FOLLOW GOD'S DESIGN FOR YOU

It's has been awhile that I have not updated this blog. I have full of days recently, yes, not just busy but full of days. Yes, I have fullest of blessings. What I have declared, believed and claimed from God have already started. I have stepped up to what God has designed me for.

 I have full of days since I was started not just one, but four businesses recently. Indeed, the promise I claimed from God for 2011 was double blessings, and God has been doubling my blessings all the way. Instead of just one, He blessed me to start four - one was apparel business, another was my own creative designs studio, one is designs for churches, and the other was book publication. Isn't God great?

I am also starting my own advocacy and community project which will help impoverished youth to discover and harness their potentials in arts and creative designs. Indeed, it is not just "the best is yet to come" but "the best is already right now."

Contemplating of all I have gone through in life and the present blessings He has paved for me, I realized the following things -


About Potential
This is what I realized -

God will not give you a gift, a talent or a potential which He will not intend to use you to bless you and to bless others. God has given you this potential with a purpose. You need to believe God, harness your potential and unleash it in due time as paved by God.

Don't allow anyone to determine your potential. Don't allow anything to restrict your potential. Many people will try to design life for you but they are not the designer of your life. It is only God. You don't have to follow God's design for someone because you are uniquely different. Don't even let religion design your life because for sure it is just based on the preference of the leaders or the uniformity they want in life, but it is not God's design for you. Be the person God has designed you to be.

 Discover your purpose, calling, gifts, talents and experiences. Those will not intertwine without a purpose. For sure you have them because it is God's design for you. Be thankful for the potential God has given you. You were designed by God as a winner, as the head not the tail, as a victor and as a very blessed person. Follow that design.

About Preparation
This is what I realized -

All of your experiences are but preparations for greater things. Yes, even your past failures were preparations in molding you the person God wants you to be. There is no accident in God's sight. Don't call it "failure", it is just a molding point for our lives. I have realized that even irritations are but preparations for promotions. God always prepare us for blessings. I fully believed I was prepared for blessings and greater things. All the stories, the ideas, the people, the concepts, the improvement of skills and development are all but preparation for the breakthroughs God is preparing for you. You were designed by God not to be failure but to be a success. God designed you to overcome and win any challenges in life.

About Purpose
This is what I realized -

The purpose of my potential is not just for me but for others. The gift that I have are meant to be shared. I always believe that art is not art unless shared. So I can also say, "life is not life unless shared." This is why I am so excited for the advocacy which I will soon start. This is the new thing which I will do. It is an awesome experience when you fully understand your potential, your purpose and your life story blend into one. This is equivalent when dream and reality becomes one. This is enlightenment. I have realized that life is to be lived with joy, purpose, fullness and happiness. There is no need to be cynical about life for life can be enjoyed to the fullest. God has designed us to live life abundantly.

And just like the process of art- from concept, to actual painting, to revisions, to displaying to gallery and to the delight of the audience, our life is like that. But joy is not reserved at the start or at the end of the process. Joy is in the process. Joy is in the journey not in the destination. This is why I am enjoying every step of the way as I go along establishing the businesses, helping the community and being passionate in sharing the love of God to the world- in the way He designed me to be. Yes, I don't have to be completely like just the rest. Everybody has their own calling and design of God. This is how God designed me to be, then I will be how God designed me to be.

"When you follow God's design for you, God as the artist and you, as the artwork will be both happy and fulfilled."


So go. Discover God's design for you. Be inspired but you don't have to copy me. You are uniquely different. Follow God's design for you.

LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST - Quotes Posters by Art Roy Remy [Palawan Photos]

Declare good things and blessings to your life. Enjoy these quotes to inspire you to live life to the fullest. These are quotes I shared and taught in my latest speaking engagement where I shared the message, "Come On In, The Water Is Fine." The photo backgrounds are shots I have taken from my recent vacation in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Enjoy, live life to the fullest.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU ARE WEAK

A radical truth from God -

Let the weak say they are strong. - Joel 3: 10

It didn't say, "Let the weak say they are weak."

