Daily Archives: January 17, 2019

Is The Church Ready For A Bigger Harvest?

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This came to me as a vision last year when my siblings and I have decided to utilize a piece of property previously owned by our great-grandparents and grandparents. While I was writing down our targeted goals, it included the retreat house. Or that was what it seems to me at that time – unclear and yet the idea was there.

God’s Mission Remains The Same

Until the first Sunday of January when I attended the church service at our mother Protestant church. We have this church tradition to celebrate the first Sunday of the month as “everybody’s birthday.” This is a way for the congregation to consecrate to God the new year asking for guidance, wisdom, and provisions. This tradition is celebrated by going to the church pew kneelers in front of the pulpit and kneel or stand while the pastor says a prayer of benediction when your birth month is called.

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For this particular year, I had a hair-raising thought while our pastor was laying his hands to say his prayers and blessings upon us. I know this wasn’t just a passing thought because any thought during a pastor’s laying of hands accompanied by the raising of hair all over me literally isn’t just a regular calling by the Spirit.

This time the image was vivid – build a church like this one, a big one. Build it in the “land the Lord, Your God, is giving you.” If you have been reading some of my previous articles such as this and this, you may already have an idea which land I am referring to. This land was acquired by our great-grandpa during the pre-World War II and now being handed down from generations to generations.

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The passing thought was too vivid for me I couldn’t keep it to myself that I shared it with my sister who’s also with me on that Sunday. It was also a communion Sunday on that day so that afternoon, we went to my grandma’s place so she can still partake in the communion officiated by our pastor.

My grandma is already bedridden and her place is close to our farm – the farm where I got the vision to put up the church. So my sister, Dad, and I took the opportunity to check on the current developments at the farm – laying down of the boundary markers which we call as “mohon” to specify the delineations of the property. For the particular vision of the farm agribusiness-wise, I’ll share it in another article.

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After sharing my vision to my sister, she told me that we can donate a portion of the land to the church. I told her that I thought about building a bigger church since the farm is strategically located to cater most of the members of our church’s congregation who came from the barrios. Then the current location of the church now will serve as the building for the administrative functions of the church and also as a guest house for visiting pastors and seminarians.

A Promise from Generation to Generation

Our pastor now is also a descendant of one of the first ministers of the church – a great-grandson. I see him as having the gift to make more disciples being able to encourage the youth in our church to study at the seminary and raise future leaders of the church. One close family friend and also an elder of the church told my sister way back that the bloodline of our pastor now still continued in retaining the mission that God has for them – serving the church. She encouraged us that maybe we should also have one representative (a family member to become a pastor also) to represent the line of our great-grandpa who’s also one of the first ministers in the church a hundred years ago.

This year, our mother Protestant church will be celebrating its 110th founding anniversary. I told my sister and my brother that the mission of God for the descendants of our great-grandpa never changed though nobody in our generation pursued being a pastor. Well, if I am not a writer or a teacher, I’d love to be a Bible woman or a pastora. 😉 But here we are, still fulfilling God’s calling that has been started by our ancestors. That is, being gifted with an abundance of property which will be our contribution to the body of Christ and in expanding God’s Kingdom.

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I shared with my brother that this foresight/vision was already revealed by God to our forefathers, our great-grandpa and grandpa who were both active members of the church, through the acquisition of properties. And some may think of it as a means to become richer, but no, I actually see it as God’s way to prepare us in the fulfillment of a promise to His people in the coming days. Our great-grandpa and grandpa obeyed God, just like Moses, to fulfill their tasks with great faith even if they don’t know what were they intended for later on.

Now, in the generation of my siblings and I, the vision is clear. Although I still need to consult with my other two sisters since they are also my coheirs to the property (and God’s Kingdom), but I know they, too, will agree to my proposal since they are also devoted Christians. Ah yes, the benefits of having an entire family who is devoted to serving the Lord – truly a wonderful blessing.

As everything else dawned on me now, I told my brother, this is the reason why the enemy’s attacks are getting stronger in every coming season. Bishop Juray Mora shared the same thing during the last prayer meeting that I was able to attend for this year’s start-of-the-year prayer and fasting. This is in the other church where I attend services here in Manila. He said, “The bigger the vision, the bigger the enemy’s attacks. The bigger the task, the bigger the challenge.”

Why? Because God is preparing for a big harvest. Is the church ready?

And yet,

“You can make many plans, but the Lord ’s purpose will prevail.” – Proverbs 19:21

So let Your will be done, Lord. ❤

Remaining true to the calling,

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P.S.

It isn’t also a coincidence that I invited my Norwegian brother-in-law and sister to attend worship night with me during their stay here last December. We got to pray for each other and I wasn’t prepared to see them shed tears while it was my turn praying for them. And then another vision came through me, Every Nation – Norway. 😉

My brother-in-law and sister can be used by God to expand His kingdom there. They can welcome missionaries to their home when the time is ripe for planting an Every Nation church there. And yes, 2019 is all about preparations for expanding the Kingdom of God.

