I love Blogger Stats!

Hi all! Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out what to do with this blog. I am so thrilled by blogger's new improved features and it's I find the Statistics page very informative and interesting. I simply love seeing where the hits are coming from. And also the easy-to-learn template features. I love how it's so easy to post videos from youtube as widgets, change layouts, change backgrounds, etc.

But I've gotten so used to my wordpress blog already >> doubtproof.wordpress.com << that I'm having difficulty transferring here. But the funny thing is that although I don't update this blog regularly, and I update my wordpress blog 0-3 times a day (low days have 0 posts, average days have at least 1 post), the hits on this blog has caught up with the hits on my wordpress. Well at least almost. Like 90% catching up and quickly increasing. But then again those hits may be accidental hits and will not really convert into regular readers or subscribers. So there there... But since I'm not really into blogging as a profession or 'career.' It's just a hobby, I try not to think about it too much right now. Got other things to do ya know... :)

But yes, gee thanks for dropping by. I love visitors! ;)

So Loved

 

 

Jacob ‘so loved’ Benjamin that he would die of grief should this youngest son’s life be taken from him. He also ‘so loved’ Joseph that from the time Joseph disappeared and had been assumed dead, Jacob never stopped grieving their separation.
After Joseph disappeared:

He mourned deeply for his son for a long time. ³⁵ His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “I will go to my grave mourning for my son,” he would say, and then he would weep. Genesis 37:34-35, NLT

Judah speaks about ‘the boy’ Benjamin:

“And now, my lord, I cannot go back to my father without the boy. Our father’s life is bound up in the boy’s life. ³¹ If he sees that the boy is not with us, our father will die. We, your servants, will indeed be responsible for sending that grieving, white-haired man to his grave…” Genesis 44:30-31, NLT (emphasis mine)

I could not help but weep after reading this last passage about Jacob’s affections for Benjamin. His life was bound up in the boy’s life, the Scripture said, that he believed he would die should he lose his son! How closely knit to a son could a father get? Certainly not closer than Jacob was to Benjamin! What tenderness and fragility in an old man’s heart! He must have adored the kid and every moment of it’s life that the thought of losing him would mean being ripped apart.

That moment, Father God came speaking to me with the same tenderness of Jacob’s heart. I love my Son this way. I love each and every son I have this way. I love each and every daughter I have created, this way. Do you understand it now Riz?


I literally sobbed feeling the intensity of God’s pain and affection, the longing of my Abba Father, to redeem his lost children, blinded by sin, unaware of a love so unconditional and tender. If you want to preach the Gospel Riza, do understand this. Do you now understand?
For the first time in my life, I think I finally began to understand. For a moment I stopped weeping and wiped my tears, then I wept again, stopped, then wept again. It felt as though God would want to reveal more but my tiny heart felt like it could no longer contain the intense passion of His pure love for His children.

O God I want to understand more, but my heart seemed so full of other things. Help me make room for more of You in my heart. Help me make room for the souls you want to save.

¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16, NIV (emphasis mine)

My love it satisfies, my blood it gives you life. My mercy far outweighs your need. My justice never fails. My faithfulness prevails. My strength is poured out for the weak. There is a river… that never runs dry… My cup runneth over, the wellspring of life, oh it satisfies! — Wellspring by Audra Lynn

Light the Candlesticks, My Priest

by Obed dela Cruz

Strength is frail when darkness wraps the mortal frame of clay
And keeps the dream far away from thoughts of the serene.
Let this spark fail not anymore to shine like the day
And show the broken the fields of roses and the green.
Light the Candlesticks, my Priest.

They found no more pleasure when barrels of wine went dry,
Nothing left to fill empty cups of silver and gold.
Lost in their desires, they go to the streets with a cry,
The unending wail of men for heat over the cold.
Light the Candlesticks, my Priest.

And they rush towards the wedding with their lamps and oil.
Patiently they waited for their time to celebrate.
But when they fell asleep at the bosom of cursed soil,
Their blaze of passion turned cold and they learned it too late.
Light the Candlesticks, my Priest.

