When the Father speaks

Son,

No. I am not happy. Yes, you have sinned against Me. And no, I wasn’t referring to all the laws and commands you’ve broken. I’m referring to you breaking My heart.

I have been with you all these years. I know what you know, not just because I am God, but because I taught you everything you know. I stood by you and sat beside you as you learned everything you know about Me, My word, and My creation. And yes, I am fully aware that all these are not new to you. But son, if anything, we both know you are stubborn. You can know things and still not know them.

Son, I am not happy because you have forsaken Me.

No, I do not care about all your sins. I do not care about them as much as I care about how you and I are.

Son, I am your Father. I do not need your service, I do not need your religious acts, I do not need your righteousness, and I definitely do not need your time. No, son, I only want your love.

I do not care about how much time you spend serving Me. I do not care about how much you know about Me. I do not care about how many songs you can sing for me. I do not care about how many days and hours you give up for Me. I do not care how much luxuries you lose because of following Me. I do not care about how you love Me, I just want you to.

Son, it’s not about working for Me, knowing Me, spending time with Me, and not even serving Me — IT’S ABOUT BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP WITH ME. 

No, you DON’T get it.

I do not want you focused on distancing yourself from the world — I want you focused on drawing closer to ME.

I do not want you focused on how much time you spend with Me and how you spend it — I want you focused on wanting to spend time with Me and actually doing so.

I do not want you focused on how you are to overcome your lusts and weaknesses — I want you focused on how much I love you, how powerful that love is, and how free you are just because I am your Father.

I do not want you focused on building relationships with My other children — I want you focused on how I make relationships for My glory and for your good. 

No, son, I do not want another worshiper to give me lip-service and shower Me with offerings. I want a son who loves Me and does all that out of love.

I’ve given you this statement months back: Ministry is simply the overflow of your love relationship with Me. It is never an end goal in itself. 

What happened to the “Ivan” who took note of that and posted it a few times on the internet?

What happened to the son of mine who wrote down “True humility is not about self-pity — it’s about SIMPLY ACCEPTING what He says and sees in you” after hearing it on the radio?

You’re called the prodigal saint for a reason. Because you have experienced firsthand what MY love feels like. I go running to embrace you EVERY single TIME you come back to Me. I shower you with kisses and hugs every time you come back up from the pig pens. I reinstate you every time you forget your status as MY SON. I give you authority and clothe you with My righteousness every time you forget that I have done it all on the cross. I give you everything that is Mine every time you lose all that you thought you had.

I, My son, am your Alpha and Omega — I am your Dad.

AND. I love you.

Love,

Your Heavenly Father

Ending 2012

Wow. 2012 is over in about 39 minutes! I’m cramming — yet again — to have this post filed under Dec 2012.

I haven’t had any time to do anything lately — Surprise. Surprise. Procrastination is still getting the best of me.

I’m really stumped right now, as far as writing goes. So, I’m going back to one of the most important reasons why I actually started this blog: to keep up a community of Saints.

If you’re reading this, then God has made it so that you are someone I am to share my life with 🙂

Here goes.

A community of Saints should keep each other accountable in prayer, so I’m dumping my prayer list on to YOU! 🙂

(For the most part? It’s just an update of how 2012 was… and what 2013 has in-store for me. :P)

2012 was quite a handful, and here’s why.

1) We (me and my loving family) have finally gone through a FULL year in Canada — January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012! By His awesome grace, WE SURVIVED!

2) I’m finishing my Associates REAL soon!

3) I got blessed with a job!

4) Still haven’t gotten over laziness and procrastination — did not get to keep up regular posts, did not get to keep up regular quiet time, and have not been as efficient in a lot of things.

5) Getting settled in also includes a LOT of drama.

Oddly, my mind’s really blank. K. I’m blaming being sick for my incoherence. haha.

2012 was a crazy roller coaster for me, ups and downs for EVERYTHING — from my grades, to my consistency with God. In all that though, He remained faithful.

You know how you can’t really point out a lot of instances where your parents were there for you? And yet you wake up every morning and just know that they are? SAME HERE. This saint is having a hard time recalling all the times that God has seen me through throughout 2012. Yet I get this warmth in me just trying to! I just know He’s there. It’s like you rarely feel exhilarated when you breathe, right? It’s cuz oxygen is constantly around you.

