problems

From suffering to dependency

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31

Helen Keller wrote: “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”

Today’s scripture is full of hope for those who trust and declare their dependency on God. He who never tires and grows weary is well able to sustain you in time of trouble, pain and calamity.

Life’s afflications sometimes seem insurmountable and only the thought to be passing from such difficulties depletes us from our energy. God’s promise in this scripture is inviting us not to fight the battles on our own but to find the strength to overcome by abiding in Him.

The key is to wait on the Lord, this kind of waiting is not a passive waiting but a place of complete trust knowing that He who promised is faithful and is bound to His own promises, which are only destined to come to pass.

So if you are struggling today, trying to overcome with your own strength, please stop fighting on you own and surrender your life to Jesus. A refreshing rest awaits you, which will restore your strength, do not harden your heart to His call. Jesus loves you and cared for you till the point of death, just to be with you and help you overcome. He is not only a God who knows but He is also a God who experienced all that you are passing through, so who can better understand you but Him?

Heavenly Father thank you for another powerful promise that shows us that you are a loving and caring Father, giving us promises that will help us overcome every situation in life. You equipped us with your Word and the power of your Holy Spirit for all this to become possible. So we thank you Lord for giving us a revelation through Your Word to abide in Your Son Jesus, to lead not a trouble free life but a life that overcomes, a life that declares our total dependency on you, as its friction, shapes us and moulds us into Christ likeness, this we pray, in Jesus mighty Name, Amen.

February 4, 2024 0

His ways are not ours

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.

(Isaiah 55:8)

A scripture which partners with Proverbs 3:5-6, which invites us to trust in the Lord and not on our own understanding. Yes many our thoughts abd understanding are based on the temporal, experiences we faced and perceptions we grasp, many of which are not based on facts but are speculations, distorting the truth and therefore not allowing us to make the right decisions.

Today’s scripture is giving us a clear picture why we should not trust in our own undestanding but trust the wisdom of our God. God’s wisdom is eternal and nothing takes Him by surprise. He has it all figured out. What a contrast when we compare it with our own understanding. Our God is not only the God of our yesterday, but also of today abd He is the Lord of our tomorrow too and that is one simple yet valid reason why we should rely on Him rather than on what we think.

That is why we experience rest in the Lord as He dies not only know what our future holds but by giving Him the Lordship of our lives, we will allow Him to activate His plans for us to prosper for the glory of His Name. (Jer 29:11)

Thank you Lord for your wisdom, which you made available for us to rely on. Many times we are tempted to react to our circumstances but today we are understanding that is not the way we should live. Give us a deeper revelation of what it means to be moved not by what we feel or think, but only by Your promises. This we pray in Jesus Name, Amen.

February 3, 2024 3

Foundation Scriptures: Matthew 11:28

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

(Mat 11:28)

In this series of reflections, “Foundational Scriptures” I will be witing about scriptures that marked my new life in Christ and have been ever since the ‘foundation stones’ on which I built my faith in Christ.

Jesus our Sabbath, Jesus our rest, even just by thinking about it, it brings a sudden peace deep into our hearts. Yes, Jesus is that comfort that our hearts long for. Our spirit has been born again and its natural habitat is situated in Christ, it cannot find rest anywhere else.

So if today you are burdened or passing through a difficult situation, no matter how hard it is, our first quick reaction to it should be running to Jesus! He promised never to leave us nor forsake us.

You will soon discover once you face your battles in HIM that even though the storm may rage ferociously, His peace will give you the strength and serenity to go through the storm and that it would have contributed to your building up, making you more Christ like and more dependent on HIM.

So let us be quick to enter His shelter and get our strength through His overcoming power.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for yet another promise that shows how loving and caring you are towards your children. Help us through Your Holy Spirit to quickly realise the importance to find our refuge in Christ, as soon as we are faced with a challenge, so that we can set ourselves in a position of strength as you always manage to turn things for our good. We thank you Lord for being our Sabbath, blessed be your Name forevermore, Amen.

January 31, 2024 0

Foundational Sciptures: Matthew 6:33

”But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.“
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭33‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Another foundational scripture which gave me the assurance that God is in control, helping me focus on those things I can do and allowing God to deal with the things that are beyond my control.

For this purpose I like to use what I call the Mat 6:33 box as shown below:

How does this work?

A issue or multiple issues arise in my life.

I will get a paper and draw a box in the middle and in this box I will write all those tasks that I can do towards the situation/s. In the peripherals, outside the box, I will write all those things pertaining to the situation of which I have no control. I have given a few examples in the above sketch.

This exercise helps me sort my mind from confusion and will helps prioritise those things that I need to work on and all that is outside the box, I will make sure to lift them to God and allow Him to take over every single task.

You will soon realise that once you do this, the promises that are held in this powerful scripture will come to life. As we would be concentrating in doing our part, that is seeking to do good towards God and others and allow the Lord to deal with all the other issues, which are beyond us.

I would be blessed to receive comments or else through private messages via email alton@faithwriter.net or even by messenger, by adding me to your facebook, how this worked out for you.

There is nothing more exciting than seeing the Word of God coming alive into our situations, as we see God’s faithfulness take over, what once seemed insurmountable situations.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your another powerful promise of personal care you lavish on us, the moment we abide in doing what is good for your Kingdom and towards others. We do not even need to defend our cause, because once we submit to your glorious will, you will become our defender and who can defend us better than you oh my Lord? No one can, so we praise you and magnify your holy and glorious Name and we thank you for your caring love, this we pray in Jesus Name, Amen.

