An Unnatural Natural

We live in a world where there is always arguments on what’s “natural” and what’s “not.” It’s a big deal for people to find out if a disease or a calamity is of “natural causes” or were somehow fabricated by men. We make a big deal of what is normal.

Well, as saints, we’re NOT natural.

We saints are to “not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. ” (Romans 12:2a) Whatever is considered “normal” by the world, we do not simply “accept.” We’re to be a new kind of natural.

The apostle Paul talks more about this unnatural natural in his letter to the Ephesians. In Ephesians 4, he starts out by saying,

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” (Eph. 4:1)

Here’s the first unnatural natural principle: We are prisoners. 

At this time, Paul was writing from prison. So yeah, he was literally a prisoner for Christ. Paul’s era wasn’t really the kindest to Christians. But he emphasizes a  different kind of captivity when he quoted Psalm 68 in verses 7 and 8

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says:

“When He ascended on high,
He took many captives
and gave gifts to His people.”

(Eph. 4:7-8)

He talks about Christ giving us grace, and then says He took many “captives” a.k.a PRISONERS.

Yes, Paul is calling us prisoners. And talks about it in an as-a-matter-of-factly kind of way — like it was the way it was supposed to be! AND IT IS.

I always talk about Christianity as a relationship and NOT a religion, and that’s what Paul is illustrating here. Come to think of it, there are two ways of actually being a captive:

1) To actually be forcefully taken in as a prisoner (say you’re caught by the police, or taken hostage by an enemy group, etc)

and

2) To be fully in-love with someone (or something) that it’s taken over you.

Think of all the movies you’ve seen — especially the cheesy lovey-dovey ones. There is always that idea of losing yourself to the one you love. It’s like you’re a slave to them. Not because they lord over you, but simply because you love them SO much you WANT to serve them and be together with them.

I am pretty sure, of all generalizations, this is one I can actually make — we have all been captivated by something (or someone) one way or another. We throw around the word love a LOT —

“I love Twilight”

“I love Bieber”

“I love Pokemon”

“I love her”

“I love him”

“I love basketball”

“I love shopping”

etc.

Somehow, sometime in your life you’ve uttered these words. And by saying any of these, you ARE being a prisoner of that thing that follows the word “love.”

The world puts SO much emphasis on being against captivity. It’s unnatural to WANT to be under the rule of someone. But let’s face it, we ALL have been somehow. And that’s what Jesus wants: For us to be in-love with Him — He wants us captivated by Him.

Paul furthers this illustration in verses 15 and 16,

“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Eph. 4:15, 16)

We’re not the typical kinds of captives who are simply slaves — we are PART OF HIM.

Raise your hands. Your eye brows. Close your eyes. Stand up. Sit down. Jump up. Now sit back down with your legs crossed and your hands steady on your lap.

Every last inch of your body is a captive to you. And I do not think anyone of you would want it any other way. I sure don’t want a hand that won’t obey me. So yeah. Your body is your slave. But think about it, when your tummy aches, your whole body feels it. When you’re down with the flu, you hate it. When you get bruises or cuts, you’re unhappy. Let’s face it, we love our bodies. 

When Paul calls us captives, he had that analogy in mind. That of one body, and as he said in verse 15 our head is Christ. We are one with Him as His beloved children. And as part of His body, we are His captives.

Speaking of the body, here’s the second unnatural natural principle: We are to be united as a body with One head.

Okay, a united body isn’t as unnatural as the first idea of being prisoners. But think about it. A body whose parts are other human beings who each has their own will and their own ideas — ALL EXPECTED TO BE TOGETHER AND OPERATE AS SEAMLESSLY AS A BIOLOGICAL BODY SHOULD. Think of your local church for example, every week  (at least once) you come to church and fellowship with these strangers. You see the same people every week but none of you are related in any sort of earthly way, and YET you’re all expected to be “family.”

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:2-3)

Paul says we should, as Christians, bear with one another in love. As part of one body, we’re not just to be in love with Christ — we are called to love ALL the other parts of the body!  Sure, the world does see unity as something we should all strive for, but no one in their right mind would tell you to love everyone. And yet, we Saints are expected to do so. The church in actuality is one of the most unnatural human relationships we are ever going to encounter. Total strangers coming together and “loving” each other. That’s just not normal! So if it’s not, why are we charged to do so?

