So Much

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle.

i just wish that he didn't trust me so much.

~ Mother Teresa

1M2L | Unselfish

Unselfish love. It’s what makes the world go round until now from the time God created it. Imagine a selfless and loving God giving us the privilege to live life to the full yet we throw punches on him but still loves us no matter what. He’s the very air that we breathe.

In my relationships right now, I consider my relationship with my parents the most important. My parents are not just my parents. They’re my business partners, although I run our company solely, they serve as members of the board. I get business and life advices from them. They’re my mentors. I could say that we’ve never been this closer. Although I don’t tell them anything especially the very personal stuff. But I love them and I know that they trust me. I feel so blessed every time I thank God for them, for being their son, for being in our family. 

Sad as it is in the movies, relationships are devastated by conflicts whether it is by accident, by fault or just by a simple misunderstanding.  Many solid relationships are ruined by these stumbling blocks. Root word: “Selfishness.” Because whatever the cause is, if we are quick to listen and to forgive, our relationships won’t get ruined. It’s Day 5 of our annual prayer and fasting for 2011, and I believe God is speaking to me to have a space in my heart for forgiveness. I have a history, and God knows this, of being easily angered. My temper shoots up easily….before and I learned to somewhat tone it down by seeking first to understand then be understood [from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey]. But when am angered, am having a hard time to forget the things they did to hurt me. And unlike God, I don’t have the ability to erase the memories of those who hurt me as far as the East is from the West. That’s why I need God’s help to help me learn how to forgive. You’ll know you haven’t forgiven yet whenever you see the person or something that reminded you of that person and suddenly your mood flows to the other direction. As we say “Badtrip ‘pre!” 

But above all these selfishness and unforgiveness, God is giving us the privilege to repent…….and he is always ready to forgive. And as we ask for forgiveness, God also empowers us to love and to forgive others who did us wrong as well. If by our own abilities only, we will not be able to forgive. We need God’s help and grace to do it. We can love others not because we can but because he loved us first.

Eyes on God

We have to pray with our eyes on God,
not on our difficulties.
~ Oswald Chambers

DAY 5 | Without God

Joshua’s first military defeat after their conquest of Jericho. Why? Someone stole some expensive things from the plunder which violated an important covenant with God. God was angry since he promised Joshua that he will go with him and still some people would take it likely and commit things abominable to the Lord. And Joshua dared to ask God why he did it to them. We fail to realize that God’s nature of love and faithfulness won’t change. He won’t tempt us because only the devil does that. And in this scene, Joshua dared to ask God why he did it. God can’t change. God won’t change. Another reason of their failure would be going into battle without consulting God. How many times have I been guilty of such things?  In this scene, Joshua’s army got defeated by their enemies because he believed the spies he sent and went on his way without asking God’s direction.

It is obvious that God wants to get involved in every area of our lives. In this season of prayer and fasting, my hope and my prayer is that we may find a special place for him inside our hearts and let him direct our steps. It’s just that, when success comes, we tend to easily go on our own way forgetting about God.

Another obvious reason of their failure is the sin of one can cause misery to all. It’s funny how a concealed sin of an individual can affect the entire article of a nation. Look around. We may be living a harsh life because of someone else’s mistake. But God in his awesome mercy caused them to repent and restart again with a right standing with him. Let us make use of this time of prayer and fasting to repent and disown the things that hold us back.

Great thing, the Apostle Paul provided guidelines on how we can prevent ourselves from experiencing such. ¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 

 ¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. [Ephesians 6:10-18]

Devoid

He who is devoid of the power to forgive

is devoid of the power to love.

~Martin Luther King Jr.

1M2L | the 'F' word - Forgiveness

Forgiveness is not an option. Forgive as the Lord forgave you says Paul of Tarsus. Delaying forgiveness is like holding our breath.  “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold says Paul in his letter to the church in Ephesus [Eph4:26-27] I don’t really feel comfortable writing this thing about forgiveness. There are things am still bitter with. I don’t know, I just don’t know how to forget  face. As I go about this 30 days one month to live thing. I hope to learn how to forgive completely. If God can forgive, who am I not to? 

God says forgive for your own sake. Bitterness blocks the blessings. ~ when I read this. I need to forgive and to be forgiven. So Help Me God!

