Treating God as Holy

Numbers 20:12

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”


Observation:
This is the moment in which Moses and Aaron lost the opportunity to enter into the Promised Land. The incident at the waters of Meribah revealed that Moses and Aaron had character flaws that caused them to not treat God as Holy. What happened to these great leaders? What was their mistake that resulted in the loss of a great blessing?
As we read the context, we find that Moses told the people, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock.” Perhaps there is a tone of arrogance when saying, “we bring water forth.” Any kind of arrogance in the character of a leader will pay its duties at the end. Arrogance will cause leaders to miss the blessings right before the finish line.
Besides arrogance, there’s also the possibility that Moses followed God’s instructions with anger. The fact that he struck the rock twice indicates that Moses was frustrated either with the people or God, maybe both. Moses obeyed God in all He commanded. But his obedience was mixed with his own selfish feelings, like a child that obeys the commands with a defiant attitude. Moses struggled with anger; from the moment he killed the Egyptian, until this very moment he often behaved harshly and condescendingly.
What we know for sure according to the passage is that Moses and Aaron’s mistake was unbelief resulting in not treating God as Holy. Their arrogance, combined with anger slowly planted a seed of disbelief in their hearts that made the things of God common and ordinary. This miracle of pouring water out of a rock was one more thing for them, not a powerful miracle in the hand of God. This miracle was extraordinary and worthy of God’s praise. Instead they went on business like usual. Is this behavior that causes to not treat God as Holy.


Application:
I don’t want to expend my entire life working hard in leading God’s people to end up missing the greatest blessings because my unbelief. I want to finish well. For that reason I must avoid arrogance at all costs. I must give away the credit for the success first to God, and then to those around me. Like the psalmist says, “Not to us, but Your name be the glory.”
Leading with a gracious spirit, not with anger, must be a daily goal in my life. At times I get frustrated with the slow pace of some to follow my instructions. I get easily upset when I feel that my time has been wasted in mentoring someone that doesn’t respond quickly to my direction. Is at this times of frustration that I must remember how patient the Lord has been with me. I’m one of the slowest learners in His Kingdom, so I should treat others the same way God treats me, with grace and mercy.
Finally, I cannot allow the Holy things of God become common and ordinary. Every service and meeting must be treated as Holy. Every time I do daily devotions must be treated as holy. Every time I open my mouth to pray I must do it with reverence, not as an ordinary thing that we do in our business schedule. I try to pray with my kids each night before they go to bed, and I can see how many times I treated that precious opportunity not as a holy moment. Every time I minister to God’s people, either preaching, or leading worship, our counseling, I must see each opportunity as a Holy moment. Ministry is not a job, it’s a holy duty unto the Lord.


PRAYER:
Dear Jesus, please forgive me for the times where I treated your Holy presence as an ordinary item in my daily schedule. Let me have a fresh sense of awe of your presence and allow me to live keeping arrogant attitudes away from me. Teach me how to be humble and how to give away the credit that I want to own selfishly. Cause me to lead out of a gracious spirit, not out of frustration or anger. Let me extend your grace to those who learn in a slower pace. Please keep my heart pure by rejecting arrogance and anger. I love you, O most Holy. You are my Lord and I stand in awe of You. AMEN!

Storm Riders

Mark 4:37-41

And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" They became very much afraid and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"

