The Purpose, the Time and the Way.

Ecclesiastes 8:6 For there is a time and a way for every purpose. A couple years ago, a friend of mine gave me a copy of the very popular book called "the purpose driven life". I confess that I'm not a good reader, but, I read this book very fast. It soon became a "must read" among Christians (at that time already sold over 10 million copies). A lot of churches did that 40 days of purpose study. Of course, just like the other "fix me quickly" kind of books, didn't last longer. Why? If it was so nicely written, so easy to apply, so broaden that any and every church could use as their "new bible"? BECAUSE IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE THERE IS NO QUICK FIX! We are, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:9 ...You are God’s field. God is "cultivating" us! He prepares our field (heart), sows the good seed (His word), waters and gives the growth. But along the way comes the enemy (devil) and throws the bad seed, Matthew 13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. For about "forever", I had this question in my mind: Why does the "bad seed" grows along with the "good one"? The answer we find in Jesus' parable of the sower: When the ground is ready to receive the seed (good ground), whatever is sowed will grow! Do you realize how many times the enemy sows "bad thoughts" in our minds? I'll give you an example. I used to hate people for no reason at all or any reason was a good reason to hate someone, and it used to work like this: I met someone, there was something I didn't like about that person (behavior, appearance, etc.), then I started thinking about it, as I ALLOWED that feeling to grow, in no time I was hating that person, why? Because the enemy sowed that "bad seed" and I ALLOWED it to grow. In Matthew 5:21-23 Jesus puts Murder and Anger without a cause in the same level, so, from Jesus' perspective, I was killing people! Do you remember that old Chinese saying: You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair? It's kinda like that! Bad thoughts (bad seed) will always come; the devil will always throw the bad seed. Our job is to prevent them to grow in our hearts. Going back to the purpose (literally speaking), if we read the story of Joseph, for example, he says to his brothers in Genesis 45:4-5 And Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come near to me." So they came near. Then he said: "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life". If we read carefully, we see that the Purpose (to preserve life), the Time (from the "pit" to becoming governor of Egypt) and the Way (trials and tribulation) worked perfectly to accomplish God's will. Until Joseph's meeting with Pharaoh, God was working IN his life, after that God worked THROUGH his life. If we study the life of other God's servants, we see the same pattern. Even in Jesus Christ's life we see that pattern, for example: Purpose: Our salvation; Time: About 2000 years ago; Way: Cross. Do you remember Jesus' prayer in the garden? Matthew 26:42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done". Since Jesus died on the Cross that was the Way the Father chose to save us. Remember when Jesus turned water into wine, what He said to His mother? John 2:4 Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come". Jesus knew the exact Time He would do it. Unfortunately for us, we're living in a time that everything is for "yesterday", we're always behind, we don't have enough time to do what we suppose to, if we had 48 hours in our day, it wouldn't be enough. We must learn how to discern the Purpose, Time and Way as Jesus did; after all, we are His disciples. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 8:5 Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. We need to pray for wisdom to be able to discern the Purpose, Time and Way. James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Ps.: The only thing I disagree with Mr. Warren is on pg. 10 where he says: The spies were transformed by 40 days in the Promised Land. If you really believe the Bible, you'll see that the spies didn't change a bit, Joshua and Caleb believed, as always, that God delivered the people, including the giants, in their hands. The other 10 were the reason why the people didn't enter in the Promised Land. Besides he assures the on pg. 10 that: The next 40 days will transform your life. My suggestion to you is: Never set a timeline for God to transform you or your loved ones, but always allow God's perfect will to transform you in His Time, by His Way to accomplish His Purpose.

On This "Rock" I Will Build My Church...

Matthew 16:13-20. From my childhood I've been hearing different opinions about what Jesus meant with this statement, some plausible, others fictitious. To me, the "Rock" Jesus is talking about, is the Father's revelation of Jesus, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus is saying that His church will be built in this revelation. This means that the Father wants to reveal (to impart) His Son to us and our objective as God's children is to know His Son. That's probably the reason Jesus made it very clear in Matthew 7:22-23. This passage confirms what God declared in Hosea 6:6. See that Jesus says they will come and tell Him what they did: They prophesied, they cast out demons and done many wonders, all in the Name of Jesus. We need to answer these questions: Can we expel demons, even in the name of Jesus without His power? The answer is no! Acts 19:13-16. Is it really possible to cast out demons (prophesy, etc) in the Name of Jesus and yet do not know Him? I did cast out demons and prophesied in Jesus' name, and I can assure you that is possible. Why? First and foremost: There is Power in the Name of Jesus; second: If you have the gift you can do it! Then you ask: Did this people really had gifts? The answer if found in Romans 11:29. Many pastors and preachers don't believe that is possible to have the calling and gifts and yet don't know Jesus Christ, i believe it is possible! The best examples I can give you, both in the Old and New Testaments, are Saul the king and Judas Iscariot the apostle. Saul prophesied and was anointed as king. Judas was the only apostle who had a "visible" ministry among Jesus' disciples, he had charge of the money. I personally don't believe that gifts and calling are the "evidence" or "assurance" of salvation, I mean, once receiving them one is automatically saved. I believe they only reveal God's character. Think about this: Couple times the Holy Spirit came upon Saul. 1 Samuel 10:9-12; 1 Samuel 19:24. The Holy Spirit left him. If after all of this you still have any doubt that it is possible to have gifts and calling and be rejected by God, I'll give another passage to think about. Hebrews 6:4-6. See that there's the "enlightenment", the "tasting" of the Holy Spirit, the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and yet there's the "fall away", it means that all of this are not the assurance for salvation! The other question is: Do I lose salvation? I believe we don't lose our salvation, otherwise, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ wouldn't be sufficient, but, we must to pay attention in Jesus' words, as in Matthew 7:20; John 17:3.
Conclusion: We can gain the whole world, even for Jesus Christ and yet lose our soul, if we don't make the knowledge of God our way of living.

Submission: To Be Under Christ's Mission.

Submission comes from the latin Submittere and means: sub=under + mittere=let go. It is defined as: To yield or surrender oneself to the will and authority of another, to obey. This is a very controversial issue that has divided the church and led many Christians to abandon their faith, because we are rebellious by nature. Jesus Christ lived a life of perfect submission, and we Christians are called to follow His example. In the Bible we are commanded to submit to God: James 4:7; to submit to our parents: Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20; to submit to the government: Romans 13:1; Titus 3:1; to submit to one another: Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 5:5; wife to her husband: Ephesians 5:24; 1 Peter 3:1. As we see in Jesus’ life, submission is a voluntary act, God never forced Him to do it, Philippians 2:6-8; Matthew 26:39. Jesus Christ fulfilled His mission, the same way we are called to submit ourselves to Christ or to be under Christ’s mission. Probably the most controversial submission is the wife to her husband, since feminism is as strong in the church as it is in the world, women don’t think they have to submit themselves to their husbands. Even if submission is a voluntary act, before God it is a commandment, and just like any other commandment we must choose to obey. The problem we have when dealing with submission is that we don’t see it the way God sees it, submission is beneficial, it’s for our own good, there’s no salvation, eternal life, etc, without submission. When the wife submits herself to her husband, she is fulfilling God’s call for her life. Genesis 2:18. Here we see that God considers husbands and wives to be similar, equivalent, but yet the wife is the helper, the husband is the leader. Jesus Christ is the authority over the husband; the husband is the authority over the wife. Unfortunately, there are a lot of husbands (I’m talking about christianity) abusing their authority, they’re nothing but dictators in their houses, leading their family with an “iron fist”. Another way is the wife being the authority of the house, as they say: “for every Ahab there is a Jezebel”, meaning, if the husband doesn't take his place as a leader, the wife will do it. Another way is when nobody is the leader; the house becomes a total mess. Another one is when both husband and wife fight to be the authority, then the house becomes a battlefield, they end up divorcing or killing each other. Then there’s God’s way, Jesus Christ being the authority over the husband and the husband being the authority over the wife. If we analyze Jesus’ leadership over His disciples, we will see God’s concept of Servant Leadership (Robert K. Greenleaf stole God's idea and started a movement in 1970) the best scripture to explain it is John 13, where Jesus washes His disciples’ feet and tells them that He was giving them an example, the same way, we are called to wash one another’s feet, meaning, to serve one another. We husbands must learn how to serve our wives and be willing to give our lives for them. Because Christians, both husbands and wives don’t understand God’s way for marriage, the divorce rate is higher in the church than it is in the world. In December of 1999, George Barna published the results of a survey which found that 34 percent adult members of non-denominational Christian churches have experienced divorce in their lifetime, in contrast with 21 percent for atheists, agnostics and Roman Catholics. Baptists had the highest rate for born-again denominational Christians at 29 percent. The Mormon divorce rate was 24 percent. Overall, 27 percent of born-again Christians have experienced divorce compared to 24 percent for the rest of Americans. Nearly four thousand interviews were conducted, leaving a very small margin of error. Submission is not an option, is a commandment! Of course when dealing with marriage, there’s no place in the Bible where God calls the wife to be a doormat, a punching bag, an object to be used and abused by the husband, absolutely, the husband must honor and love his wife. 1 Peter 3:7. The same way Peter talks about Sarah who obeyed Abraham, calling him “lord”: 1 Peter 3:6. I know this is a very controversial subject, but, just like any other commandment, we have to believe and obey, there’s no other way. If we read the story of Abraham and Sarah, we don’t see Abraham mistreating or abusing his wife, absolutely, he loved her so much that he cared, honored and respected her. We husbands must follow Abraham’s example. I’m married for about 10 years, it may sound amazing for some people, but we never fought, we have our differences, disagreements, but, from the beginning, one of us always gave up for the sake of our marriage and what is really incredible is that my wife always followed me, even if she disagreed with me. I remember that every time we left one church to go to another, she was very sad and didn't like it at all, but she always decided to follow me. I’m not claiming perfection, but we are trying very hard to follow God’s commandment: I’m submitting myself to Jesus Christ and Fabiana is submitting herself to me. I believe that every problem can be resolved when we deny ourselves, take our cross and follow Jesus, by doing that, God Himself will make a way where there seems to be no way, if we do what is possible, God will do the impossible! So, what was Jesus Christ’s mission? John 6:38. His mission was to do the will of His Father!

