Something For Those Who Believe 6

Something For Those Who Believe 6

How can I ever forget an important thing for a Christian in order to seek the real God?

“Missing Key: Acknowledging God through the person of the Holy Spirit”

The real God is a spirit. He operates in the spiritual realm. If you believe in God, it means you believe in spirits. Spirits exist whether we believe or not. Just like God, He exists whether people believe in His existence or not. The earth is too well-planned, well-organized, and well-arranged for us to say there is no creator.

As Christians, we know that God has three personas: Father, Jesus, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Son became man and when He became man, He really did become fully human. He took off His Godly form and dwelt among human beings without the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent abilities that he had.

Jesus was a man and had the attributes of a man. He had no super powers or whatever. Just like who we are now, Jesus was just an ordinary human back then. He was tempted the way men are being tempted. He was tempted to compromise His ways with the world just like we did. But He did not sin. He did not give in to sin.

“So ibig sabihin, hindi siya yung may gawa nung mga miracles na nakasulat sa bible?”

No. It wasn’t Him. He can’t nga eh, kasi tao lang siya. It was the Holy Spirit’s power that enabled Jesus as a man to heal the sick, cast away demons and raise the dead back to life.

When He was baptized in the Jordan River, the Father said in a thunderous voice “this is my beloved son of whom I am very pleased.” Then the Spirit of God descended like a dove and rested on Jesus. The Holy Spirit is not a dove. It just descended like a dove.

Even Jesus needed to be baptized by the Holy Spirit before He can start His ministry. Everything that Jesus did in His ministry is not of Himself. He said that He just do what He sees His Father do in heaven. How can He see His Father? Through the power of the Holy Spirit. He just follow the directive that the Holy Spirit is giving Him and miracles take place. He just listened and obeyed. Kaya kung mapapansin mo, walang isang formula si Lord pag-nagpapagaling. God has no formulas. He created new things in new ways that will keep ordinary human like us in awe.

And when Jesus ascended to heaven, He sent us the very same One who helped Him in His ministry, the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came upon them in the form of a tongue of fire, they started speaking in unknown language which is a sign that the Holy Spirit resided in them.

Holy Spirit is God. He is God’s power. Holy Spirit and Jesus are one. Holy Spirit is the Jesus and the Abba Father inside me and you. He has made our bodies His own temple. The power that raised Jesus from the dead is the very same power that lives in us.

The Holy Spirit is what made Real Christianity above all other religions.

Totoo na other religions that we know believes in peace and harmony and prosperity. Some religions are even very close to the words that the Bible presents. Love one another as you love yourself. Make peace to others. Love your enemies. Do not grieve one another.

The bible talks of the same things. Jesus talks of the same things. But the difference in Real Christianity is that these things we do not learn by human knowledge because in times when we need to do them, we do not do them. We are easily compromised with this world. I am easily compromised with my environment.

But, as a Christian, these lessons that Jesus taught, I do not learn by my knowledge but by the power of the Holy Spirit in me. With the power of the Holy Spirit, I can resist temptation. I can do the right thing even though everybody seems to do the opposite. Tama yung kasabihan na “mahirap magpakabait.” Kasi we are naturally mean. We are naturally bad. We are naturally sinners. It’s so easy to sin. But it’s hard to be good and stand up for the right thing.

It takes POWER to do the good thing. It takes POWER to love the unlovable. It takes POWER to look to the left when there is temptation on the right. It takes POWER to boldly speak the gospel. It takes POWER to witness. It takes POWER to talk about Jesus. This is why the Holy Spirit was given to us. He is the provider of strength and POWER to live a holy life and to resist compromises to this world.

When we begin to acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, He will become more active in our everyday living. A simple “good AM, Holy Spirit! Wazzup” will make Him happy. The Holy Spirit is God alive inside of us. He is not dead. If you ask the Holy Spirit a question, He will answer. He is there, residing in you. When you made Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life, the Holy Spirit takes residence in your innermost being.

The Holy Spirit is very delicate and sensitive. He is easily hurt, easily offended. On the other hand, madali siyang pasayahin, madali siyang patawanin. He just wants us to establish interaction with Him so that He can manifest His power in our lives.

