Words

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When God created the world, he did it with WORDS. So that spared him from coming down and doing all the dirty job of making the ocean, forests, animals, humans, etc.

There is power in words - especially if they come from the creator of the universe. God did not create us only to bask in His power and splendor; He created us to have fellowship with Him. We are a projection of His very being. "So God created human beings in his own image..." (Genesis 1:27)

Because God wants a relationship with us, He wants to do so with WORDS. God's message for you and me lurks everywhere - especially in the Bible. Some of us have listened; some don't want to listen; some are getting there. 

Some don't want to listen because they think it's not going to help; they think it's not relevant to them. They think He does not really understand their circumstance. Some fear that if they listen and believe, He will turn their lives upside down, send them to Africa to feed the homeless or give up their evil ways. 

Some, however, like the disciples have laid aside their concerns and chose to listen intently to what God has to say.

The world has become so noisy today. Your facebook newsfeed alone will tell you this. There are messages everywhere. But in your 24 hours every day, can you still spare a single minute to hear what God has to say to you?

If you believe there is power in the word of God; if you believe it was His words that created the universe, then listen to His word to you today.Take heed because His word is out to give you a life beyond your wildest dreams and imagination. 

Orchestration

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A light bulb lit in my head today. It was strange, though, that it happened in the bathroom. 

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." (Romans 8:28)

In my head, I dissected every word of this verse and came upon the following realizations:

* God - He is the doer of the action expressed in the verse, not me or anyone else - I should not be the one trying to make everything work together; it is God's job

* causes - bringing about an effect or a result - God never wastes any stage of life; He uses every single moment of it 

* everything - all things - including the bad and good events - all things!

* to work together - life may sometimes seem so random, like series of events that don't mean anything - but in God's omnipotence, He can make all of them work together - for what?

* for the good - life is hard sometimes - but God intends all events of life for the good - of who?

* of those who love God- Who then are the people who love God? 

"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me." (John 14:21)

However, many people think they are loving Him, simply because they are trying to obey His commands. To love God, you have to accept His love first. 

"We love him, because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

Have you done that?

What does it mean to accept God's love? It is too broad, it would take infinite number of words to explain it. John 3:16, however summarized it: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

To accept His love, we have to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. For one cannot love the Father, if not through the Son - because by His sacrifice, those who accept Him into their lives have been made right with God.

* who have been called according to his purpose for them - as long as you know you are walking according to God's purpose for your life (whatever it is), then you can be assured that this promise is for you (provided of course, that you love Him)

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." (Romans 8:28)

This Can't Be It

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There are times in your life when you seem to have arrived at a dead end – and instead of seeing light at the end of a tunnel, you see darkness. It’s as if you took the wrong road, looked at the wrong map, or overlooked road signs. Then the only thing you could say is, “This can’t be it!”

You look around and try to find your way back – but you hear a whisper in your heart saying that you’re on the right path. You sense little signs as God’s way of telling you that you really are (and you sometimes hate it). Subconsciously (or consciously) thinking that He might have mistaken, you start to divert the blame on Him for dumping you in a point of no return. You may not verbalize it, nor do you blatantly recognize your resentment against your present state but often, actions speak louder than words as your angst against God’s will manifests itself in your words, in your reactions to situations and certain people, eventually seen in your prayer life and service to Him.

This dead-end feeling often happens when you relocate, switch jobs, break relationships, start new ones, establish a new business – generally, journey into a new phase/route in life that is out of your comfort zone, you conclude how cruel life could be.

I lived in a big city for seven years, had a great time enjoying my studies in a university I was sure God was leading me to. I was also a leader of a Christian group that gave me the belongingness I needed. We were committed to help changing the society by sharing Christ to young people and helping them grow spiritually. I had various circles of friends – mentors of different views, peers I laughed and cried with and young girls who I helped grow spiritually and whose lives changed before my very eyes. I didn’t have the best of everything but God’s grace allowed me to see and enjoy the best of my portion. Then He led me to come home.

To come home is sometimes to leave home – the familiar world you have become used to – to face that which is now unfamiliar and sometimes even strange.

Yes, I followed God but there were many times I lived on the notion that “there is a better life out there!” and the life I’m living now is inferior to what I had idealized in the past. “This can’t be it!”

I also saw how my high school friends one-by-one left the ranks of singles – looked at myself and thought perhaps marriage would make me feel better – and make life become more promising. I could forget about my “ideal man” and just settle for whoever shows interest. This could make me forget about my passion for change in the society, my dream of going to another country to share Christ or be an advocate of healthy-living that altogether require much of my time and energy.

But God would not let me settle for such a life. He always has a way of not only directing it but making me accept His will wholeheartedly.

The day before the licensure examination for teachers – one of the biggest tests of my life (And I do mean a real test), I decided to have a positive attitude. I chose to smile at snobbish SM salesladies and be kind even to grumbling jeepney drivers. I did not even fret having realized there was a shortage of Mongol 2 pencils and that I had failed to anticipate such a circumstance. That night, I could not sleep. Zero hour of sleep. The next day, I decided to remain positive – to tell my body especially my brain to function well despite the lack of energy. Indeed, the two tuna sandwiches, the rice, tuna flakes, cucumber and banana I had prepared at 4 A.M. that day sufficed for the 10-hour examination - plus a lot of positive thinking.

