Prayer, please...

I need to ask you to pray for my brother Leo, he is having chest and left arm pains; it sounds to me like he is having a heart attack in a small scale.  The precursor of a heart attack is called angina, and he has the symptoms of having it; that is all I know.  My mother talked to him a couple of days ago and he told her what is going on, he was supposed to go see a doctor today but I have no idea what happened.  Sometimes I wish I was not 2,000 miles away from him.

Life is really a trip, we never know what God has planned for us to go through in a day, as far as I know today might be my last day on this earth, and it very well could be your last day too; God is merciful in that respect, He doesn't tell us so that we don't freak out, I think.

I think about dying almost every day, as you know, and every single day I think I am not ready to meet the Lord; on one side I think I am ready, and then on the other side I think I am not ready; how do you know when you are?  Are you?  I'm double minded.

One thing is for sure, seeing other people die is a wake up call; every time someone close to me dies I make resolutions to live this life in a better way, and along with the resolutions come the regrets of not living righteously for so long, of wasting my life in the darkness; and then God reminds me He is sovereign, He reminds me that He has planned my life in advance, and that even in my darkest moments He has been there all along to support me and give me grace.  I need grace.

I don't want to make this another long post, I know every one is busy trying to run the race, and every one of us has challenges to face, I am sure, so if you pray for my brother I will appreciate it very much; just pray he finds a good doctor, and that he is wise to do what he needs to do; pray for his wife and children too please; he is the sole provider of his family, so you can imagine the angst.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

White as snow...

Sometimes I feel over-pressurized, as in that famous line, the strain was too much for him to bear, maybe you feel like that too.  When I do, I feel like crying, seriously; today I had one of those episodes of drama going on in my brain, I was just sitting there looking at the clouds and then suddenly I started thinking about my life in the past, and how it looks right now, and as you know, that is a big mistake.

Some people blame the devil for this kind of scenario, they say he is reminding you of your past; but I really find that hard to believe, I don't need any help from the devil to remind me of all the mistakes I have made, I have my brain to do that easily and without any help from any one; it is the reality of this life walking with God and seeing my constant short comings and character defects; that is, and always will be, the case when I look at myself from my perspective.

When God looks at me, He sees me in Christ; He no longer sees me as His enemy, which I was before, but He sees me as His child.  This is what the bible teaches, I didn't make it up, nor did I think that it would be a good idea to call myself His child for some selfish reason, or because it would be cool.

What does it mean to be in Christ?  It means that I have been placed in that position by God Himself, and this even when there was nothing created yet; I cannot say that this happened "back" in eternity because that is a reference to time, and when God placed me in Christ time had not yet begun to exist.  If God chose me before the foundation of the world, that means that time was not yet running as part of the created order; time is a physical attribute of the universe, without time nothing would work in the way that everything works; for example I could not get old in the absence of time, I could not experience death without time; that is precisely why to live forever means to live outside of the time domain. That is as far as my brain can go thinking about it, at least right now.

To be in Christ also means that I have been united with Him by grace through faith; that is what salvation basically is, to be united to God outside of the time domain and to be transformed into the image of His Son in the time domain, in total holiness, and in total joy, and in total and perfect happiness, forever, and ever.  One day my salvation, or redemption (which in the Greek comes from the word exagorazo, so I could say my exagorization, of course that is not a word in English, or maybe it is, I'm just saying), will be completed, and that day I will have a glorified body that will not be opposed to God's will, with a heart that delights in everything that God delights in.  I don't know about you, but I find this a very attractive promise, and as far as God's promises are concerned, He always keeps them, every single one of them.

I read last night in Romans that since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God; and I also read that therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit, and I also read that if the Spirit of Christ is in me, then I am in Christ; and how do I know that I am in Christ?  1Jn. 3:24  And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Do you see that?  He that keeps His commandments dwells in Him.  Is that not a typo?  Is not the law and the commandments an impossibility to keep?  No, and yes.  Is not a typo, and yes it is impossible to keep the law; so what am I saying?  What I'm saying is that the law has been kept by Jesus for me, and now His obedience has been imputed unto me, along with His righteousness, which basically hinges on His obedience if you really think about it, because what is righteousness if not total and perfect obedience to all that God wills and commands?

