Surprise!

Surprises color our days with changes

 and challenges.

The big difference between reality and

 our expectations continues

 to hit and humiliate us.

Didn't you know that all men are liars ?

 Didn't you know 

that you will not be young forever?

 Didn't you know

that macaronis don't grow in trees?

People surprise us, world events, tragedies,

 unexpected turn of things,

 new technology and death...

The occurrence of surprises

is based on the assumption

that we know the basic rules

 and causalities in life.

Surprises make us aware

 of our never-ending ignorance.

Mark 12:24

Jesus told the Sadducees that they will err,

 not knowing 

the Scriptures not the power of God.

Some surprises in the plan of God

 can be avoided by

simply hiding the Word in our hearts.

Man increases in knowledge

 but knowledge alone is

not enough to prepare us

 for the things to come.

Faith will lead us the way

 where we will not be ashamed.

It is surrounded with hope

 that will not disappoint us.

Romans 5:5

Maybe nothing will shock us anymore,

 but I'm sure that

our greatest surprises

 in life are still to come.

Ignorance keeps us often

 embarrassingly unprepared.

Called to Uniqueness

David's brothers were questioning his motives, when he actually

was sent by the father and was walking in the perfect will of God.

I Samuel 17:28-32

They thought that David had a common call, just to be a shepherd

boy. They had positioned themselves well around the king's circles,

hoping to use the momentum to climb up in their career, but

David was the only one who could knock Goliath down.

It was in his call.

I don't believe that anyone is called to be a common person.

All people have a specific call from God to live a life that no other

person can live.

Falling in love with God continually is the inspirational power that

helps us to follow our unique call.  

Disturbing Forgiveness

Why does forgiveness continue to be the most

difficult doctrine to accept?

I think it's possible to understand it only through

the personal acceptance of full forgiveness from God.

God forgave man, when he

did not ask for it; when he did not deserve it.

Forgiveness is not a business term.

In the Middle-ages the church was selling forgiveness

by the granting of indulgences.

The consequences were theologically disastrous.

The whole concept of the Finished Work of Christ and

the value of grace were totally neglected.

The church grew richer and more corrupt.

True forgiveness is always personal and dogmatically

uncompromising.

You cannot forgive a little.

You either forgive or you don't and if you do forgive,

you will experience the relief in your soul from 

a burden that you were never meant bear.

Undefeated Optimism

When reasons for optimism

 cannot be found around you,

you need to get back to the basics.

Life is a free gift. 

Forgiveness is sure and eternal.

Love is unconditional and greater than death.

Problems are opportunities and

sufferings have the power to draw us

nearer to our loving Savior.

"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true,

whatever things are noble,

whatever things are just,

whatever things are pure,

whatever things are lovely,

whatever things are of good report,

if there is any virtue and

if there is anything praiseworthy-

meditate on these things."

Philippians 4:8

Here And Now

Paul speaks about being strong when he is weak.

Could it be, that we all , at the time when we are

very frail,disappointed, frustrated and confused,

could be most useful for the work of God?

Faith helps us to see beyond "here and now".

Egypt is too big to miss.

This most populated Arab country

 has been through a devastating

 political turmoil during the past five years.

 Now everything has been attacked,

 divided and abandoned.

 People's dreams have been crushed, their

hearts broken and their hope stolen.

Only supernatural forgiveness can heal this nation.

Only supernatural love can heal the wounds.

"But I say to you, love your enemies,

bless those who curse you,

 do good to those who hate you,

and pray for those who spitefully 

use you and persecute you,

that you may be sons of your Father in heaven;

for He makes his sun rise on the evil and

on the good, and send rain

 on the just and on the unjust."

Matthew 5:44-45

We all had a messy start.

If God could create man from the dust of the earth,

He surely can make something

 beautiful out of the mess

of our lives.

Time Management

Eternal mentality operates beyond the boundaries of time.

When the world tries to squeeze us into a clock time,

living faith, forgiveness and love cannot be measured

by minutes and hours.

They say that there are only three ways to spend time:

thoughts, conversations and action.

True worship doesn’t fit into any of those categories.

It’s a state when God is freely acting on you.

It’s a mystery from eternity to eternity.

Resurrection
paintings
matti sirvio
January 24 - February 04
Academy of Fine Arts
Zamalek, Cairo
Egypt
    Opening reception
 January 24, at 12 a.m.
Welcome!
www.mattisirvio.com
 

Isn't it up to us?

