Spotlight: God's LimitLESSness

Spotlight 3

God's LimitLESSness

By Daniel Carandang

Everyone has their own prayer requests.

It would be really amusing if all those requests were jotted down on papers, creating our own lists of prayers. For teens like us, most of our requests involve school matters ('Please God, let me not fail that horribly difficult Math exam I studied for one night!'), love lives ('Dear God, please let *insert crush's name here* notice me and realize that I'm the one for him/her!'), wants ('God, if you give me an Iphone5, I'll wash the dishes for one month.'), etc.

Can you connect? 

But, not all of our requests are as light as the ones mentioned above.

We have prayers for our dysfunctional family, a drunkard father, a demanding mother, unappreciative friends, struggles with financial needs etc.

We rejoice when God answers positively. We become disappointed when the answer is NO. But when there's not one hint of an answer...we somehow lose hope. Sometimes, when the answer takes too long and we feel that God will never answer, we just stop believing.

Abraham, the Father of All Nations, once struggled with his faith. 

You see, Abraham and his wife Sarah were childless for a number of years. Their greatest desire was to have one child...just one was already enough. Of course, God knew about this. He reminded his servant of what he should do.

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.

Genesis 17:1

In the verses to follow, God also promised Abraham that he will be blessed with a son. A son! Finally, God was going to fulfill his biggest dream. He was going to be a dad soon enough. 

But God's timing was far different from Abraham and Sarah's timing.

As they waited on the Lord for their son, the couple became impatient, especially Sarah. We should understand that Sarah was more than 60 years in age and it seemed impossible for her to bear a child. There were no signs of her becoming pregnant and time's a ticking. She had to have a child- FAST.

So, instead of waiting on the Lord, Sarah and Abraham compromised. Through Sarah's maidservant, Hagar, Abraham had a son named Ishmael who became the Father of the Muslim race.

Ishmael was not the son God promised to Abraham and Sarah. He wasn't supposed to be a part of the plan. But because the couple compromised, this was the consequence. That's what happens when we force blessings to come immediately.

Like Abraham, we grow tired when we feel that God is not answering our prayers. We begin to doubt His capability to fulfill, let alone hear our requests. Is our Lord powerful as He claims to be? Is He greater than any other as He claims to be?

Of course, He is.

"To whom will you compare Me?

Who is my equal?" asks the Holy One. 

Look up into the heavens. Who 

created the stars?

He brings them out like an army, one after another,

calling them by name.

Because of His great power and incomparable strength

not a single one is missing."

Isaiah 40:25-26

Our God created those shining dots we see every night and they're not just dots. They're flaming balls of fire, uniquely made with special purposes. There's millions of them but despite that, God knows all of their names. Every single one of them. 

That's how great our God is. No one compares to Him. No one is as mighty as He is.

In Jeremiah 32:17, the prophet Jeremiah declares the evidences of our Lord's great power:

“O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!

We have to accept the fact that as human beings we are limited. We cannot do everything in our own strength. The forces of this world may overpower us if we're not careful. 

But we shouldn't lose faith.

Because our God is LIMITLESS. Nothing is impossible with Him.

Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”

Matthew 19:26

If we believe in God's limitlessness, we know that there is no HOPELESS SITUATION. With God by our side, there is always hope. Our doubts convince us that we should keep God in a box because He can only do so much when in reality, He can do much, much more. We claim that we know of His power but it's important that we really understand His greatness.

Remember:

Small God = BIG PROBLEMS

but,

BIG GOD = small problems

God hears our prayers and He knows what to do with us. So you ask: "Why the delay? What's taking God so long?"

Going back to Abraham's case, the cause of delay was because God had His own perfect timing.

Eventually, by Abraham's 100th year, the promise arrived. Isaac was born, the son God meant for Abraham and Sarah. 

Same applies to us.

God has a purpose for everything. We may think He's not listening or not answering but what we don't understand is that He has His own reasons. It's a fact that the Lord's timing is much perfect than ours. We just have to admit that we're impatient and we want things now. When things don't go our way, we think of God as a meanie who's after our misfortune.

In reality, His our Father. Our perfect Father.

⁹ “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?¹⁰ Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! ¹¹ So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

Matthew  7:9-11

Let's not belittle our Father's image. He knows whats good for us. Sometimes, our selfishness causes us to rush matters, therefore ruining God's design. Everything is laid out according to His plan. It's up to us if we will become willing to follow His decisions or if we would make decisions our own because we doubt God's power and reasons.

