10.28.2010

For the Broken

"I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me." John 8:41-44

Everyday or almost everyday we tend to throw things away or put things aside; whether it's because its completely useless to us or broken ... and in this same way, we have our hearts, our spirits and we go through life thinking we are so broken that we don't think God will ever turn to look at us....

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." Psalms 51:17.

I don't know what your brokenness may be tonight, it might probably be on the physical side, a broken arm, or on the spiritual side, a broken heart, a broken spirit, caused by someone you care for, who has said or done something very hurtful to you; who knows, could have been a Daughter, a Son, a Father, a Mother, a Grandmother/father or even a friend but whoever it was, has caused you some harm to certain extent and you are now feeling broken.

No matter how well you managed the situation, whatever the outcome was, whether you spoke back to that person or took revenge under your own hands, you still feel that small crack in your heart that makes it crack or hurt even more every time you tend to play the record in your head over and over again.

And it is for that same reason why we tend to cast things aside and automatically take it to the back of our head... because it causes so much harm to us that you wish to not even remember that that memory even exists.


And,

Little do we know, that these small records that we decide to throw to the back of our heads(memory), one by one, little by little turns out to hand us a " giant box loaded of records" at the end of the day, the week, the month or even the year... not to mention your entire life then we'd have to bring a truck fully loaded of records.

Imagine how many records you have accumulated within time, its as if drop by drop you have filled your "bath tub" and its now dripping so much water that right now, it's a mess. With this in mind, think how much you have dedicated yourself to put aside that it resembles in your actions, your talk, your work, your house, showing us that in reality we have become more broken than what we thought we actually were.

It is this, that basically makes our heart bitter and bitter everyday, we don't realize how much pain we carry but our spirit does, in fact it is carrying so much bitterness that it can't stand on it's own right now and it is being reflected in either our frigidness, our cold -hearted, in our anger, in our relationships and in our everyday life course.

You might be so frigid that you might not even like yourself, that you might not matter to anyone, you might detest who you are and as much as you think that there's nothing else to do, you begin to feel hopeless because you begin to feel crushed inside under the weight of your unsolved troubles and even more if you're out of contact with God.

Ezekiel 34:16

I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak. But I will destroy those who are fat and powerful. I will feed them, yes—feed them justice!


A true mystery, God uses broken things, God only uses things that are broken, completely broken.

There is a Blessing in Brokenness!!!

The LORD is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Ps 34:18(NIV)

Perhaps tonight you feel more broken than how you woke this morning,
your friendship is broken, your home is broken, or it might even be your marriage that is broken.

Imagine if God speaks to you and He says that tonight I can renew your heart and spirit, I can renew your friendship, your relationship at home, with everyone including yourself... I can make you love yourself again and renew your marriage again.
and he tells you:

"I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine." Ephesians 3:20

So, why not let him renew you in ALL aspects of your life, renew your spirit, your heart and all in you.... become a new person, let him work on his own clay for he is the potter and you are the clay in his hands, but the question is:

Are you willing to be the clay in his hands?

Thank you Lord for being my potter.

Blessings to you!!

Amen.

10.27.2010

What Would You Answer?

Think about this:

Let's say that you have come so far in life, you have worked so hard, you have a nice career, a nice job, you have been able to buy your own house,  you have a nice car, you have so much things in that house; which  you have bought within time that you might not remember that you even have one thing in particular.

You can say you have bought your own happiness, your own independence, your own stability in life,

but ....

Imagine that the day has come for you to be in front of God, he is doing an inventory of your life here on earth before you go into eternity and and he asks you, what did you do with my son Jesus Christ? and what did you do with what I have given you? 

First, I think we need to reflect on whether we have accepted Jesus in our lives, if we accepted what he did for us, if you learned to love him and trust him. Take in mind that God will not ask you anything about your religion, which doctrine do you incline towards the most. 

Second, we need to think what we have done with our live, our talents, talents he has gifted us with, the opportunities, relations and resources which he has given you? Have you made good use of them? Did you use them for yourself or for Gods' purpose?


