Siya na nga ba?

We're part of that generation that is conditioned to want the immediate, to desire the instant, to have it all right here, right now. We're part of that generation that is so accustomed to having everything at just the click of the keyboard or at the snap of the fingers.

We are Generation NOW, and that is our curse. 

Ngayon na nagkalat na ang instant sa mundo (i.e, instant noodles, instant coffee, instant ulam, instant food) parang napakahirap ng maghintay. We're becoming a fast food planet. We think that we are getting left behind kaya naman may tendency na tayo ay magmadali. Uso pa ba ang patience sa mundo? And yet, in all of our rushing, and running and impatience, do we really know what exactly are we rushing for? Bakit nga ba hindi tayo makapaghintay?

Relationship? Oo, yun nga ang tinutukoy ko. Let's get directly to the point. If you you're dreaming for a relationship that will make you excited to wake up every morning without regretting why you woke up with that person beside you, then wait. If you want a relationship that will last--the one that will make you believe na may forever--then wait. If you're desiring for a relationship--not the fairy tale kind but the real thing, then learn to wait.

If you want a relationship that will not compromise your faith and your beliefs, then wait. And if you are a Christian who loves God, then pray for someone who has the same love for God. If you are a godly man who honors the Lord, pursue someone who honors Him. If you are a godly woman who seeks after God's heart, then wait and pray for a man that seeks after His heart. Ganun lang dapat, para happy.

We can learn many things about the love story of Isaac and Rebekah. That it is God who authors a relationship. It is God who confirms His will even for a partner. Yes, si Lord ang writer ng love story mo. Kaya matuto kang maghintay. You can always trust God's timing.

Until the moment God says "she's the one", nothing else will ever make sense. Every person that you would try to pursue and every love that you would try to chase to make your life complete will just be very, very much less than what God already had in mind. 

Gentlemen, she's worth praying for. Awesome ladies, you're worth pursuing for.

*Reflections on Genesis 24.

Tested and Tried

God tests our faith not because He doesn't trust us. He already knows us from the inside out, He knows that we can doubt, He knows that we can easily fear, He knows that we can mess things up. God is not surprised by our faithlessness.

But, sometimes, God will bring about the test because we need it, so that we would come to realize that this is about Him. None about you and me. God tests our faith because He wants us to let go of the things that might replace Him in our hearts. He wants our affection to be purged from anything that is less than love so that God alone and His presence alone and His glory alone will be the singular and most supreme desire in our life.‪

God would bring us to the test, but with His provision of strength and grace already there. I must come to realize that a faith tested and proven is a faith that pleases God.

*‎Devotional insights on Genesis 22.

The best time

God is the God of perfect timing. His purposes is neither affected by the earth's rotation nor its revolution. He is not contained in any man-made idea of space and time--He holds space and time altogether. I must realize that God's timing is always right and that I can trust Him every passing minute and every step of the way because what I see at the moment is nothing compared to what He sees in view of eternity.

He is neither dependent on any circumstance nor on human limitation. God is God no matter the circumstance and no matter the trial. He has been there before and He is always before us. God was, God is, and God always will be.

*Reflections on Genesis 21

God of the Extremes

God specializes in going to the extremes. He did not wait that long to fulfill His promises just because He can't; but He waited for the perfect time when Abraham and Sarah could depend on nothing and no one else but God. 

God waited for the time when all chances were over for the promise to be fulfilled. God waited until all logical possibilities were eliminated. God waited until what remained were only hope and faith. 

And God has to remove first what was humanly possible so that we won't be mistaken about which is truly the work of God when it happens. God has to remove first our confidence to man-made strategies so we can really say that He is the God of miracles. God has to remove first our confidence in the things that we try to hold on to so that we would lay hold on the grace of God alone. God has to take away all our possibilities so that we can believe in Him as the God who can do the impossible.

Faith is oftentimes like that. It is going to the extremes. It is going to what is illogical. It is going against the tide of human reason. It is defying all common sense because faith now becomes the new definition of reality and everything I know about faith in God has now become the only truth.

The point of waiting in faith is that we're not waiting in vain. But we're waiting for a God who has never fail ever since He authored the beginning of time. In case He fails today, it will be the first time ever in the history of eternity. But that won't happen. Because God will come through. As He always has.

*Reflections on Genesis 18. I am doing a daily devotional on the Book of Genesis, and it really pays to again go back to the beginning to see God's wonderful work throughout all eternity past.

Live like you mean it! (Photo from the net)

The non-negotiable of God's Will

Do it God's way! (Photo from the net)

If you want God's perfect WILL, you have to do it God's WAY. God's will and God's ways are not mutually exclusive. They must always go together. Anything done outside the ways and strategies of God is just human work and can not stand in eternity. Anything done outside the truth of God's Word and God's timing is not only crazy but dangerous.

Oftentimes, we have the tendency to insist on doing things our own way because we think we already figured this out and that this is how it should be done because it appeals to our logic and common sense. Because this is the reasonable way to do it. I do not say that logic and faith don't go together very well. They actually complement one another; or better yet, in the eternal view of things, faith and reason actually mean the same thing! Because to a believer faith is reasonable, faith is logical, faith is as good as common sense. When we start to live our lives in faith, we now recognize that faith really is as solid as common sense.

So I must learn to live out in faith, because it will make me trust in God's ways. And God's ways are not burdensome, they are not there to keep me from enjoying life--they are there to make me enjoy life in the way that it should be. I must control my tendency to trust in my own ways until following God's way will be as natural to me as breathing.

*My reflections on Genesis 17. I am currently doing a daily devotional on the Book of Genesis, and it really pays to again go back to the beginning to see God's wonderful work since eternity past.