God Put Our Lives Together

Tonight I texted a sister in Christ asking her if how's her time with the Lord the whole day. She replied that her day was Victorious and the Lord led her to read Titus 3. I was really in awe of God as I read the passage because truly if we just depend fully in Jesus, He will really guide us through the Holy Spirit of how to overcome our own Goliaths everyday. For the past days, I know that my sister in Christ has her Goliaths to overcome but as soon as she identified and be truly obedient in the Lord she became an overcomer in Christ and a Victorious one.

God Put Our Lives Together is the title of Titus 3, The Message Version. Let me share to you the passage. "Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand. No insults, no fights. God's people should be bighearted and courteous. It wasn't so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God's gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there's more life to come-an eternity of life! You can count on this. I want you to put your foot down. Take a firm stand on these matters so that those who have put their trust in God will concentrate on the essentials that are good for everyone. Stay away from mindless, pointless quarelling over genealogies and fine print in the law code. That gets you nowhere..........."

I know the Goliaths that my sister experienced for the past few days and I can truly say that God is great and perfect in all His ways. If we can just give up all the unnecessary baggages and give our ALL for God, we will always be victorious everyday of our lives even if we are in this world.

The means really justified the end if the means are from God.

El Fin No Justifica Los Medios

El Fin No Justifica Los Medios in English means "the means does not justify the end". This principle was used during my law days when some of our professors mentioned it during lectures and I also read this in some decided cases. Anyway, why this title? This morning on my way to work that word came back to my mind "the means does not justify the end". As I pray and ask the Lord for wisdom to help me understand and apply the word appropriately for me today, various illustrations flowed out from my mind from natural to spiritual dimensions.

As to natural dimension, He gave me an illustration of a man who paid his tax using illegal means. From the illustration, though the taxpayer paid the tax which is legal however, the means he used to pay it was not legal. Ergo, the principle "the means does not justify the end" applies.

As to spiritual dimension, which really made a great impact for my walk in Christ today. The Lord reminded me of His principle and word in the bible in Romans 2:5-11 (The Message) - "You're not getting by with anything. Every refusal & avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it's going to blaze hot & high, God's fiery & righteous judgment. Make no mistake: In the end you get what's coming to you-Real Life for those who work on God's side, but to those who insist on getting their own way & take the path of least resistance, Fire! If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you're from, what you're parents taught you, what schools you attended. But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you're brought up......God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind".

Moreover, in Romans 8:1-11 (The Message) it is written: " With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-f0r-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin & death. God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote & unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us. Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Thos who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them - living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing of God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored. But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcome him, in whom he dwells-even though you still experience all the limitations of sin-you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands no reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives & breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

"So, don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! - Romans 8:12-14 (The Message)

Hence for me, the means justify the end is correct IF the means are according to the will of God. However, if the means are not according to the will of God, the means does not justify the end!

GROWTH

Today, the Lord led me to read some pages of the book "Growing by Faith" by Jerry Bridges. The word "growth" cut me deep inside and it makes my mind open to a level of truth. Let me share with you some words from the book that impact my heart.

As growth is a normal expression of life, growth is also a normal expression of the Christian life. When something or someone doesn't grow, we know something is wrong. The New Testament writers assume growth and constantly urge us to pursue it. Peter urges us to "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" [2 Peter 3:18]. Paul instructs us that by "speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ" [Ephesians 4:15].

Christians should never stop growing spiritually. There is no such thing as an 'adult christian' who no longer needs to grow. Growth is not normal for new believers but also for those who have walked with God fifty years or more. When a believer doesn't grow, something is wrong!

As physical growth is not magic and it doesn't just happen, spiritual growth is also a process. It doesn't even happen by spiritual osmosis, that is, by just being around other believers and unconsciously assimilating their spirituality. Spiritual growth occurs as a result of intentional and appropriate effort. Intentional means a diligent pursuit of a clear goal. Appropriate indicates that we must use the God-given ways of growth given to us in the Bible. We usually refer to these ways of growth as 'spiritual disciplines.'

