guard your heart

Proverbs 4:23  Above all else, guard your heart; for out of it are the issues of life.

source

too often we are fooled with surface appearances. we thought that if a person looks good and acts well-behaved in church he or she is a true picture of holiness and exemplar christian living. 

a deeper problem is usually not visible with the naked eyes. we may have observed that we are too often very adept in hiding what is the true condition of our heart. we masked it, we hide it well because we don't want others to know that we are weak and we need help. i think this is also because we sometimes see our that problems are the same with what others are undergoing and they seem to be well-equipped and strong enough to overcome it with the sheer power of their will. we are embarrassed to admit that when we face the same problem we do not have the strength (enough) to go through it on our own. so we hide it... we cover it in our laughter, we cover it in more work/ministry, we slap others on the back, we entertain, we encourage but deep inside us we are crumbling; we long for release, we want to cry out, we clamor for help and too often we are too hurting to heal on our own.

we fail to realize that the problem usually runs deeper. when we see people with bad temper or insulting attitude we think, "that man needs to keep his cool',  but unless that man realize that his reall problem is his heart , the motives, the desires, the longing, he could not really "keep his cool". 

too often we get busy with life. we get preoccupied with something else that we are not observant that we have let the ability of our heart to function like it's supposed to, to long and want and desire for the things that is of God.

my heart is wrung-out, tired, achy, numb, and stony. i look forward to God's promise in this verse: 

Ezekeil 36: 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

a foreword

Mother Teresa once observed that in India people are starving physically, but in America people are starving spiritually and emotionally.

God wired each of us with a spiritual hunger that can only be satisfied by him. We use phrases like “There’s got to be more to life than this.” or “I’m bored . . . restless . . . empty . . . unfulfilled.” Or even “I feel like something is missing in my life.” Even when things are going well, there’s always that little gnawing feeling on the inside. It is our hunger for God. We’re made by God and for God, and until we understand that, life will never make sense. We make the mistake of looking for satisfaction in all the wrong places.

That’s what this book is about. It uncoveres the idols we create in our own hearts when we fail to look to God to meet our deepest needs. These idols of pleasure, prestige, passion, position, popularity, performance, and possessions inevitably betray us and let us down. They are, as my dear friend Pete Wilson says, “Empty Promises.”

Too often we allow ourselves to be conned by “when and then” thinking. When I get married . . . when I make a lot of money . . . when I achieve a certain goal or status . . . THEN I’ll be happy. But, as Solomon said, “No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8 NLT)

Advertising today is filled with empty promises that offer to fulfill our spiritual hunger. Products from coffee to cigarettes promise “satisfaction guaranteed” and “The taste that satisfies!” If that were true you’d only need one cup of coffee and never need another cigarette!

Without Christ, we tend to approach life like we do a late night refrigerator raid: We’re restless and can’t sleep so we get up and go to the refrigerator. We don’t know what we want—we just know we are hungry. We open the door and stare, scanning the contents, hoping something will look good and catch our attention. Next, we start “grazing”—nibbling a little on this, then nibbling a little on that. But nothing tastes good. Nothing satisfies. We close the refrigerator door, and go back to bed still hungry. That scene describes the lives of most people.

Today there are more than twice as many products and services available as there were ten years ago, and most of them promise what they cannot deliver. But are people twice as happy as they were ten years ago? Of course not. One man admitted to me, “Even when I get what I want, it’s not what I want! I’m still dissatisfied.”

This book points you to the answer in your search for satisfaction and significance. It will change your life if you’ll listen, learn, and apply the powerful truths it contains. Pete Wilson will help you recognize your real hunger and the only source for real satisfaction.

Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your hearts desires.” Don’t seek happiness, seek God! The promise of happiness isn’t contained in a product. That promise is found in a person—Jesus Christ. “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding ‘Yes!’” (2 Cor. 1:20) I invite you to begin the journey!

Rick Warren: Pastor, Saddleback Church

PLEASE NOTE: This is a foreword for the book Empty Promises written by Pete Wilson. I'm thoroughly blessed just reading this. i think the book must be a must-read too :) though i haven't read one yet... :(

worth the wait

at its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily.

-          Flannery O’connor

worth the wait

waiting. filling time while we wait for the phone to ring and deliver the good news or get the bad news over with. standing in line. preparing for an event. or simply waiting “until things get better.”

but what if the good news we wait for never comes? what if things just don’t get better/ what if the waiting is meaningless? too many people abandon hope, abandon trust, and decide, despite the contradiction, to live happily with their despair.

our Lord has something far better in mind. in him we find meaning in the waiting. While we watch our hopes fade, he is turning our eyes toward a truer hope. while he makes us wait, we learn to trust our future dreams to him. waiting is hard, but waiting on God means the wait will be worth it.

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

day 17 of take my heart oh God

my GOD - GOD of all comfort

Among all the names that reveal God, this, the “God of all comfort,” seems to me one of the loveliest and the most absolutely comforting. The words all comfort admit of no limitations and no deductions.

Hannah Whitall Smith

God of all Comfort

We love seeing the word ALL if it points to something favourable for us. We love when  ALL of the shoes at our favourite store are on sale, or  ALL  of the candies in the bowl are dark chocolate, or  ALL  of the bills are paid in full. However, when  ALL  aspects of life seem to crash down around us, that’s a different matter. We find ourselves in desperate need of the “God of all comfort”.

Consider the ramifications of that name. No problem or heartache is outside of God’s range of comfort. He has unlimited resources –a vast wellspring – at his disposal. When we’re hurting, truly the loveliest name of all describes God bringing us not some comfort, not comfort for some things, but ALL the comfort we need.

The GOD of ALL comfort waits today to comfort you. No laminations. No deductions.

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 

                                                                                       2 Corinthians 1:3-5


day 1 of take my heart oh God

declining knowledge

As wonderful as life is in so many respects, many of us look at our world today and wonder how we are ever going to get out of the messes that still seem to afflict us so sorely. Many people appear stuck in fairly unremarkable relationships at home or at work. Our political process seems broken by a fundamental incapacity to see our common interests or devise ways of pursuing them together. We become obsessed with our differences and fearful of others and absorbed with our entertainments to an extent that we seem unable to seriously contemplate how we might reach out to one another instead of building higher walls. It is for all of these reasons that the most urgent need today is for human beings to regain or discover a clear vision of God.

Observing this gathering calamity decades ago, A. W. Tozer wrote:

The decline of the knowledge of [God] has brought on our troubles …. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as he is …. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing [what most ails us at the present time].

Only a fresh vision of God will reorient us on the inside in the manner needed to begin to truly reorient our world on the outside.

*excerpt from Dan Meyer's sermon* 

undignified

it's funny sometimes when we declare that we do not need to please anybody - just ourselves. we say, "as long as this makes me happy, i do not mind what others will say". that truth is very subjective at times because now and again what makes us happy is when we see other people , our friends and families, our acquaintances and love ones,  approve and is pleased with what we've accomplished and achieved. i am not sure if that is also true with you but it is with me. i fail to remember that i'm supposed to "do everything, absolutely and undoubtedly, everything for the glory of God". 

last sunday's message was about the audience of one. our GOD. losing our supposed reservations so God would be glorified. do more and exhaust everything we got

i couldn't help but remember a long time ago when i was with my Immanuel Bible College group on a 3 day conference in waterfront hotel that involved a non-stop praise and worship for 5 hours. i can still see in my mind that while the whole congregation of people were jumping and swaying and clapping in time with the song, i just stood there clapping my hands. my friends from both sides, and from the front and the back of where i was sitting was already doing all they can so i'd jump. but i didn't. why? i'm not used to jumping and dancing, clapping yes, but dancing and jumping? gracious me! you may laugh but i was embarrassed about what will people say to me. i know i would look so awkward.

so the message hit me hard. and as always when God speaks to you, you sit in your chair and squirm and soak what he wants you to learn - so you could grow.

2 Samuel 6:17-19

¹⁷ They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD.¹⁸ After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. ¹⁹ Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.

david has been dreaming of bringing the Ark of the Covenant, which was the symbol of God's presence during the old testament times, to the city of david in jerusalem. king david was so desperate to please God so much that he sacrificed oxens and fattened lambs every sixth steps all the way to the city.

... and david danced before the Lord with all his might - wearing only a linen ephod... 

he was dancing in the streets a midst the blowing of ram's horns and loud shouting in praise for God's great goodness in allowing the Ark of the Covenant to be brought upon the city of david. he didn't care what he must have look like to the onlookers. all he wanted was to make God see how grateful he was!

but.

