12 November

Someone who loves me unconditionally more than anybody else, who doesn't have a heart made of stone and always ALWAYS forgives me, has one request: to TRUST in Him. How can it be difficult when since the beginning of time He'd shown how faithful He is and until now, He has never let me down?

"David did not face Goliath on the battlefield because he had studied hi opponent's fighting style and had uncovered a weakness. He trusted God." (1 Samuel 17:37)

"Naaman did not slip seven times in the Jordan river because of recent findings in medical research. It was faith. (2 Kings 5:13-14)

"Paul did not decide to abandon the Law and embrace grace because it was common sense. He met Christ, and it changed him forever." (Romans 3)

In these accounts of three men, one thing is in common: they trusted first. They let go of common sense, of their own security, of their own strength and let God. They did not decide first what to do and then leave the rest to God, or let God do a part and they do the rest. Although they have sinned and were unclean, they heeded God's call to trust only Him. They let go of their self-righteousness.

Matthew 14
²²Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴but the boat was already a considerable distance^a]">[a] from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

²⁵During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.

²⁷But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

During this time, they were already exhausted, they have been rocked by waves and have been afraid to lose their dear lives for hours. All they knew was fear. That sinking, desperate feeling that nothing else can make things better. That was the only thing on their minds. They saw Jesus and thought he was a ghost and their fear must've been doubled. But Jesus immediately said, "It is I, do not be afraid."

²⁸"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

²⁹"Come," he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Jesus knows that there are things or circumstances where we experience fear and even when we are not calling unto him, he already tells us not to be afraid because He is. HE IS GOD.

Peter made a very very bold move. He stood up, stepped out of the boat (the thing that you know is supposed to save and protect you), and onto the water, and walked toward Jesus as if he were walking on a pavement. His eyes were focused on Jesus.

Making a bold move is focusing our eyes on Jesus. The boat and the shore which symbolizes security, protection, provisions, even blessings are out of our sight. Which means, even when we are experiencing pain, loss, and deprivation, we must exert effort to focus solely on Him. Without expecting to be cut some slack from the pain, look unto Jesus. And just like Peter, you can walk on water. Towards Him. Nothing else matters but our relationship with the one and only person who can save us.

³⁰But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" ³¹Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.

On the course of our walk towards Jesus, we may experience fear, like Peter. He saw the wind and panicked, doubted. When our circumstances do not change, when it seems like we've been down for an unreasonably long time, when focusing on Jesus starts to move to the bottom on our list of to-do's, we lose it. We begin to sink. Peter called out.

We may think that it's too late to call onto Jesus but it's not. It's never too late to call on Him. Because he will IMMEDIATELY and WHOLEHEARTEDLY reach out his hand. It's what He's wanted to do all along.

⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4)


J.B.

8 November

In a high school writing class that I once facilitated, I asked the students to write something morbid - their own epitaph. I asked them to start with the phrase: "Here lies.....", and follow it up with words that would describe them, describe how they lived their lives, or something that they just want to leave to the world as a final impression.

"Here lies a teacher who was very dedicated in teaching....... Here lies a scientist who discovered the cure for cancer..... a housewife....... a good student, a good son, and a good father......"

What defines us? If we lose our job, can we still be the employee who's regarded as indispensable by the company? If we were given the Most Valuable Player Award or the Most Beautiful Face Award, can that still be us 20 or 50 years later? If we lose all our children, can we still say that I am a father or a mother?

We have the tendency to equate our identity with how people see us or how we see ourselves by what we have accomplished, (All their children have finished college, they are parents who are very good providers) or what we have failed to become or what we don't have (I'm such a loser). If we rely on what things of this world say who we are, we're missing out on something bigger. Something that has been destined for us by our Heavenly Father, the creator and preserver of all things.

Moses was raised in a royal family. A handsome, confident, trained man. He surely would've been the next king! Until he made a mistake and killed an Egyptian. He broke a rule. Moses had to run away. He ended in the wilderness and became a shepherd. A downward move, a total career shift. From manager down to maintenance. He can't go back to his former plush life. Four decades have passed and he was still Moses the shepherd. He was pretty stuck. An old, tired and smelly man. This is all there is to it, thought Moses, I can't go anywhere, I can't be anybody, I'll just tend my sheep.

God thought otherwise.

God has a plan, a plan that was created even before Moses was born. Moses is to be sent to set free the Israelites. Moses said someone else can do the job. He was 80 then, but God wasn't through with him. God has a plan.

"But he replied, 'My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.' So if Christ keeps giving me his power, I will gladly brag about how weak I am." 2 Cor. 12:9 (Contemporary English Version)

God does not hold anything against us nor does He turn His back when we have setbacks. When Jonah disobeyed God, God's plan was derailed. Jonah was thrown into the ocean, but God already has a Plan B. God made a detour. Jonah knew of his disobedience and he came to God with boldness, admitted his failure and got back to the presence of the Mighty and Merciful Father. In spite of it all, he honored God.

