Why are you so afraid?

Dear family and friends,

With a number of emails flooding in my mailbox since Wednesday regarding the expected typhoon to hit our country today and tomorrow, I took a moment to pause and pray. While everyone, including the people here at work, is panicking and anxious about what's going to happen (not to mention the aftermath of Ondoy that caused tremendous damage to our people), I was reminded of the story in the Bible about Jesus calming the storm.

I grabbed my bible, flipped through the pages and found the story in Matthew 8: 23-27. I was confronted with the same question: why are you so afraid? There were a lot scenarios and actions flashing through my mind, but peace began to reign once again in my heart as I fixed my eyes to Jesus. God is in control... and He is might to save.

While we are all thinking of how to prepare--what to do and what to buy--for the coming typhoon(s), I encourage you to pause for moment (before you rush to the grocery stores and hit home), read the passage below, and pray for God to intervene...to show great mercy and to save us from the storms.

I pray that our faith in the Lord with increase and our eyes be fixed continuously on Him as we draw near His throne, knowing that even if He will allow typhoons and storms come into our lives, He is able to restore and rebuild everything...in His time.

When we come to think of His power and goodness, there is really nothing to be afraid of.

May God's peace reign in your hearts today...and always.

Praying for the Philippines...and for the other nations as well,

Jaja

Green Earth Heritage Foundation

Green Earth Heritage Foundation

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I MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas celebrates its anniversary every July and for this year, the Bank commemorates its 60th year of central banking in the Philippines. During the highlight of the celebration, each employee was given a pin with words, “I AM a BSPer: I MAKE A DIFFERENCE” engraved on it. The employees are encouraged to wear the pin everyday to remind us that we CAN make a difference. Hmmm… I wonder if people really take it to heart or if it was just a token and a waste of money (which of course is very profuse in our company). But that thought led me to a deeper reflection of my faith-journey. If I were given a commemorative pin that says, “I AM a CHRISTian: I MAKE A DIFFERENCE”, would I dare wear it every single day of my life and live by it knowing that people who see me and read my pin would watch and evaluate my Christian life…and my God?


Well, I have not worn my BSP pin…yet. And I don’t have a I-am-a-Christian pin…yet. But the question is, “Am I making a difference?” without announcing my affiliations. As I desire to grow more intimate in my relationship with Jesus, I earnestly pray that I will be able to live a life that honors and pleases God. And as a result of my faith in Christ, I will enjoy, and yes, be challenged by the many opportunities the Lord will open for me to truly make a difference in the lives of others—in my family, at work, on campus, in the community, and into all the places God leads me. I continue to aspire that my life, time, resources and my faith in Jesus will have an eternal impact on others.


In THY Marketplace, we desire that our friends and family will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ through our testimonies of His grace and faithfulness. And as the name of Jesus is etched in our hearts, our prayer is that His life may be seen through our words and actions. We believe that by embracing and living the love and life of Christ we can introduce to the world the very Person Who can genuinely make a miraculous difference and positive change that will restore nations back to God.


In Christ, You and I can make a difference. Nothing is impossible.

Makati City has become a home for many of my closest friends. From the day we entered the complicated world of business, we have chosen to reside here...well, for most of us. And in this financial capital of the Philippines, God handpicked me and two (2) of my greatest friends, Greg and Lyndon, to be part of His mission work in this field.

Last month, February 2009, we celebrated our 6th year Anniversary in the ministry and looking back, we can truly say that God is faithful beyond what we have invested in the marketplace.

I came across the story of a young man in the 19th Century and how God has used him mightily in the Marketplace Ministry in one of the most trying times in the financial history of the United States. And somehow I can relate his amazing story with what God is calling us to do today.

I pray that we can leave the same legacy for the generations to follow in God's relentless pursuit of the people in the marketplace. I pray that our faith can make a transforming influence in the place where God has called us to serve Him.

Jeremiah Lanphier's Example

I will close with a record of something God did 130 years ago in New York City. It illustrates how God has started every harvest time in history through the concerted prayer of his people. Toward the middle of the last century the glow of earlier religious awakenings had faded. America was prosperous and felt little need to call on God. But in the 1850s . . .

Secular and religious conditions combined to bring about a crash. The third great panic in American history swept the giddy structure of speculative wealth away. Thousands of merchants were forced to the wall as banks failed and railroads went into bankruptcy. Factories were shut down and vast numbers thrown out of employment. New York City alone having 30,000 idle men. In October 1857, the hearts of people were thoroughly weaned from speculation and uncertain gain, while hunger and despair stared them in the face.

On July 1, 1857, a quiet and zealous businessman named Jeremiah Lanphier took up an appointment as a City Missionary in down-town New York. Lanphier was appointed by the North Church of the Dutch Reformed denomination. This church was suffering from depletion of membership due to the removal of the population from the down-town to the better residential quarters, and the new City Missionary was engaged to make diligent visitation in the immediate neighborhood with a view to enlisting church attendance among the floating population of the lower city. The Dutch Consistory felt that it had appointed an ideal layman for the task in hand, and so it was.

