Friday, November 25, 2011

Forgiven and Restored

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).
Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (John 14:27).

“Peace” is defined in the dictionary as “the state prevailing during the absence of war; harmonious relations; freedom from disputes; the absence of mental stress or anxiety; the general security of public places; a treaty to cease hostilities”.

This is everyone’s dream to have peace, to live in peace, to enjoy peacefully the fruit of our labor and to utilize the income we earn for the primary purpose of our living and our existence.  Humanity’s dream, purpose, decision, ultimate and higher goal are to work laboriously like God who, according to the Bible, has completed the creation of this world we are all living in six days (Genesis 1:31) (*1).  Humanity’s purpose is also to earn “uprightly” our money, to prosper as per God’s plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11), to raise our families, to be an asset and to have positive impacts in our society and in the affairs of the world, to leave a legacy, to leave our mark(s) like “good-standing achievers (publicly-known or otherwise), to elevate, to uplift, to support, to guide, to positively influence, to help others, and to make sure that individual growth and collective stability are achieved, maintained and sustained.

It is absolutely refreshing to know that we have contributed to the creation and the stability of Peace, and to the stabilization of strong and Peaceful Standing.  It is also uplifting to enjoy the intrinsic reward and the extrinsic expression of joy as a result of our good deeds.  The genuine smile on the innocent face of a child is absolutely beautiful and sublime.  The peaceful satisfaction, the liberating rejoicing, the rewarding accomplishments and the fulfilled living of an elderly that enjoys their latter days of joyful and peaceful serenity are extremely inspiring.  That youth that is full of life, full of vibrant energy, full of hope, full of effervescent potentials, full of developing dreams, full of blooming achievements, is a remarkable picture to cherish and to share with others.  The interactivity of our productive lives where mutual exchange, intuitive or negotiated understanding prevail on a human level, and also where cross-border, international and global trades are skyrocketing at the societal level, is healthy, striving, flourishing and flamboyant.  We are all happy and we all contribute individually to the wellbeing of our collective and strong economy where no one is left behind.  This is the goal, this is the ultimate plan.  This is “not” a futuristic dream.  This is our human and continuous course of action with our progressive and tangible achievements in mind.  This is a component of our earthly mandate.

On the other hand, the fact of being disenchanted and dissatisfied with oneself, or with things, or with circumstances, or with conditions, or with realities, or with our actual position, or with our current status (which is absolutely normal and okay if it stimulates positive creations, creativity, enhancement, and motivates development and improvement) is not in itself an excuse, a justification and a license to create havoc among us or around us.  Those of us who have been through deep grief like the survivors of earthquakes, or hurricanes, or tornadoes, or Tsunami, or floods, or catastrophes, or calamities, those who are grieving over their personal losses, their financial losses, the loss of their families, relatives, neighbors, coworkers and friends, (plus the related traumatic and long-term effects, consequences and aftermath), they have learned painfully and they have managed to cope with the terrible pains they have to endure and to live with for years.  Time, adequate and proper support have eventually helped them to overcome their sad and tragic experiences.

The Highly-Respected, Highly-Regarded and Highly-Appreciated War Veterans with their divinely-resilient hearts have conquered and overcome, and have taught us (our generation) determination, courage and resilience.  We Honor Them and we Thank Them for their sacrifices and their bravery.  The Dignified and Valiant Men and Women in Uniform (wherever they serve) have learned to cope and to adjust the course and the reality of their lives with respect to their professional and imperative duty.  They are, on an all-encompassing scale, “Agents of Peace”, educated, trained, prepared, empowered and mandated to defend, to protect, to establish and to maintain Peace, and so they do with decisiveness, responsibility, passion, dedication, Excellence and a blessed commitment.  We are honored and grateful to say deservedly an All-Time “Thank You” to Them, and to pay an All-Time Tribute to Them for Their Faithful Service.

