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Shackled By Our Tongue
by Raymond
Jan 20, 2010

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years. Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years. "The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time." Luke 1:5-20

I’ve read this scripture multiple before but I didn’t really get it until now, all along it felt like Abraham and Sarah all over again but there’s actually more to it than that. As Christians God has promised us more than 3000 different things as His children, some of my favorites are Deuteronomy 28-the promise of obedience and John 15, the promise of abiding in Christ. Not to mention the prophecies we receive and the calling we hear from him; some of us are called by God to go to different place, some switch careers, some in full time ministry, some in the business world, some in performing arts, education, media, etc. And this is what God has to say about all that:

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God” 2 Corinthians 1:20

It should just be that simple, speak the Amen! For the most part when we receive these words of destiny, we are so pumped up and expectant but as time goes by the excitement is slowly quenched, doubt and unbelief start to creep in, next thing we know we are no longer saying “Amen”.

We now start to question weather what we heard was from God or not. Then comes our spoken word- “will it actually happened, Lord”, “well maybe it’s not for me”, “maybe God changed His mind”, “I probably heard wrong”, “I knew it, this sounds too good to be true”. Sounds like the people of Israel when they are being brought to the promise land that’s why Joshua had to give them this command when they were about to conquer Jericho:

But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" Joshua 6:10

I bet here’s some of the reasons why he made them shut up: he knew that they will star complaining, words like “what are we doing marching around”, “this is crazy”, “you mean all we need to do is march and that’s it”, “we need to fight not parade around”, “I think Joshua is loosing it”, ”march around, what if the shoot us with their arrows!” and the list goes on and on.

Now lets go back to our man Zachariah, the Angel Gabriel spoke destiny to him and what was his response- “how can I be sure of this?” before hand he was in fear when he saw the Angel and now that good news has been spoken he dared to question what was said. So as we know he was made to shut up, just like what Joshua did to the Israelites.

“The enemy’s best tool and deception is not always for us to sin but for God’s blessings to be delayed to the point where we just accept what we have”

These people were made to shut up because they can’t speak faith, they can’t receive the blessing in unbelief and doubt, for most of us this is the case also, if God sent an Angel to make us shut up every time we speak doubt and unbelief then there’s gonna be a lot of mute Christians. The reality is we as Christians have accepted our current situations, we’ve given up the fight for our inheritance, we’ve chosen to be content with what life throws at us, don’t get me wrong I’m not saying be insatiable, what I’m trying to say is only be content when you’ve received what God has for you. Don’t give up the fight, don’t start blabbering unbelief and doubt. Don’t accept where you’re at because God said you will be the head and not the tail, on top and not beneath, you will not borrow form Visa, Mastercard or American express, but you will give to many! James says:

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. James 3:6

“It’s sad but true that a lot of Christians are robbed of their destiny because, they are shackled by their tongue, they are being hindered by the things they confess.” I know I was, but now no more!!! Proverbs says:

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21

There’s only 2 reasons why you are where you’re at, it’s either you’re in obedience to God’s will or you’re disobedient. If you are in the latter you can confess all you want you will not get anything from God, you will never eat it’s fruits, if you are in sin God will never tolerate you. Repent and turn from your wrongdoing. If you are in obedience to God however choose to speak life or just shut up when nothing good will come out of your mouth, as I was seeking God on how to break free from this rut, He lead me to these scriptures:

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. Matt 11:12

We need to be violent in receiving what God has for us, we need to wage war in the spirit, be relentless in our praying and fasting. Like Jacob let us wrestle until we receive our blessings! Don’t give up in the proper time it will be given to you! God’s blessings always come at it’s perfect time unless you choose to delay it.

Another one is:

So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled

Joshua 21:43-45

Just believe it!