Most of the times when we are weak, we complain and emphasize our weakness. Most of the times, we declare our discouragements, our disappointments and our frustrations. And the more we speak about our weakness, the more we get weak and oftentimes, this aggravates to doubt, fear, and anger. God says in this passage, that we must declare the opposite. When we are weak, we must declare we are strong.

This does not mean that God doesn't care of our weakness. The truth is the opposite - God cares for us so much that He is giving a formula for us how to be strong. This also doesn't mean that we ignore our weaknesses. The truth is clear, God recognizes our weakness. He said, "Let the weak..." so it means God knows our weakness. The truth is - God is offering a formula for us how to be strong and what to say when we are weak. And God said when we are weak, we must say we are strong.

The reason is this - our life go to the direction of what we say. Our words has a powerful creative power to change things. God wants us to say " we are strong" when we are weak, because there is no need of emphasizing weakness, but rather to emphasize our strength in God.

Let the weak say they are strong.

It also didn't  say, "Let the weak think that they are strong."

To think is not enough. We must declare what we believe. This is the reason why "faith comes by hearing", and not by reading the word of God alone. When we hear, it means someone spoke, and it includes us in this regard. We must speak the word of God so that we can hear. And by so doing, our faith increase and our strength too.

Let the weak say they are strong.

It didn't also say, "Let the weak invite friends to talk about their weakness."

Our weakness can be passed to others when we emphasize too much about it. Words of discouragement can influence others. God said, "let the weak say they are strong."

You produce what you say. Your life go to the direction of what you declare. If you are weak, you can never be strong by saying you are weak. Better declare and say that you are strong. This is not my idea. This is God's. Say what God wants you to say.

So when you are weak, you know now what to say.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO PRAY TO BE A VICTOR; YOU ARE ALREADY A VICTOR

Thanks be to God, who gives us victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren,

be steadfast, unmoveable,

always abounding in the work of the Lord

for as much as you know your labor is not in vain 

in the Lord.

- I Corinthians 15: 58

__________________________________

God did not create you to become victim of circumstances.

You were created to be a victor. God has promised you to live

a life that is abundant and victorious. 

You were not created to be dominated by challenges.

You were created to dominate any challenges.

The general approach for a victorious life starts in this - 

Be Thankful

The verse said,

"Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

The truth is this, we don't actually have to pray to have victory.

You don't ask what you already have.

God has made us victorious thru what Jesus has done on the Cross.

We are already victors.

You need to claim it, believe it and be thankful for it.

When you are thankful that you have a sure victory everyday,

you will automatically live as a victor.

Believe That You Are Greatly Loved

The verse said,

"Therefore, my BELOVED brethren..."

The word "beloved" originated from God. He is Love.

And the key to be tough over any challenges is to believe that you are loved.

Why is it that there are some who are depressed in life though they already have all material things they want?

It's because they need the most important of all - "to be loved."

When you believe you are loved, you can proceed without hesitancy, without doubt,

without guilt and without condemnation.

Take note that the word "beloved" came before the word " be steadfast."

If you can't believe you are loved, you can never be steadfast in life.

Be Tough

The verse said,

"Be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord."

Toughness is not being cruel. Toughness is not being without emotion.

Toughness is not being filled with anger and hate.

A true tough person is a person who can love.

Look at how fathers will risk everything just to save their children who are in dangers. Look at how a man will forsake everything just for a love of a woman. And just consider how the Lord Jesus forsook everything just to die on the cross. That's real toughness, man!

You can only be tough if you know you are loved.

God loves you.

The people who knows and believes that Someone loves them

are the people who can endure any difficulties and who can withstand any trials.

A person without love can easily quit, and will easily give up.

Love - this is tough.

Remember, you are already a victor.

Act like one.

“Grace defies reason and logic.

Love interrupts the consequences of your actions,

which in my case is very good news indeed,

because I've done a lot of stupid stuff.