However, nowadays we can observe that their are many hindrances to our spiritual growth. The book mentions that the first hindrance in our spiritual growth is a defect in our belief in the freeness of divine grace. Since grace is a foundational factor in our Christian growth, it's important that we have a correct understanding of it. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misunderstanding about the nature of grace.

Jerry Bridges, mentioned that perhaps the most common misconception of grace is captured in a statement he once read: Grace is the idea that we are loved and accepted by God just as we are and that God's approval does not have to be earned; it is simply there. Here, God seems to be pictured as the proverbial, indulgent, divine grandfather in the sky who smiles down upon us regardless of our behavior and character. This seems to be typical of the average person's understanding of God's grace.

By contrast, however, the Bible teaches us that the grace of God "teaches us to say "NO" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives" [Titus 2:12]. God does love us and accepts us as sinners "just as we are". But He does not leave us that way. Rather, by the same grace through which He saves us, He sets about to change everyone who experiences that grace.

The statement that 'God's approval does not have to be earned but is simply there' is not true. God's approval does not have to be earned. But the gospel tells us that His approval was earned for us by Jesus Christ in His sinless life and sin-bearing death. It is true that God's favor does not have to be earned by us. In fact, it cannot be earned by us. But it comes to us without earning because Jesus paid for it in our place as our substitute.

We must grasp the truth about grace that has been given to us through the death of Jesus Christ in the cross because as Jerry wrote if we do not grasp this truth, the spiritual disciplines that are intended to help you grow will become burdensome duties you think you must practice in order to maintain God's favor.

Hence, fellow Christians let us judge ourselves:

(1) if we see the spiritual disciplines as burdensome duties and

(2) if we are growing spiritually

If the your answer to (1) is YES & (2) NO, then something is wrong! Pray, ask for guidance to identify it and make a decision before it's too late.

A.S.A.P

"Our life is a book, a story to be written. The Author starts each life story, but each life will write his or her own ending. What a dangerous liberty. How much safer it would have been to finish the story for each child. To script every option. It would have been simpler. It would have been safer. But it would not have been love. Love is only love if chosen. So the Author decides to give each child a pen. "Write carefully, " He whispers....." (modified) [by: Max Lucado]

Great! That really struck me as I first read it. We have the pen and the Lord also provided us with the manual which is the Bible to guide us in writing our books. Let us write it carefully and in obedience as the Author whispers. For obedience is better than sacrifice.

We all know that the end time is coming. It is very evident in the calamities that is happening around us. Calamities after calamities like floods, earthquakes, wars etc. All of this are signs of the end times for it was already written in the Bible .....that nations will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places.....

But beyond this calamities after calamities there is hope for those who have the pens and choose to write their stories with Jesus as Lord in it. For He is the only good news and treasure that we can have amidst this chaos world. So for all those who do not have personal relationship with the Lord choose Him A.S.A.P.! To those who already know and have a relationship with Him let us be mature in our relationship with Him A.S.A.P.! Let us all put the old self behind and let the new life of Christ arise and shine in our lives A.S.A.P.!

Jesus is coming soon! Make the right choice A.S.A.P.!

The Real Thing

Last Monday, I had a dinner with a friend. We ate and talked. Until she said that when she was talking with her guy friend-let's call him "shallow crush"...hehehe..., her friend told her that one of the curse in his family that needs to be cut off is being a lover of girls or a "chickboy" and then my friend wondered if what is the curse in her family that was cut off when she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour.



