If you are here looking at this adorable joy filled and hope giving Blog..you're definitely in the right place! Welcome to Spekky for Spectacular...I'm special you're special but we don't always know the depth of our uniqueness...Spekky by God's grace will help you discover the Spekky in you, bring out the Spekky in you and make the Spekky in you eradicate the Un-spekky in you (we all have those..and they keep us mindful of God's grace.).....Be Spekky be Spectacular :)
As a child I wanted to grow up super-fast and make my own decisions. All the adults seemed to be free to do whatever they wanted and I was not. I remember telling my Parent's several times in impatient desperation "I can't wait till I grow up" and they would tell me to savour every moment of my childhood because one day I would miss it. I could not see how that was possible then, but I see now.
I miss the beauty, the simplicity and the trustworthiness of the world I saw through my eyes then, and I am sure one day in the future I will look back at this present time and miss the beauty and uniqueness present at this stage of my life. "There is a time for everything" Ecc3:1 and "He makes everything beautiful in its time" Ecc3:11. Savour and maximize now, because today's beauty is now. Your eyes may not be mature enough to see today's beauty today, but someday not too far off you will see it and be thankful.
I definitely do not want to be a child again, but my childhood was beautiful in its time and my entire being will forever be grateful to God for that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daKdrp7tCi8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The song for today says it all!
The United States of America is known for setting aside a day towards the end of each year on which they acknowledge their blessings and give thanks to God.
I feel it is an excellent tradition especially when its true essence is understood. Today is that day in the U.S ( + some other countries).
As God's children, everyday should be Thanksgiving Day, because there are always innumerable things to be thankful to God for.The leper who returned to say thank you after being healed, was restored to perfection, anyone seeing him after that day would never have known about his history as a leper. Luke17:11-19
You may be like "this situation has caused a lot of damage, so yeah Father I appreciate the awesome things You've done but what's destroyed is destroyed"...
Forget that, and pour your heart out in gratitude for every single thing He has done! He made the entire universe out of nothing, sincerely give Him thanks and He will do what you were not even expecting. You can not fake it with Him... Sincerely pour your heart out in gratitude.
GOD IS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!! Day by day I get more an more blown away! Wow! He truly does know how to take the glory! He's so involed in the intricate details of my everyday life and I will will never be able to fathom why! All I know is that He is God, He is my King, My Lord, My One!!!! He sees me, He knows me, He calls me by name, He sheilds me and transforms the tears that drop from my eyes into diamonds.
He builds my confidence when people mock the gifts He's given me and He teaches me how to use those gifts to please Him (Ps25:12).
HE IS GOD!!! What was I before He transformed me? Nothing but dust to be trampled under feet! He breathed into me, gave me His life and said "Rep Me on Earth"...who am I? So unworthy yet justified by you!!!! Words would never ever be enough!!! I'm 'rambling' because I can't find the word that totally encapsulates my Gratitude!
Ive got to shout it out loud! GOD IS AWESOME!
He has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are strong (1Cor1:27)!
Everytime the Fathers and Mothers of the Faith e.g Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, David, Moses, Mariam, Joseph, Daniel etc saw the hand of God, their praise knew no bounds. Even when they were in terrible situations they would praise God for showing up for them in the past, and for being God all by Himself.
Let us get into the habit of being grateful to God for the 'teeny weeny' things as well as for the gigantic things.
Personally, I want to start writing down the things I am grateful to Him for on a daily basis. I do not want to be like the 9 lepers that took His acts in their life for granted.(Luke11:17-19).
Let's proclaim and meditate on the following scriptures all through today and be truly grateful to our Father all the days of lives on earth, and our lives with Him in eternity:
Psalms 103: 1-22 (NIV)
Praise the Lord , my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord , my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt5VnHYc-4k&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord ’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children— with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord , you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord , all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord , all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord , my soul.
Psalm 9:1-2 NIV
I will give thanks to you, Lord , with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
For a minute stop whatever it is that you are doing and think of how minute you are in comparison to every single thing God has made. Think of the land, about its soil that enables plants to grow, about its firmness that enables foundations to be laid and Skyscrapers to be built. Think of how it serves as a barrier to the sea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIWMZJxWAmE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Look at the Birds, the sky, just take time to deeply observe anything you lay your eyes on. Don't stop there, think of the things beyond the Earth. The Sun, where does its unending energy come from? God of course..the stars, the Moon, the planets, the galaxies, the Solar System. God made these things and they do not come close to all that He is!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ya12I036lg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The most amazing part is that this God in all His AWESOMENESS is mindful you and I. He loves us, died to save us and remedy our relationship with Him.
You are child of God, in Him you are not minute at all, in Him you are like Him because He gives you access to all that He is! Him making us a big deal without us being worthy one bit is another mind blowing thing about Him. Revere Gods awesomeness today, don't ever become so used to going through the motions that your are blind to see how great He truly is.
