Bless the Lord, O my soul...

2009 is going to be history soon. What a year it has been! I started this blog and my Chinese blog and became a Facebook (now affectionately called Gracebook by many of us) fanatic. Through these avenues, God has caused my path to cross with so many other wonderful and like minded brothers and sisters in Christ from different parts of the world. I am so thankful to Daddy God for these grace friends, they have been such awesome blessings to me in my own grace walk.

I have just finished reading a great book titled "He Loves Me" by Wayne Jacobsen. When I first bought the book, I thought to myself, I know God loves me, but was I wrong! This year, the Lord has shown me His amazing and unconditional love in so many new and exciting ways. Like what Brother Alan shared with us, it takes revelation knowledge to know and experience these truths of God. Head knowledge is not enough when it comes to the things of God, we need revelation knowledge. That in itself is a revelation to me :)

I am going to end 2009 with verses from a beautiful psalm that speak of Daddy's goodness :

"¹ Bless the LORD, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
² Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
³ Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
⁴ Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
⁵ Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s." (Psalm 103:1-5)

Have a restful and grace filled new year, everyone! God bless you and your loved ones abundantly. Love you all!

Blessed CHRISTmas

"Christmas Offering" by Casting Crowns

"For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

We Are The Reason

We Are The Reason Lyrics

As little children
We would dream of Christmas morn
Of all the gifts and toys
We knew we'd find
But we never realized
A baby born one blessed night
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives

We were the reason
That He gave His life
We were the reason
That He suffered and died
To a world that was lost
He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live

As the years went by
We learned more about gifts
The giving of ourselves
And what that means
On a dark and cloudy day
A man hung crying in the rain
All because of love, all because of love

I've finally found the reason for living
It's in giving every part of my heart to Him
In all that I do every word that I say
I'll be giving my all just for Him, for Him

He is my reason to live

"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Matthew 1:21-23

Perfect Love

The Bible says that perfect love casts out fear. "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18 NIV)

God has been leading me on a journey to entrench myself deeper in His amazing love for me. I am learning that when I am fully convinced of God's unrelenting and unconditional love for me, I will not fear that He does not love me when I do not do as He pleases. I will also not be fearful that I have to do as He pleases to earn His love. God's love for me is unconditional, I have not done and can never do anything to earn His love. God's Word tells me that "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 NKJ) Wow! This means when I was still a sinner, God has already shown His love for me by sending His beloved Son, Jesus, to die for me! I have not done anything to deserve His amazing love and this is precisely what my Daddy God wants me to know, that He loves me so much and He yearns for a relationship with me that is deeply rooted in His unchanging and perfect love for me.

When I am firmly entrenched in His love for me, I will trust Him completely. I strongly believe that when I trust Him totally, I have been perfected in His love. When the devil attacks me with fearful thoughts, I am able to cast them off because I trust in His perfect love for me. I will have the comforting assurance that my Daddy God loves me very much and His plans are always to prosper me and never to harm me (Jeremiah 29 :11)

1 John 4:18 tells us that "fear has to do with punishment". When we know how much God loves us, we know and believe that for us who are in Christ, God is no longer punishing us for our sins because they were punished on Jesus' body on the cross. It has been finished on the cross, there is nothing left for us to do now but to receive it by faith and to believe that God Loves Us.

"I trust in His perfect love."

God's Kind of Love - by Andrew Wommack

God's Kind Of Love
By Andrew Wommack
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love" (1 John 4:7-8).

Most of us think that we really understand the love of God, but our experience proves otherwise. We feel lonely, depressed, discouraged, and defeated. Every one of these negative emotions would be turned to positive by a proper revelation of God's love for us.

As for loving others, most of us would admit there are some people who are very difficult to love. Since we do not fully understand God's love for us, we fail in loving others. We can't give away what we don't have. If we receive a full revelation of God's love for us, it becomes easy to love others with the love that we have received.

When we struggle to believe that God's promises to us will come to pass, that's unbelief; but the root of that unbelief is a lack of love. Galatians 5:6 says faith works by love. That means love is the driving force behind our faith. Remove or diminish love, and faith ceases to be what it should be. Many of us try hard to believe when we should be seeking a greater revelation of God's love for us. Then, faith would just naturally work.