This is the reason why Paul can say that we have peace with God and that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ; because the union with Christ guarantees a new heart, which will cause me to desire to keep His commandments, which, again, have been kept for me by Christ.  In this great exchange of righteousness and obedience for ungodliness and rebellion, I have been declared righteous by the heavenly court; my debt has been paid, all my sins, past, present and future, have been cast as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more, and God sees me as a new creation, with a new heart. What I just said above is the fulfillment of a promise God made, and like I said before, He always keeps His promises.

As time goes by, I get closer and closer to God, not by anything that I do, but by Him revealing Himself more and more to me through His word; and the more I see His glory, the more I hate my sins, past present and future, and the more I hate them, the more that I desire to walk in His ways and for this life to be over, but not only that, I also see more and more the wonder of what God has done for me; I find it amazing in its deepest meaning; this is really an amazing salvation, it is indeed amazing grace.

Ponder what God has done in detail, really think about what happened on the cross of Jesus and on His resurrection, and your heart has no choice but to be filled with joy and amazement.  If you don't experience joy in God's redemptive plan for you, then I think that you either don't really understand what has happened, or you don't think you are that bad to begin with.  But you are, believe me, or better yet, believe what God says that you are, or were.

But this is not about you, or me, it is about God, it is all about Jesus, the only mediator between God and men, and what He has done, and will do; I cannot think about Jesus without thinking about His sacrifice on the cross, and I cannot think about the cross without thinking about His resurrection, I just can't.  The cross and resurrection means He loved me and gave Himself for me; it means that I am justified, it means it is done; His work is done and He is seated at the right hand of His Father, reigning, and resting from His labor, and He has taken me there, He has seated me there in the heavenly places, where He is; now it is just a matter of waiting for the unfolding of the rest of my life, and I will forever rest with Him in glory; it actually means that I can rest from working and lean on His work alone; nothing else matters, really.  It is a done deal.

When God sees me, He sees me covered in the blood of Jesus, but my state is not red, it is white, as the snow; that is how I look to God when He looks at me, which is all the time, white as snow, even though my sins were as scarlet, He has made me white as snow; ah, the joy!  The excitement!  The thrill!  The amazement!  God chose me, He created me, He called me, He justified me, He is sanctifying me, and He will glorify me with Him when this is all over; it is all His work, and what an amazing work it is, and it is finished.

When you finally understand and are established in this faith, it is impossible to not want to please God, you will work out your salvation with fear and trembling since you have no other option, it becomes your desire, it is inevitable; those who say that to preach grace is to preach laziness and/or licentiousness are completely wrong in this, you know who I'm talking about, you hear them every where, "don't tell them they were chosen, they are not going to want to try anymore", that is one of the most idiotic statements I have ever heard, but don't worry, I won't start railing them again.

I have no counsel for you if you are suffering, except that it is all part of the plan, and it is a perfect plan which God has for you, it even includes your children if you have any, He promises in Isaiah, read it if you want to find out where it says that.

Nothing can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, no matter how many times I think about my past or look at my condition, all things are working together for my good because I love God and I have been called according to His purpose.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

I realized...

Today, Friday morning, I was sitting in the backyard looking at all the trees around my house; the sky was supremely blue, sky blue indeed, the breeze was blowing nicely, so some of the trees were moving in the wind; then I stopped and looked at other trees, and I realized, once again, that they all point upwards.  Then I realized how symmetrical everything is in creation, even a tree without leaves looks symmetric, and it's pointing upwards; creation points upwards towards heaven.

I see the abundance of beauty that I am surrounded with, even the breeze feels like a beautiful thing when going across my skin; the sounds of nature make it all even better, I can hear birds singing, all different kinds of birds hang out around my house, hummingbirds, sparrows, crows, blue jays, hawks, and some I don't even know what to call them, it is all a trippy thing to observe; my conclusion is that God has a beautiful mind, and He made today a beautiful day.  Then I started thinking about what kind of power it takes to create something out of nothing, to just say something and it comes into reality, and then I remember who God is.

After remembering who God is, then I remembered who I am, and I see that I am nothing in comparison with the universe, or even the earth, I cannot even compare myself with Him without being arrogant, and then I remembered that He says He loves me, and He has nothing but good things to give, in both cases, here and after this life.  He is the one who chose me and called me when I wasn't looking for Him, at the right time and in the right place He made Himself known to me.

