I was reading through my old blog this morning in my multiply page (which I copy-pasted below) and I was reminded of God's faithfulness thru this verse..
"The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust Him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving" (Ps.28.7.NLT)
It's always a blessing reading through God's word... truly, it's a good source of encouragement :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tough times don't last, but tough people do!"
What a pretty strong and motivating words from an optimist. I found this line in one of the books I’m reading currently. This phrase allow us to move forward and give us the courage to overcome any obstacles.
I remember when the Apostle John wrote about what Jesus have said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.”
Jesus is an overcomer! He is indeed “tough” for He overcome the world! Imagine the rejections, the persecutions, the bruises and all the pains He experienced (which He didn’t deserved but He endured anyway because of His love for us), He surpassed all of them! Some skeptics might argue, “of course he can engage himself into that because he is God or at least he claims to be God.”
Well yes, God’s power alone is incomprehensible (Please read through Psalm 145:3/Isaiah 55:8-9). What’s striking about what Jesus had stated is that He conquered the hardest phase in His life without any Godly powers. He lived like one of us (remember Jesus was the Word and the Word become flesh). Knowing that He went through so much torture during His last days here on earth, the kind of torture that neither of us would be willing to undergo nor we’d be able to withstand, He alone have triumphed over these whole ordeal! You can almost hear the pain, we as humans are likely to feel if we’re on the same situation, when he cried out “Father, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Yes tough times don’t last and they are part of this world we're living in. But tough people do! If you watch Fear Factor, Amazing Race, and even the funny “I survived the Japanese Game Show,” their common challenge is.. "will you be tough enough to survive?"
Can we imitate Jesus in trying times? That if we pray to take the cup of difficulties away from us, are we able to pray as well that if it’s God’s will then let His will be done?
Dear Father, we know that tribulations are bound to happen, but we also believe that they are just temporary. Allow us to see these challenges as opportunities. The opportunity to become a strong-willed individual, and the opportunity to draw us closer to you, knowing that you are the source of our strength and in you comes perfect peace. For your power is made perfect when we are weak.
God bless y'all! c",)
| [+/-] |
Hangin' tough.. |
| [+/-] |
Don't stray.. don't ever go away... |
I've been hangin' around this time in the corner... hehe, LSS.
I'm still waiting for my boss to check the task I submitted yesterday. Meanwhile, allow me to share what God has reminded me today...
----------------------------------------------------
It's amazing and quite exciting to see how technology advances, agree? And sometimes we find ourselves being lured by these latest techs (usually housed in a soap-like shiny plastic with tiny buttons) that we even wish to own one, though what we currently hold still meets our basic needs (ouch! I must say, haha).
Or, there may be times when we get overturned by something and we wanted to just avoid exposing ourselves to what had caused our distressed.
Two strong emotions, excited and upset; the former might lead us to focus on one thing while the latter might cause us to change our course. I remember asking someone when I was a child, "why do they put blinders on race horses? And the plain answer is, to keep 'em from looking sideways & keep their heads pointed in straight direction. So even the 4-legged creature needs to be guided by this so-called "blinders" so they don't lose focus towards the direction their master wants 'em to go.
Which direction are we looking now? Was there anything that stirred our emotions to be disappointed or perhaps be very excited about? How has these affected our focus? And the most important question is, are we fixing our eyes onto something rather than on Jesus? These are just general questions and I'm blessed to read today's devotion because it reminded me of these things. There are a lot of things in this world that can either draw our attention or can cause distractions, and it could be a struggle to some. But if we know to whom we should be fixing our eyes on to, then I believe we'll never sway, reyt? =)
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1,2)
God bles y'all!
- Jep c",)
Today's Devotion
January 20
Keep Your Eyes on Him
But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" (Matthew 14:30, New American Standard Bible).
Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33
Song: "Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus"
Imagine how much more fun Peter could have had in his water-walking experience. If he would have kept his eyes on Jesus, he could have walked directly into his master's happy embrace. But Peter didn't keep his eyes on Jesus. He turned to his left and saw the crashing waves. He jerked to the right at the sound of the howling wind-and he began to sink.
I sometimes do something similar. It seems the longer I pray for a certain thing, the harder it is for me to trust God with it. Doubts come in waves, crashing into my confidence. And I begin to sink, questioning the very thing I believe most: Does God really answer prayer? Will He ever answer mine?
After studying today's Scripture, I realized that doubts only come when I focus on my dire circumstances rather than the power of my Savior. Doubts fill my mind every time I take my eyes off the Lord of all. O, how much more fun when I keep my eyes on Jesus!
