There is only one reason why we are alive today and that is to glorify God.
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Sunday, 30 June 2013
I have not been to Jerusalem
I do not need any Jerusalem artifact to base my faith on. What I need is to feel the consciousness of God's presence within me, to know that He dwells within me as the Holy Spirit. To cling to Him is sole goal for this day and every other day.
God Can Do What I Want Him To Do
Despite a sinking feeling I put my trust in God today to solve my unending problems.
Towards An Utterly Helpless State
It is when you reach the end of your ability that you will see the beginning of God's ability.
When I Prayed For My Father, He Died
The mystery of unanswered prayer is just that, a mystery. I don't know why my father died after my fervent prayer. But failures in prayer will not deter me from showing faith in God.
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Prayer
Lord, you are my Creator. I cannot live without you. My life
comes from you. Thank you for keeping me alive. Thank you for keeping
the world alive. Thank you for all that you have created in your love. I
do not understand your ways. I do not even walk according to your ways.
Forgive me Lord for my many sins. Despite my imperfections I believe
that I am a child of God and that I have the mind of Jesus Christ. Thank
you for giving me the Holy Spirit. I believe that I cannot pray to you
without your Spirit stirring in me first.
I pray for myself and for all your children. Be our King O Lord. Let your will be done in our lives. Please reign on earth as you reign in heaven. Be kind to your children today O Lord. Supply our needs. We need you first. We need your Spirit. We need your love, your joy and your peace. Grant us our everyday needs. And give us your precious health. I pray for those who are specially needy and those who are extremely sick. I pray for all who call out to you. May you hear the cries of your people.
Help us forgive one another as you have graciously forgiven us. Soften our hard hearts, mellow our defiant spirits O God. Give us strength in times of trouble and help us resist temptation. Deliver us from evil: the evil in heaven and the evil on earth. O God you are our only hope. You are my only hope. Let everyone who calls out to you today be saved. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen
Samuel Godfrey George, 26 June 2013
I pray for myself and for all your children. Be our King O Lord. Let your will be done in our lives. Please reign on earth as you reign in heaven. Be kind to your children today O Lord. Supply our needs. We need you first. We need your Spirit. We need your love, your joy and your peace. Grant us our everyday needs. And give us your precious health. I pray for those who are specially needy and those who are extremely sick. I pray for all who call out to you. May you hear the cries of your people.
Help us forgive one another as you have graciously forgiven us. Soften our hard hearts, mellow our defiant spirits O God. Give us strength in times of trouble and help us resist temptation. Deliver us from evil: the evil in heaven and the evil on earth. O God you are our only hope. You are my only hope. Let everyone who calls out to you today be saved. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen
Samuel Godfrey George, 26 June 2013
Friday, 21 June 2013
A City On A Hill
God has made me a city on a hill visible to everyone. He has done this so that my faith in God is visible to everyone. This is not to glorify me but to show that God is working in me despite difficult circumstances in my life. May those who see me see God living in me.
Thursday, 20 June 2013
It Is Time To Rest - Samuel Godfrey George
In the process of waiting for God to perform a desired act, one must learn to rest in his promises.
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
He Turned My Wailing Into Dancing - Psalm 30
The worst experience can turn into the best if you believe that God can do anything as long as you trust Him.
God Is Your Healer
For Julie and others who are suffering with sickness: look to God, He is your healer.
Healing and Persistent Prayer
Not everyone is healed. Yet everyone must seek healing. Not every prayer is answered. Yet everyone must pray always without an end.
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Be Careful With Words
There are many words in my vocabulary and many expressions in my speech. There are many thoughts in my mind and many feelings in my heart. But I will use very few of these, as I must be careful in what I communicate. What I say or write has the potential to build or destroy someone. I choose to build with my words. I will almost always choose not to destroy, because it is an ugly thing to cast doubt on another person's character and it is not heroic to dismantle a fellow human's confidence. God alone is judge of the mind and the heart, so let no man usurp that role.
Saturday, 15 June 2013
Rush Not My Son : A Discussion
Evil is unmade only in the place where it was made. To overcome wrong desires and unnecessary fears we must understand them. We cannot understand them without experiencing them. We must experience them to know them and to study how they wield power over our minds and hearts. We must find out why and how they lead us into unhealthy and undesirable behaviours. It is only when we get to the roots of these desires and fears, it is only when we see their origins that we recognize their basic distortions. And when we see these distortions we can fundamentally reject them and truly detach ourselves from the resultant compulsive desires and fears. We cannot rush this process.
