One Thing

“Why did you do such a thing?” Genesis 3:13

Adam and Eve could have had a perfect life. God provided everything they needed and they lived in this wonderful garden we can only dream of. There was only one thing, ONE THING God commanded of them. “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die (Gen. 2:6-7)”.

Now there was a serpent in the garden. Instead of stepping on it, the woman listened to it and actually conversed with it. There are many serpents around us. The best thing to do is not converse with it because it is crafty and deceiving. It can convince us of things we wouldn’t do or think otherwise. The serpent said, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from ANY tree of the garden?” The serpents in our life always try to make God appear harsh and tyrannical. 

Eve answered, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or TOUCH IT, lest you die.’” Where did the exaggeration come from? Only from accepting the serpent’s invitation to interact with him. 

The woman continued to listen to the serpent. “You surely shall not die! God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So the woman ate from the forbidden tree, and gave it to her husband to eat. 

The man and the woman were banished out of the garden. Now man and woman had to work for their food, toil over land with thorns and thistles. Fast forward to Luke 10:41-42. Martha is toiling over a hot stove, preparing food for Jesus and His disciples while Mary her sister was sitting at Jesus’ feet, enthralled with His words. Martha complained to Jesus, “Please tell my sister to help me.” 

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—really only ONE thing. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Let us learn a lesson from Eve. We should not listen to the serpents in our lives. Let us instead make it a priority to listen to God, and learn the ONE THING which is the better portion. 

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday I made some more of my clay sticks, a cat, and a house: 

I also finished a flowered cross: 

I did not attach the flowers and leaves, thinking it will be easier to paint, plus if I make other flowers and leaves, each piece can be unique! 

“When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” Acts 2:1-4

My sister Peggy and brother-in-law Charlie attended the Golden Jubilee of the Catholic Charismatic renewal in Rome in 2017. Representatives from the Evangelical and Pentecostal churches were present as well. After all, the renewal started in Duquesne University in February 1967, during a student retreat, when they invited a Pentecostal to speak about what happened in the Book of Acts and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. During that retreat, God poured down His Holy Spirit and students began experiencing Him in a new way. Patti Gallagher Mansfield's face glowed like Moses after she encountered God's presence in the upper chapel. Some spoke in tongues. Some cried. Some laughed. Some felt a burning sensation. Some, like David Mangan, experienced little explosions going on in his body.

 

Previous to that, the charismatic Pentecostal way of worship made its way dramatically to mainline Protestant churches, and then from there to the Catholics. After that Duquesne weekend, God's 'current of grace', as Pope Francis calls it, travelled around the world and changed millions of believers' lives and faith. In unity, with one body, great things are accomplished. There is more that unites us than separates us. We have to learn from one another's strengths, and recognize the gifts God wants to give us. The Holy Spirit is not a spirit of uniformity, but unity in diversity. One body, one Spirit. 

And for those who dismiss the outpouring of the Spirit as something alien, or something new, they would do well to read what the ancient prophets had to say about God’s plans for His people. We read in Ezekiel 36:27-28, “I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to observe My ordinances. You ... shall be My people and I will be your God.” And then there’s the prophecy by Joel in 2:28, 29, 32. He prophesied that “I will pour out My spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.... Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I will pour out My spirit.... All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered.” Isn’t that amazing? 

All these prophesies are fulfilled in Jesus, mediator and guarantor of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and today we celebrate the fulfillment of God’s promise. Today we celebrate the Church’s birthday! Happy Pentecost Sunday! 

Lord, may we desire more of Your Spirit. May we not be complacent with what we have right now, but may we always want more of You! 

All Out for Christ!

Yesterday I baked my clay sticks I’m so happy with how they came out. 

My little grandchild who is turning four in 3 months always likes to do what I’m doing. If I am using Procreate, he will make his own design and he is fast learning the different pens and how to cut and paste and duplicate. 

This was the last design he did with me. 