Almighty and ever-living God, forgive me for sometimes looking away from You, sinking into worry and doubt. Please, quickly grab my attention every time I look in the wrong direction. In the name of Jesus, Lord and Savior of all, I pray. Amen.
(This devotion is from the book, 365 Devotions.)
| [+/-] |
Save Me |
I was listening to RX931 live streaming earlier, and in relation to the Philippines' National Heroes Day their discussion topic was somethin' like.. "what is the most heroic deed you've done in your life?"
There were funny responses, and there were also serious ones.. some jaw-dropping stories, to which all you can utter is.. "wow!"
But I guess some will choose not to share theirs. We'll probably just learn about their stories through some people who witnessed the person's heroic act(s). These people are like those fictional heroes where their looks is far from their real identity. Like for the case of Clark Kent who hides his true identity by wearing eyeglasses, hahaha. This is the reason why I'm wearing glasses too (ngeks!) But people often mistaken me for Lex! nyahaha (you know, for obvious reason, hehe)
I believe some of us have stories to tell when posed with the same question. While others will simply have heroes of their own, be it fictional or true heroes of their lives.
Rizal, through his novels (one of his original manuscript can be seen here), was labeled as the Philippines' National Hero. His fearless exposure of the injustices committed by civil spanish officials gave him this mark.
While at the Hall of Justice, SuperFriends (headed by Superman), were on standby and alert, ready to save the world (well, in DC comics)
Seriously though, in times of trouble to whom do we cling on to? I know of a Hero who never hides His identity. Always ready to help. Always there by the call of His name. I believe He is everybody's hero for He chose to die to save the world. Because a hero cares. And now He lives supernaturally to guide and protect us. Because a hero saves. And He's the only hero who gives us strength in times weakness.
So if I am to shift the question to.. "Who do you think is your greatest hero?"
I hope we share the same answer :)
Save Me
Artist: Remy Zero
(Theme from the TV Series Smallville)
I feel my wings have broken in your hands
I feel the words unspoken inside
And they pull you under
And I would give you anything you want to know
You were all I wanted
All my dreams have fallen down
Crawling around
Somebody save me
Let your warm hands
Break right through me
Somebody save me
And I don't care how you do it
Just stay woo hoo
Stay
Come on
I've been waiting for you
I see the world has folded in your heart
I feel the waves crash down inside
And they pull me under
I would give you anything you want to know
You were all I wanted
And all my dreams have fallen down
Crawling around
Somebody save me
And two warm hands break right through me
Somebody save me
I don't care how you do it
Just stay whoo hoo
Stay
Come on
I've been waiting for you
Crawling around
Somebody save me
And let your warm hands break right through me
Somebody save me
I don't care how you do it
Just save you and me
I've made this whole world shine for you
Just stay
Stay
Come on
I'm still waiting for you
| [+/-] |
He split Time! |
Chinese civilization develops under Shang Dynasty (1500-1000 BC)
Solomon succeeds King David, builds Jerusalem temple (1000–900 BC)
Confucius was known to be born sometime 551 BC
Goths invade Asia Minor sometime A.D. 220
Constantine the Great rules (A.D. 312–337)
Vikings and Danes attack Britain (A.D. 988–1000)
In the above historical events, what do you notice? Yes, these are just some of the recorded ancient history. But have you also noticed how historians and archaeologists dated the occurrences of these events? They used BC (meaning "Before Christ") and the abbreviated Latin phrase AD (which means Anno Domini or in plain english means "in the year of our Lord"). Although some would prefer to use the terms "Before Common Era" (BCE) and "Common Era" (CE), they actually have the same meaning.
What is the importance of this? It means Christ's existence on earth is not just as important as those ancient history, rather His existence have become the point reference of the history itself! His "story" was written in every major events in the history, imagine that. Let's take for example the events I listed above. Dating that these historic events occurred sometime between 1500 BC and AD 1000 gives us the idea concerning how old these significant stories really were. If I am to calculate the exact number of gregorian years or julian days from these given timings to this date, of course I would be needing a point of reference. It is like calculating the number of hours needed to travel going from point A to point B. We first identify what variables are involved. So in this case, BC and AD signifies our point of reference.
We can say that the space is divided when God created the heaven and earth in the beginning.
And when God created light, He separated light from the darkness.
In Exodus, we can find a very significant story when Moses, through God's power, divided the red sea.
And in Matthew, we can see two accounts where Jesus divided the loaves and fishes to feed thousands of people.
The bible too was divided in two, where the life story of Jesus began in the new testament.
These leads me into thinking about how our time was divided. A split second may be fast, but you'll discover that a lot might have taken place in that brief moment of time in different corners of this world. In history, the event that split time marked the period when our savior came, which makes us even more conscious regarding Jesus' impact to our world.
