I must admit that I love reading books written by Max Lucado. I love how he use his typical writing style, humor, and extensive use of passages in the Bible and how he interacts it with the current life. This is maybe one of the reasons why I could say that he makes the reading of profound Christian truths easy to follow and even enjoyable. 

In his book "Just Like Jesus", Max takes us on a journey to restore our hearts. He welcomes us to a question that will really challenge us to think: "What if, for one day, Jesus were to become you?" How would you answer this?

For me, the most striking truth I've read from this book is this:

"God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be JUST LIKE JESUS. God loves you just the way you are. If you think His love for you would be stronger if your faith were, you are WRONG. If you think His love would be deeper if your thoughts were, WRONG again. DON'T CONFUSE GOD'S LOVE WITH THE LOVE OF PEOPLE. The love of people often increases with performance and decreases with mistakes. Not so with God's love. HE LOVES YOU RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE." (emphasis mine)

Max's intentions are very clear. he want the reader to be able to grasp the idea that God loves us and that He wants us to be just like his Son" pure, blameless and obedient. Max also gives hope that we can do this by trusting our lives to HIM and just follow His Word, the Bible.

I would highly recommend this book to my family and friends. It's very easy to understand yet full of hopeful topics.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com®  book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255. 

"ALWAYS be ready to answer everyone who asks you to explain about the HOPE you have"- 1 Peter 3:15

Peter wrote that in a small group of Christians who, at that time, were persecuted and were being laughed at for being Christians. and one point of Peter is this: ALL OF US should be prepared to tell others how we know God is REAL and how He made us into a New creation through Jesus Christ.

Have you we thought through what we would say to someone who wants to have a personal relationship with God?

Do we have a couple of Bible verses memorized that we could share with them?

Would we be ready to pray with them?

In about two months, I, together with my church mates, am going to a camp. There will be lots of youth that are lost and are hungry for Salvation. The question is, am I equipped enough to go to that battle? How about you? Are you prepared? Let's say you don't have camps like that. Is camp site the only place you could share the Gospel? Even if you just walk outside, there's a girl in the street. She's crying. There's a man whose faith is dying. Love is calling you. Ready your self and rise up!

A Danger to your soul in our prosperous society is to value possessions more than people--and more than a relationship with God.

I remember what Henry Ward Beecher once said, "He is rich or poor according to what he is, NOT according to what he has."

Let's evaluate ourselves at this time. Do we ever struggle with greed and materialism? Have we been so attached to the things in this world? Do we value earthly possessions more than our relationship with God?

Hebrews 13:5 says, " Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. God has said, 'I will never leave you; I will never forget you.'"

“Kiddo, pray before you sleep.” Maybe you have heard your mom or dad say these words to you. I was not exempted to that. J

Even as young as 2 years old, my parents and other relatives have taught me to pray. Before, I thought prayer was only done during sleeping time. But of course, when I grew up, my misconception about prayer has changed.

Pastor Rey Calingasan of Church of God- Makati delivered his sermon to us a few months ago, and he discussed about PRAYER.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, we can see there one of the shortest commands of God and that is, “Pray continually”. I love how this verse was translated in different versions. Take a look at this:

• Pray continually. New International Version (NIV)
• Never stop praying. New Living Translation (NLT)
• Pray without ceasing. New King James Version (NKJV)
• Pray at all times. Today’s English Version (TEV)

If there is one verse about prayer that really rebukes me, it’s Matthew 26:41 –

"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." (NIV)

Next to temptation, perhaps the most frequent and insistent attack from the enemy to which we are vulnerable is accusation. By faith we have entered into an eternal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, we are dead to sin and alive to God, and we now sit with Christ in the heavenlies. In Christ, we are very much important, we are qualified, and we are justified.

The devil can not do absolutely anything to change our position in Christ and our worth to God. But what I have observed is that he can render us virtually inoperative if he can deceive us into listening to and believing his insidious lies, accusing us of being of little value to God or to other people.

