Tag: life-abundantly

Inspiration, Life, love, Music, Short Stories, Work

Gratitude

There is a beautiful song, called “Gratitude,” that simply and faithfully describes that one has nothing to offer to God “except for a heart singing halleluiah.” So simple an act, yet sometimes our life is filled with work and activities that we miss out on thanking God for faithfully guiding us through it all. Missing out is rather harmful to us, research shows that the more grateful one is the healthier, resilient, and happy we are. “A merry heart doeth good like medicine…” indeed!

A few weeks ago, it felt like work and activities were piling up all through the week. On Sunday, I purposed to finish drafting a sermon and get a head start on work. It was around 8:30 in the evening, and I had drafted the sermon and had enough bible verses and quotes, so I switch computers and started to work for only an hour or two. I left the office and felt the New England cold air, turned on the car and waited for it to warm so that the frozen windshield could melt. It was cold but I felt so happy, the window looked pretty with ice crystals and light shining through from the light post.
There is great joy when we think and believe in the goodness of God. As I was writing earlier, I felt so encouraged to do, and keep going, and continue doing. The bible truly gives life, strength, and even time. I had prayed that morning for strength for the week ahead, and God gave strength and peace. I thanked God for helping me, for making a way light and enjoyable.

That week I worked 53 hours, including a long Wednesday with departure of 12:15 am …twas cold. On Friday the entire set plotted smoothly with a completion time of 2:15 pm. I was so thankful, what at first seemed hard to complete on time, was done, the week had run smoothly. There was a lot of work to do but it wasn’t burdensome. I left the office and went to pick up groceries from the store, prepared something to eat at home, and continued studying for the sermon. Upon my parents’ arrival, my dad mentioned that if I wanted, I could give the sermon in English. I told him that I had already prepared it in Spanish and that it would be ok to deliver it in Spanish. The last time I had ”preached” in Spanish was 13 years ago, so I was concerned about the outcome, and my sister shared the concern with my parents. After fellowship with them I continued studying and again went to sleep around midnight. The following morning as I stood up, the popular line “it is time” ran in my head. “Father, it is time for you to speak.” I had been asking people to please pray for me, especially because I had to deliver the message in Spanish. Near the end, I was so moved that tears ran down my face. I had to catch my breath, I could see people also wiping their eyes, my mom especially. The Holy Spirit touched my heart so deeply, that I sensed such need to receive, and give a double fold of the joy that Christ gave me.

What a blessing to share the love of God, the mission of Jesus Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit with believers. The message, based on 2 Timothy 2:4, has been ringing in my ears since March 2022, and I have grown to love and desire to dedicate my life as such, that nothing will separate me from the father and that all my decisions are made to please Him. “El Soldado del Futuro” or The Soldier of the Future is indeed the Jesus Christ in us and through us. The passion to serve can only come from above.
As we pulled out of the Hispanic church in Brockton, MA that Sabbath afternoon, I turned to my sister and said, now unto “The Lord’s Prayer,” we both laughed.

Two weeks before that Sunday, one of the sisters from our church asked me to sing at a wedding. Me? I said in my mind, at a wedding!?
Oh sure, I said – do you have a specific song that you would like me to sing? The Lord’s Prayer, she said… Oh! …That’s a beautiful song that I’ve dreamed about one day singing but I don’t really have the voice for it, I told her. She was kind with her feedback, and went on to say, but if you think of any other song just let me know. Well, the day arrived, and I had barely practiced the song, at 3:45 pm I was getting ready when I get a call. Melody, where are you? Hello, I’m getting ready will be heading out soon, are you already at church? Yes, we are waiting for you because you are first in the program after the pastor prays. Yes, I said, is the program starting at 4:30? I asked. No, it’s at 4 o’clock and it’s very short so we can’t start without you, she said.
Oh! Well, let me get out quickly. Arriving at 4:07, the sister told me that I almost gave her a heart attack, thankfully she didn’t get one. I walked up to the front and waited for my turn. The wedding began, oh I wanted to be at peace and enjoy it, but it was hard. The pastor introduced me, I stood and waited for the track to play. I really couldn’t believe that I was about to butcher such a beautiful song. I finished singing and sat down. The nephew of the bride, who walked her down the isle, was crying while I was singing “The Lord’s Prayer. It was so warm to see him react to it, deep feelings of joy warmed my heart. God is good, this is all I can say, and I really believe, that God tunes people’s ears to hear of his true beauty, it just can’t be our voices.

Gratitude coats the heart with pure joy, elevates our spirits like birds freely flying in the sky, molds and builds our characters to cherish the love of God. You too can experience freedom and joy, test and see that the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever…. I am so grateful for what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do in my life. All that we live through has a lesson, whether it is suffering or joy, God uses it all to show us the way, the truth, and the life. Thank you for being the most wonderful Father, best friend, and savior of all time, in the name of Jesus thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

“So come on, my soul
Oh, don’t you get shy on me
Lift up your song
‘Cause you’ve got a lion inside of those lungs
Get up and praise the Lord“
…
“And I know it’s not much
But I’ve nothing else fit for a King
Except for a heart singing hallelujah“

Friendship, Inspiration, Life, love

Living in Crisis with Hope III

This is a three-part series, please refer to the previous two blog posts for context. The following chapter talks about the hope we receive through Jesus Christ and how by belonging to Him, our desire to serve Him starts by bringing hope to others.

