Psalms 131:1-3 (NASB)
[1] O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.
[2] Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me.
[3] O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever.
There are areas in my ministry as a pastor where I can seemingly have a sense of control or management. I can manage meetings with the different boards, prayerfully coming up with decisions for the church. I can manage ministry heads as they take care of their ministries, giving them guidance as to how to take care of the ministry under them, and the workers that serve with them. When members of the church ask for counsel I can be there to lead them to God’s Word, assist them in finding God’s will. I can manage my preparation for Sunday sermons, prayerfully seeking God’s wisdom in His word.
But there are areas of ministry - “great matters” or “things too difficult for me”, just as the psalmist says above, that I have no control of. One of them is the heart and life of a believer. I can talk to them, counsel them, lead them to God’s word. But I have absolutely no power or control over how a believer deals with his/her relationship with God. I can only pray that God would overcome (or even overthrow!) their hearts and lead them to complete submission to Him and His Word. These are great matters and things too difficult for me that God uses to humble me, make me realize that He is God...and I am not.
Another is the growth and life of the church. It was Jesus Christ who proclaimed “I will build my church...”, not me, or the different church boards, or the ministers and workers or disciplers...Christ. We have no idea whatsoever of what the outcome of every sermon, every discipleship lesson, every bible study or counseling will be. It’s all in God’s hand.
This is the weaning process that God works in me. He works in me to the point of composing and quieting my soul, trusting in Him, depending on Him, for areas in ministry that I have no control over. Just like a weaned child with his mother. A weaned child is someone who stops crying for milk, and knows that eventually his mother will come and feed him, satisfy his hunger.
That is what I should be - a weaned child of God, not crying anymore for results, not frustrated in the lack of growth or commitment of another believer. Not crying over someone who does not want to listen. Not worried about the growth of the church. That’s not my part. These are the things too difficult for me - and I have to trust in the Lord completely for it.
I have a role in God’s building His church, but my hope is in Him, not in my work or effort.
My hope should be in the Lord, now and forevermore.
We all have areas in our life that are “great matters” that are “too difficult” for us to handle. God does that on purpose. We may have a spouse we are frustrated with, children we are concerned about, areas in our business or work that we become worried about. It is His way of humbling us, of making us realize that we are not in control, and we will never be in full control. Yes, there are areas of our life that we can manage with God, but there will always be areas where we will just have to humble ourselves and completely trust in Him.
God is weaning us as His children. He’s teachings us to stop crying, complaining, and completely trusting that He will eventually take care of every area of our life. As we grow and mature eventually all our crying and complaining will stop, and we will have become children who have composed and quiet souls, knowing that our God is there.
We are to put our hope in God. No one else. Nothing else. He is our heavenly Father, weaning us to trust completely in Him.
Monday, May 6, 2019
Monday, April 15, 2019
A Much Needed Downpour
Our kalamansi shrub has been quite dry the past weeks of scorching heat supposedly because of the El Nino. Then one day it rained so hard for a few hours, so hard that it flooded a lot of our streets causing traffic jams. A few days after I went out and, lo and behold, this was what I saw:
I’m not sure if you can see it in the picture, but all of a sudden white flowers start budding, opening up! All the dry shrub needed was enough water for it to seep in to bring out the flowers that will eventually end up into fruit in the end.
We all need that “downpour” during dry moments in our life. I experience that a lot, believe it or not. Many people look at pastors or Christian workers as “supermen” who are probably so strong in the Lord that they never experience dry moments. Well, we’re human beings, just like each one of you reading this. And like the rest we experience those “dry” moments in our life, when things get monotonous, there seems to be no joy, no inspiration, no zest or drive for going through a day.
Then, the downpour we so much need comes. It’s a downpour that doesn’t come from the world, but from the One who alone can provide a “rain” of water that refreshes us and keeps us going. That’s how faithful and loving our God is. Though He sees us going through dry spells, He will be faithful and gracious to pour out living water on us again, so that we will be refreshed. All we need to do is remain, rooted to Him, just like the kalamansi shrub that just stays in the ground waiting for the much needed rain to come. We need to, as our Lord Himself taught us - “remain in the vine”, and the fruit will come out.
And it begins with the flowers. What’s a Christian life without flowers. And only living water from our God can refresh us enough to bring back those flowers in our life.
I’m not sure if you can see it in the picture, but all of a sudden white flowers start budding, opening up! All the dry shrub needed was enough water for it to seep in to bring out the flowers that will eventually end up into fruit in the end.
We all need that “downpour” during dry moments in our life. I experience that a lot, believe it or not. Many people look at pastors or Christian workers as “supermen” who are probably so strong in the Lord that they never experience dry moments. Well, we’re human beings, just like each one of you reading this. And like the rest we experience those “dry” moments in our life, when things get monotonous, there seems to be no joy, no inspiration, no zest or drive for going through a day.
Then, the downpour we so much need comes. It’s a downpour that doesn’t come from the world, but from the One who alone can provide a “rain” of water that refreshes us and keeps us going. That’s how faithful and loving our God is. Though He sees us going through dry spells, He will be faithful and gracious to pour out living water on us again, so that we will be refreshed. All we need to do is remain, rooted to Him, just like the kalamansi shrub that just stays in the ground waiting for the much needed rain to come. We need to, as our Lord Himself taught us - “remain in the vine”, and the fruit will come out.
And it begins with the flowers. What’s a Christian life without flowers. And only living water from our God can refresh us enough to bring back those flowers in our life.
