The Rainbow Promise

Funny how adults can still learn significant lessons from children’s bible classes. I’m glad that God still teaches me humble lessons through simple ways. Children’s bible lessons can have profound lessons for adults to learn as well.

I was sitting in the primary sabbath school class with my kids and the teacher showed the Gracelink video about Noah coming out of the ark entitled “The Rainbow Promise.” It started by asking if kids have ever felt stuck at home because the rain wouldn’t stop pouring outside. Some kids can’t wait for the rain to stop and play outside again. That must have been how Noah and his family felt after being locked in the ark for more than a year.

Once all the water was gone and it was safe to disembark, Noah and his family tried to live their lives as normal as possible but of course everything was different. The land looked different and the world was quiet. The earth was unrecognizeable. They have never experienced rain and flood before and now they are seeing the devastating effects of it.

Just imagine the anxiety that Noah’s family initally experienced post flood when it finally started to rain again. “Oh no! Not again!” “Do we need to run back into the ark?” “There’s that water from the sky again! Take cover!” These are some phrases I imagine went through their heads. They must’ve had some sort of PTSD every time they saw rain, something that was now going to be a common occurrence.

Despite all the rain, however, there is a rainbow. The promise from God that he will never flood the entire world ever again. Sure, there may be local destructive flooding here and there but the entire earth will never be cleansed through water again. That tells me God cares about our mental health. He provided this bright multi colored circle in the sky to help Noah and his family not focus on what happened but what will not happen – another major flood. The rainbow provides hope and comfort to an anxious mind. Not only is it beautiful to look at, you can’t help but smile and feel at peace seeing it in the sky.

The rainbow still shows up everytime it rains to this day. It has been hundreds of years – a very, very, very long time since the first one appeared – and it never fails to show up anywhere in the world. God’s promises never fails. God never fails. Let’s surrender all of our cares and anxieties to God. May He give us the peace that passes all understanding. “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you,” 1 Peter 5:7. “Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken,” Psalm 55:22.

I have been personally asking God to send me a counselor to help me deal with mental health issues that have been coming up recently. And this is one of God’s answers to me – look at the rainbow. And ultimately, look unto God; for He is my Rock and my Salvation, the source of everything I will ever need in life.

Extra, Extra

Deuteronomy 24:19-22 KJV
[19] When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. [20] When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. [21] When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. [22] And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing. …

This passage emphasizes the importance of sharing, caring, concern, selflessness, and brotherly love. We should consider it a great joy and privilege to share our blessings with others. We should not give with a resentful heart. God always provides for our needs. And He also gives us extras so that He can use us to bless others. Let us not forget that there is always a blessing that comes after helping and sharing.

Reflections on Deuteronomy 6

This chapter in the Bible recaps how God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. God instructs His people to remain faithful to Him that they may survive the temptations from the surrounding cities. The Israelites were to be a light to those around them, an example of what it is to live a life devoted to God.

There are lessons we can apply today from the Israelites’ experience. They were bond men in the land of Egypt. God brought them out and promised to give them a great inheritance. But because the Israelites doubted God, they ended wandering about in the wilderness for 40 years before they were able to enter that promised land.

Right now we are bond men under Satan’s control. God stretches out His hand and if we take hold of it, we can also be free from Satan’s snares and temptations. We can be free from bondage of sin. God promised us a land up in heaven where we can dwell with Him forever. But here we are, currently in the wilderness stage because people are not ready to be citizens in the promised land. As long as we can keep on the straight and narrow path, we can survive the “40 years” and claim God’s promise to live Him in our new and beautiful home.

We are also instructed to teach our kids about God. “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deut. 6:7). I have morning and evening worship with my daughter everyday, but I realized I don’t enforce the teachings throughout the day. I thought having a few minutes of worship is enough. She’s only seven months old, that’s all her attention span can handle. But after reading this verse, I realize that babies pick up life lessons very early on. Ellen G. White says to start at babyhood. Not toddler years. Babyhood. That means now at seven months old. I think I will make it a point to introduce Jesus a little more everyday by both my words and actions.

