Know Your King

For the past few weeks, we have been studying more about Jesus. From our weekly Bible study, Come Be My Follower, to several consecutive weeks of study articles in Watchtower, and we even had the special issue of Watchtower that focused on Jesus alone, I wonder and I thought, I think we were like being "getting prepared" to get to know the King of God's Kingdom. And that's just makes sense. Just like in human politics, voters need to know their candidates. But here, we don't need a candidate, because there's no other candidate than the ultimate ruler that God appointed, Jesus-Christ.
In our studies, it describes how Christ would be the greatest ruler of all. It just amazes me how his character is so humble and gentle and yet firm and strong. That he even stay away from fame and be glorified publicly by people despite his greatness, and yet he never claimed it. Instead, he gives all the glory to his father, Jehovah. And how it is sooooo opposite of human politicians. Our bible highlights this past weeks is the book of Samuel. And it tells about how the Israelites are wanting to have a human king, a king that can be seen, despite all the miracles that Jehovah showed them, they fall on the snare of "sight". And so God chose Saul, who started as a humble young man, but he was consumed and corrupted by power. Which most human rulers are today. Once they had the power in their hands, they can't control it. They want to control everything instead.
But I want to concentrate on Jesus's personality as a King. His humility, his kindness, his disposition, his wisdom, and his power. But in our studies, it always emphasizes the importance of humility. It's like there is a great need for us to work on. And I agree, I think this is one thing that most people should work on. The snare of pride, the temptation of arrogance of one's success, all came from....whoelse? Satan the Devil. It's all his machinations to put in our imperfect hearts to seek fame, glory, greed and all sorts of covetousness. It's amazing how Jesus choses the lowly-ones as his apostles. Fisherman, farmer, no one really out of highly educated circle so to speak. Not that he's got something against it, but God only wants to prove that the "meek ones" will possess the earth.(Psalms 37:10,11) And meekness means "teachable". But if you're too high-minded, however good you are, if you're not "meek", you're not "teachable"....you're OUT! And look at the world's rulers and their constituents. Most, if not all, are "high-minded", some even to the point of wanting to rule the world, and trying to erase a certain geneology in history (Hitler for example).
I can spend all day talking about Christ, but it all comes down to one thing....Men cannot direct his own steps(Jeremiah 10:23). It has been more than six thousand years when men tried to stand on his own, but to no avail. The issue that Satan raised right from the garden of Eden is now almost finished. His uncanny manuevering over the world has now come to a halt. The time for God's appointed King is fast-approaching. And we are being prepared to get to know our King. We have been praying the "Lord's Prayer" since we were kids, we say, "let your kingdom come, as it is in heaven, also upon the earth". It all makes sense at the end, why do we pray for God's Kingdom anyway?
It's funny when some would say "just accept Christ in your heart!" But the question is, will Christ accept us? It's not for us to invite Christ, it's him who's asking us to follow him. Follow his footsteps. He left a model for us. And it's a great privilege for us to be invited by the Greatest Man who ever lived on earth. So, it's up to us to accept the invitation and be his follower. Are we humble enough to be his follower? Are we humble enough to be meek and teachable so we'd be able to be a citizen on his Kingdom?

Be Obedient and Push

Jehovah told a certain man that he had work for him to do. This certain man had a large rock in front of his house and Jehovah explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. The man did this, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun rise to sun set, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned home sore, worn out and feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture and place a few thoughts into the man's weary mind: "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it." This gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure.

These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. "Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, give the minimum effort and that will be good enough." And that is what he planned to do until he decided to make it a matter of prayer and Take his troubled thoughts to Jehovah.

"Jehovah, I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do what you have asked of me.. Yet, after all this time I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

Then Jehovah responded compassionately, "When I asked you to serve and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back is sinewed and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yes, you haven't moved the rock but then all I ever asked was that you be obedient and push. It was through your works that you exercised faith in me.

This you have done, and now I will move the rock for you."

At times, when we may tend to think little of ourselves and our service to Jehovah and we become disheartened and discouraged, we need to remember what Jehovah asks of us and that is just simple obedience and faith in him.

By all means, exercise faith that moves mountains but know that it is still Jehovah who does the moving. When everything seems to go wrong, just PUSH.. When your job gets you down, just PUSH. When people don't react the way you think they should, just PUSH.. When people don't treat you kindly, just PUSH. When people reject you in the ministry just PUSH.

