SEEING LIFE

Matthew 13:49-50

The angels will… separate the wicked from the righteous… throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

If life is the journey, then what is the destination? When someone in the family is sick, it is not really easy to talk about death. And yet, come to think of it, all of us will reach or experience that stage. During the first two days when Mama is in the hospital, occasionally, we would shed some tears thinking about what would happen, as we really prepare ourselves for the worse. Death may not be as what we would imagine. Some would say that we should eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die. But is dying really the end of it all?

What if that's not the case? What if death is not the end? What if our future beyond the life we have now depends in part on the way in which we lived this life and what we were before we crossed the threshold of death? We must just remember that man’s life is in God's Hands. Only He determines the moment of death and the destiny of every soul on separation from the flesh. Christianity has always known and taught that man is more than a simple combination of chemical elements, that besides the body it has a soul which at the moment of death does not die, but continues to live and develop in a new surrounding. Let God nurture your soul. By his strength, we too shall rise in transfigured bodies for eternal and conscious life.

Let us pray +

Lord, in every need let me come to You with humble trust saying, "Jesus, help me." In all my doubts, perplexities, and temptations, Jesus, help me. In hours of loneliness, weariness, and trials, Jesus, help me. In the failure of my plans and hopes; in disappointments, troubles, and sorrows, Jesus, help me. When my heart is cast down by failure at seeing no good come from my efforts, Jesus, help me. Always, always, in spite of weakness, falls, and shortcomings of every kind, Jesus, help me and never forsake me.

Amen +

I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live.

OUR STRONGHOLD

Psalm 59:10

O my strength! for you I watch; for you, O God, are my stronghold.

The waiting continues. The carbon dioxide level in Mama’s blood and muscle is still high than normal so she is still hooked up to a ventilator. She eats through a tube but she is conscious now. You would see that occasional smile from her face that is now covered with micropore tapes and the protruding ventilator tube from her mouth. The waiting continues and hopefully, a good news would be shared by the doctor within the day.

I had to be strong for everyone, I hold to hold myself together. Through Him, I felt strong, strong enough to take this day on, strong enough for my family, strong for everyone by God's strength alone. I wasn't scared anymore, because God gives us not a spirit of fear, but of LOVE, POWER and a SOUND MIND! I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me! He is my stronghold. I have been through these before, and we know the Lord is with us all.

Let us pray +

O Christ Jesus, when all is darkness and we feel our weakness and helplessness, give us the sense of Your presence, Your love, and Your strength. Help us to have perfect trust in Your protecting love and strengthening power, so that nothing may frighten or worry us, for, living close to You, we shall see Your hand, Your purpose, Your will through all things. Help us feel your presence even more firmly in our lives. Give us courage to face anything, to endure everything - with You by our side.

Amen +

God is my refuge on the day of distress.

WHEN THE WORRYING STOPS

Luke 10:41-42

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

We were all very anxious. My mother-in-law has been rushed to the hospital due to shortness and difficulty in breathing. She was diagnosed with pneumonia and was scheduled for water extraction from her lungs. However, the procedure was not yet done since the doctor has to remove excess carbon dioxide from her body. When we reached the hospital, we are all at lost, doesn’t know what to do. “Call the nurse”, “call the doctor”, “where is the medicine”, “we need this”, “we need that”… Then I asked them to pray. We went to the chapel and allowed God to enter our being, to calm our weary body and soul. We are still waiting for her condition to get better, but the anxieties are gone.

Let us pray for her healing and immediate recovery +

Almighty Father, O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need. We humbly beseech You to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servant Antonia for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon her with the Your eyes of mercy; comfort her with a sense of Your goodness; preserve her from the temptations of the enemy; and give her patience under her affliction. Restore her to health, and enable her to lead the residue of her life in Your glory; and grant that she may dwell with You in life everlasting. May Your spirit give her strength and the healing she requires, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen +

Remember not against us the iniquities of the past…

SPIRITUAL YEAST

Matthew 13:33

“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

My mother bought some bread for breakfast. I took it and slice it so I can put some butter. But I noticed that there are a lot of air spaces inside. It looks big but really all-air. My mother just remarked that they must have put a lot of yeast in the dough. I didn’t understand at first until she explained that the yeast is the one that makes the bread “rise”.

When yeast is used for making bread, it is mixed with flour, salt, and warm water. A longer rising time gives a better flavor by allowing more fermentation products and by encouraging bacterial fermentation. The yeast reacts with moisture, heat, acidity, or other triggers to produce gas that becomes trapped as bubbles within the dough. So, more yeast – more gas bubbles are formed.

