It’s a beautiful day February 25, 2011
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Daily Life-Walk, Faith, God.1 comment so far
It’s such a beautiful day outside! Yes, for those who are in Toronto, you read that right. And, no I’m not crazy. Nor do I love the cold weather. (For those not in Toronto, it’s currently -10C [-2C but feels like -10C], snowing and a bit windy.)
But as I’m walking outside with the snow falling and my cheeks and ears getting cold, I can’t help but look up at the grey sky and say it’s a beautiful day.
I’m listening to Stronger by Hillsong which says that “Jesus, You are Lord of all”. And that’s why I can say this day is beautiful. God created it. Jesus is Lord, and that means ALL is under His control. So I can rest in knowing that and, more importantly as far as I am concerned, focus on knowing Him.
Congrats to Bryant and Deondra January 13, 2011
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Children & Babies, Prayer.Tags: friends, new life
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I want to congratulate my friends Bryant and Deondra on their new baby girl, born today! I am SO happy and excited for them. Praise God!
Thank You Father and I pray for Your hand of guidance, grace and favour upon this little one and her parents and sister.
Amen.
DH
A request to Father God January 12, 2011
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Prayer.Tags: eternal, natural
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Open my eyes, Daddy, to see how blessed I am in Jesus Christ. Let me see the eternal over the natural, like a color schema place atop a black and white picture.
Thank You.
DH
A prayer January 12, 2011
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Daily Life-Walk, Prayer.Tags: failure, perseverance, prayer
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Father, I find it hard to keep on persevering. It seems that all I see lately are the failures. And I have to say, looking at a weighing scale tipped heavily in the failure department is very discouraging. It’s no wonder my soul tires of persevering! What’s the point if there’s only failure to look forward to?
“I know everything’s alright. Everything’s alright.” Thank You.
DH
Faith Issues cont’d April 29, 2010
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Bible, Faith, God.1 comment so far
So as I am getting ready for bed, while brushing my teeth, I am praying to God and saying how I am tired of the division over the faith divide, and asking how to reconcile the two views. And this is God’s answer:
Maybe it’s not about reconciling the two views; maybe it’s about which view (approach to faith) I’m asking of you. Perhaps all you need to focus on is which approach to faith do I require of you, and are you living by that approach, and if not, why not. And perhaps as far as others are concerned, you need to (a) not worry about what they believe insofar as trying to get them all on the same page, and (b) not worry about what they say insofar as whether they try to ‘correct’ you or not.
And this is my response:
It’s true Father, all that you just said to me; but in regard to (b), I can’t just blow off hierarchy and authority, can I? Yes, a part of me needs to learn to not care as much what others think or say (especially say), but what about when it’s your own pastor? He’s supposed to be the spiritual leader over me (!), so how can I hold to an opposite belief than him in conversation? It’s not my job to convince him he’s wrong, yet he will, out of genuineness and love, try to correct me. Then what do I say?
And so right now we shall leave it at this answer-and-response stage. My current conclusion is this: my follow-up questions not-withstanding, God has a point and I need to pray for Holy Spirit to change me.
DH
Faith Issues ((tags: God, Faith, Bible) April 29, 2010
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Daily Life-Walk, Faith, God.1 comment so far
What do you do when you have two groups of people whom you care about, and who sit on the opposite sides of an issue? What about when they strongly believe that those who don’t believe as them are wrong (to put it mildly) or heretical (to put it strongly)?
I am speaking of an issue I’ve noticed in the Church – the body of Christ – over what I would consider our approach to faith. Specifically I am talking about a view that I would term an active approach to faith, and a view that I would term a passive approach to faith. The active approach goes by terms such as “Word-Faith”, “Name-it-and-claim-it”, and (seems to me) to be found in more the Charismatic movement. The passive approach is, in many aspects, the exact opposite of the active approach.
