ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH...week 1: "what faith can do"
Bearing the past and current testimony of our church and its members, we cannot deny the underlying power and knowledge from God which brought us to where we are now. We are in a stage wherein we should already be mature in doctrine and in faith. For twenty-seven years, our church has been exhorting people to its understanding and application. Today, it should be clear to us that whatever we will become in the succeeding years would be the reflection of our faith and relationship with God.
For the starting lesson from our Faith-Building Conference, we are presented with the benefits of faith. In Matthew 9:29, we are reminded that our faith determines what God can do in our lives. We can never please God without faith. That is why we are given the option to draw nigh to God and trust Him so that He can enable us to do greater things for His glory. We are encouraged that despite our shortcomings, there is nothing impossible with God and that He can even strengthen us and turn our imperfections into His masterpiece. The product of faith that is given to us should stretch our imaginations as to how God can work in us. It should provide the confidence we need in committing ourselves to go forth as we acknowledge that the Lord is with us along the way. It makes us understand in a larger point of view and negates the fear of failing knowing that God is always in control. So why not fully submit to trusting Him and see for ourselves what faith can do? week 2: "achieving through believing
Now that we’ve learned what faith can do, we are given a wider perspective of who we are and what we can become. It should excite us of what is ahead and should lead us to desire the purpose of God in us. This desire can then come together as our dreams. However, we all know that there are many hindrances in achieving these dreams.
It can be said that everyone, or at least the majority of us, have a dream. We develop those dreams and those dreams then develop us. But more often than not, these come to a halt due to many circumstances. Our family and friends could potentially ruin those dreams by simply doubting or influencing us wrongly. In our battle against our sinful nature, we may succumb to tiredness, failure, pride, or fear. However, we can exercise our faith in overcoming these challenges. We are given the confidence to commit our dreams to God’s care! We can liberally ask God for wisdom in establishing these goals for He knows what is best for each one of us. These things are easier said than done. We shouldn’t chase the path contrary to God’s direction for us. We can simply opt to follow our dreams on our own, but we know in ourselves that without God in the picture, it’s all in vain. We may have already visualized our dreams, but are we confident enough to achieve it through believing? week 3: "how to reach your dream"
It is commonly understood that a person’s dreams can be achieved through hard work, talent, luck, or the combination of these. But for us believers, we know that good success cannot be achieved without faith. Reaching these dreams can be a hefty task, but God has shown us that from time to time that with Him, everything is possible. We’ve learned that our dreams can be achieved through believing, now let us go further to the specific steps we must consider in reaching those dreams.
In the third week of our Faith-Building Conference, we are given strategies on how to reach our dreams. The story of how Eleazar was tasked by Abraham to take a wife for Isaac was presented. Through this story, we’ve learned that we should first analyze where we currently are to better understand where we ought to go, we should be aware of what God promised us so that we can define our purpose, and that we must know the profit of God’s promises and desire it in prayer (Mark 11:24). There will also be obstacles in the way so we must carefully design our plans and diagnose the potential problems. These things cannot be done without a disciplined personality for this path will definitely cost us something. Faith empowers us to acknowledge that it is God who chooses to work through people. He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and the enabler of all work done through His name. The strategies mentioned above are but a few of how God teaches us to humble ourselves and wholly depend on Him. If we then have faith, what can we not achieve knowing that God is the one that works in us? week 4: "what do you expect?"
We have already redefined faith, removed misconceptions about it and emphasized how important it should be for a Christian. We have already set our goals and dreams and were taught how to reach these dreams the right way: through God’s way. Now we are set to achieve these dreams and goals for our lives. As we take our first step, there is a lingering question that we should ask ourselves: What am I expecting as I take this first step? Am I going to achieve what I envision and plead from the Lord or will I just accept what comes my way?
