Philippines, Poverty or Paradise??

My name is marty reese and i am a man of little significance in the grand scheme of things either in my own country of the USA or in my adopted country of the Philippines.. But i wanted to write and share a vision and dream i have for the Philippiines and more importantly a dream that i believe that i share with the creator of the universe! my friends i know that is a bold statement to make, but please endulge me for a minute and let me share with you the details of this vision and why i believe that God Himself has shared this with me.

First of all, up until about 4 years ago i knew almost nothing about the Philippines, the History and the people, other than all the propaganda i’ve heard filtered through various history books and media outlets here in America. So my journey into my new understanding of the Philippines and her gracious people began quite unwittingly on my part. basicly this is what happened in a nutshell.

About 4 years ago i began to be bombarded with thoughts about love. As a single Christian man, i had already determined to give over my search for a potential mate over to the Lord, and very rarely ever really entertained any thoughts along those lines because i knew God would bring the right person in His timing. Anyway, for some time during that 4 year period one thought after another was about true love and God’s love for me and for others and i finally realized God was preparing my heart for something, but what??? So i began to pray and one Bible verse began to continually come to my mind, Psalms 37:4, ” Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” As i pondered this verse i realized i had been doing what it says in this verse and God was doing something in my heart. He was filling my heart with Love and His desires for me. So i began to pray and ask, “Lord what are Your desires for me and what are you leading now with all of these things about love?” and it wasn’t long before i realized He was preparing me for my wife and His plan for our lives together. Knowing a little now of what He was doing i began to pray, “Lord is there something i need to do now, and where should i look for my wife if it be your will.” Remembering the scripture about the desires of my heart i began to ask myself, what are the desires of my heart and what is my deep desire in a wife, and it was then as i searched my heart i realized i always really loved asian women, but i really needed to be sure this was a God given desire or just a flesh desire so i prayed.. and the more i prayed the more i realized it was God’s plan for my life.

Ok now that i was sure about His leading in that direction i started to look around and meet women from all over Asia on the internet, and soon my focus became narrowed to the Philippines and her beautiful people. As i met so many nice Pinay women and girls i also was hearing many hard life stories of poverty and hunger which truly broke my heart. So i found myself praying,” Lord what can i do to help these beautiful people to overcome poverty?” at that moment the Lord began to speak to me loud and clear and this is what He said, “Why is there poverty in Paradise?” and all i could do was respond, “i don’t know Lord, why” and He said, “because of sin and corruption.” and my heart sank as i felt so helpless. ” i said, “Lord what can i do?” and He said, “one man can make a difference, one man can change the world. All it takes is a spark!” I just remember a great peace and exuberance as these words came out of me without any hesitation as if i was created to say , “Lord i just want to be a spark!”

Ever since that conversation with the Lord, God has given me idea after idea on how to help people to break the curse of poverty in the Philippines and even all over the World. Being a man of little means, i just began to give out of where i was at.. Little did i realize God had bigger things in mind. And now i am seeing like never befroe that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him, and that if your faithful with the little things, He will give you greater things! these are but 2 of the over 7000 promises in His Word, and two that i am clinging too in order to see the vision of God come to pass for the Philippines..

It is very important to note God’s very words to me when He asked me the Question, “why is there poverty in Paradise?” Notice God called the Philippines a Paradise! To that i say Amen!!

There is so much more to this developing story, but as for now it is enough to know the intent and the vision and to believe beyond what we see in faith to catch the vision for the unseen underlying potential and eventual plan of God to greatly bless the Philippines and to see the desire of God’s heart come to pass! For the Philippines to be a Paradise and not a place of poverty!

One day in prayer when i was praying about hunger and what we can do about it, the Lord spoke to me and said, “grow more food.” simple as that. then i realized that there is enough potential in this world that noone should ever starve! and another time when someone asked me, “If God is so great then why does He allow children to starve to death in Africa?” and right away the Lord put this on my heart and i told that person, ” God doesn’t let people starve, people let people starve.” because God has given us everything we need for life and godliness and we pervert everything that is good for our own selfish gain…

I believe the answer for the Philippines and in fact the world is this; To simply love each other and to Love GOD and live!! if we can learn to do these things we can help each other to have an abundant life and to walk in peace!! I believe we can either be a part of the problems in this world or we can each choose to be a part of the solution, and that God has all the answers! And much of the solution depends on our faith! Will we believe God and His Words and His promises or will we cave in to our fears adn limited pessimistic feelings and unbelief??

Two men, my friend Tim and i, acting in faith have now  begun to believe God and give what little we have to see what God can do with it, and HE is able!! it’s not much, for now, but We have faith and God’s promise that He will accomplish what He has set in motion and we are believing with the wonderful people of the Philippines that indeed one day rise above the poverty and corruption to be a shining beacon of God’s love and hope for the world to see!! We have begun work on Project Paradise Philippines, which you cna follow on facebook, and also we are working on two websites that we will use to bring life and love to the Philippines and ultimately the World!! God bless you all in Jesus Christ.. your friend and filipino at heart.. marty reese!

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Author: Marty Reese