I am frustrated, hurt, saddened, and confused by this ‘faith divide’. For those of you who have experienced both sides of this divide, perhaps you’ve been like me, or still are like me. Now, I’m not confused by which approach to my own personal faith I should take – that is between God and I, and I’ve prayed many a time over it. I’m confused by how to bridge the gap, create reconciliation even, between these two seemingly opposing groups. I’m frustrated and saddened that this divide exists, not so much because we have different approaches to our faith, but because we are labeling those who take another approach, heretics. I’m hurt by the interactions I’ve had with those who don’t agree with me on faith issues.
I’m going to stop now, not because I want to, but more because I’m falling asleep and can barely write these sentences with correct grammar! But as God leads me, I would like to write some more on this topic, and perhaps even get into my own views and convictions.
PS. If you know what I’m referring to as the ‘faith divide’, feel free to share your own thoughts via the comments below.
DH
Encouragement from Elijah April 28, 2010
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Bible, Daily Life-Walk, Faith, God.add a comment
Author: Shiranee
There was a day when the prophet Elijah felt hopeless and wanted to die. He had just experienced a great victory over the prophets of Baal, but now his life was being threatened by the king’s wife Jezebel. In fear, he ran into the wilderness (1 Kings 19:4). There he “prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life!’”
We may think that Elijah was overreacting, but hopeless feelings are real. He wisely went to the right source for help. He cried out to God. The Lord knew Elijah needed restoration, so
(a) He provided for his needs (vv.5-7).
(b) He revealed Himself to him (vv.9-13)
(c) He renewed Elijah’s sense of purpose by giving him work to do (vv.15-17), and
(d) He brought Elijah hope by reminding him that he was not alone (v.18).
“FOR OUR LIGHT AND MOMENTARY TROUBLES ARE ACHIEVING
FOR US AN ETERNAL GLORY THAT FAR OUTWEIGHS THEM ALL.
SE WE FIX OUR EYES NOT ON WHAT IS SEEN, BUT ON WHAT IS
UNSEEN. FOR WHAT IS SEEN IS TEMPORARY, BUT WHAT IS
UNSEEN IS ETERNAL.” Cor. 4:17-18)
Amen!
DH
Random Thoughts February 15, 2010
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Daily Life-Walk, Faith, God, Random Thoughts.add a comment
I was just struck with that line randomly. As I started singing it in my head, this next thought hit me: for myself as a Christian, that’s a comforting thing – that God gives and takes away. He’s in control of everything.
But that was followed up with: why is God taking away a good thing?
I don’t have time to dissect that now, but from my experiences it is a good thing. And yet on the surface it doesn’t seem it. I think it stems from an inherent choice to believe that God is love and wants what’s good for us. If we make that choice, or have that faith, we know there’s a presupposition to why God taking away is a good thing.
DH
Revelations at 4:30 in the morning! August 9, 2009
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Faith, Gifts / Talents.Tags: gifts, God, intercession, morning, spirituality
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I’ve been thinking and reflecting on intercession lately, especially tonight. My biggest (spiritual) gift is that of an intercessor’s heart. We, the children of God, are all called to intercede. But in the same way we are all called to evangelize, and there are some given the gift of evangelism, so it is with intercession. As far as I can tell, having it given to you as a gift generally means you have more of a heart tuned to that need, that frequency, even more so than others do. Or perhaps it’s not so much even more so, but even more consistently than those who don’t have the gift.
Well, as I mentioned already, I’ve been reflecting on intercession and spiritual sensitivity to the deep needs of others – the very things they don’t share – and the spiritual atmosphere of any environment. Tonight I think God just gave me a new revelation about intercession: interceding, or standing in the gap, for someone can involve just being and not doing.
I have two good friends of mine, a brother in Christ and a sister in Christ, who have been heavy on my heart tonight. If you’ve read any of my previous posts you can probably guess who they are, as they are engaged and they are the leaders of PalmSway.
Yesterday – August 9 – PalmSway had an opportunity to play at a concert at Asaiah Ministries Church, in the Cataraqui area in Scarborough. After the concert, these two friends of mine and I, as we headed back to our church to set up the equipment we had used for the concert, had an opportunity to chat about spiritual things. The bible talks about “as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another”, and that was the type of fellowship and conversation that occurred.
