Bible: The Best Fairy Tale Of All Times

Fairy Tales are for children: where good fights against evil and good always prevails; where small defeats the giant; where animals talk; where there's wonderful and astonishing palaces with Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses, Knights and Slaves; a place where impossible becomes possible; and ultimately where there's a life lived happily ever after.

Does any of these sounds reality to you? I'd say yes! Things like these are true, really. I believe the Bible is the only realistic fairy tale ever told to man. It can be the origin of all fairy tales that people are not aware of. This book compiles the best love stories a teenager wants to hear, a story of courage and bravery, of friendship and betrayal, of victory and failure, and most of all, the greatest love of God to mankind by sending His own Son Jesus to die for us and break the curse once and for all.

Let's love our Bible the way we love ourselves.

Pressed Olives

"And you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of Pressed Olives for the light, to cause the lamp to burn continually." - Exodus 27:20

The Testimony of our life weighs upon the victory we've won, the crushing we went through and the trials we've overcome. Christian walk is never without thorns and thistles. God only promised the Victory and that he carries us all the way.

Consider our lives an Olive Tree. We are planted and expected to grow where God placed us and while in the process of growing, we experience being pruned, branches cut down, drought in one season and rain in another, storms trying to uproot us and testing the very foundation of our lives. After we've overcome all these, we flourish and bud came out. The fruit of our labor starts to manifest. It grows and once matured, plucked and harvested, prepared to be crushed and pressed. Yes, crushed till the last drop of oil are extracted! It was difficult, the process was painful but in the end, we bring about the finest of oil to cause the lamp burn continually.

So whenever we feel pressed on every side - pressure from family, finances, relationships, school, ministry - consider: God is about to bring the purest of oil from us. The lamp to to burn is not only our own lamps, our passion and ministry, rather it's others' lamps. People will look on us and see good things God did into our lives and it will cause others to be encouraged, edified and moved for the greater cause. Our lives will be a value-added factor to others' lives! With this we cannot minimize the impact we can cause to the people around us. Keep the flame burning!

Alabaster Jar

Fear is in the Mind

Have you ever experienced walking along dark street where everything seems and sounds creepy: the wind is blowing cold, leaves and twigs scratching each other, cricket chirping noisily, animals howling from afar, etc.? Have you felt the tension of having goosebumps while inside the room alone feeling like someone else unseen is with you? Or have you encountered your peripheral vision deceiving you like you're seeing someone passed by your side? Creepy, eh?

I don't intend to scare, but to tell you, fear is in our mind. Our mind conceives something to which our other senses react to: having goosebumps, hearing something unusual, seeing things never existed, etc..etc. I encountered the same! And I laughed to the thought that indeed, FEAR IS IN OUR MINDS.

Some time in September 2007, we had an encounter with someone - literally someone and not a pseudo thing or an imagination - which from then on I instilled the title in my mind. I was in college then, 3rd year to count it off, we're renting as bed spacer at UEP with my sister. She had a different room though and I was with the 4J Room. Four-J to mean: Johny, Junard, Jim [me] and another "J" I already forgot. Let's make-name then, say he was Jasper (nicer name though; will edit this one when I am reminded of his name). We were in a two-decked bed. I was in the upper part and Johny was under me. Junard was in the other two-decked upper bed and Jasper was under him. The two were nearer to the door but our bed was adjacent to the door so I can easily see whoever gets in or out.

That was midnight, around 12mn - 1 am when someone was moaning quite a noise already. After few minutes, the sound got louder until someone was already shouting right inside our room!!! The voice of a guy was shouting, "Palabasin N'yo ako dito! (get me outta here!)" over and over. Then he was breaking into the door to get out, punching the wood-made wall which divided each room, and his bed! I was sitting Indian-sit in my bed and out struck. I lost for words, I was thinking, "Are we on fire?" but I couldn't smell any smoke. I started to feel uneasy so I scolded out, "JOHNY ANO YAN!? (What is it Johny?)" I could see his silhouette through the moonlight but I couldn't think of who he was. I was thinking he was Johny because he was shouting Jasper's name but underneath, Johny called up a name I didn't hear well. The thought that he wasn't Johny sank in me and I thought someone else got into our room because I can see Junard alongside in the upper bed!