As I was pondering all of the above I had another realization, this one I already knew but it just opened up magnified; all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose, and what a magnificent purpose that is; to bring all things into subjection under Him who submitted everything to futility for a time; yes, even from my backyard it all made sense to me.  God can do whatever He pleases and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

How is my life looking so far in 2014?  It is looking exactly the way God intended it to look like; on one side trials and tribulations, pain, sorrow, confusion, disappointment and abundant sin and corruption, and on the other side, the hope of having a body that wants to obey God in all things, in a state of perfection; where there is no sickness, and no pain, and no sorrow, and no travail, total holiness, peace everlasting and joy inexhaustible, pure bliss in the presence of the Lord God Almighty.  My life points upwards just like all the trees I see, and my soul sings with all the birds outside my head.

If I wanted to look at this life from the human experience, all I would see is the absence of what will never cease to be in the future when this life is finally over.  I have to remember that fact, I will see God with these tired old eyes, and I shall see Him as He is because I shall be like Him; He promised He would do it, and He never leaves any promise unfulfilled.  I realized again that I am greatly moved by gratefulness, thank you God.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Another surgery...

I talked with my mother today and she told me she is having surgery again, this time in the other eye; the first surgery went very good, and she is healing fast, she can also see better; so I ask that you pray for her and the doctor, and at the same time I thank you if you prayed for her the first time she had surgery two weeks ago; I appreciate it very much. as well as she does.  She actually asked me to say thank you to all those who prayed for her, so thank you again in her behalf.

I think about it often and I see how getting old really sucks in many respects; family and friends start getting sick or dying around me, and I feel my own mortality slowly being magnified.  I think about the end of my days often, almost every day; I know it sounds kind of morbid but it is the truth, and honestly, I welcome the thought of dying, obviously this is for selfish reasons; I guess I'm pretty selfish when it comes to seeing the King with my own eyes.

That is all I'm going to say for now.  Thank you for praying for my mother, her name is Daisy so you know.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Say unto my soul I am thy salvation...

Psalm 35:3  Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.

What does this sweet prayer teach me? It shall be my evening's petition; but first let it yield me an instructive meditation. The text informs me first of all that David had his doubts; for why should he pray, "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation," if he were not sometimes exercised with doubts and fears? Let me, then, be of good cheer, for I am not the only saint who has to complain of weakness of faith. If David doubted, I need not conclude that I am no Christian because I have doubts. 

The text reminds me that David was not content while he had doubts and fears, but he repaired at once to the mercy-seat to pray for assurance; for he valued it as much fine gold. I too must labour after an abiding sense of my acceptance in the Beloved, and must have no joy when His love is not shed abroad in my soul. When my Bridegroom is gone from me, my soul must and will fast. I learn also that David knew where to obtain full assurance. 

He went to his God in prayer, crying, "Say unto my soul I am thy salvation." I must be much alone with God if I would have a clear sense of Jesus' love. Let my prayers cease, and my eye of faith will grow dim. Much in prayer, much in heaven; slow in prayer, slow in progress. 

I notice that David would not be satisfied unless his assurance had a divine source. "Say unto my soul." Lord, do Thou say it ! Nothing short of a divine testimony in the soul will ever content the true Christian. Moreover, David could not rest unless his assurance had a vivid personality about it. "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation." Lord, if Thou shouldst say this to all the saints, it were nothing, unless Thou shouldst say it to me. Lord, I have sinned; I deserve not Thy smile; I scarcely dare to ask it; but oh! say to my soul, even to my soul, "I am thy salvation." Let me have a present, personal, infallible, indisputable sense that I am Thine, and that Thou art mine.

C.H. Spurgeon

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

The notes in the notebooks...

Click on the picture, if you want...

I have been writing on notebooks for a long time, I have notebooks totally filled out from cover to cover; sometimes I go and read what I have written and I get amazed at how differently I think about some things now, then I find interesting quotes and calculations I have made, like the number of seconds in a year, I purposely multiplied the number of seconds in an hour by the number of hours in a day, and then in a year to come up with 31'536,000 seconds; from there I deducted that if I wanted to count to 100 billion, it would take me 3,170.9 years.  Coincidentally that was the old estimate as to how many stars form the milky way galaxy; I just read in National Geographic that is not 100 billion, it is now 200 billion stars, which proves that the scientific community thinks they know something but they really don't know anything.

