Pruning is a season that makes your future very cloudy but the main purpose of it is to prepare you to do greater things for HIM.

JOHN 15: 1-7

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Disclaimer: What I’m gonna write does not dishonor cultures or a group of people. So do not take it personally because my intentions is not to go against them.

Let me start with my family background, I grew up in a typical Filipino- Chinese CHRISTIAN family wherein we follow traditions and family culture.  One good simple tradition is when we would wear red polos and blouses when someone older from our relative/ parents  celebrates his or her birthday as a sign of respect to the celebrant. It symbolizes a lot of good things if we wear red when we celebrate someone’s birthday. We also give “angpao”/ aguinaldos that denominates in P1200, P2400 and so forth, the higher the value the better.  We have good traditions and family culture that shows love, respect, generosity, and compassion. The acts of these traditions are not biblical in essence and we cannot find it in the BIBLE but the values and the motives of the heart inside the ACTIONS can be adequately implied in the verses LOVE one another in John 13:34 or Children obey and honor your parents as it says in Ephesians 6:1-2. It shows the love for others.

Now there are famous traditions and cultures that are some what controversial and trending, one good example is the “racial intermarriage”. A Filipino- Chinese person should not marry a  Filipino. This has been a widespread problem to many couples and I’m gonna share to you my stand. Let us say that the guy is prepared spiritually, financially, emotionally and physically. Like 99% of him says that he should get married or he is in love with this Filipina girl (READY AND GODLY WOMAN) but HIS parents doesn’t take approval of it or simply wants to disinherit him if they DISOBEY the TRADITION AND CULTURE OF THE FAMILY (VISE VERSA). What should I do then?

1. JESUS is more than CULTURE- When you make a MAJOR decision in your life, JESUS must be part of it. If God has given you the desire to pursue someone because you find her beautiful and Jesus is in her life then go for it no matter what her background or heritage is. Jesus is already your NEW culture.

2. JESUS is more than MONEY- If you are threaten to be disinherited, its not the end of your life, it will take you definitely out of your comfort zone and you will definitely learn grace and TAKING UP your own cross (MAGPAPAPAKO KA NA TALAGA SA KRUS). You ask the question why will you be disinherited? If it is selfish motives from your parents then  CHECK your heart and make sure not to rebel and dishonor them in return because you defeat the purpose of fighting for your love one instead you did it out of rebellion.

3. LIFE IS SO SHORT, LIVE IT RIGHT- There are seasons in life and there are things that you have to fight for in order for you to see and get your reward. You cannot simply be passive and take the easy road. We all go through the valley of shadow of death when we deal with this kind of problem and As MEN we need to take responsibility and MAN UP to undergo hardships and pruning. We could have lots of PLAN but JESUS still says it all. MAN-UP with JESUS.

4. GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE- The world offers great comfort if we abide in selfish motives. Fight for it and LEAVE and CLEAVE (Gen 2:24) and believe in faith that GOD will provide financially. God wants you to depend on him like a tree planted by the streams of water where your roots will be attached to HIM. (Jeremiah 17:5-9) (psalm 1)

5. PRAYER- Lift it all in prayer because GOD hears it all.

6. BE ACCOUNTABLE TO SOMEONE- Get a mentor who can encourage you and update someone who can correct and remind you of the GOSPEL.

7. THE AUDIENCE OF ONE- Who would you please? Galatians 2:11-21

Now, it is your choice and don’t blame your culture or love ones if you don’t get to marry or you screwed in your relationship. Its all up to you.

I thought that being a christian was something that would make me walk in a clear path were problems are easily solved and life would be much easier because I honor JESUS CHRIST. I was brought up with the mentality and teachings that being a good person who reads and obeys the basic foundations of the Bible would make me prosperous and secured in life. Yes, the bible has stated that God rewards to those who obey him but life is not gonna be full of roses. I felt I lacked something, I felt that my prayers were not reaching the roof, I felt that God was so far away, I felt that God is not answering my cry outs, I felt God was punishing me, I felt I have no favor from HIM. All of these came from my HEART. I didn’t realized how prideful my heart was towards him. I thought everything was performance based and that I needed to obey in order to received favor from the lord. No matter what I do, despite being a good man I fell short. I didn’t understand how christian life is… it seems everything that the bible says contradict itself. I serve in the church and for a season of time i felt burnout. I then made excuses not to meet my small group because it felt that no matter how many times I attend, my christian life was stagnant and had no fire. I had no direction in life and I don’t know what to do because it seems life was not favorable to me.

In Romans 8:5-8

⁵ People who are ruled by their desires think only of themselves. Everyone who is ruled by the Holy Spirit thinks about spiritual things. ⁶ If our minds are ruled by our desires, we will die. But if our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have life and peace. ⁷ Our desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God’s laws. ⁸ If we follow our desires, we cannot please God.

 

The BIBLE simply tells us that our desires if it is SELF-CENTERED, we will die spiritually. Even though we PRAY, WORSHIP, ATTEND CHURCH, READ THE BIBLE, PRAY 3X a DAY, DO GODLY STUFF, DISCIPLE OTHER PEOPLE, AND ABSTAIN FROM WORLDLY VICES which I do since I was a kid, it felt meaningless. I thought it could fill the emptiness that was inside of me.

