Tag: Christianity

By accepting Lord Jesus, the youth will be protected from suicide

By accepting Lord Jesus, the youth will be protected from suicide

carlocarrasco

Suicide is defined as the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally (source – Merriam Webster Dictionary). For so long has suicide affected societies worldwide and left a lot of families very hurt.

If the World Health Organization (WHO) is to be believed, roughly eight hundred thousand people die worldwide due to suicide every year.

What is disturbing in the survey of the WHO on the said topic is that the age-group of 15-29 years saw suicide as the 2nd leading cause of deaths in 2016. To break down the 2016 statistics, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for people aged 15-29 among both genders and the females. Among the males, suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death.

While varied organizations and researchers have their own definition of the age group for youth, the Jesus Global Youth Day organizers defined it verbally as below the age of thirty, which I personally witnessed during the 2019 Jesus Global Youth Day held here in the Philippines. As such, the 15-29 age group would be counted as youth at least in this article.

Back to the topic at hand, the menace of suicide affecting youth right down to the local level of Barangay BF Homes, Parañaque City made its presence felt when I interviewed Barangay BF Homes Sangguniang Kabataan (BFSK) chairwoman Mariel Tumang twice in 2019.

During the first interview (published here), she told me that suicide among the youth in the local community was present not just in the form of committed suicide (confirmed death) but also in the form of thoughts (suicidal thoughts or suicidal thinking) inside the minds of young people.

Then, months later, in another interview Tumang confirmed to me that a tragedy happened when a 21-year-old man living in the depressed community of Masville hanged himself to death because he broke up with his girlfriend (click here). The victim was a loss not only to his family, his friends and the neighborhood, but also for the economy (note: he was already working in the private sector). Tumang stated that their definition of youth is 15 to 30-years-old.

Along the way, Tumang and her SK kagawads (Youth Councilors) attended seminars on dealing with suicide through the aspect of psychology and behavior. Whatever topics and skills they learned, they made ways to make their community youth aware of it by holding seminars locally.

The sad trail of youth suicide also goes a long way back in the form of archived news reports. In January 2014, a 16-year-old boy killed himself inside his house in Cebu City because of his failure in school (click here) and his school adviser confirmed to his mother that he would not be going to fourth year high school.

On April 2016, a 15-year-old girl was found dead hanging from a mango tree (click here) in Talisay City, Cebu. According to the archived news report, a suicide note was left behind by the victim (a stay-in student of a school) and she reportedly told one of her superiors she wanted to kill herself and no reason was given. Before the tragedy happened, her superiors at school found it disturbing that she (the victim) was very silent. Included in the news report was a police officer who revealed that the victim lost her father to insurgents while her mother (who was then linked to another man) was later killed in a vehicular accident with her live-in partner.

What cause young people to commit suicide? There are several factors related to society, economics and psychology. Here are the factors I narrowed down.

Failure to deal with fear early in life

Depression

Physical abuse

Loss of purpose

Peer pressure

Gender confusion

Lack of parental guidance or counseling 

Being misled by pop culture or online trends

Internet addiction

Being misled by fake news or distorted news

Getting bullied

Being misled by rumors

Living with negative vibes in his/her local environment (note: in the Philippines, most barangay youth councils have presence in economically depressed communities dubbed as developing communities)

Shame or embarrassment

Being misled by those living with unbelief 

Temptations

Obsession with people, images and things they idolized

Becoming addicted to something dangerous

Being trapped by religious traditions, rituals and other restrictions

Having selfish desires or very high expectations

Lack of focus on the Lord

While taxpayers’ money is being spent by government bodies of different levels to develop the youth and help prevent suicide, I honestly believe that the menace of suicide can be solved more effectively by having the youth realize their true purpose as creations of God. It is by having faith in the Lord that young people can truly become strong, stable and more knowledgeable with their lives. It is by having a personal relationship with the Lord that the youth can truly move forward with. If the youth can be educated to reject all forms of hindrances that prevent them from truly establishing faith in the Lord, they would be better off and youth suicide would be reduced dramatically.

Sadly, government programs for youth development remain insufficient to bring the youth to God, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

What I noticed is that the Christian faith and spiritual approach to solving and preventing youth suicide is missing among the key development programs of barangay youth councils.

Ironically in 2019, in the city of Parañaque specifically, there were barangay youth councils that organized their own beauty pageants featuring local homosexuals as candidates which most likely added to the suicide factor of gender confusion. This is sad because not only was taxpayers’ money most likely used to fund such events, it gave the youth the false message that homosexuality is legitimate. In truth, homosexuality is an abomination and certainly Satan loves it when people are fooled into believing that homosexuality is good and accepted as normal in society. Let’s read a holy scripture confirming that homosexuality is wrong and evil.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 (NKJV)

As a whole, 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 made clear that people trapped by sin will never make it in God’s kingdom. As such, the youth today still have time and opportunities to turn away from sinful behavior, submit themselves to Lord Jesus for forgiveness, accept Him as their Lord and Savior to start a new life with dedication to live under His holiness. This is the good news that the youth, whether they are still trapped by the darkness of unbelief (read: atheism and secularism) or religion (read: idolatry, wrong theology, traditions and rituals) should know.

To help the youth understand their true purpose in life as God’s creations, they should be taught with the following holy scriptures (apart from teaching them they need to be born again as written in John 3: 3):

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, will all your mind, and with all your strength.

Mark 12: 30 (NKJV)

If you then were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Colossians 3: 1-2 (NKJV)

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 (NKJV)

Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

Colossians 3: 5-7 (NKJV)

By becoming Christian, the young one can start a new life free from the sins and youthful lusts of the past. As part of getting reformed by Lord Jesus, the new life youth should learn to strongly reject the many form of lust like gratifying sensual cravings (example: losing his or her virginity in exchange for sexual pleasure), desiring the forbidden (example: taking illegal substances), longing for evil (example: bringing down other youth to bring yourself up just to feel good and proud), and engaging in experiences that are contrary to God’s will. These are emphasized in the holy scripture below.

Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

2 Timothy 2: 22 (NKJV)

The Christian youth living the new life should learn to conduct himself or herself in an exemplary manner. This is expected because once someone gets born again, he/she is under the Lord and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit. Because really, under the watch and care of God, age does not matter and this also means being youthful as a Christian is NOT a disadvantage. It also does not matter if people will find Christians a peculiar people because this is expected. Learn from the next holy scriptures.

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

1 Timothy 4: 12 (NKJV)

The LORD has chastened me severely, But He has not given me over to death.

Psalm 118: 18 (NKJV)

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special peope, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

1 Peter 2: 9-10 (NKJV)

Conclusion

I believe that involving Lord Jesus in the lives of the youth will spare them from suicide and all other factors that lead to self-destruction. I honestly believe that no amount of taxpayers’ money spent and no sophisticated government program can be more effective on preventing youth suicide (and suicide in general) than emphasizing faith in the Lord, believing in His Word (with the Holy Bible as the main reference) and applying biblical lessons in life.

Please take note that the dreaded presence of secularism is still in the minds of many government officials (note: there is a so-called separation of church and state in the 1987 Constitution).

If the youth realize their true purpose as creations of God, then it would be great not only for the local community but also the whole world. An enlightened youth, as children of God, definitely would not even think about suicide nor give the devil any room into their lives. The youth should realize how essential it is for them to study the Word of God (the Holy Bible) and prioritize it as their ultimate authority among all reading materials. With the Lord on the youth’s side, the menace of suicide and Satan can be defeated and the youth can grow in holiness as they grow into adulthood. Christianity, not feelings or earthly matters, should be embedded into the minds and hearts of the youth. Because really, everybody needs Lord Jesus and the youth need Him. With more youth believing and trusting in Jesus, cases of youth suicide will be much smaller!

As such, I highly recommend that Christian teaching (complete with studying the Holy Bible) should be included more in youth development programs and suicide prevention programs of youth councils. The youth who are spiritually unsaved must be taught the truth that they need Lord Jesus and have faith (not religion) in Him.

At this point, I’d like to reach out to the unsaved youth reading this…if you seek salvation and are ready to submit yourselves to the Lord, and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then pray this simple prayer in sincerity from your heart:

Dear God,

I believe that Jesus is Your Son, and that He died on the cross to pay the penalty of my sins. I believe that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that He is alive! Right now, I call on the name of Jesus. Jesus, come into my heart. I receive You as my personal Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sins and cleanse me by the power of Your blood. Thank You for saving me and giving me eternal life! Help me now to follow Your plan for my life. Amen.

Congratulations! You are now a child of God! Praise the Lord and always be faithful to Him! No more darkness in your life caused by unbelief or religion (and the idolatry, traditions and rituals that come with it). Your new life under the Lord has truly begun!

From this point on, acquire for yourself a copy of the Holy Bible (New King James Version is recommended), study it and apply its many lessons in your life no matter what situation you are in right now. I also recommend you to join a church of born again Christians near you and find your place in the spiritual family. Worship the Lord together with them and remember that each of you has a personal relationship with Him. That personal relationship with God is strictly off-limits to everyone, even to your family.

