BLESS ME

"Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request." 1 Chronicles 4:10 (NIV)

"Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!" 

How many of us have prayed this prayer.
It is most likely that many of us have cried out this prayer, or at least yearned for it, for God to BLESS us with much, with more than we can imagine, beyond our borders, to stretch our abilities and extend influence beyond what our eyes can see.

This prayer may mean many things to us - from increasing our influence, adding more ministry or tasks, expanding our reach. "LORD, I WANT TO DO MORE FOR YOU. MAKE ME MORE ______, GIVE ME MORE___."  We all want to increase our impact on what we do and on others, we want to take on larger tasks, a bigger mission or a wider reach.

And it can be a noble desire, especially if our motivation for asking this of God is for the benefit of the body of Christ.

With God, nothing is impossible. He can and will enlarge our territory, as he has done for Jabez.

But the question that needs to be asked first is this.

Are we right with God, as Jabez was?

Let us not forget that, "Jabez was more honourable than his brothers." (v9)

Before we desire to step up to the plate and cry out to God to BLESS US, we need to examine ourselves first.
Are we even honourable before God? Are we right with God?
Are we honourable before men? Are we living an honourable life - one of integrity?
Do we have an honourable heart - one that seeks to please God above all else?

Hmmm..."everything we do flows from our heart" (Proverbs 4:23)

So, do we find ourselves still in the same place, crying out to God, petitioning for his BLESSing? Are we there yet?

No? Then perhaps we ought to check the list above. Are we honourable in all three?
I understand how it can get exciting...to be on fire to receive God's blessing. But the fire must be from within, not just from the thought of greatness that we can achieve, even if it is for His glory. Yeah, it can be deceiving.

Or perhaps, the reason why that we do not experience our "enlarged territory", in our lives and ministry is because we still have gates in our lives that are closed, that we refuse to open and step out of. We know that when God calls, it often means getting out of our comfort zones, right? We can't move in our "enlarged territory" if we refuse to get out of our gated ones.

Receiving, experiencing and moving in the "enlarged territory" that He has graciously granted us to be in, requires that we STEP OUT. It requires that we OPEN UP. It requires that we LET GO.


Let's consider this.

Blessings,
Donna Hope




Image used with permission from https://en.clipdealer.com/photo/media/A:53278619

PUSO

KUMUSTA ANG PUSO MO?

(my #PUSOexperience at the PUSO CONFERENCE, held on August 20, 2019 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum)

Photo credit PUSO OFFICIAL

Nag attend.

Nabasag.

Nag worship.

Puso conference is nothing short of extraordinary.

In 1996, I attended a global conference called Target:World by Youth With A Mission. It was in that conference, in a humongous tent, in hot and humid Atlanta, Georgia where I committed my life to full-time ministry and to become a missionary. There, God met me, in mind, spirit and heart. I remember also crying out to God, with the desire in my heart to see this kind of a meeting happen again in my home country - the Philippines. My deepest desire, "Lord, make this happen in the homeland. Not anywhere else in the world where we will need to travel so far, crossing the sea and going through immigration, just to experience something like this." 

Through the years that followed, there were moments where I thought I would see it happen again, but they didn't pull through. At some point in 2000, a national congress we called NAYC went underway in planning, but it didn't pull through.

And so, it has been a long, long while since I've last attended a conference that spoke straight to the heart of those in attendance. 
Yung...whoosh, tagos sa puso! The one that hits on target.

Then PUSO Conference happened. Faythe, a young pastor, received this vision for PUSO two years before, and this had been brewing in her heart for that time. In December of 2018, she share this vision to me. It was exciting to think of it. I began to remember when I was in her place, sharing the vision back then about NAYC, to others. So I recognised the heart, the excitement, the hesitation and the yielding. But I also recognised the prospect of it not happening, as I remembered the hurdles that we had to face back in 2000. But I decided that I will not be like those before me, and will support this vision.

And alas, PUSO happened!

On August 20, 2019 history was made.

Photo credit PUSO OFFICIAL

HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT?

1. PUSO spoke to the head and to the heart, and to the spirit and to the soul.

PUSO lived up to its name...it went straight for the heart - front and centre, while at the same time, it ministered to the soul, and enlightened the mind. We do need conferences that speak to the heart as well...so that we can balance what we have in our heads J Knowledge is not enough. We need to connect the knowledge with our heart for a deeper application to life.

Didn't our Lord Himself say, we love Him with all our heart, mind and soul? 

2. PUSO had one focus.

Oftentimes, conferences make you want to go because of the foreign celebrity-status speakers. You'd know from promotions who the speakers are, and that would be a sure pull. However, promotions for the PUSO conference did not have speakers advertised. There was only one person who was the star and the centre of this conference and that was GOD. PUSO promotions was loud and clear who the celebrity speaker was - God. And during the event, it was clearly all about God. 

