7:11 AND ONWARDS

Imagine a man walking inside this church. He looks haggard and worn. It even seems that he has not eaten for several days and his body is about to fall. But when you look at his clothes, he seemed like the man you see in the office. A CEO type.

He walks along the aisle. Slowly, very slowly. It was as if every step felt heavier. And when at last he reached the front pews, he suddenly kneels down and cries out in agony: “LORD, I BEG YOU HELP ME! MAKE ME RICH! SAVE MY BUSINESSES!”

In another side of the church, in the farthest corner, another person sits on the pews. This time a woman sat there. Her eyes closed, lips quivering in prayer. She started pouring out her heart to God as tears fell down her cheeks. In agony she prays for healing her sick son, her failing health, her depleting savings.

Now on one of the function rooms of the church, a group of young individuals gathered and started to pray for each other. They prayed for their families, their fellow brethren inside the church, for their ministry and for many other things.

So what do you think am I pointing out here?

You see, that man, that woman and the group of young individuals are all illustrations of some of us here in this church. Most of us are in agony or are in dire need of divine guidance and intervention. Some of us may even pray and praise God for whatever blessings we may have had. And when these things do happen, our bodies fall down on their knees and talk to our Creator. So we all pray.

For the past five months, I have learned how nerve racking this life could be. All of us may have already realized that, but with the current crises with the gas prices, the inflation rates, and our never changing income, it’s really devastating.

Warriors All

For the past years, we have learned to be more prayerful. We have learned to take a knee and pray fervently, faithfully. We have learned to become PRAYER WARRIORS!!

YES! Most of us have become more prayerful because of the crises. We have suddenly remembered what Jesus said:  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matt. 7:7, 8). And so everyone is down on their knees and starts praying. Now, we don’t only pray before we sleep, when we wake up or before we eat meals. We try to find time to pray almost every instant we can. AM I RIGHT?

So what does it mean to be a “prayer warrior”? I myself have been wondering the very same thing. I’ve prayed for protection from being too greedy or being misled by the enemy’s guile, but at the same time, I’ve prayed for that BMW, that brand new cell phone, and so many other things. Aside from not getting what I wanted, more questions on how prayer really works started to seep in.

An article posted in the Adventist Review Online website also poses the very same query. It even goes on to tell us that if what we mean by “prayer warrior” is someone who does battle using prayer, then who are we battling against? If our idea is to pray fervently enough to prevail, then doesn’t that lock us into a battle with God, Himself? Pretty weird isn’t it? But if that is our mindset, we seem to think that God would eventually wear down and give in to our request. It would seem to suggest that too much pestering would make God irritated and just say: “Alright quit talking, I’ve heard that 30 times this week! HERE, TAKE WHAT YOU WANT!” So in a sense that would make God some sort of a convenience store.

So what’s wrong with that picture, my dear brothers and sisters?  If we read the passage again, we see that the bottom line is asking God for help. It is true and I don’t plan to contest that at any moment now or in the future. And of course, we also know that it takes prayer and faith to get the things that we request.

We see so many illustrations of that in our Bibles. My favourite illustration is Elijah praying over the widow’s son and the boy came back to life and Elijah praying on Mount Carmel to send that fire from heaven. Daniel and the lion’s den also comes to mind when I think about praying faithfully and fervently.

But then, we also see that same prophet Elijah begging God to take his life, but God give him an angel instead. Our Saviour also prayed for the cup to pass from Him, but he died all the same.

Of course we may all argue that Jesus asked for God’s will to be done. But doesn’t that give us more questions than answers? How would we know the difference between God didn’t answer my prayer because it is not His will versus God didn’t answer my prayer because I didn’t pray fervently enough?

Sandwiched

If we look at the verse again carefully, this time in the similar message in Luke 11, we find a very interesting illustration. The verse is sandwiched by two illustrations.

First we see a man helping a friend at an ungodly hour. His friend’s persistence bade the man to give more than enough bread even though he and his family are already sleeping. Imagine our similarity to this picture, where in our persistence and in our faith in our God, he will still give us more than what we need.

The second one is similar to the first, it tells us about a son asking for his father for fish. Jesus asked the people if the father would give him a snake instead. And it ends with a comfortable thought: “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matt. 7:11).

