getting started...

[deetu]

Hi rey. Sorry I haven't introduced myself before but nice to meet you!

When reading your last posts, it reminded me of the fact that the more you bless others, the more you are blessed.
God put me in a situation where people know the reason I am there is to help, listen and pray for them (volunteer at the hospital)
That has made it easier for me to be open about my faith and be freer with my prayers.

But... my family, that's another story. Jesus said it's hardest for a prophet in his home town, right? So I don't let it get me down. I pray for them to know the true God, not what man has made Him into and that is what makes it difficult for them to understand.
I show by my actions. Yes, like vahn said, I am different too and they can see it.
Our light shines.

[mlg]

Yep, don't let those who are grieving you stop you. Sis, God knows the Truth and He is the only one that you have to please. Keep answering His call and stepping out to be His servant. He will bless you for doing so.

luv ya

[Guest]

ehem hello folks,

back for step five today... uhm but before i could give some tidbits, i'm somewhat encouraged by the interactions here.. :X

Hi rey. Sorry I haven't introduced myself before but nice to meet you!

When reading your last posts, it reminded me of the fact that the more you bless others, the more you are blessed.
God put me in a situation where people know the reason I am there is to help, listen and pray for them (volunteer at the hospital)
That has made it easier for me to be open about my faith and be freer with my prayers.

But... my family, that's another story. Jesus said it's hardest for a prophet in his home town, right? So I don't let it get me down. I pray for them to know the true God, not what man has made Him into and that is what makes it difficult for them to understand.
I show by my actions. Yes, like vahn said, I am different too and they can see it.
Our light shines.

haya deetu.. nice to meet you too.. that's so cool and nice with you.. may you be blessed even more as it was said...

family.... hmmm??? not much and perhaps it's where the light is really needed... focusing a lot on that but it seemed it works a little.... it is here the test is most difficult..


thanks for the kind words mlg1279... it's not that we are stopping there but you can't just hold yourself to be discouraged sometimes..

& becoming a SERVANT???... yay that's not easy... :X

thanks also vahn for the things you shared... uhm??? it seemed i was not able to relate with the illustration... :X sorry???? Perhaps because i never encountered those yet before...

O.K. going now through STEP 5. THE CALLING

How do you know when you're being called by the Holy Spirit of God to serve Him in the way that He has designed specifically for you?

One way, is that your soul will feel it. You will feel the Holy Spirit, nudging you to make the right choices in your life.

It's important that you become aware of what is happening in your life ... And WHY.

i got to know Him at age 19, i felt that nudge??? a year after my conversion but not that sure of it and made an initial response if later on yes!!... after graduation in college, i went hunting for a job but never was able to realize my dreams... a lot of struggles came along my way... ^--^

If the Lord is calling you, and you feel apprehension in answering His call ... beware of who is putting the hesitation in your mind.

not only WHO but WHAT too.. family and dreams as it was already stated on the Scriptures... though often times they are already being laid down at the feet of the Lord, the temptation is always there to pick them up again trying to hold it up for yourself... :X

Don't answer your calling halfheartedly

at the very beginning perhaps, the heart is still whole... while going through the process... it's very hard to admit to say "Lord! I can't be and sorry..."

this is the very reason why i got very interested with the lessons... uhmmm... step 5 not that long... (ha ha...)


ha! thanks for step 5...


thanks all!!


see y'all next week!!!



rey

[mlg]

reymielin,

Well putting your whole heart into your calling comes by putting your whole heart into Jesus. When you are walking with Him side by side, day by day, and growing closer with every step, you will want to give Him as much time and energy as you can in your calling.

It's not always easy being God's servant sis, this is true...but...it gets easier, especially as your relationship with Him expands.

Your doing great on the steps. Stay with it.

luv ya

[Guest]

Step 6: being ordained by God (reviewed this day)

If you read the first few verses of each of the books of the minor Prophets, you'll find that the WORD OF THE LORD is the means by which they received their ordination.

Yes, it is because of His Words He had spoken keeping the called out and chosen ones to keep going in spite of the hardships, trials and tribulations though in quite some time, we cannot avoid to doubt on our way.

there are moments of my walk when i say "Lord, have i mistaken in laying down this life for you?"

yet as He has said in His Word, it is not I but Him choosing me??...(John 15:16)

but the keyword as I have noted in the very beginning is that if we "CHOOSE TO"... though we are already and indeed called and chosen but refusing to answer the call will make no difference...

I admit, I'm struggling a lot as I step to respond... There are times I would ask, "Is there any other way?? why can't just we serve in the way we wanted to be...

Soooooooo, if you feel that you are being called by God to serve Him ... NEVER allow any MAN to deceive you into believing that you need to be ordained by MAN to be called by, serve and to be ORDAINED BY GOD.

if you are receiving a Word from God for a specific calling/service, will He not confirm it to His servants??? I mean those whom He had ordained to look after His flocks...


