Praising God in advance!

Whenever we ask a favor to our parents, friends or colleagues normally, we would always say thank you after they have done our favor.




How about when we ask a favor to our God?



Do you also give thanks or praise Him after He has done something for you?


Almost everybody does this way. Even non-Christians would do such because they are focused and very much attached to the result of their favors in prayers.


We must praise and thank Him in advance!
Praise Him for something He has not done yet.

Why so?


Because nothing is impossible with Him. (Luke 1:37)
He has the divine power to bring anything to pass101% guaranteed.
He is the only God who  is perfect and that never fails to His children who faithfully believe and do His will.



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When the Lord says No to your plans...

When I was a kiddo in the elementary, I wanted to become a policeman because I wanted to protect my country against the enemies of good. 

When I reached high school, I changed my mind and I decided to become a nurse because I wanted to help people who are sick and poor.

Before graduating from high school, my parents and brother recommended teaching as my profession for there are a lot of chances for me to land a job locally and abroad.

I finished Bachelor in Secondary Education Major in English. As soon as I graduated from college, I dreamed of working in one of the most prestigious high schools in our country.

 I applied in some of those dreamed schools but I was not accepted.

My first job was teaching Koreans with English as a second language.

Then, I taught little Koreans using the same international language.

During the end of my first year teaching, I got an offer abroad - Indonesia.

From there until now, I have been teaching little children (kindergarten) for nearly two years.

Honestly, I was so frustrated since the beginning of my journey in the realm of teaching with unexpected and out-of-plan target schools and students. All my plans for my future did not succeed. I asked why He put me in every circumstances and never favored my will to work in my dream schools. I was clueless and  I was just trying to be optimistic about God's will for me but deep inside I was weeping.

Then, unexpectedly, I was accepted in a big school. I was astounded and could not believe it was happening to me. 

How foolish I was, not considering the wisdom and meaning of my journey.

Now I have figured out the entire puzzle the Lord has given me.
I did not realize His plans working out for me because I was viewing every circumstances based on my own perspective. For without going through each jobs  I have experienced, my goal for a big school will be impossible. Each experiences I had, I was not aware that the Lord was just preparing me to meet my dream. I was not ready yet that's why He let me pass through a series of various working experiences. 

The Lord is so awesome and He really does work in a very most unexpected and mysterious ways!



Therefore,


When the Lord says no to your plans, trust Him for He knows what's best for you. View each circumstances on His perspective not on yours alone nor anybody else.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

                                                                                                        Jeremiah 29:11




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When the only thing you can do is Pray

"I called on the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me".                                                                    - Psalm 118:5

To pray - is the last resort of many people when they are hopelessly facing a tremendous problem.

This is wrong, we must not believe on what we selfishly believe. Our faith in Him can be powerful it it is made real and still.




Prayers are powerful more than what we can imagine.

Thank you Lord for inventing prayers

For you gave a way for our distress

Forgive our foolishness

That we may not look prayers less



So, let's not be surprised when the Lord answers our prayers for His power is great and His resources are endless.




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Is drinking a sin?

Is drinking a sin?

Does the bible prohibits us from drinking?

The simple answer is No.

Drinking is good not until the person gets drunk. And if a person gets drunk, he becomes foolish. His mind becomes polluted and vulnerable for misconduct such as mockery,debauchery,lust,orgies,carousing and detestable idolatry.


The bible tells us about 75 warnings about drinking and its limitations. Here are a few of them.

Isaiah 5:11-12 - Woe to those who get up early to drink and stay up late at night to get drunk.

Hosea 4:11 - Drinking wine takes away intelligence.

Luke  21:34 - Drunkenness will cause a person not ready for the Christ's return.

Proverbs 23:29-30 - Drinking causes woe,sorrow,fighting,babbling,wounds without case and red eyes.

 1 Thessalonians 5:6-7 - Christians are to be alert and self-controlled belonging to the day. Drunkards belong to the night and darkness.


As the bible repeatedly mentions about the danger of drinking, it obviously tells us that we should abstain from it before worst things may happen into our lives.

Drinking has a power to make a person get addicted to it and if that happens, the person becomes a slave of it. Many families and relationships were broken because of addiction to drinking. Therefore, we have to be watchful about it before it swallows up our entire being and lose everything we have.



