June 17

PSALM 63

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
² So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,    beholding your power and glory.
³ Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
⁴ So I will bless you as long as I live;  in your name I will lift up my hands.

⁵ My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,

    and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,

⁶ when I remember you upon my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

⁷ for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings,

 I will sing for joy.⁸ My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

                                                                                – Psalm 63:1-8

PSALM 63 THE STEADFAST LOVE OF THE LORD

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When you have been chosen by the Lord to be his child

You will experience his amazing grace and infinite love

The steadfast love of the Lord is much better than life

If you experience it, you will never be the same again

God loves you with a faithful and unwavering love

It is an unfathomable love that overflows with grace

You will hunger and thirst for this love that he gives

It will make you praise him for as long as you live.

If anyone who do not know God reads this psalm of David, that person would maybe liken it to two lovers or a husband and a wife’s relationship. It is undeniable from the tone of the psalm the wonderful love between the two people. There is reciprocity in that ardent and passionate affection and admiration they the two have for each other. Isn’t this why Christ and his bride, the church, is always referred to as a relationship as in a marriage. In Revelation 19:6-9, we hear of the marriage supper of the lamb in which the saints will be clothed in white linen to be married to Christ. This must be the reason why God himself instituted marriage when he made Adam and Eve when the two becomes one.

In this psalm, David gives us a sense of a passionate and ardent love he has for God where he constantly longs and pines for his Lord. He declares his love for God as if he wouldn’t be able to live without his presence. This is what two people get into when they vowed to love one another in marriage. They are no longer two but one. This must be the reason why widows’ and widowers’ losses are considered one of the gravest losses one can ever experience because the oneness becomes dissolved from death. Even divorce between the couple can bear much painful grief because of the breaking of the union.

REFLECTION

·       How does God’s steadfast love lead a believer to worship and praise the Lord?

June 16

DEUTERONOMY 7

⁶ “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. ⁷ It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸ but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, ¹⁰ and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. ¹¹ You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

                                                                                        – Deuteronomy 7:6-11

DEUTERONOMY 7 IF YOU LOVE YOU CAN COMMIT

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

The Lord God loves you and is committed to stay faithful

Because of that love, he will never abandon you

If you were chosen by him, you will be able to love him back

He is the giver of everything including your ability to love

If you love God, you will commit to serve and obey him

That is the sign that you are renewed to resist sin.

This account written by Moses was about God’s command to the Israelites to conquer the land that he had promised his people. They were instructed by God to completely annihilate the Canaanites and prohibited them from yoking with them so they can be pure and holy as God intended them to be. Do you ever wonder why God didn’t just give them the Promised land that had no inhabitants in it? I think that God has provided everything for them when he freed them out of the land of Egypt and throughout their journey in the wilderness. Since God made a covenant with them, they had a part to play in the relationship. God has equipped all his people with all the abilities to conquer these pagans, so the part that Israel was required to do as part of this agreement was to obey God’s laws and instructions so that they can finally occupy the land that was promised to them. God isn’t an enabler and a spoiler. He had to teach them to depend on him, but the obedience and trust was what was expected of them. But we know how this story went; they disobeyed God and mixed themselves with the pagans. This resulted in their unfaithfulness to God by serving the other pagan gods of those whom they intermarried.

Moses reminds them of the faithful and steadfast love that God has for his people and how God keeps his promises to them. Their obedience and loyalty are what is expected of them.

REFLECTION

·       How do you manifest your commitment as a child of God?

June 15

JEREMIAH 31

“At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”² Thus says the Lord:

“The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness;
 when Israel sought for rest, ³ the Lord appeared to him from far away.
  I have loved you with an everlasting love;

 Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you.
⁴ Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel!
Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines

and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
⁵ Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria;
   the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit.

                                                                                        – Jeremiah 31:1-5

JEREMIAH 31 GOD’S EVERLASTING LOVE

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

Because God is the Maker of the heavens and the earth

He is the Only One who can give us a love that is everlasting

When you acknowledge him as your God, you will grow

He will make sure that you will reap what you have sown

He is a God of promises and he always keeps them all

He will restore you if you were broken and went through trials

His everlasting love will heal your wounds and give your life back

Come to him and you will experience his everlasting love.