Paul explains in the following verses,

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph. 4:4-6)

We are called to be in loving unity with each other because WE SERVE ONE GOD. 

We are one body — a body with parts that do not love each other will NOT be able to function properly.

We have one Spirit — as Christians, we all share the same privilege of having the Holy Spirit in us. To teach, help, and guide us. It’s just logical and to expect people with the same Spirit in them to be at peace with each other.

We have one hope — we all are hoping for one thing: SALVATION aka “an eternity in heaven.” ie. We WOULD ALL BE SPENDING ETERNITY TOGETHER, shouldn’t we start getting along NOW??

We have one Lord — we serve the same Lord, and if He wants us to love each other… uhh… Shouldn’t we do so?

We have one faith — we all believe in one thing — JESUS. And if we’re all in love with one thing, we should be able to love each other. What do you think fan clubs are made of? They all share the same love for someone or something, and they end up bonding together.

We have one baptism — Oxford defines baptism as a “an act or a ceremony,” a bible dictionary takes it further and say it is “a public way of breaking with one’s past life and beginning a new one.” PUBLIC — it’s a public declaration, we tell the world and everyone who witnesses our baptism that WE SERVE JESUS! And if we serve a God of love, we should show love.  First to Him, then to other Christians, then to everyone else!

We have one God and Father of all — our God is not a normal God either, He’s not just a “god” who rules over people, He’s a God who calls us HIS CHILDREN. Okay, this one, even the world would agree — if we are all brothers and sisters, then DUHH we SHOULD be loving each other.

Last unnatural natural principle Paul gives us in Ephesians is this: We are called.

Our God is, again, not really the typical God. He calls us — He doesn’t force us into anything.

Going back to verse one, Paul says:

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” (Eph 4:1)

We received a call.

There are two different calls that we can pick out from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

1) We are called into loving Him and being His children — everyone is called to be His children, God wants us all to be saved.

Paul “urges us to live a life worthy of the calling,” simply put, he’s saying: You were called into salvation, now live like you have received it.

2) We, Saints, are called to different positions too.

Going back to the idea of Christians making up the body of Christ, we cannot ALL be eyes. Paul talks about this in his letter to another church — the one in Corinth. He says,

“If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” (1 Corinthians 12:17-20)

God did design our earthly bodies — He made us with a pair of eyes, a pair of ears, 4 limbs, a head, etc etc. So it’s just logical that He would want His body — the church — to be likewise.

That’s the second kind of call that Paul’s talking about. We are called to be different things. One body, many parts. 

He talks about 4 specific calls in verses 11-13 of chapter 4,

“So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ  may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:11-13)

In Paul’s other letters, he enumerates some more positions that God calls us to — not everyone is going to be called to be a prophet, an evangelist, a teacher, or an apostle —  but the idea is basically that we are called to different roles for the same purpose — to build up the Body of Christ until we all reach unity in the faith. 

What’s so unnatural about the idea of being called? Well, like any calls you make it can either be rejected or accepted.  Jesus is calling us into a love-relationship with Him. He’s calling everyone. But not everyone answers. Same thing too, us Saints, not all of us have answered His other call — some of us don’t even know what it is.

I wanna just end this with Paul’s own words:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. — Remember that you are called, called to a relationship, called to a unified body, and called to service.

Saints, it’s time to pick up the “phone” and become naturally unnatural.

Hunger, Dating, Food, and Love

Since 2013 started, I’ve been trying to reorganize a number of things in my life, and at the top of that list is devotion/quiet time with the Lover of my soul.

I’ve heard it all (more or less … probably less) from people saying it should be done daily, every other day, once a week, twice a week, thrice a week, once a month, thrice a month, once every two weeks, etc etc etc. And I think I’ve tried most of it too — daily, weekly, and irregularly.

Back to my knees for 2013: “Lord, tell me. How often should I be doing my quiet time?”

Answer came in clear, it’s not the how often it’s the why.

I used to think of daily devotions, bible reading, praying, and allotting specific quiet times for God as spiritual disciplines. Well, they really are. But doing them as a form of religious and traditional rituals will burn you out and would not really result into anything.

When I realized that Christianity was a love relationship, devo time became something you long for — not something you HAVE to do.

Over time, I came to think of doing quiet time and devotions as me “hanging out” or “going on a date” with Jesus Himself. Sure, it got me doing my daily devotions. It got me to give a lot of thought to what I was doing. Suddenly, reading the bible and praying were not religious acts anymore — they were simply me communing with my Heavenly Father.

