Saying YES to Him

Saying YES to God as He deals with me... HE is Lord in the first place!

Enough of my pride, time to deny myself because it is the right thing to do!

REPENT and LET GO indeed! 

Enable me Lord to do Your will, to do what is pleasing before You, for Your glory! 

Audience of the One

This was how God spoke to me in my quiet time few months ago...
That He wanted me to have an undivided, an upright and blameless heart before Him!
It may have been few months since then but it is STILL resounding!
So, Yes Lord, focus on pleasing You alone! :)

His faithfulness despite...

"I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,in love and compassion.

I will betroth you in faithfulness,and you will acknowledge the Lord."

-Hosea 2:19-20

One thing that God taught me through reading His word in the Old Testament, is that His faithfulness is never dependent on how faithful or unfaithful or obedience and/or disobedience His people are [both Israel during those time and the elect among the Gentiles today]. He is faithful because that is who He is. He is faithful because He is God and we are mere men, created beings.

How humbling is that! We are undeserving but He continuously extends His grace towards us, His people [the body of Christ]...

Thank You, Lord for who You are! :) 

No excuses!

13 No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it. -1 Corinthians 10:13

No one should ever say that his/her trial is just for him/her. It is clear in His word.  Therefore, we have no excuse to fall and sin when facing trials.  God is faithful, look to Him.

This is just one great reminder for me. 

Amen. 

Been singing this to Him

Your steadfast love extends to the heavens
Your faithfulness it reaches to the clouds
Your righteousness is like majestic mountains
And your wisdom like the depths of the seaAnd you come to me...

Filling my heart with your loving kindness
I find my peace in the shadow of your wings
I eat my fill from the abundance of your household
And I drink from the streams of rejoicing

You are my King...

"Your Steadfast Love" by Don Moen

When it's hard to give thanks

Today I received a sad news.

But then God is just faithful! He reminded me of two verses today when I was on my way home, crying...

"...in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." -1 Thessalonians 5:18

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." -Romans 8:28

This is the difficult part. To give thanks when the matter for you is not worth thanking God for. But His word says in everything, meaning there is no exception. And yes, not this one!

As a child of God, I have to be thankful for everything because everything happens for my own good, in accordance to His good and perfect will.  All I need to do is to trust in Him and take Him at His word.

And then boom!

He made me realize that this "sad news" is a wonderful opportunity for us (my husband and I) to level up on our trust in Him and for us to be amazed once again on how He will work our life as we build our family.  And with that, His peace ruled in my heart supernaturally.  He didn't allow myself to be eaten up by my ego and for me to be consumed by my being a "control freak of my life" because He is the One in charge, and not me.

He has proven Himself to be faithful to me, many, many times.  Why would I doubt now, right?

Thank You Lord for who You are.
Thank You for Your faithfulness.
Thank You because You are trustworthy.
Thank You because I have Your word to affirm and encourage me.
Thank You Holy Spirit for helping me keep things in Your perspective.
Thank You Jesus for there is forgiveness in You, and for Your righteousness imputed upon me.
Thank You dear God, for everything that You are.

PS... Yes, I was crying habang naglalakad papunta sa EDSA. Good thing I had my shades on! Lol!

Resounding still

This verse has been resoundingin my head since Wednesday last week... It has changed my perspective on everything that is going on in my life from that point on...

 "And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose..." 

-Romans 8:28 

 Thank You for your comforting truth! :)

Proverbs 30:7-9

Two things I ask from you; do not refuse me before I die:
Remove falsehood and lies far from me; do not give me poverty or riches, feed me with my allotted portion of bread, lest I become satisfied and act deceptively and say, "Who is the LORD?"
Or lest I become poor and steal and demean the name of my God.

A song of love to You....

♫ Because of who You are
I will lift my hands
I will lift my heart
and sing a song of love to You

Because of who You are
I offer You my life
surrendering my all,
a living sacrifice to You

Because of who You are
everything You are...

I Give You all the glory,

I give You all the praise

I pledge to You each moment

for the length of all my days

My Rock and my Redeemer

May Savior and my Friend

 

Oh I will ever praise You

Yes, I will ever praise You

Yes, I will ever praise You Lord

Because of who You are...♪

My heart failed yet He is faithful

(I wrote this last week, Friday... full of emotions.

I didn't have Internet connection then so it's just now that I'm able to share it in here.

I pray that beyond my brokenness and emo mode, what you will see is God's love and grace...)

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure..." -Jeremiah 17:9

Indeed this verse is so true!

For a long time now (and for the record I do not know when exactly this started) I didn't notice that I have been "nursing" a sin in my heart. I've been holding grudges towards someone and it's taken its toll on me and affected the state of my heart big time!

