The Danger of Self-Pride (Personal Insights from Reading 1 Samuel 15)

Saul was chosen and anointed by God to be the King of Israel as an answer to Israelites’ outcry for a ruler. In chapter 15 of the Book of Samuel, Saul partially disobeyed the Lord (there is no partial disobedience anyway, it is actually still disobedience to the Lord). When God gave him a mission to completely destroy the Amalekites including its King and plunder, Saul spared them instead. He did not listen to God’s voice but he rather listened to his own desires of saving what was pleasing and good in his eyes and destroying only the things which he thought bad.

When Samuel told him he disobeyed the Lord, he disagreed and insisted he obeyed God by bringing the King of Amalekites and its best stuffs to offer to God as a sacrifice. In this scene, he was rebuked by Prophet Samuel and said “obedience is better than sacrifice, submission is better than offering” (1 Samuel 15:22, NLT) . That’s the only time he admitted that yes, he disobeyed the Lord and he reasoned that he was just afraid of the people and of what they demanded. From these words that came from Sauls’ mouth, it only gave me an idea that he was more concerned about pleasing people around him rather than pleasing God. Saul was more concerned of what people would say or comment about his leadership so he used his own position and power to give in to what they wanted. Even when he said sorry and asked for forgiveness, he still thought of his name, he still wanted his name to be honored by people rather than having a godly sorrow of deeply hurting God (this made me think of David who also committed a sin against God but had different response of asking forgiveness from Him).

“Then Saul pleaded again, “I know I have sinned. But please, at least honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel by coming back with me so that I may worship the lord your God.” Samuel 15:30, NLT

Because of Saul’s disobedience to God, He rejected him and He was sorry that he had ever made Saul as King of Israel. In this passage, many would probably ask that God as all-knowing and omnipotent God, would surely know that Saul would fail and disobey Him anyway, why would he be sorry then? Well, this is my answer ( I don’t know if others would agree with me but again this is just me), God has given us a free will to choose, He made us not a robot but someone who would love and worship Him with all our hearts, minds and souls. Albeit, He knew that we could all fail (from the time that sin entered the world), He would still never stop giving us a chance and trusting us that we would completely follow Him, that’s why it hurts Him that much whenever we disobey.

This story of Saul is really a guiding path for us Christians and Leaders. Self pride and power can really destroy us. Saul even before chosen as King, thought of himself low and weak but when God annointed Him and His Spirit came upon him, he became confident and powerful. But sadly to say, Saul forgot what he was before and became stubborn and used His power to follow His own will rather than God’s.

We are not excluded from this temptation and failure that’s why we need to always stay in God’s presence and grace. We need to always come back to why Jesus died for us on the Cross so that we will be grateful and not prideful.  We need to ask God for a humble spirit especially when we feel and think that we are doing great.

My personal prayer…I ask you Lord that I will always walk in humility as you entrust me the task of leading people to you.  Please guard my heart from pride and arrogance, let it be focused on lovingly obey you at all times…In Jesus’ name, Amen!

 

It’s Possible! – My oDesk Experience

Since May of this year, I’ve been exploring the opportunities of a home-based work through oDesk  platform. I actually completed my profile here since year 2011 and had it posted but had not pursued applying at that time since I got an office-job offer which I thought would be better to choose than the work-at-home one.

But whenever I bid goodbye to my son before going to office, my heart would always feel heavy. There came a point that I prayed to God and asked Him to give me wisdom in making a decision to quit my job. I knew from then on that God was putting greater desire in my heart to stay home and be with my son but many times I denied it because I feared that half of our income would significantly disappeared. But God has His ways to pull you out from the place He’s asking you to leave so you can step out in faith and believe He’ll be able to fill up what was gone.

After giving up my office-job, I began updating my oDesk profile and start applying. I also took some on-line tutorials for the skills I needed to learn to be able to be on the same track with the globally competitive freelancers. I read stories of others who had the same situations like mine, Moms who gave up their office career to take good care of their children and tried the home-based work and fortunately became successful in the end.

So far, I can satisfactorily say that it is indeed possible. Earning money through home-based job is feasible while enjoying the fact that you can be around with your son 24/7. Few weeks after persistently applying, I got my first project as a Part-time Online Researcher. Then a couple of options unexpectedly came and I needed to choose wisely which best fit my time and skills. I decided to sign 2 job contracts only as both Part-timers since one of the contracts offered a long-term work and can lead to a full-time position in the future. Plus, I wanted as much as possible to be employed by a single employer so that the quality of my work will not be compromised. That is only for me, I see some freelancers that can do multiple projects with different employers and that is definitely great, since there is nothing wrong navigating all the possibilities to be able to expand one’s experiences.