Just a few months after Jamie and I were married, we were in a desperate situation. I had quit my job, believing that the Lord wanted me to go into full-time ministry. The result was that we were hurting financially. It had been days since we had eaten. We had nothing but a few Cokes that a friend had given us and a bag of Fritos that we had been rationing out. Our faith was beginning to waver. We were fighting with all we had, to believe that the Lord was going to supply our needs, but our circumstances and empty bellies were screaming unbelief at us.

One morning, Jamie took our last fifty cents and our car and drove to the laundry mat to do some laundry. While she was gone, I did some serious business with the Lord. I was crying and saying, "Lord, I don't understand. I would give my right arm to feed Jamie. I believe You love us more than I love Jamie, and yet You aren't taking care of us." I had let circumstances blind me to God's love. That's the main reason my faith wasn't working.

The Lord spoke Luke 12:32 to me very clearly. That verse says, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Suddenly, I realized my unbelief was because I had forgotten how much God loves us. God delights in our prosperity (Ps. 35:27). He gets no pleasure from watching us starve. As the revelation of God's love for us came flooding over me, all doubt that our needs would be supplied was instantly gone. When Jamie returned from doing the laundry, I told her that we were going to eat meat that day.

We had Fritos and Coke for lunch. We skipped supper because we were tired of Fritos and Coke. At church, a friend asked us to stop by his apartment after the service. We thought, "Maybe they are going to feed us." We stayed and talked for over an hour, but there was no food. As we were leaving, however, the man gave us loads of fish that he had caught. He also gave us all the vegetables to go with them. We rushed home, and Jamie fixed us a feast. Just a few minutes prior to midnight, we ate meat to our fill. The next day was my birthday, and a woman in the church gave us a large box full of porterhouse steaks. We went from a starvation diet of Fritos and Coke, to having enough steaks for a month in just a matter of hours because love made my faith work.

When our friend gave us the fish that evening, he told us that he had sent his wife by our apartment earlier that morning to deliver the food. Our car was gone, though; so she supposed we were not there and didn't stop. The only time that car was gone all day long was when Jamie went to wash clothes and I was praying in that apartment. At the exact moment that I got a new and fresh revelation of God's love for us, our supply came through. It took us a few hours to see it, but God moved instantly. He wanted to supply our need more than we wanted Him to. My lack of faith in His love hindered Him. As soon as I opened up to His love, my faith revived and He supplied.

There is more than just a superficial knowledge that God loves us. In Ephesians, chapter 3, Paul prayed that the Ephesians would get a greater revelation of God's love for them. He said, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God" (Eph. 3:14-19).

Notice in verse 18 that God's love isn't just one-dimensional. There is height, depth, length, and breadth to it. Many Christians only see God's love as they would see a painting, in one-dimension. They've never seen the multi-dimensional reality of God's love.

In verse 19, Paul said as we experience God's love, which is superior to mere knowledge of God's love, then we would be filled with all the fullness of God. What a statement! Are you lacking in any area of your life? If so, you lack a revelation of God's love. Experiencing God's love equals fullness.

I've said all of this to say that a deep revelation of God's love for us is the most important thing we can receive. First Corinthians 13:13 says, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity" (God's kind of love).

There are many ways that Satan uses to try to block the revelation of God's love for us. One of the most subtle, and therefore the most deadly, ways is that he has deceived us into thinking that God's love for us is tied to our performance. We think we have to do something to earn God's love. We have to merit God's love. That is not what the Bible teaches.

In the natural world, you get what you deserve. Employers don't hire you based on their love for you. You have to perform. If you perform badly, you are punished or fired. The same thing is true in most relationships. I've had hundreds of married couples essentially tell me, "They don't deserve my love." However, the nearly-too-good-to-be-true news of the Gospel is that we don't get what we deserve. Praise the Lord!

God's love for us is unconditional. That is, God doesn't love us because of some virtue we possess. God loves us because "God is love" (1 John 4:8), not because we are lovely.

Religion is one of the biggest propagators of the conditional-love-of-God lie. Most "Christian churches" teach that God's love for us is conditional, based on our performance. If we pray, go to church, pay our tithes, etc., then the Lord loves us and answers our prayers; but if we fail, then the Lord won't answer our prayers. That's not true.

There is a disease in the church that I call "spiritual dyslexia." Dyslexia is where a person sees things backwards. A dyslexic person sees the word "god" as "dog". There's a huge difference between God and a dog; yet dyslexics don't see it.

"Spiritual dyslexia" has a similar effect on people. Those infected with this "spiritual dyslexia" see scriptures backwards. For instance, 1 John 2:3-5 says, "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him."

