Life

08.11.08
The One I Rely On And I’ve Been Confident In Christianity, Life, Photographs | (0)
Bicaz (Romania) dam accumulation lake

16 No king is saved by the great size and power of his army;
a mighty man is not delivered by [his] much strength.

17 A horse is devoid of value for victory;
neither does he deliver any by his great power.

18 Behold, the Lord’s eye is upon those who fear Him
[who revere and worship Him with awe],
who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness,

19 To deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.

20 Our inner selves wait [earnestly] for the Lord;
He is our Help and our Shield.

21 For in Him does our heart rejoice,
because we have trusted
(relied on and been confident)
in His holy name.

22 Let Your mercy and loving-kindness,
O Lord, be upon us,
in proportion to our waiting and hoping for You.

Psalm 33:16-22
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08.01.08
Genuine Peace Christianity, Life | (0)
29 Thus says the king:
Let not Hezekiah deceive you.
For he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.

30 Nor let Hezekiah make you trust in and rely on the Lord,
saying, The Lord will surely deliver us,
and this city will not be given into the hand of Assyria’s king.

31 Hearken not to Hezekiah,
for thus says the king of Assyria:
Make your peace with me and come out to me,
and eat every man from his own vine
and fig tree and drink every man the waters of his own cistern,

32 Until I come and take you away
to a land like your own,
a land of grain and vintage fruit,
of bread and vineyards,
of olive trees and honey,
that you may live and not die.
Do not listen to Hezekiah when he urges you,
saying, The Lord will deliver us.

2 Kings 18:29-32

This passage is part of a larger one that describes Assyria’s army siege over Jerusalem. Here, Rabshakeh, one of the leaders of the Assyrian army, talks to the people of Jerusalem, trying to discourage them.

This ancient event resembles with something very contemporary. In the same way the Devil’s servants come to us trying to discourage us. We might have a good new pastor, one that really fears and obeys God. So the Devil sends a greater army to deceive us, to destroy us. In the same way we are promised earthly rewards. We are promised wealth and peace. But only the peace that comes from God is the real peace. The one that is not only exterior but the one that is also in our hearts and the most important will last for ever.

Devil wants to surrender to him. See in verse 31 the process that we are called to subscribed to, by the Devil. We have to stop listening to God and to any of His people. We have to make peace with the Devil, the lord of this world. We are called to subdue to him. And by doing us we are promised great wealth and the so called peace. In the same way the Anti-Christ will charm the whole word.

We have to be strong. To know in Whom we trust, to know our identity in Christ . So we have not to be charmed and fooled by this word that offers us the illusion of happiness and peace.

Peace I leave with you;
My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you.
Not as the world gives do I give to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled,
neither let them be afraid.
[Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed;
and do not permit yourselves to be fearful
and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

John 14:27

The only genuine peace and happiness we find in God. So, please, do not get fooled by the lord of this world.
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07.01.08
Sunday Barbecue Photo Session with Emil near Comarna, in Iasi district Life, Photographs, Traveling, my recipies | (0)
On Saturday I went together with Denisa to Emima and Lucian’s wedding. I’ll post the photos soon. So, I planned to dedicate the whole Sunday morning to sleeping. But I just could not sleep. I woke up at 9 am. Because I got this free time I went with Emil for a swim. At noon we came back and took the barbecue grill from our landlord. Then we went and bought some chicken wings, 2 pieces of oceanic fish, 2 big shrimps. With all this in the car we went discovering a new quiet place to do some barbecue. After 1 hour of search we discovered a nice place near Comarna village, in Iasi district. Here are the photos…
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06.25.08
What Is A Good Investment on the Long Term? Christianity, Life, Photographs | (0)
Photo of an old gate guarding a monastery near Ohrid Macedonia

The earnings of the righteous
(the upright, in right standing with God)
lead to life,
but the profit of the wicked leads to further sin.

Proverbs 10:16

This verse in Romanian says something like:

The righteous uses his earnings for life,
but the wicked one uses his earnings for sin.