The Holy Spirit is in you and you are now a new creation! You are a youthful Christian right now, and you can keep growing spiritually for the rest of your life. Remember that God loves you and He is definitely happy over your conversion.

As a new and young Christian with the Holy Spirit in your heart, never allow yourself to get involved in youth movements that involve unbelief, religion, idolatry, traditions and rituals because those are not holy. The only youth you need to get involved with are your fellow Christians (those who got born again like you), and the only reference of authority you need is the Holy Bible. Once you get involved in a new Christian church, you can always ask the pastor if they have a youth ministry you can join in.

Remember to overcome fear, never let your feelings (and the feelings of others) weaken your faith in the Lord and now that you have been born again, your sins have been forgiven and your past is way behind you. As a Christian, you must always be fearless and aggressive for you are now part of the Body of Christ (the church). We Christians are the church of Lord Jesus!

In ending this piece, feel free to enjoy these Christian praise-and-worship YouTube videos plus a few ones featuring the model Christian youth herself, Sadie Robertson! Hallelujah!!!

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. Sharing this Christian piece means spreading the good news of the Lord to others. It can help you save the unsaved souls out there.

If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com

Christian Music Appreciation: Way Maker

Christian Music Appreciation: Way Maker

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Occasionally during Sunday worship services at church, the musicians perform the wildly popular Christian praise and worship song Way Maker which has powerful words to lead worshipers to the Lord. As I personally witnessed and experienced, Way Maker really impacts us Christians to keep focusing on the Lord, honoring Him and praising Him.

Way Maker was written by Osinachi Kalu Okoro Egbu and strongly identified with Sinach (Oscinachi Joseph) who is a very famous worship leader and singer from Nigeria. The song was released as a single in late 2015 became tremendously successful with Christians and music enthusiasts. Unsurprisingly, Way Maker was covered by several Christian musicians around the world and Sinach performed it live at Lakewood Church (Joel Osteen) in Texas.

Posted below for you all is the official music video of Way Maker which was released online on December 31, 2015. As of this writing, it has registered almost 150,000,000 views!

So, did you enjoy that music video and the song itself? Did you experience the holiness through Sinach’s singing? Way Maker never failed me. Below are the lyrics of this very great and holy song.

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You are here

Moving in our midst

I worship you

I worship you

You are here

Working in this place

I worship you

I worship you

You are here

Moving in our midst

I worship you

I worship you

You are here

Working in this place

I worship you

I worship you

–

Way maker

Miracle worker

Promise keeper

Light in the darkness

My God

That is who you are

Way maker

Miracle worker

Promise keeper

Light in the darkness

My God

That is who you are

–

You are here

Touching every heart

I worship you

I worship you

You are here

Healing every heart

I worship you

I worship you

You are here

Turning lives around

I worship you

I worship you

You are here

Mending every heart

I worship you

I worship you

–

Way maker

Miracle worker

Promise keeper

Light in the darkness

That is who you are

Way maker

Miracle worker

Promise keeper

Light in the darkness

My God

That is who you are

–

You wipe away all tears

You mend the broken heart

You’re the answer to it all

Jesus

You wipe away all tears

You mend the broken heart

You’re the answer to it all (to it all)

Jesus

–

Way maker

Miracle worker

Promise keeper

Light in the darkness

My God

That is who you are

Way maker

Miracle worker

Promise keeper

Light in the darkness

My God

That is who you are

–

You are here

Touching every life

I worship you

I worship you

You are here

Meeting every need

I worship you

I worship you

+++++

Now that you’ve seen both the music video and the lyrics, let me share the biblical relevance of key lines from the song starting with You are here, Moving in our midst.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

1 John 4: 12 (NKJV)

You shall not be terrified of them; for the LORD your God, the great and awesome God, is among you.

Deuteronomy 7: 21 (NKJV)

It is clear that for as long as we Christians, who got born again into Jesus, keep being faithful (not religious) to Him, keep applying His Word into our lives and keep persevering with His holiness, God is undoubtedly present among us. 1 John 4: 12 emphasizes that even though God is invisible to us, we manifest His nature through lifestyles that reflect His love and this proves His presence is real. Deuteronomy 7: 21 points back to the blessings of obedience to God and our true purpose as creations of His. We need not be terrified of other people (those who are trapped by darkness, sin and unbelief) because we faithful Christians are God’s chosen people. Since we are God’s children, He will not abandon us nor forsake us. As such, the song’s lines You are here, Moving in our midst make biblical sense.

Next lines from the song to be analyzed are Way maker, Miracle worker, Promise keeper, Light in the darkness, That is who you are.

Do not yield to fear, for I am always near. Never turn your gaze from me, for I am your faithful God. I will infuse you with my strength and help you in every situation. I will hold you firmly with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41: 10 (TPT)

Commit your works to the LORD, And your thoughts will be established.

Proverbs 16: 3 (NKJV)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways, acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3: 5-6 (NKJV)

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD.

Isaiah 54: 17 (NKJV)

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Hebrews 13: 5 (NKJV)

“Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.

Joshua 23: 14 (NKJV)

In relation to the above holy scriptures, the song’s lines Way maker, Miracle worker, Promise keeper, Light in the darkness, That is who you are not only make biblical sense but are also holy. As the almighty and merciful creator, God keeps His promises always and because He loves us, He will always make ways for us, make miracles happen and keep us children of His away from the darkness. All what we need to do is keep being faithful to the Lord and live with purity and holiness under His watch. Remember, the day one becomes born again, the true Christian life (free from unbelief, idolatry, religion, religious traditions and religious rituals) begins, then we follow our pastor to guide us to Him directly and our ultimate authority of reference is the Holy Bible (God’s Word). As children of God, we each have a personal relationship with Him which is strictly off-limits to everyone else. To really know the nature of God, study the Holy Bible (not those man-made sacraments) and authorize Heaven on Earth as part of your worship to Him. Let God come into your life.

The next lines of Way Maker that caught my attention are You wipe away all tears, You mend the broken heart, You’re the answer to it all (to it all), Jesus.

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3: 3 (NKJV)

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

John 14: 1 (NKJV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

John 14: 6 (NKJV)

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

1 Timothy 2: 5 (NKJV)

“I leave the gift of peace with you—my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts—instead, be courageous!”

John 14: 27 (TPT)

As already mentioned before, Lord Jesus redeemed us all with His blood spent to pay the price for us. Jesus is God in the flesh and even though many churches around us that are still trapped by religion and idolatry always emphasize too much on His death by showing crosses with Jesus’ crucified body displayed, we Christians know the truth that Jesus has always been alive and His resurrection proved He is God. It is Jesus, not the idols, who makes the way for Christians to connect to God and establish personal relationships with Him. Jesus himself spoke the truth that in order to see God’s kingdom, one must be born again. Born in the Holy Spirit, followed by living the new life as a true Christian with the Holy Spirit in the heart. The above holy scriptures say it all and made clear that with Jesus as our Lord, we have nothing to fear and nothing to be terrified with. Lord Jesus not only redeemed us all, He gave us His peace which this screwed up world we live in could never, ever match. The idolaters who keep worshiping people, relics, images, statues and statuettes, and keep performing rituals of religion will never realize peace from Jesus because they don’t realize the truth. The non-believers, the secularists and atheists are also unfortunate. As such, we Christians must pray for them to realize their errors and submit themselves to Lord Jesus while they are still living. Pray that they will realize the truth of Christianity so that they can be saved spiritually. Lord Jesus is the Redeemer, the Reformer, the Savior and also the Way Maker!

As such, the lyrics You wipe away all tears, You mend the broken heart, You’re the answer to it all (to it all), Jesus are indeed truthful to the Word of God.

In closing this piece, posted below for your enjoyment and faith in the Lord is a past live video performance (30:19 to 37:32 on the time) of Way Maker by pastor Darlene Zschech and the anointed musicians of Hope Unlimited Church (HopeUC). Just click and enjoy. Praise the Lord with it!

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. Sharing this Christian piece means spreading the good news of the Lord to others. It can help you save the unsaved souls out there.

If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com

In a Time of Crisis and Quarantine, Love-Love Tioseco Gives Food to the Frontline Personnel

In a Time of Crisis and Quarantine, Love-Love Tioseco Gives Food to the Frontline Personnel

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Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from Love-Love Tioseco by means of an interview and research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

All photographs used in this article are properties of Love-Love Tioseco and were approved for publishing.

In a Time of Crisis and Quarantine, Love-Love Tioseco Gives Food to the Frontline Personnel

It’s really mind-boggling how microbes in the form of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) stopped much of the world. Not only have most economic activities stopped, people have been advised by their respective authorities to stay at home in order to avoid getting infected.

Here in Metro Manila in the Philippines, enhanced community quarantine and a 24-hour curfew (specifically in the cities of Muntinlupa, Las Piñas and Parañaque) have been implemented around which severely limited people from traveling out of their homes. Checkpoints have also been set up along national roads while businesses that were allowed to operate had to use thermal scanners and set up sanitizers for people to use.

