Sheer Persistence

“I tell you, even though the man inside will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of the first man’s sheer persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.”

Luke 11:8 NET

http://bible.com/107/luk.11.8.net

Sheer Persistence - God responds to sheer persistence - probably because it is an act of desperation that unles God moves, nothing will happen and nothing will ever change. It is also an act of faith - believing that there is nobody else in this world that can do what is being asked for in prayer.

God let me have sheer persistence in prayer.

Closer You and I

Intimacy with God is a crucial part of living the Christian life. It is growing and deepening your relationship with God.

Lord, I want to grow deeper in my walk with you. I want to know you more. Lord, grant my request. Lord, help me. Amen.

When The Going Gets Tough

Life gets tough.

Mas madali sanang sabihin na life gets easier--that the older you get, pagaan nang pagaan ang buhay. But that is not the case. That is not reality--things that we cried for when we are younger, we laugh at it today, and then we face new challenges. It'll show our character, it'll show our values, it'll show whose we are and it'll show the convictions that we truly hold on to.

Amidst all these crazyness--na pati yung mga challenges sa buhay natin ay naglelevel-up--one thing we want is to understand why all these things are happening. Of all the people in the world, why are these things happening to me. 'Bakit ako pa?' Ika nga.

And our capacity to understand and the capacity of our faith collides with each other when things get really tough. Doubt seeps in. We question God. We need answers to the why's? And somehow, we need the answers now.

At this point, many are tempted to fall away. The correlation with the need to understand and the strength of our faith gets front and center. However, most of the time, as we face trials, our understanding is not yet able to accomodate what God is doing.

"To whom shall we go?", "You have the words of eternal life" said Peter one time. And this is the truth that we need to understand. If we fall away from Jesus, we are going to another direction. We are going to another person, being or god. But nothing in this world has offered eternal life than Jesus. He alone is the way to eternal life.

You do not have to understand it all so that you'll be able to hold on to Jesus. Marami na siyang ginawa sa buhay mo--sa buhay natin. Marami na siyang pinatunayan. Marami ng himala. In times of hardship and trials, where we don't understand what's happening. Remember that to go away from Jesus is worse. You may not know where these trials are leading you, know that apart from Jesus, you will never know where you will be, but in Jesus, you may not understand what's happening but you can be sure that He is leading you to life eternal.

Saved by Grace

Our salvation is a gift from God through the obedience and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I am but saved by grace through faith. Thank you Lord for saving me, for redeeming me, for freeing me. I owe my life to you Lord God. I love you, Lord.

Thursdays @ Church

I praise God for how he guides our adult Bible Study. What I am doing right now is just get a story from the Bible. We'll read the story / text and then get some observations and from there try to look for principles about God and man that would help each one of us in our walk with God.

I thank the Lord because, though I know the text, I really don't know what observations the group will emphasize. So what ever they say that's where we'll start the discussion and create generalizations and applications for our lives. I thank the Lord for the knowledge and wisdom that he gives us during our time in the study of His Word.

Today was also a rest day for my Young Adult group. They have things to attend to that needs their immediate attention. I just gave them an assignment that they will have to do before our next meeting to enrich our discussion. May the Lord bless the work of their hands so that whatever they are attending to right now would be a blessing to them.

We also re-started our drum lessons. Bim and Meca came, and I am really amazed at how fast they are learning. I hope that they would really bloom to be musicians after God's heart--that they would use the skill/talent in worshipping God through music.

Rest Day Monday

Literally, I would just rest every Monday. I try to get my mind off things during Mondays. It really crawls up to my nerves--the message for next Sunday and the time I'll be needing to prepare, the church stuff which includes growing spiritually and numerically, my inadequacies as a Pastor, my failures, etc. And it really just want to take over my mind so that I think about them. But Monday is rest day. So I keep my mind off many things. Minsan feeling ko namab sobra-sobra ang pag-iisantabi ko sa mga bahay na dapat pinag-iisipan ko.

Haaay.

Tuesday Hang-over

Hindi na talaga pwede sa akin ang magpuyat. Masakit sa ulo at walang productive na magawa sa maghapon. After ilang hours na gising, dadapuan ka kaagad ng atok, tapos sasabayan ng sakit sa ulo. I end up sleeping again, just to make up for lost sleep.

Was reading Mere Christianity Earlier. Sometimes, I think that when I read books, the information that I get just evaporate immediately. I can't remember ot anymore though while I was reading, I think I was absorbing it. I need to focus on my focus skills and comprehension.