In these past few days, I just found myself being rebellious. I didn't open my Bible and never took the opportunity to pray and devote my self to Him. Then, discouragement and disappointment came. I tried to talk to God, yet I am not willing to listen. I cried. Still, GOD's FAITHFULNESS is indescribable. He did not let me fall away. I am reminded again of HIS love, HIS UNDYING love for me, for us.

Then, a sister in Christ texted me. She said,

GOD takes us into deep waters not to drown us, but to CLEANSE us. And HE disciplines those HE LOVES.

Almighty God, I stand in awe of You, Lord. Thanks YOU for Your unconditional LOVE. Thank YOU for Your MERCY. Thank You for the FORGIVENESS that You gave. I love You, because You have loved me first with Your everlasting LOVE. In JESUS' Mighty Name, Amen.

And now, let me share to you this beautiful song that really touched my heart. May the message inspire you, too. GOD bless, and let's BLESS GOD with our decisions.

When God Ran

Philips and Craig

Maybe you've come to a point wherein you sought advice from your friends about some "love life thing", and all they said was "FOLLOW YOUR HEART".

I must admit. I, myself, experienced that scenario before. I, being the “inferior” type in the group, tried to follow my heart, as what they have recommended. You know what happened?

I found myself losing my purity, emotionally and spiritually..

After everything that has happened in my life, I am really praising GOD that He let me realize some of the most important things I should always keep in mind.

About our HEART:

The Bible warns us that our heart can lead us in wrong, even DEADLY directions.

Our hearts lie.

Something can “feel” right and be completely wrong.

As what Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

We need to constantly evaluate the purity of our hearts in Prayer. We can always ask GOD to reveal the things that contaminate us, our hearts, our whole being. And as GOD reveals our wrong attitudes, longings, and desires, we MUST remove them from our hearts.

Of course, I’m not exempted in this. But, my only hope is that my Father in Heaven is FAITHFUL to complete me.

Yes, there are temptations. I cannot deny them. That’s why I’m really praying that GOD would continue to help me guard my heart. I know there is really One who is in control of all the unknowns. We can trust him to lead us through it and protect our hearts in the process.

Let me end with this:

 

 The world takes us to a silver screen on which flickering images of passion and romance play. As we watch, the world says, “This is love”.

GOD takes us to a foot of a tree on which a naked and bloodied man hangs and says, “THIS IS LOVE”. 

It was only yesterday that I heard news about another tragic story happened in University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB). A Junior Computer Science student named Given Grace was found dead in a canal with bruises all over her body, a mark of a very hard pressure, a tape covered her mouth, her hands were tied, and there was also a bullet shot in her head. I can't imagine how she looked like after the said incident. I can't help but grieve with what she experienced.

Honestly, I don't know Given Grace personally. I never actually met her. But, I have  seen a lot of blog posts already on news and opinions about what happened. I am not blogging about this just to take advantage of the tragedy to write about something that some would probably like to read about. I wrote this as a tribute to her. I have read that Given Grace is a sister in Christ, a daughter of a pastor.

Yesterday, we had our church's monthly leaders' meeting in. Before we started to discuss all the agendas, our youth coordinator shared a passage from the Bible stating that we are Christ's AMBASSADORS. Meaning, we are representatives of Christ.

I opened my email and was pleased to receive a message from a site encouraging the youth to be more devoted to God. When I read the devotion for today, I feel very excited to share it to everyone (especially to all the leaders in church).

Last night, I made sure that I will rise up at exactly 4 o'clock in the morning. I set up three alarm clocks to make sure I won't be late for tomorrow  because honestly, I have a hard time going out of the bed especially when I feel really tired.

Thankfully, this morning, I was up to bed even before the time I set all the alarm clocks! (I think this was the first time. Haha!) I decided not to take a bath because we will be jogging around and will be sweating a lot this morning. I just washed my face, then have my teeth brushed, and hair combed, then I was ready for the said activity.

