My Walk Through Faith in the Name of Jesus

By Wilbert Dela Cruz

I heard Roman 10:17 says to me, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" And so, I am here to scatter that same seed, as to let the Word of God, come alive in you too, as the foundational, starting point of this book.  Hebrews 11:1 appraises this book's journey, this way, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" and, since, it is by faith, how I would also like to write this book with my eyes closed, but I will let my heart, to provide you with the window, to see what is being written.  How exactly, I would like to point you to the book of Genesis, where God planted the very first seed, "Let there be light, God said" and that was the greatest light, I have ever seen-it was amazing-in that, all I could think about was… love?  His light provided me with a perspective to see, how everything is all about love.   So, I am asking you, to look at this book through an image of a heart-mine-that has been broken into a thousand little pieces, and it is in this journey's interest to put it back together, inside the story of a certain raindrop, who found "his-home", inside an empty glass.  Now, how can anyone measure the heart of a raindrop?  But only, by understanding the very likeness of who, what, where, when, and as to how, a raindrop was made and why.  As far as what the heart is, being a vessel, it is only intended to hold one thing, which is everything… love is.  We are living in a day and age where love must be at the center of everything.  Never, in my lifetime have I ever witnessed, how fear gets to wear so many different masks, one after the other, to the point, we are now the ones wearing them.  We are now standing at the same crossroad, trying to justify the same cause, where every life matters, not just to the few but to every single one of us.  We are at a threshold where only the truth can set us free and deep inside, we all, already, know where "The Way" is, and as to where the journey abounds; as a mere matter of faith.  1 John 4:16-18 said, "God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.  In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear" Did you hear that?  We are to be the light of the world.  God said "Let there be light", and it is now up to us to choose to become that same light to others and to follow Him, who first loved us; the very first one who made all of our lives matter.  God sent Jesus to live among us, to die, and to rise again, for that very purpose.    

I'm just a small grain of seed from the innumerable sand of the sea, I may even be the very least, but the most wonderful thing about that is-even still-my reflection has inspired the universe, from how God sees me.  Yeah! I am no one special like an empty glass, but inside this glass, the Holy Spirit lives, and He is telling right now, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.".

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wilbert Dela Cruz
• Release date: Jun 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781636498461

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Where in our sowing; is where our treasures are born.

By: Wilbert Evangelista Dela Cruz

MEDITATING, AT A TIME of my rest, within the renewing of my mind, I dreamt of a story, a couple of thousand years had passed... Where the great name of the Rainmaker lived, who was almighty, Godly, and vast.  The Rainmaker: Who was as pure as absolute-He was one of a kind.  There can be no other like Him; that was by His own design.  He was bigger than life, yet humbler than the tiniest of grain.  His spirit was like the ocean, the living source for the rain.  This is His story when He first created the ground.  Akin to a vessel, so sacred; to where each soul must be found.  His voice was like the sound of many water-running, fervent at a rush, while His breath, was like fire, blazing in such a hush.  Amassed amidst all that He was, was the light-reaffirmed through His Word.  Rising gracefully, like a beautiful sunrise would, sighing with a purpose, no one has ever heard.   His word created each droplet, as unique as one can be... not even one was like the other.  Together though, they were the same, bred from the same breath, loved by the same Father.  Yes, the Rainmaker loved His raindrops, in the way, unlike no other way, Love has never been freely expressed before.  For you see, the Rainmaker was as perfect and love itself was, and as pure, right down to the very core.  The Rainmaker loved each raindrop as if, each one was like His very own son.  He loved each son, as being the very best, as if, each son was the only one.  Now, the Rainmaker was omnipotent which means, He has all the time in the world.  He already knew everything, from the very beginning, of the greatest story, one, can ever hold.  He laid out His Word into motion by allocating to each raindrop, bits, and pieces of His own time, for as much as each one will ever need.  He has done so, as an expression of His unconditional-loving-ways, in the same way as to how a Sower sow, sowing love to his seed.  For love will always be the same, despite anything to the contrary, and here remained where every story goes.  For how can anyone else measure the greatest yearnings of the heart, where the very love which lives inside it, will forever be, the only one that knows?  So, the Rainmaker let the rain to fall as they may, each raindrop according to each and their specific timing.  Where each dreamer will dream-dreams, and every prophet will define each new beginning.  And so, with the heaviest of heart, He had to let them go.  But in knowing the end from the beginning, He also knew, it was the only way His seed can grow.  So, tears fell from His eyes, as a spiritual personification of His blood spiraling downward from a cross.  He knew very well a day will come, as to what the future was going to cost.  But not before He has instituted the ultimate gift of all.  The enduement of free-will, as a determining power into answering His call.  In hindsight, it was quite a high-risk endeavor...So, this is where faith comes in, where love must put everything back together.  Because what He wanted most of all was a relationship at the end of every single day.  He wants His love to flow from both sides, like a pendulum to sway, equally, both ways.  Where consistency reproves a new state of mind by also edifying the state of the heart.  He wanted His raindrops to know who He is by name, and that each one is His special work of art.  So, the time has already been predetermined, a reckoning to a certain re-awakening.  A time to put away, every raindrop’s childish thing, and for the rain; all will live like a king.  A time will come, each raindrop will learn, for As He is so are (they) in this world Grace has already been given, the Rainmaker has already given the Word of sight.  So, after the rain, as they fall, emanates a prayer, let there be, light 

