Stepping Up to the Next Level

                I woke up today at eight in the morning. I can already see what my co-workers will be asking when I get to work. "You look horrible. What happened?" I feel that my joke for today will be, "I was up until four casting out demons in Guatemala." Of course, I was only up until one in the morning casting out the demon and the other three hours were spent instructing two of my close friends.

                Sometimes, God will put people in our lives to press on each other. "As iron sharpens iron, so does man sharpen man." My favorite scripture, Proverbs 27:17. God gives us people to clash against so that we may grow. My close friend who I was staying up with will debate with me all day and night if we both had the times. Just yesterday morning, we were debating about xbox and video games and their relevance to God and His glory. We are not afraid to offend each other because we know that we will stay friends, and if we do not clash with each other at our hardest, we will not get sharper.

                Just as I told my two friends last night, we must be ready to step up our game now. We must be ready to step up our spiritual lives! Matthew 24:44 says, "so you also must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him." Last night, when the demon came to my friend's house, he did not get a call in advance from the demon to set up an appointment. It just came. He had not been through an encounter like this, so God woke me up and made sure that I was there to help the process along. Now, all glory and praise be to God because we could not cast out demons if it were not for Him! I was not casting out the demon, and neither was my friend. It was strictly God that was working; but we need to be ready to be used by God at any hour.

                In the post that I made last Thursday "Be Ready for Followers," I spoke about how a boy came up to me out of the blue to ask me to preach to him. I would have never guessed this boy to be asking for anything of the sort, and it was literally the one day that I did not bring my hand held Bible with me; but God had prepared me with enough knowledge to give him what he needed. We never know when a situation may arise. Sometimes it will be a demon trying to scare you, and sometimes it will be a friend or a stranger trying to ask you about God, or anything in between. We need to be ready for everything.

                How do we prepare? You prepare by praying! You ask God what He wants you to do in order to prepare. You prepare by fasting, becoming physically submissive to better serve God. You prepare by reading the word, because you will always need scripture to serve God to the fullest; and you use scripture when it is written on your heart, so be prepared to meditate on the word. You prepare by singing praises and thanks to God; because putting Him on your heart and filling your spirit with His glory will keep you positive and ready to face any challenge.

                When I say to step up, I am saying pray, read, and act! What is the point of reading the Bible if you never apply it? What is the point of praying if you do not follow it with actions? Be active with Christ! He wants you to test Him! He is calling His children to stand up and do what they are called to do! It is time to not just pray prayers, but be a blessing! It is time to not just read, but to teach and instruct as well! It is time that we get serious about our faith, because every day is a day closer to the last days of time.

                My last posts these past two weeks have been all pointing to this. I have spoken about tithing and blessing others, about being a light to others, about being ready for spiritual war, about preparing our minds with Philippians 4:8, about forgiveness and positioning ourselves to be used by God, about leaving yesterday behind and pushing past pain, about making sure that we believe the Bible as all truths, and about our identity in Christ. We must be ready to do God's will, now! We must be ready to answer His call, now! We must be ready to fight the good fight, now! If you do not prepare now, while you still can, you will miss out on everything that God has called for you to do; and someone else will do it instead. David was about fifteen when He started to do God's will by fighting Goliath, so you are never too young. Abraham was eighty when God called Him, so you are never too old. Moses had a speech problem, but God had his brother help him. There is no excuse in the book for use. God is above excuses, because He makes a way for us to do what we are called to do.

                It all comes down to this: are you ready to step up to God's calling, or not?

                I do this in dedication to my two little brothers, Juan and Marcos. The call is going out to you, too. Are you stepping up with me, or not?


                                                                                                                                         -D

Tithing and Blessing

                To Christians and church go-ers, tithing is the principal of giving God the first of your fruits. (Proverbs 3:9-10) In the Bible, this has been translated out to ten percent of whatever comes into your door. (Genesis 14:20) If you get ten dollars, you are expected to give God one. The idea is not that God needs money. He is God! What does He need with money? He can make anything and He is sovereign over all. Money is useless to Him. The idea is obedience. Will you give God ten percent of your pay check when you feel like you need it? Do you trust God enough to provide you with what you need? The principle of tithing is not giving money, it is trusting God with your Earthly means.