Since that time – actually beginning partway through that time of fellowship – these two were laid on my heart in an intercessory manner. In fact, much of the reason I’m still up at 4:30 in the morning is because I’ve been wrestling with what exactly has been laid on my heart, and what I am to do with it. Praise God there have been times of prayer and intercession even tonight for these two friends. But the sense I get regarding what has been laid upon me is that this is not a one-time prayer regarding something specific in a person’s life. Coming back to my point, as I was wrestling with what to do, and attempting some actions to prepare the atmosphere (to enter into prayer and worship), God struck me with the revelation I mentioned. Needless to say the actions I attempted were not fully working as I kept hitting a certain ‘wall’, which I believe was God stopping me from proceeding in a manner I wasn’t supposed to (at least not tonight).
So Father God I ask for Your guidance Holy Spirit in learning to just be and sit pregnant as it were with an intercessory burden. I pray to know when to move and act and when to sit. I pray for the discernment and understanding to see the intercession occurring in both states – the action and the non-action. Thank You. Amen.
DH
Dear God April 5, 2009
Posted by David Hiran Watson in About Me, Daily Life-Walk, Faith, God.Tags: Faith, God, life, struggles, Superchic[k]
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I’m going to take a page out of love, devi and style this post as a letter to God:
Dear God,
Tonight was pretty difficult; I’m sitting here at this moment listening to “Courage” by Superchic[k] and I have two questions to ask you. First, for those dealing with hurting and pain and difficulty, what difference does believing in you make? You and I both know that both questions arose in me earlier tonight while traveling home on the TTC. We also chatted about them at that time – well, more like I voiced them to you and then focused on the music coming out of my mp3 player. But I’m recounting them now both for the sake of anyone reading this, and because writing it this way is part of the healing (answering) process.
So back to the first question; if you recall I thought of the Footprints poem, and the line about how when there was one set of footprints, it was you carrying the dreamer. But I realized that both non-Christians and Christians get through hard times. (For those reading, I use those two terms in the traditional sense of the words). For example, a non-Christian, when confronted with losing a loved one, will experience the pain and loss. They will shed tears, go through the whole grieving process, and move on. Eventually the pain from the loss will completely cease, or at least subside to almost ‘background noise’. How is that any different from a Christian who turns to you during the grieving process for help? Alright, I admit that perhaps they will have a shorter grieving period, and there is also the prospect of hope that they will see the loved one in Heaven (should the loved one have been a Christian as well). But, in my eyes, there is no major ‘advantage’ to turning to you during the grieving process.
Or let’s look at another example: someone who is struggling with a difficult time, such as breaking an addiction. There is a lot of pain and hurt and hardship associated with an addiction – whether you’re the addicted one or someone you love is the addicted one – and breaking an addiction. My “church” upbringing tells me the ‘right’ answer to this scenario: my trusting you gives me your strength and invites you into the situation. But many who don’t trust you, who perhaps are not Christians, break addictions. Many who don’t trust you have their families healed and restored back from the damaging effects of an addiction.
Don’t get me wrong God, I’m not saying I don’t trust you or that I don’t want to trust you. Until recently, I struggled with the whole “If God is loving, why does He let us go through difficult times, etc” issue. I finally fully understand why your letting us go through hard times IS an act of love – I understand and believe. Of course it’s only because you broke through and made the intellectual understanding become heart understanding. My current struggle is, therefore, not why are people going through hard times. Rather, it’s whether trusting in you during our struggles makes any major difference? Honestly, I can’t see any major difference on the surface between someone who trusts in you and someone who doesn’t while they are going through a rough patch. Eventually both the person who trusts in you, and the one who doesn’t, gets through the rough patch and does so seemingly victorious and stronger for it. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule. But those exceptions exist, as far as I am aware, in both camps. Perhaps any major difference exists underneath the surface…
DH
