Where can one know about God more than through the Bible, His Word? It is through the authority of this wonderful book that we can get a glimpse of who really God is. It is by reading this Holy Book that we get that chance, that opportunity to know Him more and more and thus, build a personal relationship with him. And by reading means to really immerse yourself in His Word that it changes your heart and your mind ready to serve and follow Him willingly and to strive for Christ-likeness.

As I read this post about "What are the attributes of God?" (Source: http://www.gotquestions.org/attributes-God.html) it made me become consciously aware of who God is and His presence in my life (I just finished my work for the day and got so preoccupied with the things of this life). So I opened up my Bible and I started looking out for the Bible verses quoted in the post about the attributes of God.

With the new pope elected just recently after the last pope resigned (for the first time in history), a status just popped up in my Facebook feed about how a theologian/author (whose wise statements have been quoted numerous times in a Christian church I used to attend) would say to the pope if he had two minutes with him. 

Here is an interesting short video of how he would respond if he had two minutes to talk to the pope:

This gives one thoughts to ponder about.

Lord Jesus,

Thank you so much for this wonderful and blessed day. Thank you for everything. For your goodness. For your love. For your mercy on my life. Thank you for all the good things and the blessings you have showered upon me. You truly are wonderful and mighty and your glory will shine forever. Lord, I want to glorify you in everything that I do. Whether I eat or drink or think about things and go on and do the things that I do. Lord, thank you so much for letting me experience this joy and peace in my heart that only comes from You. Thank you so much. Thank you for your showing Your glory to me so many times that there are times that I take them for granted. Thank you for loving me as I am. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for hearing me when I cry out to you. Thank you Lord for this life. Thank you for my kind and wonderful employer. Thank you for my job. This has truly been Your glory shown to me. It was more than I asked for and something that I did not expect. Thank you so much for this. Thank you for this wonderful Sunday. Thank you for your word. It has blessed me in so many ways. I pray that you continue to guide the pastors and the church for Your glory. I thank you Lord for my sister. For all our talks. For all the good things. For all the times that we've spent. Thank you for being there with us. Thank you Lord for blessing her. Thank you Oh Lord for my family and for my friends who have not given up on me. Thank you for Amos. He's been a blessing. I pray Oh Lord that you be the center of our relationship and that we can overcome the struggles and challenges that we are facing. I pray for the purity of our hearts and our minds. I pray for purity overall. I pray Oh Lord for the salvation of my family, my friends and my loved ones. I pray Oh Lord that they will seek You and Your glory. I pray Oh Lord that I will not waste this life and that you will use me for Your glory. What your will is for my life. Let it be done. Thank you so much. Right now I just feel so joyful and at peace and it's all because of you. Thank you for healing me. Thank you for comforting me. Thank you so much for everything. I pray Oh Lord for a grateful heart in good times and in bad times. That no matter what happens, my focus will always be You and You alone. 

For the world will fade away, still my song to You remains. Only You will I adore. 

Amen.

This is what God said to Cain when Cain became angry and downcast for his offering did not find favor in God's eyes. 

I can still remember the time when I read about this story on an illustrated Bible (separated into 10 books filled with a lot of pictures) and I saw a picture of how God accepted Abel's offering of a young flock while Cain put on a sullen face when his fruit offering was not accepted.

What first came to my mind was, "Why was Cain's offering not accepted?" I felt that it was unfair that his offering was not accepted while Abel's was and naturally, a person would feel the same way that he did if he saw that his father would find favor to his brother and not to him.

Then little did I know about the offerings themselves. As I was able to grasp more information about God and the Bible, I realized that all the offerings made in the Old Testament were made out of the first born of their flocks and is usually a spotless pure sheep (This signifies the coming of Jesus Christ who was the ultimate sacrifice for all of our sins). 

No wonder Cain's offering was rejected. For it was not made of a pure and spotless animal which was the requirement for the offering. He could have asked his brother for one so that he can make another offering. But no. He let his negative emotions rule over him despite God's warning. And thus, the second sin came into fruition: murder. 

If one looks at this story, a lot of us can relate of how we can sometimes become angry and sad just like Cain when one of our siblings found favor in our parent's eyes. We can become embittered and results in us doing awful things. While it is human nature to be angry and sad, we can always make the right choices to never let the sun go down while we're angry and to call out to God when we are in despair. Unfortunately, a lot of us choose to hold a grudge and wallow in our negative emotions. And when we choose to linger in these negative emotions, sin becomes apparent in the mind. We then think of a lot of negative and awful things in our mind and you might say that it's okay as long as it's just in the mind, but the mind is the seat where every desire is being plotted out. It is still considered a sin and will have control over the things that you do. As the saying goes, everything begins in the mind.