Day Old Sashimi
by Raymond
Apr 4, 2008
I was doing my devotion one day when God gave me a series to share entitled day old sashimi. So I thought sounds cool but what does it mean? So I did some research about sashimi, the word sashimi means "pierced body", i.e. "刺身 = sashimi = 刺し = sashi (pierced, sticked) and 身 = mi (body, meat),The name "pierced body" could come from the traditional method of harvesting. 'Sashimi Grade' fish is caught by individual handline, and as soon as the fish is landed, its brain is pierced with a sharp spike, killing it instantly, then placed in slurried ice. This spiking is called the ike jime Process.
Then it hit me; Christ is the pierced body, the freshest way of harvesting fish for us to enjoy and share. Here’s where the day old comes in-What’s the use of Christ’s piercing if we leave it to rot anyway! A day old sashimi if kept cool is still good, it’s still edible, but it no longer has quality that it should have. Here’s the first of this 4 part series.
(Dishonor)

Mal 1:6 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty

How we dishonor God

1. Wrong intentions

Mal 1:7"By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. (1:8) When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty

God deserves the best or none at all because He is insulted, it’s a slap to God’s face when we give with an attitude of here it is Lord as though we are doing Him a favor.

what if someone tells you I’ll give you the best sashimi I can find to show you how much you mean to me and find out it’s a day old, how would you feel?

This is not just for money but how you live your life- devotion time, worship, loving people, etc.



2. Improper respect

Mal 1:14"Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations.

In the book of Isaiah the seraphim’s could only say one thing about God, Holy, Holy, Holy! We might be serving Him and believing in Him, but if we do not respect Him we are cursed. How can you receive Jesus as Lord and savior yet not treat Him with highest respect? By the way we live our lives, is it out of arrogance or an attitude of “I deserve this” or out of gratitude, humility and respect?

3. Robbing God

Mal 3:7 "But you ask, 'How are we to return?'(3:8) "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. (3:9) You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. (3:10) Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house

We rob God not just financially but also by misrepresenting Who He is. Our life must bear fruit for God in Jn 15- if you do not bear fruit you will be cut off, our life should no longer be lived for ourselves. We must live a life pleasing and worthy of God not because we need to earn it but because we know Him and what He deserves. Even if we are faithful tithers

What we need to do

Mal 3:7 Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD
Almighty.

Jas 4:8 draw near to me and I will draw near to you

Our relationship with God is dependent on us, if we respect and honor God there is no reason for us to not bear fruit and be blessed! By doing the will of the Father the world will know you are His. By desiring and pursuing to grow in God , He will make sure that you grow!

The danger of Dishonoring God can be unintentional- in the course of time the special becomes common, complacency, apathy and independency promotes it. Choose to always make your relationship with God Special on a daily basis.


The Who before the what!
by Raymond
Dec 26, 2007
In this day and age we live in Christmas has been so watered down, that it just became about the gifts we will receive or will reward ourselves with. The newest gadget, the coolest clothes, the nicest car, etc or on the kinder side, the stress of entertaining people, buying gifts for friends and love ones, attending parties after parties after parties till we are all cranky with the our children and spouses because we are so burnt out. As we progress in life we lose and digress from the true meaning of Christmas.

