Tag: peace

2021 is Our “Do Over” Year

2021 is our “Do Over” Year

….with that in mind we have something to celebrate:

Happy New Year: Day 1 of the year 2021!

2020 gave many of us a “ feeling” of “being defeated” during the course of that year. But we probably all learned something from the things that happened, especially those events that were “out of our control.”

Life (physically) is meant to be out of our control (God decides), but our eternal life (spiritually) is within our control. We have freedom of choice: we get to choose eternal life or reject eternal life (but rejecting eternal life, by default, means choosing eternal torment, even if we don’t want to accept this, or believe it, it is the truth and a reality we all will face). The second phase of life is way more valuable to us than the first. If you’re reading this: you and I get a “do over” starting today: Day 1 of the year 2021. That’s something to be thankful and grateful for right now!

I’m looking forward to 2021 with a new mindset based on what I learned during 2020.

I’m heading into 2021 with: A positive mindset having no fear of the future (because I’m under God’s protection), knowing there is a place of true peace in my future even when it isn’t peaceful here and now it will be (with God in eternity), knowing I’m in control of my destiny based on my decisions regarding the most important aspect of my life (eternity) no matter what happens outside my control.

NEW YEAR GOALS: With every future important decision, these are questions I will use when evaluating what is the right direction (for important matters). I never gave much thought to this before, but just now realized, the only important decisions are ones that affect God or other people! If these questions below don’t apply, then the choice probably doesn’t matter for the most important phase of my life: eternity and whatever I choose is truly okay.

2021 questions:

1. Am I making this decision out of love? Not the “feeling,” but the love that God wants us to give Him and others (our obedience to His commands: 10 Commandments) that proves we love God. As I linked the Bible scripture to the 10 Commandments, I noticed something: it’s from the 20th book through verse 21! 2021! (that’s nothing more than an easy way to remember where the 10 Commandments are located: Exodus 20: 1-21)

2. Will my decision or action do something that will create some sort of joy (for God or someone else)?

3. Will my decision lead or create peace? (Blessed are the peacemakers)

4. Am I being patient? Not forcing something for my own selfish reasons? I need to have patience.

5. Is this kind?

6. Is this good? (From God’s value system)

7. Does this show faithfulness and loyalty to God?

8. Am I handling this decision in a gentle manner if it involves someone else?

9. Am I being impulsive? Should I take more time to make the decision?

The questions above relate to characteristics regarding “the fruit” of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5: 22-23). When we have a relationship with God (which is what I choose/want), those characteristics are present, so if we want to make “the right” decisions for our life, we can use those questions to direct our actions (what we control).

Getting back to eternal life: Jesus said, the only way to eternal life is through Him/Jesus and to be born again. Being born again is a spiritual birth, a new “person,” a new way of thinking, a new mindset, it means surrendering to God by doing what is right (read the last sentence again), changing our ways to God’s ways (this is Baptism), then we are prepared to receive the Holy Spirit’s gifts. If we don’t change our ways (become a “new” born again person), we can’t receive the Holy Spirit’s gifts and if we don’t change our ways/surrender to God, that’s when we might hear from Jesus: “I never knew you.” on Judgement Day.

If we don’t obey, then we won’t receive the gifts of Holy Spirit (these gifts are provided so we can help each other/be of service to one another, the gifts are for service to others, not for our own benefit) and as Jesus said we have to ask for this. The gifts from the Holy Spirit are different for different people (not everyone receives the same gift).

To summarize, I’m starting 2021 with a new mindset: A mind set on eternity, because 2020 woke me up and made me realize I was given additional time and the opportunity to change my future in a positive direction. Happy New Year!

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Merry Christmas 2020

It is often in hindsight (that we realize) during the most trying times of our lives is when we experience God’s love, God’s people working on His behalf and truly have the opportunity to get to know God. God often uses something tragic in our lives and turns it into something good. He’s done this repeatedly throughout history and continues today.

AN OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLE- GOD TURNING BAD EVENTS INTO GOOD

Here is one example, of many, from the Old Testament: the story of Joseph (from the Bible, book of Genesis 37 – 50). Joseph was the son of Jacob and Rachel, Jacob who was the son of Isaac, who was the son Abraham and you can trace Abraham back to Noah, Noah back to Enoch, Enoch back to Adam (for those of you who recognize these “famous” names from the Bible), it’s fascinating. Anyway Joseph was thrown into a cistern by his own brothers (due to their jealousy), then sold into slavery when he was young. God had given Joseph the spiritual gift of dreams (that Joseph could interpret and also came true). Joseph rose to great power in Egypt, despite having many trials along the way then ended up saving many people from famine including his own family because of this spiritual gift God gave him. (An example of God turning bad hardships into something good).

