Godly Warriors

Forgiveness

2009-12-08T06:28:00.000-08:00

We all understand the general concept of forgiveness, but most of us are not especially proficient on the specifics on how to do it. So, in my next posts I'll be talking about forgiveness and what the action of accepting and releasing forgiveness for our lives...

Let's take a look at the first step

. Acknowledge that you have been seriously hurt.

- The starting point for being pursuing forgiveness is to admit that you’ve really been hurt. We like to pretend like what he said didn’t really bother us or what she did didn’t even phase us, but until we are willing to admit that we were hurt by them, we’re not in a place where we can begin to pursue forgiveness.

- There are many incidents in life that are not candidates for forgiveness - things like minor disappointments or passing slights. Situations that require forgiveness are ones where the pain inflicted is personal, unfair, and deep. Things like betrayal and brutality (physical or emotional) come to mind.

- At this point, as we hurt, we are likely to find some hatred in our heart. Hatred, of course, is never a good thing, but we must be careful that we don’t try to get rid of it by covering it up. When we find that hate in our heart, that’s simply a sign we’re going to need to forgive.

Stay tune for more on forgiveness...God bless

2009-11-12T12:50:00.001-08:00

Mistakes

2009-11-04T14:06:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone...

I've been trying to figure out what I could write about and was having a hard time doing so..
But today , while looking back on my songs list , I ran across a song called "Take you back" , which many of you know already and it's sung by Jeremy Camp.

Before the songs starts he talks about how he made mistakes in his life and the way God trated those mistakes.
It's undeniable that we are sinners and that there is nothing worthy or good in us. Moreover, we are far from being worthy of receiving God's love. We serve a God that is so holy and that hates sin so much that if it wasn't for His grace and Love we would never have a relationship with Him.
Now, one of the things that drifts us away from Jesus is not realizing that...
I mean, some people really do think that they have sinned so much and tghey have done such bad things that there is no way that God can forgive them. There's no way that this Holy God wants to have anything to do with them.
My friend, if you find yourself in this position , don't let the enemy mess with your mind. God has loved you from the beginning , He has made you and He has a porpuse for your life. He sent His one and only Son so that you could have this relationship with Him. He has made several attempts to call you during your day , He has loved you first and He will never give up on you. He is our heavenly Father and He will always take you back, regardless of what you have done. Trust Him , don't let other circumstances be bigger or more important than Him in your life. There's nothing better than living with Him and in Him.

How dare you

2009-10-26T04:26:00.000-07:00

Pr Mark Driscoll gives us a wise word on how to be real men of God.

Passionate Warrior

2009-10-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

· God has given us gifts, He’s given us passion , He’s given us abilities, He’s planned us specifically at this time and place so that He could use us. He has a purpose for our lives, every warrior has a cause to fight for. We can’t only fight, until we don’t find the cause for which we have to fight for, we can’t truly live. Sometimes we feel hopeless and we wake up every morning with an empty feeling inside, that’s because we don’t have a cause , we don’t know what we’re living for. If we are willing to give up our dreams , our plans to Him, He will be able to do great things in us. Often we try to find the cause of our lives in our job, in our marriage, in our own plans, in our financial success. What’s interesting is that , if that is the main cause we’re fighting for, then the more we get these things, the more miserable we become.

· We need to understand that we are created beings, we have a creator . We didn’t come out of no where. This God created us for one purpose, to have an intimate relationship with Him and to worship Him. That is the original plan. That’s what we were created for .

We were created to be eternal beings, that’s the original plan…and what do we do? We live and fight for the things of this world.

· The first and the last thing Jesus said publicly : “Go and make disciples, tell them the good news” , what do we do? Ignore this commandment and live a selfish life.

· We’re fighting for the wrong cause, we’re living with the wrong priorities, as a result we will never be satisfied and find our purpose in life.

I In one of the speeches made by John Eldrege he said, “the universe is so vast and ageless, that the life of one man can only be justified by the measure of his sacrifice.

· My question is: How much are we willing to sacrifice for God? (this is a quote I used from my nephew Reisy) How much are we willing to live a selfless life and sacrifice our time and comfort for the sake of others? How much are we willing to sacrifice, to tell the good news to the people who don’t know Christ in spite of the mocking and the rejection? How much are we willing to sacrifice to live everyday not just fitting God into our agenda but making Him the center of our everyday life and giving 100% of our lives to Him?

· If we are willing to sacrifice our life for the purpose of living for the right cause, God will do great things in our lives. He will do things that you thought were impossible.

