I turned 44 this month.
I’ve noticed something: The older I get, the more I believe in miracles. In fact, I believe I’m surrounded by an ocean of miracles.
Everyday, I see God-Coincidences.
Divine Appointments.
Supernatural Connections.
Mysterious Surprises.
Spontaneous Healings.
More and more, I believe in the unexplainable, beautiful, mystical work of God in our lives. That no matter how impossible the situation, I believe that God will make a way where there seems to be no way.
Yes, I believe in magic.
I live in a magical universe!
I believe that in every moment, God is performing miracles.
In every moment, He is blessing you, healing you, touching you, and guiding you.
The 3 Stages Of My Spiritual Life
Let me tell you how I came to this belief.
Because it’s my birthday month, allow me to be autobiographical. Hope you don’t mind.
Let me talk about my 30+ year journey with God. (No, this won’t be 30 pages long! Perhaps 29… Just kidding.)
I believe I went through three distinct stages in my spiritual life:
· First Stage: Super Spiritual
· Second Stage: Highly Practical
· Third Stage: Peacefully Mystical
Which stage are you in?
Find out.
Let me describe each stage to you…
First Stage: Super Spiritual
(Age 12 to 28)
I got to know God at age 12.
Since that time, all the way until I was around 28 years old, I was super spiritual.
I had hyper-faith.
I wanted God to do everything for me.
If I did something, it meant that I didn’t trust God.
If I was hungry, all I had to do was open my mouth.
Because I expected God to plant a seed, water it, fertilize it, grow it, pick the fruit, slice it, fork it, and feed it to me. I even wanted God to chew the fruit and spit it in my mouth.
I shunned the world.
I didn’t like secular music, secular books, and secular movies.
I didn’t like insurance or saving money, or the stock market.
I believed that the purpose of life was to go to Heaven.
My faith was inhuman.
Bottomline, I didn’t like my humanness.
I believed my flesh was tainted with evil.
I was a spiritual being trapped in a human body, and my goal was to escape my earthly tent as much as I could.
Example?
How I Dressed Up
I wore the crummiest clothes.
Old sandals. Old jogging pants. Old shirt.
The more holes, the more faded, the better.
I felt that if I wore a clean shirt and nice shoes, it was vanity–a sin against the Almighty.
I didn’t comb my hair lest the Holy Spirit would be displeased.
Reason? To try to look handsome is about “self”. And self is bad. I’d be filled with pride and endanger my eternal soul.
I wanted to focus not on being presentable to men, but presentable to God.
Thus, I didn’t put on deodorant too.
I reasoned that if I smelled bad, there was a sacred purpose behind it.
Was it to save on bug repellant? Because of my unique odor, insects dropped dead within a two-meter radius around me.
Saints had what people called the odor of sanctity. Whenever they entered the room, people would smell the scent of fresh flowers. That made people fall on their knees and pray.
I too had that same effect. When I entered the room, people didn’t just only fall on their knees. They’d have a near-death experience and pray for their salvation.
My whole persona–how I dressed, looked, and smelled was my AAD. My Anti-Attraction Device. So girls won’t fall in love with me–lest I fall into lust. (Haha.)
This over-spiritual attitude spilled over to how I preached…
How I Gave My Talks
Whenever I preached, I didn’t want to prepare too much.
I wanted to be led by the Spirit.
I would preach in this way…
“Brothers and Sisters, good morning….” In the middle of my talk, I’d close my eyes, pause for a few seconds, while murmuring, “thank you Jesus, speak to me Jesus, thank you Jesus…”. Then I’d open my mouth and say, “Today, God told me to tell you that He loves you very much…” And then I’d close my eyes, and murmur my prayers again, “thank you Jesus, speak to me Jesus, shalalalala…”
This super spirituality spilled over my decision-making too…
How I Made Decisions
Every choice had to be prayed for.
Every decision!
What I should do on a particular day.
Who I should talk to.
What I should say.
What I should eat.
Where I was going.
What I would wear. (Crummy shirt #1 or Crummy shirt #2?)
No decision was too minor.
If I didn’t hear anything from God, I’d cut the Bible.