Spirit vs. Flesh: The Invisible Battle.

Most people think, that once they're born again, sin is a thing of the past. That's a huge mistake! Because as soon as they wake up the next day, they're confronted with a terrible, but truthful reality: They still sin! I remember, long time ago, in a far far land, in a youth retreat, hearing this terrible lie: “Believers don’t sin!” That hurt my soul really bad, so much so that I had no option but confronting that lie. At that time, I was a young sinner in desperate need of a deliverer and savior, now I’m a lot older, but still a sinner running after the savior Jesus Christ, the more I know myself, the more I realize how much I need Him. Why I’m saying what that pastor said was a lie? 1 John 1:8-10. At that time I had no clue about this passage, I just knew it was a lie. I used King David as an example and the pastor had no answer, of course because there was no answer. Since God anointed me, He gave me a spiritual gift called discernment; I confess to you that sometimes it’s painful “seeing” things others don’t see, because usually people don’t believe what you say. The one thing that bothered me a lot when that happened, was that none of the pastors and leaders stood up to confront that lie, only myself and my sister, may the only self-aware sinners there. I know the other pastors confront that man in private later, probably they didn't do in public because a thing called friendship. James 4:4. Speaking about Spirit and flesh, after we’re born again, we’re spiritually alive, the Holy Spirit lives in us, but we still carry the “old sap” called sinful desires, God taught me that whatever we feed the most, spirit or flesh, that’s the one who will control our lives. After being born again, a battle starts: Galatians 5:17. If we keep feeding our flesh, we cannot expect to have victory against our sinful desires. Galatians 5:16. Remember: A war is made of many battles! That’s the reason Jesus Christ told us to deny ourselves and take our cross daily: Luke 9:23. Yesterday’s battle is past: Philippians 3:13; tomorrow will worry about it’s own: Matthew 6:34. Our focus must be today’s battle against sin and we must do whatever is necessary to win: Hebrews 12:4.
Conclusion: We must remember this: 1 Corinthians 10:13. To win the battle against sin and the enemy (devil), we need the full armor of God: Ephesians 6:14-17.
Belt of Truth: John 17:17.
Shoes of Peace: Romans 10:15.
Shield of Faith: Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:38.
Helmet of Salvation: 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10; Hebrews 9:28.
Sword of the Spirit: Hebrews 4:12.

Grace and Truth: Complacency or Self-Righteousness?

It’s amazing how far we got, generally speaking, from the Real Jesus Christ. Nowadays, it’s hard to find a church that has the balance between Grace and Truth. Along the way, we got Complacent (grace-only) or Self-Righteous (Truth-only) with some exceptions. Whenever we see Jesus Christ in action, we see a perfect balance between Grace and Truth. When He met a “sinner”, someone who didn’t know God and His Law, Grace came first followed by Truth, when He met a religious person, who knew about God and His Law, Truth came first followed by grace, if they accepted Jesus or not, that was another issue. If you don’t see God’s grace in the Old Testament and you think (like many believers) that the people who lived before Jesus Christ were saved by observing the God’s Law, John 1:17, how about Abel, Abraham, Joseph, etc, who lived before Moses? How were they saved? Through the Grace and Truth called Jesus Christ, they and everyone after Moses, as we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:9. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17. Paul also wrote in Romans 10:4. If we are Grace oriented people or church, we will transform God’s Grace in personal “disgrace” (condemnation), because we will never abandon our own sin or confront people’s sin and will be just like the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 5). Likewise, if we are a Truth oriented people or church, we will transform the Truth in self-righteousness or half-truth. We will be an angry preacher telling every sinner they are going straight to hell or a complacent preacher allowing iniquity (perpetual sin) to flourish in our lives or churches. Jesus and His Apostles revealed Grace and Truth to the “sinners”, John 5:5-14; John 8:10-11 and Truth and Grace to the ones who knew about God and His Law, 2 Corinthians 7:10; Acts 2:38.
Conclusion: We must learn how to Condemn the Sin (Truth) without Condemning the Sinner (Grace). We must have the balance between Grace and Truth, otherwise we will be sitting in the “judgment seat”, replacing Jesus Christ: Romans 14:10; Psalm 98:9; Acts 17:31.

Who is Your Hero?

I remember, when I was a child (last century, man I’m old), someone in family gave me a collection of books called “The Heroes of the Bible”, I just loved it. After reading the stories of David, Sampson, Joshua, among others, I got so impressed that I dreamed to be like them. In my childhood, my dad used to manage a huge farm, many times I went with him to bring the bulls to get vaccination, there were a lot of them and they were big. I remember whenever they fought each other (it always happened), we had to get out of their way, otherwise we’d get killed. A couple times I was chased by them, but I rode a horse that was a lot faster then they, so I always manage to run away. I was never afraid, I was extremely courageous. But, growing up, the enemy (devil) turned me into a coward person, going from a courageous teenager killing a giant (David) to a coward adult hiding in a cave (Gideon). If you read my Personal Testimonies you’ll understand it. But, along came Jesus Christ, my biggest hero, to deliver me from my enemies. I know for sure the difference between slavery and freedom, as Jesus says in John 8:36. I know a lot of people who are trying to be free from sins, addictions, etc. by their own efforts, by trying to apply biblical principals to their lives, by being morally correct, by doing Christian things, so they fight and fight… but never win! Why? Jesus explains that in John 8:34. I can assure you that Jesus is speaking the truth! I was slave of my own sin! Until we are set free from our sin, we have no other option but sinning! You can try to rebel against your sin, but after a while you’ll go back to it, because you’re slave of it! That's what Peter says in 2 Peter 2:22. It was true for me before Jesus Christ set me free and it’s true for everyone else who needs to be set free. Nowadays, the church is putting a lot of effort in behavioral change, trying to get people to be morally correct, but the real problem is: They are spiritually dead! At the end the church's efforts are worthless, even if looks like everything is going great, it’s like giving a Tylenol to a person who's dying of cancer, the headache will go away, but, sooner or latter they will die, because they never dealt with the cancer. It works the very same way concerning sin. How many times Jesus tried to make people morally correct before dealing with their condition (sin, disease, etc.)? You can see that Jesus’ priority was always the spiritual one, even when he physically healed people, there was always a message preceding or following it, like: Go and sin no more, for example. Of course He healed the sick, He taught how to behave in order to please God, but the reason He was called “friend of sinners”, was because He saw the sinner’s need for deliverance (freedom) before addressing the behavioral issue. We see (if we want to) this truth in Matthew 7:17. The only way to bear “good” fruit (I talk about it in the post The Tree, the Branch and the Fruit) it’s being “in” Jesus Christ, the Good Tree. Let’s go back to the “hero” part. We see in Hebrews 11 and throughout the Bible, a lot of heroes, all kind of people like, strong and weak ones, young and old ones, ex-thieves, ex-harlot, ex-coward, ex-murder, none of them were better nor worse than us today, the difference between them and us is Faith and Obedience! My modern heroes, among other few, are my parents. They gave their lives to serve others. I’ll try to be brief, but I want to speak about them a little bit. As I said in the beginning, my dad use the be a manager in a big farm, after quitting that job, he supposed to have a percentage over all the livestock in the farm, but he didn't get anything (the reasons are irrelevant), after that, the tried doing other things, until he met my brother’s father-in-law. My dad “saw” Jesus Christ in this man (he was a pastor, a real one), after a while my parents became born-again Christians. Then this pastor invited them to run an orphanage (like oasis) for street and poor kids. There they gave their time, money, life for those kids, my parents treated them as if they were they own kids, some of them did very good, at least one became a pastor. After many years my parents were “replaced” by another people (the details are not “nice”). From there, they went to run a public shelter, were the poor, the destitute, the forgotten (by society) came for food and shelter. Again, they gave their lives to serve people they never saw before and never saw again after that. I never saw my dad and mom discriminating or mistreating anybody, they made no exception of people and they treated everyone equally. James 2 talks about it. I never understood why they did it and honestly I thought they were wasting their lives for nothing, until I read what Jesus says in Matthew 6, where He talks about “reward”, that’s when my dad and mom became my heroes. Today in our “Christianity”, the “hero” ones are those who are “famous”, who have “diplomas”, who are “eloquent”, who sold millions of books and cds, etc. If we pay attention to Jesus Christ, He was impressed with a poor widow who offered all she had: Mark 12:42-44. Or the centurion who understood all about authority: Matthew 8:5-13. Or the greek woman who had a tremendous faith: mark 7:25-30.
Conclusion: We must review our “list of heroes”, check if we don’t have any “American idol” among them and realize that the heroes in the Bible were persecuted, rejected, despised and even killed. Before God they were heroes but before man they were the enemies. Of course God considered them heroes because they were faithful until death. Revelation 2:10.