· What causes are you most passionate about in your life right now?

· Take a moment to meditate on this verses and ask God to give you the right cause to fight for...

John 10:10

· Luke 4:18

Marvelous Grace

2009-10-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I sort of have been having busy days in the past week , however I think I'm back to my normal routine.
I was surfing on youtube and checking out some videos and I ran across this one:

Now what is the first word that comes to your mind when you finished watching it?
For me was definetely "GRACE" ,simply grace

In Ephesians 4:22-24 we read that we were taught, with regard to our former way of life, to put off our old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of our minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

When we think of grace (I was like this) what immediately comes to our mind is...salvation . How God was so graceful in sending His one and Only Son to die for us and to rescue us from eternal pain and suffering. The deal is , grace is everything! From the Genesis 8:21 up to present days , God has made , is making and will make several graceful attempts in rescuing people that have decided to live independently of Him. Sometimes we are so caught in our problems and struggles that we end up forgetting God's grace and as a result we get so frustrated due to our failures at trying to be perfect and performing none less than the excellence and in the end blame God for the things that had a bad ending. Again, we end up thinking that grace is a once in a lifetime situation , the act of Jesus on the cross. It's not, it's by grace that we breath, it's by grace that we have healthy bodies, it's by grace that we have freedom, it's by grace we are forgiven day after day for our sins, it's by grace that we live! We gotta start understanding that only because of God's grace are we able to put off our old self and put on our new self, righteous and holy, to pratice this day after day. By the grace of God we are all equal and we are all in Jesus co-heirs of God and therefore we can rejoice in that fact. We live by the grace of God, every second , every minute , everyday of our lives. We gotta know deep inside that whatever we do , will not be enough to buy our way into heaven, because by grace , Jesus already paid that price. We can't live our days trying to live up to expectations, because we are sinners, and whatever we do for God is accepted by Him through His grace and not because we are sufficiently good. If it wasn't for His grace our offerings and everything we did for God, would be worth no more than garbage. But by His grace we are healed, by His grace we are restores daily, By His grace we are loved unconditionally and when we get that, we will be able to freely worship and serve God, and not living up to our own expectations and our own excellence.

Christ Follower X Christian : Light onto others

2009-10-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

I write this to Christian's today. So, if you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, this message is not for you. But I would say, you need Christ. Like the flowers need the sun and the rain, so too does the soul need Christ and the Holy Spirit. If you want to talk about it, my e-mail is on this site . One of these days I really should write a post on becoming saved, but that will have to wait.

To my brothers and sisters in Christ, we have a problem. For just one moment, I want you to think about the people around you. Now, eliminate from your thinking those around you whom you know to be Saved. If you are anything like me, you still have a large number of people in your thoughts. Now, I want you to think of how you've tried to reach those every same people.

Have you really done so? Or, have you done the typical Christian responses. If you are confused or would like to see what I mean, please, read on. I have noticed an alarming trend the last couple of years, and I find it to be getting far worse. We Christians are gaining but two responses to those trapped in their sin. Neither response is what we should be using.

The first response, "I'm Christian, you're unclean, stay away." Or, as I like to put it, "This is my Light, get your own." Some Christians have this habit (I know I have some guilt in this as well) to cover up themselves from loving those around them, and just get disgusted by those in sin. Instead of shining as a light to a dark and lightless world, they cover their lamp. This should not be so, for:

14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. -Matthew 5:14-16.

Very clearly we are commanded to shine our light into the world. Yes it may be hard, but God gives us nothing which we cannot bear ( 1 Cor. 13). I know stepping out in faith can be hard, but we have to, for if we don't, who will?

The second response that bothers me, "I'm a Christian and I'm going to shove it in your face as much as I can." First of all, this response is so very prideful (I know I have been guilty of doing this myself). Yes, you know Christ, but don't forget those who still need Him! When we push it in people's faces that we're Christians all the time, it puts them off because all they see is our pride. Am I saying stay away from the fact you know Christ? No, I am not. I am Christian and will gladly say so, but I need only tell those around me once that I'm Saved, then I should let my actions and my words speak for themselves and if that fails me, let God take over.

Also, with the mindset that you're somehow better than those around you because of your faith, you fail to be able to teach the Truth in love which we know to do in Ephes. 4:15.

Do I write this to condemn my brothers and sisters in Christ? No, I write it as a reminder for us all, for we all a guilty of falling short of the Glory of God, but greater is He who is in us, and with Him all things are possible. This is also meant to lift up my brothers in sisters in Christ, we all struggle, but there is always hope as long as Christ remains, and He shall forever and ever. Peace be with you.