What would you answer?



10.16.2010

New Life Individually

New Life Individually


Ephesians 2, 1-10


1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
 2in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.


 3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.


 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),  6and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  7so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.


 8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.


 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.


New Life Corporately


One in Christ


 11Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)—12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 

13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

 14For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 


17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.


 19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 


21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 


22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.


Jeremiah’s Call and Commission

Jeremiah 1 (17-19)

 17 "Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. 18 Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

------
6 "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."
 7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.


 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

 9 Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth.

 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."


Luke 12, 4-12

Warnings & Encouragements


4"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.


5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

 


6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 


7Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.


 8"I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. 9But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. 10And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.


 11"When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."

Prayer: 

Lord, I thank you for my life, for the blessings I've received, help me, oh lord to conserve them. Grant me wisdom and knowledge to know you more. Give me faith to believe that you are powerful and that your plans are marvelous upon my life. grant me the grace to enjoy your inheritance of your glory that you have promised  me and help me live within the hope of finding myself with you, one day.

Amen.

10.15.2010

The Love of a Mother-Gratitude

I was finally able to understand and I still don't fully understand the love of a mother until I actually give birth to my own child but hopefully one day, with God's blessing I will.

It was through Jesus that I came to see what a mother's true love is, after he picked me up and I became a re-born individual in Christ. 

It was then and while acknowledging the presence of the Holy Spirit within me that I could fully understand the word LOVE.

 Many of us go through life saying we have fallen in and out love several times but once you have this trinity within you, you will understand that there is a much greater love than the love that the world can offer us.

     Nothing compares & Nothing can exchange it.

    Well during my teenage years, I would think and comment on my mothers love for me, I would think that her love was very obsessive and specially when I began my studies in clinical psychology.... but as my father up above has been teaching me many things through the third person of the trinity who is the Holy Spirit. ...I have understood that as a parent,  all mothers and fathers are willing and ready to do anything for their son or your daughter because of the love that they possess for us.
Mothers do what seems the impossible for their child and they never give up on us, even when they think they have come to the end. 






Mark 10:27

27Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."

    And honestly, I don't know from where they re-gain their strength, (from my father up above, I guess) but they always manage to tie a knot at the end of the rope and manage to keep on battling with their child until they succeed.

     As the usual saying, "it is blood of my blood." 

      So here I come and of course, I will mention his love towards all of us, because no one stays out:

This is how you should think when we think of God, our father, his love is amazingly immense and indescribable to us. 
As it states:

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!(Matthew 7:11)

As you, mother, that when we as children suffer, you suffer with us, our pain is your pain, our sorrows are your sorrows, our failures are your failures, you who suffer together with us without knowledge of the full details imagine mother, how much more my father suffers; he who knows everything about us, when we sit and when we rise up, even the very hairs of our heads are numbered, for we were made in his image...   
   Can you get the picture, imagine how much more God suffers with us, how big the cross Jesus is carrying. 

    This understanding of the word love and the profound love of a mother or a father towards his own son, gave me the ability to appreciate my mother even more today and thank my mother for always battling for me even when I thought that what I was doing was great, when it wasn't.

   I was having fun while my mother was suffering, to put it in a better way, I was having fun while God was suffering twice as much as my mother... and I won't even begin to tell you the hard time Jesus had with me while he came out reach me just for the love of grace. 
   It was through my mothers' love and her requests that Jesus had mercy upon me, if I didn't have my mothers' love today I truly don't know if I'd be sitting here writing this today... 


        To all mothers out there, struggling with their child today, you who think that your child has slipped through your hands like sand,  I advice to tie the knot and ask but ask in faith, believe that what you ask for to Jesus will be done and let him in to your life, your family, your marriage but most importantly into your heart and let him dwell on it because my father is like a mother who can't say no to her child.


If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me.(Deuteronomy 4:29)

Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart.(Psalm 37:4)

For it is I, who gave you those desires(Philippians 2:13)

I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine.(Ephesians 3:20)

To give birth is a blessing from God.