Isn’t that really comforting to know? Don’t you feel relieved by those words? I can see some nodding ( I just hope they’re not sleeping) and some are saying yes.

But now the question: Why do still things turn out badly even if we pray for it so hard and so faithfully?

Tell me if any of these has not yet happened to you: We pray for financial stability, and things still get wavy. We pray for help in an interview and we just goofed on that interview. We pray for safety but Voila! FLAT TIRE! We pray for healing but all we see is more suffering and sometimes, death.

But that is not all. What about what the article termed as “conflicting prayers”? Just like when two opposing teams both pray to God for help in winning the game. Just like when you pray for fair weather for you to go out while our farmers pray for rain. What about those? Hindi kaya mailto si God sa mga pinaghihingi natin?

Would God say, because you asked for a sunny day, you will have the sun over your head and over yours alone. And you farmer, because you prayed for rain, only your fields will have rain clouds over it. With the two teams, He might say because you both prayed to win the game, you will have the same score all throughout the game. Hey, you’re shooting more than I intended to, pass that ball to your opponent. Go ahead.

So do we know everything about prayer? So how or why are we still asking God?

Wait! Before you get completely discouraged, look at that comforting text again? The one with the giving of good gifts? It’s in Matthew 7:11! What about Luke’s version of the text? Look up Luke 11:7 and onwards. It’s the same illustration, but let us look at the difference of what Jesus said in the end. “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13). Whoa! Sabi ni Matthew good gifts, pero sabi ni Luke Holy Spirit!

Dear Brethren! When we ask, when we seek and when we knock, God promises the Holy Spirit! And what does it do? I think we already know this as a fact. But if not, look it up at 1 Corinthians 12: 7-11.

Now you realize how much comfort God offers us. He really gives good gifts. He even gives us the best gifts – The Holy Spirit that gives according to our need and abilities. Remember how he granted the prayers of the like of Daniel, Esther, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and all the other prophets? Well, bear in mind, that even though God answered their prayers, things did not always went well with them. But the Spirit was still with them when they went through all those trials. How else could Stephen ask for forgiveness to those who were stoning him?

God still wants us to be persistent and not lose heart. He still wants us to realize that we need to be prayerful. When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he taught not to present a prayer equation or a formula. Rather, he is teaching us that God loves us and wants to give what is best for us – even when that gift may be the things we least expect.

And what greater gifts could we ask for than to be “loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled”? Which all comes with the gift of the Spirit.

May God bless each of us with more faith and more of the Holy Spirit.

Once In A Blue Moon

Tell ya if the moon is blue. So when did it become blue? And why did they call it blue? Why are there so many questions? Should I answer them? Nah.

One day, after ESTRAGEL 4 practice, I came home dead tired. No the practice wasn't that tiring, rather it was fun (great set of exercises from direk arjay). I found my mother as she descended the stairs. She was dressed to go somewhere with my sister.

I saw them out. When I went back home, I went straight to find my slippers. To my disappointment, i found my slippers broken. It was as if someone with feet larger than mine tried to see if it fits. It was a real bad day. Those slippers (they were imitatio havaianas) were just 5 months old!

So instead of sleeping, I immediately went to the market to look for slippers. There were the usual ones: the hundreds of imitation havaianas, the regular slippers, and the not-so-expensive but durable islander sandals. But among those lines of slippers, one shop really caught my eye!

Man!! They still sell Rambo slippers!! It's been years since I last saw one of those! Cool.

I tried to ask how much. It was just enough. But when I looked at the slippers carefully - ugGH!! They were just imitations! RAMBBO!?

One Vain Day @ the Orchidarium

Kuya Vinz asked us to go with him to the orchidarium re: his up coming wedding this sunday. He wanted to orient us regarding the place and our role as ushers. At the same time he finalized things with his decorator and caterer. So while they were having a meeting, VJ took the shots....

Now I Know (An NBI Story)

I took my first step to adulthood today. And just like a child getting ready to sit or walk, I fumbled on my first few steps. I obtained my NBI clearance.

Of course everyone would think that it is not really a step toward adulthood but everyone would definitely agree that it is not also a requirement when you're a high school or college student. 

When I first stepped down the train bound for Carriedo a sudden thrill permeated my heart. At the same time, the feeling you get when you are at a loss also began to creep down my spine.

