Sometimes we are not aware of why we feel down or fragmented, but regardless of the reason, the solution to return to joy, is to praise God for His goodness towards us. Walk by faith not by sight 2 Co 5:7.

The purpose of believers gathering together is to devote themselves to God’s teaching, to encourage one another toward love and good deeds Heb 10:24,25, to celebrate the Lord’s Supper and to pray Ac 2:42.

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians addressed the abuse at the Lord’s Supper.  The purpose of the Lord’s Supper was for believers to come together, as a body, united in their gratitude towards Jesus for his victory over sin and death for them 1 Co 11:24.   They would share a meal with two key elements, the first was bread, which sustains physical life representing the truth that Jesus gives and sustains spiritual life.  Jesus is the Bread of Life Jn 6:35 who conquered death 1 Pe 3:18.  The bread was broken, a picture of Jesus’ death and symbolizing our need to be broken––die to self, so that we can experience true life in Christ Gal 2:20.  The bread contains another truth.  We are one body in Christ like a whole loaf of bread but many individuals making up the loaf 1 Co 12:12.   Like the bread which Jesus broke into many pieces Mt 14:20, the body of Christ keeps multiplying getting larger and larger.

The second element, the wine, symbolizes Jesus’ blood which was shed.  This represented the New covenant, in which the Father would no longer hold sins against any individual  Heb 10:16,17,18; 2 Co 5:19.  The only sin that God will not forgive is the sin of unbelief Mk 3:28,29.  In this passage, the Pharisees witnessed the miracles of Jesus but because they did not want to lose their religious position Jn 11:48 claimed that the miracles Jesus accomplished was by the power of Satan, thus blaspheming the Holy Spirit by making him the Unclean Spirit Mk 3:22.

God has hidden a message in the first seven days of Genesis for all who have ears to hear and eyes to see Mt 13:11,12,13; Pr 25:2; Isa 46:10.  God’s message reveals His plan of salvation for man after the Fall and our role in accomplishing His plan and the results of the decisions of each individual for eternity.

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Play song: He’s the Light

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Before reading, start your day with a little prayer of praise to our Lord.

HEART OF PRAISE

Come and have breakfast. Jn 21:12

All songs on this website are by STreeTerandTang

Our purpose in having a blog site is to give hungry and thirsty souls Mt 5:6; Ps 42:1; spiritual nourishment Mt 4:4; Jn 6:56,57;1 Pe 2:2 to encourage them to love and live Jn 15:12,13; Jn 4:34 more like Jesus Ro 8:29; 2 Co 3:18.

As Christians, we should have ears to hear and eyes to see what God is revealing to each of us, in our normal daily living Mt 13:15,16; Ac 10:17,28,34,35; Ps 119:18 and use meditation Ps 119:97,99,148; Jos 1:8; 2 Ti 2:7 and the study of God’s Word Ac 17:11; 2 Ti 2:15; 3:16,17 to encourage others Ro 15:4; 1 Th 5:11; Heb 3:13.  These revelations can be shared through the gifts God has blessed us with Jas 1:17; Mt 25:15; Ex 36:2.  In my case, God has giving me a desire for creating blogs, songs and video; I may not be the most talented individual in these skilled areas, but I do each, to the best of my ability to glorify God Col  3:17,23; 1 Co 10:31.  God had also blessed me with a very gifted and talented wife that had helped me greatly with the song ministry.  She recently got promoted Php 1:23 and is with the Lord after fighting the good fight and having finished the race, all the while keeping the faith 2 Ti 4:7.

GIVE LOVE

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When you feel depressed, follow the emotions that brought on this depression back to its roots. It will lead to a situation where one of your four basic needs was not being met.  When you apply God’s truth through renewing your mind these emotions will respond and follow your will (correct thinking). When you obey God’s principles the fruit will be love, peace and joy rather than anxiety, fear, loneliness, unloved, uselessness, worthlessness, frustration, emptiness and the likes.
Use the chart below to discover what basic need is attached to your present emotions.