Christ Follower X Christian : Totally Dependent Part 2

2009-10-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I'd like to apologize for not being so present in my posts as I'd like to, but many things have been happening simultaneously and I haven't had the time to dedicate to my post as I would like to. But , here I am!!
I was going to write about another topic but I thought that it'd be better to stick to this topic for a bit longer.
I wonder sometimes what it is to be totally dependent of God and to give all of what youve got to God. Our pastor said something really interesting this past weekend, and it made me think for long hours about this. What exactly is it for you to hand over the control of your life to God? Is there a diference between controlling your life and letting God make part of it and Letting God control you life and you make part of His plans and dreams?
What I have seen is that people have been making the choice of initially handing everything over to God, for a while. Then, as soon as things start getting a bit tough or not the way "they" planned things out, they start getting a hold of things back again. It's like you've trusted God, but you still wanted to keep control of things, you still wanted to have a hold of things, you still wanted to play God's role in life. So we can get a better image of what happens, imagine you have a chair and you hand this chair over to God while sitting on it, but suddenly you start noticing that things are getting out of hand, and you start putting on foot down, and then things continue not going the way you planned, and you decide to put another foot down, and then things get totally out of "your" control (which initially you handed over to God) and you put both of your hand out of the chair. As soon as you know, you're no longer in God's care but under you own care, your own sense of control and very far away from GOd. When you noticed, you have taken the chair back into your own arms and your life is back to where it was before, to the way it was before...Living a life dependent of God has a high cost, what is this cost?
To trust Him 100% and whatever may happen , you may know that He is in control.
You want to hear something interesting? The human kind has had this act of independence form God for thousands of years, they have trusted no one but themselves. As a result we see a world desperately shouting for help...even so, people still think that they have control over things...One of my students last week asked me the following question: Is a human being naturally righteous and the society messes him up or is the human being naturally messed up and the society keeps him balanced in righteousness? I couldn't believe the level of independence and selfishness in that sentence! The human kind ? able to keep other people in balance?
What this guy said, was simply: I trust myself and I think I'm enough to do what I need to do, I don't need anyone, not even God!
If you are someone like this , and you think you're good enough to keep your life balanced, think again! We were created for Him and by Him and in Him alone will we find balance for our lives. Being dependent of God, is having both of your feet and arms in the chair, is handing everything over to Him and closing your eyes and not fearing what may happen , is to let go of EVERYTHING that is in your hands ans trust Him to be in control.

Christ Follower X Christian : Totally Dependent

2009-10-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

In Every breath we take, everymove we make, every single act we perform we are totally dependent of God, whether we believe it or not , whether we want it or not.

What does God represent to you? When you call out the name of God , what comes to your mind?

I'll let these videos from Pr.Rob Bell speak and that these words stick to your heart.

First Video

Second Video

Christ Follower X Christian : Discipleship

2009-09-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hello guys! Today I want to start off by asking you all a question...

What was the first thing Jesus said Publicly ?

Jesus said "follow me and I'll make you fishers of men!"

I'll have you put down your nets and everything esle you're busy with, and whatever

you consider important for your life and I'm gonna change you , and you will start fishing

for people. Rescueing them , being the watchman, telling them that there is this great God , that

you can put your trust in Him, that there is salvation for you.

Now, what were the Last words of Jesus?

- Go on to all the world and make disciples of all nations.

The purpose of you and me being saved is not to make money and get rich, it's not to

follow rules and rituals and it's definetely not to live a comfortable life, the purpose of being saved is to fish for men, make disciples, spread out the good news, and everything in between!

Now, you wanna know what really bugs me? The fact that these were the first and the last statement made publicly by Jesus ( Meaning, there is a great value to it) and still, there are so many people sitting at church for years and years and are not able to name one disciple!

We created a system where we will be doing other things rather than be out there fishing for men, fishing for souls...you know why? It's because are ashamed of sharing the gospel, we don't want to tell people about this Jesus, we are gonna be laughed at and rejected, because we live in a time where people reject the idea of having a God that is sovereign and peole simply don't want to live their lives under God's plan, they simply don't accept the fact of having someone telling them what they should do. So, do we go out there and tell other people of His great love and grace? Do we tell them that there is a God who has plans and dreams for their lives that are indescribable and unimaginable, bigger than they ever thought about?

Of course not, because we rather stay home , creating systems where we can stay home , sit back comfortably and do some religious rituals during our week and not make any disciples.

