48. the note on top of my bed

today I hang a big note
on top of my bed

so that I will be reminded
 each time I read

the note says "Pray",
 in black ink, simple

in each circumstance,
 give thanks ample

a mental note to self,
it looks like an epitaph, an inscription
written in a "scroll",
 completes the imagination

at first I cringed,
 isn't that a morbid thought
but wait it's a reminder
of The One, our "salvation" He brought

indeed my old self is dead
I would like to believe that is so
the epitaph it will remind me
of the death I have come to know.

47. what giving thanks does

I've always heard it from long time ago
that God commands us to give thanks
I never understood the reason, no.
and even thought that's a wrong message sent

The Writer, she wrote about it
what I have been trying  to understand
Give thanks anyways, do this in remembrance of HIM
For when we do it, it is us made whole, not The One

When we are broken and we give thanks,
 it is us who are made whole
Because when we remember to give thanks
our broken places are remembered,  made good.

 Giving thanks puts us back together
All our brokenness re-collect
In recollecting the goodness of God
Our dead selves resurrect

We are put back together
We are re-membered. We heal
It's us who are re-assembled
whatever the devil in us killed

When we're in pain and weary and sick
He re-members our broken bones
A joyful heart is a good medicine
when we remember to thank God.


So,the age-old question
why does God require thanksgiving?
it is never for HIS conceit
It's for our mending.




 

46. If you really believe...

it was a quiet afternoon

lunch done and everything put away

i sat again in front of the computer

feeling for the inspiration to write the verse for today

nothing coming, instead i felt my eyelids heavy

would a nap do me good? I'm feeling unsteady

the comeon was strong, on the bed, I sat at first 

on a pillow I surrendered my head, yeah I'm sleepy

before I lost myself, I remember I was praying 

giving thanks, the scenes in my mind were flashing

the doctor's office, the home, the hospital bed 

the difficult struggle between my heart and my head

I have made the decision to get the operation done

I don't know if that decision was indeed the right one

It was swift, all I could think of was that God was leading me

That it was the right decision, to go get the surgery

I was dreaming, I heard a voice, asking clearly

"if you say you really believe, why do you disbelieve?"

out of my subconscious mind, I know God can see

that I may proclaim my faith but deep inside,there's uncertainty

I am building up my faith, I know God is with me 

I will struggle, like the others before me

The test of faith is on, pain and suffering will enhance

the trials in my life will produce faith and endurance

Scripture

Romans 5

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

 

45. Trust in the LORD

it was like a whirlwind, it carried me very far
since then, everyday, I know I've started the war

the first symptoms were easy, they looked ordinary
in my head, the treatment, would not be so scary.

I pored on information I could find on the internet
all the symptoms they mentioned, "I have all of them", I could bet

I read more and more, I self-diagnosed
In a few days from detection, in my mind, this body was comatose

I knew there was nothing wrong with gathering information
to arm yourself with knowledge, is not bad, but do with caution

 The next days became a roller-coaster, acceptance vs unbelief
some days I felt, "I'll submit", but then other days, "I'll just quit"

I have been reading God's words all throughout the ordeal
I can honestly say, I read -- but the message, DID I HEAR?

I went with the flow, preparations were made
I asked for prayers, for God's help, as I decide to go under the blade.

the last three days prior, I was numb, I stopped analyzing
I still read God's words, hoping to see HIS leading

I have snippets of Scripture, that were etched in my head
On the way to the OR, as I lay on that rolling bed

By the wide door we stopped, my children hugged and kissed me
Our fervent prayer, we said aloud, for God's help, for my safety

I started crying, then straight ahead as the wide door opened
Proverbs 3, verses 5-6,  i looked up again, they listened.

"Trust in the Lord with all of thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding
In all thy ways acknowledge HIM,and He shall direct thy paths"

I realized my folly, by God's grace He showed it to me
I depended on my own knowledge, predicted my own destiny.

A voice in my head spoke about the process of cleansing
Some things must come to pass, but trust HIM, there's a new beginning.

In all that we do, to the LORD God, put our trust
Every day of our lives, do this, it's a MUST.


 Scripture:

Proverbs 3:5-6

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

44. Christian life is not trouble-free

it is a very wrong notion

that Christian life is trouble-free

in fact, sometimes, life's troubles

do not become less, instead, plenty.

this is because God is in the process 

of CLEANSING and CHANGING you

to do away with bad attitudes

and old negative habits that you do.

there are areas in our lives 

that need to be sanded, shaped, sifted

to transform us into Christian-likeness

is what it's for, it's needed.

trouble is one of God's effective tools

in winnowing a person's character

the greatest men and women of Scripture

are those whose lives were made harder.

43. happy is the people whose God is the Lord

the Lord is MY GOD

HE supplies all my needs

HE takes care of my food,

 as HE does for birds, their seeds.

HE gives me my shelter

my protection from the sun and rain

HE gives me the air to breathe

He soothes my aches and pains.

