No More Condemnation (Romans 8:1)

There is this song that blesses me so much whenever I listen to it.
It's called "The Nails in Your Hands" by Mercy Me. I sing this song more often now to remind myself of the great love of God for all of us. Here's how it goes.

The nails in your hands
The nail in your feet,
they tell me how much you love me
The thorns in your brow,
they tell me how, you bore so much shame to love me.

And when the heavens pass away,
all your scars will still remain,
and forever they will say,
how much you love me.
Forever my love, Forever my heart
Forever my life, it's yours, it's yours.


Amen. Enjoy the benefits of Christ's death on the cross.

HAPPY TO OBEY

I find joy in serving the Lord. This is becoming truer and truer for me as a youth leader in my church. Everyday I get more and more excited to serve the youth I am called to love with all my life. Not to sound dramatic, but I guess this is how far now I have been moved by the love of God.

Although serving the Lord is not always smooth, you still need to rise up from your bed and do what you have committed yourself to do. It is an everyday decision that you and I have to make. I believe that the greatest force which will negate your passion for Christ is coming from yourself. Laziness, addictions, pride, lust: all these and more would kill your passion to advance the kingdom of God.

Do you believe that there are anointed people to make you stronger by hurting you or by annoying you? (Laugh) Their purpose in life is to pull people down. I must say I have a lot of them. And I guess they love to obey too. There are times, these people will judge you and what you are capable to do. For some, being not able to study in a Bible school disqualifies you to serve in God's ministry. If not to disqualify, they think this is a ground to belittle you.Even your leaders can sometimes do things you are not expecting them to see them doing or say words you are not expecting to hear from them. They too can be anointed to make your leadership much more influential. Their ideas can sometimes be against your plans which you have already been conceiving for weeks or months. Still the best thing to do is to obey. To obey with all your heart. No murmuring. Without a percent of rebellion. "Is this wise to say or do? What if it is my idea that is right and is from God and not my leader's suggestion?", one may argue. I say you put your trust unto God and believe that He is in control. I say you learn to submit unto God and to the authorities He has placed above you. If it turns out that you are correct and your leader is wrong, still you can rest assured that God, whose name is above all names, still knows what to do. If it is the opposite, you thank God you have learned to submit. Thank Him too for His perfect timing and brilliant plan.

I can say this because I have learned this lesson during my first year in the ministry. It is so liberating to know that God will never let you go wrong as long as you fully trust Him. I f people do not like you or throw away your ideas or reject your service, you smile. Lock yourself in a room and pray. Get out of the room after and do something that will help you feel good. Nothing may change in an instant. These people may still not like you; may still throw away your ideas; may still reject your offered service but at least you have already entrusted everything unto God. Now smile some more.

And all you people who have learned to trust God, at the top of your lungs, with eyes closed, with arms lifted up, shout, "I AM HAPPY TO OBEY!" (Laugh)

People Helping People Succeed

Every time I go to church where I work, I always see this company motto written on the building entrance that says, "People Helping People Succeed". It makes me think of the small group of teenagers and young adults I am taking care of. For almost 2 years now, I've been taking care of this group although I've already known most of them for four years since the day I came back to God.

People helping people succeed - what a good thought to keep in mind. But it won't happen if the one who desires to help other people will not receive the help he needs to be able to help. :) I hope I make sense to you.

This group that I am looking after is not easy to handle. They aren't the same in many aspects. So when we are together especially during our cell group meetings, I must approach each of them in a manner different from the others. But because of this uniqueness, you would really be amazed of how God has grouped my cell members. But there are common denominators that you will observe among them. Each has a talent to share to everyone. All of them are deeply in love with God.

The vision of Government of 12 is a great leading from God to follow Jesus' example. Christians and Christian churches should not stop battling after winning thousands of souls for Christ.The battle should be continued until they have been completely discipled and become like Christ. True measure of success is seen when these people you have looked after for quite some time start raising up leaders too.
To be able to reach this goal, the leader should understand that he himself should never stop growing and learning. That is because the day you stop growing is the day you stop leading. A youth dancer in my church once told me, "Teaching other youth how to dance is like learning twice as much."

unang langit :)

Ganito pala kaganda ang pwede natin makita sa itaas ng mga naglalakihang buildings sa Metro Manila at nagtataasang mga bundok sa iba't ibang lugar. Sobrang galing ng Gumawa nito. Mamamangha ka sa sobrang ganda. First time ko. :)

PERFECT LOVE

One evening, as I was doing my every night self-check, I felt really scared. Suddenly I got scared about a lot of things concerning my service. As I work full-time in the ministry, I realized that there are a lot of things that I should be cautious about. I was scared I might...