Does God tell me to suppress my powerful impulses?
It is God who planted powerful impulses in human beings. It is not his intention to direct human beings to suppress these drives. But it is human beings who in their fallen state misdirect these impulses towards sinful thoughts and actions. Therefore God requires humans to know his ways and his plan for human life, which includes the proper employment of these impulses. And humans must place their trust in God as he reveals his intentions degree by degree.
Friday, 14 June 2013
The Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - May 2013
Walk with God into
the dark places. And let him shine his light on every dark thing that you
desire.
Blessed is he who
tastes affliction for God is near him.
Sin in me is
serious. But Jesus in me is far more serious.
The more I learn
about my weaknesses the more I need God's strength.
Good faith lies in calm and thankful acceptance of
God's will.
Today I will learn
to be still. Though time is running out and I need to act quickly I will be
still and wait for God.
The more I learn
about human wickedness the more I perceive God's goodness.
The eagle
symbolizes the strength that God provides. When I look at an eagle I am
reminded of God's promise of strength to all who trust in him.
How can I impact
this world? With what will I impact this world? I am a servant of God. On my
own I am nothing. What impact can I make without God? O Lord, you who inspire
and enable me, now bless me. And bless this world through me.
Let me see God and melt. Let everything not
of God within me melt.
I must say thank you even for nothing.
It is time that I
go back to my roots and have a good look at myself.
There are two
passions in my life. When one is raging the other is silent. When the other is
raging the one is silent.
There's no point in
saying, "I would have done it if I had been rich." Do it now in your
poverty. Do whatever you can now.
Had I not fallen so
much I would not have learned so much.
Lord. I have tasted
your truth. I have tasted the sweet in the bitter.
Speak so little
that when you speak you will be heard.
Let us appreciate
people before it is too late.
It's God job to
provide. It's my job to wait expectantly.
Today as I wait for
my miracle I know that God has performed many miracles in my life, the chief of
which is my life, which he has turned around from unbelief to belief. And He
has given me people who love me. And from voicelessness I have emerged with a voice. I have much to thank God for.
Why do I continue
to do something that offers little profit to me? This is a question that
reveals much to me.
I should get out and speak the truth even in the middle of nowhere, even in the middle of my own hell.
A human being is
made in the image of God. He is not God. So do not worship him.
I should avoid
every false move that seeks to create an effect and embrace every true move of
stillness even at the risk of not creating an effect.
You must walk the
road of fear to reach fearlessness.
You should get past
the feeling into the fact. You must get into the truth of God and embrace it
even as the lies of the devil scream at you from every direction.
If Christ lives in
you then say to lust and every other stirring of your flesh, "God is
greater than you. He always overcomes you."
"I have the
mind of Christ. I love what God loves and hate what God hates. I have been set
free by the Son and I am free indeed." This is what I declare myself to be
today though it may not necessarily be a reflection of how I feel.
You can easily
trust God until you have to wait and time is running out.
You're not the
first shameful person God has used. So don't worry about it. He will cover your
shame.
Sometimes nothing
happens. And you have to wait.
Your resolve never
to sin again will fail every time. So resolve never to make such resolutions.
Just trust in Jesus. His grace is sufficient for everything.
When God reveals
your dark and ugly heart do not run away from him.
Do not desert me O
Lord even if I desert you.
The best worship is
to say "thank you".
God loves even
those who do not know him. God loves even the person who has never read his
word or spoken his name or even considered him with any seriousness. When I
realize this I see how strange God's love is. It is nothing like the love of
humans who love for purely selfish reasons and who always base their love on
expectations.
When God fills me
with his love I can do anything.
Today, please help
me O Lord. Can I say anything more than that? Yes. Please help everyone who is
calling out to you today O Lord. Do not forget those who cry out to you today.
Today while I need
much help in my own life, let me be keen to help another person as much as
possible. Let God enable me to be there at a suffering person's side when it is
much needed, and may I speak and do what will help this person.
You have to go
through the experience to find what happens at the end.
Faith in God is not
easy. Waiting on God without doing anything else is not easy. I need help. And
it is difficult to wait on God when time is running out. But I must wait.
God's silence is
the scariest one.
