Lizzie Balaba

06/06/2024

Help us grow in love with You and in obedience to You. 🙏

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04/06/2024

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29/04/2024

The definition of love is Jesus.

The application of love is laying down our lives for our brothers and sisters -- our strength, our time, our resources, our talents, skills, abilities, and above all, the grace we have received from God, the very gospel of Jesus, shared with others, for His glory.

The next time you say, 'I love you,' assess through the lens of Scripture, if it is true.

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24/04/2024

True peace comes from the Creator, not from mere created things.
Let's not lean upon circumstances or material possessions to give us peace. Let's anchor our lives on Jesus.

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11/03/2024

11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.
12Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven...
~ Hebrews 11:11-12

Sarah's faith was not from herself. She considered Him who promised. It was based on who God is. God revealed Himself to her and she knew Him and experienced His faithfulness.

We cannot have faith through our own willfulness, and our might.
We can only develop faith if we know the One we trust.
Pray then that He makes His face shine upon you so that you can really behold Him, and experience His faithfulness.

If we can blind buy an item on apps, how much more should we trust the God who already revealed Himself to us men through His Son, Jesus.

Faith then is not blind. It sees clearly. It looks at the impossible but it sees as bright as the sun, the God who makes the impossible possible.

M14

11/03/2024

S*xual intimacy has become the only intimacy-currency our culture trades in.

"That our culture imagines that intimacy occurs only in the context of s*xual attraction goes to show how little our culture actually understands and really experiences true friendship." ~ Sam Allberry

Intimacy is defined by Oxford Languages as close familiarity or friendship, closeness.

And not just s*xual. S*xual intimacy is just one type of intimacy. This is not to devalue s*xual intimacy. S*x is for sure a wonderful, beautiful experience that God instituted within the bounds of marriage, as my godly, married friends attest to. But it isn't everything when it comes to intimacy. Hear this out! You can be s*xually active but never experience real, true, affectionate closeness. You can be having s*x but never feel attached or belong to that person. You can be in bed with the person you crave intimacy from but feel a million miles away from them. Hence the rampant cheating and adultery in marriages, and fornication of single people. On the other hand, you can be very close, be familiar, be attached, be together, be affectionate with a friend, and feel truly loved, and appreciated without having s*xual intimacy.

Many people these days, including me, in my past, blindly seek intimacy in the wrong places, with the wrong person(s).

On the other hand, friendship is not and should not be superficial. Rather, it is in real friendship that we experience intimacy. Friendship should rather show deep knowledge, love, and commitment to each other.

Friendship is not just companionship, but openness and vulnerability. Look at the list of friends you have. Can you be open and vulnerable with them? Or, are they just your companions through the good times? Then now, you better cultivate true friendships.

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."
~ Proverbs 17:17

"A brother is stuck with you. A brother is obliged to be some kind of safety net. That is what family is for. But a friend chooses you. When someone loves you at all times, good and bad, and they don't have to but they choose to -- that person is a friend."
~ Ray Ortllund

Ultimately, intimacy and friendship are the Lord's. He instituted them both. The God of all creation invites us to a friendship, perfect intimacy, with Him.

"The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear Him."
~ Psalm 25:14

In our sinfulness, we are all counted as enemies of God. But because of the life, death, and resurrection of his only Son, Jesus. Those who will believe in Him and yield their lives to Him as the Lord -- they are reconciled to a close, intimate, friendship with God, Himself. That is perfect love, perfect friendship, perfect intimacy.


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From my notes from Singles' Weekend, “7 Myths Of Singlehood & How Scripture Debunks Them,” as taught in Victory Tagbilaran Feb. 24, ‘24, taken from the book, “7 Myths About Singleness” by Sam Allberry

28/02/2024

4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. ~ John 1:4 NLT

"We’ve tried to look for life in relationships, and then we realize people do fail us.
We’ve tried to look for life in our achievements, and then we recognize we fail ourselves.
We’ve tried to look for life in pleasure, and then we realize it’s fleeting.
We’ve tried to look for life in food, and now we’re trying to trim down because we took in so much.
It has not brought us life, especially the excesses of it.
We’ve tried to look for life in all of these many things.
And, yes. Every single exploration has been a dead-end."

"We try to look for life in other sources.
And most of us lived long enough to know where it has gotten us thus far."

"JESUS is the source of life which means we must seek Him. And, seek Him only."

~ Pastor Jon Naron, 2024 Set Apart (Jesus.) https://youtu.be/eo7UOmCVook?si=lzZJPK_zGPKsl1Fsmust

27/02/2024

Singleness is a gift to relish. If we see it otherwise – maybe as a trial in life? A struggle? A punishment? Or, a curse? Or think, it's unfair. We need not a special power, but the transformation of our minds.

Being either single or married, is a calling, a season, a gift that comes from God. Both are difficult, yet both are wonderful, for both are sanctification for the follower of Christ. And in both, we need, not a special calling, but Christ, Himself. Not just to bear or survive in the season, but to fully live in them and in them, glorify the Lord.

To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. ~ Paul, First Letter to the Corinthians 7:8-9

Paul’s point is that one should turn to marriage to fulfill their passions, not because he thinks that’s all marriage is good for, but because marriage is the only godly place for such passions to be fulfilled.

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From my notes from Singles' Weekend, “7 Myths Of Singlehood & How Scripture Debunks Them,” as taught in Victory Tagbilaran Feb. 24, ‘24, taken from the book, “7 Myths About Singleness” by Sam Allberry

25/02/2024

Is it hard being single?

Yes. But marriage is hard, too, in many, different ways. Go, and ask your married friends. Let’s stop seeing marriage as an escape from the struggles, emptiness and loneliness we experience as a single person. It’s not an escape from what’s hard but going into another type of hard. Marriage is not an answer to your current problems. Marriage is not a fulfillment of what you think is missing in your life because you're single.

In wider culture, singleness is not a problem in and of itself. But celibacy is.

On the other hand... “We are pulled in fewer directions than those who are married and are therefore free to give more time to the Lord’s affairs.” ~ Vaughan Edward Roberts

I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. ~ Paul, First Letter to the Corinthians 7:35

JESUS is the most complete, fully human person who ever lived. He’s being single is not incidental. It shows us that none of these things – marriage, romantic fulfillment, s*xual experience – is intrinsic to being a full human being.


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From my notes from Singles' Weekend, “7 Myths Of Singlehood & How Scripture Debunks Them,” as taught in Victory Tagbilaran Feb. 24, ‘24, taken from the book, “7 Myths About Singleness” by Sam Allberry

22/02/2024

Moses' only assurance, that he so ever held on to, clung to, sought, and desired more than anything. Even demanded of the Lord, is His very presence. Yahweh, Himself.

May our hearts desire the same.
May we pray the same prayer.

If not with You, Lord, then don't allow us to go.
The only place I would want to be is with You.
I fear to be apart from You. Let Your presence be my constant.
And make it full when I arrive home and dwell with You for eternity.

22/02/2024

Turn and become like children. Instead of seeking greatness, power, and importance, choose humility. Count others more significant than you are, and have total dependence on God.

In this day and age in which societies have put a high premium on self and accolades, remember, Christian, that you are God's child. Your home is not this world. You are of the kingdom of heaven. You need not prove anything, for whatever you have or may prove here will pass away. Your sole, but so much better, the best, legacy is Christ.

So be as humble as a little child.