One Sunday in Manila

God is more concerned about your direction; not about your perfection.

Apart from the overwhelming worship experience, this line swiftly struck me with absolute precision. It cleared and lead me out from a clouded path that aren’t supposed to be existing. Roadblocks as we may tag it, we are sadly succumbed to some cynical belief systems that certainly corrupt God’s will in our lives.

I attended the afternoon service in VCF Malate and here are the three things that I learned while paying attention to the pastor’s message. By the way, the series was entitled, FAQ (frequently asked questions). It is so because the church wants to know the “frequently asked question” in Christianity. And what they statistically got, which was at the top of the chart, was the question of God’s will.

What is God’s will? How will we know that it is God’s will and not our own feeble will? What would be our action plan in knowing God’s will?

The youth pastor shared three compasses that would effectively help us in knowing God’s will for our lives:

1. God’s Spirit

2. God’s Word

3. God’s People

The first one is worship and stirring up the Holy Spirit in our lives as we live it out with God’s moral will. The second reminds us that God is a creative God but He is not always mystical. He can speak through simple and common circumstance. We can only do that if we read the bible. Lastly, if the first two cultivates the personal benefits of a person, the third one shows the effectivity of our Barnabas’s or partners in faith in knowing the will of God. Yes. They may be imperfect but they are, too, Spirit-led.

Above all, here’s the point of the matter:

Knowing God’s will means knowing God.

How to know God? Read your Bible. Pray everyday.

The Prayer of Jabez

It was just yesterday when I joined one of my leaders’ small group at a coffee shop.

As the circle exchanged their thoughts and practically their lives with each other, our life group leader ended up with a challenge. Well, it was more of a discipline. I guess. Whenever we do something straight for about 21 days, doing that thing will snap into a habit that will soon become part of our lifestyle. His challenge was this:

Pray the prayer of Jabez for six to eight weeks and list down the daily aspirations–needs and wants–in a green handy dandy notebook.

My response was like, “Bring it on!” I am more excited doing this along with friends. I already read about the Prayer of Jabez by Dr. Bruce H. Wilkinson when I was still in college. I practiced it for a season and I believe what I have right now is the result of that simple prayer. It somehow guided me and paved the way for blessings to come into my life.

This prayer has four key prayers. First is to bless me indeed. Second, to enlarge my territory. Third, to let God’s hand be with me. Fourth, to keep me from evil.

I believe that God will definitely work in our lives for the next few weeks. I’ll be posting the fruits of the prayer along the way and I also take this time to shoot this also as your challenge. Try it. It won’t hurt. It never will. In fact, you will just be surprised with what will happen. I tell you this, God is a God of surprises.

As your first step, read into this verse and start praying it. God bless you… indeed.

“And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.”

1 Chronicles 4:10