Hello 2021! New Year, New Consecration

2020 has really been a bumpy ride. Not just for me but for all of us. Our plans all have been wrecked and we were all forced to a pause.

Honestly, I think that when 2020 started, everything has been going too fast. I personally was in a hurry. I was in a hurry to graduate. I was in a hurry to decide whether to take the board exam or not. I was in a hurry to be in the training. Basically, I was in a rush. It was because I felt that everything has been delaying a lot.

So when the year started, I was like, Lord, finally, last semester! I’m graduating! After 8 years, I’ll finally get to finish college! I’ve been studying for 21 years already. Finally, I finish! Then the Lord was like, Hmm… You’re too excited huh?

The Lord is sovereign. He has the absolute right to do whatever He wants and whenever He wants to do it. But He is also wise. He doesn’t miscalculate and He is not without a purpose. In every arrangement, there is always something behind the scene. He wants to accomplish something.

At first, I was quite disappointed that I wouldn’t get to stand on a stage to get my diploma. I wasn’t even able to get a grad pic. Then the training went online. I was like, “Lord, this is not what I expected. Why?”

Then I started enjoying the world again. I got into kdrama and kpop a lot. But thank the Lord for not letting me stay in that condition.

In the graduation fellowship, a verse hit me. It was Joel 2:25.

And I will restore to you the years / That the swarming locust has eaten, / The licking locust and the consuming locust and the cutting locust, / My great army / That I sent among you.

Joel 2:25

We always think that when time passes by, we can never recover it. Well, part of it is true. A time not spent with the Lord is a wasted time. But praise the Lord for Joel 2:25! He can restore the days!! We can’t but He can!

How do we cooperate though? First, of course, is repentance. We need to repent. Once the Lord enlightens and touches us, we need to humble ourselves and repent immediately. Then we need to come to the Word for supply and enjoyment.

This year is a year of repentance, confession and enjoyment! New year, new start, new consecration!

Lord, I consecrate myself to You again! Lord, I surrender my family to You. Lord, my training, my church life, my growth in life are all for Your economy. Lord, keep reminding me that I am for You and I am Yours! Lord, gain me! Gain Your heart’s desire in our lifetime!

Notes: Metro Manila Year-end Conference 2020

Here are some of my notes from the Metro Manila Year-end Conference. I hope you could all find time to read them. 😊

*Conference duration: December 29-30, 2020; January 1-2, 2021

MMYEC Message 1 Notes

MMYEC Message 2 Notes

MMYEC Message 3 Notes

MMYEC Message 4 Notes

Light in Darkness

Today, the Lord made me realize that everything in this world will just fail you, disappoint you. Even ourselves are disappointing and a failure. Only He never fails. Only in Him can we have our expectations.

The Lord gives us experiences and trials that may make us backslide or turn away from Him. But through these things can we have a deeper appreciation of what and who He is to us. It is just a matter of turning to our mingled spirit.

These past months, I have been very dormant and stagnant in my Christian life. I even chose the world over Him. Even though, in myself I know these things are not my real satisfaction, still I was so hardheaded that I still sought my happiness in darkness. But thank the Lord! In the midst of darkness, there is this light that leads us back to Him.

I don’t speak this out of knowledge, but of my experience of Him.

The church life, my church life is not perfect. Much more my Christian life is. Rather it is full of ups and downs. And these months, I’ve experienced a lot of downs. And in these down times, I chose to look at myself, at my situation, at my condition. I’ve been introspecting all this time, not realizing that all I need is to turn to Him, to call upon His name out of my heart’s inner content, to come to Him just as I am, and confess to Him that I can’t. In myself, I just can’t.

Praise the Lord for the new beginning everyday. He gives us new hope, new chance, to make it up to Him. It’s just so sweet of Him that even though we are the ones who have problems, and who are turning away from Him, He’s still the One making the way for us to come back to Him, to our home, to our real rest and satisfaction.

This may not be just “another” experience. May this be something that will change my living. Learn from mistakes. Then turn to the spirit. And just remain in the spirit, where we can have mutual enjoyment with the Lord.

Lord, I love You. I just love You. Thank You for loving me first that I am able to love You back. I want to love You again with my first love. Rekindle my love for You. Recover my heart and love. Recover myself. Lord, thank You for Your faithfulness. I am always unfaithful but You are. You never fail to remind me everyday that I am not my own anymore. Even though most of the times I ignore You, You still kept on whispering, even with that sweet, small voice, telling me that You miss me, that You still love me and that You want me to come back to You. Lord, thank You. Lord, I love You. I love You. I just love You.

Realm of Life and Truth

Since we were regenerated, we have been transferred from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God. Although we are the most free people, we are also the most regulated persons, for we now must live in God.

To live in God is to live in the law of the Spirit of life, and this law is now in our mingled spirit. This is to obey the sense of life, to mind the spirit, and to live in the spirit.

When we live in the law of the Spirit of life, we live in God. Consequently, what we live out is God Himself. God is life; therefore, what we live out is life, and we become life-men.

We must also realize that the kingdom we are in today is a kingdom of light and truth.
When the Word is heard and life is received, the life becomes the light shining within to enlighten us. When Christ, as the divine life, shines within us as the light of life, we are under His enlightening. Having been born of God by receiving the Word, we have the divine life, eternal life, and this life becomes the light shining within us.

The divine light is the divine life in the Son operating in us.

And for us to live a life that corresponds with this divine light, we have the truth. This truth is not mere doctrine or teaching in the Bible. Truth or reality is just the Triune God Himself revealed in the Word. The more we spend time with the Word, the more we are sanctified, the more we live a life according to the kingdom of God.

Quotes from The Knowledge of Life, p. 109; The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 567; 1 John 1:5, footnote 4
Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 250-253; The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity, ch. 3
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John 3:5 – Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

John 8:12 – Again…Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.