Jesus, the Healer

I would like to tell you this story of the centurion. In Jesus’ time, there was this centurion who came to Jesus begging for his servant to be healed. What is extraordinary about this centurion is that he did not even ask Jesus to go over his house to heal his servant, but instead, this is what he said to Jesus in Matthew 8:8 (NIV):

“Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

And Jesus was amazed with what this centurion told Him, and in reply, this is what Jesus said in Matthew 8:13 (NIV):

“Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.

If you understood the happenings in this story, you would know that the healing power of Jesus does not require Him to go personally to the servant in order to heal Him. What this mean is that Jesus’ healing power can reach you even if He is not present in the earth with His human body!

I have seen and heard many people saying that they were healed because of a miracle of some “carved image”. I want you to know that miraculous healing can never come from these “carved images”! Miraculous healing can only come from our unseen God! We don’t need to wipe our towels to these “carved images” so that a miraculous healing can happen. God gave us an instant access to this miraculous healing through Christ Jesus, and not from these images!

Now let’s look back at the centurion. What does this centurion have that the healing of Christ reached his servant even though Christ was not there physically? This is what Jesus said in Matthew 8:10 (NIV):

“Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

Have you found the answer? Yes, if you want a miraculous healing to happen, then you must have this “great faith”. I know that you have this faith embedded inside you, but I want you to know that the secret to miraculous healing is the kind of faith that this centurion has. He has a supernatural faith! The kind of faith that does not question the authority and power of Christ.

So how can we have this “great faith” or “supernatural faith” like the centurion?

Let us look at the centurion again. If you have noticed, the centurion had never doubted about Christ’s healing power, that he knows even though his servant is far from the presence of the Lord, with just His word, his servant would be healed. And this is the faith which triggered this miraculous healing of Christ to the servant.

If you want this miraculous healing to happen in your life, then start to work on your faith. Deepen it by knowing Jesus more through the bible, and I believe that once you have the faith like the centurion have, miraculous healing would just happen to you in an instant.


Original link for the photo: http://jesusfootprints.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/faith_centurion.jpg

God, Our Deliverer

LORD my God, I take refuge in you;
save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
or they will tear me apart like a lion
and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me

            -Psalm 7:1-2, NIV

Who are they that keeps on pursuing us? Who are they that will tear us apart like a lion? Well I believe that it could be the struggles, pressures and trials that we are having in our lives.

These the struggles, pressures and trials that we are having can literally kill us. Yes, they will tear us apart like a lion, just like what David said in this psalm. As long as we are living here on earth, these things will just keep on pursuing us. They will always be there right behind us trying to put us down, but we have to know that everyone has their own troubles running after them, and no one can ever avoid that.

We can never be exempted from these troubles, and each one of us needs to face them. We can be broken at times because of these, and we can never avoid that. There are those people who literally carried over the brokenness they had after facing their troubles all throughout their lives and could not stand up anymore, but that doesn’t mean that everyone are going to experience the same thing that happened to them. So let’s start from this: What could be the reason why there are people who can’t get back up when troubles came into their life?

The only reason, I believe, is that they could have put too much trust into this world, and maybe in their flesh. Why did I say so? Well, this world offers a lot of trouble for us, and its ways are also the main reason why we have been separated with God. When these troubles strike the person who only put his trust into the world, he could feel so broken thinking that no one could help him, forgetting that there is a God. And also, as I have said earlier, even trusting your flesh can lead you to your own discouragement. Why? Because at the time you failed on what you are doing, it would be harder for you to get back up knowing that you have failed though you trust in yourself.

So what should we do? If we can’t trust this world, or anyone else, or even ourselves, who then should we trust? Well, let’s imitate David. Well, not just imitate, but have the same heart that David has. Let’s give our full trust only to the Lord! We can never deliver ourselves from the troubles in this world, and no one in the world can do it for us, only God.

Troubles can put us down to the ground and make us broken. We can try to get back up, but we still may fall. But if we only put our trust to the Lord, He will simply carry us on eagle’s wings and put us into a place away from these troubles so that we could start walking again, just like what He did to the Israelites in Egypt.