Observation:
At this point the disciples are having a lot of momentum in their relationship with Jesus. The context of this chapter reveals that Jesus disclosed the mysteries of the kingdom to the disciples in private, when nobody else was around. Their exclusive relationship with their Master was a privilege because they were exposed to information that was reserved for a few in the inner circle. I bet the disciples felt very special at this moment. But then, Jesus suggests them to “go over to the other side.” They took a boat to go to the “other side” and on the way found a fierce gale of wind that turned into a storm. The disciples were afraid to loose their lives. Perhaps they were frustrated thinking that Jesus made the poor decision to go to the other side when everything was fine where they were. Their frustration increased as the storm was getting fiercer and Jesus did nothing but rest comfortably in sound sleep. No wonder the scared and doubtful disciples cried out, “Don’t you care that we’re perishing?”
The following events blew the disciples away. With the authority of the Son of God, Jesus rebuked both the storm and the disciples. The storm responded to who Jesus was—the Creator of the universe. But the disciples didn’t know how to respond because they still have questions about who Jesus was. They asked each other, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Application:
Who is this that stays closer than a brother when the storm hits? Who is this that can bring peace and comfort in the midst of the most adverse situations? Who is this that patiently allows me to vent even when I doubt Him and still has mercy on me? Who is this that loves me even when I grumble and complain?
The answer to these questions can come from two ways, intellectual knowledge about God and experiential knowledge of God. We can read and hear about a God that does miracles and that promises blessings. Our faith depends on such revelation to take the first steps of intimacy with the Lord. While our intellect is being transformed with the power of God’s word, momentum in our relationship with Him will increase as we feel involved in the inner circle of His love, just like the disciples felt before the storm hit.
But what happens when the fierce winds come and everything in our lives is tested, shaken, and challenged? What happens when all what we know about God is not enough to bring peace as we face death, sickness, loss, depression, guilt from sin, and brokenness? Is at these moments when the experiential revelation of who Jesus is becomes the greatest blessing for our faith. Knowing in our intellects who He is may bring us closer to God’s throne, but experiencing who He is will always brings us closer to God’s heart. Some people know about God, but only those who experience Him know God.
I truly have the greatest admiration for believers that go through the storms of life. They know Jesus in a deeper way than those who doesn’t. For example, a good friend of mine has gone through the storm of cancer twice in the last three years. My friend is part of a group properly called “Storm Riders” that brings support and guidance to cancer victims. Her faith and her knowledge of God are superior that many scholars that I know. Books and studies are great but there is nothing like knowing the God that has authority over sickness, death, brokenness, hurt, persecution, and many other storms. We must pursuit both intellectual knowledge and experiential knowledge of the God we worship.
So when Jesus takes us through storms, we must be preoccupied not in the storm but in the One who protect and love us while the storm hits us. Like my pastor (Dr. Wayne Cordeiro) says, “Never allow the outside storm get inside your heart.” We must trust God at all times by letting Him do His work in us, even if He takes us to the “other side” through storms and trials.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, please forgive me when I doubt your love for me when I’m going through difficulties. Please let me know you in a deeper way as I walk through the storms of life. Cause everything in me to be devoted to you at all times. Including seasons of heavy rain and fierce winds. I don’t want to know about You alone. I want to know You. Please reveal yourself to me in the very practical areas of my life. I love You more than life Jesus. Make me a Storm Rider that knows your heart. AMEN!

Unnecessary Delays

Numbers 14:22-23

"Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs, which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned me see it."

Observation:
Waiting for God’s promises to become a reality is a normal premise in the kingdom of God. But the normal waiting period could be extended if our character is not ready for the blessing. This passage reveals that a problem occurs when our character causes unnecessary delays in the plan of God for us. There is a huge debate in the theological community about the way God is portrayed here by the writer of Numbers. It seems as if God is surprised with the Israelites’ grumbling and stubbornness. At times seems that God cannot make His mind about the people—at one moment He wants to kill them all, but then Moses’ intercession for the people causes God to relent. If not careful, we could misinterpret this passage and have a wrong view of the character of God. The truth has been, is, and always will be that God is omniscient. He knows everything because He plans everything. Every single detail in the universe either macrocosmic or microscopic happens because the Lord plans it that way. However, God never violates another biblical principle, which is the free will of men. It is a mystery the way God can do both, have control of the entire universe and give room to men to choose their destiny. Some scholars will go far enough to claim that they solved this mystery. Their answer usually compromises either God’s sovereignty or God’s gift of free will to men. Our minds cannot comprehend how God can handle both. God had a plan for the people of Israel that never changed. He wasn’t taken by surprise or forced to come up with a plan B. He knew that the promise land was to be given to a new generation that had a different spirit than the generation that was delivered form Egypt. Besides Caleb and Joshua, the entire people had a slave mentality woven into each fiber of their character. Such mentality caused the promise to be delayed unnecessarily for forty years. Was this delay unnecessary? Yes! An entire generation lost the chance to enjoy the Promised Land because they refused to be different. If they were more teachable, thankful and faithful to the God they saw in action several times for their sake, they would enjoyed the privileges of seeing, conquering, and living in the Promised Land.

