Footsteps to Zion

How often is it that when people try to visualize God they see Him as a commanding figure of a king sitting on a great high throne who is quite distant to men? While He truly is the King of kings who is to be revered, do we also recognize and appreciate another aspect of His person, which is that of a father? Yes, God is a Father and the love expressed by our earthly fathers, may it be natural or spiritual, is but a reflection of the love of our Heavenly Father. He protects and provides for us; and gives us His peace . In Psalms 68:5, God is shown as the Father to the fatherless and Defender of widows. Some may have never known their natural fathers but God is saying that He is a Father to such people. In Psalms 27:10, King David speaks of God as the One who takes care of those who are abandoned. We, too, can be assured that when everyone else has turned their back on us, God will take care of us! In Romans 8:15, we are told that when we receive God as our Savior, He also ...

A new year speaks of a fresh start for all of us. Most of us hope that this will be a good year and that by the grace of God, it will be a year of better responses, better attitudes, and better words. We hope that it will be a year of deeper knowledge and higher level of maturity. We may have made wrong decisions in the past year that led to failures and missed opportunities. We may have hurt the heart of God through our words and actions towards other people. But the Lord desires for us to come before Him with a repentant heart and experience a fresh start. We pray that this will be a year of yearning for more of God in our lives. Most of us, if not all, are familiar with the Parable of the Lost Son as seen in Luke 15:11-24. It’s a story of a younger son who asked for his share of inheritance from his father. The father granted his son’s request and not long after, the younger son journeyed to a far country and wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had sp...