1.JESUS and your relationship with Him
2.To be like Him
3.To do His works
4.To win the lost
5.To live ready, rapture ready
-Apostle Renato D.Carillo
www.miraclehour.org
Saturday, August 3, 2019
THROUGH FAITH WE UNDERSTAND
“For what is seen is temporary, but
what is unseen is eternal.”
-2 Corinthians 4:18
Long ago, a poet remarked that birds
fly but we cannot because birds have perfect faith and we do not. Aeronautical
engineers tell us that it is impossible for birds to fly because of the way
they are made. Yet birds, not knowing that they cannot fly, rise to heights
above.
The writer of the book of Hebrews
wrote, “Through faith we understand that the world’s were framed by the word of
God” (Hebrews 11:3). Let’s look into the phrase, “Through faith we understand…”
Faith and logic seem to be
contradictory. Some things seem not to have logic to them whatsoever. Yet, when
taken by faith, we can come to accept and understand what may not be perfectly
logical. Some people, lacking faith, are stumped by the lack of logic and
struggle for most of their lives, waiting for explanations which will never
come.
One of the reasons that Scripture
talks about “faith as a little child” is that children are not connected with
logic; theirs is simple, straightforward trust, and on the wings of faith, they
understand.
It isn’t that faith is an enemy of
logic, for there are times when faith is the most logical thing in the world.
But faith transcends logic; this means through faith we understand what you
consider that logical is somewhat of a judgment call – it’s an understanding of
what you think. God’s logic, however, is totally different than ours, and by
accepting His point of view by faith, we understand many things which would
otherwise escape us.
Faith transcends logic, and apart
from faith, relationships break down quickly. This means there is a logic to
faith and through faith, we understand.
THE BLANK SPOT
“I Am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
-John 14:6
In 1911, thieves broke into the
prestigious Louvre art gallery in Paris and took the Mona Lisa. During the
two-year period when the haunting image of the woman was missing, there were
more people who come to the gallery to stare at the empty spot on the wall than
those who had gone to look at the masterpiece in the twelve previous years.
People were coming to the Louvre to see what wasn’t there.
Have you noticed that the most of us
do the same thing? When we are blessed with health, we never stop to think
about how our circulatory system works or our legs and arms function, or how
our eyes focus properly. But let illness strike and suddenly we understand how
much of these we have taken for granted.
Hellen Keller once wrote, “I have
often thought that it would be a blessing if human beings were stricken blind
and deaf for a few days at some time during their adult lives. Darkness would make
them more appreciative of sight; silence would teach them the joys of sound.”
She had a point.
In China and Russia, I have given
Bibles to individuals who had never owned one before, who had lived under
repressive governments where Bibles were not allowed. It is impossible to
describe the look of joy and gratitude in their eyes as we presented them with
one. How carefully they grasped the book with both hands as though dropping it
would be a tragedy of indescribable consequences.
Like the people who came to visit the
blank spot on the wall when the Mona Lisa disappeared, I suspect that we would
all protest if we lost the right and privilege to own and carry Bibles. Yet
scores of us never take advantage of the grand Book which guides us to heaven’s
shore.
MAXIMILLAN KOLBE
“Greater love has no one than this,
that one lay down His life for His friends.”
-John 15:13
It was 3pm in one of the last days of
July 1941 at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The sirens began to shriek and
German sentries shouldered their guns. There had been an escape. Silently the
men of Block 14 prayed that the escapee had not been from their block. That
evening their worst fears were confirmed. The missing prisoner had been from
Block 14.
The next day, the remaining 600 men
from Block 14 were forced to stand on the parade ground under the broiling sun.
Those who collapsed were left to die where they lay. At the day’s end, the
deputy commander, Fritsch, arrived to announced the fate of the terrified men.
“The fugitive has not been found,”
barked Fritsch. “In reprisal for your comrade’s escape, 10 of you will die by
starvation. Next time it will be 20.”
The ten were selected. One of those
men, Franciszek Gajowniezek, a Polish army sergeant, was sobbing, “My wife and
my children.” Suddenly, a Polish Fransciscan priest, Maximillan Kolbe, pushed
his way to the front as guards sighted their rifles on his chest. “I want to
talk to the commander,” he said, looking Fritsch straight in the eye. “I want
to die in the place of the prisoner,” he said pointing to the sobbing
Gajowniezed.