Jesus likened the Kingdom of God to the yeast. Even before, God is looking for people in that are willing to be consumed with Him. People who are willing to do whatever the Holy Spirit leads them to do in order to mature in the things of God. However, we should not just let God put yeast in us. We must also act and follow Him. Someone who just accepted Jesus Christ should be mature in Christ and grow in Him. But we should not just be “rising-up” due to bubbles and trapped air. We should not just be sitting under the Word of God and just “getting fat”. We should cease walking in the flesh and start walking in the Spirit and be a change to other people.

It is time to grow up. God is warning us but God is also depending on us. Now more than ever, God is calling the body of Christ to a level of maturity. It is time to grow up in the things of God. It is time to grow up in the spirit.

Almighty Father, You have inspired Your Church to set aside special times when this growth can develop more intensely - the special seasons of the Church Year. If I fail to move toward You during these times, I waste precious opportunities and endanger my spiritual life. Help me to take them seriously and make a real attempt to use them well, so that I may grow into the person You want me to be. Amen +

Grow in love with the Lord.

JOY OF DISCOVERY

Matthew 13:44

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

I still remember those days when a lot of treasure hunters came out looking for the Yamashita treasures. They would really buy out a property and dedicate their whole life digging for the “treasures”. However, years after, the treasure is still “out there”. No one has really proven that the Yamashita treasures ever existed. They have searched for something that is based on hearsays and treasure maps (fake, maybe, but we don’t know). And they ended up with nothing for they put their belief in something that doesn’t really exist in the first place.

Today’s gospel focus on the how finding the Kingdom of God could give anyone so much joy, that he would forego of his every possession just to have it. This joy of discovery reveals two essential points: first, the kingdom of God is not visible to the human eye, and, second, it is present in the midst of men. It might seem impossible to find a kingdom that cannot be seen, but with God's help it can be found. Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”. Just like the precious metals and gems of the physical world, many of God’s spiritual treasures lie hidden from human view. To possess them we must dig deep and search – shaping, refining, polishing and finishing.

The parable of the hidden treasure reminds us of what can happen if we treat the free gift of the kingdom as something that would move us to dispose everything that we have and express much in finding God's kingdom in it. But the parable also reminds us that once we have received the kingdom, we must assume the responsibility to share it with others. In sharing the treasure of the kingdom, one increases one's grasp of it. The righteousness which is acceptable before God is found in His kingdom. Discover true and infinite joy – discover Him, discover His Kingdom.

Almighty Father, grant us, the gift of true happiness in You, and the serenity which comes from living close to You. Renew in us the sense of joy, and let the Your eternal spirit dwell in our souls and bodies, filling our every hearts with light and grace through Your love and mercy. Amen +

Lord, I love your commands.

TEACH MY HEART

Psalms 84:6

Blessed the men whose strength you are!

They go from strength to strength.

There is no promise in the Bible that God will keep us from trouble in life. But there is the promise that if we will be content and trust God in good times and bad, we will be blessed and have the strength we need in any situation. Be blessed with another song (MP3 attached).

O Lord, my God, teach my heart

where and how to seek You.
Teach my heart where and how to find You.
You are my God and my Lord

and I've never seen You.
You've made me and remade me

and bestowed on me all the good things I have.

And still I do not know You.
I have not done that for which I was made.

O Lord, my God, teach my heart

where and how to seek You.
Teach my heart where and how to find You,
for I cannot see You unless You teach me,
or find You unless You show Yourself to me.

Let me seek You in my desire.

Let me desire You in my seeking.
Let me find You by my loving You now.
Let me love You when I find You.

Teach me, Lord.

Teach my heart where and how to find You.

Almighty Father, Whom have I in heaven, but You. There is nothing on earth I desire besides you. My heart and my strength, many times they fail, but there is one truth that always will prevail. You are the strength of our hearts. Bless us with Your spirit and Your strength. Amen +

My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

YOUR WISH

Matthew 20:21

“What do you wish?”

I wanted to be a doctor. But I know that my parents don’t have the money to sustain me through college and pre-med. So, one evening, my father asked me, “what do you want to become”. I knew then that he is not asking me what I want to finish in college. He is actually asking me what I want to become as a person. I remember that my only response was “to be a successful man”. Then, he responded, “then follow your dream”. Twenty years after, I would consider myself successful – having a wonderful family that is God-fearing, properties that I can say are product of hard-work and a job where I learn more and more each day. Would I be more successful if I am a doctor? I don’t know. And I don’t care. I like the life I have now, knowing that God is with me, forever.