I haven't been able to enjoy my quiet time like I used to because of this. I knew at the back of my mind and have already felt that there was something wrong (in my heart) but I just shrugged it off and didn't address it right away and so... Whenever I think about the person, whenever I see the person, when over I hear from that person I always gets annoyed. And yeah, I always sin. :(

But God in His faithfulness, as always, knows what is best for me. He knew it needed to be addressed and that I needed to be freed from the sin that calloused my heart... For this week, I have been on my "bratinella" mode especially in the office. I have found myself being my "old self" again-- irate, reklamadora, looking down on others, being prideful and selfish and all that stuff! And He made sure that I got aware of it so I approached Him in my quiet time yesterday and asked for cleansing from it all... I felt "OK" afterwards but then, right after my qt, I failed again... In my heart I hated another person... I was like "what the heck is happening to me?!" then I just went on with my day... Work mode even though I was really distracted. My distraction didn't left until I was on my way home I found myself praying to God "Lord, this needs to be addressed!"

So I arrived home... After doing some chores, I locked myself in my room so I can "wrestle with God."

He lead me to read Psalm 24:3-4 and it says:

"Who may ascend to the hill of the Lord?
Who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart"

I've read that verse before. I've gone through it in my previous qts... But then, even though this verse is not new to me, God spoke to me clearly. He dealt with me and pointed out how unclean my hands were and how impure my heart is before Him for a long time now... He didn't stop there... I didn't stop from there either... He led me more to Himself in repentance as I read more passages: Psalm 26:2-6; Psalm 51:10; Ezekiel 18:31 and so on...

When I prayed earlier what I was actually thinking was how to "fix" my attitude towards the person.  But I am not God, I am not the one who is in control and I'm glad that's the way it is... Where He led me now is exactly what I need. I need to repent from my sin, I need to rid myself from all the offenses that I have committed in my heart, I need to be (once again) broken before Him so I can deal with the attitude of my heart towards the person...

I failed God big time! I sinned and I have been nursing this sin for a long time... But I praise Him for what He did to me tonight...

Allow me to share an excerpt from my journal, my cry to God:

"Yes Lord... I want to have a pure heart before You... I have offended You ng paulit-ulit and I ask for forgiveness... Help me Lord... Cleanse me, purify me and make my heart right before You. Ayaw ko na pong maging masama, bitter, and holding these grudges... I want to be free Lord... I don't want to sin anymore..."

After those words, I wept. I haven't wept that way for a long time now. I was mourning. I broke His heart and I'm such a failure! But then He is really faithful, He sees how broken I am so He once again picked me up by His grace, His mercy and His love, He picked me up! He did this so to give me another chance, to make things right, to sin less and less and to just press on with my eyes fixed on Him and not on people.

Through the Holy Spirit, I know I can do the things He want me to do... To forgive them, just love them and have compassion on them and to keep in mind that everything works for my good because I belong to Him!

As I concluded with my wrestling with the Lord... I told and asked Him these:

"Thank You for still loving me dear God (insert here tears again. Hehe)... Lead me to love You back in my obedience, worship and devotion to You. Take me back on the right track again..."

I praise Him for who He is in my life... Indeed, without Him I am nothing...

Thank You Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

(So now, totoo na ito... Sleep na ako! Just wanted to share that! Good night!)

Grace To You

Listening to John Mac Arthur's sermon's been keeping me company for the past three nights and I've been learning a lot. I really thank God for the internet!

So far, I've listened to four sermons:

Most recent

Listened to this because this is our Bible study passage tonight. :)

You too can listen to his sermon, just visit www.gty.org and look for the latest sermons uploaded.

I also read this wonderful article about How to Enjoy Bible Study.  He said there, and I quote--

"we submit to Scripture and let it transform our lives. If you skip this step, you will never enjoy your Bible study and the Bible will never change your life.

Bible study is not optional in the Christian life. It is both the obligation and the privilege of all believers. If you are not involved in regular, systematic Bible study, you are missing one of the primary means God uses to bring us to maturity (1 Peter 2:2)."

I couldn't agree more! You can read the whole article by clicking the title.

Ayun lang, share lang! ;-) 

Worthy

"You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honour and power,

for You created all things,

and by Your will they were created

and have their being."

-Revelation 4:11

♫ Sing! ♪

♫ Sing, sing unto the Lord,
open up your heart,
make a joyful noise in the sanctuary.

Sing, sing unto the Lord,
lavish Him with love,
let the praises ring in the sanctuary.

Sing, sing unto the Lord,
open up your heart,
make a joyful noise in the sanctuary.

Sing, sing unto the Lord,
lavish Him with love,
let the praises ring in the sanctuary,
sing, sing...