I'd be in big trouble if Karma 

was going to finally be my judge.

It doesn't excuse my mistakes,

but I'm holding out for Grace.

I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins

unto the cross, 

because I know who I am,

and I hope I don't have to

depend on my own

religiosity.”

- B o n o , U2

A TWO-THOUSAND-CENTURY-OLD ADVICE TO THE RADICAL CHRISTIANS OF TODAY

Galatians Chapter 2

Adviser and Writer: Paul 

[THE MESSAGE]

 [Concerning our process in sharing our new ideas]

1-5 Fourteen years after that first visit, Barnabas and I went up to Jerusalem and took Titus with us. I went to clarify with them what had been revealed to me. At that time I placed before them exactly what I was preaching to the non-Jews. I did this in private with the leaders, those held in esteem by the church, so that our concern would not become a controversial public issue, marred by ethnic tensions, exposing my years of work to denigration and endangering my present ministry.

           My notes:

 Leaders must follow revelation, not imitation.  

People tend to criticize what they do not understand. So, explain.

 Explain controversial issues in private. Simply, use inbox not shout-outs.

The reason why issues become full-blown controversial issues is because we always use the pulpit or the stage to address them.

If after explaining they oppose, take your stand, but disagree agreeably.

No issue should get in the way of the spirit of Love.

 [Concerning the prejudice and opposition of traditional and legalistic people against us]

Significantly, Titus, non-Jewish though he was, was not required to be circumcised. While we were in conference we were infiltrated by spies pretending to be Christians, who slipped in to find out just how free true Christians are. Their ulterior motive was to reduce us to their brand of servitude. We didn't give them the time of day. We were determined to preserve the truth of the Message for you.


          My notes:

I rather light a candle than curse the darkness.

We cannot fight an issue with the same spirit which made them. 

The issue of people who criticizes you is not about you, but about them. They cannot just take how happy and free you are, while they are imprisoned by their own rules and laws.

The response? Paul said, "Don't give them the time of the day." Being affected by them means to be reduced in their level. You are far, far from their level - you are free, happy, positive, loving, forgiving, open-minded, passionate for Jesus, and radical.

 [Concerning our process in dealing with the people who are so enamored with positions in the churches]

 6-10 As for those who were considered important in the church, their reputation doesn't concern me. God isn't impressed with mere appearances, and neither am I. And of course these leaders were able to add nothing to the message I had been preaching. It was soon evident that God had entrusted me with the same message to the non-Jews as Peter had been preaching to the Jews. Recognizing that my calling had been given by God, James, Peter, and John—the pillars of the church—shook hands with me and Barnabas, assigning us to a ministry to the non-Jews, while they continued to be responsible for reaching out to the Jews. The only additional thing they asked was that we remember the poor, and I was already eager to do that.


           My notes:

Let us not reduce Christianity to mere appearances. 

Be very sure that the standards which you are fighting for is really the standard of the word of God, and not your group preference or one country's culture. Check it out. 

No one has the monopoly of the power of God. It is available to anyone who believes.

We serve God not because of position, but because of compassion.

The only one position we need to have is - serving others. 

Of all the things the church ought not to forget is not if they have a big conference, or a big event, or a big building, or a big party, but if they remember and helped the poor. 

[Concerning our process in dealing/responding with those who really go out of the line of disrespecting and opposing us thinking that they are standing for their faith]

 11-13 Later, when Peter came to Antioch, I had a face-to-face confrontation with him because he was clearly out of line. Here's the situation. Earlier, before certain persons had come from James, Peter regularly ate with the non-Jews. But when that conservative group came from Jerusalem, he cautiously pulled back and put as much distance as he could manage between himself and his non-Jewish friends. That's how fearful he was of the conservative Jewish clique that's been pushing the old system of circumcision. Unfortunately, the rest of the Jews in the Antioch church joined in that hypocrisy so that even Barnabas was swept along in the charade.

