His Heart, My Home

As you know, I was a missionary in the Philippines for more than 13 years, and it quickly became my adopted home.

Filipino people are gentle, caring, cheerful, hard-working, resilient, and family-oriented.
They quickly find their way into your heart.

The nation of the Philippines has many nicknames, one of which is “Land of the Morning”. As a matter of fact, those words are the opening words of “Lupang Hinirang”, the Filipino national anthem.

“Land of the Morning”… But as I write this, my heart is breaking for my adopted home.
Once again, the Philippines has become, as so many times in the past, the “Land of the Mourning”.

I have decided to temporarily sideline other teachings I was prepared to post, to ask you all to join with me in prayer for the precious Filipino people. Due to recent multi-layered natural disasters, they are facing many horrific challenges, and I cannot, and will not, let them stand and fight alone.

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The Philippines is battered and bruised by an average of 20 typhoons (hurricanes) and tropical storms each year!

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As if this wasn’t enough, the country is also located on the western edge of the “Pacific Ring-of-Fire”, the most seismically active region on Earth, experiencing roughly 90% of the world’s earthquakes.

So the Philippines is often hit by powerful earthquakes. And it has approximately 400 volcanoes, of which 24 are classified as “active”, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries!

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All of this, crammed into a nation of more than 7,000 islands, the land area of which is only 3% of the land area of the USA, but with 115 million people!

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On September 30 of this year, the central part of the nation, several large islands known as the Visayas, was hammered by a powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake. This quake had its epicenter in northern Cebu near the town of Bogo. Cebu was my base of operations for several years as I held crusades and pastor seminars throughout the Visayas, so I know the area well.

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The earthquake killed at least 79 people and injured 1,271 others. A total of 159,300 homes were damaged to some degree. There was also extensive damage to area churches, hospitals, schools, and commercial structures.

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Over 3,000 aftershocks have rattled the region since that day just over a month ago.
Many people slept in open fields or by the roadside for fear of the aftershocks, attempting to cover themselves with blankets, umbrellas or plastic sheeting as the rain from an approaching typhoon soaked them and their few belongings.

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Prior to the quake, the country had been battered by two powerful typhoons in September, one of them strong enough to be classified as a “super typhoon.”

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On November 3, another disaster! Typhoon Kalmaegi, known locally in the Philippines as “Typhoon Tino,” made landfall, blasting through the heavily populated Visayas, with driving rain and 120 mile per hour winds, hard on the heels of the 6.9-magnitude earthquake.

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The storm left 232 people dead and hundreds injured. with at least 112 persons still missing, at last count. Victims were drowned, hit by fallen trees, electrocuted by downed power lines, or buried beneath landslides.

Videos show people sheltering on rooftops, while cars and shipping containers were swept through the streets, by the powerful flash flood waters.

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Floodwaters engulfed neighborhoods, roads, and public facilities. Streets across Cebu City were submerged under up to four feet of water. Power was cut in throughout most of the island, and most evacuation centers are now at full capacity.

As of the latest accounting, over 2,200,000 persons were affected. More than 430,000 were served inside 3,516 evacuation centers.

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The storm sent torrents of muddy water down hillsides, sweeping into towns and cities.

Damage to residential areas on Cebu was extensive, with landslides, and many small buildings swept away. Homes and businesses still standing were ruined by a thick carpet of mud left by the retreating floodwaters. Rescue teams in boats freed people who were trapped inside their houses.

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The rescue operation overwhelmed the emergency responders in Cebu and the Visayas.

In a Facebook post, Cebu governor Pamela Baricuatro described the disaster as “unprecedented”.

“We were expecting the winds to be the dangerous part, but… the water is what’s truly putting our people at risk,” she said. “The floodwaters are just devastating.”

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. declared a national state of calamity due to the string of natural disasters throughout the nation.