What do you wish in life? Are we like the mother of John and James who asked Jesus to make her sons “sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom”. Perhaps, she thought that as a Messiah, Jesus is destined to be the King of Israel on earth, leading an army to overturn the Roman empire. But His Kingdom is not on earth. And taking up His chalice means suffering and following Him. In the end, James and John did dedicated their lives to God. And they gained the Kingdom of Heaven with Jesus. James was beheaded by King Agrippa, and John was exiled to Pathos (a Greek Island) and heard the persecution his beloved community was experiencing.

If we wish, I believe God will not hold back what he has promised to do. This is the season to ask what we desire – the desire to serve Him for the betterment of others. God is ever ready to grant us this desire and is not just fulfilling our needs. Let Him found grace and favor in you. For to those whom He is pleased, He will ask, “What do you wish for?”

Almighty Father, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility. May we be with You in Your Kingdom, this is our wish. Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of Your Son’s suffering, and also share in his resurrection; who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen +

Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing.

PARABLES OF LIFE

Matthew 13:16

But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, (for) they hear.

Before we sleep, my father would tell us stories. Most are based on Aesop’s fables. He would tell it with gusto together with animal sounds. We would enjoy every part of it. But he would emphasize more on the lessons learned in the end. And these lessons in life will be firmly embedded within us based on the stories and examples he shared with us.

A parable is a story that teaches us something about God, his kingdom, and ourselves. They can often be a bit confusing, and sometimes hard to understand. Jesus teaches in parables to separate those “who have ears and those who have not”.

This is a figurative way of saying “those who want to know about God’s kingdom, those who want to learn from Jesus will be able to understand what these parables are saying because the knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven have been given to them. But those who do not want to know about God’s kingdom or learn from Jesus just won’t get it… even what they know will be taken away from them, so that even though they have ears - they won’t be able to hear; and even though they have eyes - they won’t be able to see… because they have hardened their heart against Jesus. Or they simply doesn’t care because of pride and arrogance.

Parables are hard to understand. But when we put in the effort to understand them, what we learn about God, his kingdom, and ourselves is truly worth the effort. If you can read the parables of Jesus, learn from them, and be changed by them for the secrets of the kingdom of God have been given to you, for you to grow in Him.

Almighty Father, allow us to understand Your words through the parables of Your son, Jesus. May our eyes and ears be open to receive every Words that you say. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Amen +

For with You is the fountain of life, and in Your light we see light.

PROPHET JEREMIAH

Jeremiah 1:5

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.

Only a matter of minutes before I begin my talk. But days before this, I have rehearsed what I will be saying, how I will move and what jokes I will tell to keep my audience alive. All of these, I have envisioned in my mind. In effect, I have already made a mental picture on how the talk will go and be delivered so my audience will learn more from it. I have a “baby” in my mind ready to be born. Hopefully, the people would appreciate “him” and accept “him” in their hearts and minds.

Similarly, we were not born accidentally. We should realize that we were born for a reason, for a mission. Jeremiah’s call by God teaches how intimately God know us. He valued us before anyone else knew we would exist. He cared for us while we were in our mother’s womb. He planned our life while our body was still being formed. He values us more highly than we value ourselves.

Jeremiah had to depend on God’s love as he developed endurance. His audiences were usually antagonistic or apathetic to his messages. He was ignored; his life was often threatened. He saw both the excitement of a spiritual awakening and the sorrow of a nation returning to idolatry. With the exception of the good king Josiah, Jeremiah watched king after king ignore his warnings and lead the people away from God. He himself was severely persecuted. Finally, he watched Judah’s defeat at the hands of the Babylonians. He endured because his faith was firmly rooted in God. Even when he was discouraged and downtrodden, Jeremiah’s heart for God overcame his strong negative emotions.

The child in the womb is the product of His creative power and not the result of evolution. Our allegiance is His right, for He is our maker. He commands us, therefore, to submit to His rule. Know the reason why you are here on earth, and finish that mission, all for the glory of God.

Almighty Father, You called me through the love that I have for You to endure. You will be my strength that upholds me, You will be my mercy that will sustain me and my grace that will cover me. Amen +

Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety.

FOREVER YOUNG

Psalms 85:8

Show us, LORD, your kindness; grant us your salvation.