1 Corinthians 13:11 said, When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child and from the very first moment I woke up as a newly born Christian, I too felt as if, my life was about to start all over again.  Everything has a beginning.  In every beginning, there is always that one line, we must all cross.  In every line, there is this crossroads, to make that one choice of a lifetime.  At that moment, a journey must begin, to the renewing of minds and the sowing of seeds.  A first step that must be re-born from the heart, because only the heart truly knows, where love begins, and when now begins, and what other kinds of beginnings, our future has in store for us to hold.  God has already spoken His Word from within us, and it is time for us to follow, and to be born again.  That one step has led me to consider that every single raindrop is a blessing, just as every single one of us, were blessedly created, to be a blessing to anyone and to everyone, who is seeking the same blessings, in His name.

I have come to believe before a new seed can be newly planted, the ground must be plowed, it was what I also believe, happened to Noah and his family, in the flood.  God was at work, plowing the hearts of every man.  It suddenly made sense to me why God created us from out of the earth; so that we can be that perfect ground for such a seed.  I believe this is the calling that comes to every newly born Christian to hear.  We are called to build a boat and to go on the same journey, to become the fishers of men.  That is the image of the fruit that I am about sow to reap inside this book... Did you see what I sow there?  God saw Noah as an upright man and through him, God provided to all men, a fresh new start.  God had a plan and planted it in Noah, and through faith, Noah saw it and sow it and believed and most of all, he obeyed.  It was why God chose Him; the same reason why God is so adamant to choose you and me too; to do what we were born to do, and that is to have faith in the likeness of His very being...For to Noah, rain fell and the flood came and a whole new beginning unfolded right before his eyes simply because he listened.  So, imagine with me if you can, how one single raindrop, has re-imagined the journey of what became the greatest story of us all.  We fell out of heaven because of sin and yet Jesus came; to lead us right back in.      

