Category: Uncategorized

Psalms 36:7 (35:8 LXX)

How You multiply Your mercy, O God!
The sons of men shall hope under the shelter of Your wings.

Encouraging Words

I am so thankful that I have been freed from the doctrine that our God is an angry, vengeful, judgmental God. We still believe that scripture teaches that we will all stand before our God at the day of judgment and we will know of our sins that have separated us from our God. As a matter of fact, we also believe that this is already an ever present part of our everyday journey of theosis. As we learn more about God and grow more in the image of His son, the more we realise just how undeserving of we are of His mercy and grace, This all makes this verse read so much more alive as the psalmist proclaims how much God multiplies His mercy upon His children and how much His children can hope for and live under the wings of shelter of on Land. Glory be to God!

1 Kings 8:22-24 (3 Kingdoms 8:22-24 LXX)
You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth, and fulfilled it with Your hand, as today. Now, O Lord God of Israel, keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, so long as your people guard and keep their ways to walk before Me, as you walked before Me.’ So now, O Lord God of Israel, let the word be confirmed You spoke to Your servant David my father.

Encouraging Words

Solomon, the son of David, had probably grown up with many stories from his father about all of the things that his God had done throughout his life. Now it is Solomon’s turn to begin engaging with his father’s God, and now, his God. Solomon starts by reminding his God of the promises that had been made to David, Isn’t this the same for all of us? I still teach high school students at my church and love it dearly. One of the things that I often tell them is that God does not have any grandchildren. Even though they may have spent their entire life coming to church on Sundays in tow behind their parents, their relationship with God does not come to fruition through someone else, even their parents. We all must come to the place like Solomon where we reach out to our God and build our relationship with Him. God always keeps His promises especially when we grow into them. Glory be to God!

Matthew 26:41

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Personal Challenge

Intentions are always a great thing, but unless my intentions are followed up by actions they really mean nothing. Jesus points this out when He reminds His disciples that their spirit may be willing to follow Him, but that their flesh is weak. In His last moments of physical life here on earth, He is in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to His father to lead Him through the final steps of His journey to the cross. It is obviously a difficult time and He knows that His own physical flesh is pulling at His spirit to turn away from the path that He is on. He is demonstrating to His disciple how to watch for and pray to His Father for the support that He needs. And what are the disciples doing? Falling asleep. They have spirits that desire to follow their Lord. They have demonstrated that for the past three years. But they are still being driven by their weak flesh. Aren’t we all? Here is where we can learn much from our Lord. The times that we need to keep the most watch out for our Lord and seek Him in pray are those times when we are the weakest. Praying without ceasing, even if it is only, “Jesus!’,’ helps us through these times. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalms 35:22-23 (34:22-23 LXX)

You saw this, O Lord; do not keep silence;
O Lord, do not be far from me.
Arise, O Lord, attend to my judgment,
My God and my Lord, to my cause.

Encouraging Words

Since our God is always present in our lives He knows everything that is going on, both good and bad, whether done by us or by others to us. Because of this, we can always call out to Him to walk through the outcome of these events as our friend and comforter. We may never see Him correct those who perpetrate a wrong against us, but just the truth of knowing that He is there with us gives us comfort, peace, and joy. And the more that I come to know Him, and grow in the image of His Son, the less that I want Him to correct those offenders because they have become objects of my prayers as we pray for those who love us as much as we do those who hate us. Lord, have Mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have Mercy!

1 Kings 18:17-18 (3 Kingdoms 18:17-18 LXX)

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Are you the one who is troubling Israel?” Elijah answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but rather you and the house of your father, in that you forsook the Lord your God and followed after the Baals.”

Personal Challenge

Ahab, a corrupt king in the early days of Israel had made some pretty bad choices leading the country into some difficult situations. Since the people had been led so far away from God’s path, Elijah was sent as a prophet to preach about their error and show them the right way. When king Ahab finally met up with Elijah, he, of course, blamed Elijah for his troubles. However, Elijah reminded Ahab that it was his choice and his leadership that was causing the issues. Isn’t this often the way that it goes with most, if not all, of us? We make choices in our lives. Often they are choices that neglect God and His teachings. Then when the consequences begin to settle in around us, we blame God or someone else for our challenges. The truth is that we should have made better choices, to begin with. For every choice, whether good or bad, there is always one or more consequence sometimes good and sometimes bad. And many times the consequences impact so many other people. Lord, have Mercy! Lord, have Mercy! Lord, have Mercy!

Matthew 25:34-40

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

Personal Challenge

Honestly, our entry into the kingdom of heaven has little to do with how many books about God or our religion that we have read, or with how many different positions that we have held in the leadership of our church, or in how much we tithe, or how well we fast. Jesus makes it very clear that what is important to Him is how much we do for our brother, sister, or the stranger in need around us. He also points out that if we are doing these truly from our heart and not as acts seeking praise and affirmation, then we will not even recognize that we have been doing these things. We do not earn His favor by our works but we do His works because of the favor that He has bestowed on us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalms 34:18 (33:19 LXX)

The Lord is near those who are brokenhearted,
And He will save the humble in spirit.

Encouraging Words

How wonderful it is to know that our God cares for us, especially for those who are brokenhearted. Life can be very difficult and sometimes we may feel all alone in the midst of our struggles. But we can always rest assured that God keeps His promises and here He promises to be near to those who are brokenhearted. Jesus taught us that there are two commandments for us to follow. They are to love our God with all of our heart, soul, and spirit and to love our neighbor. Is it not possible that as we love our neighbor we become God’s presence in their lives, especially when they are brokenhearted? Once again, our relationship with God plays out by what we do with our lives. When we live our life with humble spirits it becomes easier to invest in the lives of our neighbors. As we invest in the lives of our neighbors as loving representatives of God, we bring Him into their lives as well as our own. What a powerful way to get to know God deeper and to grow in our own theosis. Glory be to God!

2 Samuel 24:24 (2 Kingdoms 24:24 LXX)

Then the king said to Orna, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with something that costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

Personal Challenge

David points out to us here a challenge faces many modern day Christians have become accustomed in our lives to having everything so easy and so instantaneously. But if we are to truly worship our God and glorify Him with our lives, then there will be work and sacrifice involved. David had just been confronted about a sin that he had recently committed. Part of his penance after his confession and repentance was to build an altar to his God and to worship Him there, The owner of the land where David was offered to give him a piece of the land so that David could build the altar. But David refused because be knew that if he took the easy way out and did not sacrifice personally for his God that he would quickly forget his sin and do it again. It is not that God needs or expects us to sacrifice for His gain. He owns everything. The sacrifice is for our own benefit. So, the question to ask is how much am I willing to give up for my God? Is my relationship with Him more valuable than everything in my life? Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Matthew 24:35

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Encouraging Words

Jesus is eternal. He has been since before the beginning of time and He will be forever. The Jesus that became incarnate was, is, and will always be that same Jesus that was begotten by the Father. There is no way that I, a finite human being, will ever be able to comprehend what this means or how it works, but that is okay. In Orthodoxy, we believe that there are many mysteries of God that only He has the answer to, and that is okay. What is most important here is that Jesus, who is the Living Word, will never pass away, no matter what happens to me or the heavens and earth that I live in. Jesus was there when all that we know as our physical heavens and earth were created. He was there when Adam and Eve were created because it was His image that they took on. He was there when Noah was told to build the ark; when Moses talked to the burning bush and received the ten commandments, and this list goes on and on. Jesus is here with us now and promises to be here always. What more do I need to press through each day? Nothing more than faith in Him. Glory be to God!