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The Word of God

(Hebrews 4:12 NIV) For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Just as some of us thought that the word of God is just a plain print. But he who believes in Him  is given the authority to use His word as power and protection to  life. Just His word can do a lot of things.Even to change lives. Read the Bible and meditate on it.

(Joshua 1:8 NIV) Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

A testimony to share: God's best is fulfilled when we seek Him first

I feel my boyfriend, Ric and I are a testimony to broken hearted young adults. This is not something to brag about. If there's something that we can brag, it is how the will of God when obeyed will bring fullness into our lives.
Yesterday, Ric told me again how he felt inspired by the response of a single girl who's a dormate of her sister suffering from failed relationship.To encourage the girl, Ric told her a testimony about our relationship.
Our story went this way: After one year and five months Ric and I finally see each other. Committing not to see each other that long for the reason that; to grow, and finding the will of God into our personal lives. Ric is a seminarian in APTS Baguio ( 6hr traveling hrs. away from me). 2 semester, and he will soon graduate this September of 2011. As I am a working girl, a designer here in manila. Our relationship is lasting, in fact we are turning to 10 years this June 2011, As we realized our pact to be separated in a given time was challenging and yet full of freedom to discover ourselves. You can do whatever you want and then do it as if no one will be taken inconsideration to. One and a half year is too short to get separated to discover a lot of ourselves, for me its just a break to really make sure that we as a person in a relationship is totally who we are when we are together. Sometimes I tend to feel out of balance when everything is quite routinize. routinize in the sense that--- to sustain the relationship we have: is to call over the phone everyday to check out, is to find time to do as quite often to see each other, to celebrate special event together and so on and so forth. A good thing  indeed to keep the relationship alive. But as we hope to reach the fullness of our relationship, God put into our hearts the need to be separated from each other for a time. In that way we may realize that our fullness as one being comes from the father God and that acknowledges us the need to nurture by priority our relationship with the Father. The time  that we were apart from each other gave us the freedom to seek what it is to become a unique individual needing to share each other lives as God wills it to be. As we offered our fate to God, He provided the way for us to get back together. He controlled everything to fulfill His plan for us. Truly, I can see clearly that we are for each other and was created for a purpose. A purpose to glorify Him into  our relationship. Others asked us what's the point, for when we are in a long time relationship. That 9 years--does it mean we are not pretty sure of ourselves being together forever?, I would say, When you truly love each other you would find ways to bring it to the fullest, not lacking of anything. I sure believe that being a unique individual has its flaws too and can't fulfill all the need of a partner.But being right with God first will lead you on how to fulfill the relationship to your partner despite the flaws and imperfection of who we are. Now that we met each other, I see a change person in ourselves. We are still who we are but a lot different as being in a relationship.We became mature in our decisions: minor to major things. We become controlled by love and wisdom of being "as one" not by being individually made fitting each other "to be one".
God is the author of everything. All we can do now is to read our rough draft story that we honestly claiming our own and make God proofread it to us--in so, we can read it with quite confidence to others. A good book indeed.

We make things work for us as God leads us to. No matter how risky it is, when you trust God you find courage despite the fear. When we overcame and testify the faithfulness of God. We share it a loud to people needing to hear it.
This girl that my boyfriend is encouraging, find rest to her weary heart. We may never know when we could be of help to others. But being prepared to tell our stories of obedience to God will be beneficial to others as well to our heart of gratefulness to the Lord who sustains.

Now let's wait and see the next surprise God has set for us as we wait for the second plan in our relationship. We, in our relationship find the strength in seeking God's best. We believe that His will for us is the best plan we could ever hold for. How we can know His will? by nurturing our personal relationship to God..
Jesus as the foundation of everything we have, our relationship

(Numbers 23:19 NIV) God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

Psalm 25:12
Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.

Philemon 1:21
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.

Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Matthew 6:33
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Proverbs 3:6
in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

(Psalms 33:11-13 NIV) But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. {12} Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. {13} From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind;

(Psalms 84:11-12 NIV) For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. {12} O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

(Romans 5:5 NIV) And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.


(Isaiah 61:1 NIV) The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

Made in the Image of God

Amazing Grace by Rhema Marvanne--a powerful voice from God

Share love when God gives you the chance to express it...

