Tag Archives: faith in God

Apr 29 2012

Faith in God’s Providence Will Lead You

Faith in God

When I read the message of this photo from Our Daily Bread I nodded with approval.  Indeed, our Lord God in His omniscient power knows what is best for us.

Surprisingly, when I re-shared the photo on my Facebook wall, there were 30 friends who clicked “Like” and three people who re-shared it.  Now, this statistics is just on one Facebook wall.

The original photo as posted in “Our Daily Bread” Facebook page generated 1,606 “Like” and 956 shares.

There are two possible reasons the “GOD NEVER SHUTS ONE DOOR WITHOUT OPENING ANOTHER” quotation etched on a key head would generate such interest.

First, lots of people who believe in the Divine Providence testify that it is true.

Second, many who believe in the All-Knowing, All-Loving God pray that they will find God’s open door and experience His Providence.

The experience of Paul and Silas as narrated in Acts 16 proves that the Lord God has a way of closing and opening better opportunities to His faithful people.  The passages in Acts 16:6-10 narrates that God never shuts one door without opening another.

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

When it seems that our lives aren’t going the way we expected, let the life of Job encourage us to continue to believe and wait for God’s direction.

Remember how Job’s friend encouraged him to despise God after all his riches and family were destroyed.  Job refused and instead argued,

“You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10)

Read the rest of Job’s story and you will know how God restored and rewarded him for his faith.

I smiled when I read this quote of Alexander Graham Bell,

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” 

Well, let us acknowledge the fact there may be doors that will be shut but the Lord God Almighty opens other doors.  Your faith in God’s Providence will lead you there.

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Jan 29 2012

Composing “Summer Wind” – A Song for the Holy Spirit

Central Philippine University Blog

One windy evening, in summer 1996, I was inspired to write a song. At that time, I just came from a youth meeting. I was the associate pastor of a local church and I was involved in the church’s youth ministry.

The young people shared a lot about their struggles and hardships in facing life’s realities. They also shared about the trials and challenges that were besetting their families, friends and for the professionals, their workplaces. It seemed that the situation at that period was so hard that everyone felt like they wanted to go somewhere else.

After I had dinner, I took my guitar, went to the lawn and sat on the white-painted steel chair. I strummed two chords, humming a melody while staring at the star dotted summer night sky.

Then the wind blew and the phrase that immediately entered my mind was “summer wind”. These were the beginning words that I kept singing and singing with the two guitar chords that I was playing. I hummed the rest of the melody until I became so drowsy and realized that it was ten in the evening.

The following day, with the melody still fresh in my mind, I added more words to the song. The outcome was a song reflection of what the young people shared in church and their life situation.

Basically, “Summer Wind” was a song I made in adoration of the Holy Spirit. When the wind blew that night, it reminded me of Jesus Christ who told Nicodemus that the wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit (John 3:8).

So the Summer Wind song is a prayer to the Holy Spirit asking Him to take the pilgrim to a distant star, wishing for a place where he could express his true self. The use of the phrase “endless sea” refers to the life horizons and the many possibilities that God offers to everyone. When you have faith in God, you do not mind waiting forever as long as you end up in the presence of the LORD.

The chorus petitions the Holy Spirit, asking Him to “take me to another time when I can find my peace” because genuine peace can only be found when you are in the presence of the Lord.

To many it might be a grim request to ask the Holy Spirit to “take me to a lofty place”, which definitely refers to heaven, the higher ground where true friends are all that we could see and meet.

You may view the full lyrics of “Summer Wind” at http://fromworrytoglory.com/2011/11/20/summer-wind-in-auckland/

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About the Author

Jonan is a freelance writer, blogger, copywriter, editor, and link builder.

Jan 24 2012

Remembering Manoy Malvar – A Touch that Dared Me To Dream with God

 
 

Guest blog post by REV. EFREN BURGOS

CPU Blog

Rev. Castillon is at center of second row.

I would always remember Rev. Malvar Castillon as one of the most “stormy” fiscalizers among Baptist pastors but he was used by God as instrument to have part of my pastoral dreams fulfillment.

In the early 1980’s when I was invited by Pastor Rowe Legada to be one of his wedding’s principal sponsors, I was deeply fascinated and challenged by the possibility of pastoral ministry in Concepcion. That was a dream, a visionary dream.

There are times in our life when we have to dream of our ministry visions. I was so touched to see a small church and listened to a brethren expressing their need for a pastor.

I fell in love with the scenic seascape of Concepcion, which is crowned by many beautiful islets. Most of all I love seafood! “If I would be invited to be a pastor in this place,” I dreamt in my heart during that time, “I will never refuse the invitation.”

