The Anthem (by Planetshakers) has been my Victory Song since January.
Hallelujah! You have won the the victory! You have won it all for me!
It’s a short but very powerful song. It makes you want to raise your hands with clenched fists saying that “Yes! Finally! We got it! We are victorious!”. True enough, with God on our side, rest assured that you’ll be victorious in every challenge that you’ll face. God is an awesome God and He is very able. Nothing is impossible for Him.
Lyrics:
Hallelujah! You have won the victory Hallelujah! You have won it all for me
Death could not hold you down You are the risen king Seated in majesty You are the risen king
My fingers are sore from playing the cajon today at our worship service, but it’s worth it. =)
Pain may cause happiness.
Even though having sore fingers are a bit painful, it makes me happy knowing that this pain was brought by serving the Lord through music.
Today, at our ministry’s PWA (Post-Worship Activity), we talked about how the cross was a sign of pain, suffering, punishment, and disgrace years ago. Through Christ, that meaning changed. Now, the cross is a symbol of the Christian faith, hope, love, discipline, patience. Through Christ’s suffering, we are now free and can have a happier life, with God of course.
Serving God, you’ll go through a lot of challenges. These challenges are very difficult and they only become more and more difficult everytime you surpass one. It’s God’s way of molding us. These challenges may often cause pain and suffering and, in the end, all of it is nothing compared to the joy or reward after we overcome those challenges.
Instead of running away from the pain and/or letting it eat you up inside, we should embrace it, just like Jesus did when He held that cross. He embraced it, accepted it, and understood why it had to happen.
These sore fingers are not the only pains in my life right now. I’m accepting every pain little by little, trying to understand why it had to happen, what good thing can I get or learn from all of it, and use it to make myself better.
So carry your cross, own it, embrace it, learn from it. I’m sure the pain is all worth it in the end. =)
The March 9 entry, in the devotional entitled Discovering God’s Daily Agenda by Henry & Richard Blackaby, is entitled The Rewards of Discipline. The devotional told about the discipline of athletes where discipline is their training. If they train hard enough, they will be reward with success. After all, nothing worth having is easy to get.
I’m no athlete but I sure know how it feels to be rewarded because of my discipline. A few days ago, I wrote this entry entitled “My Fault“ where I had this week full of bad luck and punishments from God because I failed Him. Right after I talked to God, admitted my mistakes and asked for His forgiveness, everything got better. I prayed every night, thanked Him for everything, and my faith got stronger. I was able to have self-control. With that, I was able to make the “Right Choice“. So I thanked God even more, prayed even more. That’s why He gave me today this thing I’ve been praying for the past few days, and He even gave me more than what I expected. Isn’t that great?! It was my reward. I’m so thankful and happy that I can’t even stop smiling until now. I even almost did that Flintstones tapping-of-heels-while-jumping move. Seriously. =)
Following God will give us more rewards…and problems. But the way I see it, they’re both rewards (“Problems: It’s a Good Thing“). With problems, you get better training and more lessons. With success, you get rewards, a little less lessons compared what you get from problems, and you desire to aim for something more challenging. It doesn’t matter what our goal is or what reward we want to get. Just keep in mind that we have to work hard to get those things. Like I said, nothing worth having is easy to get. Just stick with God, keep the faith, stay strong, and you’ll have all the training you’ll ever need. Pretty soon, victory will be in your hands. =)
PS.
Here’s a thought: “T” is the middle letter of the word “victory”. And look! The small “T” looks like a Cross. Coincidence? =)
My reflection/sharing is sort based on the March 8 entry in the devotional entitled Discovering God’s Daily Agenda by Henry & Richard Blackaby where it mentioned Jesus’ other name Emmanuel.
Nowadays, most parents pretty much name their babies whatever they want. But many, many years ago, like during the Biblical times, parents name their babies according to their would-be purpose in life or perhaps a characteristic they want their babies to possess. Sometimes, even if they are already adults, they change their names that would best describe their purpose in life. For example, Simon who was later on named Peter or Cephas meaning The Rock (John 1:42).
I was born on December 27, two days after Christmas which is the birth of Christ. Since Emmanuel is one of Jesus’ names, my parents gave me the name Emmanuel. Emmanuel means God is with us (Matthew 1:23).
