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| In the back of my mind I was screaming for an opportunity to catch the last sunset of 2015. I was so desperate that I was willing to drive as far as an hour away from Baguio to get to a good spot. My mom was with me, though, and we had other priorities. With reluctance, I drove towards home after getting all we needed from town. However, as I was driving on the way down Kennon Road, we were treated to this sight - clouds forming a 'sea' of sorts, engulfing all but the tops of the mountains in the distance. We just had to put aside the priorities we thought we had to drive to the Kennon Road View Deck to shoot this. I would have never seen this if I insisted on driving to the spot I first thought of. Thank God. This was edited (reluctantly) in SilkyPix. It is unfortunate to see how Photoshop misinterprets the wonderful colors of Fuji. |
The steadfast love of The Lord never ceases. It never ends. It never ends and it never fails. His love seen ultimately through Christ is the greatest demonstration of His glory and goodness, and it is because of this goodness that we are naturally tuned and directed towards repentance.
Heaven and earth may pass away, but God's word will never pass away. Our salvation is not based on a thought, religion, or doctrine. Our salvation is found through a Man, fully God and fully Man - Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, Word made flesh. He Himself is our salvation, and He stands eternal even as all other things fade away.
It is Christ and no one or nothing else that has rescued me from this body of sin. It is Christ who did it all. It is Christ who became nothing for me to have everything. It is Christ who became rejected so I would be accepted.
Bless The Lord, oh my soul. Bless His holy and glorious name. Bless The Lord, oh my soul.
Let us look and see how our limitless God has been so good to us in the past and right now. Let us take heart in the fact that as Christ has been good and faithful to us without failure in the past, so He will always be good and faithful to us in the eternity before us. There is no reason to hide, to fear, for God's perfect love is always present and for us, because of Christ's finished work. Let us keep on going, reminding ourselves each and every day of our great and mighty God's love for us, regardless of what circumstances we have.
That is true freedom. Christ bought us true freedom - it is not the absence of external terror, but it is absolute peace in every situation.
This is the freedom Christ purchased for us. This is the freedom that allows us to think outside of box.
Let us not limit God. Let us have an open mind as we concentrate on who He is. He is a good, good Father who loves us. He is boundless, timeless, and supernatural. His glory and love are never separate. His love goes beyond all human reason, and His glory goes beyond all human comprehension.
I can try to understand it, but I would rather rest in knowing how deep, how wide, how long and how high His love is..
..and before anything else happens, that's what's going to be on my mind on top of everything else this coming 2015. Part of me chooses to be melodramatic during these occasions, but all in all I say that if I must have something to say this New Year's Eve, it is that my God is an awesome God, my Heavenly Father is my Abba whose glory is demonstrated through His great, great, everlasting, unfailing love which He chooses to lavish on us. It is said that the Gospel, the Good News we preach can be simplified into three words - 'God loves you.' We can simplify it further to one word, one Name - the Name of our Savior, God's absolute representation of His great love - Jesus.
That's all I want to say, as 2014 ends and 2015 comes... Jesus.
He is, indeed, the Hope of Glory. Receive the Hope of Glory.
I feel like how I usually feel when I am tasked to deliver a Sunday preaching without much preparation. I believe now that I have been led to say one thing more than anything else, in the year ahead and from now on: JESUS.
Solus Christus. Soli Deo Gloria.
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email me at jibee@rocketmail.com.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you His Shalom. - Numbers 6:24-26