Bridge

He who cannot forgive others

destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass

~George Herbert

1M2L | Love Hurts

If I had only a month to live, I won’t tell anyone about it. but I’ll spend time with my mom in her office, my dad in his business, my bro and my grandmas at home. Then I’ll go visit the victory group for one last time then set up a portion of my will and testament to the missionaries I support. My shares of the company will be transferred to my dad.  I’d send a private message to my friends in facebook and in other social networks. I’d thank them for the relationship we’ve shared and if there was ever a time I have been a pain in the neck, I’d ask for forgiveness. Check out p.67 last question on Make It Count Moment: What keeps you from doing these? ---it’s weird to do these. 

God created us in his own image and likeness as relational beings. We’re not made to seclude ourselves in a faraway mountain and live with long white beards. It doesn’t just look good, it would suck not to have facebook on top of the mountain. You probably have to travel by foot, the nearest mall would be 4 hours away---man it sucks! That’s the reason why God provided a ‘helper’ suitable for us. We were made for relationship. To function as human beings is to relate with one another.

Love cant be bought. Love is like passion. It’s either you have it or you don’t. To love is to risk pain. We were once ask what the opposite of love is. Some say it’s indifference, some say it’s apathy. Close as they may seem to the opposite of love, the closest definition would still be “Selfishness.” Because if you don’t love, you don’t give [anything]. In ‘indifference’ you don’t seem to go the same way with love. With apathy, you don’t seem to care. With selfishness, you are just so self-contained. The greatest love ever known, that a father would risk his son’s life for the benefit of many. When we people love, it has limits. I for one observed myself to love and expect to be loved. God’s love, on the other hand, has no limits, no strings attached---He loves you. Period. And no one could ever take it away. 

So why are we acting the way we are acting? As the author put it: Our problem is not that we don’t love God enough, it is that we don’t understand how much he loves us. I believe once we understand this truth, we will have a new revelation of how we could live this life to the full by loving completely. Day 9---the heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.

Measure

The measure of a life, after all,
is not its duration
but its donation.
~ Corrie Ten Boom

Vanity

Vanity it is,
to wish to live long,
and to be careless to live well.
~Thomas A Kempis

1M2L | Ignition

Ignition is more than a song done by R.Kelly, ignition is just a small spark that will start a revolution. Without ignition, we won’t be able to start a Harley Davidson bike. Without ignition a Ferrari wont start. A small igniter can make our stove flame and cook our dinner. It’s a lot convenient than rubbing two sticks as we learned from boy scout. The same is true with God’s power. Too often we rely on our abilities without realizing that our abilities are gift from God. We rely on our own strength thinking we can make it by ourselves. Sadly, we can always try but never get far enough. With God’s power we can do all things. 

Though we may first always go straight with our ways and most likely fail, God gives a reset----not just once, he’s patient enough to give us a lot. Peter the Rock disowned Jesus 3 times yet resurfaced to spearhead the advancement of God’s kingdom. Even though we fail ourselves and fail the expectation of people around us, we can always have a rest with God. Failure is never final. Failure is never fatal. Failure is actually a great opportunity to start again wisely.

Never Too Late

It is never too late to be what you might have been.
~ George Elliot

Come Alive

Don't ask what the world needs.
Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.
Because what the world needs
is people who have come alive.
~ Howard Thurman

Dream Box

There are people who put their dreams in a little box
and say, "Yes, I've got dreams, of course I've got dreams."

Then they put the box away and bring it out once in a while

to look in it, and yep, they're still there.
~Erma Bombeck

Real Life

Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake.
~Henry David Thoreau

1M2L | Dreaming With Eyes Wide Open

We all got dreams. Whether it’s just a basic, “I just wanna graduate” dream of the Big Hairy Audacious Dreams [Goals], they’re all dreams. One of my business mentors once said, “Walang basagan ng dreams ha, whether maliit lang un or malaki, ok lang un. Dreams natin un!” what is your ultimate dream? Mine is, to be wealthy. People label it as “Financial Freedom.” I wanna be wealthy that’s why I took the Business Ave more than the Job Road. Writing this reminded me of Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire” but not for the heck of it. I want to be wealthy not just to sustain a simple life but mainly to support missionaries, missions and the advancement of God’s kingdom. Btw, I define a simple life as “when I want something, I buy it!” I’ve always felt this calling to be at the back end support of the kingdom advancement. I started with two campus missionaries last year and am planning to add 2 more this year.

