Enlightenment: The Power to Become a Child of God.

First of all, let's define enlightenment: The attainment of spiritual knowledge or insight. Verb enlighten: Explain thoroughly; make aware. Adjective enlightened: Informed, educated.
Hebrews 6:4-6. Before, i thought this passage was talking about a believer losing salvation. In reality, there's nothing to do with losing salvation, but it's about a believer not finishing the race (2 Timothy 4:7) or not receiving the crown of life (Revelation 2:10). As you probably know, there are two basic belief systems in the christian church: Arminianism and Calvinism. There are good and bad views in both of them, but when it comes to salvation, their basic belief is: Arminianism: You are responsible for your salvation (free will) and after being saved you can loose your salvation; Calvinism: God preordained your salvation or damnation and free will doesn't exist. To me, salvation is a process that can take minutes or years. There's both the Power of God and the will of man in the process, of course if God wants to save someone He will because at the end, He is sovereign. In the Bible, we can see very clear how it works (if we want to): The first step is what i call enlightenment (John 16:8); the second step is repentance (Mark 1:4); the third step is acceptance (John 1:33) and the last is the death (Luke 9:24). Unfortunately, there is a cheap salvation being offered out there, where you just say some magical words and it's done, you're saved from the wrath of God even if you'll never produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit (character of Jesus Christ). John 15:2, here Jesus is assuring that is possible to be IN Him (enlightenment, repentance and acceptance) and yet be taken away (see Post: The Tree, the Branch and the Fruit), but He doesn't mean that you are saved and will lose your salvation, He means that you never finished the process (bear fruit or die to self). The problem is that many people think just because they received gifts from God (acceptance) that they are automatically saved even if Jesus said this in Matthew 7:22-23. Two good examples of not "finishing the race", are Judas Iscariot and Saul the king, they stopped the process at acceptance and never died to self. Jesus explains to Nicodemus in John 3, the concept of being born again, of course we must die to be born again and it is spiritual. So, the best way to know if we are being saved, is to answer these questions: Am i losing my life (Luke 9:24)? Am i bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)? Am i loving the Lord with all my heart, soul, strength and mind and my neighbor as myself (Luke 10:27)? Philippians 2:12. Look the life of Paul the Apostle, he knew everything "about" God but he didn't "know" God. When he was enlightened (Acts 9), he repented, accepted and died to self. Paul talks a lot about salvation being a process, he compares it with a race in 1 Corinthians 9:24, and he stood against those who were selling a cheap gospel, Galatians 1:8. This is the gospel the Apostles preached: 1 Corinthians 1:23-24; John 1:12. If you received Jesus Christ as your savior, you were given the right (power) to become children of God, my hope is that you "finish the race", die to self to receive eternal life!

Contentment: Is Your "Daily Bread" Enough For You?

Luke 11:3. This is part of the prayer that Jesus Christ taught His disciples, to ask God daily for our daily bread. It reminds me of Israel's "tour" through the desert, when God provided for them the daily "bread from heaven". It's amazing how God showed them that He was able to provide for them, daily, everything they needed (food, clothing, etc.). God even told them the amount they had to gather in order to feed their families. Of course, just like the most of us (there are few exceptions), they didn't believe and obey God's command and gathered more than they needed and it spoiled (Exodus 16:20). Contentment is something RARE in today's christianity, we are always running after something (spiritual or material), trying to gather more than we need, "filling our barns" and "emptying our souls" (Luke 12:16-21). Right now, i am learning what Paul the Apostle called, the secret of being content, and i can tell you that it is extremely hard to absorb it. The "theory" is easy to understand, but when it comes to practice it, it gets really tough. I think it's because we are born with that sense of "independence", Adam's legacy, and as we grow up, we are taught that we "must" be independent at all cost. Unfortunately, we bring that "worldly teaching" to our christianity and tell Jesus Christ that He can be our "partner" but never our "boss", that we can be His "friends" but never His "servants", otherwise we would lose our "independence". INDEPENDENCE OR DEATH! That's our motto. Probably that's why Jesus said that we must DIE to LIVE! Of course, since there's not a single living human being without a "head", it's impossible to be part of Jesus' body (real church) without His Lordship, He is the head of the church (Colossians 1:18). Why is it so hard to really trust in Jesus? Is it because we grew up singing songs like, "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus", and that made our hearts so "callous" that we don't even think about what we are singing? don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that we should depend on other people, government, etc., i'm saying that we must learn to depend on God, He wants be our provider. That's one reason why Jesus said that if we don't become like a child we will not enter His kingdom. Now think about this: When you were 5 or 10 years old, did you worry about what you were going to eat or wear? If you did you missed the best of your childhood, the "worry free" life! About the "secret", this is what Paul wrote: Philippians 4:11-13. Do you really believe what Jesus said? Matthew 6:26. Yes you are! God loved you so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you so that you would have eternal life.

Prosperity Redefined: Why the Prosperity Gospel is Accursed.

According to the Webster Dictionary, prosperity is: The condition of being successful or thriving, especially, economic well-being. If we relate prosperity to economics, we will never consider Jesus Christ to be a prosperous person, because He said this about Himself: Matthew 8:20. If after reading this verse you still think that Jesus was rich (monetarily speaking), as the prosperity gospel preachers say, you should stop reading this post. God's definition of prosperity is different from ours, Jesus Christ being poor (financially speaking), was the most prosperous person ever, just think about it: With five barley loaves and two small fish Jesus fed 5 thousand man, besides women and children (Matthew 14:13-21); Jesus turned six water pots of stone, filled with twenty or thirty gallons of water into wine (John 2:1-11); After a night catching no fish, Jesus provided a big catch to His disciples (Luke 5:1-9). If we consider Jesus' ministry and think that prosperity is equal to "numbers", He failed big time, because when He rose again, there were no multitudes waiting for Him, just a bunch of scared disciples. Of course, Jesus finished the work His Father gave to Him with 100% success. Jesus is the best example of prosperity! Speaking about the prosperity gospel, the reason it is accursed is because it's not Jesus Christ's Gospel. See how tough is Paul when dealing with false doctrines: Galatians 1:8-9. What was then Jesus' Gospel, or as it says in Acts 2:42, the apostles’ doctrine? If you read the Gospels and the Apostles' letters in the New Testament you will learn it! Paul defined their preaching as Christ crucified: 1 Corinthians 1:23-24. If you read Jesus' teaching, you'll realize that Christ crucified means unconditional obedience to God. Jesus didn't die to make us millionaires, He died to give us eternal life. It's better a Lazarus in heaven than a rich man in hell! God will always provide for his children, the question is: IS GOD'S DAILY BREAD ENOUGH FOR YOU?