If you don’t know what “cutting the Bible” means, let me describe it to you.
One day, my friend was in an Eat-All-You-Can Buffet.
Being super spiritual like me, he prayed, “Lord, what do you want me to eat?”
He closed his eyes and opened the Bible.
He pointed his finger on a page, and read, “Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights.”
His face turned pale in terror.
He said, “Lord, this is a mistake. Do you really want me to fast?” With shaking hands, he cut the Bible again.
The verse he opened to?
“And Jesus said, ‘Go and do likewise.’”
Disturbed With My Super Spiritual Approach
Because I was super spiritual, I didn’t want to finish high school anymore. I felt schooling was useless because Jesus was coming again. Perhaps he would come next year. So why bother with Trigonometry and Chemistry? How can I use those in Heaven?
But my parents insisted I finish high school. And they also pushed me to go to college.
But after two years of college, I dropped out and became a fulltime missionary.
But as the years progressed, I began to grow uncomfortable with my extreme spirituality. Something was wrong.
As I grew older, I saw that being human wasn’t so bad after all. In fact, a quote from St. Irenaeus jolted me to the bone. He said, The glory of God is a human being fully alive.
Slowly, I began to move to the next stage of my spiritual life…
Stage Two: Highly Practical
(Age 29 to 43)
In my late twenties, I began to appreciate my humanness.
I realized God created me to be an incredible human being that can dream, plan, design, think, and act. Why did He give me all these fantastic abilities if He didn’t want me to use them?
If He wanted me to simply depend on Him and do nothing, He should have made me a stone or a plant or an amoeba.
But no. He gave me a phenomenal brain that was more powerful than all the computers of this world put together.
And ever so slowly, I morphed.
I began to be more down-to-earth.
More pragmatic.
More realistic.
More open…
How I Saw The World
I started reading secular books.
I got to know secular people.
I learned that atheists, agnostics, irreligious, and immoral people were children of God and they had much to teach me.
Stage 2 gave me a very precious gift: It took away my self-righteousness and spiritual arrogance.
I began to love people genuinely.
I got to know the secular world that I thought was totally condemned by God. (It wasn’t. I saw God’s fingerprints all over.)
It was a terrifying yet liberating experience.
I realized my spiritual world was very small. Puny!
And my version of God was tiny too.
I realized He was bigger than my narrow definitions.
How I Saw Romance
When I was 30, I decided to get married.
That helped a lot in moving me fully into Stage 2.
Stage 1 kept me in limbo–Celibacy or marriage?
I couldn’t decide.
For years, I was trying to find God’s Will and was terribly confused.
But in Stage 2, I realized that His Will was my deepest desires. That through the scalpel of discernment, I can strip the layers of shallow desires until I touched base with the core desires that God has placed in my heart.
And in Stage 2, I finally chose my lovely wife–after so much dilly-dallying in Stage 1.
That was when I wrote my controversial book, How To Find Your One True Love.
I wrote it for single people who were super spiritual, waiting for their future husband (or wife) to fall out of the sky on a silver platter.
In that book, I taught mature singles how to pray, yes. But I also taught them how to write a checklist of what they want in a spouse, how to change their daily itinerary to meet more singles, and how to have more friendly dates.
That book was a huge bestseller because for the first time, a spiritual book gave singles permission to do something in finding a spouse aside from just praying and waiting.
How I Saw Money
In Stage 1, I remained poor.
I watched this same phenomenon among super spiritual people. Though close to God, they were far from God’s material blessings because they believed poverty came with the territory.
They’re in debt. They don’t have savings. They live hand to mouth. Because they depend on God totally. They don’t like talking about money. They don’t want to learn how money works.
I was so frustrated not having money when I had all these great projects that I wanted to do for God.
So at the age of 32, I became an entrepreneur.
I became an investor.
Today, God has prospered the work of my hands.
A few years later, I wrote my book, 8 Secrets Of The Truly Rich. It rocked the world of many spiritual people. For the first time, a spiritual book gave them the permission to become wealthy in the right way.