PUSH = Pray Until Something Happens!!!

The Concert

This story was given to me by our anointed sister, Barbara Clinton. I am not sure where she got this, and I thought to share this to all of you. Here how it goes...

When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that her child was missing. Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway onstage.
In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".
At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance. Quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing."
Then, leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child, and he added a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice transformed what could have been a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience. The audience was so mesmerized that they couldn't recall what else the great master played. All they recall was the classic, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
Perhaps that's the way it is with Jehovah.
What we can accomplish on our own is hardly noteworthy. We try our best, but the results aren't always gracefully flowing music. However, with the hand of Jehovah, our life's work can truly be beautiful.
The next time you feel too downhearted to keep going, listen carefully. You may hear the voice of Jehovah, whispering in your ear, "Don't quit. Keep going."
May you feel the "strength beyond what is normal" and know that His hands are there, helping you...
Turn your feeble attempts into true masterpieces. Remember, Jehovah doesn't seem to call the equipped, rather, He equips the 'loyal ones.'

Force of Nature

This ia an old post in my Friendster Blog account and I thought of posting it here. It is regarding our Circuit Overseer's Talk. We are truly blessed that we are provided the spiritual food for the right time. Totally enriching and serves as reminders for all of us specially in these "last days". One of his talks include how to use our tongue wisely. That the tongue, though very small and can barely see because it is hidden inside our mouth, can be very dangerous and fatal. It can even burn the whole forest, so to speak. Using beneficial advices from the scriptures, he addressed on how we, christians should avoid speaking hurtful words towards others. For us not to be hurt in return. That we should be careful and wise in choosing the words to say to our fellow man. Though it's not that easy because we are only human. And as humans, we tend to err. I myself is not exempted, everyone does. There are times that due to so much pressure and stress, you say the words that later you regret. Unintentionally hurting the ones we love. So, that talk really helps. Then another talk is about "how do we know if we qualify to the new system of God?" There he says of we should not question the other people's standing before God, but instead we should focus on ourselves on how we can qualify under God's kingdom. We should not judge others for us not to be judged. Examine the motive of our hearts.
It is truly an eye-opener for all. Because sad to say, people tend to look and criticize others rather than look at ourselves.
It's just sad when people try to put you down and has very bad motives for you. When you are in every good intentions for them. And the ironic thing is, what they wished for you, happens to them in return. Well, that's what i call "force of nature". And you cannot simply control it. It's a simple thing as what Brandon Boyd puts it, "Circles", what goes around, comes around, everything moves in circles...to know that it will come back around again...you only get what you give. I personally and totally believe in it. That whatever you show and give, it will surely comes back to you. That's why i try and do my best to show, give, and feel positive in everything i do and say. So that i will get positive results in return. It's not easy because we are only human. But it's possible and we can...because i have proven it myself.

