Deep meditation

It's a story of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who was deeply immersed in meditation during a church service, and he failed to kneel at the appropriate moment.

His enemies hurried to the bishop and demanded that Dante be punished for his sacrilege.

Dante defended himself by saying...

"If those who accuse me had had their eyes and minds on God, as I had, they too would have failed to notice events around them, and they most certainly would not have noticed what I was doing."

End of story.

How about you?

Are your eyes and mind on God?

You see, we're in the age of distraction.

There more things now that gets our attention and it's harder to stay focused.

With technology, we now have email, Internet, chat, mobile phones, facebook, etc.

All these compete for your attention and eats up some of your time.

The time that you should be spending on activities that will help you grow spiritually.

Memorizing scriptures can take only 5 to 10 minutes of your time.

But what you'll gain spiritually is immeasurable.

Marinating your mind with God's Word and His promises is the fastest way to be closer to God.

God is ALWAYS looking forward to talk to you with all your attention is on Him.

So don't let the busyness of this world control your life.

Instead, let your life be controlled by the scriptures you've memorized.

Bible Reading

It was 1983. I and my two cousins were about to get baptized. As the custom, we were fasting for 3 days. We were challenged by the pastor to read the entire Bible before the baptism. Even though I read small chapters every day, I never ventured to read the entire Bible.

So we started to read the Bible. Frequently we discuss the chapters we are reading and we take stock of the books to be red to complete the task at hand. Some books were very interesting. Some parts were very boring. Still, we continued reading the Bible. It was a summer vacation time. So we were able to read the Bible during the day and night.

A few weeks later, I abandoned the task. But, my cousins completed it. During those days we look at the total page number and the number of pages I left. Very often I reviewed how many pages I read and how many pages left to complete the reading. Later I divided my reading plan into two. New Testament and Old Testament. First I completed New Testament and then I pursed the Old Testament.

My satisfaction came when I closed the book on the last page.

Throughout my teens, whatever I read, I always checked the page number/chapter I read and compared it to the total number of pages.  Anxious to be done with the task - whether reading for pleasure or for homework. I gauged my progress by how close I was to the end. My satisfaction came when I closed the book on the last page.

Thirty years later, enthralled with a good story, I never look at the page number. I enjoy the story. The end is no longer a sigh of relieve. It's a sad moment when I have to leave the world in the pages and return to the real one. I savor every moment of the life I am taken to between the pages.

It was those same teenage years when I longed for the time to fly so I could be on my own - to live the life I wanted. I didn't savor the pages as they turned.

Today, my final page is hopefully not too close. I want to savor the story of my life pages have to offer. I've learned to enjoy the story. Carefully reading each pages and loved the new information and twist it brings.

What I did yesterday teaching me. I turn the page of tomorrow. What new mysteries it reveal? What excitement will unfold?

I no longer rush through life; I enjoy the read.

Story of King Amaziah

Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem.  He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly.   After the kingdom was firmly in his control, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king.   Yet he did not put their children to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded: “Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children be put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.”

Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He then mustered those twenty years old or more and found that there were three hundred thousand men fit for military service, able to handle the spear and shield.  He also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.

But a man of God came to him and said, “Your Majesty, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the LORD is not with Israel—not with any of the people of Ephraim.  Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow.”

Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?”

The man of God replied, “The LORD can give you much more than that.”

So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a great rage.

Amaziah then marshaled his strength and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand men of Seir.  The army of Judah also captured ten thousand men alive, took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.

Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had sent back and had not allowed to take part in the war raided towns belonging to Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed three thousand people and carried off great quantities of plunder.

When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down to them and burned sacrifices to them.  The anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why do you consult this people’s gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?”

While he was still speaking, the king said to him, “Have we appointed you an adviser to the king? Stop! Why be struck down?”

So the prophet stopped but said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”

After Amaziah king of Judah consulted his advisers, he sent this challenge to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel: “Come, let us face each other in battle.”

But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot.  You say to yourself that you have defeated Edom, and now you are arrogant and proud. But stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also?”

Amaziah, however, would not listen, for God so worked that he might deliver them into the hands of Jehoash, because they sought the gods of Edom.  So Jehoash king of Israel attacked. He and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at Beth Shemesh in Judah.  Judah was routed by Israel, and every man fled to his home.  Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh. Then Jehoash brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate—a section about four hundred cubits long.  He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of God that had been in the care of Obed-Edom, together with the palace treasures and the hostages, and returned to Samaria.