Last year, I had a dream. In that dream myself and a friend where somewhere and then two Angels approached us and began to hover over both our heads with packages from God. I patiently waited for my package to drop, but the Angel kept hovering. Before I knew it, my friend jumped up and grabbed her package. I was still waiting for mine to drop and then a few seconds later the Angel flew away with my package. I was extremely upset because I did not understand what had happened. I woke up and pleaded with God to explain the dream to me and He graciously did.
The thing is I am am person who detests the Idea of claiming to love God in order to get what he can give. It deeply hurts me when people only care about what they can receive from God and not about actually desiring to know Him more. So...I would always tell Him things like "if You never do anything else for me...I'll still love you". He told me He was absolutely pleased with me on that because I had discovered that He is THE TRUE TREASURE (Deut18:2), but then He told me that when He decides to bless me as an expression of His love or as a benevolent reward, or when I legitimately ask Him for something, I should NOT dishonor Him by refusing to or being ill prepared to receive what He decides to bless me with.
By blessings I do not mean material alone, but also blessings of spiritual significance. For example Elisha had served Elijah faithfully and He desired a double portion of the anointing upon Elijah. If he had been the way I was in my dream, He would have felt that him seeing alone would assure the passing of the Baton. Elisha took it personal and inasmuch as he believed in his heart that he had received it, he vocally and loudly confessed it to properly take hold of it "My Father! My Father! The chariots and the horsemen of Israel" it was after this that the mantle actually dropped.
Even with Gods greatest gift ever, Jesus, observing Jesus' death and resurrection is far from enough. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John3:16). Romans10:9-10 says:
"That if you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved".
Here again believing and confessing are emphasized as being significant for receiving what God has freely given. "I believed; therefore I spoke. With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak." Here again it is vividly evident that belief and confession go hand in hand.
God also led me to James1:6&7 "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from God;"
Obviously, I was having a faith problem. As I was writing this God opened up Heb11:6b to me in an entirely new way. "...because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."
I had been of the opinion that earnestly seeking Him meant I should not expect anything from Him. I did not want to be greedy. He showed me that to please him I must believe that He is, and also, my diligent search of him should be combined with the absolute belief that He will reward me...with more of Him (Jer29:13), with every spiritual blessing (Eph1:3) and with every material thing I need (Matt6:33).
Always seek Him above all else, He will forever be THE PRIORITY, but always be prepared to graciously receive what He freely gives in honor of Him.
In summary...
* Receive what God gives you in honor of Him and to His glory. Celebrate His love and benevolence.
* Without faith nothing can be received from God
* Your faith and your confession go hand in hand
This week do not let anything stand in your way of being Spekky...Be Spetacular!!!
Today, stop looking down in despair. Stop looking to men for the scraps of help you feel they are capable of giving.
The lame man at the Beautiful Gate focused on Peter and John. He desperately needed help, but most likely, the only things all his years of begging had gotten him where a permanent spot at the gate, and then food plus manageable clothing. Yes, these where problems, but those things that men were helping him with weren't the real issue. He was not anorexic, wasn't a nudist desiring to change, and I'm pretty sure that begging was not his desired occupation.
His expectations where low solely because of who his focus had been on all of his life.
What Peter and John did was change his focus. They pointed him to Jesus who was the only source of the help he truly needed, and he did get the true solution which he had thought to be impossible (Acts3:1-8).
Jesus is the only one that can get to the crux of the matter(Heb4:12&13), and then remedy your situation in its entirety. Who are your eyes fixed on? Because whatever anyone apart from Jesus does for you would be like taking Paracetamol to deal with a brain tumor.
Cry out "JESUS!I know You are all I truly have. Help me because I am helpless and hopeless without You".(Psalms34:5)
He says: "I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah41:10b).
Iranlowo Lyrics and Translation (Based on Psalms 121)
E mi o gbe oju mi (I will lift my eyes)
sori okewani (To the hills)
nibo niranlowo mi (where does my help come from?)
yo wa ti wa (From where will my help come?)
Iranlowo mi yo to wo Oluwawa (My help is from our Lord)
ti o da orun oun aiye (That created the Heaven's and the Earth)
Chorus
Iran lowo mi (My help)
La to do re ni (Is from You)
Oba to da oun aiya (The God that created the Earth)
Ran mi lowo (Help me Lord)
Ran mi lowo (Help me)
Verse 2:
Ohun ki yo je ki ese mi koye (he will not suffer my foot to be moved)
Eni ti pami mo (he that keepeth thee)
ki togbe beni kin sun rara ooh (neither slumber nor sleep)
He no dey sleep ooh
chorus
Iran lowo mi (My Help)
la to do re ni (Is from God)
oba to da oun aiye (The God that created the Earth)
ran mi lowo (HELP me Lord)
Oluwa ran mi lowo (Oh Lord help me)
