Lead Like Jesus

There are the bossy, know-it-all ones who think that just because they’ve seen it done by others and heard the theories word per word they have every right to give out instructions not to mention, criticize how others work. There are also the OC, micro-managers who like to get their hands dirty and seem helpful at first but ends up leaving no room for others to learn and mature.

Both approaches are flawed. One may be irritating than the other but both are destructive to people who encounter it.

This was the debate in my mind that ensued the other day: If I were to be a leader, how would I really want to lead? I was actually so bothered by the thought that I ended up praying to God about it.

He, in turn, led me to this verse and realization:

   HEB 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

This is how God wants us to lead. Like Jesus.

While on earth, Jesus gave a lot of instructions with the call for us to be perfect not to boss us around and act like some theoretical know-it-all. He gave us a lot of instructions because He was able to experience the things we are experiencing in our lives: temptation, discouragement, disappointment, persecution, etc. Yet, Jesus did not micro-managed everyone’s lives and shoved his principle down our throats but rather, shared what He knows with a promise that should one chooses to follow, blessings will come. As our leader, Jesus got His hands dirty by living it out here on earth. As someone who knows [a lot] better, His presence is the hope that we have to get out of the mess we are in as He is always ready to share what He knows provided that we ask.

This is how Jesus is. This is how Jesus leads. I hope to follow in His footsteps should I be called to lead.

To God always be the glory!    

A Prayer

Speaking slower than usual
These images keep haunting my dreams
I'm trying harder than usual
But my efforts fail me
I'm bordering insanity

Teach me how to feel what's real
Let me learn to love and heal
Keep me far from the edge
I beg of you

Save me from these turbulent tides inside myself
I'm drowning deep in my sorrows I keep on falling
Pull me back to stand on my own two feet
And never leave me
Just keep me company

Holding longer than usual
My hand's still shaking, I'm tightening my grip and
I'm thinking louder than usual
The world can't contain me
This yearning's too much to defeat

I won't stop, no, won't stop
Until you save me from these
Turbulent tides inside myself
I'm drowning deep in my sorrows I keep on falling
Pull me back to stand on my own two feet
And never leave me
Just keep me company

Teach me how to feel what's real
Let me learn to love and heal
Keep me far from the edge
I beg of you

Save me from these turbulent tides inside myself
I'm drowning deep in my sorrows I keep on falling
Pull me back to stand on my own two feet
And never leave me
Just keep me company.

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Our questions can keep on coming 'til we find ourselves lost inside the maze we created.

Finding our way back can only be achieved when we pray for help. 

I thank God that while I am unable to utter the words, He provided it to me.  

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credits to Walkie Talkies 

A Pure Heart

Ok, we love and worship God. We minister to the brethren in the church. That’s good. We go and make disciples of Christ. Great!

Let’s ask ourselves: Are our hearts pure? Down to the deepest, innermost chamber? What are the stories we confess to our best friends? Feelings we keep to ourselves? Sincerely, are there repressed bitterness? Hate? Lust? Insecurity? Pride? Any speck of the inverse of Galatians 5:22? Unresolved and hidden matters of the heart are certainly not of the Spirit. We tend to think, we are OK for being “religious”, and so “into” church activities.

Remember we can’t just go on burdened with unreconciled heart issues and pretend that we’re in “a whole new world” during praise nights and discipleship sessions. Let David’s prayer in Psalm 51:10 be ours as we seek God’s guidance in our desire for a heart that is pure. A spirit that follows hard after the Lord. 

- O

Yes Or No

It's a Sunday, have you learned something today? Have you experienced God's presence today? Did you sing and dance and worship God with all your heart? Does it feel good? Do you feel refreshed, revived and renewed? Did you come to find answers with the questions in your heart? Did God convict you of something you've had in your mind? Did you enjoy the company of your friends and family as you fellowship with them in God?

So... 

