Salvation: You Are Loved and Redeemed

Have you ever felt so distant from God? We all have. That certainly includes me. I felt so bad that the Word and Promise of God were revealed to me long time ago when I was a kid then as I grew up and learned more about this complicated life, I got lost.

While wandering, I always missed God. I got so depressed that I longed to be with Him again. Desperation increased as each day passed by. I tried so many things to be with Him again. I prayed and prayed and I knew He was listening. There were so many answered prayers I had before. Yet, I still felt so lost.

I tried finding the perfect church for me and I always found imperfection in every church I attended. The despair was so overwhelming that many times I felt like a dead person walking on this earth. It is because that time, my spirit was so malnourished. I thought any moment I would lose the last thread and I would just lose my mind and eventually die like that.

Many times when I prayed before, I did not feel anything. I was trying not to think of the idea that God might have lost His interest in me and He was no longer listening to me anymore. It was so depressing! It was also scary. In fact, it was scarier than death itself.

But you know what? LORD God is not condemning us. It is the work of the devil that we feel depressed and so guilty that because of ignorance of the Word of God, we let the devil’s works to consume us. It should not be like that. The price of our sins was paid long time ago. We were redeemed long time ago at the cross.

When guilt is knocking your door, remember this:

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” John 8:11 NIV

See how wonderful our LORD God is? He is so amazing! He, the perfect God, is so willing to forgive us and not even a hint of condemnation He feels for us. That definitely means that guilt is a work of the devil, it is not coming from God. God has freed us and claim it.

However, we should not think that because God is good and is willing to forgive us, we can sin over and over again and ask for forgiveness at a later time. True it is that Jesus does not condemn us but remember what He said after that, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” There is forgiveness and a declaration of new life. When God forgives you, it is the end of the old you and a start of the new you.

I like it when it is said in the little book of One2One found in chapter one that:

…since our separation from God is not physical or intellectual, neither meditation nor knowledge can bring us any closer to God.

The separation between God and man is a moral separation. (Romans 3:23, 6:23)

Since God is holy, righteous, and just, He could not allow sin to go unpunished. Since He is loving and compassionate, He did not want all of mankind to be eternally separated from Him. The divine solution to this problem was for Jesus, the God’s only Son, to become the sacrifice for sin. (Hebrews 9:26-28)

When Jesus died on the cross, He exchanged His righteousness for our sin and took our curse and gave us His beautiful blessings. That resulted to our conciliation to God. Jesus Christ’s holy death has bridged the gap (because of our sins) to God the Father.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NIV

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13 NIV

Now that we know that it is our sins separating us from God and we also know that Jesus Christ had redeemed us long ago on the cross, all we need to do now is to stop trusting in ourselves and put our trust in what Jesus Christ did for us.

I also like to add the following beautiful verse that made me so glad:

“I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” John 10:16 NIV

It feels so good that Jesus Christ was thinking of us who are not born Jews. The love of God is so infinite that nothing and no one can measure it. And it feels so good that we have that amazing God. So stop living in the dark. God loves you and claim it.

This topic of Salvation will not be complete without the following beautiful prayer I excerpted from the book of One2One. If you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ yet as your Lord and personal Savior, begin a life with Jesus with the following prayer:

Heavenly Father, I acknowledge that the separation between us is because of my sin. I confess that I have sinned and have fallen far short of Your glory. I thank You that You sent Your Son, Jesus to pay the penalty for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I am sorry for my sins and ask You to forgive and cleanse me. I want to turn away from everything the Bible calls sin and receive You as my Lord, Master, and Savior. Help me to love, serve, and obey You for the rest of my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Welcome back. #

Reporting,

Fernand Yim

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Learning and Re-learning With One2One

I am done with One2One, at last! It is a small book which contains six lessons about follow-up and discipleship guide to help believers start right in their walk with God with my Group Leader and new friend Dexter. The six lessons include topics such as Salvation, Lordship, Repentance, Baptism, The Bible and Prayer, and The Church.

It is called One2One because only the two of you, you and your Group Leader or someone your Group Leader will assign to you, will study, review, and reflect on the beautiful gift of God to us. For new believers, it serves like an introduction to their blessed life with Jesus Christ. For those who have strayed and now coming back to the Old Home, this plays an important role as it refreshes our mind and spirit with the greatness of our LORD God.

It is written as a simple tool to aid in personal follow-up and discipleship as what Steve Murrell, the senior pastor of Victory in the Philippines and co-founder of Every Nation, said.

Chapter one which is about Salvation focuses on a new start or a new life as we turn to God and turn away from our sins. It discusses the reasons why we feel so distant from God and what causes this feeling and what we can do about it of which leads us to Salvation.

