does God hate us? Does He want bad things to happen to us? Questions answered in the Bible

We love the Word of God, the Bible - if we have questions related anything in the human life, church life, family life, etc - we can come to the Word of God! Many times our question does not need a "full and comprehensive theological and reasonable answer" - most of our questions are answered by a simple and sweet touch with the Lord! Before you get the answer, you get the ANSWER! Before you get the answer, you can get the Lord Jesus, and He is the answer! If somehow our question would be turned into a seeking the Lord and touching Him, we will get the real answer!

These days I'm going through the Bible in my regular Bible reading, and I realized how many questions are answered by just reading the Bible with an open heart and an open spirit! Here's the question many people in the unbelief of their heart and the doubts of their mind ask,

Does God hate us? Does God want bad things to happen to us?

Of course, this question is a lie from the enemy, whose sole job is to accuse God, accuse our brethren, accuse us - he just lies, speaks lies, is the father of it, and nothing he speaks is true! And when it comes to this question, as I was reading Genesis chapter 4 I realized it:

God Does NOT hate us! God Loves us, and He wants to Fellowship with us!

We all know the story of Abel and Cain, and we all want to be an Abel - not in the sense of being the one who is unrighteously and hatefully killed by his brother, but in the sense that we want to be "the good guy"... But what I was shocked with in this story is that it doesn't say that God ever spoke to Abel but He did speak a lot to Cain! I mean, wow! Cain had a lot of envy and even hatred towards his brother since God was not pleased with Cain's offer but with Abel's, but still - God came to Cain, right there in that situation, to continually speak to him! God saw Cain's heart, his intentions, yet He still came to him and spoke to him!

Also, even after Cain slew his brother, God still came to Cain and spoke to him, warning him, encouraging him.... All I can say is, Wow, God loves us so much that even in our lowest point He comes to us to speak to us and be with us! No, God doesn't hate us, and NO, God doesn't want bad things to happen to us - He loves us, He wants to have fellowship with us, and He is interested in a personal relationship with us!

At the same time God is righteous, so if we break His law we will have to be disciplined, but He wants to come in, recover us, talk to us, fellowship with us, and bring us back to Himself. He's after our heart - our heart to be open to Him, turned to Him.

So if you feel like "God hates me" or "God sends all these bad things my way" - remember, the answer is God Himself in our fellowship and talk to Him! Talk to the Lord, open to Him, and enjoy His presence! He wants to talk to us! Are you seeking an answer to some very troublesome and answered questions? Open to the Lord and come to His Word! You will get the Person of the Lord when reading the Bible with an open heart! 

Picture - Her Majesty's Theatre

If you follow me on instagr.am you will have seen this picture before - this is Her Majesty's Theatre in London.You can read all about it here, here, and here. One thing about theatre in general - the real scene going on right now is related to God, man, and God's enemy - Satan. I wanna be on the right team and performing the right act - I want to learn rather to exercise my spirit and enjoy the Lord than waste too much time on watching theatre.

Roadworks everywhere, we are under construction (1 picture + 1experience with the Lord) 30 days challenge

Well, it looks like I gave no broadband access again, so I will have to go ahead and post via mobile, and then tomorrow I will edit the article and then put some more links and do some more formatting. I probably need to get into the habit of writing a bit earlier on the blog, not that close to the midnight... Lord Jesus, my habits! I'm definitely a work in progress - and I hope there's a progress; I hope the Lord is going on in me and in us...

1 picture today - Roadworks Everywhere, we are under construction!

This picture was taken at one of the many sites in London these days, especially as the evening falls. London is getting ready for the 2012 Olympic Games, and so everywhere in London there are Roadworks, re-pavings, closed roads during night time for refurbishment and replacing the asfalt, etc. Sometimes main streets have only one way open during the night - Roadworks and under construction! There's improvements to the main streets, the enlargement of streets, the fixing of streets with problems, creating some parking space, putting up more traffic signs, etc - see the www.tfl.gov.uk/roadworks link to find out more!

1 experience With the Lord today - we are all "under construction"

I think we all should wear this sign whenever we meet with people or with those who are around others - we are in continual Roadworks, under construction all the time. Just when you think that now you learned a lesson in a particular area or with a certain person, you realise that you still need to be open and continue learning to adapt, to speak to others, to shepherd people, to listen to people, and to be around others. It may be only at the end of our life that we may be fully perfected and matured, but until then, we are all under construction!