I'd rather do just about anything than making disciples, I'd rather consume my time with comfortable activities than taking the risk of being mocked and rejected because I shared the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But guess what? At the end of our lives , you will be standing before God and He will ask you:

-"where are your disciples? " Didn't you read what was written in the bible?"

The matter is, if you are a believer of what God has done in your life thru Jesus Christ, why are you not making disciples? Why are you not telling your next door neighbor about Jesus? Why are you hiding under a church roof and creating a fortrees around you where you have no contact with these people? Why gather on sunday mornings and talk about what the scriptures teaches us and not pratice it out? What's the point?

Christ Follower X Christian : Being distracted

2009-09-22T17:22:00.000-07:00

When we watch this video is hard to focus on what the man is trying to tell us. Looking at what the man behind him is doing is much more interesting and amusing. I mean, how many times have you heard this passage? How many sermons people make out of this passage? It's always the same thing...
Many of us have been distracted by the wrong things, we have been distracted by our "friends", by addiction, by temptation, by entertaining ourselves with other things rather than God, making up exceuses for not going to church, for not serving, for not praying, and for not seeking God. It's really easy to be distracted by other things. Get led astray by more "interesting" things than God. The problem is that when we start being easily distracted by other things , we begin falling into religious rituals and we begin thinking that reading the bible for a couple of minutes a day will do, praying before lunch is enoguh, or how about giving a homeless guy some coins that were left from your brand new 52" inch LCD TV. You get so easily distracted that you begin to think that it's ok to trade God for a game on TV, it's ok not to pray once in a while, because you know , tere was this real good movie on TV, it's alright to not read the bible everyday, because I had some papers to finish for work or school , for next week. It's ok, it's alright, no problem...
Really? Is it really ok to trade the creator of the universe, the God who left everything to be nailed to a cross for my sins and your sins, the everlasting Father and the lover of your soul for things that will pass away, things that will not be eternal? Is it really ok to live a life being distracted and making up excuses for not serving God and serving others just because you rather fulfill your personal needs? God is calling us to live fully devoted to Him and dedicate everything in our lives to Him. It's not wrong to have some personal entairtment and enjoyment, but it is wrong to trade God for your personal satisfaction! Think about it, how easily have you been distracted and drifted away from God? Isn't time to go back to His arms and let Him be everything for you?

The choice we have!

2009-09-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

In the first post about Adam that I placed here I talked about how Adam was created and how he carried on his life in the garden and at the same time how he kept a close and intimate relationship with God. After the fall, the human being race lost this privelege that was later on restored through the death of Jesus in an incredible act of grace and Love from the Father. Christ was beaten and nailed to a cross because of my sins and your sins so that we could have that intimate relationship with God that once existed in the Garden of Eden.Everyday we are given the opportunity of walking with Him, everyday He reaches out His hand for me and you in an infinite act of love, everyday we are left with the choice of being totally dependent of Him and living within His purposes or being indenpendent and "think" we are living the best part of life. Due to Jesus' amazing love for us the veil was torn and our connection was once again restablished with our God. There's nothing that should be compared to having a life lived in total dependence of God. The bible tells us that when we find God , it's like finding treasure. There's nothing in this world that's worth holding on to, theres nothing in your life that can be compared to the greatness of knowing Jesus, there are no plans nor dreams that are bigger than God's plans or dreams for your life. Today, make the choice of having Him as your closest friend, make the choice of going back to the garden of Eden and having a personal and intimate relationship with God. Make it count , make it Eternal!
For God so love the world that He gave His only Son, that so whomever belives in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. This should be the anxiety of your heart, this should be the cry of our lives. John 3:16

Choosing Independence...

