Prayer: Is there power in it?

   Don't get me wrong, I believe in prayer. I support prayer meetings and I encourage people to pray. But I question the phrase "there is power in prayer". Is there really power in prayer? if so, where did this power came from?
   At the least, a prayer can be defined as a form of communication (to a deity). And communication by definition involves a sender (of the prayer) and a receiver (of the prayer). If that is the case, then either the sender of the prayer or the receiver of the prayer has the power to uphold the prayer.
   Here is my first point, prayer in itself has no power. Either the sender holds the power to make the receiver affirm the prayer positively or the receiver holds the power to positively affirm the prayer.
   Case #1. I was once diagnosed with Cholecystitis or an inflamed gallbladder. The severity of this inflamed gallbladder was as such that I needed an operation called cholecystectomy. They have to remove my gallbladder because it had lost its functionality and that it had already affected some of my internal organs (e.i. liver). Now being part of a church that hold prayer meetings and pray for prayer requests, I was enveloped with constant prayers from all over Canada (I do not know on the onset of the prayer request was sent worldwide). I was informed that the prayer items were 1.for my gall bladder to return to its normal state and 2. that no operation was needed. Weeks after, my doctor called me and said that my gall bladder showed some kind of recovery according to the test results that was done a few days earlier. I remember that day clearly, I was so happy that I drove around Fraser street area yelling and screaming "Thank you God". A testimony was in order and I gave one. But a few days later, I fell ill again and I went to my family doctor and he sent me to a clinic for some tests and found out, days later, that my gall bladder had shut down. My family doctor tried contacting the doctor that was in charge of my case and of course the doctor was on vacation. I guess it was urgent because my family doctor tapped into his "connections" and booked me for an operation at Mount St. Joseph in Kingsway. A few days later my gall bladder was removed.
   Case #2. A baby was born to a couple that I have strong ties with. The baby suffered major complications and had to be placed in a baby incubator in neo-natal intensive care unit. It was that bad. Once again, the whole church across Canada prayed for this baby. And to make the long story short, the baby is very active as of this moment and if you just look at the baby you won't even realized what she went through.
   Case #3. The church was praying hard for a church member that was diagnosed with cancer to have a complete recovery. This person showed signs of recuperation but in the end the cancer was too strong for her and she passed away.
   Three different cases but all three had one thing in common: prayer. If prayer has power, then all of the prayer requests in all of these cases should have been positively affirmed. That also erases the possibility that the sender has the power to make the receiver uphold the prayer. Which leaves us with this: the receiver alone has the power to make the prayers come to pass.
   Who is this receiver? In John 6:6, Jesus tells us to pray to the Father - God the Father. But we pray through the name of Jesus as commanded in John 14:13. But do realize that Jesus acknowledges that it is not His will that matters but the will of God. The Lord's prayer states that "Let your will be done..." and his prayer in Gethsemane adds "Not my will but your will be done." Additionally, I John 5:14 says that if we ask anything ACCORDING TO HIS WILL(author emphasis), then He hears us.
   Which leads me to my second point, our prayers are dependent solely on God. We have no power to dictate to God to answer our prayers according to our wishes. We may have all the faith in the world but if it is not His will then it will not happen or at least not yet. Take for instance the recent loss in the family of a very good friend and confidant of mine, the whole church prayed, both in Canada and the world, but in the end God's will still prevailed. Our assurance is not that our prayers will be met but that the will of God will come to pass for His glory in our prayers.
   And my third point is this, as we stand on the promises of God in the Bible, do make sure that we always acknowledge that God's will be done by making sure that our prayers are align with his thoughts. After all a communication can only happen if there is a "meeting of the minds". And since we DO NOT have the power to make God meet our minds, we have to meet His mind. Meaning His will is what we need to aim for in our prayers and not that our prayers are postively affirmed.
   ***As some of you may have known, I am in a journey to find truth. With this entry let me begin by declaring publicly that (I seriously believe) God is sovereign in all things***

A Musicianary to JIL Seattle!