A dyslexic Christian sees these verses and says, "I want to know God, so I must keep His commandments." These verses are saying just the opposite. Keeping God's commandments is a result of knowing God. You can live a holy life without knowing God; the Pharisees proved that. However, you can't know God without living a holy life as a result. When God's love is perfected in us, keeping God's Word will be the result (verse 5).

Any attempt to reverse this order is "getting the cart before the horse." It won't work; and yet this is what the majority of Christians are trying to do. They are seeking to know the Lord better by living a holier life. It's just the opposite. Experiencing God's love more will produce a holy life.

This dyslexic condition has caused many to tie God's love for them to their performance. When they do well, they let God's love for them flow. When they do poorly, they condemn themselves. They think God is condemning them, but He's not. In many cases, it's not even the devil condemning them. Satan has caused them to believe a lie, and they are condemning themselves.

We all need a greater revelation of God's unconditional love for us! I have a special series designed just for that purpose. A revelation of God's unconditional love for me is what turned my life around in 1968. It's still impacting me today. These teachings reveal the things God showed me about His love. I believe that if you open up your heart, the Lord will grant you at least as much revelation on this as I have, and it will change your life. Please order the album entitled God's Kind of Love: The Cure for What Ails Ya today.

Source : http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/gods_love

Father's Love Letter

Source of video and text : http://fathersloveletter.com/

My Child,

You may not know me,
but I know everything about you.
Psalm 139:1

I know when you sit down and when you rise up.
Psalm 139:2

I am familiar with all your ways.
Psalm 139:3

Even the very hairs on your head are numbered.
Matthew 10:29-31

For you were made in my image.
Genesis 1:27

In me you live and move and have your being.
Acts 17:28

For you are my offspring.
Acts 17:28

I knew you even before you were conceived.
Jeremiah 1:4-5

I chose you when I planned creation.
Ephesians 1:11-12

You were not a mistake,
for all your days are written in my book.
Psalm 139:15-16

I determined the exact time of your birth
and where you would live.
Acts 17:26

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Psalm 139:14

I knit you together in your mother's womb.
Psalm 139:13

And brought you forth on the day you were born.
Psalm 71:6

I have been misrepresented
by those who don't know me.
John 8:41-44

I am not distant and angry,
but am the complete expression of love.
1 John 4:16

And it is my desire to lavish my love on you.
1 John 3:1

Simply because you are my child
and I am your Father.
1 John 3:1

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could.
Matthew 7:11

For I am the perfect father.
Matthew 5:48

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand.
James 1:17

For I am your provider and I meet all your needs.
Matthew 6:31-33

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope.
Jeremiah 29:11

Because I love you with an everlasting love.
Jeremiah 31:3

My thoughts toward you are countless
as the sand on the seashore.
Psalms 139:17-18

And I rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

I will never stop doing good to you.
Jeremiah 32:40

For you are my treasured possession.
Exodus 19:5

I desire to establish you
with all my heart and all my soul.
Jeremiah 32:41

And I want to show you great and marvelous things.
Jeremiah 33:3

If you seek me with all your heart,
you will find me.
Deuteronomy 4:29

Delight in me and I will give you
the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4

For it is I who gave you those desires.
Philippians 2:13

I am able to do more for you
than you could possibly imagine.
Ephesians 3:20

For I am your greatest encourager.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

I am also the Father who comforts you
in all your troubles.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

When you are brokenhearted,
I am close to you.
Psalm 34:18

As a shepherd carries a lamb,
I have carried you close to my heart.
Isaiah 40:11

One day I will wipe away
every tear from your eyes.
Revelation 21:3-4

And I'll take away all the pain
you have suffered on this earth.
Revelation 21:3-4

I am your Father, and I love you
even as I love my son, Jesus.
John 17:23

For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed.
John 17:26

He is the exact representation of my being.
Hebrews 1:3

He came to demonstrate that I am for you,
not against you.
Romans 8:31

And to tell you that I am not counting your sins.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19