 14But when I saw that they were not maintaining a steady, straight course according to the Message, I spoke up to Peter in front of them all: "If you, a Jew, live like a non-Jew when you're not being observed by the watchdogs from Jerusalem, what right do you have to require non-Jews to conform to Jewish customs just to make a favorable impression on your old Jerusalem cronies?"

        My notes:

Jesus came near to sinners, while we separate ourselves from them. 

The thing that drives people who opposes us is not conviction, but - fear. If they fully believe that God is in charge and He can take care of the present and the future, why fear change? 

Many will not understand your radical stand, and some will be swept along in the charade, but still in the spirit of love and humility, keep loving people.

You cannot win over hate with a response of hate, or over angst with angst. You can only win with the radical love of Jesus.

No one has the right to impose a rule to us just for them or their organization to look good. You cannot impose anything to John the Baptist, right?

[Concerning legalism in our churches]

 15-16 We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over "non-Jewish sinners." We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.

 17-18Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren't perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous. If I was "trying to be good," I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.

          My notes:

I can relate to the above verses. I've been there.

The love of God is not based on our performances. Whether you perform well or not, God loves you.

Our love for God must not be performance-based, but relationship-based.

We are not set right by our own goodness but only through faith in Jesus Christ. This is not just salvation, but also after salvation. 

Don't be surprised that even the seemingly-so-good-Christians are not perfect. They can never be.

People will always mis-interpret and misjudge you because of your radical love. They will think you are carnal, apostate and crazy. Never mind. Stay positive, loving and caring. You are not alone. Jesus was accused the same thing by the pharisees.

 [Concerning our response with grace. I can speak these words as if I am Paul. Speak these words too as your declaration to the world.]

 19-21 What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

   Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

[That says it all.]

CALLING ALL CHILDREN OF KORAH IN ALL OUR CHURCHES

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

For Christians, Psalm 46:1 is a very familiar verse, often quoted whenever and wherever.

But oftentimes, the introduction for this chapter is always disregarded and unnoticed by many. You may don't even know what I am pertaining about. Well, I am pertaining to the introduction of this chapter. If you have your Bible right now, you can check what does it say about Psalm 46.

For this particular chapter, the instruction goes like this:

To the chief musician

To the sons of Korah

A song upon Alamoth

It is important to consider this because understanding this will unravel the chapter to you like never before. 

We noticed that the writer is talking to the "chief musician," possibly somebody who leads in the singing of the said verses. You may wonder - who were the sons of Korah?

In Number 26, we read that Korah, his family and company were swallowed up by the earth because of their sin. We read accounts like this in the Old Testament – how God can wipe out an entire generation because of their sin. However, we read in verse 11, we read that the sons of Korah were spared from death, and instead were given the privilege to be singers in the temple! Imagine the emotions running through them at the moment – grief for their parents and relatives who were killed, and fear of a God who does not tolerate sin and issues harsh punishment for it. But the amazing thing is that they turned all these around and imbibed an attitude of thankfulness, service and happiness. They praised God all their lives in the temple. God somehow knew that the one whose sins has been forgiven sings differently from the rest in the temple who are just there for the rituals.

The last line of the instruction reads: a song upon Alamoth. The word alamoth means lively and joyous. The singers were being instructed to sing the verses to a happy and energetic melody. Isn’t this ironic? The sons of Korah, identified as sinful and treated as outcasts in society, were leading the praise and worship service and whistling happy tunes! Who would ever participate in that kind of worship service? Perhaps the people of that time rejected the sons of Korah because of their past. No wonder the Psalmist emphasized the opening verse, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Note the word "Present?" The sons of Korah live on the present and not in their past. They fully believed that God is their only refuge not people, their strength is what God says, and not on what people says.

Hence, the story behind this chapter implore us that we should focus on the songs they are singing, rather on the sins they have committed. The dynamics within the story of the sons of Korah is something which must be looked at by the contemporary church. 

Radical truths to learn and to live by from this discovery:

1. God is a God of second chance. Many people will judge you as unworthy because of your sins, but rise up in the forgiveness of God.

