SALVATION - MORE THAN YOUR FUTURE

So you've professed that you are a sinner, confessed that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, asked Him to forgive you and promised to be an obedient Christian.  What now?

Do you realize that your salvation (being saved) is not just your entrance ticket to the pearly gates, living in the glory of God for eternity, but also your salvation NOW?  

We need to look at the big picture here.  Ever since the beginning of time, in Genesis, the stories all lead up to Jesus.  When man sinned against God, he put a wedge between himself and God.  Until God forgives, people will be lost in life.  This is the reason why sinners are clouded in their existence.  There is no peace, joy, and happiness in their life.  Before I got saved, the question haunted me.  Is this all there is to life?  I remember how that felt in my life.  I was in a dead end.  All of my bad decisions previously were now piling up on top of me and I couldn't breathe.  Literally.  When I gave my life to Jesus, there was a renewal, a change if you will that suddenly my life was meaningful.  After receiving the salvation and staying close with God, you will start to experience His grace, His Love, joy in your heart and peace.

You see, God will always take you to a higher level every time you hit a plateau.  He will challenge you to learn the deeper truths in life until "He" starts to make sense.  Just because you know you are saved from eternal damnation, it doesn't mean that you can't be saved from the daily challenges of life.    Paul says in Thessalonians 5:9 that believers will live with Christ in this world (when we are "awake") and in the next (when we are "asleep").  

God chose to save us through His only Son Jesus Christ so as not to pour His anger on us!  And boy, does He have a lot to be angry about!

Hey, you know, thank God for Jesus!  Can you imagine if we were living as they did in the old testament and every time we sin we would have to make an animal offering to God in order to be forgiven?  I mean I have three dogs, and I'm pretty sure that by now they all have been offered!  What's next? My kids?  So you see how much God loves us?  His perfection enables Him to forgive His own creation, in His own image... His children.  Us.  But there is a breaking point as well.  Just because God doles out forgiveness, it doesn't mean we have carte blanche to commit sins.  We have a responsibility to achieve and attain the best possible height of his expectations of us.

Think about it.  Until my next rant.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

The Power to Forgive

There is a wall that separates two people who refuse to forgive each other.  The wall may be paper thin but yet, it is strong enough to separate them.  Unforgiveness is irrelevant unless the two parties mean that much to each other.  They could be family members, friends, spouses, etc.  The devil is given the power to keep one from the other.  

But God has the super power that He wants all of us to have.  That power is Forgiveness.  This is a very powerful tool in our arsenal that was given to us freely by God.  To illustrate, God is the highest of all high but yet, even during the time of the old testament, when people atoned with him using a sacrificial lamb, He was guaranteed to forgive them.  Someone who holds the highest power, being able to forgive.  

As a young child, my mother always told me that I should forgive my siblings when they do me wrong.  It was the hardest thing a child who has very little understanding of forgiveness.  She used to say, "Be the bigger person."  It makes a lot of sense now but at that time, my strong will refused to do so.  It was because I believed that if I forgave someone, they would have the upper hand on me.  And that carried throughout my adult life, until I was twice born.

Forgiveness breaks the chains of bondage from our past.  Whether we are the ones seeking forgiveness from Jesus or we are the ones whose forgiveness is sought after.  It sets us free nonetheless.  Forgiveness slays resentment and hate, shame and bitterness.

Who says forgiving someone is easy?  Well, it isn't.  Not even for God.  It cost Him His only Son, Jesus Christ.

Forgiveness is not forgetfulness.  We can hold out forgiveness because we can't forget the hurt that person caused.  Let's be clear.  Forgetting is a change of memory (which of course is impossible), but forgiveness is a change of heart.

Forgiveness is not diminishing the evil that was done to us, if that is so we wouldn't need to forgive.  It does however, come in light of evil, in spite of it, not in ignorance of it.

Forgiveness is not destructive.  When one forgives, there is no violence empowered or abuse to go on, but instead surrenders the hurt up to God to handle.  God is the judge, remember?

Forgiveness doesn't mean you approve of the situation that happened.  If so, you wouldn't need to forgive, right?