I really didn’t care much about my name or its meaning. I actually didn’t know about the meaning of my name until high school when our English teacher told me what it meant and how she loves my name. I also felt envious of my brothers because they have longer names: one is Rafael Andrew and the other is Angelo Miguel. But when college came and after I joined my ministry, I started taking my name a bit seriously. I’m not God. I’m no saint. I’m not perfect. But I want to be someone God could use to help other people, to show that God really exists. Just like what I’ve said in my previous blog, we already have the qualities that God and Jesus have. If we ask God for a miracle and nothing happens, it means it is up to us to make that miracle come true. We should “be the miracle” just like Bruce said in the movie Bruce Almighty (2003). Being named Emmanuel, I wanted to be someone’s miracle.
I always want to help. I always want to know the problems of other people and help in anyway I can. I feel useless if I can’t help them. Sometimes, this desire to help often got me into trouble. My friends would get annoyed because I will keep on asking them what the problems because they don’t want to tell me. Some problems are also not my concern. I’ve learned that, sometimes, the best way to help is to not help at all. But there are also those times when I’d get “lucky”, that someone would need my help and my advice. Sometimes, God will bring me to that person or He will bring that person to me. Actually, I’m not that capable or skilled to help others, and I sometimes give crappy advice. I’ve learned that I am much more help and give better advice when I have a better relationship with God. These skills and wisdom are gifts from Him after all. Just like any gift or “power”, it needs a source of energy and God is my source and He also has the switch that turns on those powers.
When those lucky days do come and after I am able to help someone, I always thank God for letting me help them. I know I couldn’t have done it without Him. It makes me happy to see other people happy. Sometimes, even when I have my own problems, I’d rather share other people’s problems instead and help them solve it so I could forget about my problems. And I need not worry about these getting into my head. I think that me having self-esteem issues is a my choice. My self-esteem issues keeps me from being proud and overconfident.
Anyway, this is how I see myself and how I am fulfilling my purpose for being named Emmanuel. I hope this gives people an idea of who I am and why I am doing this blog–to help and inspire people. So if you need help, you can always ask me. I’m no Jesus Christ but I’ll try my best to help you in any way I can. I could try to be your miracle. You should try to be someone’s too, even if your name is not Emmanuel. It doesn’t have to be anyway. =)
PS.
This is a song from Hillsong’s Live Praise & Worship album Your Are My World (2001). This song is entitled Emmanuel. An oldie but goodie. Hope you guys enjoy it. =)
I almost made the same “mistakes” (check my previous post) again today. Good thing I was able to stop myself. I feared that making the same mistakes would result to having more bad luck and punishments. But after I made the right choice, something good happened. But not to me though. But a blessing is a blessing, and to think that I had something to do with that blessing, it’s more than enough to make me happy. I’m sure my blessing will come soon enough.
I thank God for helping me make the right choice, and I feel great because of it! =)
Ever had those days when you suddenly feel so sad or burdened and don’t know why? Or perhaps after talking to a friend with a problem, you kinda feel depressed as your friend as if you actually feel what s/he feels. I’m having one of those days…night tonight.
My friend and I hanged out today. Actually it was our first time to hang out today because I barely knew her just about a month ago. We talked non-stop for more almost 5 hours and it almost kinda felt like we’ve been long-time friends. We talked about family and friends, serious stuff, funny stuff, sad stuff, and even nonsense stuff. We both love having long conversations and that’s what we had.
Fast-forward to evening–we’re at our own houses. She texted, “Yups. Back to reality. Basa nanaman unan.” All those happy moments today *slurp*–gone! I felt sad because this person who I was with today, who I was laughing with today, is now very sad and I can’t do anything about it. I said it almost felt like we’re long-time friends–I felt like I was a useless friend. And because I’m that and I care about her, I feel very depressed. I almost didn’t feel like reflecting. Maybe i’m just overreacting? Assuming that we’re already that close? That I need not bother myself with all of this? Then I asked myself, “What’s wrong about caring? Do we need special skills to care about someone? Do we need to ask permission from that person so taht we could care about him/her?”
We are created in the image of God, and if God IS love, then love IS also Man. Love is surely one of the things Man knows how to do by nature. It is our job to love and care about people, and noone can fire us from that job–just like what Ted Mosby said, “You can’t fire me. I’m union b****.” (HIMYM S07-E12: Symphony of Illumination). I guess what i’m trying to say is that we don’t need a reason or a big reason to love and care for someone. Loving should be as natural, easy, and involuntary as breathing–you just can’t force yourself not to breathe and you can’t even forget how to. There’s no such thing as too much love. You will always need love, and you should always give it.
In the end, I learned to accept this depressed state. It just means that I care about someone. I know how to empathize. I know how to love. And because I know love is in me, I know God is in me. After all, God is me. So be a blessing to others. Be the miracle. Show people that there really is a God, by doing what God is known best for–loving.
