Your love never fails

I was scrolling through my song list on Youtube when i ran into this song which my Sister in Christ Madel sent to me once. I listened to it and felt it somehow spoke to me now more in comparison to when she first sent me the link. I guess it's true that by God's timing, some things that didn't speak to you before may speak to you again in the future. I felt this time the lyrics had more "IMpact" on me now. I hope this song speaks to you too as it did to me :) God bless

[When God ran]
By: Philip, Craig and Dean

Verse 1:
Almighty God, the great I am
Immovable rock, omnipotent, powerful, awesome Lord
Victorious warrior, commanding King of Kings
Mighty conqueror, and the only time
the only time I ever saw Him run

CHORUS:
Was when He ran to me, He took me in His arms
Held my head to His chest, said “My son’s come home again”
Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice He said,
“Son do you know I still love you?”
He caught me by surprise when God ran

Verse 2:
The day I left home I knew I’d broken His heart
And I wondered then if things could ever be the same
Then one night I remembered His love for me
And down that dusty road ahead I could see
It was the only time – it was the only time I ever saw Him run

(Repeat Chorus)

He caught me by surprise as He brought me to my knees
When God ran – I saw Him run to me

BRIDGE:
I was so ashamed, all alone and so far away
But now I know He’s been waiting for this day

I saw Him run to me, He took me in His arms
Held my head to His chest, said “My son’s come home again”
Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice I felt His love for me again

He ran to me, He took me in His arms
Held my head to His chest, said “My son’s come home again”
Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice He said, “Son”, He called me Son
He said, “Son do you know I still love you?”
He ran to me and then I ran to Him
When God ran

It has been a week or so eversince my return home from Japan. Despite having a good time there with my parents.....deep in me i seeked a message or a word from God....for years I have always wondered and asked God whether it was His plan for me to head over to Japan to do ministry work someday....I have always had a heart for the people there, who are so lost. My heart aches when I see them and look deep in their eyes.

Questions flood my mind....what are they holding onto? Why are their hearts so hardened? Do they not seek something better that lasts forever? The Japanese have built and adapted into a lifestyle where it seems they do not need God. They seem to have everything in life....but whenever i look into their eyes, every single one of them, they seem empty in the inside...living a life and culture that is so worldly. I wept for them...not because of personal gain or anger with God for not moving in Japan....but weeping because they should know, they have to know the gospel. How many people and children over there die daily not knowing God?

I was stunned by the video that was shown on John Piper's website.....the 2nd half of the video is a message by Michael Oh, a missionary in Japan...but what stunned me more was the 1st half which mentioned that 0.2% of the population are protestant and Japan is the largest unreached nation in the world.....I thought it would Africa or Thailand or maybe even China...but no, it was Japan.

Oh God i pray for a burden from you for the people of Japan. I seek You for a heart that is out to love them for they are so lost and need to know You.....I do not assume and do not want to say You need to use me, for I know YOu being the creator of the universe, heaven and earth, do not need help and it's only by grace do I get to do a work for You in the end glorifying Your name. BUt I pray for hearts to be softened and minds to be open to what You have in plan for the people in Japan. I pray for the missionaries over there, that You would give them strength and also wisdom as they speak and share the gospel. May they not depend on the flash but depend on You all the way as they continue to do their ministry there.

In Jesus name,
Amen

He has showed you, O man, what is good. To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
[Micah 6:8]

I came across this verse while watching Louie Giglio's sermon video [Lost in translation]. It really hit me hard as i meditated and prayed over it. What hit me was it's simplicity and how deep it can mean in terms of humbly walking with our God.

I would explain how God spoke to me in the various parts of the verse....

[He has showed you, O man, what is good.]
It might be simple and it does sound simple but i guess personally to any individual it would mean different things. What came to my mind was how rebellious we are by nature....instead of giving me a calm and peaceful feeling, it gave me a feeling of shame and sometimes reverence as to how patient and loving God was....He is our God and Lord and yet He is also a loving father to us. Time and time again we have failed and also have shown so little faith we have in God and yet he still sent His son to die for us, withholding His wrath from us, which He could so easily cast upon us iin less than half a second or lesser. Oh How graceful is our God.

