supernatural reality

i don't wanna read nor listen about it anymore. studying it isn't even enough. I WANT THAT SUPERNATURAL, KINGDOM REALITY NOW! lately the Lord's been stirring up a hunger to go out and bring His Kingdom into the streets. there's a thirst to see what's been written and preached by other ministries about what God is doing in their midst. healings break out, supernatural happenings and a greater measure of power in their meetings.

what is the prerequisite then? is it more intimacy with God? kairos moments? more prayer and intercession? Lord, what is it then? there must be more than this. i really want to see a change come into my nation more than anything. what kind of change? righteousness in the government, real grassroots poverty alleviation programs that will really help the masses, and more opportunities for those who have been marginalized. i want people to know Jesus. we were discussing last friday before cell group that God promised that if we lift Jesus He will draw all men to Him. that's the answer to calling out the multitudes. only when we allow Jesus to be lifted high in our hearts and lives, churches, cities and nation will the multitudes come.

yep, the solution is not political, economic nor more education. rizal wrote and prescribed that over a century ago but the philippines is still the same. it's JESUS this nation needs. we need a Jesus Revolution. i'm just waiting out for the blueprints and practical solutions on how to do it. the solution is already plain but the ways have yet to be defined. hmm...i guess finishing my thesis is one step. hahahahaha Jesus and finishing my thesis are my priorities in this season. hehe nangatawa ra ba silang happy and mitzil ani when they saw it on my phone. :-) ako sad i realized how amusing but oh so true it was. i must focus on what God wants me to do at this time.

This was a verse which kept coming back and i had to ask happy where it was found...voila! Acts.

For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay...acts 13:36

Find out what God is doing in your generation and put your whole life into it. - Lou Engle

change the status quo!!!

a news item on the philippine economy (Philippine rice crisis due to bad policies, not shortage: economist) struck me because it spoke truth in volumes and put it really bluntly. with all due respect, i do not completely agree with economist rolando dy that this is a matter of "income crisis" but a crisis of the hearts - i put mine first on the judgment block.

the philippines does not have a dearth of brilliance, "wisdom" or good ideas. what it lacks is good governance rooted in righteousness and justice which are the foundations of God's throne. the nation does not even have a scarcity of pundits and good economic advisers and highly intelligent politicians; what it is in dire need of are people who are righteous and are willing to do what is right instead of just settling for the good thing. people who have encountered God if i may put it bluntly. not religious people because the philippines has an overdose of religiosity that may be its own undoing.

i am just stirred up - honestly - and mad. not mad at people or GMA for that matter or her minions (sorry, Lord) but at the generational bondages and shackles that have enslaved this nation that for the majority corruption is the norm and the "political 10%" is a given in many government transactions. we have come to accept a lie and exchanged truth for deception. we have come to believe that it is "normal" for a nation to have corruption when, in fact, there is no corruption in the Kingdom of God. there must be a stirring up and a cry inside of us that will say "I WILL NO LONGER TOLERATE THIS IN MY NATION AND IN MY GENERATION!" if jeffrey sachs can write that it is unjust for poverty to exist for such a time as this then we must also say that corruption should not be the reality or the standard. it must not be the norm!

studying the literature on the times of hunger and subsistence crises in the province of cebu and hunger and poverty has convinced me that what is needed is not more laws, policies or programs or more aid that will end hunger but righteousness and justice in the hearts of men. will durant wrote "Julius Caesar sought to change men by changing institutions BUT JESUS CHRIST CHANGED INSTITUTIONS BY CHANGING THE HEARTS OF MEN."

the solution is not more aid from multilateral institutions nor more harvard and UP graduates but men and women who have been changed because they have encountered the Truth, the Way and the Life - Jesus Christ. men and women who have laid down their lives for the One who laid down His life for them and people who will lay down their lives for others. the way to end poverty, eradicate hunger and stop corruption is only JESUS. there is no other way and no other solution. we've tried everything in the past but they have all failed.

i remember my brother-in-law, nap, saying "as you go, preach" and i believe that is what we need to do as sons and daughters of God. we must proclaim His good news that Jesus came to give life and life abundantly, that He came to destroy the works of the enemy and that He came to set the captives free and to heal the sick and free not just people but nations. we have been called to disciple nations and generations. the earth has been given to man and we can contend for the philippines in the throne room of God! what God has spoken over the Philippines must be proclaimed to the north, south, east and west! it is time to rise up and bring God's Kingdom out into the streets.

excerpts:

"The so-called rice crisis is really an income crisis," said Rolando Dy, executive director of the food division of the Manila-based University of Asia and the Pacific.

The Philippines could raise productivity but it had not properly invested in agriculture or its support infrastructure like irrigation and farm-to-market roads, Dy said.

He said the government was investing little in research and development, building sub-standard rural roads and not putting enough irrigation into potential growth areas like the southern region of Mindanao.

Graft and corruption also hurt the agriculture sector with rural infrastructure being built to poor standards.

pretty women?

last thursday i was reading my social history book and listening to music at the same time at the Marriott hotel lobby. my parents and i were waiting for my brother. in between music and pages of history, i couldn't help but notice the parade of women going in and out of the elevator of marriot in the arms of caucasian, asian and american men. i couldn't just go on reading 'coz my heart felt like it was being squeezed. oh God, help us and have mercy upon us, i thought silently. they were lovely and young ladies at that. of course, they were younger than me and it just broke my heart. the flesh trade and the idea of some of the young ladies that marrying foreign men was a ticket out of this country.

what are we doing? what am i doing about it to be exact? was i just sitting there and seeing them go in and out and judge them or am i praying for them? i was there listening to the music, studying for my thesis on the social history of hunger in cebu and enjoying the company of my parents in a comfortable place but even there, the social realities of poverty, unequal opportunities, prostitution and lack managed to catch up with me. and yes, i can't do something about it in the flesh but i can definitely do something about it on my knees praying for mercy for this land.

oh God, where are the sons and daughters who will fight for those who do not know their left hand from their right hand? where are those who would cry out for those who are silently screaming for freedom? my sister once preached about her dream to see an end to prostitution just as william wilberforce fought to end slavery in England and i didn't wholly share that desire until that night.

i've always seen "pretty women" before walking out in the dead of the night while i am inside the car passing by the streets of junquera on my way home with my family but it never hit me that hard as it hit me that night. i think that was what tita nene would put it: the right timing of God to open your eyes to the truth and reality. oh how He loves them the way He loves you and me! His heart goes out to them and He hears the cries and secret prayers of their hearts.