God bless you, Mother. 

      Thank you for never giving up on me and thank you Jesus for answering her prayers.

Amen

Watch Video on YouTube: Love of God-Mercyme 

10.14.2010

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit


If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit. John(14:15-17)


The Holy Spirit is our God, the Spirit is a full person of the Trinity, it's crucial to understand that the Holy Spirit is a person; he is part of the Holy Trinity with Father and Son. A person who is here on behalf of Jesus  Christ and the Father and at the same time he represents the trinity.


As Jesus said: 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.




The second thing to understand is that the Holy Spirit is a teacher.  


21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."


26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 




 The wisdom, the knowledge and the understanding that the Holy spirit can offer you could never be compared to what the world and your level of education can ever offer you. 

It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit in which you can change a life our lives for a full meaning and make a difference. It's why it is crucial as a born in Christ that we must depend on God's Spirit. Never intend to do something without asking the Holy Spirit to help, not even to build your business without asking the Holy Spirit for help. Personally, I don't come out through the doors of my house without asking the holy spirit to help me.




The Spirit of Truth, the world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you


27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.



Not only does the Holy Spirit teaches you, it communicate, intercedes, testifies, guides, commands, appoints, leads, seals the promise and shapes our lives. Therefore he has a personality himself, he has a passion, an intellect and a will and that's why we must come to know the Holy Spirit so he could help us through the tough times of life. As it states in John, let not you hearts be troubled (for what the world offers) and do not be afraid.


Without the Holy Spirit, there is no joy, no peace in our lives.  The Holy Spirit gives life, makes it joyful, encourages us, is our counselor, our defense, makes us obedient, builds us up, and energizes and makes effective and worth living our lives as we learn to glorify Jesus Christ bringing joy and peace to the believer; revealing the wonderful touch of God's love to all who call upon the Lord.


The best thing about the Holy Spirits' attributes is that he is eternal, it has neither beginning nor end, he is Omni-potent, he has all powers, Omni-present, he is everywhere at the same time and Omni-scientist, he understands all matters.

I must add, he is just amazing...





Amazing books to read:


The Mystery of the Holy Spirit


The Holy Spirit: Activating God's Power in Your Life


Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit

10.08.2010

The Illiterate and The Sins

In this world, there are billions of people who have never heard of Jesus, and if they have they have no clue of what it means, what it stands for.

While we occupy our lives trying to grab the wind with our own hands, there are many going into eternity without the knowledge of who is Jesus of Nazareth. One good example, is the woman who works or cleans my the house. As in my country, we use house maids to clean our house and usually these are really humble people who never had the opportunity to an education. Even tho, we help her in many ways, it's  very hard.


Well, I love to sit and talk to her during the afternoons and while talking to her, I noticed she can't read or write. She barely talks and her thoughts are very poor and limited. So as she sat there while I ate my lunch, we came across a topic which was about sins and she stated that she has never sinned. Her comment made me ask her if she knew what the word "sin" stands for and she said, angry, scream to others, etc.

I signed, because  I didn't know how far her knowledge went.

I began to let her know into what sins were and as I came across the topic "sexual relationships" she spoke over me and said "that's not true, even the holy spirit did it..." (Oh lord, I said.)


If it were me, a while back, I would most probably have insulted her but my beautiful kind voice inside said leave her to her ignorance she knows nothing about me. I just replied, Is this your biggest battle, eh? Because the person who you just mentioned is the saint-est person I've ever known in my entire life so be careful with what you say.


After coming across people with such a small education, I realized that, while we worry so much about ourselves, we begin to forget about others. These people have no one who could talk to them about Jesus. That is why she replied like she replied, for having so little knowledge on God.

Now, I read the bible and the daily readings to her once in a while but I do have to explain many things; may God grant me the patience while I do that.

10.07.2010

Abba's Will...

I like this, I thought I might share this with you today.

