Now is the right time!

It’s 1am in the morning, and I just finished watching High School Musical 3, and a line from that movie touched me the most, it is when the teacher, Ms Darbus told Troy “better to consider the opportunities now and in 10 years life may limit your choices”

Playing that scene over and over again, I began to feel nostalgic about what I have been doing for the past 26 and half years. Then suddenly it all came back to me, it flashback all the success, failures, disappointments, events, opportunities, etc… that I had experienced for the past years.

Questions, memories, things about what will my future look like and other stuff began to linger in my mind, then tears followed… There’s a sudden mixture of different emotions that I felt, but then it all came to one point, and that is I’m just really thankful on how God planned my destiny. Yes there are regrets, lots of them, but when I began to realize that all the things that happened were a blessing. It helped me appreciate things, events, and people more than I appreciate them yesterday, and it helped me become a better person that I am today, a person that looks forward for a much better person in accordance to the will and the destiny that God had already planned out for me.

I challenge you to make a step forward every single day. There’s always a new day and a new start, grab those opportunities laid before your eyes, be more than an adventurer rather than an observer, be ready to take more chances rather than sit and do nothing, move forward rather than go backwards and be left behind.

Let us all say enough of those things, situations, and people who always says that you can’t and start to really believe that you can, that you can do the things you wanted to do only in Christ. 

As for me and for the years to come, I will always let go and Let God.

Allow me to add a few lines to the original line of Ms Darbus as I end this blog…
“It is better to consider the opportunities now than to regret it when years, situations, and life may limit it. Trust God and trust the desire that He puts in your heart”

Now is the right time!

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

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Going back to the basic

I’m still speechless and in awe of the things that happened yesterday. It was a great, solemn, and a meaningful day for me. It was my birthday! Thanks to everyone who greeted and prayed for me, thanks to a surprise party that was given to me by my friends (it was so intimate and definitely a memorable one) Thank you God for my family and friends… Thank you God for everything… All the glory is yours…

I’m just turned 26.. and for the past 25 years, there are so many things that I’m just thankful for… for the past 5 years, I’ve had my biggest ups and downs…  and for the past year, I’ve done so many decisions that are definitely became my turning points.

There are so many things that are running through my mind as I wrote this blog. Things that I am thankful for as I’ve said earlier but surely there are no regrets about the decisions that I’ve been making lately. For the past two years of struggles, hardships, and pains that I’ve been through well I really thank God for those, the countless situations that made feel down. I wouldn’t be a better person today (and still learning to be) if I haven’t gone through with those things. Truly experience is the best teacher.

As I continue to make decisions on how I run my life right now, some people would always think differently, as others would say we can’t please everybody. But as I move on, as I make decisions, I would always go back and ask on what does God really wants me to do… on where would He want me to be… some might disagree about it… some who would support it… but the most important thing is… I live to please God… I live to follow His call.

That’s when I finally realized that I need to go back to the basics… remembering the turning point of me accepting God… remembering on who I was before being a leader… remembering the passion that was given to me before I serve Him.

Change is unevitable, and the things that I’m really doing right now is part of me changing and moving forward to goal that God has set for me… reaching to it… pressing on… and focusing on it…

Moving on to a new chapter, I really thank God for blessing me with new opportunities… another chance of serving Him using the gifts, passion, and desire that He had given me… new reasons to serve Him and stand before Him… new places to go the distance of being a witness… a fresh start that would definitely keep and ignite the true passion within.

Going back is not an easy things… but if its the best way to move forward… to see the bigger perspective of living a life on a purpose… to continually serve Him without compromising… that’s what I’m gonna do… 

Going back doesn’t mean you have lived your life to the fullest… but rather, going back is the time when you look forward for more adventures… for more lessons… for a much new and deeper perspective… for a new beginnings.. 

It’s like a runner on a track, that goes on a strict training, on where he doesn’t have to go anywhere but on the starting line and continue to be trained aiming for the goal that was set for Him, and as he runs over and over again, new things are revealed to him and he will become more stronger, faster, and better athlete.

Now, for the 26th year of my life, I am more excited for new things that God will reveal to me… as I always say… greater things are yet to come… and there are greater things that needs to be done to advance His kingdom.

Next year 27th na… LOL!

God bless you all!

Proverbs 26:20

Without wood a fire goes out;
Without gossip a quarrel dies down.
Proverbs 26:20 (NIV)

Gossip, Backbiting, and False talks.

These are issues that goes along way destroying relationships, friendships, families, and even nations. The book of proverbs has numerous instructions regarding these negative attitudes.

Building a stronger relationship requires stronger and firm foundations. Foundations such us trust, loyalty, honesty, and sincerity. These things do really matter, if one pillar of these foundations goes down, the whole house can be easily tossed even in a simplest blow of the wind.