2009-09-07T07:41:00.000-07:00

As they grew closer in their relationship with God they also began to grow closer to each other. At the end of the day, at sunset, God walked with them thru the green fields of the garden and God shared with them moments of unforgatable experiences.Everything was so good and perfect. In the midst of their wanderings along the garden, Eve set out to grab something to eat and as she walked along the shore of the Pishon River, she suddenly found herself staring at the tree of Konwledge of good and evil. She remembered that Adam had mentioned about "Not eating from this tree". However, her curiosity was greater and as she drew nearer to that tree, she was able to see a unusual animal, craftier of the other ones, it was a serpent. As she approached it,the serpent said:" Did God say you really can't eat from this tree?"
Eve Said: " We can eat from all the trees form the garden, but God told us to not eat from this tree".
The serpent very smartly replied:" Of course He would say that, cause He knows that once you have eaten from this tree , you will be like Him and Knowing good from evil"
Eve thought about it while staring at the tempting fruit and imagining what sort of things she would be able to know and have! Little did she know....
She couldn't resist the thought of having this power, she grabbed the fruit and took a bite! Probably seeing that nothing had happened at the immediate moment, she took it to her husband and without resisting or giving it a second thought, He took a bite out of the fruit.
As Adam swallowed the fruit he felt the blood running faslty thru his veins, his body shaken by fear and his eyes opened to reality. With this, came shame and they immediately grabbed fig leaves and covered themselves from nakedness.
Moments after, they heard the voice of the Lord,the same voice that was once pleasing and welcoming , at that moment, drove a regretful feeling thru their body, knowing that they had done something unpleasing to the Lord. They hid behind the bushes of the Garden, as if that would hide them from the "Presence"
The Lord Called out again: " Adam...Eve...Where are you?"
Adam replied: " I heard you were in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked!"
The Lord asked: " Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree?"
The man immediately replied:" It was the woman you gave me, she handed me the fruit"
The Lord asked Eve: " What is this you have done?"
The woman at its turn , also blamed the Serpent! "The serpent deceived me and I ate"
In the same way as it had all began, it had ended. All those marvelous things that surrounded them, had become history. Now, they had given the first step to the longing desire of the human being of living independently og God's will.

What is wrong with the world??

2009-09-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

I know that we started talking about Adam's life and how his story relates to our lives but today I was surfing thru the site "tangle" and I think God wanted me to see this video so I could share it with all of you. Sometimes , we ask the question :
- Why is the world like this?
- Why are people starving,hating or comitting wrongs deeds?
- Why is the world so devastating?

One word : Independence of our Creator!
Watch this video and you will probably get an idea of what I'm talking about.

The most beautiful Creation

2009-09-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

If there was ever a man who felt to be satisfied in his environment, this man would be Adam. There in the garden he had all these creatures, vegetation with its fruits and above all, the presence of God. But it wasn't enough, something was lacking!
Deep inside his soul, Adam urged for something or someone beside him.
So God's voice came to Adam and said , It is not good that you may be alone, I'll make you Helper suitable for you. First he was drowsy and then a fatigue came over Adam and he laid down on the grass and closed his eyes. It was like a flashing moment, then right after falling asleep , he woke up. While trying to focus on the scene, he could see another being laying right beside him, His heart started punding inside his chest from seeing the beauty of this creature, somewhat like him, diferent though from other types of creatures. When he got up on his feet, Adam offer his hand to the woman, helping her to get up. They smiled and gently reached out their arms towards each other until they were finally embracing each other. Adam slided his fingers over the woman's cheek and her presence filled the emptyness in his heart. A PERFECT PARTNER.
Adam had an unexpected sensation of fufillment. She was someone that he could share the beauty and wonders of the garden. Happiness flooded his heart and made him smile.
"I'm Adam" he said.
She smiled accordendly.
"And you're Eve"
He took her by the hand and they went into the forest. He began to tell her about his "birth", the living creatures, and the taste of the fruits that could be found in the garden. Adam told Eve about the God and how Eve was the answer to his dreams.

Adam and Us

2009-09-01T06:47:00.000-07:00

He suddendly found himself laying there and for the first time he has opened his eyes and found everything around him to be amazing and new. He could not really understand what was going on. Beautiful scenery, incredible creatures, everything seemed so perfect. "Where am I?" , he asked, astounded by the things that were sorrunding him, fascinated by the wonders that reached beyond the horizon. Suddenly he heard a authoritic, but yet gentle and loving voice saying: "I've created you, with my hands I molded you into my likeness, I have chosen to gracefully love you and be your Father and you will be my son, and so I'll give you this place as an inheritance to represent my fathership ; you shall dominate all the things that your eyes can see and every living creature will be under your command.Everyday we will walk together and we will share an intimate relationship just like a Father and a Son.
Adam was amazed! How could this be?! Even so, Adam could feel peace and above all feel something that was beyond any explanation, TRUE INFINITE LOVE!
As days went on, they walked together and Adam could experience unforgetable moments with His Father. Moments of authentic intimacy with the Father, where Adam could share his life with the everlasting God.
But the best part of the creation was yet to come....

Faith X Deeds

2009-08-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I gotta confess that what I'm about to share with you guys is something that is somewhat polemic and in fact I can't quite answer this question myself:
Is your faith valid if you don't do any deeds for the kingdom of God?
As we read Romans 10:9 , it is clear to us that " if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved".