To find JOY in everything

is to be THANKFUL for all things

to be happy is to look unto HIM

and to listen to what HE is saying.

a life apart from the LORD

is a life of strife and uncertainty

Each step away equals worry,

in pain and discomfort, unhappy.

happy is the people

whose GOD is the LORD

all their HOPES are unto HIM

looking forward to HIS SECOND COMING

42. God speaks

i found myself

in a valley of tears

hating myself

for my own sins

i've lived in those sins

ignored the warnings

yet at the back of my head

i hear God's proddings

i read His words

I claimed understanding

but only temporarily

before long i found them waning

i praised Him for all things

acknowledged His blessings

but when the time came for faith-testing

i found myself running

but God is faithful

beyond our understanding

even when we reject Him

He still remains so loving

Today in a painful moment

of admitting my sin of unbelief

I confessed wholeheartedly

and after that I found relief

God sent an emissary

a vessel of God's truth in words

it was like a dam broke, I cried a river

For what she said truly struck a chord

I sit here laughing, crying

enjoying this quiet conversation

about promises, about love

about healing and protection

41. a lesson from Paul

in one's journey through life
temptations are all a-plenty
a snare, a trap, a will to boast
to lift oneself up unnecessarily

what would it gain someone to boast?
it will accomplish nothing
and what would it profit a man to pose
claim greatness about something not his doing

the Lord is good
He safeguards us from conceit
trials may look like a thorn in our flesh
but in reality it protects us from Satan's deceit

sometimes He allows Satan's ministrations 
leaves us open for Satan to mess with and torment
it sometimes pushes us over the edge
to the point that we plead and lament

and when that happens, it is the time
to reveal that His grace is sufficient
the time to experience God's awesome power
Power made perfect when our strength is absent

if being weak means God is with us
who would despise the absence of strength?
it would be a joy to boast of one's weakness
and delight when in hardships, persecuted, insulted.

it doesn't matter much--
if in your flesh, you have thorns
with God in our lives,
the weak among us becomes strong

2 Corinthians 12

New International Version (NIV)

Paul’s Vision and His Thorn

12 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. ² I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. ³ And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— ⁴ was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. ⁵ I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. ⁶ Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, ⁷ or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.





 

40. looking forward to the thousandth verse

with renewed hope, a stronger faith:

to keep WALKING along this PATH

is the desire of my REPENTANT heart 

in the everyday JOURNEY of my life

a THOUSAND VERSES I will write

39. what steals your joy?

who owns the power

to create your own joy?

does joy come from beauty,

or from a joke, or a funny toy?

when you cease being joyful

do you know you also stop being hopeful?

when you surrender your joyfulness

you embrace the call of the darkness

Ann Voskamp, she asked:

"why deprive myself of joy's oxygen?"

because you believe in the POWER OF THE PIT!

the swiftness and starkness of that answer is startling!

do you smother your own JOY

because you believe ANGER achieves more?

is your daily life ruled by God

or by complaining, exasperation, resentment, Satan's ways galore?

what it really is, is a choice

to CRUSH joy with BITTERNESS

it is the purposeful choosing

to take the way of the PRINCE OF DARKNESS

search yourself,  ask the same questions

do you choose Lucifer's angry way?

is it more effective over giving THANKS?

think about it LIVE JOY starting today.

Note: Inspiration for this verse came from: http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/10/why-you-should-smile-right-now-crazy-joy-day-10/

38. two gods

wherever your treasure is

a chain is connected to it and to your heart

this is the MRI/x-ray machine

of the Holy Spirit of God

if you want to know where you're at spiritually

just look at where's your money

wherever your money flows

it tells you where's your loyalty

according to Jesus himself

the two gods are not God and Satan

for Satan is a tempter, a created angel

he broke away from God, to the other direction, had gone.

God and Mammon

the two vying for your heart

God vs money and materialism

seek God's help to set them apart.

Matthew 6

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,^[c]your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy,^[d] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

37. Grace-stoppers

If you've ever experienced

God's grace and love

you'd know how it feels

to have that grace depart

it's true that only God

can give us everything

but when grace-stoppers come up

we end up with nothing

there are things that destroy

God's work in our lives

they ruin God's plan

and they give Evil a place to thrive

It is written in Acts, Chapter 5

The story of Ananias and Sapphira

Husband and wife that pretended and lied

Willful deception, exemplified.

At some point in our lives

We face the same temptation opportunity

To pretend, to pose, to deceive

Of hypocrisy, we are guilty

When we crave for applause from people

This causes grace from God to stop flowing

God wants us to remain pure and humble

Our spirit, He is protecting.

Live your life being who you really are

And not who or what you purport to be

Let us seek God's grace to help us see

How to live our lives in honesty.

Scripture:
Acts

5 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. ² With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

³ Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?⁴ Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

⁵ When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. ⁶ Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

⁷ About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”

“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

⁹ Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

¹⁰ At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

36.closer to the Father

i can't remember when was the last time

that I caught myself about to smile

with all this bunch of unhappy things

i'd  bet it has been quite a while

lately my days are filled with worries

and challenges that brings me down

it's hard to smile, much more, to laugh

i think, even if i see a clown.

scary thoughts of unknown sickness

i need to muster courage to find out

my head is bursting with thoughts of illness

everyday, to me, are continuous bouts

wavering faith is not good at all

if we allow it, it will make us falter

connect with friends who love the Father

keep one another in fervent prayer

it is good to listen to people of strong faith

they give you strength to muster

your own faith grows and brings you closer

to God, our Heavenly Father

35. caterpillars and butterflies

...the caterpillars you have to endure

if you want to see butterflies in the future...

34....

how quickly feelings shift

from positive to negative

but isn't it human nature

to be irresolute, indecisive

one moment it's a yes

the next it is a no

and then fear creeps in

as we wait for signs to show

signs are not reliable

if they are based on human interpretation

we supply our own meanings

whatever is convenient for the situation

face the fear, that's what's to do

although it is easier said than done

pray for confidence and courage

leave everything in the hands of The One

Note: Will be posting a few verses saved in the drafts folder ~ sitting there for a long time, some missing a line or two, waiting for the inspiration to finish them....and then it came.....