Words fail me. YET AGAIN.

I guess this is why sharing (and posting in a blog like this) cannot be procrastinated so much. I remember so many times that I have a TON of things to write about, but I ignored them. Now, I’m trying to make up for all of them — and, I can’t.

It sucks.

It’s annoying to realize that I’ve robbed God of His glory way too many times this year. He’s given me so many chances to write about His amazing Grace, and there I was being lazy.

Lesson learned for 2013: PUT MORE FOCUS ON GOD.

I guess that’s just how I’ll try to be better for the next year (which comes in 20 minutes!).

SIMPLY KEEP FOCUS ON GOD.

When my emotions are all over the place … think of how Jesus can calm every storm.

When the sheer thought of the amount of work paralyzes me … think of what I can do through Christ who strengthens me.

When I become unsure of how I am with people … think of how He sees them and how we’re all connected by His cross.

When I feel lazy to blog … think of how His glory and His works are not being proclaimed.

When I feel neglected and alone … think of how He’s always there.

When I feel unappreciated and ignored … think of how He loves me so and that I am His beloved.

When my world is upside down … think of how I am not of this world.

When I’m filled with glee and bliss … think of how all this is His blessing.

When I feel like going with the world … think of how much He’s suffered to take me back into His presence.

When I feel hurt … think of how His love should comfort me and how His love should flow through me.

When temptation haunts me … think of how I am already victorious by virtue of His blood.

When I feel inadequate … think of how I am fearfully and wonderfully made in HIS image.

When everything’s just going wrong … think of how His plans for me are to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future.

I can go on forever with this, and I’m sure YOU could too.

9 minutes till 2013

I pray that I will have this saintly thinking practiced more in the days to come.

I pray that YOU too will keep these in mind.

The new year is not really that big of a deal. As SAINTS, we have to be renewed DAILY and be more like Christ, our Savior and Lord, EVERYDAY.

A blessed New Year to all you Saints out there!

 

His eye is on the sparrow — His hand is upon me

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:29-31

Sparrow — Audrey Assad

While randomly watching videos on YouTube, I somehow got to watching this video — and I knew, God wanted to talk, I mean, that He’s talking.

Son, I know you know this. You know full well how much I love you, the hope you have in Me, the Joy I give, and all that stuff. However son, do not forget that these things are CONSTANT — no matter how you feel, it does not, will not, and CANNOT change the fact that I love you, I died for you, I saved you, I’m your strength, your deliverance, your perfect friend, your LOVE. It’s time to start singing again my son.

It’s the time the prodigal saint remembers he’s a SAINT. 

The Prodigal’s Prayer

Among the things I have to boast,
Your presence, I long for the most.
My God to Thee my spirit sings
Of how I’m carried on Your wings.
In pain and strife I turn to You,
Your grace and love makes all things new.
My love, my God, to You I give
And only for You will I live.

Apart from You, my heart and soul
Can never be alive and whole.

-theprodigalsaint

Consistency: The Kingdom vs the King

Every now and then I’d add the calendar widget to my blog, just to see how “consistent” I’ve been in posting.

Usually, I do that when I really want to write, but somehow can’t — so I check how many I’ve written for the week and if I could get away with not writing, or if I can let it go and hope something comes to me a few days later.

Now that I think about it? I couldn’t be any further from His heart.

I decided to write this blog, as I’ve repeated countless times, to try and foster a sense of community for Saints everywhere whom God decides to reach through this blog. With that, I’ve always held on to the idea that I will KEEP POSTING AS LONG AS HE KEEPS GIVING SOMETHING TO POST ABOUT.

For about a month that went on AWESOMELY. If you check it out, you can find a day or two when I posted about 2 to 4 blog entries! I was on fire last month. I just started typing away the moment I feel the Spirit stir up something in me to write about — and since it’s the Spirit working? My fingers just kept dancing around on the keys and words kept flowing.

Recently, I’m down to about a post a week. It’s depressing and discouraging to say the least. What’s more? These weekly posts — by some silly standard I don’t really understand but can certainly feel — just don’t seem to be at par with my older ones.