How I Saw Dreams
In Stage 1, I didn’t allow myself to have dreams.
I considered that selfishness.
But in Stage 2, I wrote my dreams, read them daily, and saw them being fulfilled one by one. I was mesmerized by the power that God gave us to make our dreams come true.
So I taught people to dream and pursue their dreams.
I taught them that their actions shaped their future.
I told them, “God has placed your destiny in your hands!”
It was an exhilarating experience.
But deep within, something was brewing in my soul.
Disturbed With My Highly Practical Approach
The past year, I saw a certain movement in my spirit.
It was a gentle call from God to a deeper kind of trust.
I saw myself walking to a new stage in my spiritual life.
Stage 3: Peacefully Mystical
(Age 44 To Eternity)
Today, I’m a mystic. Again.
I’m back believing in miracles.
Obviously, I never lost faith in miracles.
But in a more profound way, I’m realizing that everything that I do is dependent on miracles.
Yes, I’m returning to an enlightened version of Stage 1.
But it’s really Stage 3: Peacefully Mystical.
It’s my second naïveté.
How did this happen?
I really have no choice: It’s the only way to keep my sanity.
As overall leader of Light of Jesus and our other ministries, I’m faced with gigantic problems every single day.
I do all I can. With the best of my abilities. But the problems are still there.
So I reach this point where only God can solve the problems.
I have only two options: To be stressed or to be blessed.
Stress and trust cannot co-exist.
If I’m stressed, then it means I don’t trust.
If I trust, then I won’t be stressed.
So I decide to trust.
And I like a child, I tell Him, “I’ve reached a point of incompetence. Lord, this is your problem. Give me a miracle.”
And He gives me a miracle! He actually comes in and performs a beautiful miracle right before my eyes.
Why I’m Relaxed
My wife says I’m always cool.
No matter what happens.
Let me tell you why.
I believe that I live in a friendly universe.
I live in a gracious galaxy.
I live in a universe that is conspiring to bless me.
Every atom of God’s creation is strategizing how to prosper me, solve my problems, open new doors of opportunity, give me divine connections, supernatural appointments, send miracles on my path, heal me, make me stronger, increase my peace, increase my money, tighten my relationships with my family, give me more wisdom….
And problems?
I believe that when a problem comes, it brings within it a beautiful solution. When a trial comes, it brings within it a treasure waiting to be unearthed.
I just need to be open to it–and the miracle will come.
Let me tell you how magical my life is…
Someone Stole Our Vault
Last Sunday night, our ministry office was burglarized.
It was no ordinary robbery: The thieves carried out our entire vault.
I say “thieves”–plural–because I know the weight of that vault. Two or three guys are needed to carry that thing.
But here’s the miracle.
Every Sunday, after the Feast (our large prayer gathering), our staff would count the offering, bring it back to the office, and put it in the vault. So that they could bring it to the bank the next day.
But last Sunday, for some magical reason, our chief accountant decided not to put the money in the vault. She placed the money beside the vault.
So here’s what happened. The robbers got the vault. But left behind the big money beside the vault!
How can you explain that?
Only one reason.
We live in a magical universe.
I’m surrounded by an ocean of miracles.
Yes, there was a little money in the vault–and we lost that.
But we’ll be wiser now.
But I’ve now learned that sometimes, God allows small problems to protect us from bigger problems. He allows us to lose a small amount, so that in the future, we won’t lose a bigger amount.
Even In Your Biggest Problems,
God Is Performing Miracles
A few years ago, my friend was fooled by her business partner. This partner ran away with their products–and my friend was left holding the empty bag.
Result? My friend was now P20 million in debt.
Everyday, she cried out to God.
Everyday, she was filled with so much stress.
She couldn’t eat.
She couldn’t sleep.
Her heart was filled with worry, fear, sadness, and anger.
Her soul was filled with questions.
Why God? Why did you allow this to happen?
But she kept her faith.
She kept attending the Feast (our weekly gathering), believing that God will rescue her from her trials.
Today, five years later, my friend has paid all her debts.
Her business is better than ever before.
And her trust in God is so deep!