Application:
God never changes, but He will delay His blessings over my life if my character is not ready. My stubbornness, grumbling, rebellion against authorities, and lack of trust in God’s Mighty Hand will cause unnecessary delays in my life. God knows everything about me from my past, my present and my future. But also He gives me margins to make wise decisions, to learn valuable lessons, to walk in His will. The only hope we have as believers is to trust in the work of Christ in the cross. Our constant and genuine faith in the redemptive power of Jesus’ blood will cause everything in us to thrive. We will jump into moving trains of blessings right at the perfect moment. God has great promises for my life and for our church. The more I walk in dependence to Jesus, the more those promises will come at the perfect time. Of all the character flaws that bring unnecessary delays described above, stubbornness is the one that hunts me often. The Israelites tested the Lord ten times by telling God what He was supposed to do. I wonder how many times I do the same. I’m pretty sure than more than ten. If it wasn’t for His mercy over my life I would be long dead. We must become very teachable, especially when the Lord himself is giving us the instructions. The more we soften our hearts to the whispers of his voice, the more blessings we will bring upon ourselves.


PRAYER: Dear Jesus, please forgive me for the many times I allowed character flaws that created unnecessary delays for your blessings over my life. Please give me a clean heart that is willing to obey quickly to your instructions. Thank you for giving me room to choose my blessings and help me to pay the price with diligence, humility, and dependence in your presence. I love you Jesus. AMEN!

While We Wait

The following are my sermon notes from Sunday, February 20th, 2005. Enjoy...

Introduction:

1. Thank the team’s commitment to their church.
• The sacrifices people make in order to have a church that blesses people are amazing. Our team refuses to lead a church that is not effective in bringing people closer to God.
• One of the things I admire the most about the team is their willingness to wait for the blessings of God. Our team understands that worthwhile blessings require a waiting period. Therefore they work hard, they pay the price of pioneering, and they are resourceful, serving with few tools but with all of their hearts. They keep the hope alive of seeing their dreams for the church become a reality. For example our Shaved Ice Ministry started with one 10 year old and her little shave ice maker.

2. The microwave lifestyle is growing in our society.
• There is an increase of impatience in our culture that is causing people to make poor decisions or to miss great opportunities that appear right in front of them.
• We want our promises NOW--Financial promises, spiritual promises, ministry promises, relational promises (spouse), etc.

3. This world is the waiting room for the Citizen of Heaven.
• It’s interesting to observe what people do while they are in a waiting room.

4. God’s purpose in placing us in the waiting room.

“He commanded then not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised…”
Acts 1:4

• A period of waiting comes after the promise. That’s God’s way!
• He promised the HS to the disciples, but they had to wait a certain period of time in order to receive that promise. How long did they waited?
• God promises life eternal but we must wait to see that promise fulfilled. The same happens to each promise of God.
• We can be sure that between the promise and its fulfillment there is a godly and holy moment of waiting. It may not be our favorite way to do things, but it’s God’s way.
• As we wait in the Lord, He will be working in our lives and in those around us. Then when our hearts have been prepared and made ready, the promise eventually comes as a reality and a blessing.
• When promises are pursuit and connived out of timing, they will not be as fruitful as they could be. We can see this happening often in dating relationships. Promises become ripe and reach their maximum potential while we wait patiently in God’s waiting room.
• While we are in the waiting room, the promise becomes more valuable, desirable, and appreciated. Also our hearts become more humble and dependable in God’s word.
• In the waiting room we develop a deeper love not only for the promise but for the giver of the promise.
• Our problem is that we don’t like to wait, but we rush and run as fast as we can towards the promise before the best time for optimum fulfillment.
• The many seeds we plant daily will not germinate until there is a long period of rest, silence and unnoticed development. We must never doubt that God is always at work in our lives, even when we are waiting in places where we cannot see what’s going on. The Lord always works the night shift while nobody notices what he does. But when the morning comes and His work is revealed for all to see, then we will explode with joy, thanksgiving and praise.