In our personal life with the Lord, we are under construction! The Lord intends to work Himself into us and make us His expression, but we are so stubborn that EVERYONE else sees that we need to give up on some things or just drop it in certain situations - yet WE DON'T!!! We are struggling with the Lord step by step, and we don't give in to Him that easy. And this is good - it is the Lord is the One who operates in us both the willing and the working! We struggle with Him, we "defeat Him", we give in to Him... Sometimes we may think that now we are open and we cooperate with Him, but it is still Him in us strengthening us to allow Him to operate in us... - we're a mess, we're under construction, but the Lord does not give up on us!

In our work life or our student life - we are under construction, and there are many roadworks. We may get along with some people, but there are still others who just don't really like us... Or maybe sometimes we don't get along with anyone... Eventually we realise that the problem is not anyone else in our environment but the problem is ME - I am the problem! I need the Lord to work Himself into me, to transform me, to conform me to His image, so that I may get along with people and learn to work together with them. If we want to speak to them about the Lord - we either don't do it at all or we overdo it... But the Lord is there, right by our side, waiting for us to turn to Him... He's right inside, desiring that we would turn again to Him and open to Him... - He in us can do so much...

In our family life, and in all other aspects of our life - we are "under construction", there's roadworks taking place in us. The Lord wants to have a way in us, to create some avenues in which He can move freely... - there's "construction cones" and "roadworks signs" everywhere in our being - we're almost like a construction site, where you need to be careful when you visit, where you step, what you do... O, Lord... But just like Abraham in the Old Testament, through mud and water, we want to allow the Lord a little more ground, give Him a bit more of our cooperation, so that He would make His home in our hearts!

... it all starts with the little things in our life, the things we think are trivial and not that important. It starts with our time with the Lord in the morning, when we personally turn to Him by calling on His name first thing in the morning! We can breathe the Lord in even while in the shower, and we can open to Him even while brushing our teeth... Our morning time with Him is vital - it is like eating a good and healthy breakfast in the morning, something that will sustain you through your most productive part of the day!

In the little things during the day, when we have a break or we need to use the restroom - we can turn again to the Lord and breathe Him in. We can simply call on His dear name from all of our heart - sometimes we can do it audibly while most times we have to do it inwardly... Take a breathing-on-the-Lord-break, and then go back to studying / working / writing / doing things. If we keep in touch with the Lord like that, our spirit will be active, the Lord will have a way to speak something to us, and He can make His home in our whole being! He can re-arrange things, He can adjust the level of our expression, He can adjust and regulate our tone or the way we dress... - it's not us imposing rules on ourselves because the Bible says so, but it is the Lord in us with our full cooperation that does things and adjusts us + supplies us!

The Lord will never give up on us - once He came into us, He's here to stay! So He set up the perimeter in us and wants to work Himself into every part of our being... - today we are in this process of "roadworks" and "under construction" where the Lord gains our cooperation bit by bit, where He is making His home and bringing in His kingdom into our whole being... - we love Him so much for never giving up on and for continually operating in us!

only the real water quenches my real thirst - One Meaningful Thing I Did Today(30-day challenge)

The MOST difficult thing to do in life is to REGULARLY do something that you know it's good and you should do it. For instance, blogging ONCE a day, as a "30-day challenge", together with the Lord, is not easy at all! There's the job I have to attend to every day, there's other things I need to personally take care of, there's the gym, there's the saints, there's the home meetings, there's the further coordination for upcoming events, there's the skype calls and skype coordination and skype prayer... - and then I need to write something before midnight today! O Lord Jesus.... As I was saying in a tweet today, I am still looking to the Lord as to what should I share today..