So, peek above that wall and learn to forgive.  There are a myriad more reasons to do so, I'm sure you can think of some.  Above all, we are honoring God when we forgive.  We are saying, "Lord, if you can forgive the worse of the worst possible sin, who am I to hold out on forgiveness?"  Simple as that!  No, really it is simple if you make a paradigm shift in your heart. In the end, Love prevails!

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

WIP SPRINGTIME IN PARIS

Finished!

I love Paris in the Springtime- still have a few finishing touches left to do!

THE ENEMY ALWAYS LURKS

(In my sketchbook)

Getting ahead of the mind game is a round-the- clock task.  The mere profession of one’s salvation is not the end of the battle but rather, the beginning.  When our defenses our down, which I might add, often, the enemy is right there ready to pounce.  The pounce, when unnoticed, begins to fester like a wound once small and neglected leading to spiritual death.

I say this because immediately after being saved and dedicating my life to Jesus, I thought I was scot free.  After all, the Bible says that once saved we are clothed with the armor of God.   As true as that may be, it is quite important to realize that we are still mere mortals, of the flesh and hold our own will.  

My desire to get swept away by a godly man overwhelmed my awareness of the wiles of the enemy.  As a baby Christian, I thought that the man who eloquently talked about God 24/7 was truly my knight in shining armor.  Whenever a red flag is waved in front of my face, I dismissed it as one of human imperfection.  Slowly, but surely, those very imperfections became the biggest lie known to mankind (in my own opinion).  Selfishness took over.  Soon, I was someone’s property.  I was isolated from my family, especially my children, one of whom was living with us.  I have become the experimental monkey to someone’s egotistical spiritual project.  "How far can I push this woman to be under my control, my beck and call, enough to break her while I dig my claws into her that juxtaposes to her whole family?" This is how the enemy works.  he is not happy with one person, instead he must recruit the whole lot.

In Galatians 3: 1-3 it reinforces that if you have seen the vision of Jesus on the cross, that is enough for us to believe that it is the law of God that stands, not our own desires, not of our own accord.  It is foolish for us to believe that after we have started our new lives in the Spirit, we tend to revert back to our own human efforts, which is sure to fail.  

At times we forget that as mere mortals, and as Christians, we think that God backs up our own desires and arrogantly think that God approves of every self-serving thing we do just because in our own minds we believe that it is right and customized to our own ideals.  Sorry to say that self-righteousness is not righteousness.  Righteousness is striving to be like Christ.  Notice I didn’t say being like Christ?  No one can be Christ, we can only strive to be like Him.  

In everything, we have to consult God.  In every single minute detail of our lives.  Yes, if you are not sure what to eat for lunch, ask Him.  He is omni-present meaning, He is everywhere, with each and every one of us.  Never make the mistake of likening Him with us.  He lives in a different dimension, a dimension that is unfathomable in our minds.  

Remember that God hates lukewarm.  You are either with Him or against Him.   He said in His word that he will spew you out of his mouth.  I don’t know about you, but I would rather be shot out of a cannon than spewed out of God’s mouth!  I know this to be true.  When I know in my heart of hearts if what I am about to do is wrong, I hear God’s little voice holding me accountable for it.  Regardless of whether I listen to His voice or not, the consequence is quite terrifying, to say the very least.  We all must make a decision today.  Set aside our selfishness, especially pride!  But that is for another post.

And as always…. LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

The Legacy

Instruction manuals are the very first thing we rely on when we get something new from the store in order to effectively use the product, handle new clothing, or even to assemble a piece of furniture.  It's the norm, otherwise we would just be guessing.  We would even go as far as wish our own children came with an instruction manual in frustration when they are difficult to handle.

What we fail to realize is that life did come with an instructional handbook.  Personally, I cannot imagine this world without the Bible.  Sure, there are people who go through life without even as much as opening the good Book.  But if it weren't for the Bible, how do we measure our moral compass, to know what is right or wrong? 

You see, good people are not just made.  Somewhere down the line, someone read the Bible and passed it down to their children in the form of discipline.  How do we know discipline if it weren't taught to us?  How do we know kindness if it weren't for the teachings in the Bible?  Better yet, why is the Bible the world's longest running national best seller of all time?