Although our spirit-man and the Holy Spirit are different, these two are the ones who usually hang out together. The Spirit of the Lord communicates with our spirit-man since He has sealed it when we got born again. It is through our spirit-man that we hear the still, small voice of the Spirit.

Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of Wisdom and Insight. When Christians realize the advantage of having the Holy Spirit, they will begin to acknowledge His presence more. Christians who are sensitive to God’s Spirit are in better place than rich and famous people who rely on their own understanding. The Holy Spirit will speak to us in all areas of our life. All the details of our life, the Holy Spirit has a say.

When we are driving a car, He can suddenly say that we turn right instead of our planned way which is the left side. He can tell us to wear blue shirt tomorrow. He can tell us what is going on in a person’s life not for chismis purposes but to reach out to the troubled person. He can tell us to pray for a certain person out of the blue. He can tell us if it is a good business deal or not. He can tell us danger coming. He knows the future after all.

Di ba meron tayong kasabihan na ‘trust your instincts.’ O kaya naman ‘trust your heart.” When you are in doubt, trust your instinct or trust your heart. The Holy Spirit is like that. He is that! Believers or unbelievers, He speaks to everyone. He speaks to me when I was not saved yet.

Anyway, one time, when I woke up, I heard the Holy Spirit spoke, “umalis ka ng 5:30 Am ngayon.” I usually leave at 6 AM in the morning. So I obeyed that voice and reached our office very early. Nag 9 o’clock na, wala parin masyadong tao sa opisina. Medyo mga 9:30-ish na sila nakapasok. I asked one of them why they were late. Sabi nagkaron dawn ng fire drill sa MRT. And it took so much of their time kaya sila na-late.

Thank God for the Holy Spirit. He is truly a good helper. The Holy Spirit is also our Comforter. When we are sad, we invite His presence and just complain to Him or tell the Spirit our deepest feelings. After that, He gives us comforting words, or rebuke and we will feel okay. I experience this a lot of times. When I just feel complaining, or sad or angry, I just speak to the Holy Spirit. Although my problems are not automatically fixed, but my inner man is fixed. Hindi natin mareresolba ang problema sa labas kung sa loob natin, magulo parin dahil sa mga mixed emotions and worries.

Without the Holy Spirit, Christianity is just another religion. Religion acknowledges that there is a Higher Being but denies the power that is at work. Being a catholic before, I just do things out of tradition without knowing the real meaning or the spirituality of what we do like Holy Communion, Reconciliation, etc. But now that the Holy Spirit resides in me, He gives me the spiritual effect of having the Holy Communion. He gives me the advantage of doing this, that there is POWER in the Holy Communion that can heal a person when done right and can damage a person when done wrong.

Have you ever heard of Pentecostal churches where people there speak in an unknown language? In El Shaddai services, Bro. Mike speaks in unknown language. This is the very manifestation of the Holy Spirit. This is called speaking in tongues. When we speak in tongues, we pray in the language that only the heavenly Father understands, or a foreign language. It is a perfect prayer.

Speaking in tongues is one of the way we acknowledge the Holy Spirit in our lives. We let Him direct the words that we are to speak. We give Him the liberty to control our tongue when praying to God. Be careful that you do not critic or you do not say anything bad when you hear Christians speaking in tongues. You might be committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which we all know as the only unforgivable sin.

Sadly, some Christians do not believe in it at all. Either they find it weird or they are too rational to think that it does something powerfully. For them, it’s just useless. It doesn’t make sense. Our brains wouldn’t know the context of prayers in tongue. But if you rely on your own understanding of the physical world, you will never experience the supernatural God.

Guys, we should keep in mind that our God is a supernatural God. We, humans, are not supernatural. We cannot fathom God. We cannot predict God nor can we predict the time He has set for the judgment day. We cannot understand His ways for His ways are very high from ours. Most of the time, God supernaturally manifests through non-sense directives. Ang pinapagana dito is surrender and trust. Katulad ng example ko. I do not know why God wants me to leave at 5:30 AM. Napaka-aga kaya nun. 9 pa ang office ko. But when I obeyed, I was spared from the fire drill.