Reflections on Numbers 14

“To be right with God often means to be wrong with men.” Oshea, also known as Joshua, and Caleb chose to have faith in God when the other spies did not. The other spies even convinced the entire Israelite congregation that going into Canaan was a bad idea. The Israelites then plotted to make themselves a new leader, have Joshua and Caleb stoned to death, and head back to Egypt. They would have successfully carried out their plan had God Himself not interfered.

The crisis that Joshua and Caleb experienced reminds me of what is happening to the world today. You see multiple riots, people threatening to kill one another, and society begging to go back to our old ways. Sad to say life will never go back to the way it was. These things are going to happen because we are being molded and shaped for something greater. We are being prepared for a better life in heaven. Just like how the Israelites were brought out of Egypt to have a better life in Canaan, we are being brought out of our old sinful ways so we can enjoy eternal life with Jesus.

Just like Joshua and Caleb, we need to remember the reason why we are on this journey and remember Who it was that promised to take us to the promised land. It’s easy to complain when times get tough. It’s easy to blame others and get our minds clouded by the things we see happening around us. But we need to see the bigger picture and trust in God. We cannot forget the reason why trials must take place.

Truly in the end times the majority will act like the Israelite multitude and only a hand full will remain faithful to God. Our job as Christians is to get as much people as we can to put their faith and trust back in the hands of God. Dangerous things happen when we try to fix things on our own. After the Israelites realized they sinned against God, and after God pronounced the verdict of their consequences, they tried to continue to claim Canaan in their own terms and in their own time. Because God said the Israelites would remain in the wilderness another 40 years, they then tried to conquer the land which they previously despised. Funny how we don’t want what God gives us in the first place, but when He takes it away from us then we fight to keep it.

Moses warned the Israelites not to pursue the promised land anymore, at least this was not the right time. But they went anyway. Moses warned them that God would not be on their side if they attacked the enemies. But they went anyway. The Israelites died and lost the battle without a doubt.

We need to be patient and wait for God’s time. God told the Israelites He would give them Canaan but they murmured and complained and finally tried to do things their way. I know it’s hard to be patient, but we need to remember to “be still and know that He is God.”

Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25 is a chapter that relates the kingdom of heaven to several different parables. The parable I want to focus on for this reflection is the parable of the talents. You can find the parable written in the next paragraph.

Matthew 25:14-30 KJV
“[14] For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. [15] And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. [16] Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. [17] And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. [18] But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. [19] After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. [20] And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. [21] His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. [22] He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. [23] His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. [24] Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: [25] And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. [26] His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: [27] Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. [28] Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. [29] For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. [30] And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. …”

I decided to replace the word “talent” with the word “people.” Talents back in the Biblical era were money, but we can apply this parable to our time with talents meaning our gifts and skills and abilities. People who are recruited to be actors and artists are also called talents. Therefore I tried to read the parable again with talents meaning people.

I imagined that the servants in the parable were entrusted with people, and that the people were under the servants’ care and the servants needed to train and grow these people in the knowledge and ways of the master. Once trained, these people then went and found other people and trained them as well. Thus, because each of his five people trained another person, the first servant ended up with ten people ready to be servants for the master.

I imagined the same thing with the second servant who was entrusted with two talents. He trained the two and gained two more, making a total of four servants.

The last servant “hid” the talent; in other words, did not enlighten his person about the wonderful opportunities of serving the master. The servant did not feel the need to do anything with the talent and did not grow his abilities, leaving the talent in the exact same shape as he was when given to him.

Obviously the master was pleased to see that two of his servants could be trusted to carry out his will. They were not afraid to do something with the things entrusted to them, unlike the last servant.

I started to wonder what I would do if I were in their shoes. Would I be excited to train someone in the knowledge of the master? Or would I miss the opportunity to witness to someone because of fear?

