Meeting Gracious people of OMF LIT

One of the pleasant gifts and surprises in life is when God allows you to meet people! I think thats a loaded statement for many of us who for one way of the other have found our false comfort on being alone or simply locked in our individuality. Yes we are unique so unique that its not meant to rot without taking the risk to relate to others. I think that's the lesson i learned and i will cherish. As I met the light hearted people of omf lit.

They just don't publish their books they practice grace. I have learned a lot! Thanks to my brother whose influence in my life always brings me back to deep thoughts and a lot of laughter. I really agree that the godly are the most light hearted. More the books at the omf lit manila, it's really their grace filled attitude that makes people feel accepted when they go inside the bookstore.

kuhol este cool talaga ang mge taga omf lit! Lalu na yung anak ng pastor sa marketing ang pangalan niya starts with letter g........ methodist siya kaya tamang tama sa letter g sa liturgy hahahahah

handling success in grace

HANDLING SUCCESS IN GRACE

By: Rev. Arnel C. Tan

“At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be in charge of all the affairs of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king’s court” Daniel 2:49

It’s one thing to be successful and it’s really another issue to handle your success in grace. Daniel modeled this for us. While it’s true that he is the man in skin for handling success in grace all his trail points us back to God the One who gave him success, its not our goal to paint a superman in Daniel. People like him are rare. Many can handle adversity while many stumbles face flat threading the slippery role of victory. It’s when we are at the pinnacle of success that our spiritual boundaries are either defined or rapidly becoming blurred.

As much as Daniel needed God in captivity the more he acknowledge his need of God in the palace. Remember he served kings whose moods and power differ from each other. Yet these monarchs wanted Daniel nearby. In times of crisis Daniel gave the best advice. His tenacity in politics is remarkable. He did not only stay long he stayed clean! Before we make Daniel look flawless let us remember that everything is because of the favor (grace) of God.

Favor from God or grace is very clear to Daniel. No wonder he carefully handled his success in grace! How? He the LORD as the source of all of these blessings He remembered his friends who prayed with him. This is something worth remembering when God allows us to taste success let us not forget that we did not reach the top on our own. Someone along the way helped us! Daniel handled success well in grace by not treating his friends as competitors but companions, and his enemies he treated them calmly in prayer and not in vengeance. Daniel in grace let go or shared his powers instead of hoarding it.

Before the king or before the lions Daniel knew his identity as a recipient of God’s grace. I like the word “request” this is a language of grace while “demand” is an expression of control and legalism. He has always been in the request mode from captivity as he dealt with the king’s chef and before Nebuchadnezzar himself he still uses the grace word “request” what a man! Many have become unbelievably demanding while in authority and few have shown grace. Success is very revealing. Honestly, we are not sure of what it will reveal about us. For the mean time the attitude we show in where we are now is most probably be the same attitude we will manifest if ever God grants us a taste of success. Consider your place today as a preparation for what God has planned for you tomorrow. The bottom line handling success in grace is all about how you view yourself and how you view God!

FINDING STRENGTH IN GOD

FINDING STRENGTH IN GOD

By: Rev. Arnel C. Tan

“…….But David found strength in the LORD his God.”

1 Sam. 30:6 NLT

David under the most stressful moment of his leadership survived when he found strength in the Lord his God. This is a wonderful intimate picture of David’s relationship with the LORD. Here we see David personally so acquainted with his God. In the most trying moment he found God so near, so real. Such relationship of being near God and being strengthened by God is not the experience of many. Not that it’s not available nor was it kept in a hidden code; it’s really an open secret that few dare to explore.

Such simplicity of finding strength in the Lord requires a faith relationship with God. No time wasted proving the existence of God, much time is allotted in knowing God, resting in God and being strong in God. It’s also a desperate call for help and a deliberate abandonment of all false source of confidence. Until it’s really God alone as the source and the sufficiency of life and meaning of our existence and His glory the pursuit of our heart we wallow in shallow waters. Ignorant of the things we say, detached from true communion with the Almighty.

I really wonder especially in the darkest time of my life if this Old Testament record of David finding strength his God is still true today? My heart in many dark night of the soul could not even describe the abyss that I am in. If there is one thing very difficult to do is to lie to your heart. Feelings are expert liars, restraint within are so difficult to achieve when the inner man wants full release from bondage hard to describe. Perhaps David having been familiar with this dark corner of life where his leadership is waning and his crisis increasing can only run to God with whom whose presence and promise he enjoyed.