You know where I go from that point right?  It would take 6,341 years to count to 200 billion, one second at a time.  That my friend, is a staggering number, mostly in view that they (the scientists) estimate that there are probably hundreds of millions, even hundreds of billions, of galaxies filling the universe (the number is irrelevant in a sense, the point is that it is impossible to determine it), some of them so massive that our own galaxy would look like a tiny dot in the middle of it.  The universe is so big that to measure distances they use the light year; that is the distance that light would travel in one year at 169,000 miles per second (multiplied by the number of seconds in a year), which is 5,329,584,000,000 miles, I don't even know how to say a number so big; but things in the universe are generally more than one light year away when talking about galaxies and quasars, and nebulae, etc.; some galaxies would take millions of light years to reach, and thousands of light years to cross.  Stop for a moment and really think about what I'm saying.

Now at this point I know you might feel that your brain wants to explode into billions of tiny little particles of gray matter, mine does, rendering your sense of being to an insignificant spec of dust in the scope of God's universe, that has to leave you in awe of who God is, since He is the one who created it all; I mean, you would feel like that if you really thought about what I just said above.  I am in awe, He spoke and there it was.  King David is right, man's life is just a vapor, Isaiah says that man is grass that gives a flower and dies when God blows on it.  And talking about matter, they say now that there is 'dark matter' in the universe, the stuff they cannot see; then they go as far as to say that there is more than one universe, multiple universes.  This is the product of the arrogance and pride of the human heart; and that called 'slumber' that God sends over those who rebel against Him; I just read that in Isaiah.  If you want to know exactly where that is in Isaiah, you need to read the book or do a search on your free Esword bible program because I don't remember, you'll find it, eventually.

 I find it very interesting, reading my notes, because some of the things I have written do not sound like it is me who is speaking; and some other times I just can't believe the things that come out of my brain, they are so far from reality that I know it is just my flesh talking; the things I used to find funny are not funny anymore.

In almost every single page in those notebooks I mention God in one way or another, He seems to be in the forefront of my thinking in almost all of my life, now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to boast at all even if it sounds like I am, the phrase "in almost all of my life" proves it, I admit and recognize that if I think about God at all is because He is the one showing Himself to me, I don't choose to think about God (I don't have a free will in that respect), I just do it; all day, every day, at all times, no matter what I am doing, He is always in my mind; this is the work of the Holy Spirit through the word of God, it cannot be any other way since all I know about Him is recorded in those sacred pages of the bible.  I am extremely grateful to God that He is so mercifully condescending towards me.

Then at the same time I seem to be in a constant battle with my brain, mostly with my desires.  As you know I went to Mexico for about 3 weeks and during that time I honestly didn't read my bible at all, in fact it took a couple of weeks after I came back to start reading it again.  I can definitely see the way it impacts my thinking when I read it, and this I consider to be the work of God also.  There is power in the scriptures, the word is living and active and sharper than a two edged sword, and it pierces deep, down to the division of bone and marrow and spirit and soul, it discerns you, there is knowledge in the word, and wisdom, and there is the increase of faith that comes along with really thinking about what I'm reading, the whole process is supernatural.

As I was thinking about how the bible influences the way that I think, I realized that it is because of the bible that I find my self with an intensified longing to experience God, the more I read it, the more I feel like I don't know Him enough or as I should (and to be honest, I don't think I will ever know Him as I ought to, at least while I dwell in this tent made of bones and flesh and blood), I know that you know what I am talking about because I know you go through the same thing, you have to go through the same thing if you have this faith I have.  The desire to know God comes from Him who lives in me.

Human responsibility runs parallel with God's decrees, that is how I see it from what I have read in the bible; He does whatever He pleases and no one can stay His hand, and the concurrent activity is the believer exercising the power to do things that accord with what God has planned, Him being the author of everything that is good and godly, and righteous, never being the One who causes any one to sin; if there is any iniquity, or wickedness, and unholiness, it all comes from the flesh, the world and the devil.  Even those who don't believe do whatever God's pleasure is, He uses their evil to accomplish His purposes on the earth; a clear illustration of this is depicted in Isaiah 10; God uses Assyria to bring chastisement upon Israel, and then judges Assyria for their wickedness in doing so, read it and you will see what I'm talking about.