I love this perspective. I love the idea of being in love with Love Himself. I always emphasize that Christianity is a love relationship and not a religion mainly because of this too. However, I found a downside to all these. Seeing my quiet time as a date with God made me not so keen about doing it. The more I focus on the idea of hanging out with God, the less I actually did. My human nature kicked in, it came with whispers saying: “You know how dates are about quality and not quantity? Well, same goes for your time with God. It’s about the quality of the time you spend with Him, not how much you actually have for Him.” Sure. There is some truth to that, but it drastically decreased my desire to spend time reading His word and quieting down before Him — from daily, I reduced it to once a week.

This morning I got reminded of another aspect of spending time with God; while it is about a love relationship and spending time with God, it’s also about being nourished and fed.

While having my late lunch today, I was SO hungry that while eating I prayed in my heart saying:

“Wow, Lord! Thanks for food and the comfort it brings — actually, scratch that! Thank You for hunger and for the ability to feel it and enjoy food because of it!” 

And then it hit me. Doing daily devotions and quiet time isn’t simply for spending time with God — it is actually more for US than it is for Him! I believe He wants us to be engaged in His word and in communion with Him daily for our feeding. We are no strangers to hunger, but often we are not sensitive to how hungry our souls are.

We do not neglect to eat (for the most part at least). But only a few of us are actually eating RIGHT. Eating the right food, in the right amounts, and on right times. I have a body-builder friend and here’s a status update I got from her FB page:

When I’m on diet, I am strictly on diet mode. I control and stay away from unhealthy food. I don’t go for crash diet for it will decrease my metabolism rate. I still eat but in moderation. … I am telling you now, I will not eat any food other than my home-cooked-packed meal. What I eat during the day is almost strictly calculated in grams in terms of carbohydrates, protein and fats.

–KMACL

It’s all about knowing what to eat and when to eat. A healthy person eats regularly, something like 6 SMALL meals spaced out evenly in the day. They eat often, but they watch what they eat and moderate what goes into their bodies. Same should go for our spiritual bodies: we should eat regularly, moderate what goes into our bodies, and ensure a healthy regimen. 

It’s not about ritualistically being righteous — I AM AGAINST THAT.

It’s about feeding ourselves regularly with the right kind of food: God’s word.

We should be eating regularly: we should be doing devotions regularly.

We should be eating right: we should always feed on God’s word — NO SUBSTITUTES!

God loves us, He proved that on the cross and on so many other occasions. Spending time with Him in bible reading, quiet time, and/or devotion time, is our way of loving Him back, letting Him love us more, and growing in Him.

AND! Most importantly!

Spiritual things (though are usually similar to natural, physical, and earthly things) operate differently — YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH TIME WITH GOD, TOO MUCH COMMUNION WITH HIM, OR TOO MUCH FEEDING FROM HIM.

Idolatry: Big word, small acts.

It’s January 4 — first Friday of 2013 — and God has already warned me of my idolatrous tendencies (or habits).

Listen to the Bible from 1 Kings 11:1-13

Solomon’s Wives

11 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. ² They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. ³ He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.⁴ As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.

⁷ On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

⁹ The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.¹⁰ Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command.¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. ¹² Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

Solomon was the wisest man EVER, the Bible says so, and yet he wasn’t immune to his own humanity. Idolatry is such  a big word, no saint would wanna be labeled “idolatrous.” Yet, the smallest acts, desires, and emotional whims that we do, long for, and cherish embody the word “idolatry” fully.

I hate to admit it, and I hate to confront it even more, but I am probably the most idolatrous person I know. God knows that, and I guess that’s why early this year He’s already cautioning me about it.

That’s the hardest part. I already know it. Like Solomon, I also know of what God wants for me — not totally, but I know the generals well enough. I know of the commandment that says: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3) I know myself well enough to know which things I do are undeniably idolatrous. And like Solomon, I have talked about holding on to God’s commands.

He exclaims this in the presence of his people in 1 Kings 8: 56-61 and says,

⁵⁶ “Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel just as He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He gave through His servant Moses.⁵⁷ May the Lord our God be with us as He was with our ancestors; may He never leave us nor forsake us. ⁵⁸ May He turn our hearts to Him, to walk in obedience to Him and keep the commands, decrees and laws He gave our ancestors.⁵⁹ And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may uphold the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel according to each day’s need, ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.⁶¹ And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by His decrees and obey His commands, as at this time.”

