Promotion that God intends!

These months and weeks are the most difficult time for a lot of people… people all over the world seems so fragile and sensitive.  People are losing medical insurance, poverty is prevalent, life savings can no longer guarantee future, money becomes so unstable, world market as well a local market becomes so unpredictable. In times, like these when people are down, I believe that it is healthy to think or ponder on the lives of people who succeeded under these predicaments, and perhaps be encouraged by them.  Let us go back and look intently on the life of Joseph the dreamer.

 Joseph the dreamer was not an ordinary guy.  He was his father’s favorite, he had the most colorful robe, he did not join his brothers to sweat in the field for food.  His father was wealthy, he had all the comfort in life.  Until, in a sudden turn of events, he was betrayed by his brothers, sold to an Ishmaelite which later was sold to Potiphar in Egypt.  From a comfortable life, he suddenly became a slave; he was harassed by his master’s wife, was sued for rape and eventually was thrown in prison. But his most admirable characteristic was his Trust in the Lord.

 Life in prison was not easy.  But nevertheless, I believe that he had his hope cling on the promises of God, and he knows that his situation was but temporary.  He knows that all of these experiences are part of God’s perfect plan. But in the prison, from a visionary kid who bragged on wonderful future that the Lord has promised him, his desire became simple while God’s promise remained unshaken.  In times of hardship we begin to realize how simple life can be and how easily our desire for riches can be converted to a desire of survival. When we begin to see ourselves low and we humble ourselves in the presence of a magnificent God, then God will begin to work on the things he promised.

 Joseph wanted to get out from prison, God wanted to give him promotion. He wanted to go to his father’s house, God wanted to bring Israel to him in Egypt.  He wanted to be a good servant in the foreign land, God wanted to give him and his family a place in Goshen and appoint him second in command to the Pharaoh.  Joseph wanted to save his life, God wanted to save the world through him. 

 This success that he enjoyed in his latter life was because of God’s pruning, discipline until he reaches the dependence that was required from him. His interpreting dream for the prisoner was used to interpret Pharaoh’s dream.  And his showing of God’s capacity to reveal dream enabled him to be a desirable personality in the kingdom.  Since he interpreted King’s dreams and God was exalted through him, the Pharaoh made him administrator of the whole of Egypt. Wisdom flowed through him.

 How do you think he was able to give suggestion on how to prepare for drought?  He suggested that a portion of a harvest be given to the kingdom for safekeeping until the abundance is over and once the drought begins they still have something to give to the people. He learned that in the prison!  Yes from his hardship brought forth the greatest lesson of all, the greatest tactic one can imagine,  wisdom not derived from book of scholars but through the guidance of God. 

In prison the Lord trained him to be a good steward.  You see, all things in the prison are rationed which means, unless somebody gives, they can not survive.  When hands are tied and you can not till the land, all you can do is to wait for that ration and ones you receive it, you will take care of it for there is no telling as to when can you have supply again… until another ration comes. He was trained an equation of life, he learned “division and multiplication & addition and subtraction”.  And the bible said, he was able to be a good servant even in prison because God was with him.  And when his faithfulness with small things were tested genuine,  God opened the door for bigger opportunity.  The greatest promotion one can ever have!  Joseph from being a prisoner became the prime minister of the whole Egypt saving even his own family in Canaan and the world. 

 God wants the best for us… though we may be like Joseph, imprisoned by things and situations, we have to change our hearts by the help of God, that we may trust him and thank him for everything.  Hardships and momentary troubles can be our greatest ally if we learn to see it in a different light.  A tree can never be a tree unless a seed is pushed to the ground and all the pressure breaks its shell.  Pressure, pain, discomfort, time of brokenness, probably months of being drowned in tears, are important to make a single stem to sprout and this stem when nourished well can be a big tree.  The glory of a tree comes from a moment of pressure in a place where comfort is far from reach.

May we be like Joseph… finding God in life’s darkest moments.  And may God’s promise be fulfilled in our lives. And His glory revealed in us and through us. 

 To God, all be the glory!     

Who Holds your Plan?

I’ve been receiving messages or newsletter from Lloyd Luna and somehow I felt compeled to reply.  He has good points though.  I just want to share to you what is in my heart pertaining planning your success.  And this was my letter to him.

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“Thanks for your consistent reminder of the things that i need to do to succeed in life.  I read them and even visit your sites including youtube, i was just struck by the phrase you have posted here.  “if you don’t have any plan, chances are, you’ll fall under somebody else’s plan”.

