The Lord is My Strength


Sometimes in life, there are times that we really want to give up on our personal struggles, to snap back into our old sinful lifestyle hoping to be thrilled once more and yet be betrayed all over again. If you are on that stage let God be your strength. Here is today's reading from "Desert In The Streams".

"The Lord hath sent strength for thee" (Ps. 68.28, PBV).

The Lord imparts unto us that primary strength of character which makes everything in life work with intensity and decision. We are "strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man." And the strength is continuous; reserves of power come to us which we cannot exhaust.

"As thy days, so shall thy strength be"--strength of will, strength of affection, strength of judgment, strength of ideals and achievement.

"The Lord is my strength" to go on. He gives us power to tread the dead level, to walk the long lane that seems never to have a turning, to go through those long reaches of life which afford no pleasant surprise, and which depress the spirits in the sameness of a terrible drudgery.

"The Lord is my strength" to go up. He is to me the power by which I can climb the Hill Difficulty and not be afraid.

"The Lord is my strength" to go down. It is when we leave the bracing heights, where the wind and the sun have been about us, and when we begin to come down the hill into closer and more sultry spheres, that the heart is apt to grow faint.

I heard a man say the other day concerning his growing physical frailty, "It is the coming down that tires me!"

"The Lord is my strength" to sit still. And how difficult is the attainment! Do we not often say to one another, in seasons when we are compelled to be quiet, "If only I could do something!"

When the child is ill, and the mother stands by in comparative impotence, how severe is the test! But to do nothing, just to sit still and wait, requires tremendous strength. "The Lord is my strength!" "Our sufficiency is of God." The Silver Lining

Link from reubenmorgan.blogspot.com


Guys, reubenmorgan.blogspot.com [ link ] just linked me from their site. By the way, Word for the Word will present a worship concert this July 15. Poster will be posted soon.

Selecting Movies to Watch


I just watched "Nasaan Ka Man" starrring Claudine Baretto. Technically it's a very good movie. Hollywoodish, I should say - owe it to a newcomer director, Cholo Laurel. But you know what, as I grew "older" watching movies, I just realized that even if it's an art movie with excellent directing, cinematography, acting you need not to watch it if it will affect how you view controversial issues in life such as purity, violence and perversions. I left the moviehouse disturbed, graphic scenes of abuse and violence still floating in my mind. I just find it amazing that when you start to walk in the light, evil is easy to discern. When you are in the dark everything seems to lie in one plane - good and evil; moral and immoral - you cannot distinguish which. There is no black or white. Everything is gray. I believe that today, that is how the world operates - morality is relative, what may be immoral for you are okay for others. So, my advice if you feel uncomfortable in watching a movie don't watch it at all. Actually, I have a hunch beforehand.

Experiencing God as a Father


Happy Father's Day!

Last morning, I scrambled through the pages from the Bible to look for a Bible verse to dedicate to my father and I found Proverbs 4:3

³ When I [Solomon] was a son with my father [David], tender and the only son in the sight of my mother [Bathsheba],

⁴ He taught me and said to me, Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments and live.(A)

⁵ Get skillful and godly Wisdom, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation); do not forget and do not turn back from the words of my mouth.

Personally, I praise God so much for my earthly father who has given me practically everything - both the good and the bad and made me into someone I am now. If not for my earthly father, I wouldn't have know intimately the greatest father there is, God, the Father. I believe that our fathers have the most important role in our family. It is in them, children will see as they would the Heavenly Father. The past has brought me a very distorted image of the Heavenly Father and as a result I was rebelling - I have a double life into extremes: I was both involve in a ministry in our local church and has been made a deacon and I was involved in a very sinful lifestyle - to name each them may enable you to despise me. I have prayed to God many times to be changed but I still continue to commit the same sins. What was wrong?

When I attended the Cross Current sessions I came face to face with my past. There was this session about being secured in God's love. God as a Father, demonstrates his Fatherly attribute of securing us in His love - for we cannot love other people if we are secured in His love It is this love that we do not have to prove anything or work out anything to gain His approval, that we are His sons and daughters whom He is well pleased. But how we view God as a father is sometimes distorted primarily because of what our earthly fathers has been to us. We don't feel secured that we are loved by our earthly fathers. I tell you, they do love us but as we grow up we don't perceive it as it is. I do not wish to dishonor my earthly father here but my earthly father like all of our fathers is not a perfect father. He may have hurted you in one way or another and that hurt left a deep scar in your heart. You may have been "emotionally orphaned" because of his neglect because he doesn't have time for you. There are so many reasons. But the entire blame should not be directed only to our fathers. We too have our share of how we reject the times our fathers tried to be a father to us. There was one time when my father tried to teach me how to drive the car and he even bought a motorcycle for us to use but I responded with coldness and disinterest. I now realized that my father has been trying to connect with me but I was so consumed with the hate I have for him Because of that hate - my life was total mess. Outside, I appeared to be good but deep inside I was a mess. Sin was eating me 'till I rot wallowing in addiction to sinful lifestyle I thought would bring me happiness.

