Call Your 2015 What You Want

Ingredients of a Godly Life

As this year wraps up, I realized I learned more, I experienced more. I learned more about God—that He will always answer my prayers but sometimes it would cause me a price that I would never imagine when He does. Reality is, in our lives, something is always dying while something else is coming alive. I admit 2015 was never all good. Actually, there is no point in time when everything is going to be all good in our lives. That’s when reading the Bible (meditating, studying, and applying) comes in. I learned more to hold on to His promises just like believing in my heart what Romans 8:28 says to bring forth His purpose of my life. Even when I have experienced pain, God is still fulfilling His promises. 

But what if, great strength is always born out of great sorrow? Perhaps, the greatest trials I have ever gone through are the very things that God used to fortify the greatest strength in me. My failures this year had brought sorrow that might had reduced my strength but my sorrow this 2015 can become my strength in 2016.

Life is not easy. It is simple but never complicated.

This 2015, I had some sad situations but I have a great GOD. I had a sorrow but am producing even more strength. In fact, I don’t get to choose everything that comes into my life but I do as a child of God get to choose what I call whatever comes into my life. So out of my sorrow, I chose to see strength. I’m not going to call it what it was anymore, I’m going to call it what God says it is and what it can be in His name because I’ve got naming rights. So when I can change the situation, I do it. But when I can’t and can’t call it back, I change the name. People might recommend certain names for me but only my Heavenly Father gets to sign off on it and prove it. Unless I make something, I don’t get to name it because only the maker has the naming rights.

Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel (Genesis 35:15). The place is used to be called as Luz. I call my year when God made me stronger and sharper “Finished as a Warrior”. With every blessing that I have received, God made known to me that His Word is alive and active. So, I can’t be dead and passive.  As I look back His faithfulness this entire year, I look how good God is. He gave me what I prayed for. Indeed, everything is reciprocal even in blessings. With the blessings comes with some burdens that I might not account for. Healthy relationships are reciprocal too. It can’t be one-sided. Nothing turns out good if it is not shared, if give-and-take is not part of the process.

God is light. In Him, there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5

And now, less than two days left, 2016 gladly welcomes me, you, and us. It’s now the perfect time to move on 2016! Why? Because Genesis 35:16-20 inspires us to do so. Above all, God has exalted Jesus to the highest places and is given the Name above every name. Whatever your 2015’s name is, one thing I do know, there is a Name above that name—His Name is JESUS. Nobody has power and strength like Him. In the scriptures of Isaiah, He is referred as a man of sorrow acquainted with gift.

Love came down.

Thank You, Abba father for showing up this 2015 despite the times I ran away and turned my back on You. Thank You that I've always got Your back. Thank You that Your presence created heaven in my situations this year. Thank You that You waited for me to be a blessing again this year just like Benjamin. Thank You that You are GOD.

The 8 Things

         It has never been real to me until God used my situation to clearly see that ‘everything I do is a moment-by-moment choice’. It was one evening (the Supermarket was about to close) when I decided to buy some groceries because grace week is coming and stock food is undoubtedly necessary. Arriving at the counter to pay, I noticed that the lady seem tired already and it happened that there was no small denomination bills for change. So I had to wait and the lady started worrying because the line got longer as expected. My groceries were worth almost 600 pesos but the lady was giving me that same amount for a change, from my 1000 peso bill. Suddenly, it was another choice that I had to make. Am I going to keep it or return the excess change she mistakenly given me? I was amazed that I actually had an automatic response—that is, tell the truth without hesitation. While walking to apartment, I cannot help but thank God for the transformations He made and still making in me.  I was able to do it even when no one saw it. No, I did not do it; He did it for me. He did it for His purpose—to live a life that reflects Jesus.

            Truly, the voice I believe will determine the future I will experience. So for those who thirst like me to have a more intimate and personal relationship with God, Isaiah 55:1-3 invites us to come, all we who are thirsty. For the love of God, here are (8) essential things I want to share with you, my dear sibling in Christ.

