Mariane Doktor, servant and writer

A journey in creativity and faith

Month: January 2015 (Page 1 of 2)

When strength is made perfect in tears of weakness

January 25, 2015 / / 4 Comments

When the frost hit my village and the sky darkened, the homework yelled, Facebook laughed, the laundry fought against music and flickering TV, when the e-mails were a mess between screaming “mommyyyy”s, I was exhausted. When my hunger was angry, my thoughts were happy and tired, my feelings were annoyed with my fatigue and sadness, I became tired. Pictures of threats, criticism, war victims, drug addicts, doomsday prophecies, starving babies and sick fanatics made me tired.

The fact that I couldn’t comfort, encourage, heal or give faith, joy, hope, peace and love to the people, who were grieving, starving, poor, confused, lost, stressed and depressed, made me tired. My eyes were tired and shed a tear of powerlessness which said: “Am I too tired to live?”

Photo credits Volkan Olmez

“Come”, the silence said.

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When “Love” Feels Like a Four-Letter Word

January 20, 2015 / / 0 Comments

For my series on God’s love, I’m today honored to host a guest post by Christy Pearce.  God loves EVERYONE, also the ones we may consider to be our enemies. In Matthew 5:43-44 Jesus teaches us about love. Christy shares an experience she has had with hate. 

 

Her name was Lisa.

I HATED that girl…with a passion. But she hated me first.

Even though I was only seven years old, I will never forget how much she ruined my fun when she showed up. I detested the sound of her voice.

But there was this one time we both temporarily lost our minds, and we decided to try to be friends. It lasted a couple of days, but we couldn’t hold the hatred back. It ended with her spewing ugly words my way, and me smacking her across the face. (And running away…)

There was NO way I was going to show her love; it wasn’t a thought in my mind. She was just too mean. Lisa was my enemy.
If you have ever been suffocated by the emotion of hate, then you know “loving enemies” is easier said than done. Love goes against all that is naturally in us, and we are incapable of doing it.

And that is exactly what Christ came to prove. That we CAN’T fulfill the law. At least not without His presence in our lives.

What is Impossible with Men is Possible with God 

Photo Credit: Reinhard Komanapalli, creation swap,

Anger, Lust, Adultery, Divorce, Lying, Retaliation…these are the things we humans have a natural bent toward—unless you are God come in human flesh.

Christ didn’t come down here to condemn us, because He didn’t have to.

Instead, He did what was completely impossible for us to do. He came to fulfill all of the law’s demands. He lived out the rules of God perfectly with all His mind, heart and strength.

If we don’t know that it really is impossible for us to obey God, we are missing out on the magnitude of what Christ was accomplishing on our behalf.

Even if we manage to put on a great performance outwardly, our hearts are always corrupted in some way. We need something more. More than outward conformity to law, more than what we can conjure up within ourselves. We need the One who fulfilled the law to fill our hearts.

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The love of a Father

January 16, 2015 / / 0 Comments

During a prayer I felt God’s holy love. For a moment it was as if I felt the love He feels for the whole world. The biggest love I could find inside my humanity was my mother love. Though I know God’s love is greater than a mother’s love, God is a like a Father.

You’re God’s child and He loves you very much. His love is GREATER than any human love. If Jesus would have to die for you, he would do it again. But that will not happen because it’s already done. He has already died for our sins and defeated sin, death and the devil.

As a mother loves her baby, God loves you.

“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, the may forget, yet I will not forget thee.” (Is. 49,15).

The Hebrew word for mercy is “rahum” and “rehæm” means womb, the two words have the same root. Therefore God’s love really is like the love of a father and a mother. Jesus said we must come to God like children that we know we need him, and to love and trust him with all our heart. Jesus says “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.” (Luke 18:17)

God wants you to come to Him just as you are. He wants you to be honest and confine in Him and trust Him. God is a forgiving God. Because Jesus died for you, God does not judge you, but want you to come to Him. You can come to Him with everything. Nothing is too small or too big for him to handle. Nothing to be ashamed of. Remember Jesus carried the whole world on His shoulders when he Hung on the cross.

Matthew 11: 28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

God is your good shepherd Isaiah 40,11 “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”

God will lead you to the green pastures to rest at the still waters. He gives you power and leads you on the right path. Even when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you shall fear no evil, for God is with you. His rod and staff comforts you. (Psalm 23)

Zephaniah 3:17 –“ The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

God's child

A holy gift of love

January 12, 2015 / / 0 Comments

God created man and woman and saw that everything was good. Sin came into the world, and it was grave. Adam and Eve could not be in Eden anymore, they ended up far away from God. Cain killed his brother. There were lies, hate, jealousy, envy, pride, violence, adultery and many many many other sins. God hated sins, but did not hate the sinners. God loves his creation, God loves the world, but He hates sin. (Genesis and Romans 1-2)

A gift of love came to us when God gave to us his son, who was both man and God at the same time.

John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved”

1. Love. God’s love comes first. “For so God loved…” “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.” Jesus, our savior, came to the world, because God loves us. God loves the whole world. He didn’t come to condemn us.

Jesus walked among people. He preached to everyone. Not everyone listened to him or would accept him. But he preached to every one. He ate with the outcasts, He ate with the sinners. Today he would eat (if they say yes) with the muslims, the murderers, the thieves, the addicts, the unemployed, the prostitutes, the skizofren, the disabled and the homeless and the poor people – all the people, who the world wants to forget and push over the edge.
When Jesus came to people, he called them, and said “Follow me” (Mark 2:14) and “come and see!” (John 1:29). Jesus didn’t command people so much as do this and do that, but He called them, preached the Word and was a teacher. One thing I noticed some days ago was that he healed people who came to Him and believed in Him, and those whose families believed in Him.

So God loves….and “whosoever believeth in Him should not perish”. People are justified by faith. “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:22-25).

 The light in the cross

The commandments of love

Jesus did not erase the law, the 10 commandments, but taught people the essence of the laws: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as you love yourself (Mark 12:20-31).
These commandments are inflicted and are two in one. You cannot separate them and only follow one of the commandments. You are asked to love God with all your heart, love yourself and love your neighbor. I believe that when you get to know God, you begin to understand that He loves you, and thus learn to love yourself and love your neighbor.

Who is your neighbor?

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Because of His blood

January 4, 2015 / / 2 Comments

Behold the Lamb of God
Praise Him and give Him glory
You were far away, but He found you
and showed you His wounds
Because of His blood
you are released from the chains of your sins
and the chains of the law
Because of His blood
you are alive
Because of His blood
you are a new man
Because of His blood
His grace is sufficient for you
Because of His blood
the curtain of the temple was torn in two
and you can come boldly to the Father
Because of His blood
you are no longer a stranger or a foreigner
You are brought near to Him
Because of His blood
He lives inside you
Because of His blood
you are a fellow citizen with the saints
Because of His blood
you can rest in the green pastures
Because of His blood
you shall fear no evil
Because of His blood
your cup runs over with the oil of His goodness and mercy
Because of His blood
You will dwell in the house of the Father forever
Jesus is the cornerstone

You have peace
because of His blood

Cross

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