Life in the true sense is not something we have exclusively in or from ourselves; it is a relationship with God. Amen! If without passion and love, without zeal, without fervor, we are lifeless and faith is so easily cast aside. Let us put it very simply; people needs God, otherwise he/she remains without hope. "To fall in love with God is the greatest of romance, to seek Him the greatest adventure, to find God the greatest achievement." - Saint Augustine of Hippo -

Christian and agape love, especially as distinct from erotic love or emotional affection, that is, a communal meal in token of Christian fellowship, as held by early Christians in commemoration of the Last Supper. In other words, Love embraces the whole of existence in each of its dimensions, including the dimension of time. It could hardly be otherwise, since its promise looks towards its definitive goal; love looks to the eternal. Agape love, that is: Christian love is indeed "ecstasy", not in the sense of a moment of intoxication, but rather as a journey, an ongoing exodus out of the closed inward looking self towards its liberation through self-giving, and thus towards authentic self-discovery of God. Amen!

Man in search of God. In the act of creation, God calls every being from nothingness into existence. "Crowned with glory and honour," man/woman is, after the angels, capable of acknowledging "how majestic is the name of the Lord in all the earth." Even after losing through his sin his likeness to God, man remains an image of his Creator, and retains the desire for the one who calls him into existence. All religions bear witness to men's essential search for God. - CCC # 2566 -

God love can awaken within us a feeling of love, joy and peace; born of the experience of being loved. But this process is always open-ended; love is never "finite, finished" and complete; throughout life, it enhances, changes and matures, and hence remains faithful to itself. Believing and acknowledgement of the living God is one path towards agape love, and "Yes" of our will to His will that unites our intellect, will and sentiments in all embracing act of love. This process is always open and welcoming. Hence, love never "end" and it changes, matures and as a result, remains faithful to itself.

"Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offense and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes. Love does not come to an end." - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 -

"For what can be known about God is perfectly plain to them since God himself has made it plain." - Romans 1:19 -

Seek Yahweh while he is still to be found,

call to him while he is still near. 

Let the wicked man/woman abandon his/her way, 

the evil man/woman his/her thoughts.

Let him turn back to Yahweh who will take pity on him, 

to our God who is rich in forgiving;

for my thoughts are not your thoughts,

my ways not your ways - it is Yahweh who speaks.

yes, the heavens are as high above earth

as my ways are above your ways,

my thoughts above your thoughts.

Yes, as the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do. - Isaiah 55:6-11 - 

"But you will seek Yahweh your God from there, and if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul, you shall find him. In your distress, all that I have said will overtake you, but at the end of days you will return to Yahweh your God and listen to his voice. For Yahweh your God is a merciful God and will not desert or destroy you or forget the covenant he made on oaths with your fathers." - Deuteronomy 4:29-31 - 

"Since God who made the world and everything in it, is himself Lord of heaven and earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is he dependent on anything that human hands can do for him, since he can never be in need of anything; on the contrary, it is he who gives everything - including life and death - to everyone. From one single stock he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but he decreed how long each nation should flourish and what the boundaries of its territory should be. And he did this so that all nations might seek the deity and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding him. Yet, in fact, he is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we live, and move, and exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said: "We are all his children." 

Since we are the children of God, we have no excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or stone that has been carved and designed by a man. God overlooked that sort of thing when men were ignorant, but now he is telling everyone everywhere that they must repent, because he has fixed a day when the whole world will be judged, and judged in righteousness, and he has appointed a man to be the judged. And God has publicly proved this by raising this man from the dead." - Acts 17:24-31 - 

"Then Jesus told them, 'This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms, has to be fulfilled.' Jesus then opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, 'So you see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this.

'And now I am sending down to you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city then, until you are clothed with the power from on high.' Then Jesus took them out as far as the outskirts of Bethany, and lifting up his hands Jesus blessed them. Now as he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up to heaven. They worshipped him and then went back to Jerusalem full of joy; and they were continually in the Temple praising God.'" - Luke 24:44-53 - 

"Now having met together, they asked Jesus, 'Lord, has the time come? Are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel?' Jesus replied, 'It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.'

As Jesus said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. They were still staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing near them and they said, 'Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky? Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, the same Jesus will come back in the same way as you have seen him go there.'

So from the Mount of Olives, as it is called, they went back to Jerusalem a short distance away, no more than a sabbath walk; and when they reached the city they went to the upper room where they were staying; there were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Jude son of James. All these joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

One day Peter stood up to speak to the brothers - there were about a hundred and twenty persons in the congregation: Brothers, the passage of scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit, speaking through David, foretells the fate of Judas, who offered himself as a guide to the men who arrested Jesus - after having been one of our number and actually sharing this ministry of ours. As you know, he bought a field with the money he was paid for his crime. He fell headlong and burst open, and all his entrails poured out. Everybody in Jerusalem heard about it and the field came to be called the Bloody Acre, in their language Hakeldama. Now in the Book of Psalms it says: Let his camp be reduced to ruin, Let there be no one to live in it. And again: Let someone else take his office.