Our Great Commission as Christians is to go out into the world and teach people about Jesus (Matthew 28:19,20). God, our Master, has entrusted us, his servants, to multiply his disciples and tell them the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many ways we can share the good news. Some people do evangelism, others do Bible studies, some have music ministry, others are in the medical field or in nutrition… the list is endless! But for some reason, I feel like the secret standard for successfully creating a new disciple is by bringing someone to church and having them get baptized. I have not yet invited anyone to come attend our church; how much more influenced someone to be baptized. I also noticed that I’m afraid to admit that I’m a Seventh Day Adventist and I always generalize my faith and say I’m just a Christian.

Reading Matthew 25 has made me even more afraid to be afraid of sharing my faith! But now is not the time to shut down and hide, especially with the second coming of Christ being closer everyday. I can’t sit back and hide and waste my talents. There are still people out there who have not been introduced to Jesus. God has entrusted me with this work and I need to do something about it.

I also realized that it would never be about MY works that would create a disciple. I just have to do my best and the Holy Spirit will be the one to grow the seeds I plant. I just pray that God continues to give me courage to share my faith and not be afraid to talk about it with others.

Almost Persuaded

https://youtu.be/CynxDodfsMQ

The link above is a song called “Almost Persuaded” by the Louvin Brothers. I first heard this song when a church member asked me to sing it at church one day. He gave me the piano piece and lyrics so I can practice. I’ve always thought of it as a strange song because it tells the story of someone who was almost persuaded to believe in Jesus and accept Him as Savior, but in the end the person hesitated too long and eventually time ran out.

This reminds me once more of the story of Caiaphas the high priest. He shunned away his belief in the Savior until he reached the point of no return. He was almost persuaded. However, almost isn’t good enough.

If you’re reading this, I urge you not to dissuade the callings of the Holy Spirit. If you hear God talking to you, try to listen. God loves you and He will do anything to be with you. He already died for you on the cross to save you. All you need to do is believe.

Caiaphas Almost Convinced

In the Bible, Matthew 26:57-67 and John 11:45-53 tell the story of when Jesus was being accused of blasphemy and was brought before the high priest Caiaphas for trial. He had the opportunity to help the crowd realize that Jesus was the true Messiah, but for selfish reasons Caiaphas declared Jesus guilty.

Take a look at Ellen G. White’s commentary in the next two paragraphs below:

“Caiaphas belonged to the Sadducees, some of whom were now the most desperate enemies of Jesus. He himself, though wanting in force of character, was fully as severe, heartless, and unscrupulous as was Annas. He would leave no means untried to destroy Jesus. … Caiaphas had regarded Jesus as his rival. The eagerness of the people to hear the Saviour, and their apparent readiness to accept His teachings, had aroused the bitter jealousy of the high priest. But as Caiaphas now looked upon the prisoner, he was struck with admiration for His noble and dignified bearing. A conviction came over him that this Man was akin to God. The next instant he scornfully banished the thought. Immediately his voice was heard in sneering, haughty tones demanding that Jesus work one of His mighty miracles before them. But his words fell upon the Saviour’s ears as though He heard them not.”—The Desire of Ages, pp. 703–705.

“Caiaphas had denied the doctrine of the resurrection, the judgment, and a future life. Now he was maddened by satanic fury. … Rending his robe, that the people might see his pretended horror, he demanded that without further preliminaries the prisoner be condemned for blasphemy. …Conviction mingled with passion led Caiaphas to do as he did. He was furious with himself for believing Christ’s words, and instead of rending his heart under a deep sense of truth, and confessing that Jesus was the Messiah, he rent his priestly robes in determined resistance. This act was deeply significant. Little did Caiaphas realize its meaning. In this act, done to influence the judges and secure Christ’s condemnation, the high priest had condemned himself. By the law of God he was disqualified for the priesthood. He had pronounced upon himself the death sentence.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 708.