January 29, 2024 1

What’s your point of focus?

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

²⁷But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

³²And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.³³Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:25-33)

This scripture has so many lessons one can draw out of it, but one of the major ones is “focus”.

Once Peter was focusing on Jesus, he was able to do the impossible, defying nature, once he lost his focus and got distracted by the storm around him, he started to sink, till he came back to his senses and asked Jesus to save him.

This should be an invaluable lesson for us. What is the main focus of our life? Is it the circumstance that are currently facing or are we focused on the One who is able to help us overcome the circumstance?

Saturating our lives with God’s Word would help us focus on its author. Worship and thanks giving are two other powerful weapons to help us calibrate our focus on Jesus and they should a constant in our lives no to allow the ceaseless attacks of the enemy have their way in our lives.

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us these weapons which we can use to fine-tune our focus on Jesus. Help us Holy Spirit to quickly enter into His presence so that we will not allow any seed of the enemy take root in our lives, so that we can be able to walk on the storms of our lives as we give glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His Name we pray, Amen.

January 12, 2024 0

Intimacy with God – Part 2

in-light-of-eternity

Scripture: Psalm 73

Key verses: Psalm 73:17:23

Until I came into the sanctuary of God;
Then I perceived their end.
18 Surely You set them in slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment!
They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.
21 When my heart was embittered
And I was pierced within,
22 Then I was senseless and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have taken hold of my right hand.

Until I came into the Lord’s presence. Until I started to see things from His perspective. When entering the presence of God in an intimate way, we start seeing things from His point of view and what was before an unsurmountable issue for us, would suddenly appear to be negligent from the view point of the One who is above all things and able to do all things.

Entering into intimacy with God would help us start seeing things from an eternal perspective.

We have all to gain from being constant into HIS presence and this was only made possible through JESUS.

February 20, 2017 0

Desperately Dependent on Jesus

“For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life.” (Mark 8.36)

If someone comes to tell you that you have been fined €2,000, you would say “WHAT!” you would just dismiss the claim. However if someone comes and tells you ” Listen mate, on your way here you have crossed the speeding limit in a dead speed zone area as there is a school entrance in that street. This resulted to be highly dangerous for the children and you need to pay the fine.” After such an explanation you would have to accept the fault and pay the fine as you would have been convicted of the crime you did whether on not it has be voluntary.

Same thing happens with sin. Most of the people do have a clear vision of what sin is and do no realise the true consequence of sin that is ultimately death. That is why as Christians we need to explain clearly the effects of our born state that is sinful and that we can never pay the price to redeem ourselves as we are dealing with the perfect Law of God. The truth is that nothing apart from perfect can fulfil the perfect Law of God.

That is why we can never attain salvation with our own means and it takes the perfect sacrifice to be able to random our lives. That is were Jesus came in. He was faithful till the point of death just for you and me to have the opportunity to be one with the Father and take us back to the intended state which God created humans for.

Yes Jesus paid the price and therefore the life we live, we live it in HIM as only through HIM we can truly please God. Therefore a new life in Christ, “It is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20). Desperately dependent on our source of life Jesus, just like the Vine and the branches.

September 17, 2014 0

Let HIM Shine Through You

Reflection and exposition of 1 Thessalonians Chapter 1

Paul’s delight of the report Timothy brought to him about the church

He rejoiced in their:
Work of Faith
Labour of love
Steadfastness (immovable) hope in Jesus Christ

Becoming imitators of our leaders
The Thessalonians could see the light of the Gospel shining into the lives of Paul, Timothy, Silvanus and others and with a convicting power, the Holy Spirit helped them to imitate their leaders.

We thank God for giving us leaders who live the gospel and therefore as a church we are called today to imitate our leaders as they lead us in what the Lord has for us.

Becoming Examples
From being imitators to becoming examples, allowing the Holy Spirit to replicate the character of Christ in us so that we will too start to shine the light.

“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. (Luke 11:33)

The Holy Spirit will use our living testimony to convict the hearts of others.

True testimony shown by the fruit:
1. Hospitality
2. Seeking Holiness (turning away from idols or anything which takes our focus from God)
3. Live a life waiting for the return of the King of Kings and making sure that our lives are will prepared for us to go back with HIM. Just like the Virgins who has sufficient oil in their lamps.

May 16, 2014 0

Desperate Dependency

Today I had the blessed and wonderful opportunity to attend to a 3 hour session about Christian Counselling organised by brother Earl Pinkston and other brethren from Knisja Evangelika Battista Malta who introduced us to a group of missionaries from the US. Among these wonderful missionaries, we were introduced to a couple of professional Christian counsellors Kirk and Melanie. I immediately could perceive their heart is all for people and to see many more people embrace Jesus. It particularly struck me the emphasis the did on the statement that “without Jesus life cannot be functional.” With this in mind they wrote “Desperate Dependency” which cover step by step the whole process of how Christian counselling should be.

A book which I look forward to read and use as a constant reference in my ministry to others. For more information, I am including hereunder the link to their website.

I praise God for sending HIS people among us to teach us and encourage us to help people with tools that makes our service for the Lord and others much more efficient.

http://www.desperatedependency.com/#

Alton Costa
http://www.JESUSaves.net

May 1, 2014 0