So, to whom shall we put our trust? Let’s give all our hope to Him who can carry us. Not to ourselves, but to the Lord, our deliverer.

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Worldliness of men

From the very beginning, the greatness of God’s power has been clearly seen. Looking at how this world was created, I could say that it could have taken a lot of effort from our Creator to make everything perfectly. Everything that He created has their own purpose that would support us in our living. Things like water, air, trees, animals, and etc. All of these are custom made by God so that we can survive in this world that He created. His great power can be clearly seen through these creations! And all of these are done because of His great love for us, which is until now, we are still experiencing through these the same creations and Christ.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

-Romans 1:21, NIV

This verse talks about us humans. We knew and have experienced how great God’s power is, but the problem is that there are those people who does not appreciate or even acknowledge the work that He has done. Some maybe are just ashamed because they think that believing or talking about God isn’t cool. Some had just become so smart that they think they already know everything and does not need to acknowledge God anymore. And some had just become so attached to the things of the world that they think that these tangible things are the most important. These things that I have told you are just some of the product of “worldliness”. This worldliness is the main reason why many are blinded from the truth of God. It is because of worldliness that many people are living their lives like they don’t know God. A life centered only to themselves.

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

-Romans 1:25, NIV

Still, the verse talks about worldliness. Many people are blinded because of this worldliness, and now cannot see the beauty of the things that God created for us. They have also forgotten about the origin of the things around them, they have forgotten about God! They have just exchanged everything that God has done for them to the things that are not eternal, like fame, knowledge, power, and etc. Instead of glorifying God and giving thanks to Him for all the things that He has done, they just put Him inside the box and focus on the things that are really not of any worth.

Brothers, let’s just open our eyes and go back to our Creator. It’s good to enjoy life here on earth, but it’s best if we don’t get attached to it. Let's just focus on what our Creator wanted us to do, for His purpose for us aren't like the temporary things that this world offers, but is something that would last until eternity.

Original link for the photo: http://bbusa.org/catalog/images/worldliness%20cover.jpg

Every when are we “CHRISTIANS”?

We became Christians when we were baptized in Jesus’ name, but this is my question: Every when are we Christians? I ask this because there are those kind of people who are only Christians when they go to Sunday services on their church. There are also those who are Christians only by label and don’t even go to Sunday services, Christians who are still living by the standards of the world. There are also those Christians who are only happy when they hear the Word, but after that, they still keep on worrying about the world outside. Also exists are Christians who remain stagnant. These are the people who already know God’s purpose for them but they still don’t take it seriously. They are the type Christians who are not doing any bad things, but also are not doing anything good. Static, that is. So, is this what it’s like in being a Christian? Do you think we are ready for the second coming of Christ if we still remain like this?

Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.

-Mark 13:33, NIV

Jesus already warned us and He wants us to be alert. We don’t know the time of His second coming, and we should stay on guard if we don’t want to be left out. Yes, maybe we are already Christians, but it’s possible that we are only Christians by label. Now ask yourself this question: Am I really ready? I think we need to step up to the next level. We must make sure that we are always on guard before He comes. We must watch our actions very carefully and grow more into the real Christian living. We must make it a lifestyle to live by His will because no one that exists on the earth knows the exact time of His second coming. But I know you can feel it, and you know that the time is near. So let’s always be on our guard, because if we don’t, we might regret it in the end.

If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”

-Mark 13:36-37, NIV

We should not become stagnant Christians, we must bear our fruits! We must continue to move in Christ’s ways and spread the gospel so that we would grow spiritually. It is our job to do so as long as we are breathing so that we can face the Lord without any doubt when He comes. We must not be caught sleeping at the time of His second coming!


Original link for the photo: http://www.erikkainnes.com/randominformation/judgment-day-what-to-expect-when-the-rapture-comes/

Preaching and Salvation

We already know that we don’t deserve to be saved by Jesus from our sins, for we greatly deserve to be punished. We already know that Jesus came to the earth to be the light of the children of God, the Jews. Jesus came down to earth to get the lost sheep of Israel back into their relationship with God, but because of this salvation that Jesus brought, God has adopted all of us, from all races of all nations in the world. We don’t deserve it, but we are adopted. That is God’s saving grace.