Little did I know that dream and vision would be realized after two decades after. Manoy Malvar, as I fondly called him with respect as my elder colleague in the pastoral ministry, introduced me to Concepcion Baptist Church. The church invited to serve the church as their pastor in 2003.

And little did I know that would be the Lord’s leading to spare me from the stigma of politics when I was contemplating to run as Punong Barangay of Brgy Dungon A, Jaro, Iloilo City. I was serving as barangay secretary, then elected as member of the Sangguniang Pambarangay, appointed as chairman of the Peace and Order Committee handling the barangay tanods, and then as chairman of the Lupong Tagapamayapa, a barangay justice system.

I was at the crossroad, because politics was the very thing that caused me to resign as provincial public information officer of then Gov. Enrique Zaldivar of Antique and work at Central Philippine University.

The answer was beautifully shown to me by the Lord, thru Manoy Malvar – pastoral ministry! And this was a realization of the vision which I dreamt before.

To many, Manoy Malvar was a hard-hitting fiscalizer. His unwavering brand of advocacy for righteousness. Not many could see the good points in him, nor in his methods of drawing the best in one’s person.

But there was something that I cannot help but notice. I see the virtues of his strong aura of pastoral spirituality. He and Manay Nitz were both appreciative of good preaching and pastoral ministry. They made me feel at home while I was temporarily staying with them or even when I was already staying in the parsonage because their house is next to Concepcion Baptist Church.

I also observed his dedicated early morning Bible reading, probably a discipline he developed in his very rich pastoral experiences in many local churches under the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches. These include Romblon and Mindoro where he was remembered to have “launched diligently and industriously the intensive program of evangelism and extensions” in about 11 areas; as former chaplain and educator at Filamer Christian College (now a university); a political tactician and consultant in the municipal politics of Ajuy and Concepcion.

He was the golden jubilee president of the Convention Baptist Ministers Association where he is remembered for his strong sentiment of “uplifting the socio-economic status of Baptist pastors as a step towards independence in thinking and action, and not being recipients of the programs set by foreigners who are sending funds.” “We have the desire to become financially stable” he said, “We are just beginning and struggling for total independence when it comes to money matters and maturity in leadership.”

It is thru the ministry of Manoy Malvar that I was able to work and see the beautiful substance of my pastoral dream in Concepcion. Concepcion Baptist Church is one of the flocks of God where I am always be lovingly welcomed as part of their family anytime.

Through him, God had given me the opportunity to revive its pre-school ministry which I am now working to name it as Children’s Home for Integrated Learning and Development (CHILD).

Through his invitation I was able to see the local churches planted in several islets of Concepcion, by the evangelist pastors of the Convention like Rev. Apolonio Francia, Rev. Elias Laprades, among many others, but are struggling for survival.

Sadly, some no longer have worship services for months! A very disturbing reality which almost broke my heart.

Eventually it challenged me to set up the Northern Iloilo Island Church Ministry (NIICM), a program which supports the pastoral ministries of these local churches.

It is through such invitation and with the help of The Believers’ Fellowship we were also able to plant and support the Hillside Gospel Church in a place between Concepcion and San Dionisio.

It is through such invitation that the Lord enabled me to acquire a 2.5 hectares of property in Puntalis, just next to Puntalis Baptist Church. My dream for a retirement place for pastors and workers in Northern Iloilo is being realized. I already subdivided the lot for its future dwellers. I dreamed that part of it will be used as a camp site for young people and church conferences.

I would always remember Manoy Malvar as an instrument for me to look toward the future. To dare to dream with God, to be so in love with the Lord.

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ABOUT OUR GUEST BLOGGER

Rev. Efren Burgos ministered to Rev. Castillon and his family in his well and bed-ridden years and most of all in his dying moment. Rev. Burgos held devotional, say prayers, and sang hymns on the night Rev. Castillon was dying. He was also there the following morning to pray for the family few moments after Rev. Castillon finally went home to the Lord. All of these happened in a room at New Testament Baptist Church building, Mandurriao, Iloilo City on January 24, 2004.

Rev. Castillon suffered stroke on November 16, 2002 at 70 years old. He survived after 57 days at Iloilo Mission Hospital but his mobility never came back. He remained bed-ridden for a year until his passing.

On Rev. Malvar Castillon’s death anniversary, I requested Rev. Efren Burgos to write this blog post. Thank you Pastor Efren.

I am always grateful for all the overwhelming support that our family received during those trying years. Truly the bond of love that we have in Jesus Christ makes heavy burdens light. May the Lord’s blessing be upon you!

Jonan

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