Worldly days are glowing dim, surrendered to the night;
Cold and silent in the absence of all the whispers,
But my heart is yearning more than tales of shining light,
It yearns warmth and hope that can answer all the prayers.
Light the Candlesticks, my Priest.

http://www.poemhunter.com/obed-dela-cruz
http://www.poetfreak.com/poet/ObedDelaCruz
http://obed-dela-cruz.blogspot.com/
http://princeobed.multiply.com/
Copyright © 2010 by Prince Obed de la Cruz
(October 25, 2010; Marikina City)
(This poem is written by PRINCE OBED de la CRUZ. To use it in a proper manner, please email him at princeobed_dc@yahoo.com)
---
I'm so proud to say I know the guy who wrote this poem. Go Obed, stay inspired and in love with God. :)

wanted: recklessness

I thought I’d browse through wordpress tonight. I keyed in these words: Christian, Jesus Revolution. I stumbled upon a blog entry (Give Me Scotland) that quoted these striking words. Just wanna share:

What is, therefore our task today? Shall I answer: ‘faith, hope, and love?’ that sounds beautiful. But I would say—courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature…we lack…the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the kingdom of God. And remember the signs of the Christian church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish…but never the chameleon.

Laughter

Abraham’s faith, I think, is an awesome thing. But for Sarah, the promise — although spoken by God Himself, the un-created of the universe — could not but cause her to laugh silently, literally questioning the possibility of God’s promise being fulfilled and at the same time knowing that she cannot blatantly confess her doubt because she would be showing disrespect to the Almighty God.

So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master — my husband– is also so old?” – Genesis 18:12, NLT

Many times we are like this, we think we understand that God is God, that He is Yahweh, that all things are possible with Him. We think we understand. But beneath our breathe, we are laughing silently or even unconsciously. We have the appearance of faith but inwardly we are losing our grip on God-dependence.

Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.”

But the Lord said, “No, you did laugh.” – Genesis 18:14b, NLT

But take heart, God did not give up on Sarah! For exactly a year after she laughed, she laughed again. This time, an inward shift had changed the laughter that flows from her belly because after more than a decade of waiting, God had finally given her the promised son.

“God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me.” Genesis 21:6

This is Sarah saying, how could I have doubted God? Who would have thought this were possible? But God is God and I now understand that He is able. Until now, I did not understand. But by His grace, I see that He does love me enough to cause this miracle in my life.

But how much better it would be if we would just choose to have faith like Abraham? I am reminded of Jesus’ words to Thomas, “blessed are those who have not seen but believed” and the Bible’s words about Abraham, “Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.” (Genesis 15:6)

Because as Jason Upton’s song puts it, “When the time comes, I will be the one asking why… Why did I ever doubt You?” (When the Time Comes)

For more blog entries, check my regularly updated blog: doubtproof.wordpress.com

Your Great 'What If'

Tonight, my music video hopping has led me back to some Jon Mclaughlin poetry while listening to (and eventually reading) his song Indiana. I love this kind of poetry and music that takes you to places in your heart that straightforward words otherwise would not have been able to. We all have our Indianas. Are you still holding on to yours? What is your great 'what if' in life? We will all face battles. I just hope it is not the battle to convince ourselves that we are going to lose, even before we have tried to fight the war.

So it's probably best I stay in Indiana
Just dreaming of the world as it should be
Where every day is a battle to convince myself
I'm glad she never fell in love with me --- Indiana

Indiana Lyrics by Jon McLaughlin

The Violence of Affection-based Obedience

Note: Phrases in italics are quotes from the podcast message.

I am thinking we must put teeth to our PASSION.

As I write this blog, a myriad of things are running amok in my mind and heart. I hope I get them organized enough to be able to write something with sense. I have just listened to a highly intense and stirring podcast message from www.ibethelmedia.org 's Kris Vallontton >> Babies Are Dying To Come Out. It is basically an exhortation exposing the philosophical and spiritual roots of abortion but it also tackles in it's intro the role of the Church in advancing God's Kingdom, how we cannot and must not accept the mediocre plight of simply being "church goers" but rather we must be Kingdom advance-rs.

There is a shift that is happening and it's a shift that we must advocate, that of shifting from coming to church to being the Church. To some of you, it might sound familiar but unfortunately, to others, it's absolutely new. That is why we who have come to an understanding of this must not take lightly the task of shaking up the rest of us for us to sober up to this reality.

You will know how close you are to the palace by how you respond to injustice! I think it is not just for me but for a handful of us (more specifically those people who, like me, have shared in the revelation of Affection-based Obedience by listening to an audio preaching we have been passing around online). God has been intensifying and establishing the right concept and even theology of Agape or God's unconditional love. We are being stirred up, gunned down, all-wrecked by an Encounter with the pure Love that casts out fear. A response seems but imperative.

Stoked4Life: The Extreme Gene

Stoked4Life: The Extreme Gene: "In 2007 a student named Eric Peabody from the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo wrote an interesting article about th..."