The Start of Breakthrough comes in with a Challenge: 90 DAYS OF CHALLENGE

my upcoming posts will be my daily devotional readings in accordance to the 90 days of challenge. This blog will store up all my insights for the Word challenge where I should be able to finish the whole Old Testament in 90 Days.

Enjoy Reading and God Bless :)

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 5-6: Perks of being a Man of God

¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

MESSAGE:

Imagine Noah’s generation compared to ours. Well of course we’re not the only ones whom God have seen favor, but think of it as a micro societal way. In some places, in some circumstances, you are a Noah. I am a Noah in my group of friends. I can be a Noah in my high school batch mates, etc. you see, there are times when you are the only one who can stand with your faith and be favored upon by the Lord. This chapter has revealed to me one of the perks of being God’s daughter.

PROMISE:

When you are favored, people connected to you will also be favored. The bible didn’t mention if Noah’s family also had great faith as he did. But they are Noah’s family. God’s grace always has extensions because He is limitless. He knew that if He’d only save Noah, it would bring much happiness to Noah that much. He needed to bring his love ones.

COMMAND:

Salvation can be brought to his family if he brings them to the ark. Salvation is free but it has to have a will. In the end, of course Noah’s family was saved, because Noah brought them to the ark. In life, we have to bring people to our ark as well. Remember, you are God’s extension of Grace.

Genesis 4: Mercy

⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Message:

Being a perfectionist can be tiring at times. You just have to do what is right all the time. In the bible, Cain really didn’t do wrong at his offering. He was working on the grounds; of course the produce would be his offering not that of Abel. But God didn’t see favor on this instead He was teaching Cain a lesson. But he hindered it, and God saw right through it. He committed a sin over his imperfection. Then envy was brought out.

Command:

In Christian living, we tend to be Cain at itmes. There are instances when we don’t please our leader. Or we disappoint ourselves for failing a promise to God. But we don’t always intend to be wrong. An unintentional mistake is not wrong. We are to learn from that mistake and keep ourselves strong to sin. Often when these things happens to us, we turn our backs to God, or blame other people. It is so luike Cain, only this generation’s version. But like what God has said, it is our choice, we must rule over sin.

Promise:

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Not so^[e]; anyone who kills Cainwill suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

God is the God of forgiveness. He could have thrown Cain out of Hs land and let him be killed by all the danger brought about the outside. But no. Cain knew what was gonna happen. He didn’t even ask for God’s mercy, but God was too forgiving that he still protected Cain upon his exile. Same thing happens to us. Upon the consequence of our sin, God is still with us. Forever, He is.

Genesis 3: Lessons from temptation

²² And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

                Reading the chapter from the start, I thought, why did even God put a tree of life there? Why did he allow a snake to tempt Eve and eventually let Adam fall for it to? Come to think of it, God has total control of what can happen in the past right? So why the fall of man?

                When we were a child, I remember my Mom bringing me to her office. She had to leave me at the play ground I can play safe while she’s working. But before she leaves she’s tell me not to go anywhere far from the playground and then she leaves.  At first, I’d be so amazed by how fun all the stuff I can do in the playground. But as hours pass, I get bored of them and then come temptation to leave. Even as a child, it is my choice to stay or to leave right? And because of temptation, I left. When its becoming late already, I’d eventually figure out that I’m too far from the playground that I’m lost. Now the consequence of not obeying my mother has just happened. Perhaps that was lunch time; I can be so hungry then. Or it can be raining and I dint know where to go anymore. Eventually my mother would find me and then punish me for that disobedience. The next time she works, she knows she won’t be leaving me in the playground anymore. I’d probably left in a boring library or worst, she might not even bring me to her work anymore. But from that moment on, I know that when she brings me back to the playground, I won’t be leaving far from it anymore. Why? BECAUSE I LEARNED FROM THAT TEMPTATION.

                God knew that there will be a fall of man. The bible hasn’t stated there how long it was for Adam and Eve to stay obedient to God until the serpent come right? But after that incident, Adam and Eve has already learned from that mistake. The punishment brought by God to man was not the only one passed on to all generations. We must see more than that. There is a real reason, a lesson that was passed on from the story and it lives until now.

Genesis 2

Message:

²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam^[f] no suitable helper was found. 

“Suitable”  

-Right or appropriate for a particular person, purpose, or situation

-fit - appropriate - proper - fitting – convenient

                I am 20 years old. I did experience a couple of relationships and relationship messes. I may be too young to discuss on this aspect but Wisdom comes n maturity and it is a process. God has given us the Word to learn from it and then earn maturity through Wisdom.

                Moving on…

                It has been specified in the bible how it was purposely intended that men and women are to be partners in life. Clearly the Lord has given the man a choice of who to be with in the rest of his existence but the Lord knew the man’s heart. He understood the situation precisely and has given the man the “suitable” partner-woman. Given the precise definition of the word “suitable”, it is indeed crucial and at the same time mysterious to be one’s partner. One has to be “appropriate” or “fit” to be one’s partner, meaning, it is not randomly chosen depending merely on emotions, likes, and all else. On the other hand, if we are to consider solely on finding a “suitable” partner, it can be very frustrating and can turn one into a perfectionist. I say, we should relate more in the bible and prayer.

If in Genesis, God has given Adam Eve, then He can definitely bring us our suitable partner as well.

Command:

Wait for the Lord.

Promise:

He knows exactly who you need.

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.