Psalm 51:10-12 "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."
Well, i am just a BOY who very honestly and seriously just want to WAIT upon God. It's so exciting really... just that some things popped out recently that seriously caused me to be a little shaken, but well, i must proclaim that i am more than a conqueror through Him who loves me! So yaay!
Tommorow is Valentine's Day... but i feel so relaxed, because i am not intending to ask anyone out. I must admit that i do like girls, and i believe that God has set apart my special ezer kenegdo for me... BUT actually, since the start of this year, i know that God says to me that now is not the time, and truthfully i do submit to that fully. I MUST study hard and continue seeking out the path He's set before me to take, not swaying to the left nor to the right. So i am not going to give out the Rose during this time too... : )
Friday is the Vday event! P.S. I Love You... so exciting... haha... woohoo!
And next month is AlphaTrack! Hopefully i can really go for it... HUNGRY FOR A MIGHTY MOVE OF GOD! THIRSTY FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT! and i know the time is coming! where God will MOVE mightily and the HOLY SPIRIT poured out on all flesh! Let those who have eyes see! and those who have ears hear! Amen HalleluYah!
What a mess! Is now my heart, my soul, my mind and my strength i confess... My heart is hit with flaming arrows, Here and there the blood flows... My soul struggles, To break all the strongholds My mind, it keeps spinning, With the thoughts of my inmost being... My strength is gone, And i wade in the darkness all forlorn... From Him, I am far away, And my perseverance sways... I just keep on falling, My heart is failing... I am really not emotional i say, Just different in many ways... And I thought my friends were heaven sent, But now, i don't even feel treated like a friend... Perhaps you say i think too much, But against you, your actions vouch... At the end of this tug, I know my True Friend hugs... He makes me new again! On me He pours out his love like rain... And my heart, my soul, my mind and my strength He refresh... Oh no more mess!
Dear friends, as promised, this is the essay i talked about. Hope it helps you in understanding the Old Testament.
The Conquest and the Ethical Question of War
Many readers of Joshua (and other OT books) are deeply troubled by the role that warfare plays in this account of God’s dealings with his people. Not a few relieve their ethical scruples by ascribing the author’s perspective to a pre-Christian (and sub-Christian) stage of moral development that the Christian, in the light of Christ’s teaching, must repudiate and transcend. Hence the main thread of the narrative line of Joshua is an offense to them.
It must be remembered, however, that the book of Joshua does not address itself to the abstract ethical question of war as a means for gaining human ends. It can only be understood in the context of the history of redemption unfolding in the Pentateuch, with its interplay of divine grace and judgment. Of that story it is the direct continuation.
Joshua is not an epic account of Israel’s heroic generation or the story of Israel’s conquest of Canaan with the aid of her national deity. It is rather the story of how God, to whom the whole world belongs, at one stage in the history of redemption reconquered a portion of the earth from the powers of this world that had claimed it for themselves, defending their claims by force of arms and reliance on their false gods. It tells how God commissioned his people to serve as his army under the leadership of his servant Joshua, to take Canaan in his name out of the hands of the idolatrous and dissolute Canaanites (whose measure of sin was now full; see Ge 15:16 and note). It further tells how he aided them in the enterprise and gave them conditional tenancy in his land in fulfillment of the ancient pledge he had made to Israel’s ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Joshua is the story of the kingdom of God breaking into the world of nations at a time when national and political entities were viewed as the creation of the gods and living proofs of their power. Thus the Lord’s triumph over the Canaanites testified to the world that the God of Israel is the one true and living God, whose claim on the world is absolute. It was also a warning to the nations that the irresistible advance of the kingdom of God would ultimately disinherit all those who opposed it, giving place in the earth only to those who acknowledge and serve the Lord. At once an act of redemption and judgment, it gave notice of the outcome of history and anticipated the final destiny of humankind and the creation.
The battles for Canaan were therefore the Lord’s war, undertaken at a particular time in the program of redemption. God gave his people under Joshua no commission or license to conquer the world with the sword but a particular, limited mission. The conquered land itself would not become Israel’s national possession by right of conquest, but it belonged to the Lord. So the land had to be cleansed of all remnants of paganism. Its people and their wealth were not for Israel to seize as the booty of war from which to enrich themselves (as Achan tried to do, ch. 7) but were placed under God’s ban (were to be devoted to God to dispense with as he pleased). On that land Israel was to establish a commonwealth faithful to the righteous rule of God and thus be a witness (and a blessing) to the nations. If Israel became unfaithful and conformed to Canaanite culture and practice, it would in turn lose its place in the Lord’s land—as Israel almost did in the days of the judges, and as it eventually did in the exile.
War is a terrible curse that the human race brings on itself as it seeks to possess the earth by its own unrighteous ways. But it pales before the curse that awaits all those who do not heed God’s testimony to himself or his warnings—those who oppose the rule of God and reject his offer of grace. The God of the second Joshua (Jesus) is the God of the first Joshua also. Although now for a time he reaches out to the whole world with the gospel (and commissions his people urgently to carry his offer of peace to all nations), the sword of his judgment waits in the wings—and his second Joshua will wield it (Rev 19:11–16).
Sometimes, i really feel like giving up on some of the things in my life. It seems to me that they will never work out. But yet i remember...
Luke 18:27 Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
Many things... like what i am called to do, the girl i am to bring along on my adventure, keeping a tight rein on my tongue... all these seem so impossible to my human mind. BUT yet, again and again, God tells me that all things are possible with Him! Hallelujah! So to all you guys out there who feel like giving up, i say trust in God! there are no harms but only good! and I am certain He will guide you through as long as it is His Will, which is to give you the very best you can ever have in your life! God bless!
Nobody knows, how weak I am Better than You Nobody sees, all of my needs Better than You And nobody has, the power to change me To what I was born to be Jesus be strong in my weakness Empower me
Chorus: Empower me Like a rushing river flowing to the sea Lord, send your Holy Spirit Flowing out through me Till I'm living as Your child Victorious and free Send the power of Your love Empower me
Nobody's eyes, see through my soul Better than Yours Nobody's love, can make me whole No love but Yours And nobody has, the power to lift me To reach for eternity Jesus break through all my defenses Empower me
