This Fight? It’s Been Won Over Long Ago!

“God did the work to save you, and when He did, He made your sin (past, present & future) powerless to separate you from God.  If you can’t wrap your mind around that, you’re stuck on square one of Christianity.” — Uncle Glen

I was introduced to Uncle Glen’s blog when I saw it on my dashboard, thanks to my Victory group leader’s reblogs of his posts on Tumblr. Uncle Glen, reading his answers to the questions his followers ask him and the quotes from his preaching, has been a blessing to me (to his blog followers, as well, I’m sure). Thank you, Uncle Glen!!!

I have a lot of questions that needs answers, revelations. I have a lot of issues that God and I need to and will work on together (I can do all things through Him who strengthens me!). And today, I just know that God decided to really clear one of them. I was randomly browsing Unka Glen’s blog, and encountered the quote above. Again, it says:

 ”God did the work to save you, and when He did, He made your sin (past, present & future) powerless to separate you from God.  If you can’t wrap your mind around that, you’re stuck on square one of Christianity.”

 If you can’t wrap your mind around that, you’re stuck on square one of Christianity.

The truth juice just burst straight to my face, with all its juicy pulps.

I am sinful. Do you know the feeling that comes after when you knew something you were about to do wouldn’t really honor God but for some reason, you still did it? Guilt comes, yes. And it’s a lot stronger because you knew but you still chose to do the wrong thing. And then you start to feel so ashamed of yourself. You feel that you disappointed God again, and the tally goes on. Then self condemnation slowly enters the scene. And that’s where the enemy comes in: “You sin beyond your quota, kiddo. You think God still loves you?”

I know this feeling so well.

I’ve read verses, I’ve heard people. God loves me.  I’ve been redeemed. While I knew that the answer was (is and will always be), “Yes, He will always love me! And He just can’t help it!” But still, for some reason I still got shaken. I’ve encountered this a lot of times before, the biggest one just before my Level Up Youth Camp: I was so ashamed of myself. While I still talked to God (asked for his forgiveness, but was still feeling so guilty) I made sure I wouldn’t ask for stuff. Or keep the asking for favor so minimal. “I don’t deserve His favor, I shall not ask,” I said in my head.

Yeah, right. Like He couldn’t hear me. Like He didn’t know what was going on with me that time.

I thought this case has already been closed back in the camp when He said, “Stop judging yourself.” That line blown me away big time. I thought I was okay already in that department. But I guess today’s revelation proved that the case hadn’t really closed completely. 

“God did the work to save you, and when He did, He made your sin (past, present & future) powerless to separate you from God.  If you can’t wrap your mind around that, you’re stuck on square one of Christianity.” Screaming words. These lines are a lot more powerful than Randy Orton’s RKO and John Cena’s FU combined.

Jesus said, “It is finished.” (John 19:30) Condemning yourself is like saying, “No, it’s not yet done!” It’s like saying He’s wrong when He said that it’s done.There’s no need for self condemnation to be forgiven. It’s already paid for, when Christ died at the cross for us. But here’s an important note: ”You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” (Galatians 5:13) 

Romans 8:38-39 says that “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). And it is written. Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ. The fight has already been won over long ago!

Tagged: Eleven Questions!

Rule1: Post the rules.
Rule 2: Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then make 11 new ones.
Rule 3: Tag 11 people and link them to your post.
Rule 4: Let them know you’ve tagged them.

Jane tagged me! I’m so happy she did, and she knows why. Lol! (I hear my fellas saying, “You are loved, you’re accepted…” Hahaha!)

1. What’s your favorite pick-up line? Why do you have one?

I don’t have a favorite pick-up line! But this one really got me laughing.

Boy: Hey, may I strip your clothes off?
Girl: *ready to punch the lights out of the guy*
Boy: Because I want to know how angels hide their wings.

Lusot si Koya. Hahaha. Okay, I know. I’m shallow.