About a week's time ago, I was blessed enough to be chosen to be a musiciannary to JIL Seattle. The whole day event was simply inspiring. On the offset I did realized that JIL Seattle is a Multicultural Church/Outreach much like the JIL MC here in BC. Although JIL Seattle is a young church/outreach they are getting stronger as the Lord allows them to be. Strong leadership and supporting workers made this outreach one of the most stable outreaches I recently went to and the fondest (I guess that's because of the outlets).The people are extremely friendly and of course Filipinoes where ever they maybe will always be hospitable (check out the video of Bro John Pucci below). The Holy Spirit manifested Himself on the get-go. A comment was made that there was a strong worshipping spirit with in the people. The worship was led by Brother Andy. The preaching of Bro John Pucci was another ace. His general topic was on Spiritual Warfare and he focused on the Good Fight benig the warriors of Jesus Christ. Bro John left us with three charges based on I Timothy 1:8-18 and those are 1. Join the battle 2. Have confidence 3. Be a strong witness.
After the service, we had lunch at Bro Tim's house and boy was I in for a treat. I tasted the juiciest, sweetest and crunchies peices of fried chicken ever. (Sorry church's chicken and KFC, you have been dethroned). Unfortuantely we don't have that kind of chicken here in Canada. (1 more reason to go back to Seattle... I don't even know the name of the restaurant). Anyway, after lunch we headed out to a park (of which the name escapes my mind) and prepared a place for the Acquaintance and Fellowship service which will be held on that same afternoon. During the service a powerful testimony was given by one of the brothers, Terry, how God saved him and his daughter from the salmonella virus and how God transformed him from a drunkard to a placard of God. Another testimony was given by one of the sisters, Mildred (the wife of Bro Tim), on how God fulfilled His promises to them financially. Pastora Malou shared about God's love in John 3:16 and reitirated the importance of having Jesus Christ as the only saviour who can lead them to heaven. The children also did a special number. The best part about all of these is the fact that out of the 40 who attended that service, 19 people were first timers. Woot Woot. Glory to God. I fellowshipped with the JIL Seattle after the service and learned some pretty interesting things about the outreach and how God manifested hinself to the church as a whole. (The spaghetti by the way is fantastic...) But as with everything else, all good things must come to an end here on this earth so at around 6 pm we left JIL Seattle blessed and encouraged by what God did and what God can do. God bless JIL Seattle!


I requested Bro John Pucci (JIL Seattle's Admin Head) to share a simple message to the JIL BC Brethrens... and in turned out to be a message not just for JIL BC but to all (Born-again) Filipino and Filipino-loving nations.

GPS Update!

Last Saturday, together with JAGS, we went to our GPS appointment and here are there v-log updates!


After 1 hour and 30 mins (also the pansit was fantastic)

I have decided pt2

It was March 25, 2009 when I decided to take on a journey, (click here to read that post). A journey that I know will lead me to the reality of a truth or truths that may put to rest some of the questions that have made my peripherals unusable. But I think I am going the wrong way or should I say heading the wrong direction. I would not say that I had the presupposition that Arminianism is true. But I would say this though that I am at least biased towards Arminianism. Not because that it could be the truth, it's just because that I have an innate Arminian belief. Innate in the sense that I have been Arminian all my life. And I haven't really done anything about it. So here's what I am going to do. I will continue on my journey as per decided but I will try to the best of my ability to be unbiased and to look at everything right down the centre. This is my stand at this very moment. I am neither Arminian nor am I a Calvinist. I am a searcher searching out for the truth and where ever that truth is, I will find it by God's grace. So whether I become an ardent Arminian or will roll with the Calvinist, I pray that I will find the truth! As only the truth can and will set me free!

Asses yourself...

If you are insulted, offended, mad, angry, upset affronted or dissed by the video below then something is wrong with you ...But if you are saddened by this fact, then let's talk!
But before you react, ask yourself this question first ""When I sing a worship song, does the song reflect who God is or is it about what I can do for Him? (i.e. I love you, I need you, though my world may fall I'll never let you go and the likes)

Th Courage to Stand!