¹¹ Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Trust in God's timing. We might not see it yet but it's for certain that He has great things in store for us.

When faced with impossible situations, we should recall the following steps:

1. Remember what God has done

    Don't take or granted the little or big things He has done in your life. Just because you're faced with trials, doesn't mean that God has never given you a single blessing. 

2. Refocus on who God is

    Don't keep him in a box. Focus on His greatness instead. Remember that He is your Father who's after your own good.

3. Recommit to live an uncompromising life

    Live your life according to our Heavenly Dad's standards and allow Him to work in us rather than force matters and ruin the plan.

We can always have hope in our darkest times and live an uncompromising life because our God REIGNS. He is El Shaddai, our God Almighty. Nothing is impossible with Him. There's no such thing as a hopeless situation because if we have God, there is always HOPE.

Because our God is LIMITLESS :)

Spotlight: God's Holiness

Spotlight 2

God's Holiness

By Marty Ocaya

....We want our plans to work. If they do, we get this sense of victory and satisfaction, our confidence in ourselves boost all of a sudden. But, if everything goes otherwise, some of us begin to see our worlds come crashing.

Let's be honest, all of us have experienced insecurity and disappointment in life. When we witness our friends achieve what they want while we remain staggering and attempting to fulfill our desires, we doubt our capabilities. We become fearful and unsure of the future that lies ahead of us. Comparing ourselves to others causes us to look down on ourselves.

There was once a man who also had his share of disappointments in life. In fact, the trials he faced are greater than what some of us are experiencing. 

Isaiah was a simple prophet with an extraordinary calling. He was chosen by God and was mightily used in His work. 

During his time, Judah was led by a great king named Uzziah. Under his reign, the land of Judah prospered for Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Judah flourished during his 52 years of service. Unfortunately, Uzziah's pride got the better of him and his self-confidence shot levels higher. He burned incest in the altar of the temple, an act only priests were allowed to do. 

He was eventually caught and to make a long story short, his pride caused him to become a leper for the rest of his life. He died after suffering for years.

Now the death of a king meant that a transition period was close by. The people of Judah were not fond of transitions because anything can happen during this period. The economy may go bust, conflicts may arise and trouble may occur at any second. They were gripped with insecurity.

Insecurity never fails to come knocking at our doors. That girl next door can sometimes cause you to look at yourself and ask: "Why am I not as pretty as her?" Our efforts at studying may never be enough when we see other classmates cheat their way to the top. 

Isaiah had every right to also feel insecure when King Uzziah died. The future seemed so uncertain and the people were troubled. But...

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord..."

Isaiah 6:1a

Isaiah SAW the Lord. What does this say about him?

The good prophet chose to focus on what mattered most. His eyes saw the Lord. Unlike the usual response, he did not focus on the problem. Isaiah focused on God.

Same should go for us. When we are being tested, we choose to fix our attention on what is wrong. We miss the big picture because we're staring at the wrong one. We claim 'But God wasn't there to help me at all!' But the truth is we don't see Him because we don't look at Him!

"...high and exalted, seated on a throne;and the train of his robe filled the temple..."

Isaiah 6:1b

What is this verse trying to imply? It was an assurance that Isaiah could cling to.

It was as if God was telling him: "Hey, I'm here. I am the God almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. You need not worry because all things are possible with me. You are my people and I am seated on the throne."

^"2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying."

Isaiah 6:2

Seraphim are not the usual angels we see on TV or in stores. They're not the chubby and cute angels we envision in our heads. These seraphims are mighty angels with power beyond our imagination. It's not hard to accept the fact that they truly are magnificent creatures. 

But despite their magnificence, their humility astounded Isaiah. These seraphims recognized the truth that God's magnificence was greater than theirs, which is why they covered their faces with their wings. They knew that they were unworthy of His presence. Why unworthy?

Because God is HOLY.

³ And they were calling to one another:

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty

the whole earth is full of His glory."

Isaiah 6:3

Of all the words the Bible uses to describe God, the word HOLY is the only repeated thrice in a sentence. 

HOLY IS THE SUPERLATIVE DESCRIPTION OF GOD.

Unfortunately, most of us do not get the whole point of God being holy. We just think of His holiness as the bright light that surrounds Him, His default characteristic. We're missing the point.

