One Week

Please don’t get me wrong, I love this quote and I do appreciate the message that it gives. But I felt the urge to write a different perspective about it.

Yes, it’s true that without God, we’ll have those days. But even if God is with me, I could be certain that I would still sin (sinday), mourn (mournday) and cry (tearsday), there will be days when I would feel wasted (wasteday), times when I would thirst (thirstday), days when I would be involved in a fight (fightday), times when my heart would be shattered (shatterday) and a week when I would feel weak. Whether you are a believer of Christ or not, you are vulnerable to have such imperfect days. And not just you.. even me.. all of.. even those who claim to be strong Christians. However, I realized that it was during these times and days of the week - from sinday to shatterday - when I was weak, that I've seen and experienced God in a different way. It wasn't easy but it's worth it. And right now, my goal is not simply having a “good and perfect day”, but having a deeper relationship with God.

SINDAY

Even with a perfect God, as an imperfect human being – with flaws and weaknesses – whose living an imperfect life in an imperfect world, I know for a certain that there would be those days when I would sin (everyday to be exact). Until that day when God would finally get me out of this fleshly body, no matter how hard I try, I would still sin. But what is more important for me is the fact that I am a sinner saved by God’s grace. Like what I always say, if God knew that I could be perfect on my own - be without blemish or even a spot of sin - then there wouldn’t be a need for Him to send His Son to die on the cross for me. Why go through all those suffering for nothing? And if I wouldn’t admit that I am a sinner, then there is no right for me to say that I am a Christian either. What do I need Christ, as my Savior for if I can save myself from my sins? Though I am not saying that we should deliberately sin for the sake of it (because although we can never attain perfection, we still need to struggle to stop sinning), I could say that it is when I realized how sinner I have been that I was able to truly see and experience God’s amazing grace. The good thing about being a Christian though is the fact that I don’t need to change on my own. I know that God will continue to change me and renew my mind every single day, until I became the person that He intended me to be.

MOURNDAY AND TEARSDAY

I put these two “days” together for I believe that they could go in the same category. When we mourn, most likely, we’ll cry, and sometimes, we cry because we are mourning - though some people may have the power to conceal their tears when they mourn and there could be other reasons why we are weeping besides mourning.

There are two love letters from God that I received for these two “days”.

"Dear Mournday,

I know that it won’t be easy for you but please do remember that you are blessed.

'Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.' (Matthew 5:4) Remember that I am a God of comfort and in me you can take refuge."

"Dear Tearsday,

I know that your face maybe flooded with tears but don’t forget,

'I have kept track of all your sorrows, I have collected your tears in a bottle. I have recorded each one in your book.” (Psalm 56:8)'

I value you and your tears. They won’t come in vain. Remember that I have deeper purpose for your pain and I will be with you as you go through with it."

We should also realize the fact that there are things that we can only learn when we are in pain. Pain can make us wise if we can respond to it wisely. A painless life can actually make us dumb.

WASTEDAY

I know that there’d be days that I may feel wasted or there may be times that I may feel like I wasted my day. But God is a God who recycles. Also He said it in His word, “All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him.” (2 Samuel 14:14)

Life has no room for regrets, only lesson to be learned. But I am certain that there is never a wasted life, if one will only learn how to surrender it to God. God has a purpose for everything. If we’ll trust in Him, we could be certain that He can still use what seems to be a wasted day or a wasted life for His glory. Remember, good fertilizers that brought about wonderful flowers are actually “wastes”.

THIRSTDAY

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. (John 7:37-38)

There’s actually a good thing about being thirsty. Pastor Timothy Pantoja, in one of his sermon said, that it is during those times that we are hungry that all food seems to taste good, and those times when we are really thirsty that we actually savor drinking water.

In life, it is during those times when we thirst that we could actually appreciate the living water that God offers. During our good days, we have to admit that there were times when we (intentional or unintentional) take God for granted. But it’s when we realize our need for Him that we actually seek Him, and learn that without Him, we can do nothing.

FIGHTDAY

Most people believe that Christians are doormat who doesn’t know how to fight back.. always meek, always gentle and most of all, always tolerating. But that’s a lie. Christians actually know how to fight back, when to fight back, who to fight, what are they fighting for, know how to stand on their ground, and most of all, when to retreat and go to God as their hiding place. And like what Pastor Armando Pantoja said, Christian life is not about “tolerance”.  A wise Christian won’t tolerate people without disciplining, correcting or rebuking them (which could actually cause them to be involved in an argument or fight).