^{2 Samuel 6:16-20}

¹⁶ As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart...

she DESPISED him in her heart! talk about crazy! what were she thinking?! she was more concerned with what other people would say, with what the "slave girls" would think of her husbands dignity. probably she was thinking, "how would this make me look?"

²⁰ When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

what was the price for her indignant thought and insulting outburst?

2 Samuel 6:23

²³ And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

as for David.

2 Samuel 6: 21-22

²¹ David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. ²² I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

david was not called a man after God's own heart for nothing. he did not mind what people thought of him, he didn't mind what his wife had to say, he cared nothing about his status as a king. all he did was "danced and praised" God. and it paid off. God blessed him and michal got what was due her.

would i be willing to do the "undignified" (and i'm not just talking of dancing) for God's glory?
would i willingly "sacrifice" (if i'm really shameless to say sacrifice) propriety and poise so i can delight myself in him?
how about you? are you willing to do all that it takes?
or would you rather be michal?

*personal enlightenment comes if u read the whole chapter of 2 Samuel 6* (just saying)

A Hero is Born

Natalie's Note: I do not know what's up with our generation's craze with vampires and werewolves and horror movies... what about good old fashioned Justice League and other Super-Friends?

Thank you Jori Millan for indulging my insistent request to write about this. Jori is the Youth Facilitator of MCOF Youth Group and guidance counselor in University of Cebu -Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue (if u have any concerns with all matters moral - ask him. haha.)

Seriously, this guy stands out because of the fact that he separates himself from the rest because of his kindness and  creativity and also because of his deep passion and unwavering commitment to God. 

Superhero Phenomenon: A Hero is born

Ever since I was a kid I really wanted to be a super hero. I’d wish on falling stars a million times hoping that someday there would be a “Great Phenomena” – a bolt of lightning of some sort would struck me and I would have superpowers! Alas, it still hasn’t happen yet… Seriously I really adore superheroes, be it in comics or in television series. 

One time a close family friend asked me a superhero-related-question (but it sounded more like a Ms. Universe Q&A). “If you were to have superpowers what would it be?” I paused and thought for awhile, the question reminded me of my childhood fantasy – to become a superhero.  Then my memory bubble was popped by my friend’s unyielding pushiness. So, I immediately answered “I want to have the same power as with Jean Grey (of X-Men) so I could control everything with my mind.” She replied “I like Wolverine”.

A lot of us think that only persons with superpowers can become superheroes. Well, we still have a few whose “superpowers” are their quick-thinking ability and their physical might and agility. Batman of course would be on top of the list. He has no super strength like “Superman”, high-speed ability like “The Flash”, will-powered ring like “The Green Lantern”, or perhaps “Wonder Woman’s” flying skill. Batman uses his clever thinking, wealth, and inventions and gadgets; and Viola! A hero is born! Just like the Dark Knight, we also have Iron man, Green Arrow, The Punisher, and the like who relies more on their gadgets.

So what makes a hero a Superhero? What could be a superhero’s qualification or Characteristic? Here’s a quick look on my pseudo-research survey I conducted at a school where I work.

The top Five (5) characteristic of a Superhero

1.       Can Save lives. Duh! Why on earth will he be called a hero if he can’t and won’t save lives?

2.       Have supernatural powers. Well, this is just to compensate the villain’s power…

3.       Has Super Strength. They’d be lifting a lot of damsels in distress, might as well have super strength.

4.       Can withstand tremendous pain. There is going to be a “weaking-hero” if he can’t endure pain.

5.       Can Fly. To add a dramatic entrance and exit of the Hero.

You might agree or disagree on the above-mentioned characteristics; but, it does make a lot of sense. To some they would say these are characteristics of a fictitious superhero. But I beg to disagree; the same characteristic or qualification does apply to real life Superheroes. This is the same Characteristic the Superhero that saved me possesses (believe it or not, I was saved by a Superhero!). My Superhero’s name is Jesus Christ.

Just like any other superhero seen on television and read in comics, He CAN and WILL save lives. In fact He was BORN TO SAVE (Luke 2:11) it was even prophesied in Isaiah. Most of our fictitious “superfriends” were born and raised to become ordinary citizens, and it was only during late adulthood that they encountered “an accident” that prompted them to become heroes.