In the world, we can never find any kind of lasting love. That is because we live in a fallen world. But in this account, Jeremiah pronounces how God is getting back his beloved people and restoring them from all the judgments they have experienced from their own unfaithfulness to him. We witness a God of restoration here. We see the merciful and loving God that the Lord is. No matter how far gone his people were, he still kept his part of his covenant promise. He promised them restorative years after all that they have gone through.

If we can only have that kind of love, this world will be a better place to live in. Many of us find it very hard to forgive those who have wronged us, let alone restore the relationship to how it was. God promised that he will forever love his people. As David says in Psalm 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Can you ever forgive someone who has wronged you? If you reflect and meditate on how God gives us that merciful and everlasting love, wouldn’t you also give that same grace that he gives his people so generously?

REFLECTION

• How should God’s people receive such everlasting love of God?

June 13

                                                                         ZEPHANIAH 3

¹⁴ Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel!
   Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
¹⁵ The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;

   he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord,

   is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.
¹⁶ On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not,

    O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.
¹⁷ The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save;
    he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love;

    he will exult over you with loud singing.

¹⁸ I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival,

     so that you will no longer suffer reproach. – Zephaniah 3:14-18

ZEPHANIAH 3 GOD’S LOVE CANCELS FEAR

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

If you only knew how much God loves you

You wouldn’t listen to the lies from this world

The prince of this world creates fear of many things

By accommodating this fear, we become prone to sins

If you believe in God, you will discern what is wrong and evil

You will not entertain lies, but expose every tactic of the devil

God’s love cancels fear in every part of your being

It replaces fear with overflowing love and assurance.

According to bibleproject.com the prophet Zephaniah lived during King Josiah’s reign in the southern kingdom of Judah. Josiah attempted to bring change in the land with the removal of idols and restoration of the temple but by that point, however, Israel was already too far gone, as the worship of other gods was too entrenched in the people’s lives. Josiah’s pride led him to a tragic death on the battlefield (2 Chronicles 35:20-25) and so Jerusalem was set on a collision course with Babylon. Zephaniah had seen all this coming and had been warning the leaders of Jerusalem for years. 

The third section of this book, which chapter 3 is, explores the hope that remains for the nations and Jerusalem on the other side of judgment.” Zephaniah talks about the love of God for Israel despite their rebellion and idolatry. God pulled out the evil ones among his people and left those who were faithful to him. In this last chapter, the prophet declares to the remnant of Israel the hope that comes with their faithfulness to God. God cancels out their fear and reassures them in verse 15 that he set them aside by clearing their enemies. In verse 17 the prophet reassured them that the Lord will never forsake them and be appeased by God’s love. In verse 18, they were promised that they won’t be shamed anymore.

REFLECTION

·       What reassurances can a believer derive from this account in the book of Zephaniah?

June 12

1 JOHN 3

¹⁶ By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷ But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.¹⁹ By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; ²⁰ for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. ²¹ Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; ²² and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. ²⁴ Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. – 1 John 3:16-24

1 JOHN 3 PROOF OF TRUE LOVE

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

How do you know if you are truly loved?

It is easy to say so but you need proofs

When someone says they do love you but don’t show it

That isn’t true love according to the Holy Spirit

Laying down one’s life for the beloved is clear evidence

It shows that they’ve made the other more important

When you truly love someone, you make them first

You begin to prioritize the beloved more than yourself.

So many marriages fail because someone or both of the persons in the relationship have no clue what true love really is and a lack of proof of that love, they claim to have for the other. The world has corrupted the concept of “love” with romantic jargons and unrealistic love. The television, movie, social media and literary industries have lied to us about what love is. We grew up in fairy tales with the happy ever-after endings which have greatly distorted our view of love since we were kids. I am a testament to this world system’s corruption of the true meaning of love. If only the world presented “love” the way that God meant it to be, there would probably be less damaged relationships. We live in a broken world with a corrupt system, so we need a true navigation system that will lead us to the right path to love.