Contents

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 1

My book; from the inside and beyond the cover

My mom and dad were shoemakers.  They made shoes for a living and ever since I can remember, I have always had this special kind of joyful-feeling, overflowing from the inside of me; each time I get to brag about what my parents got to do for a living.  You know, as if there was this certain-sentimental kind-a feel to it, that somehow, who they are, or who they were and what they got to do, reflected on me too.  As if I was the one, who had, done that for a living, even though, I had nothing at all to do with any of it. Does any of that remind you of anyone?  Heaven’s forbid; in knowing that I was a son of shoemakers, was what has inspired me to be a shoemaker of a kind, in my own right, from my dreams, inside my own adventure.  Yeah! That’s right, I became a dream-maker within them, and I can say it from within the highest regard because not like some other dreamers, who had to lean on dreams or on dreaming, to escape from life.  Oh! No, not me, that was not the same motivation I had.  Mine was more of an eye-opening interventional kind. In that, somehow, subconsciously, I found myself digging for treasures that were much bigger than life, itself, as if whenever I got to examine my own experience, it opens something else entirely, unfathomable, and for a young kid that I was back when, I had no clue whatsoever as to where to even begin to put it, let alone to truly understand it for what it was. 

So, dreaming became, not as a mean for me to escape, not knowing the unknown or the uncharted realm of my unforeseeable yearnings but as a place that reminded me as to where I felt most safe as if dreaming became Home to me and I am sure, this is where we can all agree, that finding Home is the most real thing, one can ever hope to find in life.  I don’t know if that makes any sense to you at all but... As for me, I fell in love with my dreams because I had myself a taste of how I have always imagined, heaven would be like.  I mean, how can I possibly explain to you the deeper things of the unwritten chapters of my future cravings?  I can only say that I had no other choice but to embrace the greatness of such a blessing and so, yeah! By just getting a small taste of that, has consumed me completely.  I was hungry and I was as if, getting a mouthful of the greatest food I have ever tasted and there I was, basking in anticipation, clamoring at the tiniest multitudes of its flavor.   I can only imagine, sitting still at a dinner table with a handful of simple bread, someone else has willingly shared with me, knowing full well, a next moment will come; all I had to do was to put it (Word) in my mouth.  Hmmm! The idea alone invigorates me to the core, but to have the same justification to manifest to the reality of my dreams, empowers me even more.  As to where it came right down to the question, of who has prepared the food in the first place. Hmm! To uncover that mystery from within my heart, was the best part of all. 

What I mean to say is, if my life story could be written in a book, and if someone were to ask me, what kind of a book I would be, I would not know where to start looking.  As for my first thought, I would probably answer the question with another question, like What kind of book do you think I would be?  and I would most definitely listen simply because listening can only help me more than not to.  But as to whatever that person’s inclinations about me may paint, I can only agree to disagree.  Yes, I believe I am bound to agree with that person, on the account that there is always an important lesson that can arise from other people’s opinions of me, from how they can choose to judge me through my actions, all because most often than not, we tend to be the last person to see what we do end up doing from within our walk-in-life.  I am not in any way, any more different than anyone, I am a mathematically, a product of the mystery of love, like everyone.  The bottom line would always come down to be about the truth, right?  But what is the truth where it comes to love?  To be more precise, what is the truth where it comes to painting an image, I can embrace for myself as to who I truly can be?  A very big piece on the matter is, I can only agree to a certain point, up until it becomes my time to point out my side of the story.  For how can anyone else’s point of view, be any closer to the truth, when as far as to where my passions and my dreams go, no other person can ever see or know, how far or how big I can dream my life up.  I am the only one that can know, I mean, aside from God that is.  I have no doubt God knows me from my beginning to my eternity.  It is a very bold statement; I know but that is where I believe my dreams are taking me and so, no one else can ever truly understand or see what kind of a book I can be, either. Unless, of course, If I were to open my life up to that person.  As in, if that person, is willing enough, or to be as open enough, to open the book, that is in me to open.  Where the me that just about anyone, can see, out on the surface, is just my physical covering and I am much more than just a picture, any other eyes can draw their judgments on.  There is a spiritual part of me, no one can see that must be discerned as well.  I may not have a whole lot to say over what my cover would look like, and that’s okay because I believe, there is a reason God created me as I am, and He authorized me to choose freely, as to how to paint the likeness of His reflection inside of me.  Surely, the world will be the canvas that I will get to paint my new life in, but as for the actual paint that I will get to use, will be the kind of paint that, only, the faithful minded hearts, may be able to see.  As each single life matters to God, for one to be re-born into the righteousness of His Son, is a gift of the highest measure of grace, and for that same person to seek out the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience is just the way love, moves.  Wherever love goes, who am I not to follow?   