3. PUSO was local

Speakers were revealed only the moment they stepped on the stage. But what was applaudable was that the speakers were local, no foreign celebrity-status speaker, singer, testimony sharer. Every inch was Filipino. So proud to be Filipino seeing this!

4. PUSO follows through

While conferences reminds us, inspires us and even rebukes us, we often fall short of the mandate passed on to us when we get back to our realities. So soon after attending a conference, you begin to wonder, “What now?” 

"I have all this information and knowledge…what now?"

Here's the thing. Application is easier said than done, especially if a conference has simply scratched the surface. It just inspired you. That's it. You go out smiling from ear to ear....then what? Maybe it even rebuked, pricked on the surface a bit, but that's it. The next day, you are back to "business as usual".

But to really reach in, with a scalpel, to grab the heart and pump it to beat to God’s heartbeat again! We need this. We need the heart surgery, even if it takes a lot of them to transpire. Because we have been so used to piling all the knowledge in our head, and not letting it really reach the depths of our heart, we end up like aliens with big heads strutting around in false self-confidence, too slow to move or respond to the realities of the people around us. Kasi ang bigat na ng ulo!

           

Here's the thing. Oftentimes, we park it in the head. We become content with that. It's comfortable, thus we are not moved. But Jesus wants us to be moved and He wants us to move - mind and heart! 

Because when we do not let the teachings of Jesus move in our hearts then we end up...

...doing ministry like a robot. Power on, power off.

...running the church like a stage or events manager.

...leading in worship, but simply performing for the crowd..

...preaching the Word, which never ministered to yourself first.

...leading a small group Bible study/discipleship, but not being transparent because you're the leader. Just them, not me.

...lacking in passion because the Holy Spirit is not with you in the process.

All head, no heart.

Now here is my experience.

BROKEN

Basag.

I entered the venue expectant that the Lord will move. He always does, I know it, without a doubt. 

Photo credit Jamey Santiago-Manual

December 2018, when the PUSO vision was shared to me by a young, vibrant, passionately on fire for God lady named Faythe. PUSO was but a mustard-seed vision that God had planted in her heart a few months before.

Dun palang naiyak na ang puso ko, the Lord stirred my heart and soul. This is gonna be big, sabi ng Lord, because I (God) will be there!

Lord, gusto ko yan. Work mo yan eh. Sali ako.

I offer myself, my skills, my abilities and my time for this. 

I want to be a part of your work!

"Sure", sabi ni Lord. 

Pero pakiramdam ko, nung sinabi nya yun, may sine-set up sya sa akin. For more than seven months, di mapakali ang puso ko kasi alam ko may gagawin si Lord sa akin. 
I just didn't know what.

Excited, expectant pero kinakabahan ako.

Sure enough, God did something sa akin that night.

He broke me, again. Binasag nya ulit ako…ang puso ko... kasi “kulang pa 'yan anak” (sa words ni Bishop Manny Santiago). "Kulang pa ang pagkabasag ng puso mo for the lost, for the oppressed and for this nation. Kulang pa 'yan anak."

Kaya ayun, inilatag ako ni Lord sa operating table for an open heart surgery.

Not to give me a healed heart, for my heart was healed. I had no  hurts then that needed major healing. But nonetheless, I needed a heart surgery! 
I needed a TRANSFORMED HEART.

Not a healed heart, but a transformed heart!

Woah!!! What? 

Yes, that's what I said to God, too, when I began to fully realize what He was saying.

You see, we may have had our hearts healed - of all the pain and bitterness of the past. Problem is, we have spoiled  our hearts, we have protected it too much from being broken again - even by God! We have kept our hearts in a double-lock safe where no one can ever ever touch it again lest it might get hurt again. Yeah. Kaya lang naging matigas na. It has become calloused. 

The Lord said, "I healed you not to fix you, but to use you for others!"

"God has to break you to build you."

Healed hearts become whole, happy and content. But transformed hearts cannot help but do more with their wholeness and happiness. 

Transformed hearts will begin to feel broken again, but this time for others. 

Transformed hearts will cry again in pain, but for others. 

Transformed hearts will not rest, won't yet be happy and content because until there is a single soul left in this earth that is not won for Him. 

God still mourns. Basag na basag ang puso ng Diyos, kaya ganun din dapat tayo.

Jesus still bears the wounds from His suffering on the cross because the world still suffers.

LOST ALL HOPE

Yung, totoo? 

Dumating ako sa point na nawalan na ako ng pag-asa para mundong ito. Mahirap aminin, but I have lost hope. “Dumating ka na Lord, wala na eh, wala nang pag-asa!” Wherever I look, I see despair, lost beyond redemption. 

