His Love Never Fails

What are the deepest longings of your heart? Do you think you ever have a chance of having them fulfilled? Do you want to feel happy about a new thing or experience, or do you want a deep, abiding joy in your heart that carries you through every life experience? What if your best friend could give you this deep, abiding joy, and you had nothing to do with earning it? What if the king of all creation was your best friend?

 This short video will inspire you as we begin our conversation today.

Have you ever stopped to ponder what it would be like to live in a kingdom ruled by a perfectly good, righteous, loving, and merciful king? A king who loved, cared for and provided perfectly for the needs of all his people? Just imagine that for a moment. That is the precisely how Jesus reigns. The Bible tells us that one day Jesus will return as the King of Glory; and He will rule this world with perfect love and righteousness.

If you have given you heart to Jesus and are still experiencing a lack of passion or fulfillment in your life, it may be time for you to get quiet and take a deeper look inside your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you if there are still a few more false idols standing in between you and the Lordship of Jesus.  Some of these  idols are pretty obvious while others can be very subtle. Depending on how attached you have been to them, the process of letting them go can sometimes be difficult and even painful. As you know, false idols take many forms. They can be our attachment to material things or to  our old beliefs. They can also be our obsession with our health or our appearance, or our performance in our profession life. Addictions of any kinds are also idols. Even our loved ones can become idols if they are more important to us than our relationship with God. Wanting to be loved, accepted or respected by others is also a trap and it can easily distract us from fulfilling God’s will for our life. Our idols can be anything that we place in between ourselves and our Heavenly Father.

If you are serious about deepening your relationship with Jesus, you must allow all your idols to fall away. The experience of dying to your old self, and to those things that give you a false sense of identity, can be very painful sometimes. As your old affections and attachments begin to crumble, you may feel a bit lost and become unsure about your commitment to follow Jesus. But hang in there! Make sure to keep surrounding yourself with other believers and keep spending time alone reading and meditating on God’s words and talking to Him.

It is not unusual for new believers to also experience the pain of rejection. You must be willing to let go of your old friendships that are pulling you away from your purpose, and you must trust God in the process. Sometimes, rejection from family members can be the most painful and difficult to endure. You may feel as if you are offering them the greatest gift they couple ever have, but instead of being receptive and grateful, they keep rejecting Christ and pushing you away. Just remember that it is Jesus who calls them and they will answer His call only when they are ready. Keep praying for those you love and continue on your exciting journey of Knowing Christ. The Lord will give you grace to grow in your ability to love those who reject you. Te good news is that  Jesus will give you a new spiritual family and many amazing new friends who are aligned with your purpose and your passion to share the Gospel. The people who belong in your life will stay!

 Indeed following Jesus changes everything and we literally become new creations! We must remember that this  transformation is a natural part of the healing and purification process.

Jesus did not promise that walking intimately with Him would eliminate all trials and tribulations from our lives. In fact, He assured us that we would have many trials. In John 16:33 Jesus told His disciples, “ I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.” (Amplified Bible)

Hallelujah! Indeed Jesus is our Lord and King and in Him we have total victory! Never forget who you true Father is! He is All Loving, All Knowing, All Powerful, Full of Mercy and Totally Faithful and Trustworthy! You can Trust Jesus with all your heart because His Love Never Fails!

The Next Morning

Continuing my previous post…

The next morning when we arrived at the restaurant I saw the sweet waitress running to greet us with a big smile on her face. She could not wait to let me know that her wrist had been completely healed! She was laughing almost in disbelief as she moved her hand freely in the air. She proceeded to tell me that her pain was totally gone and that she no longer needed to wear he brace! Yay Jesus!!! She now could hold the heavy trays without any pain! Oh I was so happy for her! I told her to please remember that Jesus was the one who had healed her and  I reminded her that He loved her with an everlasting love. I encouraged her to find a good Christian church back home and I hope and pray that she found one and began a real walk with Jesus. 