I feel like such a failure. As a writer. As a blogger. And definitely as a Saint.

That last failure category sure struck a cord — Failure as a Saint.

And like any prodigal would do? I tried fixing the problem myself. I didn’t bother seeking God, I was already bothering Him way too much with my school work — this is something He has entrusted to me, and I want to do what I can to show I can be responsible in what He’s given me.

WRONG

As Saints I failed with the only responsibility we’ve been entrusted with — TO LOVE THE LORD MY GOD.

I was minding the kingdom too much, I forgot ITS KING.

There was no way I’d be able to get back  to “my rhythm” in writing JUST BY MY OWN EFFORTS. After all, it’s HIS blog — He won’t let me go on writing WITHOUT HIM.

I realized, I’m not just experiencing a common case of “writer’s block” — my HEART was blocked.

Lately, I’ve been under too much work — a term nearing its end is like having stabbed a snake and have it coil up around you tighter before it lets go of its life. I’ve placed too much focus on what I have to do, and forgot what I OUGHT TO DO.

I am a Saint, I’m called to be in constant communion with Him — nothing more, definitely, nothing LESS.

Why can’t I write? Because I don’t have anything to write about.

Why don’t I have anything to write about? Because I have no source of ideas.

Why don’t I have any sources? BECAUSE I HAVEN’T BEEN AS CLOSE AS I SHOULD BE WITH MY GOD — MY SOURCE OF ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING.

Jesus said:

Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15: 4-5)

Apart from Him (Jesus) we can do nothing. I’d personally go further and say, apart from Him, we are NOTHING.

God in His grace has reminded me of this, sure, I have to go through times of drought too — but no season in life would ever trump His promise:

MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU. (2 Cor. 12:9a)

TheProdigalSaint’s been called to come back; and all this time he thought he’s been back — apparently, he’s not “home” enough.

God’s love is too stubborn to just let us be average — it won’t stop till we’re fully basking in it.

Your Grace is ENOUGH

Too many days have passed since I last got to write a post — and I feel awful. Spring is almost here (snowed AGAIN this morning — YEY) and for university students? That means TERM PAPERS AND FINAL EXAMS are all underway.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 reads:

give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Easier said than done, believe me, I know! BUT. It’s not that hard when you see how God actually brings you through it.

I am in university, and have been here for about a year now (well, I had two years back in the Philippines and now it’s my first year university in Canada) and I can honestly say?

I HAVE NOTHING TO BRAG ABOUT — “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” (2 Cor. 11:30)

If I were to show you my grades right now, I won’t be kidding — they’re STELLAR. But, I can honestly say IT’S ALL A PRODUCT OF GRACE.

Okay, so you might think this as false humility? But let me tell of how the story has been recently.

I’m taking a Political Science course this term, and since I’ve only been in Canada for about 8 months, I KNOW NOTHING OF CANADIAN POLITICAL STUFF — yes, even the current events related stuff. I have no idea why I’m in this class, but it’s already past the deadline for dropping courses, so I have to live with it.

We have to write a term paper for that class, and as expected, all the topics are specifics on anything Canadian. None of the essay questions made sense to me, except for the one that seemed broad enough — one on Economic Inequality. So I went with that.

I thought I was all set. But boy, was I ever wrong. Days passed and I still couldn’t get my head around the topic. It was too alien to make any sense to me. AND YES. I am such a lazy kid. Research should have solved my problems right? But I had this idea that there’s too much to know about and too little time? So I was more tired thinking about it than actually doing it.

Yes, you’ve guess it — I MISSED MY DEADLINE.

Well, technically, I did not miss it. I went to my professor on the day of submission and told him I could not submit my paper in-class that day — after staring at a blank Miscrosoft Word screen till 3am, I decided to give up.

I kept praying, but I wasn’t hoping for much; I know it’s my fault, these are the consequences of my actions.

The next turn of events blew my mind — my professor was all kind and accommodating, and he did NOT force me to submit. He gave me until Saturday 5pm to submit my paper (the deadline was Wednesday 10am, in-class). Moreover? There’s supposed to be a 5% penalty for EVERY day late, BUT he spared me from that, he gave me a FLAT 5% deduction for being 3 days late! To add? He even helped me with where my paper was going!!!