Feeling like a zombie, I went home, went straight to bed and had one of the deepest sleeps of my life.

The next day, I appreciated the power of decision. If I could decide for such a thing as that, I could also decide for other things in my life. With this experience plus the help of a book I was reading and the preaching of the pastor that Sunday, I decided to change the way I viewed my present life – my life back home. I chose to overlook differences I had with family members and try to live peacefully with them and hopefully believe that God is in control of us. I chose to honour my mother (as per the preaching of the pastor that Sunday). I also decided to have a more positive attitude about my job as a teacher. I began to cling to the belief that God has a perfect will for me and my role is to be willing to discover it and be patient in the process – that while I can’t understand things, I need to trust that He is doing what is best – that while I can’t make sense of random events, I must do what I deem right all the time and not fret as if I am a better planner than Him. In short, I chose to stop playing God.

I realized that I decide for things which take on meanings as I see them and my feelings along the way are just offshoot of my attitudes and choices. It is true that God is good but to make this truth real in my life, I must choose to not only believe it but make it influence my circumstance. Otherwise, it is just another quote.

My life is totally different now. I have just begun a career path as an educator. I am 26 years old, single – in search of God’s will for my life every day. I liked my life in the city. But where I am now is not inferior to whatever stage I have been in or will ever be. God cannot be confined to my idea of where I should be. After all, He is too big and powerful, it is not only embarrassing to tell him what to do; it is foolish. I need to shut up the voice inside me that says, “This can’t be it!” and yell back and say, “THIS IS IT!” I need to believe God when He says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Point Something

On March 15, 2011, I found out that my GPA was point something short for me to graduate from college with honors. Then I asked God what comprised that point something. Didn’t I burn the midnight oil enough?

Didn’t I shed enough tears for a challenging project? I asked God, “Didn’t I pray enough Lord?”

Did you not pronounce victory for your children? Is it not your will to share your glory with your people? Have I not been faithful enough for you to deprive me of that point something?

I have learned answers to these questions by theory. I knew Romans 8:28¹ and Proverbs 3:5².  But instead of rationalizing with Bible verses, I chose to grieve over it for a night and cried out to God in utter honesty.

I have done my part, yes. God knows I did. Even more than the people around me, God has seen my hard work, my determination, my willingness to glorify Him by doing my best in school. Modesty aside, I have also not cheated in any examination, assignment, project, activity, name it. Whenever things got very difficult, I would cry in prayer, seek godly counsel and move on. Despite the many hardships under the BSE English program, I enjoyed my student life. I lived it to the fullest in the most diligent and honest way I knew. So what went wrong?

At that moment, all I could do was ask and tell God what was in my heart. I was scared to get some spiritual impression because I did not know if I could believe it. The issue was not mere academic, it was very spiritual.

Before I went to bed that day, I asked God to make me understand. The next morning, my spirit was so heavy within me, I decided to read the Bible. I was reading Isaiah 44. I didn’t get any specific insight but I felt comfort. I still did not understand but I chose to trust Him. That day, I was to have lunch with a friend who was yet to know if she could graduate or not. When I arrived in school, with a tight hug, she told me she could. We had prayed about it and in our lunch together, we celebrated God’s favor upon us with laughter and a prayer. For a time, I forgot about my point something.

By this juxtapositioning, I realized that God indeed gives and takes away. He always has the last say in everything. His will is not determined by anyone’s opinion or understanding. He does things based on His sovereign will and sometimes, it is hard to comprehend it.

As time went by, I hung on the notion that I could trust in His goodness, and that He never does anything against my well-being. I went home from church one day starting to relearn the truth that though I could try my best in doing things, God’s will is still sovereign. If He deemed it necessary for me to not receive that award, then so be it. God in his omnipotence could just stretch that GPA, to make me happy, but He did not. He could but He did not - which led me to realize that God’s ultimate will for me is not happiness, but holiness. To be holy is to trust Him, to remain humble, to praise Him, to thank Him despite any circumstance.

I will never know what would happen had I been a part of the honor roll. But I can only guess. Could it have made me proud? Could it have affected my plans for the future? Could it have changed the way I look at myself?

Where I am now (even without the award) is where God wanted me to be and this is not the end of my story. God will use both my defeats and victories to mold me into the kind of person I ought to be. I will be shaped by the steps that I take, the attitude that I develop, the insight that I hold on to, out of my not being in the honor roll and many other events in my life. If I participate with God, then He can make something good out of it.

I realized that God’s love does not only give, it also withholds. If withholding that point something will do me good then He will do it. He knows it will hurt me and he takes the risk that I will be disappointed in Him for a time but He will do it anyway.

With that point something come a new attitude, a humbler spirit, and an exercised faith. Ultimately, it is Him who will give the final judgment:

“.. But my work seems so useless! I have spent from my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.” (Isaiah 49:4)

Besides, I said I did my best in school; I enjoyed it and became intimate with God along the way. I have met wonderful people and through these things, God has made me into the kind of person I ought to be at this point in my life. These are my rewards – down-to-earth and undisclosed, yet priceless and eternal. To God be the glory!

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¹ “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

²  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.”