In another context, we are in a constant battle and surely we have to fight. Do you know that some of God’s people in the Old testament are actually warriors? Not to discourage anybody but it’s a fact that even God’s people actually kill and murder in the Old testament. However, in Christ, God didn’t literally expect us to kill for His Name sake but God had called us to be His warriors in the spiritual realm, not leaving us defenseless, but providing us with the right armor that we need.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

(And another weapon that God had provided is in this one word.. “prayer”.)

 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

Ephesians 6:10-18

Although I would admit that as imperfect people with differences, Christians could also be unreasonable and fight for the wrong reasons. Conflicts may still arise in their midst together with their prides. In one of the seminars that I have attended, the word “conflict” always has a negative connotation. When we hear the word conflict, we may think of it as “problems, arguments, fight, misunderstanding, anger, etc…” But we fail to see the other end of the spectrum. Conflict may also lead to resolution, understanding, reconciliation and most of all, there can be lessons learned. Though as God’s people, we could be unreasonable at times, it is still an opportunity for us to be open-minded and humble, be open to rebuke and have a willingness to correct our mistakes. Conflicts is just one of God’s instruments in order to build in us a new and better character.

SHATTERDAY

As fragile as we are, we are people who have 100% probability of being shattered and broken, in one form or another. Sometimes, we don’t even want to risk for the fear of being broken. But holding back and not taking any risk doesn’t mean we won’t have some sort of brokenness. The only people who won’t are dead people. We can’t deny the fact that no matter how good we think our life may be, our lives are consist of broken pieces that we won’t be able to fix or put back together.

But we shouldn’t forget that God is a God of restoration. He can rebuild what has been torn down and fix what has been broken. Also, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3) Brokenness, no matter in what form, when bring to the Potter’s hand can be turned and be molded into something beautiful. Indeed it may not be the same as it was before, (it will never be) but it will be something valuable.

ONE WEEK (WEAK)

“Seven days WITHOUT GOD makes one WEAK.” True. But certainly, as human beings, we all have weaknesses. And most people have the wrong connotation that Christians are strong people who don’t have any. So please hear me out,  we all do. The only difference that we have is we know who to turn to in times of weakness and distress and we know who is our “source of strength”. We may fail but He won’t. Actually, there were times when God would intentionally allow us to be weak. But it is during those times of weakness that we’ll learn how to depend on God’s grace and not on our own strength. In addition, our weakness can help us avoid the sin of pride. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10,

This boasting will do no good, but I must go on. I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord. I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows. Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.

That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses. If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message,  even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.  Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.  That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

A deeper spiritual life is not walking a life free from adversity, but it’s walking with God while we’re in it. God didn’t say that with Him, we will live a perfect, painless, struggle-free and complacent life. In heaven yes, but not here on earth. In reality, with or without God we will surely face sinday, tearsday, mournday, wasteday, thirstday, fightday, shatterday and still have weaknesses. God’s presence is not an indication of adversity’s absence. The difference is in knowing the purpose of our adversity and knowing how to respond to it right. As inevitable as it is, we shouldn’t look at adversity as all-negative. We have to understand that when we are walking with God,  there will be times that we have to risk walking on water despite the storm (like Peter in Matthew 14:22-33), remove our sandals and walk barefoot in the desert (like Moses in Exodus 3:1-6) and be led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested (like Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11). And unless we step out of our comfort zone and transcend beyond our adversities and conflicts, we won't grow. Adversity can either break us or mold us. To be soft and be able to bend makes us flexible, but to be hard-headed makes us breakable.

Also, I just realized that even those who refuse to walk with God can be good people, experiencing the same amount of happiness, good days and success as those who are walking with God. But no matter what they achieve, no matter how happy they may seem, if they miss God, they miss experiencing true joy and having a sense of purpose in life that only God can give. Every achievement goes in vain. And if God created a void in us that only He could fill, then even if we gain the whole world, we would still feel empty and unsatisfied.

The best journey in the days of our lives is not based on the kind of car that we are riding, but on the One who drives it. Stay in the passenger seat and let God drive. For He did not only invented our car, but He also provides the right road for us to take. He didn’t promise us an easy and comfortable journey, but He guarantees us eternal life.