Forget mountains, my God moves deadlines!

For all my university life, if not my WHOLE life — academia or otherwise, God has been so gracious to me. I’ve always told my friends: I’m God’s needy baby.

I’m a cry-baby who’s so dependent on His father — way too dependent at times. My stellar grades? Are really all just products of His grace. I do not work as hard as I should be, and I feel the consequences of that; but He’s never let me down — especially when I DO NOT EVEN DESERVE TO BE HELD UP.

GRACE

It really is UNDESERVED FAVOR.

Nothing spells SALVATION more than GRACE and LOVE.

God loves us SO much, He gave us love SO UNDESERVED, we can only vaguely call it “grace.”

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2 Cor. 12:9)

If I were to detail here how many times HIS GRACE came through for me in my 19years of existence? WordPress would overload and I’d have to skip school for the next 38years — spending two years writing for every year I lived.

God has really been gracious enough for me to even know of this and recognize His handy work.

The idea that God has a plan? And we just have to trust in His faithfulness? Are all too cliche to use to console people — CLICHE BUT DEFINITELY TRUE.

You make all things work together for MY good.

I was casually browsing some comic videos on YouTube, and this appeared on the Suggested Videos panel

In the middle of the video, until the end, they kept repeating:

“You make, ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR MY GOOD.” 

It’s a coverage of a concert, so there were a LOT of repeats — which, I could just hear God telling me: “You hear that son?”

Just as I was listening to it, I was reading my friend’s blog: Believing the Unbelievable, with a post titled God’s Plans vs. Mine. I won’t be copying her whole post here, and I won’t be giving much comments either. I believe her words are more than enough encouragement on how much God loves us to have anything LESS THAN PERFECT planned for us.

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart; but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”-(Proverbs 19:21)

My plans are no match compared to God’s plans for me. I’m actually excited for what God has in store for me for this season of my life. He’s really a God full of surprises! He just surprised me yesterday that because of what happened,I might have to start my own clothing line already!AMAZING AND INDESCRIBABLE GOD.His right time is always perfect!Praying for it to happen if it is His will!In Jesus Name!:D All I can say is that we should not go before God, because we are nothing without Him in front of us.Don’t let God follow us, we should be the ones following Him.OUR PLANS ARE NOTHING WITHOUT GOD IN OUR HEARTS.

I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. [8] The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands.-(Psalm 138:2,8)
These words helped me a lot last night!:”>

— Louie Yao

So many things are still swirling around my head right now, some are even trying to cloud over my heart — BUT I refuse to stand down and let them overcome me. I don’t need to worry about tomorrow, my future, what it holds, and how I’m gonna get there — ALL I SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT IS HOW I CAN OBEY HIS EVERY COMMAND. He promised to bring us through, and He promised to be working in us until the day He comes back.

“God just reminded me that HE WILL NEVER EVER ABANDON ME!:) — Louie Yao”

“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? … Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6:27;34)

Obedience is a constant choice we have to deal with EVERYDAY; we have enough trouble struggling to obey God FULLY today to even start worrying about Tomorrow. God holds my tomorrow; He has new commands for me to follow tomorrow — I just have to take the commands a day at a time, and obey them fully through the power of His Holy Spirit.

Blessed Beyond Words (Part II): Matters of the Heart

I can’t believe how MUCH God is being gracious in answering my prayer!

I found one of my best friends writing a blog:

http://thegirlhewants.wordpress.com/

For those of you who’ve been following my posts, I keep saying that I hope to achieve a sense of fellowship and community with this blog — and He just keeps pouring in more people! He’s allowed me to reach people I would never have met without His leading; and, He’s re-connecting me with the people who mean a lot to me!

One of my best friends, whom I haven’t heard from in like — FOREVER — have recently started blogging again. And it’s just so overwhelming to hear how people very dear to you are doing, especially in their walk with God.

I can’t believe I actually went through ALL (well, there were just 4, but still, ALL) her posts and couldn’t stop myself from giggling and sighing all through the time I was reading! I was not only reading about how she’s been lately, but I’m reading about how SWEET God has been to her! IT’S JUTS EXHILARATING! I WAS STOKED — so of course, the only logical thing to do was WRITE ABOUT IT!

