Total Submission

God’s grace is not dependent on the things we do. He sends rain both to the just and the unjust.

May consequences na tinatawag, oo. Being active sa church is not an assurance para safe ka sa trials. It’s wrong to believe that doing God’s work would exempt you from pain, and is certainly wrong to believe otherwise.

Living outside of God’s will has a consequence, it’s not God’s fault either for one to suffer. Adam and Eve died because they ate the fruit forbidden to them.Adam and Eve died because of the choices they’ve made not because God wants them to be dead.

God deals with us individually.

God isn’t impersonal. Job insisted at first that he doesn’t deserve any of those trials kasi nga daw siya ang pinakamatino sa buong lupa sa panahon niya. Even God testifies to that in contending with Satan. Pero bakit sa dulo, sinabi ni Job na siya ay mangmang at nagsasalita ng mga bagay na hindi niya nauunawaan? One thing i’ve learned, Job was brought to a higer level of understanding, na di niya naabot kung di niya naranasan yung trials na yun. And God caused Job to grow in His wisdom. God even replaced everything ng doble.

Everything God does have a purpose.

It’s just a matter of setting all things right before God. Kung minsan, it’s not the act that destroys us. But our attitude towards the things we do and the way we count our blessings. A believer needs to learn total submission to God’s will. It’s not about doing all things right, but submitting all things to God. In the process, we need to have patience. Patience shows our confidence in God. Kung nagiging impatient ka, then you doesn’t trust God. Faith in God is trusting He will do it and even if He don’t, you would still trust that He will do something.

God moved the people of

Israel

from the land of bondage to the Promised Land for 40 years when they could make the trip in 3months, because they’re too stubborn to believe that God is able to deliver them. Minsan din, hinahanapan natin ang Panginoon ng bibilanging biyaya na sandamukal na biyaya ang sa harap natin ang hindi pa nabibilang.

There’s no use crying over spilt milk. No need ng sisihin pa ang nakaraan

Lay EVERYTHING down before the Lord and move on. God is a God of second chances and new beginnings. When He forgives, He forgets. Only Satan reminds us of our past to crush us. But we could remind him that we’re washed by the blood and that he should be worried of his future, because he is doomed.

If God calls it sin, then it is sin. I would tell God its sin, and that i don’t want to do it on the first place. Acknowledging our wrongs is not easy. To confess and ask for forgiveness is hard.  To be submissive to God in everything is much harder, lalo na pag ayaw pumayag ng puso mo at walang kang nakikitang happy ending in doing it. It’s hard to give up someone you love, much more giving up to the unknown.

I’ve learned to give up to God everything and everyone that matters to me. It ain’t easy, and it’s a daily struggle. Give up to God what you want to keep, and He will let you have it ten folds.

You see, it’s not the things i do that makes me worthy of the blessing am enjoying this years. Kaya siya tinatawag na faith kasi malaking chunk ng trust natin sa Panginoon ay hindi nakikita.

I always try to bring before the Lord that things i did – both right and wrong. I bring questions too… And in my prayer, i always insist for His will and not mine… kahit meron pa akong gustong-gusto.

I believe He has power over all things. I believe He can always intervene. I believe He can heal our hearts. And not until we will learn to trust him and submit our whole self to Him,that we can enjoy the blessing that comes with it.

God loves us. And nothing can separate us from that love. Yes kawalan ka kung kinukwestiyun mo ang iyong halaga before Him… He doesn’t want to lose you, even to the point of sending His own Son to death just to have you back.

In everything, what matters is a right relationship with him. Both in good and in bad times.

God of wonders

Akala ko nga nun, forever na ako TECH 1 hehehe… kahit pinagpipilitan ko nang senior ako e, ang totoong nakasulat sa employment certificate ko, TECH 1 talaga e di naman lng ginawang SR. TECH 1 para may konting karangalan din naman sa kabila ng mahigit anim na taon kong pamamalagi diyan (kahit TECH 1 pa rin hehehe).