God said if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It all begins with how you think and if you let one negative thought linger without confessing it to the Lord, it gives way to sin. And sin desires to have you. It is the evil in our human fleshly nature and we must learn to rule over it. Of course we cannot rule over it by ourselves. Not with our flawed psyche. Not with our weak flesh. Not with the fleshly desires of our heart. For this battle is not ours alone. It can only be completely ruled over with God's mighty power. It has already been ruled over by Jesus Christ when he died for us on the cross. And all we got to do is to believe in Him and obey. Then His Holy Spirit will dwell among us which is our guarantee against sin and evil.       

How beautiful it is to hear and know that the Lord will never forsake nor abandon His children. That He is always there to comfort, to guide, and to lead the way to everlasting life. That even if you walk amidst the darkest valley, in the presence of thy enemies, He is there protect you and to make you a light showing God's love and grace. 

It is wonderful to know that there is a God who supplies you with everything you need that you don't have to worry about the basic necessities of life for God will give them to you. You just have to seek Him first above all else and He will give you everything that you need. 

It is amazing to know that this same God gives rest and comfort to your heart and soul whenever you are troubled or distressed. That if you just call out to Him with a sincere heart, He will answer with a voice that is the most soothing that you will ever hear (metaphorically speaking). 

What more, He guides you as you walk through the shadow of death. When you are surrounded by evil things and are presented with not so good circumstances that can shake your belief and discourage you, He is always there to give you that hope to never give up and to continue fighting the good fight for His name. He gives that assurance that whenever you face trials and tribulations that could possibly shake your belief, He will always give a way out and He will always give hope. You just have to trust Him wholeheartedly. 

And lastly, His goodness and love will always follow to those who follow and love Him with all their hearts, all their souls, all their strengths, and all their minds. It is nice to know that even if your human condition makes you stumble and circumstances bring you down, He will always lift you up and never fails to bless you in ways that you can never comprehend. You just have to repent and call out to Him and seek Him in everything that you do.

Moses was one of the greatest people in the Bible who was chosen by God. He was chosen as the redeemer of the Israelites. He was the one who led God's people out from the suffering and pain that was in Egypt. But Moses was just like some of us. He was afraid and scared. He did not have the confidence of a leader. He was never eloquent and had faltering lips. He ran away from the troubles of his life. He tried to pass the task given to him to other people. He questioned his capabilities and skills. He questioned God.

But how could he lead such a great people out of Egypt? How could he have persuaded the stubborn pharaoh and lead a huge crowd if he had these qualities?

That's where the power and might of God comes in. It goes with the saying that with God, nothing is impossible. Through the guidance of God, Moses was able to speak to a huge crowd despite of him being slow in speech and in tongue. He was able to persuade the pharaoh to let God's people go even if pharaoh's heart was hardened. And with this, he became a person of God. He trusted himself to God knowing that God only wants the best for him and for the people.

If we trust ourselves to the Lord, we will be able to accomplish God's will and good things that we never thought we are capable of.

by: Dr. Bruce Ware

Why think that Jesus is the only Savior? Of all the people who have lived and ever will live, Jesus alone qualifies, in his person and work, as the only one capable of accomplishing atonement for the sin of the world. Consider the following ways in which Jesus alone qualifies as the exclusive Savior.

1. Christ alone was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin (Isa 7:14; Matt 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38), and as such, he alone qualifies to be Savior. Why does this matter? Only as the Holy Spirit takes the place of the human father in Jesus' conception can it be true that the one conceived is both fully God and fully man. Christ must be both God and man to atone for sin (see below), but for this to occur, he must be conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a human virgin. No one else in the history of the world is conceived by the Spirit and born of a virgin mother. Therefore, Jesus alone qualifies to be Savior.

2. Christ alone is God incarnate (John 1:1-18; Hebrews 1:1-3; 2:14-18; Phil 2:5-11; 1 Tim 2:5-6), and as such, he alone qualifies to be Savior. As Anselm argued in the 11th century, our Savior must be fully man in order to take the place of men and die in their stead, and he must be fully God in order for the value of his sacrificial payment to satisfy the demands of our infinitely holy God. Man he must be, but a mere man simply could not make this infinite payment for sin. But no one else in the history of the world is both fully God and fully man. Therefore, Jesus alone qualifies to be Savior.