I love Pepsi. I don't like Coke, but I love Pepsi - it is sweet, fizzy, bubbly ;) and nice. I prefer Pepsi to Coke. Yet neither are not too good for health - so I need to keep the volume of Pepsi down... But I realized one thing - even though Pepsi is a nice beverage, it doesn't really quench your thirst! It gives you the fizz, the hype, the push to do something, it tastes sweet, but when it comes down to it, Pepsi(and any other fizzy drink / natural drink) doesn't really quench the thirst... And this observation brings me to today's,

One Meaningful Thing I Did Today - Only the Real Water Quenches My Real Thirst

Especially after a 30mins run on the cross-trainer at the gym, with a heart level way too much over the limit, on level 8 of "difficulty", you get thirsty. Yes, you sweat, you "loose water", so you definitely need to get some water in. So many times I chose to drink something slightly different than water - I shall not name the beverage, since, as many know, I like "mixing" drinks :) - which may have tasted good and got me hooked on it, but it didn't quench my thirst. After today's run at the gym I chose to drink water - and even though I had it not in a large quantity, I was satisfied!

 Water is really tasteless, colourless, it is not sweet, it is not "delicious", many times it is "stale" in the sense that it's not "fresh spring water"... It's not "exciting" to drink water, and water doesn't get you "hyped up". It's not very attractive(especially in the world today) to drink pure water. It's sometimes "boring" to drink water... that's why people choose to drink other things. [by all these things I'm not saying that there are not some people who love drinking water and love water, neither am I saying that there's something wrong with anything else but water. It's a principle I'm trying to put out and get to...]

It's the same with the Lord. Some people say, It's too simple and too "plain" to just call on the name of the Lord to be saved(Rom. 10:12) - maybe you need to do something difficult, you need to do some penance, you have to repent really really hard, to feel that you are very sorry, and even fast for a few days... and then the Lord will forgive you. The Bible says clearly that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness"(1 John 1:9). It's as simple as agreeing with the Lord when He shines on you and exposes you,

Amen, Lord, I agree - I have sinned. Forgive me and wash me with Your precious blood. I trust in You and not in myself. Amen!

And you are cleansed! It is the same with touching the Lord and being in His presence - you don't need to do some strange things like "going to the mountains to be alone with God and feel His presence", or "retreating in the desert to be closer to God". You don't even need to do a lot of physical effort or psychological research / introspective look so that you might find and touch God - "Whoever draws near to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him"(Heb 11:6) + "For the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all those who call on His name"(Rom. 10:13). It is as simple as calling on the name of the Lord,

O Lord Jesus!

and you touch Him! It is as simple and "plain" and "not exciting" and "not hyping you up" as opening your heart to the Lord - and you will get His presence! We are thirsty, just like the woman in John 4 - thirsty for "this water"(John 4:13). Whoever drinks of this water (career, money, golden futures, social ranking, good family, good husband or wife, good education, sports, etc - anything apart from God that we drink of and find delight in) will thirst again! But whoever drinks of the REAL Water - Christ Himself as the Spirit - he will by no means ever thirst again! I want this REAL WATER!

Today I realized that just as "I love drinking Pepsi thinking it will quench my thirst - but it doesn't!" I may tend to try to do other things than the simple practices of life (which need to be scheduled into my daily living) and I expect to be filled and satisfied, but I'm not! Only Christ satisfies, and only His way of redemption and salvation can bring us to drink of Him as the living water and be satisfied! Other waters - Christian Rock, Christian Hip-Hop, Christian music bands with all kinds of instruments, Christian drama, Christian pantomime, etc - all these "exciting things" outwardly really don't quench our thirst! Only the simple, pure, unadulterated, fine, nourishing, refreshing, renewing, healthy, flowing, and living Christ as the living water can actually quench our thirst!

No, Christian Rock music cannot quench my thirst! No, any R&B music or Pop Music cannot quench my deeper thirst! Not even classical music or jazz - no theater or movie, nothing of multimedia, no youtube movie... - nothing of the entertainment today can really really quench our thirst! No, a new gadget that comes out cannot satisfy my hunger! No human achievement and nothing physical or psychological really quenches the thirst in us! As simple and pure as it is, we need to drink of the Lord Jesus - as He said in John 7:37-39! At the end of a long feast, when supposedly the people were filled and satisfied, the Lord stood up and called all the ones who are thirsty to come to Him and drink! Just come to the Lord and drink!

Why drink of the "Pepsi" of the world when you can drink of the living "water" that Christ can offer you - and live, be refreshed, be renewed, grow in life, and be satisfied with the Lord - for real!?!