While David’s crisis and ours seem to have been eaten by a stubborn web of complication the way out and the way to survive is still made so simple. Find strength in God. After all we tried the many medicines and promise of relief from the experts we still find true rest when we finally come back to God and be strengthened by Him. It’s no longer our strength it’s God’s strength at work! It’s declaring dependence rather than independence that the weary finds rest, or rest finds him. This is a case of reckless abandonment of our deep wounds into the care of the Great Physician. Oh weary one after everything has been said and done, bloodied and messy and sick and tired of being sick and tired we still find that our way back to safety is drawing close to the LORD. And David found strength in the LORD his God in other words it means CALL ON THE LORD! Next time let’s not try to experiment let’s experience the strength that comes from God! Believe me He is more than willing He is able!

BLOGGING AGAIN!

It's been really a while since i made another entry to this blog. I don't know what bit me tonight I thought of renewing my blog. Special thanks to you who took time to read and comment, believe its special to me. I've been around lately so humbled by the opportunity that the Lord is opening, honestly something is changing i really wish that i could pray more than preach more. i feel my own inadequacy and the tremendous responsibility before God when you are being listened to.

Aside from my sunday preachings in church i wish to add no more. I've said "no" to many invitation lately. Not because of anything else it's just a strong conviction to pause and do some hard thinking than frequent preaching. It spiritually nourish me more than ever, to be in prayer meetings with God's people.

THANKS FOR DROPPING BY

THE GRACE FO GRIEVING

THE GRACE OF GRIEVING

By: Rev. Arnel Tan

Then Jesus wept. John 11:35 NLT

Seeing the Son of God weeping, grieving for the death of a friend is not only an awesome and mysterious, it’s comforting too others who are grieving too. This is a grace modeled by Christ that gives permission for us to grieve our loss. To express it in tears when words fail to articulate what we feel inside. Tears are language that God understands because He too had to shed it Himself. Grieving is an act of grace simply because it is showing that we are not man and woman of steel, somehow our personalities may differ but inside we are all the same. We are WEAK!

The grieving of Christ as expressed in his weeping models a unique grace of how the One who is willing to grieve is a comfort to others who are grieving and an encouragement to those who refuse to grieve over a loss. It is in this time that His weeping more than his preaching has ministered comfort to many. Some were touched, while others demanded for more spectacular miracles. By the way we don’t weep or grieve to create an impression we grieve and weep to express our humanity and to surrender to God’s sovereignty. Tears per se are not a requirement for repentance yet for those who repent often we find it difficult not to shed tears.

The grieving of Jesus allows us to see not a divine crack or weakness rather a taste of grace that our tears are valued by the Almighty. How opposite from what the world taught us that crying is weakness. Here we learn that the cry of the helpless and the grieving is the beginning of an unsuspected source of strength! In a nutshell, it’s OK to cry! Personally, I am not a stranger to tears, somehow I am beginning to be conscious of it especially when I am preaching. Above the “embarrassment” that weeping brings to a minister the freedom and relief it brings inside is overwhelming. I remember the Psalmist saying “Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.” (Psalm 126:5). That’s not just a good stuff to quote that’s a good seed to plant and a harvest to enjoy!

What do you think is the message of “Jesus wept” to you? For me it’s a language of grace that is expressed in grieving. When will grieving end and moving on begin? No one can really tell when the grieving stops. Probably it won’t end in this life. The good news is in every time we grieve God weeps with us and provides grace to finally accept what humanly we can never accept. After some time of intense grieving while doing my afternoon walk at the nearby cemetery (a God given spot to grieve), I found a deep sense of freedom inside, sound of shackles dropping and a fresh song from my heart saying or singing Horacio Spafford’s hymn “it is well with my soul” and this time it’s not just a song you sing in funerals, it’s a song of a soul finally set free! Thank you weeping Savior, thank you for allowing me to weep too, no wonder why You can wipe tears.

GRIEVING

GRIEVING

By: Rev. Arnel Tan

“Then Jesus wept.” John 11:35

I heard Mr. Philip Yancey spoke one time I heard him say we live in a fallen world of pain. I am not sure if I quoted him exactly, but the idea is we are living in a fallen world and pain is something we cannot escape. The things that God created to be good such as marriage, sex and the meaning of life has been perverted by the evil one. Then in the midst of a perfect environment inhabited by perfect people death came by the disobedience of Adam and Eve. Like a domino effect pain became a part of the fallen humanity. Why did Adam and Eve not die as what was said? I can only say that they should have died and all the soul that sinned must die, yet the DELAY OF DEATH is an early preview of the mercy of God.