I know it’s too early for me to say that I already have become successful in this new endeavor since I just started less than a month. But I believe this is an answer to my prayer and I consider this a big blessing from Above. I am just grateful what technologies can do now especially for us stay-at-home Moms, it can give us another avenue of finding a job in the comfort of our own homes. Thank you oDesk for giving more opportunity for everyone and (as your tagline says)  changing how the world works! 🙂

“Every good and perfect gift is from above…” James 1:17 (NIV)

 

The Bride

On 8th of February at exactly 4 o’clock in the afternoon while the sun shone like a brilliant diamond, beautiful music began playing. Men and women wearing on their best “barong tagalogs” and gowns started walking with their big smiles. Kids accompanied by their Moms shyly followed and the lady who made everything easier for me, began to walk alone.

“This is it”, I whispered to myself with mixed emotions. Then the music changed into the song I personally picked. I began slowly walking with the loveliest smile on my face (as what they say to every woman walking on the aisle wearing a long sparkling white dress). Yes, this is one of the most memorable days of my life! Seeing my man few inches away from me, waiting for my hand to be with his hand for the rest of our lifetime!

God is Faithful to get you there—your promised land

For the past weeks, I’ve been reading the book of Joshua and I just wanna share few insights I gained from Israelites journey as they follow Joshua’s leadership to their promised land. Here they are:

1. If you are a God’s child, He has allotted a portion of His promised land for you.  This is the promise of God for those who believe in Him through Jesus Christ.  We become co-heir of what He promised to Abraham.  To the Israelites, these are the pasture lands where they can settle and rest as God promised.  To us now, these are the promises of God for you and me in many forms.  It is beyond land properties.  It may be a thriving career that you’ve been believing God has promised to give you, a loving husband whom you will share your lifetime with, a place of ministry that God put into your heart or even a nation that you’ve been desiring to go to for missions. One thing is for sure, we have our portion in God’s Kingdom and that makes us secure as we keep believing and waiting.  And once given to us, it will definitely be a place where we will become fruitful, joyful and peaceful.

 “So the lord gave to Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. And the lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had solemnly promised their ancestors…” Joshua 21:43-44

2.  It will not be an easy journey taking possession of God’s promised land for you.  You need to be courageous to conquer everything that hinders you to step your foot on it.  God told Joshua to be strong and courageous as he leads the Israelites in claiming the lands He promised them.  Joshua and the Israelites took a hard labor and great courage by waging war against the kings of those lands believing that God is with and before them as they fight the battles. Sometimes it is our wrong mindsets, wrong habits, wrong decisions and even lack of faith and trust in God that we need to overcome in order to get there.  I believe complete obedience to God’s words will bring us to what He delightfully allotted to us.  Yes, it maybe difficult to obey but that is the only way even the quickest way to get to our promised land.

“Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:6-9

3.  God’s promises are true and He will fulfill every word that He promised you. God can never ever lie, that’s His nature.  He will always stay faithful to His words.  As you read the bible, God has thousands of promises for you and me, but the question is, which of these promises you believe are for you? Have you claimed them for you?  If not yet I encourage you to ask, pray, read and believe.

“Not a single one of all the good promises the lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true.” Joshua 21:45

It’s my prayer that as children of God, we will endure and enjoy the journey of waiting to see all His good promises being fulfilled in our lives.  Remember that He who promised is faithful and He can bring you THERE. 🙂

Giving it a try, why not?

I’ve always thought that writing is not my “cup of tea” simply because I knew that I do not have a strong background of writing and its technicalities.  When I read from a friend’s blog that writing is just simply an expression of your thoughts, I then realized that I could probably write since I feel and think that there is so much to share.  There is  a voice inside me telling that I could try express my thoughts through words…that I could try share my life’s experiences and somehow it would be a form of encouragement to others.

Today, I choose to start writing and sharing what’s inside my heart more than my head.  I choose to overcome the fear to be judged. I choose to write freely but with responsibility.  So, I welcome myself to this new journey many called as blogging!

 

Rising Sun

watching the sun as it rises  makes me feel secure to face each day with courage and hope believing that my God is more than ABLE and WILLING to fulfill all my heart’s desires…thank you my LORD! 🙂