                2 Corinthians 9:6-7 says, "the point is this: whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." No matter how much you give, you are supposed to give according to what God has put on your heart. It does not matter what your pastor/priest/rabbi/reverend/etc. tells you to do, or what your neighbor is giving. If God says give five dollars, give it cheerfully. If God says give one thousand dollars, give it cheerfully. If you are not happily obeying God, what is the point? It does not matter the amount, it matters about your heart. If you sow bountifully, you will reap bountifully. The amount should not matter. God knows our needs and can meet them without a problem. When God puts a number on your heart to give, He is not asking "will you give me your money?" He is asking, "will you be faithful and trust me to make everything work out?"

                Proverbs 11:24 says, "one gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want." God will not just take the money away from you. He is testing your faith; and if you are faithful to give, He will bless you with twice as much, four times as much, ten times as much, or more! Psalms 4:5 says, "offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord." God is asking you to test Him now while you are on Earth. Do you believe that He can do all things? If so, test Him by trusting Him to supply all of your needs. Test the word and see if it is truth. Philippians 4:19 says, "and my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

                We give tithes for more reasons than just because God said so. Romans 13:7 says, "pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honored is owed." We give to God out of respect! He gave us the job or way to make money, and He allowed us to receive. We owe Him the respect of keeping us alive. We also give out of honor. We honor God by showing faith and obedience. If we wish to honor God, we must listen to His commands. In Job 41:11, God says, "who has first given to Me,that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole Heaven is mine." We give tithes to God because the money and the possession already belongs to Him. Keeping it from Him would be exactly like not returning something that does not belong to you when the owner asks for it back.

                In the end, we tithes out of respect, love, and honor of God. We give to Him to show that we are obedient and that we have faith that He will make every end meet and more if we give to Him what He deserves.

                Now, tithing does not always have to be in the church. Just the other day, my Aunt Delilah tithed to me. This was a true blessing that was placed upon my head by God's daughter. God called her to tithe to something other than the church, and she was unsure if that was true. That same day, a pastor confirm the word and she received an e-mail that had a scripture attached, (Acts 20:35 I believe) and this made her feel certain about her action.

                If you read my first few posts, you will see that I am not a person big on money; but the action behind it showed so much love. I can not explain the love that I felt when I opened a card (not on my birthday, or on Christmas) telling me such kindhearted words and giving me a gift that I did not deserve. It is truly a blessing to bless others. So listen to what God tells you to give and where He tells you to give it, because it may not always be in the tithing bucket. It may be towards a missionary, or a church project, or even your neighbor. Tithing isn't about giving your ten percent to the church. It is about listening to God and giving whatever He calls you to give out of faith.

                Again, I would like to thank you, Aunt Delilah for your love and support. It is a true blessing. I do this in dedication to you.


                                                                                                                                         -D

Battle Ready

                As Christians, we must be ready for battle at all times. Why must we be ready for battle? As Christians, aren't we supposed to be pacifistic and peaceful people? Yes and no. We are to be peaceful, loving, and kind to all; but there is a war going on that we must always be ready for. This war is not fought with weapons of mass destruction. In fact, this war is not fought with any weapon of typical war that you would read in a history book. This war is spiritual.

                2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, "for though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

                The war that we are fighting is not flesh and blood, it is spiritual and mental. We are fighting a war, not based off of power, but off of truth. The enemy that we face is the kingdom of darkness, and their goal is to "steal, kill and destroy." (John 10:10) They comes to steal our identity in Christ, kill our hope, and destroy our faith. If they can do this, they can make us believe whatever they want. If we have no faith in God, we are willing to put our faith in anything. If we have no hope in Christ, we are willing to do anything. If we do not have our identity in Christ, we will try to find out identity in the world.

                Now, many people would think of demons and angels when they hear the term "spiritual warfare," and yes that is a part of it, but not all of it. I have been actively participating in this spiritual war since I was twelve. There are demons and angels in the world; and to not believe that would to be disbelieving the Bible, because the Bible speaks this truth in volume, both in the New and Old Testament. Even Jesus cast out demons many times and gave His disciples the authority to cast out demons. This is a truth, but it is not the only part of spiritual warfare.

                Spiritual warfare also has to do with false prophets, leading people astray from Christ while using His name. They will tell you things like Jesus was a man who became God or that Jesus and God are different people. I have heard everything from Jesus and Satan were brothers, to Jesus hates the homosexual community and anyone who defends them. I have heard that you get your paradise here on Earth and can live in luxury on vacation every day if you become a Christian. I have heard that the Bible is stories and the Old Testament is false; or that demons aren't real and that God could not have made all of those miracles happen.