Wisdom vs. Foolishness: What kind of Believer are You?

Matthew 25:1-13. Let’s find out who are the characters in this parable:
Virgin (bride): Christian (church) – Revelation 21:9.
Lamp: Word of God (Bible) – Psalm 119:105.
Oil: The Holy Spirit – Ephesians 5:18; Exodus 29:7; Acts 10:38.
Bridegroom: Jesus Christ. Mark 2:19.
This parable is very interesting, because Jesus shows us that it’s not enough to be a Christian and to know the Bible. Jesus is showing us the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Let’s see the process Christians go through: When we confess Jesus as Lord and Savior and repent of our sins, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. After that, we are commanded to be baptized. The baptism with water is the first one, it’s a public declaration of our repentance. Matthew 3:11. In the second one, Jesus Christ will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire. We all need the second baptism, we can see that in Acts 19:2-6. This is the time when we receive the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. But, there’s also the Process called being filled with the Holy Spirit, there’s the first time event and the Process. How many believers confess Jesus as their Savior and Lord, are baptized with water and with the Holy Spirit, then they drift away from God and the Church or they still go to the church but their “fire” is extinguished? I have friends like that! That’s exactly what Jesus is talking about in this parable. Those are virgins (Christians) who have their lamps (Bibles), who have the Oil (Holy Spirit) in their vessels (lives), the wise ones have enough Oil and the foolish ones don’t. You may be asking this question: How do I know if I am being filled with the Holy Spirit? To me, the only “visible” characteristic is Obedience, not Gifts. The more you obey God, the more of the Holy Spirit you have in your life, or I should say, the more control the Holy Spirit has over your life.
Conclusion: We need to be born again, to be baptized with water (repentance), to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and also to continue to being filled with the Holy Spirit, otherwise, when Jesus Christ (Bridegroom) returns for His Bride (Church), we won’t go with Him.

Are You a Dreamer?

Everybody, at least once in their lifetime, dreamed about something and some had their dreams become reality, others didn’t. My point is: If you don’t dream, you’ll never see your dreams become reality. Through the Bible, we see “dreamers” dreaming impossible dreams. The best example is Joseph, the King of Dreams. He was a young man with impossible dreams. Like the one where his family would bow down before him. It’s hard for us to comprehend the deepness of his dream, because we don’t have the same cultural background, for us, the birth right of the first-born means nothing, or at the best, that someone is older than someone else and has some priorities. For them, it was a matter of rullership, a matter of sovereignty, it showed who had the blessings. See how powerful it was in Genesis 27:28-29. Jacob, with his mother’s help, deceived his father to get that blessing. Let’s go back to Joseph’s story. Joseph’s dreams caused him many problems, read his story in Genesis 37. He was sold by his brothers, he was slave in Potifhar’s house, he was thrown in jail unjustly, God remembered him and from being a slave in jail, God put him as a second in command over all Egypt, only pharaoh was more powerful than Joseph. If you pay attention when reading Joseph’s story, you’ll see that it was only God’s treatment for him, God was building His character in Joseph’s life, to accomplish one purpose: Save not only his family, but, all Egypt from dying of hunger. I’m a dreamer, I always had dreams, even if I didn’t see many of them become reality, I still kept dreaming. After being saved, God gave me new dreams, my old dreams were very selfish ones, God’s dreams are unselfish. One of them, I remember exactly when God put it in my heart. I got home from working, got something to eat and also started watching tv. As I started flipping channels (men are good doing it), I stop in one where I saw many children, in Africa, in a big line waiting to get food, the food was something like oat meal with water in a huge pot, then the children started running to get the food, they beat each other, it was chaotic, the little children were behaving like “hungry animals”, all because they were starving to death (literally). That was the most shocking scene I ever saw in my whole life, I was shocked, I couldn't eat, I started crying, crying… For months I couldn’t take that scene out of my mind. At that moment, God put a dream in my heart: Open Orphanages around the world. You can see God assuring me that those dreams will come to pass in the Post Personal Testimony: Fasting, this is the part concerning my dreams: You are also a thinker, a dreamer, a planner, I’m here to tell you that your plans that never worked for you before, because you started to dream something wonderful and started to work and it crunched, but at this time as you put your trust in God, those plans that you’re dreaming of, that are burning in your heart, they will come to pass, the dreams that seemed to be so impossible, they will come to pass, because they were given to you by God, they are come to pass this time, you know why, because now you have decided to concentrate on God, in the past you was fluctuating like a yo-yo, but now God will bless and use you. Until hearing this prophecy, I honestly thought many times that I was crazy, my dreams don’t just "sound" impossible, some of them "are" impossible, but, as they were given by God, they will come to pass, because God is the “God of the Impossible”. After 120 years He sent rain in the desert (Noah); He gave a son to a 100 year old man (Abraham); He turned a slave into a Ruler (Joseph); He turned a coward into a might man of valor (Gideon); A teenager, with God’s power was able to kill a lion, a bear and a giant (David); If they were thrown in an extremely hot furnace, they were not harmed (Daniel and friends); They turned the world “up side down” (Disciples). Why? Because they dreamed God’s dream, they thought God’s thoughts, they walked in God’s ways. Isaiah 55:9.
Conclusion: Don’t be contempt with your “little” dreams, dream God’s dreams. It will take your life “out“ of you, but, God will put His life “in” you. You will loose your life, but, will gain God’s life.

Personal Testimony: Anointing or Annoying?

I remember, right after being saved, because God also anointed me (read the post Personal Testimony: New Life), that I became really emotional when seeing the “results” after praying or speaking to people, it had to do with the manifestation of gifts. Other day I was watching my 3 year old son playing with his new car toy. In the beginning he was playing with it as if it was a car toy, but after getting bored (they say a child can concentrate 1 minute for each year they have, 3 minutes in David’s case) he started playing with it as if it was a plane, after that the toy became a ball, he was throwing it all over. This reminded me of what happened to me, in the beginning, concerning to gifts. As I was a child (spiritually speaking), I started using the gifts childishly, driven by emotions, immaturely misusing them. You’re probably thinking: “I didn’t even know it was possible to misuse spiritual gifts. Yes it is! One’s the most chocking stories I ever seen, is about a little girl named Grace, she had (or still has) a condition called “muscular dystrophy”. She started watching a televangelist, you probably heard about Hinn many times, then she asked her mom to take her to his crusade (sounds more like a medieval battle), a the time of prayer for healing (after making sure the offering was “in the plate”, the bigger the miracle, the bigger the offering), Grace asked her mom to take her to receive prayer. They didn't even get near Hinn, probably because of her “visible” condition (muscular dystrophy), she wasn't allowed to receive prayer from Hinn, otherwise if she wasn't healed at the platform, people would wake up from their “spiritual hypnosis” and see that their money wasn't buying the expected healing. At the end of the “show”, they didn't “show” Jesus Christ’s Grace to the little Grace. Why people receive prayer and are not healed? I don’t want to be simplistic, but here are some reasons: It wasn't God’s will to physically heal them to begin with; the “healer” didn't have the gift of healing or enough faith to heal the sick; it wasn't the right time, because through that sickness God was dealing with the person’s heart (read the story of Job); some people won’t be healed through prayer, period (Paul had faith and the gift of healing, but Timothy (1 Timothy 5:23) and Trophimus (2 Timothy 4:20) were not healed). Let’s talk about spiritual gifts. People think I’m a musician, well, I play some instruments and I probably have some hidden talent, once I tried to study music, but it was “greek” to me, way too complicated, because of it I kept playing “by ear”. As a musician, I can understand what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:7.That distinction is necessary when using our gifts, there must be “order” in our minds first, then in our churches, otherwise, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:23. There will be evidence to the unbeliever that we are “out of our mind”. We need all the gifts in our churches, but we also need to learn how to use them. God has promised He will give me the gifts of “faith” and “healing”, and during this time (about 10 years), He is teaching me how to use them. 1 Corinthians 14:31-32. Here Paul is teaching how to use a gift in the church, and he says that the spirit of the person is subject to the person (prophet in this case). Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 14:33. If there’s confusion in the work (service), God is not the author of it, and at the end, the work (service) is a mere work (service) of a man. I know, many times I sound repetitive, but, as the Baroness Edith Summerskill said: “Nagging is the repetition of unpalatable truths”. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to listen to a hard truth then a smooth lie.
Conclusion: 1 Corinthians 14:1. If you don’t know what spiritual gift you have, ask the Holy Spirit, He will tell you. But, desire other gifts too. We need to have spiritual gifts and learn how to use them. The spiritual gifts are given to edify (build) the church.