But somewhere along my meditations and reading of the bible I also read this verse found in James 2:16-19 "If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. "
And then it the last verse it says , "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

I gotta say that this really placed a lot of questions in my heart as to what "having faith" really means!
So, I'll probably place more questions than comments on this specific post.
You see, nowadays people are going to "church" for all sorts of reasons , except for the right one. As we read back in Acts we start realizing that the "church" we are used to experience today is totally different from that of Acts 4:32-35. People believe in Jesus not for Who is but What He can offer to them and definetely the last word people want to hear is "sacrifice" and " Serve".
I mean, I'm not putting into doubt here the grace and the love of Christ , because once you confess that He is saviour and Lord of your life, our lives are changed. However, what James is literary saying is: " Your words help you, your actions help people".
In my mind, authentic faith comes by actions and if we are not willing to serve and reach out/ serve other people , I really don't think we much faith at all. Because we won't be able to be so close to this Wonderful,graceful, loving God and still not have an urge in our hearts to serve and love others. It may seem a little radical, but I'm guessing here that if you are not able to serve and to help others in need , than your "faith" is a corpse. It's dead , it's useless. What James is telling us is, you are not a Christian by the things you say but by the things you do! We have to stop bragging about how awesome we are at playing an instrument at church, or how well we can memorize bible verses or how many bumper stickers we have in your car with little fishes , brag about how much we believe in Jesus , when even demons believe(but that doesn't mean they are saved) and in the end your actions are meaningless, you don't have any God-like actions. You see, I'm not really sure how God will judge people once we awake from this world, I don't know what standards He will use to judge us, but if you wanna take the risk of sitting at church and "appearantly" be a christian and just because you made a confession once in your life that Jesus can save , go right ahead! I rather go along with this song from Cating Crowns and not take this risk!

New Topic

2009-08-26T08:12:00.001-07:00

Hi Guys,

In the next few weeks in my posts, we will be taking about the men of the bible , from Adam to Jesus and how their roles relate to our lives and what lessons we can learn from them.I pray it may be a blessing for your life!

Spiritual Battle

2009-08-26T05:44:00.000-07:00

It's kind of akward to to talk about SPIRITUAL BATTLE and how this is frequently ignored by Christians on our day to day. In Ephesians 6:12 we read that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the forces of evil. We tend to believe that everything that goes on our daily lives is part of something natural, it just happens, it’s ok, you know, people are just mean!

We see this everyday on the 7 o’clock news, it’s all around us, it’s happening all the time; and we as Christians should not see this simply as something natural, because it’s not! At least it's not always like this! When we decided to accept Jesus as our Savior we also decided to take part in a war that is far more complex than a war made by men’s hands.

We need to realize that we are warriors of Christ, we have weapons, armors and we need to be constantly watching out for what’s going on in the spiritual world. Remember that once you’ve decided to be a follower of Christ the devil will pursue you , he will condemn you , he will do everything to take your focus off Jesus.

But we are men of God, we have to know that we were given these weapons so that we can pray, we can fast , we can give and we can sacrifice ourselves in order to reach out to people who haven’t gotten a chance to know Jesus. And for all you married men, remember , you are the spiritual leader of your family, you are in charge of doing all these things that I mentioned, for your family. God will question you about your wife, your children and the responsibilities He gave you as a spiritual warrior of your family.

Of course we shouldn’t assume that everything is due to the Devil’s influence, some of the bad things that happen in our lives is just part of our sinful nature. You know, those peole who blame the devil for everything ( I've already seen people blaming the devil for tripping on a rock) However, be sure that the devil will use each and every gap that you give him, be sure that he will be waiting for you to slip and devour your faith. Be strong, focus on Christ and be the Spiritual warrior that God created you to be.

Our Heavenly Dwelling

2009-08-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today I was reading and meditating on 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and God reminded me of our purpose here and that we tend to forget when we get so ditracted by the things of this world. On verse 1 Paul tells us that the "tent" that we live nowadays will be destroyed. It's funny to see Paul refering to our earthly house as "tent". You see, here Paul picked out a word which could best represent what our house here on earth is similar to. If you've been camping before you probably know that we use the "tent" for the time we will be in camping ground it's something temporary , it's something that won't be forever. So Paul here is telling us, don't be so fixed to your "tents" here on earth because they will be destroyed, we have a an eternal house in heaven made by God and not built by the hand of men. What worries me is, have we really been depositing our efforts , our hope, our entire life for this "tent" we have nowadays or for the eternal house made by God? Have we been living for today like there's no tomorrow, have we been living for the things here, because if we have , we are losing our time, we are losing our energy , we are losing our life! No matter how strong you have built your house here , no matter how rich you are, no matter how great is your status, you gotta keep in mind, it will vanish, it will be destroyed. Don't accumulate riches here, don't invest your life in the things that are temporary "tents". Instead, accumulate treasures in heaven,invest your time in relationships, invest your time in knowing Jesus Christ more intimately. Because in the end only these things will matter , only these things will remain.

