THE MIND

The result of the 2008 Philippine bar examinations is soon to be out. Somebody from Manila informed me that it will be out on the first week of April. However, there were a buzzing news last week that it will be out on that week. I was one of the 6,500+++ examinees last September 2008, and when that buzzing news came out, so many things entered my mind that because of my vulnerability during that time even things that is not related to the bar exam entered my mind and my physical body was really tired. I did a thing that is not supposed to be done.(What is that thing?...hehehe...it's between me and my God) During our church family meeting last Saturday, it made me pray for forgiveness because I gave permission to enter it in my mind.

God remind me of what I wrote in my blog the other week "THE ALABASTER JAR", that in our walk according to God's will nobody is exempted, INCLUDING ME. In that situation, I learned a deeper understanding of how fragile our Mind is. That is why in the Bible, when Jesus was asked which is the most important commandment, He replied, Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with ALL your MIND. Based on my experienced, "All your MIND", means it is within our decision to which thoughts we shall permit to enter into our minds, the enemy or the thoughts of God.

Before I accepted Jesus to be the Lord of my life, it is so hard for me to convert my thoughts into the thoughts of God but now the Holy Spirit helps me to identify and recognize which is of God's. As I read the Bible now, I understand why God really hates a double-minded or with divided loyalty man, because it is written also that God made a covenant that He will put his laws on our hearts and write them on our minds. So, we must purify our thoughts with the help of the Holy Spirit, because the holy and unholy cannot be put together.

It has been said, Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. In living a new life with Christ, we are encouraged to think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth (Romans 8:5-8) and not to copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform us into a new person by changing the way we think.

For those who believe, let this be an encouragement to meditate, eat and apply the instructions made by God through the Holy Spirit for it is written study this book of instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

ALABASTER JAR

We have a househelper whom we fondly called "jao li" because it is the name of the facial care that she used on her face. Anyway, jao li is very diligent in her chores like cleaning the house to the extent that you will not find the things in the place where you used to put them. When she was in Negros (our hometown), my father sometimes lost his temper because his things was not in the place where he puts it. Good thing however, is that she will not steal.

My point here, is that no matter how diligent we are in what we do if it is not in line with God's will it will not make God smile.

Let me tell you another story about Martha and Mary in the bible. Martha and Mary are sisters. When Jesus was invited in their house in honor of Lazarus coming back to life, Martha was distracted with much serving while Mary took a pint of pure nard (alabaster jar), an expensive perfume worth a year's wages. So, Martha went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has CHOSEN the GOOD PORTION, which will not be taken away from her. In the same act, Judas Iscariot objected by saying, why wasn's this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages. But Jesus said, leave her alone, it was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.(Luke 10:38-42; John 12:2-8)

I am not saying though that it is not good to do household chores...hehehe...my point is that let us check our motives and purpose if it is in line with God's will. No one is exempted including me. Let us be like Mary and not Martha.

PRESUMPTIONS

According to the dictionary, presumption means an assumption, often not fully established, that is taken for granted in some piece of reasoning.

I used to take everything in presumptions when it comes to my relationship with the Lord. I thought what I know is enough. But when the Lord give me the understanding- that to earn the Kingdom Lifestyle, I must have to depend on Him everything. To depend means to freely give my everything in total obedience to God's will.

It is written in the Bible that we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Fear here as to my experience is not the fear that we have to overcome. It is the Holy Fear of the Lord that we must always possess, to enable us to be not presumptive in our relationship with Him. It is not something that we just have to say or talk about but it is something that we have to work out and apply as the Lord reveals it to us.

I want to qoute the words written by Choo Thomas in her book Heaven is so Real! as to the the importance of obedience. "...Whoever wants to be with the Lord Jesus forever must work for His salvation daily, all the days of his life. We cannot be off-and-on Christians, because we do not know when He is coming for His people. When you get used to a lifestyle of total obedience, you won't want it any other way. When our lives are totally obedient to the Lord, we never have to worry about anything. From time to time we are required to go through certain tribulations and trials. Through these we learn that we always can depend on the Lord and that, no matter what, we have our peace and joy with and from Him".

To fully obey and know God's will in our lives we must not take for granted our relationship with the Lord. We must inquire and come to Him to know Him more. As our elders in our church family always says, "we cannot outgive nor outlove God because he is love and the giver of life but we are a people who are in need of Him. Apart from Him we are nothing".

The Lord has blessed us with everything we need and want in our lives, we just don't realize and see it sometimes because we are so full of ourselves. But God is Love that is why if we want and choose Him to be the Lord of our lives, He will give us GRACE to understand things and WISDOM to apply it according to His ways. Isn't it amazing!

LOVE

LOVE IS GOD AND GOD IS LOVE. I heard people saying that they are in love or is it really love? Love in my perspective is not just based on feelings. Love must be founded by Love itself which is Christ himself. Maybe some will not agree with my perspective of love. However, I have my constitutional rights to express my perspective about love and you have the choice to believe it or not. Hence, love is a matter of choice...hehehe

I watched the movie FIREPROOF last night and I was really in awe of God. It confirmed my perspective of Love. Somebody asked me before if how I define Love. I always define Love base on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Let me share it with you:

"Love is patient; Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails....."

However, he told me that, hey, it's not the definition of love. It's hmmmm....I forgot what he called it but in my perspective, it's how I define Love.

Furthermore, God is Love. In my experienced, I understand the deeper meaning of Love when I accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour and He accepted me as His child. Before I didn't know how to love until God love me first. Only in God, we know true love. If we don't want Him to enter in our lives then we cannot do the second commandment "To Love others as ourselves." That's why I was really blessed by the movie FIREPROOF because it confirmed my experienced. Click on the youtube below, it shows the trailer of the movie and the conversation of father and son about how God(love) works in their lives. Love you all!



By the way, the german meaning of love is LIEBE and I have a friend who has that name and she just celebrated her birthday last February 24. We rarely see and talk to each other though. The last time we saw each other was last February 2008. However, consider this as my belated happy birthday gift to you LIEBE!