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  • Trust God no matter what?

    Read: Psalm 86

     1 Hear me, LORD, and answer me, 
       for I am poor and needy. 
    2 Guard my life, for I am faithful to you; 
       save your servant who trusts in you. 
    You are my God; 3 have mercy on me, Lord, 
       for I call to you all day long. 
    4 Bring joy to your servant, Lord, 
       for I put my trust in you.

    Will the LORD hear and answer the poor and needy that cries for help? Will the LORD guard and save the life of the one that serves and trusts in him? Will the Lord have mercy on the one that acknowledges him as God and calls to him “all day long”? Will the Lord bring joy to his servant?

    I wish I can say a resounding yes to all these  questions.  But what if the answer to each of these questions is, Sometimes the Lord answers our prayer, sometimes he does not? Would we continue to  trust the Lord?

    May we learn to trust God like Daniel’s three friends who defied King Nebuchadnezzar and whose lives were threatened because they did not serve and worship the king’s gods. They said to him,  “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18).

    Yes, trust God no matter what.

  • Lonely Girl

    Dear Kuya Ed,

    I must confess: I am a shopaholic. I always feel the urge to go shopping. Yesterday I came home from my Black Fiday shopping spree with a lot of stuff. But I still feel empty. I don’t understand. What’s missing in my life?

    Sincerely,

    Lonely Girl

    ……………….

    Dear Lonely Girl,

    No material thing can fill the void in your heart. Don’t get me wrong, we all need things. In fact my company helps people become successful so they can afford to buy stuff. But to really satisfy us, we need something better… deeper–a relationship with our Creator. It is by worshiping and loving God, not things, that we can have a meaningful and joyful life. Have faith in Jesus for he came so that we “may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV).

    For more help, read my reflection, “Image in your heart…”

    _

    Image in your heart

    Blessings,

    Kuya Ed

  • Image in your heart

    Read: Deuteronomy 4:32-40

    32 Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

    These rhetorical questions are meant to remind God’s people that the LORD is God, that there is no other God but the LORD, and therefore they must be wholly devoted to the LORD their God.  Unfortunately, however, God’s people, then and now, often forget that the LORD is God,  and they often replace the LORD with the gods pagans worship.

    With all the stuff people brought home from their Black Friday shopping, I wouldn’t be surprised if all they have in mind are the new  things they possess, and I wouldn’t be surprised if God is not on their minds as they wake up this morning. But since you’re reading this, you are blessed!–you have not forgotten that the LORD is God, not the latest Louis Vuitton bag or the new Rolex Datejust Special Edition.

    If you want to know what you worship looks like, just look at the image in your heart. 

  • How to make your BLACK Friday COLORFUL

    Go shopping in the wee hours of the DARK BLACK Friday morning until your feet turn BLUE for walking and waiting and your eyes RED for lack of sleep. Then, when too tired to go on shopping, go home to your WHITE painted home and try what you’ve purchased on.

    See if the little PINK bikini fits despite the big heap of the rich mashed WHITE potato that the butter made YELLOW but you ate as if there was no tomorrow. Also try on the synthetic pair of BROWN winter boots despite the aching SWOLLEN RED foot.Twitty

    When you’ve done that, you may slip under the PURPLE comforter that covers your  bed while the image of little YELLOW Twitty on your BEIGE bedroom wall watches over you while you sleep until the day turns GRAY.

    But if you’re too tired to do any of the above, or if this BLACK Friday has made you sad, just read my blog and I may be able to help turn your BLUE BLACK Friday RED and bright!

    To go there, please click here >> https://edfernandezdatsme.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/turning-black-friday-into-bright-friday/

  • Turning Black Friday into Bright Friday

    The world's largest motorized shopping cart, according to Guinness, measures almost 10 feet long, by 12 feet tall but 6 feet wide.

    Read: Psalm 42:1-11

     5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? 
       Why so disturbed within me? 
    Put your hope in God, 
       for I will yet praise him, 
       my Savior and my God.

    I know what it means to be downcast on Black Friday (BF). Let me re-tell the story that I told an FB (Facebook) friend about an early BF experience:

    My two boys and I were on our way home from a Thanksgiving celebration when we decided to go to Frys to experience–for the first time!–Black Friday shopping. We had no intention of buying anything. But while in the computer section, I asked a rep what was the best offer for a good laptop and she said, “The Lenovo for $150.” My son who makes his own desktop PC said it was a pretty good price, so we took our chance. We didn’t get it. After marching in a long line, we were told, “Sorry guys, no more.”

    No wonder it’s called Black Friday. But how can we turn BF into Bright Friday? The opening of Psalm 42 reads,

     1 As the deer pants for streams of water, 
       so my soul pants for you, my God. 
    2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 
       When can I go and meet with God? 

    If we thirst for material stuff, we may  feel sad. But if we thirst for God, we’ll surely feel glad.

  • What are you thankful for?

    Rizal Park, Norala by Sheela Mar Defensor Baclaan

    Read: 1 John 1:1-10

     3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.

     5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

    I grew up in Norala, a small town in southern Philippines. In the 60s we had no electricity. However, when it was full moon, our family and the people in our neighborhood would go out of our homes and enjoy the bright night. Adults sat around and chat while we, the children, played out in the streets. What a joyful fellowship!

    Give thanks for we have fellowship in the light!

  • Dear Kuya Ed…

    ?????

    Have troubles or problems? Questions?

     

     

     

     

     

    Maybe Kuya Ed can help. May tanong ka ba? Malay mo, baka may sagot si Kuya Ed. So, sige na…sulat na…

    Dear Kuya Ed…

  • Who you praise is who you please

    November 22, 2011

    Read: Psalm 107:31-43

    31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love 
       and his wonderful deeds for mankind. 
    32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people 
       and praise him in the council of the elders.

