Monday 27 May 2024

SOAP

Isaiah 32

8 But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.

Complacent Women Warned of Disaster

9 Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;    you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.10 In little more than a year    you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest fails,    the fruit harvest will not come. 11 Tremble, you women who are at ease,    shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare,    and tie sackcloth around your waist. 12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,    for the fruitful vine, 13 for the soil of my people    growing up in thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyous houses    in the exultant city. 14 For the palace is forsaken,    the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower    will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys,    a pasture of flocks; 

15 until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. 16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. 17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust[a] forever. 18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. 19 And it will hail when the forest falls down, and the city will be utterly laid low. 20 Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.

Psalms 146

English Standard Version

Put Not Your Trust in Princes

1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!

2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;    I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

3 Put not your trust in princes,    in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;    on that very day his plans perish.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,    whose hope is in the Lord his God,

6 who made heaven and earth,    the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever;

7 who executes justice for the oppressed,    who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;

8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;    the Lord loves the righteous.

9 The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!

Observation:

Those who do noble things, good things, who do everything in righteousness are those who have true faith and fear of GOD. There are many who call themselves Christians yet disregard the WORD of GOD and only obey HIS commands and instructions only when it is convenient for them. To follow GOD is not a simple thing, it is the most difficult, it takes a lot of work - hard work, it is one of the most excruciating, the most sacrificing thing anyone can do in their lives. That is why GOD warns the complacent women, those who are at ease doing nothing, not sowing, not trusting, not waiting on the LORD for if you truly are a child of GOD, you are indeed struggling in this world because of the battles we face in this life a battle between good and evil and it takes a lot of strength to chose good. It takes a whole lot of strength to sow righteousness and pray for GOD's power to move in people's hearts. It takes a lot of sacrificing, a lot of tears, a lot of effort, a lot of pain to endure hardship because YOU are doing what YOU believe is right. But the effect of righteousness the BIBLE says is peace, quietness and trust forever and also happiness! Isaiah 32:20 Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free. Happiness and joy, are one of the effects of righteousness, even though we sow in tears for while, we will reap a harvest of joy and gladness and this is what I look forward to - I want to be happy but if I have to suffer first to reap an abundance of joy, then so be it, rather be complacent and at ease now. Those who let the ox and donkey range free are those who are even sensitive to the needs of the animals. If only I had more space, I will let my dogs roam free, but I cannot let them because I don't have my own house and so I have to follow the rules of my parents who own it. 

Application:

I will be patient, I will endure, I will continue to believe, sow prayers, sow righteousness, keep doing what is right so that I will someday reap an abundance of harvest of joy and love and my heart will be full and satisfied that what GOD has indeed planned for me, will be mine! An unconditional love to call my own, a home that we can build together, for rich or poor, sickness or health, because our foundation is a rock, our foundation is TRUE LOVE - our foundation is GOD in the person of KING JESUS.

Prayers:
Dear FATHER GOD ALMIGHTY!

YOU are so good!!! YOU have shown YOURSELF in glory, in YOUR faithfulness yesterday at my brother's wedding! I cannot get over every little detail that YOU have done. I cannot move on from it. I thank YOU O GOD for answering our prayers, every little thing, I thank YOU for answering them. I thank YOU for showing me how perseverance, faith, endurance and trust can reap great rewards of joy and celebration and I truly celebrated last night! Toda Raba ABBA! I'm so blessed by the work of YOUR hand! I'm so blessed by the faith and humility of David and Kim how they have won that final battle yesterday! I am so blessed that YOU have indeed touched and moved in my Mom's heart because YOU are her King! I cried tears of so much joy and relief, I cried so much because I prayed for that, I prayed for that moment! Kim overcame everything, all the pain, David overcame all the bitterness, and so they won my Mom with their faith and love, and trust and patient endurance! I still cry as I think about that moment, I cried, it was the highlight of wedding. It was the highlight! I praise YOU O GOD! I thank YOU forever! But please don't let me have that kind of pain, I don't think I have the endurance and strength and humility and faith that they did! 

I praise YOU O GOD! I thank YOU!!! Truly all the glory and honor and praise belongs to YOU!

In the Name of JESUS I pray, Amen!