• get proud because of the growth of the youth ministry in my church family.
• be stealing from God the glory He alone deserves.
• be lacking in the skills that I need to have as a leader.
• be competing already and not connecting anymore with people.
• not be handling the youth the way I should be handling them or the way they should be loved.

Those fears that inflicted me that evening prompted me to seek God with all my heart. It moved me to the place where God wanted me to be - in His presence. I was led to simply entrust everything to Him and in exchange, receive His perfect love. I learned that perfect Love casts out fear.

In the book, 1st John, chapter 4 verse 18, God is telling us, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

The Word of God just nailed it. It drove the fears away. I came to realize that as I continue receiving love from my Father in heaven, I would stay also in love with the youth I am discipling for them to be Christ-like. If there is someone who knows how the youth should be taken cared of, it will be the One who created them. Right? The same Person would perfect the love I give to the people I am called to serve. At the foot of the cross, my heart would be filled with that love and everyday I'm gonna go back there for me to have some perfect love to share.

I gotta have more of that PERFECT LOVE from Jesus, our perfect Lover.

loving sandpaper people

I was invited to preach in a church located somewhere in Cubao near EDSA. Actually, it was already my second time to be invited to preach in that church and this time I was asked to share something about being one with Christ. Before my outline got completed, before it got clear to me what I was supposed to preach, I had to understand first hand how it is to be one with Him.

Have you ever heard of sandpaper people? They are the ones in our lives that God is using to make our character become God-lier. Well, I know a lot of them and I must say it is not easy to have them around. When I broke up with my ex-girlfriend (now a good friend and co-worker in the ministry), issues arose about the break up. She heard a lot which affected our plan of having a good exit from the previous relationship we used to have. Several people who, I understand, just wanted to help her started entering the picture even if they didn't have to. I guess they weren't anointed by God to help. Or should I say, they weren't able to ask God how they were supposed to help their friend (my ex-girlfriend). One of these people actually started opening to his other church friends what had happened even if he didn't have to; even if they don't have to hear it.

When I confronted the boy, he was telling me in a language unusual for a Christian to use that he was just doing what he thought was right for his friend. He really thought he was helping his friend. As the conversation done through exchange of text messages went on, he started telling me words purposed to hurt me. I really had to seek God during that time and ask Him what was His plan and what was His reason why He had let me hear those words. And I got answers. I regained peace. Whenever his words would pop in my mind, God would also remind me of the answers I received from Him during that time; and peace would fill my heart again and again. For a person who is working full-time in the church ministry, it is kinda hurtful to hear people telling you that it was a big mistake to see you in the position of serving people because you were not supposed to be there. It is heartbreaking to hear them questioning your calling from God. Cliche this may sound but it is true: we cannot please everybody.

I have learned to depend on God and to trust His words. And because of constant encouragement I was receiving from God, a stronger hope arose from my heart . I gained confidence in doing all the things He has called me to do. The church attendance of the youth doubled in two weeks. The high school students I was consolidating showed interest and excitement in their walk with God. Success after success happened. But it was not over yet. With myself I am already restored. But with the person who has said too much against me, it was not yet a victory to consider.

In Colosians 3:12, in the Tagalog version of the Bible, it is written, "Kayo'y hinirang ng Diyos, itinalaga para sa Kanya at minamahal Niya. Kaya't dapat kayong maging mahabagin, maganda ang kalooban, mapagpakumbaba, mabait at matiisin."

There you go, it was such a wonderful encouragement from God but at the same time a strong rebuke. The first sentence reminds us that we are called for His glory. It is Him who chose us and no one could question our calling. And since it is He who called us, we should be at our best in all the things that we do, offering them to God with thankful hearts because of His great love for us. The second sentence for me is a rebuke. It is so easy to love back a person who is good to you, someone who do you no harm. but what about a person who can do you absolutely no good? What difference will you make with those people in the world who fight back when they get hurt by somebody? I had to choose between fighting back or loving back in response to what the person did. I was reminded to mimic Christ in that situation where i was into. And I thank God for Jesus who is the foundation of my faith. I was led to reminisce what Jesus did for me. He chose the nails even if I don't deserve it. He knew how I have sinned against Him and yet to love me was and is still His earnest desire. I got inspired to love that person back and to let go of the idea of fighting back. It felt even better when I decided to delete all his messages in my phone in-box.

That was the preparation God had to let me undergo before finally letting me face the congregation of that church who I was supposed to meet that Sunday morning. It became easier for me to share the Word of God because God had made it true and alive to me.

This is our God. So faithful. So loving.