 

Well yes it is true, we can plan and i tell you, I’ve been planning my life since i was a kid and been ambitious at that. I’ve wanted to see my life prosperous,  I want to see myself an achiever but what I noticed is this… the more i plan the more i become frustrated because not all plans of ours can and will materialize.  It is until our plans and desires are aligned in what God wants us to do.  Even before we were born, God already planned something for us.  He even planned that we come out to this earth a Filipino.  And since he is the beginning and the end of everything, might as well be in tuned with what he already determined to accomplish in our lives.  Relationship with the Chairman of the Board will make things simple and satistfying.  As most Networkers said… don’t work hard, work smart.  And for me the smartest thing to do is to consult God through God’s word of the things he desires and aligning ourselves to it.  Otherwise, we may enjoy material possessions and attaining goals only to be eradicated at the end because what God determined to do in our lives will surely come to pass.   We can not go to the battle field without the word from our Commander-in-Chief right? And this thing, we can not fake.  Because we in ourselves know IF we know our Commander in Chief and if we are obeying him.

 

You have inspired so many people to push themselves to perfection and i salute you for that.  But based on my experience, human efforts are of little value unless we do it as how we hear it from God… And yes there are people who can hear him.

 

What an imperfect man can do? Our achievements are but tempory satisfactions that can be toss away in darkness.

 

Success is not in the amount of asset you have or in how many possession you can display.  It is not even a peace of mind because your future is secured financially (look at america now).  Success is knowing who is in command and fulfilling your purpose not only for this earth but for eternity. 

 

And in this case… I would love to be under someone else’s plan… the plan of someone who holds the future of each of us as individual in as much as the future of us as the nation.  The one who planed every details of history and the future of the world.

 

Into God’s hands… i commit my life and He will direct my path as he wants it.

 

God Bless. ” – end of my letter.

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“There are (Many) plans in a man’s heart but it is the will of the Father (God) that will prevail!”

Follow the Trail

 

There is a famous children story entitled “Hansel & Gretel”. 

 

Hansel and Gretel as adventurous as they were… tried to thread the path of the unknown and in order for them to ensure safe way back home and not be lost, they made a trail made of bread.  Unfortunately, those trails were eaten by birds.  When it was time for them to go home, they were lost because the trail is gone!

 

Sometimes in our lives we put trails while journeying the road to uncertainty. 

 

Humans are born to discover things and gain wisdom and understanding, whether it may be entertainment, science, business, life or love. 

 

We want to taste almost everything!  But not all can look back and find the trail to safety.  Most of the time because of our innate passion for adventure… we found ourselves trapped by circumstances and could not find that bread to lead us where we have started.

 

Israelites while they were in the wilderness for 40 years were fed by manna (bread) that pours down from the sky and they cook it the same way as they prepared wheat for bread.  They were fed for years and years even if they did not toil.  But there was a moment in the lives of those Israelites, when they felt fed up by that the same bread that they’ve been eating for generations…

 

They complained. They wanted something new.  So the Lord brought quails.  But still the unquenchable desire for new things flourished.  They still murmur.

 

People that are busy picking up the Manna (bread), will always look down and focus on the provision.  So when the body gets tired of picking up pieces then it will surely complain. Had those Israelites… tried to locate and follow the trail… It would lead them to the one who fed them and made them filled.  The provider is always a sight to behold than the provisions.

 

There’s only one bread that is “devour-proof”, and that is the Bread of Heaven Jesus Christ.  If we follow those trail of God’s goodness and love, we will surely see His Presence that is far greater than all treasure of the World!

 

If you want “Adventure”…  Follow the instruction of the Lord.

When Eve ate the Fruit

                    “for when you eat of it… you will surely die!”

Eve… Woman… Picture of Temptation!

Wait a minute… Are we really a picture of temptation or just a victim of ignorance???

What is temptation and why do we take temptation lightly? 

Temptation is a gateway to disaster…  to sin which when full blown could lead to death.

If that’s the effect of it then I think it is but right to take it seriously and perhaps scrutinize what happened in the beginning.

God forewarned Adam of what could possibly happen when he eats the fruit.  In as much as he also warned us of things to avoid because he does not want us to sin… because He is righteous even in his punishments. 

HE gave directions to his people already of what to avoid and what is ok to do. He does not delight in the death of men but rather He wants everybody to come to repentance and have life and have it abundantly.

It just that something happened way before men were created on earth… Satan was here first and his existence somehow would endanger us, so based on God’s ultimate wisdom he already spread the safety net so we wont get hurt…

But… freewill is also given. And sadly, without knowing it… ignorantly, we jump off the safe side.

But what does the eating of the fruit really mean to us?  It happenned for thousands of years already and how is it relevant to us now? Aside from the original sin and the certainty of death as a result of the curse let us go back to what happened and we will see how it still happens in modern times.