He said to them, “Go into the world and preach the good news to all creation.

-Mark 16:15, NIV

The good news was spread by the disciples to different nations around the world. The good news in which everyone has been saved from the eternal death because of Jesus’ death on the cross. This good news of salvation has reached every corner of the earth because of the great work that was done by Jesus’ disciples, and thanks be to God that this good news has also reached us. Now, as followers and believers of Christ, it has also become our responsibility to preach the good news to the nations where it has not yet been preached.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

-Mark 16:16, NIV

Now, we just need to fully believe in our hearts and have faith that Christ died and rose so that we would be saved. We must also take this responsibility of preaching the gospel which was passed to us seriously so that the gates of hell will be plundered and that heaven would be populated. It is our job as Christians to win souls and make disciples. We must not be stagnant, we should bear our fruits.

Original link for the photo: http://renrutkram.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/saint-paul-preaching-in-athens-3511-mid1.jpg

God’s longing for our love

God, being the transcendent and the holy One could exist on His own. God doesn't really need us, He could get everything with just a snap of His finger. But the question is that what is the reason why God made us? Well, I believe that He created us for His own pleasure.

“What is the thing that we have that gives pleasure to God?”

God created us so that He could show His love to us. He loves us so much that He created everything in the beginning perfectly for men to live. Now, what God only wants from us that would give pleasure to Him is to simply love Him back. If God wanted to, He could have even made us like a puppet who are forced to love Him back, but He didn’t. God has emotions, and He created us with the same emotions, for we are created in His own image and likeness. God wants to feel our love for Him that is why He embedded in us these emotions and “free-will” when He created us. We could choose if we want to love Him back or not.

“How can we show our love to God?”

As it was written on 2 John 1:6, loving God is when we walk in obedience to His commands. If we look back in the time of Moses, all God do is to command. He wants His people to obey what He says because only in this way that His people could love Him back. It is a man’s obedience that gives pleasure to God. Even at the time He created Adam and Eve, He tested their love for Him through their obedience, but the bad thing is that they have failed. But still, God didn’t stop seeking for our love, like again, in the time of Moses where He even promised to provide food (Leviticus 26:4), grant peace (Leviticus 26:6), victory (Leviticus 26:7-8), fruitfulness (Leviticus 26:9) and have fellowship (Leviticus 26:11) to those people who would obey His commands. That is how God longs for our love so much.

God didn’t find the exact love He was searching for in that time for the sole reason that many of His people had become disobedient. God didn’t find the obedience He wants to see from the people simply because men, being mortals, always fail. So what God did is that He sent His only Son to live among us (that is why He is called Emmanuel) and showed to us the obedience that God wants. Jesus pleased His Father so much because of His obedience, from His way of living, until His very death on the cross. Then I thought about what God would have felt when He saw Jesus having the punishment He does not deserve. Of course, I know that it hurts Him so much, but God knows that this is the only way He could show how great His love is for us so that we would return to Him.

This revelation brought me to this realization that obeying God is very hard to do if it is based on human works. Many have failed in the time of Moses, but now, because of God’s own work, obeying Him would not be that hard anymore. Thanks be to God that because of Jesus’ obedience, we are now fueled by the grace of God for all good works. It is because of God’s grace and love for us that we would obey Him and love Him back.

Thank You again Jesus for all the work You have done for us!

Original link for the photo: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVywkfvZKGNquTut6_YRQjyARPwSA_kk5oHlji2opzCDPScsMLRU85TAnDEdRXxKU5dntDpxhC6HL3oxeZiIDZVLC7jIT30lWr3_h-c5dpX6FK7VUAY8b-KnReIA_4Vi62jbjCvPbk-Mk/s1600/gods-love.jpg

The Promised Land

“Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.”
-Leviticus 18:25, NIV

In this verse, the Lord was talking about the land of Canaan, which He promised to give to Moses and the Israelites. The Lord said that the land of Canaan become defiled because of the sexual immoralities of its inhabitants, and as the result of this, the Lord punished the land that it would vomit out all of its inhabitants because of their immoralities.