Allow me to rewind for a few seconds here to entertain a few questions... What is so special about being a shoemaker anyway and what does all of it have to do with anything?  Well, for starters, permit me, to show you, the way per se.  And so, here is where love goes.  What I have always seen in shoemaking, was more than just about what everyone sees in an everyday shoemaker, making shoes.  From my heart’s eyes, it has always been about my father, making shoes as if he were making them for me.  It has always been a relative thing.  It has always been a personal one for me; about a father, my father, showing his most endearing passion to his son, which in this case, was me.  Just as if as a shoemaker, he was preaching to me the secret of the universe and about how I, too can do what he has been able to do and all that I needed to do, at that very moment was to simply listen and to observe and to learn how love and loving what one does is the way.  I saw one of the greatest architects, in my father, designing dreams that can make any dreamer’s dream, come true.  In life, I have witnessed how the first step to any journey becomes the most important step simply because it was the very first one.  And here is where I want to point you to the means.  What I saw in shoes, are the representations of what lies within every journey; the shoe as to which I get to wear as for my starting point.  The first step, which will give birth to the next one and the next greatest one after that, to the point where if the shoe fits, the most sensible thing to do from there, is to wear it.  Not just in the physical sense but also mentally and spiritually as well.  When I was young, I have always expressed how my dad's shoes were way too big for me.  It saddened me to think his shoes would never fit me.  One day I came to realize, I have been professing negative power into my life and that was where my problem lies; I have been dreaming way too small.  I would consistently wake up, literally, inside my dreams and all I would see was the universe and how vast it was.   Consequently, I have always ended up, measuring myself way too small.  That was the darkness of the fallen world talking within me, trying to ingrain a barrier in my mind.  It was a good thing that the light from the Son, has awakened me one morning. That light opened my heart and I found something incredible and wonderful in it.  I had myself a small glimpse of what faith was, from a window, concealed from within the inside of my father’s shoes.   Spiritually, I saw, every choice I had made in my life, had also ultimately led me to the same crossroad, every newly born Christian have been through at one point or another.  From there, there was only one road that truly matters, the one where Jesus was the one waiting for me.  I could almost hear His voice in, Matthew 4:19 where Jesus said to one of His first disciples, Follow Me and in John 10:27 He edified the sentiment, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me

Did I just imagine myself awakening like Adam, from a very deep sleep, with both my eyes still shut closed, standing underneath such a crossroads?  Possibly so, fortunately for me, I had my heart open, just as Adam, when He first saw Eve.  I too let love in, into my heart, like He did, as God made His dream come true.  Galatians 6:7 said, For whatsoever a man sows, that he will also reap Planting the seed, nurturing the time it needs from every choice, and then leaving the rest, up to Him. Him which is God.  Understanding what to do with the seed was what made, a believer out of me and that was the moment when my dad's shoes finally fit me.  The lesson was, I needed to grow-up, first, for me to see and to understand and to appreciate, the beauty that comes within the Now moments.  And where it comes to what any of it has to do with anything?  Well, everything I have said, I reaped, from the fruit of my own experiences.  Whenever, I think about my parents, about who my mom and dad are, as in, who they were from what they got to do for a living, reflected heavily on who I am today.  Now, as I constantly find myself looking in front of a mirror, and what I have been seeing was my reflection bouncing, at a direct alignment to the universe, and what I have found was something else that was incredible, absolute.  I have finally uncovered, I have another father, a spiritual Father...in my Abba, God, who is also the Father of my own father and mother, as well as all the other human beings, all over the world.  Now, imagine how that made me feel.  I do not know if I can even describe it even if I try.  Especially after discerning the spiritual profoundness of how much His way of loving, me in particular, means.  In more ways than I can ever get to hold it from within my own heart, overflowing like a waterfall, falls.  It all makes sense to me now why waterfalls making those beautiful, and peaceful sounds.  It must be a celebratory endowment.  I now see every newly born Christian as raindrops, who had a glimpse of where each one came from, being born from such a height.  Wouldn’t you, too, shout at the very top of your lungs?  It is only a picture for now, but my heart has seen words in me that have already been shouting and I have already seen the height of the mountain, I was to call, mine, as not even a mountain at all.  Romans 10:10 said For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved  I believe, I can move any mountains and it is only a matter of getting my mind to reform to the cause.  To say, I have never felt so alive, being so loved in this way is an understatement and to think, I had nothing at all to do with any of it.  I am here to say that every time I have gotten the chance to use the word dreams or of being a dreamer or even when I am just telling a story, what I am truly saying is I have faith in how God loves me.  Like a seed, I have a responsibility to germinate my faith through the choice I now get to make for God.  Living, in a world where, we sometimes, take so easily for granted the importance of something, we cannot see, or touch or hold with our fingers, like who God is, and what makes love works, and how faith opens the unconditional things. 