Genesis 3 – The serpent was more crafty than ever and he said to the woman “Did God really say that you must not eat of the tree of the garden?”… the story went on and finally after exchange of words the woman saw that the fruit was pleasing to the eye and good for food and desirable to gain wisdom…

Satan (the serpent), is still crafty as before.  He will always challenge our very thought of God and the very wisdom we have from His Words.  Since he was born or created long before we were and witnessed the history unfold (therefore his memory bank is like an encyclopedia), he can easily persuade anyone with his arguments and if we are not sure of ourselves and of our God then eventually we will be entangled with his schemes.  Just like Eve… we will eat the FORBIDDEN fruit!

By the way, where was Adam during that time?… You know what…? he was just looking at what Eve will do… carefully looking at what is going to transpire.  Perhaps, wondering what “Death” means… So Eve was some kind of a guinea pig… (just my personal thought, not theologically supported!) The book of Genesis said that after Eve took and ate the fruit she gave some to his husband who was WITH HER! (O..ow..he was there all the time!)

Whooo! If that’s the case I wonder why he did not desuade Eve to eat the fruit?! That I really could not understand!… but this is what I know…

In Genesis 2 – before Eve was created, the Lord took the man (Adam) and put him in the Garden. And then he commanded him to take dominion but forbid him to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil for when he eat of it he will surely die. 

Then God realized the big task he put on man “Adam” so he said that it is not good for man to live alone so he decided to create Eve!

Eve was created after Adam received the “order”… therefore, Eve was only dependent on the information that she gathered from Adam!

Eve was deceived by the serpent because Adam failed to convey the essence of the commandment!

 When the Head of the Family fail to stand for what is right (the truth of God), the whole family suffers. It is every man’s obligation (father) to take to heart the commandment of God thus protect his dominion… his family.

Do you wonder why there’s so many broken homes in the world today? … Because there are lots of Adams who are not “that” concerned with the affair of God and there are so many Eves that do not thoroughly examine the heart of the Lord, that in a simple twists of words from the devil can easily devour the seed that was sown in the heart.

Death is something but living life not according to God’s plan is a sure waste!

Do not just rely on other people’s words about God.  Ask the Lord and he will tell you.  Read His words and you will know.  Sad to say, seldom do we take God seriously and when our family collapse… we blame God or doubt God!

It is about time to know Him and his words.  Because in His Truth there is Freedom.

Don’t wait for another “Me”, who’s a product of a broken family, to suffer because “Fathers” don’t stand for the truth and “Mothers” are ignorant of the word.

People of my situation suffer beyond imagination and the scar remains until forever.

And this is my Appeal to people who are product of failed marriages…

Learn from our parents’ mistake… we can change our “Story” and make it into “HIS story” so we can make our future generation spared from all the troubles of a broken family…

There are fruits that we can eat aside from the one that is forbidden and that is the Fruit of the Holy Spirit… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. In these, there is no limit.  Eat as much as Word of God you can take.  And we will nourish our own family with it…

Then we would no longer repeat the mistake of Eve… and of Adam…

We can avoid eating that fruit… that is mistakenly interpreted as wisdom.

What Drives You?!

There are certain issues in life that we can not neglect but rather it needs to be settled in an early stage of ones growth.

In my younger years… I used to sign on Slum books which goes around from one chair to the other and if you are so friendly then it jumps from one classroom to the next.  Mostly, what is being asked there are you favorite this and favorite that. 

I remember, I asked myself once… What is it “really” that i consider my favorite color? food? Subject? so on and so forth… and if it happens that I was still undecided then i would look at other people’s answer and copy which could describe what is close to my possible response…  But not all of it are exactly what i meant or what I like. 

I used to write there that my favorite color is blue but when I look at my closet (back then) most of my clothes are yellow/brown… so what is the truth?  My actual possessions tell me that blue is not really my favorite color.  Looks like I’m more fascinated and attracted to brown! hmmmm… 

My favorite movie? I used to say horror film but in reality I’m a sucker for “Heavy” drama…

There was a question like “Who’s your crush?”… gee… it would take me years to write his name. Because my real “crush” is actually not written on paper… but in my “heart” (naks, i could fall from my seat ),  which I was so afraid to tell or write back then…

Because he might read it (whispers), and it would spoil my plans (wink wink).

SO… if we are unsure of things that we want, there’s a great possibility that we would fail to stand for it.  WE might lose it along the way and would be replaced of things that we copy from other people. 

Pretensions and lies… most of the time contaminates our discretion.  It spoils the truth until it is drifted away from our own consciousness. Sad to say there are lies that due to constant usage become real to the person who’s using it.

What is my point?!  As I said there are certain things that we need to settle at an early stage of our lives, which is “What is you Faith?”.  “Who is you God?”. “What do you believe in?”… “What drives you?”

This is a vital or integral part of ones being.  Because it dictates how you would conduct yourself.

