Home flooded - prayer needed, Lord in time of distress, hear us and grant your miraculous help

The state of Penang in Malaysia was badly hit by flash-flood over the last weekend due to heavy rain downpour which started since 4th November mid-day, and continue till Sunday morning. Rain became heavier at about 2am Sunday early morning and with strong wind bring down trees, road signs and blowing of roofs. My house was also badly hit with water level raising above the knee. The flood water entered and rose very fast, therefore making it difficult for me to salvage and move thing higher. Many item were badly damage like wall in-built power outlets, electrical appliances, furniture, kitchen equipment and mattresses. The rain had stop and water subside, but the water level at river has not subsided and sea is high. Sky and weather does look that promising and I am worried the flood may come again if it rains heavily again. Please pray for me and all those effected by the flood that everything will be normal again and help will come to help replace/cover the lost and damage. I truly believe when we pray together for the same cause, he is with us and miracles will happen as the Lord has said “ For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray, hope, trust, and believe. Amen.

Help needed, willing to Help, you may send me a email at

stanx4christ@gmail.com

and I will provide you with details or directly make your help available through my PAYPAL link page.

or

direct deposit my Hong Leong Bank account (Malaysia only)

Stanley

Act no: 158-50-09065-0

You are anxious - one thing is needful

Does the peace of Christ reign in your home and in your personal life? Jesus loved to visit the home of Martha and Mary and enjoyed their gracious hospitality. In this brief encounter we see two very different temperaments in Martha and Mary. Martha loved to serve, but in her anxious manner of waiting on Jesus, she caused unrest. Mary, in her simple and trusting manner, waited on Jesus by sitting attentively at his feet. She instinctively knew that what the Lord and Teacher most wanted at that moment was her attentive presence.

Give your concerns and pre-occupations to the Lord 

Anxiety and preoccupation keep us from listening and from giving the Lord our undivided attention. The Lord bids us to give him our concerns and anxieties because he is trustworthy and able to meet any need we have. His grace frees us from needless concerns and preoccupation. Do you seek the Lord attentively? And does the Lord find a welcomed and honored place in your home?

Always welcome the Lord into your home and heart 

The Lord Jesus desires that we make a place for him, not only in our hearts, but in our homes and in the daily circumstances of our lives as well. We honor the Lord when we offer to him everything we have and everything we do. After all, everything we have is an outright gift from God (1 Chronicles 29:14). Paul the Apostle urges us to give God glory in everything: "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17).

When you sit, eat, sleep and when you entertain your friends and guests, remember that the Lord Jesus is also the guest of your home. Scripture tells us that when Abraham opened his home and welcomed three unknown travelers, he welcomed the Lord who blessed him favorably for his gracious hospitality (Genesis 18:1-10; Hebrews 13:2). The Lord wants us to bring him glory in the way we treat others and use the gifts he has graciously given to us. God, in turn, blesses us with his gracious presence and fills us with joy.

Lord Jesus, to be in your presence is life and joy for me. Free me from needless concerns and preoccupations that I may give you my undivided love and attention.

source: From the desk of Don Schwager, 

hosted by Kairos Europe and the Middle East

What's worst than being separated from your home, loved ones, and friends?

The pain of separation can only be surpassed by the joy of the homecoming and reunion. When God commanded his people to celebrate the Passover annually, he wanted them to never forget what he did for them when he freed them from oppression and slavery in the land of Egypt and brought them back to their promised homeland which he gave as a sign of his immense love and favor. At the end of their wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, Joshua, the successor to Moses, led the people in celebrating the Passover meal after they had safely passed over the River Jordan to their promised homeland (Joshua 5:9-12).

Our true homeland with God

This crossing over from a land of slavery and oppression to a land of promise and freedom is a sign that foreshadows the true freedom and homecoming which the Lord Jesus has won for us in his kingdom. Through his victory on the cross the Lord Jesus has delivered us from the dominion of sin and darkness and transferred us to his kingdom of light, truth, and forgiveness (Colossians 1:13-14). God offers this freedom to all who believe in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God does not desire the death of anyone (Ezekiel 18:23). That is why he sent us his only-begotten Son to set us free from slavery to sin, Satan, and death and to restore us to everlasting peace, joy, and abundant life with our Father in heaven.

The merciful Father who welcome home his lost son

Jesus illustrates this passover from slavery to sin and condemnation to freedom and new life in Christ with the longest parable recorded in the Gospels (Luke 15:11-32). What is the main point of Jesus' story about two ungrateful sons and their extravagant loving father? Is it the contrast between a grudging obedient son and a rebellious son who had wished his father was dead? Or the warm reception given to a spendthrift son and the cold reception given by the eldest son?

Jesus does contrast the eldest son's cold and aloof reception for his errant brother with the father's warm embrace and lavish homecoming party for his repentant son. While the errant son had wasted his father's money, his father, nonetheless, maintained unbroken love for his son. The son, while he was away, learned a lot about himself. And he realized that his father had given him love which he had not returned. He had yet to learn about the depth of his father's love for him.

His deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed on the husks of pigs and his reflection on all he had lost, led to his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father. While he hoped for reconciliation with his father, he could not have imagined a full restoration of relationship. The father did not need to speak words of forgiveness to his son; his actions spoke more loudly and clearly! The beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet symbolize the new life - pure, worthy, and joyful - of every person who returns to God.

Forgiven and restored to new life 

The prodigal could not return to the garden of innocence, but he was welcomed and reinstated as a son who had been missed much and greatly loved by his father. The errant son's dramatic change from grief and guilt to forgiveness and restoration express in picture-language the resurrection from the dead which Jesus makes possible to everyone who believes in him, a rebirth to new life from death.

