Prayer 01/11/07

People make gratitude lists at the end of the year. I realized, why not start one at the beginning of the year? So, here goes my start-of-the-year gratitude list:

Thank you God for:

1. 1st family reunion in the Pastor Carlos family
2. having known Danica
3. Finally resigning from HOPE
4. Donation of 2k from Anna Say's friend, John
5. Donation of 5oo from Bong
6. Alicia Mayer and Gary's visit to Baseco
7. My visa approved!
8. News about Bulacan worship in San Rafael
9. My aunties and uncles here in the Philippines, and seeing Mia for the first time
10. Bob's baby Ysabella
11. My books, notebook, ballpen, and the Bible for QT
12. Gary wanting to donate college scholarship to independent living clients
13. Donation of 10k
14. Our traffic ticket down to 500 from P2,500
MORE TO COME!!!

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for opening my eyes to how rich you are in everything. When we were in fully-booked yesterday, I looked at all the books, and I was amazed. Naisip ko, "andami ng books na to! Sino kaya ang makakapagbasa ng lahat ng to?" And then I thought, "pero, lahat ng laman ng books na 'to, alam ni God. At katiting lang 'to ng alam ni God."

Wow God, you are really amazing! I envision you to be a powerful King, na sobrang dunong, sobrang bait, sobrang gentle, pero galit sa sin. Alam ko, I can never fully understand You until nasa heaven na ako. Sa heaven, all I'll ever do is discover and know You more and more.

God, you are also rich in material things. You own everything! Even the things that we claim to be ours. Those things na feeling namin, pinaghirapan namin. You are really the KING of all KINGS. You are the ultimate KING of all. Other Kings derive their riches from the people. But You, You are rich on your own and You PROVIDE the people with your riches. Tama nga yung sinabi nyo sa Bible (when the Israelites were asking for a king) na their king will only take away what the Israelites have in order to enrich their kingdom.

God please tulungan nyo po ako how to apply my knowledge to my life. Tama si Joe. Ang dami ko natutunan pero kulang ako sa application. I think it's cause I'm scared. Takot ako to fail. Takot ako to risk kasi sayang naman yung iri-risk ko. Takot ako that I'm not good enough. Pero, sabi mo sa QT, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom is being able to take a spiritual perspective and apply it to life.

Lord, right now, what I want is to become prosperous and wealthy like Job, Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, David, Solomon, the other disciples in the new testament who support Jesus' ministry. I realized that not a lot of disciples dream of becoming wealthy in order to finance the needs of the Kingdom. A lot of the disciples have fear of money. A lot of disciples do not know how to handle money.

Lord, but I want to master money and be able to enrich others. I want to build a funding agency for NGO's or NPO's like HOPE worldwide Philippines. I want to travel the world and be an ambassador and channel of blessings to people. I want our children to not be enslaved by the thought to work for money. Instead, I want them to become smart business people, adventurers who travel the world to help others. I want Joe and me to not be tied up with work for the most of our lives, and only spend our weak years retiring.

I want Joe and I to use most of our years, blessing others, and being blessed in return. I want to help finance struggling churches and to help revolutionize people's view of wealth. You are able to give wealth if we know what our priorities are, and we know how to handle wealth.

Lord, you have always shown your blessing through abundance. Lord, please bless Joe and I, our marriage, our family, that we may also bless others. But Lord, the greates blessing of all is having an intimate, passionate, energetic, alive, impactful relationship with you.

Lord, you are our very great reward. Lord, please continue to motivate Joe and I to repent in our times with You, in getting to know you. In learning from you.

Lord, please forgive me of my sins and transform me into a Jesus-hearted person who desires to see people do greater things than what He did. I fear to see people do greater things than what I did. I do not want to be this kind of a person. I want to be transformed in my thinking. Lord, You are my hope to change. Please change me because this is not who I want to be.

Father, I lift up the whole day to you. Be glorified in our lives, in our minds, our thoughts, our hearts, our words, our actions. We love you Lord. I love you Lord.

In Jesus' name I pray this, Amen.