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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Nick Vujicic

This is one of the greatest testimonies I ever heard of. A story of an ordinary and disabled man who serves an extraordinary and big God. He faced many challenges yet he never gave up. In fact, he inspires more people. Check out how inspirational it is.



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Hi! my name is Nick Vujicic.



My name is Nick Vujicic and I give God the Glory for how He has used my testimony to touch thousands of hearts around the world! I was born without limbs and doctors have no medical explanation for this birth "defect". As you can imagine, I was faced with many challenges and obstacles.

"Consider it pure joy, my Brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds."

....To count our hurt, pain and struggle as nothing but pure joy? As my parents were Christians, and my Dad even a Pastor of our church, they knew that verse very well. However, on the morning of the 4th of December 1982 in Melbourne (Australia), the last two words on the minds of my parents was "Praise God!". Their firstborn son had been born without limbs! There were no warnings or time to prepare themselves for it. The doctors were shocked and had no answers at all! There is still no medical reason why this had happened and Nick now has a Brother and Sister who were born just like any other baby.

The whole church mourned over my birth and my parents were absolutely devastated. Everyone asked, "if God is a God of Love, then why would God let something this bad happen to not just anyone, but dedicated Christians?" My Dad thought I wouldn't survive for very long, but tests proved that I was a healthy baby boy just with a few limbs missing.

Understandably, my parents had strong concern and evident fears of what kind of life I'd be able to lead. God provided them strength, wisdom and courage through those early years and soon after that I was old enough to go to school.

The law in Australia didn't allow me to be integrated into a main-stream school because of my physical disability. God did miracles and gave my Mom the strength to fight for the law to be changed. I was one of the first disabled students to be integrated into a main-stream school.

I liked going to school, and just try to live life like everyone else, but it was in my early years of school where I encountered uncomfortable times of feeling rejected, weird and bullied because of my physical difference. It was very hard for me to get used to, but with the support of my parents, I started to develop attitudes and values which helped me overcome these challenging times. I knew that I was different but on the inside I was just like everyone else. There were many times when I felt so low that I wouldn't go to school just so I didn't have to face all the negative attention. I was encouraged by my parents to ignore them and to try start making friends by just talking with some kids. Soon the students realized that I was just like them, and starting there God kept on blessing me with new friends.

There were times when I felt depressed and angry because I couldn't change the way I was, or blame anyone for that matter. I went to Sunday School and learnt that God loves us all and that He cares for you. I understood that love to a point as a child, but I didn't understand that if God loved me why did He make me like this? Is it because I did something wrong? I thought I must have because out of all the kids at school, I'm the only weird one. I felt like I was a burden to those around me and the sooner I go, the better it'd be for everyone. I wanted to end my pain and end my life at a young age, but I am thankful once again, for my parents and family who were always there to comfort me and give me strength.

Due to my emotional struggles I had experienced with bullying, self esteem and loneliness, God has implanted a passion of sharing my story and experiences to help others cope with whatever challenge they have in their life and let God turn it into a blessing. To encourage and inspire others to live to their fullest potential and not let anything get in the way of accomplishing their hopes and dreams.

One of the first lessons that I have learnt was not to take things for granted.

"And we know that in all things God works for the best for those who love Him."

That verse spoke to my heart and convicted me to the point where that I know that there is no such thing as luck, chance or coincidence that these "bad" things happen in our life.

I had complete peace knowing that God won't let anything happen to us in our life unless He has a good purpose for it all. I completely gave my life to Christ at the age of fifteen after reading John 9. Jesus said that the reason the man was born blind was "so that the works of God may be revealed through Him." I truly believed that God would heal me so I could be a great testimony of His Awesome Power. Later on I was given the wisdom to understand that if we pray for something, if it's God's will, it'll happen in His time. If it's not God's will for it to happen, then I know that He has something better.

I now see that Glory revealed as He is using me just the way I am and in ways others can't be used.

I am now twenty-one years old and have completed a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Financial Planning and Accounting. I am also a motivational speaker and love to go out and share my story and testimony wherever opportunities become available. I have developed talks to relate to and encourage students through topics that challenge today's teenagers. I am also a speaker in the corporate sector.



I have a passion for reaching out to youth and keep myself available for whatever God wants me to do, and wherever He leads, I follow.

I have many dreams and goals that I have set to achieve in my life. I want to become the best witness I can be of God's Love and Hope, to become an international inspirational speaker and be used as a vessel in both Christian and non-Christian venues. I want to become financially independent by the age of 25, through real estate investments, to modify a car for me to drive and to be interviewed and share my story on the "Oprah Winfrey Show"! Writing several best-selling books has been one of my dreams and I hope to finish writing my first by the end of the year. It will be called "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!"