In that afternoon, God was pursuing me like a father would to a son. It was the perfect time to let go of the hurt (It must have taken me at least 3 years to contemplate on these things, starting from knowing and understanding) and release your father. It was time to "bury" that distorted perception and to forgive my earthly father. Jesus died for my sin at the foot of the cross and I lay them down before Him. I felt I was the "prodigal son" from Jesus' parable who came back to be with his father. From that moment on, God's love instantly "poured". I say "poured" because it's the best word to describe that experience. I should say that from that moment on, I experience in full extent how my earthly father is really a loving father to me whose interests for me are for the best.

To end up I'd like to say that nowadays, we are a fatherless nation. Increasing number of sons becoming felons ending in jails or homosexuals seeking "father" substitutes, psychologically speaking in other men. Daughters impulsively jump from relationship to relationship with many men hoping they could feel the love their fathers should have given them through the men they're with. If you are a father, pray that in every way you model God's fathering to your children. If you are a son or daughter reading this article, pray for your earthly fathers and if you feel you are not loved by your father, God is the greatest father there is! He is the father when at times your earthly father fail. "He is the father to the fatherless, the answer to your dreams". God Bless You All.

Night of Worship


I waited anxiously as 7 o' clock drew near. I was at B115, Row A, Seat#21 at Araneta Coliseum waiting what everybody else is waiting. Reuben Morgan and the Sun Project Band will be performing in a few minutes and I could feel the excitement in the air as few minutes till doomsday pass by.

Weeks ago, when I told my friends that I'm going to Reuben Morgan's concert, they ask, "Who is Reuben Morgan?". In secular music, Reuben Morgan is unheard of. Only a few artists such as Jars of Clay, Sixpence None The Richer, Stacie Orrico, Steven Curtis Chapman, Amy Grant are known in the secular music world. Most Christians if not all know Reuben Morgan as one of the musicians (he's playing the guitar) in Hillsong P&W Team based in Sydney, Australia. Above all, he's a very great composer. Most of his songs are the ones most Christian churches sing today in their respective churches. By the way, I'm really grateful to Shepherd's Voice who brought RM and his team here. (Bo! You're the man!!!)


My Concert Pics

When RM got on stage, people got on their feet ready to praise and worship God. RM was singing his new songs from his latest solo album. When the 1st part ended, RM introduced us to his band. There are three of them, 2 guitarist and a drummer (the producer, who's a very cool guy - he's got an Aussie-British accent and he tried so hard speaking in American accent) He went along saying that this concert is just one of his series of concert all over Asia. His group just came from Jakarta and Manila is their second stop. Next, they'll be going to Japan and their last stop will be Singapore. The proceeds from this concert will go to the "Sun Project" - a mission group that aims to bring music and hope to poor contries who desperately need the love of Jesus.

When the 2nd part started, people were on their feet again, cheering and screaming. Everybody was clapping, jumping and lifting hands to God as RM sang his hit compositions in the Hillsong album. Songs like "Hosanna (What The Lord Has For Me)", "Eagle's Wings" haven't failed to touch our hearts. I was really excited to sing "Still", RM's composition in the album, "Hope". It is one of my current favorite songs. When it finally came, I feel the Holy Spirit coming over the place like fresh wave of air and all my attention was to God. As I spread my hand, I could feel an amazing communion with Him. It seems as if the world was gone and it's only between me and God alone. God revealed to me during that song that even if everything would be in chaos - your life, the nation you are with, He will be there to lift us up and soar with Him above the storm. With Him we can be still and there will be an inner peace even the world cannot explain. Later, on what seemed like a heavenly experience, I heard a hug choir of what seemed like angels. I realized that RM et al has stopped playing and all I hear were the people's voices. I opened my eyes and saw the people, their eyes closed, lifting their hands to God, singing the song as if it was their own peronal prayer. It was overwhelming! I believe that God really spoke to each heart soul that was there. From the stage to the highest upper box, we sound as one nation worshipping the Lord.

RM's concert ended with a blast as his band played "My Redeemer Lives" and when people called out for more, RM's band went back to stage to play "So Close". It was the night that will be forever etched in my mind. That night, I renewed my commitment to God to serve Him through music. I believe what He has planted in me is so great. So great that no man can uproot. God Bless You all!

Fill Your Night With Song


I just received an email from my sister and I was disappointed with my mother's response to my plans. I know God is working within me, especially during ar times when I'm really bored and stuck with my routinary work at Texas Instruments, during those times when I do cross-section or just a while while doing decapsulation. God has revealed His wondrous plans for me. Though sometimes when your current situation seems to sap away any hope God has planted inside for you, it's easy be sad and get real - like everybody else does, go abroad, earn money ... but I ask. What for? Isn't being with your loved ones more important than going abroad to earn money? Isn't being with those who encourage and love you more important than amassing self-wealth? Isn't serving God with the purpose He has given you the richest kind of life? I hope you'll find the right answers inside of you. Before I end, I'll share this inspiring article from "Desert In The Streams".

"Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night" (Job 35:10).

Do you have sleepless nights, tossing on the hot pillow, and watching for the first glint of dawn? Ask the Divine Spirit to enable you to fix your thoughts on God your Maker, and believe that He can fill those lonely, dreary hours with song.