In this week’s lesson from our Faith Building Conference, we are reminded that setting our goals and dreams is easy. Knowing what to do is a process we take into account as we go. Eventually, our expectations influence our journey into achieving what we set. We are reminded that we should expect the best only because, in the first place, we have a perfect God. Our God does not want us to settle for less. As our loving Father, He wants the best for us, no less. We are not treading this journey by our lonesome and mistake-ridden selves. If we take to heart the previous lessons, we have already set our dreams and goals according to His will. Now it is according to our faith if we would hold onto His promises as we continue to work on those goals and dreams. We should be comforted knowing that we can expect the best because we put our faith in the true and living God. The lesson is simple: We become what we think we could be. Expecting anything less than the best results insults God. Expecting to fail means we did not trust God at all in setting our dreams. What strikes the most in this lesson is that we are taught to thank God in advance. Imagine, taking the first step and already claiming victory? As Christians, this should not be out of the ordinary because our God is extraordinary. He is much more capable than we could imagine. Bearing that in mind, we should find no problem thanking God in advance as we take our first step into our God-given victories. week 5: "what to do when you need a miracle"
Now that we have set our expectations right, we might stumble into another problem. We may already realize by now that the goals and dreams we set from the early weeks are somehow on an out of this world proportions. “I cannot fathom how I can reach these goals I set”, we may say. “I think I need a miracle.” Great news: our God can perform these miracles in our lives according to our faith.
The story of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20 exemplifies the kind of faith we need to exercise to claim these miracles. He asked God first and foremost what to do, reminding us that we need to get in tune with God before anything else. Every step should be guided by God or else we will be derailed from the right track. Throughout the war, the king and the people focused on God and not on the problem. They prayed, worshipped, and asked God for help rather than taking it on their own. So what now if it seems impossible? They won the war by simply focusing on the single most important part of the equation and that is our God. We tend to look at the task at hand and give up the moment we realize we can’t. We often forget that God can. Just like King Jehoshaphat and his people, we are tasked to stand still and worship God. We can relax in faith, do our best and see our God work. We will be left astonished as we see the results and the impending miracles in our lives. As we take our steps of faith towards our dreams, we should expect overwhelming results from God. Be ready to be a testimony of how a miracle can happen just by standing still and letting God work on you. week 6: "how to face your fears"
An underlying factor why we tend to lower our expectations and doubt the dreams and goals we set so far is fear. Whether it be fear of failure or fear of missing out on things, it is our nature to cower on great things set before us. Most of us, if not all, have already planted seeds of doubt as soon as we set our goals and dreams a few weeks back. It is a blessing that our Faith Building Conference now takes the challenge of putting these fears to rest straight ahead.
We are given a familiar story as an example: the Israelites in Exodus 14 face the rushing Egyptians on one side and the Red Sea and the mountains on the other side. The same fear grapples within us as we take every step into achieving the goals we set. What we see are the mountains, the seas and the enemies surrounding us. Yes, it is normal to cower and fear given this type of situation; we are humans after all. But we are being reminded by this Bible story that if we have set these goals right with God and sought His guidance, fear has no place because God delivers us even from the impossible. Remarkable are the words in our preaching: When God guides, God provides. Wherever God guides, God provides. We are placed in these types of situations not to be gobbled by the problems or the enemies. Instead, we are placed right where we are for God to work in our lives. All the honor belongs to Him from the start, in the middle, and at the end of our journey. We should always remember that we don’t gamble here because we are putting our trust in God. It is not a gamble when you are certain that you are going to be victorious. The Israelites thought they were in a desperate situation not realizing that they were in the right place. The next time you feel the same way, simply trust God. Maybe you are already right where you need to be. week 7: "god's strategy for success"
Now after establishing our dreams, and conquering our fears in achieving, God gave us five points as a strategy for success. Being successful in achieving our dreams requires preparation and planning. The first step in preparing is knowing where to go, that’s why we must be clear in our direction. There must be a specific direction that we ought to follow in order to keep our path straight. Just like how God commanded Moses to go over Jordan in order to reach the land that He promised for them. In life, we must make sure that our direction is always in line with God’s way, only then can we reach God’s will.