Christian
ministries need support. And those who support them are supporting the work of
God. However not all ministries may act honestly. The proper response of a
Christian is to reserve judgement and desist from condemnation. No one is good,
so no one is fit to condemn. Also one may not know the situation as well as one
thinks. But if there is untruth and corruption in Christian ministries only God
can be the judge and only he can correct these appropriately.
It's wonderful to
believe in God. It's wonderful to be in the presence of people who believe in
God.
To throw the demons
out I had to sit with God to the exclusion of almost everything else for many
years.
Nothing is too hard
for God. And nothing is impossible to him who believes. Remember this today.
Let me think of
another in the middle of my own pain.
Even God's little
things have the strength to endure the heat.
Our elderly are our
precious gifts. They may have little time left. We may have little time left.
So let us use every moment of our time well and let us love our aged relatives and friends and
celebrate their presence in our lives.
In a world that rejects Jesus and his
followers we who are called by Jesus must stand up for Him.
Greater is God in
us than all the worldly desires that rule our minds.
Never overdo even a
good thing.
All right, your
weakness leads you to God. So do not be afraid of being weak. Your weakness is
your blessing. However do not relish your weakness and encourage it in your
heart. Always resist your weakness.
Give as though giving is as natural as breathing. And be ready to
be rejected.
Our expectations
are probably our limitations.
It is the one who
loves God the most who has the greatest doubt regarding God.
What I really do
not want is to look weak before others. Even when I try to look weak I want to
look strong.
It is the heart
alone that matters. The expression ranks much lower.
I am thankful for
my many weaknesses. I have been greatly humbled by them.
When I see someone
losing control over her mouth, I cannot judge her negatively. I had the same
problem. I was not able to control what I spoke in anger. Consequently I spoke
much that I regretted later. These days God has clearly shown me through many
mistakes and their painful consequences that I just cannot speak anything that
comes to my mind when I am angry. I should be very careful with what I say to
someone else in anger, and should convey my displeasure in tolerable, even mild
language. This is a lesson that I learned the hard way. So I should be patient
with those who haven't yet learned this lesson.
Absolute
humility is required when you belong to Christ. You must keep
absolutely silent when provocative remarks and annoying suggestions are
made. Sometimes you feel like lashing out as Job did at his
sanctimonious, platitudinous friends. Sometimes it's good to call a
spade a spade. But it's so much better to say nothing, to rein in that
vicious impulse. I choose not to speak the vehement words not because I
lack the vocabulary but because I prefer to bless the offender with my
silence, or if I receive the grace I will bless him verbally.
Today's challenge
is this: can I pray even though there is no answer from God?
"Seeking your
own glory" is a serious term and should not be used lightly. Everybody
wants to succeed at what he does. Everybody seeks the approval of others. And
this is not wrong. However one should not be entirely focused on one's own
achievements and constantly look for approval. This is what seeking one's own
glory is about.
Today's challenge
is this: can I pray for my neighbour that I don't even know?
In a world where
everyone feels that he is right there will be conflict and division and hatred
and unbearable pain.
It is a
heartbreaking process but it must be done. Your innocent children will grow up
and see the evil of the world. And before they do that you must prepare their
hearts and minds for the difficulties of life.
The joy of a father
is in his child's initial innocence. The pain of a father is in his son's final
corruption.
My entire
presentation of God's love emerges from the Bible and there are references to
it, both overt and covert. Whether I speak for God or for myself is something
that no one but God can possibly know.
I who have read the
Bible do not doubt its presentation of God as Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
The Father, the Son and the Spirit are one. The Son came to show the Father, and those who have seen the Son have seen the Father. The Spirit came to the
world to testify to the Son and lives in all believers in Christ so that they
may daily renew their minds and hearts towards God.
It is imperative
that teachings regarding the God of Israel, His Son and His Spirit emerge from
the written word of God, which is the Bible. The Bible is not easy to
understand. It was written by many men over a period of many centuries. So it
does not appear to present a unified message, though it does point to Christ as
the resolution of the ultimate conflict, the troubled relationship between God
and Man. I believe that my thoughts concerning God have emerged from my
relationship with God and my association with his written word. If my thoughts
appear alien to what the Bible says I hope that they are not alienated from it
in spirit. In spirit I believe that I speak what is agreeable to Christ.