How can we learn what to do while we wait for God’s promises?


1. START WITH A CLEAN HOUSE

“And He entered the temple and began to cast out those who were selling, saying to them,
“It is written, ‘And My house shall be called a house of prayer’”.
Luke 19:45-46

• This event in the ministry of Jesus reveals His zeal and passion for what is His. He was outraged with the way vendors where treating the Temple.
• We just read in our daily devotions through the book of Leviticus that the worship system in the temple demanded the sacrifice of bulls, goats, and sheep in different occasions. The Levitical law system even included doves for the people that couldn’t afford the most expensive animals to sacrifice. Vendors were allowed to sell all these animals and other temple paraphernalia in order to serve the sincere worshippers.
• But when Jesus came to the temple that day, he found that the vendors became greedy and started making unreasonable profit out of the merchandise. They also offered animals with defects at the price of animals without defect. Vendors were in cahoots with some priests in order to force worshippers to buy merchandise from them. These vendors were not concerned in building God’s kingdom but their own kingdom.
• That’s why Jesus confronted them and rightly accused them of turning his house in a house of robbers. Their practices became corrupted because their hearts were corrupted. Jesus was not upset because there were merchandise for sale, but because of their motivation in selling that merchandise.
• Some people have wrongly judged the growing resource Christian industry by misinterpreting this passage. Christian books, worship CD’s, clothing, apparel, and many other items are sold in many churches today. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as the purpose of those sales is destined to bless people with quality resources and to advance the kingdom of God. In our church all profits from resources are reinvested in God's kingdom.

Illustration:
The couple that built their home with the purpose of creating great family memories. They paid a high price to have a wonderful home. They spend lots of time and money in renovating their place. They even used all their savings and their vacation time for several years to work in the house renovation. They spend lots of attention in the family room and its furnishings. The father handmade a special game table with the purpose of spending quality time with his two daughters playing fun games. They also put a lot of time in the master bedroom. After several years of hard work and several thousands of dollars, they finished the project and the couple decided to take some time off for a very well deserved second honeymoon. Their two teenage daughters were grown up and in age to take care of themselves, so they decided to leave them under the passive supervision of friendly neighbors. The couple left on a Monday morning and the girls thought what any teenager would think in an opportunity like this—to have a party in their recently renovated home. The girls invited their few closest friends but the word spread out in their high school like wildfire. Friday night they have over 100 people in the house, many of which came with illegal drugs and alcohol. The whole place became a mess. In the mid-time, the couple decides to come two days earlier because they miss their girls. When they arrived home, they were outraged, frustrated, and highly disappointed. Their home was being abused and misused.

If you can relate with the way the parents felt, then you can relate with the way Jesus feels when something that is His becomes corrupted, misused, and abused.

Pay close attention to this:
Our hearts have become the dwelling place of God. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. What would happen if Jesus decides to bring the fulfillment of his promises to your life and visit His dwelling place in you? What is he going to find as soon as he opens the door of your heart, which is His house? Is he going to find a filthy place or a welcoming throne to rule? Is he going to find corruption like he found that they in the temple? Is he going to find selfish motives? Or unresolved sin? Or bitterness? Or lack of forgiveness? All these are crucial questions e need to ask ourselves and hopefully answer with the highest level of honesty.

Single people: What happens if God is about to bring your spouse of your dreams into your life but when Jesus arrives with the gift he finds that your heart is attached to the wrong person, or that your heart is tinted with immorality, or that your selfishness will not be able to handle the kind of relationship He wants to give you?

Business people: What would happen if God is about to bring a financial blessing but when He arrives and opens the door of your heart He finds that your heart is greedy? What if God gives you a monetary blessing to give you and instead of using that blessing wisely to pay your credit card bills you go ahead and foolishly satisfy your desire for more stuff?

In order to wait properly for the fulfillment of God’s promises we need to have a clean house.