Maximillan Kolbe died in place of a
man who bore the sentence of death. In all probability, God will never ask you
to make the decision Kolbe made. Yet He does ask you to make a decision – for
to love demands sacrifice for someone else. None of us has the right to live
selfishly, for all of us have been the recipients, in some way, of the love
that prompted Maximillan Kolbe to give up his life.
DOES IT MATTER WHAT YOU BELIEVE
“And without faith it is impossible
to please God.”
-Hebrews 11:6
Does it make any difference what you
believe, just so that you believe it with all your heart? Millions of men and
women would answer no. They would respond that it does not make much difference
what you believe as long as you believe it will all your might. Some would
perhaps add that all religions lead to the same place if you do your best and
follow the teaching.
A number of prominent medical authorities
recognize the therapeutic power of belief as opposed to the debilitating and
unhealthy effects of doubt and skepticism.
Several months ago, I was on an
airplane when it was hit with a strong turbulence. Trays of food were dumped
left and right. The coffee cup I was holding stayed in my hand while the coffee
spiraled towards the ceiling in an eerie column for a few seconds before it
dropped. Most of it missing the cup. I turned to the young man seated next to
me and said, “This turbulence would make even an atheist a little more unsure
of himself, wouldn’t it?”
He smiled and we joked for a minute.
But the incident did trigger off a rather serious discussion on the importance
of faith. As our plane tossed back and forth, I said to the young man, “It isn’t
my faith in those jet engines that is going to get us to our destination, it is
their power to lift us above the storm. No matter how great my faith in them,
if they have not the power to overcome the force of gravity and the turbulence
of the storm, we are in trouble.”
That is the big difference between
faith and belief and faith in God. The validity of Christianity is not the
strength of your belief, but rather its strength is in the empty tomb and God’s
power that brought Jesus forth from the grave.
COLD OR HOT
“Those whom I love I rebuke and
discipline. So be earnest and repent.”
-Revelation 3:19
In the first century, Laodicea was a
wealthy banking center. It became famous for its medical center which
specialized in eye problems. And eye salve was produced in Laodicea which was
exported all over the known world.
Laodicea was also not without a
Christian witness. We know that Paul instructed the Colossians to read the
letter he had written to the Church at Laodicea, and asked that his letter to
the Colossians be copied and sent to the Laodicean believers.
A generation after the Laodicean
church was born, another letter was sent to the Church there – a stinging
rebuke which came from the pen of John the Apostle. In this letter, Christ
says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you
were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will
spit you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:15, 16). The rebuke continues, “Because
you say, ‘I am rich and I have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and
you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and
naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become
rich, and white garments that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of
your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes that you
may see” (3:17, 18).
What happened in the generation that
had passed since the warmth of first love was born in the hearts of the
Laodiceans? Complacency, smugness, and indifference had taken its toll. The
Laodiceans thought they had everything they needed. They had material riches
but were spiritually impoverished. They exported eye salve all over the world
but were blind to their true condition.
AN INSIDE CONNECTION
“If you abide in Me, and My Words
abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
-John 15:7
I couldn’t help thinking of the time
when John F. Kennedy was president of the United States, and the world was on
the brink of armed conflicts as Cuba had pointed its Russian missiles at the
United States. The situation was tense as reporters were being briefed in the
Oval Office of the White House. Slowly a side door opened, and a four-year old
boy walked into the room, and the conference was stopped because that young boy
had a connection which was honored – he was the son of the President.
Have you ever wished that you had an
“inside connection with God, something which has to be honored?”
In the Upper Room, immediately before He
faced the Cross, Jesus told the disciples, “If you remain in Me and My Words
remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you” (John 15:7).
That’s a connection which must be honored!
Have you ever asked yourself why God
should honor your prayers? Because you are a nice person? Because you are a
good deal better than your neighbor or the workers in your office? No! there is
but one reason – a connection which must be honored – you are a child of God,
adopted into the family as the result of faith in Jesus Christ. Scripture tells
us this very clearly. Romans 8 and Galatians 4:6 say, “Because you are sons,
God sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, the Spirit who calls out,
‘Abba, Father.’ ”
The next time you are standing in the
line of doubt and concern, wondering if God really hears and answers prayer,
remember, you have an inside connection, One which must be honored.
YOU’RE NOT A FAILURE
Stop living like one.
We make mistakes every
now and then but it only means that you’re striving and trying your best to be
better each day.
Magkakamali at
magkakamali ka talaga, and that makes you a human. You don’t need to have a
perfect past to have a purposed present.
Your story doesn’t end
where your ‘mess’ starts. Your journey doesn’t stop there.