Maliban pa diyan, sino bang matinong kumpanya ang kukuha sa akin kung kayang-kaya naman nilang kumuha ng bago at makakatipid pa sila sa sahod? The only way for me then is to apply for work abroad kahit factory operator o janitor o kahit taga pamitas ng prutas basta mas mataas ng konti ang sahod at makaahon man lng kahit sa mga utang. And yes, i’ve spent many hours walking at nakipagbolahan sa maraming agencies para lng makaalis.

Pero ang nakakatuwa, nabiyayaan ako na walang karela-relasyon dun sa pinaghirapan ko. He just simply handed to me a GRAND gift ng walang pawis on my part: No placement fee; No POEA hassles. Free airfare via Philippine Airlines(hindi budget airlines ha hehehe). 15-day per diem allowance in $$$. 3-months free accomodation – plus free breakfast (thru a brother in Christ), Regular employment (No contract), and a lot more that i still continue counting it.

We often have this Oh,-yes,-I-know-that-He-can-do-everything,-the-Bible-says-so.-But-there-are-limits,-aren’t-there?” attitude, when all we have to do is to tell God our heart’s desire. That’s prayer anyway.

I thanked God that He still wraps wonderful gifts – beyond our imagination. Gifts kasi nga hindi mo pinagpapaguran o pinaghihirapan. Basta hiningi mo, at naayon naman sa mga plano niya, ibibigay niya talaga. Magugulat ka na lng, nasa sa’yo na o nasa lugar ka na, na akala mo hanggang pangarap na lang.
      
May we will continue to grow in PRAYER and trust His WORD. God still do wonders.

Why love the unlovable?

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? (Matthew 5:46-47)

The Christian virtue of loving his enemies is absurdity to the secular world.
 
I’ve tried loving those who love me, but at times i still choose who to love in return. For there are those who love you that you don’t want to loved in return, Right?

How about loving those who don’t love you? It’s been a long desire of mine to sit with someone i don’t know, on a meal. Someone who can’t return the favor i am capable of giving; someone who was neglected by society and family; someone who feels hopeless and rejected. I hope it will happen one day, but should be by chance. I’m looking forward for the day that i will have my dinner with the “out casts”. Just us. No fanfare.

I want it to be a part my lifestyle. Not just a one time event. No, it’s not about being a philanthropist. When that attitude is well-integrated in your being, there’s no special word for it. It simply defines YOU. You won’t see any gap. You’ll just going to see them as another creation like you. You won’t see them as less fortunate, and therefore you won’t see yourself as someone higher than them – in any respect.

But still, there can be walls that would segregate the one you choose to be with, and with them you don’t like. Even in this set-up, you would still pick those whom you think likes you, those who behaves well, those who could say kind words to you… and that makes you a failure.

I’m a failure as i was not able to do it with some whom i think would like me. And it’s a gross failure therefore, that i can’t do it with those who wouldn’t like me.

Yet Matthew 5:44 is commanding Christians to love their enemies. Whoa! Isn’t the Lord is going too far?!?  – Uhh…, probably not.

Jesus is raising a point that in loving those who loves you and greeting only your brothers doesn’t make you any better than the people around you.
It is by loving your enemies and praying for those who insults you that you will become the son of God.

I think i would die a failure. No, it’s not that i “think” am a failure, I BELIEVE I AM and WILL BE A FAILURE. I can only be thankful of God’s graciousness through the blood of Jesus that qualifies me for the sonship. For on my own, I will never be.

It’s not a one time event. Christianity anyway is not a one time experience, it should be a lifetime.

But i still pray that God would enable me to spit out pride and arrogance, for only then i can accept people as to who they are- with their infirmities and shame- just as God clothed me and my Sin with the white robe of Christ’s righteousness.

It might not happen overnight. It might not happen in my lifetime. But I hope to pass it down to any one i’ll meet along the way (maybe sa mga anak, maybe sa mga apo), that they too will enjoy the bliss of creating a difference.
 