That conversation came back to me today and God made me realized that from the day we accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour we are a new creation, not anymore in the curse so we should focus studying and knowing the genuine thing-the Life of Jesus, His promises, His power and authority and our future with Him as Bride to the Bridegroom-Jesus (it's in the Bible-Revelation). That way when we saw any counterfeit or blemishes in ourselves we could immediately detect it and rebuke it. If we want to be able to obey and follow God and detect things not in line with God's will, we need to immerse ourselves in the real thing. We need to saturate ourselves in His Presence (Worship & Prayer) and in the Word of God-the Truth.



So my friend, I remember that I made no comment to your question that night but now I tell you be immerse on the real thing and you won't be thinking of the lie-curse but on the real thing-Jesus Christ our Life!

THE GREATEST PROFESSION

I am sitting right now on my chair at the office, doing nothing except tapping my fingers on the keyboard of the computer, just typing the words what my mind conceived and letting it flow through my fingers, not knowing what to write hence I'm praying that God will intervene.

Profession is the word that enters my mind. I looked the meaning of profession in the dictionary and it means an avowal of faith or belief. Avowal on the other hand means a frank acknowledgement or admission. So therefore, anything within the above definition is a profession.

The next thing, that enters my mind is a question. What is the greatest profession? The answer to this question may vary depending on our different opinions. Though, I am a law graduate I consider a Teacher as the greatest profession because many people may have different course or degree but they can also be a teacher as the Lord lead them - to mold and share a life giving spirit to another.

As we read the bible, Jesus is a Teacher. He taught His disciples the ways of the Kingdom. The ways that only pleases the Father.

A second question enters my mind. Is being a teacher easy or not? Well, an understanding came into my mind to answer it in the affirmative. Being a teacher is an easy task if we do it for the love of God and we let the Holy Spirit dictate and lead us - as to when to speak, what to say and whom to say it. As we read the bible, Jesus says that I only say and do what my father tells me to do. He only obeys what the Father commands Him to do. Being a Christian, Jesus is our pattern and blueprint. If we are following Jesus then being a teacher is an easy task.

Another question pop up again, what are the responsibilities of being a teacher? Wow, that's heavy for me...hehehe...you know why that's heavy for me? Before I know the Lord as my Saviour and Bridegroom, I'm really afraid to hear the word responsibility maybe because I am not taught of being responsible. Responsibility for me before is leaving my comfort zone that means being alone. But as I progress in my relationship with the Lord I begin to love and adopt the word responsibility into my life and I found out that there is much greater freedom in knowing and following the Lord.

Now, going back to our topic the Teacher let me incorporate the word responsibility. As Jesus teach the Word of God some believed Him while others persecuted Him. However, even in the midst of persecution Jesus was confident in what He teaches and remain calm and patient to those who are against Him. Jesus was being responsible to His obedience to the Father.

For us Christians, as we teach the word to others we have the responsibility to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit within us to mold and produce a spirit filled people whose heart and love is unto the Lord alone and not unto us. Since the word of God is like a double edged sword, sometimes when we teach through correction the word will stab the innermost part of an individual that some may react to it pointing back and finding fault to us. However, if we do it responsibly meaning according to the leading of the Holy Spirit good fruit will become out of us and unto the one who was corrected.

Isn't the Lord amazing in His ways. A while ago I was doing nothing but now I wrote something...ooopppsss...not just something but a Big Thing because I am sharing about the Big God! If we let God use us to glorify Him, He makes nothing into a Big Thing! It's really true that there is True Freedom if we love the Lord with the "ALL" of us!

METICULOUS

Meticulous in the dictionary means Extremely careful and precise, Extremely or Excessively concerned with details. Extremely on the other hand means to a high degree or extent; favorably or with much respect.

In my life, I have met different kinds of people that are so meticulous in every area of their lives. Some are meticulous in their health, hygiene, foods, in how they arrange things in their house and in their works (of course they must be to earn a living). Some even swipe their hands unto a table to check if it is really clean. Anyway, you may ask as you read along if where I am leading to.