2. Do you drink coffee? If you don’t, why not? If you do, good for you.

I drink coffee, but not as often as I used to. See, I used to be at par with Voltaire in drinking coffee—lol kidding, I used to take just 1/8 of his daily coffee consumption—but now, just a cup a day is enough.

3. Who’s your most favorite person in the world?

Oh, everyone who knows me knows this is a no-brainer for me. My mother.

4. When are you the happiest?

I’m at the peak of being happy every time He blesses me when I’m at the trough of feeling undeserving. Like when He brings me closer to something that I thought was distracting me from focusing on Him. Those are the times when I, because I’m so busy criticizing myself, forget just how powerful and loving He is. How faithful He is. How differently He sees me. And upon recollection, I’m the happiest-er. Ipilit ang comparative-superlative effect, ‘Te?

5. What’s your favorite fictional world?

The wizardly world of Harry Potter is the most amazingly crafted fictional world for me, therefore my favorite among those that I’ve read and seen on movies.

6. What are your top 3 pet peeves?

Not in order: bones cracking, the sound of nail file against my nails, and the word stuffs—if such a word even exists.

7. What’s your dream travel destination?

Oh dear, this is so difficult. I have so many dream travel destinations, but my first dream travel destination is France. Hahaha. So common.

8. If you win P1,000 in jueteng, what will you do with your prize money?

Wait, this is illegal ah! Lol! Can we just change it to Lotto? Lol. Pretending it’s legal and that I ever put bets on a stuff like this, I think I would just save it to finance the travelling that I do every week.

9. If you’re a food, why?

The world is oblate spheroid in shape and the stars are laughing at the grass that I stepped on back in Caliraya.

I seriously don’t know how to answer this question.

10. What’s your feel good movie?

I haven’t really thought about this. Maybe Scott Pilgrim Versus the World? I’m not really a fan of watching movies.

11. Are monsters born or made?

I don’t know. All I know is, Monsters Inc.: We scare because we care.

I’m tagging Danica, Serjan, Precious, Herleen, Anj, Misha, Cris, Tyrone, Chessel, Noel, and Micca! Heehee! If you, the people that I tagged and dear readers, have time and if you’re willing, please answer these questions:

1. What is your most favorite line from a song?
2. What is your favorite music video? Why?
3. Who is your most favorite singer ever?
4. What is your favorite quote?
5. Have you attended any live concert? Tell us about it!
6. Have you ever stalked someone? For how long?
7. What is/are your favorite book/s?
8. Do you have a favorite place? Like, somewhere you always go to or like going to.
9. What are you most afraid of?
10. Who do you most often hang out with?
11. Do you remember your dreams often? Tell us about the weirdest dream you can remember! 

Wew. Long.

Always Better Than These Chocolate Cakes

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. (Psalms 145:18-19)

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

Mockingjay

I feel weird posting blog entries about books in a trilogy, one after another. Even though my entries are short and not so critical.

Again, I’ll minimize giving spoilers.

This is the third and final book of The Hunger Games trilogy. My favorite among the three (Catching Fire follows). I’m happy that there are only three books in the series. Sure, I was sad because it had to end, but I didn’t want the story to drag on too long and eventually lose its charm.

I found myself looking for more Peeta, because in the first part, he was not in action and there were a lot of Katniss-Gale scenes. I developed fondness to his character in the second book and it didn’t disappear since. So yeah, I kind of missed his presence with Katniss (lol, always with Katniss).

District 13 is like another Capitol in-the-making. Especially with President Coin leading it. In another note, it was bombed epochs ago but it seemed a lot better than the existing districts. Sure, it has to be hidden but… I don’t know. I just felt bad for the existing districts receiving all the shiz the Capital has been throwing them while District 13 is just… chillin’. Well, details, I need details.