Wonderful weather, beautiful sisters, sweet brother, lovely father, the Word of God- some of the reasons why I am really enjoying my Monday. :)

I started my day devoting my self to God. I read my Bible and I prayed. I believe that if you started Your day by immersing your soul with His complete and Final Revelation to man (which is the Bible), everything else will follow smoothly. All your anxious thoughts, worries, and heartache will be removed because of His Word.

I just want to share to you my homework in our Baptist College of Leadership (BCL) class. Our topic was about debotional method since we are currently taking up the subjest "Methods of Bible Study".

“Prove yourselves doers of the Word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” James 1:22

EMPHASIS:

Doers of the Word- I am a Sunday school teacher. Those of us who are called to preach or teach the Word of God must put it on first. To proclaim the Word of God as if it was true in our life, when it is not, is a LIE. Another point is that, once we hear/read the Word of God, we are obliged to do what it commands. Yes, it’s quite hard to be as holy as what God wants us to be, but we can always ask God to give us strength.

Hearers who delude themselves- Those of us who receive the Word are also vulnerable to self-deception if we fail to put it into practice. Let’s take for instance, we hear a sermon or a lesson, and say “Wow! What a great truth!” and hurry off to share it with someone else without processing it ourselves and applying it in our own lives. If I do not act on the truth I hear of my good heavenly Father, then I am deceived because the truth I heard does not stay before me, and I soon forget it and so forget myself.

PARAPHRASE:

A genuine Christian does not just listen to the Word and so deceive herself. The Word must be applied and reflected in her life.

PERSONALIZE:

I must not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive myself. I must do what it says.

SIN TO CONFESS: I must confess that there are times I am being pretentious. I listen to the Word and read my Bible, but me, myself is not reflecting what that specific Scripture is telling me, especially when I teach in the Sunday School. Also, I am afraid to admit it when my life does not completely match up to the Scripture.

ATTITUDE TO CHANGE: I must be true, not only to myself, but most especially; I must be true to the One who created me, to the One who gave me the gift of teaching. This verse made me realize that I have a perfection complex. I have this thinking that I have to model perfection and not admit to something else. I must accept the fact that I can’t model perfection, because I am not perfect; I can only model growth. The people around me need to know that I am a real person in the process of maturing.

COMMAND TO OBEY: It is clear in this verse that we are commanded to do what the Word is telling us to do. We must continue to grow spiritually by reading, listening, and applying God’s Word in our lives.

PRAYER TO PRAY: Lord, forgive me for the times I have placed the quest for earthly perfection ahead of growth in You and Your Word. Help me model growth in my life today.

ERROR TO AVOID: We are tempted when we are in trouble to believe that just hearing the truth, or "knowing" the truth is enough.

TRUTH TO BELIEVE: This verse reminds me that listening and receiving again and again the truth of God's amazing love and grace for us will help us to be more deliberate and faithful in our words and with our actions.

To act on the truth we hear is to live as if God is truly our gracious heavenly Father and that He alone gives us our worth, our identity. But this is to allow very deep habits of mind, words, and actions to be transformed.

To act on what we hear though, is not simply to try harder not to, say, not complaining or being anxious. James 1:22 is not encouraging me to simply try harder to live right. This is encouraging me to do whatever I need to do in order to feed my faith in my heavenly Father.

SOMETHING TO PRAISE GOD FOR: I praise God for His faithfulness to complete me. I praise God for His unchanging, generous, and completely good character.

DEVOTIONAL METHOD

   

Proverbs 3:1-2

   My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,

2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.

VISUALIZE:

   I can imagine in this verse a father lying in a bed, a bedridden loving father, who is telling his child about the things he must not forget.

EMPHASIS:

   My- a possessive pronoun, meaning God is really talking to His children, those who believed and accepted Him.