Prophecy: "Once more I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land".

First of all, let’s see what prophecy means: 1- the foretelling or prediction of what is to come; 2- something that is declared by a prophet, esp. a divinely inspired prediction, instruction, or exhortation; 3- a divinely inspired utterance or revelation: oracular prophecies; 4- the action, function, or faculty of a prophet.
I remember, when I was part of a church, at that time called Vineyard, one sunday after the service, talking to a couple ladies, I don't really remember the theme, the only thing I remember is that I told them, I didn't even know why I was saying that (now I know it was a prophecy), this is what I said: God is telling us: "Once again, I will shake the earth". Honestly, I had no clue why I said that, but, a couple weeks latter, the catastrophic event called 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake took place, killing nearly 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (100 feet) high. Next Sunday after the tsunami, I saw the ladies at the church and one of them came to speak to me about it, she remembered me about what I said. Well, today we are seeing many places being devastated by earthquakes and tsunamis all over the world. Throughout the world there are “signs” that God is fulfilling His promises, as He says in Haggai 2:6-9. Jesus Christ also spoke about the events that will take place before His returning in Matthew 24:7. Humanly speaking is really hard to accept the reality of this truth. Unfortunately, here in America the church is sleeping, not dead, but sleeping. It’s time to wake up and be aware that we’re living in the “last days”, as we read in Hebrews 10:25. The Day he is talking about is the Day of the Lord. Since the tragedy of September 11, God is telling us to wake up. Actually, God assured me that this tragedy was only a warning, an alert, because another event will take place here in America, a catastrophic one, where thousands and thousands of people will lose their lives. I personally don’t know when, where or what will it be, but I have no doubt that it will happened, it’s only a matter of time. This is a prophecy. I’m not claiming to be a prophet. I’m only a servant. I don’t mean to scare you either, to bring fear in your heart, but it’s time to speak about it. I confess to you that I was scared to death when God told me about this event, for many months I fought against it, I refused to accept it, but I knew was God speaking, until one day I read this in 1 John 4:18. I realized that I needed God’s love in my life to stop fearing it. It’s still hard to think and speak about it. I believe it could be different, this event could never happened. But as I said before, we are sleeping, if we don’t wake up, there’s no way to prevent the out coming. We have to do what God tells us to do in 2 Chronicles 7:14. Those are the steps we have to follow in order to be forgiven and to be healed as persons and as a nation. Unfortunately, because the vast majority of Christians he in America think everything is good and it’s going to be even better, they don’t bother to do what God tells them to do. I encourage you to pray about this, to test me before God, I’m a spiritual person and you are commanded to “test the spirits”, 1 John 4:1. May God have mercy on us.

What Jesus: The Narrow Way or the Broadway?

You may be asking yourself: “I didn't know there was another Jesus?” Well, of course there are people called Jesus and others saying they are Jesus Christ reincarnated, but we know there’s only one Jesus Christ, the Son of God. If so, why asking this question? Well, let’s start with the statement made by Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 1:23. Why is Paul saying they preached Christ crucified? What does it mean? Is Christ Divided? Let’s answer those questions. First, What does it mean Christ crucified? It means unconditional obedience to God. Mark 14:36; Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 5:8. This was the Jesus Christ the Apostles preached: The Obedient One, the One who chose to Obey. Jesus himself started talking about the false teachers and prophets. Matthew 7:15. Paul also talks about them in Acts 20:29-30. Also in 2 Corinthians 11 Paul deals with the ones he calls “false apostles” and “deceitful workers”. From the beginning there are people preaching a different Gospel, a partial truth, a easier way to God. Today we can see it clearer than never, like the sunny day at noon time, how many preachers an teachers spread the “easier Gospel” in their shows, at the end it becomes just another show, like the Broadway shows. Do you see the analogy? The false ones preach the “broadway” and the apostles preached the “narrow way” (Jesus Christ crucified), Matthew 7:13-14. Today we can find many people offering (actually they charge for their offering) any kind of Jesus you want: The healer, the bread multiplier, the prophet (fortune teller in their case), the royal king (prosperity gospel). Again, as Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 1:13. Of course Christ is not divided! So, why is so rare to hear about this Jesus Christ crucified? Jesus explains why in Matthew 7:14. Besides, today is not popular to preach a message that calls people to “die to themselves”, to “loose their life”, to “unconditionally obey God”. The problem with that “nice” message is that it leads to the ‘broad way with the wide gate”, meaning hell. I know by experience, that is extremely difficult to believe in Jesus and His disciples and obey their teachings, but, there's no other way that leads to God, but, Jesus Christ Crucified or unconditional obedience to God. I encourage you to pray about it, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what Jesus you are following, the Narrow Way or the broad way.

Early Church: The Balance We Need

I remember one day, talking to my neighbor, his name is Ted, sharing with him what God was teaching me those days, it was about finding the balance in the Christian life. God was teaching me about the differences we have in the Christian church: Traditional, Pentecostal and Liberal. They are known by their priority. The Traditional is all about Teaching the Bible, the Pentecostal the Powerful Prayer and the Liberal the Good Deeds. We had a good time together, sharing God’s vision for His church and also “breaking the bread”, in our case, barbecuing. At that time, I was part of a church where the sanctuary looks like a modern chapel. What was amazing about it was that a couple weeks after talking to Ted about that balance, the senior pastor preached about it. His message was really good, he was totally convincing that we had to pursue that balance. I thought to myself: “Man, will we have a revival here or what?” Well, like always, my expectations were sky high, but, up to this day I didn’t hear anything about a revival there, because if we become like the early church, having those three components together, we will turn our town, state, country, world, upside down Acts 17:5-6. The problem is when God give us a Vision or a Dream, only God can make that Vision or Dream to become reality, like He did in the early church (Acts). In the early church they had the correct teaching, the Apostles’ Doctrine, Acts 2:42; they had the Powerful Prayer, Acts 4:31; Acts 12:5-10; and they had the Good Deeds Acts 2:44-47. I know is extremely difficult to have this kind of balance (I'm dying to have it), but, if we don’t pay the price to have it, we’ll never have it. It doesn't mean God doesn't want us to have it, only that we’re not willing to pay the price to have it.
Conclusion: Considering that we are the Church, the Temple of the Holy Spirit 1 Corinthians 6:19, this balance has to begin with us, we cannot tolerate false doctrines, we cannot be contempt with our powerless prayer and we must love our neighbor as ourselves. If we do that, we will “contaminate” others and our congregation (church) will be like the early church (Acts): Powerful Words, Powerful Prayer and Powerful Deeds either gaining the world for Jesus or being persecuted by the world, but, never being conformed to the world. Romans 12:2.

The Tree, the Branch and the Fruit.

This is a very difficult subject, since most believers, like I did, think they are the Tree. It gets even harder to make sense of it, when we read in Matthew 7:18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. So, if we’re not the Tree, who’s the Tree? If the tree bears Fruit, what is the Fruit? Let’s start from the beginning, literally. We read in Genesis 2:9 The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Those trees represented two persons, Jesus Christ and satan, God gave Adam the right (free will) to choose between them and throughout the Bible we see everyone facing that choice. Maybe you never thought about it, but Jesus refer to Himself in John 15:1 as the True Vine and in John 14:6 as the Life. In Matthew 6:13, Jesus calls satan the evil one. Of course we know that Adam chose the bad tree. We read in Genesis 3:23 God banished man from the Garden of Eden and placed cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. God did it because if man ate the Fruit of the Tree of Life, he would live forever in the fallen state, in sin, spiritually dead. As Jesus paid the price for our sin and we become children of God, one day we will eat the Fruit of the Tree of Life, as it says in Revelation 2:7 To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. So, what are we? We are the branches. John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. What is the Fruit? We find the Good Fruit in Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, and the Bad Fruit in Galatians 5:19 Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. Let’s think about the process Jesus talks about in John 7. After Adam sinned, we became branches of the bad tree (devil), John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil. Then we are born again, God takes us from the bad tree (devil), transplanted us into the Good Tree (Jesus). This is when we see the work of the Pruner (Father), John 15:2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. Here is the definition of pruning: the horticultural practice of cutting away an unwanted, unnecessary, or undesirable plant part, used most often on trees, shrubs, hedges, and woody vines. This process is called Sanctification or holiness. Even after being born again (in Christ), we still carry the old sap, the sinful nature, and we will sin, as we read in 1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. Is it possible to be In Jesus and yet to be cut off (go to hell)? Of course it is! John 15:2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away. The best example we have is Judas Iscariot, he was IN (disciple) Jesus, and never produced Fruit, then he was cut off.
Conclusion: We are born in sin, after receiving Jesus in our hearts we became a born again person. Eventually we will sin, but if we confess our sins we are forgiven. All the born again people are in the process called Sanctification or holiness, this process is vital to live eternally with God. Hebrews 12:14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

To Rob or to Tithe: Commandment or Suggestion?

