read the Bible daily

1 Cor 2:9
9
But as it is written: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him,”

Ephesians 3:20-21
20
Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us,
21
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Just a little sharing. Me and my friends served the homeless on Sunday and this friend of mine was robbed (he lost his textbooks, notes, and other things) after he went home from that event. Many times, we asked the question: Lord, I am a good person, why bad things happen to me? My friend can also ask the same question, after all he just came back from serving the homeless! Yet, he decided to do different thing. He praised the Lord for whatever happens in his life, bad and good, he will still praise the Lord and he prayed for those who robbed him. He shared that Christ has suffered much for us all, and yes, we all should praise Him in good or bad things. There is no Easter Sunday if there is no Good Friday. To partake in His glory means that we have to be willing to partake in His sufferings as well. And he shared that He told what happened to his professor and the professor gave him a brand new textbook, so much better than his old previous one. And my friend was pleasantly surprised and said that there is nothing impossible in the name of God, even after the robbery, the Lord provided him with brand new textbook. So God’s way is totally unexpected and He is always with us even during tough times.
What I learn is that during tough times, it is more beneficial not to ask God why this happens or get mad at Him, but ask what we should do about it. That should bring more peace of mind.

8
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
9
As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.

This one is an excellent verse to remember when things do not go our way. The Lord has a better plan.

36
Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful.
37
“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
38
Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

Heavenly Father, help me to always be humble whenever I feel superior to other people and tempted to condemn them. For my sins are ever before me and without You, I can do nothing. Help me to feel compassion to others and forgive them whenever they make mistakes. Help me to be able to see Jesus Christ in everyone, including my enemies. Amen.

Luke 3:23
23 When Jesus began his ministry he was about thirty years of age.

I think just from this simple verse, so much insights can be gained. First, we can ask a question, why Jesus spent so many years hidden in Nazareth, and his public ministry is only 3 years. Second, what is the lesson of this hidden life of Nazareth?

The lesson here, I believe, is humility. The fact that God came down from heaven and became man just to redeem mankind is absolutely mind-boggling. I think He spent 30 years in Nazareth, growing in wisdom, first to prepare Himself for His ministry, and second, to teach all human that every one of them is special. We can imagine that a lot of those 30 years were spent doing regular tasks, He had to work, bought stuffs from merchants, and in general, just doing everyday regular stuff.
But the Lord knew that He needed to be born into a common person, not into a king according the human’s mind, because He knew common people need to be able to feel a common bond with Him.

So, if one day, we feel that our life is too mundane, we’re just doing the same stuff over and over again, and we got into despairs, always remember that Jesus also did regular stuffs for quite a number of years before He started His public ministry.

Well, that’s the insights I got from this particular verse.

Hebrew 4:12-13
12
Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
13
No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

Recently, I started to really realize how true it is, that the Bible is the true Living Word of God. For example, this one time when I felt down and I went to a prayer meeting, my friends read some verses from the Bible that really cut through my heart. Those verses gave me consolation and hope and I knew the verses were meant to me. I can just felt it deep down in my heart, penetrate my whole being. And I started to realize that the word of God is truly a sharp sword, cut through the heart and soul (Ephesians 6:17), and truly it’s alive.

Ephesians 6:17
And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And it is really important to read daily since if we read Ephesians 6 about the armor of God, among all the protective gears: belt of truth, helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, footgear of zeal, and sword of God, only the sword of God is the offensive gear here, the rest are defensive. If we imagine, we are fighting the kingdom of satan (imagine Lord of the Rings episode 3 when Aragorn and friends attacked Mordor), we have to be fully equipped, if we don’t have our sword or if our sword is blunt, it’s almost the same as killing youself.

So, I wrote this to give encouragement to all of us, including me, to keep reading the Bible daily, to strengthen us and give us consolation in the midst of trials and tribulations. Sometimes I think I should have read the Bible more often in the past, but oh well.. yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. May the Lord grant us the gift of perseverance to walk in His path and may we use the gift of today according to His will. Amen

Psalm 51 is a psalm of David. It is David’s prayer of repentance after Nathan the prophet came to admonish him for his affair with Bathsheba.
David was a great king of Israel, the one anointed by the Lord and yet, he commited terrible sins of adultery and murder. And for this, the Lord punished him by having “sword” destroyed his descendants(2 Samuel 12). The greatness of David, however, is that he lamented over his sins, repented, and composed this psalm asking the Lord for forgiveness and a clean heart (Ps 51:12). A prayer of admittance to the sinful nature of human (Ps 51:7), the just punisment he deserved (Ps 51: 6), and the hope that only God can provide.

A very touching psalm.

Isaiah 58:5-11

5
Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
6
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke;
7
Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
8
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
10
If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
11
Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.

Since Ash Wednesday is coming next week (March 1, 2006), I thought I am going to share some verses in regards of fasting. The calling for prayer, fasting, and almsgiving can be found throughout the Scriptures (Tob 12:8, Mt 6:1-18). While I do not undermine the calling to fast for the body, there is I feel, something more important and harder to do, which is the interior fasting. I think to eat only bread and water the whole day is easier than to be nice to my least-liked friend. Of course, this doesn’t mean that I should not do bodily fast at all during Lent, it is, I believe, the first step of fasting. I feel that exterior fasting is a way to sacrifice your desire to eat and in exchange allow yourself to be filled with the Lord. Combined with interior fasting, it is a wonderful gift to the Lord.

Other thing that I am wary about is penances that are too vigorous, like all day no-eating fast. Virtue comes in the middle. I think if the Lord calls for all day fast, He will provide with the strength necessary, if He doesn’t, then basically you’re doing it with your own strength, and most likely are going to fail. Probably the key is not doing big things, but small things with great love.