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone will I glory

Though I could pride myself in battles won

For I’ve been blessed beyond measure

And by His strength alone I’ll overcome

Oh, I could stop and count successes like diamonds in my hands

But those trophies could not equal to the grace by which I stand

In Christ alone do I glory

For only by His grace I am redeemed

For only His tender mercy

Could reach beyond my weakness to my need

And now I seek no greater honor in just to know Him more

And to count my gains but losses to the glory of my Lord.

       

In Christ alone, I place my trust

And find my glory in the power of the cross

In every victory, let it be said of me

My source of strength, my source of hope

Is Christ alone.

      

It’s been more than ten years and am still enjoying the lyrics of this song. Every time i ponder on the things that happened in my life, i can confess nothing but God’s grace. God’s grace, that is greater than all my sins. Grace. Grace. Grace so really rich and free.

      

I’ve fought a lot of battle. And in a lot of times am tempted to display the victories as mine. And in the same number of times am reminded that it was not my strength after all. For in the midst of the battle, i take my refuge in prayer.

I could measure myself with the great things this world could offer. I could place myself at the throne of the honored. I could stand on top of the world and shout the sufferings i’ve been through and the sacrifices i have made. Yet in the greater things that God had accomplished in my life, those worldly trophies are nothing, literally nothing.

    

He did all for my redemption, when am lost and disoriented.

When am dead and death is still required of me, he died for my stead.

Yeah, just like Paul, i can boast on nothing save the cross.

I was enabled by Christ alone, in Christ alone and through Christ alone.

   

May i will never forget Calvary, until i’ve counted all my gains as loses, and my strength as weakness, to the glory of my Lord.

Encounter with God

Much has been said and more Christians have testified on this subject.

A thousand years ago, the world’s population was estimated to be around 250 million. A hundred years ago, it was put at around a billion and is now at a whooping 6 billion people and still growing at an exponential rate. Religion goes with the growth with an estimated 30,000 sects/denomination in Christianity alone. There is only one God, the God who created and rules the universe. He is the same One God who revealed himself in the scriptures, the same God who talked to Abraham, Moses and Jacob. He remains the same God today who never changes.

Reading the news and looking around, we can see and hear people claiming their own personal encounters. While others believe that they really did, some are doubtful on the inside as exactly the opposite of what comes out from their lips. We confess an encounter with God because we don’t want to be left out from our peers. We confess an encounter with God, because of the fear of being alone; we want to be motivated by this confession. We confess of the same encounter to feel good. No one wants to be far from the Lord’s side anyway.

But is it really that common and easy? Are the numbers that claims such supernatural experience, true?

Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon him while He is near.  Let the wicked forsake His way, and the unrighteous man His thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

Isa 55:6-7

Paul was blinded for a moment when he encountered Jesus. Job conversed with God out of the whirlwind. Moses beheld God’s glory in a burning bush. These are real encounters. Yet the physical wonder that was associated with these encounters are in no way that can describe the marvel of spiritual encounter they’ve experienced in God. These heroes of faith have thirst within them to meet God. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water.

Christians of today are so tied up with the world, compromising the spiritual one. They try to live on both worlds, crossing back and forth whenever he wants – dividing his personhood as he sees it fit. We’ve been freed at the cross, yet we enslaved ourselves with the same rituals and traditions that are of no value to God. Some were able to get off from tradition, but is getting ensnared again by too much of fundamentalism. There’s no dual citizenship in Christianity. The old self has been buried and so you have to live out the new one.

A true encounter with God is shown by growing thirst to live out christlikeness. The more he grows spiritually, the farther he feels from being holy. His life must be an extension of his prayer. It should embody his heart’s desire. He continuously empties himself of selfish desire, that God’s grace will fill him out. He has this yearning of a life that ascends to God like sweet incense, where all the things he does is an act of worship.

