BHKJOURNAL_09-0044: GOD AS THE LORD OF THIS NATION...

"I thank God for the nation He has given you. May you see God's hand in everything your nation is going through. I pray for you to have faith that God watches over your nation, and will shield it from destruction. May you not be troubled by what you see, but be encouraged that God is in control of everything. I declare God's word: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. May you begin to see God as the Lord of your nation."

This is one of the prayers of Ptr. Jay Duque in a devotional book that he authored and was given to me by some of my friends on my 26th birthday. Yesterday, it was the second time that I have encountered this prayer.

If we will assess the situation of our country today, you could really understand the Filipinos who went abroad for a better living and the Filipinos who told us that there's no more hope in our country anymore. In other words, we can not blame them.

I am not against these people who went out of the country for a better living. In fact some of them became a blessing by remitting much of their salaries to our government. I am not even against the people who tell that our country do not have any hope anymore but I am against the curse that they continue to tell in our county.

If we will go back to Ptr. Jay's prayer, there's so much hope for the Philippines when we put this nation to hands of the Lord and when we declare God as the Lord of this nation.

I had a conversation with a friend last night about the obvious cheating before even the election come, the injustice that we're suffering from the hands of our officials and the many negative things that we're experiencing. We even said that if we're not followers of Christ, we might curse already because of the immoralities but at the end of our conversation, we end up saying, "LORD, let your will be done!"

We are still hoping for a better Philippines and we are also declaring that our nation will be blessed and will be the Tiger of Asia once again. All we have to do as a people is to unite as one and put our full trust in our God.

As I end this blog, I want to say honestly that I was troubled by the things that are happening in our country - graft and corruption at its best, biggest massacre in history, declining economy and a lot more. But when I went back to the promises of God, I am once again at peace that there would be a big turn around coming for our beloved nation.

Psalm 33:12 (NIV)

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he chose for his inheritance.

Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in our nation!

May GOD bless the Philippines!

NUMBERS GAME IN THE PRAYER MEETING

Few months ago, our Prayer Meeting Team prayed that the church would be more in love with prayer. We also asked God to increase the our attendance before the end of the year. We asked HIM to help us reach the "30-point mark" and reach the "100 point mark" this December.

In some point, we broke the 30 barrier and just last week we reached the 100 mark because there was an this special event called the WORSHIP NIGHT. Last night in the prayer meeting, we have a less than 50 in attendance.

I am used to see greater things coming when special events are being help and I am also used to the fact that in every victory there is a backlash.

I went to the WORSHIP NIGHT last week and I really enjoyed worshiping GOD that way when you can feel His presence all over the place. After the event, one of my friends (Ptr. Sherwin), plurked that he's hoping to see the same number in our Prayer Meetings, so am I!

What I did not expect is the big turn around... I only saw less than 50 people last night as we come to GOD and pray once again as a congregation. It was more 50% declination from last week's number. I was expecting that after the WORSHIP NIGHT, the people will see a greater picture and they will be expectant for more of that experience in the coming weeks.

We are are wrong with our expectations but we are still holding on to that vision that this year, our congregation will see and put into their hearts the value of corporate prayer.

The Bible says that if there are two or three people who gathered in His name, He will be there. How much more if we will cry out to GOD as a whole church?

Can you see the bigger picture?

Earlier today, I saw a picture of a Father and his children in my mind.

He is running after his children and when he caught any of his child, he's embracing them... His children start to grow up and while growing up, they still run but this time, they left their father... The father feels hurt but he keeps running for his children whom some of them have gone astray... One of his child stops running and starts crying, the father is the first one who approaches and gives comfort to that child... The others are still stubborn and thy keep running away - some of them almost ruined their lives but their father comes to them for rescue. As they see their father not giving up to them, they're about to say sorry for the mistakes that they have done but before they can even say a word, the father hugs them already and he started telling them one by one, "My child, I still love and will love you forever no matter what."

Going back tot the Prayer Meeting, I am really hoping and praying that it will be the most exciting meeting that we are looking forward to attend to.

I am telling about numbers in the start of this blog. I count people not just for the sake of recording but I count people because their lives count!

Finally, I want to say to everyone that you can feel the presence of GOD not just in a WORSHIP NIGHT but also in the PRAYER MEETINGS or wherever you are!

I hope to see you all in the Prayer Meeting on December 9, 2009, 6:00 PM, Wednesday @ Victory Baguio Center...

GOD BLESS US ALL! =)