Professor X can read minds and is a telepath, Storm can control the weather, and Cyclops has laser powered eyes. More than the X-Men, Jesus has supernatural powers too. In fact, it’s what we call “Divine Power”. With Christ’s power blind men were able to see (Mark 8:22-25), crippled men made well (Matthew 15:30), the dead rose from the grave (John 11), turn water into wine (John 2) and so much more. He can do everything… with him nothing is impossible.

If Superman is called the “Man of Steel” so is Jesus. Christ has super strength and at the same time able to withstand pain. Jesus carried the Patibulum (the cross bar) all the way to Calvary and archaeology has determined they weighed between 75 and 125 lbs. But it wasn't the weight of the cross that proved his super strength it was the weight of mankind’s Sins which He carried in his Heart. Furthermore, He had psy-war with the Pharisees’ and other government officials, was beaten, whipped, pierced by huge blunt nails, and verbally abused (mocked and put to shame). Yet, he endured them all. Now top that!

And best of all, He knows how to FLY! Oh Yes, you read it correctly (no typographical error) HE CAN FLY! (John 20:17). And a lot of people saw Him ascend into heaven.

Jesus was never born in a fancy hospital and lived in luxury like Professor X. He was born in a manger, but he never lived in misery like Magneto.

Jesus is and forever will be the Greatest Superhero mankind has ever encountered FOR REAL! He is not a fictitious Hero, and was never a byproduct of man’s imagination. He is the Son of the creator of mankind (logically that makes him our creator too). He is the REAL HERO with REAL POWERS that SAVE

our version of local heroes :-D

So what about you - Who is your Hero? Can he be trusted to save you?

Prayer

Lord I pray that:


You'd make me love you so much ill do whatever you say...
You'd make me think about you all the time so there'll be no escape from serving you...
You'd make me so passionate for you that ill forget myself and give you my all...


If i don't have the self-motivation , then fill me with your Holy Spirit...


Please forgive me for all the heartaches I caused you - big or small...
If i have embarrassed you because of my thoughtless or even deliberate actions or words or thoughts, God, forgive me...


Please, oh please, give me the sense, the honor and the commitment to stand by my promised - to blessed you with the life that I am leading...

If Only

A dear friend said to me one day

Have you heard yourself talk recently?

Your sentences end with words like “there’s no possibility”

And your grammars filled with “if only”

If only I have the power like Jean Grey

Imagine the things I can change through my mind

If only I have the influence of the best journalist

Imagine I can affect the way people think

If only I have the prominence and authority of a President

Imagine the change and impact I can do for my country

If only I can…then maybe I will…

Heal all the broken hearted

Bring back families who are separated

Maybe cure all hearts that are hurting

And so stop all the crying?

If only I have lots of money, then I will…

Feed all the hungry

Provide jobs for the needy

Care for the sickly

And maybe eliminate all signs of poverty

But I don’t have the power

The pesos in my pockets are fewer

My chances and opportunities are small, limited and far between

I am not mighty or strong

I cannot do anything on my own

In reality what I can do does not reach even a small percent of what I wish

In reality I struggle with my own limitations and insecurities

In reality I am overwhelmed by doubts and weaknesses

In reality I am immobilized by fear and failure

There are times I wish I am smarter, oozing with wisdom and maybe even shrewder

That I am more graceful and dripping wet with confidence

But then I was reminded of a few things

That God uses us not because we are mighty or pretty

Not because we are tall, strong or witty

But because we have the heart and the attitude

That is willing to say yes to any God given opportunity

Yes, I am not all that

Maybe, I will never be what I wish or want to be

But this I know and am sure of

My life is much more beautiful and secure

If I let my God rule over me

Use me and guide me and mold me

Not into a hero I would want myself to be

But into a person he has created wonderfully

“If Only” is not my chant anymore

I can leave things to the hands of the father I adore

I know in my heart and in my soul

That if I cannot trace the dark paths ahead

I can trust his heart instead

(Created: December 4, 2008)

I am not a Hero

I admire heroes
but i am not a hero
I am struggling to sort out
my small responsibility
from all that needs to be done
and
not feel guilty
for not being a hero

Is it false heroics i am feeling- a desire for drama or attention
or is it a longing to give myself wholly to something

something in me wants to risks
something in me wants to hold back
but whatever i am feeling
i know that deep in my heart, that what ever i do
popular or no
- the only desire i have is to glorify and please
the only Superhero i know and have
my powerful and mighty Savior
-Jesus Christ-
(Created Sept. 1, 2008)