I'll Praise You in this Storm

Lately, it's been raining here in my humble home town (city actually, but town sounded a lot better), Dumaguete. Oh, and it's not just the ordinary rain we're experiencing here. It's constant weather changes throughout the day, like it would be scorching hot at 8am, and then at 11am, it would be real cloudy, and then it will eventually rain at noon, and sometimes at night, we experience heavy thunderstorms. It kinda reminds me of a vision God gave me not too long ago, along with a great lesson from what has become my life verse.

Okay, so it was like this. I was just browsing around youtube, trying to find cool videos, when I stumbled upon a vid from a Casting Crowns concert of the song Praise You in this Storm. Mark Hall (lead vocals) told this story about the band meeting this young little girl whom was later discovered to have lung tumors. She eventually died. The miracle in this tale was that all the mother could say about her loss was that her little girl was God's gift, and that God had every right to take that precious gift away. I've had my share of great struggles and pains, and God just wanted me to know something. Here's my vision:

I was placed in a small rowboat

I was in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight

Everywhere led to nowhere

I was lost

Just when I thought things couldn't get much worse,

Storm clouds came in and turned the whole sky gray

I was terrified

I knew paddling out of the way of the storm was just useless

The rain poured down,

The wind blew hard,

The waves crashed,

Lightning flashed across the sky,

And the roar of thunder drowned out all sounds

I was just about to give up when I noticed someone

It was God!

And He was with me!

I looked at Him, and He looked right back

Things were vague as ever

He didn't seem like He was doing anything

The storm seemed to grow worse and worse

I was holding onto the boat for dear life

I then dared to ask,

"God, I know You're here

And I know You're doing something,

But what is it?"

God just looked at me

His eyes just filled with love and compassion

He said nothing

Hours passed

And the terrible storm continued

My arms were weary

And just when I was just about to let go,

The storm stopped

The sun began to shower its warm beams at the earth again

With just one swipe of God's hand,

I was instantly warm and dry

I turned around, and low and behold,

I was on land, sweet land

I then turned to thank God,

But He disappeared

Still I knew He never left

The vision ends here, and I realized what God tried to tell me. It's that He may choose to put us in either fine weather, or something a lot more challenging, or He could take away something dear and precious to us. You can ask Him a thousand questions about what He's doing, when it seems like He's not doing anything at all. But He will never leave you. Yes, He may choose to reveal to us why we're experiencing such storms, or what He's doing while we're in them when it seems like nothing's happening, but when He chooses not to reveal such reasons, it's because He wants us to know that we have our faith to count on that He's actually doing something while we're in trouble, and that He will never lead us in a situation we can't handle. He may choose to calm the storms in our lives, or He might choose to just ride 'em with us, but either way, blessed be the name of the Lord.

"The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, but blessed be the name of the Lord."

- Job 1:21b

Can't Handle the Dead

Truth be told, I love animals. I hopelessly fall under the spell of any puppydog eye (given that it actually came from a dog), and I just can't seem to get away from any species, except spiders, because I'm super arachnophobic. I can handle snakes, lizards, praying mantises, dogs, cats, turtles, doves, fish, rodents, and the like. But something that involved and animal, our home and the dead opened my eyes to two verses that I like. 

Here at home, we have had a serious rodent problem for a while. The rat's been chewing off some of our things and hoarding pencils, batteries, and other small objects behind the microwave oven, not to mention the occasional food robbery. 

        Last night,  I (finally) decided to set up the mouse trap for little Whiskers (the mouse’s nick). It was a real conflicting experience for me coz I knew I was going to kill something that had a face, but if I had to choose between having my closet raided and demolished by a mouse and setting up the trap, then setting up the trap wins hands down. Besides, God gave humans authority over animals ("whew!"). 

        So last night, I set up the trap and placed it near the microwave oven, and just left it there. At midnight, while watching TV, we (the family), heard a loud snap in the kitchen. I knew exactly what the sound was, and the three of us (me, mom, and brother) rushed toward the kitchen and saw what got caught in the miniature bear trap. I tell you, it wasn't a mouse that got caught, but a big, fat, R.A.T. (rodent accountable for turmoil)! I have no problems whatsoever with rats (except ones with rabies), but when I saw the thing, squirming around with all that is left of its strength to free its head from the trap, I honestly didn't know how to react. All I knew that there was a vermin in on the counter, dying. We all just decided to wait until Whiskers finally laid down his life. 