  

   Son- this is not only pertaining to male, but instead, it is used in this verse as a general term

   Do not forget- They say in Filipino, “Ang gamot sa limot ay paalala”. These are the ways that I do to not forget His teaching and commandments: I always read the Bible, as in every time I get a chance to read it; I memorize it; I write it down on a sticky note and post it on my wall so that every time I open my eyes, I will be reminded again.

Teaching and Commandments- As I read this, I remembered the Greatest Commandment:  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”

In your heart- God is concerned about our hearts. A question came into my mind: “When God listens to my heart, does He hear His Word?”. When God’s Law is in our hearts, He can do something through us, in us, and for us. What’s in our hearts will determine what’s in our lips. If the truth of God is in our hearts, then the Word of God will be on our lips. Taking care of the heart is the most important thing we can do. “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”-Proverbs 4:23

Long life and prosperity- True prosperity and true "long life" can be found only in heaven.

PARAPHRASE:

   Anyone who doesn't follow the guidelines of wisdom presented in this proverb is doomed to poverty and to death at an early age.

PERSONALIZE:

   “I must not forget His teaching. Instead, I must keep His commands in my heart, for He will prolong my life many years and will bring me prosperity.”

SIN TO CONFESS:

  

   I must confess that most of the time, I worry about things such as, “How long will I be staying here on earth?”, “What are the things I should ask God so that I can be prosperous?”, “Will I really be spending my eternity in Heaven?”. Notice that I am very anxious and doubtful about God’s promise to me. In other words, I am not living a doubt-free life. Although I’m reading my Bible, I must also confess that the lessons I get from the Word of God are not actually being practiced in my own life. Also, I still don’t acquire the habit of asking God’s help about anything He commands.

PROMISE TO CLAIM:

   These verses clearly state the promise that God will prolong my life many years and He will make me prosperous. And for God, true prosperity can only be found in heaven, together with Him.

ATTITUDE TO CHANGE:

   I should hide His Word in my heart so that I might not sin against Him. When I’m going to make a decision, I should think about this first: If He was in my place, what would Jesus do? I must also change my attitude of worrying.

COMMAND TO OBEY:

   The command for all the believers is found in verse 1. I should not forget His teaching by always reading His Word and applying it in my life. I should keep His commands in my heart, not just in my mind.

PRAYER TO PRAY:

   “Heavenly Father, help me remember that Your will is good, pleasing, and perfect. Thank You so much that You reward those who obey You, keep Your commands, and do what’s right. I pray that Your will may be done in my life. Help me humbly follow You. Help me to reflect Your love through my testimony. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
 

ERROR TO AVOID: For me, it is a big mistake if you don’t practice what you preach.

TRUTH TO BELIEVE:

   I believe that the guidelines in these proverbs are the God-appointed pathway to prosperity and long life, but God has higher perspectives and purposes that will sometimes require His children to forego such earthly success. It is only because of God's mercy that wicked people sometimes live long and prosperous lives on earth, yet they will not escape His judgment in eternity.

SOMETHING TO PRAISE GOD FOR:

   I praise God for His faithfulness to complete me. I will forever be grateful for His mercy and Grace. I know I don’t deserve to be in heaven, but because of His grace, He helps me to put my faith and hope in Him to save me.

APPLICATION:

   One of the key words in the Bible is “REMEMBER”. We are to remember God’s works His mercy, His faithfulness, and His commandments. Sometimes we forget all God has done for us.

  

   I will find some time to write down the gracious deeds the Lord has done for me since I have been walking with Him. I will tuck my “story” into my Bible on how I followed His commandments, and look at it from time to time. This might also be a great time to start a spiritual journal since I haven’t done this before- a Day-to-Day record of my life with God.

