On Becoming A Servant

..here I am again. Trying to pen my thoughts into something senseful but laziness takes a grip on me. Thanks for this blog, less paper, less ink, less effort! Am just reminded of the message last night at the Crossover. I believe it did confirm my devotional last week, Monday I guess (I don't have my note with me). I was led me to the story when Jesus Christ himself washed the disciples' feet: A LIFE OF SERVICE (John 13:1-20)

How far have I gone into serving other people, friends, especially my family - biological and the christian family? "Never enough," I told myself. Whatever we've done and desire to do can never surpass what Jesus Christ did for us. Yes, all our effort in service is never in vain, but coming to a point of the kind of service He himself shown, we all fall short.

This truth should be our one compelling purpose in serving people. It is not an effort to repay Him (because definitely we can't out-give Him), but a response to His goodness and love He lavished on us. Not to return the favor to people, but to pay forward the favor God showered on us.

Service must be our Life. The thing is, how do we serve? What are the things God gave us so we can be of service to many. How do we use our Treasure, Talent and Time? Whenever we serve, we are never at the losing end. The God who sees our labor whether in secret or in public shall repay us accordingly.

Only Him, Who is Everything!

because of God who created the heaven and the earth,

i am here.

because of His divine love that is parted to us,

i am still standing.

because of His divine holiness,

i am walking in His will for me.

because He save me,

i will stay in His presence.

No matter what the circumstances that may come and challenge me,

i am going to survive in this chaotic and decaying world.

Only Him, who is everything!

What do we do when the lights go down?

"WHAT DO WE DO WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN??"

worth self-assessing isn't it??. ano nga ba ang ginagawa natin when the lights go down?? i want to share to you some of the things i've learned from the message/ actually i took down notes  kasi mejo tuma--ah,,eh..tanda na yata tayo.(some of the highlights lang naman,,you see,i can't catch up with the speaker,he speaks so fast palibhasa native language nya ang English>>>Dr. James O. Davis).. age is just a number daw though.

Light..Darkness..in a Christian community, these words come into different connotations. it may refer to a literal light, something that penetrates the eye thru our retina (am i right nurses??), and darkness, the absence of the former. it may also mean good and evil, or a certain situation in life..that is, light to mean smooth going, prosperous, happy, abundant life..and darkness to mean down, failure, problematic, stressful way of living. name it for yourself..you will eventually find yourself into the bosom of these two words. Let us ask ourselves first, when do we pray the most??is it when we are in good condition or when we are sick??when do we read the Bible the most??is it when everything goes well for us or when things go wrong along our way??i finally come to realize that even i, myself have never escaped the weight of the answer to these questions hold..nakakalungkot pala isipin. But praise be to God for He never stopped loving this undeserving person..\\

These are the highlights of the topic. (might be useful in time.)

 1. Those of deepest devotion sometimes go thru deepest darkness (Faith's Devotion). no matter how strong we may become in our spiritual life,we can never be free from darkness of life..to mean,problems,failures,pains,etc. for even Job whom God finds delight for being a true and faithful servant experienced it. It is in times of darkness that we learn the most.

2. The faith that is born in the light, develops in the dark (Faith's Development)..we don't live our lives by explanations,nor by people or circumstances, we walk by God's promises. It is thru darkness that we learn the value of what we have in the light. we learn from the light, and we use it when darkness comes. 

3. There are things that can be seen in the dark that cannot be seen in the light (Faith's Discernment) when darkness come,we tend to think that God has already left us..nangangapa sa dilim. But it is thru darkness that we see stars, the moon, the luminous light of a firefly..the beauty that darkness has can never be seen in the light. knowing this, we should be grateful to God for experiencing darkness in our lives because we learn to appreciate His provision, His guidance, His magnificent work in our lives. He holds it with His mighty hands, and knowing that darkness is never dark for Him makes all the difference. 

4. It is better to stand alone in God's ordained darkness than stand in self-made light.(Faith's Danger)..we are taught, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding (prov.3:5).this means we should not rely on our knowledge and wisdom..But it doesn't mean we should not use it! it says that some things are tougher than we thought and these are beyond our capability to handle. thus,we need to trust Him. know that if He holds us with His hands in the light, He'll do the same in the dark. Don't think you are standing lest you fall. that's the essence of it! it is better to experience being beaten on every side if this would lead to your spiritaul growth than play safe and remain idle, stagnant (eventually you'll stink)! lastly, 

5. If your sun has gone down, it will come back again! (Faith's Daybreak)..there's always a sunset after the night. we know that the darkest part of the night is a few hours before daybreak. but even if we're at it,always remember the daybreak is coming soon for us. The lyrics of the song tells it, "there's a rainbow always after the rain"..similarly, your sun will shine down again on you. That even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil for the lord our God is with us! Cheer up, Child of the Living God!!!