But in order for me to get to that dream, I need to do my part and work smarter to put up new businesses. Business is as tough as Life, as hard as raising a family. I need endurance to do that. Our dreams, awesome as they may seem, comes from others sources. But the best dreams are those God placed in our hearts. The Greek word for heart is ‘kardiva’ which means “the real you.” When God puts a dream in us, it defines us and it really is for us. How do we know if that dream is from God? ---we’re passionate to do it. We’ll suffer almost everything to pursue it. It always comes up. It resurfaces every time no matter how hard we neglect them. 

But just like in any other movies, there will always be some people who will work as hard to get you out of your dreams. They’ve got their reasons. The Bible says, the enemy is working overtime to steal that seed that God planted in us. We better focus on how to get to the dream no matter how hard it could be. Remember we need endurance to do it. Focus yields results.

1M2L | 'Trust' is More Than a Condom

I got reminded of these stories about how we relate to God in the area of trust. There was once an house on fire. Firemen were trying to subdue the fire; all the members of the family were out already except for the youngest son who was trapped in the balcony of the second level. Everyone was confused to know that the youngest son was trapped. The  kid kept on crying and shouting to his dad if he could save him. His dad said, “Jump now, I’ll catch you!” the son said kept on crying “I’m afraid I can’t jump, I can’t see you!” now smoke was all over the building and it’s only minutes away before the house collapse. His dad kept on shouting “Jump now!” “Jump now!” the child now gasping for air, still crying, “I can’t see you!” the dad said, “It doesn’t matter! I SEE YOU!” “Now, Jump!" The kid jumped over the balcony without any idea where he will land but holding on to his dad’s promise to catch him. His dad knows where exactly he’s gonna fall and so he got him. safely . The kid cried and cried clinging onto his dad. “It’s ok, I told I’ll catch you!”

The other is quite a funny story. A very strong flood devastated a city and a survivor was left standing on top of a submerged SUV while the flood is still increasing it’s height. The survivor, Christian as he was, prayed to God for help. A swimmer athlete came and asked him to ride on his back as they would swim to the other side of the flooded street where it is safer. The survivor declined and prayed harder. Two men came on an improvised raft made of bamboo stakes and asked the survivor to hop in so they can get to the other side, but the survivor declined prayed even harder. He’s now shouting on top of his lungs. Finally a chopper full of other survivors came with its rope ladder hanging down. People were shouting “Hang on to the rope and we’ll pull you up!” the survivor noticed that the chopper was already full with people so he told them to get him on its way back. This time the flood increased and the survivor became a casualty. Christian as he was, he went to heaven and as he came face to face with God, he asked him “I thought you’re gonna save me? Why did you forsake me?” and God said “I did. I sent a swimmer, a raft and even a chopper. You just ignored them all.”

Too often, we say we trust God but do otherwise. It doesn’t make sense. We always talk about faith and hope but easily give in and give up. We hang on to something else that we think will last long and keep us safe. All these come to an end. God is the only entity that won’t end---he actually created ‘existence.’ When we say we trust God, it is necessary to move forward without seeing anything clearly but seeing through our eyes of faith and saying “It’s possible!” I love what ‘Mr. Encouragement,’ Paul of Tarsus wrote to his apprentice, Timothy, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” [2 Timothy 1:7] Timidity in this context is synonymous to fear. It’s comforting to realize that God gives us a spirit of power and not of fear. So next time we feel the urge to be frightened, let’s remember that that feeling doesn’t come from God, it’s from someone else. Fear impairs our decision-making executions. Fear can cause getting burned alive inside a house on fire. Fear causes death. John of Patmos wrote in his first epistle “Perfect love casts out fear..” [1 John 4:18] if we are frightened or if we feel afraid, then it is safe to realize that love isn’t present, something else is. 

We were all given different opportunities as we go along treading this Life Avenue. I even saw one propaganda saying “Don’t say you didn’t know!” and another asking “What are you gonna tell your grandkids if they ask you what you did with your life?” “Are you gonna make excuses or are you gonna describe to them how you strategically positioned yourself?”

Day 6. Holding on to the right levers, God’s Levers. As we go about living this entire month, My hope and my prayer is that we learn to cling on to God’s safety handle bars with trust, confidence and hope expecting that He’s gonna hold us dearly with His ‘Grip of Grace.’