2. The love of God is enough to motivate you to worship Him.

3. It is not the past that ought to define you but the present which God has given you. God takes care of the past when you trust Him for your present.

4. Don't allow people's judgment over you determine who you are. Live on God's declarations for your life.

5. Just to ponder God's mercies and grace is enough for you to live with excitement and joy.

6. God sees you based on what your heart sings and not on past sins. God forgives.

7. You can be better than ever.

8. Only God has the right to pronounce an end to you, but as you live, no man has the right to pronounce your end.

9. Your downfall, your problems and your painful experiences are just a book, a poem, an art, and a song in the making. 

8. Don't under-estimate outcasts. Their names could land in the introduction of a beautiful psalm.

I can relate to this. I can say that I am one of the sons of Korah. Many people thought that I am unworthy and I don't deserve another chance. Some has judged me bitterly. But just like the sons of Korah, I rose up in grace and love of God, not in bitterness and hatred. I took the challenge to still rise up by His grace and sing aloud the songs of "Alamoth" meaning songs of rejoicing. And I can shout right now - "No matter what this world will do and no matter what people will say, I will rise up because God is my refuge, my strength and my very present help right now."

Have you been wounded by religion?

Have you experienced rock bottom?

Have you been fallen and have thought you are hopeless?

Have you been wondering if there is hope?

Yes, there is hope. God is already the One calling you and saying to you - "Yes, I am the only One who is your refuge, your strength and your PRESENT help."

Let me now call out there more sons and daughters of Korah - 

to rise up, show this world how powerful and magnificent is the radical grace of God in our lives,

to rise up, and enjoy life to the fullest

to rise up, be free, be passionate and make a difference!

LIFE DOESN'T BRING YOU JOY; YOU BRING JOY TO LIFE

Photo courtesy: Kirsten Paulick

When your expectation of joy absolutely rests in what life can give you, you will be disappointed. Life is not all good days, there will be bad days. Life is not all riches, there will be scarcity. Life is not all laughter, there will be crying. Life is not all mountains, there will be valleys. Life varies.

This is our common mistake why we cannot have true happiness - we expect that it is life that will bring us joy. Well, here's a radical truth and here is the understanding of how you will truly have joy in this life, and it's this -

Life doesn't bring you joy; you bring joy to life.

This means - joy is a choice not a circumstance.
It is not what happens to you but what you make happen in life.
It is not how someone or something in this world has made you happy; it is how you bring joy to someone's life.
Meaning, joy is not from outside-in, but from inside-out.
This also means that joy comes from within first.
From the joy you have within your heart, you will be the one to give joy to this life.
And how can this be? Or how can you have joy within your heart?

Well, it's none other but to have the Very Source of all joys. It is having Jesus in your heart. No wonder Jesus said, -

"These things have I spoken unto you, that MY JOY will remain in you , and that your JOY will be FULL." - John 15: 11

Without Jesus in your heart, you can never be happy even you have everything in these world. Life can never make you happy because the only one who can give you joy is  the One who made life. The only way to have joy and to truly enjoy life is to have Jesus. This is why joy is from inside-out.

Thus, you are the one to bring joy to life because Jesus is in your heart as your joy.
Since Jesus is in your heart, you are not dependent on life to bring you joy but rather you are the one who brings joy to this life.
You bring joy to good days and bad days, to riches and scarcity, to laughter and crying, to mountains and valleys. You can fully enjoy life because of who you have and not what you have. And you can enjoy life to the fullest, as what Jesus said, because you are the one who bring joy to life.

"No wonder I am enjoying life to the fullest."

TOUCHING LIVES ONLINE [ AND OFFLINE]

Almost everyday, I am sharing inspirational and radical truths through this blog. It has already been a habit at 4AM after my solitude with God and meditation of His words that I always write something here in my blog to inspire people. I consider it a tremendous blessing to touch people's lives online. But somehow God impressed upon me that I got to do more than just touch people's lives online. God impressed upon me that I can do more when I leave this chair, go out and touch people's lives in a personal and incarnate basis. 