A friend told me that the only difficulties that I could encounter is finding the building and falling in line. I only agreed with the latter. However, as I entered the threshold of the building, I didn't know what to do. I felt nauseous as all around me were strange faces. Some of them  badgering  other people around while others  looked as clueless as I . 

Eventually, I managed to get a hold of myself and plunge into that sea of people. Not entirely mingling, mind you, but hustling and bustling amidst the "isaw"-like lines toward claiming that piece of paper called an NBI Clearance.

I waited and waited and waited among those lines until my turn came. I paid every fee and ink-smudged all of my fingers with ink. All to get that clearance. I asked every  person worth asking regarding the next step and got grunted answers or the classic pointing snout.

Two hours and a skip at lunch later, I was finally able to obtain that precious piece of paper. But it wasn't a leap in the air. It was with a greasy forehead, a stinking shirt and a weary body that I descended the steps.

I stared at my prize.

I stared really hard.

I noted each detail on that piece of paper.

All I can say is that now I know why everyone looked so haggard in their NBI clearance pictures. =P

Addiction Abyss

The air reeks with the smell of nicotine.

I hated that smell. Better fill the room with the scent of any nose-piercing perfume of my brother than smell the strong odor of nicotine. Better if it were just from one person. But from where I sit, it's clear that it comes from both sides.

What makes the agony more profound is the fact that I am sittin inside a supposedly air conditioned room. A computer rental at that! Yet, some confounded bloke blatantly seemed overjoyed with the scent of nicotine to think that sharing it would be the sanest thing to do. Yeah, I love it! NOT!

But that clearly was not the end of it.

I tried to see who conspired to make this supposedly comfortable computer servicing seem like hell. Lo and behold, children of no more than ten sat beside me. They were the perpetrators?

I tried to look around the rental. The only grown-up is three computer stations away from me. And he's not playing a game. Instead, he's doing some thing on Microsoft Word. It must not be him.

The children were shouting obsceneties and curses at each other. So imagine the scene me in between two mangy children shouting at each other with what seems like a contest on who knows the most curse and obscenity. "PIs" and "G"-words were flying back and forth from the mouths of these kids. If given the chance, I could have bashed their brains out with the computer set I'm renting.

So they must be it.

The shouting even proved it. Their mouths were reeking foul with the nicotine. These kids smoke? Wherever are their parents?

All this time, I thought that I would be better off being a computer addict, filling my mind with countless games. I tried that life. Personally, it would be a good escape from drugs, sex, booze and even smoke. But as I see these kids, the computer shops has become breeding grounds for smoke, gangster lifestyles, obsceneties and such. Should this continue, what would happen to them?

Isang Linggo

Isang linggo akong walang magawa,

Nakadungaw lamang sa bintana,

Magdamag na lang nakatunganga

At inuubos ang oras sa wala.

 

Sa isang linggo aking napagtanto,

Kung ako’y lagi na lang ganito,

Marahil ay hindi na isang milagro

Kung katawa’y tuluyang lumobo.

 

Buong isang linggo ring naisipan

Magtrabaho, umasikaso nang minsan

Ngunit gawai’y tanging pinagmasdan

Nang muling maghari ang katamaran.

 

Isang linggo nga ba’y nauwi sa wala,

Teka nga muna, hindi naman yata,

‘Pagkat aking kwarto ay sinala

Nang dumi’y maglaho parang bula.

 

At di rin ba iyon ang isang linggo,

Kung saan isang panulat ay kinuha ko,

Gayundin ang isang lumang kwaderno

At aking nalikha ang abang tulang ito.

And I Wrote About God

Everytime I visit the web, only four pages are active: my email, my multiply site, my friendster account and my xanga account. In all of these accounts except for the latter, I add everyone freely. I think even those strangers whose sole aim in life is to increase the number of their friends on friendster.

So one day I wasn't surprised to find someone has added me up. I wasn't also surprised when that person posted a comment.

A complete stranger added me up. I approved her request with some hesitation.

What really took me was her comment. It brought me a year ago when I tried to force some writing during internship.

I remember very well how I tried to include writing about my everyday experiences in montalban and summer days. All 10 of them included in a book called "verses in my heart" which was off the press last january.

I was really touched that someone was blessed by something I wrote. I remember that all I wanted was to share something to whoever would read the book.

I praise God for it all...