Thanksgiving Tuesday: New Depth of His Love, New Confidence and Security, and A Surpise Provision!

Praises to my King and Savior--Jesus Christ--who has graciously allowed me to experience a new depth of being loved by and being in love with Him. It is amazing how he is using my loneliness and pain to have greater joy and rejoicing in Him. Truly, only He can empty me so He may fill me with Himself.

In this season of seeking His will amid the loss and pain, I praise Him for bringing me closer and closer to Him. I praise and thank Him that He is my First Love, and He is my Only Judge. People may already have their own preconceived judgment and condemnation of what I said, decided, or did, but thank God, they are just people--fellow sinners needing God's grace just like me. Only the Lord Jesus sees my heart and He alone knows what's best for me.

I praise and thank Him for teaching me that my standard should only be His Word, the Bible. His Word is the light to my path and the lamp for my feet. People may give their advice, solicited or not, but I choose Jesus. I choose to honor Him. I choose to listen to Him alone and do what he says. I choose to obey His word, adding nothing or subtracting a zilch from it. I will accept His word and I will not bend it to serve my own pleasure or purpose.

In this season of lack, I praise Him for teaching me to depend upon Him for everything. And in this season of utter surprise, I praise Him for His downpour of provisions--something I did not expect. Just this morning, I was on the phone with a personnel from the Central Office and I was filled with inexpressible joy even when she broke the news I probably have to wait for August for my provisions. But lo and behold, by this afternoon, I received God's provisions. Indeed, I revel in the fact that He is my Great Provider and He alone knows best in when and how He will meet my needs.

For all these, I praise and thank God the Father of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ Himself who is my Lord and Savior and His Holy Spirit within me, my constant Guide and Help and the Seal of my salvation.

I have my prayer requests and desires but I praise the Lord for giving me this peace to say: "Not my will, Lord, but Your will be done."

Just Like the Wind and the Waves

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this?

 Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

~Matthew 8:27

The disciples terrified—scared to their wits and in a panic mode. Perhaps they were consumed with the thought of the smallness of their boat in the middle of the vast lake, rocked by the waves and tilted by the winds.

But out of their fear and worry, Jesus arose and demonstrated his majesty. Inside the small boat, the disciples came face to face with the incomparable greatness of their Master. Within their hearts and minds, Jesus challenged them to increase their faith. With just one word from His mouth, He showed to them his awesome authority that even the winds and waves obey him!

In my walk with the Lord this time, I had seen myself behave like the disciples—scared to my wits, in a panic mode, and very much terrified. Similar winds and waves of my insecure and self-centered nature are attacking my very heart and I, sinful as anyone, am at a loss to fight back. The waves have started to drown me; the winds have begun to overwhelm me.

My small boat is rocking and tilting and I was freaking out. I tried to control the situation on my own but the winds and waves became stronger and stronger. I wanted to give up, throw everything, and declare to the winds and waves that they have won the fight.

I did give up.

Not to the winds and waves, though but to my strong and mighty Savior. And it was by giving up that God took control of the situation. It was by letting go that He took over.

And once again, I can say that in His hands, I am always safe—perfectly safe.

If I rely on myself to tackle the winds and the waves, I will always fail. I am just so glad that I do not have to do it myself. In fact, I should not do it myself.

Because it is only through the supernatural enabling grace of Jesus Christ that I can have the exceedingly abundant life He promised.

And you know what? I want to be just like the winds and the waves. I want to obey and follow what Jesus wants me to do, immediately. I want my emotions and insecurities to bow down to the Lord…always…forever.

On my knees, trembling at the awesomeness of my Savior, ready to do His will—this is how I want to remain.

He does not love you less

The Lord has been graciously showering me with opportunities to grow in my walk with Him, more specifically in the areas of controlling and subduing my emotions to His will.

And too many times, I failed. I gave in to my fleshly, sinful nature. I resorted to self-pity and self-centeredness. And you know the rest of the story. I would always end up hurting the people around me. Worst, I would even hurt my Lord and my God.

In the end, God's Spirit would convict me and lead me to repentance. After saying sorry to my Lord and receiving His forgiveness, I would be led to ask for forgiveness from the people I have hurt, who usually would be God's sweet surprise and wonderful blessing to me. And always, he would tell me: "I have already forgiven you. I was just waiting you ask for it."

This ability of his to forgive always amazes me. There are times that I could not believe it. Lately, I developed this habit of following this conversation with a question: "Do you love me less because I sinned?" And always, his answer will be a reassuring, "No."

I am always thankful to the Lord for the kind of man that He has blessed me with. But the more I think about this, the more I am made aware of the Lord's Perfect Love. This ability to graciously forgive illustrated by my sweet surprise and wonderful blessing is only a fraction of Jesus Christ’s grace to forgive and to love me just the same even if I sin against Him.

And this forgiveness and love are not just meant for me, but for you as well—for all of us.

 “But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” ~Psalm 86:15

Notice that the first adjective used by the Psalmist to describe God is compassionate. We have a God who is merciful. He sympathizes and cares for us. And it does not stop there. He is gracious, slow to anger, and complete in love and faithfulness.

Is it not great? Whatever sins you have made—no matter how big or small—God is always there, with arms wide open. He has already forgiven you; He is just waiting for you to ask for it. Remember, He did not wait for you to be good but He already sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to die for you and your sins. Three days after, Christ is risen and He is now waiting for you…waiting for you to come to His arms.

And no matter how many times you sin, He does not love you less. There is nothing that you can say or do which will add or subtract to His love for you. He loved you even before He created you and that love in itself is complete. It is the perfect love.

If you come to Him today and ask for forgiveness, believe that because of the Father’s Perfect Love, He sent His only Son Jesus Christ and through Christ’s death and resurrection, He has forgiven you if you confess your sins. These, He promised in the Bible:

 “For God so loved the world, He gave His one and only Son,

that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” ~John 3:16

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
and purify us from all unrighteousness.” ~1 John 1:9

“But now, this is what the LORD says--he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:
Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are mine.” ~Isaiah 43:1

You can read more if you want to discover God’s Perfect Love.

If you have sincerely prayed for Jesus Christ to come into your life, believe that He has given His Holy Spirit in your heart and the Holy Spirit will be the one to equip, enable, and strengthen you to do God’s will.

And no matter how many times you fail Him, He does not love you less. He just waits for you to come to His arms and ask for forgiveness.