Hope, Faith & Love

Today, I was thinking how easy it is to forget how great and awesome LORD is. I mean, yes, I worship and singing praise daily but sometimes, the heart needs to " just get it! " No lip-syncing, no pretending I believe. The heart, soul, and body line up and it just gets it. This song from Hillsong comes to mind, " So Will I (100 Billion X) ". Just sang it in my own worship and felt it is such a powerful declaration in this world climate, where there is such a focus on self-preservation that we lose sight of the God of Creation.  God of creation There at the start Before the beginning of time With no point of reference You spoke to the dark And fleshed out the wonder of light And as You speak A hundred billion galaxies are born In the vapour of Your breath the planets form If the stars were made to worship, so will I I can see Your heart in everything You've made Every burning star A signal fire of grace If creation sings Your praises, so will I God of Your promise...

  27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ~ Matthew 14:27 - 28 ~ We all go through phrases of life and I think with mine, these verses have been in my thoughts. Somehow, somewhere. In the midst of lockdown, fear somehow has creeped into my psyche.  Somewhere in the midst of the last months, I have grown more fearful of moving forward, of things changing and the uncertainty of it all. I thought about Peter and the other 11 disciples in the boat. It is so easy for us to read the Bible and skimming over the words and pages. But my imagination tends to run when I read things and ask questions. In this situation, couple questions come to mind: Only Peter stepped out of the boat, what about the other 11? Were they not even curious at all? Has anyone ever seen...

  'Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life. ' Proverbs 13:12 This was something I hesitated to write about because it is a hard topic. But the time has come, so here goes: "Hope" is defined as " a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. " Everyone needs hope. Hope fills our souls with expectations, passion, desire, and dreams. We all need it to live a fulfilling life. But what happens went hope is prolonged and unfilled? Could that have the reverse effect? I am the worst-type of wait-er. I am impatient, and the thought of waiting drives me crazy. The pain and ache that is felt in the waiting, along with the slight of joy when things seem to be moving. What happens when this goes for too long? There is a limit to it. The Bible talks a lot about hope, here is my struggle. This verse almost feels like it contradicts the other verses, but I don't feel it does. It is true that unfille...

  'And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.' I Corinthians 13:13 Continuing from lessons learned from watching a Columbian drama series. One of the more interesting (and annoying) parts of the series is the mother's obsession with her ex-son-in-law, who she marries later. I know, I know, put aside all that weirdness, haha. That's why they called it "drama". What is interesting, is her blind obsession which she calls "love and faithfulness" for this guy to the point where she pushes aside her own daughters and father's well-being. The second part is her pride and how far she will push to deny that she has made a mistake. Firstly, what she termed as true love she has this guy, which she terms as "love and faithfulness". In the series, as evidence piles up against him - gambling addiction, unfaithfulness, drunkenness, abuse, and the list goes on. She continues to defend him and deny all the evidence ...

 'Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.' Matthew 6:34 Okay. Let's get the fact out there. I am a dreamer. There are things spinning in my head - plans, dreams, where is the next place I want to travel to, etc. Day-dreaming away. I am forever thinking and dreaming about things to come, the what-if, the plans for the future. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with setting plans. Actually, I think it is important for us to plan for the future. In Proverbs 16:9 A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps. We need dreams in our lives. It gives inspiration, hope, and drive to achieve things in our lives. Dream stirs in us the vision and hopes to strive for the greater plans which God has for us. As much I am a dreamer, something I am learning from Matthew 6:34 - Being in present. As great and wonderful are dreams, by spending too much time daydream - we can miss so many oppo...