When pain meets us head on and when it is no longer a theological or psychological topic we slowly understand the meaning why Jesus wept. He modeled to us the grace that is found in grieving. Grieving is an expression of intense sorrow over a loss. Underscore the words intense sorrow; this was the feeling of Jesus when a good friend died. To see Sovereignty grieving is an awesome sight! A lot of mystery wraps the weeping of God. We may not fully understand what this is about, or perhaps this is not meant to be dissected into theological cubes for the consumption of the wise. Maybe this is something God Himself modeled for the hurting and the wounded to cope with life’s loss and eventually move on in grace.

One way or the other we all have experienced a certain degree of loss. Loss of a love one, a pet, a marriage, loss of integrity, loss of a one life time break, or simply put loss of hope. While the experience of having to loose something or someone is universal. There is one important issue that many chose to skip; in fact many chose to bury this ahead over what they have loss. What is it? It’s called the act of GRIEVING OVER THE LOSS.

While God showed us His Son grieving and the Holy Spirit being grieved by our sins and stubbornness, we mortals have brushed it aside.

Don’t you it’s time to take Jesus’ hand and ask Him to grieve with you. Or ask Him to teach you and walk with you in this difficult pathway. More than a therapy or emotional release, grieving opens the door to recovery; bring us to the next step of moving on. Is it true that we don’t want to grieve because we still think we are strong? And we can handle the loss? Grace abounds to the grieving soul; brokenness opens doors of new beginning. Being crushed in the spirit and being in tears somehow brings us to a new day of moving on. Don’t you think you have denied yourself of grace of grieving over the losses in your life? Take the step and ask Jesus He knows everything about grieving. When you say God be merciful it actually conveys the idea of God crying with you.

P.S. If you know someone grieving remember more than words they need a shoulder to cry on and a gracious permission to grieve.

Prayer Mentor

In many humbling and surprising ways the Lord raise the ordinary to do the extraordinary for his glory. My friendship with Alex Gunay i call him tozer started when I was tasked to scout the next station manager for DXKI in marbel south cotabato. The life of Alex represented a model of what God can do to a man who acknowledges his nothingness. I am humbled by his hunger to know God. Unknown to him he became a mentor to me. Inspired by how he wakes up and takes a cold bath and pray in the morning, i find myself doing the same. A simple and yet deep man of faith.

I have no doubt that more awakenings will come out of him as he obeys God into the pastoral ministry. I am an excited child watching in awe what God will do to a man whose desire is to glorify his Lord. He never acted like a mentor nor clamored to be one. In his own simple and honest way he became one to me, and to others that silently watch him.

Each time i take a trip to DXKI part of my excitement is to learn from him and see how God honors those who honor Him. I am prayerful that his roots will grow deep and bear fruit that last. I prayerful that his prayerful life open his eyes to see more of Jesus, and in deep roots and grace filled discernment see things in God's perspective. Though not ordained and non Mdiv yet he became a unassuming mentor to me. His simplicity and kindness is his unique mark of grace and not his competence. In the end of life its the kind that made a difference not the competent.
Thanks Alex tozer gunay

A Reluctant Preacher

it's a rare sunday for me i did not have my regular preaching in our church, believe it's a timely relief. It's not a joke preaching four services on a given sunday. I spoke on the 59th thanksgiving anniversary of Capital Alliance Church in Toril. Rev. Bert Labawan is most gracious to have me preach in their anniversary. It was a wonderful moment of worship and prayer! When the worship leader led us in worship song tears stream down my cheeks. This is something i haven't experience in the past. It's a new sensitivity to God's presence. I think it is this chapter of my life that makes a reluctant preacher out of me.

Reluctant not because of rebellion to God's call but a deep realization of my personal inadequacy and a heavy realization that preaching transcends words, it's a tall order to the preacher himself! How safe just to be in the pew than the man behind the pulpit. It's sacred task that makes you so vulnerable, knowing that your so human. Lord help! Honestly, someone has to do the job so to speak, someone called by God has to stand there and bring sense of God back into the main stream of life. Reluctant because, of the holy expectation that is built within the office of the preacher, reluctant because i know what a graceless heart i have. Reluctant because the job of preaching is a powerful influence to the people who hear. I have more reluctant reasons that cannot put into words for now.

This reluctance makes me seek God in prayer. Every opportunity to stand and preach is a sacred task not to be taken lightly. There is a sense of holy duty to really seek God in earnest prayer if i am the man who will bring God's word. It's a moment that calls to embrace the grace of God as it fearlessly reveal the many ungracious side of my life. Honestly, I think this reluctance leads me not that to seek a podium to pound my thoughts, but to quietly savor lessons for me in my unknown corner. A passion to be a learner than to be a lecturer, a child that need more instruction and only when necessary i wish to open my mouth and quickly hush. This is good for my soul! I pray that i may dig deeper on this a new kind of blessed reluctance.

RELUCTANT PREACHER ANEW