This is breaking the usual. This is getting out the comfort zone. This is going for the second mile in serving others.

5AM, I am already out. It was a long ride. I will speak to and inspire the whole security force of Rustan's, a big mall in Makati. It was a blessed experience to share the love of God to these security guards. I was thinking how we just ignore these people in many establishments and we often forgot that they too are people who need Jesus. And this was a big open door from God to introduce them to a new life. There in their gathering, I was enabled by God to share to them the radical love of Jesus. I shared to them that the Greatest Security Guard of their lives is none other than Jesus, and that every security guard must have a "Security God." Eventually, after the love of Jesus has been shared, all of them opened their hearts to Jesus and they received Him for a new relationship and salvation.

Today is another day of making this love incarnate to people. And it didn't stop there, after that, I have to go to Pandacan, Manila which is far from my place to conduct a Gospel service. It was a blessed night to share  the message of God's love to the people wherein they all received Jesus in their hearts.

For the whole week, it has been a joyous blessing to touch people's lives - counseling people, sharing the word of God in various small groups from one house to another. In one of our house session, three "gays" joined us. They thought they will not be welcomed but they were received with love. They were teary-eyed when they heard God's love for them. I know that their transformation will only start in salvation. The law cannot change them. Religion cannot save them. Only Jesus can. They accepted Jesus  in their hearts and their hearts were beaming with hope that they can have a better life with Jesus.

Somehow, I looked back this year, that God has given me this knack to reach out to selected groups of people. I remember at one early morning, our team has ministered to construction workers in one street giving them free breakfast and the Gospel. Also in another effort of love, I have ministered to suicidal "emo" students of one campus. In another engagement, we have fed and shared the gospel to tricycle drivers. God has indeed blessed this second mile of serving others.

I have realized these radical truths in going "offline" in order to do the extra-mile in serving others:

1. True happiness is when you make others happy.

2. There is always an opportunity to help people. Just go out and you will see.

3. Christianity must not be confined inside the church buildings.

4. The more you go out to help people, the less you will think of your own problems or struggles.

5. The more you see the plight of people out there, the more you will see how blessed you are.

6. And you are blessed because the blessing ought not to stop with you, it must be passed to others.

7. When you have the vision to help others, God will always give the provision.

8. Your work, your position, your office are not hindrances but ought to be avenues in helping others.

A friend of mine who is already with the Lord in heaven, told me when she was still alive and battling with cancer,  "I will not go to heaven defeated and sad. I am on my way to heaven helping other people. And if I die, I will die while helping people." I saw her victorious and enjoyed her life till her last breath.

These are thanksgiving and introspections of God's goodness in my life. To be a help is already a blessing.

And here I am again, writing these things with prayer that anyone who read this will be inspired and be blessed by God. I will keep on writing in this blog to help more people out there, but after writing a post, I will again be back in the streets and in the houses or wherever God will lead me to share His words, help and touch people's lives. It is indeed different when love becomes incarnate. 

God "wrote" the Bible.

Yet, He still came down, lived with humans, and died for them.

He cannot afford to be just online and sitting on His throne.

CHOOSE GOD'S POSSIBILITIES OVER YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES

The reason why we are oftentimes disheartened is because we allow the circumstances and the situation determines our joy when it should be vise-versa- our joy determines our circumstances and situation. Yes, I understand, hard times and difficult circumstances happen in our lives. I have my big share in the past of how it is to have difficult times. I have experienced how it is to be in the rock-bottom.

- I have experienced to sleep in a bus terminal because I was a vagabond;
- I have experienced to be in the streets, drunk and broken;
- I have experienced to be in bad places and lived with no direction.

But I finally realized just like what a certain writer said, "No one cares of you being miserable, so rather, be happy." And freedom and blessings came into my soul when I fully embraced that in all these difficult situations, there is a gracious God who loves me and planned my life to be abundant, prosperous and victorious. When I started to shift my sight from the circumstances to the possibilities, from crisis to where Christ is and from defeat to triumph, my life also started to shift towards fulness.

