shelter of his wings: Divine attributes of the Holy Spirit (Cuenca testimonies

The Divine Attributes of the Holy Spirit

No wonder the Psalmist says that he only sought one thing i.e. that he may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple (Psalm 27:4)

Here is the beauty of the Lord in all its glorious attributes:

1. Spirit of grace – Zec 12:10

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced"

The Spirit of grace brings conviction of sin.

In Cuenca, Batangas and Manila, we led many to pray the sinner's prayer using the simple 4-steps prescribed in the tract "Steps to peace with God" - Gloria in the van, Abby @ 7/11, Roldan our driver, Jem in the mall, Errol and family in Payatas (slum area in Manila), Jomal at Lumunpao (1,500 steps at the volcano lake Taal).

In fact when we visited Errol's family, the salvation message was preached straight from the tract. It was awesome to see the Lord touching each of the family members. Errol's sister had tears in her eyes when we laid hands on her and prayed for her. Errol was our driver from the beautiful holiday resort, Tagaytay to Manila.

Note: The Cuenca church blessed our team with a holiday to Tagaytay after our ministry time with them. We stayed in a 3 bedroom apartment overlooking a volcanic lake with a little volcano in the middle of the lake and Mount Taal and Mount Malucot in the scenic backdrop.

Tagaytay volcano lake

Taal lake, Taal crater, Taal volcano and Mount Maculot from back to front

2. Spirit of truth – John 16:13

"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come"

I need the Spirit of truth. Without Him, I can easily fall into deception as I have done before. How can I know the truth? ONLY THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD.

1 John 5:7 says the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, these three are one.

They confirm one another, they are consistent with one another, they flow together as one - the Father, the Word (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit can only reveal to us the truth of the written word. He will guide us into all truth. What He hears, He will speak. He is also the spirit of prophecy.

2. Spirit of might – Eph 3:16

"that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man"

So that we will never grow tired in doing His work, so that we will never give up in serving Him, so that we will never grow weary in following Him, the Holy Spirit will strengthen us with the power of His might in our inner man. This strength is an inward strength that will come from within us when we serve the Lord. It is like a "spiritual petrol" that will keep us going! It needs constant re-filling and in-filling!

In Cuenca, Batangas and Manila, we had so much strength that although we had little sleep, we could still minister in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We saw many falling under the power of the Holy Spirit, many weeping and crying uncontrollably confessing their sins unto the Lord.

How wonderful is He! How glorious is He!

Re-filling station

Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge and all workmanship

Exodus 31:2-6

“See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.

And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you"

How we need His wisdom, understanding, knowledge and workmanship in order so that we can make a living.

In Cuenca, we saw the excellent workmanship of the people:

- in baking. The Cuenca bread, pandesal is one of the most delicious bread I have ever eaten. Small in size, like a little bun and best eaten fresh, it is so delicious that one can eat ten of this without stopping! We were told that we can only find the best pandesal in Cuenca and this is true. We tried the pandesal in our hotel in Manila and it was not half as good. Cuenca bakers are famous throughout the Philippines and a few of the church members were running bakery businesses in Cuenca and Manila.

Pandesal - the best in Cuenca

- in poultry rearing. We saw many poultry houses made for chickens to roost. The chickens were reared for their eggs rather than their meat. We stayed in Ramon and Dell's house one night and it was near his chicken farm. In the morning the sound of pigs grunting and cock-a-doodle-do greeted us! Ramon has retired but works part-time at the Municipal Council of Cuenca teaching Cuenca folks about poultry rearing and organic farming.

- in ginger tea making. In this agrarian community, ginger tea making is one of their livelihood. Dr. Vicky's father lovingly grows the ginger and grind them into powder. Mixed with turmeric and other stuff, the ginger tea is really unique.

Added with honey and warm water, Cuenca's ginger tea is really one of the best one can ever get this side of the Philippines.

The very gifted worship leader of the Cuenca church, Ah Doy who is blind, makes ginger tea in small packets for sale to raise funds for his ministry called People with Disability. A gifted musician, Ah Doy can play several instruments by ear. His marriage to Ah Joy is a testimony in itself and should be told in a dedicated posting!

- in growing mangoes, papayas, vegetables such as egg plants, bitter gourd and all kinds of leafy vegetables (whose names I cannot remember since they were unique only to Cuenca - I only know how to eat them!).

Everyday we ate fruits from the garden. Harvested from their own backyard, our hosts will lovingly prepare organic and delicious meals for us.

To me Cuenca is "mango heaven". Mangoes fall by themselves all over the town. One could pick it up and eat up and they taste O so sweet! In fact we gathered two big bags of mangoes from the roadside and orchards of family members and had a feast of mangoes when we were holidaying at Tagaytay.

We had so much vegetables at every meal. We also had the delicious milk fish known as "ni hao"!

This fleshly milk fish is the size of a human palm and bigger! Barbecued over charcoal it is simply delicious, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, every part of this fish is edible. Tim's favorite dish. We were teasing him on how he can eat so much fish!