Yesterday, Sumulong Baptist Church- Makati celebrated its 8th Anniversary. Usually, the morning service starts at 10:30 AM, but this time, we started at around 9 o'clock in the morning, because part of the celebration is the commencement exercises of the church's first Vacation Bible School entitled "The Lost World: Reclaiming the World for God". The auditorium was filled with persons of different ages: from adult to kids. The church anniversary weekend had a total of 180 attendees and we praise God for the 7 people who accepted Christ as their Personal Lord and Savior.

Below are some photos taken up during the service: (you can see all the photos here: SBC- Makati's 8th Year Anniversary)

Pastor Jeffrey Aspacio, welcoming the visitors

children praying during the opening prayer of the service

Dig Site 2 discloses the story of the INHABITANTS who were created in God's image and charged to rule the earth for His glory. God created Adam and Eve so they can be each others companion and share the responsibility of caring for the Garden of Eden, because "it is not good for man to be alone." Like them, we will learn to spend time with others, reach out to them and build friendships! Aren't you excited? :)

DAY 2 photos:

students making their own dino-masks

It was SBC- Makati's first time to handle a Vacation Bible School, and I am dearly grateful to be part of this event. What's interesting about this VBS is that all of us were volunteers. It's really happy to serve a living God!

On the first day of VBS, everyone was filled with excitement. With all the rooms decorated and all the materials prepared, i think everyone is ready for the said activity.

 

We started our day by devoting ourselves to God. Pastor Jeffrey Aspacio shared a verse from the Bible, and was really a great encouragement for all the volunteers.

1 I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. 3 My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you. 4 For you have upheld my right and my cause; you have sat on your throne, judging righteously. 5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever. 6 Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy, you have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished. -Psalm 9:1-6

            Psalm 9 is a great victory psalm. Notice the universals in verse 1- "ALL my heart" and "ALL Your wonders". I must confess that there are times when I don't praise the Lord with my whole heart. At times i've stood in church with the hymnbook in my hand, singing a great song of praise--but not with my whole heart. THE BEST WAY TO HAVE VICTORY IS TO PRAISE THE LORD WHOLEHEARTEDLY.

At the age of 33, Jesus Christ was condemned to death .

At that time, crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus, unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion Jesus was to be nailed to the Cross by His hands and feet.

Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long. The nails were driven into His wrist. Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder. The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breath.

    Last night, I was having a conversation with some of my fellow Christians who are also in the Music Team. We have shared some songs that we like the most.Then, they gave some links to videos for me to watch for. I came across this video performed by Kutless, one of my favorite Christian bands. After I've seen it, I cried. As in I cried a lot. I had goose bumps. God made me realize something. He made me think again and evaluate my relationship with Him. These past few weeks, I've been very busy with the ministry. It even came to point wherein I almost forgot my real purpose: to Glorify and Honor God all the time. My focus that time is to make myself popular. And I was so ashamed :( But then this song served as an encouragement to me. Yes, there will come a time that we will fall. But the question is, "Are we going to stay in that situation?". 

What Faith Can Do

by Kutless

Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you're stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

Overcome the odds
You don't have a chance
(That’s what faith can do)
When the world says you can’t
It’ll tell you that you can!

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do
That's what faith can do!
Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise

Thank You, oh Lord for being my strength and my refuge. 

Yesterday, JIVE Youth celebrated Hearts Day with a love banquet entitled, “Mahal Kita Period.” This special celebration of Valentine's Day zeroed in on unconditional love of God. Although we alloted 70 seats, there were forty people who came and celebrated with us. It was truly a fun night for the young people. A refreshing and unique way of celebrating Hearts Day than what our society would have us celebrate. I'm thankful that I was not intimidated by some of my friends who celebrated their day with their boyfriend/girlfriends. For I know that in God's Time, I would be able to celebrate this special day with the one I would truly love, my future husband. 

the beautiful ladies who celebrated with us

and the gentlemen 

Aside from the inclusive dinner, we also had a raffle draw to add up some excitement in the program. 

(Credits to ate Jen for the fantastic photos)