The Reason to Celebrate!

Psalm 13
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me.

I believe many of us have been in such circumstances whereby you just felt so helpless and weak, so troubled and sad. The overwhelming sorrow in your heart causes the floodgates to open and all you can do is to cry and cry and cry. God seems to be so distant, and you question God, "Where are You?"

Perhaps you have a broken family, a broken relationship, or someone dearest to you just died. Perhaps you have just met with a failure; a massive debt you have incurred is haunting you. Your future looked so bleak, your life seemed so pointless; you are at the deepest valley.

King David experienced this too. Verses 1-4 tells us the difficult situation he was in and the sorrow and desperation that he felt during those days. He questioned God in his desperation, "Why, why is all these happening? Where are You? Are you going to help me?"

Yet, what did King David do after expressing his immediate emotions? He rejoiced and sang praises to God. More than that, he celebrated. A celebration in the midst of a difficult situation - that's surrender. King David celebrated because God had helped him so many times in his life and he knew that God was going to come true for him once again despite the tough situation he was facing. He celebrated because he trusted God when God said that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He celebrated because He knew that God's plan was the best for him. He celebrated because he knew that God was with him.

Whatever that God says He is, He is. It is up to us to believe it or not. God cannot do anything if you don't believe that He can. King David did and God help him. What about you?

A father will never leave his child alone. The cries of the child will soften the father's heart, and the joy of the child will bring joy to the father. When a child celebrate, his father will also celebrate. If you dance and sing before God, He will take you by His hands and dance and sing with you.

How can we not celebrate when we know that God loves us and He will ALWAYS be with us? How can we not celebrate when we know that the greatest of all is for us?

How can we not celebrate?
How can we not celebrate?

The Miracle Maker

If you were given three and a half years, what would your accomplishments be? Could it be written into a book? Or could it even be written into a book? Or how about your entire lifespan? Yes, you could write a book about your life, but can you write more than that?

Let's look at how Jesus fared.

John 21:25
"Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."

When I read this verse, I was awestruck. Jesus did so many things that even the whole world could not contain all that. Three and a half years and so many lives were touched by Jesus. Ain't that amazing? Think about it, let's say Jesus did 100 or 1000 things, there will still be rooms for all these books right? But what if the number of things Jesus did is in millions or even more than that? And what did Jesus do? Miracles.

John 14:12
"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing . He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."

Look, it is Jesus' intention for us to do what He did - miracles. And if He can perform so many miracles in His short ministry, we can do even more miracles and greater miracles than Him because He has gone to the Father. It's back to this - Dare to Believe. Dare to believe God for the miracles that you need in your family, in your relationships, in any difficult situations when things just seem so hopeless. Dare to believe that signs and wonders will follow us who believe in Jesus as our savior.

Jesus turned the world upside down in His three and a half years of ministry. It's time for us to take the stand, to do what Jesus did, and turn the world upside down and inside out until the whole world witness the glory of our great God!

He Deserves All Our Praises

I will bless the Lord,
for when I am weak,
He become strong.
He is a super strong God.

I will bless the Lord,
For when I am living in darkness,
His light shine ever so brightly.
He is the light of the world.

I will bless the Lord,
For when I fall,
He lift me up.
He hold me in His hands.

I was a sinner,
Lost in my own world,
Deceived by the devil.

Yet Jesus saw me
While He was on the cross.
He paid the price
To give me victory,
Over sin and death,
To give me life,
To show me His mercy and grace.

What else can I say?
But to give Him praise
All the days of my life.

The world may fall,
But may praise for Him will never cease,
Because He is more than enough for me.

I will bless the Lord,
Because He deserves it.
I will bless the Lord,
Forevermore.

When we lose faith, we don’t have to beat ourselves to it. We just need to turn back to God. He is always there waiting for us. Regardless of our circumstances, He is still who He claims to be, He is still God. He still deserves all our praises. We praise Him when things are good, and we praise Him even more when things are bad, because He is still holding our hands. Jesus said that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and He means it! Your world may have fallen, you may be at the saddest stage of your life, you may feel that life is so meaningless sudddenly, you may even feel that God is so faraway, but the truth is, God is right beside you, waiting for you to give Him your hands so that He can guide you through all adversities. You may have little faith left to trust in God, but Jesus said that faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains! Even with little faith, trust that Jesus will do the impossible for you, because He loves you!

PRAISE GOD!

He Didn't Pay the Price for Nothing

Often, many Christians say that they believe in Jesus, that He is the truth, the Way, and the Life, that nothing is impossible with Jesus. Yet when a situation arises, the first thing that comes to their mind is never about trusting God, but rather, doubting God or even completely remove Him from the equation. Think about it - When you were sick, did you remember that God is our Healer? When you had lack in your life, did you remember that God is our Provider? When you were troubled and down, did you remember that God is our Comforter? Or when the circumstances before you seemed so difficult to resolve, did you remember that God is the God of the Impossible?

When we are faced with an obstacle, we tend to forget about who God is, and what He can do to guide us out of it. We tend to lose faith and trust in Him, and we tend to resolve the situation using our own way. And when things get really bad, we start to ask God this question: “Lord, where are You when I need You?” But did it ever come to your mind that it is you who fail to seek Him, to trust and have faith in Him that He will deliver you from that hopeless situation? Jesus said that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and He means it! All we need to do is to commit our circumstances to Him, have faith in Him, and continue to sing praises to Him. Remember, Jesus said on the cross, “It is done!”

Jesus didn’t pay the heavy price for nothing! He didn’t come down as a man to be despised, rejected and cursed by men for nothing. He didn’t suffer and die on the cross for nothing. He didn’t put our iniquities, our shame, and our pain upon himself for nothing. He healed the sick; not for us to doubt His healing power. He saved the lost; not for us to drift further away from Him. He died on the cross for us; not for us to reject Him. He resurrected; not for us to feel defeated. He was sinless, perfect, and righteous, yet He paid the price for us.

Who are we that we deserved all that the King of Glory had done for us? Are we worthy of His grace and mercy?

WE ARE NOT WORTHY!

But because He saw us when He did all that for us. He loved us. He longed for a relationship with us. He created us in His image. He made us His highest creation.
He wants us to do the things which he had done, and greater things shall we do also, because He has gone to the Father.

Jesus didn’t pay the heavy price for nothing! He died on the cross, was placed in a tomb, but the tomb could not contain Him! When He resurrected, He gave us victory in His Name, and the devil has been defeated! It is not “The devil is going to be defeated”, but rather, he has already been defeated by Jesus on the cross! We have victory against the devil in Jesus’ Name! The battle has been won. All we need to do is to claim God’s Words! He paid the price for these very reasons, to heal us, to give us victory, to set us free, to break the strongholds, to redeem us, to deliver us, to bless us!

DON’T LET JESUS PAY THE PRICE FOR NOTHING!

Let your faith arise in Jesus’ mighty name!

Amen!