Speaking in tongues does not make sense. But trust that these supernatural prayers will be of use to you in the future. It is a gift that God is willing to give to people who desire for it and for people who are open to it.

The Holy Spirit is a gift from God. Para sa akin, the Holy Spirit is my prized possession. I renounced that my anime cds are my treasures. Not anymore. When I needed help, those anime cds did not help me. It was God who did. It was the Holy Spirit who responded to my call. He is very precious to me.

It is His responsibility to sanctify me and make me holy. I will not do it on my own because I cannot. And now, I am praying that I be taught how to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit. If I want to see the real God who is a spirit, I need the Holy Spirit in my everyday life. Ayoko na ng pachamba-chamba na naririning ko siya ng tama. Kasi minsan kala ko si Holy Spirit, yun pala sarili ko lang or the enemy.

I want to hear from the Spirit of the Lord everyday so that I can do what He wants me to do and someday, He might be able to use me to bring His power to the people who need them now.

My desire is to be intimate with Jesus and it is through the Spirit of Jesus that I can give a deep God-love to my Lord.

Right now, if you are alone in your room. I want you to invite God’s presence and say this out.

Abba Father,

Thank you for the Holy Spirit. What a precious gift He is to us…..to me. Lord Jesus, I ask you to baptize me with the Holy Spirit now. Baptize me with His blazing fire. Let your Spirit reside in me. Let your Spirit consume me and help me die to myself everyday. I pray that you give me the gift of speaking in tongues so that I can pray in Spirit and in truth. Control me, Holy Spirit. Thank you Father, thank you Jesus, thank you Holy Spirit.

In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

Something For Those Who Believe 5

Something For Those Who Believe 5

This is a series that I believe the Holy Spirit wants me to put in my blog. I pray that the readers will finish reading all parts of the series and get something from it. These are things that we need to do in order to seek the real living God. I am not qualified to write this series because I am also at the learning stage. But, it is God’s Spirit that will speak to you through these articles.

“Missing Key: Intimacy with Jesus”

Need I say more?

The very foundation of Christianity is love. Not just love, God love. Jesus love.

You can believe all you want. You can repent all you want. You can surrender everything. But without love, it is all pointless.

Christianity is pointless without a passionate love for Jesus Christ. It is all in vain. Jesus died for the intimate love of his people to Him. This is what God is deeply after, our love for Him. Our love for Him produces all the things He wants us to have. Our love for Jesus helps us believe without a doubt, repent truthfully and surrender totally.

I will repeat. It is not just an ordinary love but a passionate love. It is a love to the point of oneness. One cannot live without the other and vice versa. It is an overflow of deep affection, deep caring, deep emotions of love to one another.

This kind of love makes the lovers totally focused on one another. Wala silang paki-alam sa mundo. Maski mag PDA sila diyan, wala silang paki-alam because they are totally consumed with passionate love.

Intimacy with Jesus is compared to the intimate relationship of a man to a woman as designed by God in the beginning. This is the type of love that God wants us to have with His son. That is why Jesus calls us His bride. The bride is totally crazy over Jesus. She just wants to be with Him all the time, hug each other, kiss each other, speak soothing words to each other.

Intimate. Very intimate. This is the kind of love that will make us discover the true, powerful and genuine God. Without love, everything is nothing. God is love. Only love will find the one true Love.

This is the major missing key to a Christian life. Christians are so busy with their ministry, so consumed with their service for God, so consumed with the gifts and miraculous manifestations of the Spirit to the point of forgetting to fellowship with their First Love.

We are like Martha in the bible. Martha was doing all the household chores to serve Jesus, their guest. But Mary was just there, listening to Him, sitting on His feet. Mary and Martha are depictions of Christians today. We are either Martha or Mary. Jesus favors Mary. He wants us to be like Mary of Bethany. He wants us to be intimate with Him. He wants to have a bride-bridegroom relationship with us.