Therefore, let us be moderate in drinking and let the Holy Spirit prevails and holds us up to be a good example in our community.



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In the world full of instant stuffs...

In this new age, man has become so busy everyday. Wake  up in the morning, sip some coffee, read the newspaper and go to work then after work go to eat in the fast food and go to bed. Man has become so busy to the point that he doesn't have time to prepare his meal anymore. There's one thing he cries out whenever he feels hungry: "Instant food!" He buys instant coffee, instant noodle, instant spaghetti, and so many other instant snack or meal in the food store.  Furthermore he has overlook so many things big and small that piece a bigger and a much more important picture in his life which includes quality time with his family, recreation activities, taking a walk in the park or other places to see the world around him and most especially the time to talk with the One who must be given the greatest credit.

In this world full of instant stuffs, we must also fill our lives with instant food for our heart, mind and soul. Our God should be the center of everything we do.  We must not forget that without him, we would not be able to keep ourselves busy with whatever we do right now. Don't let your job be the center of your life. Rather, let HE be the center of all things. 

Colossians 1:16 says,

For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers, or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him.

I know that we love our jobs because it's where we get the money to sustain our family  but we must love him first before anything else because he did love us first.  (1 John 4:19)

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When your only hope fades away...

I used to write poems during my  teenage years. 

I wrote poems for the girls I adored in our school campus. They would love me to write them poems because they see a light of a romantic figure on me just like Shakespeare. They see a different angle of who I am.

But when I was no longer in a relationship with any of them, it started that I couldn't write even a single verse of poem anymore. With that I believed that I should be in love again to get back on writing poems and so I did. I believed that only for girls that I could write such sweet poems. I put my hope for them which is certainly a mistake granted.

Where do you get your hope to keep you going and kick your feet in this life filled with mystery and uncertainty?

What would you do when your loved one from which you get your only hope suddenly left you or passed away? Would you still have a reason to keep going? 

In this life full of uncertainties, there's one thing that I am certain with - the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He has become my eternal and living hope. He is the one whom I put my all my hope , all my strengths and everything with all I am now because He promised that He will not leave me in my ups and downs. I have believed that any problem is nothing for He will come for our salvation that is soon to come.

For God says,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living HOPE  through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined  by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.   (1 Peter:3-7)

 

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Anger Management 101

After I have watched the stumbling video of Raymart along with his wife, Claudine  and Mon Tulfo brawling at NAIA airport, I was thinking whose fault it was. Both parties are debating and throwing accusations against each other attesting who should be blame in the scene. The audience also has their own jurisdictions as to which was the bad guy in the scene and who was the abused.

I was trying to put myself in both parties’ shoes and suddenly there’s one point I realized if I were them.

In  my opinion, fighting or dispute could have been prevented if both parties remained calm and gave chance for themselves to think over the consequences that may happen if they choose this or this. Well, sometimes, we quickly blow up especially when we are not feeling well emotionally and physically. For instance you’re at that point sick, emotionally aching, in the midst of worrying or anxious about things in your life and then all of a sudden another stressful or a much bigger apprehension came abruptly.

The Bible tells us so many things how the Paul, David and Jesus felt it and how did they turn it out to use it as a tool of advantage to correct the ways of foolishness into righteousness. (See Galatians 2:11-14,2 Samuel 12, and John 2:13-18)

Feeling anger is in our Nature and not all anger is sin.  It’s a very powerful tool that must be used to bend the ways of the wickedness or unrighteousness. Sometimes its great power is just too much to handle. Instead of us controlling it, it turns out that anger overpowers us and controls our entire being particularly our mind, emotions and actions. We lose control of it and we become a furious beast that destroys relationships and produces irreparable consequences. By the time we realize that we were wrong, it already too late to reconcile for the damage we have done.

·       The tongue is a very small organ and yet it’s so powerful. It can destroy a relationship by a single statement. Therefore, let’s be watchful with each word that comes out from our mouth.

·       Quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. (James 1:19)

·       Cast all your anxieties to Him because He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7) Pray that the Holy Spirit will remain in your mind and heart. Pray that you must be ready to act righteously whenever you face anger in your life.

Anger is an innate habit of man but when we live according to the pattern of our God, He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear; he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under any temptation. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

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