A man in his 35 years of age was stricken by a rare disease(Narcolepsy with cataplexy) and continously  struggling to be tough and to overcome thru the years. A man's rare disease when triggered by feeling of love causes him to faint and in paralysis . Could that be true? You probably might want to check out this video, and see for yourself.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/health-15749655/21491981#video=21498581

Narcolepsy with cataplexy --http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17292770


         It is overwhelming to realize that  many as we are won't give much attention to express love to others.We should give great importance in expressing it. Although, with the fact that not sharing or expressing love is not a rare issue. We, people without this disease shouldn't discount ourselves of being healthy at all.  Honestly, it's not easy to just share love (sincere felt). As sinful as man are, If given the chance- we will choose to receive love than to give it -- A nature of a selfish man, a proud egoistic man that we are inside. I am not saying that we, as person have no sense of love for others at all . but at least if we are to choose to give love or to be loved, with sincerity of heart, for me-- I will choose the one that will benefit me, it is to receive love.
 Let's look at the man's situation with his disease. He faints when he feels love inside. The thing is when he starts to feel it, he would be trapped in his own body, an unresponsive body and cannot release the feeling because his muscles and nerves just turns off communicating, being paralyzed or physically shutting down in the moment he feels love inside. When this happens he just lose the chance to share and respond to the feeling with his wife of 13 years and with his family or with all of his love ones. To recover by trying to get tough and killing the feeling just to get back to reality. Even when he reminisce past events that will elate his emotions of  love would cause him to paralysis.
Now, this is just a picture of something unusual that can inspire us on our view in sharing and expressing love outwardly. We must realize that as normal as we are capable of expressing love will neglect the chance of having this opportunity at all times-- to just share and express it, even to appreciate our past of having been emotionally at state with love.
Love has its life, and if we just keep it inside or just view it as a feeling that should just be kept inside for ourselves, it's just good for nothing, a lifeless thing.

We are so blessed that we can do express our feelings normally especially to feel positive with  love. Love can be  creatively expressed-personally to share it with others. Love is love..Love can be a word for others, Love can be powerful when  just uttered. Love can be affirming when we write it. But most of all Love is magical, God showering, and God's breathing life when we express it through action and interaction with other people.

God's love is manifested through us. Share love when God gives you the chance to express it.


BIBLE VERSE TO PONDER ON LOVE

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16 
Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' – Matthew 22:37-39

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. - Proverbs 17:17

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. . .And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. - excerpts from 1 Corinthians 13:4-13

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. - John 15:12-13 


Share love, its free indeed!

Free Grace or Free Will

Free Grace or Free Will

John Hendryx Responds to Visitor Struggling with Free Will Vs. Free Grace

visitor: I am struggling with the Calvinism vs. Free Will debate. Why, when one "flees to Christ" as you say is there not the possibility of NOT fleeing to Christ. Is there not a choice involved here? Fleeing to Christ is not a work is it? Turning to Christ is not a work is it? Why is choosing to believe in Christ considered a work by so many Calvinists? When I believed in Christ I gave Him ALL the glory as I then understood that NOTHING I can do would satisfy God. ONLY what Christ did saves me! But I must choose to believe, trust, follow, Flee to Him! Where am I going wrong?
response: Thanks for writing with your excellent question. This hits directly at the crux of the matter. Salvation by grace alone in Christ alone was the very issue of the Reformation that Martin Luther battled the most with Erasmus and the Roman Catholic Church in the Sixteenth Century.

What is this issue of the bondage of the will all about? It points to what the Bible says is the real condition of the natural man. If we set aside church traditions for a moment go through what the Bible asserts about fallen man it may be surprising to you. First we need to establish whether or not man has a free will, according to Scripture. But how do we do this?

The Text not only says that the natural man is a sinner, but that he does not have the Spirit of God. He is not born of the Spirit. Agreed? Jesus says, Flesh gives birth to flesh and the Spirit gives birth to spirit (John 3:3,6) and "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail.”" (John 6:63) & Paul says that “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor 2:14). We do not receive things we think are foolish and that we do not understand. The natural man does not have the mind of Christ so even if someone preaches to him until he is blue in the face, he will not respond to the gospel unless God grants belief and repentance (see John 6:65 & 2 Tim 2:25, Eph 2:8). The Bible indeed declares that no one can believe without a preacher but this is not enough by itself …. the seed of the gospel that is cast forth from the preacher must be germinated, so to speak, by the Holy Spirit, if a person is to come to Christ. Paul explains how he knows some were chosen of God. He says, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” (1 Thess 1:4, 5) This is clear evidence the Spirit is necessary, not optional for a person to be made alive so he may come to Christ..without which man would remain naturally dead to the things of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is critical for salvation, so critical that without Him, no one would ever willingly submit to the humbling terms of the gospel, not one would come to Jesus Christ. Agreed? Or do you believe the Scripture teaches that a man can come to faith apart from the Holy Spirit? All true Christians affirm the necessity of the Holy Spirit. So from this very fact, we have established that man has no free will. Again, what is meant when we say no free will? We are not speaking of someone coercing us from the outside. No. It means that we are in bondage to a corruption of nature, out of which we cannot free ourselves BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE THE SPIRIT and hate God by nature (John 3:19). We cannot draw from our own resources to even lift a finger toward our own salvation. Jesus says in the Gospel of John to the Jews that only the Son can set them free, but they are now children of the Devil the father of lies, who lies because it is in his nature. In Romans 6 it reads that natural men are slaves to sin, and elsewhere that that Satan has taken men captive to do his will. If Christ is to set us free then it means we were not free and in bondage.