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My heart has truly been saddened for the last few weeks as I have followed the news of the serial disasters in my adopted homeland. But I was reminded by Holy Spirit of the Apostle Paul’s words after he had suffered repeated difficulties, setbacks, and seeming defeats:

⁸ “We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don’t know what to do, we never give up. ⁹ In times of trouble, God is with us, and when we are knocked down, we get up again.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9, CEV)

No! Typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanoes be damned! We will not stop praying for the Filipino people and facilitating the advancement of God’s kingdom in that nation. You can help! Please:

● PRAY! The prayer below was given by Holy Spirit for Filipinos to pray over their nation. You are encouraged to stand in the gap and pray it together with Christians from around the world as we stand shoulder-to-shoulder in solidarity and unity with the people of the Philippines!

● PROCLAIM and PUBLISH! Please share this post with family members, friends, prayer circles, and church groups. Repost it on your blog. Put it on your Facebook page. Use social media to spread awareness of the urgent need to pray for the precious Filipino people.

● PLANT! Please consider sowing a love-offering to help in the relief and rebuilding work, as we demonstrate Jesus’ care and compassion to the Filipino people. Remember, those who sow bountifully will also reap bountifully!

* PLEASE COME BACK TO THIS SITE FROM TIME TO TIME TO CHECK FOR UPDATES!

I am currently in contact with several trusted ministries in the affected areas who are already providing aid and resources to those displaced by the disasters. I will have an updated post here on the site within the next couple of days, with a link so you can easily donate directly to those ministries.

LET’S PRAY:

A Filipino’s Prayer for the Philippines!

Father, as your children, we run to your loving arms right now for refuge and shelter. We know you are an ever-present help in our time of trouble.

We entrust our lives, our families, our homes, our possessions, and our futures to you, knowing that your love, your mercy, and your grace will always preserve, deliver, sustain, and strengthen us.

We trust in you. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its crashing waves. Nothing can shake, and nothing can break, our confidence in you, and your ever-faithful love.

Father, in this, our time of need, we ask for healing for those who are injured, comfort for those who mourn, hope for those in despair, and restoration for families who have lost their homes, possessions, and livelihoods.

We ask that you would speak to the hearts of those whom you have prospered and move them to action. May they quickly respond to your voice, giving generously and cheerfully to recovery, relief, and rebuilding efforts. We know that as they give, motivated by faith and love, you will make all grace, every favor and earthly blessing, abound to them, as you furnish them in abundance for every good work and charitable donation.

Lord, we pray that you would protect our brave first responders and relief workers, surrounding them with angels to assist in their heroic efforts. Give them the spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical strength they need to perform their tasks. Give them your wisdom to know how to efficiently use the resources that are being provided. And we ask you to multiply those resources, just as you did when the young boy put his five loaves of bread and two small fish, into your hands.

Lord Jesus, you said in John 10:10 that,
“The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy. I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Therefore, we know that fear, destruction, hopelessness, and chaos never come from you. We will not be deceived by satan, nor by religious leaders who tell us that typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions are “acts of God”. We know with unshakable certainty that you are good all the time, and that you are the Giver of every good and every perfect gift.

So, now, we turn to the seas surrounding our nation and speak to them as Jesus spoke to the violent winds and waves on the Sea of Galilee, and we command, “Peace! Be still! Typhoons and storms, we command you to be turned away from the Philippines. We forbid you to bring destruction and death to our nation in Jesus’ name!”

Father, you laid the foundations of the earth in the very beginning. We now ask you to stabilize and strengthen those foundations beneath our nation. Lord Jesus, you gave us the keys of kingdom authority, and you said that whatever we bind and forbid on earth will be bound and forbidden, and whatever we loose or allow on earth will be loosed and allowed.

You also said the gates of hell itself would not be able to withstand the power of your Church. So we now rise in that authority, and bind the wild, violent, and destructive forces generated in the earth’s crust and mantle beneath our nation. We forbid earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the Philippines, and declare that those seismic forces are now being restrained, and dissipated in the name of Jesus!

Abba-Father, you bring light out of darkness,
victory out of defeat, and life out of death,
Be glorified as you do so in the Philippines. We lay hold on your promises for our nation, the “Land of the Morning”.

¹ “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. ² For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. ³ The nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. ⁴ Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. ⁵ Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.” (Isaiah 60:1-5)