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2 Chronicles 33:12-13

Now when he was in affliction, he sought the face of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him. And the Lord received his entreaty, heard his cry, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

Encouraging Words

So many times throughout the scriptures we see the story of redemption. As a matter of fact, the story of redemption is so deeply woven into our fabric of existence by our Father the Creator that virtually every book written, every movie filmed, and every song sung has buried in it a fragment or the complete story of redemption. Why is this? Because our God is a redeeming God. From Adam and Eve’s first sin, all through the history of mankind, up to our Lord Jesus dying on the cross, and up through today, God is striving to redeem us all and put us back into the Garden of Eden, Here we have Manasseh, the King of Judah, who had departed from his relationship with God. He had committed many horrible atrocities against mankind. And God, in His loving, merciful way, brought Manasseh into captivity under his enemies. While there Manasseh recognized his sins and humbled himself before the God of his fathers. And what did God do? He recognized the sincerity of Manasseh’s plea for forgiveness and restored him to his role as king. In this season of Great Lent, this is such a great reminder that our God loves us. He loves us so much that He became one of us, lived a pure and sinless life and then submitted to our angry cries to crucify Him. Through this love, He destroyed the hold that death had on us since the day of Adam and opened the gates to heaven. But like Manasseh, if he had never humbled himself before his God he would have never received redemption, then we too must humble ourselves before our God, confess our sins, and flee from repeating them so that He can redeem us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Mark 10:27

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

Encouraging Words

How wonderful it is to be able to go through life knowing that I can put all of my trust and hope in my God. When Jesus told His disciples that God can make all things possible He was also telling us today this as well. The challenge for many is being able to put their trust into something or someone that they cannot see, touch, feel, or hear. However, one of the things that I have learned in my life is that God is in everything. He is often most recognizable in the little things. The beat of the heart, the chirp of the birds as spring weather comes out, the laugh of a baby, the warmth in my heart when I hold hands with my wife. If all that I ever look at to see God are the big things, the miracles, or the spectacular, then I will most likely go my whole life missing Him. Maybe this is what Jesus meant when He told us to have the faith of a mustard seed. We need to start small and we will see God in bigger and bigger ways over time. This is how He turns our impossibilities into possibilities. Glory be to God?

Psalms 46:10 (45:11 LXX)

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations;
I will be exalted in the earth.

Encouraging Words

God is God and I am not. Neither is my leadership at work, at my church, in my community, or in my country. It is the living, eternal God, the Creator and Benefactor of all, that I will be still before so that I may know Him. He will be exalted above all, so, therefore, I will fear no man or institution, for they too are subject to Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have Mercy! Lord, have mercy? Glory be to our God.

2 Chronicles 32:7-8

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid of the king of Assyria, nor before all the nation with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him are arms of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to save us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Encouraging Words

There is so much more going on around us than what we can see, hear, taste, or feel. We are finite creatures and we live in a finite, physical world. But there is so much more to it than that. We also are spiritual creatures because God created us in His image and that image includes or soul. God’s realm is both the physical and the spiritual. Therefore we also are living in the midst of this spiritual world. It is all around us all of the time and there are armies waging war in that realm. These wars are spiritual and are of good fighting against evil. That it why Hezekiah confidently proclaims that he has the spiritual armies of God aiding in his physical battle here on earth. In the Eastern Orthodox church, we venerate the Saints that have gone before Us. We do not worship them. We do not treat them as gods. But we do believe that they are in the presence of our God and can serve as intercessors for us just as we would ask a friend to intercede for us here on earth.

O Lord and Master of my life, do not give to me the spirit of laziness, faintheartedness, lust for power, and idle talk.

But give to me Your servant the spirit of purity, humility, patience, and love.

O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to judge my brother, for blessed are You unto ages of ages. Amen.

O God, cleanse me, the sinner. O God, cleanse me, the sinner.
O God, cleanse me, the sinner. O God, cleanse me, the sinner.
O God, cleanse me, the sinner. O God, cleanse me, the sinner.
O God, cleanse me, the sinner. O God, cleanse me, the sinner.
O God, cleanse me, the sinner. O God, cleanse me, the sinner.
O God, cleanse me, the sinner. O God, cleanse me, the sinner.

Encouraging Words

Today we continued our journey into the season of Great Lent with the Canon of Saint Andrew. I must admit that this has become one of my favorite services of the liturgical year and the Lenten prayer of St Ephraim is one of my favorite prayers. This Canon and prayer force me to prostate myself before my Lord because I am the worst of sinners and that the only proper place for me in the presence of my God is flat on my face begging for His mercy. I do not deserve the love that He has for me. I do not deserve His mercy. And yet He lavishly pours both out upon me! Glory be to God!

Mark 10:24-25

And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Personal Challenge

This passage is not really about how hard it is for a rich person to enter into Heaven. What it is talking about is how those who trust in riches will have a hard time entering into the kingdom of God. When we put our trust in riches we take our trust off of God. So, what kind of riches is Jesus talking about? Is it just financial stuff? No! It could be the finances that we put our trust in, but it is also those things that our finances can buy for us that get in our way of trusting God. As we start our 40-day journey of Great Lent toward Pascha, this becomes a great time for me to search my heart and my mind to better identify those things that are standing between me and God, especially those things that turn out to be my passions in this life. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Psalms 46:1 (45:2 LXX)

God is our refuge and power;
A help in afflictions that severely befall us.

Encouraging Words

This seems to be a much-needed theme lately. Life in this fallen world does not always go as smoothly as we would like. There are always ups and downs, challenges and difficulties, and just plain resistance to our attempts to live godly lives. But we are not alone on our journey through this temporal life. Our God is there as our refuge, our power, and our help. He also has placed our loved ones in our lives to make it through each day. He has given us His Church to surround us, even though sometimes we mess that up a bit. But our God is both consistent and persistent at loving us and being there for us. If we look at the rest of eternity as the timeline of our lives, then the challenge of the day become minuscule compared to the magnitude of our God. Glory be to God!

2 Chronicles 30:18-20

Most of the people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not cleansed themselves, but they ate the Passover contrary to what was written.

But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord provide atonement for everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, even though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.” And the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

Encouraging Words

So, what is more important, keeping a bunch of rules or having a heart that is prepared for God? Throughout our Holy Scriptures and the teachings of our church fathers, the answer is always a resounding claim that God desires our heart more than our actions. Then one might ask why we were given the laws, to begin with. The laws are there to point us to God, to remind us how inadequate our works are before the awesome and Holy God, and to lead us to the fulfillment of the Law, Jesus Christ because it is only His works that can bring us back into communion with God. Jesus is our intermediary and our intercessor. He is our salvation, our refuge, and our hope. What more can we ask for than this? Glory be to God!