Then read the statements regarding this need in the realm that is affecting you.

Read the verses that relate to your emotions.  Renew your mind by repeating the truth.

To experience godly emotions follow these steps: believe God’s promises, replace your wrong thinking with God’s truth, walk by faith not by sight until your negative emotions submit to your correct thinking.

False premises always lead to unrealistic expectations. Let me illustrate how easy it is to accept a wrong premise. A premise is a statement assumed to be true and then used to draw a conclusion. The Bible states that believers live by faith not by sight 2 Co 5:7. However, many times we live by sight rather than faith. In the past, people believed that the earth was flat because that was their sight premise. Thus the conclusion they drew was that if they traveled far enough in one direction they would fall off the end of the earth. Walking by faith and believing the Bible would have convinced them of the faith premise, that the earth was round (spherical) for Isa 40:22 states “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers… ” Therefore, the conclusion would be since the earth was round, if we traveled in one direction we would eventually return to where we had started. Similarly, if we form our premise regarding expectations from our flesh of what we would like to see or expect as an outcome we will experience disappointment. When our premise is based on God’s Word, His promises are always yes 2 Co 1:20, although we need to remember that the timing of these promises are in His determination, not ours.

An unrealistic expectation is an expectation that we cannot control. All promises from God are realistic expectations. Some are positive while others are negative. For example, the Bible states that those that believe and trust in Jesus Christ have eternal life and when they die they will live with God in New Jerusalem where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain Rev 21:2,3,4. On the negative side of the promises is Jas 1:5,6,7,8 where we are not to expect any wisdom from God (answers to our prayers) if we doubt when we are asking, for God states that this type of person is a double-minded person and He will not reward him for his doubting faith.

Much of our depression begins with unrealistic expectations that are unfulfilled. When these expectations are not met this leads us into a downward emotional spiral: disappointment, frustration, bitterness, resentment, anger, revenge, depression and many other forms of negative feelings along with negative or destructive actions. Whenever we have a dependency on someone else or something happening we are setting ourselves up for failure. The correct premise is to be dependent only upon God, believing His promises such as Ro 8:28 where God says that He works out all things in our lives for our good (to those who love him / trust him). If people struggle with this verse, it is usually in the timing. God does not promise to work out all things in our time frame but His. A good example would be the promise God gave to Abraham and Sarah about having a baby in their old age. After waiting patiently for God to fulfill this promise, Abraham and Sarah decided that they would take charge of the timing of this promise, and the result was Ishmael. Today, we are on the verge of World War III because of the deep hatred of the Palestinians (Ishmael) towards Israel (Isaac).

By not having false expectations we can more easily adjust to our trials that constantly arise in all of our lives. We must keep reminding ourselves of God’s promises such as Ro 8:28; Heb 13:5b,6; Php 4:19; 1 Co 1:8,9. When we ignore God’s truth and turn to worldly methods of dealing with depression such as drugs, alcohol, sex, food, spending and many other distractions, we lose the opportunity to build a dependent, trusting relationship with the Lord and we will definitely miss out on the lessons He is trying to teach us through these trials.

By believing and practicing God’s promises we can take pride in our emotional and spiritual growth and a closer relationship with the Lord, knowing there is coming a day when we will spend eternity with God as His precious children, so do not lose heart and fix your eyes on the eternal 2 Co 4:16,17,18.

By digging deep into the Bible you will discover God’s “come and go” principle. It is first outlined in Genesis and then confirmed by Jesus in the gospel of Matthew. God told Noah to go into the ark Gen 7:1 which spiritually is a picture of being in the presence and protection of God (the ark representing physical salvation from the flood, which foreshadowed Jesus as the spiritual salvation from sin and death). Then after the flood had accomplished God’s purposes, he told Noah to come out of the ark Gen 8:16. This picture represents the saints obeying God’s will to accomplish his purposes in the world. For Noah and his family, they were told to go and to be fruitful and increase in number and fill the whole earth Gen 8:17; Gen 9:1. So God spends intimate time with us, then later gives us an assignment to complete for his glory, thus we are called into the ark to be in his presence then sent in the power of his Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s goals.