That’s right! We, young men, are also called bride. Jesus has no gender. We are to be intimate with Him spiritually. You cannot be intimate with Christ carnally. That’s impossible. Man and women are to be intimate with God spiritually for He is a Spirit.

This verse should make sense:

²² And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. ²³ Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”
And He said to them, ²⁴ “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. ²⁵ When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ ²⁶ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ ²⁷ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’

Luke 13: 22-26

The narrow gate is Jesus, Himself. Unless we become intimate with Him, we cannot enter heaven because there is no other way inside. You will notice that Jesus said the same thing on the parable of the ten virgins and when He divided the righteous and the evil. He said “I do not know you.”

Knowing a person requires intimacy. Intimacy includes spending time with that person, talking to that person, opening up to that person, being with that person in every kind of circumstance. You cannot really know a person unless you spend many times with him or her. You cannot really know me unless you have spent times with me. You do not know me as much as my brother and my mother know me. We are intimate with one another because we spend time together almost everyday.

This is the love that Jesus wants to have from us. His love for us is unquestionable. He wants our love to be this intimate. He wants us to respond to His love the way a bride responds to her bridegroom.

During the rapture, Jesus will only take those who spend time with Him everyday. Those who get to know Him inside and out. Those whose delight is in Him.

I do not say I am at this state already. But, everyday, I just want to spend time with Jesus. My love for Him is starting to grow. I am becoming more spiritually hungry for Him which is quite surprising for me. How come I was not like this before? Ever since I decided to seek the genuine God, my hunger for the Lord has been increasing. I am beginning to feel fire in the love that I have for Jesus. I am becoming madly in love with the Lord and I am very new at this stuff.

Being intimately in love with Jesus makes Him more alive in me. Changes are taking place. Miracles are taking place. However, since the enemy does not want me to be intimate with Jesus, the enemy’s attacks have leveled up as well. He will do His best to break this intimacy.

I do not fear though. As long as I cling to my Beloved, I am safe. I am like a nail. If the devil pounds on me more, I’ll just go deeper and deeper in His heart.

I still need to surrender everyday. Intimacy requires surrender. Imagine a girlfriend so consumed with her career. She is not the type of girl a guy would like to be with for the rest of his life. An ideal girlfriend for us guys is someone who can’t get enough of us. Someone who just can’t help but adore us, serve us, make us happy. Existing pa kaya ang mga babaeng ganun? (Lord: Yes)

Same with girls! I bet they want a guy who just can’t help but spend more time with her, who cares for all her needs, who encourage her in dark times, who loves her just the way she is.

With intimate love, we learn to surrender, let go of pride and be transformed.

Intimacy with Jesus allows Him to share secrets to us. He will share secret meanings of some verses in the Bible that no bible scholar will ever know. He will share kingdom secrets that you can use for your own advantage. He will teach you things you will not learn on the internet. You will discover how human-like Jesus is, how He can relate to what we go through in life.

You will know Him and He will know you. You will enjoy Him and He will enjoy you. It is already heaven on earth once you get to be close to Jesus. And yes, I am enjoying every moment with Him. Slowly but surely, He is beginning to take me to places where I have not been. Changes are taking place in my character. Habits are broken. Words spoken change. Just plain awesome.

The Spirit of God is now calling His people out of Babylon. Babylon is the great city of sins, worldly riches and idolatry. He is calling His people out to return to their First Love who is Jesus.

We are the Laodicean Church prophesied in the Bible.

Revelations 3:14-22

¹⁴ “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans^[f] write,
‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: ¹⁵ “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. ¹⁶ So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,^[g] I will vomit you out of My mouth. ¹⁷ Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. ¹⁹ As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. ²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. ²¹ To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
²² “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’”

Lukewarm Christians are Christians who pursue God and money or riches or wealth. Lukewarm Christians are those who pursue God AND _______. The Lord said you cannot serve both God and moolah. Not necessarily moolah but anything else besides God.

Some christians who are active in the ministry might be lukewarm because they are too busy serving the Lord with no time for God only. In the verse above, He encourages intimacy with us. The door that He knocks on is our hearts. He wants us to open up to Him so that He can have fellowship with us.