I can imagine God holding us everyday by a thread over boiling water....he could drop us in anytime He feels so and even when we hang by the thread, we still remain so defiant and not wanting to turn away from our mistakes.

God is so pure and holy that whatever pain we feel, He feels 100 times more and so much does His patience and love get tested when He sees us...sinful and fallen....it is His right and He would not be in the wrong to kill us all if He had to.

[To act justly, and to love mercy..]
To me it's not being able to act justly that really matters...but it's the part of loving mercy that matters or means more to me. How much do we love mercy till the extent that we are willing to be merciful to others?

When Jesus spoke about "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." to the people who followed Him. These men without possessions or power, these strangers on earth, these sinners, these followers of Jesus, have in their life with Him renounced their own dignity, for they are merciful. As if their own needs and their own distress were not enough, they take upon themselves the distress and humiliation and sin of others. They have an irresistible love for the down trodden, the sick, the wretched, the wronged, the outcast and all who are tortured with anxiety. They go out and seek all who are enmeshed in the toils of sin and guilt. No distress is too great, no sin too appalling for their pity.

If any man falls into disgrace, the merciful will sacrifice their own honour to shield him, and take his shame upon themselves. They will be found consorting with publicans and sinners, careless of the shame they incur thereby. In order that they maybe merciful they cast away the most priceless treasure of human life, their personal dignity and honour. For the only honour and dignity they know is their Lord's own mercy, to which alone they owe their very lives. He was not ashamed of His disciples, He became the brother of mankind, and bore their shame unto the death of the cross. That is how Jesus, the crucified, was merciful. His followers owe their lives entirely to that mercy. It makes them forget their own honour and dignity, and seek the society of sinners.

They are glad to incur reproach, for they know that then they are blessed. One day God Himself will come down and take upon Himself their sin and shame. He will cover them with His own honour and remove their disgrace. Blessed are the merciful, for they have the merciful for their lord.

[And to walk humbly with your God]
Many a times we tend to get ahead of ourselves. How we do that is especially those times when we serve so much or are in leadership positions. Most of the times, if an individual isn't careful, he or she may slip and end up serving with the wrong mindset and also the wrong motives. It usually occurs in big churches or even small groups and the individual themselves. It's unavoidable and that is when we know we need God to guide us all the way.

How do we walk humbly with our God? Sometimes it's as simple as surrendering and walking BEHIND God. It's a natural tendency to when serving, think we are doing God a favor or get so caught up in serving till we forget why we serve or that God actually doesn't need us to serve Him. From the plannings we do in church or cell....we plan so much till an extent God can't work...we want things to be perfect and we get overly focused on how cell is runned or how our musicians play on worship...till an extent that it seems like we are taking the wheel. Organization and structure is necessary but not to the extent that God gets placed aside thinking that we can do it for God.

When we go evangelize, we go ahead thinking we act upon faith and God who is the master of the field has another plan. Do we seek god for his plans before we head out? Or do we assume what His plan is and let our own planning get int the way? Who are we to head out to the harvest when the master says no? or wait? Who are we to act without permission from the master Himself? Acting upon faith is good but if you lack obedience, it comes to nothing....faith cannot work with obedience, neither can obedience work without faith.

"Unless the Lord builds the house those who build it labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1)

Sometimes God just simply wants us to follow Him, to wait upon Him and also be humble before Him. Brothers and sisters, lets not take God for someone who needs us....He doesn't at all. He is gonna write His story whether we like it or whether we are in it or not.

[Are you in God's story? Or are you asking God to be/work in your story?] -Louie Giglio

Don’t get impatient with others. Remember how God dealt with you— with patience and with gentleness. But never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, “Go . . . and make disciples. . .” ( Matthew 28:19 ), not, “Make converts to your own thoughts and opinions.”

-Oswald Chambers