Our mistakes or failures may hinder us from facing God. But God has already designed a destiny for each of us and it is a destiny that a loving father would give his children, a destiny that is bigger than our mistakes. When you tell your child not to climb on the highest branch of a tree but the child still goes up and got stuck and isn't able to climb down, aren't you going to come to the child's rescue rather than reprimand and say 'I told u so'?

"But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name..." (John 1:12 Amplified Bible)

Who am I? When I say im 27/F/Philippines, does that define me? When I say I'm a teacher, does that define me? When I received Jesus Christ, I already became someone. What I get out of my relationship with Jesus (his love, peace, companionship) are just secondary. First of all, I became someone. I made many mistakes in the past, and I still do make mistakes, I fail, I miss opportunities, I get rejected but those are apart from what God thinks of me.

When Jesus was living on earth, he was constantly secure of his identity. He was born out of a virgin mother in a manger. A prophesied king who was born in a manger. That was kinda weird wasn't it? Sounds like he was brought here by aliens because he was conceived out of nowhere. But Jesus only looks at his relationship with the Heavenly Father, nothing else. What other people tells of him didn't matter. He was confident because he knew who he was, the Prince of prince and the Lord of lords - that's what the Father told him.

"You used to be like people living in the dark, but now you are people of the light because you belong to the Lord. So act like people of the light." Ephesians 5:8 (Contemporary English Version)

First we recognize God's call to fulfill the destiny He has for us. Let's claim that we are children of His kingdom, living in the light, and everything else will fall into its place. There are things which we may be tempted to do although we know it is bad, but knowing that we belong to the Lord, and that we are people of the light, we know that we could overcome through the strength He gives us.


J.B.

5 November

"Let me state something important. There is never a time during which Jesus is not speaking. Never. There is never a place in which Jesus is not present. Never. There is never a room so dark. . .a lounge so sensual. . . an office so sophisticated. . . that the ever-present, ever-pursuing, relentlessly tender Friend is not there. . .

But never interpret our numbness as his absence. For amidst the fleeting promises of pleasure is the timeless promise of his presence." Max Lucado, Experiencing the Heart of Jesus (2003)

"Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt 28:20)

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." (Heb 13:5)

A Facebook shout-out of one of my friends says, "I am a single wedding photographer." It was followed by a similar thread saying, "I am a single relationship therapist." My friend's shout outs lately have a theme. She would tell of her couple sightings and express her sighs of exasperation over the absence of someone in her life. She even mentioned moving to Alaska. She may be half-kidding. Or it may be the other half of a joke that is half-meant.

The world has its ways of luring us into something we think is our big break and our looming emptiness can drive us away from seeing the real thing. A career opportunity or a promotion, a super sale screaming of 80% discounts, a promising relationship, a simple flattery; things which we would whole-heartedly indulge ourselves to, only later to find out that it is taking too much and it is lessening the time we spend with our loved ones or that it is a want that only filled us temporarily. A time invested on something which gradually wastes away.

Have we ever whole-heartedly indulged ourselves to Jesus? The only one who can save us? The one who says he'll never leave us nor forsake us? The only one who can give us true peace?

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5:16)

Jesus made a DELIBERATE EFFORT to spend time with God. "....the Son of God, the sinless Saviour of humankind, thought it worthwhile to clear his calendar to pray." How about us sinners?

Jesus faced with a mulitutude of adulating thousands whom he fed. These were people who looked up to him, regarded him with such respect. But he did not faze. He dismissed the crowd and prayed to the Father. He knows this is all he needs. A time with the Father.

J.B.

30 October

On the way home tonight, I chatted with my friend who works in the ministry about her position in the church that my sister used to fill before her. I heard the same story from my sister. Working for people in the church can be twice as intense and demanding than working for people in a secular setting. There goes a phone call criticizing a church gathering, or an appointed member who suddenly backs out in the last minute, or fellow Christians who can really give you a hard time. Even in a church setting, things can go from calm to chaos.

Three days ago, as I walked across the parking lot after a very early prayer meeting, feeling the spring in my steps from an encounter with God, and basking on the gentle warmth of the sun and the quietness of the morning, red lights and alarm sounds emanated from my brain in a span of five seconds when I reached my car and found out that I got locked out. The day was marked with peace turning, very abruptly, to panic.

³⁹Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

⁴⁰Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. (Matt 26)

At the beginning of this chapter, Jesus mentioned that he was going to be put to death. He knew of the prophesy about him, the Son of Man, and he hinted about it when he was dining and a woman poured expensive oil on his head. It was the subject when he was having the Last Supper with the disciples, and again when he was praying.