This is what I have learned-

Circumstances and situations should not break me but mold me.
Circumstances and situations are but platforms where God will bless me.
Circumstances and situations are but a stage where God will show His power in my behalf.

There is a verse in Isaiah which said -

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose." - Isaiah 35:1

The circumstance and the place was unlikely and difficult - wilderness, solitary place and a desert. But what God was implying here was this -

when you chose to embrace God's possibilities and power, and you chose to be a winner no matter how your hard your circumstances are, time will come that even these circumstances will be glad and will rejoice for you.

Yes, God's grace picked me up and I chose to be victorious. Since then, I lived a forgiven, fulfilled, happy life with love and direction from God. I have experienced now the upward way of life. I have discovered my potentials and purpose. I have renewed relationships. I have found fulness in using my talents, time and potentials to help many people. Yes, I am living now a victorious life.

And you know what? One time I visited those places where I used to squander my life, and somehow I felt the truth of the verse. The circumstances and the situations where you once in will be glad and rejoice for you because they were not victorious over you, as if -

- the bus terminal is telling me, "You won. We didn't have you."
- the dirty streets are telling me, "You won. We didn't have you."
- the bad places are telling me, "You won. We didn't have you."

You know what got me?
God's grace.

You may have bad times, but the bad times ought not to have you.
You may have failures, but failures ought not have you.
You may have tough situations, but tough situations ought not to have you.

And what the next verse has said was true to me -

"they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God." - Isaiah 35: 2

This is the actual bus terminal where I used to sleep six years ago- miserable, rebellious and vagabond. I took these photo when I recently visited the place. Just imagine what I look like at that time.

And this is where I am now - happy, forgiven, enjoying life and touching the lives of many. GOD IS GREAT!

WHAT IT MEANS TO CAST YOUR BURDENS UNTO THE LORD

A fisherman gets ready to cast his net into the sea to catch fish.
He must throw all of the net into the sea.
The net will settle down beneath the waters.
Then, the fisherman will wait.

After a few minutes, the fisherman felt the weight of the net beneath the waters. This means that he has a great catch! This is the opportune moment for him to to pull up the net to his boat as fast as he can.

This was the picture which the Lord was telling to us when He said in His words -

"Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you." - Psalm 55: 22

The word, "cast" here literally pertains to how a fisherman cast his net into the sea. What God meant was- when we have problems, burdens and worries, we must cast all of these to the Lord. Casting it all to the Lord means you depend on Him. Casting it all means, surrender. You are tired of them, and the only best way to do is to "throw" them all to the Lord in surrender. Casting all your care upon Him for He cares for you.

If you will not throw the net into the sea, don't expect a great catch.
Same thing, if you don't throw all of your burdens to the Lord, don't expect a great catch of blessings.
God wants you to "let go and let God." You will not get a "great catch" if you just keep it to yourself. Throw it all to God. Cry it out to God and confess, "Lord, your will, not mine be done."
Throw the net into the sea and let it settle down deep beneath the waters. Yes, cast your burdens to the Lord and let it settle there. If you have to wait, then wait for the answers. But surely since you throw it all to the Lord, God will bless your patience and your surrender.

When you cast it all, you will get a great catch.
Isn't this a wonderful and radical truth-

God uses your burdens to get your blessings.

Your burdens are but the nets on which God will use to give your break. Your bad times are but the thing that will catch the good times that are coming. If you will not cast the net, you will not get a great catch. But if you cast it all, o, expect a great catch. Use your burden to catch your blessings.

Go out there and throw the net into the sea.
Let it settle down beneath the waters.
Wait. Patiently wait.

And you feel that the net gets heavier and heavier.
It is not a sign of a problem but of a blessing.
The more it gets heavier, the more it means the blessing is bigger.
Pull it up as fast as you can, and enjoy your blessings from God.

But if you didn't throw the net, you will not have a big catch.