After I read these paragraphs, I felt so heartbroken for Caiaphas. He prevented himself from believing in God. The outcome could have been very different. He was already convinced that Jesus was Lord but he shunned those thoughts away, leading to his eternal demise.

How many of us hear the voice of God yet continue to block him out? How many times has Jesus knocked on the door of our hearts yet we refuse to let Him in? How many more signs are we going to ignore before we recognize God’s presence?

I believe that the spread of the Corona Virus did one positive thing – it brought people’s attention back to God. We are nearing the time of Jesus’s return and this lockdown is the perfect opportunity to get back on your knees and renew your relationships with God. Don’t be like Caiaphas and miss out on eternal life. Don’t let pride harbor in your heart. Accept Jesus – He already loves you. Grab the opportunity to experience God’s love to the fullest.

Seek God and Worry Not

Taken from the Holy Bible King James App

These verses are a great reminder of God’s love for us. We need not worry about tomorrow. No need to stress over something we cannot take control of, especially when it doesn’t exist yet.

My pastor’s wife called me a few months ago and invited me to join their prayer group that prays twice a day, every 6-6:30am and 6-6:30pm. Honestly, it’s been a struggle to pray at those specific times because I never know when the baby would want attention or start to cry. When she wakes up before 6am, let’s say around 5 or 5:30, I try to pray while feeding her but it is extremely hard to stay awake. Not to mention she wakes up to feed every other hour. I’ve learned to live life being sleep deprived. Those wee hours between 6-8am are the hardest to stay awake.

The Bible, however, is clear that these wee hours are the best time to be in communion with God. I have heard countless people with amazing testimonies that their walk with God is so much richer after they started the habit of getting up early and spending time with God before life gets in the way. For years I have been trying to get up early, but now with a two month old kid it is even harder to do so.

Yet, I find comfort in these verses. I need not worry, because God loves me. He is patient with me. I try my best to have my devotional time as the first thing I do regardless of what time I wake up. The Bible says to seek God first, and then He will take care of the rest.

Being a mother is extremely challenging. My patience is constantly tested to the limit, my frustrations are more frequent, and it’s easier to lose self control. If I seek God first thing everyday, He will grant me the strength and endurance to survive that day. I just need to take it one day at a time. Forget worrying about tomorrow; ain’t nobody got time for that. Especially with a baby. I need to channel God’s patience in my life.

I used to be so great at planning ahead and getting things done. I used to be able to have things scheduled in my calendar up to five months in advance and I expected everything to go the way I planned it. But becoming a mom has completely changed all of that. I can literally only take things moment by moment. And praise God that He gives me enough strength for each of those moments.

Arise

After attending GYC (Generation Youth for Christ) in Phoenix, Arizona, I really wanted to do something in response to the overwhelming love of God. I decided to share my experience that week in a form of a sermon at my church. Below is the actual word for word script I said in the pulpit last January 13, 2018.

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Thank you, Quartet. That song was the theme song for this past GYC up on Phoenix. Did any of you guys go up for Pathways or GYC? I saw Eric and Winona, and a few others. Let me tell you what my experience has been that Christmas week. But before we do shall we pray. [pray]

First off was Your Best Pathway to Health. As you know it’s an SDA organization that provides free medical, dental, and vision services. As a whole we were able to serve more than 6k patients in two and a half days. It opened Monday that Christmas morning, but people were lining up and setting up their tents on Sunday afternoon. The lines were so long it went around the Phoenix Convention Center and across the street. One patient was in line with his family since 7am and they did not get to registration until 230pm. He really needed dental work, but dental was not seeing any more patients that day. They had closed admissions at noon. There were many others who powered through the cold night just to find out that services were no longer available, and they had to line back up the next morning.

