Part one: On Hearing God’s Voice, A story

“I have started doing that.” Peter affirmed me when I said that seeing his mother at his house is God’s Will. Peter and I have been discussing the other day about hearing God’s voice. And when he learned about some simple steps or ideas “how” he simply took it with him and do it.

That day when I visited his wife Nelia, she was sick. I was suppose to invite Peter to come to my house but instead he informed me that his wife is sick and in need of medicines. I am the one closer to the pharmacy’s compared to Peter’s house up in the mountains. I grab my bike, get the medicines and went to see him and his wife.

As we sat and down and chat his mother came and visited also his wife. “Hi Nanay, good to see you.” I said. “What made you come here?” I ask.

“I was supose to go somewhere and along the way I received a message that Peter’s wife is sick so I decide to come here directly.” She answered.

“No plans to come here?” I double check.

“Yes.” She affirmed.

“Because I didn’t plan to come here too!” I exclaimed, “yet, we are here together at your son’s house! How exciting!”

I must be hearing God. “Last night I thought about you.” I said “and now we are here. It’s been a while since we last saw each other’s faces.” Last time, is when we built her a new toilet. For over 50 plus years the family had never had a toilet that has a bowl and a roof. They normally do it in the bush.

“Why are we here?” She ask.

“Last night, as I was thinking about who is the person to receive a percent from our community-based business that’s when I think about you. It must be the Lord has remijder of you!” I said. “Imagine, two of us has no plans to come to Peter’s house and yet here we are. This must be from the Lord.

“Am I right that you are adopting two kids and send them school?”

“Yes.”she answered.

“For long now?”

“Too long. Since they were little.” She said in a soft voice.

“From now on you will receive something from us, the Church that meets in my house in Liloan.” I said. “We have some business that’s shared responsibilities, shared benefits and shared profits. And when everyone gets their share each will ‘lay down at the apostle’s feet’ for the apostolic work. The Lord has you in His mind.”

I handed her a $10 and she said “Oh thank you. I work all week but I never had some earnings.”

“Really? What did you do?”

“Cooking some sticky rice and sell it to the neighbourhood.” She said.

“I see. Can I get that $10 back?”

“What?” She gave it back to me.

“Here’s $20.” I handed it to her. She took it with a smile.

This is a short story. A story is meant to be detailed to show a picture. It’s not meant to be proud of. There’s more to this story.

“This kind of happenings Peter should be daily. Our daily-life- together with Jesus as His follower.” I said this to him as we sat on the table. “It’s when we know of what we hear or feel or think is from God. If it will happen the next day then we will know.”

That’s when Peter said, “When you shared about how you hear God’s voice I started practicing it.”

(For my next article on hearing God I will share what I shared to Peter and others on how to hear God’s voice.”

Obey as you told..

“Do what you are told to do, not what you want to do.”

A lesson from Maron Ghislain, that when his wife arrives with some bags of groceries in her hand her child wanted to help carry a bag but her mom told her to clean up her toys instead from the stairs yet her child insist that she could carry a bag. They both close to have an accident because the toys are on the way blocking them.

“God must be telling something here.” Ghislain thought. And God starts talking to him:

“In the same way, do what you are told to do, not what you want to do.” God said to him.

Isn’t it a good picture of many Christians? Wanting to do our own way and thought we are obeying? With all the good intentions of ‘helping’ God’s work no wonder that even if ‘His’ church is messy we still blame ourselves. Somehow somewhere we knew that’s it’s our fault, not God’s.

“Seeking the kingdom first” in your family is asking a question “what does it look like in my home, with my wife and kids?”

Answer: obedience.

The first house rules in the house of God is obedience and it must start in our families.

A simple life story like this could teach us about obedience. This is his story, what is yours?

Delayed obedience delayed work

“Flat tire – flat obedience”

“The bike is flat!” John, 12yo, said in surprise when I ask him to buy some bread.

“Get another bike.” I said.

Minutes later he still here because he tried to put air in the tire using pump.

“Use another bike I said. I didn’t say fix it.”

He took another bike and went.

Delayed obedience will result in delaying of the work.

Do what you are told to do. Do not do your own thing.

Many of us are having a hard time obeying God not because we’re not willing to do them but because we’re not willing to leave behind what we have currently been doing.

We just loved to “add” His stuff to what we already have, therefore “subtract.” I told a friend who’s a bishop in his own organisation that I was a bishop too because I did the same as what he did – registered at Security Exchange Commission. This is when he wants me to become a ‘bishop’ by him and other bishops to lay their hands on me, and yes, pay him 15,000 pesos ($300). “You can use that back (mean my certificate from SEC) and just mix all you know to find your niche in the ministry” he said. As I thought about it and shared it to Albert, Albert said back “but it’s not kingdom.” He is exactly right. Albert who’s only 8years of being a disciple and without a traditional background of church and never been to traditional church meetings understood well enough what is kingdom and what is not. The kingdom of God has its own ways of doing things and our opinion is not invited. We are only to do what we are told to do, not what we want to do.