The Holocaust Experience

Last week, My husband Steve, Chris and a friend Justin packed our things and made a roadtrip to Alexandria, Virginia. It was about 14 hours of drive, including stops/rest. And gotta let you know, i drove about a 100 miles from Brunswick, Georgia to i don't know where, ha! Steve let me drive the I-95 since it's just a long straight highway. And it's funny because I was the one who got the most difficult part of the journey. It was raining, the roads are under construction and so i had to stay on the lane all the way through until i got tired. Steve was so scared that he wants to cry while I'm driving. And I said, "yeah, I feel like I want to throw up!". Anyways, here's the mission of the trip...we are getting Steve's Honda Shadow Aero which he bought thru ebay. To my surprise, the owner of the bike is Asian. His name is Mike and he's chinese though he said he grew up in Mauritius. His family is nice and friendly and they got this overweight friendly maltese named Lucky. Anyways, let's go to the holocaust thing. Since Alexandria(pretty little town) is just 10 miles away from Washington DC, we thought that it's best that we go there and see the sights. We took the metro because they told us it's the best way to do it since the traffic is horrible there and it's hard to park. For me, i like it because that's what I am used to back in Manila. I actually missed riding the metro and buses, the jeepneys. All those public transportations and get to see and meet different kinds of people from all walks of life. And so i enjoyed it. We went to see the Capitol building, Obama's office. The Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial,Natural History Museum(which they said it was the one in the movie Night at the Museum)...Smithsonian Palace and of course, the United States Holocaust Museum. We only had two days there and it's not enough. The one day alone, we spent it just for the holocaust museum. Well, we all know what happened during the holocaust. That's when Hitler persecuted millions of Jews, Romas(gypsies) and of course, my fellow brothers and sisters, Jehovah's Witnesses. It's amazing how one man can do this evil thing? Well, it's not surprising but still, you cannot imagine how a man could be so angry with people who doesn't agree with his beliefs and ideals. He's got reasons of course, whether it's good or bad, but it just struck me big time to see how these people were tortured...just for being a Jew..just for standing firm for their faith(which the Witnesses are) and not joining the military. As`we were watching a couple of film showings they had, and looking at the pictures, things they recovered from the concentration camps, how they were being punished and tortured, how they were killed, I am holding my breath and just keep on sighing on things i see. But what really gets me and i can't help it anymore and tears roll down my eyes is when i see a "pool of shoes" from those who died during the holocaust. I can't help it....as if i can see them wearing those shoes! And what's more is their "hairlorns". Their hair was shaved or cut before they were either beheaded or put to firing squad or gas chamber. The Gestapos collected all these and some of them they even sell those hairs and made bags and accessories out of these victims hair. What a terrible thing and it really breaks my heart. It's like travelling back in time. But there's one thing that delights us. Out of all the things they recovered from the concentration camps, there's only one Bible they got. And it was owned by a Jehovah's Witness. It puts a smile on our face knowing that it really proves that Witnesses are spiritually-minded people. That even in times of persecution, the consciousness for spiritual need is always there. Because that's what Witnesses hoped for...the Kingdom of God that will soon rule the earth under Christ. That soon, all these human government will put to an end. All the sufferings, pain, prejudice, sickness, death will be no more. And how refreshing it is to know that soon, these faithful ones who died during the holocaust will be resurrected. And that's what matters most. The Witnesses died for standing up for their faith to Jehovah. The One who will give them the "real life"...an everlasting one in perfect condition. That no human government can give. Not even Hitler. Here's some photos of the Kusserow family, Helene Gotthold(witnesses persecuted and died during the holocaust). One photo is with the woman who survived the holocaust. And some of the sights in Washington DC...enjoy!

Why Do Some Prayers Go Unanswered?

God is very approachable. Just as a loving father is glad to have his children speak freely with him, Jehovah God welcomes our prayers. At the same time, like any wise father, God has good reasons for not answering some requests. Are his reasons mysterious, or does he reveal something about them in the Bible?
The apostle John explains: "This is the confidence that we have toward him,that no matter what it is that we ask according to his will, he hears us." Our requests must be in harmony with God's will. Some pray for things that are clearly not God's will - to win the lottery, for example, or to win a bet. Others pray with improper motives. The disciple James warns against such abuse of prayer, saying: "You do ask, and yet you do not receive, because you are asking for a wrong purpose, that you may expend it upon your cravings for sensual pleasure."
Imagine, for example, that both sides in a soccer game pray to win. God can hardly be expected to respond to such conflicting prayers. The same can be said about modern-day warfare when opposing sides pray for victory.
Those who show contempt for God's law pray in vain. Jehovah once felt compelled to say to hypocritical worshippers:" Even though you make many prayers, I am not listening; with bloodshed your very hands have become filled." The Bible says: "He that is turning his ear away from hearing the law - even his prayer is something detestable."
On the other hand, Jehovah will always listen to the sincere prayers of worshippers who are doing their best to serve him according to his will. Does that mean though, that he will grant their every request? No. Consider some Scriptural examples.
Moses had an exceptionally close relationship with God. Yet, he too had to ask "according to God's will". Contrary to God's stated purpose, Moses begged for permission to enter the land of Canaan: "Let me pass over, please, and see the good land that is across the Jordan." But previously, because of his sin, Moses was told that he would not enter that land. So now, instead of granting Moses' request, Jehovah told him: "That is enough of you! Never speak to me further on this matter."
The apostle Paul prayed for relief from what he called his "thorn in the flesh". This thorn may refer to a chronic eye affliction or to the constant harassment of opposers and "false brothers". Paul wrote:" I three times entreated the Lord that it might depart from me." However, God knew that if Paul continued preaching despite this nagging "thorn in the flesh", it would clearly demonstrate God's power and Paul's implicit trust in Him. So, rather than grant Paul's request, God told him: "My power is being made perfect in weakness."
Yes, God's knows better than we do whether granting certain requests is in our best interests. Jehovah always responds for our good, in harmony with his loving purposes recorded in the Bible.

