Footsteps to Zion

Have you ever heard someone saying that he or she has heard the voice of God? This may be hard to believe at first but it is certainly true that God can speak to each one of us. Yes, it may be easier to believe that God can speak to “spiritual giants” like Abraham, Moses, and Elijah but to believe that God can speak to normal Christians like you and me may seem close to impossible. However, if we read the Bible more closely, we will find that God didn’t just speak to mighty, anointed leaders of His people. When God chose to reveal the birth of His Son Jesus Christ on earth, He didn’t just reveal it to the rich, wise men.  He also revealed it to poor, lowly, unknown shepherds. “Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold,...

The Bible says that man is created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). This means that we have certain features and attributes that resemble God’s. One particular commonality worth studying is our eyes and God’s eyes. Just as humans have eyes, God has eyes too. However, God’s eyes see and do so much more than what humans can see and do. THE EYES OF GOD SEE EACH AND EVERY ONE. Nothing escapes His eyes because He is actively watching. He does not miss out on any detail. You know how it is when you are seeing but not really paying attention? You see but you miss out on many details. However, with the Lord He is actively watching everything. He sees everything that is going on. He sees across the whole world. He sees every single one of the 7.6 billion people in the world. In Genesis 16, we learn of the story of Hagar, the maidservant of Sarah. She fled to the wilderness because Sarah dealt harshly with her. But even there, the Angel of the Lord found her and blessed her with a pro...

Based on the message of Pastor Albert Garcia Disappointments… life is full of them. We get disappointed with our poor living conditions, the slow progression of our careers, or the lack of fruit in our ministries. We also get disappointed with people like our co-workers, our bosses, our own families, ourselves, and even with God. But more than just an emotion of frustration, disappointment is a spiritual problem that we can only overcome with God. He doesn’t want us to live the rest of our lives under disappointment but under His sovereign power. HOW CAN WE OVERCOME DISAPPOINTMENTS? Indeed, we experience a lot of disappointments in life but God can turn them around. He can make beautiful things out of our ashes (Isaiah 61:3). He can turn our darkest moments into treasures in darkness (Isaiah 45:3). Truly, God can turn our disappointment into His divine appointments because He is sovereign. Divine sovereignty means that God is in control .  However, when we go...

All of us are waiting for something. It can be as simple as waiting for our turn in the grocery line or waiting for our train to arrive. But it can also be as significant as waiting for the results of a dream school application, waiting for a long overdue promotion, or waiting for a loved one’s physical healing. But as Christians, we wait for so much more .  We wait for God to deliver us from long-withstanding sins. We wait for God to redeem us from our troubles. We wait for God to fulfill His promises in our lives. And we even wait for the day that we will finally see Him face to face. If we pause and honestly ask ourselves, do we know what we are really waiting for in life? And second, how is our attitude in waiting? There was a man in the Bible called Simeon who was tested in this area of waiting. He was an old faithful man who waited for a very long time to see the Savior of Israel and of the whole world, our Lord Jesus Christ, on earth. Luke 2:25-32 And behold...

In the Bible, there is a beautiful passage sung by Mary, the mother of Jesus, which we now call as the “ Magnificat .” The word Magnificat literally means “an utterance of praise” (Merriam-Webster). Mary sang this after the Angel Gabriel revealed to her that she will conceive and give birth to the Christ Jesus. As we read the Magnificat in Luke 1:46-55 , we can easily sense Mary’s joyful spirit as she sang this. However, what we often fail to realize is the challenging situation in which she was praising God. At that time, she was just a humble teenager engaged to marry but also about to bear a child. People could have easily thought of her child as one born out of wedlock. That could have even been considered adultery which was punishable by stoning in Jewish law. Mary could have feared for her own honour and dear life. Yet in spite of all these, she chose to magnify the Lord. And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, a nd my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour."...

Based on the message of Pastor Dick Carumba Throughout world history, man has fought countless battles to conquer peoples and lands. But while those battles may be intense, the greatest battle man faces is the one that is spiritual. It is that constant battle against temptations, wrong thoughts, and negative emotions that truly torments man. It is this invisible war in the mind of every person that seems the hardest to fight and win. But for every believer in Christ, God has promised victory according to His Word. “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37 However, we often forget this truth. ‭We must hold on to the several Scriptures which testify to us that whether in the past, present or future, we are victorious through Christ:‬‬ We became victorious in the past through what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross according to Colossians 2:14-15 (NLT): “ He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by...

Image source: www.LumoProject.com An “opportunity” is defined as a “time or set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something” (Oxford). The thing with opportunities is that they have a time limit to it. They won’t always be there forever. That’s why, when the right opportunities come, we want to get hold of them and never let go. Opportunities exist in many forms. For a lot of companies, they are looking for new business opportunities. For the working class, many are looking for better career opportunities. But for the true believer in Christ, he or she is looking for an opportunity to have an encounter with God. One such believer was blind Bartimeaus. He was looking for an opportunity to meet Jesus and get healed of his blindness. Such opportunity came on Jesus’ very last visit to Jericho (where Bartimeaus was) before He went to die on the cross and ascend to Heaven. OUR NEED FOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE HEALED While we may not be physically blind like Bartimeaus...