Basing on the context of Jesus’ message for the laodicean church, it seems they are deluded by worldly things. They operate in the natural and not in the spiritual.

When we become intimate with Christ, we become more and more sensitive to the spiritual world. We will begin to see truth that was right in front of us yet we did not see before. The Word of God will become simple to understand. The promises of God in the spirit start to manifest in the physical. We will begin to realize our own selves, our own faults. Instead of looking at others mistakes or faults or imperfections, we will begin to see ours. And we will begin to change our ways through His help.

Intimacy with Jesus fulfills the greatest commandments: love God and others. This is what Christianity is all about – loving Jesus. Our job is to love God above all and He will do the rest. A Christian’s job description is to love God and because he loves God, He will work in him so that he will be able to love others as well.

Believing, repenting and surrendering are after effects of an intimate love for Jesus. Without intimate love, believing, repenting and surrendering are just another set of rules.

Aren’t you tired of rules? I can write as much as I can but if you do not love Jesus, these words will not make sense. This whole blog will not make sense if you do not love the Lord. The Bible will not make sense if you do not love God.

The reason why I do not see a living active God before is because I loved God’s promises not God Himself. Kaya nung hindi natupad yung promises ni God, I felt backsliding. But I believed something was wrong and I was right.

Believing, repenting, totally surrendering and intimately loving Jesus are things I did not understand fully. I realized that God is not a magician who performs magic when we want to see magic.

God wants us to do what He requires us to do which is to love Him above all, not His promises, but Himself. And out of love is faith, everyday repentance and surrender and most importantly, fellowship. And out of intimacy are the supernatural manifestations of a God Spirit.

Every day, have a time to be alone with the Lord. We often pray to God because we need something from Him. Try just having fellowship. Imagine him as a friend. You do not meet with friends only because you need something from them, right? Yung tipong gusto mo lang siyang ma-solo. Gusto mo lang siyang makasama.

Example. Every night, before I sleep. I say. (Sample lang ha, medyo personal at private ang pinag-uusapan namin ni Lord)

“Lord, I just want to be with you tonight.” I imagine Him sitting right next to me wearing an exciting smile. “Lord, how was your day?” I will stay silent and await for His reply. Sometimes He will ask me “How was yours?” Tapos magkukwento ako. “Lord, si ganito-ganyan, nakaka-asar kanina. Lord, ganyan-ganyan.” Then I will just stay silent and wait for Him speak. Or minsan, dak-dak nako ng dakdak. But God loves listening to me.

Then out of the blue, I suddenly imagined Him feeding me with grapes. “Thanks, Lord.” Then I will imagine myself leaning on His shoulders and it always makes me feel so relaxed and comfortable.

Sometimes we laugh hardly. Sometimes, I cry out of joy or desperation. Sometimes I see Him cry because I did something wrong.

People who is not open to spiritual things will find it weird. But it is through this fellowship that I get my strength back, that I get answers to my questions, the encouragement I needed, the care I sought for. It is in this fellowship that I get to know more about the Lord. While writing, I can’t help but get excited to my alone time tonight with Jesus, my Beloved. My meeting with Jesus every night is becoming the highlight of my day.

When with Jesus, I feel like a clingy child again. I felt free and joyful. Just amazing. Intimate love for Christ will change your Christian life. Sobra.

Some might say that it is just too much imagination. God has a way to prove to me that every night fellowship we had was real and not fictitious. It’s like connecting the dots. We will talk about a certain topic for the night and the next day, that specific topic becomes so relevant for the day.

I’m not yet at the point where Jesus tells me specific things that will happen in the future or an open-heaven vision or an actual visitation of Jesus. Though I am hoping, I am just enjoying where I am now. But He does give me dreams with messages.

Again, like believing, repenting and surrendering, intimate love is a choice. When you become intimately in love with Jesus, you become consumed by Him. Your heart is full of Jesus and your words only speak of Jesus. This is the bride. This is what God wants us to become.

When I speak to Christians, I have the ability to see if he or she is a bride or not. The bride will speak more of Jesus and his/her spiritual experiences with Jesus. An ordinary Christian will talk more of promises and how to apply God’s word to everyday life.

