MAKING WAR IN THE HEAVENLIES

***I shared this to my teammates, encouraging them to brace themselves for our upcoming Church anniversary. We're turning one! Hallelujah!

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." - 2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV

The battle has already started. Can you feel it? The devil tells us to slow down, take things easy, ignore our excitement, calm down our expectant hearts for God's great works, stay casual (para astig).. procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate.

Every preparation (spiritual, emotional, physical) for this event is being attacked by the enemy. He uses human reason to convince us to delay the good works God has assigned us to do! What are these "arguments and every pretension" that must be demolished?

Laziness - "Matagal pa naman."
Pride - "My idea is the best, it must be approved."
Self-righteousness - "I am the most anointed person to do the job."
Envy - "I wish I thought of the same thing."
Jealousy - "Lagi nalang siya!"
Disobedience - "My leader does not get it. I will do it my own way."

Wrong motive - "I want to be in front so people will notice my gifts."

What must we do? Whenever the enemy feeds us these things, take them into captive and make it obedient to Christ! (see NLT)

Let's continue praying, interceding for each other, encouraging each other and even REBUKING each other in love.

-Shel
(while listening to Making War in the Heavenlies by Ron Kenoly)

Just came across the most beautiful song I've heard.. and the most beautiful poem recited.

Kari Jobe is an exceptional worshiper. Whenever I watch her worship, I can only say that that song is not meant for me, nor for the congregation. Her worship is for God alone. She only has One Audience.

I pray to God that every time I worship, I would only do for One. I pray that whenever I worship, I open up a different realm-- a spirit world, where I hear angels and saints crying out praises.. where I see God-- not His hands, not his presence.. but His face.

And the poem. It's been so long since I last wrote one, but that poem definitely made me get my praise on!

And because of this outpouring, I'm sharing you the poem, yes! Took me a while to get the right lines. I've watched the video over and over, still I couldn't get enough. I hope we can do something like this at the concert. :)

FOREVER - Brian Johnson

IF THERE ARE WORDS FOR HIM THEN I DON’T HAVE THEM.
YOU SEE MY BRAIN HAS NOT YET REACHED A POINT WHERE IT COULD FORM A TAUGHT THAT COULD ADEQUATELY DESCRIBE THE GREATNESS OF MY GOD, 
AND MY LUNGS HAVE NOT YET DEVELOP THE ABILITY TO RELEASE A BREATH WITH ENOUGH AGILITY TO BREATHE OUT THE GREATNESS OF HIS LOVE, 
AND MY VOICE,  
YOU SEE MY VOICE IS SO INHIBITED, 
RESTRAINED BY HUMAN LIMITS, 
THAT ITS HARD TO EVEN SEND A PRAISE UP, 
YOU SEE, IF THERE ARE WORDS FOR HIM THEN I DON’T HAVE THEM. 
MY GOD. 
HIS GRACE IS REMARKABLE, 
MERCIES ARE INNUMERABLE, 
STRENGTH IS IMPENETRABLE, 
HE IS HONOURABLE, 
ACCOUNTABLE, 
FAVOURABLE, 
HE IS UNSEARCHABLE YET KNOWABLE, 
HE IS INDEFINABLE YET APPROACHABLE, 
INDESCRIBABLE YET PERSONAL, 
HE IS BEYOND COMPREHENSION, 
FURTHER THAN IMAGINATION, 
CONSTANT TO GENERATIONS, 
KING OF EVERY NATION, 
BUT IF THERE ARE WORDS FOR HIM THEN I DON’T HAVE THEM. 
YOU SEE MY WORDS ARE FEW,
AND TO TRY AND CAPTURE THE ONE TRUE GOD USING MY VOCABULARY WOULD NEVER DO, 
BUT I USE WORDS AS AN EXPRESSION, 
AN EXPRESSION OF WORSHIP TO A SAVIOUR, 
A SAVIOUR WHO IS BOTH WORTHY AND DESERVING OF MY PRAISE, 
SO I USE WORDS.

MY HEART EXTOLS THE LORD, 
BLESSES HIS NAME FOREVER, 
HE HAS WON MY HEART, 
CAPTURED MY MIND AND HAS BOUND THEM BOTH TOGETHER, 
HE HAS DEFEATED ME IN MY REBELLION, 
CONQUERED ME IN MY SIN, 
HE HAS WELCOMED ME INTO HIS PRESENCE, 
COMPLETELY INVITED ME IN, 
HE HAS MADE HIMSELF THE OBJECT OF MY SIGHT, 
FLOODING ME WITH MERCIES IN THE MORNING, 
DROWNING ME WITH GRACE IN THE NIGHT, BUT IF THERE ARE WORDS FOR HIM THEN I DON’T HAVE THEM.