Actually, what cause me to write this blog is that firstly let me tell you an actual experience. I am a Legal Precoder in a certain company here in Cebu. Last week, as I was precoding some statutes and regulations in one of the state of Canada I did not notice that I committed some mistake or error. My TA (Team Assistant) called my attention to the error I made. While he was showing to me the error I made, a thought entered my mind of how meticulous some things are. That even a short error could affect certain things. So, from there my mind run through if what is the WWJT in the situation. WWJT means What Would Jesus Think? I got this term from the book Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer. I said to myself What would Jesus Think in the situation. Then an understanding came to me that though it is not wrong to be meticulous in our external being, we must give priority to the application of the word meticulous in our inner being.

You may ask, hey salud what do you mean by internal being? Internal being for me concerns our spiritual being. Are we living our life in the will of God or out of His will. I observed that we are so meticulous in our externals that we forgot to be meticulous of our internal. We take a bath once a day and some even three times a day but have we put ourselves in the stillness of the presence of God and let Him convict and cleanse us of how we should brought ourselves in the way God wants us to act, say and live. I think it is now the right time to quiet our spirit and be still and open our heart to Jesus and make Him the Lord of our lives because only through Him that we can receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will be the one to convict and guide us to live a life according to God's will.

As it is written that "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, 'Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' No, the word is very near you, it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it" (Deuteronomy 30:11-14).

Take note! The verse written above was still in the Old Testament. How much more today, that Jesus already died for us. He who is God did not use his being God but WALK as a man just like us to be CRUCIFIED to save us from our sins.

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:5-8).

If only we can just open our hearts to Him and surrender our lives.

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORST

"For better or for worst"....sounds familiar? Well, it is a statement or vow between a man and a woman during marriage ceremony but I'm not going to write about marriage here. Last night, I talked with a friend who is sick and we talked until we came to the topic about her mobile phone. She said that she cannot text because her keypad is destroyed and I told her maybe it's time for you not to text at the moment so that you will have more time with the Lord. She replied that I wasn't able to pray because of my headache.

After our conversation the Lord gave me an understanding that "For better or for worst" we must give time to pray personally (a prayer that comes from our heart) because in prayer God strengthen us and He will give us wisdom and words that will make us know Him more intimately everyday. Our relationship with the Lord can be likened to a relationship between husband and wife wherein communication is an essential factor to make marriage grow. The Lord led to me to the book of Ephesians 5:22-33 which is usually used by ministers and priests during marriage ceremony but take a second look at the verse below and you will realize what it really means:

"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church - he himself being the savior of the body. But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious - not having a stain or wrinkle, or any blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great - but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband"

Let us all put our minds and being in the presence of our Lord and enter His throneroom because in their are foods that cannot be rotten and destroyed. He will give us food that will make us love Him more and enable us to apply and put into action what we will receive from Him and after share it to our brothers and sisters who are hungry for the real manna - the manna from the City of God. This is the Kingdom Lifestyle! Let it be your Lifestyle also. Amazing!

PRESSURES

Pressures to my experience means anything that will make us move forward or anything that will pull us down. Some may take it positively or negatively. I decided to make PRESSURE the title of this blog because I encountered a conversation lately wherein I encouraged someone to look for a job but to my dismay she took it differently. As she was talking, defending and justifying her side without getting the point I also felt a different pressure within wherein it makes me sad because she didn't get the point, which is I'm saying it for her own good, to her advantage not to my advantage.

As I was thinking on the word Pressure, God led me to read 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 Treasure in Fragile Clay Jars. As I finished reading it I understand that in our walk we may encounter pressures but as we encoutered it let us not forget to take it on the perspective of Christ. Since we move and have our being in God, let us always put God to be the Lord in everything we do. Lord means the one who takes dominion over something. As it is written, it is said that let us put captive our every thoughts to the ways of our Lord. In this way, we may be able to let Jesus be the Lord of our lives and we don't give up even how things goes. Just like a clay which encountered pressures while being molded by the potter's hand became beautiful, so are we as we just relax and be still knowing that we can truly depend on the potter's hand to mold us into a perfect and beautiful creation.

"Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way,[a] we never give up. We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this.

If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.[b] This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.

But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.”[c] We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus,[d] will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are[e] being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever". (2 Corinthians 4:1-18)

A RUDDER & A FIRE

Our tongue is one of the most powerful and dangerous part of our body. Many of us take for granted this small part of our body which can either brings life and death.
"...Take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.



The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell" (James 3:4-6)

In my experiences, I encountered people who really lies in front of you but it is their choice to do it. I also encountered people who corrects which makes you wake up and realized what is right to do.

No matter what form it may appear, let us start within ourselves ("AKO MISMO") to tame our tongue by living a life with the fear and love for God, for with this in mind, we can start changing before the spirit behind the small rudder will not consume us and make us stubborn that we cannot identify anymore what is of God and not of God.

Soli Deo Gloria!

THE POWER OF PRAYER

During our fellowship last Sunday(May 10, 2009) we share about the importance of the creation of man but what blessed me is what happened before we went home. I'll share about the creation of man next time, as the Spirit leads. Anyway, let me go back to what happened before we went home.

First, let me tell you what the Lord has impressed me the Sunday before that(May 3, 2009). I have a sister in our church who is 84 years old. Though she is of that age yet she is the one who take good care of her half paralyzed daughter which she always tag along during Sunday. If you look at them they do not have that much financially. I always see her during our fellowship but that Sunday was different. As I looked at her there was an emotion inside me that want to bless something what I have but yet the act of doing it was not in peace with my heart. So, it just passed away. However, last Sunday as we pray before we went home, there was a leading to give. We gave and it was given to our sister as a gift from God. God really has a way to bless everybody if we know how to pray and inquire Him of His will. The Sunday before that was not yet the time to bless her but last Sunday was her time because God wants to bless everybody, not just my sister but all of us. Like myself I was blessed with the understanding and rhema word of God which I can use and apply in my walk.

The "rhema" word that came to me that Sunday, was that God has it's own time to bless if we only know how to really pray, meaning to really communicate with Him and on our part we know how to listen to Him. It's the result if we have a true relationship with our God. As you read what happened last Sunday, you can see a God who knows how to bless in a different way to everybody but only in one act and you can see also a people who knows how to listen to His voice. That is what we call a true relationship and the power of prayer! Isn't it amazing!

I encourage you now to know God personally because exciting and amazing things will happen in our lives if we live, move and have our being in Christ. Relationship with God is never a boring and corny thing. That's why I understand people who always talk about how God works in their lives because I experienced also of how God works in my life. Some may call them fanatics and funny but I call them bless people.

Let me end with a thought, I just wonder who among us do not want to be bless by God Himself.

WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME?

In one of my devotional time with the Lord, I heard the question "will you still love me?" and right then and there I said to myself and prayed to God, Lord whatever happens I will always love you. Well,in our walk with God our words must be a living word. It is not enough to say it but we have to walk it. How stable are we in our love for God. Is saying to everybody that we believe and love God enough? Is doing good to others enough?

The understanding that the Lord gave me to the questions above, is that it doesn't really matter what the questions are, what matters is that: are we doing it according to the will of God because if it's not then it is time to come to Him and know Him personally to be able to know His will for us. As we confess and make Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, the life after that is not about us anymore but it is all about the life and will of God in our lives that must take control, for what is the purpose of such confession if we will not inquire and come to God in our daily lives.

As to the answer of How stable are we in our love for God? First, let me share the meaning of stable or stability, it is the steadfastness or consistency of our love for God. As the word stability entered my mind I remember a story of a rich man who lived in the land of Uz. His name is Job. In his abundance, Job love God very much. He was blameless-a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area. Wow! that's a great wealth!

