What Favor Looks Like

Sunrise over Detroit
photo taken from plane about to land at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport
January 14, 2014, 7:32 a.m.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the LORD has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God...

- Isaiah 61:1, 2

For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
- Psalm 30:5

My visit to the USA which began on September 2, 2013 ended on January 15, 2014. It lasted exactly four months and two weeks.

I am thankful to Abba Father for this weblog where I have chronicled portions of this physical journey and its spiritual significance for me.

What comes to my mind now is what the prophet Habakkuk writes:

I will stand my watch

And set myself on the rampart,

And watch to see what He will say to me,

And what I will answer when I am corrected.

Then the LORD answered me and said:

"Write the vision

And make it plain on tablets,

That he may run who reads it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time;

But at the end it will speak,

and it will not lie.

Though it tarries, wait for it;

Because it will surely come,

It will not tarry."

- Habakkuk 2:1-3

I believe that each physical journey I take has a spiritual counterpart, and corresponds to a vision and purpose in heaven that God has for my life.

As events unfold in my life story, I am able to catch a glimpse of that heavenly vision, and as I see it, I gain understanding and receive wisdom to know how to respond in faith.

Every vision for my life that God reveals requires of me a faith response.

But the faith response will not come naturally. The heart has to be made ready for it.

A full-flavored sauce has to be slow cooked and given time to simmer in a back burner. In the same way, the vision has to go through an incubation period before the heart comprehends and puts the pieces together. The big picture emerges, piece by piece. Only then does it begin to make sense... and the needed response of faith and trust comes.

Without the response of faith, the vision is powerless to change our lives.

That is why God is always seeking a response... of humility... of obedience... of trust.

We have to say yes to the vision when God reveals it to us.

And the heart receives training to give that response in the waiting seasons of our lives.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, 
but at the end it will speak and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come.

Though it tarries, it will surely come.

I have always loved that Habakkuk passage of Scripture. Time and again I have gone back to it, and each time it has given me encouragement in the waiting seasons... the night seasons when the morning light seemed so far away.

Write the vision, Abba Father says.

So I take time to write. Writing it helps clarify what is happening, helps me understand what the Father is doing.

As I had written in a previous blog post, my original return flight back to Manila had to be re-booked twice due to the polar vortex that brought severe snowstorms to the Northeast and Midwest, impacting hundreds of flights. But at the appointed time, I boarded the flight chosen beforehand by my Father, and I finally reached my intended destination.

There are a thousand and one options, and I have the freedom of choice, but even in those choices, the sovereignty of God undergirds my decision.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. - Romans 8:28

My suitcases had been ready for days, and on January 14, we left the house at 3 a.m. for the one hour and a half drive to the airport. 

It was a very cold winter morning... below freezing temps. Yet my heart was warm,  filled with gratitude and love for my sister and her family who had taken such good care of me all the months that I had stayed with them. 

Virginia will always be my favorite state of all... for the simple reason that it was here where I had experienced the healing touch of heaven upon my life, and where I had witnessed for myself the incredible beauty of the changing seasons.

I had wanted to take some photos of snow scenes... but it didn't happen, and I am still very thankful for the experience I had.

The time had come for me to say good-bye...

And my long journey back to my homeland began.

My plane landed at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Michigan a few minutes before 8 o'clock a.m. From the plane, I was able to take a camera shot of the lovely sunrise, a prophetic picture of a new journey.

The day was just beginning. As I looked below, I saw the city shrouded in snowy white, just waking up from a night of sleep.

But the airport was wide awake, bustling with activity. Travelers were in a hurry... the sound system blaring announcements by the minute... the monitor boards blinking with the status of each arriving and departing flight.

My flight to Nagoya, Japan, was still seven and a half hours away. Knowing that I am in  for a long wait helps me to be ready for what lies ahead. I found a cozy breakfast place and ordered a plate of eggs, bacon, toasted rye bread and hash browns. I took out my laptop and posted a status update on FB.

"One journey ends where another begins."

In transit... this is what our life is all about until we reach our final destination. Being in transition is very much like walking down a corridor , a "nowhere" between two "somewheres" - a place between where I have been and where I want to be.

There is nothing accidental about our life journeys. What I know about my Abba Father is that He is not in a hurry. His actions are well-thought-out and His steps are deliberate. 

Any delay is always part of a divine strategy.

Gate A40 was my waiting room for the next leg of my journey.

Due to mechanical trouble which needed to be repaired, we had to wait an additional two hours at our pre-departure gate before we could finally board the plane.

I took this photo of the sun setting over Detroit a few minutes before take-off...

Sunset over Detroit, MI

photo taken from the plane a few minutes before takeoff

January 14, 2014, 5:20 p.m.