Check her blog out! I’ll be posting a link to her blog (along with her blogger profile) on the “The Communion of Saints” drop-down page. Her blog is mainly about her relationship with God, and how God has been teaching her the truth in RELATIONSHIPS. Yup, it’s a blog about love, heart-aches, Mr. Right, among other things a girl walking with God has to deal with. But NOPE, it’s not exclusively for girls —  as brothers and sisters, co-saints, we learn from the way God speaks to each of us — so I encourage you to check it out. Here’s the link again: http://thegirlhewants.wordpress.com/

At The Foot of The Cross – Kathryn Scott

So today’s Ash Wednesday.

Let’s trade our “ashes in for beauty, and wear forgiveness like a crown.”

Christ died so we could have life; He loved us though we were unworthy.

The least we could do is acknowledge His sacrifice and ponder upon the significance of the cross, His blood, and His resurrection in our lives.

Blessed Beyond Words

Last time I posted about one of my dearest friends writing about God’s Unfailing Love, and I even added a page so you guys can check out how she encounters God.

At that time, I was so happy to finally be able to start having more people write about His love, His grace, and HIM! I’ve always said that I want to keep blogging to 1) share what God has been revealing to me, and 2) to create a community where people could feel connected to one another as a united body in Christ.

Guess what? God has, AGAIN, been too gracious!

Just this morning God showed me how He was granting me my desires of having a community. Turns out, a couple of my friends are actually blogging too — blogging about Him! So, of course, the only logical thing to do… is to tell you guys about it!

Here are some of their posts that really struck me:

1) Denice Daily: My Constant Struggle to Glorify God

The best encouragement one can get, is definitely from someone going through the same thing. It’s like having someone say “I know how you feel.” — and they ACTUALLY DO! Glory is something we HAVE to always give back to Him, but with our humanity, it’s SO tempting (and a lot easier) to just embrace it all. We’ve all been given special “glorifying gifts,” and the temptation is always there to STEAL the glory from the One Who Actually Deserves It.

2) Believing the Unbelievable: What Should I Do When God Seems Far Away?

A good friend of mine shared with me her post after reading mine. It’s really amazing how God’s truths are REALLY alive. When I wrote the post Salt and Light: FOCUS! I wrote it as a reminder for me to always focus. When I was writing that, I was struggling to keep myself from making foolish choices. Then I got to read how she read my post, for her, it became a reminder of how God is so faithful. The reminder and caution God gave me to keep me walking forward, God used to reassure her that He is always there and would always be there. Same God, same Love, spoken differently. God knows us way better than we’ll ever be able to understand; and He’ll talk to us in the way He knows would be best for US. With God? Everything is personalized. 🙂

3) Dianne-amic Duo:Written for the Lord

Again, God used friends to remind me of why I’m writing: for Him and HIM ALONE. It’s so surreal to read about how someone actually shared the same struggles in writing. As I’ve written in More than blessed!, I have trouble with over thinking about everything I would be posting. And for the most part, it turns out to be my pride taking over. I want to take note of everything I write, and I want to make sure everything I write sounds really great and profound — all these were because I wanted it for myself. I had fears that what I wrote would offend others, would not be good enough, or would be “wrong.” God rebuked me. Now, He’s reminding me again. I am writing for Him and through Him! Read their post to make more sense of what I’m saying.

********

It really is such a blessing to read about how God has been working in others, especially when you see similarities in how God’s been dealing with them and you.

I would really love for you guys to be able to read their blogs. We’re no bible scholars; we’re just saints talking about how we are BELOVED of the God of Love Himself. Read about how their relationship with Christ has been going, how He has been changing them, and how He shows his Love to them. It sure inspired me, I bet it would you too.

I am so in love with Love right now, He’s just too much! 🙂

I’ll be adding pages you can access through the drop down menus on top of the page under “The Communion of Saints.” I’ll be including their blogger profiles and links to their sites too.

God is working in so many ways, to even be allowed to see one is just AWESOME. 🙂 Pure bliss!