Have you taught someone else today of what you learned? Did a churchmate or other friends of yours experienced God's presence thru you? Can they still sing and dance and worship God with all their heart? Do you make them feel good? Did you help others feel refreshed, revived and renewed? Did you help them seek the answers with the questions in their heart? Did you bring them to a conviction about God? Do you miss the company of the people who you used to fellowship with? Do you long to fellowship with people that are strangers to you?

Heaven on Earth

Whenever I hear descriptions of how we will spend our days in eternity, I always imagine God's people standing in a stadium praising and worshipping Him. This is what I saw and experienced last saturday kung saan first time kong nakita na jampacked ang Araneta... as in! I can't help but think Iba talaga pag si Lord ang star of the night! 

Being around Christ's followers praising and worshipping God is an overwhelming experience that I just can't help but pray that I will be able to do this... in heaven. :) 

I pray that at the end of my life God tells me "Well done my good and faithful servant" ... sabay yakap! :D Tapos magpupuri na ako forever sa kanya kasama ang Hillsong, Israel Houghton, Planetshakers, Chris Tomlin at kung sinu-sino pa... Isama pa natin ang stars as in literal na stars... hehe. Hay... :D 

You are truly amazing! To You be the glory :D

Holy Week Learnings

This is what I have proven true this past holy week : the key to have a meaningful, fun-filled time is not really where you spend your days but with who you spend your days with.

Aside from the much needed rest and relaxation, God showed me 3 things during the holidays that I may have started to take for granted. I know there's nothing extraordinary with what I did during the vacation but I thank God He allowed me to spend it the way I spent it. 

God reminded me about His unfailing, unending love for me as He retold to me the story of my salvation. 

He also showed me the goodness in people's hearts as I encountered hundreds of people praying and desiring to experience Him. 

And lastly, He taught me the importance and joy of being part of a family. 

God truly is a wonderful God :) He never ceases to amaze me. Thank you Father! :) 

Of Catholics, Muslims and Love

Last week, while I was at a book store, I picked up Paulo Coelho’s Like the Flowing River and randomly turned to a page. The page I found myself reading was entitled “The Catholic and The Muslim”. It was a short anecdote which touched me with its last two statements. And, I quote, “It’s a shame that people see only the differences that separate them. If you were to look with more love, you would mainly see what we have in common, then half the world’s problems would be solved.”

This week, I encountered 2 Yahoo! news clips involving Catholics and Muslims with both earning the ire of netizens. The first news clip was about a picture of a girl posing in front a cross “parodying” Jesus’ death. The second news clip was about an imam that said the phrase “sumabog na kung sasabog” in an airplane after a passenger denies their request of taking another seat because in their religion, a female is not permitted to sit beside a man unless they are married. Reading the comments after the news clip and summing it up, this is what I got: in the first news clip, the netizens slammed the girl because they feel they were violated by the mere fact that the girl violated the cross, a sacred symbol to their religion while in the second news clip, netizens slammed the imam for not adjusting to society’s rules (seating plan in an airplane) because of their religion’s rules and calls for muslims to adjust their beliefs. What I got disappointed me.

The sad truth is we all have this tendency. That is, to command respect to things that we consider sacred or important but to disregard that which we do not understand. I can understand why people called for respect to the girl when they saw the cross being violated but what I can’t understand is why they cannot give the same respect to the imam who holds his belief sacred and even resorted to calling the imam (and other muslims) degrading names (not that what the imam blurted out after his denied request is justifiable).

Here’s the thing, the religion that we all feel “fighting” for teaches us to practice love and it is Jesus who best said how. Mark 12:30-31 states “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. While our religion provides us a set of rules and symbols to be able to express our love for God better, a faith that is alive is supposed to not stop there. It also calls us to love our neighbors (with the same love that God loved us) even if it means accepting things we do not understand.

The quote from Coelho’s message is an application of Jesus’ commandment. It’s not a new revelation. It does, however, put it in a different light.