`I beseech Thee so for to cleanse the intent of mine heart with the unspeakable gift of Thy grace, that I may perfectly love Thee and worthily praise Thee.‘

when leaders fall

Why do God allow his people to fall? Why David has to commit adultery when he’s after all a man after God’s own heart? Why Moses who have seen Him face to face, would pay the price of not reaching the promise land by being disobedient at one time? Why Abraham was unbelieving when he is after all, God’s bestfriend?

Probably, to shun people from looking high to these great men of faith, or a means to make people realize that sin is universal and that all are weak and incapable of doing good by themselves. Probably to make this people realize in humilty that after all, they’re sustained only by God’s grace. Or maybe, they can’t just do it.

Whatever the case, it remains a universal fact that no one can ever make one’s life right by himself. There’s no justification for sin. Sin is SIN. Consequence is consequence. God is forgiving, but he remains just. Before God, nothing is hidden. Before Him, you don’t have to explain. You can come to Him with your heart open, and appeal by the blood Jesus for His forgiveness.

Thank you Father for sending Jesus, that by His blood i may now stand before you cleansed and purified. May your grace will cloth me. May your love embraces me. May your light direct my path that i will not sin again.

Consequence:

Before God, you can rip your heart out in contritement.

Before His people, you brought no glory for Him but shame. When you should be an encouragement and an example, you bring disgrace. There’s nothing you can do to repair the damage of sin. That’s why it is very important to guard your testimony. Men are critical of wrongs. And yes, you are being watched by numerous eyes, both of people you know and you don’t know. Some are measuring themselves on the standard you’ve set. You become a measuring rod for what morality should be. You can only hope that you haven’t encountered the word disappointment when you meet this people again.

Responsibility is no joke. You stood before God accountable for the consequence of your actions to this people. You can only pray that they’ll be strong enough to get back and go on when you yourself, failed.

deception and illusion

I
slept facing my laptop that was placed on the chair beside my bed. During the
course of my sleep, i noticed that the screen wasn’t turned off when i set it
up to automatic-turn-off after, approximately, 10min of inactivity. I feel so
tired and sleepy that the image is quite blurry and uninteresting. In my dreamy state and being at the edge of
losing my consciousness, i saw images reflecting on the screen… two, three,
five human figures that are moving behind my own reflection. I’m alone in my
room and it’s impossible to have someone around. I still feel dizzy but i can’t
let that moment pass, co’s i know I’ll harbor more questions later when the
answer is only available during that moment. I can’t move. My eyes want to give
in. In between being immobilized and that blurry image, i manage to keep my
eyes open and figured out what is happening. I decided to tilt my head a bit,
and notice the effect to the reflections am seeing. They seem to draw nearer
and go far by the moment. But every time i tilt my head, they tilt theirs also.
I am convinced; they’re all my reflections just as you can see more than one
shadow if you also have more than one source of light. How it happened as i
have an LCD screen, i don’t know. But am certain, they’re all my reflections as
they did not behave differently from each other.

A
moment later, a little lower at the left side of my screen (at the surface of
my bed), i observed two more figures. Two pumpkin-like images grin at me. I’m
just thankful that my confidence in God doesn’t permit me to run from that
scene; else, i could have started a new ghost story on the above accounts of
images. But this time, it is no human figure and therefore, can’t be my own
reflection. Though afraid, i still tried to have a deeper look on these two
images. I can see that they’re real. They’re not drawings or any flat image.
Their eyes and the way they grin are getting clearer as moment passes by. I am
getting more afraid but I can’t run… and i will not run. I’m confident that
my God is greater than that agent of Satan, if ever it is. So i pray, and
knowing that there’s power in the name of Jesus, I cast the image away in
Jesus’ name. I know that Satan trembles in Jesus’ name. And i know that nothing
and no one can stand in that name. Fear is crippling my faith, but i know God
will never let me go. I won’t run even it seems that there’s no help coming my
way. It’s not because I’m brave enough, but because i trust enough that God
will deliver me. No saint will ever run from the devil. That saint is God’s,
and I am God’s saint. But I began to wonder why on the third time i invoked
Jesus’ name still, the image aren’t getting off. I stood my ground, still
gazing on the pumpkin image… A moment later, the image is getting flat. The
color changes from bloody orange to navy blue. It’s losing life slowly, until
what i see before me was a printed design of my bed sheet at the same time i
woke up.

