiven does not always mean that you can forget. And yet, we can always find comfort in the verses above: because we are in Christ, we are no longer chained to our sins. Our sins are no longer our crosses to carry. According to Christ, the only thing we are obligated to do or the only cross we must continue to carry is the memory of what He did for us the day He died on the cross. I think the sins that plague us, especially those we continually commit and do not repent of, do so because of the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. The feeling of guilt is not there to make you feel like a bad person but rather to let you know that your Spirit is yearning for a change and your past sins become a lesson to you as you work towards perfecting your faith. God loves us too much to want us to wallow in the things of the past. This brings to mind one of my favourite hymns, Amazing Love How Can It Be:

And can it be, that I should gain

An interest in the Saviour's blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain

For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! how can it be

That Thou, my God, shoulds't die for me?

Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature's night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach the eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

A Myriad of Lessons

Time and time again it strikes me how meaningful forgiveness is to the Christian, whether he or she knows it or not. The page-long book of Philemon is centred around forgiveness but each time I read it, I find a new lesson. Many different things came to me when I read it today and I want to share them with you.

In the book of Philemon, Paul acts as a diplomat of Christ, interceding between Philemon and his former slave Onesimus. By running away from his master, Onesimus automatically became a fugitive and his easiest option was to return to Philemon, beg for forgiveness and ultimately receive a branding on his forehead with the letter ‘F’ to ensure that he never forgot he was once a fugitive.

After becoming a Christian, Onesimus became eager to return to Philemon and make it all up to him (running away meant he’d wronged him), and the book of Philemon is Paul’s letter defending Onesimus. The name Onesimus itself means ‘useful’. Paul tells Philemon that before he ran away, Onesimus was useless to him anyway (v. 11) but then he found Jesus and he was now useful to the ministry. He pleads with Philemon to take Onesimus back not as a slave but as a brother in Christ (v. 16).

Paul obviously knew what the Onesimus name meant and he knew that Philemon would know it too. His play on words were likely to strike a chord with Philemon. It’s a lesson on how crucial words are. We can’t throw out words as we please or speak to people in just any manner. Paul reasons with Philemon saying that ‘perhaps’ Onesimus had to leave Philemon for a reason (v.15). Thing is, Paul wasn’t sure. He was willing to bet that MAYBE if you’ve put your life in God’s hands everything will happen just as He wants it to.

When someone wrongs us, as in the case of Philemon, we may not always fully understand why. Especially if we’ve shown kindness to the person, opened up our hearts to the person, cared for the person, etc. Forgiveness is a delicate topic because it can be very difficult to actually achieve. It’s helpful to remember like Paul that we must keep in mind that God sees and knows everything that happens to us. Perhaps He allows the things we see as negative to happen to us. We’ll never know the mind of God and it’s probably best that way because we may be unable to comprehend or understand His purpose for our lives, but the things that our human minds see as negative or evil are always things that God can bring good out of because HE LOVES US!