STEP 7: THE HOLY SPIRIT - the faithful friend:

The Holy Spirit always has time for you. He never puts you on hold, or refuses an invitation. He's never late and your opinion counts to Him. He's always eager to hear your point of view, and will guide you in the right direction if you're on the wrong path. He's the best friend you'll ever have. He wants to be with you every possible moment that He can be. The Holy Spirit loves you more than you can imagine.

yay.. very sweet to know... especially so when you are a person who is hungry of love, care, attention.. or anything a friend or a love one could render...

but when you are already trained to be always being alone.... hmmpp... there's an adjustment needed on that, when you have grown up living in your own will, depending on your own strength, leaning on your own thoughts... sometimes receiving His love is as not as open as it should be when the heart is that soooooo cold for Him... the word SURRENDER is cannot merely accomplish...

Any friend who didn't agree with something that you're doing, would do the same. By doing such things, you're inviting evil to drop on by and you give them the opportunity to lure you into bad thoughts or things. You won't find the Holy Spirit in that kind of company.
HE WILL LEAVE.

awwww... stepping to be always near Him and at least as so close as it should be ... needing a little patience on that...

uhm.. by the way... started reading at least five chapters of Psalms this day.. :X, and a Bible Reading Plan... perhaps later on I would go back to review about the CHART (hehe).. and will check out any difference it would bring ...

Well putting your whole heart into your calling comes by putting your whole heart into Jesus. When you are walking with Him side by side, day by day, and growing closer with every step, you will want to give Him as much time and energy as you can in your calling.

It's not always easy being God's servant sis, this is true...but...it gets easier, especially as your relationship with Him expands.

yes Sis mlg1279.. hope so and thanks...


a well kept week through in the Lord...



Rey

[mlg]

Rey hello my sister,

The doubts that you have in your calling often comes from fear or selfishness...one or the other. These are both weapons from the enemy to get us to just quit wanting to work for God and instead serve in our own way of satisfying ourselves instead. But...the rewards that are promised from God for serving Him...are abundantly better than anything we can receive from serving ourself. Yes we must choose, and choosing God's will will bring joy everlasting.

Yes God will confirm your specific calling sis. He will speak it to you loudly and clearly and if you are listening you will hear it, and know it to be.

Keep seeking through the steps sis. God has a purpose and a plan specified just for you.

luv ya

[vahn]

Hello again Rey

Glad to see you continuing in this walk .

You know , when you wrote

I admit, I'm struggling a lot as I step to respond... There are times I would ask, "Is there any other way?? why can't just we serve in the way we wanted to be

That reminded me of the time(s) when I said or thought that way myself .
I used to always think , my calling was in a specific area , according to my own experiences in life , in my case the field of substance abuse , and you know , I saw results in abundance , and by coupling that with what everyone else saying and encouraging me to stay there , I eventually found myself limited to that area only and in the process finding myself in a smaller and smaller world , and on top of everything , I always had this gnawing feeling in the back of my head saying "Something's missing in this picture"
Well , needless to say , "Something" was missing ! , God's will and purpose . See , I was saying "OK , this is where I'm good at , I'm seeing positive results , and I'm comfortable here , and thank you God "
But what I was not hearing was God saying " This is just a taste for you to feel comfortable with trusting my will , but My plan for you is much bigger and better , and I don't want you to stay where you are , not because you're not good there , but rather you will be just as good where I want you to be "
A dear friend here gave me the nickname of Jonah for the longest time , and , Like Jonah , I thought I was being pestered by it , I didn't want to go . Ended up in the whales belly , (limited space ?)
It wasn't until I got to the point of saying " Well , something is always missing where I am , and I am uncomfortable . well I'm uncomfortable with not moving in the direction where God wants me , guess what ? I'm uncomfortable period huh ?" so I took the leap .

When our Lord calls we say " Here I am " we cant move an inch further without first answering .

[comfy]

... not only them but also those who had already gone ahead the race sometimes cause us to stumble on our way... that is a very sad thing...

how can you go on if those who inspires you the "most" before, they are now the one grieving you on your way?

Submit to Jesus, about it, and Jesus is the Lord of all > He will deal with the leader who is doing what is grieving to you. And most of all I need to look at myself, and get however God will examine and correct me. Possibly, I will do well to learn from however that once-inspiring person is now wrong, so I don't do what is wrong, too. There can be different reasons why someone changes to be wrong. We might learn from how it happened, and from observing what is going on with the person so the person is doing things wrong.

And ones wrong, I'm seeing, have emotional problems and things going against them, that are evil and because of the person going the wrong way; so they are not getting anywhere. And whatever they are seeking is not good enough for a human being > control of other people, money, using people, getting praise, being judges to criticize others . . . and they are deeply weak so they can not handle what is going on.

