Better Than I

A song I recorded with good old sound recorder.  I hope it blesses you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSZm3nkF2nY

adoration

Adoration

I.

The trees lift their fruits as an offering

In the morning when they pray,

The birds are drawn to their nests

At the end of a tiresome day;

The fish of the sea explore the depths

Through rays that pierce the waves — 

Your love shines through the darkness

By your saving grace.

II.

The stars line up to adore You,

Their brightness as per appointment;

The skies, from end to end retell

A story of the atonement.

The moon lights the path of the wind

To find its way home in the valley —

My heart responds to Your Spirit,

My heart delights in your company.

III.

How you form a mountain from a pebble,

How you make a bouquet from a seedling,

How you stir the ocean from a ripple,

How you start from nothing to make

something!

How you take a piece of my suffering

To create a heart of rejoicing —

I am nothing apart from your doing

I am safe within your keeping!

IV.

Let me not rise like a sturdy mountain,

Let me curl small within Your palm,

Let me not soar if a reckless raven,

But lock me up in Your awesome plan.

If I rise, let me rise to follow You,

If I fall, let me fall to honor You;

Just let me say how much I love You —

Just let me stay in love with You.

V.

I will lift my eyes to the heavens,

When circumstances cloud my judgment.

I will seek Your guidance and acceptance

When my friends are no longer present.

In this song of adoration,

I will lift Your holy Name —

Father You deserve the best of me…

Thy glory will never, ever wane.

a prayer spoken on the narrow way

Father, I come before You recognizing Your Sovereignty, for You are God alone. You are mine, and I am Yours. Even before the world began, You have seen my unformed body, and loved me even then. You had all my cells numbered, and You knew me well. You are the shaper of my heart, and the life that flows through my body I have received from You. You created me for Your purpose and I will wait for the consummation of Your will in my being. Father, I look to You, for there is no other way than Your way. I trust in You for apart from You, there is no truth. I cling to You for in Your presence there is fullness of life. Only You can read the longings of my soul. Rebuke me if I am in the wrong, but strengthen me when I am called to do the right thing. Let me not be afraid of my enemies, for You have said that the victory is already won. Father, keep me. Deliver me from sin and soothe my spirit when it is longing for Your touch of grace. Imprison me in Your amazing love and never let me go. Thank You for delivering me from sin, and illumine my path that I may only walk in Your way. Many have turned aside, many have gone astray, but let my feet walk on the narrow way that leads to life everlasting. May the hearts that need release find freedom through Your power, and may the sick be healed before Your feet. Keep me attuned to the voice of the Holy Spirit, lead me beside the still waters for You are the Great Shepherd who shall not make me want. Lead me to them who need You. Father, lead me. In Jesus’ name…

Today

i am now a score and eight years old...

Every Season by Nicole Nordeman

I am Peter

I am Peter.

I am the impulsive, erratic and emotional disciple of Christ.  I was very bold when I said I would stand up for Him no matter what as we dined one evening.  I, too, was the one who denied Him thrice, by the way.

A coward like me deserved death, especially since I watched my Master being betrayed by His friends.  Of His friends, I was the worst, well, uhm, perhaps not the worst…  Judas Iscariot did something directly to have him arrested and convicted, but let’s just say that I was one of His accusers by denying Him, but nobody knew.   Everyone knew I was one cool disciple, and that was the hardest part.

My world stopped when that rooster crowed.   For others, their day had just begun, but as for me, I have slumped to self-detestation, and more than anything else, guilt for failing my Master.

So after what I did, after rehearsing the guilt in my mind like a broken CD, I decided to leave it all behind me and go fishing with my friends.  It was a fruitless night; we caught no fish.  A guy on the shore shouted, “Cast your net on the right side!”  We didn’t know who He was, but we obeyed.  We didn’t have a choice, did we?  Out of desperation we obeyed.  Surprisingly and miraculously, we caught fish!  Lots of it!   Miracle.  It was a miracle that only came from the Son of God… Could it be…?

I don’t know how it had escaped my friends, but I had a feeling… a strange feeling.  Master!  It was my Master! 

I jumped out of the boat and into the biting cold of the sea.  I swam to the shore to meet my Master.  I had to make amends, I thought.  If he shouted at me and yelled at me, or slapped me on the face like most people do when angry — I would accept it for I truly deserved such treatment.

“Lovest thou me?”  He asked.

“Yes, Lord…” I replied.  “Feed my lambs,” He said.

“Lovest thou me?” He asked again.  I gave the same reply as before.  “Feed my sheep,” He repeated.

I was in a quandary.  What was the questioning all about?  It was an opportune time to slap me on the face with something like, “Hey, Peter, you failed me… I counted on you yet you failed me…”, but He didn’t.  I wondered what the next question would be…

“Peter, lovest thou me?”