I can’t help but blog about this, because I’m seeing these things on plurk updates, facebook status’, emails, blogs, text, TV, etc… Are we bound to these gossip bondages? Do we really want a nation, family, friendship, relationship stuck into these dilemma?

You know, as the sons and daughters of God, we are created into His image and likeness, our identity is in Christ Jesus, and I’m definitely sure that God is not a god of false talks, gossips, and backbiting and having His identity within us, we shouldn’t also possess those things. God is Love, and whoever loves his brother also loves God.

Sometimes, we should all learn to stop and ask God for wisdom on all of the things that are happening. Learn to discern the meaning behind every situations. Learn to value the trust that was given to us by a person. Learn not to say things behind any person’s back. Through these we don’t need to feel to be insecure anymore, to feel the need of being protected by someone, to totally stand out above the rest. Coz of all the foundations, God should be in the center.

I’ve been in this situation before, and I thank God for letting me learn through this, so I may be able to share it to others.

A stronger and a right foundation leads to a stronger relationship.

Toilet Bowl and the Worship Team

How does a person remains humble especially in the music team?

As they say, No where in the church are egos bigger than in the music department. And that is why I feel the urge of blogging this one down.

A good mentor once told me, that there’s a worship leader in a certain church that were once ask “What keeps you humble?” from there he answered right away “Well, during the days when I’m not on the stage leading, I was the one who’s cleaning the church’s restroom”

Go figure!

You see, right from the start the man already knew that its not about him being served by the limelight but its all about serving the one true master, Jesus. He followed Jesus and obey his words.. that’s its not about just being on the stage.. but its all about serving Him anywhere and that includes cleaning the toilet bowl..

A heart of a worshiper doesn’t have a limit after all, its not having all the lights focus on you when you’re leading, its not about being on a big stage, and its neither about being popular and you not wanting to accept other jobs anymore and I’ve seen much of these examples happening on a church, and that includes me being a victim of my ego.

The true heart of a worshiper is wherein you know that serving doesn’t have to be you being served (and accepting this hard truth), that there is no limit on serving God no matter what it takes. Its about passing on the baton, doesn’t need to worry much on how big the stage is, and about who we are when we are not leading on the stage.

Servant-hood is the key, we are all serving only the Master, which is God. Serving without being hesitant whether it is the big church that we’re serving or only the small church.

We should always remember that as we remain humble, the real master lifts us up on the pedestal, and not us exerting or boasting our efforts dragging ourselves on the pedestal.

Now I challenged you to these questions;

Am I only serving myself to the point that I only wanted to just perform on stage?
Did God called me to lead only in the big church and the big church alone?
Am I conscious about only leading worship alone?
Lastly, Am I willing to clean a toilet bowl?

Overcooked Meal

Ever seen a man without any problems at all? Well definitely not! As we go through life, it is inevitable for us to have problems and that’s a fact!

As others would say acceptance is the key to success, now I’m letting everyone know that we need to accept that problems is part of our daily liives. Some problems may be too easy for us to ignore and some are not.  Some won’t even cost any sacrifice at all and yet some would do.The bottom line is problems are there everyday.

I have seen much, I have experienced much, I have conquered much.

So why are there any problems at all? One of my smallgroup member once asked me “If there is God and we have all been saved, bakit pa tayo nagkakaproblema? (Why do we still have problems), now that got me into thinking… then eventually I answered “its simply because God loves us” and that’s the end of our conversation.

But wait some people would actually react like this “Say what?!?”

You know sometimes people tend to a look on a problem like he/she was looking on an overcooked meal, as simple as that, flat line, and end up suffering while eating that meal and accepting it as easy as that even if it causes us pain in the stomach.

But what we need to do is to look beyond the problem, look beyond the meal and find if there are still good portions of it and throw away the bad portions of the meal. In the same way, we should look beyond our problems, taking away the negative part of it and look for the hidden blessings that is in store for us. In that way, we would end up enjoying the best part of the meal.

Problems are there for us to learn, to persevere, and to put our sole trust to God and this is a decision for us to do and accept. There was a man named Job who were afflicted by many problems and yet end up praising God, a man of perseverance despite of all that is happening to his life. He accepted it and in the end God blessed Job more than he could ever imagine. Now what’s my point? Well, as we learn to accept, as we persevere on facing our problems, as we began to trust God and not the people around, just as Job did. We can definitely conquer our problems.

As it is written, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man” Psalm 118:8 (NIV)

God would want us to cry out to Him and acknowledge that we need Him more than any man/woman in this world. Coz the main purpose of such problems is not for us to be disappointed but rather for us to learn and fully understand the real purpose behind it. God wants us to be strong and yet to call upon Him rather than call others and be end up being weak. That’s what problems are made for.