Is yours the night of bereavement? Is it not often at such a time that God draws near, and assures the mourner that the Lord has need of the departed loved one, and called "the eager, earnest spirit to stand in the bright throng of the invisible, liberated, radiant, active, intent on some high mission"; and as the thought enters, is there not the beginning of a song?

Is yours the night of discouragement and fancied or actual failure? No one understands you, your friends reproach; but your Maker draws nigh, and gives you a song--a song of hope, the song which is harmonious with the strong, deep music of His providence. Be ready to sing the songs that your Maker gives. --Selected

"What then? Shall we sit idly down and say
The night hath come; it is no longer day?
Yet as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible to day."

The strength of the vessel can be demonstrated only by the hurricane, and the power of the Gospel can be fully shown only when the Christian is subjected to some fiery trial. If God would make manifest the fact that "He giveth songs in the night," He must first make it night. --William Taylor

How Music Changed My Life


I was reading Dennie Jernigan's testimony about how he came to writing music. His song, "My All in All" is one of my favorite songs - any broken person can claim that we need God to lift us when we fall and to fill us up when we are empty. Here is an excerpt from his website about his first intimate encounter with God through music. I remembered the time when I was in Cebu. It was just an ordinary Sunday and we were in the afternoon service at LWCM with my then classmates, Ryan, Honnie and Cherry. When the praise and worship service came, God spoke to me - in a way I have never experienced before. It was personal, very intimate and I found myself crying in His presence. Read this experience from D. Jernigan.

Upon my graduation from OBU in 1981, God began to move in supernatural ways that even I couldn't see! One of these instances was a simple music concert. A group called The Second Chapter of Acts was going to be in concert in Norman, Oklahoma, and I knew that I was supposed to go. By that time in my life I was looking for anybody who was real - someone who had a real walk with the Lord. And among Christian musicians, I was looking for more than entertainers. So, I went to their concert. I knew by the words they said and the music they sang that these people were genuine, and the message was born out of times of desperation in their own lives. I needed hope. As I listened to Annie Herring speak and sing, I was overwhelmed by the love she spoke of. This was the love I had dreamed of but still couldn't believe was available to me! So I listened very intently with great expectation - until she came to the song "MansionBuilder."* This song caught my deepest attention because of the simple phrase, "Why should I worry? Why should I fret? I've got a MansionBuilder Who ain't through with me yet!" All of a sudden she just stopped in the middle of the song and said, "There are those of you here who are dealing with things that you have never told anyone and you are carrying those burdens and that's wrong-that's sin and you need to let those hurts go and give them to the Lord. We are going to sing the song again and I want you to lift your hands to the Lord-and all of those burdens that you are carrying, I want you to place them in your hands and lift your hurts to Him." This was all new to me-worship and praise. I had always thought before that this was just an emotional response that didn't really mean anything. But you know what it did for me? As I lifted my hands, God became more real to me than I had ever imagined! The lifting of my hands was more than a physical action. My hands were an extension of my heart! I realized that Jesus had lifted His hands for me - upon the cross. I realized that He truly was with me and He truly was beside me and that He was willing to walk with me and carry me and just be honest with me. And I could be honest with Him! At that moment, I cried out to God and lifted those burdens to the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, I can't change me or the mess I've gotten myself into - but You can!" And you know what? He did change me!

From that day on, I made a promise to God that I will serve Him through music. But how? Serious doubts came to me - I don't know how to play any musical instrument. I don't know how to compose songs or I'm not even sure that I could read notes - even singing experience came out very late. While most singers start when they were young, I just started singing when I was in college. I always thought I had a bad voice but it did came out good when I was college. Anyway, with everything that has been happening to me, I still trust in God's time. Even though it seems that learning music is so far away and when everyone expects that I get a job abroad in the semiconductor industry, still I just delight in God with what I have.

Love, Life & Other Mysteries


Every afternoon is what I don't like nowadays in Baguio. Well, it's rainy season here and rains don't come in just small pelts but large ones. Even if you have an umbrella, you'll still get wet. However, I have never experienced before in a place where everywhere is surrounded by clouds - not only fog but real, rainclouds. Last Thursday, while I was going home from Texas Instruments, I passed by SM and was amazed with what I've seen. The whole building, as well the Session Rd. below was wreathed with clouds. Wow! I felt lost in a mist only illuminated by faint glitters of street lights.


Kung macho papa ang hanap mo ...


Anyway, my friend's dad passed away and I can feel the sorrow she's feeling right now. While we texted, instantly I realized how life quickly takes away the ones we love. In God's perfect time, he gives and takes away our loved ones and because of this I realized that each of us is placed in a specific time and place with specific persons for a purpose. I felt grateful and thankful at the same time that inspite of being small in a wide macrocosmic consciousness, I do have a purpose.

Last morning, I went to TI to hit the gym and went home to sleep. Traffic is worst here in Baguio! And when I get back to TI for our scheduled pBGA Equipment training, I was late and I was almost drenched with rain. Worst is the trainor is not around, so we played our PC and made our reports. Right now, I'm feeling feverish... I'll have a good night sleep later.