Keep growing and glowing in love.

#1 Call/Response

• Hearing God’s voice above all others is the most important habit that I will ever develop.

• Genesis 1:1-3

#2 Enemy (in me)

• The battlefield is my mind. So, I need a defense by start transforming my mind in accordance with the Word and the will of God.

#3 Dialogue/Destiny

• Lies create limitation. When lies are not confronted, callings are not fulfilled.

• Every time I believe a lie, something inside me dies. Every time I believe the truth, my soul comes alive.

• Genesis 3

#4 Deception/Distortion

• To detect the deception.

#5 Premise/Promise

• Matthew 4:1 says it is not a sin to be tempted. But the enemy will always attack me at area of my vulnerability.

Keeping me covered in remembrance of God

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• The enemy’s question does not even need an answer. So, I am letting God’s promise be my premise.

#6 Consume

• To be consumed by an awareness of His goodness.

#7 Detection/Defense

• Find and replace. Find all the craps that I believe and replace it with what God says about me.

#8 Whatever

• The promises of God gives me the perspective that whatever thought comes, whatever chatter wants to go up inside of me, I am controlled by a different sound.

If I ever want to hear what God is saying, I’ve got to block out whatever the enemy suggests. Knowing that I am plugged in to the promise of God, so WHATEVER.

Reflection 1.0: Unbend I, Mislay C

A personal application from Roy Hession's The Calvary Road tackling about "Brokenness", taken from the Author's journal. Written in ink on November 6th of 2015.
                   Just last week of October, I was in a state where I desperately wanted to run away from God. That week, I knew that I have disobeyed Him. I have compromised a lot of things, replaced the things of God for the things of this world just so I could accomplish stuffs in the most convenient way—that is, academic requirements. I need not to elaborate them because for sure you have your own version too; we all have. I also knew at this point that I am not right with God even though I am active in Church being part of volunteer ministries and attending services. I could not acknowledge it because, I felt just fine. Those days, He has been whispering to me—this still small voice I have been hearing but I could not listen to. I chose to deny His voice. I could not change the fact that the feeling was heavy, but somehow it was tolerable. Tolerable—that was the signal, a painful signal I realized afterwards. Because it only meant one thing—that the big “I” is still present in me and a bent “I” has not yet fully been bend. The hardest part is the reality that I was able to tolerate what God wants because I have chosen my will over His.

            I was not able to manage and balance my time so well—for my academics, volunteer ministries and most especially for God, that I started to lose focus on Jesus and lose the very purpose why I do what I do. So far, for the very first time in my college life, I experienced sickness and it was not just physically but emotionally, intellectually and spiritually above all.

Things began to shake and crumble to the point of not knowing how to properly respond to this current situation. That was the time when I realized and was real to me that BEING A CHRISTIAN IS COSTLY. Costly because I have to constantly die to myself. I was in so much pain that I wrestled with God. I was bombarded with a lot of thoughts so I had to ask God, “What do I do to make it right with You?” I was so ashamed to myself for being able to do all those things to Him in spite of my undeserved identity of being called His daughter, His own and His disciple. I even said to God that I wanted to fix myself first before going back to Him, as if I could do it on my own. How prideful I am.

            Why is it so costly to follow You? Why is it so hard to obey Your Word? How do I start all over again? Then, He answered with a resounding "NONE, my dear. You need not do anything to be right with Me, My child. JUST BE STILL." This was one of the many times that I find God difficult to understand; this STILLNESS He has been telling me of is a lot harder to do than to do something. But, WHY? I guess, it is because I have the tendency of repaying something through deeds.

           

This is my journal I started writing on
just this November, 2015. An old notebook
I reused and creatively covered,
labeled it with a verse that reminds me
what God says of who I am in Him.

            The portion of that ME ME ME was the problem to really start with. The "I" that makes CHRIST die enslaved me from seeing the perspective of God. I have positioned myself again in the center—to the very seat and throne of God. It was all about me again. The never-ending and never-consuming of making myself so valuable as if the world revolves around me that I have considered CHRIST unable and unwilling for me to grow more in Him.