* Evaluate constantly and repent quickly

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"
1 Corinthians 3:16


Becoming a Christian has nothing to do with becoming sinless but everything to do about becoming repentant. What do you do if when carrying your trash out you fall and spill everything in the living room floor? Do you clean up immediately or you wait few weeks until the stench burns your nostrils? Isn’t it the purpose of taking daily showers to keep our body clean and healthy? What about our heart? Are you repenting often? But repentance shouldn’t be taken as a game or as a senseless habit.

* Take action steps of true repentance

If you are living in an immoral lifestyle do everything possible to make things right according to God’s word. If you are sexually active with a significant someone and you are not sure that that person is God’s chosen person for you then take action steps of true repentance and break that relationship off. If on the other hand you know that you can live for the rest of your life with this person, then make plans to get married as soon as you can. One of my favorite things to do in ministry is performing weddings. If you struggle with alcohol or drugs, ask for help and be diligent in cleaning yourself up. You get the point...


2. FIND YOUR GIFTS AND USE THEM

"As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another,
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."
1 Peter 4:10

• There’s a reason why when we receive Jesus in our hearts we are not transported immediately into heaven. God wants us to be citizens of heaven living on earth with the purpose of becoming a blessing for others. We must discover and deploy our gifts in effective service to God.

(The Following notes are written by my good friend Creighton Arita, who sent them to me right when I was preparing for this sermon)

• Remember everyone is a 10 somewhere and we ALL have been DESIGNed for significance. The most powerful place of ministry for each of us is not going to be found by comparing ourselves to others...although that is what the devil would want you to do to plant seeds of pride or discouragement. The most powerful place of ministry is simply serving out of who God made you to be. It is truly awesome and provides so much freedom that I don't have to be a like someone else. The most powerful testimony for Jesus comes as I serve out of who God made me to be.
• The Holy Spirit will flow through me regardless of my position as long as I walk in OBEDIENCE to Him. Whether you are the head usher or a teacher in the ark or the servant that cleans the bathrooms...our positions at NHDH do NOT reflect our value to Jesus!!! That in contrast to what is reinforced in the world, positions in our church offer little value. Our spiritual authority comes as we walk in obedience and serve one another in love. In fact, the higher you move in leadership, the more you become a servant to others...you must be willing to give away the credit and take the blame, willing to deny yourself and to pay the price when no one is looking. That as Jesus stated, the greatest leader becomes the greatest servant.

* Dedicate Everything to God

We need to dedicate EVERYTHING to Him and start with an overflow of gratefulness because of His mercy...remember we love much because we have been forgiven much. As we dedicate our hearts to him, THEN Jesus will begin to reveal His plans for our lives.

"And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is."
Romans 12:1-2

* Get involved somewhere.

Getting involved allows you to discover and develop your spiritual gifts. Everyone has spiritual gifts and spiritual gifts answer the question WHAT I should be doing while I wait for the Lord’s return.. When you serve in your gifts, you operate with maximum effectiveness and maximum JOY. As we all begin to function in our gifts, there is a JOY of serving that becomes a lighthouse to the community. People will visit our service and comment that those people at NHDH serve with so much JOY...seems like they are on happy medicine or something.

Please make the greatest efforts to operate in your giftedness. A person outside of their gift will begin to doubt their value and their DESIGN for significance. The biggest disservice we can do to people in ministry is to leave them in a place where they will not be fruitful. It's like taking a healthy fern and placing it in the direct sunlight. Overtime the fern will begin to whither and die. Hello....Nothing wrong with the plant...the gardener just put it in the wrong place. Even if the plant yearns to stay in the sunlight because all the BIG plants are in the sunlight...the "smart" gardener will move the fern into the shade even though the fern may not initially understand. The fern may even feel a little slighted. However, overtime the fern begins to blossom...it begins to understand its unique DESIGN....it begins to feel that it is actually an important part of the garden...it begins to taste and understand the goodness of the Lord. The fern praises God and becomes a testimony of God's creation!!! Wow that was kind of a stretch...but you get the point.

As God's messenger, I give each of you this warning: Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.