Gotta open up your mouth and give Him praise,
open up your heart and give Him praise.
Lift up holy hands unashamed in the sanctuary.

Gotta open up your mouth and give Him praise,
open up your heart and give Him praise.
Lift up holy hands unashamed, sing, sing, sing! ♪

Not satisfied wih Him?

"...because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel..." -Colossians 1:4-5

"Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God.  No one sins out of duty.  We sin because it holds out some promises of happiness.  That promise enslaves us until we believe that God is more to be desired than life itself (Psalm 63:6).  Which means that the power of sin's promise is broken by the power of God's.  All that God promises to be for us in Jesus stands over against what sin promises to be for us without Him.  This great prospect of the glory of God is what I call future grace.  Being satisfied with that is what I call faith."  -John Piper

A resounding AMEN!

A blessed Thursday to you all! :)

The Grand Weaver and Crazy love

Just few of my "with eternal value" possessions. :)

I started reading Ravi Zacharias’ book “The Grand Weaver” last year, if I’m not mistaken since August pa. Hehe. Anong petsa na and until now, hindi ko pa rin sya tapos… Hehehe. When it comes to reading books delinquent talaga ako. Ewan ko ba, gusto ko kasi sila namnamin at kaya madalas, hindi ako nagmamadali sa mga binabasa ko.

Last Christmas, I received three books as gift from friends (see: Loved) and I told myself that I won’t read them not until I finish what I’m reading.

But then today, I brought with me Francis Chan’s “Crazy Love” na super tagal ko nang gustong basahin… Basasahin ko na sya! As in gustong gusto ko na talaga kaya hindi na ako nakapag-pigil. Hehe.

I opened the first few pages and sa dedication pa lang nya naiyak na ako. He said:

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your grace. Your forgiveness is SO good that I struggle with believing it at times. Thank You for rescuing me from myself and giving me Your Holy Spirit. Your love is better than life.

Really brought me to tears! And boy, it got me so excited to be reading this book! :)

Pero sana, matapos ko na rin yung kay Ravi Zacharias! Hehehe!

Thank God it's Friday!

The Lord is good and His love endures forever!

See also:

Currently Reading: Crazy Love by Pastor BJ Yu

and Book Review: Crazy Love by Kuya Kevin Sanders 

Do you not know?

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

-Isaiah 40:28-31 

Important lessons

Just want to share few of my take home from our Saturday night Bible study and Sunday service sermon:

"Not all good opportunity comes from God... As a believer, you have to always keep in mind that your purpose is to worship God in everything! If the "good opportunity" will draw you far or away from God and cause you to be distracted [worried] , then most probably that's not from Him!"

-John Velasquez (yes, my beloved Ü)

"There is a big difference between good and God's best! Let's be discerning..."

-Pastor Larry Pabiona, GCF Senior Pastor

I’ll sing to You Lord

♫ You are forever in my life
You see me through the seasons
Cover me with Your hand
And lead me in Your righteousness

And I look to You
And I wait on You

I’ll sing to You Lord
A hymn of Love
For Your faithfulness to me
I’m carried in everlasting arms
You’ll never let me go
Through it all... ♪

One song I listened to as I wake up today... very Encouraging...

Good morning all!

The Lord is good and His love endures forever!

My breakfast for today and some thoughts

My breakfast for today—Whole Wheat cereals, banana, coffee, Matthew 6:25-27 (in preparation for tomorrow night. I’ll teach in our GG), Luke 10:40-41 and then Genesis chapters 39 and 40. Talk about physical and spiritual feeding… Oh yeah! Burp!

Realization—I’m a Martha! Oh my, napa-ngiti ako when I studied that passage (Luke 10:40-41) about her earlier… I really am a Martha! And all along I thought I was a Peter. Hehe. Well siguro, may Peter side din ako. Wala lang. Na-realize ko lang and ngayon ko lang inadmit... My discipler told me that already pero dineny ko. Haha! :D

Sweet thought—I said to myself on my way to our office: "I miss John… But yeah, we’ll have a life time to spend together very soon so that’s okay! I can miss him now but I shouldn’t have to be so emo about it."

Bow. Thank God it’s Friday! :)

Philippians Sermon series

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. -Philippians 1:3-8

Our Senior Pastor, Dr. Larry Pabiona preached on that passage last Sunday.
 
And every Sunday talagang blessing for me, kasi sobrang personal ang pag-speak sa akin ng Panginoon and I really thank Him for that!  He speaks well through His servant, Pastor Larry...
 
And so I want to share it here. You can watch last Sunday's GCF sermon here.
 
Hope you're having a good day! :)
 
Blessings!