To put things in perspective, the people who work for long hours each day at the checkpoints, at the village gates, on the roads, and inside the commercial joints still operating are referred to locally as the frontliners. At the frontline, they work not only to serve and guide people but also provide security in accordance to the guidelines of the declared quarantine. Such work is undoubtedly hard and tiring, even risky since any person infected with COVID-19 could approach them any time of the day. The frontliners definitely deserve support from anyone blessed who is generous to be a blessing to them.

Very recently, I saw my very dear college buddy Love-Love Tioseco share via social media images of her generous act of giving food to the frontliners. I was very touched by it so I immediately reached out to her and publish this exclusive article for you all.

LL1
Love-Love Tioseco with the hard-boiled eggs provided by The Rustic Kitchen.

Introduction

Again, to put things in perspective, Love-Love and I were classmates at Colegio de San Juan de Letran in the late 1990s. We both finished Communication Arts there. She was a member of the Philippine TaeKwonDo Team for 11 years and, along the way, she was a 3-time gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), a 3-time bronze medalist in the Asian Games and a 3-time 5th placer in the World Games.

Back in college, Love-Love was a working student in the media and the entertainment industry. After graduation, she worked as a bartender at Italianni’s restaurant for 3 years but still continued working for the media and the entertainment industry.

Love-Love went on to become an advocate of safety oriented driving. She also engaged in motorcycling and competed for a time which ultimately paved the way for the acceptance of women who ride and drive motorcycles. Love-Love also appeared on TV in some entertainment programs as well as motoring-related shows.

Today, she is in the business of selling batteries of Imarflex Battery and is the current Secretary of the Luzon Motorcyclists Federation, Inc. (LMFI). To this day, she is still active in the motoring industry and continues to emphasize the essence of driving safely and following traffic rules to make local travel safer for everyone. Below is a 2017 Alisto video which involved her as a guest traffic analyst. Love-Love starts appearing at 0:20 on the timer.

Being blessed and being a blessing to others

Going back to assisting the frontliners who have worked so hard and long during the quarantine, I asked Love-Love what inspired her to make a move.

“During this time of the quarantine period, I asked God how can I show my appreciation in my own little way to heroes or frontliners who have been on duty while risking their lives being exposed to the virus,” Love-Love said. “Then one of my scooter friends Micar Briones Santana of The Rustic Kitchen sent a message that she had hard-boiled eggs from her bakery up for donation but she needed someone who can help her give away those eggs, so I told her right away that I will do it and, yes, I did it.”

LL2
Emergency personnel were pleasantly surprised with the eggs offered by Love-Love.
LL3
A soldier grabs something to eat.

Clearly the God answered Love-Love’s question paving the way for the opportunity to help the frontliners. After getting supply of hard-boiled eggs, she organized things first. The hard-boiled eggs with broken shells were made into egg spread sandwiches (as energy food for the garbage collectors). With the help of a fellow LMFI club member named Willy Lopez (Takaz Boyz), she received onions which became a key ingredient of her egg spread recipe.

Subsequently, Love-Love went around the metro to feed the MMDA Patrol Team on both the northbound and southbound lanes of EDSA, feed the MMDA Rescue Team under the EDSA flyovers, feed the personnel at the Mandaluyong checkpoints, feed the Makati City police officers on patrol, feed the security guards at an Army Navy branch, feed the Transportify delivery drivers, the motorized drivers of Grab Food and Food Panda, feed the attendants at a Caltex fuel station, feed the manpower staff at Bel-Air Village, and feed a truck-full of Philippine Army soldiers.

I asked Love-Love how the frontliners reacted when she first approached them with the prepared food.

“At first, they thought I was selling eggs to them but when I told them the eggs were free, some of them got more than three eggs, and I did not have time to count how many people got free eggs because my mind was focusing on giving to the deserving ones,” she recalled.

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Frontline personnel outside an Army Navy were happy to receive free eggs from Love-Love.

Love-Love’s generous move is a clear example of her being blessed by the Lord as well as being a blessing to others. To put things in perspective, read the words of Lord Jesus in the following scripture from the Holy Bible.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5: 16 (NKJV)

Unsurprisingly, the frontliners thanked her for the eggs as it provided them some much needed relief from the stress they accumulated. To Love-Love’s surprise, there were delivery personnel who took selfie shots with her for them to post on Facebook.

What is even more astonishing was that no less than Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman General Danny Lim expressed his praise and gratitude to Love-Love for her valuable assistance.

In an April 3, 2020 Facebook page post, Lim stated: Maraming salamat sa lahat ng mga sumusuporta sa serbisyo ng , lalo na ngayong panahon ng #COVID19! Salamat kina Ms. Micar Briones Santana ng The Rustic Kitchen at Ms. Love-Love Tengsico Tioseco para sa malasakit na binibigay niyo. Kahit sa simpleng paraan man, laking tulong ito sa pag-boost ng morale ng ating mga kawani. Makakaasa kayong paiigtingin pa natin ang ating frontline at emergency services. Patuloy ang pagtutulungan natin laban sa krisis na ito.

I asked Love-Love if she will repeat her moves of generous assistance to the frontliners.

“Yes, of course. I hope there will be more generous sponsors soon for me to distribute their donations again,” she said.

CONCLUSION

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MMDA personnel worked so hard, Love-Love’s giving of eggs proved to be a major relief for them. They were very thankful to her.

Love-Love’s special message to those who could help

“Spread the love, action speaks louder than words especially with helping others, and share the simple joys of life.”

Love-Love’s special message to those who are affected by the quarantine

“Please be a prayer warrior and pray that the virus will be gone already instead of being paranoid or being a basher, which is no help at all with the crisis we are all experiencing now.”

In closing this, here is a video of the Hillsong performance of Thank You, Lord (my Christian Music Appreciation of it right here) that will remind you to be thankful to the Lord who is the source of opportunities, happiness, protection, prosperity, provision and so much more. God is the source! Enjoy!

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com

Christian Music Appreciation: All

Christian Music Appreciation: All

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While I witnessed Planetshakers perform live here in the Philippines as part of Jesus Global Youth Day in 2019, I was unable to watch them during their live performance (also here in the Philippines) this past January.

As it turned out, a whole lot of Filipinos bought tickets and attended the January 2020 event with Planetshakers performing great music and leading them to worshiping the Lord. No less than pastor Sam Evans was there. Among the many songs they performed, I noticed one new song that was not only beautiful but also holy. That song was simply titled All.

The song All performed by the anointed musicians of Planetshakers was commercially released as part of their album Glory Part Two.

To start with, here are the lyrics.

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I want to, to know You

I want to hear Your voice

You are my, desire

I want to be so close

–

Close To You

–

I tune in, to listen

To hear You speak to me

I reach out, believing

That You are all I need

–

All my attention

Is set on You now

You are the centre

–

Jesus all, all

All I want is You

And my heart and soul

Is longing just for You

–

You are, You are

Everything to me

You are, You are

Everything to me

–

Your presence, Your power

Your glory’s all I seek

I’m hungry, I’m thirsty

Your love is all I need

–

All my affection

Is set on You now

You are the centre

–

Jesus all, all

All I want is You

And my heart and soul

Is longing just for You

–

Jesus all, all

All I want is You

And my heart and soul

Is longing just for You

–

You are, You are

Everything to me

You are, You are

Everything to me

–

You are the desire

Of our generation

We want You, we need You

Holy Spirit

–

So pour out Your presence

In our generation

All we want is You

–

You are the desire

Of our generation

We want You, we need You

Holy Spirit

–

So pour out Your presence

In our generation

All we want is You

–

Jesus all, all

All I want is You

And my heart and soul

Is longing just for You

–

Jesus all, all

All I want is You

And my heart and soul

Is longing just for You

–

You are, You are

Everything to me

You are, You are

Everything to me

You are, You are

Everything to me

You are, You are

Everything to me

+++++

For biblical relevance, let’s start with the lines Jesus all, all, All I want is You, from the lyrics. Those lines really established the actual meaning of the song’s title. And then there are other lines in the lyrics that relate with it such as You are, You are, Everything to me. The Holy Bible itself has a lot of holy scriptures about wanting Lord Jesus more than anything. We can start with this holy scripture with Lord Jesus’ own words for your reflection.

And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!

John 16: 33 (TPT)

The above holy scripture makes clear that with Jesus, nothing is impossible for us Christians and the Lord will never abandon us nor forsake us. The Lord is not only our reformer, our provider, our defender and our mentor but also the source of genuine peace! These are blessings and miracles that we can only receive from Jesus. For that alone, Lord Jesus is all we want and need for He is everything to us. Never forget that it has always been Jesus who redeemed us from darkness. It was the blood of Jesus that purified us and paved the way into becoming His body! Next scripture…

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

2 Peter 1: 2-4 (NKJV)

In the above scripture, the apostle Peter emphasized that true knowledge is found in the God of Christ and in the holy scriptures recorded in the Holy Bible (the Word of God). By knowing Lord Jesus (God in the flesh as well as His Son), His tremendously great and precious promises become available to those who believe in Him. This includes entrance into Heaven, being part of His body (we the Christians are the church and are part of the spiritual family), getting our inheritance from God and the promised return of Jesus (the Second Coming). Along the way, as noted in the last line of the holy scripture, we the Children of God must always maintain our defense from the wickedness and temptations of the eternal loser Satan. For as long as we are faithful to the Lord, we can always defeat Satan and free the billions of unsaved souls here on Earth to lead them to Jesus. Really, all we want and need is Jesus!