Not only should we be clear in our direction, but we must also be confident in our desires. Along the way, there are certain things that can rob our confidence and fill us with doubt. Things such as our emotions, experiences, and excuses may hinder us from continuing and keep on moving. The truth is, nothing good in life comes easy. There will always be hardships, trials, and temptations, even the future is full of uncertainties. But we know that our God is faithful, that’s why whenever we lose our confidence, we must always cling to God more for in Him, we have the assurance and confidence that even the best things in this world could not offer. Having this confidence from God will make it easier to commit to our decisions. As God had promised, we must be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. With great success comes great humility which brings us to the fourth point: be corrected by our defeats. We must realize that success is not always achieved in one go. There will be times when our defeats are greater than our victories. But with these defeats, we take with us the lessons learned so that we may not repeat them. Finally, we must be conscious of God’s dependability. Our God is a mighty God. Resting in His power, protection, prosperity, and presence is enough to say that anything we want to achieve, we can achieve successfully with Him, and through Him. week 8: "keep on believing"
In the last week of our Faith Building Conference, we are taught that all the other six steps that we took to build our faith will be nothing if we fail on this last step: keep on believing. According to Galatians 6:9, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not”. I would like to emphasize the last line “if we faint not”. Sometimes, the most fragile part aside from the beginning is the “almost there” moment. Maybe there are dreams that we have been praying for for so long now, but we still haven’t gotten any answer, or maybe we are at our last straw trying to figure out what God really wants for us to do in life. We might be getting tired of the difficulties and the delays, and we feel like giving up. But let me tell you, now is not the time to stop believing.
When God gives us a dream, we make a decision. Whether we pursue it or not is in our hands. Once we decide that we will follow the will of God, we will have to accept everything else that goes with it, may it be good or bad, easy or hard. Sometimes, God does not answer right away. But that doesn’t mean that God already abandoned us or forgot about us. It simply means we need to learn how to wait for His perfect timing. God set an appointed time for everything, including our dreams and when we will achieve them. In waiting, we learn to be patient and trust God more. If not delays, there might be facing difficulties, but it only means that we need to lean on God’s power more. With our own strength, we can achieve nothing. Without God, we are nothing. These difficulties might lead to dead ends wherein we lose hope and think that there’s no more any way to reach our dreams. But what we have to remember is that our God is a God of deliverance. He has not failed us nor will He fail us especially on the things that He promised. Building our faith in God takes more than just listening to preachings, or reading the Bible, or attending Bible studies and other devotions. Building our faith starts with admitting that without God, we cannot do anything. Having the heart to humbly say that we depend on God means that we believe and trust that God is in control of our life. For the past eight weeks of the Faith Building Conference, we were taught what faith can do, how to establish a dream, how to reach our dream, what to expect when we start dreaming, what we do when we need a miracle, how to face our fear, God’s strategy for success, and how to keep on believing. Now that we all have started to submit our dreams to God, let us let go of our doubts and stop looking at the things that we do not have. Let us rather focus on what we have: our faith, and our living God. /written by: Em Gacad, Raphael Pacheco, John Kevin Sanchez
/photos by: Chloe Aguinaldo, Raphael Pacheco
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Written by Em Gacad
The GBBC Young People Teens held their first event of the year last July 19, 2021. This fellowship carried the theme "Keep the Fire Burning". written by Em Gacad; photos by Chloe Aguinaldo
Last June 30, 2021, the Lord’s Supper was held at GBBC Tandang Sora. The Lord’s Supper is one of the two church ordinances that must be observed for it is a commandment of God (1 Corinthians 11:27-31). Aside from it being an ordinance, it is also to commemorate the Lord Jesus Christ and His significance in our lives, to remind ourselves of His coming, and to examine ourselves in the eyes of Christ. |
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