I believe that if you have the desire and passion to do something, and if it's God's will, you will achieve it in good time. As humans, we continually put limits on ourselves for no reason at all! What's worse is putting limits on God who can do all things. We put God in a "box". The awesome thing about the Power of God, is that if we want to do something for God, instead of focusing on our capability, concentrate on our availability for we know that it is God through us and we can't do anything without Him. Once we make ourselves available for God's work, guess whose capabilities we rely on? God's!


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Let us not forget that once we have Christ in our hearts, we will never be ordinary... because God will use us for His Greatness!
God is bigger than ANYTHING in life. No arms, no legs, no worries. Get inspired with Nick's story!

Till next time,

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Friday, October 24, 2008

I wanna play the guitar

Hmm. Well, I think I wanna play the guitar when my sister and I make a band in church. Not really a band, we would have a singing duet soon. lol. XD

Well, if not the guitar, I would like to learn how to play the keyboard. My childhood dream was to learn how to play the violin but what kind of songs can I play with that, right? lol.

It supposed to be a trio. My sis, another Filipino girl friend, and me. But because of devil's work, she was forbidden to attend our church ever again by her dad. Aww, man. If she can just join us, she knows how to play the guitar. No more problemo! hehe.

Anyways, about me and my sis putting up a duet, we'll see. I'm still thinking of what and how to tell Pastor. haha. We are in the back up singing roster but it's like we wanna get more exposed. *what* lol. Nah, we wanna use the singing talent God gave us. lmao. But yeah, we so wanna sing lately. We are even practicing some songs. Hillsong United! woohooo!

So there, I don't have much to write right now so that's all I wanna say. hehe.

Peace out. Sing for Jesus!

Till next time,
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Friday, October 17, 2008

The Gathering of Israel, One by One

Yet the time will come when the LORD will gather them together like handpicked grain. One by one he will gather them—from the Euphrates River in the east to the Brook of Egypt in the west. [Isaiah 27:12]


Isaiah 27 foresees the exile of Israel and, beyond that, the time in which God will gather his people once again. Though they have been scattered throughout the world, the Lord will bring them back to their land and to himself.

Isaiah 27:12 employs a harvesting image. The Hebrew literally speaks of God as threshing and gleaning the grain, using a process that allowed the farmer to distinguish the grain from the chaff. The addition of the phrase “one by one” emphasizes God’s personal attention to each one of his children.

Most of us have not experienced literal exile in our lives. We live in the country of our birth and/or of our choosing. Yet the image of exile gives expression to our sense of not quite belonging to this world as it is. We yearn for the Lord and the fullness of his kingdom. We look ahead to the day when God will gather all of us into his new creation, a day when we will be truly at home with the Lord and truly united to his people.

Yet, in anticipation of that future gathering, God seeks us and brings us to himself “one by one.” God isn’t just in the business of “saving the world.” He seeks us out individually, inviting us to know him and to be part of his work of putting the world back together.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: Have you ever experienced some sort of exile? When? How did it feel? Do you ever feel as if you don’t quite belong to this world? When? What difference does this make in your life?


PRAYER: Dear Lord, I’m struck by this image of you gathering your people “one by one.” Though you are the Creator and Sovereign of the universe, and though your plans encompass the whole earth, nevertheless you care about each individual person . . . including me.

Thank you, gracious God, for gathering me to yourself. Thank you for caring about me personally. Thank you for inviting me to have an intimate relationship with you. Thank you for the many times when you have sought me out when I was lost.

Dear Lord, may I live this day as one who has been gathered by you. May I continue in fellowship with you throughout the day, and live each moment for your kingdom and glory. Amen.


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This was one of the Daily Reflection sent out from http://www.thehighcalling.org/ to my Inbox. I subscribed to it 2 months ago if I'm not mistaken. Anyways, I suggest you also subscribe to they Daily Reflection, I love it. It's always encouraging and inspiring. Maybe I should blog about it when I get a really powerful message. Or maybe a Daily Reflection here to my blog! lol
Most of us have not experienced literal exile in our lives. We live in the country of our birth and/or of our choosing. Yet the image of exile gives expression to our sense of not quite belonging to this world as it is. We yearn for the Lord and the fullness of his kingdom. We look ahead to the day when God will gather all of us into his new creation, a day when we will be truly at home with the Lord and truly united to his people.

God seeks us and brings us to himself “one by one.” God isn’t just in the business of “saving the world.” He seeks us out individually, inviting us to know him and to be part of his work of putting the world back together.

