Beloved, Do Not Be Surprised

I love Psalm 29:11 because it reminds me that true peace is not the absence of conflict with people. True peace, is the absence of conflict with God. And for anyone who has received the peace of God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, know that there must be conflict with people  in this life, for the Gospel is an offense to all who live in their pride, rather than in Christ. Forty-five years, God granted me His peace and considered me worthy of sharing in the sufferings of my Savior. For 13 years the Lord graciously endured me through brutal persecutions, beatings, and slander for proclaiming the Gospel of God's grace, and refusing to denounce the name of Jesus Christ. Because the Spirit of Christ lives in me, I couldn't deny my Lord who suffered and died to be the propitiation and expiation for the sins I committed against the one and only living and holy God. In the past 14 years, God has considered me worthy of bearing the scars of my Savior. The scars

If I [Jesus] am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. ~John 10:37-38, ESV Even our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said that we shouldn't believe Him—that He is the Son of the Most High God, if His works do not clearly manifest the character and power of God. But for some maniacal reason, we're supposed to believe everyone and anyone who professes Christ as Lord, even if their life (that is, their works) clearly do not manifest the character and power of God. The Almighty is greater than all. And if His Spirit truly dwells within our souls, then we will bear His fruit of repentance, trust, submission, and obedience to His Word. But if the majority of our time and energy is spent on our will and desires, we may deceive ourselves and others, but we will never deceive God. True joy and p

More than a couple of decades ago, I cultivated a habit of praying before I have my morning Bible reading time. I was encouraged to do this after reading Exodus 16:4, 14-18; John 6:32-36; Psalm 1:1-3; 1 Corinthians 2:9-13; John 1:1; Hebrews 1:1-2 and 11:6; Psalm 119; Psalm 139:16, Galatians 6:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-10 and Proverbs 3:5-8. Based on these Scriptures and many others, I pray a simple prayer of faith in my God to do what He promised, "Holy and gracious Father, as I open your Word, teach me all that You see fit for me to know and understand today . And open the eyes of my heart to see every opportunity You've prepared beforehand, that I may live for your glory this day." As I prayed this morning before I read my Bible, I meditated on the holiness and awesomeness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And I thanked Him for who He is, and all that He has done for all His creation, especially those made in His image. While in prayer, I was reminded of

I love my life. I really do. What I love most may seem boring to many, and possibly absurd to others. But still, I love everything the Lord has given me—especially the simple, daily pleasures many miss because we think we deserve any good we receive. I love sunny days because they remind me of the warmth and awesomeness of God's grace; His face that cannot be seen by any human lest we be destroyed. I love cloudy days because they remind me of the cool covering and gentle relief of God's mercy. I love that though my body is severely broken, weak, and in constant pain, my Father gives me the strength to get out of bed. And if that weren't good enough (which it is), because my Father is so generous in His love toward me because of Christ, I get to do other "ordinary" tasks. I get to wash laundry for my household. I get to fold clothes and put them away. I get to hem tears and sew buttons. I get to be a diligent keeper of my home with weekly dust

The LORD God is our refuge. He alone is our ever-present help in our time of need. And when is that time? When is the time that we most need God? Is it when we're single? When we get married? When we have children? When we lose our jobs? When people speak well of us? When people speak ill of us? When? Our "time of need" is all the time. Every living thing's time of needing the Almighty begins from the time life begins. Unfortunately, not all of us know that, or, are mindful of it as often as we ought to be. We need the LORD our God when we rejoice and when we mourn; for without Christ our God, we don't know how to do anything without sinning. Without Christ, our rejoicing is in ourselves and we do a "Yay me!" dance in our souls and with our mouths. We joy in proclaiming our own goodness and jubilantly share our successes as if we could ever do, or give anything good to anyone without the only One who IS good—GOD Almighty. Therefore, th

Our family's first introduction to Dr. R.C. Sproul was in 2008 when my darling husband Jim and I were blessed to participate in a book/DVD study The Holiness of God . Our hearts were gripped by Sproul's teaching of the magnitude of God's holiness. Though we always knew that God is holy, we had, sadly, like many Christians in our time, marginalized this glorious attribute of our mighty Lord and God. Rather than see all of God's attributes (righteousness, love, grace, mercy) through the lens of His holiness, we saw His holiness as merely an addendum. But when we sat under Dr. Sproul's loving, courageous, and soundly doctrinal teaching on God's holiness, we knew we could never return to the mediocre standard of Christianity that's acceptable by many, if not most, Christians today. After our initial introduction to R.C. Sproul's teaching through The Holiness of God , we began listening to RefNet  in 2012, and have commended it to others as well as ma

Our gracious and compassionate Father's timing is always perfect. It just so happens that today's Psalm (61:1-3) is exactly what my heart needed to hear and my soul needed to be reminded of. No matter the battles, heartaches, and losses that come my way, I know because the LORD my God is my refuge; the Rock that is higher than I, all is always well with my soul. Though I can never do anything to be worthy of God's holy and perfect love, I am always  loved by the Father because of worthiness of Jesus Christ the Son. Therefore, whenever my heart is faint due to external circumstances, my soul delights in magnifying the LORD for giving me all the good I don't deserve (grace) and withholding the evil that I do deserve (mercy). When I remember this truth and speak it to my soul, it is difficult for me to plunge into the depths of self-pity. Rather, my heart rises to echo the last verse of today's Psalm (v.8), "So will I ever sing praises to your name [

Twenty-eight years ago, the Lord moved me to Southern California as an answer to my cry for help. My faithful and merciful Father God had graciously and mercifully endured, preserved, and persevered me through 13 years of severe and brutal persecution. But because I did not heed His exhortation and admonition in Deuteronomy 8:11-20, I forgot that it was by His mighty hand that I received relief from my enemies. Much like the Israelites whom the LORD kindly saved and freed from the bondage of Egypt, I fancied that this reprieve was due to something good I had done—and for three years, I entertained the fallacy, that I deserved every good I received from the Lord. I behaved as if God owed me for my obedience, rather than remember that even my obedience was a gift from Him, through Jesus Christ; who through His death and resurrection, freed and enabled me to do what I could never do on my own—please and honor the one and only, holy and righteous God (Heb 11:6). During th