Once you get through the doors, the patients go through two sets of downward escalators to the basement of the building. Inside, there were many things happening at once. People singing for patients in line, health lectures were being taught on various stages, free clothing and free lunch was given out to thousands of people. There was also haircutting, massage and hydrotherapy, X-ray, surgery, mental health and counseling, and all patients were given a wristband for a one on one talk about NEWSTART. My cousin volunteered at food services and he said by the end of the day he refused to look at another sandwich since he made as what he felt like was a thousand sandwiches. I volunteered with interpretive services. I did interpret for four deaf people. If I wasn’t with a patient I was at dispatch sending Spanish interpreters and French and Arabic and Kinyarwanda to whichever station is needed. I’ve learned new languages I never knew existed such as Trigrinya and Urdu. Sometimes we were desperately in need of interpreters, but none were found so we resorted to google translate to at least get some basic communication happening. Sometimes I would see a request from Primary Care and it was Justin who would make the request. Him and Ailee were both working at Primary Care. I was so busy that I didn’t have time to go visit them. The only time I saw them was when my patient was in line to see a medical doctor. The only time I got to see Kaloni was when she texted me asking what the sign for diabetes was. That’s when I knew there was a deaf patient at dental triage.

Anyway, amazing things were happening for the Lord. People were signing up for Bible studies, people were getting treated and were grateful for the services they got. One deaf patient of mine said he wanted to see a doctor because he fell off his bike a year ago and he thinks his clavicle is broken. He was never treated due to miscommunication. We put him through an X-ray and everything was fine. Then when we went to the therapist, she told him to lay down and asked if he could move his arm around his head and see how high he can bring his arm. It didn’t go very far. Then she pushed down on his shoulders and asked him to try moving it again. He could finally move his arm around his head and backwards! We found out that His shoulder has been dislocated this whole time. He has been walking hunchback to lessen the pain and I guess he just got used it. The therapist gave him muscle strengthening exercises and told him to walk with a straight back. The patient was beyond grateful that he finally got the medical attention he desperately needed.

Pathways was such a blessing, even though it was very tiring. Volunteers had to be at the venue by 6am and we didn’t get out until 7pm. We only had one meal which consisted of one sandwich and a few carrot and celery sticks. I was working 12 hour shifts with only 5 hours of sleep. It’s funny because that’s my mom’s normal schedule. I don’t know how you nurses survive such a busy life. But being there from start to finish was not only eye opening but spiritually refreshing. To be able to be God’s hands to help these people in our own personal way was a blessing for me.

We finished pathways around noon on Wednesday and then GYC was starting that evening. I think all of us took that time to catch up on sleep but sure enough Thursday at 8am we were back up and running. At least these sessions required more listening skills than physical skills. If you’ve never been to gyc, everyday there’s a morning devotional, and then breakout sessions where you get to choose what “class” you’d like to attend, or testimonies in the main hall, and then lunch, more classes then evening devotional and repeat the next day. On Friday however we go on an outreach. Everyone gets on a bus and is given a pack of glow tracts and people go out in pairs knocking on doors and taking surveys asking who is interested in bible study and then they pray with them and leave a glow tract.

Well since this is my 5th GYC, Justin and I decided to volunteer as bus leaders for the outreach. Actually, he signed us up without me knowing. But what bus leaders do is basically to be responsible for everyone who is on your bus. You bring everyone to drop off locations and then after an hour you pick them back up. We are also encouraged to sing with our bus mates. We were really blessed to have people who were enthusiastic. We sang so many songs like Allelu, Allelu, Praise ye the Lord, and it would be boys vs girls, and then we would sing Oh fill it up, and then we taught them the welcome table where D1- D4 meaning the different destinations had a line in the song, anyway it was amazing. Thank God, they were willing to sing coz I don’t know how Justin and I would have handled a duet on the bus for around 30min. Our bus was assigned to go to Chandler. What I learned that day was that people in Chandler were receptive to the truth! Our people were calling us asking to bring them more glow tracts. We were also giving out great controversy books and we ran out of those too. Never did I first-hand experience the phrase “the harvest is plenty.” I hope we can pray for all our leaders and pastors in the Arizona conference to follow up on all these Bible studies and visit these people who want to know more about God.