So, they are people to get my compassion and forgiveness and prayer for them, rather than me letting them make me also dishonest, by competing for the money they are getting . . . or me becoming also a criticizing and lording-over (dominating and bossy) person. I need to make sure such a wrong person does not have power to effect and decide how I am. But stay with attention mainly to You, God, and how You please to deal with me and correct *me* and share with me in Your love.

But I would say God has used pastors who I would say were wrong somehow. They have been able to point out how I was wrong and needed to do better. But not allow their wrong stuff to be an excuse for me to also be wrong like they were. And not to let their wrong stuff decoy my attention to criticizing them instead of dealing with examining myself and getting my own correction

"nor as being lords over those entrusted to you,
but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3)

[Guest]

yay.. thanks a lot comfy and vahn for sharing. a lot of insights i gained through your posts... the Lord bless both of you more... thanks also mlg1279 for the kind reply...

STEP 8: Spiritual Gifts

A lot of people claim that they don't have any gifts or talents, or that they just don't know what their gifts are. Sometimes this is for attention but sometimes it's because they don't want the responsibility that goes along with being gifted.

aaahhh... one nail on my head..

until now i'm not yet certain what gift God gave me... or am i just ignoring the truth about it?? fearful to use it.. (oooppss somebody says somewhere because of fear or selfishness... uhmm yea ) perhaps I lack the faith to believe that others are really being benefited from it when it is being used....

God doesn't hide our gifts from us. If you sincerely look for them, you'll find them ... just ask Him. The Lord won't deny your earnest prayer to fulfill the plan that He has for you. Pray for the opportunity to discover your own special niche. Oft times, when we put our own plans aside and open our heart to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is when we truly discover the gifts that God designed just for us. You've discovered that one of your gifts is to REPRESENT.

What does all that mean? It means to give your gifts with LOVE. We should never take advantage of Spiritual gifts or take them for granted either, whether they be our gifts, or someone else's. As Paul said above, your gift is serving the Lord, which deserves reverence, whether you are giving or receiving.

I remembered one teaching about the parable of the talents.. the third servant receiving one and because of fear, he hide the talent and unable to reproduce it.. uhmm??? he was called being evil and lazy servant.. awwww.. noooo

and the very single talent given to him was taken from him, and if i remember it right, he was punished??


i got alarmed here..


weekend again is coming... a fine day to everyone..



Rey

[Guest]

i wish to edit sometimes my entries but don't know how??

and... i got this warnings on the page (above the title of the post)... what does it mean??

(Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in D:\InetPub\044\Members\Forums\includes\mps\mps_functions_main.php on line 266)

any one knows?? please and explain... thanks



again,


Rey

oh no.. i found it..

[mlg]

Hello again rey sis

So, you aren't sure what your gifts are huh? Well sis, sometimes we have gifts that we are unaware of because we haven't had a need to use them yet. Or sometimes we have gifts we are aware of but aren't sure how to use them. The best thing to do in this situation, is to pray and ask God to open your eyes to the gifts He has bestowed upon you, and to ask Him to teach you to use them faithfully.

As far as the error message, I'm not sure what that means, but you can write to Phantomfaith and he should know.

Keep doing the steps sis.

luv ya

[Guest]

Step 09 - Judge Not


ok... here's how i understand... receiving and administering God's grace..


Step 10 - Feed My Sheep


A thing I wish not to do...


Step 11 - Discernment

one more spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit..

Love > understanding > discernment < obtained by renewing of the mind allowing not any thought to interfere with the Word....

ask Him to teach you to use them faithfully.

i think it so as it was said sis... thanks...


have also gone reading through the CCCC Path once in a while... but please do not ask anymore for another blog.. (hehe)


regarding to calling.. here's a poem i just wrote lately


tell me....

where is the heart that says
Here I Am... and yes to God
where is the will that says
Yes Lord.. I am here to obey

tell me
how to live as if you are not there
as if my way is hidden
and am being disregarded
yet, something is calling deep
Is this Your Spirit from within ??

tell me
how to rise as if your mercy is not felt
as if Your face is away
Your ears are to dull to hear
yet deep inside a voice calling
Is this Your Spirit from within??

tell me
how to walk as if you're not by my side
as if i'm all alone my life
A figure is not there to guide my path
yet from afar a voice is calling
Is this Your Spirit from within??

tell me
how to live as if with no purpose
as if hope is nowhere to be found
aspirations gone nothing to hold
yet deep in my being someone is speaking
Is this Your Spirit from within??

what else can i hope for?
Can I go for a sleep
And to wake is no longer a thing??
yet deep in this being a voice is speaking
Is this Your Spirit from within??


thanks everyone here...


still going through the lessons till by next week again..


a wonderful day!!!



rey