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

found a new love

*i meant found 3 new loves*

this lady here introduced me to the new loves of my life: 

malot & i in moon cafe, robinsons mall, cybergate

in the midst of training for the communications department (compassion international), i had a terrible tooth sensitivity issue. so i asked permission to have my tooth checked-up and according to my doctor what i am experiencing is called dentine hypersensitivity.  "it is sensation felt when the nerves inside the dentin of the teeth are exposed to the environment. The sensation can range from irritation all the way to intense, shooting pain (wikipedia)". glad that mine is just an irritating irritation.

i have to have a root canal, a treatment in which diseased tissue from this part of the tooth is removed and the resulting cavity is filled with an inert material. this dampened my day :(. 

good thing malot dear introduced me to two new things that saved my day :-D

yogorino yogurt

YOGORINO frozen yogurt!!! 

although their websites boasts, "it's not frozen yogurt, its YOGORINO... that's all". the sour and the creamy made a perfect blend"  :)

bentley's tea

BENTLEY'S GREEN TEA!!! 

    Product Description

It's a tea connoisseur's dream come true! Over 100 Bentley's Finest gourmet flavored premium black and green Tea from India and China bountifully fill this elite, hand-crafted wooden tea chest. Open it up and find that its lovely red-lined lid can double as a serving tray! From the classic, aromatic bergamot of Earl Grey black tea to the exotic taste of Passion Peach tea, there's a pleasing variety of our finest classic blends to treat your tea-loving taste buds! Drink a cup of royalty with Bentley's Finest Tea!

i personally do not like tea. this one's different. it's flavored. it has spiced. it has a little bit of a kick to it :). so i'm recanting my abhorrence for this tasteless thing now. i'm a fan.lol

fish mozarella melt

FISH MOZZARELLA MELT!!!

this has baked tomatoes underneath that makes almost all your taste-buds come alive. i am now putting spaghetti ala gambas to second position from the list of moon cafe favorites. 

ummm... what was i complaining about earlier? oh, right. dentine hypersensitivity. what is that again? hahaha. just kidding. i am sure i'll have to confront that problem later.

thank GOD for a blessed day :)

20 reasons why he dislike the philippines

i assure you with utmost assurance, you will only have two kinds of reactions after watching this, you'll either agree or dislike this guy. let me know what you think. lol

it's not so much the reasons that he cited that's irritating, because almost all of those really needs to be given considerable consideration and attention by our government and every concerned filipino citizens, but it may be because of the snobby, snotty, haughty, (okay, defensive. lol) our-country-is-better-than-you attitude. 


he is stating facts. no doubt about that. but, does he have to curse with an "F" word when describing everything that he doesn't like? Ah BASTA! this guy needs more than just a lesson in culture tolerance and constructive criticism but also a good whipping.


two comments i thought balanced it all out : 


comment one: american
"look,i'm not filipino ,but you know what,bro? you shouldn't say all these things.all countries have differences,negative or positive.It's not like our country, america is so perfect. we may not have some of these bad things that you see in the philippines but still, IT'S F*****G EVEN. we have negative stuff in america too,and other countries as well.there's no perfect country!

and i've got 20 reasons why i don't believe in races, just humans."

comment two: filipino

"as much as i'd like to dislike this video, i just couldn't. he is mostly right. and the thing is, there are a lot of things us normal filipinos can do and i'd start with the easiest:

1.stop throwing garbage / pissing/ spitting everywhere and anywhere (yea, he forgot to mention about spits)

2. learn to fall in line.

yang 2 yan di nga magawa ng karamihan eh (those two are mostly the ones that most filipinos couldn't do). Puro reklamo lang (they're all complaints). you do not need to be a genius to realize what's wrong or right. i mean come on? how hard can it be?"

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)