Uncovering What is Under the Cover

So, again as the same question remains, this time, I will be the one asking, as to who I am and as to what this book, will be all about? To answer, I would have to first, tell you another short story.  For it was within this story was where I heard the answer, to my question, coming, from my very own voice.  Here goes the story... I came to help my brothers and sisters in their workplace.  One day, while I was at the register, a customer walked up to me, a woman of a certain age, asked me, out of the blue, if I was a Christian.  Well, I mean, it was not completely unexpected because I believe she asked it so because we have been playing strictly Christian music in that store, all day, every day.  Okay, let me digress here for a moment to say, I have never been very good at talking to people, as I most certainly not good with starting a conversation.  I am not what you can call, a socially adept person, by any stretch of the imagination, not because I didn’t want to be one, I just never exactly got the hang of embracing the whole science of it all.  So, you can conclude, I am just not very scientifically minded about it.  And it was a good thing, she was the one who lighted the spark.  Like I said, her asking me if I was a Christian was unexpected but I suppose, my answer to her question might have been even more unexpected, for how I reacted may have scared her a little (because, have you ever been a part of a practical joke where someone would walk slowly behind you, without you noticing or expecting anything and by the time they are close enough, reach out for your shoulder and yells-out Boo!.)  Well, that was the reaction I had when I answered her quickly, with a Yes, it was quite hilarious which turned out to be a good thing because it made her laugh and her laughing made me laugh, making the whole situation not so intimidating anymore and I loved it.  Then she asked me where I go to church and this was when I knew the very answer even before my mind, can ever, even gets the chance to process anything.  because for me, from my perspective, what she was truly asking me, was who are you? and so, with a great big grin, I told her I don’t have a church but...I repeated myself with a joke, I have a big but though, I said but not literally with an addition of another t, no, not that, I do not have a big butt, but I do, have a but just the same (a little sense of humor is a big part of who I am so, I could not resist adding that in there) I pause for a moment and then I introduce myself, metaphorically, by telling her that I believe wherever Jesus is, I feel like, I am already in the church.  I then continued by telling her that I believe that Jesus lives, in the inside of me and so where ever I go and wherever I may be, at any given moment, I am in church and that I was literally in church with her, at that very moment.  I told her that my relationship with God is not so much based on religion, although religion is very important, my priority was upon building a personal relationship with Him, as much more noteworthy.  And to be able to introduce me with the utmost kind of confidence was a delight.  I have never felt like that before.  I told her that I am a Christian not just on certain days like devotional days on Sundays or at a Tuesdays Bible-study day, or even on a Thursday gathering but instead, I plan to be in church, every single day.  And that I do not look at Christianity as if it is a job where I can go home, whenever the clock says it is time to go home.  No, Christianity to me, means, I am already home even when I am away from home, and that I am home with Christ.  I am home in Christ and Christ lives in me, too, in every way possible and every single day feels like home.  There can be no other place better, than being home, right, especially with Christ?  Hmmm! Wait, allow me to rephrase that, I do not just see myself in church, I believe I am a church.  After all, I am a vessel that was meant to hold Christ at heart, and Jesus being the head of all churches.  So, to get back to that lady, who asked me where I go to church and to which I answered as if I already knew what I was going to say just as if those thoughts have already been ingrained in me to say and the lady’s question, just somehow, brought it all out to fruition.  I answered her question with an answer that surprised me.  I am not doubting, if whether it was me who answered it, for it was me, but yet, I cannot dismiss the feeling, where it felt like there were something else more to it than that.  As for whatever it was, I welcome this new perspective.  It is all very inspiring, and this is one of the main reasons why I am writing this book.  I am curious, in the same way, I feel hungry and I am starving for more.  I can honestly say, this is not just about all just words either, as if I am just saying all the right things just so to make myself feel better.  This is different.  I have been getting this knotted feeling in my stomach kind of thing, that I feel it needs untying but more like, I got this burning itch that tickles and it makes me smile, every time I entertain a thought about sowing, a so-called miracle seed.  Was I going crazy, I wouldn’t know any better answer for it but if being crazy means, feeling good about myself, then you tell me?  But I can assure I am not crazy.  Although, I am deeply in love.  I feel like Apostle Paul, putting an exclamation point, by saying, I am now in the race... I am! I want to run because for the first time in my life, I know where I am going, and I want to go there.  I need to go like I need air to secure my heartbeat.  I have never felt so alive, knowing I am going to win.  And again, I gladly share this journey with Paul because I too, am not ashamed but overjoyed to call myself a Christian and to be a part of the Christian family in faith.  I love listening to My Abba Father's voice, as he calls out to me, as for me to call on Him.  He could not wait to be with me, so He sent His Son to be a brother to my future new brothers or sisters through faith.   This journey will be all about Him and about love and Him as perfect Love, loving me without condition.

