Category Archives: Meditations

God’s Sovereignty -in the Gospel of Luke-

Posted on by
4
Frans Hals, St Luke. mid-17th century

It amazes me how growing up in an Evangelical Arminian church, and being so involved in it, (even to the point of going to a Bible College with the same doctrine), I never saw God’s sovereignty. It was that my eyes were not yet open. My sight was blurry, I though I knew but now I understand that I did not know the Scriptures at all. I knew few verses here and there to support the teachings I received, but I did not study the Bible, I did not know my God.

But He called me out of the emotionalism, out of the ignorance and gave me light to see. This is the greatest miracle I have experienced! I was a passionate Arminian (even though I had no idea on what that meant, because who cares about terms where I was?) and now, I am a passionate Biblical believer, a paasionate Calvinist, Reformed, grateful from head to toe, from the inside out. I am grateful, forever grateful! Who am I that the Lord has set His eyes upon me and visited me?

God is Sovereign. And what does this mean?

“The sovereignty of God is the exercise of His supremacy.  God is the high and lofty One; no one is greater than He, equal to him, or any where near to Him.  And when this great God acts, when He goes about His divine business, then he does so in perfect freedom!  Sovereignty implies authority, and authority is the right to rule.  It is the right to do what one wishes, to decide what is good and evil, to impose one’s will on others and demand conformance;  authority is the right to reward obedience and to punish disobedience!  In close connection with this, soveriegnty is the freedom to do what one pleases without being answerable to anyone.  No one may question God as to what He is doing!”
Rev. D.H   Kuiper

I have been reading the gospel of Luke this week, and I have seen that God’s character, God’s sovereignty manifested clearly in several passages; but look at this particular one with me:

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.  And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”  And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.”

And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land,  and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”  When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.  And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.  But passing through their midst, he went away.”
Jesus reads the great good news and every one is happy.
Jesus tells them that those good news, such a powerful prophetic Scripture was now being fulfilled in their hearing, the people are not only happy now, “they all spoke well of Him and were marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth”. 
And here is where I stood, where I stopped reading. This is the gospel I grew believing and no more. It seems that I never read what was next. 
Jesus, has not finished his speech. He goes on to say that God is a Sovereign God, and as a Sovereign God He will not free every captive in the world, He will not free every poor, He will not give liberty to every single person in bondage, He will not give sight to every blind, He will not deliver every oppressed person, in sum, the “greatest good news” were not the “greatest good news for every one” 
The people’s reaction? They were all mad, furious, they were filled with wrath!
And this was my reaction too eight years ago when I heard this, when I read this for the first time, when I stood before a Sovereign God, and I did not want to believe.
But He had mercy on me, just as He had mercy towards one of the many widows in Israel, Zarephath, in Elijah’s time; I was in a land of famine and my pride was so built up, that I did not even recognize the famine in which I was living. I thought I was well fed.
God had mercy on me, just as He had mercy towards the one leper, Naaman, in Elisha’s time. He looked at me. I did not look for Him, I though I was clean, I sang in the praise and worship team, I taught, I even played the tambourine! But I was filthy, all those deeds were filthy rags; lights in a scenary pointing towards you,  make it harder to see your own leprosy. 
All in the synagogue as soon as they heard Jesus talking about God choosing some to receive the good news and some not to, were filled with wrath, they wanted to kill the One Sovereign God. That is not the kind of God they wanted. 
Maybe you are filled with wrath as you read this post just as the people in the synagogue were when they heard Jesus; know that my prayer for you today is that God will have mercy on you and that He will open your eyes to see the famine that has come into your land, and the leprosy that fills your heart.
May the good news be for you, poor soul!
May you hear His voice proclaiming liberty to your soul which is a captive of sin !
May you recover the sight!
May you be set free!
If you hear His voice today, do not harden your heart.

For further study:

Theological Term of the Week @ Rebecca Writes
The Sovereignty of God in Salvation by A.W Pink
The Absolute Sovereignty of God: What is Romans Nine About? by John Piper

Daniel’s Prayer

Posted on by
3
The Prophet Daniel, Michelangelo Buonarroti

Daniel was reading Jeremiah and the inspired words he read brought him to his knees in prayer.

Now I read what Daniel, under the inspiration of God wrote, and I am brought to my knees in prayer.

God speaks through His Word, and I respond in prayer; and yet, some times, like Daniel, my response should be accompanied with fasting.

I read and I pray, I read and I see my sin and repent, I read and I find promises and I find rest.

We kept on reading at the family table the book of Daniel, my son knew I love this chapter and asked Dad if I could read it. I did, and I found in his prayer, my prayer.

“Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.  O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” (Ch 9:16-20 ESV)

Jesus had not come yet, however, Daniel, through the Holy Spirit knew why he could present himself  before the Almighty God in prayer. It was not because of his own righteousness; he knew this would be impossible, but because of God’s  great mercy, because he had been called by God’s name. This was the ground on which he stood firmly before a Just and Righteous God.

We can come to God, to our Father, because of Jesus’ name; if He has called you by your name, if you have heard his voice, do not delay your coming to Him in prayer; find His voice in the Scriptures, pray, see your heart in the light of the Word of God, and repent of your sins. His mercies are new today, His grace never ends, He is delighted in hear us calling on His name.

While Daniel was still praying, the Lord sent an angel to assure him that his prayer had been answered, that he was greatly loved!

An angel will not come to us anymore. We have  now a greater assurance that our prayer has been heard, we have Jesus’ precious words:

“In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”         John 16: 23.24 ESV

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”     Matthew 7:7-10 ESV

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours”     Mark 11:24 ESV

  “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”     John 14: 13- 14 ESV

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7 ESV 

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”      John 15:16 ESV

May you hear his voice today through the reading of His Word and fall on your knees in prayer, to find His grace and never ending mercy.

Take God’s Word with you, Praying God’s Promises @ Challies
Read it Very Much, a great article by George Müller, find it at Penned Pebbles.

Desires and Prosperity

Posted on by
3

You have read your Bible over and over again, day after day and suddenly one verse pops out as if it had never been there, have you experienced this? Well, this I read in Proverbs for the “first time” yesterday…

“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,
while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied”.
Proverbs 13: 4 (ESV)

We know how Proverbs teaches us to be diligent in all work, but here it is talking about the matters of our soul.

I read biographies of godly women, I see the life of many others in our day, and they inspire me to grow in my sanctification, but there is ONE thing all these women have in common, they desired, they longed to grow in the Lord and were not sluggards regarding their spiritual state, they were diligent in pursuing their sanctification.

I have forgotten to work on a new Bible verse to memorize, I have not always been diligent in guarding the words of my mouth. I must again go to my Master’s feet and find his forgiveness and strength to walk diligently in the matters of my soul.

I found this at Grace Gems this morning and the author says what I have been meditating, but his words are better than mine:

“The points of contrast are many and striking. The “sluggard” has his religious “desires,” and nothing more. He would sincerely be saved, but makes no effort to get salvation. He would be religious, without real religion; pious, without true piety; claiming the fruit of godliness apart from the root of godliness; looking for the reward of labor, without the labor that secures the reward; expecting the conquest of sinful habits without the battle that ensures the victory: in a word, looking for heaven without taking one real step heavenward!”

 And please, do not misunderstand me, I am not thinking that one must do something in order to achieve salvation. God forbid. I believe salvation is only by grace through the faith, which is a gift from God. I am saying that many Christians, long and desire to be more holy, more like Jesus, many desire to swim in the ocean of His grace yet are sluggards. It is easier to sit and contemplate others in their journey,  longing to have their soul richly supplied and yet, they just sit back. No diligence, no gain, no victories, no satisfaction. No crown.

Regarding the soul of the diligent man, the author says,

“It is, too, the lesson of daily life and of our whole life. Each day should find us growing in an acquaintance with Christ; augmenting our stock of grace; strengthening the graces of our Christian character; and “increasing in the knowledge of God.” Nor is this diligence to terminate but with the termination of our Christian course. “We desire,” says the Apostle, “that every one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end.” The necessity of watchfulness, earnestness, and perseverance in the things relating to our eternal future will exist until that future is reached.

The race we run, admits of no pause; the pilgrimage we travel, of no halting; the battle we fight, of no truce; the prize for which we compete, of no compromise. There is an end before us, and that end we must keep full in view. The Savior has said, “He that endures to the end shall be saved.” “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life that fades not away.”

This is what is in my heart today, what I am meditating upon, and so I start today a new day on my journey.

Please, if you have time, read the whole article on Spiritual Diligence here, and be encouraged.



Preparing Our Hearts and Schoolroom

Posted on by
4

Moving books from one shelf to the other; hanging maps, and cleaning some other shelves; checking our list of books, making lesson plans and buying binders, notebooks and pencils all must be ready for a new school year.

So our hearts must be ready.

I was thinking about this while cleaning our schoolroom; what about my heart is it ready for a new school year? Am I preparing myself to be the Christian example my children need?