What if he got a knife with him and strike us all? What if he stole something? What if we were really on fire but due to fear my senses shut down? Plenty of thoughts rushed in until Junard embarked from his bed and turn on the light. Relief  rushed through me upon seeing who the guy was. Funny thing, he was Jasper! He straightened up, fixed himself and sat in his bed still shaky and in fear. Junard opened the door which was broken because Jasper kept on pulling it without even turning the knob! People from other rooms crowded at the doorpost and even our landlord brought a gun with him. Everyone was disturbed by the incident so we asked him what happened, why he was shouting and wanting to get out, and why he was calling himself and so forth. The just said he had a dream. In his dream he was kept in a box and so wanting to get out because he felt suffocated. Sad thing was, he couldn't give any reason why he was calling his own name.

Then everyone went to bed again. I wasn't able to sleep at once and found myself writing the incident in my notebook. I lost the notebook already, glad I still have the memory. Every time I thought of this, I laugh at myself. I was scared by the thoughts, not by what was happening. And so I am convinced, we are so fearful with almost everything in life but the truth is, we're only making it up - creating ghosts we ourselves fear the most.

Jesus comforts us with this: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me." (John 14:1) so that every time we are faced with fears, doubts and worries, we will be reminded that our God is greater than all these.

♫ I Am Willing by Jeremy Camp ♫

From Passion to Transformation

<fueled by the message at Crossover, 14 October 2010 by Bishop Oriel Ballano. Dear all, as we read this note, I do pray that the Lord will speak to us, open our eyes and illumine our mind to the truth these words hold. In Jesus' Name.>

But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? (James 2: 18-20)
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. (v. 26)

I have encountered couple of believers who argued as to what this verses mean. Some say Faith + Work = Salvation. Others Faith alone saves, and still others it's all in our Work. Paul is clear when he wrote to the Ephesians that salvation is of Grace, it is not of our own work lest none of us should boast. It's an unmerited favor to which we should be grateful - we don't deserve it but the Father so lavished His love for us that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to be the final atonement and redeem us once and for all.

In his book, James was speaking to the believers [including us, the new generation] about practically living our lives the way Christian should. A life of Faith that develops. He was straight-forward in dealing with the content of his letter, an instruction that we should not neglect. As it is, plenty of people claim to have faith, to have known God and know what Christ did at the cross. But how about a relationship with Him?

It is an exciting and exhilarating experience to know God. However, after knowing how God loves us, how He so lavished His unconditional love and prepared an abundant blessing and a great future for us, what comes next? I've heard this line that says, "It takes a pulse to fall in love, but it takes a plan to stay in love." I dare replace the "Pulse" with "EMOTION" and the "Plan" with "CONVICTION". To say it, "It takes an Emotion to Fall in Love, but it takes a Conviction to Stay in Love." Just the same with our relationship with Christ, we are at first so emotionally drawn to the fellowship, to the people, to the church, but if we haven't gone to be convicted, the word will not penetrate and will lose its power to change us. (See Parable of the Sower, Matt. 13:1-23)

If there is one person in the Bible who is remarkable in dealing with the passion he had for Jesus Christ, it's none other than Zacchaeus. (Luke 19:1-9) A person of short stature, of influence for his wealth, despised by his fellow men for being a tax collector, and most of all an empty soul yearning to know Jesus Christ. But just like Zacchaeus, we will experience hindrances that will test our commitment to Christ.

1. His Stature (v.3) He was short. We don't need to elaborate on this. Petite sounds better though but no matter how descriptive you'll be about him, there's remain a problem of his physical structure. This problem speaks of a physical hindrance. Something within us which we've become accustomed to use as excuse. But the truth is, we are just making excuses and so it deters us to know Christ more intimate. The greatest hindrance to our walk in Christ is ourselves. Along the way, we will find plenty of things to excuse from the fellowship, meeting with fellow Christians on Sundays, Cellgourps or others: it could be for not feeling well (after a night full of chatting and working and going out, unless we really are sick!), personal things to do, feeling worthless, self-pity or even sin that caught us over the week! The number can be inexhaustible. Zacchaeus had all the reason to say, "Well, am just short and I can't see him in any way. People are taller than I am." But he never did.