James 1:12

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

John 6: 35-40
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day."

The Lonely Girl

As I tranferred from one college to another and left my friends back at the other college, I didn't feel the need to really make much friends at this new college, I really thought they were all too young and naive for me to sit and talk to them.

Yes I was selfish. I know.

I now have friends tho, but I miss one the most, one who was really but really intellectual and very open and was able to talk about anything; well one day in school she saw me and said she had broken up with her boyfriend, she was trying to hold herself strong and also stated she was depressed and that she had dropped out for a while but I never saw her again after that.

I hope that where ever she is, she finds herself in a great state, full of joy and always covered in Gods blessings. God Bless her.


Well, I was hungry, thirsty, and decided to have some coffee and sit under a tree. There was also a girl there, I asked her if she doesn't mind because this true is a very good friend of mine and I had come to visit the tree. Not that I talk to the tree or anything but I like the tree and the shade it gives me. Anyway, as I sit there, I see she is looking very concentrated in listening to the music through her headsets but I tried talking to her... It felt like an urge to talk to her, I don't know why but I did. To start, I mumbled some words to myself to see if she notices whether I am trying to say something or not and she did, so I asked her if she is new in school and she said yes and kept on talking as if I had opened a tap water and wasn't able to close again.

She states that not only she is new but that she doesn't feel comfortable in college, she doesn't like it. I said well, I don't like the school either because many people don't just come to study they come for other things and it's more of a social encounter than anything else but in reality, I noticed that it wasn't the school that she didn't like, it was the degree she had chosen to study which was marketing because her father to some extent didn't give her more options but her personal choice was architecture.


During the conversation, well, honestly it was more of her conversation than mine because it felt like the one that wanted to talk was her and felt like she somehow had no one to talk to.

I discovered that she has a slight inclination like me to music but also art, more like creativity section. Also, as she stated, she is a depressive person who's been through psychiatrics and many treatments but never finishes them and has even come across suicidal thoughts.

Suddenly almost immediately, I came into silence and asked God why all of this time nobody has sat there but me alone when I usually come to sit and this time, today, he sends me someone and someone with LOTS to say... "If this is your will, I said, please put in me words of knowledge, wisdom and truth to say because I don't want her to go back home and commit some suicidal or rebellious actions... at that point she stated she didn't even want to go to class and she had a class to expose that day but was planning to not expose just for no reason but for fear.

Quite frankly, I didn't know what to say.

The first thing, was, do you know who can actually help you, by excellence? she paused, she looked at my finger pointing above and said, GOD, and I said, our faithful friend in Jesus, no one but him. The second thing that came trough my mind was, when you die, whose the one who will stop breathing, you or me? I paused, and said remember, life will go on without you and also would be committing a sin.

I also asked her, when you look at me what do you see and what comes through your head? she answered a nice, sympathetic person and I followed her saying by saying "but BEFORE, I was a rebellious person, I drank, I partied like an animal but many times I felt alone;




I was a drug addict, I lived a rock n' roll life, broke many commandments in the bible, used the bibles pages for my friends to smoke weed, and even came to inject cocaine through my veins and was weighing almost 70lbs, do you see any traces, now? she said no.

God, rose me up, into the real life.

I also advised her to go to her class and at least say something and forget about the fears, fears usually never get you anywhere anyway. In life there are many battles to fight and this is one of your battles. Stay firm and never think that you're alone. In Jesus, we are not alone and always remember that the battles are mostly caused by the one who calls himself the prince of the air, that is if you believe in the Good and the Evil.


Now that I write this, I don't even know her name and I don't think we got to exchange names or introduce ourselves and I've never seen her again.


My Blessing to her and may the Lord give her strength, where ever she is today!

10.05.2010

Christianity mode or vulgarity?

I don't understand how people tend to give themselves pleasures in saying that christians are crazy people or fanatics over religion and there I go again and state "don't place your tongue in places you don't know.

    Personally, I think that when people say things like that, they are making fun of the things or experiences which others have lived and the love they feel for God.