"God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly."
Rom 12:3-8

CONCLUSION:
My dear friend Ron Mehl once told me that one of the keys to endure until the end is to remember that God always works the night shift. The fact that you are in the waiting room doesn't mean that God is incapable, unwilling, or too busy to take care of your needs. He is at work, even when you cannot see Him. So while we wait, let's keep our house clean and let's use our gifts to serve others and bring them closer to God.

Attitude Changes Everything

Numbers 13:30-31

Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it.” But the men who have gone up with him said, “ we are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.”

Observation:
The same mission but different reports. The same observations but two different outtakes in perspective. One side truly optimistic and the other really pessimistic. All twelve spies chosen were young emerging leaders among the ranks of the Israelites. They all had a balanced combination between strength and wisdom. But Caleb and Joshua had a different spirit. In their mission over Canaan they all found what God promised to Israel, a land that flows with milk and honey to settle. But also they found the sons of Anak in possession of the Promised Land. These were big and ugly boys that look like super sized WWF wrestlers on steroids. Honestly, you don’t want to get in a one on one combat with any of these boys—not even for the whole milk and honey of the world. Ten out of the twelve spies felt that way. But Caleb and Joshua had a different spirit. They both had more than a feisty, renegade, and volatile attitude. They were realistic of the problems, but also very confident that in their side they had the advantage. They become heroes not because of their strength but because of their spirit that lifts them up in a moment when nobody is willing to stand up for what God wants. They were all called to be leaders, but only these two have what it takes to be a commander in the army of God. Is it guts? Is it skill? More than that, it’s about the attitude with which they faced their opposition.

Application:
Attitude changes everything. The right attitude in the most adverse situations can make the difference and will invite the miraculous to happen. If God is promising something to us, we can be sure that we will face giants before we claim full victory. If God is promising healing for our bodies, we should expect many trials before embracing fully that promise. If God is promising healthy and godly relationships, we must expect challenges on the way. If God is promising us favor and promotion we should be prepared to receive attacks, discouragement, and setbacks. But we can never forget, which was very well impressed in Caleb’s mind, is the fact that we have the Giver of the promise fighting in our side. God’s promises are not for conservative cowards that hide in the shadows of false spirituality and religiosity. God’s promises are for anyone who is willing to pay the price and trust completely that there is nothing in them that will give them possession of those promises. It’s all about the Lord Almighty walking alongside with us. God wants to give us the promises, but also we wants to be right beside us when we receive them. Caleb and Joshua had a different spirit. They had the Spirit of the Living God with them. They had a relationship with the Lord and they walked closer to Him. They knew that no ugly giant had enough punch power to knock them down dead. The other spies were so afraid because they had no clue that the Lord was standing right beside Israel.
As we continue planting the foundation of our church in New Hope Diamond Head we work alongside with wonderful people that have been called to the ministry. When facing difficult situations it’s normal to hear different reports. We have those who rely in their own abilities to conquer what God wants to give us, and when the tasks are beyond themselves, their tendency is to report with pessimism. Fortunately there are many others who know that the strong Mighty Hand of God is on our side and that are willing to face any difficulty with confidence. They report with optimism and with relentless willingness to pay the price. The strength of a team is not in numbers or in experience, but in attitude. It’s better to have two leaders that have the Sprit of the Lord in them than ten promising emerging leaders who focus in their personal abilities and cannot trust in God for miracles.

PRAYER:
Dear Jesus, please give us the attitude of Caleb and Joshua to take over the promises you have for our personal lives and for our church community. Cause everything in us to get rid of negative and pessimistic thinking, which relies in our self-centered abilities. Grants us your favor and your mercy with a positive attitude that will give us what it takes to face any giants opposing our way towards your blessings. Help us to look at the face of trouble and simply whisper the name that is above all names to bring forth miracles, freedom and blessing. AMEN!

New to Blog

As I look for new tools to communicate God's love for us, this blog will carry a huge part of my thoughts about closeness to Jesus. I'm planing to post my journals and ideas here in order to inspire others to come closer to God. It doesn't matter how distant we are from God, if miles away or few steps from His throne, there is always room to be closer to HIM. Everybody is welcome to make comments and I'll try to respond as soon as it is possible.