        So a few minutes passed, and we finally decided to take the little (and by little, I mean freakishly huge rat) guy out. When we approached the dead thing, it turns out that none of us wanted to do the job. I had no idea what was in my family's minds, but all I knew was that someone had to do it, but nobody wanted to. I can honestly handle most anything BUT spiders and the dead! I really hate it if I'm made to bury or throw away a dead animal (e.g. cat, chicken, toad) that died in our yard, especially if the carcass was swarming with flies and smelled like rotting flesh.

         Anyway, going back to the subject, we took turns using the garden tongs to relocate the trap and the mouse. My mom went first, and was only able to move it a few inches closer to the edge of the counter. I took my turn, but I noticed that the moment I tried to do the job, I couldn't move my arm. Only my hands were alive at that moment, so I suggested that I would be the one to control my hands, while she was to one to control my arm, and it worked! We placed Whiskers in an orange plastic and decided to throw him out the next day and placed him somewhere outside the house.

         Okay, so on the next day, when my mom headed out the door with two other plastic bags covering her hands, I knew exactly what was on her mind. We had to separate the dead rat from the trap before we had to throw him out. My mom tried to separate Whiskers from the trap but was unable to because when she opened the hinged part of the trap, it took the rat's face along with it, so she panicked! So that neither of us would be able to see the dead rat, we placed it back in the plastic. My mom would open up the trap while I held the dead rat from outside the plastic. Everything felt numb. To top it off, I got a glance at his blood! Maybe I just watch a little too much horror movies, or sci-fi, I just don't know. All I knew a while ago was the situation freaked me out.

         I asked help from God, thinking, "God, please help us with this!" After that, nothing felt different, and I felt like I didn't have any access to God's presence, but I had to believe that He was there. I even thought, "Oh sure, leave us alone while we handle the dead rat. Thanks for the help!" (hahahah), but I knew He never left.

         Eventually, we got his bloody head out of the trap, and placed him in three plastic bags and placed him somewhere where we will never have to see him again. Bye bye Whiskers!

         The little shenanigan taught me a little something. It's that "for the sake of His great name the Lord will not reject His people, because the Lord was pleased to make you His own (1Sam12:22)." God "loves us too much (Hosea11:8b)" to leave us in fear.

('~')v

 

Law and Faith

"It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression."

- Romans 4: 13-15

The perspective of the world on faith and law hasn't changed much. If both aren't the same, they're two separate gears which don't mesh well together.

However, the apostle Paul never lost sight upon the difference, and the importance of both when it comes to salvation. Paul was constantly debating with the religious leaders, and most of the people during his time. People always made their forefathers Abraham and Moses as an excuse when it comes to salvation, that following the law is the gateway to heaven, and the law is faith, and the faith that Paul always talked about was void. Although it's a safe belief, it's useless, and intimacy with our Father in heaven has diminished and has been disregarded.

Paul wrote to the Romans that "it was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise... but through the righteousness that comes through faith (v.13)." Again, good works and obedience are not enough to attain salvation if you do not believe "it was through the obedience of Jesus Christ that many will be made righteous (Rom5:19b)." Remember, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom3:23)." EVERYONE has sinned, and none have even accomplished a day of perfection. Besides, "for the wages of sin is death (Rom6:23)."

Paul further explains that "if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless. (v.14)" If salvation is based only on the law, and intimacy and faith have no role to play, then God's love for us is worthless and the death of Jesus Christ on the cross was done in vain, and anyone would head straight towards hell. You see here that "law brings wrath (v15a)."

The only way to repay sin is if a sinless person offered to take your punishment, then justice would be served, and you could go free! Paul hopefully and faithfully preached this truth about salvation to the world. But Paul made it clear that just because this is the truth about salvation, it doesn't mean we should ultimately disregard the law of God. "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? BY NO MEANS (Rom6:15)!" The law is as important as faith!