The parable also contrasts mercy and its opposite - unforgiveness. The father who had been wronged, was forgiving. But the eldest son, who had not been wronged, was unforgiving. His unforgiveness turns into spiteful pride and contempt for his brother. And his resentment leads to his isolation and estrangement from the community of forgiven sinners.

God's mercy and kindness knows no bounds

In this parable Jesus gives a vivid picture of God and what God is like. God is truly kinder than any of us. He does not lose hope or give up when we stray from him. He is always on the lookout for those who have a change of heart and want to return. He rejoices in finding the lost and in welcoming them home. Do you know the joy of repentance and the restoration of relationship as a son or daughter of your heavenly Father?

source: Kairos-EME, Don's Daily Email

Bye Dad! You have gone to the Lord's home

28 January 2015, the day my dad left me 

to be with the Lord.

I really miss my dad, as I really loved him.

The LORD is my light and my help;

whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life;

before whom shall I shrink?

He gave me love

And touched my life

It's all over now.

He is gone now

It is hard to believe

This man is my dad

Who I will never see

But I will see him again

This I know

The day will come

When it's time for me to go

So, I'll hold him dear

And close to my heart

Cause the day we meet

I know we'll never be torn apart.

Source: © Disarae G. Kuhn

Blessing of the Crib in the Home ~ Prayer

This blessing can be prayed when the crib is being put in place in the home and the family might gather around it and recite the following blessing prayer.

All make the sign of the cross, the recite as follows;

God of every national and people, from the very beginning of creation you have made manifest your love: When our need for a Saviour was great you sent your Son to be born of the Virgin Mary. To our lives he brings joy and peace, justice, mercy, and love. 

Lord, Bless all who look upon this manger, may it remind us of the humble birth of Jesus, and raise up our thoughts to him, Who is God-with-us, the Emmanuel and Saviour of all, and who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer to Purify and Protect Your Home and Family, Business, or Places of Desire.

 

In the Name of Jesus Christ our God and Lord, strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints, (and powerful in the holy authority of our ministry),* we confidently undertake to repulse the attacks and deceits of the devil.

God arises; His enemies are scattered and those who hate Him flee before Him.

As smoke is driven away, so are they driven; as wax melts before the fire, so the wicked perish at the presence of God.

V. Behold the Cross of the Lord, flee bands of enemies.

R. He has conquered, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the offspring of David.

V. May Thy mercy, Lord, descend upon us.

R. As great as our hope in Thee.

We drive you from us, whoever you may be, unclean spirits, all satanic posers, all infernal invaders, all wicked legions, assemblies and sects; in the Name and by the power of Our Lord Jesus Christ, † ** may you be snatched away and driven from the Church of God and from the souls made to the image and likeness of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of the Divine Lamb. † Most cunning serpent, you shall no more dare to deceive the human race, persecute the Church, torment God’s elect and sift them as wheat. † The Most High God commands you, † He with whom, in your great insolence, you still claim to be equal;

“He who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” God the Father commands you. † God the Son commands you. † God the Holy Spirit commands you. † Christ, God’s Word made flesh, commands you; † He who to save our race outdone through your envy, “humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death;” He who has built His Church on the firm rock and declared that the gates of hell shall not prevail against Her, because He will dwell with Her “all days even to the end of the world.” The sacred Sign of the Cross commands you, † as does also the power of the mysteries of the Christian Faith. † The glorious Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, commands you; † She who by Her humility and from the first moment of Her Immaculate Conception, crushed your proud head. The faith of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul and the other Apostles commands you. † The blood of the Martyrs and the pious intercession of all the Saints command.

AMEN.

* Lay people omit this parenthesis.

** The crosses indicate blessing to be given if priest recites the prayer; if lay person recites it, they indicate the Sign of the Cross to be made silently by that person at every cross.

©2004, 2009, SJP Lic. to Caritas of Birmingham, USA, Internationally copyright protected.

Importance of a Family Altar at Home

"CHRIST is the HEAD of this HOME,

There is no ROOM where He is not PRESENT."

A Family altar is a sacred space within our home where we connect with God who dwells within us. It provides us with a focus to think, pray, meditate and listen. We go to church, the house of God on a regular basis but in our daily intimate time with God in prayers and praise mostly done at our home's family altar.

Family altar is an affirmation that God is at the center of the home. It reminds the family that God's is alway present in this place and is charge of our lifes Therefore always making us obedient and God-conscious, where His presence in the house will be yesterday, today and forever. Offer prayer and praise to God in our home at this center of spirit of each home He is the protector of our home from all evil and harm. May we ask God to manage our daily life through His Son and His Holy Spirit within us. May the good, ever loving and forgiving God keep us and our home.

Here is where in our home where family sits down to be with God and to share His Word of Truth. We spent time personally or as a family daily to listen, to thank, to praise, to recite affirmations, and at the same time sharing our hopes, desires, fears or anxieties. We honor the God  the source of undying love and fear of sinning (Deut. 10:12, "what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul").

We should give thanks and honoring God for the blessings we receive daily  because He blesses us daily. These blessing comes in the form where we areable to wake up each morning to see a new day, the food we have to eat daily, ability to speak, to listen, to see, to think, earn  a living, being service to others and etc.  When we listen to God and observe His commandment, then God in turn will truly come, let us find Him and He will listen to us.

Finally by having a Family altar in our  home, we Catholics not only invite God into our home, but it gives God his own place to abide within us and our home. (Rev 3:20, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me").

Psalm 139:7-8
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.


Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.


Genesis 18:19
For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”


1 Thessalonians 5
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.


Revelations 19:5
Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both great and small!