Every disappointment is for an appointment with God.

If you are disappointed, lonely and distressed; be attentive and stay awake, for there will be an appointment at any time – God will hear your cry. Your disappointment is for an appointment with God.

Have you ever come across disappointment that did not give way to an appointment with God while you walked in justice? No, you cannot. Here are few examples from the Scripture, whose disappointments turned to appointments with God, as a result grace and mercy flowed into their lives.

Our Father Abraham had lost all his hope for having a child at the age of hundred and Sarah in her nineties. The Lord appeared to him by the Oaks of Mamre (Gen: 18:1) in a disguised form of three strangers but Abraham realized them at once as the angels of God. ‘It is important to recognize the voice of God, His image and His time of appointment in the midst of our pains, sufferings and troubles of life.’

Abraham was very attentive to God’s voice as he walked in justice and righteousness for a century. As a result his pain for not having an offspring ended in an appointment with God. Though Sarah was incapable of bearing a child, Abraham grabbed the grace of having one at the time of appointment. They appeared to be three ordinary men but Abraham realized God in them which changed his mourning into dancing and his disappointment to a favorable appointment.

Going further we see, Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth, both righteous before God and advanced in years yet, they hadn’t the blessing of having an offspring. It was very inspiring to know that they were still praying for a son and waiting for an appointment with God. It is clear when the angel appeared to Zachariah saying, “Don’t be afraid, God has heard your prayers and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son”. (Luke: 1:13) The example of Zachariah would inspire many childless couple to knock at the Heaven’s door with faith and trust.

It is interesting to note how God arranged for an appointment with Zechariah in the temple while the multitude of people were praying outside, at the hour of incense. Did this appointment take place by chance? No, not at all. It was pre-planned centuries ago. Will He not have such plans and appointments in our case too? Surely, so stay awake! We need to recognize His voice and His image in the midst of our disappointments.

At the time of Jesus there was a chief tax collector named Zacchaeus, who was rich with regard to money but with poor self image (Lk.19:2). Being a tax collector his poor image in the public and his small stature disturbed him and pained him at times. This pain and loneliness led him to seek for an appointment with God. Here Zacchaeus took the initiative and the trouble to climb the sycamore accepting his poor stature. His limitations brought him and his family closer to Jesus. Zacchaeus regained his lost image, confidence and peace of mind at the appointment with God. What about us, do we make our every appointment with God, a source of blessing, peace and joy?

When we are lonely, distressed, troubled and disappointed, it is natural to cry out to the Lord for help. Our God is a living God who is ever attentive to the cry of His children. Often God takes the initiative for an appointment as in the case of Abraham, Zechariah and many of us.

At times God rewards persons who take the first step for an appointment, just as we see in the life of Zacchaeus. In any case if you are disappointed and seeking justice you are sure to have an appointment with God, which would lead you to peace, joy, contentment, healing, success and blessings.

- – - written by Sr. Mercy Pottokaran OSB

So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. – (1 Corinthians 12:3)

Jesus is Lord

As we think of God as Father, Son, and Spirit, our minds quickly become overwhelmed. God is greater than our greatest thought and more complex than our most insightful moment can help us comprehend. But there is a truth that I believe we can all understand.

The Spirit will never lead us to say anything untruthful or unholy about God — as Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God convicts us of the truth, gives us insight into truth, and empowers us to declare truth. To be able to confess Christ as Lord with a heart full of faith is both a declaration of our commitment and testimony to God’s grace. The Holy Spirit unlocks our minds and empowers our hearts to confess Jesus as Lord!

John 3:16-17 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Colossians 1:15 says, “He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Jesus provides eternal hope, through God’s grace, for everyone who believes He is Lord.

God loves the world and all He has created. However, people have chosen to separate from God through our sins. Jesus provides the bridge for us to receive God’s grace of forgiveness for our sins and fulfill the hope of eternal life. This was the purpose of Jesus Christ and why Jesus is Lord.

Jesus led a life that was completely obedient to God; something we cannot do regardless how hard we try through our will power or by the level of wisdom we possess. Everyone has sinned except Christ; He was perfect in love. This is only something God can be. Jesus performed over 23 documented and witnessed miracles over nature, overcoming death and powers of healing that have never been matched or done in the history of the world.

Jesus had powers that only God could possess. He had the ability to predict the future as indicated in the book of Mark, verse 14:72 and the book of Matthew, verse 16:18. Jesus honored God throughout every event in His life. He was humble and gentle mirroring God’s Spirit. This is further proof why Jesus is Lord.

So friends, have no doubt : Jesus is Lord, our God.

Prayer:

Father in heaven, because of your grace and the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus, I confidently confess that Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord of all things, seen and unseen, and I want him to be Lord of my heart as I seek to live the lifestyle of your Kingdom. I know my ability to do any of this comes as a gift from your grace and the leading of the blessed Holy Spirit. I offer you — Father, Son, and Spirit — my thanks! Amen.

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Slideshow Transcript : Experiencing God by Alan Ames Part 01

My desire is to totally abandon myself in Christ, to be lost in His love, as my soul can never be satisfied in the things of the world. The hunger I have within cannot be fed with anything else except Christ, Our Lord.

The passion of love I experience when He touches me is the passion of love I want to feel always. When He exposes His love to me and embraces my soul, my spirit, my heart, my physical self, all of me in His love, I know the fullness of love and of life and this fullness I desire to have forever.

From the moment Jesus, Our Lord, touched and caressed my soul with His love a doorway opened. It was a doorway of love through which the Lord led me. It is through this doorway I discovered, by the grace of God, the Father’s love and the Holy Spirit’s love. Jesus led me deep into the Trinitarian heart of love that is God’s heart. A love so overpowering, a love that is beyond the senses, yet it is felt deep within the soul, a love that sets the soul on fire. A fire I never want to stop burning.

This Trinitarian love, while it is the same love with the Father, as with the Son and the Holy Spirit is different with each. This love is like a fountain of fire flowing within, pouring out ever stronger love, pouring out ever tender love, pouring out ever merciful love. Oh such sweet love that fills the being with the knowledge of the truth that God is One, yet God is Three.

In my life before I knew God I was walking blindly through a desert. This desert was one I created in my denial of God. I was alone in my selfishness and sinfulness as I distanced myself from God by thinking only of self and distanced myself from others by not caring about them.

It was only when an oasis of love appeared before me, beckoning me to it, that I started to see the truth. As I changed direction and headed toward the oasis it became clearer and clearer what a world I had created for myself in sin. Then on that glorious day when I reached the oasis of love I was at first hesitant, unsure whether to enter its waters or not.

As the water gently caressed me I turned to look back at the desert I had left behind and sadness came upon me as I saw how foolish I had been. Now I knew the oasis of love had always been there for me, as it is for all people, and that there had been no need for me to be alone thirsting in the desert.

As the water refreshed my being within it I could feel and hear the words: ‘Stay with Me forever.’ My heart beat with excitement at the thought of never leaving the water of love that was surrounding and comforting me. Deep in my soul the words exploded forth, ‘Yes, I want to stay with You forever.’

Now I just wanted to remain there forever, sinking ever deep into the eternal oasis of love. Now my entire being, mind, body, soul and humanity resounded with love. Now no longer did I desire anything except the water of love. Then the One who loves me spoke, saying, ‘Many do not drink of this water and do not know of this water. Go tell them.’

Inside me a desire began to grow, a desire that all should come and bathe in the oasis of love so that they could also find the love, the peace, the joy and the security that I have found. The deeper into the water I went the stronger this desire became because the more you are immersed in the water of love and of life the more you desire to share it.

As the Lord’s love touches and fills my soul the light of His love envelops it.

In this light the soul shines brightly as it is glorified in God’s love. Experiencing this divine light, this divine glory brings the certainty of the knowledge of God’s loving truth. As I was drawn into His light it became obvious how wrong sin is and how the dark is to be avoided at all costs. In the light of God is all that is good, whereas in the darkness is all that is bad.

As I came to discover this truth a hatred for sin grew within me. Now when I sin at times a sorrow fills my heart as I know then that darkness has pierced my soul. I am driven by the longing to remain in the light of God’s love to confess my sins so that once more my soul can be free of darkness.

The End of Part 1