Paul then states that "where there is no law, there is no transgression (v15b)." God's wisdom and understanding is unfathomable "for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. (Isa55:9)." Although sin isn't God's will, He allowed for it to happen to glorify His name, and His name alone! God designed for us to have free will so that we will have the capacity to love. If we were made with no free will, then love will not exist. The only way for love to exist is if we would love, despite the fact that we could have chosen not to. Love does, in fact, bloom if we are put in a situation wherein it is tested. That's one of the reasons why we are placed in this earth.

It was man who chose sin, instead of obeying God's law. Because of sin, man has fallen into the abyss that leads to the place "where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." But because God loves us so much, He reached out His hand to us so that we could grab it, and stop our falling.

God designed everything to be so that we may see how great and powerful He really is, and so that we may enter the gates of heaven.

My First Sunday Service at Calvary

okay, i know it may seem wierd and erratic to write a blog about my first time n a place on a sunday, but still, this day was a great day for me! heheh

so, this morning, i woke up at 9am, and foud my mom here on the computer.. i asked her if i could attend the sunday service (because my mom's catholic) because a friend invited me there, and miraculously, with no arguments whatsoever, she said yes. PRAISE GOD!!

so i got ready, and got there by 10:00, which was awkward because the 2nd service didn't start until 10:30, so i was early with a near empty stomach (!!!).

some of my friends were surprised, but nonetheless, happy to see me there for the first time on a sunday.. let me tell you, although it was exactly what i thought it would be (singing praises, listening to the word while drowning out the loud cries of my rumbling stomach, as warned by Matti), i loved every moment of it..

i sat with a new friend, Joe (well actually, sarah forced me to sit with him because he was new, but we already met the friday night before and became fast friends) and ate Kim, and listened to pastor Joe as we covered one part of Rev.12..

Praise the Lord because it was at that morning that God's voice is made even more clear to me.. if we expose our sin to Him, and ask forgiveness, He will forgive us, and forget our transgressions because He knows our worth..

as it says in the Psalms 130:3-4, "If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord who could stand? But with You, there is forgiveness; therefore You are feared." for as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Ps 103:12) for from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear Him...(v. 17).

i learned from that service how to discern Spirit Conviction from Satanic Accusation

Spirit Conviction:

1. the Holy Spirit will not convict sin that is confessed

2. the Holy Spirit is always specific of the sins you've comitted

3. the Holy Spirit always points you to confession and solution

Satanic Accusation:

1. the Devil will remind us of our sins from the past and tries to convince us we're no forgiven

2. the Devil hardens the heart from repentance

3. the Devil makes you feel hopelessly unclean

as God continues to mold and shape us all, we continue to grow, and He will not only show more to us the truths and possibilities of His love, but He will also pour us with it, so long as we continue to open up our hearts and listen to His word

PRAISE BE ONTO THE LIVING GOD!!!

Words That Just Flew Out

I know what you’ve been through

I know your pains

I know your struggles

I remember

I remember when the enemy struck a painful blow on you

I remember when you stumbled when the wind blew

I remember when you fell when the waves crashed

I remember the moments you used to kindle the fire of pain in your heart, spending it on your own self-destruction

I remember every tear you shed for I counted them

I remember your sleepless nights

I remember when you began to lose hope

I remember when darkness consumed you

But I sought you

Why?

Because you are my flock

You are my child

You are my beloved

Though the storms begin to strike,

Though the tides begin to rise,

Though the world may crumble,

I am your only shelter.

Come hide under my wings

Come feel my warmth

Come smell my scent

Come receive my love for you

Fret not when you do so.

You continue to stray

You continue to run from me

You continue to hide from me

Still I rush to find you

For my love for you is too strong

Now that I’ve found you weary,

I invite you back to come rest in me

Every wound that causes you pain, I will heal.

Every scar that reminds you of such pain, I will take away.

Every bit of sadness, I will replace with joy.

Everything in you, I will renew.

All your cries I have heard

All your prayers I have answered

You were never abandoned

You were never forsaken.

Cast your burdens on my feet.

Look to me for strength and your eagle’s wings will span and you will soar over the ruins of the past.

Come take off your old self so I can cleanse you

Come receive your new self and put it on.

I am your savior

I am your king

I am your lover

I am your friend

Now take my hand and hold it, and together we shall walk to eternity.