Pray Hawaii

1 John 3:1
As I thought of this verse, I reflected on the various times I was fearful. Fearful of losing my job and then fearful of not finding a job, fearful of losing my kids, fearful of illness, fearful of flying, fearful of people, etc. But the one key that has helped me find peace and rest is the fact that God loves me and He is good. When I am fearful, I think of my heavenly Father having my entire life in His hands and how blessed I am to be able to trust in His goodness for the outcomes of all my life’s trials and tribulations. How blessed is to know that He has my best interest at heart, loving me even more than any human could ever love me. How blessed is to know that anything that happens to me has been approved by Him in order to shape me into the image of Christ. How blessed and joyful is to know that I am His son and He is my Heavenly Father.

I have been looking for a way to do the family devotional in a deeper way. I think I found a way. We are going to use one verse per week to first memorize it, second meditate on it, and third to write down our reflections and share them on Saturday in our podcast. So stay tuned for this week’s devotional on 1 John 3:1. God bless

1 Thessalonians 5:15 Always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else”

How hard that has been for me to do and how needful it is for me to be able to achieve it. I saw a couple of weeks ago an email in which a person wrote in anger about my stand against same sex marriage. At first I just dismissed it as someone just getting upset about the same sex marriage bill veto in Hawaii, but then I saw it different. The Lord kept that email in my mind. I had to meditate not so much in the content, but in the anger that I brought to someone because of my animosity and desire to win, without caring about being understood. The Lord wants us to be kind to everyone not just to the ones who believe as we do. He wants us to love the ones who disagree with us, he wants us to be kind to those who see the world through physical instead of spiritual means. Although I do believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, I should have sought to be understood and reflect the love that Christ had for me even when I also disagreed with Him before my conversion. From today on I will seek to be a peace maker instead of an instigator, i will seek to be understood instead of being dismissive, I will seek to love those who disagree with me just as Jesus loved me when I disagreed with Him. My kindness will be my trademark and the love of Christ my way of life towards all.

2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

I can’t fathom living without God in my life. What a fool I was when I had refused to even see if it was true that God was real, to see if it was true that God was good, to see if it was true that God loved as He sad He did. Today, my complete dependence in such that my lie would unravel immediately if I did not have God by my side each and everyday. I remember how I had to lie, steal, cheat people, hide my ignorance and hatred, and on and on and on. My life is so different now because now, who I am and what I do comes from the competence that God graciously grants me. I know that my dependence on Him for every aspect of my life is complete. I love the fact that God Almighty who loves me more than anyone could ever love me, has my life in His hands. My risks, my challenges, my difficulties, my successes, my failures are all used by Him to shape me into the image of His Son Jesus. Why would I live my life any other way? I couldn’t live life any other way. My way of living my life does not work. It only destroys.
But how shallow is just to think of life here on earth. Yes, He clearly renew my mind and my competence comes from Him for this day to day life we have on earth. But as wonderful as that is, it pales in comparison to the heavenly glories we will see, experience, and share with Him. I can understand Peter in John 6:68 when he tells Jesus “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” To whom shall we go? To ourselves and our own ridiculous, unstable, and demented old self or to a renew life lived as a sacrifice to the One who died to set me free?

Genesis 6:22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

In an era filled with violence, Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God (Gen 6:9.) As I was writing “In an era filled with violence” I saw the need to clarify that I was not talking about today. But we see that today we have the same problems. In today’s case the main problem is hatred. Hatred of God, whom we call an imaginary creature, hatred of Arabs, whom we call terrorists, hatred of African Americans, whom are called by all sort of evil names, hatred of the poor, whom we call welfare queens or illegal immigrants, hatred of our God appointed leadership, the president and elected officials whom we call fools, hatred of marriage, which we call antiquated, hatred of homosexuals, whom we call by all sort of demeaning names, hatred of women, whom we abuse and humiliate in the worst ways in videos. How can God bless us when we hate. How can God lift our land from this curse when we hurt the needy and brag about buying the newest house, the newest furniture, the latest electronic gadget? How can God bless us when we do not do everything He commanded? How can I help this nation see that we must obey God and be a blessing to others? It starts with me. If I hate, I cannot love, if I hate, I cannot teach about love, if I hate, I am not walking with God whom is love, if I hate, I am not doing all that God has commanded me, if I hate, I am not a new creature in Christ. But one thing I will hate, and that is my sin and disobedience to God. Father teach me to hate that which is evil, and teach me to hate nothing else, teach me to love You even more, teach me to love with your love the Arabs, African Americans, the poor, the president and the leadership you have elected, marriage, the homosexual, and women so that when people see me they will see your love and please do the same for this nation.