Nothing’s wrong with the latter. The problem is that too much of the promises make us focus more on the promises, not on the One who made the promise.

A truly spirit-led Christian is hungering for Jesus because the Spirit’s job is to testify about Christ.

---> Part 6

Something For Those Who Believe 4

This is a series that I believe the Holy Spirit wants me to put in my blog. I pray that the readers will finish reading all parts of the series and get something from it. These are things that we need to do in order to seek the real living God. I am not qualified to write this series because I am also at the learning stage. But, it is God’s Spirit that will speak to you through these articles.

“Missing Key: Total Surrender”

Have you ever heard of the saying “you cannot fill up a cup that is already full?” It means you cannot teach a person who thinks he knows a lot.

You cannot hand something to a person who is already holding a handful.

It’s just that, there’s no more space. It just won’t work.

In our life, we hold so many things:

· What we will eat

· Where we will stay

· Bills

· To Dos at home and at work

· Career

· Short term goals

· Long term goals

· Dream

· How we will get to where we want

· Family issues

· business

· Ministry

· Charitable service

Everyone holds these things in their lives. Malamang, kapag hindi, sa’n kaya ta’yo pupulutin?

How would you know if you hold something? You think about it. You worry about it. You are always reminded of it. You feel obliged to accomplish or attain whatever that is.

And we are full of these. They are basically the reasons why we need to wake up every morning. While reading this article, you will remember something that you hold. You hold the movie you plan to watch. You hold the website you want to visit next. You hold the intriguing stat message your friend in FB posted. There are so many things we hold. This is life. This is the reality.

Kaya sooner or later, we feel stressed out, tired. So we plan vacation time, night outs, or inuman with barkada to retreat from the things we hold on to.

Ako yung tipo ng tao na marami nito. My dad was not with me when I grew up. So the orphan spirit had its nest on my head. The orphan spirit gave me a thinking of I-have-to-do-this. Since my dad was not around, I involuntarily took the position of a father at a very early age. And yeah, pride became my teacher. I was good at almost everything I do, except basketball. (My dad was not here to teach me that.) I strived hard and gained the respect of classmates and teachers and friends. But I was a freak’n jerk. Deep inside me was a proud, backbiting, gossiping loser. I hated instructions. I hated criticisms.

I worried about so many things: career, job, trips, ventures, business. I ruled my own life and I suck at it!

When I first became “born-again”, I still ruled my life. I seemingly told God ‘you are my God every Sunday and the God of my spirituality and the God when I am in trouble…but I am the god of myself whenever and wherever I want it.’ My plans. My purpose. My way!

I grew up this way. I grew up to be a ‘manager.’ That’s probably why I somehow did excel in management course.

But a cup that is already full can never be filled. God cannot hand me the life He wanted me to live because I was holding a handful of life stuff. God cannot work in me because I put myself in charge of the work inside of me. I was in total control.

I found it hard to trust and depend to others. I am still struggling with this now. I grew up being able to manage myself emotionally. I had no one to depend to emotionally. Not even my mom. I never listened to anyone. In other words, loner.

I thought I was walking on the path where God wanted me to walk but it is just lately that I realized I wasn’t.

I remember myself being convinced that when the rapture takes place, I will be taken away. I was wrong. Without total surrender, I will not be raptured. Why? I cannot be filled with what God wants me to be filled? Why? My cup was full.

Naalala ko yung sinner’s prayer. Sabi dun “Jesus, I make you the Lord and savior of my life.” When I said ‘Lord’, it meant I am willing to surrender my life control to Jesus. But I did not know it. Many Christians do not realize it either. After they got saved, they return to controlling the phases of their lives.

If without the Lord, my life sucked, how will it differ if I got saved but I still control my life? I am still me. When I got saved, I was not instantly holy. I still have some things in me that need working out even until now and until I leave earth. And through Christ’s lordship over my life, He will be able to renew my mind and mold my character to the man he wants me to be.

Total surrender to Jesus brings us to a higher level of Christianity. We begin to open up to Jesus and we begin to be filled by His Holy Spirit.