                None of those statements are true! Yes, you heard me. None of them are true! Jesus was fully God, Jesus is the word, Jesus is God; He was not some man who was picked to be God. That cannot happen, nor has it ever happened. The Bible clearly states that Jesus is, was, and always will be God. Jesus is not the brother is Satan, or else Satan would be omnipotent as well. If Satan and Jesus were brothers, that means that someone made them; and because the Bible teaches that Jesus is God and always has been God, and Satan was a creation of God, this could not be true. Jesus hating the homosexual community is one that fires me up every time. Jesus does not "hate fags." In fact, He loves ALL sinners! He loves everyone on both sides of the picket fence, regardless of what their sin is! He hates the sin, but loves the sinner. He wants to bring love and forgiveness, not hatred and rejection. He says that He is love, so Him hating any person is impossible. The paradise is not here on Earth because Jesus is not here on Earth. We have work to do! Anyone who tries to get you off of your spiritual duty is a false prophet trying to stop you from doing what you were called to do in Christ. Paradise is with Jesus, not in His creation. The Old Testament is truth because Jesus says so. He is the word. If you believe in Jesus, truly believe, then you must believe everything He says as truth; so you must believe the Old and New Testaments as truths, or else you are calling Jesus a liar; and if He is a liar then He is imperfect; and if He is imperfect, He could not cover our sins and our salvation is not true and we are all Hell bound. Finally, the spiritual life is true. Demons are real, possessions and whatnot happen; not like how they happen in the movies, but they happen. To believe that God could not create angels or move mountains and oceans is to believe that God is not omnipotent, which is blasphemy.

                Yes, spiritual warfare takes place spiritually, not physically. It is not all about casting our demons. It is a truth struggle, not a power struggle. If you know the Bible to be truth and follow it instead of people, you will be safe. You will be able to cast out demons, correct false doctrines, and even heal the hearts of the broken that cannot receive Jesus because they have not been given the correct word. As spiritual warriors, it is our duty to bring the truth to all in order to bring healing, hope, and victory to all through the truth.


                                                                                                                                         -D

Philippians 4:8

                "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." We must have this check list on our hearts!

                So many times bad things come our way and we do not know how to handle it. We sit and meditate on it; and even when it solves itself, sometimes we look back and catch ourselves getting those emotions again. "Why am I getting mad over what he did to me a year ago? I thought I moved on?" We must filter our thoughts! Yes, we can have time to reflect on the past, but we must not stop at reflecting. We must learn; and once we have taken what we can learn from it, forgive and forget. We must not be stuck on the past or we will never be able to step into the future. I am not talking about passing thoughts, I am talking about you sitting down and taking time to think about it. If you are sticking with a thought for thirty seconds or more, you had enough time to get rid of the thought.

                Here is how we can tell that it is something worth thinking about. Is it true? Was it a lie that was told to you by a person or by your own imagination? If it was not truth spoken to you, why are you wasting time thinking of what doesn't exist? Someone told you that your car got hit but you couldn't find a dent on it. Don't keep checking it every night for a dent! If it didn't happen, it didn't happen. If you keep thinking of lies, you will not be able to tell what the truth is.

                Is it honorable? Would you be able to talk about these thoughts in front of your mother? What about in front of your father? What about in front of your church leader? What about in front of your church? What about in front of Jesus? If you can talk about it in front of all of these people without shame or feeling like you were in the wrong, you are fine. If you cannot tell Jesus, you do not need to be meditating on it. "But she really deserves a beat down!" Well, vengeance is mine, says the Lord (Romans 12:19). If we should not be talking about it or doing it, why would we think about it?

                Is it just? Again, if you cannot tell Jesus without feeling guilt or shame, you should not be talking about it. If it is sinful thoughts, or wicked thoughts, they should not be running through your mind all day and night. You have been made new in Christ! Why would you meditate on your old nature when Christ has made you new? If it goes against scripture, it is not just.

                Is it pure? If it is lustful, hateful, or twisted thoughts, they have no room in your life. No thoughts that pervert the truth or dirty the mind belong in your life. This is more than just lust. This is about if you are thinking truths about scripture and about others. Are you judging others? Are you going over how you would talk to so-and-so in a not so loving and humble way? If so, why are you thinking about it? The old you has passed! The new you is here to stay! Do not let other people destroy your mind.

                Is it lovely? Is your thought compassionate, kind, humble, loving? Is it, all together, something of beauty and peace? It doesn't have to be unicorns and rainbow and glitter; but, whatever you're thinking of should at least not be demonic and gruesome in nature. It should not be of killing humans or drinking blood or something or dark nature. Again, it doesn't have to be of unicorns and sparkling rainbows, but it should not be straight out of a horror movie.