Every time I think something good, or speak a kind word, or do something that brings glory to God, I know it is Him who is causing me to think, speak, and do what His good pleasure is; every single time I sit there and read my bible, I know it is the Spirit leading me to read; if I understand it, it is the Spirit giving me understanding; if I marvel at His word, it all comes from God.  He is a loving father who never gets tired of giving what is good, and He always keeps His promises, like this one: John 14:23-27  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.  These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

How is He fulfilling that promise?  He says it right there, He will send the Comforter to bring all His words into remembrance and teach all things; with the Comforter comes peace, He is the God of peace; the peace Paul says surpasses all understanding, here it is: Php 4:6-9  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

What do you see here?  What I see is that God makes a promise to come and dwell in the believers who love Him and keep His word, there is what appears to be a condition there, 'if a man love me, he will keep my words, and in return my Father will love him, and we both will come and make our home in him'; if at any point, and because of my frailties I fear or worry about the future, or anything else for that matter, He says that He will give me peace, and His instruction is to not let my heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid; the instruction from Paul is to pray in every thing, with supplication, and thanksgiving, and then the worry will disappear and be replaced with the peace that surpasses human understanding.  Here the antidote for my fears is the peace of God, but I have to love Him, and pray, that is the condition.

We have two clauses with two apparent conditions, both are apparently conditional promises, and both are effectual only if the condition is met; do you see that?  How do the promises become fulfilled?  By fulfilling the condition first in both cases; if a man love me is the first, and pray with supplication and thanksgiving is the second; both are centered in the volition of the believer, in other words, the condition is to be met by the believer.  Do you want these promises to be fulfilled in your life?  Fulfill the condition.  Love Jesus, and pray.  Do you see the apparent impossibility in both cases?  I do.

At first sight, it looks impossible to me.  How can I love God with all my heart, and mind, and strength?   How can I pray with supplication and thanksgiving in everything?  I don't have the power to do either one.  The solution to my dilemma is that the love and the drawing to God in prayer, are always originated in God before anything can happen; He made a covenant with Himself  (and He will keep it) of which I am only a participant by His choosing, He is the One who placed me in this covenant position, and He is the One doing it and keeping it.  At the moment of regeneration, the believer, me in this case, is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, says Paul in Ephesians 1:13, there the promise of Jesus has been fulfilled, the Comforter has come, and He has come with the peace Jesus promises, and with the new heart that God promised in the new covenant, the covenant of grace:  Ezekiel 36:24-28 and Jeremiah 31:33-34.

Here is Ezekiel:
"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

And here is Jeremiah:
"But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

"I will sprinkle...I will cleanse you...I will give you....I will put....I will forgive...I will remember their sin no more...I shall be your God"; it is all God who does it, even the walking in His ways is caused by Him: "I will cause you to walk in my statutes"; that is what grace is all about, grace is God doing in me what I cannot possibly do on my own, and this is an eternal contract that is worked out in my life in the here and now; the goal is always the display of the glory of God; therefore I will do what He requires because He will supply the grace to do it.

So if I look at it this way, the apparent conditions become statements of fact; "if a man love me" has nothing to do with a man initiating the action of loving Him; yes, the man loves Him, but it is the other way around; we love Him because He first loved us; therefore Jesus can say "every tree that my Father has not planted will be rooted up"; the Father is always the initiator of every action on behalf of the elect sinner, and it is all traced back to the eternal and secret recesses of the divine will, to which of course we have no access.  In effect, we have been chosen before the foundation of the world, and the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world; regeneration is the beginning of the expression, or working out, in the time domain, of the eternal covenant that was worked out between the members of the trinity before time began, and as I said before, this is with the purpose of reflecting the glory of God back to Him.

I think that I lack commitment, I don't have any goals, I am tired of trying, and I don't know what it's gonna take; but I know this one thing, God is at work in me to will and to perform of His good pleasure.  One day the end will come for me, and for you too, I will die at the appointed time and that day I will not be worried or anxious about anything, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, my eyes will see the King of glory and He will be exalted; all to the praise of the glory of God's grace; the number of stars in the universe will be irrelevant, and there will not be any seconds to count no more, the wait will finally be over.  I will love Him with perfect love and I will not need to ask for anything, I shall dwell in His house forever; so I will relax and enter into His rest. I'm going to make an entry on one of those notebooks.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com