John gives us the true meaning and proof of love in this account. He says in verse 16 that the evidence of true love is in laying down one’s life for the loved one. In verse 17, he mentions that being sensitive to the needs of the beloved and attending to those needs is highly indicative of the presence of God’s love in that person. In verse 18, the other proof is by manifesting in their deeds what they claim to be love to that person. In verse 23-24, faith and obedience are the other proofs of love for the Lord. Why did John mention these two proofs? Without God’s gift of love, we cannot believe or obey him, thus, we cannot manifest true love without knowing and serving our Lord Jesus Christ.

REFLECTION

·       How can a believer correct his wrong notion of love? Can an unbeliever understand true love?

June 10

MATTHEW 22

³⁴ But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. ³⁵ And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” ⁴¹ Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, ⁴² saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” ⁴³ He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,⁴⁴ “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? ⁴⁵ If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” ⁴⁶ And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. – Matthew 22:34-45

1 JOHN 3 LOVE GOD ABOVE ALL

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

If you were called by God to serve him

You ought to love him above everything else

Making him priority aligns your life to him

This is your shield against all evil and sin

If you put God first in all that you do

Your life will have order and not chaos

Peace will permeate your whole being

You will discern what is corrupt and evil.

In this account, we witness the Pharisees’ devious plot to test Jesus so that they could find some excuse to crucify him. They felt threatened by Jesus’ popularity, authority and miracles undermining their honor and accolades. They gave Jesus a trick question asking him which is the greatest commandment of all. They wanted to catch Jesus in ignorance because they knew that Jesus wasn’t as schooled as they were. What they didn’t know was that Jesus was God himself who knows everything and created all things. The answer of Jesus to their question exposed their hearts. Their rule-keeping minds couldn’t fathom why they had to put God first above all things. Their priority is to follow laws and rules instead of a covenant -based relational faith.

Another question posed to them by Jesus exposed their limited understanding of who Christ is when he asked them whose son was Christ? Their minds were blown when he had a follow-up question to them as to why David calls his own son Lord. This just shows how limited their minds were because it was filled with legalism. They couldn’t hear what Jesus was already revealing to them about the Christ they don’t truly know. It exposed their priority to worship wasn’t God at all, but their own idols of knowledge and their leadership positions. If their hearts truly worshipped the Lord, they would get what Jesus said.

REFLECTION

·       Share what might happen to believers who do not prioritize God above all things?

June 9

ROMANS 13

⁸ Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.¹¹ Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. ¹² The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. ¹³ Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

                                                                                        – Romans 13:8-14

ROMANS 13 LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

God made us all in his image so we are created for love

Each one of us, man and woman, bear the image of God

The only debt we should owe is to love one another

This is the only kind of obligation that doesn’t enslave us

If you love yourself, then you can also love others

Each believer is called to love his sisters and brothers

The act of loving your neighbor as yourself is the way to freedom

It doesn’t get you enslaved or bonded to idols or anyone.

It is interesting how Paul talks about debt in the context of love. We usually think of money or riches when we think of debts. I think he is alluding to the importance of living in freedom as Christians. He points out debts that aren’t visible such as relational ones. He talks about the importance of being free from any debts because they will enslave the person who is the lender. Solomon talks about this in Proverbs 22:7 that the borrower is a slave to the lender. How do we become slaves to someone in a relationship? We can engage in transactional love where we only give love to those who give it to us. When we give away only for the sake of getting something in return, we are the borrower and the one who receives what we give, is the lender. Therefore, we can be enslaved by watching the result of our act of love like a business that earns gains from the capital it put into. This is why Paul talks about this in terms of love. What we value can also be turned to idols and when they become idols, we are enslaved to it.

In verse 8, he instructs the believers to have no debt but to love one another. If we truly love one another as God loves us, we are actually fulfilling the law of liberty. We won’t do transactional love but unconditional love. We won’t love for the sake of gain but for the good of those whom we give love to. When we do this, we are manifesting the real purpose for our lives, that is, to love sacrificially.

REFLECTION

·       How do you think loving others as ourselves results in freedom?