A NEW TESTAMENT EXAMPLE – GOD’S OWN SON, JESUS

This is really the hardest to explain because this is unfamiliar and uncommon to us making it difficult to comprehend, but is explained throughout the entire bible (Old Testament through New Testament). There is only 1 God, however God is a triune God (consisting of three in one): God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Basically, God sent a part of Himself to earth (Jesus) to save us from evil and permanent death because of God’s love for us. I don’t comprehend why evil was allowed such a heavy influence and power over the earth, except that God is love and in real love, love is a choice, not forced. So that concept helps me understand this. God has given those evil ones a choice, they just didn’t choose God back and that’s what we are living through right now, but not forever (if we love God back). Getting back to the point: God used Jesus’ suffering and death for our good, as a ransom to evil, so that those who choose God will have eternal life after physical death. God used bad to turn it into something good in this, the greatest example, from the New Testament.

EXAMPLE TODAY- MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

My faith journey is documented throughout my entire blog. It was ignited by a tragic event, a car accident involving one of my daughter’s closest friends, Andy, shortly after he turned 16. This is when I first began truly seeking to know God, trying to understand the reason this happened along with questioning my purpose in life; rethinking my entire life.

It wasn’t a quick transformation, it began 5 years ago (2015) very gradually and with many personal failures along the way, but increased over time with an intensity that didn’t make sense. I was not a religious person by any means. I am definitely not the same person I was 5 years ago, so much has changed in my life (ultimately for the better). But along the way I experienced some of my most challenging times. No one will understand what I mean unless you have gone through this personally. I am not a “religious” person today either; I have a bible based faith. I see things very differently than before. I understand what the bible means about spiritual “blindness” because it affected me. When the blindness begins to disappear, is when those of us who have been through this experience comprehend what that blindness means. I say “begins to disappear”, because not everything is clear to me from the Bible, but some is. I now experience peace, hope and love as I never have before in my life. The “joy” is something I’m working towards! As I’ve explained before, I don’t write about these things unless something inspires me to. When I feel a “push” is when I do this. My latest “push” has been focusing on “Joy”….it is so incredible how those filled with God’s spirit, who have basically “nothing” by our world’s value system, show this tremendous joy and happiness from God (in an authentic, not fake way). I seek that joy and know that over time as I grow closer to God, I will experience that, because I see others who experience this. Others inspire us: I think that is what leading by example is: those other people who are joyful, lead us to seek joy, which truly only comes from God, because those with joy are joyful in both good times and bad. This is from the Holy Spirit and can only be attained through obeying God’s commands, changing our mindset and becoming God focused. So getting back to the point again: God uses bad things and turns them into something good today as well as in the past. Ultimately the greatest joy is knowing that one day, those of us who choose to love and obey God will not have any sorrows to experience that here on earth, may hold us back from experiencing the joy of God. For true joy, we need to constantly re-focus our negative thoughts on God and eternal life and realize that all pain we go through is only temporary. I pray to God that whomever reads this will experience the joy from God ahead despite our circumstances as we enter 2021.

May God bless you and your family.

Merry Christmas!

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God and Relationships: Healing, Forgiveness and Love

Last night before I went to sleep, when I prayed, I asked God if He would inspire me with something meaningful to share because I haven’t written in this blog since June, I wanted to write, but I haven’t felt inspired for awhile. Well, God answered that prayer at 6 am this morning when the title of this was the first thought I had as soon as I woke up.

It amazes me how the Bible shares wisdom with us “scattered” throughout the book, through different messengers, but all giving the same message.

This topic is consistently timely because we interact with people on a daily basis and need God’s help “dealing with” people, and more appropriately “dealing with” ourselves. I’ll explain the image for this article and how it relates:

We need God in our relationships: any relationship with God as a part of it equals love.

God is love.

MAKING EXCUSES

I believe in being accountable for my own actions, not making excuses (understanding what leads me to something, but not blaming my actions on someone or something else). I’m responsible for my own actions no matter what happens around me. I personally choose to react the way I do. So why is it that I allow different standards for others? I allow excuses for them. Excuses justifying other’s actions or behavior, when I wouldn’t allow myself to act that way. I made excuses because I thought trying to be a Christian meant accepting other people as they are, and not being judgmental of others, which it does, but there is more to this:

A Christian should help others be aware of the wisdom from God through the bible (awareness only -not judgement nor retaliation- that’s reserved for God) – don’t be silent, speak up, but don’t do this in anger, do this in a loving way to build up the other person, in the knowledge of God, not tear them down.

DO NOT JUDGE:

GO TO THE BIBLE AND IN PRAYER GO TO GOD FOR ADVICE, STRENGTH AND WISDOM:

HEALING

I had to think: which comes first: healing or forgiveness? It’s a challenge to forgive someone if we haven’t healed from what happened. But we also can’t heal from it unless we forgive it (let it go). So maybe it’s a combination of healing and forgiveness, but first and most importantly seeking God. This is where we NEED God: to heal and to forgive. There is no question about that. I often think of this simple statement which is so true:

Hurt people hurt people.