His death was the ultimate expression
of my love for you.
1 John 4:10

I gave up everything I loved
that I might gain your love.
Romans 8:31-32

If you receive the gift of my son Jesus,
you receive me.
1 John 2:23

And nothing will ever separate you
from my love again.
Romans 8:38-39

Come home and I'll throw the biggest party
heaven has ever seen.
Luke 15:7

I have always been Father,
and will always be Father.
Ephesians 3:14-15

My question is…
Will you be my child?
John 1:12-13

I am waiting for you.
Luke 15:11-32

Love, Your Dad
Almighty God

God's Love

When I watched this video on facebook posted by my dear sister, Angie, I was moved to tears. So many times in my years as a Christian, I have been told that if we really love God, we will sacrifice our "Isaacs" for Him when He requires us to. I used to really cringe at the thought and refused to accept that God who is supposed to be a God of love would be so sadistic and callous in His requirements of us. I could not imagine sacrificing my beloved child on the altar. I mean Abraham was a man of great faith, he had the faith that God would raise his son up again but I, skeptical and faithless I, did not profess to have even a measure of the faith that our dear father of faith had.

How my perspective of God has changed since I knew and understood His grace and unconditional love for mankind and yes, in particular for skeptical and faithless me. When God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on the altar, God's main intention was not to test Abraham's faith or his love for Him as I have been taught in the past because He had already provided the ram as a substitute sacrifice. It was not about Abraham's love or our love for God and what we must do to earn His love. It is about God's love for us; His unconditional, amazing love which was freely given to us. God showed His love for us by giving us Jesus. Such is the amazing grace of God : it does not demand anything from us but it cost God His Son, His beloved Son.


Abraham's story in Genesis 22:1-16 was a foreshadow of what God was going to do to HIS OWN SON in the future. Isaac, carrying the wood up the mountain, was a picture of God's own beloved Son, Jesus Christ who will be carrying the wooden cross on His shoulders up another mountain in the future. While God had already provided a ram for Abraham, He did not provide a substitute sacrifice for Himself. God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his beloved son, Isaac so that he and we can behold the Lamb of God who was born to die on the cross for our sins. While Abraham was spared the heart-rending act of sacrificing his only son, God did not spare Himself from sacrificing His Son, His only Son, the Son whom He loves for us and yes, in particular for me, because He loves us and HE LOVES ME!


What an amazing God and what a wonderful Saviour we have in Jesus!


"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:10

Sit, Walk and Stand based on Grace and His Finished Work (16)

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Sit, Walk and Stand based on Grace and His Finished Work (15)

Put on the Full Armor of God (8) – The Sword of the Spirit

The 6th piece of the armor is an offensive weapon, it is a sword! Paul likens the Word of God to a sword. “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;” ( Ephesians 6:17 NKJ). This brings to mind another verse in Hebrews where Paul uses the same powerful imagery to depict the Word of God : “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” ( Hebrews 4:12)

The sword of the Spirit is no ordinary sword, it is so effective that Jesus Himself used it against the devil and caused him to flee when He was tempted in the wilderness. “And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
⁴ But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”
⁵ Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶ And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ⁷ Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
⁸ And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written,‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ (Luke 4:1-8 NKJ)

In the next verse, the devil quoted scripture against Jesus! "For it is written:
‘ He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you,’ and, ‘ In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”. (Luke 10,11 NKJ)

But what did Jesus say to counteract the devil's cunning tactic of misquoting the Word? Jesus answered back with the Word : "And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’” (Luke 4:12 NKJ)

Take note that the devil knows how to quote scriptures too but he usually misquotes them to use against us. That is why it is so important that we study the Word. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV) Every time the evil one came against Jesus with his lies and insinuations, Jesus immediately retorted with “it is written”. What is written where? Jesus was referring to the Word of God written in the Torah, which in our context is the Bible. Jesus, being fully God and fully man, could have defeated the devil in many other ways when He was tempted but He chose to quote the Word of God. Surely, that is something for us to emulate! No wonder 1 John 2:14 tells us : “I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one. (NKJ) Isn’t this powerful? When the Word of God abides in us, we have overcome the wicked one!

It is vital to note that in John 1:1 the Bible likens Jesus to be synonymous with God’s Word : “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (NKJ) Revelation tells us : “He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.” (Revelations 19:13 NKJ). The Word of God and Jesus cannot be separated, they are one! This is why there is so much power in the Scriptures. Evil spirits tremble and flee when the Word of God is spoken with authority against them by God’s children because they know that the Word represents the very essence of Jesus Himself, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The Word carries all the backing of Almighty God. That is how powerful the Word of God is and also the reason why Paul tells us to take the sword of the Spirit in our battle against the evil one.

--------------------to be continued-----------------------