To mention something,  this Sunday a friend called me up and the first thing she did was curse words out her mouth, I instantly cut her off by advising her to change her french accent to the professional one that she is suppose to have. Right then, she asked if I had my christianity mode on and what was that all about, and I just replied that I always have my christianity mode on and that I was tired of having to listen to those words coming out her mouth and all she said was "I think you are going crazy, that is what I think..."

My reply was "I know where I've been, I know where I stand and I certainly know where I am going and God Bless you."

So please, it is not a necessity to include cursing words in your mouth in a sentence or a dialogue, some ears happen to be very fragile to those words, we really don't need to take your words in, that is one of the main reasons why my mind really wonders away within my own thoughts to not even hear people take the way they do and it's not that I don't want to listen or pay attention the idea they have to say and it might be a key idea in their lives but face it, you just drew me off with your offensive words.

It's the same thing for a man or a woman when beginning to date, imagine going out to a fancy restaurant to have dinner and suddenly that person you're with starts cursing or just saying offensive words and the people around is hearing and looking at both of you. Can you imagine your own face right then and there?

Then you ask yourself, why people don't wont to go out with you again, you honestly think I want a person next to me that is constantly cursing? it's not only offensive to me but to the people around us.

She hung up and well she just called me crazy!

   May God hold her strong.

10.03.2010

Our Sins, Feeling Shameful?

Yesterday, my second day in a seminar, I came in when a man spoke about his experiences in life and how he came to know God.

He mentioned something he did that made me realize that I did it as well and probably to the ears of some is very bad, in fact it almost seems like a crime. And thinking about it, made me realize that I have done many things, commited, to say many crimes or many sins which I am not proud nor did I like admitting my sins today but because of those sins I met God and most importantly I am proud to say I am someone else today and that person who actually commited those sins or thoughts is now dead.

It's a reality, that in most cases when you realize that you have done certain things, you can't help feeling shameful about those things because you do realize they weren't good at all. Just when he mentioned that he had a bible in his house for one reason; a woman, a friend had given it to him because the pages were useful for rolling marijuana but that same bible was God's instrument to speak to him, it had me thinking, wait, I am not the only one who has done that and it is not a shame of admitting it. Yet I felt so ashamed of my sins, of the things I was capable of doing but then it gave me strength because those things were the reasons which God had come to my rescue and made me realize that what I did was wrong.

It is not to say that you should sin in order to meet God, it is to say, that even to people who don't believe, make fun or say he does not exist is to those that he actually shuts our mouths up and makes us swallow our own "spits", our own words.

I mentioned on one of my posts that I was a person who since a child, in my early teenage years I believed in God, I would praise, pray to Mary for interceding and go to church on my own, but my mind became weak at some point in life which I came to actually believe that I didn't believe in God, I became atheist for some reason. No, not for some reason, but because my friends at the current time were atheist and somehow managed to brain wash me at that time; to fit in.

To fit in, you commit many crimes, many sins, for what others may think.

Yet, I am able to understand that that person who once came against almost 7 commandments of God, yes, me who also, allowed my friends to rip the pages off my bible and use them as rolling papers for smoking Marijuana, to steal even from gasoline even from the gas stations and my own family, precious things and my precious things as well, to dishonour my family, my parents, to misuse Gods name and take him in vain, to commit adultery and many other things that came to a point in which I lost my own family, threatened my sister to death and threw her out of the house.... and so one, that person who once did that, can now understand that that was the old her and not the new her, it's been four years since I met God for the first time and it was hard for me to say many things, to admit to many things but hey, we are not perfect, all of us have sins which he have committed and there is hope for everyone.

No matter what you have done, where you have been, God has always, does and still love you and will always love you no matter what, no matter who dirty and unworthy you might think you are; you are worthy and deserve his love as well. His love cleanses us, renews us so we can live a better life and have better values to and for ourselves no matter what others think.

You are worth so much to God and his love goes beyond everything.

God Bless You.