Jonah – God’s Grace in Mankind

Through Jesus Christ, we have attained a gift that we don’t deserve, and that is grace. God’s grace to love and even forgive our sins is something we can’t imagine having for free but with Jesus Christ as the sacrificial lamb, we have already been given grace. It is the most perfect gift that is attached to the salvation we have been given. Imagine getting the most expensive gift from someone without having to do anything. You will feel undeserving right?

Just like the past blogs about this series, we have learned from David that there is more to his story than just being named to be “the man after God’s own heart”, and from Esther that there will always be a right time and the right season that God has called you to be in and when you choose to obey, it will impact a whole generation, and then from Joseph, being disappointed may hurt but knowing that it may lead you to God’s Appointment to your destiny in your life, then just choose to look at the purpose you have.

Now, being a servant of God requires you to do a lot, sacrifice a lot, go through a lot and see people a lot. This servant of God has experienced greatly that when you choose to flee from what God is telling you to do, then you will put yourself and others in a situation that you never want to experience. Jonah, a faithful servant of God, is tasked to go to Nineveh to spread God’s Word and let them repent to be able to be saved from God’s wrath. However, Jonah, knowing how stubborn the people are from that land, didn’t want to go and did everything he could so he could flee from God’s instructions.

Just like Joseph, when he had to meet all the disappointments just to be able to meet the appointment God has set before him. Jonah had to learn that fleeing from God’s instructions, he had to face the storms in the sea that made him be thrown into the sea, then a great fish swallowed him and let him stay there for days. It wasn’t easy, although these days, it will not be that way. Sometimes God lets you meet the unexpected and uncomfortable situation that lets you realize the importance of obedience. Delayed obedience is still disobedience. In disobedience, there will always be consequences you need to face in order for you to learn and grow so that the next time you’ll face a challenge on obeying or not, then you would know the right thing to do.

God was about to send a disaster towards Nineveh but when He sees that the people there will repent then He will not continue to destroy the land. And so, Jonah then went to the land of Nineveh and preached God’s Word, and when God saw their actions and words are full of repentance, God did not destroy their land and has given them grace. But Jonah ended up getting mad at God for He showed compassion and grace towards the people of Nineveh, but the Lord answered him and told him how his grace is towards mankind.

Sometimes, in life, there are times where we disobey and face the consequences of our actions. However, it is God’s grace that helps us overcome it all for he gives us strength to carry on, wisdom, knowledge, and the peace that even if we did something wrong, He forgives and His grace is all-sufficient. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, it says, ‘But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.’

In your own strength, you will fail but God giving you the grace in your life and showering you with it is unmerited favor. That’s how God is towards mankind. If He was able to give His only and only Son, Jesus as a sacrificial lamb for your sins, then how much more in your daily needs. It is by grace that you are saved. If God is gracious enough to forgive the people of Nineveh then how much more with you. Jesus made you worthy of that grace and so He wants us to enjoy the grace that He has given us and maximize it in our lives.

The Salvation Garden is committed to bringing you closer to God both in prayer and in His Word. Through this series of blogs, we pray that you will be more equipped in facing the trials in life but also we aim to bring your prayers to the Holy Churches in the Holy Land.

If you haven’t read the Prayer Series, the Guidelines to God’s Word, or this new series, Learning from the Bible Characters then you may go and visit https://www.thesalvationgarden.org/ to read more articles about different topics you may need to see.

Esther: God’s Perfect Timing

In the first article about David being the man after God’s own heart, we talked about how David became pleasing to the Lord. Through this series, we’ll be talking about different Bible characters with stories that you can relate to and how God worked in their life. We, the Salvation Gardens pray that through these series of blogs, you may be able to find hope, reflect that life isn’t perfect and that you find your purpose through it.

God’s perfect timing is what we want to talk about today and there is a right person that can prove that the timing of the Lord is different from the timing or schedule of people. Esther, who became queen has a beautiful story to tell and a lesson to share about how God can work even through persecution. Here are the reasons why God has the most perfect timing one could experience and encounter.

