The Lord is Close to the Brokenhearted

Psalm 34:18 (New International Version)
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

According to Wikipedia brokenhearted is defined as a common metaphor used to describe the intense emotional pain or suffering one feels after losing a loved one, through death, divorce, moving, or being rejected or neglected or other means. For me it can also be defined as a state of being discouraged and demotivated due to various reasons.

Can you identify with this feeling? Can you see yourself in this state right now? Or maybe a better question is have you been broken-hearted before?

The Lord through His WORD had said, "He is close to the brokenhearted". Praise the Lord!

That's one more promise that each one of us can cling onto. God is actually saying that when people reject you, when people leave you, when people neglect you, when everyone else deserts you, HE DOESN'T. When you feel like the world has left you all alone, He stands by your side.


Let's read a Passage from the Book of Acts to prove this point.

Acts 23:10-11 (New International Version)
The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.

The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."

Paul experienced so much pain that even the commander thought he'd be torn into pieces. Now, imagine how painful that is! And God saw this and the following night, He stood near Paul to comfort him and give him courage.

In the same way, whatever you're going through right now. Problems? Trials? Please know God sees you. God surely will never leave you alone. He'd stand near you to comfort you and encourage you.

So the next time, we encounter situations that would tear and break us down, let's TAKE Courage and know that the "Lord is close to the brokenhearted".

He is MIGHTY to Save us

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Acts 4:12 (King James Version)

Please watch this video from Hillsong entitled Mighty To Save!

Praise the Lord for the Salvation He has given us!

Praise the Lord for HE HAS CONQUERED the GRAVE so we may have LIFE!

Might to Save
by Hillsong

May God Bless you Today!

Are you one of us?

Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.
Acts 16:16

The Book of Acts or which is sometimes called The Acts of the Apostles is a book about the "New Testament Church" and was written by Luke. The same Luke who wrote the Gospel according to Luke. Aside from that, I am no longer too familiar with Luke's background. You can read a background article about him in Wikipedia here.

Before the verse above, the Book of Acts was purely story telling of an author about certain group of People from The Pentecost, to Stephen's martyrdom, to Saul's Conversion to Paul and a lot more: everything was purely a story told by a third person/party.

Until we reached Acts 16:16 when the author said "WE". At first Luke was just writing and storytelling the story which was rightly so because he's a historian and a historian writes histories. But blessedly, he didn't stop to just tell stories and do what a historian is expected to do. He joined Paul and the rest of the disciples. He took part. He become part of them.

Let's try to ask ourselves, how many times do we limit ourselves to our skills, talents and profession that we forget that in the ministry, you don't do things alone or on your own in fact it's God who works in you and through you for His glory only if we allow him to. We therefore only serve as an instrument. Luke is a historian. He can just choose to write and tell history. Plus he's being used mightily in that area. He can just stay where he is. But no! He didn't stop there! He eventually joined and took part.

That's the beauty of it! Christians should always look for more ways how he can be used by God more. Not just what he has given now, but what more he can give for God's glory! That's exactly what Luke did.

Regarding the Great Commission which tells us to make disciples all over the world. How many times have we just given the responsibility to the few missionaries and pastors out there in the field to do the work? Let's ask ourselves: are we using our profession to join in fulfilling the Great Commission of our Lord in our own little way? Let's be like Luke who was not contented in just sharing what he had seen but also joined and became a part of the History.

Yes! Let's all be history makers and not just writers.

Now, ARE YOU ONE OF US?

To Give is Better than to Receive

"...remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
Acts 20:35 (NIV)

I want to share to you two great examples of a Church and a Coffee shop who are strongly living according to this principle the Lord Jesus Christ himself had given.

First, a Texas Church (Cross Timber's Community Church) is giving money away instead of collecting money for the offering. yes. You read it right. They distribute the offering box not to collect but to give away. In fact, this church have given half a million dollars to all needy members who have been struggling financially for two months now. Now, that's amazing! Click Reverse Collection Plate for the video.

Source: My Christian Diary

The Storyville Coffee Company had given away all it's revenue for the month of May. No, they're not giving only their profits but they're giving theire ENTIRE Revenue to the International Justice Mission.

“International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems.” From the IJM website. Meaning for every coffee, you're actually donating to IJM. Now, isn't that one more blessed story?

Source: Provocative Christian Living


These two examples are so great that my prayer is for them to spread as pandemic. How about you? What have you given? Have you just been receiving?

Let me also take this opportunity to thank my dear friend Valerie of Simply4God who had given me an award. Thanks Valerie. May God Bless you more!

And I'm giving this award to the following people:

LifeLots

Jesus Knows You Best

The Surrendered Scribe

Just Be Real

Just a Thought

From the Heart

Radio Jingles

God Nuggets Blog

God Bless you guys and thanks for the inspiration!