As disciples, the first call is to “deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me” to “lay down your life for the sake of others” to “not think of yourself more highly than you ought.” That’s not a lot of “doing things successfully” but a lot of “loosing” of “dying to self.” “He who wants to save his life shall lose it. He who wants to lose his life shall save it.” And dying simply means to “not do anything until God tells you to do something.” For it is in our “dying daily” that He is most glorified in us. By dying we are transformed in the image of His Son. Opposite of that is being conformed to the patterns of this world.

So next time, if there is something that the King wanted you to do, the first thing that you must do is ask yourself: “Now, what can I stop doing in order for me to start doing what He ask me to do?”

When God wants us to “cleave” to something, that always requires “leaving” something as well.

Don’t be like Jonathan, who makes a covenant to David yet didn’t “uncovenant” Saul. That put his own life to risk and finally lose it. And that’s always the case for someone who has two masters.

Equip in every good work

“Do you want to learn?” I ask Clifford as he cleaned the fan, take off it’s cover but put it back in the wrong way. He is 14yo.

“Yes.” He replied.

“Will you be teachable?” I ask another question.

“Yes.” He said.

“These two, to learn and being teachable goes together. If so then do not do something stupid. Because wanting to learn and being teachable is unattainable if you mix it with some stupidity.” He put a smile on his face listening.

“You are a grown man,” I added. “You should start acting responsibly. This is just cleaning a fan and you cannot put it back together in its rightful place how much more when you clean a house?” This is our normal life while we do things together. Equipping is a part of our daily life.

When it comes to ‘equipping’ the saints ‘for every good works’ (2Tim.3:16-17) we ask each of them their permission. Why? Equipping involves teaching, correction, rebuking and discipline. These cannot be interchangeable. You cannot correct when something or someone is wrong if you haven’t taught him something. You cannot rebuke unless you have corrected him first. And cannot discipline unless you did some rebuking. How can you say ‘I am wrong’ when you haven’t taught me what is right? Jesus said “much is given, much is required.” How can you require of something when you haven’t given me something?

When you pay something at the malls here the clerk would normally ask you “do you have an advantage card sir?” This is to give you some points. And I would jokingly replied, “did you gave me any card?”

Teach it how and if he didn’t get it and do it wrong, correct it. And if after correction he still not following it through, rebuke, say “don’t be stupid, don’t do your own thing, follow!” And if still he won’t do it right – discipline.

Example? We explain that smoking is not good for you. Specially here when we talk to each other and play with younger kids and mostly eat together, so we exchange spoons and forks and plates whenever we have meals together. But he still smokes after 2-3 weeks. Giving him time to decide for himself is important. But he still would not stop. “Ok, this time have your own plates, spoon and fork. And do you know what that means for you? Means that instead someone else is putting plates and spoon on your table and wash them, this time you yourself do it and you keep it somewhere and bring it over every meal. He still smoke anyway. “Ok, this time, you wash all the dishes every time we all eat.” Still he won’t listen? “I’ll limit your food intake.” And so on until you can finally kick him out! Why not?

If you cannot control yourself then someone will and you know what? You won’t like it.

“Isn’t the problem more on ‘spiritual’ than just vices?” Someone says to me as I shared this.

“Spiritual?” I answered back “or stupidity?”

He laughs. (Yeah, like you are now.)

Ask permission or else you can’t require him to listen to you. “Do you want to learn this and that?” “If you want, will you listen?”

Deeper question is: “do you want me to father/mother you?” Church is about fathering the next generation. Serving the next generation.

Hands on fathering…

“Two days we have no class.” A 6th grade boy said to us when we ask him to go to school. He likes to skip school even before he’s not with us and now that is he still does things his way. He chose to just stay home and help our plant rental community business here.

“You know when you tell the truth,” I said, “people believe in you. Right?”

“Yes” he said back.

“And when you tell a lie, they would still believe in you, right?”

“Right” he said. He simply knows the logic.

“Yes. Because they do not know that you are lying.” I said. “But when you start telling lies and then you tell them the truth later, would they believe in you?”

“No” he said straight.

“Why?”

“I don’t know” he replied.

I have to repeat it 3 times, a need for him to understand why is important. He keeps saying “I don’t know.” At he finally understood,

“No. Because they know you’re a liar!”

We all laugh out loud by the way he said it. The moment a person, as young as he is wanting to start using his right, give him some responsibility. They go together, plus accountability. No short cut.

This is important when you start fathering and mothering your next generation. This boy doesn’t want to go home because he felt his mom doesn’t like him. In front of his friends his mom would say to him “he’s not my favourite son.” Imagine how low his self-esteem is. He has no father. So he wants to wrestle with Albert, tickle him before he wants to obey anything what Albert would like him to do.

“How to father someone, Molong?” Someone ask me here as they observe what we do.

“Simple.” I said back, “just ask yourself one question whenever you want to teach or correct him, “if he (she) is my own child/son (daughter) how would I talk to him? How would I treat him? How would I rebuke him or discipline him?”

No wonder Paul says to Timothy “He who manage his own children well can manage the household of God.” Simply put, church is family, having dads and moms and childrens and sons and daughters. Too much fatherless generation we have here and Jesus knew this then before this would happen so he said “I shall not leave you as orphans.” Means, He knows our need of fathers and mothers. And He Himself became a father to us all.

Today, we have so many christian ‘spiritual orphans’ roaming around churches. They are not looking for a good church service or programs they can attend. Yours and mine are the best in town and yet they still are hopping from church to church. They also are not looking for good pastors and teachers etc. Yours and mine leaders are the best too. However, What they are looking at are people who would treat them as sons and daughters in the Lord. People who could raise them up to be sons and daughters of God. They want a ‘father and mother in the Lord.” Eph.6:1

Leaders aren’t naturally fathers. John Maxwell is famous for his leadership style all over the world but he is obviously not a father to many. Fathers are naturally leaders. But no one calls them a ‘leader’ of your family. They will be called a ‘father’ of your family. That’s why we don’t ‘train’ leaders, Jesus didn’t do that. He develops servants. From servant-child to a son then becomes a father themselves (1John2). Fathering their next generation.

How we lost this aspect of leading like a father. ‘Like a father leads his children. Like a shepherd leads his flock. The Lord will always guide us and show us where to walk.’ Today, we copied our best leadership pattern from the world and so the church have so much lackness of people who are ‘serving their next generation.’

Below is the letter this boy has made himself for her mom that makes it appear it comes from his teacher. Look how not only that it’s funny but obviously he lied as well.

Just do it

“Get some cooked rice” I said to John, 12yo as we prepared some chicken soup together. He helped sliced some veggies, ginger and string onions.

“There’s no cooked rice.” He said as he check out the rice cooker.

“Do you know how to cook rice?”

“No” was his reply.

“Come here, I’ll show you how.”

We went into the kitchen, prepare the rice cooker and rice, get a measuring cup and started counting 1,2,3-7 cups for everybody. Wash the rice with water twice and put 8 cups of water, etc. Ready, turn on the rice cooker and showed him how to know if the rice is cook.

We consumed 50 kilos of rice every ten days. About a dozen to 2 dozen of people comes and goes to do ‘yahshab’ here during the week to practice denying themselves and laying down their life to one another by serving one another. Teaching them how to live, not just about God. Teaching them to obey, not underline their favourite verses in their bibles.

We ate together that night (last night) with others as we work in the garden.

“So, John, you know how to cook rice now?” I ask him as he grabs his food.

“Yes.” He said.

“How do you know? Have you cook rice yet?”

“No” he replied.

“If not, why did you say you know how to cook rice?”

“Because you taught me how.” He said with a smile.

“So you mean if someone taught you how to do this and that without doing it yourself you know how?”

“I’m confused.” A 12yo boy were selling cigarettes in the cockfight arena just trying to figure things out in his head of what I said.

“Which do you think of these two who can say he knows how. One who were taught and was shown how but didn’t do it himself yet or one who were taught and shown how and did it himself?”

With a smile he said “the last one.”

“You got it. So do you know how to cook rice now?”

“Nope.” He said plainly.

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t do it yet.” He understood.

He will be cooking rice for everybody to practice what he learns from now on. Not all at the time but sometime. Raising a child to a son involves some responsibilities to do for other people.

++++

“He who has an ear, let him hear.”

“He who has understanding, let him understand.”

Many who were taught and was even shown how to do things – in seminars and conferences – yet thought they think they know without doing it themselves. “Teaching them to obey” is different than “teaching them to have knowledge.”

Do Yahshab, not meetings

When we have a ‘schedule’ to have fellowship with other believes that means we don’t have other believers living with us everyday.

I encourage you invite others to do ‘yahshab’ to other believers than just do a quick 2-hour meeting. ‘Yahshab’ is the Hebrew word for ‘dwell together’ in Psalm 133:1, it resonates with Acts 2-4, and Luke 10. It is not a quick meeting but it is a ‘prolonged relationship’ ‘sit together’ ‘doing things together.’ It is living-out the Jesus-Life that is in you ‘with’ others who has it too.

Stay together at someone’s house for a day or two or for a week or month to a year. To learn each other how to brother and how to sister each other. Learn how to father and mother each others children. To learn how to become a family. Having a 2-hour meeting is a business meeting, not a ‘church’ meeting.

