Song for the Day or Now Playing (over and over again): God-Shaped Hole by Plumb
Last time, I talk about the first part of Sis. Love's talk. This post is a continuation of her talk on the first topic, God's Love.
After talking about the manifestation of God's love for us and His plan for us, Sis. Love talked about what the world is like right now.
She said that the world suffers from poverty, social injustice, crimes, and on a personal level, loneliness, depression, fear and mistrust.
She also said that we no longer turn to the Almighty in times of trouble. We seem not to recognize Him.
Then, she tells us what we, as Christians, should do:
1. We should renew ourselves and start behaving in a good manner.
2. We should believe and have faith
3. We need to pay attention to God's point of view. Sis Love said that the reason why we fail to answer life's problems is because we tend to ignore God's point. We only see things our way, not in any other way.
Our human efforts apart from Him will prove useless. We do not have to burden ourselves with our own problems. We have to give that up to God. He knows everything about us. We can't hide from Him.
Apart from God, we feel empty. Without Him, no matter how hard we work, we still feel empty.
I believe that's true too. I used to think that the restlessness I feel is due to the absence of material things in my life. I used to think that maybe, if I do something meaningful with my life, I would feel at peace.
Working as an ALS Mobile Teacher is pure missionary work. But, at the end of the day, after teaching literacy to those who need it the most, I still feel that emptiness. But after I joined SFC's CLP, I started feeling some sort of peace, a sense of meaning and fulfilment.
SFC is helping me get to know my God in a personal and intimate manner. It helps me bring things into their proper perspective. That something missing in my life is being filled by God now.
There is great joy to be had in joining a community of believers who are all working towards that perfect relationship with our creator.
It is God's plan for us to develop a relationship with Him. It is His plan to be intimate with us, to be with us. That is the hole deep in our hearts that no money, success, or power could ever feel. (It keeps reminding me of Ecclesiastes).
God's love is for EVERYBODY. All we have to do is reach out for that hand always waiting for our attention. He never leaves us alone. He loves us. Despite who and what we are, what we have done, He loves us.
Sis. Love quoted John 6:66-67. I decided to copy that passage here. (I am using the Good News Bible though)
"Because of this, many of Jesus' followers turned back and would not go with him anymore. So he asked the twelve disciples, "And you- would you also like to leave?"
The phrasing of the question as different with Sis. Love (Maybe she used the KJV).
"Are you going to leave me too?."
Ouch.
Unknowingly, my response had always been yes to that unasked question. When it comes to a lot of things, God was always in the bottom. I disregarded my King because I was an ignorant know-it-all. I knew about the world, but I had no knowledge of its Creator.
Now, I hope to know Him more and to serve Him with the talents He has given me.
God is inviting us to live a life of freedom with Him. I want that life. I want to get out of the darkness.
After the talks, we were divided into groups for group discussion. Two team members of the SFC were then tasked as our DGL or Discussion Group Leader. We talked about the topic and we were made to examine what was discussed down to a personal level.
Our DGL's, Sis. Jejan and Sis. Roxan, were both cool in handling our discussion. They made me feel comfortable enough to share thoughts and ideas I used to keep to myself. I mean, I mostly did not talk about my relationship (or lack of) with God to my friends. But, with that discussion, I shared more than I usually did. That was a breath of freedom for me and more sharing to come too.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
SFC CLP Talk No1:God's Love, A Reflection (Part 1)
The Singles for Christ (SFC), Passi City Chapter's, Christian Life Program (CLP) is conducted at PICS-SOF every Sunday, 9:00 to 12:00 AM.
Last May 22, 2011 was the first talk of the first Module of the training. We had God's love as our topic.
Right after learning Worship Songs, and answering Bible Trivia, the first talk, with Sis. Love, Unit Head of the Singles for Christ, Duenas Chapter, began.
I probably was not paying too much attention at first because I was sort of taken with the Bible Quiz/Trivia which was thrown at us before the Talk began. It was fun. I used to study the Old Testament as a sort of hobby (though I never did finish The Book of Chronicles (or was it Kings?)...and I was never that good with the New Testament since I kept repeating the Book of Matthew everytime I want to study the NT...so, I did not catch Sis Love's last name....
But that seemed to be okay with SFC. When I shared that news with a member who was not there that Sunday, he knew to whom I was referring to. It seems as if we want back to Biblical times wherein persons were known for their names and places of origin alone...like Jesus of Nazareth...odd, come to think of it, I am quite lucky since I have a unique name...Heaven of Passi (still odd...)
I also felt weird calling my former teacher and mentor as Sister...I mean,it implies a closer and more intimate relationship than merely being friends or colleagues with someone.Now, I have sisters and brothers in Christ...and it feels good...