"How then shall they call on Him

 in whom they have not believed?

And how shall they believe in Him of whom 

they have not heard?

And how shall they hear without a preacher?"

Romans 10:14

How?

Two Kinds of Blindness

In communication of the Good News we're continually 

confronted by two kinds of blindness.

One, the natural blindness, can be removed by giving

out information and convincing others with the help

of knowledge and a good testimony.

The other type of blindness has a supernatural origin.

Paul mentions that in II Corinthians 4:4, pointing out

that Satan has supernaturally blinded people.

We also have examples in the Bible when God blinded people.

Paul himself was blinded by God and needed another believer,

Ananias, to pray for him. When he prayed "Immediately

there fell from his eyes something like scales."Acts 9:18

We cannot force those scales to fall from people's eyes,

but we are here, available for God to use our prayers.

Lord, we see too many scales. Have mercy on people.

In The Omani Desert

In the desert silence speaks.

I takes a long time to hear it.

I know , who has time in today's 

busy world to study silence

in the deserts of Oman? I know.

Help!

Emergencies look different later.

 We survived, most of the time,

 even without fast interference.

 Emergencies lose their power

 to produce action as time goes on. 

In a way emergencies are a fight against time.

Some things never happened because 

the call of emergency was ignored.

"The harvest is past, the summer has ended,

 and we are not saved."

Jeremiah 8:20

This is a sad testimony: 

One season of hope after another had passed,

 but the looked-for deliverance never came, 

and now all hope is gone.

As someone said,” Hope is a good breakfast, 

but a bad dinner.”

Calls for help are a test 

for our true interest in the work of God.

Some things will never happen unless

we respond.

If you don't

If you don't learn to think ,

 others will think for you and

most probably ruin your capacity

 to grow as a healthy spiritual person.

If you don't learn to choose,

 the world will choose for you

and ruin all your future opportunities.

If you don't learn to forgive,

 you'll miss most of the opportunities 

to see the work of God in life.

The Evil of Goodness

We should not underestimate

 the evil of man's own goodness.

It has an appearance of love for justice and fairness,

but in reality it is deceitful,

selfishly calculating and a cruel enemy of God.

It, human goodness apart from God, deceives a person

to be almost save. Often this place of "almost saved"

keeps people eternally separated from God. Many have 

gotten married to almost saved people and woken up

later in the bitter reality of another kingdom.

Own goodness is one of the most difficult things to give up.

It always leads to self-righteousness and hypocrisy.

It will be the uniting power of the mankind's

last revolt against God.

Romans 7:18, Psalm 16:2

Boredom

Without a living relationship with God 

there is no escape from it.

Man can engage himself with endless businesses and other

activities , but there is no continuing excitement in time. 

The ever hunting shadow of the grave cannot be avoided.

The earthly joys on their best are just running sands that 

mess up our lives.

We were made for heaven.

Only heavenly values and eternal purposes

can keep our souls continually inspired.

Once you've heard from heaven,

nothing from the earth impresses you.

Why do we ask "why"?

It's frustrating to be involved with the work of God

without a spiritual motivation.

God's answer to our "why" question is not always

so well-defined, but it always ends up connecting us

with His own character.

We do things because of who He is.

We put off our old man for "His body's sake";

we step out from our selfish orientation for His sake.

The riches of His person, Jesus Christ, are our daily

inspiration and motivation.

We ask why, because we want to know Him more.

"Think of him... lest you become weary and

discouraged in your souls." 

Hebrews 12:3

Is it possible?

A lot of people seem to think

 that it is impossible to live our 

lives in perfect honesty, without hypocrisy.

Isn't it funny that even though we all know

 that every man is a sinner and 

 no man can claim sinlessness,

 we all continue working

hard on giving an impression

 that we are an exception.

Why is hypocrisy still so popular?

I think the greatest enemy of hypocrisy

 is full confidence in God's love.

The fear of rejection leads

 us to pretend and deceive.

Yes, we haven’t been made perfect in love, yet.

I John 4:18

What is it?

I don't know what it is,
 but he came to sell it early every morning and

he seemed to know what he was doing.

China is amazing.

I just returned from one week trip to Yunnan 
and spent the days in awe

of the movement of God among this great nation.

They have so many things,
 including spiritual particularities,

that we have never even heard about.

God bless China!