Desiring God

      Lately, I’ve been asking myself this question, “How can a sinner like me become the man that God wanted me to be”. Yes, I have been studying the Word of God, attending services and listening podcasts, yet I ended up doing things that are exactly opposite of what God wants me to do. It would require a great transformation in order to mold me into a great leader.

     I remembered a simple story or a let’s say, a logic (though I do not know what logic is XD). A sword cannot be beautifully made without going through the fire. Yes, fire, the blazing one. Every Christian is going through challenges, trials, and problems in their lives. Some suffer persecutions for their faith, some being left out by the world, and some needed someone to build them up because they are being dragged down. There are lots of things that a Christian is having, maybe I haven’t stated your reason but I know that you may be suffering of the same problems. But did you know that in every breaking, there is a breakthrough. In these times, God is teaching you how to handle situations that can be handled. Maybe not the way you expected but He wants you to become stronger than what you are yesterday. That is how we stay strong.

     Each of us has our own race, but all of us ends on one finish line. On that finish line is our goal, do you know what it is? Christ-likeness. That is our goal. We are running in order to reach that goal, we are following the example of our Lord since He was here and up until now, we are continuing the commission that He left in us which is to win this world for Him. Chasing Christ-likeness is not an easy race, it’s much harder than a 64-kilometer race. There are lots of obstacles that we are going to face, and in the middle of that race, we may feel tired, lose hope that we may even see the finish line, or even give up, but don’t worry, you are not alone.

When we are focusing more on what we do, we missed something important. We missed the things that are around us, we are not alone on that race. Lots of people are running that race and they never stop running until they have reached that goal. Do you know what is keeping them going? Look to your side, Jesus Christ is running beside you. You are not alone, He will be with you wherever you go. Ever since the race started until it is finished, He is with you. Through hardships and trials, through storms and drought, He will be with you. Whenever you need strength, He will give you strength (Phil. 4:13). And when you reached the end of the road, at the finish line, He is standing there, welcoming you with open arms and saying “Well done my child”. What a great race!

     This life is a race that God created for each people to run. There are times that we can get lost on the road but signs are put by God in order for us to be informed where to go or where is the right track. Those signs are His Word. If each of us read the Word of God, we may understand the mechanics of this race. What to do or what we shouldn’t do. It is a great instruction manual that we should follow if we want to reach the end of God’s race. Trust the manual that God gave, like how you trust the manual of the cellphone or television you just bought. Not only it has the instruction on running the race, but also it has the promises and the rewards that God has at the finish line, waiting for you. The only thing you need to do is read, understand, and learn from it. I know that obedience is not that easy, but when the Lordship of Christ is in you, you can do it.

     Desiring to be like Christ may seem impossible, but then again I say this to you, “We are created in the likeness of God, and we are His children, so it is our nature to imitate our father and to be what we are designed to be.” If our creator wanted us to be Holy and righteous like Him, then there’s no reason for us not to follow His instructions. For we have are purpose because of Him, and because of Him, we have this life! He died on the cross for us! Yes! For us! We were sinners that time, yet our God, who knows our sins, who knows our dirty works, died on the cross for us. Why? Because He knows that it is not the end of our race, we still have a long way to go. Despite the pain and sufferings He had gone through, He still loves us. He didn’t deserve to die! We deserve it, yet He still died on that cross for us. What a selfless act, that our savior did. Let us evaluate ourselves, were we like Jesus Christ this past few days, months, years? Is our attitude like His? Or are we still sleeping?

     This morning, while I was meditating, I feel that the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He said, “I have stored a great power inside of you. I chose you to be the leader in this generation because I know that you can do it. Maybe it is time to wake that sleeping warrior inside of you for you are going to face harder battles. Put on your armor (armor of God) and prepare yourself. Use the power I have in store for you in order to proclaim my Name to the world.” These words sparked up my life, the fire in my heart.

     So if you are a Christian, and the warrior inside of you is still sleeping, it’s time to wake it up. Those battles are not going to wait, they are coming. The question is, are you prepared? Or are you sleeping? Let’s pray to God that he give us the desire to know Him more and chase after His holiness and together, we will reach the finish line of the race that God made for us. God bless us all!

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through His spirit in your inner being,”

-Ephesians 3:16

My Family Away From Home

    Family....What does it really mean? Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to go out of my comfort zone. When I was in elementary, I often go to scouting camps outside our school, maybe even outside our region, just to train myself to become independent. Even during my high school days, I went to a high school that is more than 20 kilometers from our municipality. I boarded at my aunt’s place during weekdays and went home during weekends. Those times, I realized that true enough, there’s no place like Home.

     I am an adventurous person. Whenever I’m at our place, most of the time, I am outside. That’s who I am. Haha. It’s not really my thing to just stay inside the house and do nothing, as much as possible, I want to explore everything and everywhere that I can go to. Yet, I can’t go far away because I’ll miss my family. That’s why when I went to college, I don’t know how long will I survive to a school which I am not familiar to. Yes, at first, I do not know what CLSU is. I just took the exam without knowing what course I will choose. And Praise God! I passed. Maybe God has different plans for me than that of mine.

