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.