You may say that there has been countless times when Christians of great faith prayed for their loved ones and they died or never got released from their disability of affliction. It is true. This is a great mystery. Most likely, we will not understand the reasons behind why some people get healed and others do not until we get to Heaven.  However, please, do not let this fact stop you from believing in God’s ability to heal people now.  Always remember that God is Sovereign and only He knows the bigger picture and the reason why suffering still exists in our lives. Trust Him with all your heart and allow Him to use you to pray for others. God wants to set them free! Our job is simply to pray and trust God to do the rest. Just remember that if and when they heal, all Glory belongs to God. And if they don’t heal…make sure you do not blame God for it. He created us and He truly knows what is best for all us all in the long run! Keep praying and keep believing!

A Personal Healing Testimony

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Mathew 7:1-4

I witnessed Jesus heal a young waitress from Indonesia whom I met 3 years ago during a cruise to the Bahamas. She was serving our table and was being quite rude and short with us. In fact, my younger sister was getting upset and aggravated and suggested that we should tell the manager about the waitress unprofessional behavior and poor service. Thankfully, my wise mother who is a Christian and also a phycologist, suggested that perhaps the waitress was hurting and needed help. I then noticed that she was wearing a wrist brace and in that moment I realized that she was experiencing physical pain. When she returned to our table to do the final clean up, I asked if I could pray for her. She gladly accepted my invitation and began telling me that her right wrist was in a lot of pain and that she could hardly keep holding the trays. She also shared that she had three small children back home and could not afford to loose her job. I knew in that moment that she needed to encounter the healing love of Jesus.  I began to pray a simple prayer and all of  sudden she started to cry uncontrollably and placed her head on my shoulder. I held her head in my hands and kept praying and trusting the Holy Spirit continued to comforted her through my prayer. I proceeded to hold her wrist and I asked Jesus to heal her. I looked her in the eyes and told her to have faith in Jesus and that I knew without a doubt that He could heal her.  She thanked me, we hugged each other and she left. As we were getting ready to walk out of the restaurant,  I walked towards the manager who was watching the whole thing and was obviously very worried about her emotional behavior. I told him how blessed we were to have met our wonderful waitress and told him that he had a very special and lovely lady on his staff. He was relieved and thanked me for the comment. Now imagine what a different outcome we all would have had if my sister went to complain about her poor service to the manage! 

In my next post I will tell you what happened the next day. 

Now ask yourself…Is there anyone aggravating you? Most likely they are in need of prayer. Ask God to reveal to you what they really need. Encouragement? Love? Respect? An apology? How can you bring healing to them?   Be bold and ask them how you can pray for them.  Then let the Holy Spirit use you!

Lovers Of God

Who are the the true Lovers of Christ? What do they have in common? What makes these Christians to be “on fire” for Jesus and super excited about spreading the Good News of the Gospel?

Oftentimes, these are the folks who have suffered great pain or losses, and have come to Christ broken, humbled and in great need of healing. Many of them found themselves desperately needing God to rescue them from very painful and messy situations.

Many of these precious brothers and sisters were addicted to drugs, while others fell into despair after losing a loved one, others were in prison, some were diagnosed with a terminal illness, while others were about to get divorced or engaged in a promiscuous or adulterous relationship; most of these people were at the end of their rope and found their hearts filled with either fear, anger, shame, grief, or un-forgiveness. Finally, the day came when these individuals could no longer bear their pain and they decided to cry out to God and ask for His help. Interestingly, these are often the people who are likely to become filled with love for Jesus and others. They are the ones who have surrendered their attempts to save themselves, and realized that there was nothing they could do to make them good enough to earn God’s love. It was at that low point in their lives that Jesus became real to them and they allowed themselves to be saved and receive His unconditional love. These people understand the amazing gift of God’s grace and forgiveness and they become passionate about sharing the love of Christ with others. In the Bible, in the book of Luke, chapter 7, verse 47, Jesus defends a woman who was being harshly judged while she was weeping and kissing His feet. Jesus said, “I tell you, her sins – and they are many – have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” There seems to be a direct connection between receiving Jesus’ love and forgiveness and being able to feel genuine compassion and love for others.

Only God knows the real motives inside each person’t heart. But one thing is for sure. People can surely sense if a professed Christian has been transformed by the love of Christ, because if they have, then the genuine desire to love and serve others will become evident in their lives. These transformed Christians do not love out of obligation nor to get approval from others; instead, they love simply because they have been loved first. These imperfect Christians have encountered the unconditional love and forgiveness of a merciful and perfect God.