Going back to Planetshakers’ song All, the lines You are, You are, Everything to me as well as Jesus all, all, All I want is You and I want to, to know You, I want to hear Your voice, You are my, desire, I want to be so close make perfect biblical sense for faithful Christians. Truly the writers of the song knew the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus and God the Father. To say the least, the song is a blessing, produced by Planetshakers people who were anointed by the Lord! All is a song that musicians of Christian churches should consider playing during Sunday worship service!

To end this article, here is the official video of the live performance of All held here in the Philippines during Planetshakers’ January 2020 special event. Enjoy and always keep praising the Lord! Remember that we Christians are the Body of Christ and we are the fearless and aggressive church of Lord Jesus!

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. Sharing this Christian piece means spreading the good news of the Lord to others. It can help you save the unsaved souls out there.

If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com

Be the Fearless and Aggressive Church of Lord Jesus!

Be the Fearless and Aggressive Church of Lord Jesus!

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We are Christians living with strong faith in the Lord. The day each of us got born again and willingly accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we truly became children of God and we each live with holiness while deepening our respective personal relationship with Him.

We Christians pray in tongues, we tithe, we study God’s Word (the Holy Bible) and apply its lessons into our lives no matter how screwed up the world we live in is. We Christians don’t need religion at all and we reject idolatry, religious traditions and religious rituals. We also are defiant towards unbelief and whatever tricks Satan tries to bring us down with. As believers of Jesus, we already have His victory and not even Satan can defeat us. We are led by the Holy Spirit which we received in our hearts when we got saved.

We are the Body of the Christ. We Christians are the church who follow Jesus! As such, it is only expected that each and every one us be fearless and aggressive under Christ.

To be fearless and aggressive as Christians were key lessons from pastors I learned from. As such, let me share to you how we the Body of Christ can keep on being strong under Lord Jesus starting with being a fearless church and as a fearless Christian. Heed the words of Jesus Himself.

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

John 14:1 (NKJV)

Don’t worry or surrender to your fear. For you’ve believed in God, now trust and believe in me also.

John 14:1 (TPT)

“If you love Me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

John 14:15-17 (NKJV)

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace, I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

John 14:26-27 (NKJV)

The above scriptures from the different parts of Chapter 14 of the Book of John emphasize Jesus talking about the promise of the Holy Spirit. For that alone, there really is no reason for us believers to fear at all. We only need to fear the Lord because that is essential to gaining wisdom from Him. Other than that, for as long as we stay faithful, we don’t need to fear even the most unpredictable turnout of events in this screwed up world we live in such as poverty, crime, unemployment, terrorism, violence, corruption, idol worship, atheism, religion, uncontrolled emotions, panicking, temptations and the like. Because with the Holy Spirit we are not only protected but also guided and the Lord is watching us from high above. He will not abandon us nor let evil take us away from Him. The words of Jesus in John 14 are not only still strongly relevant but are indeed living words for us to follow! Jesus, who died on the cross, came back to life, spent time with people and ascended to Heaven with the promise to return, is clearly alive!

We children of God are no longer living in sin because, clearly, Jesus redeemed us all from the darkness that started with Adam’s rebellion towards God. We are not only saved by Him but we are also new creations under Him. We Christians really have to be fearless and we are citizens of God’s kingdom! To learn more about who we are in Christ, let’s move on to the next holy scriptures.

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His might power,

Ephesians 1:17-19 (NKJV)

I pray that the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would impart to you the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation[a] to know him through your deepening intimacy with him. I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling—that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that he finds in us, his holy ones! I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! This is the mighty power,

Ephesians 1:17-19 (TPT)

And now we, his church, are his body on the earth and that which fills him who is being filled by it!

Ephesians 1:23 (TPT)

See? We really have reasons to be the fearless church of Jesus. By having faith, we will experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power not occasionally, not sometimes but continually! As Christians driven by faith (not religion), we are indeed God’s special people (refer to 1 Peter 2:9) and there definitely should be no room for us to fear. God’s guidance and enlightenment for us are already tremendous making fear irrelevant! No fear, no panicking, no trembling and no doubting! We the fearless church of Christ can move forward with holiness and defeat Satan again and again!

To put things in perspective, after getting born again and growing with the Holy Spirit in our hearts, the Lord, who made plans for each of us since before birth, really planned for us Christians to be joined together as His Body and we the members are meant to be strong, fearless and aggressive! Believe not in your feelings, not in fear but in the Holy Spirit and remember that God and Lord Jesus are watching us. Remember also Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice for humanity.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

1 Peter 3:18 (NKJV)

Suffering affects everyone. There is no doubt about that. Jesus suffered tremendously so that we will all be saved and pave the way for us into God’s kingdom. It takes faith, not religion, in the Lord for salvation to be realized. We Christians should always remember that our existence is clearly not limited to living in the flesh but also in the spiritual realm. As saved souls, we will go straight to Heaven once we die in the flesh here on Earth. We will go straight to God’s kingdom and take our respective places in it. There is no such thing as purgatory, an ancient deception of religious and evil nature! Purgatory is a lie created by the enemy who clearly influenced religious teachings and religious traditionalists which resulted distorted teachings of Christianity (by religion-driven people and institutions). We Christians have the Word of God (the Holy Bible) as the definitive and ultimate reference of faith! Upon death in this world, we the children of God will go straight to Him in His kingdom! There is nothing to fear!

Let’s move on.

And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:4 (NKJV)

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18 (NKJV)

With the Holy Spirit in us, God made a way for us to know Him and His presence. We Christians get to know Him as individual members and as a church gathered together. Even when we have nobody around us, we Christians are never really alone because we have a living personal relationship with God. We can communicate with God privately when alone and the effective way to do it is to be in our respective rooms with the door shut and pray to Him (refer to Matthew 6: 6). We have access to Him! Again, there is no room for fear nor despair here. With God, nothing is impossible and this leads me to the next holy scripture.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

2 Corinthians 4:7 (NKJV)

Treasure refers to the knowledge of God in the face of Christ. Earthen vessels are weak and breakable. The above scripture emphasizes how weak we are living in the flesh and yet we can live spiritually strong under the Lord. See the paradox? As our pastor taught us, we can only live in the flesh up to one hundred and twenty years maximum. Of course, being children of God living here on Earth, we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts and we really have missions to live in holiness, spread God’s Word and save the many billions of unsaved and lost souls before we expire and go to Heaven to join Him. Remember, with God, nothing is impossible and our being fragile as fleshly beings here on Earth should never be taken as a hindrance nor should we let it prevent us from being the fearless church of Lord Jesus!

Now that being fearless Christians has been discussed a lot already, we can move on with discussing being aggressive Christians! Let’s start with the armor God provides us in the next holy scripture.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Ephesians 6:11-13 (NKJV)

With God’s armor provided, we are already protected in the fight against evil. As members of the Body of Christ, we have the means to move forward strongly, defeat Satan and saved the many unsaved souls. Take note that in the above scripture, our battle is spiritual and not physical. We should always be able to discern between the spiritual struggle and the personal, the political and the social difficulties. We should focus on defeating Satan and his force of evil, not human adversaries. That means being aggressive with our prayers, and becoming established prayer warriors of Lord Jesus! We have the spiritual resources, the authority of Christ over evil and the Lord’s will to display His wisdom through the church (that means us Christians). No place for fear here and we have a lot of reasons to be aggressive as Christians!

Next scripture…

The LORD shall go forth like a might man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.

Isaiah 42:13 (NKJV)

Isaiah 42:13 emphasizes that we the Children of God already have a leader (the Lord Himself) to follow as well as strength to rely on so that we can strive forward. That being said, we really have to be aggressive with our prayers, our faith and spirituality since we also have the Holy Spirit in us. There is simply no room for weakness nor fear for Christians. This should also serve as a reminder, especially to the new Christians (and the souls that need to be saved) reading this, that we Christians need to be edified. Edification itself requires aggressiveness with our faith and dedication under the Lord. Apart from studying the Holy Bible and praying in your room with the door shut, you can also do other things to strengthen yourself spiritually like praying in tongues while walking around the block or around your house.

To be aggressive with our Christianity is not a seasonal thing but rather a truly, more regular thing in our lives under the watch of God. Be a prayer warrior, a Holy Bible-oriented Christian, a preacher, a tither, a helper and spread goodness to save the unsaved souls for the rest of your life in the flesh while waiting for the return of Lord Jesus. Be a doer of the Word of God! Now on to the next verse.