Now, here are some of the stuff that I liked about this book:

• Action!
• Katniss’ confusion and thoughts. The narration’s in first person POV, and the scarcity of dialogue was supposed to bore me but I found myself reading intently and loving how her mind rolls.
• The operation to rescue Peeta and Annie, followed by Katniss and Peeta’s painful reunion, if you know what I mean.
• Totally loved Peeta’s (ephemeral) change of heart and his conversations with Katniss. I’m all for Peeta making Katniss fall for him, but him saying the things that he’s been overlooking in the past books in Katniss’ face is priceless. Really, if it isn’t for what Snow did to Peeta, Katniss won’t have realized how much she loves him. Or maybe how she can’t survive without him.
• Johanna Mason. Again. I love her character so much.
• Star Squad 451 and their penetration of the Capitol!
• The Real or Not Real game!!! Ah!!!
• Peeta’s lamb stew moment with Katniss.
• Finnick’s death. My happiness gauge went down to 10%. Too soon and too un-detailed for a very lovely character.
• Gale and Peeta’s conversation while the squad (the remaining members of the squad, more appropriately) is in Tigris’.
• The scene where Gale gets captured by the Peacekeepers.
• Prim’s death. Too unelaborated!!!
• Snow’s final conversation with Katniss.
• The remaining victors’ consensus about the final Hunger Games—featuring the Capitol kids.
• Katniss’ murder of the new Capitol president.
• The final scene, the epilogue. I loved how the book ended.

I don’t usually read action novels (I used to not like it, but now I think I do). I don’t usually read novels that have touches of gore and violence and the like. But I loved this element of realism in the series, as much as I dislike it: Death happens. Including your so-loved characters’. Though I was really looking for more back-stories of those characters that I loved.

All in all, I enjoyed the series. I loved it. I initially thought it was just one of those overrated-no-justice series. It may not be the best novel out there but I think it’s a very good read.

Catching Fire

I finished reading the last two books of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy entitled Catching Fire and Mockingjay days ago, and thought I should make blog posts about them but I didn’t have spare time to do so but now I do, thus, this post (albeit short).

Note: I’ll try my best to minimize the spoilers.

I was expecting details from the first book to consume the initial pages but there was none. Quite disappointed at first but the way the story unfolded made up for it. The second book is like the foundation of the third book, foreshadowing stuff like the inevitable rebellion against the Capitol. Katniss and Peeta’s Victors’ Visit slightly bored me, but I found myself discretely rooting for Peeta. Not that I dislike Gale, okay? I just thought Gale and Katniss kind of have similar personalities. And that Peeta’s chase screams to be reciprocated.

Some of the main reasons why I liked the second book:

• The Quarter Quell! I love the idea of choosing the tributes from each district from the pool of victors that won the previous Hunger Games.
• Peeta’s interview!
• The new arena.
• Finnick Odair and Johanna Mason! (Here’s more exclamation points for emphasis: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
• Peeta, the force field and Katniss’ epic reaction. Hihihi.
• Johanna’s “Whole country in rebellion?Wouldn’t want anything like that!”
• The rescue plan.

After finishing the book, the fact that most of the deaths of the tributes (including the interesting ones) would really be unexplained in detail settled in. If in the first book, Thresh and Foxface got my interest, in the second book, I had eyes on Mags, Chaff and Wiress (I love Wiress’ name!). Sad.

I told my friends, Mark and Romicca, that Suzanne Collins likes cliff hanging. And they agreed with me. After turning the last page of Catching Fire, I started Mockingjay right away.

The Hunger Games

My last semesters in college were the busiest moments of my school days, I didn’t have time to feed the monsters in my life’s fiction-reading department. Well, not that I completely didn’t have time for it, I just knew reading fiction wasn’t the wisest thing to do. So yeah, after a long fiction-reading hiatus, I finished a book today.

Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. Just the first book, though.

I’ve heard about The Hunger Games a long time ago, and I didn’t really have serious interest on it. Some of my friends were crazy about it (or still crazy about it, I’m not sure) and some, just the opposite. I’ve also heard different comments—negative and postive— about the book (and the entire trilogy) from them. Honestly, the hype primarily got me interested. Then the uproar when the news about the movie of the said series was announce happened. The trailer was everywhere. But I wasn’t really thrilled. I hadn’t read the books, and aside from the few spoilers that I let myself hear, I still didn’t know a big portion of the story.