Jesus tells people who are heavy burdened to come to him for rest Mt 11:28,29,30; later he tells the true followers, to go out into all the world to make Christian disciples Mt 28:19,20. Here we have the same principle. God says come to me and I will be intimate with you and bring you rest and refreshment. Later when you are ready, I will send you throughout the world to preach the good news.

God has also placed this principle in the natural realm. We need both air and food to sustain our physical lives and we need the Holy Spirit and God’s Word to sustain our spiritual lives. The Holy Spirit’s name means wind or breath and we need to breathe him in and out spiritually, just as we do with the physical air we breathe.  We also need to feed on his Word daily to sustain us spiritually just as earthly food sustains us physically Mt 4:4.  Intimacy with God should be happening on a moment to moment basis (just like breathing air) through prayer and the reading of God’s Word which will then prepare ourselves for each day where we can be God’s hands and feet to be used as He sees fit.  God also prepares us for his longtime goals, such as Noah experienced, with a much more intense come and go period.

The Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters at creation waiting to spread his fragrance, just like the picture of the beloved (bride of Christ) that wanted the wind (Holy Spirit) to blow on her garden that its fragrance (gospel 2 Co 2:14,15,16) may spread into all the world SS 4:16. The waters is a picture of the lost world, rebelling against God Rev 17:15, Isa 17:12. The Holy Spirit has been pursuing mankind from the beginning to restore him back to God Jn 16:8,9,10,11.

The Holy Spirit is alluded to after the flood when God remembered Noah and sent a wind over the earth and the waters receded Gen 8:1. Here we have God’s restoration plan for mankind by the Holy Spirit through Noah. At creation God said let dry land appear Gen 1:9, which is a picture of God’s stability where believers get rooted and bear Christ’s fruit Jn 15:5 compared to the instability of the waters where rebellious man lives Jude 13 and Satan rules Eze 28:2; Rev 12:12.

This principle is revealed in Jonah’s story where he was rebellious and did not want to go and do what God had told him to do. He soon found himself in deep waters, spending three days and nights in the belly of a fish Jnh 1:17 until he was willing to come into God’s presence Jnh 2:2 and repent whereby he was tossed up onto dry land Jnh 2:10 now willing to be obedient to God’s request.

The centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant knew of this principle when he told Jesus, even I am a man under authority (there are commanders above me who give me orders) yet I tell my soldiers under me to go and he goes and come and he comes and they do it Lk 7:8. What the centurion was saying to Jesus was that he knows there is no one over Jesus in this world so he can command even sickness to leave and it will obey, even more so to tell his followers to come or to go!

God’s call to us to come into his presence can be as gentle as a loving woo or it can be as harsh as a disciplinarian woe. He desires us to go with a loving willingness to do his will so the time we spend in his presence will determine when we are ready to be used as his messenger or workman.  Let us all have ears to hear when God is calling us to come or go.

Gossip is defined as casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as true. For my discussion on this subject, it does not matter if the facts are true or false, as God’s Word reveals to us that we should avoid both  Tit 3:2; Pr 11:13.

Noah planted a vineyard and after drinking some wine became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent Gen 9:20,21.   Ham, one of Noah’s three sons saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers Gen 9:22. (Here we know that Ham told the truth to his brothers, however, we do not know Noah’s motives: did he drink unwittingly and got drunk, or did he do this knowingly of the consequences?). Instead of participating in sin with Ham and telling others, Shem and Japheth took a garment and walked in backward and covered their father’s nakedness Gen 9:23. When Noah found out what Ham had done, he cursed Ham’s family line while blessing Shem’s and Japheth’s Gen 9:25,26,27.  Another reason to avoid gossip is to prevent any damage to your relationship with this person.  If the person who was gossiped about, found out what you had said, and even if it was true, he would still have a trust problem with you.  God tells us to be at peace with everyone as much as it depends upon us and gossip definitely would violate this command Ro 12:18.