“Lord, You do know that I love You…”  I cried.  He truly doubted my love for Him, what with I had done,  I thought.

“Feed my sheep…”  He said, and then, “Follow me…”

I was filled with joy!  Jesus was asking me to follow Him!  It was forgiveness in its highest form — desiring to be His follower once again…

Like the rest of my friends who went fishing that night, Jesus wanted to promote me to become a fisher of man.  And to check on my loyalty, he wanted to hear that I loved Him three times, so I don’t betray Him thrice again…

Jesus said I would be crucified.  But I didn’t care about how my life would end, anymore.  That night at the plaza where I betrayed Him thrice, I had feared for my life, but no longer.  Jesus has clearly shown that He conquered even death.  Perdition had no dominion over Him…  As His follower, death shall also lose its power over me…

Now I know why Jesus asked about how deep my love was for Him.  If I were to really feed His flock and be a fisher of man, I would need LOVE above all else…  Following Him and feeding sheep could be a thankless job a lot of times…

I love Jesus.  That is the reason why I took the opportunity to preach the Gospel in Jerusalem one day. Thousands of people were converted and had a change of heart.  The authorities, however, did not like it one bit.  They didn’t understand why I chose to preach knowing that my end will be death.  But I chose to die for Him who died for me, even as I was the impulsive, erratic, and emotional disciple of my Master. 

I hope I am known in history as that disloyal disciple who after having been forgiven by the Master, chose also to die for Him, for I did die for Him.   It was an honor to give my life for Him, and eventually, live with Him in glory.

More Than These

 It is not that we love Him.  The ultimate question that shall be asked is this:  “Have you loved me more than all the attractions I have put before You?  Have you chosen me above anything else?”  The answer to this question will determine our place in eternity. 

The Bible is clear on this:  Men will be lovers of themselves.  Lovers of money.  Lovers of pleasure.  Lovers of fame.  Lovers of fortune.  Lovers of earthly wisdom.  But, we are mandated to be lovers of God.  And that’s not all.  We should not only love God, but love Him above ALL. 

 

A new year is coming, and this year we are in right now will soon become old like a shabby coat that needs to be replaced.  Just like this world and everything in it — life shall soon fade away, sooner or later.  Our earthly families will fade away, our wealth will fade away, our strengths, our abilities will fade away, but God’s word, Jesus Christ will not fade away.  Our heavenly family will not fade away.  So, unless we endeavor to make our earthly family become members of our heavenly family, the family of God, we will no longer meet them there.  Salvation makes us members of the heavenly family, the family of God, and He desires us to belong to Him through eternity.

 

The new year is coming.  The old one is fading.  But we have a hope that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.  We have a hope that His strength is sufficient for us.  Putting God first gives us success, and this success is not necessarily material or career or other gauges by which this world defines success, but it is being an heir to God’s blessings, richness, and protection — the wealth of our soul such as peace of mind, and the other fruits of the Spirit, in short, God’s presence — this for me is the measure of success:  When you have so much though in worldly standards, very little – because God is meeting every need or when you know so much, though being of humble education, because God is giving wisdom.

 

The new year is coming, but better years will come — if we trust in God’s word that this is not our final destination.  In this world, we will be tested and tried so we may be found worthy to live with Him there.  Trouble arises when we desire to stay. 

 

Our reward will be great in heaven that is why believers are mandated to set their affections on heavenly things and not on the things of the world.  As pilgrims looking for a better country, we are just passing through.  God did not purposely want to make our lives here comfortable, because we, in the first place do not belong here.  He desires us to live in order to see that place He has prepared for all who remains faithful.  I desire to see Him face to face, just as Moses desired. 

The Trusting Zone

 

It was a special day, I told Val.  He was going to play the guitar for the first time in church.  His eyes searched my face for mercy, but I stood my ground.  I wanted him to leave his comfort zone and give his best shot for the Lord.  I read him; he was ready but he needed a little push.  Except for the B minor that sounds a little muffled when he strums through it, I expected him to be just fine.  I remember the days when it was my first time.  The guitarist had gone to work in Manila, and for quite some time, we tried to sing accapella.  And we did it.  The choir was having fun with the style, but after a couple of weeks, we got tired of it and wanted to hear a guitar or a piano to accompany us.  Alas, the older guys in the youth group have gone to other places leaving us youngsters to take care of ourselves.  Somebody had to step up.  It had to be me.

 

That was what, like eight years ago.  Eight years ago, I only knew D, A, G, Em, Am, you know, those easy chords.  The song we sang “Any Road, Any Cost” which I played for the first time was a great song, but I ruined it.  I mean, the choir could really sing; but I failed them.  I remember feeling devastated, but I shouldn’t have.  I imagine how hard it must be for Val to go through this first in his life but I know he will be just fine.  And it was so that after a few Sundays, I was able to come out okay.  Just when I had begun to enjoy it, a new guy went to church and he was a prodigy, so I had to step down, happily as he stepped up. 

