Devotional: The Death and Resurrection of Lazarus

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Jesus commanded, “Lazarus, come out!”

Here’s what I’ve learned from my last night devotion in John 11:1-44

God is always in full control. If He wants to do something, He will do it in His own way, in His perfect time, and ultimately for His glory. 

In some certain situations in our lives, we tend to be like Mary&Martha telling God, “Lord if only you have been here (or if only you did this or that) this wouldn’t have happened (referring to Lazarus’ death)”…as if telling Him that He’s delayed or His plans failed.  But we should bear in mind that the end result of everything is God’s glory. In verse 4 Jesus said,”The final result of this sickness will not be the death of Lazarus; THIS HAS HAPPENED IN ORDER TO BRING GLORY TO GOD, and it will be the means by which the Son of God will receive glory.”  And the whole event did bring glory to God when Jesus raised Lazarus from death, proving Himself to be the Son of God, the resurrection and the life.

Let us pray that God will give us a heart that focuses on His glory; a heart that sees a heavenly perspective on the situations happening in our lives; and a heart that always seeks to exalt the ultimate Source of life.

 

Spiritual Food (May 25)

I’d like to share with you the things I’ve learned from Sunday worship service and from our bible study.

Sermon-Trust Christ always.He is more than enough to sustain us through our most difficult times. (John 5:17-20)

Girls’ Bible Study-Submit to God; Resist the devil. Live by the Spirit (James 4:7)
(On confession, 1John 1:9 & Psalm 32:5) do not conceal anything, be willing to confess. When we sin, it does not change the fact that God loves us but it does cause a break in our fellowship with Him. Confession restores that fellowship.

“Live by the Spirit & you will not gratify the desires of your sinful nature.” – Galatians 5:16

Dump the Temporal

Beware of what you feed yourself (your eyes, your mind, your heart, your spirit).  The world will show you things that are temporal, not having  eternal value.  It will convince you that you need those things for happiness well in fact, the ultimate happiness and comfort in life can only be found in Jesus (no one, nothing else).

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Follow God-given Directions to You

Gods Direction

Daily Bible reading is as important to a Christian’s spirit and soul as eating food for physical body. Through God’s word, we are directed to follow His ways and His plans for us. Can you remember the last time you spent time with God and felt assured of what He told you? of what He wanted you to do? And it seemed that the paths He laid on your journey became so vivid a film before your eyes that you so want to jump right in and follow where it leads you? The feeling is indescribable, and as much as possible, you don’t want to let go of that feeling once you go back to the real encounter with the world and with the people around you. But, it’s here: the world is here. The voices of the people are as loud as resounding gongs and they will never cease on whispering and shouting at you till you give them an ear. But resist it. Pray for God’s wisdom and discernment for you to know who to listen to. surely He also uses god-fearing people to give you pieces of advice.

We are for Eternity

One of the most beguiling paradoxes in life is that we try hard to live in the moment and yet keep our eyes on what is yet to come.  Maybe for some people life is all there is, this is it; so they would busy themselves chasing for  big dreams, ambitions…and measure their lives to that.  But what comes after?  Where do these all go?

Everything will pass away.

Everything will pass away.

Whether we believe it or not, all these will come to an end.  Everything will pass away.  The Bible says “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. . .” - (Matthew 6:19).  Isn’t it an awful thought that everything you have worked for in this world will just crash before your eyes sooner or later.  Then if you think that those achievements (top-of-the-line cars, condominiums or a mansion, super stable and high paying job, and you know what else) are what everything that makes up your life, then you’ll find yourself doomed in the end.

The verse says that everything you see in this world is temporal.  But, something will remain:  His words (Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. – Matthew 24:35).  And what does that mean?  It means that whatever promises or statements or judgments God has made, they will stay the same.  So if God says He will prepare a place for us in heaven, then it is true forever (John 14:3).  If He says that He will throw some to a blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, then hell is true and will remain (Matthew 13:42).

Maybe, if this is something you ponder deeply on, maybe you’ll take a moment not thinking of your ambitions and dreams and ask yourself, “So where am I headed?”  Then again, Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life.  NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME.” (John 14:6)  Surrender it all to Him.  Repent and ask forgiveness for your sins.  Here’s the thing:  we all are originally headed for hell BUT (and yes, there is a “but” there), He made salvation available by sending His only Son Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins which is DEATH (Romans 6:23).  He died on the cross.  And there, all of God’s wrath to men’s sins (mine, yours) were laid on Christ.  Then after three days, He rose again to prove that His sacrifice was perfect, to justify our faith (1 Corinthians 15:17) and for us to know that eternal life with Him is made possible.

And for those who surrendered their lives to God, we are not ought to live on our own will.  Let me get you back to the first verse I’ve mentioned in this article.  Jesus went on to say “. . .but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Then on verse 24 He said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”  Treasures in heaven.  They may be things that have eternal value.  Let’s indulge ourselves to reading the word of God (bible), grow in spirit with others by evangelizing.  If God has blessed you a good job or high position in your work, use that influence to draw people close to God.  Be involved in the church, in ministries, in charity.  These are just ways of expressing gratitude to God’s saving plan.  We do it by giving Him back all the glory by letting our lives be used by Him as He wants (not as how we want).

This is not so easy to understand at first.  But I pray that God will grant us the grace to appreciate what His eternal plans are.  I remember what our pastor would always reiterate in his sermons “This world is not all there is.  This life is not all there is.”  We are for eternity.

 

Related:

The Magic of “What If”

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My Summer Books

My Summer Books

Books are friends with Summer :-) Whatever plans you have for a frenzied vacation, taking a book with you can overtly complement your experience in a beach while catching up some sun or when drinking your favorite summer refreshment. Even in the loneliest hang out (spending time alone that is), books are a great company.