Second Chapter discusses the Lordship and being a Savior of Jesus Christ. As many religions today are declaring that Jesus Christ is only human and not a God, this chapter explains and proves that Jesus Christ is not just merely a human being but a true living God.

Repentance is the core of the third chapter. It discusses about the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. It will clear your mind from the false guilt the devil is inflicting in our minds. And at the same time, it reveals the powerful love of God which releases us from judgment of our sins.

The importance and beautiful experience of Baptism is the subject of the fourth chapter. It is being born again in spirit. Many people have mistaken that when we say we are Born Again Christian, we are talking about religion. It is not like that. Being a Born Again Christian is more spiritual. It is our personal relationship with the LORD God. No religion in the world can give us Salvation. It is only Jesus Christ who can give us that. In this chapter, it explains the importance of being born again in spirit through baptism.

The fifth chapter is about the Bible and Prayer. It tells us what we can do in times that we are being challenged by the devil. This chapter is very helpful in keeping our faith strong. There is so much that we can do to overcome all the trying times that will come along our way as we testify the love of living God in our lives.

The last chapter is about the Church. It mainly explains the different roles of the church in our spiritual life.

What I like about the one-to-one evangelism is that it is more personal, more focused, and, I want to say more effective. It is because you can ask a question and the answer will be given to you right away. You can also open up yourself to your lead fellow Christian who will not judge you but will help you in prayers and advice. It will help you to release all the hidden pains and sorrows you have been keeping in yourself for the longest time. It will help you to let go of the old you and embrace the so beautiful gift of God. It is like a therapy with a friend, there is no pressure but encouragement and sincerity to help you out.

Being lost is not an easy phase in a Christian life. It is dangerous and scary. I am so blessed and thankful that I, once again, was given another chance to be back to the sheep pen of the LORD. I feel so happy that I am done with it and now preparing myself to share One2One with someone else. I don’t push but wait for God to lead me to the first person I will help with One2One.

And while waiting, I will be writing the personal things I had learned and re-learned with One2One here on Reporting Fernand Yim. I am hoping that, as I testify the perfect love of Jesus Christ in my life, more and more lost sheep will find its way back home and more and more believers will be called.#

Reporting,

Fernand Yim

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Blogs On Twitter From Koreans

While waiting for Gracia in Walter Mart, I received a text message from my sister Nicalyn about blogs on Twitter from Koreans. The original text message was very strong and really hurting me as a Filipino. You see, my great grandfather was also a Korean but it has nothing to do with what race you came from. It is a matter of being human.

One of the Koreans said, “Have you heard the news? The monkey island Philippines is flooded, I hope the rain will never stop to drown those monkeys.”

Another said, “They will all die because monkeys can’t swim.” Then laughed.

After reading the message, I prayed. Then I replied to Nicalyn.

I said, “We cannot just feel bad for something we are not even sure if true or not. If a Korean or two really feel that way, we cannot blame all the Koreans for that. Fault of a Korean or two should not be the responsibility of all Koreans. It is unfair to blame them all.”

I know some Koreans who are not like that. We used to have a Christian Korean church-mate. And if the message was really from Korean bloggers, they might think as well of those other Koreans who are flooding the Philippines in order to learn English, and some of them are here to stay for good.

I like Grace Lee, the famous DJ and host. She is a pure Korean and she loves The Philippines as her own country. We cannot deny that there are even some Filipinos from abroad who expressed their inappropriate happiness about what happened after Ondoy in Manila and Luzon. It is true when our Pastor before said that in every jungle there is a snake. It means that in every nation, there are citizens who unfortunately you cannot be proud of. In The Philippines, there are bad and good Filipinos. And we need to accept that fact. We just need to make sure that we belong to the latter group. And if you do, our role here is to encourage them to be one of us.

It is not that I am trying to say that I am one of the good guys or something like that. What I am saying here is that it is improper to laugh at someone’s misfortune. If you cannot help at all or simply not interested, just ignore it and don’t say things that will not help anyone at all. Be quiet.

In John 9:3 NIV said, “…but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” Tragedies like what Ondoy brought to The Philippines happened for so many good reasons. I felt blessed when Ramon told me last Sunday that Brian told him that there was a long-time drug addict who learned to pray during Ondoy! Isn’t that amazing? People instantly recognize God and humble themselves before Him and ask for help. It was also a showcase of God’s power, of what He can do as God. It was also an opportunity of many of us to exercise our faith. And it had taught us many things.

Conclusion here is that whether the blogs were by Koreans or not, it is never right to blame anybody for anything. It is our opportunity to pray for these people. It is our opportunity to show that Jesus Christ lives in us. #

Father You are King over the flood.

Still by Hillsongs

Reporting,

Fernand Yim

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