Those who, in this shaky and unstable economy, have the misfortune to lose thousands and millions, they have found their way to cope with the losses of their hardly-earned money, and they do not go ahead on a rampage or create havoc around them.  God has blessed them with the ability to survive their losses, and has granted them “Peace” with the hope of making a stronger comeback, and with the assurance that, as long as they are alive and breathing, they can make it back up even higher than before, like in the case of Job in the Bible who lost it all and, in the end, was restored bountifully.  “The LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).  His divine restoration was also coupled with blessings of highly-esteemed uniqueness: “Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters (Job 42:15).  The Bible states that “The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part” (Job 42:12).
 
All this is to say, to reiterate and to confirm that “all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27) (*2).  And when we have God in our lives, it is truly better and easier to cope, to be healed, to overcome misfortune.  We are then able, by divine design and by faith, to go through all adversities and we can transcend all adverse life situations and conditions.  That is exactly one of many reasons why it is greatly beneficial to be a Christian.  Once we become Christians, our studies, our training, our individual experiences, our victorious triumph through the Holy Spirit encourage us to believe, to understand and to know that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).  Therefore, the pain, the challenges, the trials, the testing, the work we do for Christ and with Christ in mind have become our motivation and our propeller.  And the positively-impacting results will last for all eternity and forever.  Consequently, our focus automatically changes, our priorities become laser sharp, our goals are more precisely-shaped, tailored and directed, and our lives take on the true meaning they were intended to have.

This is to invite all those who are disenchanted, dissatisfied with things and all those who are angry with the way things are in their lives, or around them, or about them circumstantially, to instead reconsider their actions towards doing good, towards designing Peace, towards being “Peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9) now for the sake of saving time, of saving money, and with the main intention of being productive.  This is our very special request addressed directly to you that are dissatisfied to be more constructive, to contribute to stability, to avoid or to stop havoc, to redirect that valuable energy that you possess towards doing what is more meaningful such as feeding and educating the poor and the needy, or rescuing desperate lives that right now depend solely on you.  Try to imagine and to think about the many lives you can improve by shifting and by redirecting your abundant energy towards feeding ten people, or fifty people, or one hundred people, or thousands of people.  Our communities, our society and our world would definitely be a “much better place” by your added contribution and participation.

To those who are unhappy with themselves and to those who are deeply angry and dissatisfied all the time, this is a reminder that Professional Help is available, that Spiritual/Christian Counseling and Spiritual/Christian Guidance are also available towards overcoming frustration and towards learning sound anger management.  We also recommend that they take concrete, positive and tangible actions towards changing, and towards reversing a personal or a typical trend.

We encourage you to consider this case and to learn from the writer of this blog.  I, the writer of this blog, have many and many reasons to be angry, mad, frustrated, upset, and the list goes on.  Instead, with the help of Jesus Christ, I have managed to become a better writer sharing my blogs with “great readers” like you as my Volunteering endeavor, I have managed to have my own YouTube Channel as my hobby and my favorite pastime, I am studying and learning to improve myself constantly, I am playing music weekly to give praise and thanks to God, and I am also working to earn my living.  Things are not always easy, or rosy, or smooth.  Nevertheless and as a result of my resilient steadfastness, I am happier and happier.  Why? This is because the past is behind me and is gone, the present although full of challenges is nonetheless wonderful and worth living, the future is bright, beautiful and greatly promising.  

All this is because God is in charge and is in control of my life, and also, because I am in control of my chosen actions, of my emotions, I make up my mind to overcome.  I choose to do good because it is simpler, easier, more peaceful and more rewarding.  I surrender myself totally to God and I let Him deal with everything that appears to be of gigantic proportion to me, yet that is, in fact, way too small, way too insignificant to Him: God is bigger, omnipotent and far above all things.  The Bible states that “there is a time for everything, and there is a season for every activity under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).  Therefore, there is a time to stand and fight the battle like David against Goliath, there is also a time to take a strong stand  in the spiritual (while remaining firm in the natural), to do our part (prayer, fasting, intercessions, supplications, and so on), and to let God take over the fight Himself.  Once we hear from God and follow faithfully His instructions, the “landslide and triumphant Victory” is a done deal.