Esther was an orphan and she was adopted by her cousin, Mordecai. Mordecai did his part in training Esther in God’s Word and helping her discover the purpose God has intended in her life. Just in time for the King’s order to find a queen, Esther was at the right age and the right foundation of her faith in God, integrity, and loyalty towards her people. When she was chosen to be queen, it wasn’t a smooth sailing boat for her. She had faced a lot of difficulties, adjusting to being a queen and also staying true to her faith in God. She had to first pretend to not know her cousin and even her people but she did not forget them. She did not forget her faith.

When Human came and wanted to have the authority against the Jews, he plotted to kill every Jew that will not bow down to the King as bait to get a hold of the Jews but the Jews were very firm and stood in their faith that even if they were going to get killed, they would not compromise their faith. It only happened when Esther became queen and so this was an opportunity for her to speak up and save her people but what held her back is her power to speak up to the King but later on, it was revealed to her that she was there for a specific purpose, that God had planned it all along for her to be Queen and save God’s people.

Esther and the Jews fasted for 3 days and prayed, this was a sign of surrender to the Lord that whatever happens, they will stand firm in their faith. When it was time to ask the King, Esther did not expect the King’s reaction, and that may be because of God working through Esther and moving the King’s heart for him to save Esther and her people. In the end, instead of the Jews, Haman was hanged and a new decree was released to never disturb or disrupt the Jews. Truly, you can learn that God has put Esther there for a specific time and purpose. If God did not orchestrate Esther to be an orphan, maybe she wouldn’t be Queen but even if Esther had the pain of not having her parents, God used her pain and turned it into a purpose, it was to save His people.

In life, there are times where you may be experiencing pain or hardship but as long as you trust the Lord that He will work in your life, you will see the reason or the purpose behind it. You will see that if you trust His perfect timing, you may be able to conquer your challenges and even become a blessing to many. Life isn’t perfect for Esther but she had put her faith in the Lord that God will work in her life and trusted God that His timing will always be the right one and the perfect one. For God to move in Esther’s life, she had to wait for God’s go signal to be able to really save her people. If Esther did not wait for God and had acted on her emotions, she may not have been able to save the Jews and she might have had herself killed. Sometimes, our impatience makes it harder for God to move in our lives due to the fact that if you have not waited and done something about your situation, you might have thought it was you who did it, not God. God wants to show you that everything has a perfect time and a season, you only need to enjoy every season of yours. Just like Esther, you should learn how to seek God’s voice in the midst of the trials, let God be your first choice not your last. Trust that He will work in your life.

The Salvation Garden aims to not just bring your prayers to the Holy Churches but also reach you through these blogs. These kinds of series are for you to know how God worked in the lives of the people in the Bible and it is possible that He would work in your life too!

If you haven’t read the Prayer Series, the Guidelines to God’s Word, or this new series, you may go and visit https://www.thesalvationgarden.org/ to read more articles about different topics you may need to see.

David: The Man after God’s Own Heart

For the past series, the Prayer Guidelines and the Guide to God’s Word, it has been more on what to do with prayer and the Word of God, how to do it, and why you do it. But this time, it’s going to be different. In this series, we are learning about the Bible Characters and how God worked in their lives which you may relate in your life may not be the same challenge as they faced but the same outcome of who God is in their life. Through this “Learning from the Bible Characters” series, we pray that you are able to open up your heart and your mind to see what God has planned for you and how He wants to work in your life.

David, most of you may know his story but how did it happen that he got the phrase as the “man after God’s own heart” but his story wasn’t easy and it wasn’t perfect. It was a story full of trials, challenges, and breakthroughs. In the end, it was God’s work that has worked within him and how he managed to conquer all of the trials and consequences he faced.

In this series, you will learn to see the power of God’s work in the lives of every Bible character and their struggles that are faced victoriously with the help of God. In David’s life, there are 3 things you can learn and relate to.