                Is it commendable? Commendable means deserving praise. Is what you're meditating on deserving praise or no? The bottom line is, even our thinking is a form of praise. Are you spending all of your time on demonology and dark arts? Even as a Christian, too much of this can be bad because if you are giving it all of your attention, you are not giving glory to God or even giving anything else time.

                "If there is anything excellent..." This means that we should be thinking of big things! Whatever we are thinking of should, in some way or shape, be excellent! It should be superior, grand, large! That does not mean in size, but in quality. Your loved ones, your friends, your blessings, and of course God. What you meditate on should be of excellence!

                "If there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." This wraps it all together. As I said before, thinking is a form of praise. If you are thinking of your ex from years ago all of the time, you are lifting up your ex. Whatever you think of should, in the end, be worthy of the thought. Do not spend your whole life meditating on what went wrong or who did you wrong. Why give them the time of day or the energy? This of things that are worthy to be praised!

                When you keep your thoughts clean and pure, your attitude follows. Whatever you meditate on sits in your heart, and "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45) So when you meditate on evil and negative things, negativity and evil will sit in your heart, and eventually make their way out of your mouth; and we must be careful what we speak because "the tongue can bring life or death; those who love to talk will reap the consequences." If you are wondering why there is so much negativity in your life, record yourself for a day and see if you are the one speaking this negativity over yourself.

                We must set our minds on higher things in order to implant higher things into our hearts and speak higher things into our lives. Our thoughts do control our reality. Are you going to think of how so-and-so did you wrong all day, or are you going to think of how greatly God has blessed you? The fact that you can read this internet blog tells me that you have a blessing or two that you could give thanks for.


                                                                                                                                         -D

Be Ready for Followers

                As Christians, we are a light in the world of darkness. The closer we are to Christ, the brighter our light shines, and the more confused those who know nothing about Christ become. We bust be ready to be followed, ready to be watched, and ready to be poked.

                Yesterday, at work, I was exhausted. I had not slept at all and I had to work an eight hour shift somewhat early in the morning. Now, I am not complaining. I love my job! I have no intentions of quitting, but I am saying that this was not my best day for playing with kids. As soon as I got onto the campus, kids flooded me as they do to all teachers. The one moment that I was alone, I stood up and started to walk. Less then twenty steps later, a fifth grader walks up to me with a face that only expressed pain. He whispered, "can I ask you something?" My reply was, "sure, you can ask me anything." Out of no where, he asked, "can you preach to me?"

                Now, if I were to sit down and make a list with every kid that I would expect to have a conversation with Christ about, he would not have been on that list. If I had made a list of every kid who would have never wanted to have a talk about Christ with me, he would not have been on that list either. He never crossed my mind that way because I never thought of him in that light. Little did I know, he was following the light that Christ had put in me, and finally got the courage to ask about it.

                We never know what will happen or who is following us from behind. For all we know, our parents, our families, our co-workers, our friends, or even people we never talked to before are watching our lights. We must always be ready to set a good example for Christ, and always be ready to be questions. If someone says, "can you preach to me?" what should you do? If someone starts to question your faith, trying to figure out why you are so loving and so different from your friends, what will you say? We must not be prideful when someone comes up to us, but we must always be ready to represent Christ well.

                1 Peter 3:15 says, "but in your heart set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." We must always be ready; and the best way to do that is to be respecting and loving God. If He is right in your heart, the answers will come out easily. As we shine Christ's light through us, we must expect to have people come to us, just as people cam to Christ. Now, we are not the next Christ; but if His light is in us, we can expect to get a little bit of the same attention that He got. We must be ready to explain the light within us to whoever is following the Christ in us.


                                                                                                                                         -D

Receiving Forgiveness

                1 John 1:9 says that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." We are fortunate and beyond blessed to have a God who is faithful to us and finds it just to forgive us of all of our sins. This is a great gift that we do not deserve, and should not toy with.

                Proverbs 28:13 says, "he who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy." We must not hide our sins, because God is omniscient and knows everything. He is omnipresent and was there when you did it. Nothing can be hidden from God, so why would we try to hide our sins? Yes, it can be embarrassing or shameful, but God already knows and wants to take all of that away from you.