It may look like
setback now but it’s actually God’s way of molding you and maturing you to who
He has designed you to be.
It will strengthen
you. It will make you new. Iyong dating ikaw na talunan at mahina, you will no
longer be that person.
It’s okay, I
understand. It’s okay to feel lost and cry about it but please don’t give up,
God is making a way out of your situation now.
He’s ready to embrace
you and make you feel loved and secured.
You’re not a failure,
God never saw you as one. He sees you as someone who’s worthy of His love.
Remember that.
God Bless Your Heart.
cabreraflorina.blogspot.com
ios.florinac@gmail.com
HINDI KITA IIWAN
Kagaya ng pag-preno ng sasakyang
iyong dala-dala ay pag-preno din ng mga pangit na alaala ng nakalipas. Mga
nakalipas na kinumpuni at ginawang bago ng Diyos. Mga lungkot at pag-iisa na
sabay nag-preno at ng umusad ay napalitan ng halakhak at ngiti. Dahil dito, sa
madalas nating paglalakbay ay nakakadama tayo ng kapayapaan sa gitna ng mga
lubak-lubak na daan at nakakatagpo tayo ng kagalakan sa gitna ng nakakapagod na
biyahe.
Sa bawat preno..
Nang ating buhay ay naaalala natin
ang pagpapala ng Diyos.
Sa pawat pag-andar..
Nang ating buhay ay naaalala natin
ang katapatan ng Diyos.
“Hindi kita iiwan ni pababayaan gaano
man kadilim ang iyong dinadaanan.”
-Hesus
God Bless Your Heart.
cabreraflorina.blogspot.com
ios.florinac@gmail.com
I MUST NOT STOP LOVING
In the midst of all this mess, I will
grow. And I will change. But changing doesn’t mean I must stop loving. And to
love one doesn’t mean I can no longer love myself. I must learn to take time to
celebrate the best parts of me, but also cradle the soft parts of me too. Because
people tell us that only the strong survive, but in this crazy unpredictable
world, the soft survive too.
God Bless Your Heart.
cabreraflorina.blogspot.com
ios.florinac@gmail.com
I JUST WANT TO BE
I want to be the kind of person that
people can depend on. I want to be the one they run to when they’re feeling
lost, or down, or defeated, and know that I will not only lend them my shoulder
and ears, but be the one to brighten their spirits again.
I want to be the person who makes
someone laugh and after one of their longest, most painful days. I want to be
the person that brings sunshine to the darkness. I want to be the person who
helps people see the glass half-full, even after it has been empty for so long.
I want to be the person who
encourages people after heartbreak, who motivates them after purposelessness,
who inspires them in their weakness, who loves them after loss. I want to be
the one who shows the world God’s love and points a light to Him.
But sometimes it’s so hard to want to
be this person, this shining light that points to something so beautiful, when
you know you’re not always in the right direction. Sometimes it’s so hard to
want to be this person who helps others when you’re painfully aware of all the
ways you can’t, or haven’t been able to help yourself.
It’s so hard to reflect God’s love
when you know you’re far from perfect.
But maybe I’m still learning that
it’s not about that at all – it’s not about me at all.
Maybe it’s about using the things I
have, the things I’ve been given, the pieces of myself that have always looked
at the world with love, and sharing them. Maybe it’s about finding a way to
spread happiness through me, without it being about me.
Not about what I can do, but about
what God can do.
And so I just want to be a light.
Someone who smiles and brightens a little corner of the world, someone who
spreads Christ’s love, and in turn leads one single person out of their
destruction. I’m not prideful or naïve enough to say that I can change the
world. But I just want to be a small silver of brightness in all that dark.
God Bless Your Heart.
cabreraflorina.blogspot.com
ios.florinac@gmail.com
JAIME GABAO
Dear James,
You’re an Eagle, you can fly high
above your problems. That’s the Benefits God gives to all Believers.
-yang.
God Bless Your Heart.
cabreraflorina.blogspot.com
ios.florinac@gmail.com
cabreraflorina.blogspot.com
A diet may change your body but a
fast can change your soul (Isaiah 58:5-6)
The gift of grace stills blows my
mind. I want every moment of my life to honor the One who gave me what I didn’t
deserve. Between here and heaven, every minute that the Christian lives will be
a minute of grace.
Forgiveness is a grace, a decision,
not an emotion. An act of freedom reserved for those who are strong. How do you
turn pain into something beautiful? FORGIVE.
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