'We must therefore choose someone who has been with us the whole time that the Lord Jesus was travelling round with us, someone who was with us right from the time when John was baptising until the day when he was taken up from us - and he can act with us as a witness to his resurrection.' 

Having nominated two candidates, Joseph as Barsabbas, whose surname was Justus, and Matthias, they prayed, 'Lord, you can read everyone's heart; show us therefore which of these two you have chosen to take over this ministry and apostolate, which Judas abandoned to go to his proper place'. They then drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias, he was listed as one of the twelve apostles.'" - Acts 1:6-26 -

The anointed or chosen person belonged to God in a special sense. The phrases, "the Lord's anointed", "God's anointed", My anointed", "Your anointed", or "His anointed" are used of king Saul - 1 Samuel 26:9,11 - king David - 2 Samuel 22:51 - and king Solomon - 2 Chronicles 6:42 - Priests, kings and prophets were anointed. Oil was poured on the head of the person being anointed. - Exodus 29:7 - Kings were set apart through the ritual of anointing which was performed by a prophet who acted in God's power and authority. - 1 Samuel 15:1 - The Old Testament also records two instances of the anointing of a prophet. - 1 Kings 19:16; Isaiah 61:1 - In the New Testament all who are Christ's apostles/disciples are said to be anointed; they are God's very own, set apart and commissioned for God service. 

"Remember it is God himself who assures us all, and you, of our standing in Christ Jesus, and has anointed us, marking us with His seal and giving us the pledge, the Holy Spirit that we carry in our hearts. By my life, I call God to witness that the reason why I did not come to Corinth after all was to spare your feeling." - 2 Corinthians 1:21-23 - 

Christ Jesus the Messiah is described as "anointed". This description is found in the Psalms of the Old Testament which prophesy the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the preaching of the Apostle Peter in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles.

"Before our conversion of heart our sinful passions, quite unsubdued by the Law, fertilised our bodies to make them give birth to death. But now we are rid of the Law, freed by death from our imprisonment, free to serve in the new spiritual way and not the old way of the written law. Does it follow that the law itself is sin? Of course not. What I mean is that I should not have known what sin was except for the Law. I should not for instance have known what it means to cover if the Law had not said You shall not covet. But it was this commandment that sin took advantage of to produce all kinds of covetousness in me, for when there is no Law, sin is dead.

Once, when there was no Law. I was alive; but when the commandment came, sin came to life and I died: the commandment was meant to lead me to life but it turned out to mean death for me, because sin took advantage of the commandment to mislead me, and so sin, through that commandment, killed me. 

The law is sacred, and what it commands is sacred, just and good. Does that mean that something good killed me? Of course not. But sin, to show itself in its true colours, used that good thing to kill me; and thus sin, thanks to the commandment, was able to exercise all its sinful power.

The Law, of course, as we all know, is spiritual; but I am unspiritual; I have been sold as a slave to sin. I cannot understand my own behaviour. I fail to carry out the things I want to do, and I find myself doing the very things I hate. When I act my own will, that means I have a self that acknowledges that the Law is good, and so the thing behaving in that way is not myself but sin living in me. The fact is, I know of nothing good living in me - living, that is, in my unspiritual self - for though the will to do what is good is in me, the performance is not, with the result that instead of doing the good things I want to do, I carry out the sinful things I do not want. When I act against my will, then, it is not my true self doing it, but sin which lives in me.

In fact, this seems to be the rule, that every single time I want to do good it is something evil that comes to hand. In my inmost self I dearly love God's Law, but I can see that my body follows a different law that battles against the law which my reason dictates. This is what makes me a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! In short, it is I who with my reason serve the Law of God, and no less I who serve in my unspiritual self the law of sin."  - Romans 7:5-25 -

 

-  THE  CHRISTIAN'S  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  -  The life of the spirit  - 

The reason, therefore, why those who are in Christ Jesus are not condemned, is that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. God has done what the Law, because of the unspiritual nature, was unable to do. God dealt with sin by sending his own Son in a body as physical as any sinful body, and in that body God condemned sin. He did this in order that the Law's just demands might be satisfied in us, who behave not as our unspiritual nature but as the spirit dictates.

The unspiritual are interested only in what is unspiritual, but the spiritual are interested in spiritual things. It is death to limit oneself to what is unspiritual; life and peace can only come with concern for the spiritual. That is because to limit oneself to what is unspiritual is to be at enmity with God: such a limitation never could and never does submit to God's law. People who are interested only in unspiritual things can never be pleasing to God. Your interests, however, are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you. In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him. Though your body may be dead it is because of sin, but if Christ is in you then your spirit is life itself because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to you own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you. 

So then, my brothers and sisters, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live.

Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son and daughter of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons and daughters, and it makes us cry out, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory. - Romans 8:1-17 -

To fall in love with God is the greatest of romance, to seek Him the greatest adventure, to find God the greatest achievement. - Saint Augustine of Hippo -

-     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.