She never brought her ex-business partner to court. She didn’t want to waste her time or money in bringing her to justice. She decided to focus on rebuilding her business.
In fact, the P20 million debt turned out to be a blessing.
Why? That huge debt hanging on her head forced her to become a better entrepreneur and make more money than ever before. Today, her business is bigger, stronger, and more prosperous! Something that may not have happened without the tragedy she went through.
What happened to her ex-business partner?
She found out that she’s now in jail–because of another crime that she committed.
What did my friend do?
She visited her in jail and forgave her.
Why? Because her God is a big God.
Bigger than a P20 million debt.
Bigger than her anger towards her business partner.
Here’s what I learned in life: God’s size is flexible.
Some worship a big God.
Some worship a small God.
It depends on your faith.
Do you want to know the size of your God?
Look at the size of your fears.
If your fears are big, then it means your God is small.
But if your fears are small, then it means your God is big.
Today, my fears are getting smaller and smaller, because my God is getting bigger and bigger.
Even In Your Biggest Problems,
God Is Performing Miracles
Another friend had a problem with her eldest son.
She came up to me one day and said, “Oh Bo, please help me. My son likes to drink and smoke. He’s not doing too well in school. He’s a rebellious kid and hates authority…”
She would call me up, crying on the phone.
And we’d pray together.
The months turned to years, and she’d tell me that her son is still the same–rebellious and addicted to vices. For six years, it was as though nothing was happening.
But one day, a miracle happened. Her son was invited to a youth ministry–and a spiritual conversion took place.
Today, her son is now leading that youth ministry. He’s preaching, bringing a lot of young people to God.
I can imagine what was happening during those six years of waiting, whenever she prayed to God with a lot of tears. I bet God was saying to her, “This storm will end. Your miracle will come. What you wish for will be granted.”
You’re Surrounded By An Ocean Of Miracles
Perhaps right now, you too have experienced a loss.
Perhaps you’re going through a heavy trial right now.
And it seems like it’s an impossible situation.
But in God’s vocabulary, there’s no such word as impossible.
In God’s dictionary, the word “impossible” isn’t found.
I have a simple message for you: Trust Him.
God will make a way where there seems to be no way.
You’re surrounded by an ocean of miracles.
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez
PS1. Achieve Financial Freedom; Join my “How To Be Truly Rich Seminar”on August 7. Many of my friends who are now enjoying financially freedom began their journey in my powerful seminar. But you have to sign up quickly. Sign up right away because seats are limited. For more information, click here now.
PS2. Join The Internet Marketing Bootcamp on July 29. There’ll be 17 Speakers, including 4 International Internet Experts. By the way, I’m not organizing this event. They just invited me to be the Keynote Speaker, so I’m passing the information to you. Internet Marketing Maven Anton Diaz, Larry Gamboa, and Randy Manaloto are its organizers. If you want to learn various business models to earn money through the internet, this is the place to go. For more information, click here now.
PS3. Earn Money From Home In Cebu–August 13, 14, and 15. My internet Guru Jomar Hilario is giving two events in Cebu. The first one is called “How to Work From Home as a Virtual Assistant” Seminar on August 13 at the Maxwell Hotel. If you like working from home, this might be for you. Check out the world of a Virtual Assistant. For more information, click here now.
And for those who want to sell online, set up their own internet business, or earn through blogging, this workshop is for you: “Internet Marketing Hands On Workshop” on August 14 to 15 at Emall, Cebu. Very sorry, only 27 participants will be allowed to join this Hands-On Workshop. For more information, click here now.
PS4. Gatherings On Fire, Seminar-Workshop on Prayer Meetings on July 31. Do you feel that your prayer meetings need a makeover? Let the wisdom and experiences you’ll get from this seminar-workshop bring your gatherings to ‘the next level’. Arun Gogna and his team offer tips on animation, great topics, overall flow and dynamics, and everything you can do to liven up your prayer meetings. Let’s answer your questions from A-Z… A must for your community! It’ll be on July 31, 8am-5pm. Early bird registration is P795 only. For more information, call Noel at (02) 6687766 or 09154493600 or 09282109765.