Sifting Through the Covering

I must stand firm in reminding myself; I am still quite new at being a student, at this kind of a thing.  As far as the big picture is concerned, I am still at the pixelated stage, connecting pixel to other pixels, trying to smooth out the edges.  Although there have been moments where my emotion has its way of doing, the reminding.  There have been plenty of times where I would find myself alone in my room, not doing much but mostly reading the Bible or listening to certain preacher’s videos online and I would simply get this urge to shout for joy.  Not knowing what to anticipate has its perks, that I am beginning to think, this may just be the best stage of all.  It feels like, I am opening a whole new different world and every new thing I get to uncover seems to be getting better.  I am such a baby.  Yes sir! You can judge me guilty as charged, all you want! I am a baby, who has just opened my eyes for the first time, and now, look at me, I cannot even keep myself from giggling too much.  Jeremiah 1:5 did say, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you Maybe that is the reason, I am here to find out.  As a newly born Christian, I know I have such a long way to go.  Those feelings come and go.  What matters most is, they came, and put me inside this journey, seeking to make sure, those same feelings will have to stay for good and never go away again.  There was something so beautiful about being reborn to a righteous state of sin-innocence and having to face the truth and be ascertained; I will never be alone again.  As for my mind, that is another story.  As everything gets better as I go, interweaves with how a battle also rages inside my mind.  I cannot blame my mind too much; I am at fault for having lived a very submissive life.  We have been through so much together, my mind and I, under different circumstances, life could have been more colorful.  I can see it as clearly as letting a simple choice to empower my life, I just never had the strength to put those choices into action.  But enough of that, it is in the past.  Today is a new day.  So, this is also about a journey to renewing my mind.  A journey to fixing what I had broken.  I am on a journey about growing up and about yielding to the process of growing in the right of way.  If this journey is worth, a thousand miles, I can tell you this much, it feels so good to know, I