Yesterday, I was making clay and he made his own! He insisted on using a barbecue stick too although I was kind of hesitant as barbecue sticks can be dangerous at his age! Here is his project- 

“… it is on account of the hope of Israel that I wear these chains.” Acts 28:20

St. Paul was an amazing man and had endured much for Christ and His way. Most of us have not been called to suffer multiple shipwrecks, being imprisoned and flogged and stoned, all for proclaiming the Kingdom of God without compromise. Paul was just as passionate before he knew Christ and he was infamous for zealously arresting Christ followers. 

The Lord chose Paul to be His “chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. And He even prepared Paul for the hard life ahead. “For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” (Acts 9:15-16) 

Yesterday I was listening to a journalist decrying how Western students don’t have real problems and that is why they make up problems about all these infinite pronouns and leftist agendas. A recent poll showed only 52% of the American public would be willing to stay and fight for their country if they were invaded like Israel. In the UK, when the defense secretary announced there might be a possibility they would call to enlist people, a mere 27% of the young people said they would be willing to do so. 

I was wondering, if Christ called for an accounting, how many of us like Paul would not be lukewarm but go all out for Christ, even if the Lord warns it will be difficult and even require blood, sweat and tears? 

Do You Love Me?

Recently I have been busy making clay sticks. I carve erasers or linoleum and use them to stamp on clay. 

I will be making more of this to sell at our store. They can be stuck in plants, flower arrangements, cakes, and I like using them in table settings. 

"Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" John 21:15, 16, 17

Why did Jesus ask Simon Peter three times if Simon Peter loved Him? Is it not because Peter denied Christ three times? Jesus gave Peter the chance to take back those awful words, "I am not one of Jesus' disciples!!!!" Jesus knew exactly what Peter needed to redeem himself. He gave Peter his confidence back. He re-commissioned him. 

When we sin, or fall short, one of the last things we need is for our boss, leader, mom, spouse or anyone else to focus attention on our weakness. I remember when I was in Grade IV, I was the favorite of my teacher. One of my responsibilities was to check attendance. One day, I forgot to do my homework. My teacher looked at me with a disapproving eye, and took away the attendance book in front of the whole class. I am so happy Jesus is not like that. We are all sinners. We all fall short. But when we do, Jesus doesn't give up on us and say, "From now on, you can't help Me build My Kingdom. You're a failure!"   

Lord, thank You for Your forgiveness, and teach us to love and forgive others as well. 

Consecrated in Truth

“And for their sake and on their behalf I consecrate (sanctify, dedicate) myself, so that they also may be consecrated in truth." John 17:19

How amazing is it that Jesus thought us worthy of His dedicating His whole life to make sure we know the truth and one day we can be with Him in Heaven?

How inconceivable is it that He allowed Himself to become the sacrificial lamb, God the Father's Isaac, so he could bring us to our eternal Home?

All of us were put here on earth for a purpose. 

St. Paul in Acts 20:24 said,  “Yet I consider life as of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God's grace."

For most of us, our lives are not as dramatic as St. Paul, but it is a race of perseverance nonetheless. In 2009, Charlie, my brother-in-law, was asked by Peggy, my sister, if he wanted to serve in the prison ministry of QC Jail. His response was the memorable, “What?!!! Are you crazy?!!!"

But like the reluctant son in Jesus’ parable in Matthew 21:28-32, he started preaching in the perennially crowded jail in spite of his misgivings, and he continued doing so until the pandemic put a stop to jail visits. Sometimes he got discouraged like when one of the former inmates visited him and said he got a woman pregnant. Charlie felt so disheartened and angry. Why was he doing this every week if it did not make a difference?

Peggy reminded him that they go to QC Jail to show the inmates that they are loved, that some people care for them, even if they are forgotten by their families who do not visit.

Cardinal Rosales said we all have a mission, and what is important is we love our brothers, we are generous with what we have, our time and resources, our gifts and talents. And we should always remember it is God's work, not ours. We may plant but God will give the growth.