I
did not find it funny as through all those period, i’m wrestling with something
that appeared real to me. I’m not claiming a supernatural experience also. I
don’t want to give credit to Satan and his works. He plays deception by
illusion. Illusion – because he is good at that. Even pretending to be an angel
of light, he does. Satan can give no
more than false claim and lies. Satan is so clever and wise that he can make
things appear real and true, but if we could only give another look at it, we
will know that it is not.

Lot
of us are victims of superficial deception. We judge people by how they look.
We put a conclusion on issues when what we have, is only half of the story. We
took haste in pronouncing our verdict without taking a second glance of the
picture. We blame God when things don’t go our way. We can’t stand on what
appears to be chaos. We turn our backs from trial and suffering. We see
rejection in pain, and in life’s troubles, abandonment. We fail to witness
God’s goodness and greatness by turning back when He’s about to do it. And
sometimes, we missed seeing how His glory was displayed in the midst of pain
because we focus on our own weaknesses.

Once
more, God showed to me that if i would trust Him to deliver me, He will. In
fact, He did. Sometimes God speaks to us in a still, small voice. He wants us
to be still before Him in the midst of trouble and see that He is God. We are
easily turned up side down by circumstances, when God wants us to hang on. Our
relationship to Him is anchored on His supremacy over all things. He is in
control and still is on His throne!

faith and compromise

There’s no doubt we can never lead a perfect life. But it is likewise true that it must be our ultimate goal, even if we are in the flesh – together with its corruption. Our quest for christlikeness must never be hindered by anything and for any reason. God’s requirement of holiness and the reality of human weakness are both undeniable, it exist. Both true and are hard facts of our existence.

Godly living is non-negotiable. Heroes of faith fought for their faith well. In their weakness, they’ve witnessed God’s strength.  There may be times that the flame of their passion for Christlikeness grew weak, but nevertheless, it keeps on burning. 

As christians, we are each others keeper.  Jesus’ prayer is for us to be one, even as He and the Father are one. Compromise is real, and so is rebuking. Sin must be confronted head on. There must be a significant amount of sensitivity on what is a true christian living should be. We don’t deny our wrongs and pretend everything is all  right, when we knew to ourselves that there’s something wrong. In the same way, we don’t condemn our brother in condemning sin. We knew so well that he’s been washed by the blood of Calvary, and nothing – literally nothing – can ever separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

How we deal with compromise?

As believers, we must realize that the things we do are being watched by the world. From the moment we confessed our faith in Christ, we will be swimming against the worldly stream. We can’t say, "Let me do it once, just today" or "It’s just between the two of us anyway" and much worse, "….besides, no one knows here am a christian". For by doing it once, we can never negate the fact that we gave in.

Our character is defined when we’re alone, when we are with people who don’t know us, when it’s just God and you. So there should be no room for compromise, not even for a moment. Compromise will hunt us. It is slowly tearing down our testimony, It grieves the Spirit, and it weakens our brothers in the faith.

dependency

Just as you are troubled finding someone to confide your problems and desperations, here comes a friend looking for you to talk about his’, then your phone rings asking you a minute of advice, probably an sms and thread of emails you think are flooding you when you yourself are looking for the same. You want to ask why people can’t just keep their problems to themselves? Why they have to extend their troubles to others? You think of yourself and you don’t wonder why you need the same, you justify your case as a rare one, exempted from the norm… and therefore must be given enough attention by others.