On the side note, the New People’s Army is becoming more active in our place engaging in gunfights with our local policemen. Our home is near the police station and everyone else is just scared for their lives. And we also noticed that calamities such as floods are getting higher every year in our town. I thought, just like in Israel, these circumstances happen as God’s attempts to win His people back. Because it is in times of peril that the people will look for a Savior, a higher, all-knowing, powerful God, a Rock whom they can cling to.

Thus, when this happens, people will be flocking the church as they start to look for the Source of Hope. But then again, is the church ready when that happens? I believe God has already prepared and is preparing us for it. 🙂

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I am targeting to earn a Guinness World Records title as having the longest postscript. lol Please bear with me. 😀

The 3 Not-So-Ordinary Kids I Met

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Last night, I had the urge to eat out at one of the popular fast food chains in our place. When I arrived, all the seats downstairs were taken so I went up and was glad to see lots of available seats. I took a look around and chose the perfect spot for me to eat and stay for a while. It’s a seat which overlooks an intersection and where most of the traffic activity in the place converge. There’s also a glass window which gave me the opportunity to observe people behind me through the reflection.

I never really had an idea why I chose that spot but something in me told me about this word – story. Yes, the reason why I love observing people and activities is that I can get a lot of stories from them. As a writer, these scenes are an opportunity to come up with new and fresh ideas and concepts. They also propose a different take on a lot of things.

I believe God placed me in that seat to write this story.

Being seated at the end of the room, I can see from the reflection in the glass window if someone is approaching me. This night, there were 3 scenarios that came into play featuring 3-not-so-ordinary kids.

Scenario 1

The first kid who approached me was a street kid in rugged and dirty clothes carrying 5 pesos with him and drinking a soda from that fast-food chain which I believe was given by someone who also ate there or he could’ve bought it from the money he was able to gather from begging. The first thing he asked was if I can give him coins enough to buy him a meal for that night. I looked at him and though I normally don’t give out money to beggars, something in his appeal made me do so. I gave him a couple of coins but told him to buy it dinner. He then thanked me and went towards the next table.

Scenario 2

Another kid came by but this one’s different. He’s carrying a basket of packed marinated milkfish. The boy sounded like a young salesman with his bubbly sales pitch that almost sounded like an advertisement you hear on television. I thought it was entertaining and true enough, I wasn’t the only one who was entertained. He approached a couple eating at a table with his bubbly pitch and also joked around with the guy. He was able to hook his client – the guy took his offer to buy 3 pieces (1 set) for 120 pesos. Then the guy started asking him like who prepared the milkfish to which he answered that it’s his aunt. The guy actually tried to haggle saying he wants to buy 1 piece only. But the boy didn’t give in and smilingly told the guy that he only sells a 3-piece set and that he needs to be home soon because he will be going to school early the next day. He didn’t approach me although I was tempted to buy, too.

Scenario 3

Then, a few minutes later, another boy came in carrying a basket, too. But this time, the contents of his basket are polvoron. The boy approached me with a very sad introduction and offered his products almost to the point of begging. He already had around 60 pesos placed on top of the items. I looked at the boy and I declined his offer. He still wouldn’t budge until a high school student seated behind me called his attention saying he wanted to buy one.

God Calls For His Children

Most likely you will think of my actions as unfair. So why didn’t I buy from the last boy? I am unsure how the polvoron was prepared and I couldn’t cook it to make it safe to eat compared with the marinated milkfish. Although honestly, I feel sorry that I didn’t buy some because I really felt that I should. So I am praying to God I’d still have another opportunity to see this kid and I’ll buy what he has to offer.

Some will agree that it’s better to buy from kids than to give money to those who just beg. I also agree with this and that we need to empower them to strive instead of encouraging them to depend on other people for their needs by begging for money. I believe this will help solve the poverty mentality – that everyone has the opportunity to make a living as long as you have the discipline, perseverance, patience, and will power.

But this is not always the case. And this is why I gave coins to the first boy who begged me to give him some. Why? When I looked at the boy, the first thing I thought was, where are his parents? He looked as if no one’s taking care of him. So this means, he’s alone fending for himself trying to get by with whatever he has and what he can get from begging. But what I also thought is that he’s in need of a mentor, someone who can usher him towards the right opportunities to make a living like working in a car wash shop for example as a washer boy, etc.

Compared to the other two boys, they sure have parents or relatives who care for them because they have items to sell in the first place. They already have the means to make it out of poverty and there are people who are guiding them what to do and how to earn a living.

The Other Side of the Coin

Looking at all 3, it can give us the different facets of human life and the different kinds of people:

1.) Trying to live life with no support system – living by grace.

2.) Trying to earn a living with the help of relatives and enjoying it – a positive disposition.

3.) Trying to earn a living with the help of relatives but with a disgruntled heart – discontentment.

These are all hasty generalizations based on the different scenarios I have witnessed and I have no idea what really goes on in their lives or what they went through on that day. And yet each one of them carries a hope that all of us try to live out each day trying to make meaning out of what we do and why we do things.

I am praying for these kids and other kids like them. May God continue to guide them as they go about with life’s atrocities. All may come from different backgrounds and may be given different opportunities, and yet the gift of God is free for all and that is all that matters. I pray that is what they will experience and hold on to wherever fate would bring them as they get older. ❤

‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace.’ – Numbers 6:24‭-‬26