Kaya total surrender is an important key in finding the genuine God. Unless we are able to surrender what we hold to Jesus, He will not be able to lead us closer to Him.

I believe God does not want us to live normal, mediocre life. God wants our life to be like the movies where we get to experience things we never expect. I believe God wants to take us to places where we never thought of going in our own capability. Eto yung reason why small names in the Bible became so great like my favorite king, David. Abraham and Moses rin. Joshua as well.

All of them surrendered their control to God. The things they hold, they let God hold it for them so that they do what God wants them to do. And when they do what God wants them to do, we just can’t help but see them as great people as well. Even Jesus surrendered His own will to His Father. And as a result, Jesus is glorified and is now even sitting higher that His Father.

Surrender involves a lot of humility and I say a lot. Seryoso, hindi siya madali. Lalo na para sa’kin na lumaking emotionally independent. Surrender is an everyday choice. Hindi tayo pipilitin ni Lord. Pero if we are seeking for the genuine God, wanting to be a genuine Christian, surrender is a must. When we surrender, self becomes less and God becomes more.

Diba nga we are called Christians? It means we are Christ-like. We are carbon copy of Jesus Christ. How can I become a Jesus carbon copy if Ryan is still fighting and striving?

Surrender is an everyday process. It is an everyday choice.

Let me give you a clear example.

Kunwari meron akong napakamahal na xbox. I need to go to abroad and I can’t bring my ‘beloved’ xbox with me. So I decided to leave it to a friend’s care. So ibig sabihin, I will surrender my xbox to him and get it back until I return. So when I handed over my xbox to my friend, I told him to hold it with extra-extra care. It is very valuable to me. His life is no match for the value of the xbox.

Before the plane leaves, I even called him to check up on it. When I got abroad, I spent extra money to call him to check out the xbox.

Do you think I totally surrendered the xbox? No. I was still worrying about it to the point telling my friend that its value is more than the value of his life. There was no peace in me. Unrest ruled. Stressed out kaka-isip. Tiring.

This is likened to how we are living our lives. We worry and worry. Every minute, we worry. This has become our lifestyle.

What God wants us to do is to hand over to Him, the xboxes and rest assure that it is in safe hands. He wants us to hand over to Him everything and rest assure that we are safe in God’s hands.

It becomes a matter of trust. Do you trust God with your life? Is your life of more value than Jesus’? Are we willing to hand to Him completely all the things that we hold? It’s also a matter of love. You don’t trust someone you don’t love.

Small examples of surrender

· Wala kang pang-matrikula. Are you a born-again Christian? Yes. Then you are a recipient of God’s promises. Know and believe that your God will provide because He is your provider. Stop worrying about it. God has already taken care of it. Believe and declare. Ipa-ubaya mo kay Lord.

· Na-late ka ng gising. Traffic sa Edsa. You’re gonna be late for work. Let go of this worry. First, admit that it was your fault. Second, be wise because you know worrying will not make you be there in time. Surrender to God and you might even get the grace you are asking for. If not, at least you are free from guilt, condemnation, from stress, from blaming. You feel free.

· Someone from your family was diagnosed with cancer? Isn’t God your Jehovah healer? He wants to heal your family ASAP. So what you do is surrender that relative to God. Tell God that your will be done to him or her. You hand him/her over to God. Whatever happened to him/her, ikaw na bahala, Lord. (This is something I could have done when my lola died. Instead, I tried doing things on my own.)

· You are not in the job you wanted. Let it go. Do not worry about it. Trust God that He wants to make you pass through jobs to prepare you for your mainstream. (talking to myself)

· You forgot your wallet? Do not worry. Surrender to God and ask Him for directions.

Surrendering to God allows effective communication between Him and you. When we panic, or when we are so consumed by the situation, we do not hear the right words from God that will help us solve the problem.

Peepz, God cares for the littlest details in your life. God cares for your hairstyle, your dress, your make-up. Why do you think God will care for that? Who knows? Just trust Him. Malay mo, if God wanted you to wear a specific color of lipstick, it is because you will meet the guy you are destined to marry during the day. And that guy falls for that color. Who knows?