We don’t have to be in Phoenix or chandler to help out in the harvest. God placed us here, in Tucson, to be beacons of light starting in our own homes and then out to our coworkers and friends and to our circle of influence. This is the very reason why I responded to Gods calling to speak to you today. At GYC, they are very mission field minded. They have many altar calls for people who want to go overseas or to another state and be a missionary for 6 months to a year. I’m not one of those people who immediately get excited to hear an opportunity to go overseas. But I remember after one devotional while they were making altar calls for baptism and missionary work, I prayed and asked God where He wanted me to go. All I heard was the word “preach.” I am glad God has work for me to do right here at home.

So, to respond to God, I am going to share with you abridged and adapted versions of the sermons of Chris Holland, the director of It Is Written Canada. He was the main plenary speaker for the entire GYC session. Our topic is “Arise.”

Turn with me to Isaiah 60:1-3. “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

Before you arise and shine, something must happen. Verse one says, “FOR your light…” Arising is a response to something that happened. Before we go we must wait for God. Before the Israelites went to the Promised Land they were first dedicated. Before the outburst of the Pentecost was the prayers and outpouring in the upper room. In other words, verse one says, “Arise and shine because…” we don’t have any light ourselves. We must wait for God’s light to be in us.

Did you know that I am afraid to share the gospel? One Sunday morning four of us went hiking, Jim, Justin, Genevieve and I. Afterwards we ate at Coyote Pause Cafe for breakfast, our favorite after hiking spot. I never told Jim or Justin about this but while we were waiting for our food we were talking about Eileen’s sermon about the ecumenical movement. There was a lady sitting at a table across and diagonal from us and she could hear everything we were saying. She was alone I believe. Yet when I realized that she could hear our conversation I suddenly froze and could not contribute to the topic. I was somehow ashamed and felt that we shouldn’t be talking this loudly, that we should be quiet and keep this to ourselves. I was afraid to offend this stranger and get in trouble. I wanted to tell them to stop but I caught myself and thought, why? Why am I afraid? So what if people can hear us? Don’t they deserve to know the truth?

While we were in outreach at GYC, my family stayed behind at the hotel. When I came back, I see a microwave sitting at the table that wasn’t there before. I asked my grandma where she got it, and she said the cleaning lady let them borrow it. She even gave us a lot of extra shampoo and fancy floor towels for our convenience. I asked grandma why she was so nice, and grandma said it’s because she asked the cleaning lady if she knew Jesus and offered her Bible studies. The cleaning lady was actually interested, and she gave her phone number to my grandma. And just like that she was able to share the love of God. Within minutes! Talk about being bold in the gospel.

Sharing has honestly been a struggle for me for many years. I always believed in the concept of living out my faith, that I don’t need to preach it. There’s other people who could do that. There are plenty of evangelists and pastors out there. My job was just to live out my life in Christ and hope others would see through me. Yet since I’ve moved to Tucson and have made many secular friends, (because I’ve always grown up in an Adventist environment), no one has responded to the lifestyle that I try to portray. I feel like I’ve somehow failed because no one has accepted my invite to come to church, no one has ever asked me for Bible studies, no one has ever been curious enough about my religion to actually test it out. Not until this past GYC did it finally click. I wait for people to ask me about Christ and I don’t take initiative to tell them. I need to assume that they don’t know who Jesus is and be excited to tell them all about Him, just like my grandma. I have been trying so hard to convert people my way. I have not let God arise in my life and let His light shine through me in order to touch others. I figured I’m a good enough Christian, I have a light to shine, and it is my Christian duty to collect souls. NO, first of all it isn’t my light at all, it is God’s. My duty is to empty myself and let God live through me and let Him collect souls through me. I am to be His vessel, so His light may shine through me.

Let’s move to verse two. It says, “For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.”