Anyway, I could not seem to get the highlight of Sis Love's talk. I got distracted easily..but she started with several truths and proofs of God's love for us.
1. God created us and provides for us.
First, she mentioned the story of creation, of how God created us and everything on earth because of His great love.
Sis. Love quoted a verse from the Bible which said that Man is meant for friendship with God.
And then, she went on to ask what we have done to make God feel that we love Him? To be honest, I never did anything for God. I took Him for granted almost all the time. In this day and age, it is very easy to be distracted and loose sight of God's glorious love.
2. God has a plan for us.
Sis. Love also mentioned that God has a definite plan for us. And because of what happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we placed the "human" limitation upon ourselves. Everytime we sin, we say, "I was just being human".
Sis. Love also said that God would not leave man alone to his own fate. She said that God gave us freewill to think for ourselves. He wants to bring us to Him at the end of our days and to restore our fellowship and intimacy with him.
That is God's plan for us, nothing more, nothing less. She even mentioned about how one girl would say that God does not love her and all because God supposedly allowed her boyfriend to cheat on her.
I guess such outpourings are inappropriate for us Christians. God's love has nothing to do with such worldly matters. We got hurt because we "desired" something when we should have only desired a communion with God.
I felt a little petty about my won worldly longings and dreams. This made me realize how "foolish" my life has been. Others would say I have lived a meaningful life. But after the first talk on this CLP, I realized I have not lived at all.
I have been vain, selfish, lustful, proud, and totally uncaring of others beyond my family circle. I have played it safe for so long. I have worked so hard and I have forgotten God.
I would like to make God the center of everything in my life starting now. And yes, I am a work in progress...I still have those deeply embedded sins within me but I hope to be blessed by God's gracious love so that I may realize His purpose for me.
This post is already too long for now so I guess I'll just post the second part of Sis. Love's lecture in another entry.
It talks about the pitfalls of the modern world and what we should do, as Christians, to avoid them.
Last May 22, 2011 was the first talk of the first Module of the training. We had God's love as our topic.
Right after learning Worship Songs, and answering Bible Trivia, the first talk, with Sis. Love, Unit Head of the Singles for Christ, Duenas Chapter, began.
I probably was not paying too much attention at first because I was sort of taken with the Bible Quiz/Trivia which was thrown at us before the Talk began. It was fun. I used to study the Old Testament as a sort of hobby (though I never did finish The Book of Chronicles (or was it Kings?)...and I was never that good with the New Testament since I kept repeating the Book of Matthew everytime I want to study the NT...so, I did not catch Sis Love's last name....
But that seemed to be okay with SFC. When I shared that news with a member who was not there that Sunday, he knew to whom I was referring to. It seems as if we want back to Biblical times wherein persons were known for their names and places of origin alone...like Jesus of Nazareth...odd, come to think of it, I am quite lucky since I have a unique name...Heaven of Passi (still odd...)
I also felt weird calling my former teacher and mentor as Sister...I mean,it implies a closer and more intimate relationship than merely being friends or colleagues with someone.Now, I have sisters and brothers in Christ...and it feels good...
Anyway, I could not seem to get the highlight of Sis Love's talk. I got distracted easily..but she started with several truths and proofs of God's love for us.
1. God created us and provides for us.
First, she mentioned the story of creation, of how God created us and everything on earth because of His great love.
Sis. Love quoted a verse from the Bible which said that Man is meant for friendship with God.
And then, she went on to ask what we have done to make God feel that we love Him? To be honest, I never did anything for God. I took Him for granted almost all the time. In this day and age, it is very easy to be distracted and loose sight of God's glorious love.
2. God has a plan for us.
Sis. Love also mentioned that God has a definite plan for us. And because of what happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we placed the "human" limitation upon ourselves. Everytime we sin, we say, "I was just being human".
Sis. Love also said that God would not leave man alone to his own fate. She said that God gave us freewill to think for ourselves. He wants to bring us to Him at the end of our days and to restore our fellowship and intimacy with him.
That is God's plan for us, nothing more, nothing less. She even mentioned about how one girl would say that God does not love her and all because God supposedly allowed her boyfriend to cheat on her.
I guess such outpourings are inappropriate for us Christians. God's love has nothing to do with such worldly matters. We got hurt because we "desired" something when we should have only desired a communion with God.
I felt a little petty about my won worldly longings and dreams. This made me realize how "foolish" my life has been. Others would say I have lived a meaningful life. But after the first talk on this CLP, I realized I have not lived at all.
I have been vain, selfish, lustful, proud, and totally uncaring of others beyond my family circle. I have played it safe for so long. I have worked so hard and I have forgotten God.
