Trust Issues

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

-      John 12:16

You are not expected to understand everything that happens in your life at an instant. Jesus’ disciples thought Jesus was so mysterious that everything He said was a mystery but had deep meanings to it. But apart from that odd thought, they chose to believe Him and follow Him.

This may sound cliché but it’s part of the truth and it’s also part of the very understanding of God’s Grace. Life isn’t fair. But God is. There are things that happen in our life that we truly do not understand. Some things happen beyond our understanding or somehow unexpected, such things which seems to never been a part of our lives. In my instance, I failed my board exam. All throughout my 5-year college life, I always thought I’d nail it. I even dream on topping it. But I ended up failing. Now, God has put me in a foreign land to me. I always hated the idea of living here. But here I am now leaving my family, church, friends behind and facing something I am never sure would be the outcome. I admit that life here isn’t easy. I am expected to exert more effort in all things I did in Baguio. I know I can live independently, but the fact that I am never sure of my own plans in my stay here makes it even more difficult.

Yesterday, God revealed to me His purpose of my stay here. I will know Him better and experience Him in a different way. God wanted me to see a different side of His grace and I can never be thankful of this opportunity. But on the other hand, not knowing concrete plans can be very vexing. But God never fails on giving comfort.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

-      John 14:1-3

Trust in God. It’s so easy to say. But what if your salary comes in short for your daily needs? What if your family back at home needs your support? What about those nights when you’re alone and just really want you friends to be there? What about your ministry in God? How are you supposed to serve Him in a foreign land where you are very much restricted?

        Practically, living independently can be very difficult. But just imagine life in the perspectives of Jesus’ disciples. They all had their own jobs, own family and own business before deciding to do God’s ministry. I’m not saying you do the same, leave school, leave work and just stay in church forever. No. God wants you to live out His glory. Show the world how His grace changed your life so that He can change others who see that as well.

        Evangelism isn’t always about doing cells or reporting every week the people you met or even setting quotas of how many people you will bring to church this week. The main goal of evangelism is showing off God’s glory. Thus, behind all these practical questions in life, you can then say that regardless of all these limitations, you have to serve God through your life.

Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going.

-      John 12:35

Where do I go now?

I’ve been constantly arguing with myself of my plans in life. How do get to align myself with God’s vision? How do I fix my eyes on Him? I’m not very sure if God has concretely answered that. But I’m pretty sure He talked to me on His word.

Put mud on your vision

“How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded. He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed. And then I could see.”

-John 9:10

                I am very sure I had my encounter with God in Baguio. I know the vision. I was doing the vision. I may not be the perfect leader in my church. I may not be the best spiritual mother my spiritual daughters could’ve had, but I know I was caught by the vision. Or was I?

                My pastor once said, “Being caught by the vision and catching the vision has a big difference”. It is very possible that I was doing the vision that I caught myself but didn’t catch me. I love God but I lacked love for people, thus I don’t love God enough. I had great encounters with the Lord back in Baguio, but now I believe the Lord has placed me in such a position that I needed to see the vision in a different way.

                Thus, I am blind.

I.                    How then were your eyes opened?

How do I find a clearer path to God’s vision in my life?

II.                  The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes.

You need to see a clearer view of why you weren’t caught by the vision in Baguio. You need to see how incomplete you are. You need to see all your imperfections. You need to see all the wrong things you did. You need to acknowledge all your compromises. You need to see all the things in this world that hindered you to see God in His most glorious appearance.

III.                He told me to go to Siloam and wash

You need to go out of your comfort zone and let God lead you to the way where you can wash off all these hindrances that keeps you from serving God the way you’re supposed to. Thus, Manila is not an accident.

IV.                So I went and washed. And then I could see.

I am now on my first month in my stay here in Manila and I’ve never been soi sure of going here. My heart is for Baguio but for God to truly conquer my heart, I need to leave that place for a while till I get to experience more of Hos glory in this foreign land. I need to wash off all the things that are not for me and see the true image of the Lord.

So what do you do now?

Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.

-John 9:14

                Pastor Carlo preached about honoring your church last Sunday. I remember him saying, “You honor your church by protecting what you love. Thus we need to protect the church by protecting our testimonies.” I left Baguio for the exact reason of failing something I thought I already had. I know God planned that for me to be here for such a great purpose which I now understand. Coming to Manila means becoming the better me which happens to include making a professional Christian out of me. I always told myself that in all the works of my hands, I will glorify the name of the Lord. That includes my profession. I am going back to Baguio with a better version of me. I may leave my friends, my family, my daughters, even my pastors there but I know in the end, everything’s gonna be alright. I trust Him. (LOL, I just realized I was out of the topic.

                Technically, I will focus on the CPA me here first, but that doesn’t give me an excuse to have a mild commitment with God. In fact, this is a bigger challenge. I will commit my Sundays for Him. I do not know my schedule yet in my weekend class but I will not miss a service because God has already given me His word. He will give me His answer as to my span of time here in this town on the Sabbath.

I am the good Shepherd; I know my shepherd and my sheep know me.

-John 10:14

July 2, 2013: Pre-requisites of being a Revolutionary

¹⁰ Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more NUMEROUS and, if war breaks out, will JOIN our enemies, FIGHT against us and LEAVE the country.”

                What do non-believers see in us that identifies us as Revolutionaries?

                In Exodus 1, we have seen how threatened the king was because of the vast multiplication of the Israelites. He has seen them in such an identity that he presumed immediately and acted on it. But what was it that made Him be all paranoid about the Israelites?