In my case, I have these four books with me now:
1. Australian Stories for the Spirit – sixty inspirational stories from some Australian Christians who willingly share bits of their experiences to give some spiritual refreshment and meditation;
2. Young Blood – a compilation of essays written by contributors of twenty-something years of age in a section of Philippine Daily Inquirer (a national broadsheet) called “Young Blood”;
2. Reader’s Digest Classic Collection – 2011 special edition. It is a compilation of classic works published in Reader’s Digest since 1963 (all nonfiction and mostly inspirational);
4. Bridget Jones’ Diary – a comical masterpiece of Helen Fielding exposing the diary of a funny and trying-hard-to-be-a-woman-of-substance Bridget.

Whenever I go out, say malling or doing some church tasks, I would bring one or two of these books so in case dull time comes my way or if I just get tired of walking or moving around, I can sit back and flip over the pages and get something informative, inspiring or entertaining out of them.

How about you?  What are your summer books?

Happy summer and fun reading everyone!
God bless!

A Little Reminder for Bloggers

Last night, when I was in our music ministry rehearsal in the church, one of our dancers asked me “Moon, why did you stop writing?”  I wasn’t quite sure on what kind of “writing” she was referring to because I have just been indulging myself lately to online article writing (so I haven’t stopped writing in that case). . . Then her following statement answered my query as if she had been reading my thought:  ”Because I am reading your blogs.  I don’t know, but lately I am just being drawn to reading blogs and somehow I feel stress whenever there’s nothing I can browse.”  So my blog it is.  Ouch, it dawned in me that it has been more than a week since I posted my last write-up.

I felt guilty to accept the fact that she is reading my blog.  Let’s admit it, we bloggers don’t have a way to know exactly who our readers are, except for looking at those who ticked the  ”like” and “comment” buttons on our posts.  But other than that, posting articles or any write-ups is like throwing stones to the moon:  you’ll never know what the feedbacks are or who your consistent readers are.  But perhaps the only thing for sure about blog readership (as how I learned it from my encounter with that dancer) is that our readers are just out there.  They may not be comfortable on identifying themselves by liking or commenting on our posts; or they may not like everything we write but they read, and some even wait and look forward to our next posts.

So let this be a little reminder to us.  Let us be into the habit of posting regularly! (posts that are worth our readers’ time)

Happy blogging everyone!

Back to Essays.ph

What better way to kill time than to do essay writing and get paid for it!  I am officially back in Essays.ph – the Philippine’s No.1 Premiere Online Writing Community.  It’s easy to get in.  I actually tried it about a year ago when I was looking for a freelance writing job.  After I registered, I immediately took my first assignment in the hope that I would get paid for writing.  I wrote 5 articles and received 300 bucks for it – not bad, but I must admit I considered putting great effort to meet the deadline as I was doing some other papers for school that time.  Now that I’m neither in school nor in a workplace (yet), I find this bum days as perfect time to indulge myself into writing again.  Instant freelance writing job!  I updated my profile last night and claimed an assignment tasking me to do 3 articles with 330 words each.  First article done in an hour :-) Two more.

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Essays.ph – The Philippine’s No.1 Primiere Online Writing Community

If you are someone who enjoys writing as your daily cup of coffee and ready to do some assignments and get paid for it, you should check this writing hub, Essays.ph. Follow the instructions there on how to get started and how you would be paid (there’s a Writer’s Manual page). You are just a click away to this awesome freelance writing job. For newbies (like me) and for aspiring writers, Essays.ph can be a good start on developing your writing skills. Consider it as an intensive training ground for writing – you should be disciplined on hitting the deadlines, on following proper format, you can hone your SEO skills and learn from your fellow writers through forums. There are a lot more to enjoy in this hub while you are in the comfort of your own place. You will love it. As what its tagline says “…ang bestfriend ng mga writers.”

So much for this blog post. I have to go back to writing and finish the two articles left. I have to submit them in less than 12 hours. Adios!

Samson by Regina Spektor (cover)

Regina Spektor in concert.

Regina Spektor in concert. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Samson by Regina Spektor (cover) - (Pls. click on the link to listen on SoundCloud)

Here’s my cover of Regina Spektor’s SAMSON – one of my favorite ballads :-) I admire Regina for her strange imagination of characters which enable her to do great songs. Hope you’ll enjoy this one :-) *I downloaded the accompaniment from Youtube. It’s a raw recording of Janine Langois-Brunet, so pardon the sound of pedal and ticking of the piano keys.She played it best compared to others who uploaded their versions of minus one/instrumental*

SAMSON by Regina Spektor

You are my sweetest downfall I loved you first, I loved you first Beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth I have to go, I have to go Your hair was long when we first met

Samson went back to bed Not much hair left on his head He ate a slice of wonder bread And went right back to bed And history books forgot about us And the Bible didn’t mention us The Bible didn’t mention us Not even once

You are my sweetest downfall I loved you first, I loved you first Beneath the stars came falling on our heads But they’re just old light, they’re just old light Your hair was long when we first met

Samson came to my bed Told me that my hair was red He told me I was beautiful And came into my bed Oh, I cut his hair myself one night A pair of dull scissors and the yellow light And he told me that I’d done alright And kissed me till the morning light, the morning light And he kissed me till the morning light

Samson went back to bed Not much hair left on his head Ate a slice of wonderbread And went right back to bed Oh, we couldn’t bring the columns down Yeah, we couldn’t destroy a single one And history books forgot about us And the Bible didn’t mention us Not even once You are my sweetest downfall I loved you first

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