Example… If you are a vegetarian then you would avoid anything that does not belong to a plant family. Let us say…, in a party, because your a vegetarian…your mind will tell you not to eat pork, beef or fish.  So your choices is being trimmed down by your “faith”.  If you belong to  ”muslim or jew faith” then you will avoid pork and blood. 

It will go on and on and it will surely affect your life whether you like it or not.  If you prefer not to choose which faith to believe in, then it makes you an  ”antagonist” or an “atheist” or what have you… by not choosing which is which, will still have a bearing when it comes to decision making. 

So… settle what is it that you want to believe in!  It is better to choose and not be drifted away by uncertainties. But of course, you have to have some criteria for choosing…

IF you are going to ask me… choose the truth. 

As for me… I CHOSE JESUS, I’M PROUD TO BE A CHRISTIAN… not because of anything but because, I experienced God’s divine interventions in my Life. 

With me… I can say, that He is alive, my ever present help in times of need.  My lover… My God. 

But don’t take my words for it… desire to experience it!

 

 

 

 

 

Grafted in Love

 

I have nothing to share to you but only my truth. For in this truth I have found my precious love!!!

 

In the early years of my married life God already made it clear to me, that the reason of my marriage is so that I may know, how it is to be married to my Lord, Jesus Christ.  It is a taste of eternity and an understanding of how Jesus loves his church.

 

I’m married to a man who has so many past and experiences, too decent and cultured compared to the life I was brought up with.  Our age are 4 generations apart, thus we also have cultural differences. Though he was born and raised in the country where I was born, but because of his profession as an international entertainer, he traveled the world so many times and he learned to embrace the beauty of each nation’s culture he visited, which made him a totally different person from the rest. He learned about life by experience, as I am now.

 

With a vast difference in our upbringing, we learned to love each other in a very unique way.  Everyday is a “learning in process”.  It seems like two nations becoming one and two languages producing one unique utterance. With this I understood how Jesus brought 2 nations together to be one in him, both jew and gentile though completely different in many ways but grafted together in love to one messiah Jesus (Yeshua), as me and dale are grated in love to our lord Jesus Christ as well.

 

To tell you honestly, had it not because of our faith and love to our Lord, we could have been separated long time ago.  But the love we have is a result of God’s love for us.  We experienced so many miracles and divine interventions in our very intricate relationship.  We walk hand in hand, traveling the unknown future with Jesus binding our hands and our hearts together to victory. Truly, unless the Lord builds the house the laborers are in vain.

 

I’m a product of a failed marriage and so as dale. And we exactly know how it feels to live in a broken home.  It was not a very nice feeling.  Many times in my youth, i wish to be pampered and taken cared for but because of our situation i could not find it from anyone.  I yearn and long for love and hoping that I could find it elsewhere.  I journeyed life alone with resentment to my father for not giving me the care and the love that every child deserves.  I resented my mother for leaving us to be nurtured by somebody else. I tried to be good but no one seems to care. i tried to be bad but no one seems to bother.  At an early age, I learned how to think like an adult hoping that i could seal up the emptiness in my heart. I learned things in advance compared to people of my age.  Not because i want to but because I have to. 

 

Now, looking back to all these, I realized how God protected me all this time.  I was an easy prey to any hungry predator.  But I praised God that he never allowed me to experience to succumb in dark world of “alternatives”.  I remember, when i was 5 years old, before their separation, my mother told me that life is not that easy, so she taught me how to pray to Jesus, not by prayer book or memorized prayers but how to pray from the heart.  She told me to talk to Jesus the same way as I would talk to her, and I did.

 

One year later, they got separated and i had someone to stand as my mother. My father had a hard time convincing me to accept this new phase of our lives.  I hated it. I want my mother.  This went on and on and resulted to more heated argument between me and my father. I suffered from his unrelenting beating and harsh words.  I even thought that i was not his daughter because in my young mind i had a picture of a loving father who would never take courage to hurt his offspring.  That pain i carried in my heart for a long time.  I searched for love that i could never find at home.  Then i remembered what my mother told me.  I prayed to Jesus.  and because of this i was able to get out from that ordeal.

 

If there’s one thing that I’m positive about, is the truth that my prayer saved me from evil ways of life.  I’m not perfect and no one is.  But as i develop my prayer life i discovered that there is more to it than asking and petition and that is, relationship.  In my prayer Jesus shared his life to me.  He showed me things that truly mesmerized me.  In my prayer I felt his love. the true love that I longed to see. In my prayer, Jesus revealed himself that made me keep on asking for more.  My relationship with my Lord is really something personal.  Too personal that no on could question.  The same way, my love for my husband is a surprise to everybody but at the same time no one dares to question.