Ex 20:7

7 You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, lightly or frivolously, in false affirmations or profanely]; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
AMP

   My thought exactly when I started hearing my colleagues at work using the name of Jesus as a form of "verbal expression". All I can do was to close my eyes and say a little prayer which goes something like this, "Lord, it hurts me every time I hear them use your name lightly. I esteem your name Jesus and yet they use your name as if your name has no power whatsoever. Tell me what should I do." That has been my prayer for roughly 2 months and the more I ask God every morning inside the washroom when I'm at work, the louder their voices become. Until I changed my prayer to simply "Lord, give me the discernment to know when the right time is, the wisdom to say the right words and the boldness to stand firm." I needed those since I will be talking to my superior. That was my battle cry. And then it happened. My assistant branch manager called me to her desk. She asked me if something has been bothering me lately, (the reason being - I left an important gadget unattended). We had our discussions and then she said "Please let me know if you have any more concerns." Right after that sentence I heard God said "Go Ahead". I discerned that that was the right time. So I composed myself and in my mind said "Lord wisdom please". The first words that came out of my mouth was "It hurts me every time I hear people use the name of Jesus blatantly in a form of expression." Then I continued with "I use that name every time I pray and I have a relationship with the owner of that Name. I am telling you this because as my immediate superior I should go to you first." And Praise the Living God, she responded with a smile, a nodded in agreement and said that she will try her best as it was her habit already. I gratefully thanked her for allowing me to voice out my concern. I also asked her to let the others know as well. And she said "Will do." What intense rush it was to stand firm in defending my faith in Jesus Christ and I can truly say that Jesus was there talking in my behalf.

Hands down...

    A few weeks ago, JAGS, GenisM and myself were privileged enough to listen to one of the top apologist and one of the most prolific speakers in theology around, Mr. Ravi Zacharias. The theme for the night was aptly called "Capture the wonder of Christmas" and the topic revolved around the question "Who is Jesus?"
    Well, who is Jesus, anyway? Sure I have received Him as my Lord and personal Saviour. I've been reading about Him in the Bible. Sure He is God but what makes Him different from all the other gods out there? What makes Jesus, well Jesus?
    Personally, this is a riveting question. I can't come up with any other question that comes close to the voluminous appeal of this question. Many a times agnostics, skeptics or straight out atheists tried answering this question by proving that Jesus was either a 1. myth or a 2. hoax; that Jesus never died on the cross or for that matter never ressurected. And every single one of them except for some, who for what ever reason found the Truth but neglected the Truth none the less, came out believing that Jesus Christ is indeed who He claimed He was and that all the miracles He did had at the very least happened.
    I will try to share with you some transciptions of Ravi Zacharias' lecture during his visit in Abbotsford in the next coming days, Deo volente.
    But before that, I pray that each and everyone of us will come to the realization of the true meaning of Christmas... That Christmas is not about giving gifts and being nice. (Although those are good thoughts). It's not even about being with families and friends, no matter how warm that makes us feel inside. Christmas is not much about the virgin birth rather it is about God who became Man so He may suffer and die on the cross for all mankind. Hallelujah!!!

JIL ANNIVERSARY!!!

     If I were to put into words the revelations I received during the month of November leading up to the Anniversary of JIL BC, it would be this "the culmination of a prophecy and a directive to a new set of orders". I don't want to go to sleep tonight without taking a time to reflect on what has occured and to what will occur.
     I would describe the proceedings of the night but I'm still dumbfounded by the glory of God that has fallen. Since fully commiting my life to God sometime in 2003, I have always been a part of the anniversary be it in the music ministry or something else. But this year I was part of something more relevant and more meaningful. I may have not hit the drums, or strum a chord or held a mic or lead a group. But what I was part of was something more personal and needed much more attention on my part and I can only give it my full attention if I'm not doing anything.
     As I was worshiping God, I was beholding the presence of the Almighty. I was being reminded by what Moses said to God "Show me your glory." And it was as if at that moment in time when Ate Edith annouced a call unto the altar, I heard God yelled at me and said " I WILL SHOW YOu MY GLORY" and indeed I saw God's glory. A glory that I have not seen before. Not even when I was part of any activities. It was the kind of the glory that could be describe in the Bible as a "consuming fire", a "pillar of cloud" or a "pillar of fire". What a magnificent sight it was. The very glory of God descended upon the people. And It was as if the very angels were singing. As a matter of fact, I believe that the very angels were singing loudly and the glory of the King reflected to His people. The Glory of God was like a river and people were jumping into the river with their cups. Now just scooping water, but jumping in the river and being swept away. The people and swept away not by emotions or any human control but the people were swept away by the glory of the livng God and King. Exactly like the vision God showed me last Tuesday November 11 during one of our Soaking in the Spirt Session (SSS) and I am one of those people. I am one of them indeed. (The rest of this entry is now personal.)