Another Practical Guide to the Logic, Philosophy, and Thoughts of Christianity

Section 2 - Article 2, 3, 4, 5

Article 2 - I thank God

I thank God for jealousy, that I may know how He might feel when we worship other gods.

I thank God for anger, that I may know how He might feel when we disobey Him.

I thank God for heartache, that I may know how He might feel when we do not reciprocate His love and grace.

I thank God for loneliness that I may appreciate that He is there.

I thank God for sadness, that I may know how He might feel when we think we do not need Him.

I thank God for pain, that I may know how He might feel when we hate Him, and when He died on the cross for us.

I thank God for His grace, mercy and His unconditional love most of all, that I may know the feelings He may feel and appreciate Him.

Article 3 - Confessional Psalms

Lord, you alone are high and above.

You alone deserve all praise.

You alone deserve all my love, praise and attention.

You alone are eternal.

For all the times I was immature, and lost sight of your Holiness and Eternalness, I ask for your forgiveness.

For all the times that You are not the priority in my life, I ask for your pardon.

For all the times that You are not my First Love, I seek your graciousness.

For all the times I let life suffocate me, I ask for your forgiveness in forgetting your great and wonderful ways.

For all the times I let short term things blindfold me from the eternity with You, I ask for your tolerance.

For Lord, I alone cannot comprehend what is to come and what is to be. I alone cannot understand or begin to comprehend eternity. But through Your grace, I can only begin to fore taste what is to come. I thank you for opening my eyes, and I thank you for letting me see and begin to comprehend your greatness. I thank you for letting me see how small this world is, and how insignificant all things are when compared to You.

Help me to focus only on You. For You alone are my saving grace. You alone deserve my every being. You alone are God. Words alone cannot encompass the mighty and wonder of Your ways. You alone are God,. You alone are the Lord my God. I declare my service to Your name. I declare my dedication to Your Will. I declare my Love for You. And I seek forgiveness for times past, present and future, when I may fail my declaration, when I lose sight of You. I ask that You be there for me, to guide me, to lead me, and be patient with me, for I am prone to failures. But as of this very moment, I declare my dedication of my entire being to You - the Lord God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Lord incarnate who died and rose again in victory, triumph and majesty!

Article 4 - Sin and how it separates us further from God

The Lord God does not tolerate sin in His presence. Sin is 'us moving away from God deliberately', and He, in His Holiness, cannot tolerate this. When we sin or are in the act of a sin, God does not come to us while we move away. Instead, He turns away from us. When the Lord turns away, His protection and blessings will also go - for to be in His presence is a blessing.

The Lord wants to bless us, He wants to protect us, and watch over us as a Father protects his family against the Enemy. But if we willfully sin, we push the Lord away. We push all that comes with Him away; and we become alone, cursed, isolated, and open to the attacks of the Enemy - who delights in taking us away from God.

I have heard the Lord say to my mind, "My child, sin not. You have sought me for my guidance, my blessing, and my protection. Yet you push Me away with your willful sinning. I want to bless you, protect you, and guide you. Without My blessing, protection and guidance, you are but a lost child."

What the Lord did not explicitly mention was that when I sin, I was not only pushing the Lord away, but I was also rejecting His guidance, protection, and blessing. And later, when I have stumbled in my own foolishness, I would later come to accuse Him of ignoring my cries and pleas. In my own twisted logic, I would blame the Lord and distance myself further away from Him.

It is injustice to the Lord. As His children, we have unfortunately done such things more often than we should. Once is once too many to treat our Father this way, much less the Almighty Creator - before Whom we are nothing. Our value comes from Him loving us, calling us His children and His people. We have no intrinsic value of our own. Nothing in creation does. The value of the created is only from the Creator. There is none other like the Lord, and very much like a piece of art, there is no value to the art piece if the artist himself does not find it valuable.

We have absolutely no justification for any sin, much less the willful ones. We hurt, and we push our Lord God, our Father away, Who wants nothing but the best for us.

Let us repent from our sins, and to constantly remind ourselves that we must not push the Lord our Father and God away.

Article 5 – What We Really Want

We scream and shout to God, "We want! We want!". But when God asks what we truly and really want, do we know the answer?

The wise would say, "My Lord, I want what You want for me."

The fool will go on a list of irrelevant things that does not last or harms himself in the long run.

Thus Psalm 23 says "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not (be in) want" is not only a declaration of God's providence, but also the wisdom of His sheep in such declaration.

Only the wise are worthy to be His sheep, and He will give wisdom to His sheep.

Let us not want, and if we want, we want what He wants.