2009-08-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

2009-08-17T16:58:00.001-07:00

If God is so powerful, Why do bad things Happen?

2009-08-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! This post will be shorter than the last ones , but I will talk about a question that probably has been in everyone's mind: "If God is so powerful, Why do bad things Happen? ''
Now, let's think about some points here.
1- He is powerful indeed, and above all He is omnipresent, great, wonderful, marvelous and everlasting loveable and in His great love for us He gifted us with free will , to do what we "thought " was best for our lives. See, His love is so great for us that He choose to make free willing people, peole who would have choice, people who would have natural desires. But instead of using this free wil and desire to hand over our lives to his care we decided to be independent of God, (men's biggest mistake ever) as a result we ended up being selfish people, egocentric people and detestable people.
2- We are all sinners, stained by the things of this world , undeserving of God's love and care, but still His love is extended to us day after day.
3- I don't think that we are asking the right question. The right question is :
" Why God being so powerful that even when I fall into sin and make awful mistakes does He not destroy me with His wrath? Him , being so good and me being so full of stains and mistakes, why does he remain Merciful and good?
So, when we ask this second question , we will start understading why...
You see when we ask the first question, we believe in the supremecy of men, "how dare God not imploy His power on behalf of all mighty men?" You have to change the question around, "how can I so sinful in nature , still come in the presence of all mighty,all holy God?

Are you Courageous?

2009-08-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

Often times we man see ourselves as the strong sex in the gender world, we are the one's who will stand up for what we think it's right and pitty of the people who will comfront us. Once I listened to a Pastor's sermon where he was telling a story that one day he was driving up a street where he lived and in front of him was a 75 year old man who at a certain moment accidently hit a cyclist and kncked him down to the floor. Well, this cyclist got up and just pounded on the old man's car (on the hood) with both hands , walked to the drive'rs side, opened the door and pulled out this 75 year old man and started hammering him in the middle of the street. Meanwhile this Pastor was in one of those moments where you think: " What should I do now?"
Well, he got out of his car and tried to stand in between the old man and this furious cyclist , who had one thing in his mind, "to kill this old man". Suprisingly enough, the pastor also started getting hit and out of the blue the pastor just took a swing at the guys jaw and knocked him out cold. Now although this story may sound to you a little bit out of the ordinary, I confess that I had this dream before ( me being a courageous man,lol) , just taking one swing and knocking somebody out. Imagine that, these things you can only see in Hollywood movies. I guess, any of us man would have the courage to do that in that moment and stand up for someone, you getting beat up and getting pounded by this guy, you would feel as if you were a Hollywood actor and take a swing. Now, let me reset the scenario!
Let's supposed one day you're sitting across a 75 year old man in a train and my question is :
Would you have the courage to stand up and go over to this man and tell him about Jesus?
Hard question ,right? It's funny that we men can be so courageous when it comes to physical strentgh but when the deal is telling someone about Jesus....that's sounds too risky, they may mock me, this may mess up my reputation...Let me appoint a verse that is in Revelation 21:7-8
He goes saying that the one who overcomes will inherit all this , He will be our God and we will be His sons. But the cowardly, the unbelieving , the sexual immoral , etc . These will have their place in the fire of Hell. Now, if you look closely , you will see that the COWARDLY is the first in the list, you may be saying, come on, couldn't it be the sexual immoral first or the liars, I mean I have no problems with that. But no, the cowardly, the cowardly.
Our purpose in this part of eternity is to be disciples of Christ, to tell peole the good news. He died for us, He reedemed us, He suffered in our place and we don't even talk to our next door neighbor about what He did for us. So, my prayer to every men or every person that may read this post is to have a courageous heart, such a passionate love for Jesus that you won't be able to keep this news only to yourself.

PRASING HIM AT ALL TIMES!

