Worship In Good And In Bad Times

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He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Job 1:21 NASB

I love this verse from the book of Job. It reminds us that we own nothing in this world, we did not bring anything from the womb. All that we have today is from the Lord. We are just stewards, if God decides to take away things or withold some things from us, we do not have to feel entitled and deprived.

Our response when God provides or answers our prayers must be the same when we feel things are taken from us, that is, to praise the Lord! The Lord our God is good, what we perceive as bad, he can make it for good.

Some people think that when God allowed unfortunate events, He is punishing them. But true believers will think that they are like Job, whom God trusts to be His champion against Satan’s taunting. For us Christians, God can trust us because we have placed our faith in His Son Jesus. Jesus is our rock and we can depend on Him to deliver us in times of trial. Sure, we are unable to fight Satan’s trick without God in our lives, in tempting us he even needs permission from the Lord. So if God let us be tempted, there must be some sort of good plan that He wants to carry on through us.

Finally, the bottomline is since we are in Christ we can rejoice in both good or suffering, with which worship will be our initial response. Jesus already took on the greatest suffering at the cross more than two thousand years ago, so our suffering today is nothing compared to His. For the reason that He overcame death and lives, He is working now for us, sanctifying us to be victors for God!

Soli Deo Gloria!

-Rhia

My Artwork For The Lord

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For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:1‭-‬2‭, ‬4 ESV

Recently, I have been re-discovering my artistic capability. This afternoon, I felt compelled to sketch a rock with Jesus in my mind.

It is so fascinating how I was able to sketch something that is in my imagination. I thank the Lord for this gift of talent. I hope to incorporate in my devotions this newfound creativity as my offering to the Lord.

Another prayer I have for the Lord is for Him to strengthen me not to fall into idolatry because I have a tendency to sidetrack my quiet time whenever I am into something that interest me. I hope my desire to honor Him will be greater than any distractions, to love the Giver more than the gift!

Soli Deo Gloria!

-Rhia

P.S. As I searched the verse where Jesus is proclaimed as the Rock, I was amazed that the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 10 is about warning against idolatry and how everything we do, we should do for the Lord. I finished my draft for this post even before I searched for the verse, I’m in awe of this coincidence!

Thank You Lord for this message, I know there is no coincidence in You! ♥️♥️♥️

Short Reflection: Repentance

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Now then make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.”
Ezra 10:11 ESV

The Bible never run short of passages on repentance, most likely because God knows how sinful man is, that He needs to tell us through Scriptures our condition and how badly we need His grace and forgiveness.

This verse was at the time that some Israelites was allowed to be back to Jerusalem from their exile. Of course, this was a favor from the Lord who had stirred the hearts of the Persian kings, so the Israelites could go back to their land and rebuild the temple. However, they married themselves to pagan inhabitants which the Lord had forbidden. As Ezra led the people, he made this call of repentance as he taught them how to follow the Lord.

Even as we follow Jesus, it is not a secret that we still sin, not that we are actually proud to commit sin. It is during our sanctification that Jesus will uncover our sins so we further embrace Holy Spirit’s transformational power on us. The Scriptures tell us our responsibility as God reveals our sins, that is to confess our sins to God, do what He says (by reading the Bible we will know His will) and separate ourselves from our sins.

Salvation enables us to say ‘no’ to sin and our personal relationship with Jesus should make us uncomfortable or bothered everytime we are in the face of sinning. If we cannot then we have to assess if we are truly followers of Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria!

-Rhia