Notice that there is darkness and deep darkness. Darkness equals lawlessness and lovelessness, it is an obstruction to our relationships with other people. Deep darkness is what veils God’s glory. It is an obstruction to our relationship with God. The world is darkened to the character and love of God. We need to show the world the glory of God which is the character of God. God’s counteract to darkness is His gospel which will be revealed through us. God’s solution to the dark world is that He must arise. For us to rise and shine, God must arise in us. However, the only way for God to arise in you is for you to first die to self. In other words, die to self-reliance. The call to arise is to die to old ways and God will arise a covenant established in us. We are to cast out anything that hinders us from living a new life in Christ.

Let’s go to Ephesians 5:8-14. ^“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” This is how you arise from the dead, you expose the darkness. You have the fruits of the spirit and you walk in the light. Isaiah 60 is not an invitation for you to try to shine. The passage simply says, “shine.” It is a promise because God is present in our lives, and if He is in us we will shine. If you are not shining, have you really laid everything down?

Let’s now go to Romans 13:11 “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” This is actually a reminder of Isaiah 60:1. It is a call to action. Arise and shine for your light has come. Our role is to announce that Jesus is coming again. Isaiah 60 is truly a last day altar call.

Jump back to the third verse of chapter 60 in Isaiah. “The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

Because God has arisen, we are to empty ourselves of our old ways and let God’s light shine through us. And then verse three says that Gentiles will come to our light, meaning we now have the attention of the world around us, our sphere of influence, we can no longer stay silent but carry the responsibility of ministering unto them who do not know our loving Savior. We are to arise and shine.

2 Cor 2:14,15 describes shining as having an aroma that leads people to life. Our problem is, we are Laodecean. We don’t have the aroma. Have you ever wondered what you smell like? Spiritually? The stench of death is like living with pigs where we get used to the smell and you become one with them. Once we immerse ourselves into the stench of this world we don’t realize that our souls are actually rotting, we are senseless to the sweet aroma of the Holy Spirit. But praise God He can change that. Pavel Goia says that the more we walk among flowers, the more we smell like flowers. The more we spend time in God’s glory, the more we become glorious.

The Bible says that God wishes that we Laodeceans were either hot or cold. Hot obviously means being on fire for God. Hot can be used to soothe and to heal. But cold water revitalizes and refreshes the soul. We are to reveal to people that there is hope, that there is a Savior that loves them. We are to recharge their spirits to look forward to His second coming. Ailee even explains and says we can be so cold, so far away from God that cold should make us realize we are in dire need of a Savior. God wishes we were either hot or cold.

We have been called to arise and shine and reach out. Maybe our calling here is to stop converting people and start searching and connecting with those who are already converted. Let us work together to bring the gospel to the world. If we wait for our church board to do something about it, we will be waiting forever. Change doesn’t start with leaders, change starts within ourselves.

As we enter this new year, think of the calling God has entrusted to you. Will you be the extension of Jesus to someone today?

 

 

Staying Silent

I saw a Facebook post the other day about a woman who told her story on how she helped an elderly Veteran on a wheel chair get to the store and buy his groceries. The main point of her post was to tell people not to just pass by others in need but to stop and help, especially Veterans who have fought for our freedom. She seemed angry or disappointed at society for staying silent.

I know a kid who talks back to his parents when he gets scolded or is told to do a chore. He seems to always have an excuse on why he can’t complete the task. If he doesn’t have an excuse, he has to complain about it out loud. Every time I see this happen I want to tell him to just keep quiet and not complain out loud or else he’ll get into more trouble, which usually does happen.

It says in Proverbs 10:19, “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise” (KJV).

When Alexander Hamilton asked Aaron Burr what made him successful, Burr told him to “speak less, smile more.” Yet unfortunately Hamilton could not restrain himself from saying harsh words and Burr himself shot Hamilton dead.

You have heard plenty of stories where talking without proper actions leads to karma. You have heard the saying “actions speak louder than words.” I’m sure the actions of the woman who helped the Veteran will go a long way. If my friend learns to stop complaining out loud I’m sure he will gain more respect from his parents. And if Hamilton did not hastily rebuttal with words, he would probably have lived a much longer life.