Pastor Rick Warren

It’s something I keep in mind whenever someone hurts me. It’s important to have that perspective, it makes it easier to accept someone for who they are. We can’t know everything that happened to someone during their life. If someone was loved throughout their life, they wouldn’t hurt. So because they have been hurt (and haven’t healed), they hurt other people. So it’s so important for all of us to heal from the hurt other people caused in our lives.

FORGIVING

If we want a great relationship with anyone, we need to be able to forgive, regularly! Forgiving someone doesn’t mean allowing what they did to continue as if it doesn’t affect us. But if the other person who hurt us is truly sorry, that person will do their best to not do it again and ask for a second chance. If the person truly wants forgiveness and tells us how they have changed and why they have changed, then we need to offer forgiveness. (If this is an abusive situation, we may need to offer forgiveness but not remain in that person’s life for safety reasons. This type of situation requires other qualified individuals’ assessment of the situation.)

WHY WE NEED GOD FOR HEALING, FORGIVENESS AND LOVE (and Eternity):

HOW WE GET THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

On our own, we are going to fail, that’s the truth, but if we have the Holy Spirit in us, we will succeed. So how do we receive the Holy Spirit? God sends the Holy Spirit to us if we ask and OBEY God:

And this is why we need God in all of our relationships. We need a relationship with God so that we can have good relationships with other people through the strength of the Holy Spirit in us.

Once we have a relationship with God, he will protect us until the end of times.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN TELL IF SOMEONE HAS A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD (these qualities will be evident in that person’s life):

We obviously need God as the priority in our life, so the rest of our life can fall in place. As in any good relationship, there is an exchange of giving and receiving. This is no different with God, we aren’t going to receive the power of the Holy Spirit unless we obey God’s commands (sin keeps the power of the Holy Spirit from us). God always loves us, but the power of the Spirit is reserved for those who obey Him. The power of the Holy Spirit makes our lives more peaceful, provides joy, wisdom and enables us to love in a more godly way than we could on our own.

I hope you found this helpful for your relationships!

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Am I a “Fake Christian”?

In some parts of the world, being a Christian is acceptable and has a positive connotation; but in other parts of the world, being a Christian is not acceptable and people are persecuted for it. Thankfully, in the US, we currently have freedom of speech and don’t fear referring to ourselves as a Christian. However, being a Christian in today’s modern world has lost its some of its meaning; many think, if I say I believe in Jesus, I’m saved. (But don’t forget, even the demons in the bible believed in God, and you probably know they won’t be in eternal life with God.) Therefore making it to Heaven by believing in Jesus, including his death, resurrection and ascension (faith) is part of the truth, but not the whole truth.

Throughout this article, links to verses from the bible are provided, supporting the statements made.

Many may not know, or never paid attention to the next part: faith without action is dead, or they never heard Jesus’ talk about the wide gate and the narrow gate. I was one of those people who thought believing in Jesus and being a “good” person was enough. But being “good” is not enough, and no person is “good”, only God is “good” – Jesus said that. We can’t get to Heaven just by being “good” because we would never be that good to be in God’s presence. Jesus was the sacrifice, God’s gift to us that makes this possible, but throughout the Bible, we are told to be obedient and change our ways. I didn’t fully comprehend what this meant for many years, so it made me think: maybe there are more people like me who are not fully aware of this either?

The word “Christian” is used very casually today, many of us calling ourselves Christians/Believers, but not acting like Christians/Believers (aka “Fake Christians”). “Fake Christians” give practicing Christians a bad reputation to those who don’t believe anything or follow a different religion. I say practicing Christians because let’s face it, no one is or will ever be the perfect Christian and that is why God sent Jesus as THE sacrifice for all of us who call ourselves Christians. I write this for an awareness most importantly because knowing this affects our eternal life/salvation promised by God. Knowing if we will make it has been so diluted by so many religious authority figures, in an effort to become “politically correct,” it concerns me, especially when it comes to the question: “Will I make it to God’s promised eternal life?” this subject becomes important for every single one of us on earth.

So what is a true Christian, a true believer? A follower of Christ. What does it mean to be a follower of Christ, a believer? If we believe what Jesus taught when He was here then he told us what we need to do. He didn’t just say “believe,” in His first teachings He told people to “repent.” So being a “believer/Christian” means doing a lot of things, such as:

So after reading this above, it’s probably pretty easy to see that being a Christian isn’t easy or effortless. But it’s also important to not become discouraged, to know that no one will be perfect; it’s the true intention we have that matters to God. That’s why regular prayers and connecting with God is important. And correcting our mistakes as soon as we realize we made one.

Studying the bible showed me I had a lot of work to do. It’s much easier to say we are all saved by grace and we don’t have to do anything else…but I don’t believe that is the full Truth: we have a choice, an obligation, and a commitment to make.

We have to have a relationship with God, if we don’t we may hear Jesus say to us: “I never knew you.” The other important part to know is that only one sin is unforgivable: blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, but no other sin is too bad for God to forgive. He willingly forgives and encourages us to do the same with each other, when someone asks for our forgiveness. It’s never too late and it’s what God wants: a relationship with us in eternity.

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