FREE JZONE Sembreak Retreat 2009

The Path of a Prayer Warrior

I was able to be given an opportunity or a privilege by God to speak about "Prayer" in my home church. I'd like you to study with me, what God has impressed upon me how to be "A Prayer Warrior!"

Note: Sorry for the serious face, I was so stiff, I was having a serious stage fright hahahaha! But God gave me strength to speak, praise God!

The One Crucified

Luke 23: 26
As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.

This specific event in the passion of Jesus always puzzled me. It struck me as a detail of great significance, but I couldn't really grasp what it meant. Until one conversation with Yuklid in the bus. It was after the high school camp and he was sharing with me how he was touched after watching that very same scene in the movie, Passion of the Christ.



I've always wondered why Simon had to carry the cross, and why Jesus allowed it. Though technically He didn't ask for it, I wondered why Jesus let someone "help" Him with what was supposed to be His sacrifice?

In this season of my life, I find myself asking essentially the same question. I know that Jesus' cross is enough for me and is all that I need, but why do I still find myself wanting? The cross is Jesus' complete expression of His love, but why doesn't it help with my pain? Why don't I feel like He's loving me?

What Jesus said in " Luke 14:27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. " comes to mind every time.

Why do I still have to carry a cross? It's too heavy.

Yux said something important that hit me (obvious as it may be, I missed it) when we carry our cross, all we see is the cross we're carrying and forget that Christ is also right there.

I was too focused on my cross. I didn't realize that though I am carrying my cross for a time, at the end of the day, Jesus is still the One crucified and not me.

Just A.S.K.

"How to ask, seek and knock."

Matthew 7:7-8

⁷"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Just ASK! We forget to ask because (1) We are busy with so many things like trying to look for answers outside the Will of God, (2) We don't want to bother God because maybe, just maybe, He'd be angry at us for waking Him up early in the morning just to ask for help, and (3) We have forgotten that our God makes everything possible, even if it's humanly impossible.

We box God into our own context, or experience, or even meaning, that our relationship with God as Father has become distorted. For example, we ask God for something and not get it -- we get angry with God and think of Him as a Father who really doesn't care. Do you sometimes receive a "No" answer from God to your prayers? Well, surely, there is nothing wrong with God, maybe there is something wrong with the request you have (read James 4:2-3). God wants to hear from you, He wants to bless you "but" since He is our Father, "He knows what's best for us." Who are we to say that we know what's best when the One who created us in our mothers' womb knows the purpose of our very existence.

Another type of boxing God in this A.S.K. context is this: we seek, but we seek the wrong things. We seek for ways to answer our problems not letting God interfere. We let God interfere when all our resources are gone. Wouldn't it best if right after a "need" we go immediately to our Father? But we tend to forget this, that the Creator has everything that we need. We just need to seek Him first. (read Matthew 6:33)

Seek (in greek means) "to seek [in order to find out] by thinking, meditating, reasoning, to enquire into"

Isaiah 1:18-19, God says ...¹⁸ "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. ¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land;

Do you seek God earnestly? Do you really want Him? God invites you to reason with Him, talk to Him like human, tell Him what you feel.

Learn to knock. Whenever I go home, I always knock when I don't have the keys to the house. If I need to pee, I knock rapidly because I need to call the attention of the people inside the house. Isn't prayer the same thing? The only box that we have here is that, we only pray when we need to ask God a favor which so many times turns out to be a very big favor. We need to knock on God's not only when you need it but every day, hour, minute. He is a Father, not an earthly Father but your Father most High! He is concerned about you and what you're going through. He wants to know what you are feeling, and He wants you to wait on Him. Even if you're waiting for so long, wait for him.

I just want to end the devotional with this story: After a couple of months in my first job in an advertising firm, I was put in a team that advertised liquor. The liquor was called this "devils" name, and I was having a hard time really advertising that brand. It was the hardest time because God led me to resign. I turned to human answers and it didn't supply any good solutions, so I what did I do? Ask, seek, and knock. I resigned after a struggle with God but right after that He showed me why it was it was the right response for me to do. I earned more after than that first job.

So are you really A.S.K.ing? Learn and ask God how to ask, seek and knock.

God bless!

What does God desire?

Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God
rather than burnt offerings.

I like how NASB says it, "For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.- (Hos 6:6)"

Its God saying that what's important to Him is loyalty and knowledge of God than sacrifice or burnt offerings, the inward actions than the outward visible actions.


What's in your heart? Is it genuine, is it real? Many acts disguise themselves as forfeit service because of the unwillingness of the heart of God's people to see the real meaning of loyalty to God and having the knowledge of God. They forfeit their sacrifice because in the first place their hearts are not yielded to God. We just do it for the sake of duty and not because we love God.

God is not saying He does not want you to serve in ministry or to stop doing anything for Him, in fact it is His command for you to serve Him. What He wants is for us to focus more on the fundamentals of faith, that we believers would live in love with Him (which is internal), than just live out of our duty to sacrifice or burn offerings for Him (which is external). He is asking for loyalty and knowledge of Him because these acts are saying that, "God, its all about you."

Have you've been busy serving than surrending your heart, your life to God?

COMING SOON: "God, our boss: How to work and still glorify God."