1. Never Judge a person by their appearance

When David decided to take the challenge of fighting Goliath, not only did the Philistines laugh at him but also the Isarelites’ army, his own people. It was because he was small, he wasn’t fit enough to fight even a soldier, what more a giant one. That’s why he was judged by his physical appearance but little did they know that judging a person by physical appearance isn’t the way of God. God sees the heart which is the most important for Him than the physical aspect. David had the heart to trust God even in the midst of the judgment around him. His confidence was in the Lord not in men. So when he faced Goliath, with just the sling and a stone, he was able to defeat Goliath but this is not because of his own strength but with the help of the Lord. That’s where his story began that even if he was too small for the giant, nothing is too impossible for God to do in one’s life.

2. Accept your wrongdoing and ask for forgiveness.

When David became King, he had his fair share of wrongdoings, when he was tempted in Bathsheba’s beauty, he had sinned against God. However, compared to King Saul’s doing, David had the heart to acknowledge that he had done wrong and asked for forgiveness while King Saul, on the other hand, did his best to deny all the confrontations. David’s heart was pleasing before God because God knew David would sin but the heart to really repent and ask for forgiveness, it’s rare to find that especially when that person has a high status already. David knew that his heart should be pleasing towards God. In life, we make mistakes but it is important to know that asking for forgiveness and humbling yourself before God is a way of asking His grace and strength to cover you.

3. Whatever the situation, worship God.

Even when David was young, he was already worshipping God through different instruments and that is one thing that really pleased God. His heart of worship and to worship God at all times whether it was in a time of joy, grief, and whatever emotions he felt, nothing hindered him from worshipping the Lord. For David, it was a sign of honor towards God and His goodness and grace in his life. That’s why even if he looks like a crazy person to others, he does not care because all he cares about is his worship for the Lord. Being a worshipper is one of the best traits David had, that’s why he was called “A man after God’s own heart”. Being a man after God’s own heart clearly means that even if people would not choose him or is not in favor of David, God clearly chose and appointed David in the position He has.

David did not strive to please people but He strived to please only the Lord God Almighty. He did not care about what he looked like instead, he cared about what God said who he is. That is the confidence that you should always carry. Do not strive to be the best so that people will be pleased towards you, strive to be a man/woman after God’s heart. Your story will never be perfect but you’ll see how God will move when you choose to honor and surrender to Him.

In this series, you would know each story that you can relate to and apply it to your life and see God’s limitless power in you. It is important to know how imperfect we are as human beings but the only sure thing is that we have a perfect God. Take the time to reflect to see God working in each character in the Bible.

Visit https://www.thesalvationgarden.org/ to read more about God’s Word and Prayers you may send through us.

The Guideline to God’s Word: Applying the Word

In this series, we have talked about two parts regarding the Word of God which are Reading and Interpreting. Before you begin to apply all the Promises of God, you first would know how and why you need to read, which you can read here: The Guideline to God’s Word: Reading the Word and when it comes to interpreting, it is important to know how you could relate it to your life so by understanding the way you should take God’s Word objectively, you’d be able to apply it in your life. Read more of the blog regarding the interpretation of the Word of God through this: The Guideline to God’s Word: Interpreting the Word.

Now that we’ve come to the part where we talk about the application, I have five steps where you can start the application of the Word of God in your life. You may freely follow these steps or if you have the dealing with the Holy Spirit, then you must follow. These are just guidelines for you to follow.

1. Remain in His presence

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, He bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
As it says in the verse, without the Lord you can’t do anything. He is your Source and without connecting to Him or remaining in His presence, you will never experience the blessings intended for you. It is God’s desire for you to stay connected to Him. You need to stay in His presence in order for you to see the fullness of His plans for your life. His good and perfect will for you.