If you’re like me and the majority of the professed Christians, you struggled or still do, with a commandment called Tithe and Offering, Tithe is a commandment, not a suggestion. Unfortunately, people misunderstand it. Of course, we all have our reasons to not tithe, mine were: I saw God’s money being misused, I didn’t see it as a commandment (I thought was part of the Old Testament Law) and I thought God didn’t need my money anyways (of course His workers had to eat). God is very clear in Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, “In what way have we robbed You?” In tithes and offerings. We see that God don’t expect us to just return the Tithe, Tithe means the tenth part, but to offer above the Tithe. Whatever is above 10% is an offering. If we don’t give them back to God, we are stealing from Him. We can see references about tithe, both in the Old and New Testaments, like in Genesis 14:18-20 when Abraham gave tithe to Melchizedek. In the New Testament, we see Jesus speaking about it in Matthew 23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay TITHE of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Jesus is confirming that we ought to tithe, He didn’t revoke the Tithe Commandment, He fulfilled it. I have a story about tithing (you're probably thinking: "here we go again"), yeah, you're right, here we go again. After God saved me, I started tithing and never had a problem doing it, I started seeing tithe as a commandment. But, one day at my brother’s house, in Georgia, a Lady, her name is Margie, she was praying for me and my wife and told me something really strange: “God is telling you to never stop tithing”. Honestly, I thought: “What is she talking about? She doesn't know me. I’ll never do that”. Well, years latter, I came to a point (low one) that I decided to stop tithing, I had been faithful, I had been totally committed to obeying God, but I wasn’t “seeing” any result. My financial situation was mostly “not good”, but at this time, it was “really bad”. Then, the Holy Spirit reminded me about Margie’s prayer, how God told me that I shouldn’t stop tithing, then He opened my eyes to see that He always provided for us, we lived from trial to trial, but God was always faithful, He provided everything we needed (not everything we wanted). Today, there are many different teachings about tithe and offering, a lot o people say we don’t TITHE anymore, now is just OFFER. I disagree with that, TITHE is GOD’S MONEY and OFFER is OUR MONEY GIVEN TO GOD. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that we have to be Cheerful Givers, we should give out of love, not necessity. I encourage you to do what God tells us to do in malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse (local church), that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. How many times we read in the Bible God calling us to TRY HIM? I don't remember reading anywhere but in Malachi 3. Our problem is that we have wrong expectations about tithe, we see tithe as a "get rich fast" scheme, where we throw our money in God's hands and couple days latter we receive one hundred times more; we also misunderstand blessing, we relate blessing with money, God's blessing can include money, but is not money in itself. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Money can either bring good or evil. I'm not saying God won't give us everything we need and sometimes a lot more to help others, but we must learn to Give to God out of love and obedience. I know how hard it is to Tithe when we have little, but, Jesus is clear that if we are faithful in a very little, He will give us much (Luke 19:17).

Holy Sale or Wholesale: The Church and the Marketplace.

How much did your salvation cost you? Do you really believe you received it for free, as a Gift from God? What is a Gift anyways? According to the Webster Dictionary, Gift is: “Something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation”. Did you ever hear a preacher on the radio or tv saying something like this: “If you send your gift of (10, 50, 100 bucks), we will send you a (cd, tape, book, etc.) as a “gift” from our ministry?” If you never heard that, you never listened to a radio preacher or a tv evangelist. Now think: You’re having a birthday party, you invite your friends and relatives, then, in the middle of the party, you call their attention and say: “Ok folks, give me some bucks to help me pay for the party’s cost”. Or, your friend gives you a beautiful gift, then, he (she) asks you: “Hey you, give me 50 bucks to help me pay for the cost of the gift I’m giving to you”. Of course your guests will be offended in the first example and you will be mad in the second. What friend will ever do such thing? Would you consider your friend’s “gift”, a gift? Would you? Of course not! Speaking about the preachers, I know they need money to pay for the costs of the ministry and If the person is being blessed by their preaching or teaching, that person should consider giving, offering, contributing to that ministry. I’m not saying here that I’m against the singer who is sells his music, a writer who sells his book, etc. But I’m trying to find a difference between the sale we have in the church today and the sale they had in the temple when Jesus Christ did the cleaning. Matthew 21:12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. Unfortunately, is extremely difficult to find any difference. I bet in Jesus' time, there were people with good intentions, “trying to help” the ones who came to the temple to offer their sacrifice, some of them probably thought they were doing a favor to the people. After all, wasn’t what God required from his people anyways? To offer those birds and animals as sacrifice for their sins? If so, why Jesus was so irrationally angry (that’s what they thought) to do something like that? (If you have the movie “The Gospel of John”, watch that part a couple times, it’s powerful) Because, just like today, the temple (church) lost its Identity, its Purpose. Matthew 21:13 And He said to them: It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. From a house of prayer and worship, the church became everything but that! Of course, there are a few exceptions, but, we are making the Rule an Exception. With all of this, I’m just trying to stir up your spirit, trying to make you uncomfortable with the way things are in the church right now, to lead you to review some “forgotten” truths, like the one Jesus commanded in Matthew 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Why are we selling things that God gave us for free (gifts)? Have you ever thought that Paul, the Apostle could hire a bunch of scribes and start a publishing business, writing the Revelations he was receiving from God and selling it? If he did that, he would probably have written the first “best seller” ever and would make a lot of money. Why he didn’t do it? Because he was faithful to his Teacher and Lord Jesus Christ, who told him to give it for free. So, IS THERE A HOLY SALE? Did Jesus ever sell something? Again, I’m conscious about what the Bible says concerning the worker, like Paul writes in 1 Timothy 5:18 The laborer is worthy of his wages. He also writes in 1 Timothy 5:17 Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching. You see the difference between working for God and receiving recompense, and selling what we freely received from God to make profit. We have to go back to the basics, learn with Jesus Christ what pleases and displeases God and commit ourselves to do God’s will.

The Powerful Jesus vs. the Powerless Post-Modern Christianism.