That was how I felt the moment we left the Philippines and moved here to Fiji. Even until now, I feel like an exile. I so miss my friends and my home country, the Philippines is way more 'civilized' than here in Fiji. I hope I won't be like a person who came from the mountains when I get back to Philippines. Oh, the techonology. lol! And I feel like an exile because, I sometimes feel I just couldn't mix with the people. I feel like I don't belong. But not in church, I like the people in church! Hehe. They are God's family so I love them. But aside from the church people? Nah, I'm like a total stranger here.

Speaking of exile, we all are. WE ARE PRISONERS OF SIN.

Anyways, we are citizens of Heaven, this world is just a temporary place for us. So whether I'm in the greatest nation or in Pinas, I am still a stranger. I will never be at home in this world.

We yearn for the Lord and the fullness of his kingdom. We look ahead to the day when God will gather all of us into his new creation, a day when we will be truly at home with the Lord and truly united to his people. In the end, we would all be ONE. No Americans, no British, no Fijians, no Chinese, no Filipinos, no whatever race in the world. Remember, we were separated by culture differences because people attempted to build the tower of Babylon to reach Heaven? No one can ever reach Heaven except through Jesus Christ. The hope that there will be a day when we will be truly at home with the Lord is everyone's hope dream. No more pain, sufferings, etc. We would finally be at peace. Let us all keep the faith.

The most powerful sentence I loved here in this reflection was 'He seeks us out individually, inviting us to know him and to be part of his work of putting the world back together.' Yes, as Christians, He want us to be in a relationship with our Heavenly Father. That's why He gave Jesus Christ to save us. While in other religions, people try to reach God through their rituals. Isn't it amazing that it is our God who wants to reach out for us? That's the one thing that is unique in Christianity!

And now, as the Word is being heard by more people, more and more people also become lovers of this world. People seeks security through money, earthly love, and other things that don't belong to the Lord. They can't see the real meaning of life.

I don't wanna talk about the End Times here, but Jesus Christ is really coming back soon. We'll never know when, but He will. He is now gathering Israel, one by one. Look at the world around us, it's time to wake up.

Well, it's also time for me to accept that I'm staying here in Fiji till my visa expires.... lol. I believe God put us here with a reason, and it's is His Will for us to be in this nation. I often ask 'why Fiji?'. Fiji has changed my life A LOT. And I know, I still need to learn MORE.

Till next time,
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Friday, October 10, 2008

God's Amazing Grace

Ptr. Peter Tanchi / Sunday, September 28, 2008
CCF St. Francis Square, Philippines

The Bible always talks about what God has done for us first before it tells us what He wants us to do for Him. The focus is God's grace first and our obedience as the by-product. The first three chapters of Ephesians talk about our wealth in Christ or what God has done for us and the last three chapters talk about our walk or what God wants us to do.

I. God’s Amazing Plan

God's amazing plan is to exalt Christ over the whole world. Jesus is the King of Kings and has authority and power over all. Ephesians 1:22 says, all will submit to Christ, including governments, evil forces, even Satan.

Jesus is God's gift to the church. Ephesians 1:23 defines the church as Christ's body. The word "church" comes from the Greek word "ecclesia," which means “called out” or “chosen people.” Throughout the New Testament, the word "ecclesia" is used to refer to the community of believers who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Hence, the church refers to a select group of people and not a building or edifice.

Ephesians 1:1 addresses the church as “saints” which means a special people set apart from the rest. It needs to be connected to the Head, which means believers must have a relationship with Christ. When you raise your hand or wiggle your toes, your body is following orders from the brain. To have a relationship with Christ is to obey what He says. The church is also Christ's representative on earth. God wants to use the church to have His love, care and wisdom known to the world and to authorities in the heavenly places.

II. Man’s Awful Dilemma

However, we have problems that cannot be addressed with superficial solutions. But problems go much deeper. If you do not understand the real problem, you cannot prescribe the right solution.

Ephesians 2:1-2 shows us that our real problem is sin. We are dead to sins and trespasses, hence, we have no appetite for the things of God. A person who is spiritually dead follows the values of this world by seeking security in pride, position and possessions. This is in accordance to the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, Satan (Ephesians 2:2). Satan’s strategy is to lie by saying, “All religions are okay for as long as you are sincere.” But Jesus tells us, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” No religion can save us. A dead person cannot change for the better on its own. Sin or “hamartia” means to miss the target. It is not merely committing an offense, but it is also not doing what we are supposed to do. The problem with sin is we fail to realize we are full of it. Satan perverts what is good and makes it sinful. Eating is good but when you overeat you become a glutton. Sex was invented by God and in the context of marriage, it is wonderful. But when you allow this drive to be your master, it becomes sinful.