2. Prayer

In the Prayer Series, we’ve talked about the importance of Prayer and its impact on your life. Just like the Word, through Prayer, you may ask the Holy Spirit to impart the revelation or the wisdom you need when you read and interpret the Word of God for you to be able to apply it. God’s Word may be just like the other books but it has a power that holds all the Promises of God in your life, free for you to apply but without the help of the Holy Spirit, you may need to be able to understand why that’s why you also need to pray. For you to also apply God’s Word in your life, you may ask God for His guidance and power in your life as you pray. This is one of the most important steps you would need to be able to really apply it in your life.

3. Reading, Understanding, and Interpreting the Word of God

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” Joshua 1:8.

This series has talked about the guidelines throughout God’s Word and it is important to remind yourself that you can never apply the Word of God without reading and interpreting it, that’s why you need to do this in order for you to apply God’s Word.

4. Having Faith in God’s Power

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have work.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. James 2:18

As you may always hear, faith is always an important seed in your Christian life. You will always need faith and faith is formed through salvation by believing what Jesus has done in your life. Faith and work will always go together. In applying the Word of God to your life, you will need faith in order for it to work.

5. Obedience

And of course, it is all in vain if you do not obey what God is telling you. Even if you read the Word and have faith, without obedience or the confidence to say yes to what God is saying to you, then it will not be really an application in your life. Whether or not you like it, the Lord knows what He’s doing and you just have to be confident to say yes to God. This is the last step to choosing to apply God’s Word in life. You need obedience.

The purpose of the organization, the Salvation Garden, is to be a blessing to everyone who has the opportunity to read these blogs that can help them attain the purpose they have in life. It is important to know the two of the most valuable aspects you would need to grow your relationship with the Lord.

In the last article for this God’s Word Guideline series, you would see how it’s not just a one-time decision to apply God’s Word in your life but a lifetime decision. If you haven’t read the series, you may visit  https://www.thesalvationgarden.org/ to read more and send a prayer request!

The Guideline to God’s Word: Living the Word

Throughout the Guideline to God’s Word, we have talked about three parts which are the reading of the Word, interpreting and applying the Word. These three are essential parts, however, for everyone, it really is hard to be consistent especially in reading God’s Word but if one person knows the importance of this in his life then he would really be committed to God’s Word. Anyone would give value to something especially when he knows how it will really help his life. That is why it is important to read, interpret, apply and then live.

It takes consistency to live a lifestyle or a habit. For you to live according to the Word, you need to be able to consistently do it. For it says in the Bible, ‘Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ Matthew 4:4 and in Luke 4:4, ‘Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’ Just like how you need food every day, that is how you should treat the Word of God, it is your spiritual food that you need every day in order to live a healthy life. However, you may be wondering, what really is living by the Word of God, and so in this blog, we’ll be talking about the effective ways to live according to the Word.

1. Humble Yourself

Humility is a trait that should be learned to be able to stay open to what God is doing in your life. It is your way of surrender that apart from Him you can’t do anything or achieve what you have achieved. If you are full of yourself, submitting would be hard. That’s why it is important to really rely on God’s power. However, being humble or humbling yourself before the Lord means that you acknowledge His power to heal, to make miracles, to bring you to places, and to give you success. It is knowing who He is and how great He is as a God. As you live your life, it is essential to always carry this trait because as God lifts you up, you should stay humble in order for you to stay where you are and how far you’ll still go. Your attitude will determine your altitude.

2. Having Faith

You cannot live on God’s Word if you do not know it and if you do not believe it. There are a lot of times, people just live knowing the Word but they do not apply it and live according to it. It’s good to know God’s Word but for you to access its power, you need to be able to apply it and live it to see the outcome of it. If you have faith that God can work in your life, then you will be able to see the fruit of that faith. Whether that is through healing your disease, providing for your needs, or making a miracle in an unbearable storm. Through living with faith, you have the ability to see God’s power over your life.

3. Obedience

With living according to his Word comes obedience. Even if you have faith and you humble yourself, without obedience, you cannot fully see the prosperity of God’s power in your life. You need to be able to say yes whether it is in or out of season. There are no ‘buts’ and ‘ifs’ when it comes to living according to what God says. Obedience is a must when you live according to the Word of God.