3. Christ alone lived a sinless life (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15; 7:23-28; 9:13-14; 1 Pet 2:21-24), and as such, he alone qualifies to be Savior. As Leviticus makes clear, animals offered as sacrifices for sin must be without blemish. This prefigured the sacrifice of Christ who, as sinless, was able to die for the sins of others and not for himself. But no one else in the history of the world has lived a totally sinless life. Therefore, Jesus alone qualifies to be Savior.

When tragedy strikes, it is common for people to ask, “What does this mean?” When we witness some disaster or mass murder, there is a natural feeling that what has happened should not have happened. This innate sense of “wrongness” is a clue to meaning in these events. When we look to find meaning in tragedy, we must have the right perspective. We need to approach the question in a way that allows for a coherent answer, and this is only possible through a Christian worldview. Because God instills meaning into every moment and event in history, through Him we can begin to find meaning in suffering. The nature of this world lends itself to tragic events. Fortunately, God speaks to us, so that we can find not only meaning, but salvation and relief from the sufferings of the world.

When studying physical motion, it is crucial to understand perspective. Speed and acceleration are only meaningful in relation to some other object; this object is the reference point. The way in which the reference point moves affects our perception. The same is true in our sense of right and wrong. For concepts of good, bad, right, wrong, or tragedy to be meaningful, they have to be anchored to a reference point that does not change or move. The only valid reference point for these issues is God. The very fact that we consider a mass murder wrong strongly supports the idea of God as the reference point for our sense of good and evil. Without God, even the events we consider the most tragic are no more meaningful than anything else. We have to understand the nature of this world and our relationship to God in order to draw any meaning at all from the things we see.

God infuses every moment and every event with meaning and gives us confidence that He understands what we are going through. When Jesus instituted communion, He tied the past, present, and future together. 1 Corinthians 11:26 says, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup (the present), you proclaim the Lord's death (the past) until He comes (the future).” God’s knowledge of all events means nothing is insignificant to Him. If God knows when a sparrow falls, He certainly knows when we face tragedy (Matthew 10:29-31). In fact, God assured us that we would face trouble in this world (John 16:33) and that He has experienced our struggles personally (Hebrews 2:14-18; Hebrews 4:15).

While we understand that God has sovereign control over all things, it is important to remember that God is not the source of tragedy. The vast majority of human suffering is caused by sin, all too often the sin of other people. For instance, a mass murder is the fault of the murderer disobeying the moral law of God (Exodus 20:13; Romans 1:18-21). When we look to find meaning in such an event, we have to understand why this world is the way it is. The hardship of this world was originally caused by mankind’s sin (Romans 5:12), which is always a matter of choice (1 Corinthians 10:13). While God is perfectly capable of stopping tragedies before they begin, sometimes He chooses not to. While we may not know why, we do know that He is perfect, just, and holy, and so is His will. Also, the suffering we experience in this world does three things. It leads us to seek God, it develops our spiritual strength, and it increases our desire for heaven (Romans 8:18-25; James 1:2-3; Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 1:7).

In the garden of Eden, God spoke to Adam and communicated in clear and direct ways, not in abstract concepts. God speaks to us today in the same way. In some ways, this is the most important meaning to be found in any tragedy. Tragic events demonstrate much of their meaning in the way we react to them. C.S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” This does not mean that God causes tragedy, but that He uses our reaction to tragedy to speak to us. Tragic events remind us not only that we live in an imperfect and fallen world, but that there is a God who loves us and wants something better for us than the world has to offer.

I was watching a Youtube video wherein Japanese Christians were singing praise and thanksgiving joyfully to the Lord in their native language. It was really a joy to see these Christians praising and singing enthusiastically and joyfully to God.

I usually read the comments of videos that I watch to know people's opinions and perspectives and I was surprised to see someone commenting who seemed to be an antichrist, denying Jesus Christ and who seemed to be a follower of the evil one. He was denouncing God in his comments and mocking the faith while praising the devil. It was really disturbing and shocking. And I felt uneasy reading his comments that I didn't continue in reading them because they were so awful and so heart-breaking. I can tolerate reading hateful comments because they prolly had a hard time or experiencing bad things in their lives. But for someone to say unspeakable mockeries towards God while praising the evil one is just too sad to know. I could feel the evil one is at work in his soul trying to waver and discourage Christians and everyone alike. If one does not have a strong foundation of faith, for sure he/she will surely be shaken.

But then,