Burdened so by the need, Jeremiah Lanphier decided to invite others to join him in a noonday prayer-meeting, to be held on Wednesdays once a week. He therefore distributed a handbill:

HOW OFTEN SHALL I PRAY?
As often as the language of prayer is in my heart; as often as I see my need of help; as often as I feel the power of temptation; as often as I am made sensible of any spiritual declension or feel the aggression of a worldly spirit.

In prayer we leave the business of time for that of eternity, and intercourse with men for intercourse with God.

A day Prayer Meeting is held every Wednesday, from 12 to 1 o'clock, in the Consistory building in the rear of the North Dutch Church, corner of Fulton and William Streets (entrance from Fulton and Ann Streets).

This meeting is intended to give merchants, mechanics, clerks, strangers, and business men generally an opportunity to stop and call upon God amid the perplexities incident to their respective avocations. It will continue for one hour; but it is also designed for those who may find it inconvenient to remain more than five or ten minutes, as well as for those who can spare the whole hour.

Accordingly at twelve noon, September 23, 1857, the door was opened and the faithful Lanphier took his seat to await the response to his invitation. Five minutes went by. No one appeared. The missionary paced the room in a conflict of fear and faith. Ten minutes elapsed. Still no one came. Fifteen minutes passed. Lanphier was yet alone. Twenty minutes; twenty-five; thirty; and then at 12.30 p.m., a step was heard on the stairs, and the first person appeared, then another, and another, and another, until six people were present, and the prayer meeting began. On the following Wednesday, October 7th, there were forty intercessors.

Thus, in the first week of October 1857, it was decided to hold a meeting daily instead of weekly.

Within six months, ten thousand business men were gathering daily for prayer in New York, and within two years, a million converts were added to the American churches.

Undoubtedly the greatest revival in New York's colorful history was sweeping the city, and it was of such an order to make the whole nation curious. There was no fanaticism, no hysteria, simply an incredible movement of the people to pray.

Is there a Jeremiah Lanphier among you?

From Desiring God by John Piper.

Financial Challenges Affect Auditors and Accountants Globally

Dear Friends,

I was thinking of writing an article or do a blog on this or sending an entry to Christianity Today.. but I don't quite have the luxury of time these days considering that I just go back from a trip and I have some deadlines and demands from different facets of my life.. . But I'm uploading this anyway...

Nonetheless, I know that you are aware of what's happening to the "industry" as an effect of the global economic and financial challenges. People get laid off without prior notices. Fears and anxieties are being to get the best out of people knowing that anytime they will be called for and sent home. I have already heard real stories of and from friends the scenarios that I only anticipated to happen from last year's reports and they are really beginning to take place as early as this time of the year.

Recently, I had a long discussion with my contemporaries who are now based in different parts of the world. We have covered a lot of things which I believe had a common denominator -- Recession. Some started to curse and blame the countries and the people who were eaten up by greed and pride. Some began sharing their fears and uncertainties about their professional careers. Then I thought of "breaking the pattern" and started sharing God's word with my intellectual and highly talented college classmates. I am the only christian in my group and as I shared with them the assurance that I have in Christ, I remembered one item in my prayer list for this year: start sharing JESUS with my former classmates. Again, I thought it would be a great door of opportunity for God to speak through me. So I gathered all the courage and faith that I have (as I always get some ridiculous responses from them) and wrote my piece. I quoted Jeremiah 29: 11-13 and shared with them the prayer of my heart. For me it was a time for my CHRIST to shine. It was a moment when all eyes are focused on the mountains while mine was looking at my mustard-seed kind of faith trying to figure out how could I plant it in their hearts so that they would also see my GOD who is bigger and greater than all the problems and troubles of the world combined. That in my God they can stand secured, confident and strong knowing that He is in control of everything and that the future is in His hands... That they are not far from His reach and if they can only see through their spiritual eyes, they will find out that He is currently teaching them to put their trust in Him and not on their ability to make things happen.

Some responded quite well. Some thanked me for the encouragement. Some exercised their right to remain silent. But whatever their responses may be, I know that His Words, spoken and declared, will not return to Him empty. I know that in this uncertain and trying times, they will know Who is Lord over all and Who is able to do the impossible.

My encouragement to you is to keep on looking for opportunities to share the Hope and the Future that we all have in Jesus. For if we have so prayed for harvest, now is the time to be ready and make ourselves available as we watch the world in its time of tests and trials... now is the time for us to make His faithfulness to all generations be known...now is the time for us to see the answers to our prayers for our family and friends to know the One who can provide for them (or keep their) jobs, who can carry them through the tought times, and most of all to know and give their lives to the One who is mighty to save............. and for me, now is also the time to seek the Lord for His direction and His will for our lives as we completely put our trust in Him.

To the global family of THY Marketplace, keep standing on solid rock. Know in your heart that God's plans always prevail. And that He is good. Let His light continue to shine in and through you for there you will experience the joy of Christ and the peace that truly surpasses all understanding. We keep you earnestly in our prayers. Keep the faith. Flow in Grace. Remain in His love.

Allow me to remind you what David once wrote in Psalm 34, "...blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." I say, we are indeed blessed...and we ought to be grateful for our Father in Heaven deeply cares for us...

Gazing at God,

Jaja