Proverbs 10:16

Those two different point of views. But I think that they work together. They do not contradict one another. The first one says that the earnings themselves, the type of profit we make, if you are righteous, helps us to go go on the good path. And if we are wicked will will produce some kind of black profit that buries us deeper in sin.

The other translations says that if we are righteous and we live accordingly to our name, then we will use all we have to do good. But if we are wicked we will find out delight in sin and we’ll do that by investing in sin, so sin more.

In the same time if I am training now and if I want to be righteous, to become a wise man, I have to invest in the real life, in my eternity. But if I invest in sinful activities, then I will become wicked. Actually…

The heart is deceitful above all things,
and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick!
Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]?

Jeremiah 17:9

All this means that our hart is already wicked. So what can we do to transform it into a loving and caring one? Well, the only way is to give my hart to God. I did, but the struggle continues. It happens with people to become saints the next day. But this does not seem to happen with me. I still have my war against sin and evil. The Devil is not just letting me alone. I pray everyday to have the strength to fight, even if sometimes I loose like I did yesterday.

We don’t have just money to invest, Time, sentiments, feelings are also available to be invested in a way or other.

So what can I do? What can we all do about this fight? Well, as the verse says, to continue to fight the good battle. To continue to invest in the eternal life and try not to invest in sin.
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06.20.08
The Trademark on all God’s Works is Love Christianity, Life, Photographs | (0)
Photo I took in Macedonia, on Lake Ohrid, when I went there for the IFES graduates conference in June

Yesterday I left unread one Psalm that I planned to peruse. Today I realized what jewel I lost . This is a real encouragement Psalm. It really helped me today to boost my trust in the Lord . Check it out.

1 I lift you high in praise, my God, O my King! and I’ll bless your name into eternity.

2 I’ll bless you every day,
and keep it up from now to eternity.
3 God is magnificent; he can never be praised enough.
There are no boundaries to his greatness.
4 Generation after generation stands in awe of your work;
each one tells stories of your mighty acts.
5 Your beauty and splendor have everyone talking;
I compose songs on your wonders.
6 Your marvelous doings are headline news;
I could write a book full of the details of your greatness.
7 The fame of your goodness spreads across the country;
your righteousness is on everyone’s lips.

8 God is all mercy and grace—
not quick to anger, is rich in love.

9 God is good to one and all;
everything he does is suffused with grace.

10-11 Creation and creatures applaud you, God;
your holy people bless you.

They talk about the glories of your rule,
they exclaim over your splendor,

12 Letting the world know of your power for good,
the lavish splendor of your kingdom.

13 Your kingdom is a kingdom eternal;
you never get voted out of office.

God always does what he says,
and is gracious in everything he does.

14 God gives a hand to those down on their luck,
gives a fresh start to those ready to quit.

15 All eyes are on you, expectant;
you give them their meals on time.

16 Generous to a fault,
you lavish your favor on all creatures.

17 Everything God does is right—
the trademark on all his works is love.

18 God’s there, listening for all who pray,
for all who pray and mean it.

19 He does what’s best for those who fear him—
hears them call out, and saves them.

20 God sticks by all who love him,
but it’s all over for those who don’t.

21 My mouth is filled with God’s praise.
Let everything living bless him,
bless his holy name from now to eternity!

Psalm 145

I hope it was good encouragement for you as well, especially the second part.
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06.19.08
God Guide me on the Road of Eternal Life Christianity, Life, Photographs | (2)
Photo of Lake Ohrid from Macedonia. IFES graduates conference

Investigate my life, O God,
find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
then guide me on the road to eternal life.

Psalm 139:23-24

1-2 God, come close.
Come quickly!
Open your ears—it’s my voice you’re hearing!
Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising;
my raised hands are my evening prayers.

3-6 Post a guard at my mouth, God,
set a watch at the door of my lips and eyes.
Don’t let me so much as dream of evil
or thoughtlessly fall into bad company.
And these people who only do wrong—
don’t let them lure me with their sweet talk!
May the Just One set me straight,
may the Kind One correct me,
Don’t let sin anoint my head.
I’m praying hard against their evil ways.