For me, staying silent means you are being wise and tactful. Staying silent can save people from the untruths of gossip. Staying silent can lend a helpful ear when your friend needs someone to listen to them. Staying silent can show maturity when your boss is yelling at your face scolding you for something you were falsely accused for. Staying silent during heated arguments can save a lot of relationships.

Staying silent also takes a lot of patience. We live in a fast-paced world where we want answers immediately and we don’t know restrain ourselves. When we go grocery shopping we always look for the shortest line, and then we mumble under our breaths if it takes longer than five minutes. We press on the gas pedal as hard as we can to beat the car in front of us so we can be the first at the stop light. We want to pre-celebrate our victories before they happen.  We claim that our business is the best when we have barely been open for a few months. We angrily snap back at someone who has their voice raised at us. We don’t let time test us and increase our patience. This is something I also personally struggle with.

I am glad that we can always look to Jesus when it comes to life issues such as staying silent, being patient, and how to be tactful. Unlike other kings, Jesus stayed humble and did not have a grand entrance when He came to the earth. He did not have the best baby shower ever. He knew that if people were truly in tune with the Bible, they would know when He would be born. They didn’t need a TV ad or a public service announcement. Jesus let things be revealed in the proper time.

“After Peter’s confession, Jesus charged the disciples to tell no man that He was the Christ. This charge was given because of the determined opposition of the scribes and Pharisees. More than this, the people, and even the disciples, had so false a conception of the Messiah that a public announcement of Him would give them no true idea of His character or His work. But day by day He was revealing Himself to them as the Savior, and thus He desired to give them a true conception of Him as the Messiah” (The Desire of Ages, p.414).

Jesus did stay silent most of the time, especially when He was being crucified and the soldiers were telling Him to show them His true power. If Jesus did not stay silent, He would not be able to fulfill the plan of salvation by dying on the cross. But God actually does not stay silent all the time; He speaks to us through the Bible and through nature. We just need to know where to look and see the signs of His unconditional love.

I have a friend in medical school who is a person of color. She feels intimidated to speak her mind when she is among white colleagues, yet what she has to say is an important contribution to the medical discussion. Fortunately, her professor encourages her to speak up and become an equal player in the field because she represents all the other people of color who wish to have a voice in the professional world. She shouldn’t be staying silent.

She also admitted that she filled her medical school application with exaggerations about herself and her achievements. She believed the more she sold herself the better chances she got of getting into the program, which fortunately she did get accepted. However, she was left with a heavy burden on her heart and did not feel right about “lying” of who she really was. With much prayer, weeks later she confronted the director and admitted the truth. She could be kicked out of the program as a consequence. But by God’s grace, they kept her in and now that heavy burden has lifted. She says that she should have trusted God more because if it is His will for her to be there, telling the truth would be enough. This experience is an instance where we should not stay silent.

Jesus was not silent either when He saw the temple being used as a marketplace where people were buying and selling inside. He made sure to correct that error immediately.

There’s a consequence when we decide to stay silent. When my mom’s bag was slashed in the Philippines and her wallet was stolen, no one said anything. Everyone just stayed quiet. We didn’t find out the bag was slashed until we got off the public transportation and needed money to ride another one. Those are times I wish someone stood up and told us or yelled to stop the robber. When we see people being bullied or abused or being mistreated, we need to step up and stop the situations or inform authorities. Staying silent will actually do more harm than good.

God has asked 2 other people to speak the truth on His behalf but they both refused. They stayed silent. God had to use a woman, Ellen Harmon now known as Ellen G. White to become His prophet. When God asks us to do something and we stay silent, He will take away our talents and privileges and give them to someone else. We should always speak up for God.

Although Jesus Himself stayed silent during His three and a half years of ministry, His actions are loud and clear about how much He loves us and what His will for us is. If we seek Him diligently, He shall be found. We have the Bible as His Word to guide us into the right path. We should not stay silent about the truth but share it with others.