This year the theme of World Youth Day is, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.”(Acts 1:8). This passage occurs just before Jesus ascends to the Father. It represents the birth of the Church, and in this case, carries a message of rebirth and renewal to the youth of the world.

World Youth Day continues the tradition that has attracted millions of participants to the biggest celebration of young people on earth. Youth is a creation from God. God made us all as infants first, then as children–all knees and elbows during those confusing junior high years. He made us with hearts that fell in love in an instant when that captivating special someone we like so much as looked at us. He made us to disappear into make-believe worlds. He gave us days where every tree was meant for climbing and every knee was made for scrapes. He gave us youth…lots of it.

As Jesus had said, “I tell you with certainty, unless you change and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven”. Our God is all-mercy and all-kind, but he wants us to retain our childlike character – humility, full of hope and forever faithful in Him.

All of life is out of Him, all of life now exists through Him, and all of life will return to Him as the object of eternal glory. And every youth who sits in our churches shall glorify God forever - either in their salvation or in their condemnation. Therefore, we must confront our young people with the reality, centrality, and glory of God early and often so that they might find Him to be the sole object of their hearts’ affections. May God be pleased to use us in His gracious work of saving young people for His eternal glory.

Almighty Father, we ask You to bless us, keep us in Your love. Lord, give us hearts that are open, hearts that are humble and gentle, so that we may welcome those you send, with tenderness and compassion. And through the hands of your little ones, we ask you to bless us. No matter how strong the forces of death, we know we can find endless life in You. Renew that life in each of us, and make us worthy apostles of life in our day! Amen +

Restore us, O God our savior, and abandon your displeasure against us.

TELLING SIGNS

Matthew 12:39

“An…unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it…”

It did not happen. I am not saying that it will not happen, but it just didn’t happen as predicted. Prior last Friday, emails and text messages about a supposed an 8.1 magnitude earthquake that’s about to happen in the Philippines have been spreading online and from cellphone to cellphone. The earthquake “predictions” were supposedly made by a 47-year-old Brazilian teacher, Jucelino Nobrega da Luz. Philippine Institute of Volcanology advised that earthquakes are impossible to predict with any accuracy. Yes, they will occur, and yes, they will occur in the Philippines, as they always have. But to say that one of a specific magnitude will occur in any country on a specific date is an absolute delusion.

The wisdom and power of Jesus to convert sinners and unbelievers were greater than the greatest prophets and kings of the Old Testament, and far greater than the “seers” and “prophets” of today. Unlike His own generation, with whom He walked and talked, the billions of Christians all over the world today do not need any sign to believe in Him. His Word is enough for us, and our life conversions stand as testimonies and proof that the power of Jesus, the love and mercy of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit is in and forever be in our lives.

What we can do just now is remain steadfast and true to Jesus Christ and be a “city set on a hill” for all to see, to witness each day in our workplace, homes, neighborhoods and pray that people return to the Lord as the bedrock and foundation of their lives. There are now two paths people must choose from today. One leads back to God, restoration and the Light of Jesus Christ. The other to Satan, destruction and eternal darkness. Let us pray that people can be drawn back to the path of Jesus Christ and be restored once again to God.

Almighty Father, You have not given us signs but love. We will not give you doubt but faith. You have brought about our conversion through the power of faith in Your Word, and the evidence of Your love in Jesus Christ, our Savior. Let Your indwelling Spirit sustain our hope so that we may not be discouraged like the prophet Jonah, or be unfaithful like King Solomon in spite of his wisdom. Only by Your grace can we persevere. Amen +

Only to do the right and to love goodness… walk humbly with your God.

AVODING THE PIT

Matthew 13:30

Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”

Sheol… Hades… Gehenna… Hell… Inferno. I doesn’t matter how you call that place. It doesn’t matter what the temperature would be in that place. These are words that few really understand, yet most people will go there. It is usually considered the location for the incorrigibly wicked. It might be used to express anger or frustration. It may be used as a destination to assign to those you do not like. However, the hell that is described in the pages of the Bible is a very real place. You may be surprised to learn who goes to that location!

We live in a world that includes the good and the wicked. But like it or not, God has always made it clear - we must do the right things, by His standards, in order to achieve salvation. What Jesus reveals to us in this passage though, is even more specific. Not only are evildoers condemned, but “all who cause others to sin” as well. It’s not always clear who are the weeds and who are the wheat, and God has given us the freedom to change between the two. What is clear is that those who strive to serve God, while trying to lead others to Him rather than away from Him, stand a much better chance in the afterlife.