BUT WHAT I DO HAVE IS GOOD NEWS,
FOR MY GOD KNEW THAT MAN-MADE WORDS WOULD NEVER DO, 
THE WORDS ARE JUST TOOLS THAT WE USE TO POINT TO THE TRUTH, 
SO HE SENT HIS SON JESUS CHRIST AS THE WORD, LIVING PROOF, 
HE IS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, 
THE FIRSTBORN OF ALL CREATION, 
FOR BY HIM ALL THINGS WERE CREATED, 
GIVING NOTHINGNESS FORMATION AND BY HIS WORD HE SUSTAINS IN THE POWER OF HIS NAME, 
FOR HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS AND OVER ALL THINGS HE RAISED, 
HOLY IS HIS NAME, 
SO PRAISE HIM FOR HIS LIFE!

THE WAY HE PERSEVERED AND STRIVED, 
THE HUMBLE SON OF GOD BECOMING THE PERFECT SACRIFICE, 
PRAISE HIM FOR HIS DEATH. 
THAT HE WILLINGLY STOOD IN OUR PLACE, 
THAT HE LOVINGLY ENDURED THE GRAVE, 
THAT HE BURIED OUR ENEMY IN AND ON THE THIRD DAY ROSE IN VICTORY.

HE IS EVERYTHING THAT WAS PROMISED, 
PRAISE HIM AS A RISEN KING, 
LIFT YOUR VOICE AND SING, 
AND FOR ONE DAY HE WILL RETURN FOR US AND WE WILL FINALLY BE UNITED WITH OUR SAVIOUR FOR ETERNITY, ETERNITY. 

SO IT’S NOT JUST WORDS THAT I PROCLAIM, 
FOR MY WORDS POINT AT THE WORD, 
AND THE WORD HAS A NAME, 
HOPE HAS A NAME, 
JOY HAS A NAME, 
PEACE HAS A NAME, 
LOVE HAS A NAME AND THAT NAME IS JESUS CHRIST. 
PRAISE HIS NAME FOREVER!

Bili kayo ticket :)

While listening, two passages once again captured my heart:

"Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth." -Psalm 96:1
-- We must always strive for newness. Never be caged, boxed, nor limited by instruments (or lack thereof), genre, and/or preference. Explore and get out of your comfort zone! At the same time, do not impose your own preferences to other people. Kanya-kanyang expression ng heart yan 

"Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." -Genesis 2:7
-- God is the Author of creativity. Imagine this: from dust, His own hands formed (shaped, molded) Man. From "nothing," He made a people He loved most amongst all creation. Creativity is from and of God. Let Him use you to form new things, let Him breathe life into it, and let it live and thrive.

Parang sarap mag-hiking, swimming, skydiving, painting, roadtrip, island hopping, or just lying in bed while listening!

SHOUTOUT: Posted this 'coz I got guilty abandoning my blog again. Hello to my dear friend Mhello Paglinawan for unknowingly reminding me :) read her blog at www.hellomhello.blog.com. Mhello, if ever you read this, just wanna say THANK YOU, I MISS YOU, AND GOD BLESS! See you around!

Countenance

Countenance - noun; a person's face or facial expression.

I look upon Your countenance
I see the fullness of Your grace,
I can only bow down and say...

Whenever I come into the presence of God, the words from this song is what exactly happens to me. My heart overflows with thanksgiving, my soul down to the ground, bowing low...

Who am I that I am given this privilege to approach Him?Who am I, a sinner, a life taken out from the soil, that He may come to me?Ever since I started serving in the Worship Team, my prayer has always been like this:

Lord, may it be
that whenever I come up the stage
nobody would see---
my face, my body, my nervous lips;
my trembling hands, my sweaty forehead,
my messy hair, my frail voice--
Lord, may it be
that as I come up the stage
everyone would see---
Your servant, Your beloved,
Your lover, Your follower;
May it be, my Lord
that as I come up the stage
nobody would see me,
but instead
Your countenance.
Your grace.
Your Spirit.
Your love.
May they see.

Because His countenance-- His face, is way better than anything or anyone else in this world, not in even in Heaven.

You are the One

Looking for meaning
Looking for love
For so many wasted times I have done this. I have ran away from God and searched for love somewhere else, and made myself believe that I can find it apart from its Author.