     The desire of every freshmen student who lives far away, in my opinion, is company or family. Everyone needs family in a place where their real family cannot be with them. Some went to fraternity, sorority, organizations in their colleges, and many more, just to look for the comfort, the family they wanted. Me, hmmm, I did look for those things, but I was blinded by my own interests. Not knowing what God’s plan for me, I too joined college based organization but quit later because of dissatisfaction, even in the university ROTC-Officers but quit again because of failing subjects. None of these feels like family. During hard times, I tend to solo every problems that was given to me, and no one wants to share the heaviness of those problems. I cried out to God, “Lord, gusto ko ng mga makakasama na di ako iiwan!” Then, a miracle happened.

     I went to this youth service with a friend, and there I felt peace while worshiping the LORD. There’s this one organization that is moving or the hands and feet of the Church to reach out the Students of CLSU in order for them to encounter and know the plans that the LORD God had in store for them. They are called LASO or Lakas Angkan Student Organization. If you saw them for the first time, they just look like normal students playing, laughing, studying, but when you get to know each and every one of them, you have missed something about them. Each and every member of LASO is not just an ordinary person, but all of them are supernaturally chosen by the Lord to lead this generation. They may have different personalities, but they have one goal. True enough, they are noisy, funny, “matitigas ang ulo at makukulit”, but what makes them unique with other organization and people, is their Love for the Lord. No other people can do or share the love of the Lord to others than those who have encountered His love.

     I joined LASO not because it is easy to get in there (believe me, it’s not. Hahaha) but because I know and I believe that God wanted me to go and be part of it because He wanted me to have this family. To feel like I’m not always alone, that I have a family too away from home. But I’m not always for fellowship eh, I wanted to glorify my Lord and Savior with the help of this organization. We may not look like much, but we believe that when God is with us, we have everything.

Dear LASO Members, Officers and Alumni,

     Kahit alam ko na sobrang kulit natin minsan, I believe that God created this organization for a purpose. To tell you honestly, it was the power of God that brought me here to this organization, it is not even on my own will. But when I saw how God moved in this organization, there is no way that I’m going to let go of this chance to serve Him through LASO. I know that there are times na hindi tayo magkasundo sundo, but I believe we can change all that. Paulit ulit nating dinedevotion yung we are of one body, the body cannot work if hindi nagfufunction yung ibang parts. Kaya I know na we can do better than this.

     The way we are acting now, I don’t think God wants this. It is still not enough. But I believe that one day, we will achieve that disciplined person that we want ourselves to be. Continue to chase after Christlikeness and never stop until you’ve achieved perfectness. Seems so impossible diba? No, it is not. For God created us in His likeness. God is perfect, therefore we can be perfect if we strive and chase after the holiness of God.

     My brothers and sisters in Christ, we must be the leaders that God wants us to be. I am writing this not because I wanted to be famous or anything, but God wants me to remind you that all of these things, is not about us. It’s not about how we do well on those performances that we are having, it’s not about how well we memorized the bridge to life or how many verses we have memorized, but it is about Him. It’s about the power of God that is at work in each and every one of us. It is about His great love that is so uncontainable that even those who have freshly encountered His love already wants to share it to others. That’s what God wants. Let’s not focus on how we can change the lives of people, but let us focus on how God changes their lives, maybe we missed something important. Haha. Anyway, continue to be a disciple and a leader at the same time. And oh! I almost forgot, the Holy Spirit reminded me that we are Ambassadors of Christ, by Ambassador meaning, we represent Christ. So before doing anything, we must ask ourselves, if Christ was in my situation, will He do this? A simple question yet has a great impact on our lives. Continue to shine His light upon this world, and we know that our work is not in vain.

God Bless You all :)

Sincerely Yours,

Dan Drexel Dela Cruz

Early Morning Thoughts

Its already 1:30am and I still can't sleep. I can't help thinking that I will pray at the opening prayer of the Sunday Service at our church later. And I'm asking myself, "Why me?". Maybe it is one of the ways that God intended in order to prepare me for the harder tasks as time goes.

Stage-fright is my common enemy whenever I'm gonna stand in front of people. I may be talkative when I talk to people, but whenever I stand in front, I feel like I'm gonna pass out. That is my problem. But according to God's promises:

"Be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

-Joshua 1:9

What a reassuring promise. That when I stand there later, I know that my God is with me. He will help me conquer my fears. He will deliver me from my enemies.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

Continue to walk with Him. Praise Him because He deserves the praises. Glorify Him, Exalt Him. And obey His commands. Trust His plans and live it out, for we know that in the end, we will be with Him. Our God who called us to be His children. Let us love the Lord with all our might and with all our strength.

May God Bless us all! :)