GET THE FIELD READY!!!

Prosperity is one thing that everyone loves to experience. after all, who wants to be poor?? this issue has become so prevalent that even the least business minded person minds it! i believe it's God's will for every child of Him to have an abundant life. not just experience it for a moment then gone with the wind afterward but have it to the fullest till it overflows (John 10:10).

Hardwork is one of the ingredients to success as they say. it is indeed, the Bible tells us not to feed those who do not labor. but while we are busy doing our own thing, to get our own desires, to fulfill our dreams and all that we aspire, we forget that hardwork without God in it will not lead us anywhere. it all amounts to nothing! a saying puts it, "a man for the sake of getting a living forgets to live." true indeed..we forget that the best way of living is to enjoy it and to mind the business of the Lord in our lives.

i cannot say that i'm already prosperous, but if you measure prosperity not on material things, money and all that, i believe i am. i want to share something about the topic today that i hope would somehow encourage the reader of my blog. and as we meditate on it, let's learn from it, and pray that the Lord will help us apply it in our lives.

First thing to bear in our mid, PROSPERITY comes from the Lord, and it is His idea. He is our provider (Phil. 4:19). with the issue of prosperity comes the issue of security, significance and satisfaction. that when we have plenty of money we are secured. our future is secured so to speak. but security is never found through it because definitely, the more that you have money, the more danger you encounter against the greediness of other people. secondly, sabi nga nila, "pag wala kang pera wala ka ring kaibigan." it holds true sometimes, to some extent because others find you nice to be with. another lie of the enemy because  your being you is not relative to what you have. and thirdly, having plenty of material possessions-money for that matter-will not make us satisfied. it only leads to another cravings and stilll another and another. it is only through the Lord that we find true satisfaction. afterall, He is the source of everything!

there are certain laws of the Bible on how to be prosperous: 

law#1, ASK IN FAITH. Matthew 7 says, Ask and it will be given to you. another, James 4:2, you do not have because you do not ask. these only mean that whatever we want in our lives, somebody else owns it and all we have to do is to ask for it! 

law#2, SEEK FOR OPPORTUNITIES. let's not be misinformed, God doesn't just give you what you asked for by making it fall on your lap. money doesn't just rain on you, you have to earn it, work doesn't just call you, you have to apply and seek for it. the Lord only gives us the ability, the faculties to be used to get what we desire. (deutoronomy 8:17-18).

law#3, GOD IS NOT MOVED BY OUR NEEDS, HE IS MOVED BY OUR HEARTS. He sees the very need that we have but He looks even more in our hearts. readiness to receive God's blessings matters. more people are destroyed by wealth than poverty does! when our hearts are ready to receive it, God provides a way for us to have it! how then do we know that we are ready?? 1. when we have accepted that we don't own our possessions (Psalms 24:1). everything in this world belongs to Him and created for His glory alone..not ours! 2. when we are a good steward (Prov. 10:22).

Law#4, DIE BROKE. whatever we have, we cannot bring it to where we are going. we can't bring it to heaven!!! they're unnecessary.

the thing that i want to share today is that, prosperity comes and starts from our heart. to tell you a story, there were two farmers who keeps praying for the Lord to send them rain so they can plant crops. the two prayed so hard, but only one of them prepared his fields. who do you think has a greater faith?? similarly, if our fields, our hearts are ready for the blessings, then it will come by all means!! have our fields ready for God's provision, because it's gonna be a year of harvest. He wants us to delve into another level of life. an abundant one.

God bless you.

Review for CPA Board Exams

I never intended it to work that way. All I thought i could make it to the finish line but I gave up. I was at first enthusiastic of the review but eventually I got tired of attending. Maybe because i got bored of the instructors but the thing that affected me most is that I was not able to attend Sunday Services which is very crucial to me. So I stopped! I was not very proud of my decision but i already did it. No one to blame even myself (So please stop nagging me!).

I paid only miscellaneous for the first review because of the scholarship I had for graduating with honors (Praise God!) Well, whether i use it or not, the scholarship just expires after a period of 1 year. No worries, small amount during that time. But now, I decided (I mean really decided) to take the proper review and eventually the CPA board exams on May 2011. It's all because I believe God wants me not just to be a minister in words to the people He lend me to handle at church but also be a living testimony of His goodness thru passing the CPA Board Exam. I understand there's a risk. And two extremes may happen - pass or fail (Conditional sounds better though). But am not considering the latter though the former isn't always what happens even if you're a Christian. There are tests - in attitude, in persevering to the work He laid at hand, to my character all in all.

This time, I know it will not be as good as I imagined it. There will still times of discouragements leading to the thoughts of giving up, pressures in all sides, and a lot more vibes. But am confident that I can hold on the Hope I profess now because I can always trust God to keep His promise. This is for HIS glory alone, not mine, not my parent's or friends', but to His glory alone.