Sin is disobedience and rebellion against our loving God. Ephesians 2:3 calls unbelievers “children of wrath.” There are more verses on the wrath of God than on the love of God. The Bible says, you "are storing up wrath for yourself" (Romans 2:5) when you refuse to change. Because God is holy and righteous, He will deal with sin. Revelation 6:16-17 speak about the last prayer of people who refuse to repent or take their sinful condition seriously: "They said to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?'”

III. God’s Amazing Solution


The solution came from the heart of God who is rich in mercy and great in love (Ephesians 2:4-5). We were all rebels against God and dead in our sins, but Jesus died for us and so "having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." (Romans 5:9). By the blood of Jesus, we are declared not guilty and saved from the wrath of God. We deserve to die as sinners but Jesus took our place. He shed His blood and rose again so that He can give us life.

God not only has given us life but He also seated us in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). Today, spiritually, we are seated with Christ. Since that speaks of authority and position, hence when we pray, we must do so with authority.

In the Greek language, the phrase “you have been saved” is in the past perfect tense. It is a certainty. It happened in the past and has a continuing effect. We can be sure of receiving God’s amazing solution because of grace. It is not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

People try to go to heaven through good works. But since spiritually we are dead to sin, no amount of good works will save us. The only way to go to heaven is through the grace of God. And once we are saved, God wants us to be involved in good works. However, you will never experience the saving grace of God until it is activated by faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith,” (Ephesians 2:8). Until you are willing to repent and turn your life to Jesus, you will not see the transforming power of God’s grace. When you give your life to Jesus and take that step of faith, you will know and experience the unfathomable riches of Christ!

Source: http://www.ccf.org.ph/worship/index.asp?CurrentMessage=267


Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Trying To Be Prayerful

A couple of weeks ago, probably more than a month ago, we started the morning prayer at church. The church will be open from 5:50-7am for us to go there and pray. Our Pastor wants us, the church members, to be more prayerful because he knows that prayers are powerful.

The power of prayer should not be underestimated. James 5:16-18 declares, "…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops." God most definitely listens to prayers, answers prayers, and moves in response to prayers.

Anyways, yeah. We completed that first week! Because it's something new and the church is just so close to our house. And since we live nearby, we are burdened to go to pray. But, it was a struggle. We sleep, like, in the morning! We stay up all night coz it's better to surf the net at that time. lmao. So, it was really hard. As days passed by, we started not to go. Promising to ourselves that tomorrow is a new day, hopefully, we can get up early (after sleeping at 3am) or stay up until 5:30 or 6am.

We are watching a DVD on prayer every Sunday night. It was from Pastor Jim Cymbala of Brooklyn Tabernacle. It was wonderful. I mean, like, his message on prayer and the testimonies of the people about prayer. And everytime I watch that vid, God just always convict me.

I do pray. I always pray. But I'm not a prayer warrior and I'm not that prayerful. I believe in God, I have faith in Him. And I know that prayer is the only communication I have to my Heavenly Dad. Through prayers, I tell Him my needs, my requests, and thanks as well. Prayer is essential to every people and talk to God.

The power of prayer is not the result of the person praying. Rather, the power resides in the God who is being prayed to. 1 John 5:14-15 tells us, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him." No matter the person praying, the passion behind the prayer, or the purpose of the prayer - God answers prayers that are in agreement with His will. His answers are not always yes, but are always in our best interest. When our desires line up with His will, we will come to understand that in time. When we pray passionately and purposefully, according to God's will, God responds powerfully!
Just this Monday when my sister and I made a stand to go to prayer every morning. And now, it's 3:30am. I might just wait another 2 hours for prayer. I know our Pastor was like praying for us to be faithful in morning prayer coz we live nearby. lol. And we always feel bad everytime we don't go to prayer. I have SO MUCH people to pray for. My family and friends in the Philippines and other places in the world. And of course, us too here in Fiji. So yeah, I am not trying to be super spiritual here. I just have faith in God and I know He answer prayers at the right time -- in God's time. We can't live by ourselves. No matter how rich or famous you are, you need Him. Lay down everything before Him.

I encourage you people to pray! hehe. Don't just pray in vain or pray for a minute. Pray for everything -- your family, your friends, your loved ones, your work or school, and the list goes one. Pray for the people around the world. Talk to God. Find a place to pray if you can't go to church for it. Pray before the sun rises. It's the nicest way to start your day!

Till next time,
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Source: http://www.allaboutprayer.org/power-of-prayer.htm