I could compare the land of Canaan to most of the countries that are existing in this generation, but I want to focus on this particular country, the Philippines. My country, the Philippines, is known by almost everyone as an overpopulated country. I can’t believe that this small archipelago can reach its population count up to over a hundred million! Well, I believe that one reason why this happened is that it could be a result of the sexual immoralities that are existing on this country. I have heard a lot of news about teenagers having pre-marital sex and getting pregnant at their very young age. I have also head lots of news about same sex marriage, cyber pornography, sexual child abuse, rape cases, and a whole lot more about sexual immorality. These sexual immoralities that has lead to the overpopulation here in the Philippines, I believe, is one of the biggest reasons why my beloved country became so poor. Just like the land of Canaan, this country also had become defiled. But still, being a “Nation Transformer”, the Philippines is the land promised to me by God.

“And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.”
-Leviticus 18:28, NIV

In this verse, the Lord spoke to me through the Spirit and warned me that at the time that the promised land is given to me, I must be careful not to defile it. Until this time, this land promised to me, the Philippines, is still defiled because of the immoralities existing. But at the time that the “nation transformation” happens, all of these immoralities will be gone because they would be vomited out by this land and its people. The Lord warned me not to defile the land especially when it is already given to me because at that time, the nation is already transformed. The Lord told me that if I try to defile it, I would be vomited out by this land that was promised to me, just like what it did to its immoralities as it is being transformed.

“Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the Lord your God.”
-Leviticus 18:30, NIV

Being a “Nation Transformer”, the only thing that the Lord wants me to do so that the land He promised would be given to me is for me to live a life of purity. The Lord wants me to keep His commands and not be contaminated by the immoralities of this land, because in this way, the people would recognize in me that the Lord is my God.

Original link for the photo: http://pldtcorporate.com/content.aspx?d=J5lNTF+U8AU=

Jesus has done EVERYTHING!

The first 10 chapters in the book of Leviticus tells us about the ceremonies needed to be done by the Israelites for the Lord in the time of Moses. I have observed that in their time, pleasing the Lord is very hard to do. They need to prepare their offerings for the Lord and follow the ceremony that the Lord has told Moses. I have also observed how the Lord wants to see His people free from sin, that He wants a sinner to present a sin offering to the priest so that the priest can make an atonement for the sin he has committed. Purification and forgiveness from sin is not easily granted in their time. I have also observed that the sin offering and all of the other kinds of offering (except the grain offering) requires animals that are needed to be slaughtered before the Lord. Because of this, it was made known to me that blood really needs to be spilled so that a man’s sin can be forgiven and so that he could have fellowship with God.

Now because of these things that I have discovered in the first ten chapters of Leviticus, I had become so thankful that I am not living in their time. I am so thankful that I am living on a time where Christianity already exists, in this generation where Christ has already died on the cross for us. I am so thankful that I am living in this time where forgiveness of sins and fellowship with God were given to everyone freely, without doing all of these ceremonial stuffs anymore.

I owe all of these thanksgivings to Christ, who has done everything for us. The ceremony that was made known by God to the Israelites in the time of Moses has been cancelled because of Jesus Christ! The largest ceremony that was done for the forgiveness of our sins and for our fellowship with God has been done 2012 years ago. Jesus’ life, death until His resurrection was the largest ceremony ever done! Jesus has made His body the tabernacle, where everything in it is pure and holy. He was also made by God the “high priest”, where He is the one who faces God to make atonement for our sins. And He, Himself, has also made His body the sin offering which was presented to God for the forgiveness of every man’s sin.

In Leviticus chapter 9, verse 23, it is said that “the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people”. This happened after the whole ceremony was done. And now, because of Jesus’ death on the cross, the Lord’s glory has also appeared to all of us who are in Christ. Because of Jesus’ perfect performance in His life here on earth, the Lord’s presence can now be felt by everyone! Everything that was revealed to me in these chapters made me more thankful to Jesus, and all of these had made me appreciate Him more.

Thank You Jesus for all of the things You have done for us!

Original link for the photo: http://www.turnbacktogod.com/jesus-christ-wallpaper-sized-images-pic-set-02/