Sometimes, I may sound like a radical thinker, a protestant (he who protests about everything) or even like an unsatisfied, grumpy old man who hates life and is about to die. Well, not really! Let’s say that now I see things from a different perspective, Jesus’ one. I’m learning to think like Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), to act like Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1), to love like Christ (John 13:34), in other words, I’m learning the meaning of Christ Likeness. I know, nowadays, it’s not popular, and if we have that way of living, we won’t “fit the profile”, won’t be a post-modern Christian; we’ll be retrogrades. After all, why should we be different (1 John 4:5-6; John 8:23) if “blending” we will reach more people for Jesus? Why be like Jesus if “conforming” to the world would allow us to gain the world for Jesus? Why? Because (Isaiah 5:20) there’s no communion between light and darkness, life and death, truth and lie. Everyday we’re bombarded with messages from Christians and non-Christians that we have to be positive thinkers spreading a positive message (love like K). Of course, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is Good News for the ones who accept it, no doubt about it, but, on the other hand, is Bad News for the ones who reject it, as Jesus said in John 12:48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him - the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For God, there is no middle ground, no partiality, we are either hot or cold (the lukewarm Jesus will vomit from His mouth; Revelation 3:16), we accept or reject, we are dead or alive. Along the way, we lost Jesus’ mindset. It’s not enough to know the Bible (God’s Law), 2 Corinthians 3:6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. We must have the Power of God, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul speaks about it in 1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. Who told us that God is pleased with Words without Power? More and more we are speaking about God, but, less and less we are showing the Power of God. Be honest with yourself: Do you feel good when you pray for others for healing, deliverance, comfort, etc, and you see NO results? Do you feel good when people come to you desperate and the best you con say is: “Jesus loves you and I love you too. Go in peace”. Isn’t it time to wake up and give to the people what they need? The fullness of Jesus Christ! But, can we give much if we have little? How can we offer peace, love, comfort, healing, joy, if we are in desperate need of them? Spiritually speaking, we cannot offer something we don’t have! There’s a good example in Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Peter could not be clearer than that: He only gave what he had. That’s the very reason we are unsuccessful in our prayers. I’m not saying we shouldn’t pray, preach, share, give our testimony, but we got used to the Speak Only Mentality. Today, is all about “go and make disciples”, but we forget that the same Master and Teacher (Jesus Christ) said: John 14:12 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. Why the greater works followed Jesus’ disciples and don’t follow us? Because they believed in Jesus! Again, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we’ll heal all who are sick, cast down every demon, preach to every person we meet, but, at least some should be healed or delivered. We should see God’s Glory more often. Did you ever hear the song “If we are the Body” from Casting Crowns? It says: “If we are the body, why aren’t His arms reaching? Why aren’t His hands healing? Why aren’t His words teaching”. That’s a hard truth. Unfortunately for us, it all comes down to one thing: FAITH. That’s what we need. It’s amazing how Jesus saw the last days (we’re living the last days). He asks in Luke 18:8 Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? Again, I’m not saying we’re dead in our trespasses, but, assuredly I say to you: We are comfortably sleeping in our assured salvation. We must go back to the beginning, to the book of Acts, that’s the Real Church, not the entertainment centers we have today, of course there are exceptions, but, we’re making the Rule an Exception. Please, understand, I’m not calling you to rebel against the leaders of your church, I’m calling you to wake up, to get on your knees in humility before God, then, stand up in Faith, to lose your life in order to gain the life God has for you. Our churches should be like a hospital, where the sick would come, be healed, and go back to bring other sick to be healed. Unfortunately, nowadays, our churches are more like a mental institution where people come sick and we give them sedatives to control their behavior, but they don’t experience healing. I may sound dramatic, but, unfortunately that’s the reality. Last August, my niece was visiting me, and I took her to a big mega-church, there was a psychologist (or something like that) teaching about something (I don’t remember the theme), after everything, beautiful songs, nice teaching, the senior pastor said something that troubled me a lot; he said that a girl from his church committed suicide. The pastor had a broken hart, he was really sad because of that. At that time I realized how bad things are in our churches, people are coming expecting to find answers and they leave with more questions, they expect to be healed (spiritually, physically and emotionally) and they go back home to commit suicide. You know why? Because Jesus is knocking at the doors of our churches trying to enter, and we don’t allow Him to enter, because he is way too radical to fit in our way of “doing church”, He will turn the tables, spread the money, expel the animals (demons) that are in our churches and say that the church is His Father’s house. I may sound melodramatic, but, that’s the sad reality. How can we change that? It starts with you and I. Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Today, there are some preachers (apologetics) talking about a Christian worldview, and they say that, while Christianity is believed by faith, it is most definitely a reasonable and rational faith. If rationalize means to apply logic or reason to something, how rational was Abraham’s faith? Like it says in Hebrews 11:12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude - innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. How logical is that? There’s no logic, there’s no reasoning, we cannot understand, we can only accept or reject what God did to Abraham. True Faith creates Miracles, reasonable and rational faith creates Mediocrity! Why we keep trying to prove to the people that Jesus is real? Because we don’t have the power to reveal (show) Jesus Christ to them. Without the power we can only speak about Him. I hope and pray that you understand what I’m trying to say here, I’m not judging anybody, I’m only trying to show you the disparity between the real church (church of Acts) and today’s church. I remember when I was about 19 years old, in a retreat, it was a time for testimonies, and I felt compelled to speak, I was extremely shy and almost choked, but I said this: It’s time to stop “playing” church. Honestly, I had no clue why I was saying that and what was the meaning of it. Today, by God’s grace I know it.
Conclusion: We must stop playing (doing) church and start being the church! 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

I Feel Therefore I Am.

The Title may sound strange to you, but I use to live like that, being led by my emotions. If I was happy, everybody loved me, if I was depressed, everybody hated me. My feelings dictated the way I lived and behaved. Unfortunately, that’s the case for many people. Nowadays, a lot of people are dealing with depression; it is a terrible illness that leads many people to commit suicide. In the United States, approximately 3.4% of people with major depression commit suicide, and up to 60% of people who commit suicide have depression or another mood disorder. I thought about suicide myself, twice, as far as I remember, because I could find any reason to be alive, I thought my life was worthless, but, because God loved me so much, He never allowed me to do it. Until I was about 9 years old, I was not afraid of anything, like those crazy little boys that always get in trouble. I was a happy kid enjoying life. But, after we moved near my grandmother I slowly became shy, fearfull, discontent, etc. Then, in my teenage years, I became rebelious, melancholic, bitter, among other things. In my twenties, I became a careless person, living or dying, winning or loosing, loving or hating, it was all the same, even if I looked nice outside, inside was dead. I used to have a motorcycle (I love it), but, as they say: “In a motorcycle, you are the bumper”, I had some accidents (less then ten, as far as I remember), and some because I used to ride really fast. Only one of them I woke up in the hospital, the others I saw everything. I remember in two of them, when I was about to crash; I had the creepiest experience ever. In two or three seconds, I saw my whole life passing before my eyes (like a movie), since I was in the crib, in my mom’s bedroom, through my childhood, my teenage years, up to that hour, then I had a terrifying feeling that I was about to die, the only thing I could say was: “God, please, save me”. Once I manage to control the motorcycle and didn’t crash, but I had to stop the bike in the sidewalk, and stood laying in the grass for about thirty minutes because my strength was gone, I tried to stand up a couple times, but I felt again. The other time I controlled the motorcycle for a while but then I crash, it was bad, but I didn’t die (fisicaly, spiritualy I was already dead). So, even having those experiences, I didn’t give my life to Jesus. Then, one day, my sister got possessed by a demon, so my brother was expelling that demon. In the room, was my mom, my dad, my brother and sister, and I was there, looking, by the door, just in case I had to run (LOL), then my brother asked the demon why he was possessing my sister. The demon said he was in our family for generations, someone along the way made a pact with satan and he was with the family since then. The demon said that when my grandma died, my sister went to see her in the coffin, and then this demon passed from my grandma to my sister (after that my sister had serious problems, like, overdose for example), my sister was laying in the bed, then she sat down, and point to me, than the demon said to me: “I will kill you”. At that moment I got scared, but, after a couple days, I was back to being careless. That was the reason God freed me, broke my chains (I speak about it in the post PERSONAL TESTIMONY: NEW LIFE). I was satan’s property, he did with me whatever he wanted, I was like a puppet in his hands, my emotions were satan’s playground. I’m not saying here that EVERY problem or illness happens because satan is causing it to happen, but A LOT OF THEM ARE. I believe, again, I BELIEVE that DEPRESSION is an illness of the SPIRIT, the doctors and researchers can come up with whatever explanation they want to, create whatever medication they are able to, in order to treat it, but to me, ONLY JESUS CHRIST CAN HEAL OUR SPIRIT, a medication can make you “feel better” for a while, like a drug to a drug addicted person. Why I am so emphatic on this? Why I sound so radical when I say that only Jesus Christ can heal a DEPRESSED SPIRIT? Read what it says in Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones. Have you ever seen a person with major depression? It makes you sad, to say the least. Do you want to see how bad depression is? Remember Elijah, the prophet of “fire” (literally speaking)? Read his story, it’s amazing; he just had a tremendous victory against the prophets of baal, he killed them all. But then, 1 Kings 19 says that jezebel sent a messenger to tell Elijah that she would kill him the way he killed the prophets of baal. When Elijah saw that, he arose and ran for his life. Verse 4 says: But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, "It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!" How come after seen the Power and the Glory of God, Elijah got so discourage and afraid that it led him to a major depression? The bible says in Ephesians 4:27 nor give place to the devil. Elijah was dealing with a powerful demon, and, because he allowed fear to enter in his heart, he had to flee and then he asked God to take his life. Remember John the Baptist? The same thing happened to him, the same spirit (demon) was behind Herodias (they call spirit of Jezebel) and led John to doubt that Jesus was the messiah, even after giving testimony about it, read John 1:32-34 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” I personally dealt with that spirit (demon) and I can tell you that this demon will lead you to give up, to think that God has abandoned you, He no longer loves you. I almost gave up, I almost abandoned my faith. If wasn’t for God’s love and mercy I wasn’t a believer anymore.
Conclusion: I just want to say to you that no matter how obedient or committed to God we are, we still can give place to the devil, allow our emotions lead us, we’re not better than Elijah or John the Baptist, so we have to be careful an vigilant, otherwise we will fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

Personal Testimony: Fasting.