4. Acknowledge

Last but definitely not least, acknowledging that God is the source of everything. Despite the success you attain or the miracles that happen to you, learn to know that God owns all the credit. You need to acknowledge that God is the One working in your life. It is through Him that you can work, study and explore in life. It all goes back to His power working in you and grace abiding in you.

Throughout the series, we, the Salvation Garden, have talked about the Guidelines to God’s Word that includes: reading, interpreting, applying, and living. As you read each blog, we pray that God gives you the heart to really learn and put this into practice even in the prayer series. For you to see each of its importance, you need to know that it takes effort to also reach out and grow your relationship with the Lord.

The Salvation Garden aims to not just bring your prayers to the Holy Churches but also reach you through these blogs. These kinds of series are for you to know how important the Word of God and Prayer is in your lives. If you haven’t read the Prayer Series or the Guidelines to God’s Word, you may go and visit https://www.thesalvationgarden.org/ to read more articles about different topics you may need to see.

The Guideline to God’s Word: Interpreting the Word

In the first part of this series, we talked about reading God’s Word and what you can read from the Bible just like the stories of the miracles of God over the Bible characters’ lives and also the Faithful Promises that are mentioned through every book of the Bible and even the clarity of the vision or the plan God has for you. If you want to read the first blog of this series called, “The Guideline to God’s Word” then you may click this link to access it: The Guideline to God’s Word: Reading the Word.  Truly, the Bible is your compass or a map to help us in our lives and this is what today’s article will talk about: How we interpret the Word of God and get its full context.

Since there are a lot of fake prophets that rise today that interpret and stir up confusion, it is important as a Christian to understand and know the context of everything to avoid confusion or misinterpretation of the Word of God. 

Just like John 4:7-11, says, “When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. [a]) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” The Samaritan Woman met Jesus and when Jesus asked for water, she at first resisted because she was a Samaritan while Jesus was a Jew and it wasn’t because she didn’t want to give but there’s a culture that Samaritans don’t associate themselves with Jews. However, if in life you get to meet Jesus, any Christian would have broken the standards of culture just to serve Jesus but this woman did not understand the situation and misinterpreted it because of the upbringing of her culture. The Samaritan woman had the physical water in mind and that she was doubting how Jesus would’ve gotten the water without the bucket but Jesus was speaking of the Living Water when Jesus explained it to her, that’s when she realized who she was speaking to. The same thing as you read God’s Word, at first you wouldn’t know how or why the Word of God is saying regarding your life here on earth and the eternal life or how your pain has a purpose but through continuing to read His Word and asking the Holy Spirit for wisdom to impart to you while you study God’s Word, then you’ll eventually know what the Word of God is really trying to tell you. Eventually, God’s Word becomes your compass or your map in this life that will guide you into the Truth and how you will walk in life, how you’ll become a blessing to others and how you face trials or challenges daily.

Through training yourself to read God’s Word and asking the help of the Holy Spirit to open your mind into the truth it wants to imply in your life, then no matter how many false preachers and how they deceive you through words, you would know how to filter the truth from the lies that look similar to the truth.  Even the Bible knows that there would be false prophets that would try to lead you to darkness by becoming a false light in this world. However, when you directly learn from the Teacher Himself, you would eventually grow to discern what is the Truth God wants you to know. The Bible’s message is objective, not subjective which means it does not vary in your feelings but the ultimate goal is to bring the Truth to everyone who reads the Word.

For you to truly interpret what God wants to tell you through His Word, remember to have a humble heart to desire to really interpret the Word in an objective way that you’ll trust and hope for God’s best plan for your life despite the challenges you may face. That your challenges are your setbacks towards your testimony that God is bringing in your life.

As we, the Salvation Garden bring you these series to remind you and help you grow into the person God desires you to be. From reading and interpreting, you’ll soon read about applying its impact in your life through this series. Take your time to pray and read God’s Word and see how it will bring a great blessing in your life. 

Visit https://www.thesalvationgarden.org/ to read more articles about different topics you may need to see today!