The only way to keep on doing this great task of homeschooling, is to stop and see what an impossible task it is; and it is only through God’s grace that we will be able to do it. The moment we start trusting on ourselves, the moment we hear ourselves saying that we can easily manage our children’s souls, that is the moment to fall on our knees and ask for repentance, because we are not trusting anymore on our Father but on our own selves.

Let us go in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to search in our hearts, and prepare us to …

Serve our children by love,
To be always ready to edify their souls.

To be able to choose beauty and lead them to it.
To live pursuing those things that are lovely and of good report.

Let us ask in prayer,
that the Lord will help us live the religion we profess amiable and inviting;
always with zeal but full with love.

Let the Lord prepare our hearts so that we won’t forget
that we must reach our children’s hearts.

That we may not lose our temper, that we may hold our tongue
that we may fight our sinful nature and live serving them.
that we may live in a way that might say at all times:
“Come with me, journey with me, follow me,
I am On My Way to Heaven”

Only the Lord, can help us to be prepared to all the changes and trials
and uncertainties of life, giving us a content heart, a praying heart.

Let us pray as the Puritans,
“May I be in character and conduct 
like the dew of heaven,  the salt of the earth,
the light of the world, the fullness of the fountain”

Let us pray so that our hearts be well prepared to
see all things in the light of the Scripture,
always working hard, never wasting our lives,
redeeming the time.

Let us prepare our schoolroom, but most of all let us prepare our hearts.

Let us clean our schoolroom, but most of all let us clean our hearts with the Word of God.

Let us not forget that all we do is because of Him, through Him, and for Him. To God be all glory.

Lord, help me fulfill the great end of my being-
to glorify thee and be a blessing to my children.

I Love Jesus

Posted on by
4

All of us have seen a sign like this one everywhere, from earrings to tattoos; but most of the time I have seen it it breaks my heart and to be true it also makes me mad, because many (I do not want to use a universal statement here, although I am tempted….) of those who wear it live as haters of Jesus, and bring shame to the precious name of my Savior.

Jesus said,  
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments”
Now… Do you truly love Jesus?
 Do you even know what  His commandments are for us?

So, please…. search your heart before wearing a T-shirt with a logo like this, and please, do not let your children wear it if they are walking as Covenant breakers.

One Passage, Nine Days

Posted on by
2

Read, ponder, meditate over a passage for seven nine days, “meet God in the same place…”, Lyla suggested and I did so, and I was blessed.

The passage was I John 3; those words I ate for nine days.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (v. 1a)

See…just see what kind of love the Father has given to us…
and I had to stop there.
I had to see.
Lord, the only way to see, to really see your love is looking
to the cross.
The Father sent His only begotten Son to suffer,
to die,
to bear the sins of many.
He then turned His face away from
His Son who in spite of not knowing sin,
became sin.
The Lord appeared.
You, Lord, hanging there; You God made man,
humbled unto death,
bearing my sin,
my guilt;
And I did not love you, I did not deserved you;
and yet you died.
I see the kind of love
the Father has given us
and I ponder over it for nine days.
And thus I start my nine days pondering over one passage; and then, the word of God which is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword; pierced  to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerned the thoughts and intentions of my heart. 
I cannot write here all I learned, it is kept in the quiet chambers of my soul.
He appeared! (v.4) The Lord appeared to take away the sins of His own, and He appeared to destroy the works of the devil (v.8) And this is should make us rejoice, and I thanked Him, but the context says more …
“No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.” (v.6)
“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” (v.9-10)
No one who has sin Him keeps on sinning.
There is no excuse.
If I have seen hanging on the cross,
If I have truly seen Him.
I have no excuse
for my sins.
I cannot live in sin.
And the words are there, more words in one passage ready to pierce my heart.
The first sin John mentions I should not live in is lack of love. (v.11-18)
See what kind of love the Father has given to us…
as I see the Father’s kind of love for His own, 
I see how far from loving like He does I am.
And I see that lack of love is murder,
and not loving like He does 
is to live holding and not giving.
Love reaches out.
The kind of love the Father gives
is love that gives until death.
The passage has not finished, neither my desire to learn from it. Verses 19- 24 are  more that I deserve.
The Father sent His Son to die on the cross, to suffer my guilt, and that was not all…Now He, as  loving Father, gives me precious promises.
“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.” (v 21-22)
Now we can come before God, with a cleansed heart, a heart free from the bondage of sin because of the blood of Jesus. And not only that, but we can come and ask boldly before the Throne of Grace, knowing that He hears us and wants to give us whatever we ask from Him…. if we keep his commandments and do what pleases Him.
And I close my Bible and I pray.
I see Him.
I have seen His love.
I am loved.
And all is grace,
undeserving grace.

This post is linked to Lyla’s post today. (Gracias Lyla)