Kaya nga trusting God brings us to experiences that are fun, adventurous, memorable and exciting. We will never have a dull life.

Surrender takes humility and trust. Through surrender, we are able to hear from God. When we hear from God, and we know it is God, we obey. And when we obey, the power of God starts working.

Total surrender makes life worriless. No excess baggage while we walk the streets of The Fort or Makati. This is the life that God designed for us. Jesus took our burdens on the cross so that we can live a life that is not burdensome. God is too big for our problems, situations, events in our life. Trust God that He will fix things, that He will provide, that He will heal.

When we got saved, we became a legal recipient of His promises. But it takes surrender to feel the full measure of God’s words and power in our lives. (talking also to myself)

The maturity of a Christian is based on how much of him is surrendered to the Lord. How much of Christ is now in him. A mature Christian is humble, just as Christ was humble.

The Lord said in the bible that we, Christians, will do greater things that Jesus did. How? Not by our own but by obeying the will of the Father. Meaning our plans, our goals, our life needs to be handed over to the Father and let His plans, His goals, His life be the ones we carry.

It is a divine exchange. There is a transaction. Himself for yours. Myself for Him. And since He gave all that He can give me, I am expected to give all that I can give Him. If I take care of God’s business, He will take care of mine. It’s a covenant thingie again.

In a covenant, there is a surrender, surrender of own will and control.

I mistaken surrender from give up. Surrender simply means to hand over to the care of someone else. Example, food. Surrender does not mean to give up food. Surrender means to let God ‘worry’ about that food you will eat. Basta ikaw, Alam mo God will provide for the food. That is surrender!

If you want to be a movie director, surrender it to God! That does not mean you give up becoming a movie director. Surrender means to let God worry about you becoming a famous director. As for you, you just do and obey the things that you are assigned for now.

Worrying makes people sick. It is scientifically proven. Holding on to many things is not what we were created to do. That’s why God pleads for us to surrender. There is delight in surrendering.

In surrendering, we empty our cup. We become an empty vessel so that God now can use us to display what He wants the world to see. The Holy Spirit takes delight on an empty vessel. That is what He wants each and every Christian to become. He wants us to be surrendered Christians.

If we are living a mediocre Christian life, it’s either we are contented with it or you have not surrendered fully to your God.

As I choose to surrender my life slowly to my Lord, I am discovering things about the real Christianity to the point of not being affected by the infamy brought by Christians who are too focused on judgment day and by Christians who fight among themselves.

With a surrendered life, God can easily take us out from any bad situation we are in because we clearly hear His voice and we easily understand what He wants us to do.

Just let go. Just surrender to God.

Even those who have offended us, those who have sinned against us. Release them to God. Let God do the revenge for us. Release. Release.

For every thing that you want to surrender to God, just speak words of release. “Lord, I release this situation in my life to you. Kaw na bahala diyan, Lord. I am tired of carrying it.” After this, you stop worrying about it.

“Lord, I release so-and-so to your hands. May you take care of the judgment he deserves.”

“Lord, I release to you this problem. It’s making me stressed out. I trust you on this.”

“Lord, I want to do this now but I can’t. I release this to you now.”

The things we worry or the things we do not surrender are the things we pursue. The things we pursue with passion become our god. When we make Jesus, Lord of our life, it is only He whom we pursue passionately by surrendering our own worries, things, will, plans to His hand. I believe there is no safer place than Jesus’ care.

Sosyal ka, the God of heaven and earth offers Himself to carry what you should be carrying. Why not just surrender it to Him and take it easy and cool? By this, we can become like little children again, free of burdensome worries. And when we become like little children in Christ, we become legal heirs of God’s kingdom.

And yes, total surrender is more effective than Olay or any anti-aging cream there is in the market. Jesus wants you looking good, not old. The elderly might be old in age, but some of them are more child-like than the younger ones. Be not deceived, my brethren. =)

And as much as possible, avoid unnecessary burdens in your life. This is what I do every day. Every day has its own problems. Every day, we surrender. Try it, and experience God in full! Try it, and see the real difference.

---> Part 5