See, church is not only because we have relationships with each other, “Oh, I go to that church because I know a lot of people, I got friends there,” but because also we ‘serve one another.’ If we don’t do this then we are just like any social club. We do things together to have fun. Fun of what? Singing? Dancing? Joking around? Drinking and eating?

Our joy should be found in serving one another because that’s where our freedom can be found. In serving one another we become free. Our meetings should be meeting the needs of our brothers and sisters. My recent trip is with over 20 businessmen and woman and presidents of banks who does meetings for four years already yet their leader says to me “we are not family because we cannot even help a brother who has heart problem.”

We know how to do meetings for years. But do we know how to treat our own brothers as ‘our’ brother? Our sisters in the Lord as our ‘own’ sister?

We all say we want to be family but after a meeting we say our ‘goodbye’s’ to one another. The hand cannot say to the foot “See you next Sunday!” Oh, how exciting!!!

Many came to ‘visit’ us here and politely tell us what to do “oh you should do this and that” or “you’re good at this and that yet what you lack is this and that.” And will politely answer them all back,

“Where were you yesterday?”

And they haven’t got a clue of what I said.

How we live community

One new disciple, 24yo, is living daily with us and doing things together like cooking, gardening, making tables and chairs and other community projects to serve orphans and widows and the poor around us.

People, specially younger ones needed to be told what they needed to do because they do not know what to do. As young as they are they can learn playing all day long on their phones without someone telling them to do it. So a part of training is to “equip them in every good work.”

One time Albert told him to paint the assembled rocks with clear epoxy for our plant rental business. He was specifically told what to do. He should have not used all of it for a number of rocks but, “why, did you used it all for others?”

“Oh, they’re not shiny enough.” He said.

“You were told only to paint a number of rocks.” Albert says, “even if they’re not shiny enough that’s not what you are told to do.”

“Well, I thought it may look more beautiful!” For the last two months he’s with us he loves to put colourful words to everything that he do.

“One question,” I interrupted, “is what you did more is obeying what you are told to do or not?”

Without a long pause of thinking what to answer either yes or no, he said “No.”

+++

Practicing obedience as you equip them in every good work is important for the obedience of Christ when we fully are ready to be used by Him. Many wants to be used by Him yet come unprepared.

Like most of us, when God only told us to this and that we want to do more. The end result is disobedience to what He only called us to do. We want to please and impress Him or the people around us.

In living with others there are community ‘works of service’ daily ‘from house to house.’ Unlike in nominal churches, ‘ministry’ is defined by specific things you do like leading songs, playing guitar, cleaning floors, teaching Sunday school, leading bible study group, leading youth etc. We ask “what’s your ministry?” But in the community we ask “who do you serve today?” That’s why whenever any saints come to ‘visit’ here I encourage them to do ‘yahshab’ instead. You don’t pay a visit for your family. You come to live. And if you can’t live among us next door then at least do ‘yahshab’ (psalm 133:1) “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity.” That word ‘dwell’ in Hebrew is ‘yahshab’ means ‘sit together, prolonged relationship, not a quick meeting.’ You don’t maintain your relationship with your own brother by doing meetings. Families don’t do meetings, they just meet a lot.

“Did you bring any chicken? How about a banana for one of our widows? A loaf of bread? A sachet of milo or coffee?” Are our normal questions to prompt you to share something in the household of faith. “What can you share?” Is a kingdom-economy principle to ask. This is how we live in the economy of the kingdom of God. Sharing, no buying, no selling. Give and receive. “If you cannot bring anything, do some gardening, wash those widows clothing, clean her house, I don’t want guitars and pianos here, get some things done for other people, not for yourself. Practice denying and laying down your life for your brethren.”

Learning to be family

On being a brother (sister) to each other…

It’s 10:03pm, just got back from an hour swim in the beach with some brothers. As I walk on the shoreline towards the deep waters my son Mike, 7yo and John, 12yo starts holding each other’s hands. It’s actually my son who got a hold of John’s t-shirt and and John immediately put his hand on Mike’s shoulder as they walk behind my back with a waterproof flashlight.

“See, he is your younger brother.” I said to John. For the past week I have been helping John and his older brother Clifford to start treating each other as brothers. They normally fight bullying each other and sometimes my son will be included and made them cry.

As I said the very word “See, he is your younger brother” it dawned on me “how come when we Christians call each other ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ yet live far from each other?” You know, “you’re my brothers and sisters yet let me live my life alone so please let me live a bit further from you. Anyhow, it be good to see you once a week. That’s good enough to be family.”

How come we want to be family yet doesn’t want other people to be involve in our lives? Honestly, I advocate living next door to each other, “from house to house,” “together.”

Psalm 133:1 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren dwell together in unity.”

We learn more to become family to each other when we live close enough to each other, yes, literally.