 The Bible teaches us that we should love others deeply, for love covers a multitude of sins, protects that person’s character, whereas hate (gossip) stirs up more trouble 1 Pe 4:8; Pr 10:12.  The sin of gossip keeps on giving by stirring up ill feelings, ruining relationships and destroying our Christian witness.  God desires us to be merciful just as He is merciful Lk 6:36. We are told not to judge others Lk 6:37 for God does not judge us (believers) Jn 3:18 as he judged Jesus instead of us Isa 53:5; 1 Pe 2:24. He tells us not to condemn others Lk 6:37 for there is no longer any condemnation for us Ro 8:1. He also says for us to forgive others Lk 6:37 the way Jesus has forgiven us Eph 4:32 and finally, He tells us, if we give mercy to others it will be given back to us by the same measure we use Lk 6:38.

To cover over another’s sin does not mean that we pretend it does not exist, or trivialize it, exactly the opposite.  True agape love wants to see sin eradicated from everyone’s life, including ours, so if God places us in the position to restore this sinner, then we do this gently knowing we too are sinners Gal 6:1.  If we are able to turn this sinner from his error, we have truly covered a multitude of sins Jas 5:19,20.  Jesus gives us an excellent example with the woman that was caught in adultery.  The Pharisees wanted Jesus to condemn her also, according to the Law Jn 8:5.  He refused, but after he had covered up her sin, he heeded her to leave her life of sin Jn 8:11.

 One way to distinguish ourselves as true Christ followers is to not participate in any type of gossip, which means not only agreeing not to spread it, but not to listen to any. What probably will happen is that we will lose quite a few friends who enjoy gossiping because it uplifts their self-esteem by degrading someone else’s character. When we avoid this sin, it will make gossipers uncomfortable and they will either be convicted to stop gossiping because of our actions or to avoid us, so that they can get this need met from other people, who like to participate in this type of sin Pr 18:8.

As Christians, we are to be a light for the darkness Mt 5:14. By avoiding gossip we can show the world that Christ does make a difference in the way we live and love others.  A person whose sin we have covered will probably react as Noah did, and bless us for our deep love for them. Remember, the measure of mercy we use will be the measure we receive, both from man and God.

Song: Give Love

Have you ever been asked the question “what do you do for a living”?  That is the world or Cain’s way of perceiving life.  The godly line of Seth is not interested in what you do but “who are you”?  This concept involves the idea of identity.  If you see yourself as a teacher, musician, doctor and so on, your identity is based on what you do and unfortunately, will eventually fail you.  Sport stars will someday lose their skills and will not be able to compete any longer.  Hollywood sex symbols will sooner or later lose their attractiveness and their admirers.  Millionaires can go bankrupt and intelligent people can end up with Alzheimer’s.  I could go on and on, but hopefully you get my point, that all identities based on performance, appearance, skill, intelligence, position, wealth and the like will eventually fail.  Jesus said to build your life on a solid foundation Mt 7:24,25,26,27.  He is the solid foundation and has given us the identity of a child of God when we receive him Jn 1:12.  This identity will never change.  The things we do for a living can change but who we are will never.  So I can be living life as a teacher, or decide to become a retired person or a Walmart greeter.   God can still use me in prestigious or lowly positions but my worth remains constant because I am a child of God, loved and precious in his eyes.  Jesus humbled himself and lived as a man Php 2:7,8 but his real identity was still God of this universe Php 2:6,9,10,11.

Understanding our true identity frees us from trying to earn worth from the world.  Success with God is not based on results but on motives and effort.  We will experience frustration if we base our worth on our performance and other people’s opinions of us.  People are fickle and no one can guarantee that we will always perform to be successful.  Knowing God has already accepted us Ro 15:7 and has a standard of success for rewards 1 Co 3:12,13,14,15 (not for acceptance) that everyone can meet (motives/effort) 1 Co 4:5; Col 3:23 is comforting and satisfying.

 Heb 13:5; Lk 12:6,7; Jn 1:12; 1 Jn 4:19.

Song: Child of the Living God