I admire Charlie a lot. I used to see him walking into the jail all by himself if no one could go with him, bringing cookies and juice for the inmates. He is "bearing witness to the Gospel of God's grace" not only with his words but by his actions as well!

No Greater Love

Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:12-13

Jesus continues, “And here is how to measure it- the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.” After Jesus taught His disciples about love, and prayed, they crossed to the Kidron Valley where He was betrayed. 

Usually when I think about this self-sacrificing kind of love, the kind of love that Jesus had, I think of the larger than life saints like Maximillian Kolbe, who volunteered to die in place of another prisoner in Auschwitz. Kolbe was a hero many times over before he sacrificed his life for another in that Nazi concentration camp. And there are many other saints who sacrificed their lives in love for others. 

But there are ordinary people who live extraordinary lives as well. Ronnie Smith was a 33 yr. old chemistry teacher in Austin, Texas, when he and his wife discovered that Chemistry teachers were much needed in Libya. Ronnie decided to go in spite of the many warnings he received. “They’ll see you as an enemy! They’ll kill you!” 

“I don’t care,” he said, “My life is in Jesus’ hands, my after life is in Jesus’ hands. Even if they do kill me, I’m still going.”

After 18 months of teaching in the International School of Benghazi, four unidentified gunmen in a black Jeep shot him down in December 5, 2013. Two weeks later his widow Anita wrote an open letter that was spread all over the news. When she and her husband had traveled to Libya, they saw the suffering of the Libyan people, “but we also saw your hope, and we wanted to partner with you to build a better future.” To the attackers, she wrote: "I love you and I forgive you." 

She came out on CNN, and told Anderson Cooper, “I just envision the black Jeep driving up to him and I don't know their faces. I just want them to know that God loves them and can forgive them for this. I just really want them to know that I do love them and I forgive them, and Ronnie would want this, and I hope and pray that our son, Hosea, would believe this," she said. “Yeah, they took away my husband. I loved my husband. But it's got to be God's spirit that's pushing me to show them that this is what God wants them to see.” 

In today’s climate of division, hatred, bullying, where truth is attacked by a barrage of lies, we too can practice the radical love Jesus espouses. 

How do we love as Jesus loves? How do we forgive as Jesus forgives? Only by His grace and Spirit within us! 

Take Courage

“In the world you will have trouble, but take COURAGE, I have conquered the world." John 16:33

There's no doubt about trouble. We all have it in one form or another! It's the way we deal with it that defines us.

Some act as if everything depends on them. And then there are those who know there is Someone who never leaves them, the One who says, "Take COURAGE, I have conquered the world."

I have to confess I am of the second variety. In our business, I have to depend on God a lot because I am not much of a "business expert". Last week, my sister and I were interviewed by a couple of journalists from Businessworld. One of them asked how we deal with challenges. My sister said that I had a good answer for that. I turned to her and asked, “Prayer, prayer, prayer?” We both laughed knowing that was not something taught in business school! 

But it’s true, if we have problems of any kind, our solution is PRAYER! If our sales are low, we pray! If we have problems with a government office, we pray! If we need to make a decision, we pray! God has not failed us in 56 years! 

God is our PARTNER in our business and we can take COURAGE in the future because Jesus has not only conquered the world, He has conquered our business!

I Will Be With You Always

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…” Acts 1:8

A popular meme I read several times on Viber and Facebook goes: “The Feast of the Ascension is the day Jesus started to work from home.” 

In the 1st book of Acts, verses 6-11, we read about Jesus’ rise to heaven: Then they gathered around Him and asked Him, “Lord, are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After Jesus said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.” 

After Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, He showed Himself on different occasions to many, many people in the 40 days before his ascension to Heaven. Most probably, not all occasions of His encounters were recorded. He showed Himself to Mary and the other women, to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, to the disciples on numerous occasions, and then to 5000 people all at once. Then the disciples were eye witnesses of Him rising into the clouds! I would have liked to see that! But it would have been heart wrenching at the same time. Never to see Jesus again, never to be in His comforting, radiant presence. Never to be able to ask Him questions and to hear His answers.