... another symbolic picture of a beautiful ending, and resting in hope for a new day to come.

Any long wait can be endured if we know that there is something worth waiting for.

God interposes favor between the events of my life; He paves the roads I travel on with preferential treatment.

At just the right time, the waters of the pool of Bethesda stir, and healing is made available to the lame man who had been waiting for 38 years.

The bridegroom comes in the middle of the night, and the five wise virgins who have an extra supply of oil, the oil of intimacy, are ready to meet him after a long wait.

No one knows the time or the hour.

That is the nature of waiting.

But waiting with hope changes our perspective... and we are enabled to give a faith response.

In my case, I really had no choice but to wait, and go through the transition, because that was part and parcel of my journey back home.

Nevertheless it is a picture of our journey home to heaven.

This life is a series of departures, and arrivals, and in-between transition points.

It is in the transition points where we are renewed, refreshed, and recover our bearings and sense of direction.

God in His kindness makes the waiting meaningful for the heart that is willing.

It is a training ground... a preparation.

Just like Esther who had to go through a whole year of beauty regimen before she could be presented to her king.

Others had waited much longer.

Simeon, and Anna... intercessors in the temple who had waited all their lives for the consolation of Israel to be revealed.

Or Joshua who had to fight many battles before he could obtain  his inheritance.

Joshua had learned to wait... lingering in the presence of God by the tent of meeting in the wilderness.

Joseph, sold as a slave, and thrown into prison... waited 13 long years before he was vindicated as innocent and catapulted to a high position as Egypt's second in command.

During this transition, I understood a little bit more what God's favor looks like.

My heart was at peace... I knew I was resting in the presence of a good God.

Not a single minute is wasted in heaven's economy when the waiting is ordained by God for an eternal purpose.

But for the waiting process to do its work in my heart, it has to be accepted on God's terms, not mine.

When the heart grumbles and complains, the purpose of the waiting is defeated.

A faith response is required.

When the heart cooperates with what the Father is doing, there is peace.

Yes, contentment can be learned... and one's heart can be trained to be aware of the moves of God.

On this journey, I saw the favor of God at work. There was a quiet sense of joy within my heart in knowing that everything was happening as it should.

There is a beautiful purpose in the waiting seasons of life.

We reached Nagoya, Japan after twelve hours, a half day of flying over land and sea.

After two hours of waiting, Delta flight 629 bound for Manila was airborne once again. 

The plane landed in Manila at 2 a.m. of January 15, and I was finally back home in Bacolod City the following day.

After being away for more than four months, I have many things to attend to in the days and weeks to come.

Two days after I arrived in Bacolod, I stood as one of the principal sponsors at the wedding of Mark and Kathryn. It was an elegant wedding, so meaningful, so tender.

me, my second son Worshiper, his son Elijah, and his wife Chosen One

One week later, I conducted a three-day retreat for a group of women who are very dear to me, the Women of Purpose from our church. At this retreat I shared some of the things that I learned while sitting at the feet of Abba Father during the four months that I was in the States. We encountered the presence of God in our midst!

Front: Elena, Jing, Mayang, April, Arlene

Back: Arlene, Arbee, Josie, me

seated: me, Mayang, Arlene
standing: Arbee and Arlene

Arlene, me, Elena, Jing, Josie, Mayang, Arbee

front: Josie, me, Mayang, Arlene
back: Jing and Elena

Sunset 

Miranda Beach

Pontevedra, Negros Occidental

January 23, 2014

photo by Lidia Arbolario

When I left for this journey, Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, was only a few days away. On September 5, 2013, the year 5774 was ushered in. 

It is the year of the ayin dalet, 

the decade of the seeing eye, 

the year of the hanging tent door ...

As I return, it is 2014... still the year of the open door...

I move out of my tents of confinement and limitation, fear and bondage, and walk through the open door into the green pasture of God's favor.

Abba Father is calling us to leave behind the tent that symbolizes limitation...

It can be a tent of fear... a tent of grumbling... a tent of regret.

And walk into the wide open fields of provision... trust... divine opportunities.

This is the year of God's favor. In the year of the ayin dalet, I am expecting due dates for the fulfillment of promises in my spiritual timeline.

I am being commissioned to be Abba's mouthpiece, a prophetic intercessor, a redemptive agent in the lives of people around me.

As I embrace all that lies ahead of me, I position myself to encounter favor.

Favor doesn't mean a life of ease and convenience... it means saying yes to what my Father has destined for me.

A response of humility and faith.

And I hear Abba Father speaking these words to me:

Enlarge the place of your tent,

stretch your tent curtains wide,

do not hold back;

lengthen your cords,

strengthen your stakes...

- Isaiah 54:2

So be it, Lord... so be it.

This is the year of the favor of the Lord...