Nawalan na din ako ng pag-asa sa kapwa kong mga Kristyano. Nananakit lang eh. Nasaan ang pagbababago na sinasabi nilang ginawa ng Diyos sa buhay nila?

Nangunguna pa sa paninira ng kapwa kristyano, sa kasakiman, puno ng inggit. Porke’t “saved”, kung maka-judge wagas! Pastors backstabbing other pastors. Brothers and sisters in Christ daw, pero attacking one another naman ang hobby, 

Kaya tuwang-tuwa ang kaaway, kasi hindi na nya kelangan mag-effort. Madali na mag-focus nalang sya sa patuloy na paninira sa mundo, kasi yung mga dapat maging agents of peace and reconciliation, messengers of God's love and Gospel ay busy sa sariling mga petty issues. 

God reminded me that night… there is hope, my child! 

Hope is in your heart, you just need this surgery to open it up again for hope to come out, because it has been covered by too much of the good things in life.

God rebuked me...because my heartbeat for what he loves was slowly waning. 

Photo credit PUSO OFFICIAL

And my lenses were cloudy. I lay on the operation table for not just a heart surgery but an eye surgery as well.

Matthew 9:36, they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ... My people are lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, causing them to roam.

How is your heart?

What does our heart beat for? 

PUSO! It takes heart to have the Jesus-kind of compassion.

To get others to JESUS...

Love is the bridge.

Gospel is the answer.

Puso for God.

Puso for others.

Puso for the world.

PUSO.

      

P.S. Okay. I just have to mention the logistics of this conference which was ahhhhmazing! Kahit basag na basag na ako, at may mga hagulgol moments, hindi ko maiwasang mapansin ang sobrang ganda at excellent ng production itself. Sabi nga ni Ruther Urquia, “The Biggest all-filipino organized Christian conference” Woohoo!!!

Kristyanong Pinoy! Kaya natin basagin ang spirit of mediocrity and the spirit of “pwede na yan”, and offer the best of the best, our most excellent offering to our God! Enough of the “walang-kasi-budget-poor-lang-ang-church-and-ang-christians mindset and deliver a world-class conference that will in itself be a testimony to the world who will say “ay Christian pala gumawa nyan? Ang galing!’ and could cause them to say “I want to be part of that”. 
After all, it is not about money or budget, really. The soul that gets saved is priceless, and that could could be yours.

Photo credit PUSO OFFICIAL

BROKEN

Looking at our own brokenness can be unnerving and scary. But it is through the depths of our own brokenness that God can use each one of us to be a gift to another broken heart.

God alone makes us enough.
God alone can turn our brokenness into wholeness, to give to the broken-hearted.

It is in healing that we will find healing. Our every act can be an act of hope, to be the broken vessel that brings love, making a broken world know more of Him who loves each broken piece that is you and me.

Do you remember when God brought you out of the pit, lifted your heavy burden from your shoulders, held your hand or embraced you, spoke to your heart, carried you through troubles and walked with you through trials?

Do you remember that He was betrayed - for you; that He was beaten and bruised beyond what anyone could bear - for you; that he was sent to die a gruesome death, a convict's death even though He was innocent - for you.


Do you remember that you are nothing - yet you are the apple of God's eye.
You are worthless - yet He embraced you and claimed you as His heir.
You are broken - yet He is restoring you back into perfection because you are created in His image!

Perhaps the reason why we are where we are - hopeless, anxious, worried, fearful, disheartened, drained, defeated, angry, bitter...BROKEN is because we don't remember.

Remembering is imperative to joy, and joy can be found in gratitude.
One of the greatest enemies of hope is forgetting God's promises.

Let us learn from Jeremiah (Lamentations 3:21-22), who lived in the midst of a very broken people that rendered himself broken as well. Yet he drew his strength from his hope in Yahweh and resolved to "call to mind". 

This I call to mind.

I will remember.

Hope

This I call to mind, therefore I will have hope:
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:21-23)

So here's the thing.
HOPE is not a passive stance. 
It is not a mere waiting for HOPE to come and empower our weary, hopeless heart.
Hope requires an action - a "call to mind", an act of remembering
Therefore, bring yourself to REMEMBER!


HOPE is not simply about waiting for God to do something. Yes, we know that He is sovereign but tGod requires that we actively call to mind and be aware of His power and sovereignty in an ACTIVE way...not in a wait-and-see-mode.

What did the writer of Lamentations say to call to mind?
God's great love...
that is new every morning!!!

Wow! Sit on this thought for a while, will you? Because it is utterly amazing!

1 Peter 5:7 says that God cares for you and I!

We begin to have hope in this seemingly hopeless life or situation when we CALL TO MIND God's GREAT LOVE for us.

So, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

DT