This is also one way of how God shows His love for us, He wanted us to learn, to seek, and to trust Him, no matter what.

Another point would be, problems keeps us from being humble. As we began to accept things, that is the time when we humble ourselves.. and let God rule over our lives… As James 4:10 would always remind us “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up” and that’s most probably the big risk for us to endure.

Maybe next time, as we learn, we won’t be eating the same overcooked meal again but rather feasting on the best tasting dishes we could ever imagine.

We are made to be worshippers (Coming back to the heart of worship)

Coming back to the heart of worship is what God wants us to do, that everything else starts to become meaningless and all that matter is God. We are all called to worship and we are made to worship God. As Steven Curtis Chapman song said that even the music fades the heart of true worship always remain. No amount of song, lyrics, chords, and arrangement matters anymore, coz when the center of our worship focuses on God alone, the Holy Spirit enables us to feel God’s presence, to take us to the most holy place, and to forget about the things that hinders us on worshipping Him.

The manifestation of our genuine worship is mainly our overflowing love for God coz He deserves all the highest praise, He deserves our worship in spirit and in truth, and because of Him we are made victorious and that we are made worshippers.

To God be the glory.

Coming back to the Heart of Worship (intro)

Words cannot express how in awe I was last monday (July 20, 2009), there are no amount of words and description that I could ever think of.

Earlier that day, I received a text message from Zam, inviting me to co-lead the praise and worship of the youth battleground prayer meeting. At first I was in doubt, thinking “Can I lead worship again?”, “Am I able to bring the people into God’s presence?”, “Am I called again to lead worship?” Then I started to ask God, I ask Him if I’m going to do it, if He is calling me again, since I was asked to step down in the main service 6 months ago. Then the word came, I was reading my bible looking for God’s answer and it leads me to 2 Chronicles 30:11 that says “My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him and serve Him, to minister before Him and to burn incense” and it came with a study cd bookmarking it, and in that moment it eradicates all the questions I have.

Then the night came, we didn’t practice much, we just have a run through with all the songs and leave it all to God, Zam, Ralph, Clancy, Macky, James N. , and I were depending on the Holy Spirit, our prayers mainly focus on leading the youth into God’s presence. We only sang 3 songs for an hour of prayer and worship, then it happened, we really felt that God is in that place, His presence were so overwhelming that even us didn’t expect that we were singing for already an hour. As I have said, no words could ever describe it. Its only the overflowing expression of our love to God came out that night. And from that moment, I knew that I’m coming back to the heart of worship.

To God be the glory.

Count the Living not the Dead

Do you ever had any regrets in life?

I was watching an episode from Early Edition series wherein Gary Hobson (lead character) were trap in a basement of an old building that is bound to collapse, and during the course of the scene, he had regret for a fact that he couldn’t save someone’s life and let the person die, he felt worthless. Then a vision came of a man called Luscious Snow telling him that he would rather count the things, the good things, he had done in the past rather than to contemplate on the single mistake he had done.

Same thing in real life, people tend to have mistakes which became part of the many regrets in their life. But the most important thing to do is to learn from it and to focus on moving forward, yet its sad to know that people will remember you for that single mistake you’ve done rather than on the many good and positive things you’ve been doing.

It’s a sad reality that we just have to live with.

It’s like the people around you are being perfect or pretending to be it.

a story in the bible where Jesus managed to save a prostitute form being stoned to death from which He told the people “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7 NIV)

And I guess I won’t need to explain this one further.

All of us have done stupid things where in the end it lead us on having our regrets, all of us are like the people in the story on where we would condemn a person whether he/she have done things that are detestable or not. Thus its also hard to justify when people did something bad for you and yet you became very angry and forget for a fact that at some point in your life you also made some few mistakes.

Let’s face it all of us are trying to be perfect which sometimes lead on destroying someone else integrity and identity of a person but you need to understand that by all means it is definitely wrong and for those who are in this situation, always remember that your Identity is in CHRIST and not on the other people.

In the end we should all learn to “COUNT THE LIVING AND NOT THE DEAD”

Count the good things rather than the bad things that are happening
Count the lessons learned rather that the regrets
Count the people who believes in you rather than those who are not
Count the days that the Lord blessed you rather than the curses of the people around you.

Simply because, “It is the living that matter most and that makes our life worth living and not the dead”

…and you’ll WIN it!

  Let me get this straight… God’s will is always perfect!

Have you ever wonder on how and why you feel that certain urge on aiming or becoming something a certain goal or person as you go through life? The dream you always want to achieve… Gifting that you want to share with… Talent that is something you can use to make a big difference.

Well guess what, here’s the big news!

News Flash: God planted those things!