Looking for something to
Never give up
And even though I am already here, back in His arms, I still struggle even with the littlest things... Indeed, following Him is not easy. I have to die to myself, forget what is behind, pressing on to win the prize of being with Him. I always wish that everything would just end, so I can find myself facing Him already. But that is not His will. He wants me to find more meaning in life by loving Him. He wants me to find strength as I go on with my journey as His beloved. And I never thought that the answer could be so simple...


You are the One
You are the One
Everthing is all about Him. A life that revolves and finds meaning only in Him is what He wants from me. There could never be another requirement. He deserves nothing less, anyway. He is my Saving Grace. And with Him as the Center of my universe, how can I ask for more? He's the One. He's my Only One.


Looking for purpose in all
Of the pain
Most of the time, I fail to understand His ways. Especially when I am hurting. There is too much bias in our emotions. It confuses and destroys us. As I listen and simply obey His Word, I have come to realize that my feelings must not be my priority. I do not live by it. I live by His Word alone. It does not matter how I feel; what matters is Him. His will. His love over me, and my obedience to Him.

Looking for someone to
Hold in the rain
Yes. I thought I just needed someone. I thought that was the answer. But I've found out that I do not need to hold someone; Someone needs to hold me. And only One does it best.

You are the one
You are the one
(tears)

You are life more beautiful
You are love more powerful
Indeed, everything is way better when I am in His arms. Life is brighter. Love is filled with hope. I was a fool, finding love without Him.

You are the light that always shines
Always. Even if my own light fades and fails, His never will. I can always drop to my knees and ask for more.

You are the one
You are the One.

And I will never move on from you
I will never move on from you
He is my yesterday, today, and forever. There's no escaping this love.



You are the One
Sung by Jason Castro

Get to Work

My spirit was moved upon reading this verse:

“But now the Lord says, Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. And now get to work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” - Haggai 2:4 NLT

This was the time when the Lord instructed Israel’s remnants to rebuild His Temple. At first it seemed that they were reluctant in doing so, as we refer to Haggai 1:2, saying that it is not yet time to rebuild the Lord’s House. As they were finally obeying the Lord and starting the construction, the Lord again spoke, saying that the New Temple seemed like nothing at all (Hag. 2:3) compared to its former grandeur.

But  things got exciting when after the Lord encouraged Zerubbael, the Governor of Judah, and Jeshua the son of the High Priest, God disclosed His plans for the New Temple:

“For this is what the LORD Almighty says: In just a little while I will again shake the heavens and the earth. I will shake the oceans and the dry land, too. I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory, says the LORD Almighty. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD Almighty. The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the LORD Almighty. And in this place I will bring peace. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken!” – Haggai 2:6-9

God was planning to gather the treasures of the nations to the New Temple! God was planning to fill the place with His glory, even greater than its former glory! Moreover, the New Temple will be filled with peace, meaning, Israel will no longer engage in war and experience its dreadful aftermath. Wow!

But of course, we already know that. We, Christians, have been quoting these verses, declaring it, prophesying it, speaking it to happen to our Local Churches. But what caught my attention this time was verse 4 of Chapter 2. God was encouraging the leaders of Israel. God was saying, even if they still cannot see what is ahead (even the greater things ahead), they must not be discouraged!

BE STRONG, God says to the Government.

BE STRONG, God says to the Believers.

And what shall we do with the strength? God says, GET TO WORK! BUILD MY CHURCH!

I am currently the Media Director for a pioneering Local Church in the Philippines, and to tell you the truth, it is not an easy ride for me, to keep moving forward, towards the greater glory God has planned for our Church. I believe in my heart that the things I see today (borrowed equipment, hand-me-down instruments and chairs and supplies) will be replaced by the future glory God has promised. But once I prayed to God, while waiting for it, what Word shall I keep in my heart so I will not give in to discouragement?

It was Haggai 2:4.

The things I see today may be nothing compared to the things I enjoyed and experienced from my former ministry, but God is now encouraging me: BE STRONG, SHEL. GET TO WORK AND BUILD MY CHURCH. Support and love your Pastor, support his vision, help him build My Church. I have given you enough talent and skill to accomplish many things; to be your Pastor’s extra hands, feet,  and mind. Get to work and build My Church, so in due time I will gather the treasures of the nations that is meant for this Church. I will bring greater glory and peace like you have never seen nor heard before.

And that, my friends, changed the way I see the things of today. I thank God for always keeping me, hiding me, comforting me, understanding me, lahat-lahat na! I know that as I continue to follow Him, He will sustain me with encouragement and strength. I will be forever grateful for that.

Get to work!

Love, Ate Shel