Spirit Moving

     Like it says in the scriptures, God’s Spirit is like the wind, you don’t know where it came from and you don’t know where it’s heading. Today is Sunday. It is Sabbath Day that I offer to the Lord. It is the day when God created the universe and rested. I consider it as Holy; there is no work, no idle talk, no long-distance traveling, but only true worship. You might be wondering why I follow these kinds of rules. Well, first it’s in the Old Testament, and this is my way of treating Sunday as Sacred.

     Every Sunday, I see to it that I do something for the Lord like giving food to the poor or buying Sampaguita, or sharing God’s timely message to others. Today, I shared the Word to someone. At first, I didn’t know what to say. I started out as greeting her and asking how is she. We talked about her work and the pitfalls of too much work. All of a sudden, we were talking Spiritual matters. I learned that she experienced small miracles in her life that changed her. She learned to ask and believing in herself that she is special in God’s eyes. She even learned that salvation is not only believing but also in doing (I was amazed that she learned this before I did, and I am a Christian since childhood). Now, I thought maybe my mom was right that God reveals His truths to people in different timelines. Like what my church friend once said, “In everything there is a season, a reason in everything under the Heaven.” (well, something like that) That is why, it is important to share God’s Word to others that others may also learn about it earlier in their lives, so that, they will learn to apply God’s truths and bring them what they hope for in the future.

     Note: It doesn’t matter whether you honor the Sabbath on any other day aside from Sunday. At least once a week that you prepare for this. God bless!

Failing Faith

How do we measure our faith in God? Is there a measuring rod for this? In Hebrews, the writer is telling about fellow Christians who are experiencing increasing opposition that they don’t need to be told again about the first lessons of the Christian message, which is messages about useless works, believing in Christ, or the teaching of baptism, the laying of the hands, and etc. These are milk for children, and we are not children anymore! What we need now is solid food. The measuring rod he is telling about of our faith is simply, knowing what is good and evil. I said ‘simply’ on the contrary; it is really difficult to say or know what is good or what is evil when living in this world, for this world is full of Gray Areas. However, if you are sure on distinguishing between these opposites then I might say, you are already a mature Christian, and what you need is deeper teaching, and greater understanding. How do we acquire this heavenly wisdom? It is also by His Spirit. (Hebrews 5:11-6:1-5)
     
Later on, the writer is saying that there were Christians who abandoned their faith, and sternly warned that these people will be going to have a hard time to bring them back and repent again. The writer even likened it to Christ being crucified again! (Hebrews 6:6)
     
Therefore, don’t believe if so-called Christians are saying that once you have faith in Christ, you are saved for life. I even remember the time when I asked a Christian leader regarding suicide, that if a Christian committed suicide and lost faith, will he be saved? He answered, “Yes,” since he thought that faith can never be lost, which we know is untrue according to the Bible in this verse. That is why the writer of Hebrews is warning us and at the same time encouraging us to keep our eagerness to the end, so that the things you hope for will come true. We do not want you to be lazy, but to be like those who believe and are patient, and so receive what God has promised. (Hebrews 6:9-12)

My Gelled Hair!

     Before, I prepare myself by wearing formal clothes, wearing leather shoes, gelled hair and some perfume when we go to church every Sunday. I just quietly sit back and enjoy the fanciful performance and strange language the preacher preaches. I have nothing against them, but the church is not the place for worship. Let me explain my case.
     When Jesus left Judea and went back to Galilee; on his way there he had to go through Samaria. There he met a Samaritan woman who came to draw water from the well. Jesus asked for water and told her about the life-giving water and true worship. From John 4:21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom to worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. But the time is coming and is already here, when the power of God’s Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering Him the true worship that he wants. God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”
     When Jesus said about people will not worship God on this mountain or in Jerusalem, he is telling that there is no ‘right’ place to worship God, and therefore, the church that we go on every Sunday, is not the ‘only’ place we could worship God. As he pointed out, God is Spirit, and so we cannot see God or where He is. That is why the physical place or structure where our church stands is irrelevant in our quest of true worship.
     The secret of true worship lies in God’s own Spirit within us. For it is within us that God sees our true nature, our motives, and our sincerity. It is in our hearts that God looks for not by our clothes we wear, the perfume we put or my gelled hair! God never had a Santa list that he writes how many times we go to church, or how many times we attend Bible studies or how much we donate. He looks into our hearts where our true self revealed.

Just Recently

     Just recently in the news, Tele-evangelist Pat Robertson told citizens of Pennsylvania that they rejected God by voting against “intelligent design” and warned them that disaster might struck.
     This reminded me of the verse in the bible that says that if you are ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ, he will be ashamed of you on the time of judgment. As he goes on saying, “And don’t wonder why he hasn’t helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I’m not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that’s the case, don’t ask for his help because he might not be there.”
     It’s rather peculiar to think that people believe on what they perceive rather than what they believe. That is the case about the theory of evolution. It is based on fossils and other ‘evidences’ they saw and touched, and to think that humans have a limited sense of vision (just like seeing the edge of the universe). We have to admit that we have limitations in the natural sense and in the unseen. Sometimes, rather, almost everything we do in life or the love we felt is more of a belief than what we seen or touched. And to think that we need love more than what science brings. For example, buying gadget and gizmos- things cannot fill the emptiness in us! We might be the richest man on earth or top in the fortune 500, but if there is no love, we are nothing and can never bring happiness.
Love is cannot be seen, it is something we believe in.

Living by Faith

     For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.

      For we know that when this tent we live in- our body here on earth- is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last forever. And now we sigh, so great is our desire that our home which comes fro heaven should be put on over us; by being clothed with it we shall not be without body. While we live in this earthly tent, we groan with a feeling of oppression; it is not that we want to get rid of our earthly body, but that we want to have the heavenly one put on over us, so that what is mortal will be transformed by life. God is the one who has prepared us for this change, and he gave us his Spirit as the guarantee for all that he has in store for us.

     So we are always full of courage. We know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord’s home. For our life is a matter of faith, not of sight. We are full of courage and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and be at home with the Lord. More than anything else, however, we want to please him, whether in our home here or there. For all of us must appear before Christ, to be judged by him. We will each receive what we deserve, according to everything we have done, good or bad, in our bodily life. 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10 (Today’s English Version)

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Click here to have a chance to win 1 Million Dollars!! If you get past after the exclamation point, and clicked the 'here' link several times, then you are just like me. With rising oil prices, stiff competition in the workplace, slowing businesses, tax, and gifts shopping then I couldn't blame you for trying. It seems like we are surrounded and haunted by money. Our existence is based from this piece of paper waiting to tear you apart! Like all the pastors preaching about this, it's really not reassuring that we'll live when we give. It's so hard to give after you have shed blood and sweat in acquiring it. That's why every Sunday, we just offer a small amount, good enough to keep the church running. As I've said, I can't blame you. Maybe God would understand. I really couldn't grasp the meaning of Jesus comparing us to birds, and that those birds are fed and cared for and so, we don't have to worry anything for we are much precious than birds. Can't seem to connect about that and what worry us regarding the possible pandemic. I just hope that we'll meet each other there where we don't need to have money.