Exodus 20:2  ”I am the Lord Your God…”

The Lord is my God and as I meditate in that single most important statement I see Him as not just Lord, but as a loving, and caring Lord. He is my caretaker, provider, reassurance, help, advisor, guide, the reason for my existence, who am I? I have come to realize that without Him I can do nothing as Jesus said in John 15:5. But with Him I can do all things as Paul said in Phil 4:13. I saw this yesterday as I flew back to Hawaii. I have always been scared of flying since the day I skipped school and went to the Isla Grande airport to sign up for flying lessons and an airplane crashed right in front of me. From that moment on I was scared of flying. Terror is best way I can describe how I felt during take offs, landings, and turbulence. But yesterday I was meditating on Phil 4:13 “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”  I finally decided to just stop worrying about flying and to just enjoy it. And enjoy it I did, even as the pilot tried to race Lucifer to 35k feet, even as the pilot sought to achieve zero Gs in the cabin as we were landing, even as my doubts started to creep in about whether God meant “all things.” I can testify that He is my Lord, my God and I can testify that as I thought of all the good things He has done for me and my family, as I thought of how thankful I am over the renewed and clear mind He has given me, as I though of how He healed Junior after his accident, as I thought of all the miracles and changed lives I have seen, I realized that He is not just my Lord and my God, but that He is good and His peace which transcends all understanding guarded my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus just as He promised in Phil 4:6-7. Through my experiences with Him I have learned that He is my God and my Lord, but He is a holy God who loves us and demonstrates to us the meaning of servant love. Although He is my God, he treats me as If I were His god. Who am I then to do less to Him and to others.

I received this prayer request a few days ago. Upon reading it, I started wondering if I have been caustic in how I represent Christ. I once heard that Christ sent us to fish for men, not to reform, clean, or even change the pond but to fish for men. How can we as believers fish in the pond, hold to what we believe, and at the same time show love and compassion to those who believe differently from us? This was the prayer request sent anonymously:

I pray that gays everywhere will achieve equality. I pray that you pray for the churches that endorse gay bashers as public servants and stop endorsing hate. I pray that you pray for the people of Haiti and get a life.

Had kids all over the house today. Impossible to record.

S     Galatians 5:25     Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

O     As believers we are to give full control of our lives to God each and every day. We give God this control by being led by the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, therefore when we give God full control of our lives, this should be the result of our yielding to Him.

A     I do find it difficult to give control away. I have found it difficult to do so with God also. Although I have improved dramatically in this area of my walk with God, recently I had day when I did not even wanted to ask God about something because I knew exactly what He was going to say, which was against what I wanted. That day I noticed that I did have a problem giving God full control of my life. I realize that this desire to be in full control of my life also extends to other areas and it does not help in my relationships. I therefore need to follow the Spirit’s leading in each and every part of my life. I am making a commitment to do so today, to yield completely, even when I desire to run my life myself.

P     Lord, I give You full control, authority, and permission over my life. I want to be used by You, but in Your way, at Your time, where You want me to be of use. Lord, remind me each day that I need to release the grip I have over the control of my life and give it You. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

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S     Phillipians 4:5 Let your gentleness be evident to all.

O     Our walk should show the gentleness, goodness, and love of God who having paid our sin price in full, purchased us.

A     I continuously struggle with showing gentleness to people who disagree with me. I am certainly trying and I am not as abrasive as I was once. Now, I try to show them through arguments and discussions where I believe they are wrong. I need to be able to argue at all times with compassion, but the anger that builds inside of me during arguments turn off my compassion. I need to find a way to keep my usual level of compassion when I am in an argument. I need to love them as Christ did. I need to be as gentle with them as Christ was with me when I used to argue with Christians during my years of unbelief. I will from today on, keep an eye on situations where I might not be gentle, either during arguments or when interrupted.

P     Lord, please help me in my search to reflect Your image even to those who disagree with me. Help me show them the love You showed me when I mocked You. Please put me throught trials that will help me develop

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S     Acts 20:35 ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

O     The temporary pleasure that we receive from acquiring possessions pale in comparison with the blessings of giving. By giving instead of receiving we receive the blessings of helping someone, the blessings of knowing that instead of satisfying our shallow desire for material possessions, we helped someone in their time of need. By giving instead of receiving we demonstrate God’s love towards the other person, a love that is selfless and pure, a love that has the other person’s need as our need, the other person’s suffering as our suffering, the other person need for salvation as our need for salvation.

A      It is more blessed to give, and now that we have received such a great gift as the gift of salvation, what a blessing it is to move forward and give others the news of such a gift. I sometimes allow tiredness, full schedules, and other minor issues to stop me from sharing the good news of salvation with others. But I am now changing my way of living and setting my priorities straight. Living day to day just to pay bills, etc is not the life of a believer. I need to give others what I so abundantly received, God’s gift of salvation, His forgiveness, His love, His kindness, in essence His Son.

P     Lord, give me wisdom in how to re-structure my life, my finances, my everything so that Your priorities are my priorities. Father teach me to give love as You give it. Teach me to give of myself as Christ did. Teach me that it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.