    The purpose of worship is for God’s people to express praise and gratitude to God together as a community. Serving in Las Vegas, a 24/7 city and where many believers have work on Sundays, I know how hard it is to gather people for worship. But if we believe that every good thing comes from God and that employers are just channels of God’s provision, then we make sure we make time to “exalt him in the assembly of the people.”

    Who you praise is who you please. 

  • Love your job?

    November 21, 2011

    Read: Exodus 31:1-5

    1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 5to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.

    Reading the first part of this passage (vs. 1-3) without knowing its setting–which is building a tabernacle–may give one the impression that a high ranking leader, perhaps a king or a prophet, has been chosen by the LORD. But Bezalel son of Uri is not chosen for any of those high ranking positions. He’s chosen for his skill as an artist–a craftsman expert in designing works of art made of precious metals and stones.

    Here’s what we learn from this: the Lord calls people he’s gifted with certain talents and abilities to use those gifts for his glory and honor. The person that uses God-given gifts to serve the Lord and the world is the happiest worker on earth!

    Serve the Lord with his gifts and be a gift to the world. 

  • We are not crusaders, we are peacemakers

    November 20, 2011

    Read: Matthew 5:9,38-48

    9 Blessed are the peacemakers, 
       for they will be called children of God.

    This part of The Beatitudes can easily be misunderstood in a certain way: that anyone who makes peace regardless of faith or despite the lack of it becomes and should be called a child of God. We need to be reminded that this as as well as the other beatitudes are teachings of Jesus addressed to those that originally followed him as well as all communities of faith that would later read Matthews’ gospel. Peacemaking serves to authenticate the  faith of those that follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

    So if  we consider ourselves followers of Jesus, we need to ask ourselves if peacemaking is part what we do. If people treat us with contempt and hostility because of our faith in Jesus, do we respond in such a way that the peacemaker in us shows? If we do, then we truly are children of God and deserve to be called as such.

    The Christian response to hostility is not retaliation but reconciliation. 

  • Does your life say ‘Thank you’?

    Read: Romans 5:12-19

    12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned….  15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 

    Have you done something that you think was great but nobody seems to notice it? It hurts, right? Well, it’s normal to feel bad when your hard work is unnoticed. But even if what you’ve done is really not that great I think people should be more appreciative. Appreciate the efforts, at least.

    But it seems that people are more quick to criticize than to appreciate.  And that’s sad. It’s more sad when it comes to the work of God in Christ. God gave Jesus who died on the cross so that people may have eternal life. Those of us who received the gift of God because of what Jesus did on the cross ought to be appreciative of God’s work in him. How? By praising and giving to God the best form of appreciation: our life.

    If you received eternal life you should say Thank you by giving your life.

  • A whale of a stinking-belly-of-a-huge-fish experience

    November 19, 2011

    Read: Jonah 1

    17 Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

    Kids love this story. Adults quarrel over whether or not the “huge fish” and Jonah’s experience in its belly was real. But that’s really beside the point. The point is that if you keep on running from the Lord or from what he tells you to do, then you deserve to be in some-stinking-belly-of-a-fish situation. If you are already in it, then do what Jonah did: pray, repent and obey God (see chapter 2).

    Trust and obey for that is the best way.

  • What do you do with a problem like Gloria?

    “The perceived battle between the executive and the judiciary on the case of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo worries some political analysts” (See in “Judiciary-executive battle worries analysts,” abs-cbnNEWS.com, Posted at 11/18/2011 11:16 PM | Updated as of 11/18/2011 11:16 PM)

    Whether or not there is reason to worry about the GMA case, I’m beginning to wonder whether too much attention is given to these and other similar cases that tend to focus on problems of the past. I understand that these can serve as warnings to politicians that are only interested in filling their pockets while most of the people they profess to serve are barely surviving.

    However, I feel that the government and other sectors interested in the development of the Philippine economy should divert people’s attention to solving the countries great economic problem. We all know that Philippine economy, for example, remains afloat because of the dollars being sent, especially by OFWs, to their families back home. From what I’ve gathered, almost three thousand Filipinos leave the country each day to work overseas, mainly in the Middle East.

    Now, what if in the future things will change? What if there will be no more need for Pinoy workers overseas? What will happen to the economy? Is there any plan in place? If nothing is being done today about this potential problem, then the economy is in great danger, and should this bad scenario take place, Pinoys hard lives will even get harder.

    As believers and Pinoys, what can we say and do to change things or, even better, make things happen?

  • Got idols?

    November 18, 2011

    Read: Acts 17:19-31

    “God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.”

    What did God do so that people might seek him? God created everything and “he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” But how do people respond? They create “gods” according to their own image and worship them.

    Today’s graven images are not only the ones carved out of wood or stone but also those ideas of God that do not resemble the God the Bible reveals. Why do people become unnecessarily creative in their conceptualization of God? Perhaps because they do it apart from a vital relationship with Christ by whom the world will be judged.

    To know God is to know Christ.

  • Do you do it “My Way”?

    Frank said, “I hate the song.”

    November 17, 2011

    Read: Matthew 4:18-22

     19“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

    That seems clear. But some people have come to Jesus not to follow him or to fish for people. They have come to Jesus because some preacher said doing so they can live their best life now!

    Yeah, I know,  Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”  (John 10:10). But I’ don’t think that a luxurious lifestyle–as in traveling in your own private jet–was what was in his mind when he said that.  Although desiring and working to become rich is not necessarily wrong, using Jesus as a formula to become one is.

    To come and follow Jesus, the Way, is to do it His way, not my way.