First of all, sometimes I talk about the pastor from the first church I was part of here in Illinois, he is a man of God, I deeply admire him, God used him to bless me in many ways, I learned a lot with him, and above all, when I need an example in Meekness, Perseverance and Patience, he is the best example (I'm not worshiping him, but, as the Bible says: "To whom honor, honor". I'm honoring him). That was just an intro. I always thought that FASTING was intrinsically tied to AFFLICTING OUR SOULS, PENANCE, etc. But, I was dead wrong! Well, one day God taught me about FASTING. I was praying one early morning, when the Holy Spirit spoke to me: “I will teach you about Fasting. Start Fasting until I tell you to stop”. Man, was it strange or what? What did I have to learn about Fasting? Wasn’t Fasting just abstaining from food and afflicting my soul in order to have my prayers answered? Apparently not! I got home, after having my devotional time with God and also delivering some papers and open my Bible to meditate a little (I used to do that almost everyday), then I opened it, the passage was Isaiah 58 where God speaks about FASTING. Listen, I’m not saying that you should always open the Bible randomly to read it! Did you ever hear that “Christian” joke? A man used to open his Bible and demand God to speak to him. One day he opens in Matthew 27:5 …and he (Judas) went and hanged himself. Not good, he thought, but he tried again and opens in Colossians 3:13 …so you also must do. Then in desperation he tries again and opens in John 13:27 … What you have to do, do quickly. That was just a joke, relax! Let’s go back to my testimony. Read Isaiah 58 entirely. Than God showed me what Fasting really means, Isaiah 58:6 Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? That day, God changed my understanding about Fasting. Well, I kept Fasting (water only), one day, two days… in the seventh day; it was Thursday night at church in the prayer meeting, I was still trying to figure it out what God was trying to accomplish. The pastor was leading the prayer, than he said: “Brothers and sisters, if you see a dove or a tongue of fire in your neighbor’s head, don’t be scared, it is the Holy Spirit. Well, is it possible to happen again? I believe it is, if God wants to. He can do it again. Well, everything was nice, so far, but then, the Holy Spirit said to me: “Start praying for the lady in front of you”. She was about 10 feet in front of me, she was kneeling down, I was seated, then I stood up and started praying, then the Holy Spirit said to me: “Tell the demon to leave”. That happened four or five times and everytime was like a demon was leaving her, then the lady asked for water, when she got the water, she threw in her head, I prayed again, at this time I realized that she had many demons (cast) in her, suddenly, a man (the same who said publicly that I was in rebellion against the pastor) took her to another room, I was completely clueless about why he did it. After the prayer meeting, I went home, still trying to understand what was going on, but I couldn’t. Next day, in my devotional time (also called job), I was crying before God, asking Him to tell me what happened, then I got home, open my Bible, this time was Matthew 17:21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. That was a marvelous teaching; I never heard it before. Well, few years later, we went to Florida on vacation, then we were going to my brother’s house in Georgia, they had a prayer meeting at his house, I planned to be there by 6:00pm the latest, but, we got a horrible traffic, I was driving slow because I was tired, at the end, we got there about 10:30pm or later, we enter and my sister-in-law grabbed my arm and took me straight to the pastor who preached and was praying for the people, when he saw me, he started saying (this is the actual prophecy): “God is giving you a double Ministry, Preaching and Evangelism, the two mixed, to be a Preacher and Evangelist at the same time. God wants to use you very much to heal people and also you are a very lovely man, God is giving you His own heart. You are also a thinker, a dreamer, a planner, I’m here to tell you that your plans that never worked for you before, because you started to dream something wonderful and started to work and it crunched, but at this time as you put your trust in God, those plans that you’re dreaming of, that are burning in your heart, they will come to pass, the dreams that seemed to be so impossible, they will come to pass, because they were given to you by God, they are come to pass this time, you know why, because now you have decided to concentrate on God, in the past you was fluctuating like a yo-yo, but now God will bless and use you, and another thing, you are a generous man, you are not a stringed man, God is giving you a generous heart, He’s going to give you plenty, so you can bless others. In the future God is going to release you to go to the nations, you’re also going to empower people to go, because you are a very practical man, a hands-on man and God will use you in that area, specially in Healing and the Gift of Faith. Believe what God has spoken will come to pass, because He is God, He is not a man, so He cannot lie. Your hand will bring healing to sick bodies and also to sick business, God will use you as a Consultant, people will come to you seeking for wisdom and asking for direction and knowledge, even business people will come to you, and whatever you say to them in the form of counseling, will be not just an ordinary counseling, but will be prophetic and things will come to pass. The power is coming into you to Heal. The ability to fast, to go for long periods of time so that your body will be clean and your dreams will come to pass”. As you can see, God confirmed that He will give me the ability to fast; it’s not something natural, but a God given ability. I will later speak about the things this pastor said, like, the Gift of Faith and the Gift of Healing.
Conclusion: It is ok to fast about something we expect since it is aligned with the will of God, otherwise it will only be penance or starvation. Fasting should be done to accomplish God's will and dreams for our lives. If you really seek God, He will reveal His will for you and will help you to accomplish what He dreamed for you. There’s nothing better than to be in the center of God’s will for your life. If you seek Him wholeheartedly, you will find Him. Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

How do Pray: Jesus or Jabez?

"Dear Reader, I want to teach you how to pray a daring prayer that God always answers. It is brief-only one sentence with four parts-and tucked away in the Bible, but I believe it contains the key to a life of extraordinary favor with God". That's the preface of "The Prayer of Jabez" by Bruce Wilkinson. This is the actual prayer of Jabez, found in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested. Well, the Bible says Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, that was it. So, why did God granted him what he requested? The Bible says in Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Probably that was the reason. But, if there's another reason, it is irrelevant. Why? Because that was between Jabez and God, God and Jabez, the prayer of Jabez is not a GUARANTEE that all our prayers will be answered, even if we have a faith like Abraham. I remember when I got this booklet, I was just starting my walk with God, so I did what Mr. Wilkinson suggests, I started my "thirty days of penance" (penance: A duty or religious devotion imposed by a priest during the sacrament of confession). I really started praying that prayer, convicted that God would grant my requests. After a couple days, God said to me: "Stop that. That's not what I want." Well, why would God say something like that? The answer we find in Jesus' Prayer (the one He thought His disciples), Matthew 6:7-13 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Do you see the difference between Jesus' and Jabez' prayer? JESUS: Your kingdom come; JABEZ: enlarge my territory. There's nothing wrong in asking God to bless us, but, we should pay attention to the words of Jesus Christ: "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done". Jesus sounds very "cheap" considering what the post-modern christianism teaches. Why ask for "our daily bread" if we can ask for "a mansion, a ferrari, a private plane, etc.?" Why enlarge God's kingdom if we can enlarge our territory? Why have God's will done on earth if we can have ours, don't we know what's best for us? Of course not! Again, I'm not saying that we all should make a vow of poverty or should be like Lazarus, the beggar (Luke 16:20), but, whatever God wants us to be, this is what we should dream of. John also wrote about it: 1 John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. Do you really see the difference between John's and Wilkinson's teaching? John teaches if we ask anything according to God's will, He hears us and Wilkinson teaches if we ask anything praying Jabez's prayer, God always hears us. I encourage you to pray according to God's will, if you don't know His will, ask Him and He will reveal it to you.

Prophet or Profit: The Balaam Effect.

Balaam's story is very interesting, like a puzzle, we have to put the pieces together to get the picture (to understand it). Numbers 22 to 24 tells us one very important thing: Balaam was a Prophet of God, he had the Authority to Curse or to Bless and everybody new that. A king named Balak, sent princes, with gifts, to hire Balaam to Curse Israel. Probably Balaam didn't know that Israel was God's people, at least the story is not clear about it. So, Balaam asks God if he should go and God said to him: Numbers 22:12 “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” Well, God couldn't be clearer than that, God told Balaam he shouldn't go and the reason why. Have you ever act like Balaam at least once in your life? Like, you were totally sure you shouldn't do something, because it was wrong, but you did anyways? Of course you did, we all did. Let's go back to Balaam's story. Then Balak sent other princes, more numerous and more honorable than the previous ones, with better gifts and promises, and Balaam (he already knew God's will) tried again, he probably thought: "What if God changes His mind?" Well, strangely enough, God says to Balaam: Numbers 22:20 And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do.” Did God change His mind or He was only revealing Balaam's heart? Read carefully Numbers 22:22-35 Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the LORD took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. Now the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road. Then the Angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. And when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck her again. Then the Angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!” So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?” And he said, “No.” Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. And the Angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.” And Balaam said to the Angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back.” Then the Angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. After reading this, one question come to our mind: Who was the Prophet and who was the donkey? Well, the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Probably, that was Balaam's case, he became greedy and that led him to behave worse than his donkey. The donkey had to speak to the prophet, so that the Angel wouldn't kill Balaam. After this, Balaam goes and blesses Israel, he even prophecy about Jesus Christ. Numbers 24:17 A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel. What's intriguing, is that Balaam's story doesn't end in Numbers chapter 24. If we stop here, it sounds like Balaam obeyed God and lived happily ever after. That's not the case, in fact, Jesus Christ explain what happened after Balaam's prophecies. Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Balaam knew how to provoke the wrath of God against His people, and he taught Balak how to do it, all because of money. Of course God's judgment came against Balaam later, we see in Numbers 31:8 Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword. Nowadays, we can see a lot of Modern Balaam's all over, smoothly associating money with blessing, disguising themselves as Prophets, in order to promote their "get rich quickly" scheme, which make themselves rich and their contributors miserable.
Conclusion: Whatever God's will for us, that's what we should seek. Paul speaks about it in Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Personal Testimony: To Be Born of the Spirit.