Folks, the Bible was not an accident. God had a plan, He doesn't make any mistakes.  He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  If you don't understand the significance of the Bible stories, God says it over and over again that His law, grace, blessing, mercy and love was, is, and will be available to ALL people.  The only thing He cannot manipulate is our Will.  Our Will is directed by our own decision.  But in order to make the right one, it has to line up with God's.  Ergo, instructional manual, ergo... BIBLE.  Something to think about.

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

AROMATHERAPY - THE SMELL OF NEW RAIN

The smell of fresh new rain is so relaxing.  It reminds me of a fresh start.  I believe I am not the only loving thing that appreciates the smell of rain.  It is the smell of hope for every living creature from God that all the dirt is washed away and a new day is dawning, whenthe sun begins to shine.  All the living things on this earth is renewed much like our spirits, lives and hearts are renewed by the shed of Jesus' blood washing away our sins. 

Come to think of it, after Jesus died on the cross, it rained.

Until my next rant... Love one another!

WHAT IS MORE WEIRD? SPEAKING IN TONGUES OR HIPPO AS A BEAST OF BURDEN?

Is Speaking in Tongues weird?  For me at least, it was.  It’s weird as this hippo beast of burden! When I first heard someone in church speaking in tongues, I laughed.  I understood the power of words, I mean, the world was created from God’s words after all.

But to hear someone speaking in tongues so loudly was pretty strange for me, until…

A physically abusive relationship is one’s own personal hell.  When you live in hell on earth, you live with satan right up under your roof.  It is perhaps easy to empathize and even sympathize with someone going through constant hell but you never really understand the agony unless you become a player in someone’s reality.

Imagine yourself living with a man who works from home, you are the submissive helper, not by your own choice, but because you were TOLD it was being obedient to God.  You have maybe two days a week of good interactions and then out of nowhere, and without warning, you are taken for a harrowing ride.  All of a sudden the face changes.  A look of evil, dead eyes, booming voice spitting out irrational reasons why he is angry at you.  It could be as simple as watching football and all of a sudden turning the tv off believing that the reason for your interest in the game was for the purpose of watching men's derriere.  WHAA???

In the middle of one night around 2am, you are awakened by bedroom lights being turned on, covers being stripped off, being pulled to sit up.  Imagine your shock when you find yourself yelled at and scolded.  You beg for him to wait until the morning to discuss it after the kids are safe in school but there was no negotiating with a monster.

Yes, it happened.  I sat there praying inside for God to make it stop but it seemed the more I ignored his rants, the angrier he became.  When he did, his blue eyes got darker and darker until it was almost black, dead and cold.  It was at that point I knew there was going to be violence.  I’ve seen it before when I got kicked and then picked up like a rag doll and thrown out to the front lawn by big Brutus in the middle of a cold November night.

As he raised his large muscular hand I snapped a pointed finger about 1/2 an inch from his face and sternly said NO! “Don’t you raise your hand at me!”  I didn't know where that bravery came from, to be honest.  And out of nowhere, the words just spilled out of my mouth, words I’ve never heard before, words that was not my own Tagalog, not English, not Spanish… The words were weird, they were praying words, words that I knew only God could understand, the gift of the Holy Spirit and it came over me.  It spilled uncontrollably from my lips and it lasted for about 30 seconds.  satan with his hand mid-strike froze, like the salt statue in Sodom and Gomorrah.   During my speaking in tongues experience even I was shocked, but I felt victorious.  Slowly his eyes and face relaxed.  His hand fell to his side.  He turned and walked away, shut the light off and closed the door behind him.  The full armor of God was  there at that very moment protecting me!  I’m sold!  My faith is so strong today and I attribute part of that strength from this experience. 

Hell released from my life the day I left him.  I wasn’t sad, I was free!  I knew then I couldn’t be defeated, will never be alone because I always have God protecting me.  He is the constant in my life and I don’t depend on any flawed human before I depend on God.  This is my testimony and I share it with anyone who may be in that same situation I was in, and also never to doubt or sneer at anyone who speaks in tongues.  It is the gift of the Holy Spirit.  It is a language only you and God can understand, not another human and certainly not satan.

Please do not feel bad for me for that kind of experience.  It was unfortunate at the time but I am in a very good place currently and I thank God for those types of experiences and draw strength from it when needed.

Until my next rant… LOVE ONE ANOTHER!