I’m afraid of how the future might be for me. I really am. Though I should not be, I have to admit I am. I may not be as wise as Solomon, but I am wise enough to see what He wants of me — an undivided heart. I am afraid that like Solomon, despite knowing these, I would still go my way and break His heart.

It makes me wanna put a different spin on the statement “He that is in me, is greater than he that is in the world.” Right now? I’m convicted to declare…

He that is in me is greater than he THAT IS ME.

I am my worst enemy. I bet a lot of you saints out there feel the same way. It’s not that the enemy’s lies are powerful, it’s not that they have power over us beyond what we can deal with — it’s that we have decided to listen to and cherish those lies.

The spirit is willing but the body in indeed weak. YET in all these? We have to remind ourselves that WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US .(Rom. 8:37)

By the cross, by Christ’s sacrifice, by His power, by His love, and ultimately by His grace — WE CAN OVERCOME.

I urge you saints to admit your idolatrous ways. Search within and see where you are weakest. AND COMMIT YOURSELF TO PRAYER. We have no power aside from that which is ours through Christ — and we need to tap into that power EVERY MOMENT of our lives. Do not underestimate the power of prayer, and do not discount the need for total humility and submission. In prayer, we surrender ourselves and submit to His power and call for His will to be done.

Don’t get me wrong, I am in no position to say I have totally overcome myself. Nor am I in any way better than any of you — remember, I am the prodigal saint, I have a wandering heart that strays way too often. I am talking to you as a brother who cautions and reminds you of what I have been reminded so that together we will overcome.

I guess what I’m trying to say is:

1) Idolatry is a serious issue we better deal with NOW.

2) I am battling it, and I need your prayer and support. 

Honestly, I am thankful for the reminder. Very early in the year God has already cautioned me. I pray that I can hold fast to this reminder though. I pray that His mercy and grace be ever with me as I battle it out with myself.

Just remember, saints, it’s not about being religious and ritually righteous. It’s about having a heart that seeks to love and build a relationship with our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ who came to seek and save us who were lost.

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!

 

The Art of Procrastination

If anything, I believe I’ve mastered the art of procrastination and cramming — if not mastered, then at least I’ve gotten used to them. And I realized, there’s one thing I can’t cram no matter how much I put it off: my relationship with God.

The world is moving so fast — too fast, in fact — and I guess I just got caught up in the flow. With so many things happening, it’s not so hard to say: “Hey, I’m tired, too stressed and overwhelmed with a lot of things. Let’s work tomorrow instead.” It’s so easy to put off things until they can’t be put off anymore and work under extreme pressure and TADA pass with flying colors.

After doing that for years? It’s kind of hard to recognize any other way of doing things — I seriously do not know how to study weeks before an exam, nor work on a research paper months before the due date.

Sadly, I have to admit, it has affected how I am with God, too.

I’ve always had this lie filling me up saying,

“You wanna draw near to God? You wanna know more about Him? You wanna spend time with Him? Well, it’s past 12pm already. You don’t want to just spend half a day with God, right? Just go on YouTube, Facebook, and 9gag. Then wake up early tomorrow so you save the best for God — a whole day of nothing but communion with God!”

Since school ended about two weeks ago, that’s how my mind has been working. Two things SO wrong with that:

1) How can I keep putting off God???

and

2) Why do I believe that a WHOLE day spent with God would renew my Spirit? Why do I believe that ONE WHOLE DAY is enough?

For my term papers, that’s how I’ve done them. Put them off till the last minute, pull an all-nighter, and TADA submit it the next day. It works.*

Same goes for my exams, study the night before, make sure I get enough sleep, and show up to write the exam. It works, too.*

[*It works because God has been really gracious with me.]

If anything, that mentality has carried over to my Sainthood — I’ve been unconsciously believing that closeness with God is something I can achieve with one-time-big-time efforts. It’s like saying, “As long as I work hard on it? Like SUPER HARD? I could accomplish something that should take time to complete.” 

REALITY CHECK!

God wants a relationship, no matter how the world puts it, A RELATIONSHIP CANNOT BE RAILROADED TO COMPLETION. 

A relationship is like a plant — ask any gardener, farmer, or horticulturalist — no matter how miraculous your fertilizers are, IT WILL NEVER BLOSSOM OVERNIGHT. Okay, so I don’t know much about plants, but one thing I’m sure of — magnificent and sturdy trees are not grown overnight.

