FEELING PROTECTED

The COVID-19 virus is around us.  And though the virus is not airborne, it can be transferred by droplets landing in our hands, eyes, mouth, even eyes!  And so we need protection.  Doctors are telling us that the best protection is to wash our hands all the time.  We also have the social distancing required by the community quarantine we are in.  Wearing of masks for those who are coughing or sneezing, or even for extra protection is also advised.
Even if we cannot see this virus, it’s nice to have that feeling that we are protected, right?

We are also protected by those who love us.  My children have become very protective of me and my wife, since we belong to that segment of the population that are more susceptible to not only catching the virus, but to become sick because of it.  And so they have asked us not to go out anymore.  My wife and I are used to going to the supermarket for the family, but now our kids are the ones who are buying groceries for us.  Even going out to buy medicine, they want to be the ones to do it.
We’re adjusting, yes, but it’s a nice feeling someone is protecting us.

Psalms 91:1-4 (NIV)

¹He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High 

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

²I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, 

my God, in whom I trust.”

³Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare 

and from the deadly pestilence.

⁴He will cover you with his feathers, 

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

Psalm 91 is a known song in the book of psalms that speaks of protection.  It’s a great feeling to know that we have a God who promises us that wherever, and whenever, He is always there to be our protection!  Of course this is assuming that we are dwelling in His shelter and in His shadow.  When we are where we aren’t supposed to be, or doing what we’re not supposed to be doing, we cannot expect His protection.  But generally speaking, our God is always there for us.

But do you know that God’s protection here in this world is not just for today, or for our life here on earth?  He is protecting us in light of the eternity we have inherited through Jesus Christ!

1 Peter 1:3-5 (NIV)

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, ⁵who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 

We have an inheritance that will never perish, spoil or fade.  Not here on earth, but in eternity...it is kept in heaven for us.  This is what God is protecting us from here.  We are shielded by God’s power, protected until the coming of that day!

Here is the real protection of God.  He’s not just protecting us FROM circumstances, but protecting us FOR eternity.  There’s a difference.

This means that, even if we experience trials, hardships, sickness, pain in this earth, the Lord is still protecting us.  He is making sure that we will reach the inheritance that He has prepared for us!

If that is the case, what is God really protecting?  Our hearts, our faith.  God is making sure that when we enter eternity our faith remains strong and steadfast, no matter what trials and hardships we are facing.

This is the protection that is sure, that God promises to keep.

No matter what trial, sickness or hardship we may face, God is keeping our hearts, our faith, so that we enter our inheritance joyful in Him.

A Weaned Child

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Grumbling and Complaining

Has anyone noticed that our tv and print news will never (or should I say "rarely"...although I have not yet seen nor read any) write an article or broadcast/interview anyone who is living a simple and content life, trusting in the Lord, adjusting to whatever the economy throws upon us, despite the rising of prices, inflation and other experiences?
Sadly, many Christians today spend more time watching the news, or listening to commentaries, about people complaining about inflation and the raising of prices rather than reading and meditating on the Word of God, His promises, His faithfulness, and enjoying and basking in His presence despite all that is happening in the world. And so, what do you expect, but to hear the same complaints, the same grumbling, from what they (Christians) hear or read in the news.

Just thinking.

Psalms 4:6-8 Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?" Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD. (7) You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. (8) I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.