DISCIPLESHIP

PRAYING TO HAVE PROBLEMS

August 9, 2020 by Eddie 13 Comments

“Lord, bigyan mo kami ng problema.” The first time I said that prayer was in 2009 during a prayer for empowerment for the team that was assigned to handle the Holy Triduum preparations of our prayer community. Naturally, my team was surprised about that prayer because they expected me, as the team leader of the service team, to ask the Lord to bless us so that everything would fall into place, that the event would go smoothly, and so on. After all this was not an easy service, and it involved tremendous amount of preparation and coordination, with many moving parts. The odds of a foul up were stacked against us. And then this was my prayer: “Give us problems, Lord.”

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OBEYING A LOVING GOD

May 11, 2020 by Eddie Leave a Comment

I sincerely believe that the devil works double time on our motives for doing the good that we do. Even if Satan doesn’t stop us from doing good works like performing Christian service, or obeying God’s commands, he can still get us in our motives for doing good. And that’s why I’ve now found myself often warning my friends in Christ: “The devil is in the motives; watch out.”

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OBEDIENCE AND BLESSINGS

May 8, 2020 by Eddie 2 Comments

“Obedience brings blessings.” This is a biblically inspired motto that my son, Edric, drilled into the hearts of his children. They use this aphorism to motivate the kids to know the connection between love, obedience, blessings and disciplinary consequences. Indeed, Edric and Joy’s application of this biblical teaching in their discipline and raising up of their kids has borne a lot of awesome and parent-gratifying results. And the kids are so much the better for it.

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FROM HOPELESSNESS TO HOPEFULNESS

May 2, 2020 by Eddie 10 Comments

There’s a story in the gospel of John (5:1-9) about a man who was an invalid for 38 years. He lay by the side of the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, waiting for the water to be stirred up. Apparently, it was the belief of people at that time, that the first person into the pool after the stirring of the water “was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted” (John 5:4). When I read that, my first reaction was to admire that invalid’s tenacity and hopefulness. Thirty-eight years invalid!! I don’t know if he had been waiting there all those 38 years, but I can imagine how much he had longed to be healed. But then when I read further about what happened, I was saddened.

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SEEK TO KNOW THE LORD

March 29, 2020 by Eddie 2 Comments

Jesus says, “In this world, you will have trouble” (john 16:33). No wonder. Yet again, Jesus shows us the way to navigate life in this troubled world without anxiety and fear, saying: “Do not be afraid. Believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:`1). The thing is, the pathway from belief to trust requires deep, personal knowledge of Him whom we would trust. Indeed, how can we ever trust someone whom we do not know?

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