We can’t live without our mothers. We need them to identify ourselves. We need a firm hands to take good care of us… A strong hands to run to when everything is falling off, and sometimes it is enough to say "mama" to comfort us in the midst of pain. Whenever  i have a fever, feeling too weak, am doing just the same. My mother then, would ask me what i want her to do. I don’t want her to do anything… But by just mumbling her name makes me more at ease.. a little comforted.And as we need  our moms, we do need our dads too.

My father was to me, like a strong general i can ran to from afar.Someone i can call on anytime for a rescue, wherever i am, whatever i do. It doesn’t matter anymore how age brought him to frailty, he still have a good command of authority. Whenever he said, "I can’t believe you can not do that!?!!" or whenever i would insist to surrender, he would simply say, "Then go home. In here, you’ll never get hungry!", makes me realize that after all – after accomplishing a lot and proved a lot – i am still  not that strong i think i am. My family to me, is still the last institution i could run to, with whom i have no fear of rejection. I believe i was able to hurdle life’s hardship it’s because God have provided a family to support me.

Next, FRIENDS. Who doesn’t need friends? We fool ourselves when we say we don’t. Friends doesn’t provide all the comfort we need. No single friend can provide all. Some provides comfort out of paradox, that is, in reverse… by providing their discomfort, you found comfort. And we’re too blessed if we are to found someone in higher heights. Friends who are too selfless to go an extra mile just to extend a hand. Only few of them exists. And we must be thankful if we ever found one in our lifetime, two is too much. We need them – yes, but they need us too.

Our special someone. God design each of us to learn partnership since childhood. God molded us into an individual, capable of sustaining each other, extending and receiving support. Out from our family and friends, we are soon destined to be with someone for the rest of our lives, starting again a brand new family, to be mothers and fathers ourselves and taking God’s treasures(children) and nurture them of the lessons we’ve learned. At marriage we are cutting the umbilical cord that makes us dependents to our families and friends.We will be deciding on our own, be fully responsible of our mistakes with our new found, lasting partner in life.  It is a reality that a man shall leave his mother and the woman her home, that the two will be one. There is now a self-wide reorganization and realignment of priorities. Everything is certainly not the way they are used to be.

Life will always be like this. We cannot live on our own. None of us can make it on our own – isn’t that why Jesus came?

Our earthly life will always be incomplete, so that we will look for that missing part from others and from God. God gave us senses to appreciate the wonders he is offering for us. There’s no way we can satisfy this senses. This desire for satisfaction makes us supreme over animals and that we are not animals after all. This quest for an end enables us to discover new things, without reaching that end. Pain has no end in this world, and so is pleasure.  Our shortcoming and sufferings teaches us what dependence to God really means, and our shared  pleasure to others is what it is being dependent to you.

standing on the promises

When we are low, and the howling of storm assails us, we feel shaken. We can actually feel the cold wind that threatens our sanity. It’s just a cold wind. But then we tremble in fear. It’s as if, it can tear us down and bring us to be nothing but rubbish.  We try to hold strong  on anything that is visibly within reach. Our instinct tells us to cling to anything that looks strong and stable.

In facing life’s struggle, it’s no different. our emotion will sway us to the other side in a blink of an eye. Our perspective of life changes in a matter of seconds. Just as fast our vision reaches the far end of the mountain, so our hearts are, in casting doubt and fear. We can never trust ourselves. The world tells us to trust ourselves, in christianity we have to do otherwise. We cannot follow our heart. It is corrupt. It is incapable of producing wise decision. It is well-proven by man through time. But the need to anchor ourselves to someone or something is an immediate need. We have to execute it without delay, else we might found ourselves drifted to far by the waves of sin and its curse.

Through time, there’s only one that remains constant. He stands within and without of time-space dimension. In the affairs of men, His counsel never faltered. He bring to pass His plans – swift and accurate. He was never unfaithful with His promises. He keeps them. For thousand of years of man’s earthly affairs, and witnessing the rise and fall in his struggles, God never changed. As He have been faithful- being the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob, and the God if Israel,- He did prove His trustworthiness to man. He don’t have to prove it. He is God any way.