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;

Colossians 4:2 (NKJV)

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, be a prayer warrior with God’s Word as your definitive reference and your heart remaining open always to the Lord. We need to pray daily and this includes praying in tongues (for enlightenment read the first ten chapters of the Book of Acts in the Holy Bible). Don’t waste your time and energy on repetitive prayers (read Lord Jesus’ own words in Matthew 6:7-8) and remember the Model Prayer from Lord Jesus. Don’t give up praying to the Lord no matter what the situation is around you. Be aggressive with prayer! Be a prayerful Christian who is truly connected with the Lord! On to the next verse…

Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:26 (NKJV)

Those were powerful words from God Himself, declared before Adam rebelled against Him (which was preceded by Satan as a serpent tempting Eve). Right from the start, God made tremendous plans for us – His creations – to populate the Earth and have His authority to rule over the creatures. Thousands of years after Adam’s rebellion, Jesus came and sacrificed Himself to redeem humanity and restore mankind to fulfill God’s plan. As Christians who got born again and saved, we are God’s children and He wants us to save the lost and unsaved souls around us using His Word. Being a fearless and aggressive church is in accordance to God’s plan.

Once your goodness and holiness have been noticed by others, they will have the opportunities to pause, reflect and eventually decide to be saved without any force imposed on them. Heed the words of Lord Jesus in the following scripture…

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)

To be fearless and aggressive as Christians is inevitable. We are the children of God and we are the church of Lord Jesus. We are the Body of Christ and under His holiness, we have common purposes to live up to even as each of us maintains (and deepens) our respective personal relationship with God.

Go to work with the Holy Spirit! Be led by the Holy Spirit! Defy darkness, unbelief, religion, idols, relics, images, traditions and rituals. Move forward as a fearless, confident and aggressive Christian! Force is not necessary, but the Word of God is essential to shed light on the world that has long been darkened by Satan. We the children of God have the means to defeat Satan again and saved the unsaved souls! We the children of God have the Lord’s authority!

Now, I’d like to reach out to the lost souls and the unsaved souls reading this. Please read closely and open your hearts.

If you seek salvation now, learn that the first step is to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Never be fooled into believing that your past defined you and your future. With Jesus, you will become a child of God and a whole new creation complete with your sins from the past washed away! You will become a true Christian with a holy purpose!

Once you are ready, pray this simple prayer (I learned from my pastor) in sincerity from your heart:

Dear God,

I believe that Jesus is Your Son, and that He died on the cross to pay the penalty of my sins. I believe that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that He is alive! Right now I call on the name of Jesus. Jesus, come into my heart. I receive You as my personal Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sins and cleanse me by the power of Your blood. Thank You for saving me and giving me eternal life! Help me now to follow Your plan for my life. Amen.

Congratulations! You are now a child of God! Praise the Lord and always be faithful to Him! No more darkness in your life caused by unbelief or religion (and the idolatry, images, traditions and rituals that come with it). Your new life has begun and you are now a member of the Body of Christ. Now find a Christian church in your local community to connect with.

In ending this, here are some videos of Christian worship music for you to enjoy and praise the Lord with.

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. Sharing this Christian piece means spreading the good news of the Lord to others. It can help you save the unsaved and the lost souls out there.

If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at  @HavenorFantasy as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco/

Christian Music Appreciation: How I Praise

Christian Music Appreciation: How I Praise

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Planetshakers is an evangelical Christian Pentecost church based in Australia driven by a desire to empower generations to win generations. Planetshakers confirmed it believes that the Holy Bible is God’s Word which is accurate, authoritative and applicable to people’s daily lives. Founded in the form of a conference 1997, Planetshakers has a long-lasting pursuit for the presence of God and already they helped many people come to the Lord and establish personal relationships with Him. Planetshakers also has a contemporary worship music band which has several internationally acclaimed albums on its record of achievements.

I am thankful to the Lord that I personally watched live the performance and worship leading of Planetshakers during one of the nights of Jesus Global Youth Day that was held here in the Philippines. Since then, I followed them on Facebook and viewed many of their Sunday worship services. Planetshakers returned here in the Philippines on January 2020 and was unsurprisingly successful in attracting a huge audience and leading them to worship the Lord.

The one Christian praise and worship song that always remind me of Planetshakers is their hit song How I Praise, which is highly energetic, has a cool sound and very holy lyrics. The title of the song itself is a nice reminder of how we Christians should praise the Lord.

Before teaching a bible lesson, let’s read first the lyrics of How I Praise. The song is part of their album Glory, Part One.

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[Verse 1]

This is how I praise You

I throw my hands up

To You my Saviour

I’m gonna stand up

And give You everything, everything, everything

All that I am

–

[Verse 2]

This is how I praise You

I’m going all in

Yeah I’m on fire

I’m gonna dive in

And give You everything, everything, everything

All that I am

–

[Pre-Chorus]

‘Cause I’m in love with You

Yeah I’m in love with You

For all You’ve brought me through

My praise belongs to You

Woah, oh, oh, oh, oh

–

[Chorus]

This is how I praise You

This is how I praise You

–

[Verse 3]

This is why I praise You

‘Cause You’re amazing

And You are greater

You’re everlasting

And You are everything, everything, everything

Jesus You are

–

[Pre-Chorus]

‘Cause I’m in love with You

Yeah I’m in love with You

For all You’ve brought me through

My praise belongs to You

Woah, oh, oh, oh, oh

–

[Chorus]

This is how I praise You

This is how I praise You

–

[Bridge]

Glory to the King, glory to the King

To the one who reigns on high

Everybody sing, let the praises ring

To the one who reigns on high

Glory to the King, glory to the King

To the one who reigns on high

Everybody sing, let the praises ring

To the one who reigns on high

–

[Chorus]

This is how I praise You

This is how I praise You

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I really love How I Praise. Many times I saw them perform it during their Sunday worship services and also during their January 2020 stop here in the Philippines (via YouTube). I not only enjoy the song every time, I also lift my praise to the Lord.

The lesson we can focus on in relation to this song is the praising of the Lord which the Holy Bible is full of. Christians as well as unsaved souls who could become Christians, will always learn the ways and value of praising Him. Let’s start with this holy scripture.

Sing to the LORD, all the earth; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is also to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and gladness are in His place. Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Give to the LORD glory and strength. Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, and the let the earth be glad; and let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.”

1 Chronicles 16: 23-31 (NKJV)

The above scripture has lines about the Lord and glory which instantly remind me of the lines Glory to the King, Glory to the King, To the one who reigns on high from the lyrics of How I Praise. The scripture’s lines of Give to the LORD relates well to the song’s lines of I’m gonna dive in, And give You everything, everything, everything, All that I am. Ultimately, both the holy scripture and the song strongly emphasize praising the Lord in very lively ways which is the least we Christians can do since it is God who created the heavens and created us, and He is the ultimate one that idols (gods of the people) can never ever match. Defy idols, reject idolatry and don’t worship people, relics and images. It’s all about focusing strongly on the Lord and praising Him strongly. Worship the Lord directly! God is great!

Let’s check the next few scriptures.

I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up hands holy hands, without wrath and doubting;

1 Timothy 2: 8 (NKJV)

Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.

Psalm 63: 4 (NKJV)

We lift up our hearts and hands To God in heaven.

Lamentations 3: 41 (NKJV)

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the LORD.

Psalm 134: 2 (NKJV)

Uplifted hands are an integral part of Christian worship. It is done not in tradition (other churches do it as their tradition) but as a definitive part of worshiping Him with all your heart, honoring Him and blessing Him. The above four holy scriptures about lifting hands to the Lord are related to key lines in Verse 1 of the song which read: This how I praise You, I throw my hands up, To You my Saviour.

God is our creator and eternal father. For all the good He made, for all the provisions He made, for all the promises He made and kept, and for sending His Son Jesus to save us all, God deserves all of our praise. Planetshakers’ hit song is a lively reminder of this.

Overall, How I Praise is a praise and worship song I encourage you all to listen to with the Lord in your heart. We Christians who got born again are the Body of Christ. We are the church! As such, I recommend you approach your church musicians to consider playing How I Praise during Sunday worship service or during holy seminars (for as long as live music is needed). If you need an excellent song that will surely energize your church members on worshiping the Lord, How I Praise is it!

In ending this, here are a few YouTube videos of How I Praise for your enjoyment and faith in the Lord! Be led by the Holy Spirit, always!

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. Sharing this Christian piece means spreading the good news of the Lord to others. It can help you save the unsaved souls out there.

If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com

My Observations: COVID-19’s impact on crowded fun-oriented events should be taken seriously

My Observations: COVID-19’s impact on crowded fun-oriented events should be taken seriously

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For the past few weeks, the coronavirus disease COVID-19 halted much of the world’s societies and economies compelling families to stay at home as the authorities struggle to prevent infections from spreading.

Community quarantine and regional lockdown have been implemented which strongly limited people from traveling around and also negatively affected truck deliveries which really hurt manufacturing and other key economic sectors like food production (and the businesses that sell food), retailing and more.