EVERYTHING about God is holy. His love, His decisions, His Word...everything about Him is a different kind.

Here's an illustration:

Say you own a dog, one that's undeniably cute, cuddly and lovable. You absolutely adore your dog named Kidlat. Your best friend in the whole wide world announced that he would be coming over to your house to visit. You look forward to this because you absolutely love your best friend too. When your friend comes, you lead him to your room where your dog is. You say that you have to leave for a while to get some juice, leaving your best friend with the dog.

However, when you come back, you're shocked to see your best friend stabbing your doggy with a ball pen  Dropping the glass, you scream at your friend, send him out and mourn over your dead dog.

Your friend has attempted to apologize numerous times for what happened. But it's normal for to stay angry at him. He killed your dog, your beloved pet. There's this possibility that you might never be friends with this person.

How is this related with God's holiness?

We can be like that best friend who killed the dog. We hurt God numerous times with the way we act or speak to others. We are sinners by birth and our sins pains Him. When we know that we have hurt Him, we tend to apologize OVER AND OVER AGAIN. 

But unlike the dog owner who refuses to forgive his dog-killer best friend, God chooses to forget how we hurt Him and forgive...over and over again.

Knowing the holiness of God makes a great impact in our lives.

Such love and forgiveness is truly divine.

⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Isaiah 6:5

Isaiah knew that God was different. This encounter made him realize how unworthy he was to stand in the presence of a holy being. There was no one as holy as God. Because of this realization, when God asked who shall go for the people, Isaiah volunteered himself. He begged God to allow him because this man had seen the holiness of God and lived to tell. 

Knowing the holiness of God reveals who we are and who we ought to be in this life.

It transforms our lives in ways we never expected.

Why?

Because our God is holy...holy...HOLY :)

Spotlight: God's Immutability

Spotlight 1

God's Immutability

By Daniel Carandang

Are you a big fan of change?

You have lived in your house since the day you were born. You’ve made lots of friends at school and your village is terrific. For sixteen years, you’ve enjoyed living in your house. But one day, your dad announces that he has been offered a new job abroad, therefore, the entire family must also come with him to live there.

You used to get teased because your friends told you that you ‘squealed like a girl’ and had skinny ankles. Few years later, your voice is as deep as a foghorn and you run faster than any of the boys in your class.

CHANGE.

Change is inevitable. It can happen anywhere at any time. It just occurs.

Sometimes, we like change especially when it brings benefits for us. Those new highlight apparently suit your hair and has made it livelier in appearance. The new Math teacher appears to be more considerate compared to the old one.

But, some of the changes we experience can also be unpleasant. The new braces installed in your mouth have taken away the joy of eating. The empty basket that once held your beloved pet dog is now empty and the sight of it echoes your loss. Your parents you once thought would stay together forever are deciding on getting an annulment.

Admittedly, change is intimidating and we can fear its arrival. We have this tendency to want things to stay as they are. No moving up or moving down. We want matters to be permanent.

Sadly, everything will change-

EXCEPT ONE.

God never changes.

What factors of God never changes?

1.       His Character

“I am the Lord, and I do not change...”

Malachi 3:6a

There’s nothing permanent with us humans. We grow up from being tiny toddlers to sturdy young men and women to old seniors with canes. Not only does our physical appearance change, also our hearts and decisions. Our character evolves as we age in years. Our opinions differ from time to time.

But not God.

Even if we change, He remains the same.

“Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.”

James 1:17

His character remains as it is. Even if we disappoint Him or hurt Him with the sins that we commit, He still loves us unconditionally. He is faithful even if we aren’t.

The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out,

“Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy!

I am slow to anger

And filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

Exodus 34:6

2.       His Promise

Let’s be honest: every one of us has fallen victims to broken promises.

Our friends promised that they would show up to our big event but they fail to come.

Those group mates who said that they would attend the meeting but bailed at the last minute.

That certain boy/girl who swore to wait for you, only for you to find out months later that they’re dating someone else.

Broken promises hurt and we certainly don’t want to become victims once more.

Don’t worry; our God is faithful when it comes to fulfilling His promises. He may take time in executing these assurances but we have to rest in His word and believe that He would never break a promise because He is perfect.

“I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:5b

“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:19

God will never change! We can have absolute security in His word. When God says that He will do something, we have to stop doubting and just stop. Our God is not like us. He’s far more different. He is faithful, loving and UNCHANGEABLE J