I would like to make God the center of everything in my life starting now. And yes, I am a work in progress...I still have those deeply embedded sins within me but I hope to be blessed by God's gracious love so that I may realize His purpose for me.
This post is already too long for now so I guess I'll just post the second part of Sis. Love's lecture in another entry.
It talks about the pitfalls of the modern world and what we should do, as Christians, to avoid them.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Christian Life Program; A Calling
I joined the Singles for Christ's Christian Life Program, a twelve-week initiation of talks and lessons on Christian living which is conducted for interested single Christian men and women who wants to join SFC.
Last May 15, 2011, a good number of newbies like me attended the Orientation for the CLP at the PICs-SOF Building. The service team introduced the significance of what we are doing.
Bro. J.R. Pagdato, gave a short talk. He said that there are four types of people, the poor, the captive, the blind and the oppressed.
He also mentioned that the modern world is experiencing a lot of problems. He mentioned something about spiritual blindness, moral degeneration, promiscuity and homosexuality, greed and others. Among the causes he mentioned were: economic hard times, sociological reasons (society's lack of objective. He also said that in the early days, Christians did not easily trade off their principles. Now, we hear sayings like can you eat your principles? What does that say about us?
Bro. J.R. alos quoted Rick Warren, author of A Purpose Driven Life. "The biggest tragedy in life is not death but a life without purpose."I agree. It's like being one of the "living-dead", so to speak.
Then,he asked why we are lacking in spiritual power? He then gave the following answer:
1. Unwillingness to give up sin (this may be due to the lack of a serious sin)
2. Lack of personal relationship with Jesus
3. Lack of Christian support
4. Not living in the power of the Holy Spirit
There were a lot of realizations for me after the Bro. J.R.'s talk. It was enlightening. Reading about it all the time, and reflecting about it later on is different from having heard it spoken and discussed in that way.
I am glad Sis Flo, Sis Roxan and Bro. Dandy actually invited me to join the CLP. To quote the Service Team, they were, indeed, God's instruments to bring me into a fold of believers where I can truly express my faith, learn things I would not normally learn on my own, and share my faith with a community of believers who seem to accept me as I am.
The Christian Life Program of the SFC, according to our Brothers and Sisters in teh Service Team, has three modules with four sessions per modules.
In the first module, we have four talks:
1. God's Love
2. Who is Jesus Christ?
3. What it Means to be a Christian?
4. Repentance and Faith.
I am looking forward to more sessions. I will try my best not to miss any of the talks or sessions because it's a continuous thing.
I am really thankful to God for this chance. I thought that was all there is to it. I am glad to know there's more...
Last May 15, 2011, a good number of newbies like me attended the Orientation for the CLP at the PICs-SOF Building. The service team introduced the significance of what we are doing.
Bro. J.R. Pagdato, gave a short talk. He said that there are four types of people, the poor, the captive, the blind and the oppressed.
He also mentioned that the modern world is experiencing a lot of problems. He mentioned something about spiritual blindness, moral degeneration, promiscuity and homosexuality, greed and others. Among the causes he mentioned were: economic hard times, sociological reasons (society's lack of objective. He also said that in the early days, Christians did not easily trade off their principles. Now, we hear sayings like can you eat your principles? What does that say about us?
Bro. J.R. alos quoted Rick Warren, author of A Purpose Driven Life. "The biggest tragedy in life is not death but a life without purpose."I agree. It's like being one of the "living-dead", so to speak.
Then,he asked why we are lacking in spiritual power? He then gave the following answer:
1. Unwillingness to give up sin (this may be due to the lack of a serious sin)
2. Lack of personal relationship with Jesus
3. Lack of Christian support
4. Not living in the power of the Holy Spirit
There were a lot of realizations for me after the Bro. J.R.'s talk. It was enlightening. Reading about it all the time, and reflecting about it later on is different from having heard it spoken and discussed in that way.
I am glad Sis Flo, Sis Roxan and Bro. Dandy actually invited me to join the CLP. To quote the Service Team, they were, indeed, God's instruments to bring me into a fold of believers where I can truly express my faith, learn things I would not normally learn on my own, and share my faith with a community of believers who seem to accept me as I am.
The Christian Life Program of the SFC, according to our Brothers and Sisters in teh Service Team, has three modules with four sessions per modules.
In the first module, we have four talks:
1. God's Love
2. Who is Jesus Christ?
3. What it Means to be a Christian?
4. Repentance and Faith.
I am looking forward to more sessions. I will try my best not to miss any of the talks or sessions because it's a continuous thing.
I am really thankful to God for this chance. I thought that was all there is to it. I am glad to know there's more...
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