This song is a wonderful remainder of how good God is and how much we are loved by Him!

Dear brother and sister… do not delay the gift of walking intimately with Jesus! He will heal every aspect of your life if you will let Him! Just invite Him into your heart and watch the power of His Grace and Forgiving Love to transform every area of your life!

There is NO greater love than the love of Jesus Christ!

 

The Truth That Will Set You Free

There are countless interpretations about what Christ has said and done.  It is important for all spiritual seekers, Christians included, to be extremely careful about these interpretations.  If you are a devout seeker of truth, most likely you have come across many spiritual teachers and books claiming to have “new revelations” about who Christ is and what He  did and said. Many of these books have exoteric roots and were written by mediums, while contacting what they claim to be either angels, or dead spiritual teachers, or “ascended masters.” Some of these authors even claim that their messages are directly from Jesus Himself!  The list of counterfeit teachings that exist around the wold today is truly staggering. Countless young people are being deceived by these false teachings and are becoming enamored with the occult.

I  spent almost 25 years exploring different spiritual paths and I am sad to admit that I fell prey to a lot of these false teachings. But God knew my sincere desire to know the truth and He saved me.

With so much information available today,  how can one accurately discern what is truth from what is false?   The Bible contains many chapters warning us about false teachers. Many old prophets as well as the apostles  gave us clear instructions about how these false teachers would distort the Word of God and mislead people away for the truth.  Sadly any of these false prophets infiltrated the early church and completely distorted the teachings of Christ.  There are numerous passages in the Old and New Testaments about false prophets and teachers. This passage from Mathew 7:15  is very clear –  “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” See also Mathew 24; Luke 6:26; 1 John 4:1; Mathew 7:15; 2 Peter 2:1 and several passages form the Old Testament including Jeremiah 14:14 & 23:16; Lamentations 2:14; Ezekiel 13:9 & 22:28 among many others. Needless to say, God had a a whole lot to say about false prophets and teachers and we must take His warnings seriously.  

Knowing Christ is not about learning a philosophy or a set of doctrines. Knowing Christ is knowing Truth itself. Jesus said about Himself, “I Am The Way, The Truth and The Life.”  He was not confused about who He was and He did not come to create a new dogma, teaching, or philosophy. He came to fulfill the demands of the Law of the Old Covenant  and establish a New Covenant between God and His creation. A Covenant  of Grace and Love.  

I invite you to seek and most importantly to find the Living Christ. Look for a Bible translation that is easy to read and begin reading about His life, His teachings and His amazing promises. Reading the book of John is a wonderful place to start. Forget the hundreds of books out there  “about Christ” and begin reading His book, the Holy Bible. Invite Christ Himself to reveal Himself to you. You can be sure that He will and your life will never be the same!

Do You Know Christ?

Do you “know” Christ or do you know “about” Christ? Have you ever stopped to ask yourself this question? Of course there is a vast different between knowing “about” someone and “knowing” that person intimately. Life teaches us that the only way to really know someone is to spend quality time with that person.  We must invest in the relationship if we are to grow closer to someone. There are no short cuts here. We can’t talk to a friend once in a while, or send them a couple text messages a week , or look at their posts on social media, and expect to grow a deep and intimate relationship with them. Real love can only come from cultivating real intimacy.

Now the real question I want to ask you is:

Have you ever had a real and personal encounter with Christ? If you have, I am sure that it changed your life forever. Encountering His Love has certainly changed my life. Today I can say with conviction, that there is no way a person can truly encounter the Love of Christ and remain the same. It is impossible!

I am not talking about walking down an isle of a church in response to a pastor’s invitation for you to give your life to Christ. I have met many people who have done that, and who have continued to attend church for many years, but have never gotten to truly experience the love of Christ in a personal and intimate way.  I am also not talking about listening to sermons or going to church once or twice a week. I am talking about you and Jesus alone… together…heart to heart…close and personal, on a regular basis. I am talking about an encounter where your heart is truly open and sincerely  wanting to “know Him” personally. Are you ready to be transformed? Jesus in knocking at you door. Will you invite Him in?

Click here  to see a see wonderful short video introducing you to your true best friend forever.