But will His love for God continue to be stable?
1. when all his animals were stolen and all the farmlands were killed; all the sheep and shepherds are devoured by fire?
2. when his house was swept away by a powerful wind and collapsed and when all his children were dead?
3. when as to his health, he was struck with terrible boils from head to foot and when his wife said to him, are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die!
4. when in this situations some of his friends came to visit but persecute and condemns him?
5. when everybody turns away from him?

Will you still love God even in this situation?

Let us look what was Job's response to the situation above:

1. as to number 1 & 2 above, Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said,“I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had,and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!” In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.

2. as to number 3 above, Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

3. as to number 4 & 5 above, Job appealed to God and present his anguish and questions God. God answered him by telling Job of his sovereignty and asked him who he was to questioned what He has done. Job repent for what he had said and God forgave him. God was angry with Jobs friends, for they have not spoken accurately about God, as Job has. As Job prayed for his friends, inspite of their persecution, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! (Read the Book of Job).

That was a great story! In my life I encountered trials and some of those are written in my previous blogs. Let us stand up with Christ as our foundation and let us continue to love the Lord whatever we may face. Just like Job, he never waives his love for the Lord and take note, that was before Jesus died. Right now, we are more privelege because Jesus already died on the cross for our sins and when He ascended He gave us the Holy Spirit to guide and put convictions in our hearts to be wise and prepare for the coming of Jesus. So, harden not your heart for the time is fast approaching. Let those who have ears, let them hear what I am saying.

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!

EVERYTHING IS PERMISSIBLE BUT NOT EVERYTHING IS BENEFICIAL

This morning, as I went out of the house with aeryk's nanny, I saw many people beside the street looking on something and covering their nose. I asked one person if what's going on, he told me that somebody abandoned a dead newly born baby near the water meter. My heart hurts for the child. I was thinking why would anyone do such an awful thing. It was so easy for them to make it but why is it so hard for them to accept the consequences of their acts. That thinking keeps going on in my mind until I arrived at the office and caused me to write this blog.

As I was writing, my heart still aches for the baby and prayed about it. An understanding came to me, it is also the same feeling that God experience if his people will do acts against His will. God loves his people very much, that is why He created them in His own image and likeness and given dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26) but that purpose was cut off because the first people made a wrong decision. Since it is love, everything works in free will. However, still because of love, he gave instructions in the Bible on how to operate things in our lives, to obey His will and sent His only Son to die for our sins. Their are so many instructions in His word but what struck me right now is this word - "EVERYTHING IS PERMISSIBLE BUT NOT EVERYTHING IS BENEFICIAL"!

This is true, we can do everything we want however the BIG Q is that - will it benefit us and God's purpose in our lives? It's REALIZATION TIME!

IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS

Last week, on my way to the office it was raining and I didn't bring any umbrella. At first, I was going to complain but I was convicted by the word that says, "do not grumble" so instead I thank God for the rain. It happened again yesterday when I'm on my way home from the office, same situation happened but no complain entered my mind, automatically I thanked God for the rain.

In the situations above, the result really blessed me. When I arrived at the office the rain slow down, enough for me not to get wet and as to the second situation, it was not yet raining when I arrived home.

Truly, the word of God is true that in "EVERYTHING give thanks". "Everything" on my perspective, means whether the circumstances around us is beneficial or not, we give thanks. God wants us to trust and love Him with all our hearts, mind, and strength. This is called faith. Believing in things that is of godly perspective before seeing the result is Faith.

Although, the situation above is just a simple one but my point is, if God bless us in simple circumstance how much more in bigger and complicated ones. God sees the intention and motives of our hearts. Sometimes, we may think that God does not answer our prayers but God says he will answer our prayers, as long as we humbly ask Him with the right motives, He will shower us with His blessings.