The very thing that came to mess up, to belittle, to put down, to shipwreck and to destroy is the very thing that shall become the booster of our ethical character, the evidence of our magnanimity, our faith motivator, our footstool (Psalms 110:1), the catalyst and the reason for our deliverance, and our strategic propeller.  Therefore, like an eagle we rise above it, like a king we reign and rule over it, like a conqueror we overcome it, and like a blessed entrepreneur we succeed and prosper “abundantly” in spite of it and because of it (Jeremiah 29:11).  We learn and we know that we should not create mischief, chaos, havoc or schemes.  It is a pure waste of our time, a waste of God’s time and resources, and a waste of everybody else’s asset, energy, money and time.  Instead, we redirect and utilize anger, frustration, upset and destructive feelings for our better good through the use of our positive power that is within us, and through our ability to recycle, to reuse and to transfer positively that renewed energy.  Again, since God is with us, “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37) (*3).  As a result and all along, we win, we succeed, we do better, we are ahead in life “again”, and we make it higher in life “once again”, strong, plain and simple.

Imagine reusing our financial resources towards adopting orphans, towards helping and providing for children in need, or towards funding (or building) schools for children without hope.  Imagine creating heart-filled and good-willed foundations, and providing a means for children to go to school and to be fed for free with our own money.  What a wonderful and eloquent gesture of love it would be, and what a powerful transformation it would create and generate!   On behalf of those "in need", we thank All the Great Minds and All the Great Thinkers who already engaged in such a life-saving and altruistic endeavor.  May God Bless You.

We are already thanking God for the compassionate hearts.  We are also thanking God for mending, for healing and for switching the hearts of the “disenchanted and the dissatisfied” people to becoming “Happy Philanthropists” with Divine Love in heart, with Pleasing God in mind, with “Improving Lives” as their motto and their mantra, with “Making Peace” as their New Mandate.  We have great faith, and we know it is achievable and that it can be done.  We believe in God’s capability and in God’s miraculous power to change your hearts.  We also deeply believe in your willingness to turn the course of things around for the greater good and for the peace of mind of the majority.  After all, you are a Leader with tremendous capabilities to impact things since God, our Creator, has given you free choice, has invested you with power, and since He has been waiting for you to behave and to act differently, to regain your senses, to use your sound mind right after someone like us tells you that He, Jesus Christ, does love “you too”.  He loves you so much that He died “for you as well” on the cross, and His Love is encompassing enough to include, to incorporate, to embrace “you as well” with open arms and without any form of discrimination against you and against nobody.

God wants to replace your logical and justified anger, your pain and your frustration with His Love in your hearts from now on.  God wants you to know that it is better, simpler and more rewarding to do good as opposed to designing harmful, disturbing, destructive plans or schemes that have no real and long-lasting benefit at all.  We all must win since we are in it together, since you are no longer alone, and since you are “not a minority of disliked people”.  We truly Love you, we Respect you, we have already Accepted you in our Peaceful midst and in our accommodating company where you can be all you were meant to be, and also where you can use all your brilliant knowledge, your remarkable resources, your skills, your talents, you inner savvy, your energy, your focus, your passion and your drive (technological, culinary, esthetical, artistic) for the Greater Glory of God.

Knowledge is power.  Awareness is light and exposition, and leads to turnaround, to change and to repentance.  Forgiveness and pardon for sins committed are also free gifts from God available to all sinners with a sincerely-repentant heart.  The woman caught in adultery (*4) was about to be lapidated by the crowd.  Yet, she was publicly forgiven and restored by Jesus who said to her:  “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11) (*4-1).  Therefore, we urge you to repent today for all the wrong you have committed, to accept our personal forgiveness and to receive God’s forgiveness that is immediately available to you.

We encourage you to consider this genuine request so that you may seriously and earnestly seek God, in order for you to be divinely-constructive, and to genuinely become a “highly-esteemed builder” with divine eternity in mind.  It is truly worth it.  And the benefits and the rewards are all yours to keep and to enjoy forever.  Jesus Christ said:  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”. (Matthew 11:28).  With this sure and secure assurance promised in the Bible, we deliberately and widely open the door, we sincerely open our arms, we extend our inviting offer and our ushering hands to you so that you may know officially and publicly that we love you, and that we would like you to have a better life and to experience a different and joyful living.  God wants to use you to impact and to change the lives of other people as He did with Apostle Paul (formerly known as Saul of Tarsus), and as He has been patiently waiting for you for the longest while.  