Let’s look back when the first Christmas happened, Luke 2:1-16 narrates the story in detail. One couple just going to Bethlehem for a census was met with a big dilemma, it was time for their baby to be birthed. We know the story there was no room for them in the whole town that they had to use a stable as a delivery room. Imagine the stench and the bacteria in that place, to top it all of their baby’s first crib was a manger, a box or trough where animals feed from. Here’s the kicker this baby that was born is the son of God, His only begotten son, that He sent to bring peace, joy and life to us and there’s no room for His birth? No room in the entire town for Jesus, sounds familiar? How much room is there for Jesus in this town or in your home? What hits me the most is that God could have easily tapped a person on the shoulder and said hey My Son is going to be born I need your master suite for a couple of days, hit the couch first! But He didn’t do it, why? Because no amount of comfort, ambiance, or cleanliness can take the place of Who was being born! We get so tangled up with the what’s of the season that we forget the most important thing, the Who! Jesus the one who loved us first so that we could love Him back, the one Who desires to give us the fullness of life, comfort and joy, peace and hope. It’s pretty ironic that Jesus was born only to die! If that was me I’ll at least try to negotiate that I arrive in style, be born in a palace or something not in a stable, since I’m going to be killed in the most humiliating way anyway. He knew that from day 1 in that stinky manger that He would be killed at age 33, so what’s the point of living then right? The point is, that He loves us so much, His life is to accommodate us, He has all the room in His heart for us. It’s easy to think that well Jesus had the salvation of the whole world in mind that’s why He was able to accomplish what He came to do, but the truth is if you were the only person in the world He would still do it. We are not just one of the reason, we are the reason.
Before we can truly understand what this season means we must need to know how God sees us first. King David, the one we know as the giant slayer in the story David and Goliath wrote this in Ps. 8:3-6 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: This is how God sees us, He is mindful of us and cares for us. He honors and glorifies us, and most of all He trusts us with His creation. The question is do we see ourselves this way? Do we value ourselves the way God values us? Or do we need to result in what the world offers, to satisfy us, to give us our identity, to make us secure? The Jesus who loves us didn’t care where He was born, didn’t care how He died, how people would treat Him but the only thing He cares about is us, if we would accept Him. What blows my mind is how much God our creator, longs to be close and relate with us, that He loves us unconditionally. As the story in Luke progresses we see that God sent His Angel to appear to the shepherds and invite them to come see Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Lk 2:16 says “So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. “ When they heard the invitation they ran to go and see, they didn’t think of buying gifts or bringing at least a sheep to give to the King. All they brought were themselves with their desire to be close to Jesus. Before they even saw Him they already accepted Him. On the flip side we see how God’s heart is and how He moves, instead of inviting royalty or the town leaders He chose the poor, non-influential shepherds to be His sons first visitors. These shepherds whom no one will believe when they say “hey guess where I was last night, I visited the King of kings and Lord of lords.” Yeah, where? In a stable, He was in a manger” I can imagine people saying to them yeah and your sheep turned into stallions and you rode off with your golden carriage. Like going to the manger is very uncommon to you shepherd! Or we may think: “well it makes sense Jesus is in a stable, what better guests to have than people who don’t mind the stench of the stable right?” But there’s something more than that, these people were pure in their desire and worship of Jesus. They weren’t caught up in the busyness of the world nor valued material things more than genuine relationship. This shows that God doesn’t care what we can do for Him or give to Him, He cares about us drawing near to Him! Here’s what actually happened to the shepherds in verse 17-20: 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. They were made secure by God and they were given honor! Their overflowing presence of God gave them credibility. It’s just so God, taking the simple and making it great! Again David said You (meaning God) stoop down to make me great! Like these shepherds if we choose to come to God, with the same desire to worship and enjoy His presence, we will be made great!

In this season let’s make Christmas matter by hurrying to seek and draw near to God, by hurrying to show our love and care for people, by enjoying the presence of God with others!
Mandatory Murder
by Raymond
Sep 11, 2007