Psalm 141:1-6
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06.18.08
Trip to Ohrid Macedonia for the IFES University Graduates Conference Christianity, Life, Photographs, Traveling | (1)
For a few days I will be away for the IFES University Graduates Conference that takes place in Ohrid, Macedonia.

Bellow are the photos from the trip to Ohrid, Macedonia. Enjoy the photos and feel free to comment. If you want any of the photos in high quality, please contact me. The ones from bellow are just for preview purposes, if you want to see them bigger please go to the links at the end of the post.

!slideshow!ss1!http://www.zooomr.com/services/feeds/public_photos/?id=87602@Z01!

You can see the photos I took at the IFES university graduates conference bellow, for each day:
- photos from trip from Bucharest to Ohrid – click here (on Zooomr)
- photos from Friday – the first day of conference – click here
- photos from Saturday – the second day of conference – click here
- photos from Sunday – the third day of conference and the trip back to Romania – click here .
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06.18.08
My New Prayer to Fulfil Christianity, Life, Photographs | (0)
Photo I took on the trip to Ohrid (Macedonia), in Bulgaria, near a Shell gas station

God gave me such a beautiful, encouraging Psalm to read. I want it to take it as my new prayer, and to fulfill it each day.

My theme song is God’s love and justice,
and I’m singing it right to you, God.
I’m finding my way down the road of right living,
but how long before you show up?
I’m doing the very best I can,
and I’m doing it at home, where it counts.
I refuse to take a second look
at corrupting people and degrading things.
I reject this world’s gods,
stay clear of their contamination.
The crooked in heart keep their distance;
I refuse to shake hands with those who plan evil.
I put a gag on the gossip
who bad-mouths his neighbor;
I can’t stand arrogance.
But I have my eye on salt-of-the-earth people—
they’re the ones I want working with me;
Men and women on the straight and narrow—
these are the ones I want at my side.
But no one who traffics in lies
gets a job with me; I have no patience with liars.
I’ve rounded up all the wicked like cattle
and herded them right out of the country.
I purged God’s city
of all who make a business of evil.

Psalm 101

God please help me to do so each day, all day long.
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06.09.08
God Makes His People Strong, God Gives His People Peace Christianity, Life, Photographs | (0)
Photo of me and Denisa at her graduation festivity – Computer Science Faculty of Iasi

Today God had for me only encouraging words. I don’t have any enemies, but God spoke to me about enemies. He told me that irrespective of all the other people that might want my harm, God will rescue me.

Thank you God! Thank you because you are always at work and you warn me in advance. Thank you for your support and for your care.

1 Light, space, zest— that’s God!
So, with Him on my side I’m fearless,
afraid of no one and nothing.

3 When besieged,
I’m calm as a baby.
When all hell breaks loose,
I’m collected and cool.

13-14 I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness
in the exuberant earth.
Stay with God!
Take heart. Don’t quit.
I’ll say it again:
Stay with God.

Psalm 27

11 God makes his people strong.
God gives his people peace.

Psalm 29:11

3-5 You’re my cave to hide in,
my cliff to climb.
Be my safe leader,
be my true mountain guide.
Free me from hidden traps;
I want to hide in you.
I’ve put my life in your hands.
You won’t drop me,
you’ll never let me down.

24 Be brave. Be strong. Don’t give up.
Expect God to get here soon.

Psalm 31

Please read those psalms: 27, 28, 29, 31, 35. They are full of encouragements. Maybe you go through hard times and God wants to talk to you.
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06.06.08
We Trust in and Boast of the Name of the Lord our God Christianity, Life, Photographs | (5)
Group photo of friends at Ruben Schipor’s birthday party in Iasi Romania

7 Some trust, in themselves,
in what they have
or what they think that they can do,
but we will trust in and boast of the name of the Lord our God,
not in what we have,
neither in out own power.

8 The others are bowed down and fallen,
but we, even if we fall sometimes,
we are risen and stand upright,
by God’s help and mercy.

adaptation after Psalm 20:7-8
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