Well, as I said before, God sometimes tested my faith in unusual ways. One day, God told me that we were leaving the church we were attending. After a couple months, one early morning, God said to me: "Go and tell your pastor that you are leaving, you are going to another church, I will tell you where to go. This will be your last week at this church." I was terrified, because it didn't make any sense, but, I told the pastor what God said to me. Well, he didn't understand, actually, nobody understood. I was acting like a crazy person (again). I had to speak to the worship team to tell them the "good news", it was tough. My last sunday there, I spoke to the church, and it was even harder. The worst part, I had no clue where we were going, our pastor gave me a "list" of the churches around, I prayed a lot during the week and chose one (I thought I did). Next sunday, we went there, a small church in Long Lake, the previous one is in Mundelein. When I entered the sanctuary, God said to me: "This is the place". It was awesome. Next week, we came back, then I told the pastor that we were there to stay, and he said: "When I saw you entering last sunday, God told me that you came here to stay for a little while". I asked him: "Why a little while?". He said He didn't know why, but He was sure about it. Well, we stood there for less than a year. One day, the pastor asked me to find a church where we could have baptism; it was winter, a very cold one. I spoke to my former pastor, he introduced me to another pastor friend of his, and they had a place for baptism. Then this pastor asked me if I could play Bass, I said yes, and then He asked: "Why don't you join our worship team?". Next sunday I was praying and God said to me: "You are leaving this church and you're going to another one." At this time, I was ok, I already knew where we were going (I thought so). Our last sunday at the church was not nice, to say the least. Again, it was like leaving our family behind, but we decided to obey God. On sunday, the day we suppose to go to this new church, I was praying and God said to me: "You're not going there, you are going to this one". At this time I was not just terrified, I was sad, mad, confused, etc. Why? I knew the senior pastor's reputation: A tough man with a strong vision. I begged God to go anywhere else, but, GOD'S NO MEANS NO. Then God's presence in my car (I was delivering newspaper) was tremendous, then I started PREACHING, like I was in front of thousands of people (it happened before just like that), I could even hear my very loud voice. Well, the preaching was about PRAYER. At the end, God said to me: "Go and tell the pastor that I'm sending you there to lead one day of prayer, because I'm calling the church to pray". Well, we went to the church God told me, first sunday, everything new, the worship was beautiful, everything was going well. After that, the pastor started the preaching saying: "I spent a week alone with God, praying, fasting, reading the Bible, and God made very clear that we need to pray, God is calling us to pray". Then he started preaching, it was the very same preaching I was preaching in the morning, amazing, but I still had to tell him why I was there. At the end of his preaching, he said: "If you believe God is calling you to lead one day of prayer, come and talk to me". I waited to see if anyone would go, nobody did, so I went to talk to him, I said what happened in the morning, he was shocked, amazed, so much so, that he asked me to pray for him. Well, it never happened, I never led one day of prayer. NO REASON IS A GOOD REASON FOR DISOBEYING GOD. I had a meeting with the pastor, I told him everything God did WITH and THROUGH me up to that time, but, nothing changed. One day, I was at the service, after the worship time, the pastor was praying, I had my eyes closed, then I felt a presence, a demonic one, a very powerful demon, I opened my eyes and saw a lady and a gentleman sitting down, that lady was "carrying" that demon. After a couple weeks, God told me to go and speak to the pastor about things that were coming to happen at the church. I tried to. One day, after the service, I told the pastor that I needed to talk to him, just a few minutes, He was very cold and said to me: "you have 30 seconds!". Well, the only thing I said was: "God is saying that the enemy is coming, you have to close the door". He coldly answered: "Ok". That was it. After a couple months we left the church (again). One day, I was talking to a friend of mine that used to go there, and she told me what was happening at that church: The senior pastor, the assistant pastor, the elders, had disagreements that led them go different ways. On top of that, the senior pastor was having a hard time, a lot of problems in his family (sickness), and personal problems, besides the church ones. One thing I can say for sure: He is a Man of God! Maybe because I was a strange stranger, speaking nonsense words (humanly speaking), and never fitting the profile (nice person saying nice words). Unfortunately, he didn't believed what I said.
Conclusion: Isaiah 55:8-9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts higher than your thoughts. 1 Corinthians 2:16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit”. In these passages we can see that the Holy Spirit will lead us TO DO GOD'S WILL and TO GO WHERE HE WANTS US TO BE. The question we have to answer is: ARE WE BORN OF THE SPIRIT?

Service or Knowledge: What's your priority?

From the beginning and throughout the Bible we see that Service (sacrifice) without Knowledge is worthless. The first example is Cain and Abel. Abel knew God, he knew God's will, and therefore he offered a perfect lamb, foreshadowing Jesus Christ's sacrifice. Cain, on the other hand, because he didn't know God's will, he worked hard to have something to offer to God, but his effort was worthless. Another example is Saul and David, God even said to Saul: 1 Samuel 15:22. Because Saul didn't Know God, he thought offerings and sacrifices were more important than obedience. David, on the other hand, had an intimate relationship with God to the point that God called him "man after His own heart". This truth is also found in Hosea 6:6. Another example is Martha and Mary. Luke 10:38-42. We can see how KNOWING GOD is priority over SERVING GOD. I'm not saying that we shouldn't serve God and serve Others, but as Jesus said, KNOWING GOD comes first. If we really KNOW God we will SERVE Him and our neighbor, SERVICE will be the RESULT (consequence) of KNOWING GOD. Nobody has ever SERVED God and Others more than Jesus Christ, but He did it because He knew that was God's will for Him. Jesus said in Matthew 7:22-23. This is Jesus' assurance that is possible to SERVE Him without KNOWING Him. Worst of all, those are not only good deeds, like helping the poor, those are Gifts. Think about it: Have you ever Prophesied? Have you ever Healed someone? Have you done Many Wonders in Jesus' Name?
Conclusion: God is calling us to a deeper relationship, to a stronger commitment, to a life of love and service.

Personal Testimony: Rebellion or Disagreement?

Well, when this happened, I was really involved in the church, I was there at least five days a week, playing in the worship team, leading one day of prayer. We were seeing God's move in the prayer time, we're really seeking God. One prayer meeting, there was a newcomer, at least in the prayer meetings; he was coming in the church for a little while. The meeting was going ok, then he asked to speak, he started saying that I was in rebellion against the Pastor, among other things, it was awful. Then, he asked to speak to me privately, I agreed to do that. He said other things and he also said that God was telling me that He would make me a meek person, this last thing God told me before. So, I got so discouraged, confused, sad, that I started questioning everything, even if I was a born-again Christian, I even questioned God's love for me. The man's words almost killed me (spiritually speaking). I was sure I had disagreements with the Pastor, but everything the Pastor told me to do, I did. I didn't make much sense, worst of all; I didn't know the difference between Rebellion and Disagreement. Well, after a couple weeks, one morning I was praying and God spoke to me about that gentleman, then at night, in the prayer meeting, a lady came to speak to me, she was desperate, she was terrified. She said: "God told me to come and speak to you, because you know what's going on". That was it, she didn't say anything else. She was shocked. Then I said: "Did that gentleman laid hands on you to anoint you?" Her answer was: "How do you know that?" I replied: "God told me this morning what's going on". She felt on the chair, then I called the pastor and another leader. The lady told us: "This morning, when my husband was leaving to take our daughter to school, I hugged her and seemed that it was the last time I was seeing her and my husband alive, it was a terrible feeling. When they left, I started praying, crying before God, and asking why I was feeling like that, I stood like that for hours. In the afternoon, when my husband returned with our daughter, he said that morning they almost got involved in a car crash, he said if they crashed, they would die for sure. That's why God called me to pray so fervently that morning." Then I said to the Pastor that God spoke to me that morning about the gentleman. Well, the Pastor allowed this gentleman to lead one group of people, and he was teaching them about gifts and anointing. The Pastor called this gentleman, me and the other leader, and we had a private meeting. There, this man started talking about his life. Before, he was a Pastor in Mexico, but had to come to United States to work, he needed money because his daughter needed a surgery or something like that. Then, he told something really strange, he said that one day an angel appeared to him and told him to write something, the angel told him to write in spanish, portuguese and in an indian dialect that he had no clue what tribe it came from, he had no clue what he was writing. The angel told him to transcribe many times, and as he was doing that, he said he felt power coming into him (creeeeepy). Well, then my Pastor gave me the opportunity to speak, I started saying to the man that he was lying when he said that I was in rebellion against the Pastor, that we had some disagreements, but didn't mean that I was in rebellion. Well, that was a huge lesson. When the Bible says in 1 John 4:1, it literally means that we MUST test the spirits, otherwise they will deceive us. Well, Rebellion means Disobedience, Disagreement means Discordance. We clearly see that difference in Matthew 21:28-31. Of course Jesus prayed to the Father that we'd became ONE as He and the Father are ONE. As Jesus commanded us, we should pursue that UNITY.