John 4:13-14 (NASB)
13Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
No matter how we feel, or what we’re going through, we need to hold on to the truth that the Giver of Living Water, who holds our life, will refresh us again. We just have to keep on, hold on, seek Him, and trust. Let God bring the flowers back to our day by day walk with Him
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Step on the Brakes!
I was asked to speak to our church's youth group recently with the topic "Why Wait?", one of the series of teachings that they had during February, the "love month".
As I driving and going through traffic, and having to struggle with undisciplined drivers and selfish drivers (like me, hehe. I realized that through my years of driving that I'm just as selfish and reckless as the next driver), a perfect illustration for my introduction came to mind - why is it that drivers do not want to slow down when the traffic light is yellow, or do not want to give way to another car entering their lane, or when in an intersection?
It's because we don't like stepping on the brakes. We don't want to slow down. We don't want anyone hindering the speed we're in, changing our pace.
It's the same thing in a Christian's life. Why is it that there are many Christians who don't pray for God's will, who just jump into a situation with a "bahala na" attitude, and who are willing to face the consequences just in case their decision ends up a mistake. We don't want to "step on the brakes". When our emotions tell us something - that you like a guy or girl, or that this job is right for you, or this is the trip you want to take, or this is the car you want to buy...you don’t want anyone messing around with that emotion, with that feeling that you have that you believe, from the bottom of your heart, is the right one for you. We don’t want to slow down. We don’t want to change our pace. So, we don’t step on the brakes.
We don’t pray about it, we don’t ask for counsel from other believers, we just do what we want to do.
We don’t pray, asking God to confirm in our hearts, in some divine way, that what we are doing is what He wants us to be doing.
The reason why that big pedal to the left of the gas or acceleration pedal is so that, when we have to, we step on the brakes. It’s for our protection. It’s to make sure that when we have to slow down, or stop the car, stepping on the brake pedal does it for us.
Waiting upon the Lord is the “brake pedal” of our heart. When our will or emotions tell us that something is right or beneficial for us, we don’t just rush to do it or get it...we slow down, we step on the brakes and ask for confirmation.
We don’t just “follow our heart”, because our hearts are not reliable
If your life has been bought through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, through your faith, then you have been given a new heart, a heart indwelt by the Holy Spirit Himself.
And, we have now become an adopted child of God. And when you are His child your life is completely in His hands. He has become sovereign over your life.
Not only that, but knowing that you were once an enemy of God, rebelling against His commands and will, and through your faith in Christ you have now become His servant - then, His will, His commands become of utmost priority. We live for His will.
It is because of this that you wait upon the Lord, you step on your brakes, just to make sure that you are headed in the right direction.
So, brother or sister in Christ, don’t be afraid to step on the brakes, to wait upon the Lord. Before making any major decision in your life - whether it’s a relationship, a financial decision, or a family decision, step back for a while and pray. Meditate on God’s Word to see if your decision goes against any of His teachings. Seek counsel from fellow believers. And seek His peace.
Psalms 27:14 (NIV)
As I driving and going through traffic, and having to struggle with undisciplined drivers and selfish drivers (like me, hehe. I realized that through my years of driving that I'm just as selfish and reckless as the next driver), a perfect illustration for my introduction came to mind - why is it that drivers do not want to slow down when the traffic light is yellow, or do not want to give way to another car entering their lane, or when in an intersection?
It's because we don't like stepping on the brakes. We don't want to slow down. We don't want anyone hindering the speed we're in, changing our pace.
It's the same thing in a Christian's life. Why is it that there are many Christians who don't pray for God's will, who just jump into a situation with a "bahala na" attitude, and who are willing to face the consequences just in case their decision ends up a mistake. We don't want to "step on the brakes". When our emotions tell us something - that you like a guy or girl, or that this job is right for you, or this is the trip you want to take, or this is the car you want to buy...you don’t want anyone messing around with that emotion, with that feeling that you have that you believe, from the bottom of your heart, is the right one for you. We don’t want to slow down. We don’t want to change our pace. So, we don’t step on the brakes.
We don’t pray about it, we don’t ask for counsel from other believers, we just do what we want to do.
We don’t pray, asking God to confirm in our hearts, in some divine way, that what we are doing is what He wants us to be doing.
The reason why that big pedal to the left of the gas or acceleration pedal is so that, when we have to, we step on the brakes. It’s for our protection. It’s to make sure that when we have to slow down, or stop the car, stepping on the brake pedal does it for us.
Waiting upon the Lord is the “brake pedal” of our heart. When our will or emotions tell us that something is right or beneficial for us, we don’t just rush to do it or get it...we slow down, we step on the brakes and ask for confirmation.
We don’t just “follow our heart”, because our hearts are not reliable
Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)
9The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
If your life has been bought through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, through your faith, then you have been given a new heart, a heart indwelt by the Holy Spirit Himself.
And, we have now become an adopted child of God. And when you are His child your life is completely in His hands. He has become sovereign over your life.
Not only that, but knowing that you were once an enemy of God, rebelling against His commands and will, and through your faith in Christ you have now become His servant - then, His will, His commands become of utmost priority. We live for His will.
It is because of this that you wait upon the Lord, you step on your brakes, just to make sure that you are headed in the right direction.
So, brother or sister in Christ, don’t be afraid to step on the brakes, to wait upon the Lord. Before making any major decision in your life - whether it’s a relationship, a financial decision, or a family decision, step back for a while and pray. Meditate on God’s Word to see if your decision goes against any of His teachings. Seek counsel from fellow believers. And seek His peace.
Proverbs 19:2 (NIV)
2It is not good to have zeal without knowledge,
nor to be hasty and miss the way.
Psalms 27:14 (NIV)
14Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
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