Unsurprisingly, special events that attract a lot of people as attendees have been postponed or cancelled. In the city of Parañaque here in the Philippines, the planned 2020 cityhood anniversary celebration had to be scaled down dramatically because of COVID-19-related fear. The said celebration’s most popular events such as the Bb. Parañaque beauty pageant and the Sunduan Festival could not be organized and as of this writing, no new dates for organizing such events have been announced. Under the current quarantine procedures, mass gatherings have been prohibited.

That being said, it would be best to forget about crowded fun events for the short term and just focus on being safe at home, managing your precious funds and maintaining faith in the Lord (note: study the Holy Bible and pray in tongues to Him).

Speaking of fun events, Comic Book Resources (CBR.com) published a new article that caught my attention titled Coronavirus Could Be the Beginning of the End for Super Conventions. It caught my attention because I myself had attended several pop culture events, including the gigantic Comic-Con International in San Diego, California (AKA San Diego Comic-Con).

Let’s focus on this excerpt from Comic Book Resources:

Comic conventions long have been an integral part of fan communities. Before comic-book movies and TV shows were a multibillion-dollar enterprise, fans looked forward to these annual gatherings as a chance to be surrounded by people who shared their interests. They (were) a sacred place where fans could collectively celebrate something they were really passionate about.

And they were fun. Really fun. Fans from across the country would make the pilgrimage to get up close and personal with the writers and artists they idolized. It was a dream come true for members of what was then a tight-knit community.

Over the years, that’s all changed. The conventions that were so beloved by a small group of people have ballooned into massive undertakings, drawing thousands of people from all over the world. They’re not so much fan-driven conventions anymore as much as they are trade shows for the entertainment industry.

That’s not to say these super conventions aren’t fun in their own right; they absolutely are. They offer fans a chance to witness major announcements, take part in Q&A’s with their favorite stars and celebrate pop culture on an unprecedented level. They’ve become an annual staple for the promotion of the latest film and television franchise projects, and big names continuously turn up.

Now, however, with the justifiable closure of these conventions due to the COVID-19 outbreak, it’s unclear how much we really need these super conventions.

To put things in perspective, any convention that is focused on fun would not be possible without the strong interest of multiple fans or enthusiasts who are not only willing to make time to attend such an event but also bring a good amount of money with them and spend on their respective interests.

The San Diego Comic-Con in California, the New York Comic Con in New York, and the AsiaPop Comicon here in the Philippines all require paying a fee (for the ticket or badge) in order to enter the venue which has most entertainment events and booths that fans can go to.

When it comes to special activities, private screenings of trailers of upcoming blockbuster movies occasionally get organized as well as Q&A panel sessions with entertainers or industry professionals, press conferences and more.

However, we are now living in the age of social media, wide access to the Internet and smartphones which enable users to take pictures or videos in high-definition and upload them for people to see online. Think about it carefully.

What good is a closed-door press conference with celebrities when a fan in attendance can capture everything on video and beat the bloggers and members of the press by releasing content on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram?

What good is a private screening (which restricts attendees from taking footage) of a trailer or a short scene from a highly anticipated blockbuster movie when such content will only be released by the movie studio on YouTube, Facebook and other sites where Internet users can watch for free at the comfort of their homes?

What good is a fan convention if attendees post pictures/videos of embarrassing moments (example: someone throws a pie on the face of a movie star in front of the fans) online within minutes and become viral?

What good is buying classic comic books at the comic convention when the comic publishers themselves failed to wipe out the widespread online piracy (note: entire issues of comic books in digital form) of their comics which people can find and read for free?

One key point here is that fan conventions and other fun-oriented events that attract a lot of people are slowly losing their relevance. Convention organizers will have to come up with ways not only to stay relevant, not only to ensure exclusive stuff in their event is truly exclusive, but also innovate and raise the convention’s overall quality.

Going back to COVID-19, it is clear that the said virus is highly infectious and this alone defeats the purpose of organizing a huge event for as long as the risk of infection remains. As of this writing, local authorities are struggling to clean and disinfect places. Killing the virus is a costly and time-consuming affair.

Recently, the 2020 edition of the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) had to be canceled due to COVID-19 which was a huge blow to many video game and technology companies that had signed up for the event. Microsoft, which was supposed to showcase their upcoming Xbox Series X console at E3, promptly announced it will organize a digital event instead.

Think about those words: digital events. Digital events can be done by companies to make a special presentation of their products or services in the form of a lengthy and detailed pre-recorded video or by organizing privately their showcase event (held in a venue that the company has all to itself) live via livestreaming. With the access of the Internet and the massive reach that social media provides, digital events can make fan conventions even more unnecessary. Digital events are also very useful for companies because they not only have complete privacy but also a lot more control in terms of creativity as well as amount of information to be released. This also spares companies from the hassles of crowd control as well as rampant questioning from members of the news media.

Together, COVID-19, wide Internet access and social media are factors that make organizing crowded fun-oriented showcase events more challenging than ever before. Why bother attending a local beauty pageant live in Parañaque City when viral infection, live-streaming and even crime incidents could happen?

Even after the end of this COVID-19 crisis, the community quarantine and regional lockdown, I foresee that it will take a lot more time before life really goes back to normal.

By then, I don’t think enthusiasm for crowded fun-oriented events would be restored to high levels immediately. Sports events, in my opinion, have a better chance of resuming given the nature of sports competition which remains very important with Filipinos. Other events like food fairs and shopping bazaars are more important to people in the local communities than beauty pageants or fan conventions. What people clearly want once this current crisis is over is worshiping the Lord together at church on Sundays.

Attending church is more essential than a crowded beauty pageant or a fan convention. There is no doubt about that!

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com

Never Let Your Feelings Weaken Your Faith in The Lord

Never Let Your Feelings Weaken Your Faith in The Lord

carlocarrasco

It is simply too easy for us people to let our feelings dominate us and lead ourselves to undesirable outcomes in life. There are times that we make decisions not based on faith but based on how we feel at the moment. Even worse, is carrying wrongful feelings for long even to the point of putting ourselves in a crisis.

To get to the point, feelings are part of our living in the flesh but as Christians who got born again and accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, we must always remind ourselves and even orient the unsaved souls the truth that faith in God is much more essential than feelings. Let’s start with a bible verse.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;

Proverbs 3:5 (NKJV)

The verse above is about moving by faith, not by feelings and not by the limitations of our perception and understanding.  When you trust the Lord, you do it wholeheartedly and not because you relied on the inaccurate indications of your feelings deep inside. You should not rely on your feelings to do something with your faith. Remember that God’s kingdom is not of this world we live in which is full of unfortunate events or things that move people’s perception and feelings almost all the time.

Let me cite an example here. Imagine yourself anticipating a blockbuster movie you waited months for and already you secured in advance a ticket for a specific time slot for opening day. Suddenly, as your drive on the way to the movie theater, you received a call from a family member who needs you to go to the bank to do a very essential transaction which ultimately prevents you from watch that movie. The natural effects of such a scenario are disappointment, anger and, worse, resentment. In other words, negative feelings fill your heart which should never be because you already have the Holy Spirit in your heart. You should always be led by the Holy Spirit, not your feelings.

In the Kingdom of God as well as in the Body of Christ (we Christians are the church), we are supposed to be pure in heart and be living with the holiness of the Lord. Feelings, whether negative or positive, are not essential and they are never meant to be utilized as indicators on how we live, what we do and what we think of. As Christians, we are supposed to be more reasonable and be wiser under the watch of the Lord. Always remember that while you can hide your feelings from people, you can never ever hide those feelings from God. Remember that whatever feelings we have here on Earth are meaningless in the spiritual realm.

Let’s examine some notable examples of life that cause people to feel (and then giving in to those feelings) while they live in the flesh.

First example is unbelief. You see those secularists or atheists who speak out loud on TV or on social media? They often reject God and deny His existence. They believe that humans can exist, remain moral and prosper without God, without faith (or religion as they often call it) and without discipline. Those secularists and atheists can easily offend the feelings of a Christian at first. However, any anointed and mature Christian would always know to prioritize God and maintain faith in Him instead of giving in to feeling offended or feeling weakened by those who have no faith. Remember this always and go around telling your fellow Christians to never give in to their feelings and never ever let unbelief dominate them. Remind them of being faithful to the Lord. Remind them that they already have the victory of the Lord over Satan. Let’s read the following scripture from the Holy Bible.

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

John 16:33 (NKJV)

Wow! Those were powerful words from Lord Jesus Himself! He achieved a major victory that nobody else could ever match – redeeming the whole world by sacrificing Himself, then returned to enlighten more with holiness before ascending to Heaven! Jesus holiness is very real and there truly is a God who created us, accepted us as His children when we got born again and blessed us since. The truth of Christianity shows that there is no good reason at all as to why we Christians should surrender to our feelings and allow the non-believers to drag us down to their level. We Christians are not only believers but are also citizens of God’s Kingdom complete with armor, weapons and other spiritual means that with Him, we are more than conquerors. Moving on, let’s read the next holy scripture.

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

2 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV)

2 Corinthians 2:14 is another clear example as to why we the faithful are living in victory. Unbelief combined with feelings are actually a weak combination and we Christians are never meant to allow ourselves to be defeated by them. We are spiritually stronger under God. Always remember that!

Secularists and atheists are more likely to manipulate other people (those with weaker faith or even none at all) through their feelings and then trap them into accepting unbelief. This is sad but not hopeless for us Christians. We can unite and pray to the Lord that unbelief will be overwhelmed and then time will come that the secularists and atheists will realize the errors of their ways and soon will decide willingly to apologize to the Lord and submit to Him peacefully. We can also pray for the victims as well as all the unsaved and lost souls who embraced unbelief. Remember that unbelief is a weapon of the ever-stubborn loser Satan. We can always defeat Satan by remaining strongly faithful with God and preach His Word to this screwed-up world we live in.

The next example that spark feelings in people is religion which is often confused with faith. To put it in simple terms, religion is a deeply flawed approach of worshipping the Lord as it involves a lot of man-written rules, sacraments and a bunch of other stuff that are not really holy. Having gone through a past life of religion (followed by a short life of unbelief) myself, I confirm the truth that religion is frustrating (this is the most notable feeling) and is actually a hindrance to achieving truth faith in the Lord.

Religion involves idolatry (worshiping people, images and man-made items) which is very wrong as confirmed by the following holy scripture.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NKJV)

Think about the sin of idolatry carefully. You worship a person, that makes you unrighteous. You pray to a statue or statuette, that makes you unrighteous. You pray to a painting or a relic, that makes you unrighteous. You keep on practicing idolatry, it will impact you to developing a whole bunch of unnecessary feelings deep inside you which will give you a false perception of faith in the Lord (which you are not really achieving). In religion, idolatry is also a tradition falsely believed to be holy. Be aware that idolatry itself makes religion unholy and our Heavenly Father is a jealous God. Even Satan uses religion and idolatry is a useful tool for him to prevent people from being with God. Learn from the following scriptures.

You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Exodus 20:3-6 (NKJV)

Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 19:4 (NKJV)

Apart from idolatry, religion also comes with its own traditions that were not made by God’s chosen people who wrote the Holy Bible. Such traditions trap people and make them more emotional and prone to being dictated by their feelings. This alone should be of deep concern for anyone seeking the Lord. In my old life, I practiced religious traditions of visiting seven churches of religion, praying with repetitive prayers, praying with a relic that was never holy, submitting to a religious hierarchy that has a history of abuse and corruption for centuries, praying to man-made objects, forcefully getting pushed to participate in a religion-driven brainwashing event called family encounter (now a tradition for a certain group religious people here in the Philippines), participating in a religion-based youth movement (also a tradition for the above-mentioned group of people) and the like. So I went through all of that in my old life and ultimately I really never got connected with the Lord, nor was I ever able to discover the ways to establishing a true personal relationship with Him.

Religion and its traditions, rituals, idolatry and culture of forceful imposition deeply frustrated me. This is the ultimate feeling I had long ago. Because religion was hollow, mean and so frustrating to me, I rejected religion and, incidentally, I got myself separated from the Lord which is why there was a period of almost ten years in which I lived a non-believer. I even became antagonistic towards the Lord and Christianity as whole. All that time before, I did not realize that faith and religion are not one and the same. I also had not discovered back then that it was possible to be with God without religion.

And then, when I was a little over forty-years-old, something wonderful and holy happened. My dearest friend in life invited me to her church to attend a holy seminar. I attended with her and the many church members (the Body of Christ) present, just behaving myself since I was still a non-believer. I was still living in darkness (which started since my old life with religion). After attending that event, meeting the pastor and brought home with me a holy bible that was given to me, I saw the light again and eventually I willingly got born again. I became a new creation, a true Christian and a child of God. The darkness of religion and unbelief that overwhelmed me ended and I have no desire to go back to my old life ever again.

Since then, I attended Sunday worship regularly and also participated in bible study sessions and holy seminars to grow spiritually and deepen my established personal relationship with God. Along the way, I learned from our pastor that our faith in the Lord should never be dominated nor affected by our feelings which is the precise topic of this article. To end this part, religion is truly frustrating and unnecessary. Being religious is not the same as being faithful with the Lord.

Another factor that sparks feelings in us is Satan. The enemy knows well that feelings, emotions and sentimentalism are effective weapons for him to dumb us Christians down, and worse, overwhelm people who are not aware of their true purpose under God. The enemy would not hesitate to use a person or an event to arouse our feelings inside to keep us distracted from being focused Christians. Satan is also known to spread temptation which itself sparks feelings.

Take for example, an earthquake rocks and heavily damages a major city causing a lot of deaths, injuries and property damage. That tragedy gets magnified by the morally bankrupt cable TV news organizations which only cause viewers around the world to feel sad, sorry, fearful and even defeated. Such tragedies that spark tons of feelings to weaken people delight Satan. We as children of God should never ever allow our feelings nor our perception of magnified tragedies overwhelm our faith in the Lord. We the Christians have been redeemed by Jesus long ago and it is our mission to always remain focused and very strong with faith in Him. We the children of God are not mere followers but we are special and we have a much greater purpose in the spiritual realm even though we are still living in the flesh on this world that Satan had screwed-up long ago. Learn from the following scripture.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Ephesians 6:10-20 (NKJV)

Those were such powerful words! More than that, Ephesians 6: 10-20 confirms the truth that we the faithful should always be strong in the Lord and with Him, we have the means to overcome Satan and all other forces of evil. That also includes completely defying the feelings we have while living in the flesh. That being said, we the children of God have no reason to be fearful at all. We only fear the Lord because it leads to wisdom (Proverbs 9:10), strong confidence (Proverbs 14:26) and opposing evil (Proverbs 8:13).

Satan is not as powerful as most people think. He is simply a loser who just refuses to stop and will continue to exploit the weak to screw up many people and spread chaos worldwide. War, famine, riots and pandemics are such examples of global tragedies with people falling for Satan’s tricks and failing to keep strong faith in God.

We the children of God know much better. Therefore, Satan’s strategy of using chaos (being magnified by the global news media giants), fear and negative vibes to bring us down through our feelings can be deflected for as long as we continue to be strong with God. It is a matter of being faithful over being full of feelings.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying feelings are totally useless. As God’s children living in the flesh here on Earth, it is okay to have feelings like the happiness that comes with being with the family or a special someone, the deep satisfaction we have inside as we enjoy the prosperity and protection God blessed us with, etc.

We can live with feelings but we always prioritize our faith in the Lord eternally. We can keep on living with feelings but we must not be led by them because we were created by God to be led by the Holy Spirit.  We were not created to be religious but to be faithful Christians.

Now let me reach out to the unsaved souls and the lost souls among you, my readers…

If you seek salvation now, learn that the first step is to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Never be fooled into believing that your past defined you and your future. With Jesus, you will become a child of God and a whole new creation complete with your sins from the past washed away! You will become a true Christian with a holy purpose!

Once you are ready, pray this simple prayer (I learned from my pastor) in sincerity from your heart:

Dear God,

I believe that Jesus is Your Son, and that He died on the cross to pay the penalty of my sins. I believe that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that He is alive! Right now I call on the name of Jesus. Jesus, come into my heart. I receive You as my personal Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sins and cleanse me by the power of Your blood. Thank You for saving me and giving me eternal life! Help me now to follow Your plan for my life. Amen.

Congratulations! You are now a child of God! Praise the Lord and always be faithful to Him! No more darkness in your life caused by unbelief or religion (and the idolatry, traditions and rituals that come with it). Your new life has begun!

Always study the Holy Bible, apply its lessons into your life and pray in tongues regularly to Him. The Holy Spirit is in you and you are now a new creation! You can also start your spiritual growth immediately under the eyes of the Lord! Today is a happy day for you!

In ending this piece, feel free to enjoy these Christian praise-and-worship YouTube videos. Hallelujah!!!

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. Sharing this Christian piece means spreading the good news of the Lord to others. It can help you save the unsaved souls out there.

If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com

Christian Music Appreciation: Shout to the Lord

Christian Music Appreciation: Shout to the Lord

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It is one of the most popular Christian praise and worship songs of all time in the whole world. For many, it is the one song that defined pastor Darlene Zschech’s place in the world under the eyes of God for it is undeniable that it helped lead people to Him. The song described is none other than Shout to the Lord, released in 1993 by Hillsong as part of their album Simply Worship with words and music done by Darlene Zschech.

It is a very beautiful song that always succeeds in making people realize their true purpose under God which leads them to Him, motivates them to praise and thank Him more and ultimately move on with Christian living. Shout to the Lord is sung by millions of churchgoers every week and is unsurprisingly the favorite of many Christian churches for Sunday worship. Now let’s take a look at the lyrics of this famously powerful Christian song.

