Learning God's heart for the Philippines

So, I was woken up this morning, and the first thought that pops into my head is wake up and get out of bed because I have this feeling that God had something to tell me. I felt like I needed to get out of bed and go for a walk. It was like around 5:00am. I normally am not awake at 5am, and I don’t normally feel compelled to wake up, go for a walk, and hear from God. I have been woken up in the past, but I have never actually woken up and gotten out of bed. I have heard of other people doing it, and so this morning, I was just really desperate to hear from God because I felt like I wasn’t really hearing his voice lately.

So I get out of bed, put on some clothes and my huge winter jacket. I walk down stairs and go outside through the garage. The whole time I was feeling super awkward and uncomfortable. I felt like a creeper going outside in the dark hours of the morning in my huge jacket walking around my neighborhood. I seriously felt so fearful and awkward. Even leaving my house, I felt weird. I was almost embarrassed being awake that early and walking out in my huge winter coat in AZ (even though it was really cold). I walked passed my brother in the living room, and I was just hoping not to be seen by him or anyone else.

As I walked outside, again I was feeling super awkward and uncomfortable as I walked down the sidewalk making everyone’s motion lights go off in the neighborhood. As I walked, I looked up at the sky and the stars were pretty visible. It was a pretty beautiful, early morning sky. I think I was looking at Orion’s belt, but I’m not really sure. Anyway, again I felt awkward just staring at the sky even though it was super early and there was no one around. I feel like God was trying to talk to me through that, but I just wasn’t listening because I was too caught up in my insecurities. I was feeling really self-conscious, and I kept walking. There were already people getting ready for work, and so there were cars around which made me feel even more self-conscious.

I made my way to the park and sat on a cold bench. As I sat there, I just felt more and more uncomfortable and foolish-looking. I kept looking around to see if anyone was around. Not only was I super self-conscious, but I was really scared that someone would come up and see me or something which is really weird and irrational because I live in a really nice neighborhood, and it was really early in the morning and dark so no one would be around. As I sat on the bench, I became colder and colder, and I felt like an idiot just sitting there unable to hear from God and feeling super insecure.

So I started walking back, awkwardly turning and trying to avoid passing cars. I walked for a bit looked up at the stars. The constellations looked absolutely amazing. So I kept walking, and then a thought dawned on me. Why was I feeling so insecure? Why was I so self-conscious? Then, I realized that I was thinking so much about how I viewed myself and how others viewed me that it was actually distracting me from hearing from God and stepping out in faith – not only in this situation but in my everyday life. I realized that so often I am afraid to take a step of faith because I am a) super self-conscious and insecure with myself and b) super self-conscious and insecure about the ways I think others perceive me. Because of that, I have doubted hearing from God and have feared stepping out in faith on a day to day basis whether it be talking to people and sharing what God has put on my heart, praying for them, or whatever else. Insecurity and fear of others has been hindering me from stepping into what God has put on my heart and destined me to do.

So that was the first powerful realization as I walked back home. With that, God began to really affirm me by reminding me of his promises to Moses and to Joshua. He reminded me how he showed up in signs and wonders for Moses despite his insecurity and fear of talking to the pharaoh and speaking. He reminded me of Joshua and how He made Joshua a leader who the others followed. He reminded me of Joshua 1:9 where He tells Joshua not to be afraid or terrified but to have courage because the Lord, God was with Joshua wherever he went. God really began to affirm me as a leader and the calling He has on my life. I realized that my fear and my insecurity was at times getting the best of my faith in God to come through for me just like he did for Moses and Joshua and so many others before me.

Then, I felt God speaking to me again, but this time about Filipinos. The thought that came to my mind was God calling me back to the Filipino student community at ASU. When I first got into this crazy journey, it all started with reaching out the Filipinos on campus. I felt a strong urge to again go to them and love them. I felt God calling me back to the thing that he first called me to. I felt like God was telling me to tell them who they are. Tell the Filipinos who God has made them to be.

God has been really speaking to me about my cultural identity lately as I have been doing my honors thesis. I have learned more about the prophetic destiny of Filipinos and what God has called them to do. The Philippines was named after King Philip II of Spain, who was consequently named after Philip, the evangelist in the Bible. Thus, the very name of the Philippines carries its prophetic destiny to reach the nations. There is so much more as well. I feel like I am just scratching the surface of what God has called the Filipinos to, and as I have learned more I have felt so excited and so empowered. I feel like God wants me to share this with the Filipino youth and the Church as a whole to awaken the destiny of His people.
So, hearing and being reminded of that was nice, but I wasn’t really fully sure if this is what God wanted me to do. Was he really calling me to go back to the Filipino community and tell them their destiny. But as I sat and thought about it, it gave me a new sense of confidence to begin to research more and see what God was doing through my honors thesis. So I get back to my house around 6am, and I got on my computer and simply Googled “Philippines.” I caught up on some current events and read up on some stuff. And then, I typed up some searches linking the naming of the Philippines with King Philip II. What I found rocked me, and I believe really confirmed God’s desire to wake up the Filipino youth to recognize the powerful destiny He has for us. I'm thinking that maybe God really does want me to share this crazy stuff.

Here are some of the links I found:


Find more videos like this on The Emerge Network





http://theemergenetwork.ning.com/video/prophecy-over-philippines-by


http://7churches.multiply.com/journal/item/9?&item_id=9&view:replies=reverse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX-NWx4qKTI&NR=1

Some other interesting links (added 11/28/09)

http://jilworldwide.org/prophesy.php

http://www.24-7prayer.com/features/968

http://www.jilnationaloperation.org/index.php/component/content/article/2-general/8-prophecy-for-the-philippines-by-cindy-jacobs

http://www.jilarizona.org/

http://www.touchingthenations.com/

http://www.transformingthenations.com/index.php?church_2fo

http://operationworld.24-7prayer.com/country.php?country_id=145

http://rizapretty.multiply.com/journal/item/289/Do_you_love_the_Philippines_to_online_stores_patriotic_movements_all_my_contacts?utm_source=cp&utm_medium=facebook-cp&utm_campaign=rizapretty

http://akoaypilipino2010.multiply.com/photos/album/4/Ako_ay_Pilipino_book_-_now_available