Well, I am still discerning what the Lord wants me to fast on this Lent, but below is a list of actions of interior fasting, which I think I can do for Lent, and by the grace of God, for the rest of my life.

We can fast from judging others and feast on Jesus dwelling in them.
We can fast from words that hurt or maybe pollute
and feast on words that heal and purify.
We can fast from discontent and feast on gratitude.
We can fast from anger and feast on patience.
We can fast from worry and feast on God’s providence.
We can fast from complaining and feast on appreciation.
We can fast from negativity and feast on affirmation.
We can fast from bitterness and feast on forgiveness.
We can fast from self-concern and feast on compassion for others.
We can fast from discouragement (which is one of the main tools of Satan) and feast on hope.
We can fast from suspicion and feast on truth.

Amen.

Isaiah 43:18-19:
18 Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not;
19 See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.

There are several ways that the Lord speaks to His people. For some, He uses other people to convey His messages, others through dreams, books, events, the Bible, and a lot of other things. Most of the times, He spoke to me through events. I remember clearly, about 6 years ago, I was involved in a student organization and one thing led to another, the former president of the organization had a big clash with a lot of its members. Well, somehow I got involved with the clash (this is one of the things that I should have just stayed away)and I got into a big argument to this one girl, and we just ignored each other. Believe it or not, when I first started to coming back to Christ, about 3.5 years ago, in the 3rd or 4th prayer meeting that I went to, I met with this girl. Well, right then I knew the Lord wanted me to apologize to her. I can just feel it in my heart. So I did about 2 weeks later, and we were talking again, then she disappeared and I have never meet her again. And He also talked to me through His word in the Bible.

One thing that I’ve been struggling with for the last 3.5 years is making a peace with my past. Granted without Christ in your life, you can really feel lost in this world. So, how do you deal with regrets? Forgiveness here is the key. To forgive is divine, it’s a supernatural act that needs grace from Christ. Naturally, when people got hurt, they tend to attack back, yet that’s not what the Lord asks. (Matthew 5:38-48)
Matthew 5:48
“So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

We are all called to be holy, and to love and pray for our enemies. I believe that I have forgiven all that have hurt me in the past and caused me so much pain. The Lord has given me that grace. One thing that I still struggle with is forgiveness of myself, because there are things that I know can be prevented if I wanted to but I chose not to, etc. Actually, when I went to daily mass few days back, the first reading was Isaiah 43:18. I felt that He talked to me that day to let go of the past. We often heard this expression: Let the past be the past, and how true it is! Let the past be the past, look at the future since the future is the future full of hope.

Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope.”

So, what else me, His servant, can say, but yes Lord, I will hold on to Your promise. Actually, I want to make a commitment, everytime I feel the weight of my past haunts me, I will repeat Isaiah 43:18. For I know, that accusations do not come from Him. And I will fight them for I know well that the accuser is not the Lord. The Lord is my Savior and He loves me so much to erase my sins and prepare a future full of hope for me. There is this one verse below that I really like:

Isaiah 49:15-16:
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Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.
16
See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name; your walls are ever before me.

Lord God almighty, I will never fathom the depths of Your love to me, thank you always of forgiving me, and as for me, I let go of my past and let my eyes set themselves upon the future. Amen.

When I first told myself that I want to read the Bible daily, I found it very hard to be disciplined. First, I didn’t know where to start. I tried reading from cover to cover, but after I got to Leviticus, I got so sleepy. Then I changed my strategy and switched to New Testament. I managed to read the whole thing until halfway through Revelation, just by sheer will. But then, I felt nothing, like I was reading just because I was determined to read. And I didn’t remember most of what I read, it didn’t stay in my heart, so to speak. So now, what I find extremely helpful is following the Daily Mass Readings. I have been going to Daily Mass everyday for the past 6 months or so, and it was a tremendous help in my spiritual growth. So, I followed the Scripture from the readings and during the homily, I can feel the Word become alive, and I started to understand how to apply the Bible in everyday’s life.

I thought I am going to use this venue to write my insights in regards of the Bible verses that I read today.
Today’s reading is Mark 8: 34:”...He said to them, whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” In my opinion, suffering has been a subject that people struggled with for so many generations. Why does suffering exist in the world? Is following the Lord means that we are not going to suffer anymore? And yet, today’s reading indicates the opposite of what some people believe. Some said, Lord, if I follow You, I believe You are going to bestow me with riches, I am going to be well provided for, whatever I ask, You shall give it to me. But, what about the verse today, if you really want to become the follower of Jesus Christ, you must take up your cross and follow Him. Doesn’t sound too inviting at all. I must admit truthfully, that many times I am trembled with the crosses in my life, sometimes, my burden feels heavy, and I do get scared if I think of the crosses ahead of me. But the Lord calling me to come higher, to the Golgotha, walk to its summit. He let me know to offer up all my sufferings to Him, so that they will have meaning. For ex, one person is very sick physically and he/she lost hope and wants to commit suicide. To know that he/she can lift up his/her sufferings and says that this pain, I lift up in prayers for the spiritual revival in my family, then that suffering has meaning and that’s what make it bearable. The other example I can think of is fasting. Fasting is a form of self denial, to empty oneself to be filled with the Lord, as it is written in scripture: John 3:30: “He must increase but I must decrease” So in fasting, people deny their natural appetite, so they suffers a little and let them be filled with the Lord. Say the Lord send me heavy crosses, I want to be able to able at the end to say: I keep my Faith. And I do need a lots of prayers for that, to always hold firm onto my Faith, and know that His love and mercy endures forever. And despite all my burdens, to be able to hold on to His promise: ”.. I am going to always be with you to the end of age” (Matthew 28:20)