This is your decisive moment to accept Him into your life as your personal Savior, to embrace humility, to show and to confirm to God, Jesus Christ, that you are serious, that you mean business for Him and for yourself.  He has demonstrated to you with His own life that He truly loves you.  He has proven it publicly on the cross.  Now it is your turn to do your part and to accept His Love being offered to you for free with no strings attached.  We urge you to repent for any unpleasant actions and to turn your heart and your life around for your own peace of mind, for your clear conscience, for your own freedom from personal guilt, and for the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Your serious commitment will determine your everlasting reign with Him in Heaven because your genuine acceptance of this invitation and of this offer will grant you and will “reactivate” your kingdom Status.

You are a king.  That is why “Jesus Christ is the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15).  Which means, in this very specific context, that the capital letter “K” in the word “King” and the capital letter “L” in the word “Lord” belong solely to Jesus Christ and refer to His Deity, while the small letter “k” in the word “kings” and the small letter “l” in the word “lords” do apply to you, to me, to all of us who have accepted Him as Lord and Savior.  Therefore, this is your divine and golden opportunity right here, right now.  Just get a hold of it, and do not let it pass you by.

We are rejoicing for you already for your accepting this invitation.  We are celebrating with you all the way to Heaven. We officially welcome you back into the Family of God, to your restituted “Kingdom Status” and into the ranks of the Redeemed Believers of Jesus Christ.  You are now fully, officially and divinely Restored onto our Lord Jesus Christ.

May God Bless You and All Your Family.  CongratulationsYou made it!
_____________________________________________________________________________

Reference List
New International Version (NIV)
(*1)   Ref.:  The Holy Bible, Genesis 1:1-31 (Full account about the Creation).
(*2)   Ref.:  The Holy Bible, Mark 10:17-31.
(*3)   Ref.:  The Holy Bible, Romans 8:31-39.
(*4)   Ref.:  The Holy Bible, John 8:1-11
(*4-1) The King James Version (KJV) translates:  "Go, and sin no more".      

Blog Writer’s Note 
Please visit to our blog entitled “Evidence and Confirmation” for some highlighted explanation regarding the decision to become a Christian. 

Please refer to the Pastor of your local Bible-believing Church who Preach the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, for the Water Baptism process and for the Follow-Up steps at your earliest convenience.  It is worthwhile, very joyful and strongly encouraged.  Or, you may also refer promptly to your Chaplain or to your Spiritual Leader about the matter depending on your Professional, or on your imperative, or on your circumstantial location.  Thank you and Rejoice!   

Special Notes
#1.  The "Reference" list above is given solely for information purposes to the avid, the curious and the eager minds like us who like to do research, who want to deepen their knowledge and to widen their understanding in their leisure time.  Life is fun.  Therefore, let us have some fun while digging for, while learning and while sharing the right information.

#2.  A desktop link to a Multilingual and Multiple-Version Bible is "Now Available" for easy reference and for the reading convenience of our Readers.  Thanks to YouVersion.  The YouVersion Bible App for mobile device is  downloadable for free at www.youversion.com.

#3.  This blog is also optimized for mobile device reading format and convenience.  Thanks to Blogger.

#4.  To read this blog in other International Languages other than English:
  On your Desktop Computer:     
  (A) Download "Google Chrome" as your web browser  
  (B) Install "Google Translate".
  (C) Voilà! You are now able and ready to read this Blog in the Major 
   Language (or Native Language) of your choice.  Thanks to Google

 On your Mobile Device:
 (A) Go to m.google.com to begin your Unique Mobile Experience with the "Google Translate" option, availability and convenience.
  (B) Or, Download the "freeGoogle App on your mobile device.

#5.  "We are Going Boldly into the www (world wide web) and into the world in accordance with GOD's LOVE for the World".  Joseph Dubois.

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