Reminiscing Truths ⚓

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 (ESV)                     I have been pondering upon this thought since early last week when Hapi and I were choosing the hymns for the upcoming Sunday (yesterday). Abba has been preaching a mini-series on Christian Service for some Sundays now. When we were told that the sermon for yesterday would be about the personal application of Christian service, the  Take My Life and Let it Be  hymn immediately came to mind as a fitting hymn of preparation. I'm not sure whether the hymn had a similar scriptural reference, but it turned out to be really such an appropriate hymn to what the sermon discussed. The text was in Romans 12. This topic, of course, has already been preached several times before. It was highlighted in the mini-series on Biblical...

        I love the fact that the Bible never runs dry of "wonderful words of life." No matter how many times a Christian finishes through the whole Bible, it's always, always  sweeter the next reading. And somehow, there is always something... new.  New, not in the sense that I've never read this part of the Bible before. But it's more of a fresh perspective on the truth that has been there all along. And that's what makes His word even sweeter every time.        And such is Psalm 116 for me. I have always loved the Psalms, even as a kid, but it's only for these past three years that the psalmists' words resonate so deeply with me. The writer of Psalm 119 wasn't exaggerating when he said (v. 71-72), It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.  Truly, the more that we are disciplined in the School of Grace, the sweeter...

     Luzon's ECQ Week 4 coincided with the 2020 Holy Week. Originally, the school calendar indicated Wednesday - Saturday of this week to have no classes. Since the quarantine, however, our principal announced that we would have the entire week off work and encouraged us to have our personal retreat and more time for family prayer. Have I told you how much I'm grateful for this school I work in? No? Let me say it then. I'm truly grateful for MGCNL community, in so many areas.  So I was able to spend more time reading (and watching) more materials this week. At this point, though, I'd like to highlight first how I've been selecting which materials to read/watch.         I understand that in a world where new knowledge would be only a few clicks away, many could be intoxicated, so to speak, with the "power" to know more. But knowledge puffs up. The same authors who have helped countless believers to arrive at a deeper, personal, and experiential ...

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,  who seek him with their whole heart,  who also do no wrong  but walk in His ways!                                                                     (Psalm 119:2-3) The psalms, and mostly all of the Bible’s poetry, operate through what is called parallelism . As a literary device, parallelism draws on this idea of connection and similarity. Parallelism is when an author constructs parts of a sentence to be grammatically similar, often repeating a specific word, phrase, or idea. This repetition creates a connection between the ideas discussed. These parallel ideas also become emphasized and become more important for the reader. (Study.com, Parallelism in Poetry) Parallelism, then, is used in the Bible to compare an idea previously mentioned and paint ho...