2. The Crowd (v.3) They are blocking him! Imagine you're caught in a traffic of people while waiting for the train (LRT/MRT) to arrive say you're in the mid station. Not only that the platform is crowded, but also the train when it arrives! Seemed like no one embarks from the train yet still another bunch of people are coming over! You won't only get irritated with the train, but also with the people pushing, stepping on your foot and all! The crowd symbolizes the external hindrances in our lives. It's a constant thing. we're living in a world where everybody or everything can be too difficult for us. That is why Jesus reminds us to "take heart! I have overcome the world!" This crowd can be our finances that disables us to step out in faith for fear of lack; our parents, relatives and friends who keep on distracting and restricting us; our work that can be very taxing and eating up all our time for God; and just the same, the list can go beyond. Zacchaeus was in it. He had the chance to excuse himself and say, "I still got collections to do, remittance to the Roman empire and all these corporate stuffs." And again, he never did.

Zacchaeus got into all these two hindrances, but he never excused himself. Instead, he transformed his PASSION to know Christ into strategic ACTION. Potential can be very useless unless it becomes a Kinetic Energy. So what he did was, he RAN ahead, and CLIMB! Knowing Christ entails our effort because God will not reveal Himself through just dreaming! We have to make a move. We have to court Him! We have to know His very intentions, what breaks Him, what He ever wanted for us.

However, after overcoming these two great hindrances, still another stood to shake him:

3. The Antagonists (v.7). People were mumbling, "He [Jesus] has gone to be the guest of a sinner." Not only did Zacchaeus suffered the disadvantage of being not blessed with a growth hormones and the crowd, he experienced the people's judgmental look! Dear friends, walking with Christ is not a bed of roses and so is walking without Him. But let's ask ourselves, which extremes do we prefer, a life of thorns with Christ or a life of thorns without Him? A life of Joy in Christ or a flickering happiness with the world?

People will be mocking us, test us and all the more. But it's comforting to know that what Christ suffered at the cross and while on the way through from His birth down to His Death and even until now far outweighs what we are about to experience in this world. Jesus said, "Whoever receives you [us] receives Me and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent me [Father]." On the other hand, "Whoever mocks you, rejects you, ridicules you, and persecutes you do the same to Me and the One who sent Me [Father]."

Take a good CHEER! We are NEVER in the Losing End!

As We STRUGGLE. . .

Biblical Passage: Genesis chapter 32

Every struggle we face is an opportunity to Encounter God. It is in this season that we find ourselves broken and in need of a Savior. Our victory over life's adversities is not because we are wise nor strong. Our victory comes from the Lord.

Jacob struggled with God and he was blessed when he stood the test. God didn't come to Jacob just to have wrestled with him. He did it on purpose! But He didn't just came by surprise and blessed Jacob either! So are all our struggles in life. When Jesus left his human status on earth, he left with a word that in this world, we will experience struggles, adversities and alike. Everything that happens to our lives is never without the knowledge of our Father. Even Job experienced life in difficulty with the all-encompassing knowledge of God.

In all these struggles, our attitude should be like that of Jacob. His words, "I will not leave you until you bless me," speaks of a yearning from God to turn the situation to his favor. What God tells us with the problem at hand? How will we learn from these? What will we become out of these? The blessing depends on how we react on the situation. The problem itself will not make or break us, but our attitude towards it does!

Looking into the words of Christ when He said, "Take heart, I have overcome the world," (John 16:33) is such a comfort to the disciples and to us who are called. Victory is WON! He is Risen from the dead! We are made automatic Conquerors through the Victory of Christ at the cross.

Jacob was changed after his encounter with God. When faced with many struggles in life, be it financial, relationships with parents, siblings, leaders, friends, etc., school, or even ourselves, we should be changed for the better after we've overcome the test because it is the only concrete manifestation of an inward victory.