Let us stop blaming God of what happens to our lives. God is good. He is the same yesterday, today and tommorrow. He does not lie. His promises in the bible are true. Maybe the wrong part is on our side. Let us start cleaning (repentance) our own house (ourselves) with things (sins) that is not of use, so that the true light will go inside and it will manifest and influence the environment around us. Let us practice and discipline ourselves to possess this mindset or the kingdom mindset until the heavenly kingdom will influence - first, in our own mindset and then to the world. Hence, what is written in the book of revelation will come to pass, which says, "the kingdom of the world will be the Kingdom of our God." Isn't it wonderful?

Let us believe and have faith, so that the rain will stop. Love God with all our hearts, mind and strength!

Photos by: http://godgirl.wordpress.com and http://FreeFoto.com

THE GREATEST LOVE STORY

The world is celebrating the day of love or Valentines Day this coming saturday. In connection with the celebration let me share the greatest love story that I know.

In a perfect world there was this three kings. King the Father, King the Son, and King the governor. As we have known, if you are called King you have a kingdom and people. The Kings have plans for their people which is to use them in expanding and sharing their perfect world to them. In his kingdom everything is operated in love or in free will. King the Father love his people very much that he gave everything to them with some rules and restrictions. However, the people though they have everything they needed they violated the rules and restrictions. As a consequence, the people now leave in an imperfect world. Everything is not provided anymore, if they want something they have to work for it and they can now experience pain and sorrow.

Many generations have passed, King the Father who loved his people so much was very sad looking at his people leaving in an imperfect and chaos world that he send King the Son, not as a king but as a person in the same physical image of his people to save them from an imperfect world. King the Son, walked in the imperfect world like the common people. At his 30th birthday, King the Son was commanded by King the Father to tell his people to repent of their stubborness and sins. Some believe but some did not. To those who believe, he taught them the Kingdom lifestyle. Because of love, King the Son died for the sake of the people.

Before King the Son went back to the perfect world, he leaved King the governor to guide his people. Now, whenever anyone of his people repent and accept King the Son as Lord, through the governor that person can now enter the perfect world, in the presence of the Kings.

The greatest love story above is the love of the Kings for his people. I experienced this kind of love when I Jesus accept me as his child. Let's love him back with our life.

Actually, you can read the real story in the bible. The one written above is my understanding on the matter. King the Father is God the Father, King the Son is Jesus and King the governor is the Holy Spirit.

TIME

If I remember right, that was year 2006, I was once asked in an interview if what is my weakest link and I answered without any hesitation, it's my TIME. Then she said, so are you willing to take this job since time is very important here, I forgot what I answered but what I can remember was that she said, something about overcoming it. Truly, right now, my management in my time is progressively improving though it may not be perfect but it's going there.

TIME is one of the most precious thing in this world. As the saying says, "TIME IS GOLD". It is right, time is really gold. How we manage it and prioritize things take part in overcoming it. When it pass through us, we can never take it back. It is gone. With all that is happening in our world today, the crisis, the calamities, etcetera, we sometimes forget what is really important in our lives and we also forget to give time to that important thing.

As for me, the most important thing in my life is my relationship with Jesus and everything follows. Since it is a relationship it needs time. In my church family, we are encouraged to take time to pray, to communicate with God everyday, to give a tithe (10%) of our devotional time for a start. It's really not that easy at first because my flesh is not used of doing it but thank God, right now I'm making progress. We are not really obliged though, it's a free will thing.

One thing that I admired in making time with God is Daniel in the Old Testament. Daniel prayed to God three times a day. I think he believes that since our human body needs to eat three times a day to be healthy and functional, so is our soul. When Jesus was tempted by Satan, he said that, "it is written, Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God".

There is time for everything, for family, friends, work or business, rest, ........ everything. Now I realized why there is twenty-four hours in a day. Let us not waste time on things that will not last. Invest time for God now, it's worth it, even more! Taking time for God needs a step of faith. Make your step now and God will meet you. Like the lyrics of the song says, He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it! Below is the lyrics of the song by youtube, let us sing for the love of our God.