God’s gift of time is beyond measure. It is truly priceless and there will be a day when we will be asked to account for our time spent on this earth. At the end of time, the believers in Christ will be gathered together to be brought into the storehouse, where they will experience eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven; however, the tares or weeds shall be separated and bound together to be thrown into the flames. These represent those who refused the invitation to repent and believe. The “barn” or the “burning”, it is your choice. But still, please, choose the former!

Almighty Father, we beseech You to deliver us, by Your eternal power, from all the tyranny of the infernal spirits, from their snares, their lies and their furious wickedness. Grant us Your powerful protection and to keep us safe and sound. May Your Spirit grant us a loving and merciful heart as we live in You through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen +

Lord, You are good and forgiving.

HOPE OVERFLOWING

Matthew 12:21

And in His name the Gentiles will hope.

In the Philippines, hope is a cigarette brand. And a lot of men and women have really put their “hope” on this worthless vice – hoping that I would sleep soundly tonight, hoping that it will take away my problem, hoping that it will soothe away the anger that I feel. Most of us have place our lives on things that is of this world – hoping that it will make us happy and rich. And yet, through it all, the fact still remain that we cannot be really happy. Fear and feeling of unworthiness could still reign in our hearts. We get tired and get weary and wanting to give up. That is because we failed to recognize the True Hope in our lives – no other that the Lord, our God.

Our hope for the future is rooted in a conviction about God's character. It is because of God's tender mercies that we find it possible to hope. Because God's character - tender and full of mercy - the sun will rise, and we would welcome that brand new day, full of hope and optimism. We can anticipate good things because God is a good and loving God.

Sometimes hope fails us because of the pain of present circumstances. We find ourselves unable to focus on a hope-full future because we cannot see beyond the burdens of the present. But we need hope in order to continue the journey. Without hope there is only the despair that comes when we think nothing will ever change. We need to remind ourselves regularly, therefore, that God's vision for the future is better than our own.

God has been clear about His plans for us. It is God's intention to give us a hope and a future. This is not a promise of a trouble-free life. It is not a promise of immunity from struggle. But it is a promise of hope. God has been with us in the past. God is with us in the present. And God will be with us in the future. Return to God as our source of hope, and God will remind us that his plans for us are good.

Almighty Father, thank you for paying attention to my future. Thank you for making plans. Help me today to rest in the thought that your plans for me include blessing and a very wonderful life with You. Open my heart today to the hope and the future you have prepared for me. By the power of the Holy Spirit, cause me to overflow with hope. Amen +

You do see, for You behold misery and sorrow, taking them in Your hands.

DIVINE MERCY

Matthew 12:7

I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

In the old testament, sacrifice honored God by offering him creatures precious to man that are either bloody and unbloody. Among the bloody sacrifices, the holocaust, or whole-burnt offering, was the most perfect sacrifice where the animal was completely consumed by fire and offered twice each day, in the morning and evening. The sacrifice could either be sin offering, guilt offering or peace offering was in gratitude, in fulfillment of a vow, or simply voluntary. The unbloody sacrifices, however, is for peace offering only. In effect, sacrifice is to expiate oneself of sins and gain the forgiveness of God.

However, in the new testament, salvation and forgiveness has already come in Jesus Christ. In effect, we do not need sacrifices for our own sake anymore, just to please God. God is a God of mercy. Because God is a merciful God, he expects his children to be merciful. We now have to share in the very work of God – by showing mercy to others as God has shown mercy to us! This is how God makes our lives special and that by showing mercy, we lead others to the love of God in Jesus Christ that they might receive Him as their Lord and Savior.

God wants people to enter our lives who we think will not deserve our love in order to give us the blessed painful opportunity of practicing mercy. Our mercy to people merits the grace we need to be forgiven and, what is most important, merits grace for the ones towards whom we are practicing mercy. Turn to the living God for He will have mercy, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. It is not about living a perfect life of sacrifice anymore, but about people coming together and learning to love and accept each other, by loving God more than we would have; showing mercy towards others by loving those who do not deserve to be loved.

Lord Jesus Christ, you are our merciful God become Man to redeem us from our sins. Open our eyes to the debt of love that we owe You for Your unspeakable merciful love for us. Open our hearts to give ourselves to You through those whom You place into our lives, so that by our mercy toward them we may win mercy from You and cooperate with You in the redemption of a sinful world. Amen +

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”