"Salt & Light"

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.¹³ You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.¹⁴ Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house.¹⁵ Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.¹⁶

- Matthew 5:13-16

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Last October 12, 2019, is one of the many events that one should participate in whenever you are part of a Charismatic group. Since I already experience this before I'm not that surprised with the atmosphere and the setup. Even the talks itself are familiar and recognizable. But even though I have experienced this more than seven years ago, I can say that the power I have received is different. This power not only renews but also refreshes my spirit.

LOJ's Jesus Encounter is one of the steps needed to take when you want to pursue further your service to God and it is also an instrument to deepen your relationship with God. It is not just an ordinary meet-up, instead, it is a moment, an encounter that helps you understand Jesus even more. It is also an opportunity for me to review what our community stands for. What are the principles needed to uphold and may also serve as how we differentiate to other communities.

We often heard from other people that in order to fully receive the Holy Spirit, we must first learn to let go of all the things that hold us back. Others would say that it's their worries of the future that hindering them to serve God. That is why they do whatever it takes to earn and to grow their finances. But hey, don't get me wrong, working hard is good. There is no problem in earning money for your future, but if you are already stressing yourself out, and sacrificing your health in exchange of a possible big sum of cash then what is the point of having full wallets when you are not enjoying it anymore because you are already in the hospital clinging for your life?

Some people mentioned that it's their past that is holding them. If you have been hurt by the people whom you have trusted in the past, it's good that once in a while, you go back and reminisce. Why? First of all, you will know now what kind of person you should avoid. You will now be keen on choosing the people you get to hang out with. Second, you will realize what would be the things that you should or should not do so that the pain you had will not happen again. (because sometimes, we also did the wrong things that cause us this pain in our life.) And lastly, you will now learn to love yourself more. You'll learn not to depend on other people - that you'll first need to be happy by yourself before searching for the people that will make you happy. In other words, you become stronger, independent and wiser.

But you see here's the problem - not all of us have the same coping process compare to most people. While some people moved on easily others do not. Most people may cry for 4 days to a week then they will be ok after that but for some, it will take them months or years before they can become ready again. And that's the danger of it. When people always hold on to the past hurts and pains they are closing their doors to what God has blessed them at the present moment. It's like they are prisoners in their own jail cell that they themselves made up in their minds.

There may be other things that can stop you from receiving the Spirit but it's just a matter of offering everything to the Lord and let him be the one who turns your pain and worry into joy and peace.

Once your spirit is ready, you will then ask the Spirit to guide you as to what "gifts" you want to receive. These are:

- Wisdom

- Knowledge

- Increased Faith

- Healing

- Miracles

- Prophecy

- Discernment

- Tongues

- Interpretation of Tongues

(You may visit this link for the definition of each - http://ccro-msp.org/charisms-holy-spirit/ )

Then, after receiving the Holy Spirit, praising and worshiping God - when all has been settled and done, I concluded that although I knew the flow of the program is still a surprise and a wonderful feeling to experience this kind of encounter in my life. It is not only knowing God a little more but for me, it re-ignite the fire within me. The joy of serving and what it's like to be under His constant grace.

In the last part of the program, I'm once again reminded what is my purpose of serving God and his people and that is to be the salt of the earth and light of the world.

SALT, to give flavor to this undernourished world and because it is a life-sustaining element, we can make other people "thirst" for the Word of God. and;

LIGHT, so that we can lead the unchurched back to God. By being God's light, we can be witness to other people's conversion and desire to change.

It was an exhilarating, and amazing experience to witness how God can use any situation and any moment to meet us. We are taught that we must seek God and establish a relationship with Him. But for the recently concluded Jesus Encounter, I felt that it was Him who wants to establish a relationship with us. I was awakened to the fact that before He sends us out into the world, He wants to make sure that we are fully-equipped with His wisdom and fully-loved by His Sacred Heart so that when the time comes that we will continue His mission, we are ready. GEAR UP!

Reference: https://ccsouthbay.org/blog/salt-of-the-earth