                Moreover, what was it that we be identified as revolutionaries?

PRE-REQUISITES TO BEING A REVOLUTIONARY

1. NUMEROUS:       FRUITFUL

                One revolutionary cannot do the work alone. Ever imagined Andres Bonifacio doing all the work in all those battles alone? No! He had his KKK. What I’m saying is, we cannot be identified as revolutionaries individually without company. We cannot change the world, the city, our campuses if we go there alone. Thus, we have to multiply. How can one revolutionary inside the class change the mindset of cheating if you’re the only one answering clean? Changing the world does start in you but that doesn’t mean you stop there. Be consistent in changing yourself as you also influence other people. That is winning without preaching.

2. JOIN:                         MEMBERSHIP

                There has to be a common goal/perception for everyone to be a part in. fortunately, the Lord has given us a VISION that is very practical. Say, everyone’s starting to change a part of the culture that we have influenced them to shed off. It’s time to give them the grasp of the vision. We then answer them in a godly manner wherein the vision is at the center.

                In the previous example, we don’t stop influencing them not to cheat; rather, we tell them why not to cheat.

QTD:

Ang pangongopya ay COUNTERBALANCING!

Pasado ka man ngayon at OVERSTATED ang score mo,

darating ang board exam para ireveal ang CORRECTED NET KNOWLEDGE mo!

3. FIGHT:                     SELF-DISCIPLINE

                As an identified revolutionary, we are so prone to temptations. The enemy has every “creative and innovative” ways of tempting us.

                To illustrate, reviewing…

                You are a revolutionary, what do you do? You don’t have classes the whole morning, so of course, you attend the daily prayer and the go straight to school regardless if your class is still 2 in the afternoon. And you make use of your time wisely to study.

                But it’s not gonna be easy to make that a habit. Things like, SM is just a walk away from your church, or you can watch your favorite series the whole night and wake up late. Or go out with your crush who just asked you yesterday.

                Despite all those scenarios, as a revolutionary, we tend to know our priorities and do the right thing. That is self-discipline.

4. LEAVE:                    NEW SELF

                Lastly, to be a revolutionary is to be new. You went to change the world? You first leave your comfort zone and start the life with a real purpose, a life where God is in control, a life that is influencing others, a part of something great and a life with a fighting spirit against your old self and the external temptations… : )

Genesis 1

MESSAGE:

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Level 1:  Birth

When we, life, started to exist, everything seems to be broad. In one’s life, this can last during their childhood or some never really advanced to this level. This is the part of one’s life when a goal or a future is never really clear. As for a child, for example, they just keep on living in their present lives. Like, today they’ll play and tomorrow they will go to school and the next day they will be having a test, with all this in mind, they wouldn’t think of getting married, or having a profession. Point is, though they are living their life, to them, in a very meaningful extent, life is still pointless. Thing is, most people now are in this stage. Maturity does not mean getting insurance, or passing the board exam, or even getting into marriage. Life’s meaning, as described by our Christian faith is way more than that.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Level 2:  Acceptance

Going further in the book of Genesis, we learned that Adam and Eve gained enough knowledge to realize they were naked after they have been tempted. That is also an illustration of what chapter one makes. Everyone goes through this stage. When we were children, we are curious about almost everything. About where we came from, about how we were made, stuff like that. same thing goes through our spiritual lives. There will come a time when we start asking ourselves about life after death, if heaven and hell was really, about who Jesus Christ really was. This can be a very tricky level because the human brain can be very complex that we can be deceived by our own perceptions. It may come to a point where an unbeliever might ask, if God wanted people to believe in Him, why wouldn’t He just magically change people’s minds? Answer: He is way too generous to do that. he freely gave us free will that we can believe what we want to believe. God created light. Many times in our life, God always shows us that light, that opportunity to actually know Him, the Truth. But many people refuse the light. But hey! The whole earth embraced the light, why wouldn’t you?

⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.”

Level 3:  Salvation

After passing through level 2, salvation should be the product. Accepting the light would mean knowing the fact that you are separated from God because of sin which is illustrated by the sky. Looking up, we can imagine how far till we reach the sky as we are on the ground. But we should take in heart that prayer takes us closer to Him. Those who still think that God hide beyond the sky or space lack faith. But for us Christian, we know by heart that though waters above and under has been separated, our hearts are closer to Him when we pray.

²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 

Level 4: Multiplication

There is a fact that many Christians nowadays are stuck at level 3. They enjoy the blessings of being a believer. They live their lives in the promise the Lord has bestowed upon us BUT many lack conviction. They have accomplished LOVING GOD but many forget the other command, that is, LOVING PEOPLE. Why do missionaries exist? Why are there a lot of churches abroad spending lots of expenses just to go around the globe to preach the gospel? It is because of the hope of multiplication. Our Christian living must not end in blessing ourselves, our families our friends but also blessing other people as well. Salvation was not brought for His people for only those who know it. It is for everyone. And as Christians we must be disciples as well. We don’t keep the Truth for ourselves but for the World to know.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Level 5:  Discipleship

Every believer is a leader. It is clear that this is our destiny. We lead people to God. We lead people to faith. And we lead people to lead other people as well.

In the end, God has created us in His own image. That doesn’t only mean physically but also reflects godliness that every believers, leaders, disciples must have.

COMMAND:  ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule overthe fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

PROMISE:  ²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.