Psalm 38; THE WORD

It is one of those days: where the Word is The Word; Cannot add anything to it nor can can I remove anything: The Word Is Life ; Even as I read it: I feel like I am chewing on it:
So here goes;

Psalm 38^[a]

    A psalm of David. A petition.
 ¹ LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
   or discipline me in your wrath.
² Your arrows have pierced me,
   and your hand has come down on me.
³ Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
   there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.
⁴ My guilt has overwhelmed me
   like a burden too heavy to bear.
 ⁵ My wounds fester and are loathsome
   because of my sinful folly.
⁶ I am bowed down and brought very low;
   all day long I go about mourning.
⁷ My back is filled with searing pain;
   there is no health in my body.
⁸ I am feeble and utterly crushed;
   I groan in anguish of heart.
 ⁹ All my longings lie open before you, Lord;
   my sighing is not hidden from you.
¹⁰ My heart pounds, my strength fails me;
   even the light has gone from my eyes.
¹¹ My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
   my neighbors stay far away.
¹² Those who want to kill me set their traps,
   those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
   all day long they scheme and lie.
 ¹³ I am like the deaf, who cannot hear,
   like the mute, who cannot speak;
¹⁴ I have become like one who does not hear,
   whose mouth can offer no reply.
¹⁵ LORD, I wait for you;
   you will answer, Lord my God.
¹⁶ For I said, “Do not let them gloat
   or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”
 ¹⁷ For I am about to fall,
   and my pain is ever with me.
¹⁸ I confess my iniquity;
   I am troubled by my sin.
¹⁹ Many have become my enemies without cause^[b];
   those who hate me without reason are numerous.
²⁰ Those who repay my good with evil
   lodge accusations against me,
   though I seek only to do what is good.
 ²¹ LORD, do not forsake me;
   do not be far from me, my God.
²² Come quickly to help me,
   my Lord and my Savior.

Running Out Of Breath

What is every marathoners nightmare? Loosing breath, a stitch, tripping, what?

In our case then, what would we equate this to? Are there moments we loose breath, encounter a stitch or trip?

Have we stopped to make an assessment of what the cause for these could be? Every time I'm left behind on the reading schedule I've always come up with an excuse - been busy, no time, et al! Is that really the case or could there be a deeper reason?

Let me hear you...

Rumbling

Today I have been wondering about a few things: I have been dating God for a few days, and it is amazing what he reminds you of and what you get to realise. Like every runner you have got to keep training until you are good enough to keep on the track. But you do not train once and then sit and relax, once you choose to run, it is going to be an integral part of your life. That means that what you say, do, eat, how you sleep for the rest of your life is affected.

For us as Christians, well, the story does not differ at all: Reading God's word, Praying, Serving him, Witnessing, Worship: all become a huge part of who we are, and what we believe in. But times come and we slip, times come and we loose hope, times happen and we loose our way, Life as a christian for many becomes a routine. It is then that we loose out on so much. Today I was reminded of small things like praying before I eat, before I take a cup of tea. I was reminded of asking God for journey mercies whenever I get onto a boda-boda(motorcycle), Say a prayer for the hurting people that I see around me, and pray for myself as well. These are some of things that i had long forgotten. In the end, I get irritable, angry over something small. And well, this was God remindimng me; to get back onto track.

We get to care about the outside, more than the inside, we resort to keeping up appearances: Forgetting that God sees, knows, but more so identifies with us, care deeply for us and wants us to be prosper and be better...

That said:

 There is something about Isaiah 56: It is short and is almost like a psalm But the amazing thing is it makes a lot of   sense for me this morning.....Clear and simple.This is what the Lord says: Maintain justice, do what is right Blessed is the man who does this...: maintains justice and does what is right: Today what is right is relative, as I live longer I realise that there is so much that the Lord has protected me from, and I look at how carnal human beings are , I cannot help but wonder, how many of them and oof us will make it when the D-day comes?
Inotice though that there is alot on the Sabbath even as I look/read through the days'reading. Honour the Sabath. I need to: today..sunday mornings are for golf, tennis, nursing hang-overs and , we seldom use them for what they were made for, spending time with God.

Isaiah 61: 3cThey will be called Oaks of Righteounes; a planting of the Lord, for the display of his splendour; Amen, I want to be one of those. An Oak of Righteousness.

Later Freinds,

Persistence

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 
For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.


Matthew 7: 7&8

Sex..

Don't you realise that sin is like a yeast...that spreads through a whole batch of dough?
In other words; sin starts small, then begins to grow, big and big and big....It is a slow fade that is another way of looking at it.
We are supposed to look like bread without yeas: healthy and good looking on the outside, with
out any bulge....

Paul is very realistic: I love this man: I am not telling you aati that do not associate with unbelievers
you would have to leave the wold for that. He insists that he is talking about people that claim
that they are believers but engage in sin: Do not even eat with such people. Well put: I think that this was specially meant for me.

Do not hang around hypocrites....those that say: do as I say but not as I do...Paul today talks about
sexual sin: And I realise that just as it was then, even today; there is a lot of compromise with sexual sin...
The rate of which is quite alarming,. I work in a church setting and am usually among "the last to know stuff" But you hear the stories going round of fornication, adultery, and all that: and you cannot help but wonder.

This year alone I have been approached by men that know God or rather according to the rest of the world are christians: for sex. One of them, mbu is a minister of the Altar in his church... But the guy said that I make for him a schedule and the relationship will be on my terms!!!
And he is engaged to be married. Now I wondered?
 How many woman/ladies has he approached? How many have said yes, and how many has he actually slept  with??
And this is just one of the scenarios: the other met me and was shocked that he had taken 2weeks of talking to me, without actually sleeping with me.
He said that usually when he met girls, at the first meeting , the question would be so when?
And I shudder at these and many more stories:But you know what guys: There is a God that changes things!Food was made for the stomach and stomach for the food
That is just an excuse: God's grace to say NO to sexual sin: is abundant..And I am a testimony to that..
And like Paul says in Chapter 6:18: Run from Sexual Sin, No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does..

We do not belong to ourselves,We belong to the Lord. God bought us at a price. We are worth the price and by grace we stand. So we must honour God with our bodies..

So be it Lord: Help us to Stand.
Amen!!