Hey folks. Sorry, just playing catch-up here with words I started typing on Evernote, only to be thrown into the backburner in favor of other pressing writing projects. There is nothing much to see here.
Last February 12, I had the privilege of testifying to the goodness of God by way of a good mentor of mine, in a live radio session. Some of the notes I’ve prepared just in case they asked about what I learned from the guy are in the following extracts from previous articles.
He was the guy who told me, in Tagalog: ‘I-tissue mo ang issue‘; Literally ‘turn the issue to tissue‘, he implied that leaders should be willing to lose an argument if it means saving a relationship. In fact, in any connection, you need to discern the issue from the relationship, and that you need to prioritize the relationship, even if you lose on the issue.
This was the same guy who instilled in me a preference for prayer; Prayer was an essential in what he called the LPG that should be in every household. Are we talking about Liquified Petroleum Gas? No, he said that every relationship, every family, every bond between husband and wife, father and son, mother and daughter, brother and sister should have LPG: Love, Prayer, and Giving.
It all starts with Love. The greatest of these, as the famous 1 Corinthians chapter concludes, is Love. There is no power in prayer, and there is no generosity in giving if there is no love. Love serves as the foundation, and the motivation for us to pray for each other, and to give and share with each other beyond prayer – because, yes, prayer is a form of giving, but prayer is also a celebration of love, just as giving is a fruit of love.
We love one another, we pray for each other, we give our time, resources and sanity with each other – not from ‘love’ we are able to generate, but from true love, poured out upon us, through Jesus Christ. As my mentor says, “Nobody is disqualified from being loved by God.”
Through him I also learned that mistakes are not only unavoidable, not only necessary, but in some cases, literally sought after – only for the pleasure of learning. I was also reminded of our Gospel, and how it helps us face our mistakes and blunders without fear… to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
With all this in mind, I am constantly reminded: Jesus is the greatest blessing we can give.
In the words of what my Mom calls her favorite song (and I could see why), Jesus is ‘the best thing that ever happened‘ to us.
We run to Him in our times of trouble. We look to His Word in times of temptation. We cry out to Him in our times of anxiety.
When we are triggered, or when our minds and hearts encounter thoughts, situations and memories that we’d rather stay away from, it’s in these times that we should NOT lament of our ‘distance’ away from God.
No, it’s in times of anxiety that we should intentionally dial into the Truth – that God is with us, ministering to us, loving us and protecting us through it all!
It is Christ who is with us, present, even conversing with us in the furnace, in the middle of fires made seven times hotter – let us keep our eyes on Him!
In our time of need, in our time of confusion, let us run to His overflowing, absolute throne of grace. Let us call upon the Lord, knowing those who place their trust in Him shall NEVER be put to shame.
Let us acknowledge Him in our plans, as much as we depend on Him in our circumstances – and in both, may we continue to see how He establishes our thoughts, and directs our steps.
Let us celebrate – yes, even while waiting, let us celebrate and rejoice! For we know that our Father will never let us down. He sings songs of deliverance around us, and He consistently, constantly reminds us of His everlasting love… by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are persistently convicted of our right-standing with Him; we are constantly reminded of how close we are to each other – all to the glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ!
Indeed, Father, as Your Word says, cause us to remember Your lovingkindness in the morning…
and as Your Word says, restore to us, ALWAYS restore to us the joy of Your salvation!
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him, all creatures here below! Praise Him above, ye heavenly host! Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost!
Amen.
We continue to give thanks to God, for He has always shown Himself as faithful to us, and we have seen His grace in action. Yes, we have beheld His absolute glory in the small moments, and in the larger scale of things, and there is nothing left for us to say beyond proclaiming that He deserves all the glory, He deserves all the praise.
Indeed, He is worthy of all credit and acclaim, worthy of all worship and recognition. For we have seen who He is through what He has done, and we have seen what He has done through His Son, Jesus Christ.
By Christ’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension, we are bold to say that our God loves us that much that He was willing to forsake His glory, and He was willing and actually lay down His life for all of us.
We are bold to proclaim that it is by Christ’s obedience – even unto His crucifixion – that He rose from death and the grave, and He ascended into Heaven; and as He rose from death to life, so we who believe have died and rose again, new creations… and as He ascended into heaven, so we were also properly reconciled to God: Much so, that by the Spirit we have received we are able to call the Creator our Father, and as Christ is seated at His right hand, so we also are seated in the heavenly places.
We must pause to take that in: By the power of the Holy Spirit poured out on us, we realize that we have not only been born again as new creations in this finite reality, but we have also been seated in the infinite heavenlies – therefore, though our earthly senses are focused on seeing, hearing, and touching all that is here, the Truth of the matter is that our reality is eternity; Here and now, we are lovingly embraced by our infinite God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).
And I hope I’m making sense here – though I admit, I am humbled, for I see how my words as absolutely insufficient to express such an everlasting love, such an infinite glory, such a great and eternal grace! Oh, indeed, creation could not HOPE to contain or discern all of its Creator – all that’s left is to trust.
Solomon says that we’re to fear God, and obey His commandments, for this is our ultimate. Generations later, Paul encourages us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
This all tells me that trust is crucial… as it is the crucial first step.
I am reminded, just as I was told late last year: We do not stay where we are, for we move as Christ moves, and Christ moves when we move. We flow.
We flow, and in our flowing, we behold the goodness and glory of God, and it is but natural that we give thanks to God in the process.
We flow, not necessarily knowing where we are headed, but confident just the same, because it’s in the uncertainty that we continue to depend and trust on our certain God.
And as we thank God, we trust Him more. And as we trust Him more, we find more reason and cause to thank Him.
In our thanking God and trusting Him, and in our trusting God and thanking Him… we flow.
I feel I owe you another apology, dear reader. For here I am again, just letting things flow out of my mind… writing, in between working out, adhering to the system that keeps me in track.
I only pray that this is of value to you. However you take it, I am thankful that you’ve actually made it this far.
May the Lord continue to bless us through it all. May we continue to see His glory and grace, and may we continue to see how we are transformed, and how we move from glory to glory.
Indeed, may we continue to flow, to thank God, and to trust God.
Until the next post.
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