God planted those dreams, gifts, and talents in your life. It is all God’s plan. As you can see, God is also in a business of planting those desires that we’ve been dreaming / wondrin’ about. He even gave us the gifts and the talents that is for us to use it and make it grow.

Do you know Bezalel? Let’s take a look at this verse
“1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts” Exodus 31:1-3 (NIV)

See how God said to Moses, that he already chose someone name “Bezalel” on whom he had given him the skill, the ability, and the knowledge in all kinds of crafts… (in relation to the tent of the meeting, ark of the covenant, and other articles) It simply says, that God is the mastermind of the desires we have in our hearts. He already planned it even before we were born.

And the good news is, God also being the perfecter of our faith, those dreams will definitely come to pass… as one of His promises, we will be able to achieve those dreams and use the gifting and talents He had given us.

But wait! You may be asking, if the desires that I have is God-given and also being the finisher of our faith, why am I still not receiving it? Well, here’s the thing… As God as the giver of those desires, talents, skills, etc… and also being the perfecter of our faith… there’s was something missing… do you know what it is? Here goes, take a look at this one;

God (giver) —-> ? —-> Perfecter —-> Receiving it!

What’s the “?” or rather who’s the “?”, it’s simple… that’s US doing our part! and you may ask “and what part are you taking about?”. Well I’ll give you at least few things about this;

First, Receiving it by faith, as God as the perfecter of our faith, we should also be claiming it by faith, being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (see Hebrews 11). It’s the faith that keeps us on believing.

Second, Preparing for it, as God had already planned it for us, we should also be preparing for it, As God being the god of orders, He can’t just easily give those things to us, we should also prepare ourselves and prepare our hearts before He would give it to us.

Third, According to His plan, God works according to his great plan for us, yes He gave us those desires, but it is all up to Him on when He would give it to us and where would He be putting us and using it.

Fourth, it is not the world that matters, as it says “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-3  (NIV). It is God that matters, it is by knowing him and following him all the way and by then we should be able to test and approve His will for us and We will learn to be sensitive enough to listen and learn to trust more of God and less of us and the people around us. Let God take charge of your life.

Fifth, going back to Bezalel, I kinda’ skip one important thing on the said verse, check this one “…I have filled him with the Spirit of God”. Yes, we should ask and be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that enables us to do such things, to achieve those dreams, in that we may also know if it is really God’s will, and that if we are filled by His Spirit. If we are on fire on serving Him first rather than others.

Now here’s another thing, it is not the people around you who knows what’s best for you and it’s not for them to find it out either… If someones says, you’re not good enough, or maybe it is not for you well, I beg to disagree… Coz in the first place, God had already planted that dream, that gift, that talent, that calling in your heart and no matter how people and the situations tries to pull you down, disappoint you… fail you… As long as it is God’s will and you’re sensitive enough to hear that it is really His will, definitely it will come to pass and you’ll be able to achieve those dreams and use those skills and gifting he had given you. Just keep the faith, never let go, claim it and you’ll WIN it!

I’m in Love

Just had the weirdest night!

Here I go again, I think I’m falling for someone.
Love songs kept on bothering me.. I think?!? Smiling when there’s no reason for me to smile, singing love duets, goosebumps all over my skin.. oh cmon! this might be it… the question would be… Am Im ready to take this chance again…?

Ya! you heard it right! I’m asking myself if I’m ready… ready to fall for someone… to share my life with… to finally make the right move… to be her man for the rest of our lives.

Now, am I ready? Well, to be fair with, honestly I think I am… or not… there’s this kind of feeling… a weird kinda thing that kept me from finally pursuing it… I don’t know, I admit, I’d like to be financially, emotionally, and spiritually mature… to embrace more of growth and experiences into these 3 kinds of aspects that I would really need coz its part of it, definitely! But there’s one thing or maybe a few reasons that is keeping me on pursuing… on hitting the target! And that’s for me to find out… seriously… there’s this something… something I can’t even explained.

Falling in love requires many things…commitment, stability, integrity, etc… yet I know it can also surpass them all, but do you know that we just need to simplify things when it comes on loving a person… especially us living in a world of complexities… in a world of questions and doubts… And I don’t really know If I’m making a point here…

Nonetheless, Love is love…

Its a good feeling though… Falling in love… experiencing love… giving love… A feeling that for me, it would definitely a priceless one…

Falling in love!!! I don’t even why am I writing this blog! Mixed emotions I think… A strange feeling… yet fulfilling… now I don’t know what’s next…

At this point of my life, I think I should be ready… or I need to be ready… and there’s no turning back now… just need to be brave…

Randoms thoughts keep on coming… filling up my head… I’ve got more words, more point to say, but I can’t formulate it… I can’t even explain…

All I know is that the feeling is here again…