He was praying. He knew that the time was near. He knew that he will be taken with force, judged hastily, and put to death unjustly. Yet Jesus took the time to pray and asked the disciples to be with him in prayer for an hour. He was at peace. He was at peace because he has been praying.

⁴²He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." (Matt 26)

Jesus knows the nature of the Father and in his prayers, he would always give due regard to the Father's will. He never tried to change the Father's mind.

How do we pray? Do we bring before God the considerations that He should have about the way we have been living our lives? Do we expect to have earned points from something that we did? Nobody is righteous enough to demand anything from God. Our position in life, the goals that we met, the noble life that we lead, the properties we have or lack, the number of hours that we went hungry because of fasting, have no participation in our prayer - they do not count to anything or for anything. The only participants are our HOPE and our FAITH. So we must not be presumptuous. We are in the place of forgiven sinners. The answer to our prayers, or the lack thereof, is God's grace.

We must not go ahead with anything without praying to God. When Jesus was faced with his captors, one of the disciples made a very bold move and cut a soldier's ear off. We may be so bold sometimes in our moves that we say and do things we don't mean. Trying times can bring us at our wits end that we tend to forget the right thing to do and this is mostly because we lack the time to pray and to receive the peace that comes from the Lord.

⁴¹"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." (Matt 26)

³You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You. (Isaiah 26 Amplified Bible)

A couple of pointers to enrich our prayer lives: all of us have the privilege to pray and call out to God and we must do so also for others. As our brothers' keeper, we have the obligation to pray for them. Another, when we find ourselves with nothing to do, pray. While we are driving or commuting our way to work, pray. If we seem to have run out of things to pray about, pray the Lord's prayer - the prayer that Jesus taught. Pray in the right way to the right object who is God.

J.B.

27 October

I remember something that I wrote on my journal when I was in grade school. I remember I drew a small and a big circle which looked like a tire that rolls. This symbolizes life, that sometimes you're down, the dirt is on your face, and sometimes you're up. When you're up, it won't be long until you're down again. Sometimes I think that the tire must have gotten stuck on a really big pothole, with busted interior, while it was my turn to be in the bottom. It didn't take long and I'd gotten used to it. After a while, I had thought that it wasn't so bad that I would forget what brought me there in the first place (poor driving?). Then I'll start to recognize that it (whatever brought me low) is still present inside me even when the tire seem to must've rolled without me noticing. And it wasn't so bad because it made me appreciate how nice it is to be on top, that happiness is not the absence of unhappiness.

"When we are unhappy, it makes us look forward to heaven all the more. Happiness on earth is always temporary." Max Lucado, Experiencing the Heart of Jesus (2003)

Now I don't view my unhappiness with eyes that couldn't wait, with eyes that are longing to be on top again because every time, it lets me know that true happiness is not something that I can find here. It lets me know that there is something more that can truly satisfy me!

¹¹Dear friends, you are foreigners and strangers on this earth. So I beg you not to surrender to those desires that fight against you. (1 Peter 2)

Because I am an alien on this earth, I won't find true joy here. But "until I see Him face to face, and grace amazing takes me home" I'll trust in Him, because:

¹⁹I pray that God will take care of all your needs with the wonderful blessings that come from Christ Jesus! (Philippians 4)

¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail. (Isaiah 58)

God is abundant in His blessings and He allows me to take part in them. When snippets of joy fall from heaven, they are in the form of friends, family, and new acquaintances.

Now when I'm reminded of that 'tire' drawing from yellowed pages of my journal, I look at in another angle and I see it as a lifesaver. Something that God throws at me when I go overboard.

J.B.

26 October 2009

Matthew 14:23 He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.


I truly treasure my quiet time. I am so "proud" of myself because it has truly become a habit for me.

I still remember how, in the past, it was such a struggle for me to have a regular QT. And that is how it was for soooooooooooo many years. Id rather sleep, watch tv, eat than have my QT. I knew it was important and yet i never exerted effort to do it.

Now, almost each morning, I spend time reading His word, talking to God, and enjoying His lessons for me. My mountainside is my bedroom, with the TV off or muted. I have it anywhere from 630-730am, after i take my bath. I will sit on my bed, legs crossed, get my QT book and my big serendipity bible. I first check the story behind the book where my verse is situated. That way, ill understand the story better. And truth be told, i dont pray quietly nor with eyes closed. I look up and pray out loud :-) I pray as if God is just beside me and I am talking to Him. That gives me comfort and makes me smile.

Thank God for QTs.

I.T.

21 October 2009

2 Corinthians 5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live is in destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

I think this is the perfect verse for my friends whose house were destroyed by the recent calamities!

I know its truly sad that they have lost their house and i don't discount the fact that they may get depressed or frustrated by the situation.

But if we claim God's promise in this verse, i know it may just do the trick of lifting them from their sorry state... and have their eyes focus on their much better, stronger, calamity-free house in heaven. It is a house that is truly a home.

I.T.