+++++

My Jesus

My Saviour

Lord there is none like You

All of my days

I want to praise

The wonders of Your mighty love

–

My comfort

My shelter

Tower of refuge and strength

Let every breath

All that I am

Never cease to worship You

–

Shout to the Lord

All the earth let us sing

Power and majesty

Praise to the King

Mountains bow down

And the seas will roar

At the sound of Your Name

–

I sing for joy

At the work of Your hands

Forever I’ll love You

Forever I’ll stand

Nothing compares to

The promise I have in You

+++++

As seen in the above lyrics, Shout to the Lord is not about merely shouting to Him but rather praising Him out loud not for a moment but with a will to keep praising without ever giving up. The lyrics opened with references to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who was sent by God to us here on Earth (refer to John 3: 16) and paid the price for our redemption. Of course, Jesus went on to return back to life and spent some time with His believers before ascending to Heaven with the promise of returning to us.

Back to the song, there are powerful lines such as All of my days, I want to praise in the opening. The next section in the lyrics has Never cease to worship You while the next section has Shout to the Lord, All the earth let us sing as powerful lines.

There is basis for the song within the Holy Bible. Let’s start with this holy scripture.

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures all generations.

Psalm 100: 1-5 (NKJV)

That holy scripture emphasizes that we the creations of God (certainly not idols) are welcome to enter His presence express ourselves to Him with dynamic praise which includes happiness, singing, thanksgiving, worshiping and honoring Him. Because we are so occupied with daily living, duties and social responsibilities, we Christians sometimes forget to approach the Lord with high energy, deep appreciation and strong confidence.

We are supposed to be strong, happy and excited to praise God always and this is reflected in the line I sing for joy in the song. As Christians who got saved by the Lord, we no longer live in darkness for we are already citizens of His kingdom, the kingdom of light! We are supposed to be lively spiritually and even while living in the flesh.

Here’s the next holy scripture.

Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth; Break forth into singing, you mountains. O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, And glorified Himself in Israel.

Isaiah 44: 23 (NKJV)

As children of God, we should always acknowledge His works on overcoming evil, saving more unsaved and lost souls. We acknowledge to the Lord not by merely thanking Him but praising Him with happiness, thankfulness and honor. For every victory of the Lord, we have real reasons to celebrate with singing and shouting joy. The song Shout to the Lord reflects that especially with the lyrics Praise to the King, Mountains bow down, And the seas will roar, At the sound of Your Name.

As Christians who are faithful (not religious, not idolatrous and not trapped by relics, traditions and rituals) and peaceful thanks to Jesus’ redemption, we have every reason to be very lively in worshiping the Lord. We should not allow others to silence us from shouting praise and joy to the Lord even though they prefer silence (or that they prefer their tradition of less lively worship not knowing or ignoring what was written in the Holy Bible). This brings me to the next holy scripture.

And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD: “For He is good, For His Mercy endures forever toward Israel.” Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, and because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.

Ezra 3: 11 (NKJV)

The great shout in Ezra 3: 11 refers to God’s followers shouting loudly by voice along with the blast of trumpets expressing praise and giving thanks. The shout was also victorious in nature. Now we can proceed to one more holy scripture.

Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.

Psalm 98: 4 (NKJV)

The above scripture’s first lines are very similar to the following lines from Shout to the Lord: Shout to the Lord, All the earth let us sing. Did Darlene Zschech take direct inspiration from Psalm 98: 4 when she composed Shout to the Lord? That I’d like to find out from her someday.

In closing this piece, here are two YouTube videos of Shout to the Lord performed by Darlene Zschech when she was much younger and from several years ago. Remember to always praise, honor and thank the Lord in a very lively manner. Study His Word (the Holy Bible) and pray in tongues to Him always. Be led by the Holy Spirit! Enjoy!

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. Sharing this Christian piece means spreading the good news of the Lord to others. It can help you save the unsaved souls out there.

If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com

Declare Your Love for God

Declare Your Love for God

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For months now, people and governments around the world have been struggling with fear, anxiety, uncertainty and even death due to infectious microbes. No matter what happens, we as Christians who accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior should never lose faith. It is faith in the Lord that spares us from disaster, poverty and evil. Of course, we Christians each have our own respective challenges in life to overcome and the ongoing crisis is the newest, major challenge for this particular time of the 21st century that happens to affect a lot of people around the world.

No matter how bad and depressing life becomes, we Christians must always put God first in everything we do. This includes constantly reading the Holy Bible (the Word of God), praying to Him, deepening our relationship with Him and applying His Word into our daily lives. We keep strong faith in Him and in due time, we will see God’s continual blessing in our lives.

Being faithful Christians, we certainly should never let religion, unbelief, idolatry, tradition and rituals hinder us from living with God’s Word and holiness. We are members of the Body of Christ. We are the church! Refer to 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 in the Holy Bible.

Therefore, as Born Again people, we should declare that God’s love is with us and nothing will separate us from Him. We must always declare our love for Him in addition to thanking and honor Him! We are not mere mortals for we are God’s creations with a holy purpose. We are tasked to spread God’s Word and help the Lord save the many, many unsaved and lost souls around the world. Remember, true faith in the Lord does NOT include force nor coercion nor shaming nor idolatry. As such, we emphasize God’s Word to others gently and always let them decide on their own whether to accept the Lord or not. After all, each and every person has a personal relationship with God which is strictly off limits to everyone else (even the biological family).

Moving on, let’s read a scripture from the Holy Bible.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

Galatians 3:13 (NKJV)

We all know that Adam’s rebellion towards God marked the downfall of humanity which lasted for many generations as recorded in the Holy Bible. Even though humanity was sinful, God never wiped humanity away because He planned for grand redemption and restoration to happen. In His greatest expression of love for us all, He sent us His only begotten Son Jesus. When His time came, Lord Jesus never despised the cross and went on to die for us all for redemption. It was Lord Jesus’ work, not ours, that removed the curse upon humanity. To express it in a different way, it was the blood of Jesus that cleansed us all! Satan was defeated! Jesus got resurrected and spread more of His holy enlightenment to those who witnessed His return. Then He ascended to Heaven to join God, our Heavenly Father. A promise was made by Jesus to return. Jesus is alive, always!

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

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 8:35-39 (NKJV)

Romans 8:35-39 makes clear that as children of God who were saved, we have no reason to despair, no reason to live in fear and no reason to be defeated. We have the love of the Lord that lasts eternally and also the Holy Spirit is in our hearts! Even in hardships that we are experiencing now personally and globally, we can be more than conquerors because we are God’s children! We are faithful and we can excel in life as long as we put God first, we remain faithful to Him and execute His Word to save all the unsaved souls around us! We have a relationship with God and nothing can separate us from Him.

To you who are reading this, if you are living with darkness (caused by unbelief or religion or deep ignorance), it is not too late for you to be born again. No less than Lord Jesus emphasized the point of being born again in John 3:3 in the Holy Bible. You can become a true Christian and an actual child of God by getting born again and willingly accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Now we go to Chapter 91 of the Book of Psalm in both New King James Version and the Passion Translation.

I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from perilous pestilence.

Psalm 91:2-3 (NKJV)

He’s the hope that holds me and the Stronghold to shelter me, the only God for me, and my great confidence. He will rescue you from every hidden trap of the enemy, and he will protect you from false accusation and any deadly curse.

Psalm 91:2-3 (TPT)

The scriptures above point out that God, who is the Creator, the Source and Provider, is our stronghold (refuge) that we can always rely on and never worry about anything. Not even a global financial crash, nor a plague nor a major natural disaster nor someone very evil could crush us spiritually for as long as we are faithful to Him. We are God’s children and He will always protect us, deliver us from trials and He will fight and defeat the enemy for us. Remember that contrary to the teachings by religion-minded authorities, Satan has always been a loser and with God on our side, we can keep on defeating and rejecting Satan. That being said, always let the Holy Spirit lead you.

One more scripture.

Keep you heart with all diligence. For out of it spring the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:23 (NKJV)

It is essential for us to keep our hearts. This mean valuing and protecting our minds, emotions and will. We all live in a screwed-up world with lots of problems plaguing people all around us. Even with all the hassle and problems, we should never lose faith in the Lord.

Now let me address the unsaved readers among you…

If you seek salvation now, learn that the first step is to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Never be fooled into believing that your past defined you and your future. With Jesus, you become a child of God and a whole new creation! A true Christian with a holy purpose!

Once you are ready, pray this simple prayer in sincerity from your heart:

Dear God,

I believe that Jesus is Your Son, and that He died on the cross to pay the penalty of my sins. I believe that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that He is alive! Right now I call on the name of Jesus. Jesus, come into my heart. I receive You as my personal Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sins and cleanse me by the power of Your blood. Thank You for saving me and giving me eternal life! Help me now to follow Your plan for my life. Amen.

Congratulations! You are now a child of God! Praise the Lord and always be faithful to Him! No more darkness in your life caused by unbelief or religion (and the idolatry, traditions and rituals that come with it). Your new life has begun!

Always read the Holy Bible, apply its lessons into your life and pray in tongues regularly to Him. The Holy Spirit is in you and you are now a new creation! Declare your love for God!

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. Sharing this Christian piece means spreading the good news of the Lord to others. It can help you save the unsaved souls out there.

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