2009-07-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

There is nothing better than the feeling of that moment when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. That Unique moment when everything else fades away and all we are can experience is pure joy and the overwhelming presence of God in our body and soul.When we start getting involved with the scriptures and we start understanding the love of God for us, is something like we find in Ezekiel 2:8; 3:3. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you'. . . .Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as
"sweet as honey"
But as we grow in our walk with God, things begin to get tougher and it seems like God isn't working thru us like He used to. It seems that God doesn't respond to our prayers like he used to. It seems as if God isn't as present as He used to be...
We pray and things begin to happen on an oppsoite way that of what we asked for. It seems that the more we pray , the harder things get and it seems as if God has taken a trip and He has forgotten you. It's amazing that we can get so used to God's continous presence operating amazing things in our lives that when we begin to experience God's silence....we begin to ask questions. Is God here? Did he forget me? Has he abandoned me? Did I do something wrong? Am I not praying in the right way?
From reading and meditating on the scriptures I find that God teaches us valuables lesson thru His silence, things like faith and perseverence.When we persevere in our prayers (or pray constantly, with endurance, or unceasingly, or always, etc) we are essentially putting our complete trust the Lord. We are going to him helplessly and presenting our requests to God. When we persevere, our faith and hope is in him. In essence, we are not losing heart. We can go to God and persevere because we know he is omniscient and omnipotent. He will not leave us out to dry. We can know, if we are a true child of God that we can say “Praise God” for a prayer request that happens and say “Praise God” for a prayer request that does not happen. Both happen because God wills and he wants to work everything together for our good (Rom. 8:28). If something doesn’t happen that we ask for, something better is in God’s mind. Something greater is on the way. For these reasons, we can persevere in prayer and pray continually.
See, God teaches us thru this moments of silence how to depend totally on Him, how to live life in an endless perseverence for his presence and domain over our lives. We hunger for God's presence, this was the cry of Job, "Oh, that I knew where I might I find him!" is a timeless expression of the deep yearning of the human spirit. It could have been uttered by men of any race, clime, or time, for it is the soul's most sincere desire. God will never leave us or forsake us, He hears you at any time, anywhere. No matter what kind of hardship or challenge you're going thru we always have a reason to worship and God is this reason. I want to post here a video from a song that shows exactly this.

Sexual Temptation

2009-06-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

What to do when this fact falls on your lap? What to say when you're faced with this situation? It is indeed every mans challenge! In fact, this problem affects more the men than the women. I would like to use again David's example." One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a women bathing. The women was very beautiful and David sent someone to find out about her.(II Samuel 11:2-3). Well , you probably know what happened after that.There are many temptations in this world but few have the strength to to sway a man's heart as a beautiful attractive woman. Now, was David innocent? Did he "undelibelirately" walk onto the roof of the palace and by chance saw Bat-seba bathing?

On the time of spring David sent the army to war against the Ammonites and where was David?

In Jerusalem! Along with being in the wrong place at the wrong time he probably knew in advance of what would happen if he walked up onto that roof and what he would see. Certainly this is the battle for all men. Josh MacDowell once said: "Show me a man who can control sexual temptation and I'll show you someone who can control all the other areas of his life". However, we must be strong and realize that this is battle can't be won without constant discipline of the mind and strong support. Therefore, there is no better place to get started than turning your eyes onto Jesus and reading the scriptures daily and constantely, but don't forget that added help comes form christian fellowship, be sure to get together with you friends, men that can support you. A proverb just for men admonishes: "Do not give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys Kings. (Proverbs 31:3). Remember, it is a true battle to face this and at many times you will find your self surrounded by this temptation. However, at times like this, know that you have a Loving Father and you need to turn you hope and thoughts on Him.

Sincere Chat....

2009-06-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

When I first got converted into christianity I always tried endless times to please God in ways that I thought would be best. I tried to hide out my true feelings and act in a superficial manner with God. When I was angry I pretended to be happy, when I was sad I pretended to be upbeat, and I did this because I felt that a true christian had to always be 100%. However, along the years I felt that God shaped me into what he wanted me to be: "myself!" and above all, show my true feelings. One of my favorite characters form the bible was David. He was a man who had sincere chats with God, showed his true feelings and acknowledged God as his closest friend. I think that many of us are trying to be someone we're not and God is calling us to be authentic men of God, for he loves us in a unique way and he made us to be who we are and he wants us to be sincere and authentic in our daily chats with Him!!!

What I want to say is: If you are happy , express your happiness, if you're angry, shout out to the Lord, let Him hear your cry, If you are sad, pour out your feelings to Him. Beloved Friends, know that God is your Holy Father and that He knows what you want to do or say even before you think about it, so don't try to hide your feelings, pour out your heart to the Father and let him be your closest friend!