I didn’t plan to read the books (as I didn’t have anyone to borrow them from and I didn’t have plans on buying them)… until this summer vacation, when somebody lent me the copy of the three books. Hello, Camille! If you know me personally, I’m not really the type to buy books… I have more important things to spend my limited money on. I will start buying them when I’m working. So for now, I choose to borrow them from willing friends.

I’m a sucker for young adult novels (and films), and I’m open about it. I liked the book. I’ll put some of my personal reasons in bullets, because I want to and I can.

• I liked the idea that Katniss Everdeen isn’t a whiny heroine.
• I don’t usually like reading books that involve too much action and gore (though for me, these elements in the book weren’t fully maximized) but they were enough to keep me from skipping long lines of description-narration.
• Romance! Chances of me passing up on a book without romance is very high. I’m still torn about whom to put my bet on, though—Peeta or Gale. Though I’ve already developed a liking on Peeta… probably because of his exposure in the first book.
• I didn’t find the narration painfully boring. It’s probably because I like Katniss, and the narration is in first person point of view.
• The story isn’t as streched as some other books/series.

I still have more pluses for the novel but let me move on to the minuses.

• Like I said, I think the action and gore aren’t fully maximized.
• I feel that the novel is quite lacking in the details. What happened to Thresh? How did he really die? Details! What about Foxface? I seriously felt bad about the way Foxface died.
• Too many kissing scenes!

If the details that I’m looking for are in the succeeding books, I’ll find out soon. But really. Foxface and Thresh. </3 I’ll start reading the second book, Catching Fire, later.

The Rolling Hills

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about something—my future. My final semester in college ends in just a matter of days and graduation is just around the corner, but my evaluation exams’ figures never fail to dishearten me every time. Planetshakers’ song entitled Nothing Is Impossible says: “I’m not gonna live by what I see. I’m not gonna live by what I feel.” But with the facts punching me in the stomach like Manny Pacquiao, my ‘confidence gauge’ can’t help but decrease in level.

And that’s where more frustrations come in and attack me as if I’m some sort of a professional burglar that needs infinite amount of beating. They throw me questions like “Jex, should I write the words FAITH and GRACE on a blackboard and send it flying to your face?” and Jesus’ line in Matthew 8:26, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?“. And these things just make me realize more how weak I am (that’s another slap on the cheek for you, self). AH, and this thought has just come in: I can remember myself saying to a friend, “It’s all in the mind, you know.”

REALLY, SELF??? REALLY??? /harakiri

But here’s what’s real: whenever I’m about to completely bury myself in my personally-dug pit of self-contempt, the Lord always shows His light. The Bible contains a lot of verses about worrying, anxiety and peace. I made a short post of some of those verses here. I especially love these two verses:

“And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?” (Matthew 6:30)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Right now, honestly, I’m kind of bothered. I’m worrying that I’m not worrying about something I should be worried about, as far as this world is concerned. I used to be a professional worrier. And I know, there will still be times that I’ll waste my time worrying. But not, as often as I used to. There’s this song from Hillsong United that goes, “You’re the change is us, You’re the change in us, we know.” He is the change in me. All the glory goes to Him!

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

Sincerity

I just love this specific conversation of Jamie and Landon from Nicholas Sparks’ A Walk to Remember. I haven’t read the books yet, but after seeing this from an Ate’s wall… It hit home.  

“You knew, from the first day in Miss Garber’s class that I was going to do the play, didn’t you. When you looked at me and smiled?”

She nodded.

“Yes.”

“And when I asked you to the homecoming dance, you made me promise that I wouldn’t fall in love, but you knew that I was going to, didn’t you?”

She had a mischievous gleam in her eye.

“Yes.”

“How did you know?”

She shrugged without answering, and we sat together for a few moments, watching the rain as it blew against the windows. “When I told you that I prayed for you,” she finally said to me, “what did you think I was talking about?”