After reading Romans 8. I was sincerely wrong. I missed the major point in life. JESUS CHRIST ALONE and the gospel of Christ can only fill the emptiness inside me. It was my heart that needs to be change and not the act. The intentions, the desires, the passion, the teachings, the wisdom, the culture, the MONEY, and the source of LIFE has to be all about JESUS!!!!!! It would be a journey in FAITH, year after year until GOD BREAKS ALL THAT MINDSET and SELFISHNESS inside our hearts.

My dear friends, we must not live to satisfy our desires. ¹³ If you do, you will die. But you will live, if by the help of God’s Spirit you say “No” to your desires. ¹⁴ Only those people who are led by God’s Spirit are his children. ¹⁵ God’s Spirit doesn’t make us slaves who are afraid of him. Instead, we become his children and call him our Father.^{[b] 16} God’s Spirit makes us sure that we are his children. ¹⁷ His Spirit lets us know that together with Christ we will be given what God has promised. We will also share in the glory of Christ, because we have suffered with him.

Romans 8:13-17

So don’t be a tired christian and let the spirit of God rule you.

This is my business story.

Mustard Seed

Have you heard of the song trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey? I’ve been asking God through my prayers and claiming verses from the Bible all his promises. A good life, wealth, peace, love, provision and a good future are some of the things that I want to have. God has provided bits and pieces and some are beyond my expectations. I have realized that it is a journey in a christian faith to walk in obedience and trust. God wants us to trust and obey to ENCOUNTER and REALIZE Grace. Akala ko ang grace is just something that we do not deserve and He still gives it to us. Yes it is true that Grace is an unmerited favor from the LORD but there is something more in that. My christian life was a roller coaster for the past 27 years. My life was pretty much good, no big problems, earning a decent income, I attended church weekly, I also sin weekly, I dishonor my parents, I rebel against GOD and I repent to GOD. Life was okay but I know that I’m still missing something and I realized that my walk with GOD is no fun or in short I wasn’t happy. I cannot define the difference between joy and happiness because I for myself have not experience long lasting JOY. It is just when I decided to surrender everything to GOD and let HIM take over in all areas of my life. I did that by trusting in HIM and not on myself or to any man on earth. I TRUSTED God through my relationship with my parents by accepting for who they are to me. I TRUSTED Him through my finances by tithing and surrendering my business to HIM. Whether I have good or bad sales during the day, I’m thankful because I know that He wants to change my heart and depend on HIM and not on myself and lastly, I trusted the WORD of God. As Jesus said,

²⁰ He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Even though our heart doesn’t have the desire to fully obey HIM because of the doubts that we have. Take that mustard seed of faith in an area of our life and let GOD do the moving of the mountains  then that is THE TIME we will ALL REALIZED and ENCOUNTER the word “GRACE”.

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.” – Anatole France

A lot of people are saying that dieting and losing weight is one of the hardest things to do in life and I kinda agree with that but maintaining your ideal or goal weight is much more difficult. I used to be so inspired in losing weight for my well being but it came to the point that I became lax and contented that I started to lose my discipline. I can relate my life to this struggle and it is very hard to overcome and be consistent with my mindset and focus.

Life has its ups and downs. It can bring us up and also pull us down. It can suck out the life from us if our source of strength is ourselves. No one can satisfy us but only one man- JESUS CHRIST. He has proclaimed over and over in the BIBLE that He is the source even at the lowest point of our lives.  So our minds, hearts and souls must be focus on Him alone. As it says in,

John 11:25-26

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

AND the main question is Do you BELIEVE this?

I visited Tiger city gym in Mandaluyong with my friend Tim Ang. Its been quite a while since I had an exercise workout. It was a new environment for me because I got used to the typical clean gym like slimmers and golds but this one is for real hardcore trainers.

hammering the tire

Here it goes!

kaboom!

I also tried the speed bag. Boy oh boy its soooooo hard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFBezW-Rx3w&list=UUe3IhZRbU3rd0lQCgoqyxlg&index=2&feature=plcp

To tell you honestly this was my first time and NAGAKALAT talaga ako. I almost puke due to the intense workout and had a moment of dizziness. Its not for weaklings. This is an extreme workout challenge for those who want to lose those fats and develop their overall core strength.

I will share to you 10 things that runs in my mind before approaching or engaging with a woman that I like when I was still in the torpe season.

1. I hope she will not reject me. (guy thinking at the back of his mind)

2. I don’t know what to say? shocks LORD HELP ME what will I say?!? (hmmm good morning?)

3. I cannot say that she is so beautiful. She might think that I will court her na then I might get rejected. (doesn’t appreciate her at all)

4. She is so beautiful, my heart is beating so fast! I can’t control myself. Should I say I like her na? I think its not yet time. (Does a toss coin if he will talk to the girl)

5. I’m so shy. (Does not approach the girl but just observe her)

6. What if I ask her out? Then she rejects me? I think she doesn’t like me na. So I won’t ask her out muna. (Talagang hindi nag-ask out)

7. I think she doesn’t like me, so what shall I do for her to notice me? (walk pass her back several times)

8. Should I text her a personal message or a forward message or a joke? (sends her a forward message)

9. Should I sit next to her. (sits next to her but he doesn’t talk)

10. Bravely approaches the girl, sits with her, gives to her the LOVE letter and Flowers but HE giggles 80% of the time and  20% stares the ceiling and floor.

It is not wrong to be torpe….every guy has this season in life. It takes maturity to overcome this kind of mindset and if you are still in this season of life. I suggest to develop your relational skills first. Study and learn the character and behavior of each individual.

To effectively overcome being a torpe here is a blog from http://www.actlikeaman.org/pursue-girl/.