I do not state that
God is love and that God is not righteousness and judgement. He is love,
righteousness and judgement. Still there is nothing more for Man to pay beyond
what Jesus Christ has already paid for human sins. To Christ's perfect
atonement nothing can be added by Man. What God seeks is the restoration of Man
to himself. It is only through the application of God's love in the knowledge
of his boundless mercy and compassion that the goal can be best achieved. There
is no return to God without repentance and awareness of sins. Still there is
absolutely no safe return to God without a knowledge of his love for that alone
secures Man in his perilous journey back to God.
The knowledge of
sin is crucial for it leads to repentance. It must lead to repentance and not
despair. To know one has sinned against God is not enough. It is also important
to know that God is merciful and compassionate and willing to forgive. God is
so because he is love, and his love is what drove him to make atonement for the
world's sins. Therefore it is the love of God that a man must know to be saved
from his sins. This is why I choose to see God's love above his judgement and
wrath. Though the latter should not be denied or glossed over, the former is
what ultimately drives God. Without knowing God's love there is no sure path
for the soul to return to its God.
If God loves the
world so much, then he must love everyone in the world, regardless of the
person's race, nationality, religion and creed. This is why I believe that God
looks at all of us in the same way. The way he looks at a believer is
essentially the same as the way he looks at a non-believer. He looks at both
with the same love. Nevertheless unbelief in God has certain consequences just
as belief in God has consequences. The one who believes has chosen to belong to
God. The one who does not believe has chosen to be apart from God. So those who
will go to heaven and hell ultimately do so by the act of their own freewill.
Today the challenge
is this: can I lay aside my problems and think about someone else?
There is a time
when I know what I am doing. There is a time when I don't know what I'm doing.
This is the latter time.
That God forgives
all sins and loves all people is a fact that is hard to accept for some people.
Even some who call themselves the followers of God have a problem with God
showing grace to others even though they themselves have received the same grace.
Even a negative
thing has positive consequences.
There is no fear in
love. The one who fears is not perfected in love. To fear God in the sense of
the Bible is to feel respect for divine knowledge and rule. The other fear,
which is related to terror, and dismay, which is related to despair are not
what God ultimately wants his people to feel. What God ultimately wants for his
people is that they should not let their hearts be troubled and that they
should cast all their cares on him and trust him to work for their good. One
should know this.
The more I try the
greater is the likelihood that I will get it right sometime soon.
He who takes
illegally from a human body, and who violates its sanctity against the wishes
of its owner is a rapist. And rape is not just a physical act against a person.
It is also a spiritual act against God in whose image the victim was created.
When you think of
people who have behaved poorly think of their good qualities and the times when
they added value to your life.
Don't put yourself
down. You need to give vent to your feelings every now and then. And when you
do you may not always speak correctly. But don't worry. There's plenty to learn
in this life and you need a spirit of humility to recognize your own need of
learning and the will to learn it degree by degree.
Forgiving is best
for the forgiver.
When you receive
God's love you cannot remain the same. You cannot have God in you and be the
same person that you were before you met God. Something in you fundamentally
changes forever. But certain old behavioural patterns remain, and they too will
pass as you yield them day by day to God.
God is love. This
is the central point of the Bible. And the evidence for God's love is the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was sacrificed by God for the sins of the
entire world. All human sins have been atoned for by Christ. This is the good
news that must be shouted from rooftops. People who have no knowledge of God must be told about God's
love. May God enable them to accept his love, and when they do so, may they be
transformed into His likeness by that love.
In showing what
love is I am glad that God did not just send us the words that Saint Paul wrote
to the Corinthians, but he actually demonstrated that love in the life and in
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without this flesh-and-blood demonstration
of love no one would have ever known what God's love is, and it is a most
wonderful thing, and it is available to all who seek it, irrespective of caste,
creed and colour. This is the good news that the world needs to hear: God's
love is available to all, and by accepting his love we are saved from the
wretchedness of our lives.
I do not say to
people: "God loves you, so accept his love and let him change your
life" because that is unnecessary. I also do not confuse anyone by saying,
"God accepts you just as you are, but he will soon change you utterly for
what you are is not good enough." Anyone who experiences the love of God
will change automatically. You cannot experience the essence of God and remain
the same. Change is inescapable. However Man must allow God to work in him, for
God does not change a person against his wishes. However a certain fundamental
change is unavoidable in any encounter with God.