 

Val is a brave boy.  He is the eldest among his siblings, he’s a high school freshman, and as far as I can tell, has not yet reached the growth spurt stage that other boys of his age are already experiencing.  In fact, the guitar looked incongruous with his scrawniness, and his short fingers struggled with the C chord.  Well, I told myself, David was a very young boy when he defeated Goliath.  Actually, it was through the power of God that Goliath was defeated by a pale looking boy who was told to stay away from the battlegrounds as he took take care of his father’s sheep.  But God called David, and he couldn’t say no.  He was not sure if he will be eaten alive by the Philistine, but he was pretty sure that should he lose the fight, his head will be cut off by the giant.  Aside from that, at stake was the freedom of the descendants of Jacob.  If the Philistines won, they would enslave the Israelites.  If the Israelites won, then the Philistines will serve the Israelites.  It was that simple, but the seasoned soldiers were not brave enough to stand up when Goliath called for one champion among them. Who would, right?  The answer was simple:  Goliath was a fierce warrior, and add monstrous giant to that.  He wore a heavy armor, he was strong, he was brave, and he had a big mouth shouting over and over again his mockery against Israel.  King Saul sat anxiously on his throne for none of his subjects were brave enough to stand up.  His throne, of course, was at stake, too!  But there was a boy, David.  He was the youngest son of Jesse, and he was a shepherd boy. When God spoke to him, he trusted in the Lord. Besides, he understood what really was at stake:  God’s reputation.  He did not wish that the Philistines who deified Dagon will triumph over the Israelites who serve the one and only true God.  No wonder he is also called “the man after God’s own heart.”

 

So King Saul tried to dress the scrawny and pale looking David.  He gave armors, shields, the works, but David had to step out of them.  Aside from the fact that they were extremely heavy, David told King Saul that he could not use those which he had not tested before.  With a sling and some smooth river stones, the victory was won. 

 

 

The service was about to start.  Val was to play the guitar in one song, for the piano player would have to play the first one.  It turned out that the pianist backed out; for she told me she didn’t know the song.  There was no choice left for me.

 

I tried to recall what I said to Val to encourage him to play.  I trembled because though I have practiced the song, I wasn’t used to playing before people other than my family.  Compared to playing the guitar, I was absolutely amateurish on the piano!  I looked around; there was no one to bail me out.  It was then that I knew, I was stepping out of my comfort zone, too, and I couldn’t give up because Val was there, watching my reactions, and quitting would not be good for a teacher.  As a teacher, I had the responsibility to practice what I preach, and my credibility will be destroyed if I didn’t.  Not that I care about my credibility, but to this child who looks up to me, hey, I have a responsibility!  He smiled and took a deep breath.  Of course!  I reminded myself that we were not singing to entertain.  What God desires of me is a heart of worship.  True worship is singing even when the circumstances are not so good.  My hands were trembling.  They were not so good.  But I had a God to worship, so I ventured into the trusting zone, that zone where my independence ended and my total dependence upon Him began.  I smiled at Val for he was already there.  We had a silent agreement to do our best.  He smiled back.  I pounded the keys with my trembling hands and thanked God for the song.

You Are Mine

I have found a treasure

More precious than gold

More costly than diamonds

Its beauty untold

 

I have searched and found You

Waiting for me

You reached out to save me

From my iniquity

  

In the dark, You are the light

In the cold, You are my life

I am safe under the shelter

Of your everlasting wings.

 

If the wind shall blow strongly

In your arms I shall stay

If the waves come to strike me

Your hand will shield me as I pray

   

You’re light in my night

So I won’t stumble and fall

In the midst of all strife

You have conquered it all.

 

You are Jesus, my King

You are my Lord and my God

You are my everything

You are mine.

   

Though the storm is raging

You are the master of the wind

Your gentle voice is soothing

Every inch of my being

 

I will hold on to Your promise

That You will never leave me alone

Father keep me in your service

Father make me your own.

   

For You’re the light in my night

So I won’t stumble and fall

In the midst of all strife

You have conquered it all.

 

You are Jesus, my King

You are my Lord and my God

You are my everything

You are mine.

 

Singing from the Heart

 

 

one way by hillsong

you are my all in all by dennis jernigan

you shine by brian doerkson

 

 

 

The kids all love to sing, yes, but most of their voices would rather walk around and explore elsewhere than stay with the notes.

 

Oh well, so what?  Angels sing with their hearts foremost!  I believe my little angels will soon fine-tune their voices with the purity of their hearts.