But that is precisely why Jesus had to leave. So He could send His Spirit to be with each of us. Then He could be with us always until the end of time. We could always have His comforting, radiant presence about us. We can always ask Him questions and hear His answers. “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20) “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

Perfect Love

“...but your grief will become joy.” John 16:20

Many things in this world grieve us. My sisters and I pray together daily and our prayer list grows longer every day. We pray for many who are very sick with cancer, many who are afflicted with depression, many who need livelihood, etc etc. And then how about the state the world is in, our country is in? When a relative of ours came to my dad’s wake several years ago, he said, “I’m more in mourning not for your dad who is free now, but for our country.” 

Yes, we mourn for many things. I am even sad for the poor children who are getting the dregs of education from the bottom of the barrel. In its most recent report, Phil. Business for Education describes the status of Philippine education as follows: nine out of 10 learners aged 10 years old cannot read simple text. 😭 I saw a grown man on TV cry because he could not teach his child the basics of reading and writing. Corruption in our country is so accepted that our voters just blithely say that anybody we elect will steal! Our leaders seem to want to keep our people ignorant so we will keep voting for has been actors who don’t know anything about making laws and family dynasties that have been in power for generations. And we know without a good education a majority of the young children will grow up without much hope to better the life of their families. 

Father God, why allow this? Why allow so much suffering and pain? I cannot understand just as the disciples could not understand what Jesus was telling them in John 16:16-20. “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”

Yes the world rejoices and wallows in its sin. I see a video of a Senator rejoicing in his victory, dancing and laughing, even while so many doubts swirl about him and the whole electoral process. Yes I am still frustrated about the last election probably because I know it will happen again. 

“...but your grief will become joy,” Jesus promises. Just as we rejoice when a baby is born after a nine month burden and the intense pain of labor, we know there is a beautiful sunrise coming after the darkness of the night. That is God’s certain promise to us. We just need to be patient and wait for His time. We do not need to understand if we trust in His perfect love. 

Pray for Peace

“Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils…” Mark 16:15-20

Father, I try to proclaim Your Good News to anyone who will listen. But these signs? What  am I to think of these signs that accompany believers? In Your name, can I cast out devils? I should cast out the evil spirits behind Hamas and Islamic jihadists! Can I do it from where I am? Can I take authority over these demons from the spiritual realm and cast it out? 

First, we need to recognize their activity. How can we fail to see that these are not normal actions of normal people?

Eli Shtivi is the father of 28 year old Idan Shtivi, who was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova desert rave, where he had volunteered to photograph the event. Eli described the atrocities committed by the Gazan citizens on October 10 from videos he watched that Israel isn’t publishing yet for privacy of the families.

1. Dozens of abductees were tied by their legs to cars and dragged along the road in a 'victory procession' across Gaza. Until there is nothing left of their faces!

2. The whole street cheered! Women and children tore off organs as souvenirs!

3. Male abductees were also being raped, shaved, and dressed in women's clothes.

And so much more that will make us sick to our stomachs! 

Bevin Tait, a teacher of History and English in New Zealand, says, “Yes, God can cast out a demon by a believer praying for that on the internet. I have been involved in this over the years and God guides some people to others and then reveals truth about their situations and can and does deliver some from demonic oppression and possession. We just need to be wise and be led by the Holy Spirit. God gives the giftings and spiritual power as it is all God, NOT the believer. We just work with God. It is a wonderful privilege to work with God.”

In the 9th chapter of Mark, there is a story of a boy who was possessed by demons. The father of the boy asked Jesus if He can do anything. “If you can? ALL THINGS are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Jesus taught His disciples who were frustrated because they could not cast out the spirits, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything BUT prayer.”

So let us pray in faith EVERY DAY, let us work with God to bring peace to every corner of our temporary home.