The back cover. I chose these words to
continually be aligned with
God's will for me, no matter what.

            The unyielding Lorie Mae who had thought that “I” has died already was brought back to the reality that BEING BROKEN IS BOTH GOD’S WORK AND MINE. I have to constantly experience pain in order for His revival to take place. Unless this struggle has no revelation of daily death to self, God could not fill me completely with His holy presence. Living out the victorious life God has marked me means admitting that on my own I cannot fix myself, on my own I cannot have a peace of mind and assurance in heart. Only God can mend the brokenhearted, the un-assured. Only He could give me joy that nothing could ever steal away. Only He offers a life that is full.

The Power of Pressure

              “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us (2 Corinthians 1:8-11).”

                As I know more of God, I am able to see things more through His lens. As I seek more of Him, I am able to understand more of this life--this life that has never been about me; that in this life, pressure must not be an option. And overwhelmingly, as I draw closer to Him, I am able to witness His power manifesting in me. I’ve just been in a season where God tested my faith like never before. His love made me realize that growing in a Christ-like is not something that others could do for me, but what I can do for myself; especially at moments where no one can see it. So I learned that every day, I have to preach His Word to myself--to preach it under pressure because I am better with it, not because I am strong but He wants me to be strong for Him. The only bad thing is, I spend an entirely too much time trying to figure out where my pressure is coming from and not enough time learning what to do when it comes. This led me to know what God says about pressure and how does He define it.

                Pressure is a total unavailability of an exit. It is that moment when you are about to take an exam and you start trembling because you do not seem to know how to release that fear of not being able to properly answer. Thankfully, our God makes a way out of no way.

                2 Corinthians 1:10 reminded me that “I’ve been here before”. I recognized in this verse that Paul did not talk about what caused the pressure but what the pressure caused inside of Him that I could relate to. I know, God will do it too, in my academics. He will do it again, and again. And together, we can make it through. You and I may be in different situations, but it does not matter because (as long as) we have the same God.

                Secondly, it reminded me that “I am not that important.” God allowed life to put enough pressure on me so that I will give Him back what belongs to Him to begin with. I learned to carry the load that I have been assign (e.g. to be excellent in my studies), but not try to take the weight of the responsibility that is not mine (God has the full control over my academics and every other area of my life). "Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:28)". Paul is telling that our concern should be the pressure that is happening in us. But he did not say that to be aware of this pressure means we are necessary. To God, we are not that necessary. Yes, we are valuable to Him but if we do not do what we have been doing, somebody else could and would; because the world does not revolve around you. It does not revolve around me either. Reality is, the world goes on, without you and me. This mindset redirected me to the thought “I am supposed to but I do not have to, then I can.” It is actually the feeling of “I have to” that disabled and paralyzed me with pressure.

                God is God without me. He is God all by Himself. He does not need my help. And because I do not have to do it, then now I can! In fact, much of the pressure we felt is not based on the situations that we are in but our perception of the situations and our interpretation of them. When I realize that His purpose is not dependent on me, I started fulfilling His purpose.

                Romans 5:3 reveals “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.” This passage speaks about pressure creating power. I remember Pastor Jon Dolor used to preach that we have to be careful when we pray to God. He is right! When I prayed for patience, God indeed sent me pressure. Because there are some things that can only be produced by pressure. The people of God should be better under pressure. Unless we taste test with pressure, we cannot grow stronger than yesterday, than we are now.

                It’s not about what is happening to me but what God puts in me that am about ready to release. More pressure means more power. God wants to put them under pressure and watch them grow, excel and expand. Some pressure comes from above—from God. Some pressure comes from people around us. It does not matter nearly as much where the pressure comes from as it does with what you do with it. With what you do with it will determine what the pressure will produce in your life.

                Only GOD can show us how to convert the pressure into something glorious. What is happening around you is really about what God is doing in you. Hence, remind your situation. Remind yourself: there are things that are not mine to bear.