Contrary to the 7th commandment “Thou shall not kill”, we are encouraged to kill once; Our sinful life. Romans 8:13 tells us; For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. People are too preoccupied living their own lives, loving their freedom of choice and individualism, pursuing success and that corner office in a high rise, generating as much money as they can even if it takes them to forget everything as long as they rake in their big bucks, setting aside their families and most of all removing God in their life’s equation. That’s why we see families ruined, people hooked on drugs and alcohol, people stressed out and turning to yoga and all these meditation and new age methods of reliving stress just to give them a temporary escape from reality. This type of lifestyle will only lead to ruin, it will provide temporary satisfaction but it will leave you empty to the core. Mark 4:19 says; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Life is death a part from God and His word. How can we know what we are to do with our life if we don’t seek our creator? It’s just like dropping off a fully equipped battalion ready for battle in a middle of a country without a mission order, as capable as they are they don’t know what to do. They can try to make things up as they go but they will never serve their ultimate purpose. Christ said it so clear and simple Mt 16:25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. If we can truly understand this, then life is suppose to be simple. Live our lives not by what we want but choosing to seek God everyday for our marching orders and living to Glorify Him. Mt 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. I believe that as Christ said “all” it also includes what we want but it is given a new perspective it’s now done in accordance to the will of God, in His own time, no longer by our own efforts but as His reward. Who else knows what’s best for the creation than the creator. Ultimately, John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. There’s a real hindrance to us attaining the fullness of life in Christ, the enemy will do everything to prevent it from happening but he can’t do anything if we don’t allow him to pollute our minds that we can make things work out on our own, we must kill our self made desires and realities and grab hold of the true reality that if God is for us who can be against us! Killing ourselves means giving up our lives to take hold of the real life God has for us!

Aches and Pains for the Glory of God
by Raymond Magaysay
Aug 25, 2007
I’m sure you’ve taken the time to ask God, why all these hardships? Why sickness? Why challenges? Why pain? Why me? Because you are capable to give the glory to God! As I was reading the book of Job I just had to ask God “why do this to a righteous man?” Why allow Satan to torment him? Is it for heavens entertainment?
The book started with; In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East. (Job 1:1-3) This man had everything going for himself and the reason why he is prosperous is because he loves and obeys God, his life is a result of God’s promises being fulfilled. So why? One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."(Job1:6-8) He is an ideal Christian, blameless, upright, fears God, shuns evil why him? The passage continues; "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." (Job 1:9-12) because God was confident Job will pass the test, and as we read along we’ll see things got worse but still he held on, in humility he received everything thrown at him as though he deserved it. Never did he go against God and the end result was a multiplication of what he used to have, abundant blessings from God, he showed that all he really wants is God, he was stripped of everything and God knew that, that Job will never abandon his maker. Reading between the lines of Jobs dialogue you can see that he is a worshipper, he could probably be a psalmist like David. Something in him caught God’s attention and had God zoom in and watch Him from heaven and even concluding that he was the best in the world. His character is revealed in the midst of his darkest hours, instead of turning against God he still managed to say good things about Him, that shows the abundance of his heart is just praise and obedience to his maker. He is a man who gained the Lords trust and confidence, that’s why he was chosen for the task! Still my question stands why? Here’s why, thanks to Max Lucado’s book “It’s not about me”. In the book of John Christ tells us about God’s intention; (Chapter 9 verse 2-3) His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” The only intention God has is for His work to be accomplished. It’s about Him being glorified in what His children do and endure. His children who are truly willing to pick up their crosses daily, those he wants to purify in the furnace, those who have a great destiny in Him! What’s in it for us then? When we become an instrument for the completion of God’s work, we get to live the fullness of our destiny in God, weather through sickness or health, abundance or lack, sorrow or joy, pain or pleasure. We also get to experience a trouble proof life, and most of all we get to be bearers of God Glory. As gold can only be refined through fire to reveal its brilliance, so must we be as pure as we possibly can for us to mirror God clearly and as radiant as possible for the world to see Him in us! It’s not all about suffering though God is more than willing to bless abundantly Christians whose hearts are set to giving Him all the glory and honor these are people who give their lives 100% to Him not caring what comes along their way as long as they are doing it for God. He knows our hearts, motives, intentions and most of all our capabilities more than we do. Him and only Him have our best in mind and actually know fully what is really good for us.
Every time we experience challenges and hardship whether physical, financial, or emotional, always consider it pure joy that you are used by God for His work to be completed, it is a privilege to endure hardship because it means we have gained Gods trust and confidence, that’s why He chooses us to make it happen, to give the glory to Him!