Hope

Hope is Our purpose and Our mission

The reason for Jesus to abide among us was to bring “good tidings” to all especially to the poor in spirit, to the brokenhearted, and them ‘us’ that dwell in darkness and ignorance of who God is. Jesus is our source and strength and the provider of our lives – this is not easily understood by all, but through experience alone can one excel to realize it’s importance. Every breath we take is orchestrated by God through the symphony and marching band of great witnesses we know as our angels. Without Jesus life is gray and undeserving. The most heavenly exalted of all had to become flesh (as a human agent) and represent royalty (a heavenly prince – the son of God) in the lowest of forms while nailed to a cross to abolish the disease of sin.

David quotes in Psalm 8:4-8, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas…” In this text, David praises God for caring, creating, and placing dominion in our human hands for the Godly things He created: the earth and its existing beings, including humanity. We were created “a little lower than the angels” and though we are at fault for constantly sinning with our thoughts and actions, God is still mindful and forever compassionate and loving towards us. This is true love, that though we may forget Him, He still loves us, there is nothing that can separate us from His love, not even death.

Jesus visited the earth to be fully “us.” This implies everything you are: 1) your mental process, including positive and negative feelings, desires, decisions, etc., 2) physical needs: food and shelter, etc., 3) spiritual needs: the desire to worship something or someone, and it may very well fit to mention: how we understand our purpose of stewardship and belonging to a greater cause, but mainly our nature to worship God, and what that requires – faith, hope, and love, and how much of each we possess. Jesus experienced everything a human does, both the joys and sorrows, the only difference is that the magnitude of the suffering He carried led Him to His death. This action was the only solution to save humanity from extinction, so His life and focus always centered in saving you and me. Jesus taught us the way (living with direction), the truth (living with a tangible purpose), and the life (I cannot call this anything else other than the holy spirit). Jesus’s purpose was to bring hope to a hurting and dying world. His mission was nothing less than to save us unto eternal life and make us partakers in this mission. Stewardship runs in our blood and is engraved in our brains to be exercised. The command to love our neighbor as ourselves gives us access to the heart of God. You and I are alive to bring ‘good tidings’ and love one another.  

1 King 3:7-10 quotes Solomon asking God for wisdom to lead people as the new ordained king instead of his Father David, who is nearing his death. “And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.”
We are all like little children running to and from not knowing how to face life, nevertheless, as soon as we ask God to lead us and help us to lead others, He will – no doubt, focus to tailor our lives in a way that others may see Him. We are uncapable to lead others righteously, we are uncapable to change anyone, we are uncapable to give love freely, and very uncapable to conduct ourselves like children of God. It is only God who pours out His life, strength, love, compassion, trust, through us that others may experience our love for them.

Jesus’ life and legacy is to save and redeem humanity. He lays this treasure on us because it is the only way for us to be Christ like, to be called children of God. This task requires the most out of us, and it is the reason of why having a strong mind and body is important – we are in a universal war zone. Every time you give up self, you allow Jesus to fight within you. When Jesus was on the cross “the joy set before him” allowed him to endure the cross. The joy is you, there is only one you, and only one of each one of us. When we see others, no matter what their appearance or lifestyle is, we ought to see Christ in them. This is the supernatural power of love. To love the unlovable and to win their trust by helping them believe that they are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God.

You are loved with an everlasting love! 2 Philippians 2:1-4 reads, “Thou therefore, my son [your name], be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” You are a soldier for the kingdom of God, and our call is to serve Him out of pure love and allegiance, faithfully believing that He who began a good work in us, shall be able to complete it. When we serve God, there is no fear but confidence and mighty strength, there is no doubt but a desire to do everything He would want us to do. When we serve God, we don’t compromise our lives to be approved of men but only of God. When we serve God, we live fully & freely in love. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18.

We were not created to suffer, but when we do we are never doing it alone, but Jesus carries the suffering and us, the sufferers. We were not created to hate, but when we do Jesus is immediately interceding on our behalf to the Father “Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
We were not created to die, but when we feel at lost, misunderstood, like we have miserably failed, Jesus tells you and me, there is nothing you can do that will ever stop me from loving you.
We were created to be soldiers of Jesus Christ and win each battle in His name!

Ephesias 2:11-18 reads, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints…”

You are chosen for mission!

“Angels of God will cooperate with those who are engaged in the mission work, who make every effort to save perishing souls, to give them opportunities which many have never had. There is no other way in reaching them but in Christ’s way. He ever worked to relieve suffering and teach righteousness.” Welfare Ministry, p.250.

God’s people have a mighty work before them, a work that must continually rise to greater prominence. Our efforts in missionary lines must become far more extensive. A more decided work than has been done must be done prior to the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Testimonies for the Church

“The church of Christ on earth was organized for missionary purposes, and the Lord desires to see the entire church devising ways and means whereby high and low, rich and poor, may hear the message of truth.” The church of Christ is you and me, the church of Christ is not a building is the body of anyone who makes allegiance to Jesus Christ in love! “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal the land. 2 Chr 7:14.

Jude 20-25 reads,

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen!