Joey's Journal - August 26, 2006

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for giving me another day on earth. Thank You for watching over my family last night; the boys and their nannies having a good night’s rest and my wife coming safely home. Lord, today I lay at Your feet all my joys, works and sufferings and may they be acceptable and pleasing to You. Let me stay focus to You and be by my side all day. When certain situations arise and I am needed to make a decision, may Your wisdom be with me and always remember WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?). Take away from my mind all the anxieties and distractions brought about by the evil one. All these in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

My reading - Psalm 24 - Who will enter and stand in God’s presence?

God created the earth and everything in it is his! The world and all its people belong to him; for he has laid earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths. Who will stand in God’s holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never lies. They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have right standing with God the savior. They alone will enter God’s presence and worship the God of Israel.

My reflection – ‘Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never lies.’ If you think about this statement, really think about it – this statement reminds us about the two greatest commandments of God, that is, it refers to loving God and loving our neighbor. This is its foundation! And, if we do these, we will receive the Lord’s blessing and have right standing with God.

But, we have to have pure hands and a pure heart to love God and our neighbor. As I said in previous psalms, the most difficult to achieve is loving our neighbor because of our human frailty, self-centeredness in other words, our wanting to outdo others. However, in my recent readings, I have changed my mind to thinking loving God is the most difficult. How do I TRULY love God? To truly love God, we need to acknowledge Him, obey His Word and follow His Ways with a pure heart. All three words we think are easy but if we go deeper to their real meaning and requirements, we probably say, ‘it is tough!’ Yes, it is tough and that’s why we need all the help from our Lord. Without His help and guidance, we can not do it.

So, to stand in the presence of God, we need God to help us to lead us in the righteous path, the godly one.

My prayers – Gracious Father in heaven, teach me to truly love You. Lord, You have given up Your only Son, Jesus to die for my sins and be restored back to You. I can only think that it is just right to obey and follow Your ways. All I want is to be worthy of standing in Your presence at the final judgment. I know good deeds alone will not earn my salvation but acknowledging You, obeying You and following You, will be pre-requisites for getting that heavenly banquet invitation. May I lead a life from now on that will be pleasing and acceptable to You. All these I pray in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

by : Joey B