What is the impact of His presence in your life? I guess one can narrate his/her own story when he/she first came to know our Savior. We can actually use the same dating method, like how is your life "Before Christ?" and how has Jesus changed your life after you accepted Him into your heart (your own Anno Domini timing or simply your triumphant days/years with the Lord in your heart)?
Jesus' birth was very significant and powerful that we even date our time from it. He split the time!
Thanks for reading. God bless you all!
Some Suggested Reading:
*Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes, yet there are only 24 hours in a day?
*Jesus - Our Salvation
Suggested Music:
*BC+AD Who Split Time?
(I own a copy of this CD. The songs are really inspiring, and this album inspired me to write this blog.)
| [+/-] |
Why hast thou forsaken me? |
"My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?"
I guess there might a lot people asking the question "why did Jesus cried out these words?" When I was a young boy, I did asked the same question not just once. And the usual follow up question to this is "Did God really abandoned Jesus [His One and only beloved son - Luke 3:22] when He was suffering on the cross?" Also during that time, people who mocked him baffled and said, "He saved others; he cannot save himself!" Matthew 27:42
As I eagerly tried to discover and learn the real message behind these words, it all summed up to one compelling reason.. God's love for us.
What is the significance of this cry and why did Jesus uttered those words if He knew what would happen to him in the first place? (please see Matthew 16:21 and Mark 10:33-34, where he predicted his own death). Actually, the exegesis of these words of Christ from Matthew 27:46 is two-fold. We can observe that (1) Jesus was in real agony and that (2) He was quoting from the scripture, i.e. the first verse of Psalm 22. I'd like to think that the former is about Jesus' real emotion from sufferings, and the latter is about His wisdom. Okay let's try to dissect this a bit and see how we can relate to it.
Jesus in agony
If a friend of yours have a hammer and he suddenly bashed your big toe with it, how would you react? You might cry in pain and ask the big WHY?!? Hehe, okay let's try not to be brutal here. Suppose someone is terminally ill or maybe experiencing great adversity; as humans, people under these circumstances might cry out and speak one of these phrases, "Why is this happening to me?" "When will this come to an end?" "Why did God forsaken me?"
Jesus was just like me and you when He lived here on earth. A being. A word that became flesh and made his dwelling among us. He faced humiliation. He felt the pain. There were blood coming out of His wounds. He even got thirsty Jn 19:28. And the difficult part was, he carried the entire burden of mankind. Following these, we can deduce that it was not just physical pain brought about by the lacerations on his weakening body on the cross and crown of thorns on his head, he was also in emotional pain. He was so concerned about his people that he even humbly asked God to forgive them for being caught unaware of their wickedness Luke 23:34. So it's not but normal that any beings undergoing such sorrow is likely to utter the same throbbing words. Jesus was in agony when he said those words.
And as written, this had to occur in order to fulfill God's redeeming grace for us, his people. God did not totally abandoned Jesus, it was all in accordance to his divine plan. Isaiah 53:10
Jesus quoting from old testament scripture
Read through the entire passages in Psalms 22:1-31 and you will discover that the words of King David transpired during Christ's crucifixion. Was it a prophecy? According to bible scholars it was a prophecy.
6 ..scorned by mankind and despised by the people
7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
16 ..they have pierced my hands and feet
18 ..they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots
Did King David really experienced this? Or it was just a cry of his grieving heart, sort of like an anguished prayer from suffering unjustly? But the real turn of events of what was written here ensued during Christ's sufferings. Jesus hands and feet were literally pierced. "And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots." Matthew 27:35. We all know that being crucified means being NAILED to the cross Acts 2:23. So we can also conjure that King David's prayer to God narrated in Psalm 22 was merely prophesying about the Messiah's fate.
So when Jesus shouted in pain "My God, My god, why hast thou forsaken me?" He was somewhat declaring to the people, by quoting from the first verse in Psalm 22, that the sufferings of Christ that was written has come true on that day at the calvary.
Jesus' last words were.. "it is finished" Jn. 19:30
Notice that the last phrase in Psalm 22 is.. he has done it!
To conclude my seemingly long blog, hehe, about these significant words of Jesus, well I strongly believe God did not forsake his son.. He did all these to fulfill his plan to redeem the world of our sin. God loves us! "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jn. 3:16
God knows our feelings and our concerns. So when you feel like asking the same question to Him, please remember that He's not turning his back on you. And I believe it's okay to tell God how we feel even in the form of WHY questioning. BUT we must also try to seek wisdom from Him so that we'll not disintegrate, instead remain strong, knowing victory is just one step away.
Thanks for reading and may you all have a blissful and meaningful week.
ciao! c",)