Faith

It feels good when you were able to let someone unburden their loads to you. That
somehow, one way or another, you were able to help them just by listening and
comforting them. Today i had a heart to heart talk with one of my close
friends. Though i am much, much older, that she even calls me "mommy"
but she was already married and has kids. Well, it's a typical everyday woes of
a mother and wife trying to keep her family together despite the hardships of
reality. But i am glad that she chosed me to confide with and pour out her
heart to me. I felt that she trusted me fully. Sometimes, it's hard to absorb
other people's problems. It's true that it's draining your energy out. You are
like a sponge, sipping their worries out and sucking it into your system. Yes,
sometimes it gets to my nerves and it somehow affects me too. But over all, it
feels good that a true friend appreciates your presence, and the comfort and
help you extended.
Well, since we are of the same faith, and even though these trials we are facing
is not new to us, i reminded her of that once again. Particularly i remember
Bro.Walls's talk(i'm not sure of the real name,

Brooklyn
Branch Committee member). It's about how Jesus left us a perfect example of
endurance. That even to the brink of his death, even when he was already
impaled at the stake, he never gave up his faith with God. Even his flesh was
exposed due to what Roman soldiers did to him, he never stop preaching the
Kingdom of God and giving hopes to faithful ones. He even promised the "thief"
who was also impaled alongside of him, the resurrection in paradise. And we
today, though being tried differently, we are expected to have faith also. But
we don't have to be as perfect as Christ, but we can endure trials and
tribulations. We have to be aware that we are living in the last days of this
wicked world, and because of that, satan will do everything and anything to
give up our faith and perished together with him and his demons.
It's not easy...it is indeed real hard. The fact that we are only human, and as
humans, we tend to err all the time. We are prone to do and think bad rather
than do good,. It's a real struggle. The imperfection itself and the
temptations that satan put before us. But then...it is still possible. We have
to put trust in God, that he's not going to forsake those who have faith in
him. We are given fine examples of faith shown by the early christians and
patriots. I want to particularly mention Job's faith. Job was put to test by
Satan, by killing all his children, take away all his material possessions and
up to giving him a dreadful disease. Plus, using his wife and friends to,
instead of encouraging him, gives him false advice and encouraged him to curse
God! They were pretending to be concerned but actually they will just provoke
you to do what is bad. But Job's faith was remarkable. He said that it's not
only good things that we received from God, but we should expect bad things
too! Although his perception was wrong, it is understandable. Why? Because
behind those words and in between the lines, the faith of Job surfaced. That no
matter what, he will never curse God or blame Him for the bad things happened
to his life. And the result, his blessings were doubled.
So when i tell these things to my troubled friend, she was relieved and
thankful to me. But actually, it helped me too. Because although i may not be
facing the same kind of problem she has, i have tribulations too. And all of us
do. No one is exempted. Satan is very cunning and creative in doing various trials
for us. We just have to be aware and never cease in asking strength from God.
because we should always remember, God is the most powerful being, and
everything is possible with Him...and no way that satan can beat Him.

Venus, Moon And Mars....

We were heading for our book study this evening when i get a glance at the sky and witness how beautiful the moon is and under it are the two planets, Venus and Mars. The winds are strong and it would sometimes cover the three luminaries but it's a pretty exceptional sight because there were no other stars that surround them. And I have come to think how our grand Creator has the ultimate intelligence that no man can even match. Even though some won't believe that they are created and would even accept that they came from apes! Me and my husband can't help but appreciate and fortunate we are that we have come to know the true God, Jehovah. And the privilege of having a personal relationship with the Omnipotent is one great gift. It's just sad that most people in the world don't realized these qualities of the Supreme Being in the creations He made. But rather sooooo quick to complain and blame God instead for their miserable lives which they have the accountability for in the first place. Sometimes me and Steve would thought maybe God has purpose for those other planets in the universe. Specially when the time comes that His Kingdom will rule under Christ and that there will be no death anymore....who knows maybe someday other planets such as Venus and Mars and even Pluto will be inhabited soon! And we can even visit, take a vacation or even live there! Who knows? Nothing is impossible with Jehovah. As the prophet Isaiah puts it, " Raise your eyes high up and see. Who has created these things? It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one of them is missing."(Isa.40:26)
Don't we feel the same way? I do....