                Sometimes, the hardest part isn't being too ashamed or too embarrassed. In fact, the more shameful or embarrassing the sin, the more you want forgiveness for it. Sometimes, it is the other way around. Sometimes, we are not ashamed of our sin and try to make excuses to justify them so that we may continue doing them. Some excuses may be: "well, it's not that bad," or "it's not really a sin," or "I'm just numb right now. I'll ask for forgiveness when it's over and I can feel God again." It all comes down to different versions of, "I am human and I like my sin." Sometimes we like our sin more than we hate it. Sometimes we like the feeling that we get from the sin more than the guilt afterwards. What do we do in these cases?

                We must remember what Jesus Christ did for us. He took on every sin we have ever committed and ever will commit. We must remind ourselves, daily, especially during sin, that Jesus paid the ultimate price for us and sinning would be spitting in His face. When we feel the temptation coming on and we know we will not feel guilty, we must ask the Holy Spirit for help. It all comes down to our hearts. "Are we really looking for forgiveness or are we just doing the Christian thing?"

                When we ask God for forgiveness, are we asking for it the way we want others to apologize to us? Are we being sincere and genuine? Are we being  authentic and humble? If we are not, and we know we are about to sin, we can only ask God to change our hearts and help us. We must not let our emotions dictate our relationship with Christ. If you were married and you woke up angry, you wouldn't say, "I don't love my wife anymore. I need to go find someone else." No, you are just in a bad mood. It does not need to effect your relationship with your spouse; just like our emotions do not need to interfere with our relationship with Christ. We must put emotions aside and look at Christ for who He is. Our Lord and Savior. Does He not deserve some loyalty after everything that He has done for you?


                                                                                                                                         -D

How We Position Ourselves

                This morning, I sat down and said, "I have no idea what I am going to write about today." That was perfect, because as I was finishing the sentence, God reminded me that I am in the perfect position for glory. It is not about what I know how to do or what I can do, but about giving Him glory. When I am not in control, but I am participating, that is the perfect position to give God all of the glory.

                I love telling this story. A few months ago while I was at college, I was running and working all day from six or seven in the morning until eleven at night. Just as I was climbing into bed, God told me to stop and go visit a specific friend (we will refer to the friend as "X"). So, I pulled myself out of my room, slipped on my shoes, and walked to X's room in my pajamas. When I knocked on the door, X was surprised to see me because X had just gotten back a few seconds before I knocked. We started to talk about what had happened that day and crazy experiences. The whole time, God was whispering in my ear "demon." I was tired and wanted to go to bed and deal with it later, but God was calling me and my friend was important. Eventually, I asked X, "How do you feel when I say the word 'demon?'" X told me that there was a neck and leg pain that came out of no where at the word. I had to trust God because I was too tired to think.

                As soon as we started to pray, I felt it come at me. I was speaking for three seconds, at the most, and then the Holy Spirit stepped in and started to speak through my vocal cords. It cast out a powerful demon and even brought images to X's minds of things to dispose of. Soon after talking about it, X's roommate came in and the Holy Spirit told me that we should praise. X's roommate could not get into it, so we prayed together and X's roommate felt a whirlwind drop down and take away all of the negativity. As soon as we finished praising God for that movement, the Holy Spirit caused me to say "since we are already in the Spirit, let's pray for something to happen." My two friends agreed and we began to pray. Half way through the prayer, X yelled out "Stop!" in a deep voice, then God, using X's voice, told us that the very person that we were praying for will be saved!"

                To summarize, when I was willing to do what God wanted but was letting Him work, we cast out a powerful demon, healed negative emotions, and prophesied. See what happens when we let God get all of the glory? Whenever we step down and let God stand up in our lives, things are radically changed. That is why the perfect position for us would be seated, willing to do whatever God asks us to do and allowing God to get the full glory. If He says go to the lunch room at your school, go with a Bible in hand and a smile on your face. If God says go talk to that person, pray over them as you are walking to them and listen to them as you talk to them. Let God move! We must get out of His way and be willing to do whatever He asks of us. That is how we glorify God! It is not about our glory. We are imperfect. If anyone deserves glory, it is perfection, and only God is perfect last I checked.

                How we position ourselves is critical. If we position ourselves to do all of the work, we are going to reap what we sow. We operate in the flesh and trust in ourselves, we will get imperfection because we are using perfection. If we step aside and let God take the lead, we will be allowed to walk in His perfect plan, because perfection is reaping and sowing on our behalf, so we are allowed to taste the fruits of perfection when we step down. How we position ourselves dictates what seeds we sow, and that dictates what our harvest looks like


                                                                                                                                         -D