So it is important to ask, can a person, without the intervention of the Holy Spirit, believe the gospel? Does the natural person have the capacity to understand spiritual things? According to the above passages the answer is clearly no. 'No one says “Jesus is Lord” apart from the Holy Spirit.' So the unbeliever is void of the Spirit which is another way of saying that he has no free will. He may make voluntary choices but they are choices of necessity. In other words, he necessarily chooses sin, apart from grace. Nothing he does springs from a heart that loves God. His condition, if left to himself, is hopeless. God must intervene to illumine his mind, open blind eyes, unplug deaf ears, disarm his natural hostility, change our disposition and turn our heart of stone to a heart of flesh.

So if we can agree that a man will not come to Christ apart from the Holy Spirit, then we also agree and have established that the natural man has no free will. God must act if we are to do anything toward our redemption (See John 1:13).

Now that we have established this, lets take the other part of your great question.

>>>>Why, when one "flees to Christ" as you say is there not the possibility of NOT fleeing to Christ. Is there not a choice involved here? Fleeing to Christ is not a work is it? Turning to Christ is not a work is it? Why is choosing to believe in Christ considered a work by so many Calvinists?

Fleeing to Christ only becomes a work when we think we did this apart from God’s grace. If faith is a product of our unregenerate human nature then we could boast like this:

"Thank you Lord I am not like other men who do not have faith. When you granted grace to all men, others did not make use of it, BUT I DID."

Apart from grace, what makes them to differ from other men then was their native ability to have faith. But the Scripture says the grace of God makes us differ from others, not something we had by nature that our neighbor did not. When we arrive in God's presence we will not say, "Thank you God for everything, except my faith ... I am here because I had the wisdom to believe." No, we will say thank you Lord for your mercy that I even had the faith to believe. You deserve all the glory as I would have never come on my own.

Even when you think that the assistance of grace depends on your own humility and that it was not grace itself that made you humble then you no longer believe in 'grace alone' but that you came to Christ due to your own great humility. You are establishing a religion of grace PLUS your merit or wisdom or virtue, not Jesus alone. But when we recognize our faith in Christ is due to the fact that God has changed our heart so that we may see and understand his beauty and excellence, then we give all glory to God for all our salvation. Can you thank God for your faith? or is this the one thing that you can boast of contributing to the price of your salvation?

If all men have equal grace, as you seem to be suggesting, an important question to ask is why does one man believe the gospel and not another? Is one smarter, or have more natural sensitivity than others to spiritual things? Jesus says, My sheep hear my voice but some “do not believe BECAUSE [they] are not his sheep.” He does not say they are not his sheep because they do not believe (See John 10). So he reveals that the nature of the person determines the choice they will make. An unregenerate man will not exercise faith in a holy God. Jesus says a bad tree does not bear good fruit … but MAKE the tree good and its fruit will be good. …. The seed of the gospel which falls on our soil … Is this soil good by NATURE or by grace? God must first plow up the fallow ground of our hearts. To this Jesus says, "...every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up." - Matt 15:13. That is why Jeremiah says that he will turn our heart of stone to a heart of flesh THAT we might obey. No one believes or obeys while his heart is still stone. A blind man cannot see unless given new eyes. Shining a light into a blind man's eyes will not help him see. Nor will people respond to the word of God apart form the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.

The Scripture testifies that, "It is not the man who wills or runs but God who has mercy (Rom 9:16) John 1:13 says it is not the will of man that causes us to believe but the new birth.

If God extends His grace to all men, then why do some reject him? Is it grace that makes men to differ from one another, not some good will God see in us.

Some important verses to contemplate are:

Romans 8:30 which says, “those who were called were justified” According to this verse, I ask you, how many of those God called were justified? The answer to this question is why no one resists God’s call.

And Jesus himself said, “ALL that the Father gives to me WILL come to me…”(John 6:37) Not some, Jesus says, but ALL that God the Father gives the SON will believe on him. We believe that grace is invincible because this is what the Bible teaches … and without which no man would willingly come. When your child runs out in the street and a car is coming, do you wait to see what he will do with his free will, or do you run to scoop him out of danger. Love doesn't just wring hands and hope but it gets the job done and, in God's case saves the ones He came for. (See John 6:39). Jesus says he will lose NONE OF ALL THAT THE FATHER HAS GIVEN HIM - John 6:39