There is hatred for God in this world. The way to counter this hatred is to present God who is
essentially love. The reason why some people hate God is that they
do not and cannot see love in him. I see God as utterly
in love with Man. It is my belief that when a person sees this he is
on the road to being transformed by the love of God.
You can read the entire Bible and still miss the point.
Thursday, 13 June 2013
Billy Graham On Healing
"I have attended a number of healing meetings. Some sickened me because of the emotional hysteria present. I have also attended healing meetings where the services were conducted decently and in order. At those, I have witnessed the quiet moving of the Spirit of God in a way that could offend no one. In meetings like that, the Spirit used God's servants with special gifts to do His will."
"I believe that true faith involves a complete surrender of our life to the will of God, whatever it is, even when God does not choose to heal us. This means we are willing to be healed, or willing to remain afflicted, or willing to die - willing for whatever God wants!"
"But God does not always choose to heal us. As I have said, I can find no evidence in Scripture that it is the will of God to heal all people of all illnesses. If the Holy Spirit gives a sick person or someone who is praying for a sick person the gift of faith that the person will be healed, then we can be sure the person will be healed. But God does not always give the gift of faith. This means that sick people and their loved ones should certainly pray for the one who is ill, but in the absence of the gift of faith they must pray, 'If it be Thy will'."
"Prudence differs from presumption, and we ought not tempt God. If a sick Christian resorts to faith for healing, he should be certain God has given him that faith. Lacking it, he ought to seek the help of the physicians. And in my judgement it is normal for a Christian to use the medical help God provides. Medicine and physicians are of God, too."
"If medication is not available, or if doctors have pronounced a case incurable, and God lays it on our hearts to look to Him in simple faith for the impossible, then we must follow His leading. But this leading must come from God, not the urging of fellow Christians. However, if medication and doctors are available, to ignore them in favour of asking God to heal seems to me to border on presumption."
"Yet sickness and infirmity are a part of life: no one can escape them at last. All people, including the most famous faith healers, get sick and all eventually die. Kathryn Kuhlman, the famous faith healer, died early in 1976. For years she had suffered from a heart condition, and late in 1975 underwent open heart surgery from which she never recovered. People were healed under her ministry. She was not. Sickness brought death to her at last."
"I know the Lord has used physicians and medicine to cure illnesses I have suffered. Furthermore, we must be open to the idea that it may not be the will of God for us to be cured of all our infirmities, something true of the apostle Paul (see 2 Cor. 12: 7-10). I think Christians should therefore use God-given wisdom to determine whether they should seek the use of natural means or rely solely on prayer or those with the genuine gift of healing."
Taken from Billy Graham's 'The Holy Spirit"
About Lust - Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George
Your resolve never
to sin again will fail every time. So resolve never to make such resolutions.
Just trust in Jesus. His grace is sufficient for everything.
You're not the
first shameful person God has used. So don't worry about it. He will cover your
shame.
If Christ lives in
you then say to lust and every other stirring of your flesh, "God is
greater than you. He always overcomes you."
"I have the
mind of Christ. I love what God loves and hate what God hates. I have been set
free by the Son and I am free indeed." This is what I declare myself to be
today though it may not necessary be a reflection of how I feel.
When God reveals
your dark and ugly heart do not run away from him.
To throw the demons
out I had to sit with God to the exclusion of almost everything else for many
years.
It is in my
weakness that God shows his strength. Therefore I shall not consider my
weakness a curse. It is in fact my blessing.
Will I be happier if I don't believe in God?
What sort of a life is a life without God? God is the best thing I know. God is the most beautiful person that I know. If you say that my life will be happier without God I say in response, "No way!"
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Nothing Equals God
There is no desire in me that is as powerful as the desires that God feels in me. There is no thought in my head that is as powerful as the thoughts that God thinks in me. There is no act that I perform that has as great an effect on others as those acts that God performs in me. Yes God feels, thinks and acts in me. He lives in me and through me. And there is nothing in this world that can come between God and me. There is no one who can command my trust as much as God commands my trust.
Faith Is The Best Thing I Have Done
Faith is action. And I have acted in faith. It is the best of all my actions.
Saturday, 8 June 2013
A Mother Who Passed Away
For Amsam, a great mother
Her passing away makes me think of my own mother and the gracious God who still lets me see her every day.
Her passing away makes me think of my own mother and the gracious God who still lets me see her every day.
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