Spiritual Growth is not some paper or project that we just have to complete and can complete whenever we want — it’s growth, something that has to be worked on DAILY and CONSTANTLY.

The Art of Procrastination is NOT something a SAINT should master and employ in his/her sainthood. We’re working towards an ETERNAL GOAL. We’re serving the KING OF KINGS. We’re cultivating a relationship with the LORD OF LORD.

Can we really take it like“everything else”we have to work on?

Because meme’s can be for worship too!

 

 

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.

Prayer

I’ve always wanted to write about Prayer, I have a draft and everything, but never got to finishing it. Then God showed me this, apparently, He’s moved someone else to write it.

The Chief of the Least’s post about prayer strongly reflects my view of Christianity: It’s a relationship. God wants us to be in a relationship with Him, to have our status back as CHILDREN of THE MOST HIGH. He’s our loving Father waiting for us, His prodigal children, to come back to Him.

*I’ll have Bryan Daniels’ (a.k.a “The Chief of the Least”) blog linked in The Communion of Saints page soon.

**That’s sooner than I thought, here’s the linked page: Chief of the Least

Chief of the least

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him…(Matthew 6:8)

I struggle with prayer.

Conceptually and practically.

Most of those struggles are probably because I put unwarranted credence on my feelings at any given prayer moment. If I don’t feel a tangible groaning, or a burning in my chest, or goosebumps on my neck, then my prayers must have been rendered ineffective. Right? If I voice my prayer simply and without a series of major spiritual manifestations then certainly my appeals never made it past the bedroom ceiling. Right?

Wrong.

I am submitting to the awful doctrine that unless my prayer experience “feels” right to me, then God is impotent to answer them. In a twisted way, that is putting emotional subjectivism on the throne and kicking a Sovereign King off of it.

On top of this, Matthew 6:8 raises a different objection in the conscientious Christian:

God already knows what we will ask, so why…

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It’s a RELATIONSHIP

If there’s one thing I can never stress enough, it’s that being a Christian is being in a relationship with Christ.

God wants that.

When God called Abraham to be the father of HIS chosen people, He did not call him to PRACTICE A RELIGION — He called him to DEVOTION to Him.

When Jesus came, He did NOT establish A CHURCH (in the religious sense of the word); He came and taught, DIED for the people He created — AND ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD to establish relationships with the people He came to save.

SALVATION is not received by MEMBERSHIP to a CHURCH, nor by AFFILIATION to a certain DENOMINATION — it is by A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with JESUS CHRIST.

The Bible clearly says:

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

You NEVER go into any relationship with anyone YOU DO NOT KNOW. A relationship with Christ ENTAILS A KNOWLEDGE and ACCEPTANCE of who He IS, and what He’s DONE for us.

Another aspect of a relationship can be found in Matthew 7:21:

“Not everyone who says to Me (Jesus), ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”

Relationships demand OBEDIENCE. When we accept Christ for who He is — we essentially accept Him as our LORD and SAVIOR. It IS pretty straight forward, “Why are you calling me Lord when you’re not obeying me?” 

And of course, there’s the all important idea from 1 John 4:19

“We love because he first loved us.”

A relationship HAS to be founded on LOVE. The whole idea of Christianity is basically having GOD LOVE US SO MUCH.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Christianity is not primarily a whole list of dos and don’ts that can get you saved, that’s what RELIGION is for. Christ coming to earth was essentially BECAUSE HE LOVED US TOO MUCH and WANTED TO SAVE US. We do not become Christians to adhere to its teachings and laws to be saved — we become Christians to RECEIVE His LOVE and GRACE, to ENTER INTO A RELATIONSHIP with HIM. 

We saints do not subscribe to a religion, we FOLLOW a GOD who LOVES US. Blindly following a religion and its teachings is totally different from KNOWING, LOVING, and FOLLOWING Someone — Someone who came over to this measly earth He himself created, died in the hands of those He came to save, and provided His salvation as a free gift JUST BECAUSE HE LOVES US SO MUCH.

Q: Does it mean, then, that as long as I have a relationship with Him, I am a saint already? I don’t need to follow a certain way of living?

— Well sure, but remember, being in a relationship CHANGES people. If you truly are COMMITTED to someone, IT WILL SHOW.